Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Choices and Consequences ❯ Pain and Sorrow ( Chapter 10 )

Tenchi Muyo: Choices & Consequences: Pain and Sorrow

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:

Ryoko looked on in horror. Tenchi was on his back, blood spilling out onto the floor from his wounds. The wounds made her sick to even look at them. The blast clay had fired had taken out the wall behind Tenchi, and several other walls. However, what make her truly angry was that Tenchi had been hurt. From her position, she could see that his left leg and left arm were missing. The wounds were still open and blood was spilling out quickly. "Tenchi… Tenchi!!" She closed her eyes, and screamed, "TENCHI!"

The next blast Clay pulled even more energy as he laughed, Ryoko could feel her very essence being pulled away from her, and though she wanted to die with him, she would not loose him this way. She began to fight it, with everything she had left in her. Calling it all back to her, Ryoko concentrated on her essence, her love for Tenchi.

"Tenchi!" Ryoko screamed and stood up in her cage… all her power flowing out and back into her. She would not let this happen.

Releasing the energy Clay was building up; he intended to destroy the boy before he could summon the wings. And he smiled with satisfaction when the bolt slammed into Tenchi.

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And now

Tenchi Muyo: Choices & Consequences: Pain and Sorrow

Clay watched smugly as the energy slammed into Tenchi and pushed him into the ground. Slowly his smug look turned to confusion. The energy hovered there; it totally encompassed Tenchi, but unlike the last blast, which had taken out a wall and kept going this one seemed to be holding its position. The ship began to shake violently knocking Clay off his feet. From the floor he looked back at Ryoko to see that she was not on the floor as he expected, but rather she was standing, her arms stretched out as the energy around her was being sucked into her. "That's not possible!"

Hearing a noise he twisted around and moved to his knees where he saw the ball of energy lift up out of the floor. In the middle of the crater was Tenchi, but he was still alive. Sweat began to pour off Clay's face as he realized the Wings of the Light Hawk had been shielding him. As the energy was pushed back by the wings Tenchi floated up into the air. The sight of him was enough to make Clay want to faint.

Ryo-Ohki could see Tenchi now from where she was on the floor and she was scared, more so than she ever had been. 'He's alive!' she thought relieved, but to see him brought its own fear. The wings had not regenerated his left leg; instead, where his left leg should have been was a glowing, partially transparent mass of Light Hawk Energy. The same also applied to his left arm from the elbow down. She was truly frightened, though not nearly as much as Clay was.

"It's not possible! You should be dead!" He cried out in aggravation.

Tenchi did not answer him; he was instead watching Ryoko, silently cheering for her. 'Keep going Ryoko, I can feel you pulling the energy back… I felt you protecting me.' Placing his hand on the energy, he pushed it back towards her. With his little push, the ball shot backwards passing right past Clay and into the shield holding Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki prisoner.

"NO!" Yelled Clay as he was almost hit, then as he watched mortified the energy passed through the shield as if it wasn't even there. The shield shattered a moment later and dissipated, but the energy slammed into Ryoko. He covered his eyes quickly as a bright flash enveloped her. But he did not get to sit there long, as just scant moments later he was screaming in pain and trying to pull Ryo-Ohki's teeth out of his arm. "AHHH! Get off me you little demon!"

"Ryo-Ohki!" a feminine voice called. "Let go of that, you don't know where it's been." Immediately the furry terror released him and dropped to the floor.

Clay lifted his eyes to the voice and he regretted it. Ryoko was now standing before him, but this time she too had Light Hawk wings before her. Shifting his eyes between both Ryoko and Tenchi, Clay became very nervous. There wasn't an escape this time, he hadn't even thought about a means of escape. "Don't hurt me!" He pleaded cowering before them.

Ryoko felt disgust run through her, 'he is so pathetic,' Ryoko thought and Ryo-Ohki agreed with her. "I should kill you for what you did, to me… to Tenchi… to everyone! Damn you!" She drew back her hand and Clay's eyes nearly fell out of his head as a sword manifested in her hand. The energy he knew was from her wings there was no mistaking it. As her sword sped towards his head, he fell over before he was touched. He had completely passed out. "Damn it!"

Tenchi looked at her as she stopped just inches away from him. "It's ok Ryoko… we've won."

"Damn it! We should kill him…" She was disgusted, she wanted so much to kill him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"No, we can't kill him."

"Why not!"

"You know why," he said to her softly and she looked down as she knew the reason, "but we have to destroy this ship. Washu said that the gems in it control you."

"But I beat them!"

"This time, I don't want anyone to have a chance at this again." She nodded and she looked at Ryo-Ohki who was beside her. "Get Mihoshi back to her ship, and get out of here."

'But what about the other bad men?' Ryo-Ohki asked mentally.

"Good point," Ryoko replied and then focusing her energy she fired a blast out the wall down towards Mihoshi's ship, missing it barely. "Oops…"

"It's ok Ryoko, you missed it." Tenchi added, "Ryo-Ohki get Mihoshi to her ship, Yukinojo can fly her to safety then."

"Um Tenchi?"

"Yes?" He turned to Ryoko and he could not help but notice how much she reminded him of an Angel at this moment. Her entire body glowed with an ethereal light that was accentuated by a soft reddish glow of her gems.

"Ryo-Ohki can't carry her…"

"Huh… Oh," He thought about it, "I'll put her in the ship, don't let him get away. When I come back we will destroy this ship."

He had just picked up Mihoshi when he heard her again, "No…"

"What's wrong?" He turned to see a look on Ryoko's face that he had seen a few times before. It had a determination on them that he knew she would not back down from what she had decided. "What are you thinking?"

"Just get her out of here… I'll take care of the ship."

Tenchi knew better to argue and he nodded, "Come back to me," he then flew down the path Ryoko had made and put Mihoshi back on her ship. But even as he flew away, he could feel the energy swelling around Ryoko. 'I hope you know what you're doing…'

Once Ryoko could feel that Tenchi, Mihoshi and Ryo-Ohki were safely away; she began draining the energy out of the gems remaining in the ship. Lights began to fail as did computer systems all over the ship. Thankfully for those that remained someone had the smarts to signal the evacuation. Tenchi watched from space as the escape pods began to shoot away from the ship. The last one left just seconds before the entire ship imploded on it self. Energy, matter, light, all were sucked inward as Ryoko seemingly absorbed the ship.

Watching closely he noticed that instead of her absorbing it she was compressing it into something…

Ryoko forced the energies together and she forced them to keep moving in closer so that she could hold them in her hand. As she looked at it she laughed, "A yellow gem..."

Drawing her arm back, she threw the gem as hard as she could towards the sun. The gem streaked across space towards the sun, Tenchi watched as it flew past him. Ryoko was strong to begin with, but having the added strength of the Light Hawk the gem flew faster than Yukinojo could track it. Mihoshi watched it until she could not see it anymore.

On earth, those that watched the heavens for a brief moment watched as a star flew across the sky towards the sun. The more adventurous of astronomers tracked it as far as they could before it was consumed by the intense heat of the sun. From within the surface of the sun, an explosion caused fire to leap off the surface before crashing back down. To those that had not witnessed it, nothing different had happened. But to Tenchi, and more especially Ryoko, it was a great victory.

"I'm free…" she shouted though there was no sound. Calling Ryo-Ohki she teleported onto the bridge and smiled. Tenchi soon joined her, though as soon as his feet touched the ground he released the power of the wings. It was this instant that Tenchi realized the full scope of his wounds, as he fell to the floor. "Ryo-Ohki! Take us to Washu!"

On Earth Washu was regretting not being able to go with Tenchi to help him, but he had asked her to take care of Ayeka, and the princess had kept her busy. The princess had been having a number of strong contractions and for a brief moment, Washu lost the sound of the child's heartbeat, only to later find out that an enraged Ayeka had knocked off the sensor. Ayeka now lay sleeping in a bed with her sister watching over her. Washu was glad of the quiet, because now she was able to focus on what was happening in space. As she tried to find out what was going on she was relieved to see that the Yukinojo had broken into the ship and though it she was able to patch into the ships internal sensor system.

When she found them, she was not very pleased. Tenchi and Mihoshi were facing off with someone standing in the shadows. Panning the cameras around, she gasped as she saw Ryoko lying on her stomach, with the floor beneath her glowing. "DAMN IT," she hissed through clenched teeth. She knew how this affected Ryoko before and she hated seeing it happening again.

Turning on the Audio she was surprised to hear a familiar voice, "You destroyed my life, my work, everything I had…" he stepped into the light and she could see who it was.

"THAT BASTARD!" She screamed forgetting about Ayeka. "Who the hell let him out of Jail?" She turned the camera just in time to see Tenchi push Mihoshi out of the way taking the hit for her. "NOOOO!!"

In the other room from Washu Sasami suddenly sat up, "Oh no…"

Ayeka too started mumbling, "Tenchi…. No… Tenchi…"

"Shhh, it's going to be ok… Go back to sleep…" Sasami tried to calm her sister, but the tears in her eyes would not go away. She suddenly heard a number of obscenities that the Jurai Navy had never heard of coming from Washu in the next room. She looked back at her sister and placed a hand on her head, "Tsunami, let her sleep… let her be ok…" a few tears fell from Sasami's eyes as she rushed to the other room to see Washu slamming her fists into several of her machines.

Looking at the monitor, she could see Tenchi laying on the floor… blood pouring out of his body from where his leg and arm should be. "Oh no… TSUNAMI!" She ran from the room crying, she was not sure where she was running, but she could not look at that again.

Washu felt a gut-wrenching mental cry from her daughter; she looked up to see Ryoko standing up amid the pain. She stood defiant and then she began to pull. Even Washu could feel the pain, but still Ryoko continued to pull. Clay fired another blast at Tenchi and Washu held her breath.

The blast sailed at Tenchi and impacted, but something was different, Washu could see it on her monitors, "YES!" She cried out joyously. "She did it!" Cheering now for her daughter she watched as the energy pulled away from Tenchi, and she cheered again seeing that he was not only alive, but also glowing. "Go Tenchi! Kick his ass!" Then she suddenly stopped as Tenchi floated up. "His leg… it's still gone…" Unable to pull her eyes away from the monitor she watched as Tenchi pushed the energy ball back at Ryoko, but she was even more surprised at her daughters' transformation. "She's beautiful… My angel... my daughter…" she said to the screen as she stroked her fingers across the image of Ryoko's transformed state.

"Ryo-Ohki!" a feminine voice called breaking Washu out of her trance. "Let go of that, you don't know where it's been." Immediately the furry terror released Clay and dropped to the floor.

"NO! Kill him! Don't let that bastard live… kill him! He hurt you… he hurt my baby…" Washu cried in anguish, but she could feel comforting thoughts from her daughter. She could hear the exchange between the Tenchi and Ryoko, and she felt cheated. After all that Clay has done, he didn't deserve to be left alone, but that is just what they were doing. "Damn it…" she muttered when she saw him fly off with Mihoshi and Ryo-Ohki.

Washu then felt a stirring from inside her; the camera showed Ryoko pulling the energies of the ship into herself. "No she'll kill them all…" typing furiously she set off the ships evacuation sequence. Happy that they were escaping she returned to looking in the room with her daughter and she could see things collapsing in on itself, but what brought her a perverse sense of joy was that Clay's prone figure still remained. "Serves the bastard right," she thought as the camera suddenly cut off.

"No… what happened next? Where'd they go? What's going on?" She tried to hack into Yukinojo's sensors, but that didn't give her much information, though she could feel a sudden sense of euphoria from Ryoko. "Good she's…" she cut herself short as panic rushed through her link with Ryoko.

'MOM!'

"AHHH!" Washu cried out holding her head. 'Don't scream…'

'Tenchi's hurt… he's…'

'I know… I saw what happened.' Washu assumed that was what Ryoko was worried about. 'Is he still bleeding?'

'No… it looks like…'

'Let me see, I need you to let me see what you see.' Ryoko agreed and Washu was shocked by what she saw. Tenchi was on the floor of the Ryo-Ohki, but he did not seem to be in pain, instead he looked confused, and dazed. 'He's in shock, the wounds look…' she trained off as she had her daughter actually look at his leg and arm. 'It looks like the wounds were completely sealed up… why didn't he regenerate?' She pondered this for a brief moment, and then instructed Ryoko to hurry up and get back. For once Ryoko didn't complain about being ordered around.

Sasami was lost; she didn't know where she was, or even how to get back. She had tried to run out of the lab, but instead she had only succeeded in running into a new section. What was worse was that she could barely see through her tears. After seeing Tenchi lying on the floor with… with… she could not even think about it again as more tears invaded her eyes. Aimlessly she wandered around, absorbed in her own thoughts when she heard a voice in her mind. Through the haze in her mind, she could not even tell that it was Tsunami talking to her.

However she let the voice guide her, she trusted it; she had no reason to doubt it. Slowly the voice led her to a place that she knew a place that she had once had to spend the night. Approaching the area, she could see the sapling of Ry-ouh growing. The water forming a small circle around the tree began to swirl around before gushing upwards to form the image of Tsunami. "Sasami," she called softly holding her arms out to the little girl.

Sasami did the only thing she could think of, she fell into the goddesses' arms. This time the arms surrounded her, she could feel the goddess holding her close. "Oh Tsunami… Tenchi's…." Though he was hurt, Sasami could feel an almost motherly embrace from the goddess. Had she thought about it, Tsunami was like the mother to her people, so acting this way was not uncommon for her, though in this form it was.

"I know." Tsunami just held her as she cried, even though the goddess could feel that he was alive, and more importantly that he was currently using his Light Hawk Wings, she believed that Sasami still needed to be comforted. Searching Sasami's mind she saw that the girl felt a mothers embrace which caused her to smile, and continue to hold her. When the girls' tears subsided, the goddess asked, "He is still alive, Ryoko too. Would you like to see?" Sasami just nodded her head. Touching Sasami's forehead, the goddess allowed the child to see what she saw.

Though here eyes were closed, Sasami could see. Even clearer than she had ever seen before. Turning around in the vision, she could see the Soujya and inside she could perceive then see Tenchi, and Ryoko clad in the Wings of the Light Hawk. "Oh wow…" she breathed as she marveled at Ryoko. "She's… she's…"

"Yes, she has come into her power, her full power," the goddess supplied.

Before her new eyes Sasami watched as Tenchi took Mihoshi back to her ship followed by Ryo-Ohki. "What's Ryoko doing?"

"Just watch…" the goddess smiled. "She's about to become free."

"Free?" Sasami seemed confused, but as she watched, she could see Ryoko pulling the ship in on itself and compressing it into an object the size of a gem. "That looks like one of her gems?"

"Yes, one that has no past once had a past. That same one took her powers and placed them into the three gems that Ryoko now bears."

"Really!" Sasami looked at Tsunami wide eyed as the vision around her faded.

"Yes, but that is also why I can't help him," she looked down and away from the princess. Her own feelings of grief she knew were from how close she was to Sasami and she began to worry about when they became one. 'Can I live like this?'

Sadly Sasami realized what she was meaning; "You… can't help him?" Tsunami just shook her head. "B-But… what's going to happen to him? Why can't you help him?"

"He will continue to live; he will need support and care, even if he says he does not." She watched as Sasami nodded her head, "Before he was wounded, but not by that power. This time his leg and arm were taken by the power of a goddess, and only that goddess can undo what has been done."

"C-Can't… we just…" Sasami started but Tsunami shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but that is not possible yet," she sighed heavily. "The time is not right yet for my sister to be awakened." Sasami looked downhearted and Tsunami didn't need her link to the girl to feel the utter depression setting in. "Do not be afraid for him, or her." She then looked up towards the sky, "They are nearing… you must tell Washu that I cannot help this time."

"O… k," she replied softly before hugging the goddess one last time. Tsunami returned the hug, and was glad for her being able to take on a corporal form like this. After one last quick hug, Tsunami pointed Sasami in the direction she needed to go, and then rushed off to find Washu, and since they were close to where Ry-ouh was being regenerated Sasami knew how to get back to where her sister was.

Moving closer to Ayeka she could hear her sister's voice, "Ten… chi"

"Shhh," the little princess tried, "Tenchi's coming back, Ryoko too."

"Um… Ten…chi…"

Ayeka's voice seemed to drop off and Sasami looked at her sister worriedly. Taking her hand she held it and then told her quietly, "They're coming back. Tenchi saved Ryoko… he…" Tears began to fall as she tried to find a way to tell her sister what happened.

"Sasami?" A voice called her from behind, and turning around she latched onto the scientist.

Immediately she latched onto the scientist. "Washu… what… what are we going to do?"

"Do?" She tried to feign innocence, to hopefully curb the princess' worry, but it did not seem to help.

"WASHU!" A voice shouted as it entered the lab followed shortly by the forms of Ryo-Ohki and Ryoko who was carrying Tenchi with her. He did not seem to be in pain, but more dazed and lethargic.

"Over here Ryoko!" The scientist called as Sasami let go of her. A table rose up from the floor allowing Ryoko to set him down, but she did not move away from him.

"Hi Washu…" he said as his eyes gazed around the room. To those that saw him he appeared to be highly drugged.

"Tenchi… Tenchi, can you hear me?" Washu more yelled than asked him.

"Yea, I hear you."

"Oh no!" Sasami gasped as she noticed his arm and leg were still missing.

"Can you do something?" Ryoko screamed at Washu as the scientist scanned him.

"Give me a minute!"

Ryoko just growled, "We don't have a minute!"

"Yes we DO!" Washu fired back; "He's not going to die."

"B-B-But…"

"No buts! He's not in danger of dying." Washu looked over his wounds as the scanners concluded their search. "Look," she said pointing to a video screen that popped up in front of them. "His leg is gone, so it a portion of his hip, also his arm from just above the elbow." Her description made both Ryoko and Sasami ill. "However, the wounds have been completely healed and…"

"What the hell do you mean completely healed! His leg is gone! Damn it!"

"I didn't say they were restored I said healed! Look," she pointed again at the wounds and Ryoko could see that there were no open wounds, and he was no longer bleeding. It was as if the leg or arm had never been there before. Looking up at her mother the question was obvious even with out their mental connection, 'How?' Washu paced off a few feet then returned, "Look, Tenchi's never let me test his wings before so I don't know what they are capable of, However, they've stopped his bleeding. He's not in danger of dying."

"But what about…"

"I know!" Washu roared. "I'll work on it… but without the hip being there I'll have to do some surgery on him to replace it, but…"

"But?"

"But… if he uses the wings I don't know what will happen to the replacements…" Washu looked completely lost and bowed her head, she had never worked with anything like this and she didn't know what would happen.

"Can you replace it?" Sasami asked nervously.

Washu's head dipped lower. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"What the hell do you mean?" Ryoko growled and picked her mother up shaking her.

"RYOKO STOP!" Ryoko suddenly stopped shaking Washu and looked back at Sasami's tear stained face.

"I-I… I'm…"

"It's ok…" Washu started not sure how to finish. She knew that Ryoko wasn't usually one for apologizing, and given the circumstances this was not an easy thing to handle. In her mind, she could see Ryoko's dream world, her fantasies involving Tenchi suddenly fading before her sight, unable to cope anymore Ryoko began to cry like she had never cried before. Washu just held her daughter as she cried.

Later that night, as the family gathered around him, Washu informed them as to what his condition was, while Ryoko told Ayeka about what had happened to Tenchi. Both had waited until Ayeka was in stable condition, not only that, but they elected to wait until after Washu had done some research on what she could, and could not do. It came as a startling discovery for them to hear that Tsunami could not help, and it surprised them even more to find out why. But with this information, Washu had the arduous task of telling the others, including Tenchi's father that she may not be able to get him to walk again, while it was up to Ryoko to tell Ayeka.

"The fact that part of his hip is gone is bad enough," she told them, "but add to it that the hip, the socket for the leg and even the leg itself is gone means that I have nothing to attach the limb to. Even if I could re-create a limb, even a mechanical one… it would be nothing more than a glorified crutch for him to lean on." When asked why, which she was asked repeatedly, she made sure to explain to them using many different pictures of his new skeletal system and problems. "Since the hip and the socket are gone I would have to completely manufacture a new one, which would be a lot of surgery for him." She paused for a moment as she had debated this part many times in her mind, "Plus if and when he calls on the Light Hawk Wings… I am not sure what will happen to the artificial limbs I give him."

Nobuyuki, understandably, did not take the news very well. For his part, Yosho also did not take the news well. He was faced now with an impossible task, 'If I release him from the duel, then he may be happy, but he will know his honor was questioned and never proven. But he cannot fight like this, no one can.' Yosho felt at a total loss, he had no saying, no comments, not even an idea of what to do, this alone disturbed him, but what disturbed him more was that Tenchi still seemed to be sitting on Washu's lab table, staring at his missing body parts. He didn't even seem to register that anyone else was around.

When she was asked about how Ryoko and Ayeka were handling this, Washu could only shrug her shoulders, as through her link with Ryoko she could not tell how things were going. The two had moved away from the rest of the family for quite some time where they cried and wondered about their futures. Ayeka more so than Ryoko was worried. Not because of Yosho's challenge, but because her child would be born soon.

"R-Ryoko…" Ayeka began quietly. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know… I always thought that nothing bad like that could ever happen…"

Ayeka didn't want to know, but she had to ask; "Could it happen again?" Ryoko just shrugged her shoulders. She had no idea if it could, but even if it could never happen again, the damage had already been done. "Will he walk again?" Ayeka asked.

"Since Tsunami can't help, and Washu's not been able to come up with anything it's… it's…"

Ayeka nodded gravely, "Then… we… we'll be there, we'll help him."

"What can we do?"

"I-I don't know… but I'm not giving up…. You shouldn't either." The princess scolded Ryoko though it didn't come off half as threatening as she wanted it to.

However, Ryoko did get her point and smiled slightly as she nodded. "We'll be there…" she looked around then dried her eyes realizing she had been crying. "Ready?"

Ayeka nodded her head, and standing up she felt a wave of dizziness hit before Ryoko caught her. "I may be ready… but the room's not…" She held her head fiercely trying to stop the spinning.

"Hold on princess, let me carry you," Ryoko laughed slightly as she said that.

Ayeka bit back a small laugh, "That will be fine, but who will carry you princess?"

Ryoko just snorted, "I swear I still hate that title."

"But it has its perks."

The two flew to where Tenchi was and Ayeka gasped as she saw him. His eyes still held no sign that he knew where he was, or even that anyone else was nearby. She was glad that her brother was not in the room at the time, as was Ryoko. Setting Ayeka down on his right, Ryoko sat beside him on the left. She was in a cold sweat as she sat beside him, the full extent of his injuries were ready to overwhelm here when Ayeka spoke.

"Tenchi?" She called quietly. "Tenchi, we're here… we're here for you." Ryoko wished she could voice her reinforcements. Ayeka held his hand and placed a hand on his cheek. Suddenly Tenchi blinked and Ryoko held her breath. Ayeka told him again that they were there and he mumbled out an answer so low that even Ryoko couldn't hear it. "What was that?"

Tenchi's head moved slightly and Ryoko felt like cheering for a moment. This has been the first time he's moved since bringing him back. However, her hopes were dashed as he spoke. "Look at me…"

"Tenchi?" Ayeka called again.

"I'm useless…" his voice managed to reach both of them. "I-I can't do anything… I'm nothing… LOOK AT ME!" His voice threatened to make them deaf as his voice kept getting higher.

"Tenchi…" Ayeka started only to find that she was falling, and she let out a startled scream, but right before she hit the floor she was surprised to see Ryoko under her.

"Get away from me!" Tenchi's eyes turned cold and both girls could see that he had pushed her away.

"Tenchi?" Ryoko called as Ayeka looked up horrified.

"DAMN IT! Get the hell away from me! Everyone that gets near me gets hurt… oh gods… look at me…" Tenchi tried to run away, but only ended up in falling on the floor face first. For a moment, the only sounds were the muffled sounds he made.

Setting Ayeka on the bed Ryoko rolled Tenchi over to look at him, but he wouldn't look at her. His eyes were shut tightly; the tears streaming down them were not even hampered by it. "Tenchi… look at me… please…" she grabbed his head as she knelt over him. She was surprised when she felt a knee in her side sending her away from him.

"Go… away…" he said through his sobs. Ryoko though knew she needed to do something, but what was the question.

"You don't love us… do you?" His eyes snapped open. "Just because you got hurt you stopped loving us…" He frantically shook his head no, but he could utter no words. "This is it them," Ryoko said flatly as she looked at Ayeka, who was crying as well. Her heat was shattered before them. "You lied to us… to her and to me!" Fury began to race through her veins. "I know it wasn't a proper wedding, but we meant it… I meant it… damn it… I Loved You!"

There were not words to describe the pain he was feeling, but Ryoko couldn't see his pain through the pain inside her. "I know we must have sounded pretty desperate in there… but to get our hopes up… to make us believe you loved us…"

"RYOKO!" Ayeka shouted.

"I meant what I said in there… I know we got the words off that silly show as you called it," she looked down at him and she saw the pain in his eyes. "It may have been a stupid TV show, but I wanted to tell you the same things… I will be there, through better or worse…" her voice choked up and Ayeka caught on to what she meant.

"I meant it too," his eyes turned to Ayeka. "We watched that same show together; it only made sense to same the same things to you, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health… Since we were not having a typical Juraian or even a typical wedding at your grandfathers' shrine we made up our own lines… be we meant them."

Tenchi didn't know what to say, he felt unfit for them, not just because of his appearance now, not just because he could no longer protect them, but also because of what he had just done. Ryoko stomped over to where Ayeka was sitting on the bed and he could feel her fury through the floor. Picking Ayeka up Ryoko turned towards him. "If you don't want us, we'll leave… I'm sorry we… we…"

"We're leaving the decision to you," Ayeka finished. And with that, Ryoko flew past him. He watched as they left him, lying on the floor, in a pool of his own self pity, self doubt and a pool of his own tears. Hearing the door open, he turned to see that Ryoko had set Ayeka down for a moment, before picking her back up. Tenchi could only watch in agony as both sides of his heart prepared to leave him, leave him behind… possibly forever.

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To be continued…

Sorry to leave it like this… I know you don't believe me.

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.