Tenchi Muyo:  Dragon and Crane - Chap.7


     As the whirring blade inched ever closer to her neck, Ryoko heard the
medical bay doors sliding open.  Then, the guardian began to make frazzled,
sputtering sounds as something else hummed through the air, making the
guardian release its hold on her neck.  Ryoko dropped to the floor painfully
and cried out, opening her eyes just in time to see Yukio's body slowly
falling apart, three firey slashes burning along the length of his body.
     "Termination imminent..failure..failure" he garbled, tumbling in a
smoking heap to the floor.  The glow of his single eye faded, then went out,
and Ryoko looked up to see Washu standing above her, wet and dripping at the
controls of a huge robot, her body clad in nothing but a simple white towel.
  Ryoko chuckled painfully, seeing without surprise that she had made the
robot look like a giant version of her two mechanical puppets, A and B.
They were at the controls also, and were waving flags about excitedly for
their creator.
     "Washu, you are a GENIUS!" said A.  "Washu, you are the GREATEST in the
WORLD!" said B.  Washu leaped out of the control seat and held Ryoko's head,
giving her a quick checkout.  She took Ryoko's arm tenderly and brought up a
soft white glow from her palm, setting bone and knitting her flesh while
Ryoko hissed at the strange sensation.
     "Oh shush", chided Washu gently.  "You'll be all right now.  You're
fortunate I finished my bath in time, because I never would have heard the
commotion otherwise."  A familiar chuckle followed, and both of them turned
their heads toward it.  Ryoko's eyes widened in surprise, and she stood up
staggeringly.
     "Nagi?" she said.  Nagi grinned and nodded, sheathing her sword.
Beside her stood Grandpa and Sasami, who was holding Ryo-Ohki and Ken-Ohki
in her arms.  Washu frowned and went over to Nagi, her hands on her hips in
annoyance.
     "You shouldn't be up, Nagi" she said.  Nagi cocked her head in
amusement and gestured to Washu's robot.  "Not that I'm ungrateful for your
aid", said Nagi, "but I couldn't just lie down and wait for your big, clunky
robot to do its job.  Besides, no one gets to kill Ryoko but me."  She went
over to the smoking pile of wreckage that was the guardian and crushed its
central processor under her bootheel.  She ground it into powder, and looked
at Ryoko intently, who was expecting the worst.
     "You fought to protect me, of all people" said Nagi, genuinely touched.
  "Wonders never cease."  At the side, Grandpa and Sasami were holding an
enraged Washu back, who was angry at the "big, clunky robot" crack.  "I know
who this guardian belongs to", said Nagi, "and if she's here, all of you are
in serious danger."  Grandpa nodded and released the professor, who had
calmed at the new development.  "We need to find Tenchi and Ayeka, then" he
said.  "They went off to pray for your recovery."
     Nagi blinked at that.  "No time to waste, then" she said, heading for
the door.  "Show me the way."

***

     "Why..are you doing this?" asked Ayeka, wincing from the pain in her
side.  Kimiko laughed and released her, standing up and looking over at
Tenchi, who was struggling desperately to free himself.  "I wouldn't do that
if I were you" she said.  "Those crystals grow larger when they vibrate.
You certainly don't want them piercing your skin."
     Tenchi cursed softly, looking down in defeat.  Kimiko grinned and
turned back to Ayeka, who was beginning to sweat and breathe laboredly.
"First, you got in my way" said Kimiko, "and secondly, because I enjoy it.
Pain is all I've ever known in life, save for one brief moment of joy, and I
want everyone to feel what I've had to live with, as brutally as possible."
     Ayeka dropped to the ground, gasping.  Kimiko laughed and kneeled,
taking away Ayeka's hand to admire the wound she had made in her side.  "My
brief moment of joy was my uncle, Admiral of the Jurai Royal Fleet.  He
loved me dearly, being his only living relative, and was like the father I
never had.  He told me that the time for revolution was upon us, and
provided for my training in the ranks of Jurai's military."
     "Of course, being a woman, I could never hope to attain the rank of
Knight of Jurai, even though my swordwork was better, and my performance
outstripped that of my male peers.  But if you know the right people..and my
uncle did..a woman like me could become one of our long outlawed assassins,
and bear the mark of their order."  She pointed to her eye and smiled.
"This mark, whcih reveals my knowledge of powers derived from the Tree of
Darkness itself."
     Kimiko touched the sword at her side and continued.  "I went through
unimaginable pain and suffering to become what I am today, and all for the
love he bore me, and a belief in a dream he shared with Kagato, cut short by
Nagi and your friends.  He died proudly for what he believed in, and for his
sake, I will kill her.  The poison I introduced into your veins will kill
you as well, for trying to delay me."  She smiled then, and brought her fist
down hard on Ayeka's bleeding wound.  Ayeka screamed in pain, and Tenchi
yelled after her helplessly.
     The assassin grinned, and wiped the blood off on Ayeka's dress.  Tenchi
struggled, making the crystals grow and drive into his skin.  He screamed
painfully, tears falling from his eyes.
     "Ayeka!" he cried.  "Damn you..how..how can you be so cruel to her?"
     She laughed at his words, turning to face him.  "'Life's a bitch', they
say.  Get used to it, boy."
     "I think that description is more fitting to you than life" said a
voice behind them.  Kimiko whirled about, hand on her swordhilt, looking for
the source of the voice.  She sneered at the sight of it, and drew her dark
blade free of its restraints.
     "Nagi", she said.  "And in one piece, it seems.  I guess Yukio's
reputation was overrated, after all."
     The bounty hunter stood in silence with Ryoko and the others, her eyes
narrowing at Kimiko's stance.  "His reputation isn't the only one that will
be tested today", she said, and drew her own blade slowly.