[Notes:  This takes place after Tenchi Muyou OAV 6: We Need Tenchi!. It
 involves events directly after, during OAV 7: The Night Before The
 Carnival, and after OAV 7.  This is not cannon for either Full Circle
 series, this is just one of those times where the muse bit.]

                           Nice Guy
                  [The Mind Of Tenchi Masaki]
                   By Adam Christopher Leigh


	People tell me I'm a mellow guy.  Always the generous one, the kind
one, the 'nice guy' who finishes last.

	People don't know me.

	My hands still shake when I think about it.  The sheer hate I had, the
destructive power coursing through my veins, it's all like some cruel
nightmare.  A phantom that plays on my consciousness, warning me not to
break the fragile thread upon which my control teeters.  It never seems
real when I think about it.

	But it is.

	I woke up this morning and she was there, staring over me like some
vicious vulture waiting for me to die of shame and guilt.  She claims
to be protecting me, a mask she wears so she need not be afraid of me,
so she doesn't have to look into the pain in my eyes.  I know what
she's really thinking: "He doesn't have much longer."

	She follows me as I walk.  Incessant dog, constantly at heel.  Why
can't I tell her how I despise it?  I'm I truly too mellow?  When my
mouth opens, why can't the words 'I hate you when you do that?' come
out?  Why couldn't I tell her to go away when it was dangerous for her
to stay.  Why, oh why, couldn't I reassure her when that viper held
her?  When I opened my mouth then, why didn't the words, 'I love you,'
speak themselves like I wanted?

	I'm not a nice guy.  I'm cruel, heartless, SELFISH.

	I'm reminded of it again when I bump into the other one.  This one's
an unseen predator, she hides behind walls and dances across emotions.

I know how she feels, one would have to be blind not to know how she
cares for me so.  Oh, I would be the luckiest in the world if I felt
like that for her, but I don't.  I care for the vulture, for reasons as
clear as day.

	This one tries, at least makes attempts, to be pure, to be kind and
nice, but fails in the end by her own shortcomings.  It is not her
fault at all.  The vulture, she doesn't try, she knows her place and is
content to say that way.  I know only emotional pain, she, only
physical.  Would it not be the union of heaven and earth if we could be
together?

	I give this one back her seed, the only vestige of life left of the
ship she rode in on.  A burning chariot against the vulture.  I've
given her the power to one day destroy the vulture, but I don't care,
that's too far in the future to think about.  She's happy for the
moment, that's why I did it.  That's why people say I'm nice and I say
I'm pure evil.  If only they could see what I see, if only the saw it
when I finally crossed the line from thinking evil, and being evil.

	I was standing there, on his ship, holding my grandfather's weapon
when I saw him do the unthinkable.  The viper had the gall to hurt the
one I love and laugh about it, scoff at her inability to match his
unnatural power.  I couldn't let it go on, I couldn't possibly let her
pain go unavenged.  At the time, I was still thinking like a 'nice
guy,' and it was my job to help those who need it.

	When I lifted my hands to hold the radiant light of my people's
heritage, my thoughts became clear.  The line between 'nice' and
'unkind' appeared before me and I willingly crossed it to bring
vengeance upon that who had hurt my love.  I cut him down with the
power my family had given me, and afterwards, I realized what I had
done.

	It wasn't the same as when I cut off my love's hand, she grew it
back. It wasn't the same as when I destroyed that demon at the onsen, it
wasn't really alive.  Here, I had taken a weapon, brandished it, and
took joy from killing another living person, possibly human.  If only
the people could have seen me then.  I wasn't generous, I was terror.

	How will this affect me?  That's the truly evil part.  I'm going to
ignore it, pretend life is usual and go on being the psudo-'nice guy'
like nothing happened.  I'll just play to the vulture's circles and
pretend to be naïve to the other one's flirts.  I'm going to hell
anyway, why should it matter anymore?

	"Tenchi," she speaks to me.  I look up and see the vulture's eyes. 
How I long to be pure again, before my physical affirmation of my inner
demons.  Her voice is a song and her eyes a portrait of pain and
beauty, a combination I find more attractive than any other set of
physical attributes.  I'll tilt my head in curiosity.

	"Yes, Ryouko?"

	"About this morning--"

	"I know, you're trying to keep anyone else from killing me again, I'm
flattered but it's unnecessary."  Why do I speak to her this way?  If I
were to be too open, she'd think me weak, then I'd never have gotten a
chance to get her to love me back.  Honestly, I still don't know why I
still try, I couldn't dream of subjecting her to such a morbid and evil
personality as myself for her mate.  I guess this taunting is another
one of my 'nice guy' traits people seem to adore.

	"I'm worried, Tenchi," the vulture speaks.  "I don't want anything to
happen to you, I couldn't live with myself if it did."  Strange, she
seems sincere.  Could this be part of her game?  Oh, the heavens be
cursed if she finally loves me after I've become too evil to be near. 
Must I become the vulture?  Oh, to pretend to be naïve to the one I
truly love is a fate worse than death.  But it is a fate I must
subscribe to, I'm too far along this path to do otherwise.  I am forced
into causing pain to a beloved.

	The people say I'm nice.

	The people are wrong.




	"Tenchi Muyou: Ryo-ohki" was created by Masaki Kajishima and brought
to North America by Pioneer Entertainment and AIC.  Although this story
incorporates ideas and characters presented in this movie, this work is
Copyright 1998 by Adam Leigh.  All rights reserved.

Adam Christopher Leigh
Omicron@sprynet.com
Tempest Creations - http://dogbert.simplenet.com