Galaxy 1001D presents:
Washustein; or the Modern Mad Scientist
Starring Washu Hakubi as Doctor Washu Fitzgerald von Washustein
Tenchi Masaki as Tenchi Mancini
Mihoshi Kuramitsu as Mihoshi Gerstell
Aeka Masaki Jurai as Ayeka Jurai
Sasami Masaki Jurai as Sasami Jurai
And Ryoko as the Monster-woman
Tenchi Muyo and all related characters are © AIC/Pioneer/Genon/Funimation. This story is written solely for entertainment and is not intended to make a profit in any way.
Based on "Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus" created by Mary Shelly
And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima
Chapter Seventeen: We've Got To Warn Ayeka!
"Tenchi?" Washu called as she entered through his open door. Open as in the door was torn off its hinges. As in Ryoko got there first and was apparently violent and irrational when she got there. As in Tenchi might be lying on the floor with his neck broken! "Tenchi! Are you all right? Where are you? Tenchi! Answer me!"
"Tenchi!" Mihoshi called as she followed her employer into the house and shook the rain off her cape.
"Tenchi!" Washu shouted as she staggered forward into the house.
"I'm right here," Tenchi replied as he came down the stairs. He was tying his tie and headed straight to the foyer's closet.
"Tenchi!" Washu cheered. "You're alive! Thank Gawd! I thought I lost you!"
"You did lose me," Tenchi said coldly. "You lost me when you decided to play God, remember?"
"Cold," Washu grunted, "and after I came all the way out here in the rain…"
"Ten…chi!" Mihoshi cupped her mouth and shouted. "Tenchi? Where are… you…? Are you all right?"
"Mihoshi, I'm right here," the medical student said.
"Oh, I know," the blonde nodded cheerfully. "I saw you on the stairs, but Washu kept shouting. I thought she had a reason to keep calling you even though you were right here."
"I didn't see him yet, you fool!" Washu snarled. "I was distracted by the door that was ripped off its hinges!"
"Oh well, I thought you were just acting strange," Mihoshi nodded, "but it wasn't my place to say anything."
Washu groaned and hit her forehead with her hand.
"If you're looking for Ryoko, you just missed her," Tenchi said as he opened the closet in the foyer and extracted a hat and a heavy raincoat. "She came in here, complained about failing to kill you, made some threats and left."
"Threats?" Washu's eyebrow rose skeptically. "What kind of threats?"
"When I said I wouldn't sleep with her she said she was going to get back at me," Tenchi explained as he donned his raingear. "I think she's going to go after Ayeka. Either that or she's planning to murder me on my wedding night. One or the other. Either way, I've got to warn Ayeka."
"Warn Ayeka?" Washu's green eyes widened in realization. "Er uh… just a minute. No need to go rushing off half-cocked! Her servants will summon the police if you try to get in at this time of night. You might catch a cold going out in the rain like this! It's too dangerous out there in the dark!"
"If Ryoko bumps off Ayeka, I'm not marrying you," Tenchi informed her coldly as he wrapped a scarf around his neck.
"Uh-huh, sure you won't," Washu nodded skeptically. "Well, Mihoshi and I are cold and wet. You've got to start a fire and take care of us."
"Goodbye, Washu," Tenchi said as he pulled a lantern out of the closet. "Good luck closing the door when you leave."
"Wait!" Washu said desperately. "What about your Hippocratic Oath? Mihoshi is injured and needs your help!"
"But Master, I'm not hurt," the blonde assured her.
"You really do walk into these things, don't you, Mihoshi?" Washu's voice held resignation as she hit the blonde in the head with her walking stick.
"Ow!" Mihoshi groaned as she hit the floor. "It hurts…"
"Washu!" Tenchi gasped, "You're horrible!" He knelt beside the stricken blonde. "Mihoshi are you all right?"
"Ouch," the dazed domestic moaned weakly.
"So now you've got to take care of her," Washu said as she stepped out the door. "Bye!"
"Washu! Come back!" Tenchi shouted. "Washu!"
In her four-poster bed at the Jurai estate, Ayeka tossed in her sleep. "Love Tenchi, kill Washu…" the lavender haired bride-to-be muttered in her sleep. "Love Tenchi, kill Washu…"
In her room, Sasami slept peacefully, lulled to sleep by the soft pattering of the raindrops. Ryo-ohki was sleeping next to the child, and her ear rose in response to a sliding, grinding noise. "Mew?" the little bunny-kitten said as she became alert and looked around. "Meow! Meow!" the cabbit cried as she tried to awaken Sasami.
A slender hand with long graceful fingers grasped Sasami's shoulder and gently shook her. "Psst, Sasami, you awake?" Ryoko whispered.
"Stop worrying Ayeka, Tenchi will marry you," the child said sleepily before closing her eyes again.
"Sasami!" Ryoko hissed. "Wake up! I need your help!"
"Huh?" the little girl sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Ryoko? What are you doing here?"
"Hiding out," Ryoko whispered to her. "Washu's gone completely off the deep end and she's coming to get me. I need a place to hide out for a couple days, okay? You can't tell anyone where I am, do you understand? If Tenchi and Ayeka knew where I was, they'd just send me back to Washu."
"Okay," Sasami nodded. "You can hide in the nursery. Nobody ever goes in there but me anymore. I'll sneak food to you whenever I can."
"Thanks Sasami," Ryoko hugged the child. "I'm glad I can count on you."
Back in Ayeka's room, the lavender haired bride to be was awakened by a knock at the door. "Huh? Come in," Ayeka called.
A serving girl poked her head in. "Lady Ayeka, I apologize for the late night intrusion, but you have a visitor," the serving girl explained. "Lady Washustein is downstairs and is asking to see you. She says that it's a matter of life and death."
Ayeka sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. "Does she?" she sneered sarcastically. "All right, tell her that I'll be down, shortly. I'm going back to sleep. I'll get up at my usual time and if she asks you to wake me just go upstairs and pretend to do so. The little wretch can just wait until morning!"
"Very good, m'lady," the servant girl bowed.
Outside, Tenchi and Mihoshi arrived at Ayeka's front door. "Thanks for coming with me," Tenchi said to the blonde.
"Why sure Tenchi," Mihoshi smiled. "It's the least I could do."
Upstairs, Ayeka had drifted off to sleep again. "Love Tenchi, kill Washu…"
A knock at her door awoke the purple haired girl. "Huh? Morning all ready? Come in!"
"Lady Ayeka," the servant girl stuck her head into her room. "It's your fiancé, Tenchi. He's here with Mihoshi. He says he must speak to you and that it's a matter of life and death."
"Wha?" Ayeka rubbed her eyes as she sat up. "Oh well, if it's Tenchi I better go see what he wants. It might be important. Go down and tell him that I'll be down in ten minutes."
"Very good, ma'am," the girl bowed.
Downstairs in the parlor, the servant girl reported to Tenchi and the others. "She says she'll be down in ten minutes."
"Thank you," Tenchi nodded.
"Good luck, she said that forty minutes ago," Washu grumbled.
"I think she might come down a little faster for me," he told her.
"Well this is a surprise," Mihoshi smiled. "What are you doing here, Master?"
"Mistress," Washu muttered.
"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Tenchi asked her. "Back at my place you seemed determined to let Ayeka take her chances. Why warn her?"
"I admit that it was tempting let Ayeka swing in the wind, but I don't want my daughter to become a murderer," Washu clarified. "Not yet anyway. Not until she completes basic training."
"You're not going to train her to kill are you?" Tenchi asked demented genius. "I mean, if you train her for it she might succeed next time!"
"That's right," Washu moaned sarcastically. "Make fun of my hopes and dreams being dashed. My daughter and her people were meant to take over the world and usher in a new golden age, but it looks like that project is scrapped. She doesn't even want to conquer the world; can you beat that? She doesn't want to conquer the world!"
"There-there Master," Mihoshi smiled. "Maybe when she gets older."
"Yeah, maybe," Washu muttered. "On top of that, in order to save her from her own destructive impulses I've got to do a complete one-eighty and raise her to be kind and gentle. What kind of nonsense is that? The only way to do that is to become kind and gentle myself and place her needs in front of my own. Did you get that? Now that I'm a mother I've got to completely shortchange my own identity for that girl! Who knew that motherhood involved so many sacrifices?"
"Uh, I think I did," Tenchi muttered.
"Yes, making sacrifices is what motherhood is all about," Mihoshi chimed in.
"Well somebody could have told me!" Washu snarled.
"I think that I did," Tenchi repeated. "Of course if you hadn't buried your parents alive…"
"Allegedly!" the redhead barked.
"If you hadn't allegedly buried your parents alive they might have dropped a few hints," Tenchi suggested sarcastically.
"You aren't going to let it go, are you?" Washu grumbled.
"Probably not," her top student shrugged.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Washu bawled.
"Buried your parents alive," Tenchi and Mihoshi chorused.
"Conceived a child out of wedlock," Tenchi added, "without doing the actual conceiving… Stole her childhood…"
"Zapped her brain," Mihoshi listed. "Forgot to feed her, made her eat out of the doggie dish when you did…"
"Turned Ayeka's hair purple, turned her eyes red," Tenchi continued. "Did the same thing to Sasami, attempted to create a race that would destroy and replace the citizens of the Earth…"
"Brain damaged fifty volunteers," Mihoshi continued. "Mistreated your faithful servant, didn't pick up after your horse…"
"Played God," Tenchi nodded, "Said something sacrilegious every five minutes, neglected the creation fashioned from your flesh and blood…"
"I mean besides that," Washu snapped.
"You need more?" Ayeka sneered as she came down the stairs. "Tenchi darling, although I've often fantasized about a forbidden late night visit from you, what are the other two doing here?"
"We've come to warn you!" Mihoshi chirped cheerfully.
"Yeah, your life is in danger," Washu nodded.
"Someone might try to kill you," Tenchi warned her.
"Well, if I go upstairs and get my rifle I can shoot Washu and end the danger right now," Ayeka said airily.
"No, I'm not going to kill you, Ryoko is!" Washu snarled.
"You fiend!" Ayeka cried. "You created her to kill me off, is that it?"
"No she didn't. I'm afraid it's my fault," Tenchi sighed. "She came over to my house tonight and when I refused to sleep with her she got angry with me and left. But before she left she announced that one way or another she would be with me on my wedding night."
"Be with you on your wedding night?" Ayeka repeated. "What does that mean? And what was Ryoko doing at your house anyway?"
"I uh… kicked her out for misbehaving," Washu admitted.
"For misbehaving?" Ayeka repeated sarcastically. "What could she possibly do to misbehave at your house?"
"She tried to kill Miss Washu off!" Mihoshi sniveled. "Isn't that horrible?"
"Well, if that's what she did, I'll let her live here until she gets the job done properly," Ayeka sneered. "You can't blame her for wanting to kill Washu."
"Oh no, you really can't," Mihoshi shook her head and smiled.
"I know, everybody wants to sooner or later," Tenchi nodded.
"Hey!" Washu protested. "I'm right here you know! Will you two cut the comedy? We've got to keep an eye out for my daughter. She's either going to kill one of you two, or both, most likely on your wedding night! So you better stop messing around and be alert!"
Next: Do You Take This Woman?