Introduction and Disclaimer

The perhaps never to be produced third part of After The Rain!

Well, I'm uploading this all as a one go thing, and just as a random uploading, really. I hadn't intended on taking it further, until I looked at my files and realised how many snippets I had for beyond the end of part two. In some ways this part is just bringing those things together as a kind of connective epilogue - just to round off the After The Rain story and add some conclusion to it, tying it properly into the future fictions such as Dark Heart, etc.

This story's prologue is set eight months or so after the death of Mikamo Niwase. The rest of the story is set two years beyond that - and should explain the missing pieces relating to Kagato, Washu's imprisonment, Clay's involvement with Tokimi and, perhaps most importantly - the arrival onto the scene of Ayeka and of Ryoko!!

Enjoy...

Synopsis

AFTER THE RAIN: Part Three
A Tenchi Muyo! Fanfiction
by
VRAIEESPRIT

Chapter One
Washu's Subspace Laboratory.
Eight Months On.

So now it was almost completed.

Washu ran her fingers absently along the tinted glass, pausing to observe the tiny life form growing and developing inside. Although the top of the unit bore a long serial number, a pasted white label concealed the end, unfamiliar ancient characters scrawled across it as in her search for comfort she resorted to her native tongue. No matter how many more projects she indulged in after this moment, she knew that this one would always be different. No matter how much she tried to disassociate herself from what she had done, she knew that it was her daughter that grew and developed mere inches from her touch.

"Are you all right?"

She glanced up, seeing her lab partner watching her with concerned eyes, a folder in her hand and her thick fair hair wound tightly back from her face beneath a scarf. "Washu, you seemed to be in a world of your own...is something wrong with the baby?"

"No...nothing is wrong, Kichi." Washu spoke slowly. "She's entirely on schedule with her development, in fact. Everything is going according to plan."

"Then why are you so unhappy today?" Kichi set down her folder, perching on the edge of the bench beside her companion. "I go back to my own studies for a few days and I swear you're sat in the exact same position now as you were when I left. You can't drown everything in your work, you know - talk to me."

"It's nothing really." Washu shrugged, raising a faint smile as she registered her friend's concern. "And I promise you I've eaten and slept since you went back. I haven't forgotten how to look after myself, you know."

"Well, that's a relief to know, but I'm not sure I totally believe you when you say it's nothing." Kichi was pensive. "You haven't been yourself for a while, we both know that, and you've barely emerged from here in weeks - people are starting to talk. I did think this project was starting to bring you out of your grief over Niwase-sensei's death. That working so hard on something so focused was helping you find yourself again. Now you look about to start crying - won't you tell me what's wrong, at the very least?"

"Sometimes you can't fight off all the dark moments." Washu said slowly. "Kichi, it occured to me today that I'm never going to have any more children, am I?"

"You don't know that." Kichi looked surprised. "For one thing, you've successfully brought a female embryo more or less to term already. The science of it isn't beyond you. And secondly...Washu, I know you're still hurting. But time heals wounds...it really does. You will feel differently. Mikamo-sensei might be gone, but that doesn't mean you have to be alone."

"It does." Washu raised resigned green eyes to the younger woman, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll never love anyone like I love him, Kichi. Time doesn't heal as much as you think it does. It's the one thing I've always had enough of...and it's never done me any good. I'm better off alone, it seems - safer that way. Since I came back here, I've had my lab raided, and I've been interrogated by Juraian agents working for that black-hearted Prince, looking for the gems that he's not smart enough to find. Sooner or later my luck must run out. He's tried to have me killed, and once he realises that he can't do that, he'll look to some other way of interfering in my life...I'm sure of it."

"You don't know that he will. He might have given up."

"I doubt it." Washu said bitterly. "He's slain his best friend in pursuit of the power in these gems, Kichi. In one way or another, it's true. Najya Akara disappeared from Jurai at the same time, and from the insinuations of his agents, she's also been on his target list - whether she's been able to use her unusual arts to escape his attentions, only he knows. It's become a dangerous game - a very dangerous game."

She sighed, rubbing her temples.

"I keep working because I must - for two specific reasons, Kichi." She added. One, because Mikamo deserves vengeance. And two...two, because I honestly don't know what method might be able to end my life, even if I did choose to take that path. Kagato's poison failed. His interrogation methods failed. The more I think on it, the more I'm frightened by the prospect of being immortal and living with this level of grief. If I can at least work, then I have something in which to hide it all. But when Ryoko is born and you take her to Yubisu, I'll be quite alone, once more. And I'll have to find a way to pull myself back to where I was before all of this...somehow."

"Ryoko?" Kichi looked startled. "You named her already?"

"Yes." Washu pinkened, nodding her head sheepishly. "Oh, don't look at me like that!" As Kichi raised an eyebrow. "She had to have a name, and it's probably the only thing I'll ever get to do for her."

"But why Ryoko?" Kichi touched the edge of the glass. "And why name her before she's even properly born? She may not breathe, yet. Isn't it tempting fate?"

"She will breathe." Washu said quietly. "I have faith in my science, even if I have faith in nothing else."

She smiled humourlessly.

"I thought Ryoko was an apt choice." She added, her fingers brushing absently against the white label as she outlined the two distinctive Kii characters that adorned its surface. "It's a name that can have many meanings, which suits my purpose. But the one I choose to give it - the one that seems the most fitting - is demon-caller in the letters of my own language. And I can't think of anyone more deserving of the name demon than Prince Kagato. Can you?"

"Perhaps not." Kichi acknowledged. "All right. If it makes you happier, then Ryoko she will be. But Washu, I don't like seeing this you. You're so strong most of the time - you've been so strong since Mikamo died that I forget how recently it happened or how close you both were. Maybe it's not such a good idea, me taking off with the baby and leaving you to stew here. Maybe there's another way around it. After all, having her might heal something in you - you wouldn't be alone, if you raised her yourself."

"Kichi, this is a scientific experiment. Not an attempt to pander to my weak and silly emotional state." Washu shook her head impatiently. "Besides, you know that Kagato is her father. That man ruined my life...and stole Mikamo's sanity through his pursuit of those wretched gems. Ryoko is a weapon, she's not a child. And she'll take revenge for all of us, when she's grown and trained to use this magic. Things have to go on how they are...you're mistaken if you think I have any emotional attachment to this baby. Her existance - her fulfilment of all my hard work - that is the only thing driving me forward. Without Mikamo, I have no desire for a family. She's science. Nothing more."

"Washu." Kichi eyed her keenly. "You may be a good liar, but I know you too well. Regardless of her father's identity, you're her mother just as sure as if you'd grown her inside of you."

"And Kagato is not a fool." Washu said flatly. "You've seen the lengths he's already gone to - I worry about your involvement in this all the time, too. You're the only person in which I've confided everything - but even so, I fear I've put you at risk. Kagato may or may not believe now that Mikamo took them before he died - but we can't risk him making the connection to me again. It's a dangerous game we're already playing, and if he comes back for me, I want you and Ryoko well away from here."

"He might hurt you again, Washu. And you'd have noone to mix up antidotes for you this time, if he tried a second attempt." Kichi's brow creased in concern. "We both know not everyone here is who they seem. Clay and maybe others are already in his pay...I don't like to abandon you, when there are so few people you can trust in as it is."

"Kagato can't hurt me more than he already has." Washu said grimly. "I don't think now that he can kill me, but even if he can't, Ryoko probably isn't immortal. She may be very powerful, one day...but her genetic foundations are based on his principles more than they are my own, in order for her to inherit as much of Kagato's gem-wielding ability as possible. And as a baby, she's vulnerable and defenceless. I won't have her slain before she's had a chance to grow and learn the things she needs to know. No, Kichi. Things must go on the way we planned them to. What happens to me is immaterial now, anyhow. So long as Ryoko lives and thrives, things will be all right. If it costs me my existance, so be it. I've more than lived my life, anyhow - my focus is with her and yours must be too."

"Perhaps so." Kichi nodded. She hesitated, and Washu thought she saw a look of compassion in her friend's eyes. "But I do understand in one way, what you're feeling about having to part with her - even if you won't admit it to me.. I can't have my own children, we both know that. In a way I feel wrong, taking yours from you like this. But in another sense, I promise I will always love and protect her, even as I teach her what you want her to know. I won't let either of you down, Washu. Ryoko will be in good hands, I swear."

"I know." Washu acknowledged. "You're the only person I trust...I know you won't fail me."

She got to her feet, smoothing down her skirts idly as she did so.

"Perhaps, in the end, being alone is the only way I'll ever get to grips with things." She added. "You can push things out of your mind as often as you like, but they will come back and I haven't let myself grieve for Mikamo fully. It's not something I can do in front of others - and his family barred me from his funeral, so I didn't get to say goodbye to him then, either. A lot of things are still swirling around inside of me, and they're making me feeble and irrational."

"You're not feeble or irrational. You loved him." Kichi said softly. "But I understand what you mean. You take all the time you need, Washu. Tell Ryoko, if you can't tell me. She's too young to repeat your secrets, after all."

Washu offered her friend a smile, and Kichi returned it, reclaiming her folder and withdrawing from the laboratory. Alone with her infant once more, Washu rested both her hands on the glass, watching the tiny girl inside. Every so often the child moved a leg or an arm, or turned her head, and each time she did so, Washu felt a pang of regret settle in her heart.

"Whatever I say, Kichi is right." She said aloud, sighing heavily. "Whoever your father is, you are still my blood daughter and because of it, I'm tied to you. It's instinct...but can instinct be so strong as that? That even though I've done everything I can to seperate myself from you, you're still connected to me because we share DNA? Or maybe I am just so lonely without Mikamo. Knowing that he and I won't ever have a family together taunts at me. I couldn't have sacrificed my time at the Academy for anyone else, Ryoko...but I could have given it all up in a heartbeat if it had meant having him for all time, and being happy. Yet here we are, you whose only purpose in life is to kill your father, and me, who tries to repair the wounds in her heart by creating a baby from her own DNA. We make a sad pair, don't we?"

She shrugged, her expression softening as the baby batted an involuntary fist against the glass.

"I wonder if you know I'm here." She mused. "Not that it matters. I'm not the one you'll grow up calling Mama, Ryoko-chan. You'll never know me, and I suppose that in time I'll make myself forget you, too - like I've made myself forget so many other painful memories. Just make sure you don't fail me. Do as Kichi tells you and be strong and brave for my sake. I don't know what the future holds for either of us...but if we can make a difference and do what I set out to do, at least that will be something."

She bit her lip.

"Either way, I won't have any other child than you, I know that now." She added. "I couldn't go through this again - not knowing I would lose them and everyone around me leaves me sooner or later. Mikamo is gone and so is my chance of a family. When you and Kichi have left for Yubisu, all I'll have is my work and my inventions. And maybe that's for the best. At least then I can't taint anyone else's life with the curse of death I seem to bring. Who knows? Maybe there is some truth to all the stories about the Kii. Maybe we are demons...maybe we do destroy people's souls and hearts and leave destruction in our wake. I've tried so hard to escape that past, Ryoko - but what if that's my future as well?"