Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Choices and Consequences ❯ It's About Time... ( Chapter 6 )

Tenchi Muyo: Choices & Consequences: It's about time…

I do not own Tenchi Muyo, or any of its characters or ideas, but I wish I did. As for this story, it was written as a sort of what if, while I wait for OVA 3 and GXP to be released stateside. I started on this after wondering, what if he actually did make a choice? For those that have read the "True Tenchi Novels" that detail the backgrounds on the characters, I have not read those. I guess you could say that this is an AU as I have made certain decisions on their backgrounds to fit my story. And if the Character appear OOC, there is a good reason.

I want to send a very BIG THANKS out to Doug Dennis, Top Quark (Shadow Quark) and Chendzeea Li for helping me with this story.

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From Last time:

Washu continued going on about the virtues of her machine and how it can sustain life indefinitely, but none of them really paid it any attention. Their only concern was to go in, train and come out. And since both girls would be there, he was more than a little nervous. Ayeka too was nervous but she hid it, though not very well, as this could very well be what saved her from having to go back to Jurai. The only one that did not seem truly concerned was Ryoko, who actually was eager to get inside and being training him.

Nervously two of the three of them stepped through the door after Ryoko literally flew in, and once through they were surprised at how real things seemed, and not only that, but nothing felt different. "If all goes well you won't feel a thing, but in the first hour time will accelerate, then you will have three hours to train and the last hour will be deceleration until time is parallel with the outside world. This will give you ten hours to train, so make good use of your time!" With that, the door closed on three nervous faces.

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And now

Tenchi Muyo: Choices & Consequences: It's about time…

With the door closing behind them Tenchi sighed and looked at them expectantly. Ryoko seemed to feel more relaxed for a moment before falling to the floor clutching her head. "AH damn it!"

"Ryoko! What's wrong?" Tenchi asked kneeling beside her.

"I'll… I'll be ok…"

"Are you sure Miss Ryoko?"

"That's… Ryoko! And yes…" Slowly she staggered to her feet. "It was just so sudden, I can't feel them anymore… Ryo-Ohki… Washu…"

Tenchi maneuvered her over to the couch as Ayeka helped her sit down for a moment. "Will you be alright?" Ayeka asked her and Ryoko smiled, it was different to see Ayeka act this way. She guessed it was because they were alone now.

"Yes, I-I can feel them… barely. Their thoughts are moving so slowly I can't understand them." After resting a moment with him and her on either side Ryoko finally stood up. "We've only got ten hours, so we had better use them."

"Are you sure you're ok Ryoko?" He asked her and she nearly melted from the concern in his voice.

"Yea, I'm fine," she told him flashing him a smile, which he returned. "Let's get to work!"

The three of them went out to the training grounds and first Ayeka had him show them what he knew. She said it was to, "demonstrate his knowledge," but her real reason was because she herself needed to see it to remember the moves herself.

However Ryoko did not let him get through all his moves, as partway through them he felt a wooden sword tap his head lightly. "Ok, lets get this started!" She then swung at him forcing him to react.

"Miss Ryoko! He hasn't show me what he knows yet."

"Damn it Ayeka! I said to call… me… RYOKO!" She accented the last three words with powerful swipes at him and he barely maintained his balance. "Sloppy Tenchi, he'll have you for breakfast unless you work on your footing."

"What do you expect from me! You're a lot stronger than me," he complained though she gave him a scathing look.

"Look! I've fought beings a lot more powerful than myself," she yelled back at him, "It's all in technique. How the hell do you think he beat me before?" A tear escaped her eyes as she recalled that horrible experience.

"Ryoko… I'm sorry…" he started before she cut him off.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! Defend yourself!" Ryoko then began to attack him and time after time she beat him, each time she drilled it into him what he did wrong. She knew how to fight, Kagato had drilled it into her, but she would not hurt Tenchi. Kagato had made sure that for every mistake she made, she remembered it painfully.

By the time the simulated sun was setting, Tenchi had been beat by her more times than he cared to count. Both girls looked very disappointed about it, and he knew that he had let them down. Slipping into the baths, he dropped heavily into the water, disappointed greatly in his own inabilities. He had always thought that what his grandfather was teaching him was intruding on his life, and now it had become his life.

Looking up at the stars, he knew they were not real, they couldn't be. But Washu had done a good job in making them look real. 'Thankfully this day's almost over…' he thought then sat up abruptly. "OH NO! I sill have to train with him later!" he groaned out as he realized that despite how he was feeling Washu had said that they would only be in the machine for five hours. "WAIT A MINUTE!" Tenchi grabbed his pants, and pulled them on quickly running back into the house. "NO! No! This couldn't of happened…"

Busting into the living room, he was covered in water and breathing heavily. To say the least he surprised the two girls. "What time is it!" he yelled out forcing them to cover their ears. "What time is it?!" he yelled out again.

"Jeez you don't have to yell…" Ryoko told him and looked around for a clock, but unfortunately there wasn't one. "That's funny I'd thought there would be one in here?"

"Lord Tenchi… is there a problem?" Ayeka asked as she blushed. He was breathing heavily and his chest still had water dripping off it. She knew then that it would take a long time to get this image out of her mind, though she really didn't mind the view.

"Problem! Problem? Look outside!" he cried out frantically.

Ryoko looked outside and saw the stars and the soft glow of the moon. "What's wrong, it's beautiful starry night?"

'A what!' her mind suddenly screamed at her. "I meant it was just a starry night… I've seen a lot of them," she tried to cover up her blunder not realizing what she had said either time.

"That's just it! How long have we been in here?" He asked frantically.

"Oh, a few hours I guess, are you getting hungry?"

"Hours… only a few…" he said slowly as if it was a strange concept.

"Yea, we have a few more hours to train if you want? But I thought we could just kind of…" Ryoko stopped and blushed… 'Damn it… not now…' she told herself. "I just thought we could relax for a while?" She tried again.

Ryoko guided him to the couch like he had done to her earlier, his mind seemingly not on what he was doing. "Hay you're still wet! Couldn't you dry off?" She asked sweetly before pulling a towel out of the air and began rubbing him down, attempting to dry him off before Ayeka pulled her hands away from him. "Hay! What'd you do that for?" Ayeka just motioned her to hush the pointed to him. They both looked at him closely. His eyes were wide open, and they have been for some time like he's forgotten how to blink. "What the hell?" She waved her hand in front of him and he still did not blink.

"Miss… I mean Ryoko do you know what this is about?"

"Not a clue… he just came running in talking about the time." Both of them were very concerned about him and Ryoko silently wished that Washu would hurry up and let them out. Seeing Tenchi like this was very unnerving. Laying her head on his shoulder Ryoko began to sing to him, the same song she had sung before to chase away his nightmares. It seemed to work as Tenchi's eyes finally blinked, and then closed.

"Well, he's resting now…" Ryoko said quietly to Ayeka, only to find that the princess was asleep as well too. "I guess it works on all Jurains." She suddenly snickered and thought, 'Kagato would have had a fit if he'd known we could just sing them to sleep.' A shiver ran down her back thinking of that time in her life, she wrapped his arm around him, and she prayed that he could keep her nightmares away for one more night.

Tenchi awoke later as the first rays of sunlight poured through the windows. Lifting up his arms yawning he realized that he had Ayeka on one side of him and Ryoko on the other, both were still very much asleep, and made no signs of waking up anytime soon. Being ever so careful he extracted himself from between them and moved off the couch, replacing himself as their pillow with an actual pillow.

Smiling at them, he said a mental thanks to Tsunami that he had them, 'I don't know what I'd do without them… well I'd probably be very bored.' He chuckled at his joke and looked around. "Well everything looks the same… I wonder…" he trailed off as he went to the kitchen and noticed that no one was making breakfast. At the thought of food his stomach began to growl and he realized that he'd missed dinner last night and possibly even lunch.

'It's a good thing I learned how to cook a few things,' he thought as he remembered how many nights he'd spent alone as his father worked late at the office. Sometimes he'd order take-out, but he couldn't do that every night, so he learned how to make a few simple dishes. When he had breakfast ready he set the table and looked around. "Something's missing…" Tenchi then began going through the house, slowly at first, but with each empty room panic started to set in and he began searching faster.

"Dad's room's empty… so is the princesses'… and Mihoshi's…" Full fledged panic set in and he was running around throwing open the doors and running through the house. "Where are they… we're only supposed to be in there for a few hours… are we still in there?" He suddenly stopped and looked out the window at the sky. Moving closer to the window, he felt his heart thundering loudly in his chest and then something seize up in his throat.

"Hay Tenchi…"

"AHHHH!!!" He let loose a scream as he jumped up in the air only to fall on the floor breathing heavily.

"Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka asked from beside Ryoko who was looking at him confused.

"Tenchi?" Ryoko tried again and he exhaled deeply and slumped against the wall. "Are you ok?"

"I will be…" he said shakily.

"What's wrong? We heard you running through the house opening doors and…" Ayeka stopped as she regarded him. He seemed to be in the middle of a nervous breakdown. "Lord Tenchi?"

"We're… alone…"

"Alone?" The two said in chorus and looked at each other then him.

"I-I woke up and was wondering when Sasami would be up… she's usually up before me…"

"Sasami! Is she ok?" Ayeka asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"She's not here… no one is here…"

Ryoko had had enough of this, "What the hell do you mean?"

He looked up at her and stood uneasily with them helping him. "Can you feel them? I can't find them?"

Eyeing him skeptically, she closed her eyes only to have them fly open a moment later. "I can't feel mom!"

"Does that mean…" started Ayeka as she looked at the two of them carefully, and they both nodded gravely. "But Miss Washu said…"

"I know what she said, but we're still here, the door to her lab is back to being a closet again," he told them as he felt trapped and scared.

"She's just playing a trick on us… or something happened… she said… she promised…" Tears began falling from her eyes as she remembered Washu having promised not to lock her up again.

"We'll be ok Ryoko…" Tenchi tried to assure her, though he was not sure how they could hope to get out of here.

Ayeka was very nervous as well, and seeing how Tenchi had reacted and now Ryoko, she was not very optimistic. "What do we do now?"

They all thought about it, only to have his stomach grumble. The three decided to eat for now and go about their day training. They wanted to spend it in front of the door waiting for Washu to open it, but after eating and watching the door for what seemed like hours nothing had happened. Tenchi had been the one to decide to train, as it would keep their minds off waiting. However as the day passed, Washu didn't show up. As they ate dinner, that night and then breakfast the following morning she still hadn't shown up.

Ryoko was pacing by the door, "What's taking her so long damn it!"

Tenchi wanted to say calm down, or don't worry, but he knew that would be a lie on his part. He was nervous, scared, and worried as well. "Ryoko?" He asked timidly and she looked at him angry at first, but slowly her anger subsided. After he saw that she'd calmed down some he tried to force his thoughts into words. "You… you said you can hear their thoughts before… can you still?"

Closing her eyes and concentrating, Ryoko called to her mother, but received nothing back. "No, it's like she's there, but she's not." She thought about it and remembered what her mom had said about where they were. "Since time is moving so fast for us, and normal speed for her… her thoughts seem… slow…"

"Better not let her hear you say that pirate," Ayeka snickered trying to lighter her own mood. Ryoko just laughed and Ayeka smiled, and it seemed to her that she'd been able to help.

"Well… So the princess has a sense of humor." Ryoko snickered as well. Tenchi smiled at the two of them and was slightly relieved. "Every one in a while I can feel part of her thoughts, but they are…" she paused and snickered herself at calling her mom slow again.

"Can you tell how much time has passed to her?" Tenchi asked her trying to formulate a plan of some kind, but failing miserably as Ryoko shook her head.

The three of them then set about doing anything they could to keep busy and to not think about possibly being locked in here forever. 'We can't be stuck in her that long,' each of them had thought at one time or another, but time drug by slowly for the trio. At the end of a week, Tenchi began to mark time off on a calendar, to show how long they had been in there. Ayeka set about cleaning the house with Ryoko finally helping for once, as Tenchi worked the fields. He was glad that at least they had the fields and the shrine as well.

Once Ryoko had actually flown to the top of the dome and to the edges of their world. And found out that Washu was true to her word, that time. The whole valley had been included in her design, which meant the world only included the valley. There was nothing beyond that. The sky was artificial as Tenchi had guessed, but she could not get beyond it. Thankfully, with the huge expanse of sky and ground, they did not start to feel claustrophobic, at least not yet.

As the first week turned into the second, all of them began to feel pressed in and many times Ryoko could be seen trying to find a hole in the sky, some little place for her to feel she could escape this place. But no hole existed no escape was available. Slowly over the course of that first month, they three of them began to wonder if they would ever escape this place. Tenchi tried to comfort the girls, and they tried to comfort him, as each night they slept in the same bed, clinging tightly to the other hoping and praying that tomorrow they would be let out.

It was well over a month inside the unit that Ryoko found herself sitting in the onsen wishing she had some sake, or something to calm her nerves. "Damn that Washu! I bet she left the sake out on purpose!"

"Somehow I knew you'd say that." Ayeka droned from off to the side of the pirate, but she had to admit, a little sake would really help about now. The two had been barely getting along and had it not been for Tenchi or the fact that there was no one else around to talk to then insanity would've claimed them a long time ago.

"Damn it! I need a drink... something… this…" She threw her hands up in the air in desperation. She could not even say how this was wearing on her.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this…" Ayeka mumbled just a little too loudly.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean!" Ryoko shouted. Over the almost absolute silence at times, they had started to discover that their voices seemed to carry or sound a lot louder than they wanted.

The princess grumbled a moment then shot back, "Just what I said, how could you have believed this would work! This is an insane idea!"

"DAMN IT AYEKA!" Ryoko shot up into the air, ready for a fight and Ayeka stood up as well. "You spoiled rich brat! This was all for you, I wanted him to be happy and this was the only way… I don't care, go back to Jurai for all I care! Tenchi and I will be… will be… just fine… without…" She did not know if it was her anger or something else, but she could not keep her rant going, there just wasn't the strength left in her. She felt alone, though they both were here. 'It's not supposed to feel this way… he was supposed to choose me and we'd be together, just the two of us… no one else. I don't need anyone else.'

For her part the princess had been mad enough to kill the pirate this time, but the will to do so was not there anymore. During their time here, Ryoko had been the only one she could talk to, especially here. Even when he was around she didn't feel completely comfortable. She couldn't tell him about her desires, or feelings without feeling embarrassed. The three of them have been sharing a bed, for over a month and she was still nervous every night. It was beginning to wear on her, in a most unusual way. Like Ryoko she believed that he would choose only one, and that they would be together without the other present. But that did not seem to be possibly any more.

Tilting her head up to look at Ryoko, she saw something strange, the pirate was shaking, 'no she's trembling,' Ayeka thought. But what astounded her more was that tears were beginning to show. 'Ryoko's crying?' Although Ryoko has cried before, Ayeka could only recall one time before when she had made Ryoko cry, and she felt badly for both times. Deep inside her, something was telling her to do something, something she could not stand to do, but she could not turn and walk away, and neither could she ignore it. Finally, the wall within her soul began to crack ever so slightly. She watched Ryoko cry a few tears while trying to maintain her anger, but it wasn't working.

The pirate floated in the air and without anything to brace herself with she was trembling and barely holding back the tears. She wanted to go far away, just fly away from here, but she was so scared of being alone that she could not move away. Ryoko's eyes flew open as she watched Ayeka lift her head up, and then slowly the girl began to open her arms. 'What's she doing?'

"R-Ryo… Ryoko…I-I'm sorry," the princess choked out as she fully opened her arms to the pirate. She could not get the image out of her mind of how she'd made Ryoko cry; telling her that Tenchi would never love because of her age. Even now, Ryoko had done this for her… she knew how much Ryoko hated being in Washu's lab, Washu had even shown her a part of the tape where she had locked Ryoko up. At the time she thought it was funny, but now… "I'm sorry…" she said again and she was surprised to see blue before her.

Ryoko could not believe it, things have never gone this way, and she felt compelled to say something, anything. 'What do I say… what do I do?' Her thoughts were clouded and confused, and before she knew completely what she was doing the pirate had floated down to Ayeka, and had wrapped her arms around the princess.

Ayeka felt something swell inside her, she felt good suddenly. Closing her arms around Ryoko, she comforted the pirate even more as both began to cry. Hate, jealousy, revenge and bitterness began to be washed away as the two wept. Ryoko clinging to Ayeka just as much as the princess was doing to her.

From the doorway, Tenchi smiled. He'd heard Ryoko screaming and he feared the worse, but he was not expecting this. Smiling he turned away from them and he was going to go back to the field, but he stopped in the kitchen. "I hope things get better now…" he said passing by the door that used to be Washu's lab, but he did not stop. It wasn't until he reached the kitchen that he realized he'd passed the door without even looking at it or trying it. A slow grin played across his face, 'That's the first time… we've always opened the door.' Knowing this he continued his way to the kitchen, going back to the door was not even in his mind as he decided to make a special dinner for the girls.

From that day, things seemed to really fly by for them. Every morning and evening, the two girls would spend time in the onsen talking, actually talking about their dreams. During this time, Tenchi would either be in the fields or making dinner. The rest of their day was taken up with training, and he had to admit that Ryoko was good, really good, as his losses were starting to reach the thousand mark he was sure. "I haven't even lost this many times to grandpa," he muttered more than once.

It was approaching their sixth month locked inside, and with each passing day, it seemed to be less and less of a prison. To Ryoko, it was still too small, but to be here with Tenchi, and Ayeka, she felt, happy. As strange s it sounded, she was, and she let out a quick chuckle over it.

Hearing the chuckle Ayeka smirked, "What's' that for?"

"Huh? Oh nothing…" she said as shs lazily drew circles in the water.

"Right," the princess smiled. Ever since that day several months ago they had talked more, and openly about their feelings. She leaned back against the wall; "He's getting better."

"Huh? Oh yea…" Ryoko and Tenchi had been spending the better part every day training. At first, his resistance was meager at best, but he's steadily been getting better. Over the past several months, it had taken her longer and longer to beat him.

"If this keeps up he may beat you," Ayeka giggled.

Ryoko snorted, "Well if you'd been paying attention… he almost got me today."

"He almost beat you?" She squealed happily.

"No," Ryoko laughed, "He almost hit me but he pulled back." She sighed, and knew he'd have to forget who she was for this.

"He pulled back?"

"You're not even paying attention to the fight are you?"

"Of course I was…" she said defiantly, "for a moment anyway." She instantly regretted mumbling the last.

"That's it! Starting tomorrow you're gonna join him!"

"What!"

"It's been a long time since we've fought princess… I'm going to enjoy this!' Ryoko said with a menacing grin that did not settle very well with Ayeka.

"Why you!" Ayeka stood up then laughed, as she had to admit it's been a long time since they've fought.

From that moment on Ryoko had two charges to train, and she did remarkably well against them, though he was getting tougher to beat. And then it happened. It happened faster than she thought it would, and it scared her. During one of her training times with him the fight had drawn on for more than an hour without either one tiring or scoring a single hit against the other. And then the lucky shot came. Ryoko had been really getting into the fight and even began taunting him, trying to get him to make a mistake, but it had been her to make one. As soon as she realized the mistake it was too late and she was knocked over.

To Tenchi, it was a bittersweet victory. He watched as Ryoko over-extended, and in doing so she exposed her side and he took advantage of the opening. The hit had been swift, and hard, much harder than he anticipated. He watched as she fell to the ground, unconscious. "Ryoko! Ryoko… please wake up!" He yelled while cradling her unconscious form.

Ayeka had been to surprised to do anything, and even before she could stand up Tenchi had dropped to Ryoko's side holding her. "Ryoko…" she called softly. A sudden cough caused them both to sigh relieved. "Oh thank Tsunami!" Ayeka breathed out.

"Ryoko, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… I'm sorry, please forgive me!" Tenchi cried out.

Weakly she held him; "It's not your fault…" she coughed. Her side was burning and she couldn't move from her waist down.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized again.

Smiling through the pain, she touched his cheek. "You're getting better." He went to apologize again but she stopped him with her lips. She wanted to reward him, for finally beating her, even if it hurt like hell.

Ayeka felt a tinge of the old jealously build up again as she saw them kissing, but it soon went away causing her to smile. 'Maybe she won't make a bad sister…' she thought.

To say the least, Tenchi was confused. He felt sorrow, fear, and guilt along with joy, passion and love. He held onto her like his life depended on it, never breaking the kiss as his feelings played havoc on his system, that was at least until she jumped. "Oh Ryoko, I'm sorry…" he began as he thought he'd touched her injured side again. However, she had her eyes closed as she moaned again. Hearing laughing he turned to see Ayeka then looked back at Ryoko as he felt something soft under his hand. He then realized his hand was resting on her breast, and still slightly applying pressure to it.

"You know Tenchi…" she gasped out as he tried to remove his hand from her. "If I'd known how winning would make you feel… I'd of lost a long time ago." She smiled sweetly at him as he finally removed his hand from her breast and he could not help blushing while both girls noticed his nose was not bleeding.

Taking his lack of blood flow from his nose as a good sign Ayeka felt hope rise in her and she felt her cheeks flush as well. 'It's been so long…' she realized, as Tenchi had not kissed them since before entering Washu's lab. They've cuddled, and hugged, but not kissed, and with his nose bleeds gone, then they might be able to do something else.

Her hoped were dashed as he backed away looking very confused. "I'm sorry, it's not right I do that."

Ayeka helped the pirate up, "What? Why not?" Ryoko protested.

"We're not married… and it's not right... and…"

"Why is it not right?" Ayeka asked him which caused him to blush even harder.

"We're not married…" he tried again lamely.

"But we can kiss right?" Ayeka asked as her face flushed.

"Well… yes…" he sighed… "I'm sorry… I'm not ready for that yet."

"Could've fooled me…" Ryoko muttered.

That night as the three prepared for bed Tenchi still felt guilty over hurting Ryoko, although the bruise had healed. He was more worried about her heart, as he knew he had hurt her again, so he took great care to make sure she knew he loved her. His problem with kissing either of the girls was that after each one he felt light headed and he was in a state of euphoria that was indescribable to anyone, much less himself. Neither of the girls seemed to not mind, and after the first few kisses he found out that something as simple as a kiss, could hold a power over him.

It started out with him kissing them each once in the morning and once in the evening, as they would be getting out of bed or back in. But that was soon not enough, and he found that as he would pass one or the other while carrying something he would kiss them then as well. Most of the kisses were not the deep passion filled ones, but that did not seem to matter, it was just the taste of their lips that he began to hunger for.

They kept this up for a while, but Ayeka and Ryoko began to want more. To them, the wanting was more of a deep desire that needed to be quenched, but how was the big question. Every time the two of them talked in the onsen, they discussed first his training, then Ayeka's and finally how to get Tenchi to do more than just kiss them.

"Damn I wish we were married!" Ryoko said in frustration.

Ayeka agreed with her as she had wished for that more than once. 'More like every night,' she thought with a slight blush. "If only Tsunami, or brother were here… they could marry us…"

"Does it have to be him!" Ryoko cried out in frustration, she still was not willing to forgive him for what he did to not only her, but to Tenchi now as well. Ryoko sighed as Ayeka nodded her head solemnly. To ease her mind she let her thoughts drift and she tried to listen for her mothers' thoughts again. She smiled as she realized that it had been a number of months since she tried this last. She let her thoughts drift about her mother and slowly she pushed more of her thoughts and power into it.

The world around the pirate disappeared as an image began to come to mind. She could see her mothers' lab, but the thoughts were still moving too slow to piece together. Smiling she looked through her mothers eyes, then screamed at the top of her lungs. Before she could open here eyes to the little world around her both Ayeka and Tenchi were there with her.

"Ryoko… What's wrong?" They were both asking.

"We're dead…" she muttered.

"What?"

Ryoko uttered a single word, a name known to them all, "Mihoshi…." With that one name both Tenchi & Ayeka went pale. "She's… in the lab…" She heard a splash to her side as Ayeka had fainted, and Tenchi did not look to be faring much better. "We're dead…"

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To be continued… I mean it…

I could always use help with pre-reading the story before the next chapter is posted. If you would like to help please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ffru/
I have the next several chapters posted there for my beta readers to help me on.