Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-ohki OVA4
Episode 23: Responsibility
By Galaxy1001D
Chapter Six: Clearing the Air
Soaking wet, Ayeka and Ryoko hauled themselves out of the lake like two half drowned sewer rats. Anyone who had a fetish for girls in wet clothing would have to think twice upon seeing them. Hair matted to their heads, the two ladies slogged their way out of the lake and faced each other.
"You monster!" Ayeka sniveled. "You've won already! Do you really have to rub my face in it?"
"What's the matter Ayeka, can't fight for what you want?" Ryoko mocked. "Are you giving up already? Tenchi's better off with a strong woman like me than a little quitter like you!"
"I'll show you a quitter!" Ayeka snarled as tiny wooden cylinders the size of soda cans appeared in the air.
"That's the spirit!" Ryoko cheered before Ayeka punched her in the face. "Heeyah!" the pirate growled as she flung the princess away with a circle kick before zooming into the air to escape the wooden tentacles coming out of the floating wooden cylinders. "I wasn't ready Ayeka!" she snarled as she dived on Ayeka.
"Too bad Ryoko!" Ayeka cried as she held her palm out in a halting gesture. Ryoko grunted as she bounced off an invisible barrier and tumbled backwards along the shore. "I wasn't ready for a lot of things!"
"So what are you going to do, just give up and go crying home to mommy?"
"No I'm not going crying home to mommy you vicious troll! I'm going to stay here and save Tenchi from making the biggest mistake of his life!"
"Aw right!" Ryoko punched the air with her fist. "That's the stuff! Whoa!" she yelped as the dodged an attack by an irate princess. For someone who had starved herself and just gotten out of bed, she could move surprisingly fast.
In the meantime, Tenchi was making a beeline from the fields back to the house. "What's going on?" he gasped as he dashed back home. "It sounds like Ayeka and Ryoko are killing each other!"
He burst out of the forest and into a clearing just in time to see Ryoko and Ayeka wrestling by the shore.
"Let me go!" Ayeka hollered as she struggled against Ryoko's headlock. "You monster! You just want to torture me! I hate you and I know you hate me! You're trying to trick me into staying just to make my life miserable!"
"No you idiot, I'm trying to trick you into staying because you're my best friend! Ow!" she yelped and let go of the princess when Ayeka used the back of her head to hit Ryoko's nose.
"Your best friend? Ha!" Ayeka pressed her attack with a circle kick. "More like your only friend!"
"Dammit Ayeka! Don't you get it?" Ryoko asked through grit teeth as she grabbed Ayeka and shoved her face down into the mud. "I'm Ryoko the space pirate and to the universe I've been dead for centuries! Everybody in the universe thinks I'm dead or hates me! The people in this house are the only ones who accept me, and I'll die before I lose any of you! Ah!" Somehow, Ayeka managed to bend backwards and wrap her legs around Ryoko's throat.
"What are you complaining about?" Ayeka sputtered as she pulled the pirate off her feet and sent her crashing down headfirst into the soggy turf. "You've got Tenchi's love! At least somebody in the universe cares about you but my parents couldn't be bothered to tell me that Yosho had been found after seven hundred years!"
"I don't have Tenchi's love!" Ryoko insisted as she and the princess rolled to their feet. "Tenchi feels responsible, that's all! Maybe if I wasn't damaged goods I could fan that flame into real love but we both know I'm going to mess it up and be all alone again! I can't take that! I can't take being alone! I need a best friend to talk to Ayeka! Even if she is my worst enemy! What's your damage?"
"I just… want someone to love me that's all!" Ayeka bawled as she fell to her knees and covered her face. "I just want someone to love me, is that so wrong?"
"I just want someone to love me too!" Ryoko sniveled as got down on her knees and hugged the distraught princess. "I'm so messed up, I don't even know how to love, I really don't! You and the others are the only family I have I don't want to lose you!"
With a pained expression, Tenchi put his hand over his face and turned around and slinked away. "This can't go on," he muttered. "I can't punish them this way."
When the duo entered the house, Sasami and Mihoshi were horrified. Baby Washu was sniveling and crying crabbily.
"Ayeka!" Sasami exclaimed.
"What happened to your face?" Mihoshi gasped.
"Heh-heh," Ryoko laughed sheepishly. "I guess we went a little overboard there. Not to worry, I'll set up the medical unit," she announced as she walked over to the door that was under the stairs. "Washu's healing ray should get you fixed up right in a jiffy! Ow!"
"I did it!" Noike sang as she opened the door and slammed Ryoko into the wall behind it. "I managed to design a helmet that will protect baby Washu from Ryoko's nasty thoughts!"
"Really?" Sasami was enthusiastic, her sister's injuries momentarily forgotten.
"That's wonderful!" Mihoshi gushed.
"Better late than never," Ayeka grumbled as she sat on the couch.
"Uh," Ryoko groaned as the door closed behind Noike. Ryoko slid down the wall leaving a Ryoko shaped silhouette broken into the wall.
"Okay, I've got a transmitter hidden in this ribbon that's been built with micromolecular circuitry," Noike announced as she held up a blood red ribbon.
"Ooh, that's pretty Noike!" Mihoshi smiled. "Are you going to put it in baby Washu's hair?"
"Nope, I'm going to put it in your hair," the emerald haired enchantress said as she moved behind the blonde and removed the ribbon binding Mihoshi's golden tresses into a ponytail. "You're the transmitter," she said as she bound Mihoshi's hair with the new ribbon. "Your thoughts are a combination of childishness and brilliance smothered in optimism. Just the thing for a healthy young telepath to tune into."
"Hey!" Ryoko protested as she got off the floor and brushed herself off. "If you tune Washu into Mihoshi's brain, my baby will grow up to be an idiot!"
"Oh my gosh! Such a responsibility!" Mihoshi gushed. "I don't know if I can take it! Some of my thoughts are really naughty!"
"Compared to Ryoko it will be Disneyland," Noike assured her.
"But Noike, wouldn't Ryo-ohki or myself be better for this?" Sasami asked as she pointed to the cabbit balanced on her head.
"You're too worried about your sister and Ryo-ohki isn't old enough or human enough to provide a good example," Noike decided. "Trust me, Mihoshi is the best choice. Now let's put it on the baby girl."
When she placed the little white helmet on baby Washu's head the redhead stopped crying and blinked in confusion. Then she tilted her head, stuck out her tongue and chanted "Duh…" for almost an entire minute.
"I warned you!" Ryoko shook her head. "You've turned Washu into a moron!"
"Hey!" Mihoshi frowned. "What's the matter with her? I'm not that dumb, am I?"
"Give her a chance to get used to the new input," Noike held up a hand. "Her tiny little baby brain has to get used to contacting a new mind. It will take a moment to sort out."
"I don't like it," Ryoko shook her head. "You better not be giving her brain damage or anything."
"Look I think she's snapping out of it!" Sasami gasped.
Washu blinked and looked around at everyone before laughing cheerfully.
"See?" Noike smiled. "She's in a bright and innocent land of unicorns, butterflies, and gumdrops. And Mihoshi's mind is so empty that she won't distract baby Washu from thinking her own thoughts. This way, Washu can develop her own personality instead of getting all of Ryoko's neuroses."
"Thank goodness," Ryoko sighed in relief. "I wouldn't want my own mother to be subject to my horrible thoughts let alone an enemy!"
"Uh, Ryoko, don't you have that reversed?" Mihoshi asked.
"Nope." Ryoko shook her head. "Bigger Washu was okay I guess, but she was as twisted and dangerous as five Kagatos wrapped in a Doctor Clay. If we can't get little Washu back to abnormal, maybe she can grow up to be a better person."
"Ryoko!" Sasami scolded. "That's mean!"
"But true," Ryoko sighed as she sat down on the couch and picked up baby Washu. "Between Washu and Kagato, I'm going to need so much therapy."
"Hmph," Ayeka snorted. "You sound like they're your parents or something."
"Yeah, wouldn't it be weird if Kagato was your biological father and Washu was lying about the Masu?" Mihoshi giggled.
"Wow, Ayeka, and I thought our father was scary!" Sasami joined in.
As one all of the girls laughed at the absurdity of the suggestion.
Suddenly they stopped laughing, their faces deathly pale.
"Oh wow!" Sasami gasped. "Wouldn't it be weird if Kagato really was your father?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Ayeka snorted. "Why would Washu lie?"
"The only reason I can think of would be to make Ryoko feel better," Mihoshi guessed. "After all, you wouldn't want the person who tortured you and made you do terrible things to be your real father would you?"
Tears welled up in Ryoko's eyes.
"Hey Ryoko, don't worry!" Mihoshi assured her. "After all, it's not like you two resemble each other does it? I mean, you two had completely different superpowers didn't you?"
"No you idiot!" Ryoko snapped. "Our superpowers were almost the same you moron!" Ryoko vanished leaving the girls with worried expressions on their adorable little faces.
With the exception of baby Washu, who sat on the couch, smiled and waved her arms and burbled "boo-boo-boo!"
Mihoshi looked at the baby and shook her head. "I swear! I really am not that stupid! It's all Washu! Honest!"
"And I thought my family had problems," Ayeka muttered as she painfully pulled herself off the couch.
"Is Ryoko going to be okay?" Sasami asked as she hugged a concerned Ryo-ohki.
"I'll handle it," Ayeka sighed.
Up the mountain at the cave that was a Shinto shrine Ryoko was crying her eyes out. She let out a loud bawling wail that could be heard clearly for miles. In the forest, Tenchi sat down on the ground, hugged himself and pulled his knees in and wept as well, only he was quiet as a ghost. Back at the cave mouth Ryoko made enough noise for two, perhaps three or four mourners. That's why it was hardly a surprise that Ayeka was able to find her without much difficulty.
"Ryoko," the princess said.
"How did you find me?" Ryoko snarled through red rimmed eyes.
Ayeka shot her a look that said 'you must be joking' and walked over and sat on a stone next to the one Ryoko was sitting at.
Ryoko decided to try again. "Okay, what are you doing here?"
"You said I was your best friend," Ayeka shrugged as she looked away. "I said that I wished someone loved me. I'm here if you want to talk, and if you don't, I'm here anyway. I thought I had it bad with neglect, but neglect is a picnic compared to sadistic torture. I thought I'd do something instead of complaining for once." She looked at Ryoko and tried to put on a brave smile. "How am I doing?"
Ryoko gave an exhausted chuckle and wiped her tear streaked face. "You're doing great. Tell me more about how much you stink. That always cheers me up."
Both of them laughed bitterly before lapsing into an awkward silence. "You know you really are an angel, you know," Ayeka muttered. "Having survived everything you've been through and still knowing right from wrong. It's incredible. I wish I had your strength of character, Ryoko. If I loved myself maybe someone would love me."
"You're very lovable Ayeka you just try too hard," Ryoko sighed. "We both try too hard. Our parents damaged us beyond repair and now we want Tenchi to make us all better. We're pathetic."
"Yes."
Ryoko groaned and leaned forward covering her face with her hands. "Ever since we got here I wished you'd all just go away so I could have Tenchi all to myself and now that I got Tenchi right where I want him I'm afraid to lose any of you. How sad is that? Washu was right. I'm afraid of winning, and that's why I never do."
"My father has more than one wife," Ayeka suggested. "Of course, Tenchi would have to be out of his mind to marry either of us."
"Maybe Sasami and Mihoshi will make him happy," Ryoko sighed as she rested her chin on her hands.
"Or Noike," Ayeka pointed out. "Noike is so far ahead of us he'll probably marry just her and not any of the rest of us."
"Tenchi? Marry Noike?" Ryoko snorted. "I'll die before I let that happen!"
Ayeka put her hand in front of her mouth as she cackled like a witch. "Oh Ryoko, we're so horrible. Why do we feel this way about her?"
"Because she's too perfect," Ryoko sighed. "Honestly, the rest of us are all messed up but there's nothing wrong with her. We don't even know if she's really who she seems to be. Lady Seto trained her and sent her here to spy on us."
"I'm sure my grandmother wouldn't send someone she didn't trust completely," the princess said in a timid voice.
"Yeah, but can we trust her?" Ryoko snorted. "For all we know Lady Seto could be planning to marry Tenchi herself. For all we know Noike tricked Lady Seto and is plotting to kill us all. For all…"
"Please Ryoko, that's enough," Ayeka put a hand up palm out. "We've got enough problems with our damaged little heads without being paranoid too."
"Who says I'm being paranoid?" Ryoko shrugged. "She spends all her time in Washu's lab. We barely see her. How hard is it to recreate the aging ray when she's got Virtual Washu to help her?"
"Maybe that ray only makes you younger," Ayeka suggested. "Perhaps it takes something different to safely make someone older."
"Maybe but I'm not buyin' it. Let's get back to the house."
When they returned to the Masaki house Tenchi was waiting for them. "Finally, you're here," he said as he wiped the sweat off his face. He gestured to Noike, Mihoshi, Sasami, Ryo-ohki and baby Washu, who were already seated on the L shaped couch. "We can begin."
"Tenchi, you look as white as a ghost!" Ryoko gasped.
"Are you well Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka added meekly.
"No, not at all," he shook his head. "Look, I've been thinking this over and it's time I came to a decision. I've been chickening out about it for far too long. It's time I told everybody the truth and stopped stringing everybody along. I can't let this go on anymore."
"Oh Tenchi," Ryoko said with tears in her eyes. "I accept!"
"You accept what?" he asked.
"Well you're obviously going to do the honorable thing and propose to me!" Ryoko grinned as she vanished and reappeared horizontally floating in the air in front of Tenchi. She let herself drop and Tenchi caught her. "I just wanted you to know that I accept. Now that I got a baby I'm going to need a husband.
"L-lord Tenchi!" Ayeka squeaked as she clutched at her face. "Is this true?"
"Con-congratulations Tenchi," Mihoshi said as tears trickled down her cheeks.
"You're marrying Ryoko?" Sasami blinked. "Oh wow!"
"You've got to be kidding," Noike muttered.
"Mew," Ryo-ohki gasped.
"Wah-wah-wah-wah!" baby Washu shouted while waving her arms. "My name ish Washu!" She then leaned back and tried to shove her toes into her mouth.
"No!" Tenchi shouted as he dropped Ryoko on the floor. "It isn't like that! It isn't like that at all!"
"Ow!" Ryoko gasped as she hit the floor. "What's going on?"
"I'm not going to marry any of you!" Tenchi cried, "And when you learn the truth you won't want me anyways!"
Next: The Truth