Tenchi Fanfiction:

Piece of Mind Saga Part 5: “The Tears of The Past”

The Story so Far: I think you will never understand this without reading at
least the last 2 episodes…

The Mazaki residence. Just under a hour ago, the family were celebrating the
birthday of Funaho, Queen of Jurai. The party was then quickly broken up
with the arrival of Conn –la, a man with the same face as Cuchulainn. Now
three men stand in the forest outside the house, one with a sword to the
throat of  a king, the king himself on his knees and Cuchulainn the last of
the three had moved himself to a rock. Both him and Conn –la waited for the
king to speak.
        Back at the house the remains of the IRA force had surrendered,
Kiyone and
Ryoko were cuffing them altogether while Yosho and Washu asked questions.
“Now why would the IRA come all the way to Japan and listen to a complete
stranger who was on a vengeance trip?” Washu was looking down on one of the
men with a stern look, finally a blonde haired one spoke up. “ We met Conn
–la in Ireland, he offered us a power that can end the whole conflict at
home. Hold a king captive who controlled a Battleship which was a Goddess,
Tsunami.” Washu didn’t reply quickly, no one did. These men were well
informed, Conn –la knew who everyone was, what they had in abilities and
their pasts. Now the plan has backfired on him and he has abandoned them to
complete his own revenge. Four of them were dead, thanks to Cuchulainn and
Ryoko, and the rest were in no position to fight anymore.   “What do you
know about your leader?” Asked Washu.
        “Conn –la… He’s a hitman who showed up at a Belfast headquarters
showed us
tapes, pictures everything, about Jurai and the human heir to the throne. He
had everything planned and his payment was to kill the king and take the
Jurian throne after we had finished with him.” The man had really given up
on the original plan, he wanted to stay alive. Conn –la was bad enough but
the one who looked like him was worse, the moment he broke that neck
everything fell apart. Ayeka who was helping her mother stack up the weapons
looked worried on the last comment. “He cant take the throne, you have to
have royal blood to control the power, how can he take control?”
        “I don’t think his intention was to control the power and rule, this
Conn
–la is not like Kagato or  Clay, he doesn’t seem to care about power. And he
knew who the king was, this is more personal. Being the smartest here I’ll
say his rule will involve destroying the power and all of Jurai.” Washu had
sat down on the bench, she tried to show her usual smug face when she had
the answers, but it was clearly seen she was worried about Cuchulainn. A
sound is heard from the table, falling plates are heard. Everyone turns to
see the small form on the table.
        It was six years ago, I knew very well where Yosho had run off to, I
just
wasn’t pleased about it. I kept his location away from the rest of the
family for the reason his actions might influence them or worse cause tears
from Ayeka or Funaho. But I did visit him six years ago. To convince him to
end his life here and return to Jurai. Of course my son is very stubborn, he
refused and I prepared to leave. Before leaving I took one of the smaller
ships to admire the views of the planet. I needed to remember why I came
here for Funaho. Of course I had my knights with me, we passed over many
areas. But one place, your Ireland, I wanted a closer look so we flew low
over the landscape. Sadly the ship experienced technical problems when we
tried to return to the upper atmosphere, the engines fired off too violent
and we…
        The king stuttered, “We destroyed a bus and a large area of the
landscape.
I never knew what went wrong, the ship just failed on us and then its lower
engines exploded into life burning most of the ground below.” The sword
suddenly got a lot closer to his neck as Conn –la exploded into rage. “LIES!
You fired on the bus, you used weapons and killed her…I lost a lot that day
and you took it.”
        “It was technical error, I swear it!”
        “It was not you fired on me after the bus was destroyed!”
        “And how did you survive?”
        “I…I don’t know, I must have dived out of the way, because I was
unconscious when you took me onto the ship.”
        “It as no laser it was a transport beam, we increased its pressure
to knock
you out. We didn’t need people creating invasion stories.”
        The scene went quiet, tears ran down Conn –la’s cheeks. Cuchulainn
felt the
pain of the dreams he had sting at his head and Azusa just stared ahead into
space.
        Tenchi gulped, he wasn’t exactly excited by the past events, Ryoko
though
seemed to be enjoying herself extremely, lighting her beam sword she walked
towards the source of the noise. The rest of the group we’re behind the two,
Mihoshi on the verge of crying, Kiyone loading her pistol, Washu looking
calm and Sasami just plain curious. Behind the table they celebrated on a
pile of food was pulled on to the ground, there beside the pile curled up
was a…little dragon. Ryoko cursed and walked away, Tenchi scratched his head
slightly confused at the creature and Sasami went wide eyed with excitement.
“What is it?” asked Tenchi.
        “I don’t know and I don’t care where’s the sake? Ryoko has forgotten
about
the thing and was looking for something to drink. Ayeka walked over to the
little beast, it ignored her. It had a dark blue body with a long tail which
curled around the food, its body was wrapped up in scales with no limbs
apart from the two claws for legs, its head was small with a blunt snout on
a long neck. It ignored its admirers and chewed at the food it had
scavenged.
        “Its hideous.” Said Ayeka, her mother had come over to see and gave
a equal
disgusted look and nodded. Tenchi slowly put his hand out towards it. “Lord
Tenchi don’t, it might be dangerous.”
        “That little thing, I don’t think it can be a problem…”The creature
saw
Tenchi, blinked and uncurled its massive wings which were wrapped around its
body. It snarled as Tenchi fall back. “well I think that answers that.” He
murmured as he got up and stepped back. Now ho are we going to fix this
problem, thought Tenchi. The creature continued to snarl.
        The three men still stood in three forest, now they waited for Conn
–La to
speak, he looked up at the two men and smiled. “You think, that’s the end,
You destroyed my life and took me away from my home. And you expected not to
hear another word of it? Fool, the boy you took that day, died.” He moved to
a crouched position and stared at Cuchulainn, his story began.
         I was taken away from earth by the Jurai, for reasons of public
image,
they didn’t really think no one would believe me, I didn’t believe it. I
thought for days I was dead and the cell I was kept in purgatory. It ended
with the return of the king and one of his knights. I was taken from the
cell and put to training, being slapped down by men who had some secret
power. Every day I felt pain and loss, and no one tried to comfort me, my
personal trainer some knight known as Akiro tortured me with specifications,
propaganda, brutal physical training. I never saw daylight for six months. I
believe they wanted me for some Jurian military program, with so many
problems involving Juria’s public image I was to be their black bag
operation. No link to Jurai, from a back water planet, no family, no
records. I was perfect and they made me more, thought me everything non
stop. I had no breaks no freedom, every morning I suffered under them, every
night my mind would burn from statistics on every organisation, system,
person and traitor. In the end I was considered the best. Akiro took me out
of training, changed my whole lifestyle for a third time. I now had high
class Jurian living, learning to talk to nobles, the powers of the throne,
the past and my job. Akiro showed me off like a pet dog, used me for part
tricks were while at his house I would steal from the guests house and bring
it to them. I never failed. Soon Akiro tired of me and sent me to war. The
Jurai had problems with some trade officials, those who refused to accept
its taxes or laws. I had to kill them in the middle of a space battle. No
matter how well you train someone  nothing prepares them for when a full
barrage from Jurian ships rip your own apart. I was betrayed, I completed my
mission and as a reward they destroyed all evidence of my success. I lived
like so many times before when I should have died. I continued to grow in
violence in the slums, black markets and crime centres of the galaxies. By
the time I accepted my fate Jurai had sent hit squads after me, men who are
of noble appearance who commit in human crimes. I killed every single one of
them. I knew who each one was, your men burnt them into my mind. But you
left my original dreams and ideals alive and the simple earth ideology and
way of thinking kept me ahead of them. I remember legends of my world, I
took one to heart. The breaking of the end. To break ones name and swear
that you would make those who destroyed me BURN!
        I returned to Jurai, took the life of your precious Akiro, some
knight he
was, no power at all in him. I made sure of that by gutting him and looking
for it. But it wont end with him. I will kill all of Jurai, especially the
king who brought me to them, who killed my love. Who turned Connla into Conn
–La.
        Conn –La stopped. Cuchulainn, until now was feeling he had fought
the wrong
battle and that Conn –La was right, but the look on his face now told a
different story. They stared at each other and Cuchulainn whispered. “If I
was in any way like you, it died on earth, you have no right in heaven or
hell to damn a whole world, you’ve become better then your cruel masters,”
Conn –La smiled madly, his mind was no longer in the right place. “I think
your in no position to judge, You don’t know who you are, You should not
have any feeling of life, you like a babe in the woods, one who does not
know the laws and that right and wrong do not exist. I think its time you
learnt the meaning of life.” He raised his sword and drove down towards
Azusa’s head, Cuchulainn quickly drove his head between them and pushed Conn
–La back. Grabbing Azusa he ran back towards the house. Conn –La screaming
behind him.
        At the house the group were having their own problems, Kiyone,
Mihoshi and
the two Queens were hiding under the table as the rest took cover from the
flying beast, Washu with Sasami and Ayeka found sanctuary in the house,
while Tenchi and Ryoko were chased by the dragon. Ryoko trying to
outmanoeuvre  in the air found herself being beaten down to the ground by
the creatures tail. Tenchi went and helped her up as it turned for a second
dive. “Tenchi…run!” Ryoko shouted as it came closer. Tenchi refused trying
to pull her to safety, the dragon showed teeth. Before it reached them,
Ryo-ooki dived at the creature knocking it to the ground, the two rolled
over each other for a bit before settling. The dragon stood up first turning
to the Cabbit, it snapped its jaws and prepared to take a bite. Ryo-ooki
seeing it coming kicked up with her foot hitting its lower jaw causing the
dragon to bite its own tongue. A yelp of pain came from the creature as it
hopped from foot to foot finally dropping its snout into the lake to cool
the pain. Ryoko and Tenchi looked at each other then to the victorious
Cabbit. “Go Ryo-ooki!” shouted Ryoko as the Cabbit Mya’d in victory. The
victory was short lived as Cuchulainn came crashing in from the forest,
dropped Azusa to the ground removed his sword and disappeared back into the
woods. Tenchi running after him shouted “Cuchulainn WAIT!” It was too late
he was gone again. Azusa being helped up by his two wives gave a sigh as he
saw the boy go. The others ran out to see if the king was okay.
        “I’m fine.” He quickly answered.
        “Father, I’m so happy you are. What happened?” asked Ayeka.
        “Yeah your highness, who is that Cuchulainn look a like and how does
he
know you?” Ryoko wasn’t as worried about the situation as Ayeka but was
curious to who Conn –La was.
        “A problem I thought I buried along time ago.” The king stood up and
shakily moved towards the house. Ayeka and his two wives helped him, Sasami,
Tenchi and Washu looked back to the forest to the distant sound of combat.
“Tenchi! We got to help Cuchulainn.” Pleaded Sasami, Tenchi looked at her
tearful face, gave a determined look and moved to help Cuchulainn.
        In the forest the two men met again, this time no words were spoken,
no
signs of emotion shown. The two were cold like their blades. No signal was
given of combat, the two just began, striking cold steel against cold steel
they fought, both not staying still both using the same skills. At first
Conn –La had the advantage pushing Cuchulainn back through the forest,
hopping from branch to branch. Then after cartwheeling upwards Cuchulainn
gained the advantage of getting behind his opponent. This time he took the
moment and drove his opponent to the ground. But Conn –La used the ground to
his advantage and sprung back up giving Cuchulainn a kick to the face.
Cuchulainn landed hard on the ground, Conn –La dropped easily at his feet
removed his coat and raised his sword ready for the kill. Cuchulainn pushing
him up with his hands kicked Conn –La with both legs in the chest sending
him flying back towards the house.
        Tenchi seeing the incoming body dived out of the way. Conn –La hit
hard on
the ground, slowly regaining balance he stood up to see the badly hurt
Cuchulainn stand to face him at the forests opening. The two charged swords
striking each other.  Tenchi pulling himself up crawled to where Washu and
Ryoko watched. “What are we going to do about this?” he asked. But neither
answered they were both amazed at the fight happening before them. Both men
fought so perfectly it was like watching a dance in sword play. Sparks flew
around the two men as they silently fought. Finally a push from both men put
a distance between them. Conn –La stared at Cuchulainn, the stare was
returned. Finally after a minute of silence the two charged swords swinging
in the air until they clashed and passed. The two faced away from each other
and between them leading both ways a spray of blood misted the air.
Cuchulainn, feeling blood from his side fell on to one knee. Conn –La turned
and smiled. “I feel no pain!” He exclaimed loudly at the wounded warrior. He
stared at his fallen prey walking in for the final blow, his stare turned to
shock as blood trickled over his eyes. He turned away placing his hand on
his face Conn –La felt blood, a scar running the length of his face was
borne on him. He screamed. Turned to kill his foe, anger on his bloody
scarred face to find Tenchi, Ryoko and Kiyone all blocking his way. He
judged his chances for a second then raised his fingers and clicked them.
The dragon appeared at his side. “Phobia! We are leaving! This isn’t over
“Tenchi” nor with you boy!” With those words he turned and started walking
towards the lake. The dragon flying ahead of him transformed itself into a
spaceship around the same size as Ryo-ooki, which was dark blue and much in
the shape of a dragon with massive wings and a curled tail which on the end
held a assortment of weapons. Conn –La spoke “first round to you boy.” And
was then teleported aboard the ship and it left. “We’re not going to let him
go are we?” Pleaded Ryoko.
        “We’ve got to help Cuchulainn first!” Tenchi answered helping him
off the
ground. Ryoko helped Tenchi and the two carried Cuchulainn towards Washu’s
lab.
        Its two days later. The Jurian king and queens we’re preparing to
leave.
Cuchulainn lay in Washu’s lab recovering from his injuries. Outside the
house the gang had gathered to say goodbyes. It was a happy scene, no one
had been killed and Funaho had herself a exciting birthday. Kiyone had
dropped the surviving IRA off at a police station, hoping they would find
their ways to prison in Ireland. In the end life in the Misaki household
went on.
        The royal family prepared to leave and waved their goodbyes, first
Misaki
and Funaho got teleported up. Before the king left, he turned to the group.
“That boy saved my life. Make sure he knows the importance of that.” And he
left.
        Its early next morning, Kiyone had stayed over night and had woken
early,
she walked to the window to look at the lake to see Cuchulainn standing by
the lake, at first she didn’t want to disturb him, but when Sasami and
Tenchi appeared she felt easier. The three walked out to Cuchulainn, he was
crouched down by the lake, his bandages clearly seen along his side. None of
them spoke at first. Just watch as the boy stared blankly at the lake.
Finally after pushing his long brown hair back he spoke. “I was given the
ultimate clue to who I am….myself and I still don’t understand who I am or
where I’m from. That night I fought myself and won, yet now that I look
back, he wasn’t me, I don’t know who he was. But I am not him. I have a name
now a place to be and a family…If that’s okay with you. He turned to look at
them tears in his eyes. Tenchi spoke first. “I don’t know what happened last
night either, but one thing you can always trust on is us being here for
you.” Cuchulainn smiled, Sasami jumped on him, giving him a hug. “You had me
worried” she began “Big brothers are not to get themselves killed okay!”
Cuchulainn smiled and hugged her back. “I promise not to get killed.” He
looked up at Kiyone, she was feeling out of place, he smiled at her, she
weakly smiled back. “I guess now would be a good time to apologies for when
I fired at you.” The two laughed and the group headed back towards the
house. Cuchulainn seeing the others leave motioned that he’ll catch up. He
picked up the jacket of Conn –La and removed from it a silk cloth and slowly
unfolded it. Inside a perfectly preserved rose lay. He then removed a
similar cloth from his own jacket and opened it to show the exact same rose.
Placing both roses on the lake, he thought of the final moments of his own
dreams and that of Conn –La’s life on earth, the holding of a dead love and
the taking of the rose he had grown for her. A tear formed in his eye, a
memory best left buried. He watched them float away and whispered. “I am at
Peace of mind, no more shall there be tears of history.” He turned and
walked away.
        Its early morning in Japan, a Irish boy walks away from the lake to
a
house, from the house life begins slowly, first with cries of breakfast then
with greetings and hellos ending with a flash of a explosion and a cry for
Tenchi…Thus is the Misaki residence, thus is Cuchulainn’s life.

End

Next Saga: It’s the end for now, But soon Cuchulainn finds living in the
Misaki household is a challenge, finding himself sent to do his last year of
school, he learns of brotherly care trying to mind Sasami and learns a few
lost memories. Watch out for the 2-part special.
        After that Cuchulainn prepares to find real answers, and only one
person he
knows would have any Conn –La, But to find him Cuchulainn’s got to learn how
to act in space, who to know and what to wear. In the next Tenchi/Cuchulainn
Saga.