I don;t own Tenchi. Never have. But if I can save up enough $$$ maybe I will! -Cackles-

Um..hermm..anyway, here's chapter 5. Only one chapter left! What will happen? Aieee! It will be up shortly, I have spent all night tonight..4 hours , doing these two chapters and juggling other stuff. Please comment!

"Ahhhhh!" Ryoko jumped aside with Ryo-ohki, gently tossing the little cabbit towards a soft pile of leaves and moss she herself had sat on for cushion. Ryo-ohki landed neatly but Ryoko took in most of the blast. She would have shielded herself except for one thing. She tried to but when she needed them the most, her powers were failing. What was happening to them? Was she cut out to survive on any planet?

After some long moments, a Jurain ship appeared. The trees blew like crazy as it landed near her. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself into a crawling position. She placed herself in front of Ryo-ohki as much as she could. "Fine, come for me if you want! But don't…hurt..her."

"Ryoko?" It was Tenchi's voice that called. He appeared on the ramp that was letting down from the ship, with Washu closely behind him. "Ryoko!" He rushed towards her.

"Tenchi…Tenchi…you both came." She looked past him at Washu only for a second, wondering if she felt like calling her mom yet. She didn't though. She didn't want to say it and not mean it, and she just had a hard time trying to find it surfacing in her. "I didn't think you guys would make it through though I suppose with a ship like that…" She wanted to lift her hand and point. That's all she wanted to do. But she collapsed instead.

"Ryoko! Oh My God…" Tenchi knelt down and put his arms around the again unconscious woman, and scooped her up with him. She was a little heavy, being so tall, but he could handle it. Another blast came nearby, too close to Ryo-ohki for Tenchi's comfort. "Please get her Little Washu!"

"Meow…" Ryo-ohki groaned as the pink haired scientist lifted her up easily, and cradled her a little. " Sometimes I regret not having made you a tough humanoid type like Ryoko. But, I guess once in a while perfection lacks…" She looked up as Tenchi stared a little annoyed at her for stopping to have another one of her 'I'm so perfect!' outbursts. "Okay, okay! I'm coming Tenchi."

The next blast chased them quickly into the ship, and without hesitation they drew up the ramp and started to blast off. Tenchi sat down with Ryoko still in his arms, in the chair. Washu drew up Ayeka's screen again. "Do they see us Ayeka?" Although, she knew they probably wouldn't.

"No, but they are awfully confused about where Ryoko has suddenly gone to. The might take more drastic search methods." The door opened behind the princess, and Washu had only a glimpse of a council member before Ayeka quickly turned the conversation to sound only. "Yes?"

"Princess, Ryoko seems to have disappeared, but I have suspicions a ship with a very good cloaking ability may have gone in there She can't just…disappear." Ayeka almost laughed as she though how well Ryoko actually could. Though she was serious again when the thought 'Why hadn't she teleported before Tenchi and Washu arrived?' came to mind. That was odd. Ryoko had not been using her powers fully, she could tell. "Yes well…keep combing that spot. She may be on foot and she could not have gone far."

"Ayeka, we are taking over. I know she must be on a ship."

"What?" Ayeka was dumbfounded. She should be the one with the control here. How could they shove her aside? As she wondered, a groan came from Ryoko, and as the communicator was on sound still, the council member heard it.

"That is equivalent to the voice we have on file for her! What is going on here?" Obviously he had studied up before the mission. "Ayeka…no lying, it could mean your losing the throne."

"Oh…" She pressed the button by barely moving her palm. She made herself appear calm and collected. "It was just a sound I made clearing my throat." She scrunched up her face and imitated the groan, causing her to break into a coughing fit. The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Anyway, you can have this mission. I am done with it as I have better things to do than chase after some idiot woman." She apparently was convincing enough. As she left the man scratched his head and followed so he could prepare himself.

Flashbacks played in Washu's mind as they made the 4-hour journey home, smoothly once they were fairly far from the planet Jurai was searching. It had seemed like an easy trip, and it was. Things were not always as complicated, as it seemed they needed to be. She leaned back nursing the now awake Ryo-ohki back to health, watching Tenchi holding a sleeping Ryoko.

"Here's the thing. Before we go I must know how you feel about her so I know you do not lie. You understand Tenchi?"

"I understand."

"Good. Then tell me."

"Well…it is a hard thing to explain." The boy scratched his head. "I'm not sure at all if I hold any feeling for her…what are you doing?" He had recoiled in horror as she began to change into her nurse outfit.

"I said no lying. I know you don't just think that of her, come off it! You've been down in the dumps more than anyone expected." She grinned. "Don't make me force the truth out."

"You already are! Okay, so in my mind I have chosen Ryoko over Ayeka. But it is still a little shaky. I need a form of closure, something that tells me I could not even bear to be parted from her. But nothing has come up and I am too scared to tell her."

"Why…why are you scared of that?" Washu was devastated. Surely the boy knew how much her crazy daughter loved him.

"Well, I have been holding off so long I'm afraid maybe she will discover that is not what she wanted to hear. Maybe she will push me away. I don't know what to do!"

After a moments thought on if it was the truth or not, Washu began to pull her nurse's gloves back off. She laughed inwardly as Tenchi's relieved look. "Well, you have nothing to worry about. Apart from you is hard for her, she cannot stand it. She loves you Tenchi, whether you believe me or not."

"Thanks…little Washu. But I will tell her on my own time okay?" He stared down at his hands. "I will summon up the strength to at least hint it to her."

"Good. At least let her know she is wanted here so she will not leave ever again so easily."

"I will."

She came back as Ryoko seemed to wake. She smiled as she watched her only daughter blink and stare into the eyes of the boy holding her. "Tenchi?" It was a question; she did not know if she was dreaming or awake.

"Ryoko. You're okay now. We're bringing you home."

"I'm still sick." She almost cried as she said it, but held it back as Washu brought Ryo-ohki to her. The little creature grasped onto her mother figure easily. Washu nodded an approval and watched Ryoko.

"She's been waiting for you to wake up my little Ryoko. It seems you are her comfort, like…her mommy."

"I'm…her mommy…" The tear fell. "What kind of mommy could I be? I'm going to die."

Tenchi made a sound causing them both to look up as he did so. Why did Ryoko have to say that? Where was the positive, seductive crazy girl her loved? It would surface in time, he knew, but he wanted that time to be now. "Oh…nothing. Please Ryoko, don't dwell on that! You'll be okay…I'm sure."

"I am making progress." Washu grinned. "It's nothing great yet and when I get home I can finish it…something you'll have to take every day but it is easy to produce enough to supply you thousands of years, by which time you my be…fixed if I can call it that."

"No you can't! I'm sick, not damaged good you buy at the store!" Ryoko barked at her by that time laughing mother. "Hey!"

"You were always a little defective!"

"Oh yea? You admit you created something imperfect?" Ryoko was happy to see Washu take on a shocked and then angry look.

"Imperfect! Why you…ungrateful…" And yet all Tenchi could do was chuckle. Things looked like they would be getting back to normal.

"I'm going back on vacation." Ayeka nodded at her parents. They were working to get the whole Ryoko mess fixed, as they had met her, but not one of them had sent an order to get her. The military had more or less taken it into their own hands, as they often did with criminals.

"You're going back to that boy, that…Tenchi? Hmph!" Her father turned his head away.

"Oh my little Ayeka!" The princess was squeezed thinner than she ever could have imagined as her mother crashed into her with a hug. "Take care of yourself baby girl! Mommy is always here for you."

"Okay mommy! Just…let me breathe, okay?" Her mom sighed and stepped back, as Ayeka smiled and got back into her small ship she was using for transport only, run by Azaka and Kamidake. "Keep in touch!" With that she was off, headed back to earth, watching very amused as the Jurain ships were still circling around that planet on the news.

One more chapter! Bet you can;t wait! Either that or you are sick of this by now! XD