Chaos- Chapter 2

" I like to watch you sleep at night,
  To hear you breathe,
  By my side
  And although sleep leaves me behind,
  There's nowhere i'd rather be."

- Dido, No Angel

Disclaimer: (Forgot this on the first chapter!!) I do not own Tenchi Muyo or
any of the characters related to the story.  Also, I don't own the lyrics to
'All You Want' by Dido.

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   Ryoko floated over Tenchi, watching him while he slept.  She had broken
this habit up until a few days ago, when she had recieved the news that
Kagato was still alive.  She watched the sun as it crept over the horizion
and flooded onto Tenchi's face through his window.  Ryoko knew that Tenchi
would probably be angry with her if he knew she was watching him sleep, so
she teleported to the rafters where she lay down and fell into instant
slumber.

   Aeka woke up to the sun beating down on her face.  Her eyes fluttered
open
as she remembered the events of the past weekend.  She knew it would be
another day of worries, another day of not knowing when or how Kagato was
going to attack.  It had been three days since he first attacked, Aeka was
beginning to wonder if the whole thing wasn't just a plead for attention
from
Ryoko.  She looked over at her little sister, Sasami, still sleeping
peacefully.  Aeka decided to let her stay that way and carefully tiptoed her
way across the room and opened the door as quietly as she could.

  Tenchi felt a presence in his room, but as he awoke it faded away.  He
shook his head as he sat up; he had had the strangest dream last night.  He
decided not to let it bother him as he dressed and made his way out into the
hallway; his final destination the kitchen.  But as he was walking down the
hall, still trying to wake up, he bumped into Aeka.

   He blushed as he scratched the back of his head.  "I'm sorry Lady Aeka,
I
guess I wasn't watching where I was going."  Tenchi gave her a warm smile.
"That's quite alright Lord Tenchi." She said returning the smile and also
blushing.

    Meanwhile Ryoko was having a very strange dream- or rather a nightmare.
She was in complete darkness, she couldn't tell wether she was on solid
ground or if she was falling.  All she could see was a very faint figure of
a
woman.  Ryoko had never seen her anywhere before that she could remember.
The woman had brown hair and piercing eyes; she looked pure evil.  The woman
was saying something, but there was no sound.

    Ryoko was jolted out of her dream by the sound of a door slamming and
footsteps coming down the stairs.  She opened her eyes and saw a blurry
picture of Tenchi and Aeka walking together; the sight of Tenchi smiling and
blushing at Aeka made her heart ache.  She loved Tenchi more than words
could
express, but she had seen the way he looked at Aeka.  She shut her emotions
away and teleported to the table.

  The meal began and ended in silence, which was broken only when Nobyuki
stood up , saying he had an announcement to make.  Tenchi knew what the
announcement was about; the trip to the hot springs that they took every
year.  He ignored his fathersannouncement, thinking about what the trip had
been like last year.  He also feared the fact that Kagato could attack while
they were on vacation.  He shut his worries out of his mind and began to
help
clear the table.

    The rest of the day was pretty hectic with everyone packing and getting
ready to go.  Finally at 6 p.m. sharp they were all in the car with all of
the luggage in one of Washu's portals.  Nobyuki drove and Washu sat in front
with him, Tenchi sat in the middle of Aeka and Ryoko and Sasami and Ryo-ohki
sat in back along with Kione and Mihoshi.  About 2 hours into the trip Aeka
put her head on Tenchi's shoulder and fell asleep.  Ryoko almost cried when
she saw Tenchi smile down at Aeka.  She scooted twoards the window and away
from Tenchi.  She hid her face so that no one could tell she was upset, but
Washu felt the sudden surge of sadness through her mental link with Ryoko.

    Washu looked at her daughter, and then to Tenchi and Aeka.  In that
moment she wanted to kill Tenchi for causing Ryoko so much mental anguish.
But a voice somewhere in her head stopped her saying that he was causing
Ryoko no more pain than Washu had in the past and was at the moment.  Washu
sighed at this, knowing it was true.  'What Ryoko needs right now is a
mother."  the voice echoed.  'I dont know how to be a mother!' Washu yelled
mentally, but the voice was gone.

    Tenchi smiled down at Aeka who was sleeping peacefully on his shoulder.
She was like the sister that he never had.  In a sudden instance though, he
felt a pang of guilt.

    He looked around the car, his gaze finally resting on Ryoko, who wasn't
facing him.  He put his hand on her shoulder, and once again she pulled
away,
muttering 'leave me alone' under her breath.  He realized that she had been
through a lot lately, but it just wasn't like her to push him away like
this.
 But as he thought about it, he realized that he was the one who usually did
the pushing away; whenever Ryoko tried to get close to him, he yelled at her
or literally shoved her away.  The more he thought about it, the more it
bothered him until he finally lifted Aeka's head from his shoulder, bieng
careful not to wake her, and placed her sleeping form against the window.

    Finally they arrived at the hotsprings.  Few words were spoken except
for
the small talk between Nobyuki, Katsuhito, and the hotspring's owner.  Ryoko
didn't try anything with Tenchi, and there were no fights.  The silence was
erie as everyone grabbed their luggage and headed to their seperate rooms.
For once, everything was peaceful.

    Washu, however was not at peace.  There was a war going on inside her
head debating on wether to go talk to Ryoko or not.  To make matters worse,
the voice in her mind was back again, louder and clearer this time.  'She
needs a mother.' The words seemed to pulsate through her veins, carrying the
thought throughout her body and to her heart.  Finally, the voice won.
Washu
dragged her feet as she walked to her daughters room, thinking of what she
should say and how she should persent herself.  She decided her adult form
would be best to avoid the topic of being 'too young' to be Ryoko's mom.  As
she was switching forms she bumped into Tenchi, who was suprised and
startled
to see Washu as an adult, and heading twoards Ryoko's room, the same place
he
was headed for.

  Washu plastered a smile on her face.  "Oh, hello Tenchi." she muttered
sounding depressed.  'Damnit now he is suspicious' she thought as she
grimaced at her voice.

    Tenchi tried to smile back at her, but something stopped him.  His smile
was half-hearted and fake, and made him look tired.  " Hello Washu." He
replied, not even bothering to correct himself.

    They both made their way for Ryoko's door, running into eachother in the
process.
Tenchi scratched the back of his head and said that Washu should go first,
since she was Ryoko's mother.

Washu took a deep breath and rapped her knuckles on the door lightly.

"Who is it?" She heard Ryoko snap, trying to sound angry but the sadness
evident in her voice.

"It's me, Washu." There was a few moments silence as Ryoko debated on wether
to let her come in.

"What do you want?"  She asked sadly, wanting to be left alone.

"I need to talk to you."  Another moments silence as Ryoko debated wether
she
had done something wrong.

"Alright, come in."

'Getting into her room was easier than I expected' Washu thought to herself
as she sat down beside Ryoko on her bed.  She sighed, this was harder than
she expected.  Her daughter's face was hidden in shadow, but she could tell
Ryoko had been crying.  She wanted to comfort her, to protect her, to tell
her that everything was going to be alright.  Washu finally spoke up, her
voice melancholy.

" I'm sorry, little Ryoko."

Silence was Ryoko's only response.

"I'm sorry for letting Kagato take you. I'm sorry for not bieng the mother
that you needed, when you needed me,"  Her voice began to crack as she
continued on.  "I'm sorry for not protecting you against the world, and I'm
sorry for treating you like a creation, because that is not what you are to
me, Ryoko.  You are my daughter, and no matter how much you may hate me, I
will always love you."  By this time Washu was crying.

"I don't hate you." Ryoko whispered.

Ryoko's mind flashed back to a memory from long ago, when she was only
Twelve.

::Flashback::

    Washu sat across from Ryoko, a birthday cake inbetween them.

"Now make a wish and blow out the candles."  Washu said as she smiled at her
daughter.

Kagato then walked into the room.  "Really Washu, I don't see why you are
giving a birthday party to a machine."

Washu's eyes shone with hate as she stood up and walked to Kagato.  She
struck him across the face, making his lip bleed.

"Don't EVER call my daughter a machine,"  She uttered, her words dripping
with loathe.  "She is, and will always be, my daughter."

"Bitch." He spat out as he stormed out of the room.

Washu then proceeded to walk back over to Ryoko, and grabbed her face firmly
in her hands.

" You are my daughter, and I love you, you must promise me that you will
never forget that."

Ryoko nodded in response and Washu smiled, sitting back down to enjoy a
birthday dinner with her daughter.

::End Flashback::

"I don't hate you, mom," Ryoko said it louder this time, and embraced her
mother in a hug."and I didn't forget."

Washu hugged her daughter tightly, also remembering Ryoko's twelfth
birthday.
"I love you, little Ryoko."

" I love you too, mom."

Washu sat with her daughter for a few minutes and then remembered that
Tenchi
was still waiting out in the hall.  She quickly got up explaining to Ryoko
that Tenchi also needed to talk to her.  Ryoko's heart fell.  She had a
feeling she knew what he was going to say to her, and it wasn't something
she
wanted to hear.  Tenchi walked in, looking nervous, and sat beside her on
the
bed, much like Washu had earlier.  He took a few deep breaths, as if
preparing himself for something, but just as he was about to say something,
Ryoko interrupted him.

  "I think I already know what you're going to say, Tenchi."

" Oh, really?"  Tenchi looked suprised.  " How do you know?"

Tears began to form in Ryoko's eyes.  "Tenchi, I want you to know that no
matter who you choose, I will always love you."  Ryoko then broke down
crying, and buried her face in Tenchi's shoulder.

'She thinks....'  Tenchi's eyes went wide with shock and he hugged Ryoko
tightly, trying to calm her and to make her stop crying.

Ryoko tensed as Tenchi hugged her.  'Why is he making this so hard on me?'
She screamed mentally.

After Ryoko stopped crying Tenchi pushed her slowly out of his arms so that
he could look into her eyes.  Ryoko braced herself for what he was about to
say.

"Ryoko, I...." Tenchi stopped in mid-sentence, hesitating. " I love you,
Ryoko."

Ryoko was shocked by this, and sat frozen for what seemed like eternity to
Tenchi.

" I love you too, my Tenchi."

  Tenchi embraced Ryoko in a gentle hug followed by a kiss.  He then took
Ryoko's face in his hands, a serious expression in his eyes.

  "Promise me you wont tell Aeka or anyone else?"  Tenchi questioned her.

  "Can I tell Washu...... I mean mom?"  It suprised Tenchi that Ryoko was
actually calling Washu her mom.

  "I guess so, just make sure that she doesn't tell anyone, ok?"

  Ryoko nodded in response, and quickly jumped up off of the bed.  Tenchi
looked at her, puzzled.

  "Ok then.  First i'm gonna go tell mom, and then..."  She leaned closer to
Tenchi's face. "I'll see you in the hotsprings."  Ryoko gave him a wink as
she teleported away, leaving Tenchi staring dazedly at the spot where she
had
been standing.

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Questions, comments, RESPONSE OF ANY KIND!!!!!!!!!
Send 'em to: Ryuki07@aol.com

AN: I am sorry this chapter took so long, I am a seventh grader with tons of
homework plus afterschool activities, so sue me (j/k plz dont I have no
money)