Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Okayama Summer ❯ Chapter 2

*::hulas:: XD ... Wiggy. I don't believe this chapter was as spectacularly bad... er... I think... no, probably not. Though I can't remember. o.o Oh, well. ^^;; Heh.*

Chapter Two

Gohan stood in a beautiful forest.

He remembered this place... it was the same as the one he had been in right before he had lost consciousness -- but somehow different. The wind blew around him, making a whirlwind of sakura blossoms, and he stared down at himself in awe. He was no longer a Super Saiya-jin, but his wounds were slowly beginning to disappear. And they didn't hurt anymore, either.

"So. I see you finally made it." Gohan looked up, startled, and saw his father sitting in one of the sakura trees, a halo on his head. Seeing the bewildered expression on his son's face, Goku laughed. "Yeah, it's really me."

"Then..." Gohan's face screwed up. "...does that mean I'm--"

Goku shook his head. "No, you're not dead. You should be, though." Goku blinked at the boy's horrified expression, then slapped himself in the face. "Ah! No. Wait, that came out wrong. What I mean is, with a blast that big, you should have died. But..." he frowned. "...and I don't understand this part at all, but you just... didn't."

Gohan frowned. "Like, I was given a second chance?" He shook his head. "I don't deserve it. I failed to save the Earth, and..." his eyes clouded. "It was my stupid arrogance that killed you, Dad."

Goku sighed. "No, Gohan... Cell killed me. Not you. No one could have stopped that from happening. You have to stop putting yourself down!" He laughed. "You're the greatest kid a guy could have."

Gohan smiled weakly, but he didn't believe his father. You don't need to protect me like this anymore...

Goku looked his son seriously in the eye. "Listen, Gohan. This will more difficult than you'll ever imagine. When you face him again, Cell will be so much stronger. And, this is the most important part..." he trailed off. Gohan stared up at him. "What, Dad? What is it?"

Goku sighed. "You won't be able to remember anything, not even what we're saying right now."

Gohan gasped. "But... why? I ... don't understand..."

Goku smiled softly. "Neither do I, Gohan, neither do I. Just... do a good job, okay? Make me proud..." His voice, and everything else around Gohan, began to fade away.

"Dad! Wait!" Gohan cried. "Wait..." With a sharp click, everything was lost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Washuu! Who on Earth is that? And what is that... thing?" Sasami walked over to it, her eyes wide. "There's a boy in there..." She turned back to Washuu. "Washuu, who is he? And how did he get in that condition?"

Washuu bit her lip. " I found him out near the shrine, where the sakura trees are. I was sure he was dead, with how he looked, and everything, but I took him back to the lab anyway. And then I found..." she trailed off, with a look on her face like she still couldn't believe what she had found. "He was still alive."

Sasami's look of concern deepened, and she stared at the boy's face. He was only as old as she was, and he was... like this. His face was almost untouched, with just a few cuts across it -- and that somehow made the whole thing seem even worse.

"I put him in suspended animation," Washuu continued, her brow furrowed, "And that's when I really was surprised. He has several fractures and broken bones, countless gashes all over his body, and his arm was..." She hesitated, not sure how to describe it. "Dislocated, and mostly torn off." She sighed. "The most unsettling of all, though, was... he's lost 80% of his blood. No one, and I mean NO ONE, can live with that much blood lost. It's physically impossible."

The young princess blinked back tears. "Can you cure him, Washuu?"

Washuu smirked. "Of course I can, Sasami." She placed a hand on the tube that the boy was lying in. "I invented this a while ago, but I haven't had to use it for a while. It's a physical repair machine."

Sasami nodded. "How does it work?"

Washuu smiled. "See that cut on his arm? Watch it." Sasami did so, and her eyes widened as it simply disappeared.

"Super-fast healing," Washuu explained simply. "He'll be fine. But..." she hesitated. "It doesn't regenerate blood. We'll have to do a transplant."

Sasami stared at her. "... A blood transplant?"

Washuu nodded slowly, not moving her gaze from the other girl's. "Can I count on you, Sasami? I know you're sick, and everything, but... you must be feeling better if you were able to come down here."

Sasami nodded slowly. The discovery of the boy had made her forget her sickness momentarily, but now her head was beginning to feel light again. It wasn't an entirely unwelcome feeling. "You need my blood?"

Washuu let a smile flicker across her face. "Yes, I do... yours is the best to use, really -- as no one's blood in this household is completely human except Nobuyuki's -- and I sure as hell don't want to use HIS blood --, I thought royal blood was probably the best way to go." She sighed, and shook her head. "Tenchi's blood would probably be the best, now that I think of it -- but let's face it, he's high-strung as it is. I don't want to give him anemia, too."

Sasami's eyes rounded. "Will I get a-anemia...?"

Washuu shook her head, smiling. "No, I don't think so -- you're a very healthy little girl." She paused. "Well... you are usually, anyway." She looked at Sasami very seriously. "Sasami... I'm not going to put this off. It won't hurt, or anything, and a scar won't be left, but... well, we can do it today, or tomorrow, when you're feeling better."

Sasami's eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to say "today", but a wave of vertigo hit her suddenly, and she staggered, leaning on the Washuu's healing machine for support. Washuu chuckled. "Well... perhaps tomorrow, eh?"

"Yes," Sasami said weakly, and closed her eyes. "I need sleep..."

"I bet you do." Washuu helped Sasami to stand on her own, and asked, "Can you get to your room all right?"

"Yes, I think so," Sasami said, standing up straight. She headed for the exit, pausing near the door to pick up Ryo-oh-ki (who had followed her in, and had been watching the entire transaction with intense curiosity), then exited the lab.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mihoshi lay on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. The day had been unusually quiet, and that, in itself, was a bad omen. Washuu's odd behavior yesterday had been the last thing that had really happened. Nothing was ever normal here, she had learned that from experience. She closed her eyes, and waited -- for an explosion for Washuu's lab, one of Aeka and Ryoko's fights (they had ceased for a while, but that didn't mean anything), Ryo-oh-ki crashing into something... anything.

Nothing.

She opened her eyes, and frowned. "That's odd... oh, Sasami!"

The young princess, who had been crossing the room, holding her arm to her chest and looking as if she were staring off into space, started. "Mihoshi! Oh, I was, um..." She felt dizzy, and had to sit down. How much blood did Washuu take...?

"Sasami, what happened? Did you hurt your arm?" The tanned blonde jumped up, and examined her arm. There was nothing there. "... That's funny..."

Sasami averted her eyes and yanked her arm away from Mihoshi. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy still."

Mihoshi chuckled. "Well, that makes sense... you were awfully sick yesterday." The Galaxy Police officer looked at the young girl more closely, concerned. "You look so tired... do you want to go lie down?"

Sasami was about to decline the offer, then changed her mind. "... Yes... yes, Mihoshi, I think I will. Thank you."

"No problem!" Mihoshi said cheerfully, and flopped back onto the couch as Sasami made her way up the stairs, going back to thinking about nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Washuu stared at the tube. "He should regain consciousness soon. Then we can ask him who he is, and how he got in that condition..." she trailed off, and frowned. I really should have told the others... but, it would just worry them. And maybe I shouldn't have used Sasami's blood, as it's Tsunami's as well. No, that won't make a difference. I think. I don't know. She scowled. I don't know anything. Some genius I am.

"Well," she said out loud, to the empty lab, "I won't lose sleep over this. I'll see what happens when I wake up..." she drifted away from the tube, lost in thought, and the lights went out.