A Life Fulfilled

Chapter 5

Hello Baby

Ryoko couldn't believe it, Kagato was the one who caused Ryoko to hate Washu and if it hadn't been for him the two would have had a great life together, as a family. Now she understood why Washu was so hurt every time she yelled at her and denied the fact that Washu was her mother, she had worked so hard to get Ryoko back; she had been through so much and Ryoko hated herself for the way she had acted.

" Washu, I..." Ryoko couldn't speak, she couldn't see.

Her sorrow-blinded eyes played back everything Ryoko could visualize from Washu's tale. Instead of using her words to express her sorrow and sympathy, she used her body. Hands found themselves around the crying scientist and pulled her into a warm embrace. They stayed in that position for a while, until Washu had finally cried her last tear.

" I'm sorry my Little Ryoko," Washu sobbed unable to stop, as her tears stained her daughters kimono.

" Sorry? Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who should be sorry!" Ryoko looked into Washu's emerald eyes.

" I...I let him take you!" Washu cried as she held her daughter closer to her.

" No you didn't, there was no way you could've known. You did your best to get me back, that's all that counts," Ryoko reassured.

" You meant it?" Washu lifted her head and released herself from the embrace.

" Of course I do. I've finally found my family, the ones who will always love me, I've finally found you...Mom."

Washu was speechless. She had waited thousands of years for a person to call her that. She had been alone for five thousand years with the horrible memory of their separation in her head and finally, after so much waiting, she had been accepted, Ryoko wanted to be her daughter and wanted Washu to be her mom.

" Oh Ryoko," Washu held her daughter in her arms.

Washu, now in her adult form, held her daughter with all the love in the world. A moment like this would last forever in Washu's book, even if it was only for a few minuets. A sudden cry from inside the house interrupted their mother-daughter moment.

" Uh oh, looks like Taro's at it again!" Washu sighed.

" And you wonder why his name is close to terrible?" Ryoko laughed. " We better give Tenchi a hand before Taro kills him!"

Ryoko stood up and walked a few steps before noticing her mother was still sitting, staring at the ground.

" Hey, you coming?" Ryoko called.

" Yeah, in a minuet."

Washu lifted herself from the ground and forced her soul back into her child body. She smiled at her daughter and joined her at the spot where she waited. The two began walking in silence, lost in thought and unable to speak. Ryoko looked at her mother only to see silent tears cascade down her face.

" Hey, it's okay Mom, I'm back and nothing will separate us, I promise!" Washu smiled at the words her daughter spoke. " Come on, we need to see what Taro the Terrible wants!"

" That has a nice ring to it!" Washu laughed. " Like Washu the Wonderful!"

" There goes your ego again!" Ryoko sighed.

" Let's see, Ryoko the…hmmm….I know!

" What?"

" Ryoko the Retard!" Washu laughed and ran from her daughter.

" Hey! Washu you little twerp, get back here!"

" It's Washu the Wonderful, remember?"

" Oh be quiet."

Ryoko caught up to her mother and the two began their slow walk back to the house, but another cry from inside sent the two Hakubi's racing inside the Masaki house. They began their search for where the scream was coming from and when it sounded again, they found themselves in the living room. Instead of Taro crying because of he was neglected or he was being cared for in the wrong way, they found Mihoshi crawling around on her hands and knees, searching for something.

" Oh, where is he? Tenchi have you found him?" Mihoshi wailed.

" Not yet, but…" Tenchi lifted his head and saw Washu and Ryoko standing there with confused looks on their faces.

" TENCHI! I can't find him, WAAAAAA!" Mihoshi cried.

" Tenchi, what's up?" Ryoko asked.

" Well, it's about Taro. You see…um…we kinda…."

" YOU LOST HIM?!" Washu screamed.

" No Washu, we just can't find him!" Mihoshi smiled.

" Mihoshi, that's the same thing," Washu sighed at Mihoshi's stupidity.

" Oh," Mihoshi began her search once more.

" How can you loss a baby?" Ryoko laughed.

" Well, he was crying in your lab Washu and I brought him out here. Next thing I know, he's gone!" Tenchi explained.

" Sometimes I wonder if Mihoshi is really the only one here that's brain dead!" Washu joked.

The four of them continued there search until Washu noticed her lab door was open.

" What? I was sure I closed that," Washu looked over at Tenchi who was now beside her.

" I closed it after I got Taro out," Tenchi spoke.

" You don't thin he's in there, do you?" Washu said with concern.

" It's a possibility."

Washu dashed into her lab and Tenchi followed. They search frantically for the small child and soon parted ways so their search would end sooner.

" I found him!" Tenchi yelled.

Washu ran to where Tenchi's voice had sounded and saw the small boy playing with her test tubes.

" No, TARO!" Washu grabbed to two bottles out of his hands and placed them back to where they belonged.

Taro began to cry and the scream hurt Washu, she never meant to make him cry but now she was so busy putting away the mess he had made to hold him. Tenchi picked him up and began to rock him.

" It's okay Taro," Tenchi reassured the small boy.

Washu smiled at Tenchi, he was a great father if had a son. She finished cleaning the mess on her table and turned to them.

" That was a close call," Washu's voice became very serious. " If he had spiled either of those chemicals on him, it would have burned his skin right off."

" What do you mean?"

" He was holding the two most powerful acids in the entire universe, on spill and that would have been it."

" It's a good thing we found him then!" Tenchi handed Taro to Washu. " Here, you take him."

" Where are you going?"

" I thought I would go for a swim, care to join me?"

Washu blushed furiously and stared at the ground.

" It's not like that, I was just wondering if you wanted to give Taro a swimming lesson," Tenchi laughed.

" Sounds good to me, I'll meet you out there, okay?" Washu began walking away.

" Sure!" Tenchi exited the lab.

When the door closed, Washu placed Taro in a small chair and listened to the silence in her lab.

" Maybe there's hope for me and him."