Advent of The Goddess

The Origins Saga

By Shasta Musashi

Episode Four: The Pain Of Washu's Heart

Author's Note: I've never seen any of the Tenchi movies, so I'm going on what I've found on the net. Forgive me if I screw up any facts.. Oh, and for the record, I'm not Italian… just a demented Irish girl with onsets of dyslexia…^_^ ;

The new day started with an unexpected and very welcome surpise- the rare sound of birds chirping in place of the usual bangs and explosion Tenchi and his family had grown accustomed to ever since Ryoko and Ayeaka moved in….of course, having said that, the serenity of morning usually ment an ultimate 'deathmatch' later in the day…

For now though, Tenchi was enjoying the rare morning of peace by sitting out on the lake shore and watching the sun rise high into the sleepy grey sky.

The heatwave had lifted enough for a cool, oceanic breeze to waft across the land, tickling his face and smelling faintly of exotic fruits..

….of Ryoko.

Lying back against the soft sand of the lake shore, Tenchi folded his arms behind his head and closes his eyes, mulling over the thoughts that swam through his head.

He had intentially been wary of the new stranger in his midst….he still was, to some extent, but any excuse to get Ryoko off his back…

A sudden series of loud explosions caused the chestnut-haired teenager to spring to his feet in alarm. Looking towards the shrine, he saw flashes of blue and yellow light from behind the trees in the orchird. Panic seized him. If that was Ayeaka and Ryoko fighting… then the carrot crop was in serious trouble! Waisting now time, he pulled out his light sword from the trusty scabbord on his hip and ran swiftly up the stone steps towards the hill-top orchird.

Upon arriving at his destination, he was met with the sight of Goku and Kasuhito battling it out outside the shrine, the flashes of light being caused by the raven haired man hurling gigantic balls of blue energy at the older man, only to have them countered by a flick of the sword and yellow beams of ki narrowly missed cutting into the surrounding rockside.

"Come on! Stop trying to hit me and HIT me!" Kasuhito yelled over the noise of ki balls exploding around them. Goku growled and jumped back and crouched into a battle stance, wiping blood off his mouth with the back of his hands. His eyes burned with the fierce determination of a wizened warrior and they locked souly on the old man before them, dressed in a simply grey kimono, kendo sword by his side.

"That is enough for today, Son Goku. It appears we have woken the household." The old man stated calmly as he turned to face his grandson, his face blank and expressionless under his horn rimmed glasses.

Tenchi gulped, a bead of sweat dripping down his temple. THAT was training? It looked like the last great battle for Earth in the teenager's opinion. He watched curiously and in slight fear as Goku stood upright and dusted off the rags that served as the top of his gi. He blew a lock of silken ebony out of his eyes and turned to Tenchi, his usual cheesy grin now lighting up his face and tranforming him completely from the fierce warrior into the slightly slow, charming young man he was known as..

"Oh! Gomen-nasi, Tenchi-san! I'm sorry I woke you!" he said appologeticly, one hand reaching to rub against the mass of unruly spikes that covered his head.

Laughing nervously, the chestnut-haired teenager mimicked the action and glanced at his feet.

"Oh, it's okay, Goku…I was already up…..um….I'd say it's time for breakfast now.."

Kasuhito nodded a goodbye to his collegue ans set off at a walk down the stone steps, ushering his only grandson along with him.

"You indeed are a skilled advisery, Son Goku…we will continue our training a dusk. Do not be late. Sayonara." He said, his back to the Saiyajin the entire time as he slowly disappeared from view.

Blinking, Goku scratched his head again and gazed after them, confused.

"Huh.." Shrugging, he began to descend the stone steps leading down towards the house when he spotted a mass of pink rising up before him, belonging to Washu, who had ventured out of her bedroom for a whiff of fresh air. She looked a picture of health after recovering from her drink being spiked the previous night, yet even so, she still had a look of fatigue upon her from endless days locked up in her laboritory.

Her skin was milky white in colour and although glowing with health, still gave her a look that suggested she was being deprived of vitamins. Her hair was lost under a light green skull cap save for several strands around her face that gave a crab effect to her head. Her eyes sparkled brightly in the morning sun and the cool summer breeze ruffled the long lavender sweater-dress she wore.

Goku gulped back the lump rising in his throat. He felt his heart pound fast against his ribcage and his chest became uncomfortably tight. Shaking his head, he tried to forget that his heart and body was betraying him and tried hard not to let her influence him..

"Good morning, Goku-san."

Her voice made him go slightly weak at the knees……. Or was that due to the fact that he'd been up since the butt-crack of dawn sparring without stop?

Either way, the sensation made him feel nervous. Washu looked quizzically at him, but said nothing, walking past him as she headed towards the shrine to Tenchi's late mother Mayuka.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?"

Not trusting himself to speak, Goku nodded a reply and followed her up the stone steps, threading the dirt path that lead through the fruit orchird, cherry blossom threes bursting into colour as far as the eye could see. It was a beautiful morning, the sun now high in the sky, which had turned the colour of a sparkling sapphire and dotted with fluffy white clouds. The gently pink petals danced in the calm breeze and the smell of spring was in the air.

It was oddly soothing to the yound Saiyajin and he smiled to himself as his nostrils embraced the wonderous scent of cherry blossoms in the air.

They walked side by side in silence, the only sounds being the gentle song of the birds in the trees and the padding of sandalled feet on cobbled stone.

"I'm sorry." Washu said suddenly, startling the raven haired man as her small, floaty voice pierced the veil of silence between them. She sat down on a smooth make-shift bench made from a flat, rectangular rock upon two blocks of weathered concrete, her arms folded protectively across her chest.

"For what?" Goku queried as he sat down beside her, watching in unconcious fascination as her loose hair danced in the wind, deep pink strands of silk swirling around her. She looked at him with an appolgetic smile upon her face, emerald green eyes sparkling brightly within her almost angelic face.

"For acting so…so….hostile against you the day we met..forgive me.." her face fell slightly and she averted her gaze to her hands, which had absently been fidgeting with the tiny blue buttons on the front of her sweater-dress. Blinking, Goku snapped out of being hynotised by her hair and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Heh, don't worry about it…I'd be pretty wary if an alien crashed landed into MY back-yard…er..lake.." he grinned, flashing a set of pearly white teeth. The scientist forced a smile, but beneath the mask of care-free and happiness, the raven haired Saiyajin could sense something was troubling her.

"Um.. Washu-chan? May I ask… why you've been avoiding me lately?" he asked, leaning down to get a better look at her face as she continued to stare at the ground. A moment of uneasy silence past between them in which only the wind whistling through the trees was the noise of the orchird.

Slowly, she raised her head to look at him.

Her eyes had turned a darker shade of green, a sign that whatever she was about to tell him was a hard thing to devulge. Goku watched in silence, his face set in a concerned resolve.

"Can you keep a secret?" she said, her voice lower than a whisper to the extend that had Goku not been blessed with extrordinary Saiyajin hearing, he'd never have heard her. Looking puzzled, Goku blinked in confusion, but nodded an agreement.

"Hai, Washu-chan…you secret is safe with me.."

A soft smile crossed her delicate pink lips as he said those words.. a smile that could stop the heart of any man…..but that was'nt what alarmed Goku…

No… it was the tears that gently trickled down her cheeks.

FLASHBACK

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"Sorry I'm late, Professor Bardock… Mamaro was having diaper trouble…" the red haired scientist gasped as she ran into the conference room, a heavy briefcase under one arm and a project stand on the other. The old Saiyajint glared with harsh black eyes at her from the top of the table, knuckles cracking.

"Ms. Hakubi, in future, you are to set your prioeties in order. Your work is of the highest importence to my clan and therefore, your work must come first over all others." Bardock stated matter-of-factly. Washu nodded slowly and placed her briefcase on the stand, opening it up to reveal a large model of a Saiyajin space pod, highly detailed and remote controlled.

There was a collective chorus of mumoring among the chairpeople of the Galactic Federation.

"Miss Hakubi, what is it that you have presnted before us? I asked for a space ship, not a remote controlled toy!" Bardock growled, slamming a hand down on the table and causing a large crack to appear in the obsideon marble. The pink hiared woman grimaced and wiped her temple.

"I am so sorry, my lord.. but the full working model is not completed! This is meerly a demonstational version. I assure you, your fleet of ships will be ready in a month-"

"Ms. Hakubi, you are already six months behind schedule. Clearly, you do not think seriously of your contributions to this empire if you are to devote your waking moments to your brat. Raditz! You know what to do." The Saiyajin clicked his fingers and at once, a tall, raven haired chairman rose from his feet. He was about six fot tall and four feet wide, a man made of solid muscle. A full head of hair that reached down to the back of his knees swayed with his movements and Washu could feel a pair of dark brown eyes bore into her.

"Lord Frieza, what are you going to do?"

Washu was soon to find out..

As Washu returned to her room that night after having spent hours hawling ass to complete Bardock's order of advanced space pods, her only priority was that she could catch at least six hours of sleep… she was confused as to what Bardock had send Raditz to do. She did'nt think it had anything to do with him standing over her as she worked, kicking her in the ribs if she hesitated, even for a moment…

But as she entered the small room where she and her son resided, she immidiatly felt a sense of dread over come her..

Her intuition told her something was wrong and in a panic, she ran to the cot where Mamaro lay…

…Blood stained the once crisp white sheets…Mamuro lay spreadeagleo n his back, tiny face devoid of colour save for a morbid shade of grey…

…No signs of life.

Washu froze, her eyes wide and shocked, her heart convulsing with pain. An eternity of silence passed as she stared at her slaughtered child, her blood running cold as ice. Breath catching in her throat, she let a tiny whimper escape her lips before she sunk to her knees and let a piercing scream erupt from her throat, echoing around the dimly-lit room.

"Ohhhh……my baby!" she sobbed, tears streaming like miniture waterfalls from her jade eyes, stained red by the salt that spewed from her tear ducts.

She sat on the cold plascrete floor, crying untill she could cry no more, her very heart breaking in two.

Soon, she had cried enough to completely shut off the tears. Now, her sorrow was replaced by anger. Her hands clenched to fists and she screamed loud enough to wake the dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

End Flashback

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Goku stared in shock at Washu's tale, unable to believe his ears. His was appalled… disgusted.. sickened at what Raditz had done… what HIS father had order him to do. A wave of nausea over came the raven haired Saiyajin. He could'nt believe that Bardock, his father.. a Saiyajin Elite would forfeit the life of a helpless child to inforce dispiline in his subjects.

"Ever since.. that day… I vowed never to place my trust in..in a Saiyajin…again.."she trailed off, her voice catching in her throat as tears of mourning stung her eyes. With a suppressed sob, she buried her head in her hands and weeped, shoulders heaving.

"Mamaro..!" she sobbed, her tears of a broken hearted mother. With a sad smile, Goku wrapped his arms around her in a needy hug. He stroked her hair gently and rocked her as she cried for what felt like an eternity.

"Washu-chan.. I'm sorry for your loss…….. I never knew how evil the Saiyajin could be…….." he sighed and looked up at the shrine, brows furrowing darkly.

"Father, how could you slay an innocent child?" he thought outloud in barely a whisper…

Washu froze, her body going ridgid under his arms and an icey shiver creeping up her spine. Lowering her hands from her face, she turned to look him in the eye… but it was'nt a look of thanks for the comfort, but the coldest, most piercing glare Goku had ever seen in his life.

It was enough to have Vegeta running five miles in the opposite direction it was so intense.

"Wa-Washu-chan?" Goku queried, looking at her with puzzlement.

"Get your hands OFF ME!!" she screamed, springing to her feet with such speed that Goku fell off the bench and lay flat on his back on the ground, blinking up at her.

"Whu-?! What? Washu, what's wrong?" he asked her, only to be yelled at once more.

"THE WHOLE TIME!! YOU WERE THE SPAWN OF THE MAN WHO KILLED MY ONLY SON!! I can't believe you! I TRUSTED you! I let you sleep in my bed! I let you eat my food! Heal in my laboritory!!" she screamed, her face practiclly scarlet with rage, hot tears of anger flowing from her eyes.

Getting haistily to his feet, Goku held his hands out in defense. "Hey, Washu! Don't get the wrong idea-"

"Get out of my sight!"

"But-"

"JUST GO!!"

And that was it.

With just one sentence, Goku had terminated all chances of ever forming an relationship with the pink hiared goddess.

No longer were they friends….. now, they were enemies.

~*~*~*~*~

Mihoshi yawned loudly, eyes flickering open and blinking against the crisp mid-afternoon sun, hot on her richly tanned face. She was'nt sure what had woken her from her perverted dream-filled slumber on the back porch, but she was soon alerted to her senses as she noticed the little pink light in her communicator bracelet blink several times. With another loud yawn, the blonde police officer pushed the talk button and allowed the holographic pink screen to show up,

Displaying her partnet Kiyone onboard her police cruiser ship.

"Oh, good morning Kiyone-san.." Mihoshi said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Mihoshi, wake up!"

"Kiyone, I AM up! What is it?"

The aquamarine haired woman onscreen growled at her partner's imneptness and sighed. "I've been getting reports on an unregiestered cruiser not far from the Juraian borders. If the records check out, it could be Dr.Clay."

"Dr. Clay?"

"Mihoshi, you are truly an idiot!! Don't you know anything?! Dr. Clay is a wanted criminal throughout the entire galaxy. Alledgedly, he wiped out an entire species of Viserians using an illegal pulsonic blaster cannon purely for sport. He is a mass murderer and must be stopped! Suit up, Mihoshi and get the gang together! We're going on a space pursuit!"

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END EPISODE FOUR

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