Knucks stood in awe of the humongous laboratory of Washu. They had walked through what he could've sworn looked like a broom closet but had turned out to be a gateway to her lab. Ryoko and Knucks stood in a humongous room with two stair cases on either side of the plateau they were standing on that lead down into the machine part of the room. Directly in front of them was a semi-circle cement planter with what looked like just weeds growing from it. The roof was not to be seen in this amazing room. It stretched on until the shadows hid it from the human eye. The tiled ground was colored shades of purplish and pink while the walls were a stained white-yellow. It was simply amazing the amount of thought that had to have gone into the making of this room; the years of planning and even more to build. Not to mention that this room was bigger than Tenchi's entire house and Knucks' old one put together.
Knucks stared hard at the shadow, trying to see to top of the room. He quickly became lightheaded and lowered his head to dull the sting. He opened his eyes slowly to see that his arm was still bleeding and turned to see if Ryoko had deserted him. On the contrary, her own arm was hanging on his good one in more than just a casual way. Knucks didn't have time to feel the warmth of her arm before he felt very dizzy. He looked down to try and numb down the pain but the movement of his head caused more pain. A small pool of blood now formed beneath his limp arm. Knucks saw his shirt fall off his arm and in his semi-high condition, found it genuinely hilarious.
Ryoko watched Knucks loose it over his fallen shirt and decided that Knucks was going to bleed out if she waited for Washu to find them, " Washu!! Get out here now!"
Knucks heard this over his hysteria and cringed at the headache it caused. He was going to tell her to try to reframe from screaming to high heaven when a door appeared in front of them out of nowhere. On any other day, that would've seemed strange to him.
" Bout time Washu! Get over here and help him before he bleeds to death!" Ryoko sounded both agitated and rushed.
" Alright, alright ya big whiner." Washu walked over and lifted Knucks' chin up. She lifted his eyelids and checked his pulse.
" Well? What do you think? If he dies, its your fault…"
" Do you want him to die?
Ryoko didn't seem prepared for that question and took a few seconds to answer, " No but you took a long time to…"
" Then get over here and hold him up right would ya."
Ryoko phased over to help up Knucks as Washu started talking in medical lingo Knucks could never hope to understand. Every now and then, she would give him instructions to see his coordination like, ' How many fingers am I holding up?' He followed as best he could as Ryoko held most of his side to keep him balanced.
After what seemed like an eternity, she told Ryoko that Knucks was feeling weird because of the blood loss and to not worry. Knucks understood everything now that his high had been extinguished by an instant blood transfusion. Knucks could hardly believe that he was better already. She really was the greatest scientific genius in the world.
" And how are you feeling?"
Washu and Ryoko had turned towards Knucks as he responded, " A lot better. Thanks Washu. I'm very grateful."
As he bowed his head in gratitude, Ryoko got a jealous look on her face, " Hey! You forgetting someone? Who had to carry you in here and hold you up for that whacko?"
Knucks looked up at her with a slight smirk on his face and answered, " Quit bragging." He noticed a red speck on her face, no doubt his own blood. He walked over and whipped it off her face, " Blood."
" It's a lost cause. Look." Ryoko pointed to her sleeves and hands. Knucks wanted to say, ' I wanted to get it off your pretty face,' but all that came out was, " Yeah I guess so."
"Might I suggest you both take a bath tonight. Ryoko, will you show Knucks the On-sen?"
Ryoko was about to protest when Washu winked at her. They stared at each other for a few minutes at least. Knucks was getting a little freaked out. He looked around the room again and noticed his bloody shirt on the ground. He picked it up and heard Tenchi shouting for him at the same time.
" Tenchi!"
Tenchi walked over to Knucks and asked if he was alright, " Yep, Washu fixed me up in a few minutes." He pointed to Washu and decided to ask Tenchi, " Do you have any idea what they're doing?"
" Yeah. See, they can talk to each other telepathically."
' Yet another surprise to add to the list' Knucks thought as they both stared at each other intently.
Ryoko was the first to snap out of the coma they had been in. She quickly located Knucks, ran over and dragged him out the door.
----------------------------------------
She had drug his body up the stairs and to his room door. She then instructed him to get some swimming trunks on. When he tried to protest, she opened his door and shoved him inside. She looked around him and saw that their was no personal items to be seen, " Hey. Where's all your stuff?"
" What stuff? I try not to collect junk."
Ryoko found another thing that they had in common was lack of stuff, " Yeah, me neither. I don't own a single piece of clothing. I just phase in and out of my stuff everyday."
She was so glad that her mom decided to talk to her. That was the one thing she was good for, advice. She told Ryoko that she should take Knucks to the On-sen to get to know him better. Apparently, Washu had been digging around in Ryoko's mind and saw that she started to like Knucks…a lot.
She thought of how to solve the swimming trunks problem. She phased into Tenchi's room and dug through a few drawers to find a pair that looked like they would it Knucks. She phased back and handed them to Knucks. He shook his head and asked Ryoko for a little privacy, " Oh no. I don't mind at all." Ryoko winked at Knucks only to get a smile in return. She turned around as Knucks changed and thought how great this was going to be. All they were gonna do was talk, until Ryoko felt comfortable enough to ask him out. If Ryoko had her way, it wouldn't stop there either.
Knucks signaled that he was ready and Ryoko turned around. The trunks were almost a perfect fit and the orange Hawaiian leaf pattern on a green background made it so he literally lights up any room.
Ryoko grabbed his arm and drug him back to the bathroom. Every time Knucks would ask where exactly this On-sen was, Ryoko would just say, " You'll have to wait and see."
---
She drug him into the bathroom and finally let his arm go. She turned around and backed into the far wall next to the bath tub. She backed all the way in until all that was visible was her head and asked, " Are you coming or not?"
" It's kind of hard when I can't phase through walls like you can."
With that, Ryoko sprung forward and grabbed Knucks' other arm. She drug him backwards as Knucks prepared him self to hit the wall. Instead though, he went right through it and hit nothing but humid air. Knucks looked around and reached back to the wall he just went through to find that he really could've just walked right through it. He felt embarrassed and saw the wide grin on Ryoko's face. He stuck his tongue at her as she usually does and got a chuckle and was called a whiner.
They walked in a comfortable silence down the hallway to the On-sen. Knucks guessed that Washu had built this place with her lab and somehow hid it from everybody's sight from the outside. This place had a surprise around every corner it seemed.
They got to the main room and Knucks was mesmerized by the beauty of the room. The main attraction of the room was the forest that surrounded the pools. Lush green plants and trees with few differences from the ones outside. The second thing he noticed were the pools that were surrounded by the beautiful forests. There was one that lay in front of Ryoko and himself. It was probably about half the size of the lake outside but only a few feet deep. There was a small waterfall that fell to a much smaller pool beneath the large one. That one served as a resting point for the water until it was pushed through a stream and into a much larger waterfall that led down to a pool about half the size of the first one. The ceiling was made of thick glass that showed the gloomy sunset and still protected from the elements. It was brightly lit to show the beautiful colors of it all. The floor was tile for another three feet and then gave way to nothing but stepping stones.
---
Ryoko had left Knucks to make sure nobody else was there to ruin the moment. She thought she heard splashing, but figured it was just the waterfalls. She then fazed into her swimsuit and went to get Knucks. She found him still looking around the room. She snapped her finger sin front of his ace to get his attention. She took a step back and asked him what he thought of her suit. His look said it all.
---
When Ryoko asked him what he thought of her suit, the first thing Knucks asked himself was, " That's a bathing suit?" She had phased into a sea green bikini that left little to the imagination and a matching beach thong with fringe around the edges. Knucks couldn't get enough of it, " Well, at least you put more clothes on then I thought you would."
He smiled at her as she asked, " What did you expect me to wear?"
" A staple." They both laughed as they walked towards the largest and closest pool. They got in the very hot water and relaxed. They sat there for a few minutes before Ryoko noticed something around Knucks' neck. It was a silver necklace with a connecting circle pattern all the way around. It was about a half-inch think and shiny. His eyes were closed so she tried to carefully reach over a see what it was. She touched it and Knucks' hand stopped her hand from taking his necklace, " Can I help you with something?"
Ryoko got her hand and his necklace from his grip. Knucks tried his hardest to get it back but to no avail as she phased away from him. He spotted her down in the bottom pool and she thought she had time as Knucks would have to go down the stairs to get her. Knucks knew she was playing but decided to surprise her anyways. He noticed the floor beneath the smaller waterfall was at least seven feet deep and figured the bigger one had to be deeper. He took his place on the edge of the falls, looked at Ryoko and the face she was making and jumped. Knucks saw her face in slow motion as he jumped, she was shocked. Knucks hit the water with his back and, despite the sting, swam quickly to get to the surface. He got there and tasted the sweet air and the sweet sound of Ryoko shouting and cheering at his acrobatics. He got to his feet and asked, " What's my score judge?"
Ryoko didn't get it at first but smiled as she said, " Well, The form was flawless but you were a little messy on the landing, you might have to settle for the silver medal."
They both laughed again. Knucks saw his opportunity and took it. He used a speed technique he knew to run next to Ryoko and grab his necklace out of her hand. He quickly got away and put it back around his neck.
" Party pooper. Why'd you have to go take it huh?"
" It was mine in the first place. You don't know how important this is to me."
She could see him sadden at the thought of what that necklace represented, " Well…" She walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his one, " Why don't you tell me."
Knucks didn't expect her to be so forward about her interest him and was very unprepared for it. He decided to sit down before she noticed his own " forwardness." " My sister gave this to me when I was ten. She put a picture of me and her playing in it." He pressed a small button on the side of the necklace and one of the circles spun out to the front and opened, revealing a picture of a little blonde girl playing with a little Knucks she presumed. " She always used to say that we would play until the sun burned out. She didn't deserve to die like that. None of them did."
Knucks closed his eyes and remembered the good days. He could sense that Ryoko was staring at him and decided that she must feel guilty. He opened his eyes and looked into Ryoko's, " It's not your fault. I shouldn't concern you with this stuff."
Ryoko brought her hand up and for the first time in a while, Ryoko felt she had to apologize, " No. It's my fault I'm…." Ryoko lifted Knucks' chin to face her and said it, " I'm sorry for making you relive those memories. I shouldn't have pried in the first place. I…"
Knucks made eye contact with her and saw that she genuinely meant it. He couldn't believe that she apologized for this or anything for that matter. He noticed one hand was warmer than the other and looked down to see their hands entwined with each other. Knucks looked back up and saw a stray bunch of hair on Ryoko's forehead. He reached up and whipped it away and leaned in closer. He had lost control and was along for the ride of his life…
" Heyyyyyyy! Ryoko, are you in here!"
Sasami's voice rang through the On-sen and the ears of the two occupants of it. Ryoko snapped out of her daze and quickly flew up to meet Sasami. Knucks was left there to try and make sense of what was going to happen if Sasami hadn't interrupted. They had come within a hair of electrifying the very water they were in with a kiss. " Great timing." Knucks mumbled as he splashed a little bit of water.
---
" Hey Ryoko. I've been looking all over for you."
Sasami walked closer to the spot where Ryoko was. Ryoko tried to seem as composed as possible despite what had just almost happened. Ryoko had almost kissed Knucks. She looked at Sasami and tried to keep a smile from appearing on her face, " What's up kid?"
Sasami smiled up at her and said, " I just wanted to tell you that dinner was ready and I wanted to ask you to go up and get Knucks for me."
She thought of Knucks down at the bottom pool sent chills down her spine either from anticipation or envy. She still couldn't believe that he was still able to go on with his life after the death's of his family like that. " Yeah. I'll go get'em. What are we eatin tonight?"
Sasami gave Ryoko the biggest smile she could and said, " It's a surprise silly."
Sasami walked off through the wall and into the hallway. Ryoko waited until she heard the screen slide shut to let out a sigh. She went back over the moment with Knucks in her head as she walked down the steps to him. She surprised herself twice in that special moment with him. First off, she genuinely opened her heart to him and apologized. She didn't regret apologizing, she wanted to. Secondly, she lost control over herself. She felt his warm fingers slide across her forehead and she lost it. She leaned in for the kiss with him just like he did.
She reached the bottom step and looked around for Knucks. She saw him sitting near the waterfall, letting the water from the fall splash on his head and back. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled as they just stared at each other. Ryoko knew that she wanted to finished what they had started, but also knew that the time just wasn't right. She decided that there would definitely be another time to finish the job. " Sasami says dinner's ready. You get to your room and change."
Knucks just stared at her a little longer before he said, " Thanks." He took the stairs three at a time and shouted, " See you at dinner."
Ryoko looked up after him and whispered, " Wouldn't miss it," and smiled.
----------------------------------------------------
In Space:
It was done. All he had to do was collect a little more combat data and he would take Ryoko for his own. He would attack tonight and test their awareness. He was ecstatic about finally moving into phase three of operation gem strike. Washu could not protect Ryoko from his new sword. Nor could Yosho or Tenchi stop him from taking what was rightfully his. In the back of his mind was a little voice that said 'Aren't you forgetting somebody?'
He recognized this voice as the voice of doubt. Doubt that these people couldn't stand in his way but maybe, just maybe, Knucks had the ability to stop his plans. Knucks was a mystery that could prove his undoing if not played just right.
' You still think he is nothing.'
The voice again. What was he supposed to think? That this little nobody would be able to stop him when he cannot even handle Yosho? Preposterous. Knucks had little power compared to his own and could never hope to protect Ryoko from him.
' He has motivation. If he ever found out, he would…'
If he found out, he would die in a rage rather than in sadness. Knucks had no way of knowing that anyways. This thought brought on another. What if Knucks fell in love with Ryoko? Matters would then become complicated and Knucks would become desperate. The mere thought of Knucks' rage scared him out of his robe.
He laughed out loud at the would be dream of Knucks. He was giving this to much thought and not focusing on that which was truly important, the question he must now ask himself now that victory is in his hands. What will he do first with the power of the gods?
" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
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Knucks quickly closed the door to his room and feel onto his bed. He lay there for a few seconds and think of Ryoko, and the meaning of the moment they had just shared. Knucks turned over and stared at the ceiling, re-picturing the image, slower. He couldn't believe that he was within an inch of tasting her lips. He was so close to her electrifying kiss that he had smelt the mint flavoring from something she had chewed on, lingering on her lips, begging to travel to his lips as well. It was torture.
He woke from his daydream and got changed to go to the lovely smelling dinner. Sasami was a wonderful cook and had the sweetest smile of anybody he had ever met. He thought of being mad at her for interrupting the moment before, but decided that she didn't mean to intrude. A knock at the door stopped his thought process. He told them to come in. The door opened and Grandpa stood before him with a piece of paper in his hand. " What's up?"
Grandpa walked over to Knucks and, with a big smile on his face, said, " Good news for you, you only have my training every other day now. Since we now have two trainees, we can split up the chores and the training."
Grandpa gave the piece of paper in his hand to Knucks, " Okay. What am I doing on my off days?"
" You will be going down to the fields and planting and picking them. Tenchi will show where the fields are tomorrow morning. Have fun."
"Yeah." Knucks smiled, shook his hand and walked down stairs for dinner. He noticed that everybody except for Ryoko sat around the table waiting for Sasami to serve the food. He tried to sneak a peek at what she had made but got a wooden spoon to the back of the head for his troubles. He stood on the bottom step rubbing the pain in his head away when he heard a sarcastic remark from behind him
" Move it or lose it."
He knew it was Ryoko and moved off the step but into her path to the table. She moved down the stairs and walked right through him, " Phasing is a wonderful thing."
He smiled and said over his shoulder, " To those who have it."
Knucks followed her to the table but sat between Tenchi and Sasami, directly across from Ryoko. Ayeka sat next to Tenchi and Mihoshi on the other side of Sasami. Sasami had made a chicken dinner with chicken soup, chicken fried rice, chicken dumplings on the side and a sauce that Knucks thought tasted just like chicken. They ate in relative harmony, fighting and frying pans aside.
Knucks helped clear the table and wash the dishes and then decided to take a walk. He started outside when a figure appeared in front of him, " Hey."
Ryoko loved surprising him, " Hey."
" Where're you going?"
" Out for a walk."
Ryoko now took a step closer to him and looked up at him in the eyes, " Mind if I tag along."
Knucks knew he wanted her to come with him but kept his composure enough to give her a good answer, " Absolutely. Shall we?"
" We shall."
---
Ryoko took Knucks' arm when they were out of sight from the house. He didn't seem to mind as he moved his hand across her arm. They walked along in silence for a second more when she noticed him staring at her. She looked at him through the corner of her eye and for second, thought he was staring at her bosoms. She prepared to make a statement when he asked her, " Will you please tell me what is up with those gems?"
He had been staring at her wrist and neck, not her bosoms. Ryoko was feeling a bit stupid but still answered, " Nothing is up with them. I told you, they're just decorations."
He stopped walking and just gave her a 'yeah right' stare. She held his mocking gaze for a few minutes before she gave in, " Fine, if you really want to know. These gems are the source of my power. Washu was a god at one time but wanted to be a human so, she put all of her power into these three gems," she pointed to her gems on her wrists and neck, " and put them into her creations body."
Knucks broke his gaze and thought for a minute before speaking, " So, that's why that Kagato guy wanted to control you right? So he could command your power?"
" Bingo. He wanted to keep the gems and get rid of me but he couldn't get them out of my body. So, he just brainwashed me and made me do his bidding for a lonnnggg time."
Just then, an image of one of the many poor souls she had killed flashed into her mind. She shook her head to get rid of the image and closed her eyes. She stopped shaking her head and opened her eyes to see Knucks looking directly at her, " You like to watch or something?"
Knucks smiled and responded, " No. I'm more of a hands on kinda guy," he smiled and shook his head, " but I was really thinking how a girl with your past can feel sorry for a guy like me with my past. You had it worse than me."
Ryoko was surprised by his concern for her past. Not even Tenchi had cared this much for what had happened to her, " I told you before, it wasn't as bad as-"
" - it sounded? I got that part. You asked me before how I lived on through the deaths of my family but I ask you, how can you possibly live on knowing that you involuntarily killed thousands."
Ryoko was really surprised now. She thought about lying to him but looked into his eyes and saw that he really wanted to know. She felt touched by his concern for her and felt like this was the moment to finish that job. She took a step closer to him and said, " I haven't gotten over it and I still don't sleep because of it. Every time I try to sleep, I have dreams of those people and I wake up screaming. I scared everyone in the house for three straight nights before I gave up sleeping." She smiled, " Ayeka threatened my life if I woke her up again so…"
Knucks laughed and said, " Yeah, she isn't very princess like is she?"
" No, not at all."
They both laughed and walked along under the moon lit sky. They walked on until Ryoko decided that they should go into town for an ice cream. She knew Knucks would say that it was more than a few hour walk, " I can fly us there and back in a few minutes."
She knew now that he had no reason to say no, " Well in that case…" Knucks put his arms around Ryoko's shoulder and said, " shall we?"
Ryoko felt his wonderful, warm, body pressed against hers and couldn't move for a second. She snapped out of it and said, " We shall."
---
Knucks loved the feeling of flying but the wind was killer. Ryoko was flying pretty fast and the wind made it impossible for him to look straight ahead. He looked down at Ryoko and saw that she was looking straight ahead without even blinking. He was more concentrated on the smile she wore. He hadn't seen her that happy since he'd come to stay with Tenchi and the gals.
They got to the city in about thirty seconds and the ice cream shop in about half the time. Knucks landed on the ground and, reluctantly, let go of Ryoko. She landed and held her hand out at Knucks. He was a little baffled at first but realized that she was offering it to him. He took it and entwined their fingers as they walked into the creamery.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ryoko landed Knucks o the ground and herself soon after. They re-grasped each others hand and walked the last few feet to the door. Knucks had enjoyed half of his milkshake as Ryoko was thirsty. They stopped before going inside and talked a little bit more. He could tell that Ryoko had enjoyed the time they spent together and Knucks couldn't lie to himself that he had too. She had laughed at his jokes as had he. They had held hands with each other for basically the whole night, and Knucks still wasn't ready to let go.
" Well… You wanna do this again sometime?"
Knucks took a last drink from his milk shake and smiled, " Sure. Why not. I had a great time. Thank you for the wonderful milk product."
Ryoko laughed as quietly as she could. Knucks waited until she was done laughing to think of how he was going to tell her good night. Would he give her a high-five or finally finish the kiss? He set down the empty milkshake cup and grabbed her other hand. She had a twinkle in her eye that made Knucks ever more eager to taste her. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them to find Ryoko, eyes closed and leaning towards him. Knucks found himself doing the same. They leaned towards each other, slowly, waiting for the taste that would electrify the air around them with passion. The wait was painfully long, but the end effect was beyond words. Their lips touched and sent a warm shoot straight through both bodies as they embraced each other for what seemed like hours. Ryoko pulled away first from his fiery, passionate kiss. Her eyes still closed, she took a step back. Knucks opened his eyes just in time to see her lunge for his mouth again. They stand there kissing for five minutes straight until it was Knucks' turn to pull away. He opened his eyes to meet Ryoko's. He reached up to remove another stray hair from her forehead. She used her, now free, hand to hold his hand to her cheek as she said, " Wow. You're a good kisser."
The passionate tension was broken with that statement as they both laughed quietly. Knucks was in another high, but this time, it was a good high that he had never felt before. The laughter stopped and Knucks let his hand drop to his waist. " Good night Ryoko."
" Good night Knucks." Ryoko didn't have time to lean in before Knucks had covered her lips with his.
He pulled away and licked his lip, " Tastes like Sasami's dinner, chicken." They both laughed again and a soft light shone through the screen and the footsteps of someone came closer to the door. Ryoko took Knucks' hand and flew him up to the roof. They saw Tenchi walk out on the porch and look around with a lantern. They also heard the shouting of Ayeka and Washu form the inside. Apparently, they hadn't waited for Ryoko to get drunk. Tenchi went back inside to try and calm the drunken partiers down while Ryoko and Knucks settled back to the ground. " Well, that was fun."
" Yeah no kidding. I guess we better get inside before we are missed."
" Hey Ryoko.
" Hmm?"
Knucks raised her hand and held it in between their heads, " Do me a favor and try to sleep tonight. I would feel better sleeping if I knew that you were too. If you scream in the night, I'll be the first one there okay?"
Ryoko felt very protected with him. She really didn't want to have those nightmares again but she trusted him. " You'll be the first one there if I need you right?"
She seemed really hesitant to go to sleep. Ryoko didn't seem like the kind of girl to rattle to easily either, " The first."
Ryoko believed him and said, " Alright, but if I have a nightmare again, I'm gonna hit you in the head when you walk in."
Knucks smiled, " Fair enough. Good night"
Ryoko smiled and gripped his hand tighter, " It better be."
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Knucks' eyes snapped open and he sat up like lightning. He expected to hear Ryoko screaming but instead, he just felt something was amiss. He got up and shook the sleep from his eyes. He opened his door and walked down the hallway. He stopped at the stairs and looked over the railing down to the living room. He now knew what he found odd, it was quiet in the house. The drunken party had calmed as all the participants had fallen asleep. He started to walk back when he noticed the front door was open. He walked down the stairs and to the door. He grabbed a bottake and walked out the door. He looked around from the front step and saw nothing but shadows. He was going to go back inside, but the uncomfortable feeling he had before grew suddenly. He took a few more steps into the darkness and he could make out a figure. He raised his bottake and asked the shadow, " Who are you? Show yourself!"
The figure walked towards Knucks with a sword in his hand, a pitch black sword with a red outline that was the only indication that it was even there. The handle looked to be made of wood and half of it disappeared into a gloved hand. " You need not concern yourself with my name. You are but an insect in my way."
Knucks got in a ready position with his bottake that seemed useless against his laser sword. This mystery guy sounded petty sure that he was going to win this battle. Knucks wanted to prove him wrong.
Knucks saw the man leap forward and bring his sword down. Knucks rolled out of the way and swung his sword up to the mans midsection. He phased through Knucks' bottake came around and slapped him with his hand. Knucks flew back but landed on his feet. He was totally off guard for this fighters ability to phase, just like Ryoko. He decided to forget about it for now and try to attack him. He used his speed technique to try and get a hit on this guy. He swung his bottake for the mans lower abdomen and hit him. The man flew back a few feet before landing and sliding on his butt. The man sounded winded but still hopped to his feet and sprung forward. Knucks continued his technique and struck the mans sword arm this time. He switched his sword to his unhurt arm and back sliced and caught Knucks' back. Knucks quickly speeded away for a seconds rest but didn't find it. He dodged the mans attack quickly and started to make an after image of himself. The man fell for it and swung straight through the smok image of Knucks. Knucks quickly took advantage by spinning his sword all the way around his body to snap it over the man's skull. The man fell to one knee but hopped back up and sped over to attack Knucks. Knucks Couldn't move fast enough to counter the attack and the mans sword went straight through Knucks' left shoulder. Knucks shouted in pain but didn't fall. The man saw this and became angered. He sprung forward again and stabbed Knucks right through his lower abdomen. While still on the blade, the man whispered something to Knucks, " You wanna know who I am? I am the last person you will ever see. Remember this name and take it to hell with you. I am Kagato."
An arrow hit Kagato in the shoulder as Yosho had come, followed closely by Tenchi and the girls. Kagato fled the scene and let Knucks' body hit the ground. Knucks was on the verge of losing consciousness when the others came over to help him. He couldn't make out any faces but heard jumbled voices of his helpers. The last thought he had was that of vengeance, " Kagato." He whispered as he passed out from the pain.
Knucks stared hard at the shadow, trying to see to top of the room. He quickly became lightheaded and lowered his head to dull the sting. He opened his eyes slowly to see that his arm was still bleeding and turned to see if Ryoko had deserted him. On the contrary, her own arm was hanging on his good one in more than just a casual way. Knucks didn't have time to feel the warmth of her arm before he felt very dizzy. He looked down to try and numb down the pain but the movement of his head caused more pain. A small pool of blood now formed beneath his limp arm. Knucks saw his shirt fall off his arm and in his semi-high condition, found it genuinely hilarious.
Ryoko watched Knucks loose it over his fallen shirt and decided that Knucks was going to bleed out if she waited for Washu to find them, " Washu!! Get out here now!"
Knucks heard this over his hysteria and cringed at the headache it caused. He was going to tell her to try to reframe from screaming to high heaven when a door appeared in front of them out of nowhere. On any other day, that would've seemed strange to him.
" Bout time Washu! Get over here and help him before he bleeds to death!" Ryoko sounded both agitated and rushed.
" Alright, alright ya big whiner." Washu walked over and lifted Knucks' chin up. She lifted his eyelids and checked his pulse.
" Well? What do you think? If he dies, its your fault…"
" Do you want him to die?
Ryoko didn't seem prepared for that question and took a few seconds to answer, " No but you took a long time to…"
" Then get over here and hold him up right would ya."
Ryoko phased over to help up Knucks as Washu started talking in medical lingo Knucks could never hope to understand. Every now and then, she would give him instructions to see his coordination like, ' How many fingers am I holding up?' He followed as best he could as Ryoko held most of his side to keep him balanced.
After what seemed like an eternity, she told Ryoko that Knucks was feeling weird because of the blood loss and to not worry. Knucks understood everything now that his high had been extinguished by an instant blood transfusion. Knucks could hardly believe that he was better already. She really was the greatest scientific genius in the world.
" And how are you feeling?"
Washu and Ryoko had turned towards Knucks as he responded, " A lot better. Thanks Washu. I'm very grateful."
As he bowed his head in gratitude, Ryoko got a jealous look on her face, " Hey! You forgetting someone? Who had to carry you in here and hold you up for that whacko?"
Knucks looked up at her with a slight smirk on his face and answered, " Quit bragging." He noticed a red speck on her face, no doubt his own blood. He walked over and whipped it off her face, " Blood."
" It's a lost cause. Look." Ryoko pointed to her sleeves and hands. Knucks wanted to say, ' I wanted to get it off your pretty face,' but all that came out was, " Yeah I guess so."
"Might I suggest you both take a bath tonight. Ryoko, will you show Knucks the On-sen?"
Ryoko was about to protest when Washu winked at her. They stared at each other for a few minutes at least. Knucks was getting a little freaked out. He looked around the room again and noticed his bloody shirt on the ground. He picked it up and heard Tenchi shouting for him at the same time.
" Tenchi!"
Tenchi walked over to Knucks and asked if he was alright, " Yep, Washu fixed me up in a few minutes." He pointed to Washu and decided to ask Tenchi, " Do you have any idea what they're doing?"
" Yeah. See, they can talk to each other telepathically."
' Yet another surprise to add to the list' Knucks thought as they both stared at each other intently.
Ryoko was the first to snap out of the coma they had been in. She quickly located Knucks, ran over and dragged him out the door.
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She had drug his body up the stairs and to his room door. She then instructed him to get some swimming trunks on. When he tried to protest, she opened his door and shoved him inside. She looked around him and saw that their was no personal items to be seen, " Hey. Where's all your stuff?"
" What stuff? I try not to collect junk."
Ryoko found another thing that they had in common was lack of stuff, " Yeah, me neither. I don't own a single piece of clothing. I just phase in and out of my stuff everyday."
She was so glad that her mom decided to talk to her. That was the one thing she was good for, advice. She told Ryoko that she should take Knucks to the On-sen to get to know him better. Apparently, Washu had been digging around in Ryoko's mind and saw that she started to like Knucks…a lot.
She thought of how to solve the swimming trunks problem. She phased into Tenchi's room and dug through a few drawers to find a pair that looked like they would it Knucks. She phased back and handed them to Knucks. He shook his head and asked Ryoko for a little privacy, " Oh no. I don't mind at all." Ryoko winked at Knucks only to get a smile in return. She turned around as Knucks changed and thought how great this was going to be. All they were gonna do was talk, until Ryoko felt comfortable enough to ask him out. If Ryoko had her way, it wouldn't stop there either.
Knucks signaled that he was ready and Ryoko turned around. The trunks were almost a perfect fit and the orange Hawaiian leaf pattern on a green background made it so he literally lights up any room.
Ryoko grabbed his arm and drug him back to the bathroom. Every time Knucks would ask where exactly this On-sen was, Ryoko would just say, " You'll have to wait and see."
---
She drug him into the bathroom and finally let his arm go. She turned around and backed into the far wall next to the bath tub. She backed all the way in until all that was visible was her head and asked, " Are you coming or not?"
" It's kind of hard when I can't phase through walls like you can."
With that, Ryoko sprung forward and grabbed Knucks' other arm. She drug him backwards as Knucks prepared him self to hit the wall. Instead though, he went right through it and hit nothing but humid air. Knucks looked around and reached back to the wall he just went through to find that he really could've just walked right through it. He felt embarrassed and saw the wide grin on Ryoko's face. He stuck his tongue at her as she usually does and got a chuckle and was called a whiner.
They walked in a comfortable silence down the hallway to the On-sen. Knucks guessed that Washu had built this place with her lab and somehow hid it from everybody's sight from the outside. This place had a surprise around every corner it seemed.
They got to the main room and Knucks was mesmerized by the beauty of the room. The main attraction of the room was the forest that surrounded the pools. Lush green plants and trees with few differences from the ones outside. The second thing he noticed were the pools that were surrounded by the beautiful forests. There was one that lay in front of Ryoko and himself. It was probably about half the size of the lake outside but only a few feet deep. There was a small waterfall that fell to a much smaller pool beneath the large one. That one served as a resting point for the water until it was pushed through a stream and into a much larger waterfall that led down to a pool about half the size of the first one. The ceiling was made of thick glass that showed the gloomy sunset and still protected from the elements. It was brightly lit to show the beautiful colors of it all. The floor was tile for another three feet and then gave way to nothing but stepping stones.
---
Ryoko had left Knucks to make sure nobody else was there to ruin the moment. She thought she heard splashing, but figured it was just the waterfalls. She then fazed into her swimsuit and went to get Knucks. She found him still looking around the room. She snapped her finger sin front of his ace to get his attention. She took a step back and asked him what he thought of her suit. His look said it all.
---
When Ryoko asked him what he thought of her suit, the first thing Knucks asked himself was, " That's a bathing suit?" She had phased into a sea green bikini that left little to the imagination and a matching beach thong with fringe around the edges. Knucks couldn't get enough of it, " Well, at least you put more clothes on then I thought you would."
He smiled at her as she asked, " What did you expect me to wear?"
" A staple." They both laughed as they walked towards the largest and closest pool. They got in the very hot water and relaxed. They sat there for a few minutes before Ryoko noticed something around Knucks' neck. It was a silver necklace with a connecting circle pattern all the way around. It was about a half-inch think and shiny. His eyes were closed so she tried to carefully reach over a see what it was. She touched it and Knucks' hand stopped her hand from taking his necklace, " Can I help you with something?"
Ryoko got her hand and his necklace from his grip. Knucks tried his hardest to get it back but to no avail as she phased away from him. He spotted her down in the bottom pool and she thought she had time as Knucks would have to go down the stairs to get her. Knucks knew she was playing but decided to surprise her anyways. He noticed the floor beneath the smaller waterfall was at least seven feet deep and figured the bigger one had to be deeper. He took his place on the edge of the falls, looked at Ryoko and the face she was making and jumped. Knucks saw her face in slow motion as he jumped, she was shocked. Knucks hit the water with his back and, despite the sting, swam quickly to get to the surface. He got there and tasted the sweet air and the sweet sound of Ryoko shouting and cheering at his acrobatics. He got to his feet and asked, " What's my score judge?"
Ryoko didn't get it at first but smiled as she said, " Well, The form was flawless but you were a little messy on the landing, you might have to settle for the silver medal."
They both laughed again. Knucks saw his opportunity and took it. He used a speed technique he knew to run next to Ryoko and grab his necklace out of her hand. He quickly got away and put it back around his neck.
" Party pooper. Why'd you have to go take it huh?"
" It was mine in the first place. You don't know how important this is to me."
She could see him sadden at the thought of what that necklace represented, " Well…" She walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his one, " Why don't you tell me."
Knucks didn't expect her to be so forward about her interest him and was very unprepared for it. He decided to sit down before she noticed his own " forwardness." " My sister gave this to me when I was ten. She put a picture of me and her playing in it." He pressed a small button on the side of the necklace and one of the circles spun out to the front and opened, revealing a picture of a little blonde girl playing with a little Knucks she presumed. " She always used to say that we would play until the sun burned out. She didn't deserve to die like that. None of them did."
Knucks closed his eyes and remembered the good days. He could sense that Ryoko was staring at him and decided that she must feel guilty. He opened his eyes and looked into Ryoko's, " It's not your fault. I shouldn't concern you with this stuff."
Ryoko brought her hand up and for the first time in a while, Ryoko felt she had to apologize, " No. It's my fault I'm…." Ryoko lifted Knucks' chin to face her and said it, " I'm sorry for making you relive those memories. I shouldn't have pried in the first place. I…"
Knucks made eye contact with her and saw that she genuinely meant it. He couldn't believe that she apologized for this or anything for that matter. He noticed one hand was warmer than the other and looked down to see their hands entwined with each other. Knucks looked back up and saw a stray bunch of hair on Ryoko's forehead. He reached up and whipped it away and leaned in closer. He had lost control and was along for the ride of his life…
" Heyyyyyyy! Ryoko, are you in here!"
Sasami's voice rang through the On-sen and the ears of the two occupants of it. Ryoko snapped out of her daze and quickly flew up to meet Sasami. Knucks was left there to try and make sense of what was going to happen if Sasami hadn't interrupted. They had come within a hair of electrifying the very water they were in with a kiss. " Great timing." Knucks mumbled as he splashed a little bit of water.
---
" Hey Ryoko. I've been looking all over for you."
Sasami walked closer to the spot where Ryoko was. Ryoko tried to seem as composed as possible despite what had just almost happened. Ryoko had almost kissed Knucks. She looked at Sasami and tried to keep a smile from appearing on her face, " What's up kid?"
Sasami smiled up at her and said, " I just wanted to tell you that dinner was ready and I wanted to ask you to go up and get Knucks for me."
She thought of Knucks down at the bottom pool sent chills down her spine either from anticipation or envy. She still couldn't believe that he was still able to go on with his life after the death's of his family like that. " Yeah. I'll go get'em. What are we eatin tonight?"
Sasami gave Ryoko the biggest smile she could and said, " It's a surprise silly."
Sasami walked off through the wall and into the hallway. Ryoko waited until she heard the screen slide shut to let out a sigh. She went back over the moment with Knucks in her head as she walked down the steps to him. She surprised herself twice in that special moment with him. First off, she genuinely opened her heart to him and apologized. She didn't regret apologizing, she wanted to. Secondly, she lost control over herself. She felt his warm fingers slide across her forehead and she lost it. She leaned in for the kiss with him just like he did.
She reached the bottom step and looked around for Knucks. She saw him sitting near the waterfall, letting the water from the fall splash on his head and back. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled as they just stared at each other. Ryoko knew that she wanted to finished what they had started, but also knew that the time just wasn't right. She decided that there would definitely be another time to finish the job. " Sasami says dinner's ready. You get to your room and change."
Knucks just stared at her a little longer before he said, " Thanks." He took the stairs three at a time and shouted, " See you at dinner."
Ryoko looked up after him and whispered, " Wouldn't miss it," and smiled.
----------------------------------------------------
In Space:
It was done. All he had to do was collect a little more combat data and he would take Ryoko for his own. He would attack tonight and test their awareness. He was ecstatic about finally moving into phase three of operation gem strike. Washu could not protect Ryoko from his new sword. Nor could Yosho or Tenchi stop him from taking what was rightfully his. In the back of his mind was a little voice that said 'Aren't you forgetting somebody?'
He recognized this voice as the voice of doubt. Doubt that these people couldn't stand in his way but maybe, just maybe, Knucks had the ability to stop his plans. Knucks was a mystery that could prove his undoing if not played just right.
' You still think he is nothing.'
The voice again. What was he supposed to think? That this little nobody would be able to stop him when he cannot even handle Yosho? Preposterous. Knucks had little power compared to his own and could never hope to protect Ryoko from him.
' He has motivation. If he ever found out, he would…'
If he found out, he would die in a rage rather than in sadness. Knucks had no way of knowing that anyways. This thought brought on another. What if Knucks fell in love with Ryoko? Matters would then become complicated and Knucks would become desperate. The mere thought of Knucks' rage scared him out of his robe.
He laughed out loud at the would be dream of Knucks. He was giving this to much thought and not focusing on that which was truly important, the question he must now ask himself now that victory is in his hands. What will he do first with the power of the gods?
" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
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Knucks quickly closed the door to his room and feel onto his bed. He lay there for a few seconds and think of Ryoko, and the meaning of the moment they had just shared. Knucks turned over and stared at the ceiling, re-picturing the image, slower. He couldn't believe that he was within an inch of tasting her lips. He was so close to her electrifying kiss that he had smelt the mint flavoring from something she had chewed on, lingering on her lips, begging to travel to his lips as well. It was torture.
He woke from his daydream and got changed to go to the lovely smelling dinner. Sasami was a wonderful cook and had the sweetest smile of anybody he had ever met. He thought of being mad at her for interrupting the moment before, but decided that she didn't mean to intrude. A knock at the door stopped his thought process. He told them to come in. The door opened and Grandpa stood before him with a piece of paper in his hand. " What's up?"
Grandpa walked over to Knucks and, with a big smile on his face, said, " Good news for you, you only have my training every other day now. Since we now have two trainees, we can split up the chores and the training."
Grandpa gave the piece of paper in his hand to Knucks, " Okay. What am I doing on my off days?"
" You will be going down to the fields and planting and picking them. Tenchi will show where the fields are tomorrow morning. Have fun."
"Yeah." Knucks smiled, shook his hand and walked down stairs for dinner. He noticed that everybody except for Ryoko sat around the table waiting for Sasami to serve the food. He tried to sneak a peek at what she had made but got a wooden spoon to the back of the head for his troubles. He stood on the bottom step rubbing the pain in his head away when he heard a sarcastic remark from behind him
" Move it or lose it."
He knew it was Ryoko and moved off the step but into her path to the table. She moved down the stairs and walked right through him, " Phasing is a wonderful thing."
He smiled and said over his shoulder, " To those who have it."
Knucks followed her to the table but sat between Tenchi and Sasami, directly across from Ryoko. Ayeka sat next to Tenchi and Mihoshi on the other side of Sasami. Sasami had made a chicken dinner with chicken soup, chicken fried rice, chicken dumplings on the side and a sauce that Knucks thought tasted just like chicken. They ate in relative harmony, fighting and frying pans aside.
Knucks helped clear the table and wash the dishes and then decided to take a walk. He started outside when a figure appeared in front of him, " Hey."
Ryoko loved surprising him, " Hey."
" Where're you going?"
" Out for a walk."
Ryoko now took a step closer to him and looked up at him in the eyes, " Mind if I tag along."
Knucks knew he wanted her to come with him but kept his composure enough to give her a good answer, " Absolutely. Shall we?"
" We shall."
---
Ryoko took Knucks' arm when they were out of sight from the house. He didn't seem to mind as he moved his hand across her arm. They walked along in silence for a second more when she noticed him staring at her. She looked at him through the corner of her eye and for second, thought he was staring at her bosoms. She prepared to make a statement when he asked her, " Will you please tell me what is up with those gems?"
He had been staring at her wrist and neck, not her bosoms. Ryoko was feeling a bit stupid but still answered, " Nothing is up with them. I told you, they're just decorations."
He stopped walking and just gave her a 'yeah right' stare. She held his mocking gaze for a few minutes before she gave in, " Fine, if you really want to know. These gems are the source of my power. Washu was a god at one time but wanted to be a human so, she put all of her power into these three gems," she pointed to her gems on her wrists and neck, " and put them into her creations body."
Knucks broke his gaze and thought for a minute before speaking, " So, that's why that Kagato guy wanted to control you right? So he could command your power?"
" Bingo. He wanted to keep the gems and get rid of me but he couldn't get them out of my body. So, he just brainwashed me and made me do his bidding for a lonnnggg time."
Just then, an image of one of the many poor souls she had killed flashed into her mind. She shook her head to get rid of the image and closed her eyes. She stopped shaking her head and opened her eyes to see Knucks looking directly at her, " You like to watch or something?"
Knucks smiled and responded, " No. I'm more of a hands on kinda guy," he smiled and shook his head, " but I was really thinking how a girl with your past can feel sorry for a guy like me with my past. You had it worse than me."
Ryoko was surprised by his concern for her past. Not even Tenchi had cared this much for what had happened to her, " I told you before, it wasn't as bad as-"
" - it sounded? I got that part. You asked me before how I lived on through the deaths of my family but I ask you, how can you possibly live on knowing that you involuntarily killed thousands."
Ryoko was really surprised now. She thought about lying to him but looked into his eyes and saw that he really wanted to know. She felt touched by his concern for her and felt like this was the moment to finish that job. She took a step closer to him and said, " I haven't gotten over it and I still don't sleep because of it. Every time I try to sleep, I have dreams of those people and I wake up screaming. I scared everyone in the house for three straight nights before I gave up sleeping." She smiled, " Ayeka threatened my life if I woke her up again so…"
Knucks laughed and said, " Yeah, she isn't very princess like is she?"
" No, not at all."
They both laughed and walked along under the moon lit sky. They walked on until Ryoko decided that they should go into town for an ice cream. She knew Knucks would say that it was more than a few hour walk, " I can fly us there and back in a few minutes."
She knew now that he had no reason to say no, " Well in that case…" Knucks put his arms around Ryoko's shoulder and said, " shall we?"
Ryoko felt his wonderful, warm, body pressed against hers and couldn't move for a second. She snapped out of it and said, " We shall."
---
Knucks loved the feeling of flying but the wind was killer. Ryoko was flying pretty fast and the wind made it impossible for him to look straight ahead. He looked down at Ryoko and saw that she was looking straight ahead without even blinking. He was more concentrated on the smile she wore. He hadn't seen her that happy since he'd come to stay with Tenchi and the gals.
They got to the city in about thirty seconds and the ice cream shop in about half the time. Knucks landed on the ground and, reluctantly, let go of Ryoko. She landed and held her hand out at Knucks. He was a little baffled at first but realized that she was offering it to him. He took it and entwined their fingers as they walked into the creamery.
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Ryoko landed Knucks o the ground and herself soon after. They re-grasped each others hand and walked the last few feet to the door. Knucks had enjoyed half of his milkshake as Ryoko was thirsty. They stopped before going inside and talked a little bit more. He could tell that Ryoko had enjoyed the time they spent together and Knucks couldn't lie to himself that he had too. She had laughed at his jokes as had he. They had held hands with each other for basically the whole night, and Knucks still wasn't ready to let go.
" Well… You wanna do this again sometime?"
Knucks took a last drink from his milk shake and smiled, " Sure. Why not. I had a great time. Thank you for the wonderful milk product."
Ryoko laughed as quietly as she could. Knucks waited until she was done laughing to think of how he was going to tell her good night. Would he give her a high-five or finally finish the kiss? He set down the empty milkshake cup and grabbed her other hand. She had a twinkle in her eye that made Knucks ever more eager to taste her. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them to find Ryoko, eyes closed and leaning towards him. Knucks found himself doing the same. They leaned towards each other, slowly, waiting for the taste that would electrify the air around them with passion. The wait was painfully long, but the end effect was beyond words. Their lips touched and sent a warm shoot straight through both bodies as they embraced each other for what seemed like hours. Ryoko pulled away first from his fiery, passionate kiss. Her eyes still closed, she took a step back. Knucks opened his eyes just in time to see her lunge for his mouth again. They stand there kissing for five minutes straight until it was Knucks' turn to pull away. He opened his eyes to meet Ryoko's. He reached up to remove another stray hair from her forehead. She used her, now free, hand to hold his hand to her cheek as she said, " Wow. You're a good kisser."
The passionate tension was broken with that statement as they both laughed quietly. Knucks was in another high, but this time, it was a good high that he had never felt before. The laughter stopped and Knucks let his hand drop to his waist. " Good night Ryoko."
" Good night Knucks." Ryoko didn't have time to lean in before Knucks had covered her lips with his.
He pulled away and licked his lip, " Tastes like Sasami's dinner, chicken." They both laughed again and a soft light shone through the screen and the footsteps of someone came closer to the door. Ryoko took Knucks' hand and flew him up to the roof. They saw Tenchi walk out on the porch and look around with a lantern. They also heard the shouting of Ayeka and Washu form the inside. Apparently, they hadn't waited for Ryoko to get drunk. Tenchi went back inside to try and calm the drunken partiers down while Ryoko and Knucks settled back to the ground. " Well, that was fun."
" Yeah no kidding. I guess we better get inside before we are missed."
" Hey Ryoko.
" Hmm?"
Knucks raised her hand and held it in between their heads, " Do me a favor and try to sleep tonight. I would feel better sleeping if I knew that you were too. If you scream in the night, I'll be the first one there okay?"
Ryoko felt very protected with him. She really didn't want to have those nightmares again but she trusted him. " You'll be the first one there if I need you right?"
She seemed really hesitant to go to sleep. Ryoko didn't seem like the kind of girl to rattle to easily either, " The first."
Ryoko believed him and said, " Alright, but if I have a nightmare again, I'm gonna hit you in the head when you walk in."
Knucks smiled, " Fair enough. Good night"
Ryoko smiled and gripped his hand tighter, " It better be."
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Knucks' eyes snapped open and he sat up like lightning. He expected to hear Ryoko screaming but instead, he just felt something was amiss. He got up and shook the sleep from his eyes. He opened his door and walked down the hallway. He stopped at the stairs and looked over the railing down to the living room. He now knew what he found odd, it was quiet in the house. The drunken party had calmed as all the participants had fallen asleep. He started to walk back when he noticed the front door was open. He walked down the stairs and to the door. He grabbed a bottake and walked out the door. He looked around from the front step and saw nothing but shadows. He was going to go back inside, but the uncomfortable feeling he had before grew suddenly. He took a few more steps into the darkness and he could make out a figure. He raised his bottake and asked the shadow, " Who are you? Show yourself!"
The figure walked towards Knucks with a sword in his hand, a pitch black sword with a red outline that was the only indication that it was even there. The handle looked to be made of wood and half of it disappeared into a gloved hand. " You need not concern yourself with my name. You are but an insect in my way."
Knucks got in a ready position with his bottake that seemed useless against his laser sword. This mystery guy sounded petty sure that he was going to win this battle. Knucks wanted to prove him wrong.
Knucks saw the man leap forward and bring his sword down. Knucks rolled out of the way and swung his sword up to the mans midsection. He phased through Knucks' bottake came around and slapped him with his hand. Knucks flew back but landed on his feet. He was totally off guard for this fighters ability to phase, just like Ryoko. He decided to forget about it for now and try to attack him. He used his speed technique to try and get a hit on this guy. He swung his bottake for the mans lower abdomen and hit him. The man flew back a few feet before landing and sliding on his butt. The man sounded winded but still hopped to his feet and sprung forward. Knucks continued his technique and struck the mans sword arm this time. He switched his sword to his unhurt arm and back sliced and caught Knucks' back. Knucks quickly speeded away for a seconds rest but didn't find it. He dodged the mans attack quickly and started to make an after image of himself. The man fell for it and swung straight through the smok image of Knucks. Knucks quickly took advantage by spinning his sword all the way around his body to snap it over the man's skull. The man fell to one knee but hopped back up and sped over to attack Knucks. Knucks Couldn't move fast enough to counter the attack and the mans sword went straight through Knucks' left shoulder. Knucks shouted in pain but didn't fall. The man saw this and became angered. He sprung forward again and stabbed Knucks right through his lower abdomen. While still on the blade, the man whispered something to Knucks, " You wanna know who I am? I am the last person you will ever see. Remember this name and take it to hell with you. I am Kagato."
An arrow hit Kagato in the shoulder as Yosho had come, followed closely by Tenchi and the girls. Kagato fled the scene and let Knucks' body hit the ground. Knucks was on the verge of losing consciousness when the others came over to help him. He couldn't make out any faces but heard jumbled voices of his helpers. The last thought he had was that of vengeance, " Kagato." He whispered as he passed out from the pain.