Destiny is a Spin of the Wheel
Kiyone dodged the sword and jumped back about twenty feet. She had faced the blade many times. "My number wasn't drawn, idiot!" she shouted at her opponent.
"He knows that, but there's another reason he wants you dead," he responded, his monotone voice reflecting off the high stone walls at the top of the beach.
"Enlighten me."
"My master knows about all your adventures out in space," he paused and gave her an evil smile, "with your sweetheart Tenchi Masaki." Kiyone gasped at his words, she had figured it out.
"You want Tenchi, don't you?" she asked walking backwards as he came closer.
"By killing you, we will draw your comrades here, and then he will be ours." Kiyone collapsed onto the sand. Not Tenchi, anyone but Tenchi.
"But why not get one of the other girls?" Kiyone asked him, her head still pointing toward the sand.
"It is too hard to kill Ryoko with the weapons that we have, Ayeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi would just struggle and not make it fun at all, and then Washu would just try to prove some other way to capture Tenchi without killing her by using science," he explained. "You on the other hand, are a tough fighter and won't give up until the battle is finally over. Killing you will be very entertaining for my master." Kiyone's ears perked up as she heard a faint sound.
"Yeah, well he'll have to try some other day," Kiyone told him as she stood up. Her opponent jumped back when the ship suddenly appeared in front of him. A side entrance opened up and another woman popped out.
"Kiyone! Grab hold!" the blond called out. Kiyone grabbed a hold of her hand and jumped onto the platform. As the door closed, Kiyone realized something.
"Mihoshi, who's piloting this ship?" she asked nervously, hoping the answer wasn't no one.
"Take it easy, Kiyone, I've got everything under control!" Washu shouted from the cockpit. Kiyone sighed as Washu piloted the ship to safety. "So Kiyone, how did that creep get a hold of you anyway?"
"He kidnapped me on the streets unsuspected, along with some other person," Kiyone explained as she joined Washu in the cockpit.
"So he just kidnaps people for no reason?"
"No there's a reason," she answered. Kiyone hesitated a little before continuing. "His hobby is taking random people from the streets and killing one of them."
"EEW!" Mihoshi shouted from behind her. Washu was startled and Kiyone rolled her eyes. "Why would anyone do such an evil thing?"
"Maybe because he IS evil," Kiyone answered.
"Mihoshi, I think we have some donuts in the back," Washu told her.
"Yeah! Donuts!" Mihoshi exclaimed. Kiyone sighed as her hyperactive partner ran to the back of the small ship. Washu pressed a button to lock the cockpit doors so Mihoshi wouldn't bother them again.
"Thank you, Washu."
"No problem. Besides, there's a whole crate full of a variety of donuts!" Washu laughed.
"What for?"
"This particular situation," she answered. "Now, where were we?"
"Well, what he does is he takes a handful of people, gives them each a number, picks a number at random, and whoever has that number gets killed," Kiyone continued.
"Pretty brutal guy, isn't he?" Kiyone didn't smile at her joke. "So, I'm presuming your number was drawn."
"No, it wasn't." Washu turned to her and saw a single tear streaking her face. "He wants to kill me no matter if my number is drawn or not. He thinks that if he kills me, he'll be able to draw your attention to him, and then he'll capture Tenchi." Neither one of them spoke for awhile. For once in her life, Washu watched as Kiyone cried her heart out. "By saving my own life, I'm also saving Tenchi's life. I know it's the right thing, but it makes me feel selfish, that I'm looking out for my life first, and then his second."
"I know you only mean the best for Tenchi, we all do," Washu reassured her. She patted Kiyone gently on her back and turned her attention back to their course.
Meanwhile in the galley, Mihoshi had discovered the case of donuts. "Wahoo! I hit the jackpot!" She stuffed a handful of donuts down her throat. "Glazed donuts, cream filled donuts, chocolate donuts, old fashioned donuts…" This went on and on until Mihoshi's stomach couldn't take anymore donuts.
One week had passed since Kiyone had been in the clutches of this new evil. She had spent long nights thinking of what she should do next time he kidnapped her, since he would just keep capturing her and she would escape. The only way to stop him was to fight back and not keep running away, but she did not know how to do this. Even Washu, the legendary genius was of no help. She also hadn't told anyone besides Washu of her predicament. Kiyone figured Mihoshi was curious about what had been going on when they rescued her that day on the beach, but her mind had been occupied by other things. Kiyone was distracted from time to time as well.
"Did you hear me, Kiyone?" She popped her head up. Her thoughts had distracted her from her duties. "I said you're going to be assigned to a new partner."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Kiyone, don't try to fool me. I know you want to get rid of Mihoshi and get a better partner, so that's exactly what we're doing." Kiyone still didn't look at the screen in front of her. She was constantly annoyed by Mihoshi, but she felt sorry for leaving her. "He is on his way."
"He?" Kiyone asked as the transmission ended. Great, Kiyone thought, another man to look after. I hope he doesn't have the same troubles that Tenchi has, with all these girls around bothering him all the time. Just then, the ship shook as it docked with another. Kiyone turned around to watch her new partner come in through the air lock. She was instantly lost in his beauty.
"Kiyone Makibi?" he asked.
"Hai…" she answered. His dark blue-green hair swayed back and forth as he took of his Galaxy Police hat. That's when she noticed the blue headband underneath his bangs. "I like your headband," Kiyone told him, her mind off in another world.
"Yours is cool too." Kiyone gasped.
"He likes my headband!" she whispered to herself, almost too loudly.
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing!" she laughed, trying to hide her embarrassment. Wait a minute; this isn't like me at all. I'm starting to act like, like, MIHOSHI! Kiyone grasped her head and tried to shake the dumb blondness out of it.
"Kiyone, who's this?" asked Mihoshi as she got back from the galley. She had just finished off the crate of donuts Washu had left there. Here comes trouble, Kiyone thought to herself.
"This is, um, who are you anyway?" Kiyone asked him as she realized she didn't even know his name.
"Tenshi Tengokuno," he answered. Angel of Heaven, Kiyone thought, wow...
"Tenshi, your name is really close to our friend Tenchi!" Mihoshi exclaimed. "But why is he here?" she whispered to Kiyone.
"I'v-I've been assigned a new partner," Kiyone answered looking at the ground. Mihoshi took a step back; she was shocked beyond belief.
"You're abandoning me?"
"No, Mihoshi, it wasn't my choice!"
"I can't believe it…"
"I'm sorry, Mihoshi, but I came here to be partners with Kiyone and to bring you back to headquarters so you can be assigned your new partner," Tenshi explained.
"I'm sorry, too," Kiyone apologized.
"Well sorry isn't going to help!" Mihoshi shouted. She took off down the corridor and toward Tenshi's ship.
"Mihoshi!" Kiyone called after her.
"Don't Kiyone, Mihoshi needs to be alone now," Tenshi reminded her.
"It wasn't my fault, and I don't want her to be mad at me."
"I know." Tenshi bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry about Mihoshi. She has such a sunny personality that she'll forget that she's upset with you." He waved to her as he headed back to his ship. "I'll be back in a couple hours." Kiyone waved back to him, her cheeks as red as cherries. No one had ever kissed her before, not even Tenchi. As Tenshi's ship left, Kiyone's ship was being attacked. She rushed back to the cockpit to see who was attacking her.
"Hello my dear." The sound of a familiar person came through the communicator, and then his face appeared. "Miss me?"
"Just give up. You're never going to get Tenchi!" Kiyone exclaimed as she terminated the transmission. She started up the accelerator and sped off in a randomly chosen direction. His ship was not too far behind. He fired a couple shots and none of them hit her. He fired a few more and this time they hit her engine.
"You're mine, Kiyone!"
Kiyone stood in the dark room next to Warui's other victim with a single light shining above them. It was a young woman around the same age as Kiyone. She had blond hair and blue eyes; Kiyone expected him to choose a person with such beauty. She was surrounded with fear, while Kiyone on the other hand had her arms crossed. She was getting impatient.
"Here are the rules of the game," a muffled voice emerged from a speaker. It sounded like it was coming from all directions to confuse them. Kiyone was not appalled by their tricks, she was expecting them. "Each of you will get a number, and if your number is not drawn, you will go home with nothing. If your number is drawn, you get a special surprise." The other woman's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, right," Kiyone whispered. "Hey Warui! Are you going to tell her what the surprise is?"
"Kiyone, if you don't shut your mouth, you're going to get the surprise!" Warui shouted through the speaker.
"I suggest you keep talking, because it sounds fun," the blond told Kiyone.
"It sounds fun now," Kiyone told her back, and then turned your attention back to Warui. "What's the point anyway, you big jerk! Even if my number isn't drawn I'm still going to get the 'surprise'." Kiyone made the quote movements with her fingers, even though he couldn't see them. By the tone of her voice, he could tell anyway.
"I'm glad that you're not spoiling my secret for this nice young lady," the other woman blushed, "but I'm warning you, bitch!" Kiyone balled her hands into fists. She felt like slamming her hand into the light bulb or one of the speakers to prove that she wasn't afraid of him.
"Well that wasn't a nice thing to say," said the blond woman. Kiyone rolled her eyes. Suddenly, a screen popped to life in front of them. On it was the image of two numbers.
"Kiyone, you're 29, and the nice young lady is 54. Both these numbers will be put on a wheel with ten slots, your numbers in five slots each," Warui explained. The image on the screen zoomed out to show the 29 and the 54 multiplying five times and placing themselves around the wheel that appeared behind them. "The computer will spin the wheel, and you already know the rest." The wheel started to spin, slowly at first and then faster and faster. It started to slow down, and then it finally landed on a number. It was 54.
"Congratulations! You won the prize!" Warui exclaimed.
"Yeah, I won!" the blond exclaimed. Three guards appeared, one of them escorting her away, and the other two leading Kiyone out the door.
"Don't take the prize!" Kiyone shouted. "It's a trap! DON'T TAKE THE PRIZE!" The two guards held Kiyone back as the blond woman was taken away. "Don't do it." Warui appeared on the screen, his face blurred so she couldn't see him. "You son of a bi—"
"I would advise you not to say that," Warui scolded, waving his finger back and forth. Kiyone just got madder and madder.
"What makes you think you can just decide the fate of these people?"
"They were bound to die someday, why not make it sooner?" he asked her.
"One of these days I'm going give you everything you deserve," she warned.
"Gonna, woulda, shoulda. You bore me, you know. That's why I'm going to enjoy killing you." He snapped his fingers and the guards pulled Kiyone toward the same door the blond woman had gone through. Just then, Kiyone heard the terrifying screams of the poor woman. Kiyone cringed when the screaming stopped.
"You're not going to kill me so easily!" Kiyone screamed. She broke free of the guards' grip and ran down the hall and towards the trap door. She opened it and slid down the slide. In a few minutes, she hit the sand on the beach. There waiting for her was Tenshi in their ship. Kiyone jumped onto the platform and inside as the door closed. They sped away as the guards landed on the sand and started firing at them.
"Who was it this time?" Tenshi asked as she joined him in the cockpit.
"A young blond woman the same age as me," Kiyone answered. "This is getting old, Tenshi."
"He's never going to give up, and you're never going to escape him completely," Tenshi reminded her.
"You're right, I can't give up." Kiyone turned to him. He had something on his mind, she could tell.
"So, was this the fourth time this happened?"
"Fifth."
"I'm sure there will be plenty more times."
"Only one more." Tenshi turned to her in confusion. "I won't stand for the killing of innocent people anymore. I'm a Galaxy Police Officer, for crying out loud! Next time is going to be different, I'm sure of it."
Weeks had passed, then months. Warui hadn't captured Kiyone directly, but there had been many reports of missing persons in Tokyo. Galaxy Police Intelligence had told them that they believed he would next attack a popular shopping mall in Tokyo, and this time he would take more than a few victims. Tenshi and Kiyone had been assigned the duty of undercover work at the mall waiting for Warui to show up.
"I've studied Warui's tactics for months, and I know he is never late to an appointment," Kiyone announced. She and Tenshi were dressed in normal human clothes instead of their usual uniforms.
"Yeah, well he's late today," said Tenshi. Suddenly, a voice came from a loudspeaker down on the first floor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a security breach and we have been told to evacuate the mall," the man announced. Kiyone looked down from where they were on the third of the four floors. She concentrated on the face of the man with the speaker. He was wearing a police officer's uniform, but there was something familiar about him.
"That's one of the guards from Warui's mansion!" Kiyone exclaimed. She and Tenshi took out their concealed guns and she motioned to head downstairs.
"Excuse me, but the use of weapons is prohibited in this mall." Kiyone turned her head to see a police man in front of her. His right hand was on his gun holster while his left hand was extended to grab their guns. He tilted his head down so they could see his eyes. "Recognize my voice?"
"Warui!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"Hand me the guns, and no one will get hurt," he demanded. They obeyed and gave him the guns. "Now, I'd like to bring you down to the station for questioning."
"Is that what you call your little fun house mansion?" Kiyone whispered to Warui.
"Shut your trap, bitch, and no one gets hurt." He escorted them downstairs and to his police car. When they were down on the street, Kiyone noticed twelve little kids between the ages of eight and fourteen being put into an ice cream truck. What is he doing this time, kidnapping kids for his killing pleasure as well? Kiyone also noticed three other adults being escorted into another police car. Two of them she did not know, but the third one she did. Mihoshi!
The trip to Warui's mansion didn't take very long, maybe ten minutes. Kiyone didn't know exactly how long. She didn't even dare to speak on the trip there or Warui would've killed her on the spot. When they arrived, about ten guards came out to escort the groups into the mansion. All of the adults knew what was going on, but the children didn't. Kiyone looked over towards the ice cream truck when it arrived. They were far away, but she could still hear the children talking.
"Wow, this is great!" exclaimed one of them, a chubby red-head.
"Free toys and a free meal!" shouted another one, maybe one of the younger ones.
"I don't like this one bit," a third one announced. She was one of the older children, older and wiser apparently. The four other young teens nodded in agreement.
"Chill out, Kashikoi," one of the middle-aged boys assured her. "If there was anything suspicious about this, I would be the first to know." Kiyone sweat dropped. Doesn't look like you're very good at it, kid, she thought.
"Come this way, children," announced one of the guards. The younger half cheered while the older half still regretted this and cheered anyway a little reluctantly so that they wouldn't worry the younger children. Some of the other guards came and escorted the adults inside the mansion. Kiyone watched as Kashikoi and the other kids went down one hall while they went down another. They finally stopped at a room at the very end of a hall. It was dark and cold inside. The guard turned the light on and made sure they were all inside before he locked the door.
"Now what?" asked Tenshi. The five adults looked around the room and found that it was completely empty. The only thing inside the room besides the light, the stone walls, and themselves was an obvious security camera.
"Don't worry, Tenshi, I've been thinking this through long and hard, and through all my research I came up with a plan if I was ever in this situation," Kiyone assured him.
"What's your plan?"
"Besides the times when I was brought here against my will, I've visited this mansion many times as an undercover spy. I know this place like the back of my hand, and Warui knows it, too. He wanted me to come here on my own and know all about this place, about how he'd kill me," Kiyone explained. "You would not believe what I have seen."
"I bet I would," Mihoshi announced. Kiyone almost forgot she was there, she had been silent the entire time. It was like when Kiyone left, Mihoshi turned into a different person.
"Mihoshi, I know you're still upset with me, but for right now, let's leave all of this behind us."
"Why should I?"
"One or more of those children could die today, plus one of us, and I'm not going to let your feelings for me or my feelings for anyone stand in my way of saving their lives. You wouldn't believe the horror of the situation because you don't know the whole story, Mihoshi."
"What is the whole story?" the blond asked, her arms crossed. "I mean, this guy couldn't have been doing this for his entire life, could he?"
"That's exactly the point, but he's been killing innocent people for longer than you can imagine," Kiyone answered.
"So how old is he then, fifty, sixty years old?"
"Much older."
"How much older?"
"Let's say about three thousand years!" Kiyone almost screamed. Mihoshi did not budge an inch when normally she would have cowered or done something else to show at least some emotion. Something had definitely changed her.
"I don't mean to be rude," Tenshi continued from before Mihoshi butted into their conversation, "but I'd like to repeat my question. What's your plan?"
"There's a secret tunnel located on the second floor, actually the floor above the one buried almost 100 feet in the ground. There is a passageway that leads to the beach from the secret entrance. I've talked to Ryoko and she agreed to meet us on the beach with Ryo-Ohki if we were ever to be caught," Kiyone explained.
"But how does she know we're here?" Kiyone walked over to the security camera and ducked underneath it where she could not be seen. She noticed that Tenshi gasped when he realized that it had been there the entire time.
"Don't worry, it doesn't tape the sound, only the image," she reassured him. She reached into her left boot and took out a knife. She held it like she was going to stab someone and prepared to slam it into the camera. When she did, the guards up in the security room noticed the camera had been broken and sent someone to find out why and how. Kiyone in the meantime put the knife back and took something out of her right boot.
"What's that?" Tenshi asked.
"It's a gun that the genius Washu made for me." The others were puzzled: the gun was paper thin. "There is a button on the side here that enlarges it and flattens it out so that I can store it anywhere I want."
"But what if those guards get a hold of it?" asked one of the other two adults, a man in his thirties who had no clue that the others weren't even from Earth.
"Simple. The button is big enough that it reads my fingerprint, and if the finger that presses it isn't mine, nothing will happen, whether the gun is enlarged or not." Kiyone pressed the button to show how it worked. Now the gun was at its normal size. Kiyone put her finger on the trigger, then lifted it to the top corner above the trigger so that her finger could not bend that way anymore. "In this little corner is a panic button. If I press it, it sends a signal to Ryoko where ever she may be and tell her to pick us up at the beach. If I press it a second time before we get to her, that means that it was only a false alarm." Kiyone pressed the tiny button, and like she said, it send a signal to Ryoko, who was at Tenchi's house at that moment.
"I suppose there's some kind of security thing against anyone else pressing this button, too," said Tenshi.
"Right, there is. There is a tiny chip in my fingernail that the button will sense that it is there and know that I'm the right person to be pressing the button. This way Ryoko won't get freaked out if someone was just continually pressing it," Kiyone finally finished. She headed for the door to leave.
"Hey, you can't go out there! They'll catch you!" Tenshi reminded her. Kiyone walked back and gave him a warm kiss on his lips. Mihoshi turned away. The last person in the room, a woman wearing a rather revealing outfit who hadn't said a word yet, noticed her turn away.
"I have to stop him, Tenshi," Kiyone half-whispered to him. "You know that I won't let him kill anymore innocent people, including Tenchi."
"Tenchi? Tenchi Masaki?" asked the other woman.
"Yes, what about him?"
"He is so hot!" exclaimed the woman. She reminded Kiyone of Mihoshi and the other girls for a second, especially of Ryoko since this woman had blue hair like hers but put in a ponytail.
"Hey!" Mihoshi shouted. "Who do you think you are, trying to steal Tenchi away from us?"
"I'm Akai Hana, Space Pirate and friend of Ryoko I might add," the woman answered. "And you three are Galaxy Police Officers if I'm not mistaken."
"Space Pirate?" asked the human man. "Galaxy Police?" All four of them realized it that second.
"Shit, I knew this would happen sooner or later," Tenshi whispered to Kiyone. "I'm sorry for doing this to you," Tenshi told him.
"Sorry for what?" Tenshi quickly took off one of his boots and hit him over the head with it, knocking the man unconscious.
"What was that for?" Kiyone asked. "He's still going to remember it when he wakes up anyway."
"Not exactly. I hit him in an important memory area of his brain, meaning he won't remember a thing, unless his number is picked. Then it won't matter!" Kiyone was not pleased by Tenshi's jokes.
"Don't you ever joke about that again! If you do, then I'm breaking up with you!" she warned.
"I was only kidding."
"No one kids around here when innocent lives are at stake. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir!" he teased, then instantly regretted doing so when Kiyone gave him an angry look. Kiyone left for the door again.
"You're not serious about doing this yourself, are you?" asked Akai.
"I'm dead serious."
"I could help."
"I don't need help from a Space Pirate like you!" Kiyone shouted.
"Then how are you going to get that door opened?" Kiyone stood there silent, not willing to admit that Akai was right. "Fine, I'll just open the door for you, and then you can be on your own." Akai walked over to the door and produced a tiny fire ball on her finger. With this she was able to burn her way through the lock.
"Thank you, Akai," Kiyone thanked her, although she was totally aware that a Galaxy Police Officer like her was siding with a wanted criminal. Kiyone then walked over to Tenshi.
"Be careful," he told her.
"You too." Kiyone kissed him once again. After she backed away, she put her hands on her forehead and took off her headband.
"What are you doing?" Tenshi asked when she put it in his hands.
"Keep it until I get back. Besides, I needed to get rid of it to disguise myself anyway," Kiyone reminded him, a smile written across her face.
"Good luck, Kiyone."
"Thanks, Akai." Kiyone turned to face Tenshi again when she suddenly heard footsteps coming down the hall. "I better go before the guards come." Kiyone walked backwards out the door still gazing into his eyes. "I promise, I'll come back soon." She turned around and headed down the hall, hoping in her heart with all her might that the guards would not find her so she could get to the children as soon as possible.
Kiyone watched from around the corner as the guards entered their room and saw that she was gone. Some of them stayed to bolt the door down even tighter this time and a few others called for backup. She turned around and silently rushed toward the mansion's giant kitchen before the guards saw her. Kiyone remembered one of them saying something about a free meal. She knew exactly where the children were.
As she ran, Kiyone pulled off her jacket and pants to reveal a jumpsuit. The jumpsuit contained many pockets in which many gadgets and even full outfits were stored in. They were all made flat by the same technology used for her gun, which she had put back into her boot. Kiyone pulled out a chef's outfit and quickly put it on while she was still running through the halls. Kiyone then put her hair back into a bun and then took out a bottle of hair dye, which she then sprayed on her hair. She turned a corner, put the bottle back into her jumpsuit, and pulled out a mirror. Her hair now looked more like blue hair than the dark teal-green hair that she naturally had. Kiyone was so busy with her disguise that she almost missed the kitchen.
"Who are you?" asked one of the chefs. Kiyone immediately fell into her roll as she stumbled to look for her glasses.
"My name is Yuga, and I was just switched from maid to kitchen worker," she explained.
"All right, Yuga, I want you to take this dish of fruit out to the children," the chef instructed. Kiyone snapped into a military salute.
"Yes, sir!" she shouted.
"This is the kitchen, not the army, Yuga. Just take the plate into the dinning room." Kiyone nodded and then realized something.
"Sir, may I ask you what your name is, since I've never worked in the kitchen before?"
"I'm Takumi, and this is my assistant Kirei," the chef answered as he pointed to a beautiful dark purple-haired woman in the corner. "Now get back to work!" Kiyone jumped at his scream and grabbed the plate of cookies. She ran toward the dinning room and slammed her hip into a corner of one of the stoves.
"OOWWW!" Kiyone screamed. Kirei stood at her stove, blinking her eyes in surprise of Kiyone's klutz-like behavior. Takumi was not too pleased.
"Stop running into things and get out there!" he shouted.
"Right!" she exclaimed, half afraid that he might come after her with a spatula and start hitting her with it. Kiyone burst through the dinning room doors, surprising all of the children in two ways. For one thing, Kiyone was leaning against the door trying to catch her breath and act her part, and on the other hand, the children were surprised to see what was on the plate she was holding.
"Cookies!" they all shouted, except for maybe a few of the more mature teenagers. Kiyone walked over to the table and put it down. She had to pull her hand away quick before it got snagged by one of the kids who were only trying to get their hands on a cookie. Kiyone backed up into the kitchen.
"It's a zoo out there!" Kiyone exclaimed. She opened her eyes and took a look around the kitchen. "Where'd Takumi go?"
"He went out into town to get more butter," Kirei explained. She was starting to cook pizza for the kids, since it was unlikely they would enjoy something like salmon or steak. Even though it wasn't elegant, at least they would enjoy it.
"I guess we can't make any more cookies if we don't have any butter," Kiyone assumed.
"Takumi also said that you have to make cheeseburgers for the kids while I make pizza," Kirei added.
"Me? Make cheeseburgers!?" Kiyone screamed. "I'm a Gala—I mean a maid, not a cook! I don't know how to cook!!" she wailed. Kirei rolled her eyes.
"You can work over here across from me and I'll help you." Kiyone rubbed her eyes dry and looked over at Kirei.
"Really? You'll help me?" Kirei nodded. "Oh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Kiyone, still in character, ran over to Kirei and gave her a big hug. As she ran, one of her tools came out of her pocket, one that was small enough that she didn't need to have it flattened. Kirei caught a glimpse of it falling out and she wondered what it was.
"What's this?" she asked as she picked it up after being hugged by Kiyone. The device was a tiny computer, about the size of her palm. It had four buttons and a screen. On the screen were the schematics of Warui's castle and a list of Kiyone's plan to destroy Warui once and for all. "You're trying to kill the master, aren't you?"
"Well, I guess you know now. I'm not a maid or a chef," Kiyone informed her. But I'm not going to tell you that I'm not from this planet, though. "I'm here to rescue the children from Warui."
"So Warui is a killer like the legends say," Kirei thought aloud.
"What?"
"You don't know about the legends?" Kiyone shook her head at her question. "People say that Master Warui is actually three thousand years old," Kirei whispered. Kiyone stood silent, her eyes glaring at Kirei.
"I already knew that," she told her.
"But did you know how he was able to keep his youth all these years?"
"No, I don't." Kirei bent down and motioned for Kiyone to come closer so she could whisper to her.
"Well, Master Warui had married a demon woman without him knowing about it. So one night he noticed that she hadn't aged a day since they had met, while he had aged over twenty years. She told him that the gods decided that she should keep her beauty, but Warui doubted her. He knew something was going on. Warui also noticed that his wife would invite a couple guests over about twice a month, but in the morning there was no sign of them. He had asked her about that for years, but she had always said that they always left early in the morning before he got up. Warui put two and two together and figured she was the reason for their disappearances, since he wouldn't see them in town either. He then spied on his wife in her secret room that was always locked the next time they had guests over. To his surprise, he saw that his wife was torturing their guests, then sucking out their energy to keep her alive.
"Many years passed when Warui didn't say a thing about her secret. He tried it himself a couple times with complete strangers, since he wanted to live forever himself, but nothing worked. His victims would die but he wouldn't receive their energy. Warui finally caved in and told his wife. She was glad that he found out, because she didn't want him to die and be left alone for all eternity, as long as their was someone alive to steal their energy. The one thing Warui couldn't figure out was that there was something special about killing these people. For his wife, it was the joy of torturing people that drew out their energy. Warui tried having fun torturing people, but he didn't see the point in letting them live longer than that. In a way, he felt sorry for their suffering, both there and in their lives. So Warui decided that he would just kill them anyway he possibly could, but without laying a hand on them. His wife was the one who killed them while he stood by watching. For reasons beyond his control, he enjoyed watching people leave this life and go to a better one as he put it. In short, he liked watching people die, whether it was forced upon them or from some illness or old age. His wife's joy was torturing them while his was watching them die. In his opinion, it was better for them, and he only killed people who he thought either deserved to die or had no reason to keep on living. If someone enjoyed their life, he would let them live. That's why he has more than one person here to 'win a prize' as he tells them. He truly doesn't know if they enjoy their lives or not, but he can usually tell by their expressions as they wait in that room he has," Kirei finally finished. She stood up to get a glass of water to clear her throat.
"So what happened next, after Warui found his passion?" asked Kiyone. If she could get enough information out of this woman, Kiyone would be able to outwit Warui and win against him.
"Well, no one really knows. Some say that he had someone kill his wife so he could steal all the energy she had stored for hundreds of years. Some say that he abandoned her on a deserted island and let her die there with no one to steal energy from. It doesn't really matter which one is true, since we know for sure that Warui's wife is dead, but these are all just legends."
"Which one do you believe?"
"I think that he killed her, or had someone do it for him. If he had gotten a hold of all the energy she had, he would've been able to live alone in a secluded place for about a millennium. That way when he came back to society, no one would know who he was and he could continue to do what he did best," Kirei answered. Kiyone just remembered all the people's lives at stake right then.
"I've gotta get to those kids to safety!" she exclaimed, rushing out the door.
"No, you won't." Kiyone stopped in her tracks; she knew who had just spoken.
"Tenshi, what are you doing..." she trailed off as she saw him. Tenshi had a gun in his hand, and he was pointing it straight at her face. Something was different about him, though.
"Look at this nice little reunion here," announced a second person. Kiyone gasped as Warui walked into the kitchen. "So now you know all about me. What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to kill you, you little son of a bitch!" Kiyone screamed. She rushed toward him, reaching for the gun she had put in her chef's cloak. Tenshi inched his gun closer toward her, and she backed off.
"I don't think that's possible, with my little puppet here," Warui told her as he patted Tenshi on his shoulder. Puppet? Kiyone looked into Tenshi's eyes, and the sight shocked her. He stole his soul!
"Give back Tenshi's soul!" Kiyone shouted. To her surprise, Warui started to laugh.
"That's not possible either, because his soul his mine now." Warui patted his stomach to show that he had absorbed his soul.
"You bastard!" Kiyone screamed. She pulled out her gun from her boot, enlarged it to normal size, then shot a huge blast toward Warui. The blast was so big, it took out the hall and a lot of the rooms in the general area. When the smoke from the blast dissipated, Tenshi and Warui still remained standing. Kirei on the other hand had ducked in an empty cabinet next to Kiyone. Both Tenshi and Kiyone stood silent with their guns still pointing straight at each other. Neither of them made a sound. Kirei stood up from where she was hiding to see the destruction Kiyone's weapon had caused.
"You're not from this world, are you?" she asked Kiyone.
"No, I'm not. My name is Kiyone Makibi, Galaxy Police Officer," Kiyone answered, her gaze still fixed on Tenshi. Kirei looked at Tenshi, then Kiyone, then back at Tenshi. She understood what Kiyone was going through.
"Give up yet, Kiyone?" Warui inquired. He didn't have a scratch on him.
"If it's me you want, let the others go," Kiyone demanded, never moving her gaze.
"Fine, the children can go, but the adults will stay in their sealed room." Kiyone nodded and slightly turned her head towards Kirei.
"Kirei, I want you to take the children and get out of here. Find the right map on that computer you have, and you should be able to find a way out," Kiyone instructed.
"What about you?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Kiyone turned to face Kirei and smiled. "Now go!"
"Be careful!" Kirei shouted as she ran to the dinning room door, the mini computer in hand. Kiyone returned her gaze to Warui.
"We're going to finish this, Warui, once and for all," Kiyone warned.
"I'd like to see you try."
Kirei burst through the dinning room doors to see a whole bunch of maniac kids. The teens were all behaving normally, maybe a little too maturely, but the younger kids were all fighting over the last of the cookies.
"It's mine!" shouted one of them.
"No, it's mine!" shouted another. Kirei felt like her head was going to burst.
"All of you better shut up!" Kirei screamed. They all turned to look at her. "There's been a little problem, so we have to send you all home," she tried to explain.
"What's the problem?" asked one of the nosy kids.
"Yeah, spill it!" Kirei regretted telling them the truth, but it had to be done.
"The person who invited you here only did so to, to..." Kirei paused for a minute; she didn't want to scare the children. "He brought you here to kill you, and I have to get you out of here." Kirei stopped to catch her breath. The entire room fell silent.
"I knew something was going on!" Kashikoi exclaimed.
"You don't have to sound so happy to hear it!" shouted the same boy who had said everything was fine when they had gotten to the mansion.
"How do we get out of here?" asked another one of the teenagers as she ignored their bickering. Kirei looked at the map on the screen and searched through the levels to find an exit. She got to the second deepest floor and noticed the secret entrance down to the beach.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. Kirei accidentally pressed one of the buttons on the front in her joy of finding a way out.
"Please state your command," spoke the computer. Everyone jumped back when the voice unsuspectingly came out of the computer.
"It must be voice automated if it's so small," Kashikoi proposed. The boy she was arguing with stuck his tongue out at her; she was being a smart alec anyway.
"Sketch out directions from the dinning room on the first floor to the secret entrance below us on the second deepest floor," Kirei instructed the computer, even though she felt awkward doing so. The computer made a few beeping noises, and then they stopped.
"The route has been shown in red on the map, and the precise directions are listed below," it told her.
"All right, let's head downstairs!" Kirei exclaimed. The kids started to run out the door while Kashikoi and Kirei remained.
"I'll take up the rear since you have the way to get there," Kashikoi offered.
"Thank you, I'd appreciate it." Kirei ran to catch up with the others and get in the front while Kashikoi headed for the rear and made sure everyone stayed in between them on their way down to the secret entrance.
"I'm not going to give up until I you're dead, Warui."
"I know that, but there's something you don't know," he announced.
"What is it?" Kiyone asked.
"When I take the energy from someone, I take their mind as well, meaning I have all of their skill and knowledge. It also means that without the mind, their souls can't travel to the next world," Warui answered, a corrupt smile on his face.
"You are the evil thief we all thought you to be!" Kiyone burst out. Her surprised face changed back to the serious one she had on before. "Then with all their knowledge you must know that evil never wins."
"Not in this case, my friend."
"You're not my friend or anyone's friend!" Kiyone screamed. She fired her weapon again, but this time the explosion was much larger, knocking out several more rooms. She could hear Warui's devilish laugh through the smoke.
"You think you can win against me?" he asked her, still laughing harder and harder. "I not only take their minds, but I take their strength as well. And with all of the people whom I've collected energy from, no blast can destroy me!"
The children screamed as the house shook around them. Kirei stopped in her tracks, making sure everyone was still safe. Kashikoi gave a thumbs up from the back of the group.
"What was that?" asked a younger child.
"It was a blast from Kiyone's battle," Kirei answered. She stared back in Kiyone's direction. "I hope you find a way to beat him, Kiyone," she whispered. Kirei turned back to the group and gave them a smile. "Come on, we've got an appointment to make." She started walking and all the rest followed her, but one child still remained. He stood still, almost trembling, pointing to a bolted door.
"What's the matter?" asked Kashikoi as she caught up.
"Th-there's a monster in there," he mumbled.
"There's no such things as monsters, okay?" she assured him. He shook his head and kept pointing at the door. Kashikoi heard something going on inside. They stared at the door just waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the door was knocked off its hinges and was sent flying straight toward her and the little boy. Kashikoi grabbed the boy and jumped out of the way.
"No bolts can hold me down!" exclaimed a woman from inside the room. She stepped out into the hall and noticed the children staring at her.
"Who are you?" asked Kirei.
"I'm Akai Hana, what's it to you?"
"Akai, don't be so hard on them, they're only kids," said a second person. Kirei gasped.
"You-you're the man who's fighting with Warui!" she exclaimed.
"Who me?" he asked. Kirei nodded. "That's impossible, I'm right here," Tenshi assured her as he came all the way into the hall. They noticed there was another smaller man hung over his shoulder.
"Can we just get out of here?" Mihoshi whined as she stepped into the hall to join them. "What's going on?" she asked when she saw the children and Kirei standing in front of her.
"Kiyone is battling Warui and apparently a fake Tenshi in the kitchen. She told me to get all of the children to safety," Kirei explained.
"Do you know the way?" Tenshi asked her.
"Got it right here." She held up the mini computer with the map of the mansion on the screen.
"Great, we'll all go."
"I'm staying," Akai announced.
"What for?"
"Apparently Kiyone needs my help, and I'm just the person to help her," she answered.
"All right, then good luck, Akai," Tenshi told her. He held out his hand.
"Good luck to you guys and you better warn Ryoko that I'm coming." Akai grabbed his hand and they shook hands.
"I thought you guys were friends," Mihoshi pondered.
"Only sometimes." Akai waved to them and then headed down the hall.
"Wait!" Kirei yelled. Akai stopped and looked back in confusion. "Don't tell Kiyone that it's not really Tenshi she's facing, it would only make things worse."
"Sure." Akai continued down the hall until she vanished out of sight.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Kirei. They continued their on way downstairs, but Mihoshi hesitated. She wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing by leaving her best friend alone with a Space Pirate like Akai. Mihoshi shook her head and followed the rest of the group.
"As long as we're here, there are some questions I want answered," Kiyone demanded.
"Ask away, I've got all eternity."
"If they don't have a mind, what happens to a person's soul when you steal their mind?" she asked.
"They wander around the planet until the holder of their mind is freed, which won't happen any time soon," Warui answered.
"So they're just wandering souls, just floating around not even knowing what's happened to them?"
"That's right."
"So when you killed your wife, did you attain all of the minds she possessed?"
"No, some of them got away and found their souls, the rest were lunch for me!" Warui exclaimed with an evil look on his face. This didn't surprise Kiyone one bit.
"How did they find their souls?"
"The minds called out for them and they came like puppies returning to their child friends." Kiyone suddenly had an idea, but she would have to put it on hold. Akai appeared a foot to Warui's left and punched him in the face. Kiyone figured this would happen, but she didn't know that Warui wouldn't block it or dodge it. Instead, she saw him being knocked across what was left of the kitchen.
"With all your knowledge, you still don't have good reflexes, Warui," Akai ridiculed.
"I told you I could take care of this myself!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"Fine job you did here," Akai noted as she took a look around. Tenshi hadn't moved a single inch since Kiyone first approached him. "Let's make an agreement. I'll do the physical stuff, you do the mental stuff."
"Got it," Kiyone nodded. Akai through an energy blast straight toward Warui. He still didn't dodge it and ended up flying even further down the halls of his mansion and into the garden.
"You little bitch!" he screamed as he got up. He sent his own attack at Akai, but she was able to block it. Kiyone and Tenshi were knocked off their feet and were blown through the kitchen wall, then the dinning room, and then into another hallway. Kiyone got up from the wreckage with only a few scratches. She looked over at Tenshi, but the sight broke her heart.
"Tenshi, don't die!" she screamed. "Without your body, we can't revive your soul!" Kiyone's wailing didn't help, since it was only an illusion in the first place. The fake Tenshi's eyes closed as his body 'died.' "No, I can't live without you," Kiyone sobbed.
"Face it Kiyone, your boyfriend is dead now, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Warui shouted. He had managed to hold back Akai and tie her to a tree outside. Their brief battle had caused some damage only to his outfit and not to himself.
"Yes there is," Kiyone told him in the coldest voice she could manage. "Minds that are trapped within this beast, yell out your cry! Shout for your souls to join you!" she shouted. Warui thought she had gone insane, but her plan was just beginning to work.
"Come save us!" shouted a voice. It was coming from inside of Warui's body and mind.
"Souls, we long to see you!" shouted another. Out of nowhere as if magically appeared the souls of the people trapped in Warui. They looked more like mindless zombies to Kiyone. The thousands upon thousands of souls appeared in front of Warui and they all reached inside him. Some of the closer one's were able to pull out their minds, and they vanished as soon as they found them.
"No! What are you doing?" Warui panicked. When each of the souls got close enough to just touch him, they waited a couple seconds to find their mind, then disappeared. With less minds inside Warui's one mind, it became easier and easier for the souls to find them. It wasn't too long before almost all of them were gone. "No, come back!" Warui screamed. Without his stolen energy, the years were finally catching up to him. Warui now looked they way he should for his age, except he was still barely alive.
"He's an actually living mummy," Kiyone noted. She noticed Warui produced something in his hand.
"If I'm going out, I might as well go out with a bang!" he laughed.
"That's a bomb!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"You're absolutely right! And in two minutes, everything around me, including my beautiful mansion, will be destroyed! So you might as well save yourselves, that is if you still have time!" The digital clock on the bomb started at two minutes and started counting down. Kiyone saw that the timer was going a little faster than usual.
"That's not fair! You're speeding it up!" she complained.
"The more time you waste here, the more time gets faster!" Warui chuckled. The clock started to get faster. She only had a minute and a half left after only ten seconds had passed.
"Kiyone!" Akai shouted. Kiyone ran over to where she was trapped and helped her down. "There's no time for you to run down to the secret exit, Kiyone, so we might as well fly there."
"Right!" Kiyone jumped onto Akai's back just as she was about to lift herself off the ground. Akai looked at how much time they had left. The clock read twenty seconds.
"Adios, amigos!" Warui shouted insanely as Akai rushed toward the beach. Just before she got down there, the bomb exploded. Akai was hit with the blast and was knocked onto the sand.
"Kiyone! You're all right!" Kirei exclaimed. She ran over to her new friend and helped her up. Akai got up on her own. She saw Ryoko standing with Ryo-Ohki in it's cabbit form. She walked over to her old friend with a half smile on her face.
"It's nice to see you again, Akai," Ryoko informed her.
"Same to you, Ryoko."
"How did you get yourself in this mess in the first place?"
"I had a hunch she would be needing my help," Akai answered, looking back at Kiyone. The young Galaxy Police Officer was surrounded by Kirei and all of the children, who were thanking her for saving their lives.
"Good job, partner," Tenshi announced. He had been hiding himself from her for awhile because he knew she thought he was dead, since no one who was in the mansion before the explosion was alive now. Kiyone turned around and her eyes widened.
"Tenshi! You're not dead!" she exclaimed as she ran to his outstretched arms.
"I certainly hope not!" he joked. Kiyone put her finger to his mouth, telling him to be quiet.
"I'm just glad you're here with me now." Kiyone brought her lips to his and pulled her arms all the way around him as they joined in the kiss. Mihoshi turned away and headed past Ryoko and Akai.
"Hey, Mihoshi, where are you going?" Ryoko asked her. Mihoshi stopped in her tracks, her arms shaking. Both blue-haired girls could see the tears landing on the sand, no matter how hard Mihoshi tried to hide them.
"She's truly happy with him and that's all that matters," she answered. Mihoshi started to run off but something stopped her. "Why can't I just forget about her!"
"Because you care about her," Akai told her. Both her and Ryoko joined Mihoshi and faced her tear-struck face.
"And you'd give your life for the sake of your friendship with her," Ryoko added.
"But she won't be friends with me, she has HIM."
"Sure she would, if you only let her, Mihoshi." Akai put her hand on Mihoshi's shoulder to comfort her.
"Now that Kiyone doesn't have to worry about losing her life or Tenchi's life, you can get back in touch with her," Ryoko continued.
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to see you miserable like this, Mihoshi." Mihoshi bent her head towards the sand and saw her tears fall on it. This time they were tears of joy. She wiped her eyes and glanced from Akai and then to Ryoko.
"Thank you for helping me remember my friendship with Kiyone," she told them. Mihoshi turned around and ran back to Kiyone. "Kiyone!" Mihoshi yelled, waving her arms frantically. She held out her arms and jumped toward Kiyone, giving her a giant hug.
"I'm glad you're back to your cheerful self, Mihoshi," Kiyone smiled.
"I'm glad that you're back, period!" Mihoshi exclaimed, still as hyper as ever. She backed from their embrace and her heel got caught on a rock. Mihoshi fell towering down flat on her back. The children all laughed at her klutz behavior as she rubbed her foot. Kiyone laughed at her as well, and she saw Ryoko and Akai standing next to Ryo-Ohki, who was now in ship form. They both blinked at her and jumped into the ship. Ryo-Ohki took off before anyone could notice that the ship was there.
"Well, it looks like things are back to normal," Tenshi proclaimed as he came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Kiyone turned around to watch the unfolding event as Mihoshi tried to stand up but kept falling on her back, making the children forget that they never received their free meal. Tenshi handed Kiyone back her headband and smiled at her, remembering his promise to her.
"It sure does." Kiyone smiled at the happy scene just as the sun set over the ocean, making it a beautiful orange and yellow sky all across the horizon.
Meanwhile...
"I hope this is enough butter for those cookies," Takumi said to himself. He looked up just as he got to the driveway to the mansion, or what was left of it. "The mansion! What happened here?" Takumi dropped the butter and ran toward where the kitchen used to be. "What happened to my beautiful kitchen!" Takumi's wailing could be heard throughout the whole neighborhood as he ran around looking for any intact pots or pans of his that he might find.
Author's Notes
Hello, hello people! Wow, I finally got this fic done after many long hard nights of working on it! I was tested many times with my three inch portable plug-in TV sitting half a foot away from my computer monitor, and with so many good shows on! Actually, it only gets local channels, so I am limited to what I can watch in my room. It's not like I can even move my 32 inch TV two inches off the ground with three people moving it, let alone getting it upstairs! That would be a pain, anyway. My TV only weighs a few pounds, but there are some down sides besides only getting local channels. For one thing, I have to move the antenna to get the right reception for each channel, and the right spot changes from time to time for some odd reason. The other thing is that my brother sometimes steals it and brings it into his room, even though my step-grandma specifically gave it to me. My brother was there when she asked us if we wanted it. He didn't say anything, but I said sure, meaning it's mine! Maybe I'm being a little selfish here, but my TV isn't the point! The point is that this fic is finally over! This is the longest one part fic I've written! Okay, I've only written one other one part fic and one fifteen part fic, but I have about a thousand ideas for other fics and even some original stories as well. Fine, I'll get on with the point and stop wasting your time!
The idea for this fic actually came to me in a dream, but it was a little bit different. There was a lot more to my dream, but I can only remember a little bit, since I dreamt it a couple weeks ago (I have an excellent long term memory, like I can remember the exact date I did something that's actually insignificant and unimportant, but my short term memory isn't very good. It's why I don't get my homework done sometimes. Okay sometimes I actually forget it, but most of the time I just ignore it anyway). All I can remember is that I am in the dinning room with all of the kids sitting around the table, and I'm in some disguise. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was probably the same one Kiyone wore as the chef disguise. I, or someone else because I remember seeing them talk from a third person point of view instead talking from a first person point of view, was talking to the children at the table. I was saying something about this guy picking one of their numbers and that person would be killed. Then a guard came out and took them away to get their 'prize.' As you can tell, this is where I got the concept for Warui's killing game. I also remember 'me' sneaking around the building, but I was going down those brick spiraling stairs they have in towers to castles back in the Middle Ages. I decided not to do that because it would seem like Kiyone was going everywhere in the mansion for no reason, but that's all I remember from my dream.
I don't know why I picked Kiyone to be the main character in this one. I knew I had to do someone else besides myself. Even in stories I make up when I'm not dreaming, the main character usually starts to be me. This is because they're probably doing something that I always wanted to do. I didn't want to be in Kiyone's situation, but dreams are different. I have no idea if that was me or someone else. I'm a big shoujo fan, but I also like a lot of other stuff like Tenchi Muyo, so my stories start out with me being a new senshi, and then later I change it to someone else. Even though I enjoy my life with all the anime I watch and the manga I read, I still want something more. I want to be able to fly through the sky (I have flying dreams a lot, I had one last night for instance even though I only slept for five hours because I was up till 2 am watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Okay, I know I'm not old enough, but I can take it. I only heard swearing in two of the six shows this time around, but there was definitely plenty of violence. It's not like it's something new to me anyway, and I hear more swearing during one day at school, and I had warned you about the swearing in this fic before I started. Hey, I'm only two years away from eighteen. I would've slept in then anyway, but I had to get up early to go to church. I bet you're thinking my side commentary in the parenthesis, which is taking up a lot of space, is annoying, but you're learning things here. You know that I finished this on a Sunday night, and that I'm sixteen, well two months away from being sixteen. But I just had to watch Outlaw Star cause it was the last episode, which probably wasn't good for me since I hadn't seen it for over a year, and I was desperate to watch an episode, and it was good too!, and if you don't like Outlaw Star, well then too bad because I do, if you couldn't already tell. Yes, this is my real personality shining through here, but if you met me in person, I would barely talk at all, unless it was about anime of course. Even then my friends are usually the ones holding the conversations, I just listen and laugh), go back in time so I could avoid a huge commentary like that, and have magical powers just like any good shoujo character. And now that my commentary took up most of this paragraph, it's time to move on to a new topic.
I think that's about all for now. If you have any questions regarding this fic or any of my others, if I have others at the time when you read this (you might read it after I add new ones, or you might read it right after I post it, or I should just stop doing this side commentary here!), just email me at europa_star33@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate any comments you write for me on FanFiction.net, or flames if you prefer. There's only one condition with the flames. I would like it if you flame my story and not the show itself. If you don't like Tenchi Muyo, then don't tell it to me because I don't care! I didn't create Tenchi Muyo, only the new characters in this story. You can flame them all you want, but don't flame the Tenchi Muyo characters. Go to a Tenchi Muyo site to do that if you want to. Technically, I don't have legal copyrights on my characters or story, but please, PLEASE don't take it unless you ask me by my email and give me credit for it. Tenchi Muyo and its characters are copyright Hitoshi Okuda/AIC/Pioneer, etc. I can prove I don't own rights to them because I don't know everything about the show and I might've gotten something wrong in my story, like gotten a name spelled wrong (except mine, cause that's how my Japanese dictionary spelled them, and yes all of my six characters do mean something in Japanese. Akai Hana is Red Flower, Kashikoi means wise or clever, Takumi means skillful (cause he's such a good cook), Kirei means pretty, Warui means bad (figures, huh?), and Kiyone already told you what Tenshi means when she met him) or any grammatical errors and whatnot. If I do have anything wrong, please tell me, and tell me what your honest opinion about the story is. I need all the criticism I can get, even somewhat negative sounding constructive criticism, if I want to be a good writer. For my final, yes final, word, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read my fic, no matter how long it was, or maybe it was the author's notes that was too long. Anyway, thank you and please click below to add comments. Please, add all the comments you want! Even tell your friends about this, and then have them comment! All right, enough self-advertising. Okay, I go now. Bye-bye!
^.^ :) ;)
Kiyone dodged the sword and jumped back about twenty feet. She had faced the blade many times. "My number wasn't drawn, idiot!" she shouted at her opponent.
"He knows that, but there's another reason he wants you dead," he responded, his monotone voice reflecting off the high stone walls at the top of the beach.
"Enlighten me."
"My master knows about all your adventures out in space," he paused and gave her an evil smile, "with your sweetheart Tenchi Masaki." Kiyone gasped at his words, she had figured it out.
"You want Tenchi, don't you?" she asked walking backwards as he came closer.
"By killing you, we will draw your comrades here, and then he will be ours." Kiyone collapsed onto the sand. Not Tenchi, anyone but Tenchi.
"But why not get one of the other girls?" Kiyone asked him, her head still pointing toward the sand.
"It is too hard to kill Ryoko with the weapons that we have, Ayeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi would just struggle and not make it fun at all, and then Washu would just try to prove some other way to capture Tenchi without killing her by using science," he explained. "You on the other hand, are a tough fighter and won't give up until the battle is finally over. Killing you will be very entertaining for my master." Kiyone's ears perked up as she heard a faint sound.
"Yeah, well he'll have to try some other day," Kiyone told him as she stood up. Her opponent jumped back when the ship suddenly appeared in front of him. A side entrance opened up and another woman popped out.
"Kiyone! Grab hold!" the blond called out. Kiyone grabbed a hold of her hand and jumped onto the platform. As the door closed, Kiyone realized something.
"Mihoshi, who's piloting this ship?" she asked nervously, hoping the answer wasn't no one.
"Take it easy, Kiyone, I've got everything under control!" Washu shouted from the cockpit. Kiyone sighed as Washu piloted the ship to safety. "So Kiyone, how did that creep get a hold of you anyway?"
"He kidnapped me on the streets unsuspected, along with some other person," Kiyone explained as she joined Washu in the cockpit.
"So he just kidnaps people for no reason?"
"No there's a reason," she answered. Kiyone hesitated a little before continuing. "His hobby is taking random people from the streets and killing one of them."
"EEW!" Mihoshi shouted from behind her. Washu was startled and Kiyone rolled her eyes. "Why would anyone do such an evil thing?"
"Maybe because he IS evil," Kiyone answered.
"Mihoshi, I think we have some donuts in the back," Washu told her.
"Yeah! Donuts!" Mihoshi exclaimed. Kiyone sighed as her hyperactive partner ran to the back of the small ship. Washu pressed a button to lock the cockpit doors so Mihoshi wouldn't bother them again.
"Thank you, Washu."
"No problem. Besides, there's a whole crate full of a variety of donuts!" Washu laughed.
"What for?"
"This particular situation," she answered. "Now, where were we?"
"Well, what he does is he takes a handful of people, gives them each a number, picks a number at random, and whoever has that number gets killed," Kiyone continued.
"Pretty brutal guy, isn't he?" Kiyone didn't smile at her joke. "So, I'm presuming your number was drawn."
"No, it wasn't." Washu turned to her and saw a single tear streaking her face. "He wants to kill me no matter if my number is drawn or not. He thinks that if he kills me, he'll be able to draw your attention to him, and then he'll capture Tenchi." Neither one of them spoke for awhile. For once in her life, Washu watched as Kiyone cried her heart out. "By saving my own life, I'm also saving Tenchi's life. I know it's the right thing, but it makes me feel selfish, that I'm looking out for my life first, and then his second."
"I know you only mean the best for Tenchi, we all do," Washu reassured her. She patted Kiyone gently on her back and turned her attention back to their course.
Meanwhile in the galley, Mihoshi had discovered the case of donuts. "Wahoo! I hit the jackpot!" She stuffed a handful of donuts down her throat. "Glazed donuts, cream filled donuts, chocolate donuts, old fashioned donuts…" This went on and on until Mihoshi's stomach couldn't take anymore donuts.
One week had passed since Kiyone had been in the clutches of this new evil. She had spent long nights thinking of what she should do next time he kidnapped her, since he would just keep capturing her and she would escape. The only way to stop him was to fight back and not keep running away, but she did not know how to do this. Even Washu, the legendary genius was of no help. She also hadn't told anyone besides Washu of her predicament. Kiyone figured Mihoshi was curious about what had been going on when they rescued her that day on the beach, but her mind had been occupied by other things. Kiyone was distracted from time to time as well.
"Did you hear me, Kiyone?" She popped her head up. Her thoughts had distracted her from her duties. "I said you're going to be assigned to a new partner."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Kiyone, don't try to fool me. I know you want to get rid of Mihoshi and get a better partner, so that's exactly what we're doing." Kiyone still didn't look at the screen in front of her. She was constantly annoyed by Mihoshi, but she felt sorry for leaving her. "He is on his way."
"He?" Kiyone asked as the transmission ended. Great, Kiyone thought, another man to look after. I hope he doesn't have the same troubles that Tenchi has, with all these girls around bothering him all the time. Just then, the ship shook as it docked with another. Kiyone turned around to watch her new partner come in through the air lock. She was instantly lost in his beauty.
"Kiyone Makibi?" he asked.
"Hai…" she answered. His dark blue-green hair swayed back and forth as he took of his Galaxy Police hat. That's when she noticed the blue headband underneath his bangs. "I like your headband," Kiyone told him, her mind off in another world.
"Yours is cool too." Kiyone gasped.
"He likes my headband!" she whispered to herself, almost too loudly.
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing!" she laughed, trying to hide her embarrassment. Wait a minute; this isn't like me at all. I'm starting to act like, like, MIHOSHI! Kiyone grasped her head and tried to shake the dumb blondness out of it.
"Kiyone, who's this?" asked Mihoshi as she got back from the galley. She had just finished off the crate of donuts Washu had left there. Here comes trouble, Kiyone thought to herself.
"This is, um, who are you anyway?" Kiyone asked him as she realized she didn't even know his name.
"Tenshi Tengokuno," he answered. Angel of Heaven, Kiyone thought, wow...
"Tenshi, your name is really close to our friend Tenchi!" Mihoshi exclaimed. "But why is he here?" she whispered to Kiyone.
"I'v-I've been assigned a new partner," Kiyone answered looking at the ground. Mihoshi took a step back; she was shocked beyond belief.
"You're abandoning me?"
"No, Mihoshi, it wasn't my choice!"
"I can't believe it…"
"I'm sorry, Mihoshi, but I came here to be partners with Kiyone and to bring you back to headquarters so you can be assigned your new partner," Tenshi explained.
"I'm sorry, too," Kiyone apologized.
"Well sorry isn't going to help!" Mihoshi shouted. She took off down the corridor and toward Tenshi's ship.
"Mihoshi!" Kiyone called after her.
"Don't Kiyone, Mihoshi needs to be alone now," Tenshi reminded her.
"It wasn't my fault, and I don't want her to be mad at me."
"I know." Tenshi bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry about Mihoshi. She has such a sunny personality that she'll forget that she's upset with you." He waved to her as he headed back to his ship. "I'll be back in a couple hours." Kiyone waved back to him, her cheeks as red as cherries. No one had ever kissed her before, not even Tenchi. As Tenshi's ship left, Kiyone's ship was being attacked. She rushed back to the cockpit to see who was attacking her.
"Hello my dear." The sound of a familiar person came through the communicator, and then his face appeared. "Miss me?"
"Just give up. You're never going to get Tenchi!" Kiyone exclaimed as she terminated the transmission. She started up the accelerator and sped off in a randomly chosen direction. His ship was not too far behind. He fired a couple shots and none of them hit her. He fired a few more and this time they hit her engine.
"You're mine, Kiyone!"
Kiyone stood in the dark room next to Warui's other victim with a single light shining above them. It was a young woman around the same age as Kiyone. She had blond hair and blue eyes; Kiyone expected him to choose a person with such beauty. She was surrounded with fear, while Kiyone on the other hand had her arms crossed. She was getting impatient.
"Here are the rules of the game," a muffled voice emerged from a speaker. It sounded like it was coming from all directions to confuse them. Kiyone was not appalled by their tricks, she was expecting them. "Each of you will get a number, and if your number is not drawn, you will go home with nothing. If your number is drawn, you get a special surprise." The other woman's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, right," Kiyone whispered. "Hey Warui! Are you going to tell her what the surprise is?"
"Kiyone, if you don't shut your mouth, you're going to get the surprise!" Warui shouted through the speaker.
"I suggest you keep talking, because it sounds fun," the blond told Kiyone.
"It sounds fun now," Kiyone told her back, and then turned your attention back to Warui. "What's the point anyway, you big jerk! Even if my number isn't drawn I'm still going to get the 'surprise'." Kiyone made the quote movements with her fingers, even though he couldn't see them. By the tone of her voice, he could tell anyway.
"I'm glad that you're not spoiling my secret for this nice young lady," the other woman blushed, "but I'm warning you, bitch!" Kiyone balled her hands into fists. She felt like slamming her hand into the light bulb or one of the speakers to prove that she wasn't afraid of him.
"Well that wasn't a nice thing to say," said the blond woman. Kiyone rolled her eyes. Suddenly, a screen popped to life in front of them. On it was the image of two numbers.
"Kiyone, you're 29, and the nice young lady is 54. Both these numbers will be put on a wheel with ten slots, your numbers in five slots each," Warui explained. The image on the screen zoomed out to show the 29 and the 54 multiplying five times and placing themselves around the wheel that appeared behind them. "The computer will spin the wheel, and you already know the rest." The wheel started to spin, slowly at first and then faster and faster. It started to slow down, and then it finally landed on a number. It was 54.
"Congratulations! You won the prize!" Warui exclaimed.
"Yeah, I won!" the blond exclaimed. Three guards appeared, one of them escorting her away, and the other two leading Kiyone out the door.
"Don't take the prize!" Kiyone shouted. "It's a trap! DON'T TAKE THE PRIZE!" The two guards held Kiyone back as the blond woman was taken away. "Don't do it." Warui appeared on the screen, his face blurred so she couldn't see him. "You son of a bi—"
"I would advise you not to say that," Warui scolded, waving his finger back and forth. Kiyone just got madder and madder.
"What makes you think you can just decide the fate of these people?"
"They were bound to die someday, why not make it sooner?" he asked her.
"One of these days I'm going give you everything you deserve," she warned.
"Gonna, woulda, shoulda. You bore me, you know. That's why I'm going to enjoy killing you." He snapped his fingers and the guards pulled Kiyone toward the same door the blond woman had gone through. Just then, Kiyone heard the terrifying screams of the poor woman. Kiyone cringed when the screaming stopped.
"You're not going to kill me so easily!" Kiyone screamed. She broke free of the guards' grip and ran down the hall and towards the trap door. She opened it and slid down the slide. In a few minutes, she hit the sand on the beach. There waiting for her was Tenshi in their ship. Kiyone jumped onto the platform and inside as the door closed. They sped away as the guards landed on the sand and started firing at them.
"Who was it this time?" Tenshi asked as she joined him in the cockpit.
"A young blond woman the same age as me," Kiyone answered. "This is getting old, Tenshi."
"He's never going to give up, and you're never going to escape him completely," Tenshi reminded her.
"You're right, I can't give up." Kiyone turned to him. He had something on his mind, she could tell.
"So, was this the fourth time this happened?"
"Fifth."
"I'm sure there will be plenty more times."
"Only one more." Tenshi turned to her in confusion. "I won't stand for the killing of innocent people anymore. I'm a Galaxy Police Officer, for crying out loud! Next time is going to be different, I'm sure of it."
Weeks had passed, then months. Warui hadn't captured Kiyone directly, but there had been many reports of missing persons in Tokyo. Galaxy Police Intelligence had told them that they believed he would next attack a popular shopping mall in Tokyo, and this time he would take more than a few victims. Tenshi and Kiyone had been assigned the duty of undercover work at the mall waiting for Warui to show up.
"I've studied Warui's tactics for months, and I know he is never late to an appointment," Kiyone announced. She and Tenshi were dressed in normal human clothes instead of their usual uniforms.
"Yeah, well he's late today," said Tenshi. Suddenly, a voice came from a loudspeaker down on the first floor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a security breach and we have been told to evacuate the mall," the man announced. Kiyone looked down from where they were on the third of the four floors. She concentrated on the face of the man with the speaker. He was wearing a police officer's uniform, but there was something familiar about him.
"That's one of the guards from Warui's mansion!" Kiyone exclaimed. She and Tenshi took out their concealed guns and she motioned to head downstairs.
"Excuse me, but the use of weapons is prohibited in this mall." Kiyone turned her head to see a police man in front of her. His right hand was on his gun holster while his left hand was extended to grab their guns. He tilted his head down so they could see his eyes. "Recognize my voice?"
"Warui!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"Hand me the guns, and no one will get hurt," he demanded. They obeyed and gave him the guns. "Now, I'd like to bring you down to the station for questioning."
"Is that what you call your little fun house mansion?" Kiyone whispered to Warui.
"Shut your trap, bitch, and no one gets hurt." He escorted them downstairs and to his police car. When they were down on the street, Kiyone noticed twelve little kids between the ages of eight and fourteen being put into an ice cream truck. What is he doing this time, kidnapping kids for his killing pleasure as well? Kiyone also noticed three other adults being escorted into another police car. Two of them she did not know, but the third one she did. Mihoshi!
The trip to Warui's mansion didn't take very long, maybe ten minutes. Kiyone didn't know exactly how long. She didn't even dare to speak on the trip there or Warui would've killed her on the spot. When they arrived, about ten guards came out to escort the groups into the mansion. All of the adults knew what was going on, but the children didn't. Kiyone looked over towards the ice cream truck when it arrived. They were far away, but she could still hear the children talking.
"Wow, this is great!" exclaimed one of them, a chubby red-head.
"Free toys and a free meal!" shouted another one, maybe one of the younger ones.
"I don't like this one bit," a third one announced. She was one of the older children, older and wiser apparently. The four other young teens nodded in agreement.
"Chill out, Kashikoi," one of the middle-aged boys assured her. "If there was anything suspicious about this, I would be the first to know." Kiyone sweat dropped. Doesn't look like you're very good at it, kid, she thought.
"Come this way, children," announced one of the guards. The younger half cheered while the older half still regretted this and cheered anyway a little reluctantly so that they wouldn't worry the younger children. Some of the other guards came and escorted the adults inside the mansion. Kiyone watched as Kashikoi and the other kids went down one hall while they went down another. They finally stopped at a room at the very end of a hall. It was dark and cold inside. The guard turned the light on and made sure they were all inside before he locked the door.
"Now what?" asked Tenshi. The five adults looked around the room and found that it was completely empty. The only thing inside the room besides the light, the stone walls, and themselves was an obvious security camera.
"Don't worry, Tenshi, I've been thinking this through long and hard, and through all my research I came up with a plan if I was ever in this situation," Kiyone assured him.
"What's your plan?"
"Besides the times when I was brought here against my will, I've visited this mansion many times as an undercover spy. I know this place like the back of my hand, and Warui knows it, too. He wanted me to come here on my own and know all about this place, about how he'd kill me," Kiyone explained. "You would not believe what I have seen."
"I bet I would," Mihoshi announced. Kiyone almost forgot she was there, she had been silent the entire time. It was like when Kiyone left, Mihoshi turned into a different person.
"Mihoshi, I know you're still upset with me, but for right now, let's leave all of this behind us."
"Why should I?"
"One or more of those children could die today, plus one of us, and I'm not going to let your feelings for me or my feelings for anyone stand in my way of saving their lives. You wouldn't believe the horror of the situation because you don't know the whole story, Mihoshi."
"What is the whole story?" the blond asked, her arms crossed. "I mean, this guy couldn't have been doing this for his entire life, could he?"
"That's exactly the point, but he's been killing innocent people for longer than you can imagine," Kiyone answered.
"So how old is he then, fifty, sixty years old?"
"Much older."
"How much older?"
"Let's say about three thousand years!" Kiyone almost screamed. Mihoshi did not budge an inch when normally she would have cowered or done something else to show at least some emotion. Something had definitely changed her.
"I don't mean to be rude," Tenshi continued from before Mihoshi butted into their conversation, "but I'd like to repeat my question. What's your plan?"
"There's a secret tunnel located on the second floor, actually the floor above the one buried almost 100 feet in the ground. There is a passageway that leads to the beach from the secret entrance. I've talked to Ryoko and she agreed to meet us on the beach with Ryo-Ohki if we were ever to be caught," Kiyone explained.
"But how does she know we're here?" Kiyone walked over to the security camera and ducked underneath it where she could not be seen. She noticed that Tenshi gasped when he realized that it had been there the entire time.
"Don't worry, it doesn't tape the sound, only the image," she reassured him. She reached into her left boot and took out a knife. She held it like she was going to stab someone and prepared to slam it into the camera. When she did, the guards up in the security room noticed the camera had been broken and sent someone to find out why and how. Kiyone in the meantime put the knife back and took something out of her right boot.
"What's that?" Tenshi asked.
"It's a gun that the genius Washu made for me." The others were puzzled: the gun was paper thin. "There is a button on the side here that enlarges it and flattens it out so that I can store it anywhere I want."
"But what if those guards get a hold of it?" asked one of the other two adults, a man in his thirties who had no clue that the others weren't even from Earth.
"Simple. The button is big enough that it reads my fingerprint, and if the finger that presses it isn't mine, nothing will happen, whether the gun is enlarged or not." Kiyone pressed the button to show how it worked. Now the gun was at its normal size. Kiyone put her finger on the trigger, then lifted it to the top corner above the trigger so that her finger could not bend that way anymore. "In this little corner is a panic button. If I press it, it sends a signal to Ryoko where ever she may be and tell her to pick us up at the beach. If I press it a second time before we get to her, that means that it was only a false alarm." Kiyone pressed the tiny button, and like she said, it send a signal to Ryoko, who was at Tenchi's house at that moment.
"I suppose there's some kind of security thing against anyone else pressing this button, too," said Tenshi.
"Right, there is. There is a tiny chip in my fingernail that the button will sense that it is there and know that I'm the right person to be pressing the button. This way Ryoko won't get freaked out if someone was just continually pressing it," Kiyone finally finished. She headed for the door to leave.
"Hey, you can't go out there! They'll catch you!" Tenshi reminded her. Kiyone walked back and gave him a warm kiss on his lips. Mihoshi turned away. The last person in the room, a woman wearing a rather revealing outfit who hadn't said a word yet, noticed her turn away.
"I have to stop him, Tenshi," Kiyone half-whispered to him. "You know that I won't let him kill anymore innocent people, including Tenchi."
"Tenchi? Tenchi Masaki?" asked the other woman.
"Yes, what about him?"
"He is so hot!" exclaimed the woman. She reminded Kiyone of Mihoshi and the other girls for a second, especially of Ryoko since this woman had blue hair like hers but put in a ponytail.
"Hey!" Mihoshi shouted. "Who do you think you are, trying to steal Tenchi away from us?"
"I'm Akai Hana, Space Pirate and friend of Ryoko I might add," the woman answered. "And you three are Galaxy Police Officers if I'm not mistaken."
"Space Pirate?" asked the human man. "Galaxy Police?" All four of them realized it that second.
"Shit, I knew this would happen sooner or later," Tenshi whispered to Kiyone. "I'm sorry for doing this to you," Tenshi told him.
"Sorry for what?" Tenshi quickly took off one of his boots and hit him over the head with it, knocking the man unconscious.
"What was that for?" Kiyone asked. "He's still going to remember it when he wakes up anyway."
"Not exactly. I hit him in an important memory area of his brain, meaning he won't remember a thing, unless his number is picked. Then it won't matter!" Kiyone was not pleased by Tenshi's jokes.
"Don't you ever joke about that again! If you do, then I'm breaking up with you!" she warned.
"I was only kidding."
"No one kids around here when innocent lives are at stake. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir!" he teased, then instantly regretted doing so when Kiyone gave him an angry look. Kiyone left for the door again.
"You're not serious about doing this yourself, are you?" asked Akai.
"I'm dead serious."
"I could help."
"I don't need help from a Space Pirate like you!" Kiyone shouted.
"Then how are you going to get that door opened?" Kiyone stood there silent, not willing to admit that Akai was right. "Fine, I'll just open the door for you, and then you can be on your own." Akai walked over to the door and produced a tiny fire ball on her finger. With this she was able to burn her way through the lock.
"Thank you, Akai," Kiyone thanked her, although she was totally aware that a Galaxy Police Officer like her was siding with a wanted criminal. Kiyone then walked over to Tenshi.
"Be careful," he told her.
"You too." Kiyone kissed him once again. After she backed away, she put her hands on her forehead and took off her headband.
"What are you doing?" Tenshi asked when she put it in his hands.
"Keep it until I get back. Besides, I needed to get rid of it to disguise myself anyway," Kiyone reminded him, a smile written across her face.
"Good luck, Kiyone."
"Thanks, Akai." Kiyone turned to face Tenshi again when she suddenly heard footsteps coming down the hall. "I better go before the guards come." Kiyone walked backwards out the door still gazing into his eyes. "I promise, I'll come back soon." She turned around and headed down the hall, hoping in her heart with all her might that the guards would not find her so she could get to the children as soon as possible.
Kiyone watched from around the corner as the guards entered their room and saw that she was gone. Some of them stayed to bolt the door down even tighter this time and a few others called for backup. She turned around and silently rushed toward the mansion's giant kitchen before the guards saw her. Kiyone remembered one of them saying something about a free meal. She knew exactly where the children were.
As she ran, Kiyone pulled off her jacket and pants to reveal a jumpsuit. The jumpsuit contained many pockets in which many gadgets and even full outfits were stored in. They were all made flat by the same technology used for her gun, which she had put back into her boot. Kiyone pulled out a chef's outfit and quickly put it on while she was still running through the halls. Kiyone then put her hair back into a bun and then took out a bottle of hair dye, which she then sprayed on her hair. She turned a corner, put the bottle back into her jumpsuit, and pulled out a mirror. Her hair now looked more like blue hair than the dark teal-green hair that she naturally had. Kiyone was so busy with her disguise that she almost missed the kitchen.
"Who are you?" asked one of the chefs. Kiyone immediately fell into her roll as she stumbled to look for her glasses.
"My name is Yuga, and I was just switched from maid to kitchen worker," she explained.
"All right, Yuga, I want you to take this dish of fruit out to the children," the chef instructed. Kiyone snapped into a military salute.
"Yes, sir!" she shouted.
"This is the kitchen, not the army, Yuga. Just take the plate into the dinning room." Kiyone nodded and then realized something.
"Sir, may I ask you what your name is, since I've never worked in the kitchen before?"
"I'm Takumi, and this is my assistant Kirei," the chef answered as he pointed to a beautiful dark purple-haired woman in the corner. "Now get back to work!" Kiyone jumped at his scream and grabbed the plate of cookies. She ran toward the dinning room and slammed her hip into a corner of one of the stoves.
"OOWWW!" Kiyone screamed. Kirei stood at her stove, blinking her eyes in surprise of Kiyone's klutz-like behavior. Takumi was not too pleased.
"Stop running into things and get out there!" he shouted.
"Right!" she exclaimed, half afraid that he might come after her with a spatula and start hitting her with it. Kiyone burst through the dinning room doors, surprising all of the children in two ways. For one thing, Kiyone was leaning against the door trying to catch her breath and act her part, and on the other hand, the children were surprised to see what was on the plate she was holding.
"Cookies!" they all shouted, except for maybe a few of the more mature teenagers. Kiyone walked over to the table and put it down. She had to pull her hand away quick before it got snagged by one of the kids who were only trying to get their hands on a cookie. Kiyone backed up into the kitchen.
"It's a zoo out there!" Kiyone exclaimed. She opened her eyes and took a look around the kitchen. "Where'd Takumi go?"
"He went out into town to get more butter," Kirei explained. She was starting to cook pizza for the kids, since it was unlikely they would enjoy something like salmon or steak. Even though it wasn't elegant, at least they would enjoy it.
"I guess we can't make any more cookies if we don't have any butter," Kiyone assumed.
"Takumi also said that you have to make cheeseburgers for the kids while I make pizza," Kirei added.
"Me? Make cheeseburgers!?" Kiyone screamed. "I'm a Gala—I mean a maid, not a cook! I don't know how to cook!!" she wailed. Kirei rolled her eyes.
"You can work over here across from me and I'll help you." Kiyone rubbed her eyes dry and looked over at Kirei.
"Really? You'll help me?" Kirei nodded. "Oh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Kiyone, still in character, ran over to Kirei and gave her a big hug. As she ran, one of her tools came out of her pocket, one that was small enough that she didn't need to have it flattened. Kirei caught a glimpse of it falling out and she wondered what it was.
"What's this?" she asked as she picked it up after being hugged by Kiyone. The device was a tiny computer, about the size of her palm. It had four buttons and a screen. On the screen were the schematics of Warui's castle and a list of Kiyone's plan to destroy Warui once and for all. "You're trying to kill the master, aren't you?"
"Well, I guess you know now. I'm not a maid or a chef," Kiyone informed her. But I'm not going to tell you that I'm not from this planet, though. "I'm here to rescue the children from Warui."
"So Warui is a killer like the legends say," Kirei thought aloud.
"What?"
"You don't know about the legends?" Kiyone shook her head at her question. "People say that Master Warui is actually three thousand years old," Kirei whispered. Kiyone stood silent, her eyes glaring at Kirei.
"I already knew that," she told her.
"But did you know how he was able to keep his youth all these years?"
"No, I don't." Kirei bent down and motioned for Kiyone to come closer so she could whisper to her.
"Well, Master Warui had married a demon woman without him knowing about it. So one night he noticed that she hadn't aged a day since they had met, while he had aged over twenty years. She told him that the gods decided that she should keep her beauty, but Warui doubted her. He knew something was going on. Warui also noticed that his wife would invite a couple guests over about twice a month, but in the morning there was no sign of them. He had asked her about that for years, but she had always said that they always left early in the morning before he got up. Warui put two and two together and figured she was the reason for their disappearances, since he wouldn't see them in town either. He then spied on his wife in her secret room that was always locked the next time they had guests over. To his surprise, he saw that his wife was torturing their guests, then sucking out their energy to keep her alive.
"Many years passed when Warui didn't say a thing about her secret. He tried it himself a couple times with complete strangers, since he wanted to live forever himself, but nothing worked. His victims would die but he wouldn't receive their energy. Warui finally caved in and told his wife. She was glad that he found out, because she didn't want him to die and be left alone for all eternity, as long as their was someone alive to steal their energy. The one thing Warui couldn't figure out was that there was something special about killing these people. For his wife, it was the joy of torturing people that drew out their energy. Warui tried having fun torturing people, but he didn't see the point in letting them live longer than that. In a way, he felt sorry for their suffering, both there and in their lives. So Warui decided that he would just kill them anyway he possibly could, but without laying a hand on them. His wife was the one who killed them while he stood by watching. For reasons beyond his control, he enjoyed watching people leave this life and go to a better one as he put it. In short, he liked watching people die, whether it was forced upon them or from some illness or old age. His wife's joy was torturing them while his was watching them die. In his opinion, it was better for them, and he only killed people who he thought either deserved to die or had no reason to keep on living. If someone enjoyed their life, he would let them live. That's why he has more than one person here to 'win a prize' as he tells them. He truly doesn't know if they enjoy their lives or not, but he can usually tell by their expressions as they wait in that room he has," Kirei finally finished. She stood up to get a glass of water to clear her throat.
"So what happened next, after Warui found his passion?" asked Kiyone. If she could get enough information out of this woman, Kiyone would be able to outwit Warui and win against him.
"Well, no one really knows. Some say that he had someone kill his wife so he could steal all the energy she had stored for hundreds of years. Some say that he abandoned her on a deserted island and let her die there with no one to steal energy from. It doesn't really matter which one is true, since we know for sure that Warui's wife is dead, but these are all just legends."
"Which one do you believe?"
"I think that he killed her, or had someone do it for him. If he had gotten a hold of all the energy she had, he would've been able to live alone in a secluded place for about a millennium. That way when he came back to society, no one would know who he was and he could continue to do what he did best," Kirei answered. Kiyone just remembered all the people's lives at stake right then.
"I've gotta get to those kids to safety!" she exclaimed, rushing out the door.
"No, you won't." Kiyone stopped in her tracks; she knew who had just spoken.
"Tenshi, what are you doing..." she trailed off as she saw him. Tenshi had a gun in his hand, and he was pointing it straight at her face. Something was different about him, though.
"Look at this nice little reunion here," announced a second person. Kiyone gasped as Warui walked into the kitchen. "So now you know all about me. What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to kill you, you little son of a bitch!" Kiyone screamed. She rushed toward him, reaching for the gun she had put in her chef's cloak. Tenshi inched his gun closer toward her, and she backed off.
"I don't think that's possible, with my little puppet here," Warui told her as he patted Tenshi on his shoulder. Puppet? Kiyone looked into Tenshi's eyes, and the sight shocked her. He stole his soul!
"Give back Tenshi's soul!" Kiyone shouted. To her surprise, Warui started to laugh.
"That's not possible either, because his soul his mine now." Warui patted his stomach to show that he had absorbed his soul.
"You bastard!" Kiyone screamed. She pulled out her gun from her boot, enlarged it to normal size, then shot a huge blast toward Warui. The blast was so big, it took out the hall and a lot of the rooms in the general area. When the smoke from the blast dissipated, Tenshi and Warui still remained standing. Kirei on the other hand had ducked in an empty cabinet next to Kiyone. Both Tenshi and Kiyone stood silent with their guns still pointing straight at each other. Neither of them made a sound. Kirei stood up from where she was hiding to see the destruction Kiyone's weapon had caused.
"You're not from this world, are you?" she asked Kiyone.
"No, I'm not. My name is Kiyone Makibi, Galaxy Police Officer," Kiyone answered, her gaze still fixed on Tenshi. Kirei looked at Tenshi, then Kiyone, then back at Tenshi. She understood what Kiyone was going through.
"Give up yet, Kiyone?" Warui inquired. He didn't have a scratch on him.
"If it's me you want, let the others go," Kiyone demanded, never moving her gaze.
"Fine, the children can go, but the adults will stay in their sealed room." Kiyone nodded and slightly turned her head towards Kirei.
"Kirei, I want you to take the children and get out of here. Find the right map on that computer you have, and you should be able to find a way out," Kiyone instructed.
"What about you?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Kiyone turned to face Kirei and smiled. "Now go!"
"Be careful!" Kirei shouted as she ran to the dinning room door, the mini computer in hand. Kiyone returned her gaze to Warui.
"We're going to finish this, Warui, once and for all," Kiyone warned.
"I'd like to see you try."
Kirei burst through the dinning room doors to see a whole bunch of maniac kids. The teens were all behaving normally, maybe a little too maturely, but the younger kids were all fighting over the last of the cookies.
"It's mine!" shouted one of them.
"No, it's mine!" shouted another. Kirei felt like her head was going to burst.
"All of you better shut up!" Kirei screamed. They all turned to look at her. "There's been a little problem, so we have to send you all home," she tried to explain.
"What's the problem?" asked one of the nosy kids.
"Yeah, spill it!" Kirei regretted telling them the truth, but it had to be done.
"The person who invited you here only did so to, to..." Kirei paused for a minute; she didn't want to scare the children. "He brought you here to kill you, and I have to get you out of here." Kirei stopped to catch her breath. The entire room fell silent.
"I knew something was going on!" Kashikoi exclaimed.
"You don't have to sound so happy to hear it!" shouted the same boy who had said everything was fine when they had gotten to the mansion.
"How do we get out of here?" asked another one of the teenagers as she ignored their bickering. Kirei looked at the map on the screen and searched through the levels to find an exit. She got to the second deepest floor and noticed the secret entrance down to the beach.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. Kirei accidentally pressed one of the buttons on the front in her joy of finding a way out.
"Please state your command," spoke the computer. Everyone jumped back when the voice unsuspectingly came out of the computer.
"It must be voice automated if it's so small," Kashikoi proposed. The boy she was arguing with stuck his tongue out at her; she was being a smart alec anyway.
"Sketch out directions from the dinning room on the first floor to the secret entrance below us on the second deepest floor," Kirei instructed the computer, even though she felt awkward doing so. The computer made a few beeping noises, and then they stopped.
"The route has been shown in red on the map, and the precise directions are listed below," it told her.
"All right, let's head downstairs!" Kirei exclaimed. The kids started to run out the door while Kashikoi and Kirei remained.
"I'll take up the rear since you have the way to get there," Kashikoi offered.
"Thank you, I'd appreciate it." Kirei ran to catch up with the others and get in the front while Kashikoi headed for the rear and made sure everyone stayed in between them on their way down to the secret entrance.
"I'm not going to give up until I you're dead, Warui."
"I know that, but there's something you don't know," he announced.
"What is it?" Kiyone asked.
"When I take the energy from someone, I take their mind as well, meaning I have all of their skill and knowledge. It also means that without the mind, their souls can't travel to the next world," Warui answered, a corrupt smile on his face.
"You are the evil thief we all thought you to be!" Kiyone burst out. Her surprised face changed back to the serious one she had on before. "Then with all their knowledge you must know that evil never wins."
"Not in this case, my friend."
"You're not my friend or anyone's friend!" Kiyone screamed. She fired her weapon again, but this time the explosion was much larger, knocking out several more rooms. She could hear Warui's devilish laugh through the smoke.
"You think you can win against me?" he asked her, still laughing harder and harder. "I not only take their minds, but I take their strength as well. And with all of the people whom I've collected energy from, no blast can destroy me!"
The children screamed as the house shook around them. Kirei stopped in her tracks, making sure everyone was still safe. Kashikoi gave a thumbs up from the back of the group.
"What was that?" asked a younger child.
"It was a blast from Kiyone's battle," Kirei answered. She stared back in Kiyone's direction. "I hope you find a way to beat him, Kiyone," she whispered. Kirei turned back to the group and gave them a smile. "Come on, we've got an appointment to make." She started walking and all the rest followed her, but one child still remained. He stood still, almost trembling, pointing to a bolted door.
"What's the matter?" asked Kashikoi as she caught up.
"Th-there's a monster in there," he mumbled.
"There's no such things as monsters, okay?" she assured him. He shook his head and kept pointing at the door. Kashikoi heard something going on inside. They stared at the door just waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the door was knocked off its hinges and was sent flying straight toward her and the little boy. Kashikoi grabbed the boy and jumped out of the way.
"No bolts can hold me down!" exclaimed a woman from inside the room. She stepped out into the hall and noticed the children staring at her.
"Who are you?" asked Kirei.
"I'm Akai Hana, what's it to you?"
"Akai, don't be so hard on them, they're only kids," said a second person. Kirei gasped.
"You-you're the man who's fighting with Warui!" she exclaimed.
"Who me?" he asked. Kirei nodded. "That's impossible, I'm right here," Tenshi assured her as he came all the way into the hall. They noticed there was another smaller man hung over his shoulder.
"Can we just get out of here?" Mihoshi whined as she stepped into the hall to join them. "What's going on?" she asked when she saw the children and Kirei standing in front of her.
"Kiyone is battling Warui and apparently a fake Tenshi in the kitchen. She told me to get all of the children to safety," Kirei explained.
"Do you know the way?" Tenshi asked her.
"Got it right here." She held up the mini computer with the map of the mansion on the screen.
"Great, we'll all go."
"I'm staying," Akai announced.
"What for?"
"Apparently Kiyone needs my help, and I'm just the person to help her," she answered.
"All right, then good luck, Akai," Tenshi told her. He held out his hand.
"Good luck to you guys and you better warn Ryoko that I'm coming." Akai grabbed his hand and they shook hands.
"I thought you guys were friends," Mihoshi pondered.
"Only sometimes." Akai waved to them and then headed down the hall.
"Wait!" Kirei yelled. Akai stopped and looked back in confusion. "Don't tell Kiyone that it's not really Tenshi she's facing, it would only make things worse."
"Sure." Akai continued down the hall until she vanished out of sight.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Kirei. They continued their on way downstairs, but Mihoshi hesitated. She wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing by leaving her best friend alone with a Space Pirate like Akai. Mihoshi shook her head and followed the rest of the group.
"As long as we're here, there are some questions I want answered," Kiyone demanded.
"Ask away, I've got all eternity."
"If they don't have a mind, what happens to a person's soul when you steal their mind?" she asked.
"They wander around the planet until the holder of their mind is freed, which won't happen any time soon," Warui answered.
"So they're just wandering souls, just floating around not even knowing what's happened to them?"
"That's right."
"So when you killed your wife, did you attain all of the minds she possessed?"
"No, some of them got away and found their souls, the rest were lunch for me!" Warui exclaimed with an evil look on his face. This didn't surprise Kiyone one bit.
"How did they find their souls?"
"The minds called out for them and they came like puppies returning to their child friends." Kiyone suddenly had an idea, but she would have to put it on hold. Akai appeared a foot to Warui's left and punched him in the face. Kiyone figured this would happen, but she didn't know that Warui wouldn't block it or dodge it. Instead, she saw him being knocked across what was left of the kitchen.
"With all your knowledge, you still don't have good reflexes, Warui," Akai ridiculed.
"I told you I could take care of this myself!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"Fine job you did here," Akai noted as she took a look around. Tenshi hadn't moved a single inch since Kiyone first approached him. "Let's make an agreement. I'll do the physical stuff, you do the mental stuff."
"Got it," Kiyone nodded. Akai through an energy blast straight toward Warui. He still didn't dodge it and ended up flying even further down the halls of his mansion and into the garden.
"You little bitch!" he screamed as he got up. He sent his own attack at Akai, but she was able to block it. Kiyone and Tenshi were knocked off their feet and were blown through the kitchen wall, then the dinning room, and then into another hallway. Kiyone got up from the wreckage with only a few scratches. She looked over at Tenshi, but the sight broke her heart.
"Tenshi, don't die!" she screamed. "Without your body, we can't revive your soul!" Kiyone's wailing didn't help, since it was only an illusion in the first place. The fake Tenshi's eyes closed as his body 'died.' "No, I can't live without you," Kiyone sobbed.
"Face it Kiyone, your boyfriend is dead now, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Warui shouted. He had managed to hold back Akai and tie her to a tree outside. Their brief battle had caused some damage only to his outfit and not to himself.
"Yes there is," Kiyone told him in the coldest voice she could manage. "Minds that are trapped within this beast, yell out your cry! Shout for your souls to join you!" she shouted. Warui thought she had gone insane, but her plan was just beginning to work.
"Come save us!" shouted a voice. It was coming from inside of Warui's body and mind.
"Souls, we long to see you!" shouted another. Out of nowhere as if magically appeared the souls of the people trapped in Warui. They looked more like mindless zombies to Kiyone. The thousands upon thousands of souls appeared in front of Warui and they all reached inside him. Some of the closer one's were able to pull out their minds, and they vanished as soon as they found them.
"No! What are you doing?" Warui panicked. When each of the souls got close enough to just touch him, they waited a couple seconds to find their mind, then disappeared. With less minds inside Warui's one mind, it became easier and easier for the souls to find them. It wasn't too long before almost all of them were gone. "No, come back!" Warui screamed. Without his stolen energy, the years were finally catching up to him. Warui now looked they way he should for his age, except he was still barely alive.
"He's an actually living mummy," Kiyone noted. She noticed Warui produced something in his hand.
"If I'm going out, I might as well go out with a bang!" he laughed.
"That's a bomb!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"You're absolutely right! And in two minutes, everything around me, including my beautiful mansion, will be destroyed! So you might as well save yourselves, that is if you still have time!" The digital clock on the bomb started at two minutes and started counting down. Kiyone saw that the timer was going a little faster than usual.
"That's not fair! You're speeding it up!" she complained.
"The more time you waste here, the more time gets faster!" Warui chuckled. The clock started to get faster. She only had a minute and a half left after only ten seconds had passed.
"Kiyone!" Akai shouted. Kiyone ran over to where she was trapped and helped her down. "There's no time for you to run down to the secret exit, Kiyone, so we might as well fly there."
"Right!" Kiyone jumped onto Akai's back just as she was about to lift herself off the ground. Akai looked at how much time they had left. The clock read twenty seconds.
"Adios, amigos!" Warui shouted insanely as Akai rushed toward the beach. Just before she got down there, the bomb exploded. Akai was hit with the blast and was knocked onto the sand.
"Kiyone! You're all right!" Kirei exclaimed. She ran over to her new friend and helped her up. Akai got up on her own. She saw Ryoko standing with Ryo-Ohki in it's cabbit form. She walked over to her old friend with a half smile on her face.
"It's nice to see you again, Akai," Ryoko informed her.
"Same to you, Ryoko."
"How did you get yourself in this mess in the first place?"
"I had a hunch she would be needing my help," Akai answered, looking back at Kiyone. The young Galaxy Police Officer was surrounded by Kirei and all of the children, who were thanking her for saving their lives.
"Good job, partner," Tenshi announced. He had been hiding himself from her for awhile because he knew she thought he was dead, since no one who was in the mansion before the explosion was alive now. Kiyone turned around and her eyes widened.
"Tenshi! You're not dead!" she exclaimed as she ran to his outstretched arms.
"I certainly hope not!" he joked. Kiyone put her finger to his mouth, telling him to be quiet.
"I'm just glad you're here with me now." Kiyone brought her lips to his and pulled her arms all the way around him as they joined in the kiss. Mihoshi turned away and headed past Ryoko and Akai.
"Hey, Mihoshi, where are you going?" Ryoko asked her. Mihoshi stopped in her tracks, her arms shaking. Both blue-haired girls could see the tears landing on the sand, no matter how hard Mihoshi tried to hide them.
"She's truly happy with him and that's all that matters," she answered. Mihoshi started to run off but something stopped her. "Why can't I just forget about her!"
"Because you care about her," Akai told her. Both her and Ryoko joined Mihoshi and faced her tear-struck face.
"And you'd give your life for the sake of your friendship with her," Ryoko added.
"But she won't be friends with me, she has HIM."
"Sure she would, if you only let her, Mihoshi." Akai put her hand on Mihoshi's shoulder to comfort her.
"Now that Kiyone doesn't have to worry about losing her life or Tenchi's life, you can get back in touch with her," Ryoko continued.
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to see you miserable like this, Mihoshi." Mihoshi bent her head towards the sand and saw her tears fall on it. This time they were tears of joy. She wiped her eyes and glanced from Akai and then to Ryoko.
"Thank you for helping me remember my friendship with Kiyone," she told them. Mihoshi turned around and ran back to Kiyone. "Kiyone!" Mihoshi yelled, waving her arms frantically. She held out her arms and jumped toward Kiyone, giving her a giant hug.
"I'm glad you're back to your cheerful self, Mihoshi," Kiyone smiled.
"I'm glad that you're back, period!" Mihoshi exclaimed, still as hyper as ever. She backed from their embrace and her heel got caught on a rock. Mihoshi fell towering down flat on her back. The children all laughed at her klutz behavior as she rubbed her foot. Kiyone laughed at her as well, and she saw Ryoko and Akai standing next to Ryo-Ohki, who was now in ship form. They both blinked at her and jumped into the ship. Ryo-Ohki took off before anyone could notice that the ship was there.
"Well, it looks like things are back to normal," Tenshi proclaimed as he came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Kiyone turned around to watch the unfolding event as Mihoshi tried to stand up but kept falling on her back, making the children forget that they never received their free meal. Tenshi handed Kiyone back her headband and smiled at her, remembering his promise to her.
"It sure does." Kiyone smiled at the happy scene just as the sun set over the ocean, making it a beautiful orange and yellow sky all across the horizon.
Meanwhile...
"I hope this is enough butter for those cookies," Takumi said to himself. He looked up just as he got to the driveway to the mansion, or what was left of it. "The mansion! What happened here?" Takumi dropped the butter and ran toward where the kitchen used to be. "What happened to my beautiful kitchen!" Takumi's wailing could be heard throughout the whole neighborhood as he ran around looking for any intact pots or pans of his that he might find.
Author's Notes
Hello, hello people! Wow, I finally got this fic done after many long hard nights of working on it! I was tested many times with my three inch portable plug-in TV sitting half a foot away from my computer monitor, and with so many good shows on! Actually, it only gets local channels, so I am limited to what I can watch in my room. It's not like I can even move my 32 inch TV two inches off the ground with three people moving it, let alone getting it upstairs! That would be a pain, anyway. My TV only weighs a few pounds, but there are some down sides besides only getting local channels. For one thing, I have to move the antenna to get the right reception for each channel, and the right spot changes from time to time for some odd reason. The other thing is that my brother sometimes steals it and brings it into his room, even though my step-grandma specifically gave it to me. My brother was there when she asked us if we wanted it. He didn't say anything, but I said sure, meaning it's mine! Maybe I'm being a little selfish here, but my TV isn't the point! The point is that this fic is finally over! This is the longest one part fic I've written! Okay, I've only written one other one part fic and one fifteen part fic, but I have about a thousand ideas for other fics and even some original stories as well. Fine, I'll get on with the point and stop wasting your time!
The idea for this fic actually came to me in a dream, but it was a little bit different. There was a lot more to my dream, but I can only remember a little bit, since I dreamt it a couple weeks ago (I have an excellent long term memory, like I can remember the exact date I did something that's actually insignificant and unimportant, but my short term memory isn't very good. It's why I don't get my homework done sometimes. Okay sometimes I actually forget it, but most of the time I just ignore it anyway). All I can remember is that I am in the dinning room with all of the kids sitting around the table, and I'm in some disguise. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was probably the same one Kiyone wore as the chef disguise. I, or someone else because I remember seeing them talk from a third person point of view instead talking from a first person point of view, was talking to the children at the table. I was saying something about this guy picking one of their numbers and that person would be killed. Then a guard came out and took them away to get their 'prize.' As you can tell, this is where I got the concept for Warui's killing game. I also remember 'me' sneaking around the building, but I was going down those brick spiraling stairs they have in towers to castles back in the Middle Ages. I decided not to do that because it would seem like Kiyone was going everywhere in the mansion for no reason, but that's all I remember from my dream.
I don't know why I picked Kiyone to be the main character in this one. I knew I had to do someone else besides myself. Even in stories I make up when I'm not dreaming, the main character usually starts to be me. This is because they're probably doing something that I always wanted to do. I didn't want to be in Kiyone's situation, but dreams are different. I have no idea if that was me or someone else. I'm a big shoujo fan, but I also like a lot of other stuff like Tenchi Muyo, so my stories start out with me being a new senshi, and then later I change it to someone else. Even though I enjoy my life with all the anime I watch and the manga I read, I still want something more. I want to be able to fly through the sky (I have flying dreams a lot, I had one last night for instance even though I only slept for five hours because I was up till 2 am watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Okay, I know I'm not old enough, but I can take it. I only heard swearing in two of the six shows this time around, but there was definitely plenty of violence. It's not like it's something new to me anyway, and I hear more swearing during one day at school, and I had warned you about the swearing in this fic before I started. Hey, I'm only two years away from eighteen. I would've slept in then anyway, but I had to get up early to go to church. I bet you're thinking my side commentary in the parenthesis, which is taking up a lot of space, is annoying, but you're learning things here. You know that I finished this on a Sunday night, and that I'm sixteen, well two months away from being sixteen. But I just had to watch Outlaw Star cause it was the last episode, which probably wasn't good for me since I hadn't seen it for over a year, and I was desperate to watch an episode, and it was good too!, and if you don't like Outlaw Star, well then too bad because I do, if you couldn't already tell. Yes, this is my real personality shining through here, but if you met me in person, I would barely talk at all, unless it was about anime of course. Even then my friends are usually the ones holding the conversations, I just listen and laugh), go back in time so I could avoid a huge commentary like that, and have magical powers just like any good shoujo character. And now that my commentary took up most of this paragraph, it's time to move on to a new topic.
I think that's about all for now. If you have any questions regarding this fic or any of my others, if I have others at the time when you read this (you might read it after I add new ones, or you might read it right after I post it, or I should just stop doing this side commentary here!), just email me at europa_star33@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate any comments you write for me on FanFiction.net, or flames if you prefer. There's only one condition with the flames. I would like it if you flame my story and not the show itself. If you don't like Tenchi Muyo, then don't tell it to me because I don't care! I didn't create Tenchi Muyo, only the new characters in this story. You can flame them all you want, but don't flame the Tenchi Muyo characters. Go to a Tenchi Muyo site to do that if you want to. Technically, I don't have legal copyrights on my characters or story, but please, PLEASE don't take it unless you ask me by my email and give me credit for it. Tenchi Muyo and its characters are copyright Hitoshi Okuda/AIC/Pioneer, etc. I can prove I don't own rights to them because I don't know everything about the show and I might've gotten something wrong in my story, like gotten a name spelled wrong (except mine, cause that's how my Japanese dictionary spelled them, and yes all of my six characters do mean something in Japanese. Akai Hana is Red Flower, Kashikoi means wise or clever, Takumi means skillful (cause he's such a good cook), Kirei means pretty, Warui means bad (figures, huh?), and Kiyone already told you what Tenshi means when she met him) or any grammatical errors and whatnot. If I do have anything wrong, please tell me, and tell me what your honest opinion about the story is. I need all the criticism I can get, even somewhat negative sounding constructive criticism, if I want to be a good writer. For my final, yes final, word, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read my fic, no matter how long it was, or maybe it was the author's notes that was too long. Anyway, thank you and please click below to add comments. Please, add all the comments you want! Even tell your friends about this, and then have them comment! All right, enough self-advertising. Okay, I go now. Bye-bye!
^.^ :) ;)