Again I'll say that I do not own any of the Tenchi Muyo characters. I can only claim my characters Brian, Damen, and Lazarus. Well this is the fourth chapter so I hope you enjoy. When Worlds Collide: No Need for Old Memories" It's a dark night and the stars are shining brightly. It would have been a quiet serene night, except for the sounds of sorrow. Ryoko lay on a rock with her head resting on her forearms sobbing her heart out. She felt as though Tenchi and Ayeka took turns stabbing her in the heart with the Tennchi-ken. How could Ayeka have said those things about her, it wasn't her fault Kagato forced her to hurt all the innocent people. But she did feel responsible for her actions. Maybe if she could have found a way to stop herself from killing someone, long enough for them to kill her. That way there wouldn't have been so many deaths at her hands. Then again maybe Ayeka was right, perhaps she is a danger still, just being here could place the others in danger. *I can't stay here, I could get Tenchi hurt or killed, I love him too much to let anything happen to him. But I love him too much to be able to live without him,. . .so I guess the only option open to me is. . . . * Upon realizing that she has no other options, she wipes the tears from her face and around her tearshot eyes. She then radiates a small ball of energy in her hand and ignites a small energy sword. "At least I'll look like I died with some dignity. " She spoke to herself aloud. "And what will that accomplish? Justice." Ryoko didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "Go away Brian, I don't want to talk to you!" "Why do you want me to leave? So you can kill yourself? Then who would I have as a drinking buddy. It would be a shame to waste all this sake by throwing it away." "Brian I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. SO PLEASE LEAVE!! She screamed at him with anger and pain in her voice. "I'm not joking Ryoko, I figured we could have some sake and talk about what's wrong." "What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG!? I'll tell you what's wrong, Ayekas right I am a monster! I'm responsible for countless deaths, no one could ever love me, I have too much blood on my hands for anyone to ever care about me. " After she was able to get it all out she collapsed to her knees, relieving the pain by crying again. "Are you completely blind Ryoko? There are 8 people in that house that care for you. They don't want you to go and kill yourself. How do you think Tenchi would interpret the sight of your lifeless corpse out here? He would blame himself for you killing yourself, he feels horrible for what happened in there." "If he feels so horrible about it, how come he isn't out here?" She asked looking up at him. "He's not out here because I stopped him from coming." She looked at him in shock. "Why?" "Because it's easier for you to tell things to a stranger, than someone you think the universe of. That and I know how you feel." "What do you mean you know how I feel? Can you stand there and tell me that you are responsible for the deaths of countless people. That you single handedly killed so many people, that nobody in the universe wants you around on their planet. And when you try to go to sleep at night, you can't because you see the faces of the people you killed." She said with tear-filled eyes. Brian sat down next to Ryoko on the rock and pulled out a couple of bottles of sake. He then let out a deep sigh. "Yes." "Ryoko my race isn't remembered for our peaceful ways, we were cold blooded killers. We would go to different planets and wipeout all the people that were on that planet and sell it on the intergalactic black market. I was raised on Vegetta, that was the name of our homeworld. I didn't know of any other way to live. I can't remember how many worlds I helped rape, but I would say that I've killed more people than you." Ryoko looked at him in complete shock. She watched him take a long hard chug of the bottle of sake he had in his hand. She couldn't imagine the nice man that came into their house today, would have more blood on his hands than her. "(Sniff) So what happened?" "Are you asking what changed me?" "Well you don't have to talk about it if you don't want too." "No. . ., it's alright, it's what I came out here for. I figured both of us need to talk about what hurts us from time to time. So I guess I'll start off." After starting a fire, He lowered his head to where he was concentrating his sight on a spot on the ground. Ryoko looked at him with her complete attention, completely forgetting what had happened minutes ago. As he began his story, Ryoko had to think that it seemed like he was watching what had happened. It was as though he was telling her what happened when he saw it. "It happened after Damen, Lazarus, and I, they are a couple of Sayajins too, finished clearing off a planet known as Rexion 3. We finished a few days ahead of schedule, so we decided to have a couple of day's rest. They went their own separate ways, as did I. I went to a planet in the next solar system, it was called Veloptia, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. The people there were different than any others I had come across. Normally people would have looked at me funny and would have told me to leave, but they didn't. They seemed to welcome me as a long lost friend, they had a warmth in their eyes. Their eyes were kind and gentle, much like Tenchi's eyes are, you know what I'm talking about." Ryoko nodded her head in agreement. He went on to tell her about how he met this woman named Elizabeth. He told her about how she made him feel, it was love at first sight. Talked about how they spent a day at the beach, he felt like he was alive for the first time in his life. He felt like spending the rest of his life with her. Within 5 days of knowing her, he asked her to marry him. She agreed and he felt like his heart was going to explode from the joy he felt when she said Yes. Brian, who was smiling at the parts of Elizabeth, turned to an expression of sorrow. He then explained about how he got the call from the others that their next assignment was to wipeout the planet that he was on. He refused to go through with it, he told them through his scouter that he was quitting his evil ways. He told Elizabeth about who he was and what was going to happen. He thought she would tell him to leave and never come back, but she didn't. She only showed sympathy for him, so he decided to talk to their planet's leaders to evacuate as much people as they could. When he told them about the situation, they blamed him for what was going to happen. People started throwing things at him and Elizabeth stayed by his side helping him to get away from the crowds. "And then someone in the crowd pulled out a gun. I didn't see it, but Elizabeth did. She. . .She. . . .oh god why?" He took another long hard chug of sake. "I'm sorry Brian." "Yeah, well I grabbed her and flew away from the city and set down on a mountain. She was still alive and before she died, she asked me to forgive everyone there and to stay the person she fell in love with. Then she died in my arms." After taking another drink. "I tell you, I've been severely wounded, stabbed and even been burned a couple of times, but no pain was as great as it was on that day." "The point I'm trying to make Ryoko is that it wasn't your fault that Kagato made you do that. As for me though I have to live with the fact that it was my actions that killed those people. But I keep going because of the promise I made to Elizabeth. And when it seems there's nothing left, look around at what you do have. You have your friends, everyone in that house is your friend, even Ayeka." "Come on Brian I said I wasn't in the mood for jokes." "I'm not joking Ryoko, she should be coming up here soon to tell you something. And I want you to promise me you'll stay here and listen to what she has to say. When she's finished and you still feel your don't belong anywhere,. . . I won't stop you from making your decision." "Why do you care so much about what happens to me?" Ryoko asked unsure if she wanted the answer. "I care because,. . . I think you would be depriving the universe of something great by killing yourself Ryoko. Now promise me you'll listen to her." She nodded her head. Suddenly a snap of a twig is heard not to far away. Brian senses that it's Ayeka and she's right on time. "We're over here Ayeka!" Ayeka makes her way slowly up to where Brian and Ryoko are sitting, each of them were holding a bottle of sake. Normally Ayeka would have made a rude comment on a sight like that, but she felt terrible about what happened earlier. Ayeka walks up and stands in front of Ryoko and Brian. Ryoko turns her head away from Ayeka, but gives no indication that she was going to take off. "Well I'll leave you two alone to talk now. So I'll hopefully see you back at the house Ryoko." Brian jumps into the air and flies toward the direction of the house. Ayeka stands in front of Ryoko for a minute in complete silence. Ryoko still has her head turned away from her, which seemed to make it more difficult to say the right words. Finally Ayeka decided to tell Ryoko how she felt would be the best way to apologize. "Ryoko, . . .I'm sorry about what I said in there. I didn't mean any of it, I was just angry at the moment and I blurted that out. I am sorry that I wasn't able to keep my promise to get along better." Ayeka could tell this wasn't helping any, Ryoko still wouldn't face her. As far as Ayeka could tell she wasn't even acknowledging she was there. She knew she could do better than this, so she would tell Ryoko the truth. "I know this isn't the best apology Ryoko, but I . . .to tell you the truth, the reason why I fight with you is because...I'm jealous of you." Ryoko faced Ayeka in complete shock at what she just confessed. Suddenly Ayeka wasn't the one who couldn't face her rival. She turned her back to Ryoko continuing with her confession. "The reason why I'm jealous of you is because your so open about your feelings and you seem to be so free. As a First-born princess of Jurai, I can't be open with my feelings. I'm a prisoner of my duties and to see someone like you able to do whatever pleases you, reminds me how trapped I feel." A single tear streams down Ayeka's face. "I can understand if you can never forgive me, I had no right to say those things. And I will leave Earth if you want me to and you can have Lord Tenchi, if it will allow you to forgive me." Ayeka was barely able to get the last part of her apology out. Her voice sounded shaky and she was visibly trembling. She felt as though her heart was going to give out. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Ryoko standing behind her. It wasn't a face of joy like Ayeka had pictured, but more of a face of sympathy. Ayeka then realized that she had cried during her apology to Ryoko and quickly wiped the tears away. "Ayeka, that has to have been the nicest thing anyone could ever say to me. Thank you. And as long as we're making confessions out here, I might as well confess that I have been jealous of you too." "What?" She nods her head. "Yeah, I've been jealous of you, because you're so proper and graceful all the time. I've never been able to do anything like that, so I cling myself onto Tenchi in fear that you'll take him away from me." "So you do want me to leave?" "I'm sure that nobody, not even me, would have expected me to say this. But you don't have to leave if you don't want too." "Your right nobody would have expected that to come out of you." Ayeka finished with a slight laugh. "Yeah I guess you have a point. Well I guess we should be heading back to the house now. Everyone is probably starting to get worried." "Yes it's starting to get really dark now, do you mind if we walk back to the house?" "No, not at all." Suddenly Ryoko gets one of her sly looks on her face. "In fact, first one to the house gets to kiss Tenchi." Ryoko starts running off and Ayeka takes off behind her yelling something about not touching Lord Tenchi. Meanwhile above them, a certain sayajin was keeping a close eye on the two below. "Good job Ayeka." He said with a slight smile. Knowing that everything was ok, he instant transmitted himself back to the house. In the living room everyone was waiting for someone to come back to the house. Tenchi seemed to be more concerned than anyone else, he didn't know what was happening and it seemed to be driving him mad. He just had to know if everything was ok. Just then Brian appeared next to the table near the couch Tenchi was sitting at. Tenchi jumped 3 feet into the air and landed next to Brian. "Brian, is everything ok with Ryoko, she and Ayeka aren't fighting are they? I just have to know if everything's all right, please tell me." "Woo, slow down Tenchi, everything is fine, in fact I think things might be better than before now." "Huh, what do you mean?" "Ohh, just call it a hunch." "Yeah I think I'd trust that hunch of his Tenchi" Washu adding to the conversation. Brian turns to see Washu standing near the couch Tenchi was in. Just then Ryoko and Ayeka come running into the door at the same time. They both seemed to be heavy winded; each of them glanced at the other exchanging smiles. Tenchi walked over to them to see how they were and they both hugged and kissed him on the cheek at the same time. The thing that struck Tenchi weird was that they didn't fight over the huge or the kiss from the other. Everyone else took notice of the situation and looked shocked, except Washu. Washu walked over to Brian and asked to talk to him alone in the kitchen. As they walked toward the kitchen, Brian wondered if he should be on his guard for some kind of sneak attack by one of Washu's inventions. "Brian, are you aware of the fact that my daughter and I share a mental link with one another?" "Umm. ...No I wasn't aware of that. So what does that mean, you can read her mind or something?" "Well sort of like that, I can sense her emotions and hear her thoughts." "So did you listen in on us talking out there?" "I consider myself her mother, more than her creator Brian and mothers are protective of their daughters. So, yes I did hear what you talked about out there and I just have one thing to say to you." "Thank You. I can only imagine telling her those things about you must have been very difficult for you. I won't tell the others about it if you don't want me too." "Thank you Little Washu. I would like to add that the person that I was, is long dead and the person you see today is the real me." "So your saying it wouldn't matter to you if I told them or not?" "Well I would prefer you not say anything about it, I would be afraid they would look at me differently." "Then my lips are sealed." Suddenly Washu turns into her adult form. "My lips could be sealed because they're wrapped around yours." Before Brian could do anything to respond to what Washu was doing she wraps her arms around the back of his neck and gives him a deep, passionate kiss. It was then that Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko walked into the kitchen to finish their dinner. All three of them gasp at what was happening in the kitchen. Upon hearing the others gasp, Washu breaks away from the kiss and makes the face of a very shocked Sayajin visible. "Ohh, this is so embarrassing." Washu said, while playfully trying to cover her face and blushing. "What do you think your doing Washu?!" Ryoko demanded. "Well Ryoko I think I know where you get your bad habits from." Ayeka commented. "Why girls you sound as if you're getting jealous?" Washu said in a playful voice. "Miss Washu, I am not jealous, I'm in love with Lord Tenchi. All I am saying is that you should act more accordingly." Brain knew there was probably going to be another fight to develop from this so he decided to stop it. "Excuse me girls, but I think it's getting late, so I'm going to call it a night." "Good night Brian." Everyone said in unison. It was late in the night. Everyone was sleeping soundly, everyone except Brian. He was having a hard time sleeping, couldn't seem to get comfortable. So he decided that he should go out and get some fresh air. He quietly got up and snuk out of Tenchi's bedroom, without disturbing Tenchi. He decided to fly the rest of the way to the front door, so as not to disturb anyone's sleep. He decided to walk to the lake and sat down and admired the serenity of the countryside. The half moon shone brightly enough to illuminate the night to see the surroundings. Brian admired the beauty of the moon reflecting off the lake, but his thoughts were on the subjects he talked about with Ryoko earlier in the night. Brian wondered if he could ever forgive himself for what he was in the past. His feelings about his past were like a reoccurring dream that just wouldn't end. And the part of that reoccurring dream would come here eventually, and he would finally be able to put all his guilt and remorse to rest. One way or another, his nightmare would be over in a few months. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the footsteps of someone approaching him. He felt a hand on his shoulder, feeling the sudden touch snapped him back to where he was at that moment. It was Ryoko. "Ryoko what are you doing up so late?" "I couldn't sleep and I heard someone come out here, so I figured I'd see what was up?" "Oh I'm just thinking." "What about?" "I've had something I have to tell everyone here, but what I have to say could upset everyone." "What is it?" "I'd rather not say right now, I was wanting to wait a couple of days before I tell everyone. Then again it would be lying to everyone and I want to be honest with them." "Well why don't you tell me and I'll tell you if everyone would want to hear it sooner than later." "Well. . .alright, but I hope you don't hate me for this." "After what you did to help me tonight, I don't think I could ever hate you Brian." So Brian told Ryoko the story about the two sayajins who were on their way to earth. He told her why they were coming and how strong they were. "Lazarus is the weaker of the two, I'm stronger than he is so I'm not too worried about him. Damen however, He's stronger than I am so it could be a close call. Well what do you think?" "Well maybe we should give the others a day or two before we tell them." She said with a look of worry on her face. "I know you must feel a little scared from me telling you this. But I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone here." "Why would I be worried, I'm the greatest space pirate who ever lived. And besides everyone in this house can hold their own." "I don't know Ryoko, they're pretty powerful. And the way that they behave, they would make Kagato proud." "Well there's no sense in worrying so soon before they get here now, so let's call it a night." "Alright, I'll see you in the morning." The next couple of days went just like any normal day at the Masaki household. The only difference was Ayeka and Ryoko were getting along and the addition of the newest guest Brian. Sasami woke up at 5:00 as usual to go and prepare breakfast as she normally does everyday. She quietly walked out of the room in order to let Ayeka sleep, carefully closing the door behind her. As she walked down the stairs she heard some noises coming from the kitchen and thought it was Ryoko getting a snack. As she approached the kitchen doorway she saw Brian getting some vegetables ready to cook. She stood in the doorway and was about to say good morning, when she heard some movement to her left. She turned her head to see what the source of the noise was, it was. . .Brian. There were two Brian's in the kitchen, the new one was fixing eggs. Sasami stood there in complete shock, it was as if her mind just stopped working. Then the one that was fixing the vegetables noticed Sasami in the doorway. "Good morning Sasami." Brian noticed the look of confusion on her face and couldn't think of why she was looking like that. "Is something wrong Sasami?" "what...um??" she replied while glancing in between the two. Suddenly another Brian walked in through the back door into the kitchen. He was carrying a basket full of food. The other two glanced at the one that walked into the kitchen, then they all looked at Sasami. Sasami just had an even more confused look. "Three" "Ohh. . .Sorry about that Sasami, I forgot to tell you I can split myself up into three parts. It comes in handy when you need some extra help." "Wow, that's pretty cool. Ryoko can separate into two, but I don't think she could split into three." "Nobody has told me she's able to do that. That's pretty interesting. Well why don't you go back to bed and I'll take care of breakfast. Ok." "I'm not really tired anymore, would you like any help?" "Not unless you want to help." "Yeah, I'll help." Tenchi wakes up at around 8:00 and smells breakfast cooking downstairs. He walks out his door and meets Ayeka in the hallway. "Good morning Lord Tenchi." "Good morning Ayeka." Tenchi and Ayeka walk down the stairs together talking about what occurred last night. Ayeka didn't go into detail about her apology to Ryoko. When they reached the living room they both noticed Sasami was sitting on the couch with everyone else except Brian and Washu. "Sasami, is breakfast ready?" Ayeka asked. "Ohh Ayeka, Brian is making breakfast this morning, he said it would be a few more minutes. He said he had something to tell us after breakfast." It was then when Ryoko realized what it was he was going to tell them. Ryoko starts to get up when Ayeka inquires where she's going. "Ohh. . .I was just going to see if Brian needed help with anything." This struck Ayeka as something weird. * She never does anything to help out around here, I wonder what she's up too. * Sasami's face lite up. "I'll come and help too." "Uhh, no that's ok Sasami, I was wanting to talk to him about something anyway. Alone." "Oh, Ok." Ryoko hovers into the kitchen, while the rest stay in the living room watching TV. Ayeka looks a Tenchi. "I wonder what that was all about." Tenchi just shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the soap that was playing on the TV. Ayeka tried to watch the program, but her mind kept wondering what the two were talking about. It was strange, what could they be talking about. Could they be in there talking about telling everyone what happened a couple of nights ago? No, they wouldn't do that, Ryoko would have to admit that she was jealous of her too. Or maybe she's in there trying to. . .trying to seduce Brian. "What's wrong Ayeka?" Tenchi inquired. "Hmm. . . ." It was then that Ayeka noticed that she had her fist balled up and she had her teeth gritted. Why was she getting upset about Ryoko with Brian? If they were together, she could get Tenchi. Perhaps she just doesn't like it when Ryoko is so aggressive all the time and that could be what's troubling her. "Ok everyone Breakfast is served." Brian said at the doorway. As everyone gathered in the kitchen, Brian and Ryoko were off to the side talking together. It seemed Brian had made a big breakfast, with some American food as well as Japanese. The only thing Brian seemed to forget was that they didn't have any silverware for the eggs. "Excuse me Brian, we don't have any forks to eat this with." "Ahh, thanks for reminding me about that Tenchi. Is there a store nearby?" "Yeah there's one a couple of miles from here, I'll show you where it's at." Ryoko said. "Alright, as long as we're heading to the store is there anything else we need?" "No I think that's just about all we need." Sasami answered. "Ok Ryoko we'll have to fly to the store then." "We'll be back in a few minutes." "Hey Ryoko you hold on to me and I can fly both of us there faster." "Say, you wouldn't be trying to take advantage of me holding onto you would you?" She said with her mischievous grin. "Umm. . .no I wouldn't do anything like that Ryoko. Come on stop embarrassing me." "Ok, I'll stop. Well let's get going!" Ryoko grabbed onto Brian's back and the others were outside watching them off. Suddenly Brian and Ryoko looked like they were engulfed in a bright white flame and then they sped off into the sky. Leaving a small crater where they took off from. Cheers from Ryoko could be heard as they sped off. Sasami looked up at them go. "Oh WOW! That looks like fun." "Sasami, I don't want you to get any ideas of asking Brian to fly." "Oh alright." Sasami said with a look of disappointment. Everyone went back inside to eat the other food they could eat with chopsticks. Around 10 minutes later they heard Brian and Ryoko return. They walked into the kitchen and looked like they had fun. "Woo! That was a blast! We'll have to do that again." "Ok I guess we could go faster if you want to next time." "Wha. .you mean you can fly faster than that?" "Yeah, you could say I'm just full of surprises Ryoko." "We got the forks!" Ryoko said raising the forks in the air victoriously. After everyone was finished eating breakfast, Brian decided to tell them the news. He and Ryoko talked about how they were going to break the news of why Brian was really there. "Everyone, I want to say that you have been the nicest people to me and I consider you like a family. And I feel that family should be honest with each other, so I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't just come here to see Katsuhito again, I've come here to save him." "Huh! What do you mean, to save him? From what?" Tenchi asked nervously. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see it was Ryoko. "Please Tenchi, let him finish what he has to say. It's not going to be easy for him to explain all of this." "I've already told Ryoko about this and she agreed with me to keep this a secret for a few more days. Today I'm going to tell you the bad news." Brian explained the situation to everyone. He told them about Lazarus and Damen, and their plan to come and kill Katsuhito. He didn't tell them about his past with them, just that he knew what they were like. Explained how long until they arrived and how he was going to fight them alone. "Hey you didn't say anything about fighting them alone, we're going to help you." Ryoko said with a hint of anger. "I don't want to see any of you get hurt. I wouldn't be so concerned if I knew you could help, but these two are way beyond any one of you, even you Ryoko." "I don't care, if their coming here to kill all of us, I'm going to fight to the end." "Tell me Brian, how is it that you came to know these two horrible monsters?" Ayeka asked. "Well,. . .umm. . .I really don't want to talk about how I came to know them. Let's just leave it at that, I know them and their ruthless." "Well I think I know how to help you Brian." Washu said. "How's that?" "Well when you first came here I knew that sayajins like to train to become stronger. So I built a gravity enhancer in my lab, it's got more than enough room in it for you to train your heart out." "A gravity enhancer?" He asked with a confused look. "Well I guess you don't know, but the secret for a sayajin being more powerful than any other race is because of your homeworlds gravity. The gravity of your planet is about 10 times that of the Earth's gravity. With this machine you can increase the gravity in the room, thereby increasing you strength." "WOW! Little Washu you really are the greatest scientific genius of the universe." "Ohh Brian, you really are too kind." She said with a blush. "Tell me about it." Ryoko said under her breath. Suddenly Ryoko becomes a blur and is changed into a water sprite. Everyone looks at Washu, who has her holotop computer out and begins a small evil and sinister laugh. Leaving Ryoko jumping up and down trying to argue at Washu, but isn't making any sense with her squawks. "Maybe now you'll begin to have more respect for you mother, Little Ryoko." She said continuing her laugh. After a few minutes Washu changed Ryoko back and took everyone into her lab and showed them the gravity room. It was amazing, there were weights, a large enough area to spar, and it was so complete it even had a jump rope. She then showed them a door off to the side, which had a room for Brian to sleep in with a bed and a fridge full of food. "(whistles)Boy Washu you can really go all out when you want too." Brian commented. "That's not the best part, my little baby here can generate up to 3,000 times normal gravity." "I think I want to train to get stronger Washu, not end up flatter than a pancake." "The idea is to go along gradually and increase it when you feel your ready too. The control panel is on the wall next to the door. You key in how much gravity you want and it'll generate it." "Washu I don't know what to say. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" Washu gets a sinister grin on her face. "Well now that you mention it." She hands him a small cup and points to a door that reads "Spermicidal Removal". Brian's face turns red and hangs his head down. "Me and my big mouth. Alright I'll give you the sample, but only on one condition." "Name it?" "I don't want you to do anything weird with it. I mean don't make any clones of me or make a son of yours with my sperm and your eggs. Just to use it for simple medical examination, nothing weird." He finished with emphasis on weird. "Ahh rats. Alright I won't do anything weird with it, ok." "Alright." Brian walks into the room and the others just stand there dumbfounded. Finally Ryoko breaks the silence. "What a day." Well that's this chapter. I think I'm getting a little better with each chapter. Well I guess I'll start on the next chapter. What will happen next time. Will Washu keep her word, or will she make a scientific monstrosity. Will Ryoko and Ayeka be able to keep the peace or will things finally go too far. Find out on the next exciting episode of "When Worlds Collide".