::the author is being chased by a group of ninja in light blue::
Knight: I guess if you pick on one, you pick on all. Cowards.
::a bomb is tossed at him from behind. He leaps over it and as the bomb explodes, his momentum hurls him into it. When the smoke clears, he's gone::
Chapter 4
Kyrin raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. I'd think everyone'd want me gone, you especially."
"Yeah, well, it was decided that since Washyuu's figured out how to keep Kain in check, you're not that big a threat. And aside from that, you're too much a threat to be kept anyplace else in the universe."
"Ah. A case of, 'He's gonna be trouble no matter what, so we might as well keep him here as well as anywhere.' Am I right?"
"Oh shut up. I'd think you'd be grateful."
"Don't get me wrong, I am. It's just," here he looked off at the hills, "I'm not used to anyone wanting me around."
"Well, don't expect everyone to act all buddy-buddy with you, just 'cuz we accept you here," said Ryoko. They both looked off into the distance. Finally, Ryoko said, "Aight, I gotta ask you something."
"Shoot," said Kyrin.
"Why do you keep going on about finding joy in death?" asked Ryoko.
"My brother is sitting in my body, always trying to grab it away from me. Day in and day out I have to hear his taunts and his rants, even when I'm in the deepest sleep. When people found out about me and Kain, no one wanted anything to do with me." His voice took a slightly sad tone. "I'd walk into a bar and everyone would walk or stumble out. I'd walk into a Guild and everyone would give me this look that said, 'Get out of here, you unspeakable thing.' I've been forsaken by my people, hunted by civilization, and my only companion is my insane brother Kain. With all of that, the only joy I can have is death."
"So? At least you weren't a puppet for 2000 years."
"Big freakin' deal. Kagato wiped your emotional programming, so you wouldn't have been able to care anyway. I wish he'd done the same to me, 'cuz," here his voice caught, but then he continued, "at least it wouldn't hurt so much." Suddenly, he felt this weird warmth on his right hand. Looking over at it, he saw that his hand had been covered with another hand. A soft, warm, strong-like-velveted-steel hand. A very female hand, he realized, when his eyes followed the arm leading to Ryoko. She was looking down at his hand, an almost pitying look on her face.
"I might've been made to kill you," she said, "but after all that you've said, I don't know if I could."
Kyrin was quiet for a time, then said, "You're still beautiful."
A shocked look came to Ryoko's face then, blushing slightly, she asked, "What brought that on?"
"Well, when we first met, I was struck by how beautiful you were." Winking, he said, "I'm just noticing that it's still true."
Ryoko blushed just a little more, then sat back and watched the sky. Kyrin saw no more reason to bother her and became quiet, yet he couldn't help noticing that she never moved her hand from his.
"You mind if I help?" asked Kyrin, standing up as well.
Tenchi's relief vanished as if it never was. "Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked, faintly hopeful that Kyrin would change his mind.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind helping you."
Tenchi's heart sank. "All right, c'mon."
Walking out to the fields Tenchi set to hoeing, while Kyrin started to water the plants. After a little while, Tenchi commented, "Gee. I wouldn't think you'd be interested in plants too much."
"Well, when I was training in the monastery, I ended up doing a lot of chores. I ended up helping out in the farming area a lot."
"Ah. But farming is usually tedious and boring."
"To you, yeah. But," Kyrin paused, trying to figure out how to word his thoughts, "in the business of dealing death, I find a little joy in being able to raise life too."
"Ah." With that, they went silent, speaking to each other only when necessary.
"We're conducting a reconnaissance sweep of the area right now. We'll move in when the probes return."
"Sure thing, boss," said the assassin and walked to a padded bench set in the wall. The assassin unit, hand picked by Genjo, had been space-borne for a cycle (a day, Earth-time) and had been orbiting at a steady rate over Japan. The only thing stopping them from moving on the Masaki residence was that they'd no clue as to what the specific terrain was. So, they'd sent some probes down to scout the terrain.
But there'd been trouble. The probes had encountered difficulty in entering the atmosphere, and were damaged. They were currently in self reparation mode, but since they were low quality, the delays were longer then necessary.
You'd think that with a nigh-limitless budget, headquarters could make better equipment for us, mused Genjo. Their ship was an example of this very thing, being little more then a box with wings and aft thrusters. It almost wasn't good for the job, but it carried some mid-quality stealth equipment, enough to keep the Earth authorities from catching on to anything. The Sol System Division, with its lack of action and need of attention, was low priority. It showed, in that the SSD always received fifth-hand equipment so that Jenshin could save itself some money.
Genjo returned to staring intently at the monitor, on which was a map of the Japanese Islands. The precise coordinates of the exchange of energy were on the largest island, but the terrain was completely unknown. So they'd sent the probes, which of course were too damaged to do anything. Which means that short of cooling our heels up here, there's nothing we can do. Genjo sighed and sat back, doing precisely that.
Katsuhito responded by spinning in slow motion and nearly catching Tenchi's back, except Tenchi moved his blade into a block at the last moment. Tenchi crouched and tried to sweep Katsuhito's foot, but he lifted his foot then stepped back down. This added momentum to his overhead strike, which Tenchi evaded by rolling away. Tenchi stood up, sweeping his bokken upwards, meeting Katsuhito's. Tenchi pulled his blade back and stabbed, but his stab was deflected just slightly by Katsuhito. As the momentum of Tenchi's stab carried him forward, Katsuhito moved his bokken towards Tenchi's neck, catching him right in the center.
"Give?"
Tenchi sighed. "Give."
"Very well. We're done for today." With that, Katsuhito walked off.
"I don't get it. Why am I messing up?" asked Tenchi, not expecting an answer. "I guess it's a problem in my technique...."
"Your technique's fine, it's your speed that's killing you." Tenchi was surprised to see Kyrin standing next to him.
"My speed? What's wrong with it?" Tenchi asked, turning to face him.
"Well, you get very focused on one aspect of a fight. When that aspect changes, you have difficulty moving fast enough to adapt."
"You sure? I mean, it was you being slow when we fought."
"When you transformed, that was true. But it's a bad idea to rely on that, 'cuz I was handing your ass to you beforehand."
"Enough, both of you." They turned around to see Katsuhito standing there, arms crossed. "Before you both decide to settle things here and now, I have a proposition for you. Just cool down and I'll tell you and the others about it tonight."
"Yes sir," said Tenchi.
Kyrin nodded his assent, but he couldn't help wondering what was up. What are you planning, 'old friend?'
Until Kyrin walked in. Kiyone tensed up immediately, wondering why, oh why, had she chosen today not to wear her gun. Mihoshi just looked up at him and smiled. "Hey there! You doing ok?"
Kyrin grinned slightly and said, "Yeah, I'm doing fine. I don't seem very welcome, though."
"Well, you can't expect an instant welcome here," said Kiyone, making an attempt at being civil.
"True. It's not like I deserve one." Kyrin shrugged and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, staring out into space.
That's funny, thought Kiyone. I'd expect more from him.
"Y'know," said Mihoshi, "you're awful quiet for a bounty hunter." Kiyone fought a groan.
Kyrin didn't say anything for a second, then said, "Since you're both cops, I expect that you handle the arrests of bounty hunters, correct?"
"Not just that, but even the hunters we hire," replied Mihoshi.
"Well, most bounty hunters are knuckle heads who couldn't find any other way of getting a job. They generally don't succeed in quieter life styles and excel in odd jobs, such as beating the pulp out of people. Such hunters thusly are rowdy, drunken, and really aren't worth the money they're paid."
"But you'd give yourself as the exception to this?" asked Kiyone. When Kyrin nodded yes, she said, "What makes you say that?"
"Well, I'm not a hunter by choice, remember? Even if I did choose this as my life, I don't see the reason to loudly brag about killing 6 guys while drinking standardized swill." He thought for a second, then added, "Actually, it's not fair to say I'm the only exception. There are others. Just hard to find."
"VERY hard," Kiyone retorted.
She couldn't help but curse at Kagato again for skewing her memory like he did. In attempting to create a perfect servant, he'd taken the liberty of destroying a lot of her earliest memories. He'd believed that she'd be more willing to serve if she knew nothing but him. As she reflected, she wondered for the umpteenth time what could have ever given him that idea. Returning to the issue at hand, she began to try to sort out her feelings on Tenchi, then Kyrin. She started going through their attributes.
All right, she thought to herself, let's see. Tenchi's a handsome, hardworking man. He's kind and caring. He's strong, and since he's next in line for the throne of Jurai, I could get a lot of money from him. He was able to look at me... and he wasn't afraid.
And then there's Kyrin, she thought. He's a good fighter, tough, and he looks really sexy when he grins just so. I'm not sure about whether or not I could get any real money off of him, since he's a bounty hunter. On the other hand, he knew me before I went berserk, and he wasn't afraid. He's closer to my age as well. But he's also possessed, and he's here to kill me.
She sighed again and closed her eyes. Why me?
"You mean like a tournament?" asked Aeka.
"No. The situation I have in mind is one in which all of us are out there. We fight against each other. No alliances, so it'd be as if you're a single combatant facing off against the others." He looked around, and managed to guess that they weren't catching on. "It's a free-for-all sparring match."
Realization dawned bright and clear. Questions came soon afterwards. "You even mean for me to participate in this?" asked Aeka. When he nodded, Aeka smiled. Finally! she thought gleefully to herself. I get to see if any of my training as paid off!
"Hold on, grandpa," said Tenchi. "How're you gonna keep the powers of everyone here in check?"
"I've got that covered," Washyuu interjected. "I can set up a damper field which will lower the effects of your powers. You'll still be able to use your offensive and defensive powers, but to a lesser extent; while transportational powers will remain unaffected."
"Who participates?" asked Kyrin, quietly.
"Everyone, excepting Sasami and Washyuu," replied Katsuhito.
"What are the rules?" asked Kiyone.
"No weapons allowed. The only abilities you may use are those you have naturally; this means no technology. This especially goes for you two," said Katsuhito, looking toward the resident GP agents. Kiyone's eyes bulged in disbelief, while Mihoshi blinked.
"You mean we can't use our guns, or any of our tools?" asked Mihoshi.
"No, it's only you and your abilities."
"That's crazy!" said Kiyone. "Everyone else is super powered! If we were to go against them without our tools, it'd be suicide!"
"The GP Agents are trained in hand-to-hand, combat, are they not? You are not completely helpless."
"One last thing." Everyone turned towards Ryoko. "Are you sure we should let Kyrin participate?"
"Yeah," said Tenchi. "Kyrin's here to kill us, and you want him to go through a training exercise in which he'd have the perfect opportunity to do that. It doesn't sound wise to give him that chance."
"Kyrin." Kyrin looked over at Katsuhito, as he said, "Can we trust you to not act on your orders?"
"To be honest," Kyrin replied, "I've been considering renouncing my claim on the lives of my targets." Everyone else stared at him in open surprise, except for Katsuhito, as he continued, "You all have accepted me here as a person, regardless of the fact that I came here to kill some of you. You've trusted me enough to allow me to roam around this place and for this act of kindness you've my gratitude." He paused, then continued, "There's no honor in turning my back on that. And, even if I'm forsaken," he grinned in wry amusement, "it's never been said that I'm not honorable."
"That should answer your question," said Katsuhito. "If there are no other questions, then let us clean up and try to rest for the night."
"Well, what can I do for you?" asked Washyuu, pulling a rag from a subspace pocket to wipe the stains on her face.
"Unusual as this might sound, I'm nervous," said Katsuhito. Seeing the questioning look on her face, he elaborated, "In spite of putting everyone against each other, I don't intend anyone to die. Putting Kiyone and Mihoshi against the others is like pitting cave men against a modern army. It'd be suicide."
"Katsuhito," said Washyuu, wiping her face, "I understand your doubts, but I know what I'm talking about. Over the course of the past year, those two have become capable of harnessing a power that they've not been able to yet. I think they may be Empaths. We just need to give them a catalyst to set it off." It was an interesting phenomena, really. It was said that beings with supernatural powers were attracted to each other, and how could Mihoshi and Kiyone be an exception?
Sighing, Katsuhito replied, "I hope we're doing the right thing."
Genjo was on his feet in the space of time it takes most to blink. "Display the data on-screen!" A static crackle answered his command as a holographic screen popped into existence at the head of the ship. "Everybody up!" he called, and the assassin unit was standing at attention. Displayed on-screen was a map of the terrain surrounding the Masaki household. Genjo gave it a quick appraisal, then said, "We'll land in a quieter area to the north and head into the forest surrounding the house. We pick them off one by one. Remember, the priority is on remaining unseen."
"SIR!" was the chorused and shouted response.
"We move out immediately! Make preparations to enter the atmosphere! Get our cloaking equipment powered up, we don't want to let the Earthians know we're coming." Genjo seated himself and lapsed into quiet introspection, but a shiver of gladness beat through him.
She was currently watching a duel between, surprise surprise, Aeka and Ryoko. And, she had to admit, Aeka's training was paying off. She'd been fighting hand to hand against Ryoko and, Washyuu noted, she was performing better then she'd ever been before. If Washyuu'd any doubts of it, they were dispelled when Ryoko had penetrated Aeka's defenses and landed a blow in the midsection, adding a ki blast as well. Aeka had stumbled back a few feet and then resumed the fight as if nothing had happened. If that wasn't progress, what was?
The fights were interesting everywhere else as well. Kyrin and Mihoshi were fighting against each other fiercely, while Tenchi and Kiyone were having it out. Katsuhito was constantly moving, getting involved in a fight long enough to strike and instill a little terror, then vanishing. Washyuu decided to zoom in on one of these fights, that between Kyrin and Mihoshi....
"What took you?" he asked.
She panicked. She ran right past him, making it to the bridge. If I can just make it to the house, she thought.
Then the bridge exploded. She spun. "No," said Kyrin. "You won't escape." With that, he flew forward. By an extreme stroke of luck, Mihoshi was able to deflect and dodge most of the attacks. The exception was a wicked upper-cut combo, one to the gut and the other to her head. Landing in a heap a few feet away. She looked up to see Kyrin charging a large green blast in his hand.
Pure fear rushed through her veins. The chaos of her personality mixed with this, and in short order she was in a state of panic. As it engulfed her, it came to a part of her that wouldn't feel the panic, that seemed to say STOP! A strange calm fell over her. She stood as Kyrin shot the blast. Snapping her arm out towards the blast, palm open, the blast connected and split in two.
"Eh?" Kyrin watched as Mihoshi settled into a deep stance, her eyes eerily calm. She rushed him, and he just barely dodged a knife-handed strike. However, he missed the roundhouse that she landed in his middle, propelling him about 3 yards. Kyrin panted and stood up, watching as Mihoshi flew at him. He batted aside the fist at his head, but it turned into a grab. Kyrin reacted immediately, stepping out and slamming the hand off. Then he smashed his fist into her temple, stunning her. While she was stunned, he stepped in close and struck her ribs in an upward motion. She flew 5 yards and landed in a crumpled heap. Tsunami, he thought, I killed her. He started forward, then boggled as she calmly stood up.
"I hope that wasn't all you've got," she said with a hint of amusement, quite unlike her bubbly self.
"You kidding? Now that I know I won't kill you easily, I don't have to hold back." They started fighting again, and now Kyrin started to have fun.
Katsuhito watched from the shadows, quietly gauging the odds. Unless he could make Ryoko and Aeka angry enough to chase him here, he'd have to do this himself. He shrugged. That's all right with me.
Kiyone had just landed a good hit on Tenchi, knocking him back a little, when she froze. With the exception of her head, she couldn't move at all. Looking around, she saw Tenchi charging at her, only to be knocked away by Katsuhito, flying out of the shrubbery. Turning his eyes to her, he turned his Wing into a pure electric charge. As she screamed in pain, he started to constrict the Wing, making it squeeze in on her more.
"Iie!" shouted Tenchi, who dashed forward to try and stop Katsuhito. His attacks missed completely, though. Knocking Tenchi aside, Katsuhito had the Wing throw Kiyone into a tree so hard that the leaves started falling.
Kiyone's mind was slowly shutting down. However, the blackness reached a spot in her mind that wouldn't go dark. Instead, it forced back the darkness and filled Kiyone with a powerful light. Her eyes started to shine eerily and in spite of her anguish, she knew what to do. She instantly teleported, appearing behind Katsuhito. Katsuhito spun and deflected a kick, ducked a punch, and swept her foot out from under her. She flipped and Tenchi barely got out of her way. Tenchi punched at her, but got kneed in his stomach and fell back a bit.
Well, Washyuu, thought Katsuhito, it looks like you were right.
However, seeing as I'm the ultimate universal genius, she thought to herself, there's no way there could be a problem in the equipment. Tapping a sequence of buttons, the scan changed to look for heat signatures. "Ack!" she spluttered. There were 15 extra heat signatures, and more were coming.
"How did they--?! My scanners shoulda picked them up!" Checking the sensory logs, she discovered that they had picked up a ship entering the atmosphere at the times she had been watching the fights. She cursed briefly, then thought. How do I combat this threat?
Ducking under a swipe from the blade, she heard an impact. Standing, she spotted a fading after-image of something, or someone. Ryoko was getting up off the ground, muttering. Aeka suddenly felt a blow landing in her gut, and fell back a bit. Looking to see where the blow'd come from, she spotted a similar after-image.
"Quit trying to fool me with doubles!" shouted Aeka, aware that the duplicates were acceptable.
"Shove it!" shouted back Ryoko. "That wasn't me!" Out of nowhere, blows started landing on the two women. Ryoko thought she felt something start cutting and stabbing into her, and seeing her blood fall to the ground confirmed it. She couldn't concentrate enough to teleport out and she was starting to see black on the edges of her vision.
Aeka wasn't much better off. Upon seeing the pirate come under assault, she'd immediately tossed up her shield. But when the blows had come, she'd not been ready for the sheer ferocity involved. Her shield had cracked in a few areas and now some of the blows were landing on her.
The situation was similar everywhere else. Kyrin and Mihoshi were under attack from several directions, each blow coming from a completely different, completely random point. Tenchi was being knocked around badly, while Katsuhito was relying on the sakki to dodge, and Kiyone on her empathy.
Washyuu was watching all of this, and the amount of extra heat signatures had shot up to 46. She could feel the pain of the daughter the link, and she couldn't distinguish the difference between her daughter's rage and her own. The signatures reached 50 and stopped. Her scanners switched over to detect aura patterns. Washyuu stared at it hard, then stared at it again. According to the scanner, there were 51 extra patterns. But there's only 50 extra signatures! Typing away furiously, she caught the pattern. There were spikes, plain lines, constantly changing, no pattern to it at all. It's.... Washyuu searched for a word. It's chaos.
Ryoko! Aeka! DUCK! A powerful mental command, making their bodies react before their minds could react. A bolt of pure electricity shot through the space they'd been occupying a second ago. Something was hit and fell screaming to the ground as electricity shot along its body. The bolt, however, had leapt off of this target and hit others. These new targets were not in so much pain as the initial target, but the results were just as satisfactory - the targets were now visible.
One of the assassins looked down at himself, looked at his fellows, and looked at the angry pirate/princess duo. He then accurately summed up the situation in two words. "Well, shit."
Aeka, in a split-second bout of carelessness, looked back to see who their savior was. But there was no one.
Mihoshi ducked and dodged blows as they came. Kyrin was performing similarly. They'd been at this for some time, and it was ultimately the most frustrating fight of their lives.
Kyrin felt like he was being used as a personal punching bag for someone. He was dodging a little better, but at this rate it was going to end here.
Ha ha ha! That's right! You're going to die! Unloved, unwanted, powerless! cackled Kain.
Kyrin swore mentally. Of all the times for him to come back. Chikushou!
Kyrin felt the fury building inside of him. Kain ranted. Blows landed. An unseen arm grabbed his, locked it at the elbow, and pushed hard.
Feels humanoid, he thought. Pulling the attacker along, he focused his qi into his fist and smashed what felt like a chest. The pressure on his arm vanished and a crater formed in a nearby tree. The attacks, as if by some unseen signal, stopped. Kyrin breathed heavily, then got an idea. Closing his eyes, he began to reach out with his qi. He saw his surroundings, in his mind's eye, but there was something different. There were people.
"Mihoshi!"
"Yes?" replied Mihoshi, looking over at him with that same, out-of-character calm.
"You're an Empath," he said, knowing her now for what she was. "Being as you are, you possess the ability to see things that normal people don't. Tap into it!"
Mihoshi concentrated, and immediately she saw a bunch of wavy patterns surrounding silhouettes.
"You see them."
"Yes."
"Well, then," said Kyrin, opening his eyes and still seeing the opponents. "Let's start this fight off the right way."
Tenchi was another story. He'd been forced away from the others. He was bruised and battered, and Genjo had to admit he was disappointed. This was the youth everyone was worried about? He is like a beautiful flower, he thought. A center of attention that is easily killed.
Tenchi fought with all his might to summon the Wings, but he couldn't get it. I don't understand! he thought. My life is in danger, but I can't summon them like I normally do! Then it hit him. THE SWORD!! He didn't have the Tenchiken! Without it, he didn't have something to focus his power through!
Oh Tenchi whispered a very soft voice in his mind. Don't focus on the sword. Just focus on life. Life... life.... The trees blossoming. The flowers blooming. The grass growing. Even the assassins in front of him were part of life. Tenchi felt a familiar feeling as sparks of light shot across his mind's eye. As he started to glow, his mind received a similar enlightenment. Tsunami, the goddess of light, of life. She gave us this power, that we might protect life.
A bright light exploded forward, and when Genjo's vision stopped flashing he saw not Tenchi, but the warrior in white. The warrior summoned the sword and pointed it directly at Genjo, challenging him. Well, Genjo thought, far be it for me to disappoint him.
He was about to charge at Tenchi again, but this time Tenchi charged first. He was surrounded by assassins that no one else could see, and he was besting them. Spinning, ducking, slashing, stabbing, as one assassin fell after the other. Eventually, it was just him and Genjo. Ducking a swipe from the blade, Genjo gripped the sword hand at the wrist and hauled it away, pulling Tenchi off balance. His fist was in Tenchi's face, but a Wing came in from nowhere and formed a small shield. Genjo's fist bounced off, and the Wing went low and punched him in the middle. As he fell, he pulled Tenchi with him. Tenchi fell into a kneel, absorbing the shock while Genjo landed splayed on his back. The spare Wing, at Tenchi's command, formed into an arch over Genjo's middle, effectively pinning him to the ground.
Tenchi stood, the sword disappearing. He looked around at all the assassins surrounding him, laying down in their own blood; alive but in painful shape. He looked at Genjo, who was looking at him in cold rage. "The fight is over," he said, and it was.
It was evening, and everyone had been bandaged up and healed as well as possible. Except for two - Ryoko and Kyrin. Ryoko would always say that she wasn't really hurt, and Kyrin argued that such was not honorable. Kiyone and Mihoshi were completely devoid of injuries. And completely devoid of emotions as well, for all the expression they showed and the noise they made. Which is to say that they made none at all.
Kyrin was walking through Washyuu's laboratory, toward a new section that Washyuu had built exclusively for holding prisoners. At least my arrival here had something good come of it, he thought bitterly. He came upon the prison, a series of perfect cubes hewn from the wall with forcefields in front of them. All in all, it was like Washyuu had taken his prison and multiplied it. There wasn't much activity, most of the assassins had been bandaged and were trying to recover a little. Floating up to one of the cells at the very top of the wall, Kyrin stared at Genjo. Genjo stared back piercingly and neither reacted to the other. I understand this tactic, thought Kyrin. He's trying to psyche me out. They continued staring at each other for some time.
It is said that people can communicate simply by looking at each other. Genjo's piercing green eyes said, You don't scare me, Kain. Kyrin's own held no fear. Finally, at Sasami's call, he floated down and away. But their eyes never left each other's.
"Sure, but may I ask why?"
"Well, you're gonna be staying a while, right? How about some other clothes?"
"Do you mean that?" asked Kyrin in partial disbelief. Sasami nodded. "Thanks."
The rest of the family was gathered in the living room, including Washyuu. Though the television was on, most of the attention was on Mihoshi and Kiyone. The two new
Empaths were disturbingly quiet, not moving, staring straight ahead. They were sitting with hands folded, right over left. Allowing for physical differences, they were like exact duplicates.
"I can't say I'm an expert on metaphysics," stated Aeka, "but it looks like something's wrong here."
"Not true! They're perfectly fine!" exclaimed Washyuu.
"But how can you be sure of that?" asked Tenchi.
"Well, first off, has anyone noticed that these two seem utterly drawn and connected to each other?" Everyone nodded. "Well, that's because these two share a deep bond, a sort of empathy. In bringing this power to the "surface," they've increased the power of the link. They're very quiet now, but that's because their minds are currently overwhelmed by the increased power of the link. They'll be like this for a little while, then they'll be back to normal."
Sasami and Kyrin walked in from the kitchen, Sasami settling down on the floor and Kyrin sitting down cross-legged, feeling a tiny bit awkward about being with the family.
The night went on as it normally did, with everyone going their separate ways at about 10:30 pm. Tenchi, Sasami, and Aeka went to bed, while Washyuu retreated to her laboratory. Ryoko teleported up to the roof, while Kiyone and Mihoshi sat stock still. Kyrin decided to join Ryoko up on the roof, so going to the ladder and climbing up he came upon this sight - Ryoko, the right sleeves of her blue-yellow striped robe rolled up, holding a hand over her right arm, which had a nasty gash along the length of her forearm. She was concentrating intently, and the gems had a slight reddish glow to them. The wound started to close, and she must've felt it because she opened her eyes to see. But in doing so, she broke her concentration, and the wound stopped closing. She growled in frustration and stared at the roof.
"You're hurt worse then you said."
Ryoko spun around and rolled up her sleeve in one motion. "No I'm not!"
Kyrin knelt next to her and said, "I bet. Then this won't hurt a bit." And with that, he lightly slapped her arm. She winced, and that pretty much confirmed it for him.
"Well, so what?" she snarled. "Why do you give a damn?!"
"Why can't I?" he replied softly. Ryoko shook her head and leapt up, intent on teleporting, but Kyrin's hand on her wrist snapped her back down.
"Why'd you do that?" she snarled again. Kyrin said nothing, but he placed his right index finger on her forehead and concentrated. A green energy flowed from his finger and into her. Her eyes opened wide as a warm, tingly feeling swept through her.
"All better," he said, patting her arm. And this time, it didn't hurt a bit.
"That doesn't answer my question," she said with a slightly shaky voice.
"Not all answers are expressed through words," he replied, and he did the single most surprising thing he'd done since his arrival - he kissed her on the forehead. So stunned was Ryoko, that she didn't notice Kyrin climbing back down and going back to the room he'd had while he was Scott.
And Kain was laughing in the back of his mind. Now tell me, he said in a voice that held contempt and malicious amusement, since I'm the only family you've left. Tell me, forsaken one, hated one, unloved one. How does it feel? How does it feel to know that Ryoko's wounds are now your own? Kyrin couldn't form a thought, as Kain continued, How does it feel to know that the one you love will never love you? How does it feel to help and suffer? How does it feel to know that you will always be completely alone?
Kyrin sat, as the fire subsided, sweating fiercely. It... He couldn't think. He tried again. It... it hurts. With that, his body shook again. But this time, it was with sadness, as he sobbed silently. It hurts...
And Kain laughed.
And Tokimi laughed.
Knight: I've never written romance before. And I can't help but worry that I'm moving things a little, well, fast. And I also worry that I'm distorting the character personalities. At least I could explain it with Kiyone and Mihoshi, and that's temporary besides.
::shrugs::
Knight: In any case, you might notice that I got this one out a fair bit slower then the others. That's because the others were ready for a few months. Which means that my work will be coming out slower then before.
::he sighes::
Knight: And school starting up again isn't going to help. Oh well. You have been warned.
Tenchi Muyo! and all related paraphernalia are copyrighted to Kajishima Tenchi and Pioneer.
If anyone recognizes an idea as his/her own, all credit goes to you.
::his eyes flash blue and he disappears::