Chapter 2

After tidying up her mess from this morning, Washu glanced at the door where Ryoko still banged incessantly, yelled, shouted and cussed. She weighed her options, on whether to leave Ryoko there, and hope that she doesn't turn destructive on something (or someone) else in the house, or go and confront her daughter and hope that Ryoko didn't turn TOO destructive on HER.

"This is defiantly turning out to be a bad day; I wonder what I did to deserve it…" Washu sighed and then glared at the glass of water, daring Tsunami to come back and make a witty, unneeded remark. Washu sighed again and trudged over to the lab door, flicking on what looked like a light switch by it, and once again sent up a quick prayer of thanks that she remembered to build the 'complete shield' over her lab. Mihoshi was incentive enough to do that, but as for remembering to turn it on….

"All right Ryoko!" she yelled cheerily as she yanked opened the door, causing the Dreaded Space Pirate to fall on her face in surprise, "No need to disturb the whole house! What is it you want with your dear mom?" Ryoko jumped up with a growl and stooped to put her scowling face right in Washu's smiling one.

"First off, don't call yourself my mom," she snarled, "You're no mother to me!"

Ouch, thought Washu, that one smarts.

"Secondly, WHY THE HELL DID TENCHI SPEND ALL DAY IN THE LAB WITH YOU YESTERDAY?!" Ryoko clenched her fists and drew her arm back for a massive punch, when Tenchi scampered down the stairs.

"Ryoko!" He yelled, "What are you doing to Washu?"

Uh oh, wrong thing to say, silver-tongue.

Ryoko's eyes flamed with an unholy light. "I…. KNEW… IT!" She bellowed and her energy sword flashed in her clenched palm. "YOU LIKE HER MORE THAN YOU LIKE ME, DON'T YOU!? WELL, I KNOW HOW TO FIX THAT!"

This is fixing to get bad, Washu thought, and discreetly summoned her own energy sword

Ryoko turned on Washu with a roar, and speared her sword down at Washu's heart with a deadly accuracy. Time slowed as her sword inched closer and closer to Washu's chest. Tenchi opened his mouth in shock and ran down the hallway, his arm outstretched to stop Ryoko. Ryoko's eyes narrowed and she smiled evilly as her feline sense tuned in to the kill. Washu reflexively brought her own sword up at the last minute and deflected the attack and used Ryoko's minute of off-balance to shove her away, while she scampered into her lab and slammed the door shut.

Washu leaned against the door, panting from the after-shock of almost getting killed, the adrenaline still running rampant through her veins. "Well, as if that isn't a way to wake yourself up." She could hear Ryoko's scream of rage through the door, and momentarily pitied Tenchi, but then stopped when she realized that it was his inept diplomacy that had gotten her that way in the first place.

Washu pushed herself up from against the door and padded over to her cushion. She sat down and floated over to a computer and made a log of the day's events so far. "This worries me," She mused to herself. "Ryoko has been getting steadily more violent recently, and if I hadn't been able to parry her thrust…" She shuddered, remembering the look of pure bloodlust in her daughter's eyes.

But why? This is against her nature. She only acted like this when she was controlled by Kagato... and she tried all she could to escape it.  Could it be that she's having unconscious relapses? Oh, my Ryoko, what is wrong? My poor baby…

Sleep my baby …

Washu sat up with a snap when she heard that snippet of a tune. "That song! The song from my dreams! The one I was hearing when this whole accursed day started!" She looked wildly around the room for the woman who's throaty voice was singing, but only saw the darkness of her lab and the silently flashing lights of hundreds of monitors, waiting to be attended to.

Washu groaned and heard Ryoko screaming some string of obscenities at Ayeka. "The day is only going to go downhill, isn't it?" she asked to no one in particular.