Hey everyone. Thanks so much for the excellent reviews. Sorry for the wait. I hope you like this one just as much. Oh and I don't own Tenchi Muyo, Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi do. There I said it. Enjoy!
Captive Heart Ver. 2
Chap. 3
Tenchi practiced his kendo all morning in the wide-open field not too far from his house. From the point of which the sun shown red on his face from over the horizon to when it poured down on his shoulders, he never stopped for one second. Nor did the thoughts of his ever-growing predicament cease. With every swing and gesture of the sword, thoughts of Ayeka and Ryoko were with him.
He pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was unusually warm and humid on this bright sunny April morning. Tenchi, tired from training so hard, began his walk back to the house. The blossom pedals fell all around him as he passed by the freshly budding sakura trees. While watching them gently tumble to the ground, Tenchi thought of Ayeka. How the wind gently moves her soft silky hair on a warm summer day, and how her scarlet eyes catch the colors all around her so perfectly. He thought of her gentle grace and her warm heart. No matter what problem he has had in the past, Ayeka has always been there right beside him, more than willing to help him work it out. Tenchi is thankful to her for that.
Then he started thinking of Ryoko. Her free way of speaking catches him off guard sometimes, but she has this free spirited personality that fascinates him. It's as if she refuses to be limited by anyone or anything. Yet, she will not even think of the idea of living without Tenchi in her life. Tenchi knows that even though she teases him and constantly hangs on him, it's just her way of showing her affection for him.
However, both girls have a bad side that only comes out when they fight over him. Tenchi let out a sigh at the thought of their constant arguments, and all of them being over him. Time after time they always put him on the spot.
"Tenchi, you can choose the Juraian Princess or the ugly ogre." Ayeka would say.
"Choose the twit, I dare ya!" Ryoko would yell, while pointing at Ayeka.
"Come on Tenchi, you must decide!" Both girls would say in unison.
And Tenchi would always find some way out of it. Usually a diversion tactic or a 'I forgot something' line.
Tenchi didn't want to run anymore, because now the situation has grown serious. Two wonderful women's hearts now lay on the line. He had to make his choice, but he also had to be sure in his heart how he exactly felt about each of them. Which one does he simply love as a friend, and which does he love as something more than that? Which one does he wish to always be with, and which does he always want to be there? He cares for them both so much, but he knows there is only one that he loves deeply and truly. Which one, though? Which one?
Tenchi groaned in frustration. He arrived at the front gates, and paused. He looked up at the house he has spent his whole life in, a place where he has always felt comfortable coming back to. Now he's hesitant to walk through the front gates. Looking on either side of him, Tenchi noticed that Azaka and Kamidake, who usually stand guard, were nowhere to be found. He simply dismissed it as nothing and brought himself to walk on.
Ayeka sat at the water's edge, looking over the lake. The late morning sunlight hit the lake and gently reflected onto her face, dancing on her fair skin as the water rippled.
'Oh, why did I have to tell him how I felt?' She thought. 'Why did I have to kiss him? I've caused nothing but a big mess. It is better that I did tell him, though. And that kiss? I would never take that wonderful kiss back, not for anything. I've become so tired of holding back my feelings and I do not regret anything. Even if Tenchi doesn't choose me, I would still love him just the same. I just want him to be happy.'
Ayeka's thoughts were then distracted by a familiar figure walking towards her along the water's edge, about a hundred steps from her. Ayeka couldn't quite make the person out. The person stopped and silently looked over the lake. Ayeka then got a good look at the person. It looked like a woman with long purple hair and a pink kimono just like hers.
The woman then turned her head towards Ayeka, and Ayeka was shocked to realize that it was…Ayeka. The two Ayekas looked at each other and mirrored the same look of shock on their faces, raising their hands to cover their mouths. The other Ayeka began to walk towards her. When she got within 5 steps, she hesitantly reached out her hand. Ayeka, still sitting, reached out her hand as well. The second Ayeka then disappeared leaving Ayeka, herself, dumbfounded. 'Wha-what in the world was that?' Ayeka thought as she began to nervously shake. She then got up, ran through the yard and into the house.
"Washu! Miss Washu!" She yelled as she hurried to the entrance of the scientist's lab.
The same warning echoed in Ryoko's dream, over and over. A warning she hasn't heard in thousands of years.
'You shall regret this, space pirate! Oh, yes. You shall regret this! Hahaha!'
The warning was always followed by laughter. Ryoko awoke from a late morning of sleeping in, like usual. She turned her head slowly towards her night table to see what time it was. After she was able to open her eyes she noticed that her enlightenment stone was pulsating light and giving off an overall bright blue glow. Any sleepyness she felt, immediately went away as she quickly sat up.
"What in the hell?"
The pulsating then stopped, and the glow faded.
"What was that all about? I never saw it do that before." She said out loud as she picked up the stone and stared at it curiously.
Ryoko was then distracted by the sounds of Ayeka's voice coming from downstairs.
"Washu! Miss Washu! Where are you?" her voice rang.
"Now what's going on?" Ryoko said, jumping out of her bed and fazing into her light red summer kimono. Putting back the stone, she then ran out of her room and downstairs to see what all the ruckus was all about.
Tenchi thought he heard yelling before he entered the front door, but he wasn't sure. He then walked into the kitchen to see Sasami working her magic on the stove.
"Hello, Sasami. What's for lunch today?" Tenchi asked as he stood near the counter top.
"Today I'm making steamed rice with fried fish and vegetables." She said in her usual cheery voice.
"Wow, that sounds delicious. By the way, Sasami, did you hear any yelling going on just now?" Tenchi asked looking around curiously.
"Yeah. My sister ran into the house, yelling for Miss Washu for some reason a minute ago. Then she went into her lab." She said, quickly turning to Tenchi and then back to her cooking.
"Oh, I see." He said looking back at Washu's door.
"Lunch will be ready in about ten minutes." Sasami said, before gently pushing Tenchi out of the kitchen.
"Okay, okay." Tenchi said, continuing his way out. "Oh, Sasami. Have you seen Ryoko this morning?" He asked turning back.
"She went into Washu's lab after Ayeka. Probably to see what all the fuss was about." She said, keeping her attention to the stove.
"Oh, okay." Tenchi said, as he then walked into the living room to sit down.
He relaxed back into the sofa, finally feeling all the training he had performed this morning. Looking out the windows, he saw two sparrows fly by. One landed on the bird feeder hanging just outside the window. The sunlight shined on its feathers in brilliant dark green hues. Tenchi continued to watch the bird until he was startled by Ryoko suddenly appearing next to him.
Putting himself at ease, Tenchi turned to Ryoko.
"So there you are, Ryoko. I thought you might be with Washu..." His words stopped at the feeling of Ryoko gently folding her fingers with his. She then leaned her head on Tenchi's shoulder.
"Mmmm. Good morning, my love." She said, looking up at him.
"Uh, um, good morning Ryoko." Tenchi said nervously, completely taken by surprise by her behavior.
"I'm so glad you chose me, my Tenchi. Now we can plan out the rest of our lives together." Ryoko said, then nuzzling into his chest.
"Wh-what are you talking about, Ryoko? I never said anything like that. I haven't made my choice yet. I told you both that I would with a little time." Tenchi said, turning his body towards Ryoko.
"What do you mean, Tenchi, we confessed our love to each other yesterday. We even spent the night together. Don't you remember?" Ryoko said, quickly standing up.
Tenchi stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders in concern.
"I'm sorry Ryoko, I just don't know what you're talking about." He said.
Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"How could you say such cruel things after all that we've shared?" She said through the tears.
"I don't know what you mean, Ryoko. Are you feeling okay?" Tenchi said, growing more and more confused.
Then, without warning she disappeared from his grasp. Tenchi was shocked, because she didn't teleport away. She just simply vanished.
"Ryoko? Ryoko?!" Tenchi said, looking around in confusion.
"What? What is it Tenchi?" Came a voice from behind him.
Tenchi turned to see Ryoko and Ayeka looking at him curiously.
"Ryoko, I don't know what I did to upset you, but then you teleported away. I thought…" Tenchi was then interrupted by Ryoko.
"What are you talking about, Tenchi? I've been down in Washu's lab. I haven't seen you at all this morning." Ryoko said, walking up to him.
"But…but you were just here a second ago, and you were talking about how we confessed our love for each other and..." Tenchi said, looking around the room.
"Lord Tenchi, did this Ryoko that you saw, suddenly disappear without making her teleporting sound?" Ayeka said standing next to Ryoko.
"Yeah, that's right." Tenchi said nodding his head.
"Just as I thought. I had a similar experience earlier. I saw myself walking along the lake. She walked up to me and just like that, she vanished." Ayeka said looking out the windows to the lake.
"What does it mean, Miss Ayeka?"
Tenchi then saw Miss Washu step out from behind Ryoko.
"I think I might have an answer to this little mystery. If you'll all join me back in my lab."
All four were then Teleported away to Washu's laboratory.
Sasami then walked out of the kitchen.
"Okay, everyone! Lunch is ready!" She announced.
She then looked around the room to notice it was empty.
"Huh? Where did everybody go?" She asked herself curiously.
In the main section of Washu's lab, in front of her large computer screen, the four of them appeared.
"All morning I've been picking up two distinct quantum flux reactions coming through an inter-dimensional anomaly, which, until now, I haven't been able to pinpoint." Washu said, gesturing her hand to her diagram of the phenomenon on the large screen.
"Okay, but what does all that mean, Washu?" Ryoko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It means, my layman daughter, that two alternate realities are crossing over into our world. However, the quantum reactions don't last for very long due to the instability of the anomaly. This in fact makes them very unpredictable and uncontrollable."
Washu then sat in her floating chair, and typed some codes into her console.
"So what your saying, Miss Washu, is that there could be a reality where Lord Tenchi and I are together?" Ayeka asked, blush already showing in her cheeks.
"Sure, that's right. Tenchi has already proven that there's a reality where he and Ryoko are together." Washu said as she continued to type.
Ryoko and Ayeka then both had stars in their eyes and pleasant looks on their faces. A worried look came over Tenchi as he noticed this.
A computer generated hollow image of the Masaki home then appeared on the screen. The image zoomed into a blinking red dot in Ryoko's room. Under the dot read an inset, 'quantum flux anomaly located'.
"As I said, it took me a while to track down the source of the anomaly, but I finally found it. It's coming from Ryoko's keepsake." Washu said, turning to Ryoko.
"What? You mean all this weird stuff is being caused by my stone?" Ryoko said, pointing to herself.
"I'm afraid so, Ryoko. That stone always did give off an odd electro-magnetic field, but I just assumed it was due to it being from a planet so near to a class 3 supernova." Washu said as she turned back to her console.
"So, what can we do about this, Miss Washu?" Tenchi asked, walking up to her.
"I'm not sure at this time. Ryoko, I'll need you to bring me the stone so I can do some further studies, and come up with some theories. Maybe then we can stop these anomalies from occurring. Now, all of you, if anything else strange occurs, please let me know immediately." Washu said.
Ayeka began to speak,
"But, Miss Washu I was wondering…"
Then without warning she teleported them all back to the living room.
"Oh, there you all are. Come on, lunch is getting cold." Sasami said from behind them with her hands on her hips.
"Sorry about that, Sasami. Something came up." Tenchi said, as he and the others walked into the dining room.
"I'll be back Sasami." Ryoko said as she teleported up to her room.
She walked over to her night table, picked up the stone and looked at it, not really knowing what to expect due to her new knowledge. She then left her room and made her way down the hall. As she walked down the stairs, the stone began to light up and shake in her hand. "What the-" was all that she could get out before a vision had entered her mind.
Ryoko saw herself walking hand in hand with Tenchi under the sakura trees. Sakura blossoms fell around them as they smiled and laughed. Then the scene dimmed and changed to another vision. This one was of Tenchi holding the light hawk sword in his battle uniform. It was dark, like nighttime. Tenchi then clenched his sword and held it high. He ran towards a bright shining light. Closer and closer he came to the light until a shard of energy shot out from the light, piercing Tenchi's chest.
"Tenchi!!" Ryoko screamed as the vision went black.
The stone stopped shaking and the light from it faded. Tenchi found Ryoko shaking nervously on the stairs with tears in her eyes.
"Ryoko? Ryoko are you okay?" Tenchi said, shaking her out of her daze.
Then Ryoko's eyes finally focused on Tenchi and she threw her arms around him. Everyone else, having heard the scream, arrived immediately.
"Tenchi, Tenchi. I saw you die. That light went right into your chest." Ryoko cried into his shoulder.
"Ryoko, what are you talking about? I'm fine, see?" Tenchi said, placing her hand on his chest.
She then felt his chest and looked it over.
"See, I'm just fine." Tenchi said, as Ryoko slowly moved back, wiping away her tears.
"Could someone please tell me what's going on?" Ayeka said, as she stood at the foot of the stairs with Washu and Sasami.
"Ryoko seems to have had quite a scare. Washu maybe you should take a look at her." Tenchi said, holding Ryoko gently by the shoulders who was still shaking.
Washu then ran up the steps to her very shaken daughter.
"Ryoko, sweetie, tell me what happened." Washu said, placing both her hands on Ryoko's cheeks.
"I-It was the stone. It began to shake and glow, then I saw Tenchi and me, and then I saw Tenchi running towards a bright light and then something shot out from it and went through Tenchi's chest." Ryoko said, her words unsteadily coming out.
"That's it. I'm taking this stone to my lab right now." Washu said, taking the stone from Ryoko's hand.
"Tenchi, you take her up to her room. I'll bring her something to help calm her down in a minute." Washu said, before teleporting away with the stone.
"I hope Ryoko will be alright." Sasami said as she stood next to Ayeka.
"I hope so too, Sasami. Come along, Sasami. We'd better let her rest." Ayeka said, leading Sasami back to the dining room.
At the same time, Tenchi helped a still very shaken Ryoko back up the stairs, down the hall and into her room. As Ryoko sat down on her bed she looked around her, nervously.
"Ryoko, it's okay. I'm here. I'm alright." Tenchi said, rubbing her shoulders to help calm her down. Ryoko then turned her head to the bright sunlight coming from the window.
"T-The lights. Make them go away, Tenchi, please!" Ryoko said, pointing at the light shining into the room as the paranoia began to set in.
Tenchi got up, closed the drapes to the window, and knelt back down next to her at the side of the bed.
"There. There's no more light. Now, please Ryoko. Please try to lay down and relax." Tenchi said as she still looked around the room anxiously.
"O-Okay." She said, finally allowing herself to lay back onto the bed.
Washu then appeared at Ryoko's side with a tiny device in her hand.
"This should help her relax." Washu said, placing the device on Ryoko's forehead.
Ryoko quickly fell asleep.
"That should allow her to rest for a while." Washu said, running her hand over Ryoko's hair.
"What do you think happened, Miss Washu?" Tenchi asked, his voice full of worry and confusion.
"I'm not sure, Tenchi, but I'll have the answers once I analyze that stone. I currently have it in containment inside my lab. For now, I'm going to stand by her, just in case anything else happens. Why don't you head back down stairs Tenchi, I'm sure Sasami must be worried sick. I can take it from here." Washu said, as she continued to stroke Ryoko's cyan hair.
"Alright. Thanks, Washu." Tenchi said.
Washu then gave him a pleasant smile.
He then turned and began to leave the room.
"Tenchi?" Washu said.
"Yes, Washu?" Tenchi said, stopping at the door.
"…She is great, isn't she? My little girl." She said, looking to Ryoko. "I mean, despite her temper and her bouts with Ayeka, she really is a good person inside." Washu then looked up at Tenchi.
"Yes. Yes she is, Miss Washu." Tenchi said, looking to Ryoko.
"Thank you, Tenchi." Washu said with a pleasant smile as she looked at Ryoko as well.
Tenchi nodded and then left the room. He then met Ayeka and Sasami, who were waiting in the dining room.
"Is she okay, Tenchi? Is Ryoko alright?" Sasami asked, jumping up from her seat.
"Ryoko will be fine, Sasami. Washu is looking after her now. Understandably, she was really disturbed by what she saw." Tenchi said, sitting down at the table.
"I see." Sasami said, sitting down next to him.
"I suppose the best we can do now is wait for Washu's test results on that stone." Ayeka said, looking to Washu's lab.
They ate in silence, each having thoughts of what could have caused the stone to react in such a way and what Ryoko's connection to it might be.
Deep inside the lab, the stone floated inside a positronically charged, glass sphere. Inside the sphere the stone began to shake again. Then it emitted a bright light, illuminating the entire section of the lab. Back in the house, after they had finished eating, Tenchi helped Sasami clear the dishes from the table. After Sasami started washing the dishes in the sink, Tenchi decided to go start some work out in the fields to try to take his worries off of Ryoko.
On his way to the front door he felt a strange feeling go through him. The feeling was so slight he almost didn't notice it. Then it quickly went away. Tenchi walked out into the front yard and had an odd feeling that something was different. He looked around and saw nothing. Then he noticed Ryoko walking up from the forest path hand in hand with none other than someone he barely recognized as Yosho. What shocked Tenchi even more was that Yosho did not appear like the old grandpa he has always known. He was young.
"G-G-Grandpa? Ryoko? What's going on?" Tenchi asked running up to them. "Ryoko, shouldn't you be up in bed resting? And Grandpa, how did you get so young?" Tenchi asked almost freaking out.
"Tenchi, what's wrong with you? We went over this yesterday in the living room. Yosho has been disguising himself for the past 700 years. And what are you talking about 'resting'? I got plenty of rest last night. And weren't you supposed to be shopping in town with Ayeka?" Ryoko said, with a puzzled look.
"Are you feeling well, Tenchi?" Yosho asked, looking him over.
"N-No. This can't be right. What the heck is going on?" Tenchi said as he turned and ran, only to run right into someone else, causing the both of them to fall back on their butts.
"Ow" the two said in unison. Tenchi opened his eyes to see Ayeka looking down at him with the look of shock on her face. Then Tenchi looked over to see whom he had bumped into and saw…Tenchi?
"T-Two Tenchis." Ayeka said raising her hand to her mouth with a gasp.
The two Tenchis looked at each other with their mouths wide open.
"Amazing." The two said at the same time.
Ayeka nervously looked at the two Tenchis.
"First, another Ayeka this morning and now another Tenchi?" Ayeka said, looking back and forth at the two of them.
Then without warning, Tenchi's surroundings changed and he found himself all alone, sitting on the front lawn. Tenchi had reached a realm of confusion probably no earthling has ever been blessed to experience before. All Tenchi could do was get up, slowly walk back into the house and close the door behind him. He walked over to the sofa in the living room and sat down. Ayeka then entered the room.
"Tenchi? You don't look so well. Are you alright?" Ayeka said, sitting down across from him.
"Ayeka?" Tenchi said.
"Yes, Tenchi?" Ayeka said.
"Tell me you've been in the house the entire 5 minutes I was gone." Tenchi said.
"Well of course I was. I've been in the kitchen talking with Sasami." Ayeka said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why, what's going on, Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka asked growing concerned.
"And is Ryoko still upstairs with Washu?" Tenchi asked.
"Well, I would guess so. I haven't seen them come down yet. Why? What is this about, Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka asked, getting up and sitting down next to Tenchi.
"Well, while I was walking in the front yard, I saw Ryoko holding hands with a very young grandpa. Then I turned around and bumped into someone who looked just like me. You were right there, too, Ayeka. You looked down at the two of us and said, 'First, another Ayeka this morning and now another Tenchi?'. Then everything changed and I was all by myself." Tenchi said, rubbing his head.
"Hmm. Could that have been the same Ayeka I saw this morning?" Ayeka said.
"You remember what Washu said? It's all starting to make sense. Maybe the other alternate realities are starting to cross over into eachother. Maybe that was another reality I stepped into for only a few moments." Tenchi said.
"We have to talk to Washu." Ayeka said, standing up.
"I agree. Let's go." Tenchi said.
Then they both ran out of the room and up the stairs towards Ryoko's room.
"Miss Washu." Tenchi said in a quiet voice, trying not to wake Ryoko. "It happened again, Miss Washu."
Tenchi then explained what had happened.
"I see, Tenchi. Then the situation has grown more critical. I have to go to my lab. Ayeka? Could you look after Ryoko?" Washu asked.
"Yes." Ayeka said, taking Washu's place next to the bed.
"For some reason these strange anomalies seem to be surrounding Ryoko. The incident on the stairway proves that. I'll be in my lab." Washu said, before teleporting away.
As Ryoko lay there asleep, she had a dream of her far past when she was still a space pirate pillaging the farthest corners of the galaxy.
She came across a planet called Gandar in a remote region of Juraian space. There she found great cities of gold and platinum spread across vast continents. Landing at the largest city, she took all the jewels and riches she could teleport back to Ryo-oki. After laying waste to most of the city, she walked down the street to a golden temple that reached twenty stories high. Climbing up the tall steps and entering the tall doorway, she found herself inside a large room. She looked over to see a priest kneeling before a glowing blue stone on a shining platinum pedestal.
"You there! Priest! That stone. What is it?" Ryoko demanded as she stood over him.
The priest turned around and began to cower in fear in the realization of who was standing in front of him.
"R-Ryoko." He said shaking.
Ryoko grabbed him by the chest and lifted him into the air.
"You dare say my name, you worthless scum?!" She said, showing her sharp teeth.
"P-P-Please, forgive me." The priest said fearing for his life.
"I asked you a question, priest. What is that stone?" She asked lifting him higher and tightening her grip.
"T-That stone is the most sacred stone of our world. The Gandarian Enlightenment Stone. Within it lies unimaginable and mysterious power. Long ago it was given to us by the goddess and has protected our world ever since." He said, looking back to the stone.
"Heh. I don't care about any of that. All I care about is its worth. I think I'll sell it for a nice profit." She said, grinning as she looked at the glowing stone.
"No, you can't!" The priest said, begging and pleading.
"You have no say in the matter, priest." She said, tossing him against the wall.
She walked up and reached out for the stone.
"Stop right there, pirate!" A voice commanded from behind her.
She turned to see a man garbed in silver robes and gold plate armor holding a long blade spear to her throat.
"Who the hell are you?!" Ryoko said, lighting her sword in her hand.
"I am Shei-ragg, high priest and protector of the stone. I will see you dead before you take the stone from our temple." He said, holding the spear to her neck.
"Well, I hope you'll provide more of a challenge than your poor friend there." She mused.
With a swipe of her sword, the blade fell to the floor, leaving Shei-ragg holding just the wooden staff. Spinning and performing a roundhouse kick, she knocked the high priest against one of the many pillars in the room. Incapacitating him.
"Pathetic." She said.
Shei-ragg unable to move, Ryoko proceeded to take the stone from its pedestal. Casually walking away, admiring the stone's beauty, Ryoko heard Shei-Ragg's voice as she left.
"You shall regret this, space-pirate! Oh, yes! You shall regret this! Hahaha!" He yelled out from inside the temple as she walked down the steps. Without breaking her stride, she charged an energy orb in her hand, aimed it behind her and shot it into the temple doorway at the top of the steps. The entire temple exploded sending molten gold and smoke everywhere.
"The only thing I'll regret is parting with such a beautiful artifact." Ryoko said, holding the stone before her as she flew into the sky.
Leaving the planet aboard Ryo-oki, Ryoko continued to stare at the stone, admiring its fine craftsmanship and sparkling luminescence.
"You know what, Ryo-oki?" She said out loud.
"Meow?" The ship replied back.
"I think I'll keep this pretty stone. Let's just sell the rest of this stuff we got from that boon-dock planet. We'll probably get back more than enough cash anyway. I mean, gold and platinum are very rare in this area of the universe." She said, slipping the stone into her pocket.
"So, where would you like to go now, Ryo-oki?" Ryoko asked, looking out into space on her monitor. "Meow meow." The ship replied cheerfully. "Okay. I like the Andromada System too. Let's go, Ryo-oki!" She said pointing to a section of stars ahead. The ship then took off and disappeared into the deep dark depths of space.