Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Sayoko Saga ❯ Book One: Death, Part I ( Chapter 1 )

The Sayoko Saga

Book One: Death

Part I

by Devon Masterson

**Notes from D-chan, this is a saga that will three books, Death, Conflict, and Life look for these in the future***

 

“Take care of Tenchi…for me,” a voice begged in the dark.

Ryoko's eyes ripped open and she sat up. She looked out of the window and sighed as she heard the voice of her nightmares again. She had been locked herself away in the attic for the several weeks since the funeral. It was all her fault. If she had not been caught off guard… She should have realized that the attack was not meant for him, but for her, then one of her best friends would still be alive. Ryoko disappeared and reappeared on the roof of the house and looked at the sky. “Why her? The only one could make him truly happy. She wasn't selfish like me. She thought only of him and always put herself before him. She never pressured him. Why couldn't I save her?”

“Ryoko,” Ryo-ohki called softly in a language that only Ryoko, Washu, and Sasami seemingly could understand. “I miss her too. It's not your fault.”

“Yes it is,” Ryoko replied softly as she stroked Ryo-ohki. “She died protecting me…. no one ever… She should have let me die. I would have died if I knew she would be alive to make him happy.”

“But what about her last wish…”

“You heard that, huh?” Ryoko asked sadly.

Ryo-ohki shook her head and patted Ryoko's forehead to remind her of the bond they shared.

“Great so Washu knows then,” Ryoko replied in annoyance.

“She's concerned, we all are. You've been locked in the attic for two months.”

“How can I face…”

“Ryoko?” Aeka called softly.

Ryoko stood up quickly and looked at Aeka. She started to float away.

“I command you to stay!” Aeka exclaimed quickly, “please?” Ryoko settled on top of the roof and looked away. Aeka had never seen her mope around so distraut. She too suffered the loss, but she was determined to honor the memory of their dear loved one. She took a deep breath and slapped Ryoko.

Ryoko almost raged in anger at being hit, but she only held her hand to her face. Her eyes started to water. She felt that it was no less that she deserved. “I'm..”

“Don't say it,” Aeka interjected as tears started to stream down her face. This was her best friend in a crisis before her. The two of them would never admit how close they were, but deep inside they knew. They had been through so much fighting and pain not to be close. It hurt very much to see Ryoko so depressed. “You couldn't have done anything about what happened. You would have died, she sacrificed herself..”

“She should have let me died. He loved her so much, everyone does. I'm not worth it.”

“Don't say that!” Aeka exclaimed forcefully. “She did it because you were important to her. I refuse to let her sacrifice be in vain. You have a promise to fulfil.”

“I could never face him,” Ryoko sighed as she sank to her knees. Ryo-ohki nestled beside her in support.

“After all these years, you're in still love with him?” Aeka asked in shock.

Ryoko looked away in response to her answer. “It doesn't matter. He didn't choose me. He married her and I am the reason that she's gone.”

Aeka wiped her tears away. “You're still a stubborn monster-woman aren't you?”

A small smile cracked across Ryoko's face briefly. “This isn't about me anymore. I have to fulfil the promise to her,” she replied as she stood.

Aeka nodded. “I'll be happy to know that you're looking after Tenchi while I'm in Jurai.”

“That's right you're queen or something now aren't you?” Ryoko asked good-naturedly. There was still some sadness in her voice but she was making an effort.

“I'll have you know that I have been ruling for seven years now, like you ever pay attention,” Aeka pouted with an eyebrow raised.

“Still the royal brat I see.”

“Still without class I see,” Aeka shot back.

Ryoko smiled then hugged Aeka. “Thank you,” she replied as she floated away and disappeared.

“You're welcome,” she said softly as she went inside the house. She walked down the stairs and into the living room. She looked at the women whom she used to live with many years ago. She was about to open her mouth to say something when Kyone started to chuckle. Aeka raised an eyebrow.

“She's feeling better I see,” Washu commented as she removed a “kick me” sign from the back of Aeka's robe.

The familiar vein in Aeka's head started to throb as she balled her fist. “That woman!” she exclaimed. “Ryoko, you get back here! I know you can hear me! Ryoko..”

The others laughed as Aeka darted off in the direction of the roof looking for Ryoko. They were glad there was some normalcy returning to the small family.

 

***

Tenchi sat on the patio looking out at the lake. He could hear the laughter of his wife in the distance as he thought about their short life together. Beside him, laid a bottle of sake and a small figurine inside a box that had arrived earlier that afternoon. He collected figurines from the entire world and his thoughtful wife had one shipped to him so that it would arrive on his birthday. The bottle of sake was the same kind that they drank at their wedding. The overwhelming sadness led him to open the bottle and drink some. He was not a heavy drinker like some of his acquaintances so it was not long before he was quite warm and buzzed.

“Tenchi…”

At the sound of his name, Tenchi turned around and looked at Ryoko. It was nice to see her again. She had locked herself in the attic for the last two months. He had tried several times to get her out of there, but she wouldn't, not even for him. He motioned her to sit beside him. “Here,” he said as he offered her some sake.

Ryoko sat down and took the sake. She gulped down almost half the bottle. Then coughed, the sake was quite strong. She bought the same sake for the wedding. She needed a stiff drink to help her get through the ceremony, and they had left the choice up to her since she was such a connoisseur of such things. She was feeling quite warm and buzzed when she handed the bottle back to Tenchi. “Thank you,” she said with her voice slightly slurred.

“No problem,” Tenchi remarked as he took a bigger swallow, then another and another. He was getting quite toasted.

“Slow down there, Tenchi,” Ryoko suggested cautiously. She took the sake and downed the rest of it. She totally forgot why she was there as she and Tenchi started to share things about themselves and tell about their sorrows.

“You know, Ryoko, you look a lot like Washu,” Tenchi remarked as he leaned over towards Ryoko as though he was being magnetically drawn to her. He kept leaning ever which way. He just seemed to have the need to lean in some sort of direction. It was as though he were underwater.

“She's my mother, Tenchi,” Ryoko answered seriously then broke out into hilarious laughter.

“That's right,” Tenchi replied as he started to laugh as well. His face was flushed in response to the alcohol.

Ryoko held the bottle upside down then looked inside. “We're all out, Tenchi.”

“Well then let's get some more,” he suggested as he stood up and fell to the ground.

“You're still an amateur,” she replied as started to float. She picked him up. “Let's go.”

 

***

The sun shined in Ryoko's face and she held her head in agony. She was so hung over that she felt death was eminent. Her head ached as though someone was hammering directly on her brain with a jackhammer made by Washu. She pulled the cover back and moved slowly. All of a sudden she felt the impulse like she was going vomit. She covered her mouth and ran through the wall to the bathroom. She flushed the toilet moments later and walked lazily back down the hall. She had never vomited after drinking before, she was quite surprised by her response. “That is so weird. At least I was close the bathroom…” Ryoko stopped in her tracks at her last thought. She stayed in the attic and she had to go down the stairs to get to the bathroom, but when she got up she ran through the wall and was there. “The room by the bathroom is…Tenchi's…”

Ryoko took a deep breath and peeked inside Tenchi's room. Sure enough, Tenchi was sleeping comfortably and one side of the bed had been flipped back as though it was just left. Ryoko's eyes widened as she looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing one of his shirts. She quickly grabbed her things out of his room and disappeared. “This just gets better and better,” Ryoko muttered. She wrapped her arms around her legs as she sat in her favorite tree. She started to rock back and forth trying to remember what happened. It all came back to her in a flash. Tenchi passed out before they made it to town so she brought him home being the designated flyer and all. After tucking him in, she went to kiss him on the forehead when he grabbed her. The rest was hazy, but she did remember some pain vaguely as he washed the stains of her virginity from her. “I was saving it for him anyway,” she thought briefly before other issues surfaced. She had dishonored the memory of her friend by sleeping with Tenchi and only three months after her death. “I sure did take care of him! Why am I such a jerk? He's going to hate me…”

“Hi, Ryoko-chan,” Washu greeted brightly as she stuck her head out of a small sub-space pocket. “Want to take a bath with me?”

Ryoko jumped from the sudden intrusion and looked at her biological mother in annoyance. She was about to shake her fist at Washu and refuse her for invading her space when she decided that maybe a good soak was she needed. “Sure,” she answered as she ran her hands through her spiky ashen hair.

“Good,” Washu replied then grabbed Ryoko through the pocket and brought her to the other side. “That was so much faster don't you think?” she asked cutely as she looked at Ryoko, who had just stood up after being dumped into the bath fully clothed.

The vein in Ryoko's head started to pound. No one could her goat the way Washu could time and time again. Ryoko just knew that Washu lived for such things. She refused to give her the satisfaction this time. Ryoko simply removed her clothes and sat in the bath beside the child-like genius. She sighed as the warm water came up around her shoulders. She sank into the water totally and rose. Her hair slicked back from the water and altered her appearance totally, she looked peaceful. “This is nice,” she sighed.

Washu looked at Ryoko curiously. “You look peaked,” she commented as she touched Ryoko's forehead. “You're warm.”

“I'm just hung over,” Ryoko replied annoyed as she moved away from Washu. All she needed was someone who looked twelve years old to start playing the mommy role. She had to admit to feeling a bit weird. She had never felt so awful, perhaps it was the guilt of what she had done. Maybe it was eating her up inside and making her sick.

“I don't think so,” Washu replied as she pulled out a little box with a hole in the side. She opened the box. “Let me see your finger.”

“No way,” Ryoko replied as she moved further away. She was not going to be Washu's guinea pig for some sort of experiment.

“Please, Ryoko-chan,” Washu pleaded in a motherly voice as she showed her true self.

There was something caring and loving about the voice. It was a voice she remembered sometime ago when she was little before she was on her own. She held out her finger and Washu snapped the box shut around it. Little lights around the box glowed and a plus sign lit up on the top. “Does that mean I have a fever?”

“Nope you're pregnant,” Washu answered with a big smile. “You and Tenchi got lucky more than once huh?”

Ryoko's eyes flashed in anger. “What makes you think it was Tenchi?”

“Mother's intuition,” Washu answered proudly. “Plus you two were loud enough to wake the dead,” she added.

Ryoko blushed. “Do the others and Aeka know?”

“No,” Washu answered seriously. “Aeka went home since you were alright now. I knocked Tenchi out so he wouldn't know. His mind is too fuzzy to remember what happened. That gives you time to figure out what you're going to do”

Ryoko sank down into the bath again. Her hair floated all around her as she tried to think. This situation was deteriorating. She was going to have a baby! Tenchi's baby, something even she did not give him. Except when he found out, he would hate her. “I'd lose him again. No, not this time…” she thought as she surfaced again. She stood to her feet. “I'm getting my own place,” Ryoko declared unsure then with more confidence. “I`m going to get a job to provide for the baby. Don't tell Tenchi about this, I'll tell him when I'm ready, ok Mom?” She added the last pronoun to butter up Washu.

Washu smiled as she reverted to her child self. “I always wanted to be a grandma,” she teased then became serious. “You have my word I won't tell Tenchi, the baby is his.”

“Good,” Ryoko nodded. She teleported to her room and changed her clothes. She had a lot to do today, but first she had to find a job. She sighed and the classified section fell out of a small subspace pocket. She smiled slightly knowing who that gift was from. Ryoko was completely confident that Washu would keep her mouth shut, especially if she wanted the chance to ask about doing experiments on the baby. She smiled at the thought, knowing she had Washu by the meningies for the moment. This was the first time she ever had the upper hand on Washu and she liked it. “About time, I finally got her,” she snickered as she opened the classifieds.

Hours later, Ryoko threw the classifieds down in frustration. She needed to make a decent income to support herself and the baby. All the jobs that she could do would require her to have more than one job. Working did not appeal in the first place to her. She'd rather be a pirate, but she knew that kind of lifestyle was not ready for baby at least not until she was four years old where she could really appreciate the trade. She rubbed her stomach absent-mindedly and smiled as she thought about their baby. A wave of guilt washed over her and she decided to get some air. “Things have to look up,” she thought as she teleported outside and started to fly into the city.

Once she arrived in the city, she started to look around. It was the first time she ever took the time to really look around and enjoy the sights. She stopped at a small stand and rescued an apple from a fruit stand. She was about to move on when she saw a little boy looking up at her in lust for her apple. She smiled and grabbed another apple to give to the kid. The little boy smiled at her gratefully and bowed deeply. Ryoko smiled as she watched him run off. She started to walk away and eat her apple.

“Hey, you got to pay for that,” an angry voice called after her.

Ryoko picked up pace and ducked around a corner. She sank into a nearby wall and lost the angry vender. “Damn it, I'm becoming too sentimental. I nearly got caught because of that kid,” She mentally chastised. She quickly turned around and realized that she was now in the park. “At least I'll be able to get some shade under a tree,” she thought as she wiped her brow. She felt hot all of the sudden. She wondered if it was due to her pregnancy. Heat never really bothered her before only cold.

“There's a nice spot,” she sighed as she started on the path. She heard some noise coming up behind her rather suddenly and turned around thinking the vender found her. A man plowed right into her.

“I'm sorry, Miss,” he apologized quickly as he stood and bowed. He looked back at the mob chasing him. A group of females not too far behind spotted their prey and proceeded to stampede towards them.

“Oh I get it,” Ryoko replied before she had the time to get angry with the man about him bum rushing her. She decided to release her anger at them. She fired an energy blast the group and walked away leaving a crowd of singed girls laid out on the ground.

“Wow,” the man remarked. “Thank you, miss. You might have saved my life. Last time they caught me, I was in the hospital and they ripped my clothes. I love my fans but they get over anxious sometime.”

“Get a bodyguard,” Ryoko replied unsympathetic.

“Yeah…would you be my bodyguard? I could use one of you martial art types,” he asked. “You'd be perfect beautiful and lethal.”

Ryoko blushed then smiled. “Yeah that's me, but I'm not into..”

“I'll pay you a hundred a hour,” he interrupted.

“A hundred yen a hour…what are you crazy? I could…”

“US dollars,” he added.

Ryoko's face lit up as her money problem just became solved. “You've got a deal. I can start right now,” she answered as she shook his hand. “What's your name anyway?”

“Akiyama, Andy,” he answered as he bowed deeply. “And you?”

“Ryoko,” she introduced as she curtsied flamboyantly.

“No last name?”

“I'm going to hate myself for this…” “My last's names Habuki,” she answered as she flinched at using Washu's surname.

“Nice to be working for you, Habuki-san,” Andy replied politely.

“Ryoko,” she corrected. She hated formalities.

“Ryoko,” he smiled. “Something tells me that working with you is going to be interesting.”

“You have no idea,” Ryoko thought as she started to plan all sorts of acts of mischief.

 

© 2000 Devon Masterson.

I think we know who belongs to who, Tenchi characters belong to the wonderful creators, who let me borrow the characters for fun and imagination. Everybody else is a figment of my wonderful imagination.