Chapter Fifteen
"Washu-chan?"
Washu glanced up from her computer screen, turning with a frown to face the cause of her interruption. As her machine dissolved into nothing, she folded her arms, eying the intruder with a dark glare.
"I was in the middle of something important." She snapped. "Sasami, what is it? What do you want?"
"Are you still working on something for Yagami?" Sasami asked curiously. "When Mihoshi said you were in here, I wondered. You've been shut away for a long time."
"No." Washu said shortly. "Not that it matters. Now you've interrupted me, my train of thought is gone."
"I'm sorry." Sasami sat herself down on the nearest free surface, looking contrite. "Really I am, Washu. But I need to talk to you. It's important. Really important, in fact."
"To me?" Washu stared. "What about Ayeka? Haki didn't wipe her brains out, I hope!"
"No. But this is something different and Ayeka wouldn't understand." Sasami said primly, swinging her legs idly. She seemed very young somehow, Washu thought, to be constantly involved in so much chaos and trauma. And yet very little seemed to phase the girl for long. Despite herself, Washu found a grudging amount of respect for Sasami's spirit underneath her initial resentment at being so summarily disturbed. She nodded, sitting back in her seat.
"All right." She said. "But make it quick. And if it's a facts of life talk, you can certainly take that up with your sister - if she doesn't know what to do with men yet, she'd better learn fast before she ties the knot with Lord Takeru."
"Washu!" Sasami giggled, her cheeks reddening. "No. Nothing like that, I promise."
"Then get to it. I have work to get back to."
"Why do you always work, Washu?" Sasami tilted her head on one side, regarding the scientist with a penetrating stare. Washu blinked.
"Because I'm a genius, and it's what geniuses do?" She suggested. "That's an odd question to ask, if you don't mind me saying."
"I know." Sasami nodded. "But I wondered, that's all. I'm curious. You do spend all your time locked away with this experiment or that one. That's all you ever seem to do."
"What else is there to do in this universe but create?" Washu asked simply. "I like to build new things, and watch them take shape before me. I like watching them grow, Sasami. Develop and strengthen with every change I make."
Sasami was quiet for a moment, digesting this. Then she raised soft crimson eyes to her companion's sharp green ones.
"Does she know?" She asked softly. Washu stared.
"Does who know what?"
"Ryoko."
"You've lost me." Washu held up her hands, but a flicker of panic stirred in the depths of her soul. Quickly she quelled it. Sasami was a little girl - she'd barely even lived a heartbeat in comparison to the scientist herself. She couldn't know what she was asking...what she was talking about. She was just being a child...and asking the usual childish questions. Well, she had dealt with that before, and she could handle it again. She had never broken her will and she never would.
And then Sasami's next question destroyed all that.
"Does she know that you watch her grow, develop and strengthen?"
"Sasami, what are you talking about?" Washu could not keep the edge from her voice now, a frown touching her face. "If you're just hear to play games..."
"Does she know that you're her mother?"
"Me?" Washu's heart leapt into her chest. "What stories have you been listening to, little girl? Who told you such a crazy tale?"
"Tsunami." Sasami said composedly. "Does Ryoko know?"
Colour slowly drained from Washu's face, and she shook her head slowly, unable to voice a word in her own defence. Sasami's expression became grave.
"I had a dream." She said slowly. "You went away. I know it was you, though you looked different somehow. Younger and yet older at the same time. Ryoko was there too, and another woman. You were leaving them...you were running away."
Washu fought with her emotions, finally gaining control of herself. She got to her feet, grabbing Sasami roughly by the arm and pulling her to the far side of the laboratory. Sasami winced, struggling to free her grip, but it was impossible.
"Who have you told about that?" She demanded in low tones. Sasami stared, fear sparking at the back of her eyes.
"Nobody." She said quickly. "I was going to tell Ayeka, but she and Tenchi aren't here. And anyway, Tsunami told me I should talk to you, because you'd know what to do...so I came here. Really, Washu-san...that's the truth."
"Washu-san?" Washu stared, then slowly released her grip on the girl's arm. She let out a low chuckle. "Well. It's been a while since you called me that. What else did Tsunami say to you, Sasami? You and she seem to be pretty intimate these days, telling each other all these big dangerous secrets."
Sasami frowned.
"I don't know, really." She admitted. "It's not like that, Washu. I mean, I don't think I'm talking to Tsunami especially. It's just...well, I have dreams and sometimes I think that when she knows something I should know, she tells me. Like this. She thinks it's important, which is why she sent me to you. Only I don't understand why, not really. I don't know what it all means."
Washu sighed, leaning up against the big glass panels that flanked the wall. She folded her arms across her chest, struggling to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks.
"It was a very long time ago, Sasami-chan." She said softly. "A very, very long time ago. And it's not quite what you think. You have to understand that I didn't run away from anyone. Not intentionally. That wasn't why I left. And if I tell you these things, you have to also realise that you must not repeat them to anybody. Especially not to Ryoko, for her own sake. It can't do her any good to know them after all these years. It may prove dangerous, and might jeopardise her judgement."
"I know." Sasami's brow creased as she tried to remember. "You said that it was dangerous for you to stay. That someone would be after you if you did. A man. You didn't say his name."
"Tsunami's powers of recollection are strong indeed." Washu mused. "Does she recall, then, every event in the life of every branch of Jurai's Royal family tree?"
"I think so." Sasami nodded seriously, then, "Washu? Are you related to us too? Like Tenchi?"
"No." Washu shook her head, a wry smile touching her lips at this. "No, Sasami. It isn't me Tsunami has memories of. I'm not of your kind. Not even from your planet. My family come from a long long way away - and even more years into the past than you can imagine. Who they were doesn't matter now. The race has all but died out, thanks to colonisation and invasion of planets over the past few milennia. They interbred with the invading people, and eventually the gene died out."
"And you, Washu-san? What about you?"
"I discovered two things in life that I loved the most." Washu's green eyes became hazy as she dug deep into her memories. "I loved this universe and all the possibilities it opened up to me. And I loved science...more than anything I wanted to follow my vocation and make a difference in that world. I know you think me crazy sometimes - perhaps these days I am. But I am a genius. That is the truth. And I knew I had to follow my dreams, wherever they took me."
She bit her lip.
"For a long time I experimented alone." She added. "I built many laboratories and conducted many tests. I lost touch with my people in my quest for the perfect scientific breakthrough. My goal was one day to break down the door of the Science Academy. You see, my kind...we were not permitted inside those exhalted doors. We were considered too simple...too volatile. We were ignored."
Sasami did not answer, and Washu chewed on her lip, considering.
"I told you that life on my planet all but died out...that or they evolved our traits into the invading populations." She added. "Those of us left, well, we were called demons. Monsters. They mistrusted us and our strange powers. We were foreign to them and eventually staying there became untenable. Any surviving families took the decision and left, each of us searching for our own future in the big wide universe. I went to the Science Academy, and I petitioned them with creations until they agreed to admit me. It was tough, but I relished the challenge. It was a fight to prove myself - and something I knew that I would do."
She shrugged.
"One summer, that desire to prove myself led me to your planet." She added.
"To Jurai?" Sasami's eyes became big. Washu nodded.
"A...a brilliant young scientist there had made a breakthrough and I was chosen to work with him." She continued. "He had the patronage of the Emperor's nephew, who seemed very intent on everything this scientist did. While I was there, I became involved in their secret work, although even I didn't know the full scale of things right at the start. The Prince was reticent with his secrets at first, but I was a very persuasive young woman."
She looked sheepish.
"Too persuasive, maybe, and I took too many silly, reckless risks back then. I know that going to Jurai was a mistake - something I should never have done, it opened up too many dark pathways that I had no choice but to follow. At the time, though, I couldn't risk passing up the opportunity. Royal Juraian backing was everything I needed to advance myself in the scientific world, and that was important to me. I knew I had to take this chance."
"And so that scientist...was he Ryoko's father?"
"No, Sasami. It's not so simple as that." Washu shook her head, a shadow touching her green eyes. "The project involved confining elements of Juraian magic into three mystical crystals discovered after an ancient volcanic eruption on Jurai. The crystals glowed and emitted rays when brought into proximity with Juraian trees, and it was thought that if the magic could be condensed, amplified and stored then it would be more easily passed from father to son along the royal line. The Jurai Power might no longer be something dormant inside the majority of ruling elite, but something to be called upon for the benefit of the whole universe."
"The Dark Heart!"
"Yes." Washu agreed. "Unfortunately, power corrupts. It causes madness, Sasami. Deep, driving madness in one who cannot handle it. I don't know if the power or the quest for it drove them crazy, but the scientist...he...he commited suicide and the Prince..."
She frowned.
"His name was Kagato." She murmured. "I don't think I need to explain that to you in any more detail."
"Kagato." Sasami breathed. "Oh! So Kagato is Ryoko's father?"
"Yes." Washu bit her lip. "When I discovered his true intent for this Jurai Power he had struggled so much to muster in himself, I knew I had to sabotage the mission somehow. I left Jurai and returned to the Academy, but when I went I took the crystals back with me. And something else, Sasami. I took something else."
She blushed.
"Kagato's genetic material." She admitted. "In my laboratory, I created the ideal environment to nurture and grow a baby to term, and combined his DNA with my own to produce an infant. My people's DNA mixes so easily with the DNA of other species, so it was no problem at all to mesh them together. I created Ryoko to be Kagato's nemesis, to take the jewels and to one day prevent him from destroying everyone and everything dear in the universe I loved so much."
She sighed heavily.
"In so many ways I failed."
"But it's okay now. Kagato is dead, Washu."
"Is he?" Washu shrugged. "His tree still lives. It struggles, but Souja lives on still. While his tree takes sunlight and water, I'm never completely sure that Kagato is truly defeated. Nothing would make me happier than to see it, Sasami, but I am never sure. Defeated, yes. Killed? Well. Time will tell."
"And Ryoko doesn't know any of this?"
"No. She knows nothing. Not about me or about Kagato." Washu shook her head. "I left the baby with a trusted friend on a nearby planet, and returned to my studies. I never went back."
"And then you were imprisoned in the capsule and sent to Earth." Sasami remembered. "But wasn't that because you wanted to destroy the Universe? Washu, I thought you said you wanted to protect it!"
"I did, and I still do." Washu said grimly. "But I was prepared for all eventualities. I knew Kagato like no other knew him, Sasami. Yosho knew him as a battle partner, a cousin, a competitor. I saw him as a devil in Juraian flesh, and that's no exaggeration. He didn't turn bad. He was always bad. The rotten core of Souja proves that - twisted and bent out of the true shape. He kept up his pretence well, but evil burned through him. And if he had succeeded in his plans for the universe, well, I would be ready to foil it for him. It would have been a mercy, Sasami. A quick end rather than a long drawn out death."
Sasami shivered.
"I don't like any of this." She complained. "And now Ryoko is on that madman's ship and what can we do about it? Tenchi says that he thinks Haki will kill her...Ayeka thinks the gems have taken control of Ryoko's brain and that we need to destroy both of them. I'm confused and Tsunami is upset. That doesn't help...it just gives me a headache."
Washu eyed the small girl sharply, taking in her pallor and the shadows beneath the tired crimson eyes. She sighed.
"Tsunami asks too much of you." She mused thoughtfully. "Or is it just what she thinks you can handle, Sasami?"
"I don't understand."
"No...you don't, and right now it isn't important that you do." Washu shook her head. "The important thing right now is Haki and Ryoko."
She frowned.
"What effect those gems will have on Ryoko, I don't know." She admitted. "If she had been trained in the way I'd intended, well, it would have been different. But sadly she isn't...I don't know how strong she truly is, or how much control she can maintain when they are around her."
She sighed.
"Sadly, she may be the only one who can wield them to stop Haki." She added. "Kagato had them tuned for his own line. That's why it was his genetic material I stole when I left Jurai. Ayeka, Tenchi...even you may be able to control the magic. But more than likely you'll be driven mad. Perhaps not you - not with your sudden bonding with Tsunami. But you're very young, Sasami, and it would take much from the Tree of Life. Jurai could not afford that kind of a drain on her power."
Sasami let out her breath slowly.
"And we can't beat Haki without the gems?" She asked at length, sounding to Washu a lot older and wiser than the small girl that stood before her. Washu shook her head.
"I don't think so." She agreed. "I've done a lot of research on his ship...Science Academy background does come in handy sometimes, you know. Karasu-fune is a Phoenix - a design developed at about the same time Kagato's project was just getting under way. In fact, I remember the controversy well, because I was at the centre of it at the time. The Phoenixes were tremendously powerful fire-ships - shooting masses of flame and causing immense damage wherever they go. But more significantly, they cannot be fully destroyed. They regenerate themselves."
"Like Ryo Ohki or a Juraian tree ship?"
"No." Washu shook her head. "If Ryo Ohki crashes, she regenerates herself only, even though she is bonded to Ryoko. If Ryoko dies, well, Ryoko dies. Ryo Ohki can do nothing to bring her back. Karasu, on the other hand..."
She shrugged.
"Haki's life energy is bound to Karasu's, and Karasu cannot be destroyed." She added. "So Haki cannot be killed either. Our only option is to find a way to imprison him - somewhere where he can't hurt anyone ever again. And for that, we need something as powerful as the Dark Heart of Jurai. Only problem is, I don't know where it is."
"Nor do I." Sasami said thoughtfully. "But Tsunami might."
"Yes, Tsunami might." Washu agreed. "But do you have so much access to her thoughts and her memories, Sasami?"
"I think so." Sasami nodded. "I told you, I don't know quite what's happening...but I can talk to Tsunami and she tells me things - shows me memories. Somewhere in her databank she must know something about these gems. Ryoko told Tenchi that Kagato was the last one to have them. If that's true, Tsunami must know what he did with the Dark Heart before he disappeared from Jurai annals.After all, his is a branch of the same family tree as Ayeka and my own."
Washu eyed Sasami carefully for a moment, noticing the grave expression on the youthful face. She took the child gently by the hands.
"Well, Tsunami-kami-sama, whenever you are ready is good with me." She said softly. Sasami started in surprise, gazing up at Washu with wide eyes.
"Washu-san, why did you call me that?"
"Because that's who you are, Sasami - or who you will one day become." Washu murmured softly. "Tsunami's chosen one. It's well known that Jurai trees choose only one master, but Tsunami has waited to choose her partner. She has chosen you, Sasami...one day you'll understand as well as I do what that really means."
"Washu, you're scaring me!"
"I don't mean to." Washu pursed her lips. "I don't think it's something you should fear. Quite the opposite, I should think. Tsunami's power is great and it will bring great pride and happiness to Jurai, when you are truly united. Tsunami-sama. And I never imagined I'd see it in my life time, long as it is."
She laughed at Sasami's foxed expression, shaking her head.
"Never mind." She said playfully. "Right now it's not important enough for you to think on. Tsunami will explain it to you in her own time. Right now we need her help finding the Dark Heart, and we need it soon. If Ryoko is going to have a chance to stop Haki, she's going to need all the help she can get."