This is the next chapter in "When Worlds Collide". I do not own any of the characters here except for Brian, Lazarus, and Damen. The rest of the characters belong to ACI and Pioneer LDC, Inc. So enjoy the story and E-mail me your comments. "When Worlds Collide: No need for Approaching Danger" An explosion rips through the night, as a building that was standing tall and firm is nothing more now than a pile of ruble. Screams can be heard for hundreds of miles away, as people are running for their lives, even though there is no escape. Men, women, even children are dying horrible deaths as explosion after explosion of energy is destroying everything. In the middle of all the screams and pleas for help, there is laughter. Laughter that is coming from two individuals that are destroying everything in front of them with ease and no remorse. Pleas for mercy from the people they are hurting are falling onto deaf ears. Finally there is nothing left, no more people, the great cities of the planet are now smoking ashes. The only people left are the two individuals who are responsible for the planet's rape. Standing on top of the rubble of a building, the two stand watching the fires consume everything it touched, just like them. The leader of the two was a tall man with dark black hair that came down to his shoulders, he had on an outfit that made him look like something out of a Mad Max movie. He had shoulderpads that had small spikes protruding from them, his arms had leather gloves that came up to his elbows. He wore a black cape with red lining on the inside of his cape. His companion was the weaker of the two, he had short orange hair and a scare across his right cheek. He wore a leather jacket with a red Skull with wings on the back, and baggy ripped blue jeans. The leader of the two began to think about their target that they were really after. The one who betrayed them and left. The one who shamed their people, by rejecting the Sayajin ways. His lips parted and said the name of the one they were going to make suffer. "Kobiashi. . . " * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ryoko sat in her favorite tree contemplating on the events that have recently happened. Most of her thoughts were wondering about Brian. She couldn't help but think that he wasn't telling the whole truth to his story. She couldn't help but feel that there was some other reason he was here. It didn't sound like he and Katsuhito became really good friends within the time they knew each other. And it would take a very good friend to take the trip here in suspended animation, just to see him. She decided that it would be a better idea for her to keep an eye on him instead of trying to think of some reason he would come all the way here. She would definitely pay close attention to him, when he's around Tenchi. With that she disappeared from the limb of the tree and reappeared near the house. She saw Ayeka at the side of the house hanging the wash on the clothesline. She decided that she would talk to Ayeka about them getting along better, then tell Tenchi about it when they weren't in a fight. They decided not to tell Tenchi their decision when Brian first appeared because they still fought after they introduced themselves. "Hey Ayeka" "Oh, hello miss Ryoko." "I was just thinking, when did you want to tell Tenchi about our decision?" "Well, there's no time like the present." "Alright let's go find him and lets try to get along from here on, ok." "Alright, I won't start a fight if you don't." "Hey! What is that suppose to mean?!" Ryoko asked with a glance of anger. "I'm not implying anything Ryoko, I'm just saying I'm not going to start anything, if you don't do anything." "Alright. By the way do you know where Tenchi is?" "I don't know where he is, he's probably in the fields or working at the shrine." "Ohh, I've been meaning to ask you. What do you think about Brian?" Ayeka asked. "I don't know if I'm willing to trust him just yet. There just seems to be something about him that gets me suspicious about him." "Like what?" "Well. . .I don't know it's just this feeling I've got." "Maybe you just don't like the way he introduced himself earlier and it has you jumpy about him." "Yeah, that could be it, did you feel the power he was giving off?" "Oh yes, he has an awful lot of power for one individual to have, I don't think I would have been able to shield us from an attack from him." "Same here, I put a lot of my power into that blast I gave him, I thought I at least hurt him badly, but there wasn't a mark on him." "Well thankfully he seems to be a nice gentleman and an old friend of Yosho's." Just then they heard some commotion in the kitchen and decided to investigate. They walk in to see Brian emerging from Washu's lab wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and carrying his clothing. He looks at Ryoko and Ayeka with a hint of irritation on his face. "That's a very. . .interesting mother you have there Ryoko." Ryoko and Ayeka could barely hear what he said, due to the fact they were awestruck by Brian's build. It appeared that his muscles, had muscles. "It's only for scientific purposes." Came from the doorway to Washu's lab. Washu was dressed in a nurse suit, complete with all the trimmings. "Well, it's alright for a hair sample and I might even give you a blood sample. But you can forget about me giving you 'THAT' type of sample." The Sayajin warrior shot back. Ayeka was able to snap out of her stare to join the conversation. "Miss Washu, don't tell me your trying to get a sample from him this soon?" "What do you mean this soon? Has she done this before?" Brian asked. "Yeah, she used to try to get that sample from Tenchi, but she hasn't tried anything like that for a while." Ryoko said, now glancing at Washu. "At least not that we know about." "Aww, come on Ryoko, I haven't had much of any experiment's to do lately and I need as much as I can to learn more about the Sayajin race." "You mean you already know about the Sayajin race?" Brian asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "Yeah I know some things about your race. For instance, do you have a tail?" Ryoko looked like she was about to face vault onto the floor. "Huh! You mean a Sayajin has a tail?" "Yes, they are born with tails, but at a certain age when the tail is cut off it doesn't grow back." Washu stated, proud about her vast knowledge. "Wow, I guess you do know a thing or two about my race. But how do you know so much about my people?" Washu gets one of her sly looking smiles. "I have my ways." "Well to answer your question, no I don't have my tail anymore." "Aww, to bad I could have done some analyzing on it for more information." "Yeah, well I'm going to go put on my clothes now." "AWW, Why don't you just stand there and start posing for us for a few minutes." It was at that moment everyone looked at Washu in complete shock at what she just said. Washu just looks at everyone like there wasn't anything wrong with what she said. "What? I'm just saying what everyone else would like to say." "Miss Washu, I don't believe what you just said, I would never want to say something like that." "Well your mouth may say you wouldn't, but your blush is telling a different story Ayeka." Ayeka was taken aback as she just realized that she was indeed blushing. The only thing she was able to do as a reply was cast her head toward the floor. Ryoko seemed to feel the same, she was enjoying the view as much as Washu or Ayeka. It was because she was enjoying this, was what scared her the most. She still loved Tenchi, she knew that, but for some reason she was discovering that she's. No, she couldn't be developing feelings for Brian. Could she? It was during their looks at each other, that Brian got dressed. "Well I'm going to go talk to Katsuhito, so if you'll excuse me ladies." "Ohh one more thing Brian. It's very important." "Yes, Washu what is it?" "I would prefer it if you called me 'Little Washu'." She said the last part in a childish little voice. [Add the teardrop on Brian's head] "Uhhh. . .ok, Little Washu, Ladies." With that Brian leaves the room heading for the front door. Ayeka and Ryoko are both looking at Washu with disapproval written all over their faces. Washu just ignores their looks. "Well I'll be in my lab if anyone needs me." With that, Washu skips into her lab while humming a tune. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Brian runs into Tenchi walking down the steps of the shrine. "Hi Tenchi, whatcha doing?" "Oh nothing much really I was just on my way to go take a bath. I guess I need one after what happened earlier today." Brian's face turned to that of worry. "Look I'm sorry for doing that. It was your grandfather's idea for me to do that." "Hey it's alright, I talked to grandpa about what happened, he wanted to see what I would do in a real dangerous situation." "Did you think it was a real dangerous situation?" He asked with a bit of a grin. "Well to be honest with you I though death was going to be a certainty going against you. Where did you learn to fight like that anyway?" "Well that would just be in my blood, you see a Sayajin has, what you would call a sixth sense with fighting." "That would explain how it seemed like you have fought almost everyday of your life. I was scared just from the calmness of your face in that fight." "Yeah, well your grandfather has really taught you well Tenchi, I think you could beat just about anyone with the moves you were doing." "Well thanks, umm...I was wondering, did you really mean it when you said that you were doing only a fraction of what you were capable of." He asked trying to hide the concern in his voice. "Yes, I am capable of doing a lot more than what I showed you. Don't worry though I am able to control my power and I don't mean any harm to anyone." Brian said something under his breath, Tenchi couldn't quite hear what he said, but knew he said something. "Oh before I forget Tenchi, I think Ayeka and Ryoko were wanting to talk to you about something." "Alright, thanks for telling me, I'll go talk to them before I take my bath." "I'm going to go talk to your grandfather and catch up on old times, so I'll see you later." Brian continues his way up the steps and Tenchi goes to find the girls. Brian walks up to the door of the shrine office and is about to knock on the door, when he hears Katsuhito inside. "Come in Brian." He opens the door and sees Katsuhito sitting at a table with a cup of tea in front of him. Brian walks over to him and sits down across from him. "Would you like any tea Brian?" "No thank you, I'm not thirsty." "So you wanted to see me, Brian?" "Yes, I did. I wish I could say that I came here to talk to you about old times, but I can't." "What is it then?" "Do you remember me telling you about Lazarus and Damen?" "Yes, I remember you telling me about those two, with the way you described them, they sounded horrible." "Yes they are horrible. They still hate me; they believe that I betrayed them and seek to get revenge on me. Which is why I'm here. They are trying to get to me by killing those who are close to me." "And they are coming here to kill me, is that it?" "Yes, I'm sorry for getting you and your family into this mess Yosho. But, I promise you that I won't let them hurt you or anyone here." "I know you are a good man Brian and I know you don't want anyone to get hurt. Katsuhito said, ignoring the fact he called him Yosho. "So how long will it be until they arrive here?" "Well, they should arrive in 4, 5 months tops. So that doesn't give me a lot of time to train to be stronger than them when they arrive." "Were you going to tell the others tonight? "No, I'll tell them in a couple of days, I don't want to worry them so soon." "Do you think you have a chance at winning this battle?" "To be honest with you Katsuhito, I don't know, the odds are against me." "The others could help, even I will fight with you. Besides, I think I have something here that will help us gain the upper hand." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Back at the house Ryoko and Ayeka have told Tenchi about their agreement. Tenchi felt overcome with joy, he wouldn't have to worry about waking up in the morning and finding either Ryoko or Ayeka accidentally killed in a fight with the other. He didn't think that they actually try to hurt anyone during their fights, they just relieve their anger for each other by blowing things up. He just wished they would find some other way to take out their anger that wasn't costly to repair. "Well I'm glad to hear that you two are agreeing on getting along with each other. I was beginning to wonder if the fights would ever stop." "Well Tenchi they would have stopped if you'd told us who you would choose." "Come on Ryoko, I can't choose either one of you, I love each of you equally and I couldn't stand to hurt anyone of you." "By the way Lord Tenchi, how did you know we wanted to talk to you?"(I think you should know who asked this question.) "Well I ran into Brian on the way down the shrine steps and he told me you wanted to talk to me about something." "How did he know that we wanted to talk to you? We didn't tell him we were looking for you." "See, what did I tell you Ayeka, there's something fishy about that guy." "Could you define 'fishy' for me Ryoko?" Came a voice from behind them. They all turn to see Brian standing a couple of feet from them. He looked the same, as when Tenchi saw him on the stairs, the only thing difference was he had a small bag on a shoulder strap. Ryoko had an expression on her face that Tenchi normally saw on Mihoshi's face. Ayeka noticed the space pirates loose for words and attempted to answer for her. "Well, umm...you see. . .what she meant was. . ." "What I meant was that you aren't telling us everything, Frankly we don't know a thing about you!!" "Well, what do you want to know?" "I would like to know how you knew we were looking for Lord Tenchi?" "Well that would be due to the fact that I can read minds, although I didn't try to read your minds. Sometimes I can catch things like strong feelings without trying to read them, I just knew you were wanting to talk to him. I respect people's privacy so I didn't try to find out what you wanted to talk about, I just knew that you wanted to see him." "Well I for one appreciate your respect for our privacy." "The way I see it you treat people the way you want to be treated, I wouldn't want anyone reading my mind whenever I was around them." "Yeah I guess I would agree with that too." Tenchi said nodding in agreement. "Well I brought a gift for Katsuhito, but it appears that it wouldn't be a good gift for him." "How so?" Ryoko asked tilting her head. "Well I brought these bottles of sake to give him, but it seems he only drinks tea now. And this is a little too much for me to drink by myself so, I was wondering if anyone else likes to drink sake?" "Well it seems like we're starting off on the right foot this time Brian." Ryoko said with a little laugh. "That's one volunteer would anyone else like to have a drink?" Brian asked looking around at the others. "No thank you." Tenchi and Ayeka said in unison. "I guess it's just you and me Ryoko." "Just means the more for us." Just then Noboyuki walks in the door coming home from a long day at work. "Hi everyone! I just had a really long day and I can't wait for some of. . .Ohh who's our new guest?" "Ah Dad this is Brian, he's an old friend of grandpa's." "Ahh, Well nice to met you Brian." Noboyuki extended his hand and shook hands with Brian. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Was what Noboyuki's reaction to his handshake. "Boy, that's quit the handshake you have there." He replied while rubbing the feeling back into his hand. "OOOHH, I'm sorry about that, I can misjudge my strength sometimes." "That's ok, a big strong guy like you probably does that all the time. Mmmm, It smells like Sasami has cooked another great meal, I'm starving." Sasami sticks her head from around the corner and calls everyone to the table to eat. Tenchi sits down; Ayeka and Ryoko take their normal seats on either side of Tenchi. Just then Washu walks into the kitchen dressed in her Science Academy uniform. She takes a seat next to Brian, who is sitting next to Sasami. She looks at Brian with a smile and winks at him. Causing Brian's eyes to widen a little and a red blush . Ryoko sees Washu's flirting and starts to giggle at Brian's reaction. Washu notices Ryoko's laughter and gives her daughter a stern look, which causes Ryoko to stop laughing. "So Brian where were you going to sleep at while you're here?" Noboyuki asked. "I don't know, I really didn't think about that. Well I could sleep on the couch." "Nonsense, you can sleep in Tenchi's room, Tenchi you still have that knapsack don't you?" "Umm, Yeah I think I still have it." "Okay then, it's settled you'll bunk with Tenchi." "Tenchi doesn't have that much space in his room, there's plenty of empty space in mine." Ryoko spoke up. Ayeka turned her head away from Ryoko and spoke under her breath. "......slut." "What was that Ayeka?!" "I said SLUT!!" "How dare you call me that! I'm only trying to be hospitable, you stuck up BITCH!!" "It figures you'd try to hit on Brian as well, I was right you are a filthy whore who goes from man to man. It's no wonder Lord Tenchi hasn't thrown you out of the house by now. It's only because he's taken pity on you is the only reason your still here." "Yeah well don't think that Tenchi could ever love a cold hearted, snob, Bitch of a princess like you!" "Like he would ever be able to love YOU! You a murderous pirate, who has killed countless men, women, and children! You a complete drain on this house and everyone in it! I think that whoever would kill YOU wouldn't be charged with a crime of murder, but would be given an award and be declared a hero across the universe!" "With all of that, How could he ever love a hideous monster like you?" Ayeka said in a cold plain voice. Tenchi knew there was going to be a huge fight to come out of what Ayeka just said. So Tenchi sat where he was and clenched his eyes closed and looked away waiting for the explosion to destroy most of the kitchen. Seconds that seemed like hours passed, Tenchi waiting for the explosion to come, but nothing happened, it was just quiet. Finally, Tenchi decided to look to see what was happening. He saw Ryoko looking at him with tears streaming down her face. There was deep hurt showing in her eyes, they seemed to be pleading at him. He tried to think why she was looking at him crying, instead of fighting with Ayeka. It then suddenly dawned on him, how it looked from her point of view. She was looking at him to see if he would defend her and he had his head turned from her with his eyes closed. It made it look like he was too ashamed to look at her. "Ryoko. . ." Was all he could get out before she vanished, leaving a few teardrops to stain the floor where she stood seconds before. Ayeka was completely surprised at Ryoko's reaction to what she said. What surprised her more were the things that she herself said. She didn't mean to say that, it just seemed to fly out of her mouth. She felt completely terrible about saying those horrible things about her; she couldn't begin to imagine how painful it must be to Ryoko. She was able to see the hurt in Ryoko's eyes and it was making Ayeka's stomach turn. Tenchi looked at Ayeka in total disbelief. "Ayeka? How could you say something like that about Ryoko? You know it wasn't her fault for what she did, she had no control." "I'm sorry Lord Tenchi, I didn't mean any of it, I was just so angry and. . . What have I done?" "Well it looks like you went and broke your promise to get along better." Brian said making his point in the conversation. Tenchi felt that he had to do something for Ryoko. He felt so guilty about looking away from her when she needed him. What was he thinking, he couldn't just turn away from her expecting her to blast the place apart. He had to make this right again. "I'm going to go talk to her." Tenchi said making his way toward the door. "I think I should be the one to talk to her." Brian said standing up. "With all do respect Brian, I know her a lot better than you do, so I should talk to her." "Which is the point I'm trying to make Tenchi. There are some things you can tell a complete stranger, that you wouldn't have the courage to tell a loved one. When it's someone you don't know, you don't care what they think, but if it's someone that they are close to, it's a different story." Brian sighed. "Besides I think I have more in common with her than anyone else here." He said with a saddened expression. Everyone just seemed to have a look of confusion on their faces. Brian walked into the living room and picked up the small bag of sake that he sat on the couch before dinner. He went back into the kitchen and placed his two fore fingers on his forehead. Everyone just looked at him wondering what he was doing. Tenchi decided to ask the question that was on everyone's mind. "Uhh, Brian?" "I'm trying to find where Ryoko went to. Ahh, there she is, she's near the cave. Ayeka, are you truly sorry for what you did?" "Yes, I've never been more sorry for anything in my life." "Then I want you to go to the cave in about an hour after I leave, maybe then she'll stay for you to apologize." And with that, he became a blur and was gone. Everyone was just taken in complete awe at seeing Brian disappear just like Ryoko could. Tenchi could only wonder if that's what he meant when he said he had more in common with her. Well that's it for this chapter. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Well E-mail me any questions or comments, or you could just E-mail me. My E-mail address is deathgiver2000@yahoo.com