Disclaimer: Part Two
Those who are avid watchers of the Tenchi Universe series will notice that there are a few startling liberties taken in this part with the Jurai royal family. Those familiar with the OVA will notice that suddenly Azusa is no longer Ayeka's father. Ok, so I can't quite explain this, but then I'm also not sure how to explain what goes on in the actual Universe series (where Jurai has no Emperor but Yosho is a Crown Prince...yet Ayeka is first in line to the throne...but apparently not of the direct line...blaaah. LOL!) So I, er, mashed the two together and reinvented the Juraian dynasty a little. It was the only way I could compact both series down into one logical royal dynasty, so I am sorry if anyone is upset by that...
Second thing is I haven't quite worked out why FFnet keeps deleting my dividing lines between segments, as it uploads without them and without proper section spacing. I'm still trying to fix part one because it's ugly how sections are running into one another, but until I work out how to make it accept my spacing or dividing, I'm a bit at a loss to correctly format my story. (It's slightly annoying, and I'm sorry if it's made reading at all difficult for anyone. It doesn't look that way on my original file, so I have no idea what's going on with it on the server!)
Chapters for this part also continue numerically from the first part, since that's how I wrote it. So don't worry...I haven't forgotten to upload anything! Part Two should start with Chapter Ten!
------------------------------- The
Story So Far
After releasing Ryoko
from her prison aboard the new Galaxy Police Headquarters, Kiyone and
Mihoshi are once more on the run from their superiors across space in
the long-suffering Yagami. Their gamble - that Ryoko and Ryo Ohki can
help them track down a wanted Space Pirate called Haki, who has taken
Princess Ayeka hostage and is holding her for the ransom of three
mythical Juraian gems. Tenchi has also been pulled into the mission
by a worried Sasami, though Ryoko seems surprisingly un-glad to see
him, and is keeping a secret the fact that she already possesses two
of the gemstones that Haki so desperately seeks. But is
Tsunami more than just a spaceship? And can they
rescue Ayeka from Haki's clutches before it's too late?
------------------------
DARK HEART: PART
TWO
A Tenchi Muyo Fanfiction by VraieEsprit
Chapter
Ten
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five."
The young girl gathered the delicate blooms up in her small hands, clutching them tightly as she giggled with joy. They were a mixture of colours, like nothing she had ever seen before, and clumsily she began to try and feed them together the way Mother had once shown her, to make a crown of blossoms.
"Who are you?"
A voice startled her and she turned, seeing a girl of about her own age watching her with a mixture of wary curiosity and alarm. The child stood up, dropping the flowers to the grassy floor as she did so.
"Ryoko." She said simply.
The other girl watched her for a moment, then a frown touched her expression.
"Nobody else is supposed to be here." She fretted. "This planet belongs to my Uncle and my family and noone else is allowed to come here. These are my pretty flowers - why are you hurting them?"
"I'm not hurting them." Ryoko's eyes became big with surprise. "I'm making them into a pretty crown. My Mother taught me how."
"But they're my family's flowers!" The other girl exclaimed, reaching down to scoop up Ryoko's clumsy attempt at a floral chain. "Father told me so. They belong to me and to my family and you're stealing them! Give them back to me right now!"
"That's my crown!" Ryoko reached out a fist for the flowers, but the other child stepped back, putting her hands on her hips.
"I am the Princess Ayeka of the Planet Jurai." She said, with a childish sense of self-importance. "Nobody's allowed to tell me what to do. And you shouldn't be here. So there. You have to go play somewhere else, or my Grandfather will get you."
Ryoko hesitated, tears blinking in the depths of her amber eyes. Then a look of stubborn determination came over her and she lunged for Ayeka, grabbing the twist of blossoms and wrenching it from the Princess's grip, tearing some of the stems in the process.
"It's mine and I made it and I don't care about your stupid grandfather!" She exclaimed. "They told me I could play here. It's part of my Mother's game!"
"Give me that back!"
"Won't!"
"You're rude!"
"You're mean!"
"I said give me that!"
"No!" As Ayeka reached out a hand for the flowers, Ryoko ducked out of her way, flickering and disappearing only to reappear several feet further away. Ayeka's eyes became big with fear.
"What are you?" She demanded, taking a step back. "Are you a demon? Are you some kind of a monster?"
"I'm not a monster!" Ryoko's eyes opened wide with hurt surprise. "I'm Ryoko and I want to play with the flowers. That's all."
"Well, these are Jurai's flowers an' nobody is allowed to play here unless I say so." Ayeka folded her arms. "You're weird and creepy and I don't like you. Go away."
"I won't go away!" Before either of them knew what was happening, Ryoko lunged at the Princess, grabbing a thick tail of hair in her hands and pulling it firmly. Ayeka let out a shriek, struggling to release herself but Ryoko clung on firmly, knocking the other girl to the ground and sitting on top of her.
"Get off me!"
"Then leave me alone!"
"Ryoko! Ayeka-chan! What is going on here?"
A woman's voice broke through the childish dispute and strong hands pulled Ryoko off of her opponant, holding her firmly in her grip as the young girl struggled and fought to get free. "No! I won't have this kind of behaviour from either of you! Ayeka, you should be ashamed of yourself! How does a Princess of Jurai behave?"
Ayeka scrambled to her feet, red tinging her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to the grass.
"I'm sorry, Mother." She said softly. "But she started it. She's mean and she's a monster. She was stealing our flowers."
"Wasn't stealing any flowers!" Ryoko fought against the woman's grip once more. "Was only playing with them!"
The woman's face became thoughtful, and she set Ryoko down on her feet, holding her firmly around the wrists as she did so.
"Azusa should not have brought you here." She said aloud. "Whatever your story, I won't tolerate anyone attacking my little girl. It's not acceptable behaviour, Ryoko. You are a guest in this land, and you really need to learn some manners. What would your Mother say if she knew you'd been fighting?"
Ryoko's golden eyes became sullen.
"Mother isn't here." She said flatly.
"No, she isn't, but that's no reason to behave like a hooligan." The woman shook her head. "I think you should go back to your room and think about that very carefully. If we're going to take you back to Jurai, you're going to have to learn to behave yourself. I won't have this kind of incident again."
Ryoko kicked her feet, glaring at Ayeka. Then she turned on her heel, flouncing bad temperedly off across the meadow towards the big structure where she had slept for the last three days and nights. She did not hear the remainder of the conversation between Ayeka and her mother, but resentment boiled up inside of her as she stomped across the ground. She only paused to retrieve her damaged, dented daisy chain, knowing that it was ruined but unwilling to fully let it go.
Sasami tossed and turned in her bed, muttering something incoherent as the dreamscape darkened, and bolts of lightning seemed to split the pretty field into shards of fading colours. Lost in her sleep, the whispers of a tree's branches, sighing and groaning under the pressure of heavy winds seemed almost like words to the small girl, as if someone, somehow was trying to tell her a story.
She rolled over onto her other side as the world in her mind grew ever blacker, pulling her further and further away from the safety of Yagami's cabins.
It was night. A bird hooted a call to it's mate across the frozen landscape, the moons of the curved planet glinting feebly off the iced water and highlighting for the briefest moments the branches of a multitude of trees. Winter had never been so cold, and the people had shivered for many long months together, but at last the thaw was upon them, and the wild winds that spelt the beginning of spring were beginning to pour across the landscape, slowly waking the dozing countryside from it's long slumbers.
The fields began to loose their glassy green hue, as flowers began to sprout all across the landscape, lifting their heads to the rays of the sun.
But in one corner of the world, there was no sun, and no flowers came to bloom. Only one tree stood there, it's branches reaching up to the sky in a warped, twisted imitation of it's brother and sister trees. Stunted and deformed, the tree had fought many long battles to grow straight and true alongside the others, but still they shunned him and shunned the one with whom he shared his heart. Too late the darkness had spread into him, growing like a cancer throughout his core until all of the tree were as black as his trunk. As the others dropped their bright glistening sap, thick dark liquid oozed from his branches, dropping in viscous red patches onto the ground below. Wherever the sap touched, the plants beneath shrivelled and died, and the people saw it as a sign.
The
tree struggled on, as his trunk grew more and more twisted with every
turn of the sun. Every green shoot he forged out into the sunlight
soon became tainted and greyed like the others, the leaves blackening
and falling to the ground as a mournful carpet of death. And as the
one with whom he shared his heart grew blacker, so did the trunk of
the old tree. He did not die, though he longed for it. Death could
not come to one so bonded as he was to his master. And yet all of the
world knew that this darkness was an omen. One day, the heart with
whom he shared his life would return. And the sky would become black
once more. Many tried to kill the tree, cut it down where it
stood, but it always prevailed. Those who approached it seldom
returned to their homes, driven mad by the darkness exposed in the
old tree's wounded trunk. Soon, noone came to the tree and it lived
its life alone and abandoned, waiting for the day it's master
returned. Darkness enveloped it and deep within the earth the goddess
wept for the soul of her lost son, for she knew that time could not
save him. And as the one whose heart he shared burnt and destroyed,
so the heart of the tree ached and bled for a life he had never been
allowed to touch.
Sasami let out a shriek, sitting up in
her bed and clutching her covers to her as she stared, wide-eyed
across the cabin of the ship. For a moment she did not know where she
was, the image of the twisted tree burnt into her mind, but as she
drew slow breaths into her lungs, reality began to seep back into her
consciousness and the wild look left her eyes. She sank back against
the wall.
"I'm scared." She murmured. "Why am I having these dreams? Why me? Why now? What's going on here? Am I just worried about Ayeka?"
She pushed back her covers, getting to her feet and pulling the sheet around her like a dressing gown as she pushed the button to open the door, heading down slowly to the main body of the ship. Nobody else was there, and she switched on the lights, sitting down on the steel bench and resting her chin in her hands.
Her head ached and span, and she bit back the tears that longed to fall.
"Why is this happening to me?" She asked aloud. "That poor tree...why am I seeing things like that? I never dream so vividly...why am I dreaming now?"
A sudden chill breeze whipped past her, teasing at her bound hair and causing her to wrap her blanket more tightly around her. She shivered involuntarily.
"I don't understand." She whispered. "I just want it to stop already! First some weird dream about a volcano, just before Kamadake tells me about the jewels that guy wants. And now...Ayeka and Ryoko...and...a tree. A poor, lonely, dying tree."
She swallowed hard.
"So cruel." She murmured. "How could anyone do that to a living thing with whom they are bonded? Ayeka would rather die than hurt Ryu Oh. And I..."
She faltered, and for a moment it was like she could hear the rustle of tree branches in the wind. She turned around, but there was nothing behind her but the plain steel walls of Yagami and the sparse furniture the room boasted. She sighed, rubbing her temples.
"I just don't get it." She muttered.
"Tsunami."
The word had not been spoken aloud, and yet Sasami started, staring once more around her for any source of the whisper. She got to her feet, truly afraid now.
"Tsunami?" She echoed. "I don't get it! Tsunami went back to Jurai with Azaka and Kamadake. She's gone home now. She's not here any more."
There was no reply, but the rustle of tree boughs continued to echo in the back of her mind.
"Tell me who you are! Tell me what's going on!" She exclaimed. "I don't understand, Tsunami! Why are you doing this to me? Is it because I sent you away? Because I didn't mean to upset you...I just had to do it. I thought you understood. Please, Tsunami, stop haunting my dreams! If you were created from the Tree of Life, why did you make me dream about a tree being starved and bullied to death? It doesn't make any sense! Ryu Oh never makes Ayeka have bad dreams! I don't want to have them either!"
The breeze ran round the chamber once more, flipping up the lid of the waste disposal unit and sending a spray of paper scraps across the room. Sasami let out a yell, leaping backwards and almost falling over the bench in her hurry to get away. As the impossible wind dropped once more, the shards of paper fell neatly onto the floor in front of her, and as she glanced at them, she realised they spelt out a crude word.
"Souja." She read softly. "What's that, Tsunami? Is that the name of the tree? Is he real? But...why are you telling me this? What has it to do with Ayeka and Ryoko? And...and what has it to do with me, Tsunami?"
There was a moment of silence, and a cold realisation dawned in Sasami's frightened eyes.
"You're not my ship." She whispered. "You're the real Tsunami...the Tree of Life, the one who is mother of all of our trees! It is you, isn't it, Tsunami? And you're trying to tell me something...but what? Please help me understand. I don't know what all of these things mean, put together."
There was no response, and the sound of rustling leaves was gone. Sasami sank back down onto the bench, burying her head in her hands.
"I'm confused." She muttered. "For a moment I almost thought that...but that's crazy, isn't it? Was she speaking to me? But why would she? And that poor tree...why did she show me that tree, instead of all the hundreds of happy and healthy trees on Jurai? What's important about him, I wonder? Oh, I hate this! I want Ayeka and I want to go home! I wish she'd never run away - everything was so happy back on Jurai before she did!"
"Sasami?"
Tenchi's voice startled her and she glanced up, meeting his enquiring look with a wan smile as she covertly scattered the scraps of paper with her foot, rendering the word unintelligible.
"Hi Tenchi." She said. "Can't sleep?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Tenchi came to join her, sitting down beside her. "What's wrong, Sasami? Are you sick? You look pale."
"No...just scary dreams." Sasami bit her lip. "I don't know what they were about, but Ayeka and Ryoko were there. It was like a memory, only it's not a memory I have, because Ayeka was really young and so was Ryoko. I wasn't even born then, so I guess it was just made up. And then there was a tree, Tenchi, but he was hurt and it wasn't nice. I don't understand any of it, but I don't like it."
"Sounds like you're worrying about your sister a little too much." Tenchi said gently. "Not that I blame you. I'm worried about her too, especially since there's been no further contact made with Jurai by that Haki guy. I've been checking all the news channels and Yagami's police briefings but there's been nothing."
"And Ryo Ohki hasn't sniffed him out yet, either." Sasami sighed. "I know. I am worried about her. Maybe you're right. Ayeka is the closest person to me in the whole world, Tenchi. Even when we argue, I love her more than anything. I just...I don't want to lose her."
"No, nobody wants that." Tenchi hugged her tightly. "Hey, you're freezing! You shouldn't be out here like this when it's so cold."
"I think my dream made me cold." Sasami admitted. "Do you really think we'll find her, Tenchi?"
"I think we have to think nothing else." Tenchi advised her. "And believe in Ryo Ohki. And Ryoko, for that matter. I was looking for her, Sasami - have you seen her? She wasn't in the cabin Kiyone said she was using."
"You went to her cabin?" Sasami's eyes became big, distracted from her dream for a moment and Tenchi reddened.
"Not like that!" He protested. "I just went to make sure she was all right. She wasn't...well, she didn't seem herself earlier. But I don't know where she is now."
"I haven't seen her." Sasami shook her head. She looked pensive, leaning up against him.
"Kiyone said she had a hard time in prison, being locked up and all. She said she's been more bad-tempered of late and even had a fight with another prisoner." She added. "Maybe she's just got to get used to being free again, or something. I don't know. Ryoko's fun but when she's angry, she's angry."
"Tell me about it." Tenchi sighed. "She almost threw poor Mihoshi across here earlier on, just for something she said. You know Mihoshi - she wouldn't hurt a fly. She just says the wrong thing, and usually Ryoko's pretty cool with that. But this time she just...well, she went over the top."
"Poor Mihoshi." Sasami said thoughtfully. "And poor Ryoko. I'd hate to have been locked up, Tenchi. Especially when she loves to fly so much."
"Yes, I suppose it was hard on her." Tenchi admitted. "Oh well. I guess I'll leave it for this evening. Knowing her she's probably disdained the bunk altogether and is perched somewhere awkward, snoozing her head off. I'll find her in the morning, when we're all refreshed. If I can get my head around morning in Deep Space - it's kinda hard to tell the night from the day."
"But it's fun, still." Sasami giggled, colour returning to her cheeks. "I'm glad you were up though, Tenchi. My dream scared me, but I'm not so scared any more."
"I'm glad about that." Tenchi grinned. "Then I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes." Sasami nodded, getting to her feet and scooping up her blanket. "Tomorrow, Tenchi. And no more bad dreams for me, I hope!"
--------
"Another alert from the Galaxy Police...another potential Yagami sighting."
Kiyone dropped down beside the breakfast table with a defeated groan, lifting her mug of tea and taking a sip. "I don't know how much longer we can evade their searches, guys. I know we've done it before, but I'm finding it more difficult this time. I think every single recruit in the Galaxy Police Force knows what Yagami looks like, that's the trouble. And with the ship being bright red, it's not exactly camouflaged in space like this black ship we're chasing apparently is. I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any bright ideas? Short of abandoning Yagami altogether and taking up in Ryo Ohki, I'm not sure what we can do."
"Ryo Ohki isn't exactly any less conspicuous." Tenchi pointed out, sending the cabbit a glance from where he had been polishing off the last of his breakfast. "Besides, the only one who can pilot her properly is Ryoko and...where is Ryoko, by the way? Has she had breakfast?"
"Well, I put food out for everyone and hers is gone." Sasami shrugged her shoulders. "So unless someone had two helpings, I guess she did. I didn't see her come, Tenchi, but you know how she can flit in and out of places when she wants to. Maybe I just didn't catch her - I was busy with the tea."
She made herself more comfortable, beckoning to Ryo Ohki to join her, and the cabbit bounced into her lap, miaowing.
"Maybe she's still mad at me." Mihoshi looked uncharacteristically chastened. "Do you think she is, Kiyone? Because I did say sorry and all, and really it was just a question, you know."
"Mihoshi, Ryoko has an attitude problem." Kiyone sighed. "She probably always did have one...after all she's a space pirate, and that should go without saying. But...a worse one than she had before. Prison mentality...I've seen it before. She's been confined and in enforced company with odious people at set times - mealtimes, bathing, whatever. The guards are strict and they go out of their way to humiliate her as much as they can, because they see her as defiant and too big for her boots. I don't know if that's the best way to treat a prisoner like Ryoko, and I tried to call them on it, but they don't seem to care what I say much anyway. And I couldn't get too involved, you know? Favouring one prisoner over the others is not the done thing. It would have looked bad for both of us."
"No doubt she'll come back to join us when she's ready." Sasami said with a shrug. "I think she's okay, Kiyone. Ryo Ohki's not worried about her - are you, Ryo Ohki?"
The small creature paused in her washing, shaking her head. Sasami beamed.
"There, you see?" She said. "Ryo Ohki would know if Ryoko was in trouble...I guess she just wants to be alone for a bit."
"I guess she does." Tenchi acknowledged. "But since she's the only one who knows anything about this Haki character...well, aside from the police reports - it's not very helpful of her."
"Right now we have more pressing things to think about." Kiyone drummed her fingers on the table. "Like how to keep Yagami off police radars. At close quarters, it's pretty impossible to hide a ship this big from their ident scanners. But at distance..."
She sighed.
"If I thought we could get away with it, I'd book the ship in for a repaint." She admitted.
Tenchi's eyes opened wide at this.
"Washu!" He exclaimed.
"Washu?" Kiyone stared.
"She's cloaked Yagami before...hasn't she? I'm sure we could track her down and ask her for help doing so again." Tenchi replied.
"Oh, it would be great to see Washu again!" Mihoshi's eyes lit up with excitement. "Can we, Kiyone?"
Kiyone bit her lip.
"Washu is an unstable madwoman obsessed with blowing up the universe." She said slowly. "I agree she's helped us in the past, but then again, someone that nuts...what's to stop her hopping aboard and converting the entire ship into some kind of atomic weapon?"
"She is a genius, though." Sasami pointed out. "She's so smart, she'd be able to do it in no time. And she's our friend too, Kiyone. She wouldn't blow us up because she likes us."
"Maybe." Kiyone was reticent. "But it depends if she'd even want to help. She's been locked away in that lab of hers for the longest time, working on whatever it is she's devising now. She's not a big fan on interruptions, and the life of a Princess of Jurai might not mean as much in her warped brain as whichever circuits she's putting together right now."
"But we could try, surely?" Tenchi asked. "It wouldn't hurt and it might help."
"I suppose it might." Kiyone sighed. "All right. I guess we don't have any better ideas. I'll plot a course for Washu's space station and hope we don't get fired on for approaching. I've heard that's happened to a couple of ships that passed by too closely, so you never know."
Sasami laughed.
"That sounds like Washu." She said wryly. "But I still think she's smart enough to help us help Ayeka!"