Whoo hoo!! I have returned again!! And with another chapter of Love and Hate! I'm thinking of changing the title to Walking A Fine Line of Love and Hate. It's up to you the readers to say if I should change it! But for now, I don't own Tenchi or anything except the few alternate characters. Now on with

No Need For Fights

Jared and Kyle quickly continued their work on their armored cores, while Ashley was packing her things. Team Middle Hell was getting ready for a tournament, it would last for a week or so, and their team was definately going, who cannot expect the number one team NOT to show up to something like this.

Mihoshi was thinking of going to this, along with Tenchi, Ayeka, and Washu. They weren't going to miss out on cheering on their favorite team members.

Ashley was finished packing when Washu wandered in.

"Hey Washu." Ashley said in monotone.

"Hello." The pink haired woman responded.

"Why are you and Kyle practically spending every waking moment together?" She asked.

"He gave me a certain sample that Tenchi refused to give up." Washu explained, she innocently smiled.

The blond winced, then shuddered, "I won't ask how you got it."

"As if I was going to tell you." Washu responded smiling still.

"Yup." Ashley said, then wandered out with her bag in hand that was filled with her clothes for the week, she had also packed one of Tenchi's shirts, that she borrowed without permission.

As she was walking down the stairs, she saw Jared going up.

"Tomorrow we leave, excited?" Jared questioned her.

"Yeah, I can't wait." Ashley grinned, it was amazing how greatly her attitude at improved over the past few weeks.

~*~

Team Middle Hell and the people that decided to tag along arrived at the place. It was near the woods with an open field in front of it, the Armored cores were kept toward the back, and inbetween them were cabins where the fighters would be staying, actually they were more behind where the Armored Cores were then in the middle. In the field was a huge arena to where the fights would take place, at a safe distance away from the field were the stands where the few brave spectators would sit.

Ashley walked into her assigned cabin, Jared and Kyle said they were going to come by later, they had to check in the team. She set her bag down on the top bunk. She began laying her sleeping bag down and pillow, it was already beginning to feel like home.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Ashley Nonaka, the once indestructable kid has gone soft? Oh yeah, wasn't your nickname Zero back then?" A voice behind her said cooly, she recognized the voice, and her eyes narrowed in anger.

"You shouldn't talk, Joey Fitch." She sneered, turning around to face him, she then jumped down onto the floor.

Joey stood around six foot five inches, he had blond hair that was constantly spiked up, it kind of looked like Mount Everest. He wore a red jacket over a baggy black shirt that nearly reached his knees, and he had tight blue jeans that had holes in the knees. He had these gray eyes that had a way of freezing you, they just looked cold and icy, it made a winter day at zero degrees, seem warm.

"Shouldn't you be happy to see a former killing buddy?" He asked, crossing his arms. "You can always come back to the army."

"I'm busy." She growled.

"With what? You couldn't read then, and you can't read now, all your good for is the battlefield." He countered.

She couldn't think of anything to counter that, she could read and write a little, but so far just what Mihoshi had taught her so far, but that was just it.

"Well, after the tournament, I'll give you my phone number in case you ever would like to come back and help Germany take power once again." He told her.

"I'm not like that anymore!" She yelled at him.

"You can't hide it, you are one of us, you are one of the perfect soliders, you can't hide from that, you can't run, and you'll always be a killer, a murderer of men, women, and children, regardless of race, religion, or anything, this is who you are, this is who you'll ever be, no one will accept you, they're just using you, just like your commander has always been saying, the only person you have is yourself, ditch your puny team and come back to where you belong." When he finished, Ashley was standing firm, her eyes had grown darker, almost black.

"Yes, that's it, that's it, become the killer, become the killer." He antagonized.

Her eyes continued to grow dark and they were black, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her knife. "I will kill you." She told him darkly, her voice was beyond recognition, it was deep and icy, even when she first arrived at the Masaki residence, it wasn't that mean.

"That's where your wrong, I've gotten better, unlike you." He quickly kicked the knife out of her hand and caught it in his in one quick movement, "You've weakened, you've lost your touch." A nasty grin crept across his face, "You've changed, you've found someone to care for."

"Is that wrong?!" She growled at him, and swung a punch at him.

"Yes." He caught her wrist and began to twist it, Ashley's eyes narrowed more in pain as she heard her wrist begin to crack, Joey suddenly released her now very sore right wrist.

"Why didn't you fully break it, you basterd?" She spat, still glaring at him.

"I want to kill you fair and square in the Armored Core fights." He told her, he then turned on his heels and walked out.

~*~

The group had gathered at a table for dinner later that night, Ashley had been attempting to eat with her left hand while hiding her wrapped up one underneath the table, she didn't want the others to worry.

"Ashley, your quiet and we haven't seen you all day, why don't you tell us what's up?" Kyle said between bites of food.

"Nothing." She took her plate of half finished food, stood up and started to walk away.

At that moment, Tenchi saw her wrapped wrist, "Then what happened to your wrist?"

She looked at him, "It's nothing, I just sprained it, but it shouldn't interfere with my Armored Core fighting skills."

"How's it feeling?" Tenchi asked her.

"A little sore, but, okay otherwise." She turned and quickly left before she was asked anymore questions.

"I think something's up." Jared thought for a minute, "She's never acted like this before, normally she doesn't hide anything."

Kyle nodded, "Yeah, but, I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready too."

"I'm going to go ask her now." Tenchi told them and started to stand up, but was stopped by Jared who had grabbed his wrist.

"She needs her time to think. She'll tell us when she's ready too." Jared repeated Kyle's line.

Tenchi looked at them a little uneasily, "Are you sure?"

Jared nodded, "I'm sure."

Mihoshi looked up from her meal, "I saw a man walk out of the cabin earlier, maybe he was an exboyfriend."

"It could seem to be a possiblity, but, I don't think he would harm Miss Ashley in anyway if that were the case." Ayeka spoke up.

"Besides, she never had a boyfriend to begin with." Jared explained, "She mostly lived alone or was in the army, either way she didn't need to be distracted by a guy back then, she was barely making ends meet or was killing away."

"I see." Both Ayeka and Mihoshi said at once.

~*~

Joey was working on his Armored Core when he was approached by Mihoshi and Tenchi, Joey's jacket was not too far away from him.

"Hello there!" Mihoshi yelled to the blond boy.

He climbed down, minus his jacket, to greet his guests. As soon as he was down, he looked between Mihoshi and Tenchi, he snickered for a bit, then burst out laughing as hard as he possibly could without falling down.

"You guys are the people she cares about?!" He managed to say between laughs.

Mihoshi was a tad bit infuriated by this, "Why are you laughing?"

The blond boy wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, as soon as he composed himself, he smiled, "She doesn't care about anyone, back in Germany, the only thing she cared about was if she got to kill a few people or not, if she clung to people, she would weaken, and during this time, it was a kill or be killed world, and she was perfect for that world."

"How do you know her?" Tenchi asked, he was now glaring at Joey.

"We fought in the same regiment in Germany, we are the few survivors of that regiment, the rest were killed because they cared about someone, that's what's going to get Zero killed one of these days." Joey explained.

"Zero?" Mihoshi gave him a rather curious look.

Joey raised his eyebrows at her, "I take it you don't know her nickname."

Tenchi and Mihoshi both shook their heads, causing a slight laugh to come from Joey.

"We called Ashley Nonaka Zero back in those days, she never talked to anyone, the only things she would do was: kill, sleep, eat, and occasionally take a bath. We figured nothing was going through her head, except that killer instinct, that we called her Zero, and there still is nothing going through her head." He told them, a wicked smile was on his face, "You guys better leave her before she kills you."

"She wouldn't do something like that." Mihoshi brightly spoke.

Joey gave her an odd look, "You don't know what your talking about."

"Why do you say that?" Tenchi asked him.

"Because I know her better than anyone ever will, I know who she really is, and since you refuse to believe me, I'll catch you guys later, hell, maybe I'll even come to your funeral." With that, Joey turned around and walked off.

Mihoshi glared at the retreating form, "I can't believe he said those mean things about her!"

"Don't worry, he was just lying I bet, we know Ash a lot better then him, she didn't talk too much back then, so, he doesn't know what he's talking about." Tenchi said calmly, a soft smile was on his face.

The blond girl smiled back at him, "Right!"

~*~

Ashley sat at the edge of a lake she had found that wasn't to far away from the where the armored cores were being held. A breeze shuffled by it ruffled her loose clothes and her hair, she breathed in the fresh air deeply and sighed heavily, she smiled a bit. It was peaceful out here, barely anyone came out here.

Some quacks were heard and some ducks flapped down into the lake, Ashley began to watch them, there were five of them, they would dunk down at different times to feed upon the stuff in the lake. There was some tapping on the trees, she looked around to see a woodpecker at work in a nearby tree, not too far away was a squirrel chewing on a nut.

"I found you." A voice said beside her.

The tough blond looked up to see Tenchi standing next to her, she smiled a bit up at him, "Hi."

Tenchi took a seat next to her, "I talked to him."

"So, you met Joey I take it." She growled, looking back out on the group of ducks.

"Yeah, he told me a lot about you." He told her.

"If you wanted to know, you could've just asked me." She said lowly.

"I didn't ask him, he just kept going on and on." He explained.

Ashley snorted, "Sounds like him, up to his old tricks."

"It's okay though, I don't think he's going to bother you anymore." Tenchi looked out at the ducks that were now swimming around on the lake.

She remained silent and stared out over the lake.

"It's quiet here." Tenchi commented.

"Yeah."

It remained silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of ducks quacking, and the knocking of the woodpecker.

~*~

"THE FIRST ARMORED CORE MATCH WILL BEGIN SHORTLY, AND WE CAN FEEL THE TENSION BUILDING BETWEEN TEAM MIDDLE HELL AND TEAM CLEARWATER!! CAN YOU FEEL IT LADIES AND GENTLEMAN?!!" The announcer yelled to the whole crowd, which roared in responce. "THEN LET'S GET IT ON!! ON TEAM MIDDLE HELL: KYLE JONES! JARED AZERAR! AND ASHLEY NONAKA!! ON TEAM CLEARWATER: CRYSTAL DUFFY! DOMINIC SKOPE! AND SAMANTHA ROBERTS!! NOW THAT WE HAVE THEM INTRODUCED, LET THE MATCH BBBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNN!!"

"Jared, remember, Sam's weak spot is her left side, Ash, Crystal's is her left leg, I'll get Skope, LET'S GO!" Kyle said quickly as the other team came at them.

Ashley quickly launched a counter attack on Crystal, knocking her AC back a couple of feet, Jared went straight for the kill, he launched a bunch of missles into Sam's AC and it blew up completely.

"YOU!" Dominic yelled over the radio.

In pure fury, Dominic began to attack Jared's AC, Kyle came up from behind and crushed Dominic's Armored Core like a can.

The three team members began to gang up on Crystal who was left alone.

"MIDDLE HELL'S FURY!!" They yelled at once and launched a bunch a missles at the very beaten AC, it blew up with no problem, and the match was over.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! IT'S A RECORD!! THE FIGHT ONLY LASTED LESS THEN FIVE MINUTES!!! NOTHING SHORT OF WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT OF THE NUMBER ONE TEAM!!" The annoucer shouted.

~*~

In the cabin, the three team members were celebrating like no tomorrow, Kyle had brought some vodka, which all of them had some, at least one third of the bottle each.

"THAT was sooooooooo easy!" Ashley grinned and continued to prance around the room happily.

"I bet the rest will drop like flies!!" Kyle shouted back, and Kyle and Ashley started to dance around together.

Jared shook his head, "You goofs!"

Kyle and Ashley grinned even bigger and laughed, soon Jared was laughing.

Then Ayeka, Mihoshi, Tenchi, and Washu burst into the cabin, "CONGRATULATIONS!!" They all shouted.

"Thank you!!" The team yelled back.

While everyone was talking excitedly about the last match, Ayeka walked up to Jared and started to whisper something in his ear, when she finished, she smiled at him. Once Jared had processed what she had said, his eyes widened and his face turned bright red, everyone stopped and looked at them, Jared was making stuttering noises.

"What'd you ask him?" Ashley questioned her.

"It was nothing." Ayeka responded.

"N-n-nothing m-m-my a-a-ass." Jared stuttered, he was still shocked that Ayeka had asked him to do that.

"What'd she ask you dude?" Kyle asked Jared as soon as they were outside.

"To sleep with her." Jared told him, calming down.

"Dude, you have some experience in that area, remember?"

"Yeah I know, but still, she's innocent in that area, she probably wouldn't know what a dick is if it hit her in the face and lodged itself in her throat." Jared growled.

"True, she does have a sense of inexperience." Kyle said thoughtfully.

"A SENSE?! Try none at all!!" Jared snapped. "What should I do man?"

"You could take it slowly with her?" Kyle looked unsure of his answer.

"That could work."

"Alright then, that's what you'll do." Kyle smiled at him.

Jared smiled back, "Your right." He smiled back as the to exchanged a high five.

"Want to join the celebration again?" Kyle began to reach for the doorknob.

"I'll be there shortly, I have a little discomfort I have to take care of first." Jared told him and walked off toward the bathrooms.

Kyle laughed, shook his head, then went back into the cabin, when he was greeted by Washu, and the group partyed on and on until midnight, when they all went to sleep.

Chapter Three Complete

WHOO HOO!!! GO ME!! I finally finished another part for your reading pleasures, hehehehe! I love it! I hope you do too! And I HOPE there is more then ONE person reading this, I can hope, I think. If you are a member, PLEASE PLEASE!!! E-mail me!! You don't know how much it would be appreciated, please, make my day. This is your authoress saying I knew I was a nut the day the squirrel started looking at me funny.

Shinigami Forever!!!

Carol 'Minion' Maxwell