Of agony and altruism
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"Tenchi…where is…where is Ryko? Where is my daughter?" I do not like to think of the emotion I am feeling is panic, but I am coming up with few other possibilities. I have already flung open the lab door with haste and walk outside into the cherry blossom garden. I cant feel Ryoko's presence anymore, not only has she cut off her link to me but I can even feel her presence in this world anymore. I scoot around the corner to see princess Ayeka and Tenchi holding hands, fingers laced delicately.
I knew he had chosen; I knew he chose Ayeka, but it still hurts.
"Tenchi where is Ryoko." I state more than I ask, his brown eyes filled with confliction and inner confusion. Aykea's roseate eyes are hesitant, like they always are, except with Ryoko; then they are filled with decisiveness.
They are just standing here. They just stand while Ryoko is not even here. After all that Ryoko has done for them, they just stand. It makes my blood boil how they could take her for granted like this.
"Ryoko…took off Miss Washu. I don't know where she went, neither does Ryo-oki." Tenchi's eyes look somewhat defeated, but he wasn't the one who was, Ryoko is the defeated one. I see Ayeka look down at the ground, unsure; gripping to Tenchi's hand as if he is the only thing keeping her from collapsing. Perhaps they didn't take her for granted; perhaps they just don't know what to do.
"Washu, Ryo-oki wont eat, she wont move, her eyes seem so empty." I hear a soft voice from behind me, Sasami, choked with held-back tears as she holds up Ryo-oki dangling a carrot in front of her like a fishing lure. Ryo-oki's eyes just stay unfocused and melancholy, like the life was sucked out of her like a vacuum.
Mihoshi behind little Sasami is already bawling as if the world has run out of ice cream and the TV is broken.
I look to Tenchi and Ayeka then back to Mihoshi and Sasami. We need to find Ryoko. Now. I decisively put a finger to my chin, calculating any course of action we could take. If there is any possible way we could locate Ryoko, it is through Ryo-oki.
"Ryo-oki, can you track down Ryoko by the trail her gems left?" I asked carefully. Sometimes this doesn't work, like the trail is too old or there is too much electrical interference, but there is a hope. I see Ryo-oki's floppy pointed ears prick up and her honey colored eyes widen. There is hope yes!
"Meow mew!" Ryo-oki chorused and within no time at all the little cabbit transformed into the Space pirates feared space cruiser. I grin my evil scientist grin and turn to the others.
"You heard Ryo-oki all abord!" I look to Mihoshi who is finished crying and has Sasami in a bear hug. Ayeka and Tenchi, still holding hands, nod and smile. Then I see Ayeka's eyebrows furrow and she bites her lip.
"I thought Ryoko was the only one who can pilot Ryo-oki." She speculated.
"Well, that is true I cant pilot Ryo-oki, but Ryo-oki can pilot herself." I feel my green eyes glow and I take the first couple of steps towards Ryo-oki.
"Well what are you waiting for? We have to find Ryoko so I can go about my experiments!" I heard Sasami laugh and we all stepped onboard Ryo-oki.
~*~
"Kagura is going to be fine, she is a youkai and they heal very quickly." I heard Kagome report after she stepped out of the little wooden hut. I was just floating around waiting for her to come out, there isn't much else to do. Sango, the raven haired Ayeka, is off with Miroku getting firewood because it is late afternoon.
The small kitsune is with Kagome and the hanyou is off brooding or something. When she stepped out of the hut, however, I noticed something, her clothes are very different from the others. They look modern, like something from my time.
"Thanx Kagome, I have a question though where did you get those clothes?" I finally asked. I see Kagome look herself over and blush a small bit before responding.
"Well, actually, um…it kinda hard to explain—" She is struggling with words again so I cut her off.
"You don't mean you wished to come here though the wishing well and fell down too." I smirked, although I immediately thought there is something amiss when Kagome's jaw dropped and the kitsune fell off of her shoulder. What did I say? Don't they know that stupid well grants wishes?
"That's impossible! How…how did you get through the well?" Kagome's eyes went wide as she clutched a couple of pink jewels on her neck. Am I missing something? What makes her heel like I cant use the well, I can do what ever I feel like doing.
But I cant have everything I feel like having…Tenchi. I feel my stomach twist into knots again.
"I threw in a coin and when I saw the well was dry I jumped in. I wished it could take me away from where I was and it did. It's a wishing well!" I furrow my eyebrows I really don't feel like talking about it anymore than I have to. Every time she brings it up it reminds me of my friends I left behind.
"It is not a wishing well, it is a portal between two times. You have to have the shikon no tama, the jewel of the four souls or shards of them to get through, so how did you? The only one who can do it besides me is Inuyasha." She sounds irritated and confused. What in the hell is the jewel of the four souls…oh wait, Kagura brought that up I remember.
Those things could make a demon even more powerful than it already is. I levitate higher and think it though. I have jewels in my wrists…but those aren't the same, I was really depressed, so much that the spirits around me were changing colors. That's it! The gems and the spirits allowed me to pass
"Yo Kagome I figured it out, the jewelry you have on, the soul jewelry! I can take to the souls and spirits and transform them with my gems. It's the damn spirits and gems that allowed me to pass!" I flip in the air score one for Ryoko! I see Kagome turn towards me think it over in her head and nod.
"Yes I suppose that can work. Hey we are having dinner soon, do you want to help?" Kagome smiled, her smile is so innocent, unlike mine, heh, I'm a little too guilty for that smile. I notice the phrasing 'help with cooking', like I know how to cook I would blow something up.
"No thanx Sasami—Oops I mean Kagome! Goddamnit I am such a baka!" Before Kagome could turn around and react I felt a presence behind me, the guy named Miroku.
"Now now, such a beautiful Youkai shouldn't be cursing." I turn my head around to see who is being so foreword to me.
It is Tenchi.
"Ten-chi?" I whimper out, my eyes watering the smallest bit, I feel my heart jump inside my chest at a thousand beats per second. My heart flips over my skin pales and my stomach is somewhere stuck in my lungs. Could this really be Tenchi? Did he leave Ayeka and come here to find me? Then upon closer inspection, Tenchi's eyes are browner and darker, and Tenchi is a little shorter. He is not Tenchi, he is not my love.
My heart sinks, my stomach cramps and my tears well up like I haven't cried in years.
"No it is I Miroku, would you give me the pleasure of bearing my child?" I lost it, some of the words I have wanted Tenchi to say to me since the day I saw him, were just said, by not Tenchi, but a damn tenchi replica! I felt tears roll down my cheeks and Sango's and Mirokus facial expressions change. I feel Kagome's eyes burning in the back of my head. I quickly teleported back to the well and cried.
~*~
"Houshi you insensitive Baka!" I heard Sango slap Miroku and he brought a hand to his face sweatdropping. I am still trying to get all of the facts together. Why did Ryoko call me Sasami? Who is this Tenchi and why did she call Miroku that? And lastly why is she here in the Warring States era?
"Honestly Sango I did not know I would have such an impact on her, I never knew she would be so happy she would cry!" I heard Miroku reply grinning in his defense. Then it all added up. Sasami and Tenchi must be people from the present. I quickly run past Miroku and Sango to the well. I hear Shippou on the ground asking questions, only I really don't hear him.
"Ryoko…Ryoko I know you are here, I have not spent a whole year here not to feel a presence of a strong youkai." I look near the vicinity of the well and see Ryoko sitting on the side of the well, looking despondent and lonely . Ryoko is a very interesting youkai, not only is she from my time, but she can summon spirits through a artificial power source. I step my way hesitantly to her, tears on her cheeks glimmering in the twilight like silver.
"I am sorry I called you Sasami and I broke down after such a stupid question. I should be moving on." I heard Ryoko say despairingly, her shimmering cyan hair blowing freely in the twilight air. She looks at me with such a look of agonize that it almost makes me gasp. What has happened to this youkai to make her so pained?
"Ryoko, Sasami and Tenchi are from your life aren't they?" I ask carefully, sitting down beside her on the well, the wood worn smooth with rain and use. She looks at me and smiles ever so slightly. I smile back reassuringly.
"Sasami is a little girl who is always very cheerful and loves to cook. She is a princess of Jurai along with her elder sister Ayeka—" She gulps down a waterfall of tears and continues. "Sango reminds me a small bit of the few-and-far-between good qualities in Ay-Ayeka. You see…I was-still am in love with a guy named Tenchi, but he—" She paused again, the suffering in her voice unmasked, the torment in the spirits around her increased I became worried. "Tenchi chose Ayeka instead of me, I am second best." She choked out
Those words hit home with me too. Inuyasha and Kikyo, I am always second best to him I bet. He always thinks of Kikyo first and foremost. Although we have never really been considered a couple or more than good friends, it makes my heart shatter every time he is with her instead of me.
"I am so sorry Ryoko. I understand though, I have a similar situation with Inuyasha. I have always secretly wanted more than a really good friendship with him, but he likes another, Kikyo, who is the walking dead." I did not want to feel like I was trying to top Ryoko, but I did want to get across to her that she is not alone. I feel my own gray blue eyes water over as I look into Ryoko's eyes. She seems surprised slightly. She hovers a bit in the air before setting back down.
"Listen, Kagome, I feel the way Inuyasha acts towards you, there is hope for you and the hanyou yet. Keep at it, don't leave his side. Hope is inexistent with my situation with Tenchi, but not with you." Her words sparked something no one else has been able too, hope.
She makes me believe that there is hope for Inuyasha and I. Perhaps I can win him over after all. I smile as I see Ryoko then turn sharply towards the bushes, does she sense a Youkai? I don't.
"Ryoko I left my bows and arrows—" She put a finger to my lips without turning to face me. I am very confused what is she doing? Right when I was about to explode from being shushed, Kanna comes out from the bushes, her mirror emitting souls of all types.
I was about to scream for Inuyasha but then I saw Kanna do something, her mouth opened and her eyes widened a few millimeters, the only facial expression I have seen her to have.
"Ryoko, you helped my sister did you not?" She asks simply turning her soft eyes from Ryoko to me then back to Ryoko tentatively.
"Yeah, you mean Kagura? She is my friend of course I helped her." Ryoko states as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. I laugh inwardly at the ironic situation, somehow I am aligned with Kagura and Kanna through this mischievous youkai, Ryoko; who has turned everything upside down. Ryoko is also a very good natured youkai though; she has given me hope that is for sure.
"I thank you for saving my sister and for befriending her. I can help you help my sister. You seek a strong youkai in which to defeat Naraku correct?" My eyes widen considerably, Kanna has never spoken this much to anyone before, and now she is helping someone who she has just met? I don't get it, how can Ryoko have such an impact on people?
"Yeah do you know of any youkai I could talk to?" Ryoko asks intently, the souls and spirits around her change color from blue to their normal color.
"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." And with that Kanna disappeared from sight and so did the spirits. Ryoko turned to me, the sadness being suppressed, her amber eyes brightening. Oh no, Ryoko does not know what she is getting herself into, Sesshoumaru is nothing but bad news. Just I had a chance to pipe up I feel a surge of a strong ki.
"Kagura is up, and she ain't happy." Ryoko smirked, showing her fangs slightly as she teleported back to camp. I cant believe it in a matter of hours I have signed a contract with a youkai from the present to help her defeat Naraku without killing Kanna or Kagura.
I didn't even know there were youkai in the present! Then again she said there is hope between Inuyasha and I, but she doesn't know that I am the reincarnation of Kikyo. I stand up with a new resolution in my soul. I will try again, not just for me, but for Inuyasha and Royko as well.
~*~
Where am I? Why am I in a village with an old woman? And WHY am I covered in bandages?! I rip the bandages from my stomach and chest and readjust my kimono as I feel my claret eyes burn. With a burst of wind I knock down the wall of the hut and march outside, the ki of the hanyou is close…and Ryoko is as well.
Now I remember…I was almost killed by the Hanyou and saved by Ryoko, the demon summoner youkai. If anyone thinks for one second I am in a good mood they are wrong, I have just been defeated by the hanyou and to top it off I am saved by a Youkai. Although I am not happy in the least my weakness is shown, there is an unknown warmness in me that does not mind having someone to have your back incase you are in over your head. Someone reliable; the someone named Ryoko.
"Kagura you're up, how are you feeling?" Speak of the devil and she'll appear. I look into the ending twilight scenery, the dark green trees etch the sky and the fire just outside the three-walled hut is dancing with vermilion and saffron waves. In the firelight Ryoko is smiling awaiting an answer with the rest of the humans and the hanyou behind her.
"Angry." My eyes narrow as I spit out simply. I pull a feather in my hair but before I throw it out in front of me, Ryoko speaks up again. Her amber eyes are jubilant in the firelight, but I can still see the same sadness, only it is masked over.
"Wait, before you go I need to tell you somethin'." I pause and she smirks and continues her language is atrocious. "Kagome, and the others are gonna help me kill Naraku as well, they are on our side!" I blink my claret eyes and nearly drop my feather from my slender fingers. How?! How did she pull it off, was it what she said about me earlier, when I was injured? I dont really recall, I was barely hanging onto consciousness.
I respond with a faint smile as I throw out my feather and hop on it. To my surprise, she teleports in front of me again. What is it that she wants now? I must be leaving, Naraku must want Kanna and I to return. I sense Kanna's faint presence near the well.
"Wait, your little sister…uh…I didn't catch her name but she told me I could help you by finding Sesshoumaru-sama, where is he?" She asked me in her regular talking voice. Kanna spoke with Ryoko? Kanna never speaks unless she is asked a question but even then she sometimes doesn't respond. I almost catch myself blinking again. I push my obsidian hair back once more.
"Lord Sesshoumaru you say? I am not sure, most say he is found in the heart of the western lands. I cannot escort you for I must be leaving, but his half brother, Inuyasha, I bet would." I fly high above their heads like a ghostly white boat sailing on the wakes of the clouds and stars.
"Although Ryoko-san, I would take care, Lord Sesshoumaru is not a youkai to be taken lightly in any aspect, especially helping others." I fly off towards the well and search for Kanna. I swoop down to retrieve Kanna who is standing in the clearing by the well. She reveals in her mirror showing me that Naraku's new castle is in the northern regions of Japan. We must make haste I told myself. I motioned Kanna to get on the feather and as She did I lifted off silently like the wind, and flew north, like the restless breeze.
"You spoke to Ryoko, Kanna-san, why?" I ask quietly as she sits behind me on the feather I sense I difference about Kanna, a lightness a emotion that has never been shown in her before. I wasn't even sure that Kanna could feel emotion.
"The spirits told me she can make things happen Kagura-san." I looked behind me my claret eyes in disbelief that she would take something like that to heart. I find myself grinning, and then laughing. I feel a lightness come over me as well. She is just like a child.
"You know what Kanna-san? I believe you might be correct, Ryoko can make things happen." I feel the winds surge through my hair, kimono and eyes. One corner of my ruby lips tugs upwards as the rest of me falls into a small crevice of security, that small, minute security is hope.
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So how did you like it? I noticed I changed POV like a billion times in this chapter, well I'm sorry about that but it has to be like this to make the story make sense. I know this X over is a little far-fetched but I had this in my head for WEEKS now and I have to do something with it. I realize if you don't like it, but everyone is entitled their own opinions.
BTW I have no idea when Tenchi Muyo was set in, so for the sake of simplicity Ryoko's present is Kagome's present.
Next chappie there will be some sesshy introductions and some angry hanyous....
This will be a Ryoko/sesshoumaru fic and the pairings will be basic for the rest, Inu/kag Sango/Miroku...but I am still on the fence about the kouga/kagura pairing....review if you want them to be together!!!!
Please review!
~your ff buddy LOH