NOTE: I do not own Pioneer's characters. I do however use them in my
stories.
Not that theirs anything wrong with this but, I have to give them credit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WORLD'S WITHOUT SKIES

by Amber Chaney

It was dark. Darker than it had been before, or ever would be again. And as
she sank into the darkness, Sasami grew more and more numb.

It was impossible to see from the exterior, but she was sinking. The others
couldn't tell, aside from Ryo-Ohki who looked at her differently than she
had
before. Sure they qestioned the black dominace in her wardrobe, but that
was
all.

She still cooked meals, and was helpfull around the house. But inside, she
was sinking. She didn't like herself anymore, she didn't like to look in
the
mirror, she didn't care for her appearance as much as she had before. She
just didn't seem to, or realy want to for that matter, really exist. The
world around her seemed to be a dream, a dream she couldn't escape.

Since she had reached the Jurrian age equivelent of the Earth age 15,
things
had just gotten dark. She still cared for others, and was as cheery as ever
on the outside. But deep on the inside she was crying. Not just crying
anymore, but wailing, screaming to be noticed.

She wanted help from the others to recover the old Sasami, the one who
delighted in playing with Ryo-Ohki. The Sasami who felt better when she was
helping others than helping herself. The Sasami, who lived life to the
fullest. Not the Sasami who she'd become. The Sasami who would sit in her
room after dinner and read Poe's works. The Sasami who wrote sick little
notes about how miserable she was in her diary.
The Sasami who cried herself to sleep. The Sasami who was growing closer to
taking her own life each day....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ayeke had noticed some thing's about Sasami over the past seven months.
First
of all, she wore all black. Not that there was anything wrong with that,
but
it didn't seem like Sasami.

Another thing was, she didn't delight in the simple things that she loved
so
much before. She used to play little games with Ryo-Ohki for hours, now she
barely noticed the creature side from the occasional pat on the head she
gave
it. Sure she was growing older, but even Washu who was 20,000 still enjoyed
playing with the little furball when she got the time.

Even more disturbing was her behavior tword the others. She was usualy
silent
at meals, not talking to anyone unless directly spoken to. Even then, she
was
extremely untalkative. She just seemed to be a ghost, she'd help people as
she did before, but she didn't go out of her way as before. She'd heard
Washu
speak of a time Sasami had run out to Azaka and Kamadakie to see if they
could help Tenchi when he fell ill. Now she'd still help, but in the
simplest
manner possible.

The longer Ayeke thought about it, the more Sasami seemed to be nothing
more
than a shell. And exterior wall with nothing inside. No meaning. No spirit.
Nothing.

Nothing to hold her back from taking DESPERATE measures should she reach
that
point......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenchi couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong as he left the
house that night. Ryoko, Ayeka, Noboyuki, Kiyone, Mihoshi, even his
grandfather and Washu were going out for a night on the town to celebrate
his
21st birthday. Yet Sasami was staying at home.

He really had wanted her to come along. Sure they'd be doing alot of
barhopping and the like. But he atleast wanted her to go to dinner. His
father even said he'd bring her home before they really hit the town, but
Sasami wouldn't go.

She seemed so strange these days, so alien.

For one, she'd begun to dress in black constantly. And she was so pale, it
was like looking at a sheet in the form of a human. He also noticed her
change in mood. She was once so happy and full of life. Now she seemed so
empty and vacant.

He had to admit, he wanted to stay with her that night, and find out what
was
going on in her head. He liked her, hell, he loved her too much to see her
like this anymore. She'd begun to change to the beautiful woman she'd one
day
be. She already looked nearly 18 and she wasn't even 16. He knew it would
kill Ayeka and Ryoko, but when she got older he planned to propose to her.

But he just wanted to know waht was buzzing around in her cute little head.
He had a pang of guilt as he stepped into the van, and looked back at the
house and Sasami standing in front. It was hard to tell which was
emptier....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sasami watched the van pull away. She couldn't go with them, she just
couldn't. She'd made her decison and she had to stick to it.

She got the candles, black of course, and a small object wraped in black
cloth out from a box under her bed. She layed them on the bed and
undressed,
putting on her reciently purchaced black silk robe. She gathered her
belongings, as well as her small radio, and proceded to the bathroom.

This was not the one linked to the dimentional pocket, but the upstairs
one,
just down the hall from her own room.

She set the radio on the counter. She inserted her copy of the first disc
of
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Saddness" into the player. She then
proceded
to draw a tub of warm water, till it was about knee high. She set the
candles
around the tub, 13 in all, lighting them one by one. She then pressed play
on
the radio, allowing the title track to begin.

Satisfied that it was ready she unwraped the black bundle, drawing out a
long
knife she had bought some time back, she sat this at the edge of the tob
and
cast the robe aside.

She noticed that she was indeed becoming a lovely woman, not that she would
ever live to fully become that woman. She sat down in the water, alowing
its
warmth to flow over her body and sink in. She then picked up the blade, and
sliced right down from the bracelets of fortune to halfway down her
forearm.

Her last thought was, "This is what happens, in a world without skies....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was nearly three AM when they arived home. For the most part they fell
asleep on the couch, or on the floor. The only ones who were even half
sober
were Ayeka (suprisingly) and Tenchi. Tenchi and Ayeka had tried to stay
sober, both wishing to speak with Sasami when they got home. They checked
her
room, and couldn't find her, nor was she in the kitchen.

Tenchi was about to roust the others to help find the missing girl, but was
interupted by a terrified screm. As scream that held fear, shock, agony,
and
pain all in one. And it was comming from upstairs. Without a word, he knew
what he'd find when he got there.

He'd thought it over seveal times on the stairs, but nothing could prepare
him for what he'd find when he got to the bathroom. Ayeka was crouched on
the
floor wailing like a banshee, and the room was ghastly at best.

Their were 13 black candles surrounding the bathtub, only 8 still burned.
There was a radio playing a track Tenchi remembered as "Cupid de Locke",
from
one of Sasami's CDs. The stereo itself was stuck on repeat. There were
trails
of crimson leading down from the edges of the tub, and their was a sickly
red
pool at the base of the structure. In the tub, layed the pale body of
Sasami,
wrists slit to the mid forearm. Her blue hair, now an almost redish purple
shade. The look on her face, that of someone crying.

At the sight of that, Tenchi's world began to colapse around him....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-one year later-

"It's getting harder and harder to see him like this", Ryoko thought to
herself as she left the asylum. Ever since Sasami's suicide Tenchi had been
a
little off at best. After the funeral, he'd snapped.

He started accusing everyone of causing it, and tried to stab his own
father
for taking him out that night, instead of letting him stay with her. That
very night, he'd been hauled out of the house crying and screaming like a
child. A week later, he was locked away in a little cell. Deemed to
dangerous
to live anongst socioity he was perpetualy kept restrained and locked in a
padded cell.

He'd never talk to them, for the most part. He'd talked to Ayeka before,
but
she never spoke of what he said. And now Ryoko noticed that Ayeka was
getting
more and more like her sister had been before the incident. Fourtunatly she
was on heavy medication, otherwise she would have ended it all by now.

Noboyuki had taken this hard, harder than most. He'd probobly be in a cell
next to his son, if it wasn't for the massive heart attack he'd had about 4
months after the funeral. He'd taken to drinking heavy, and was under alot
of
stress. His heart had eventualy given out, and from the autopsy his liver
woulda killed him had the heart not gone first.

Yosho, he had gotten more distant than before. Hard to talk to, always in
meditation. He wouldn't leave his shrine for anything, and Ryoko was
actually
starting to worry.

Kiyone and Mihoshi had left. They were gone, across the universe somewhere.
They'd requested a transfer afterwhat happened, they said they just
couldn't
stand to be there anymore. Not after that terrible night.

Ryo-Ohki had dissapeared without a trace. She'd stuck around for a few
months
after, but then she just vanished. Poor cabbit, she'd been very attached to
the young princess. All Ryoko could hope for, is that her pet would come
back. So she could take Ayeka home to her planet then dissapear herself.

She felt a bitter tear trace down her cheek as she walked to her now empty
home. The cold wind, biting her skin and blowing her long skirt about her
legs. She paused for a moment to look at the sky, then averted her eyes and
began to run, crying harder and harder. It had been too blue, the color of
Sasami's hair, she wished it would just go away.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE~~~~~~~~~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There, my fist fanfict complete. I hope you liked it. I know its a bit
dark, most of my stuff is.

Incase your wondering why it all happened it was the preasures of growng
up.
They were too much for Sasami. The "world without skies" is a metaphor for
not believing you have a future. Sasami saw Ayeka as the one who would get
the throne, and no room for herself, this pushed her over the edge. Not to
mention the ususal teen-angst most kids feel. She just couldn't take it.

This fanfict was inspired by the fact that few portray Sasami as a
character who could have very stong negative feelings about anyone,
especialy herself.
I just wanted to see how people would react to something like that.