Someplace like home by Robert Hazelton

	Disclaimer: The characters within are used without permission for the sheer non profit

enjoyment of fans of the Tenchi Muyo! genre.  The author claims no ownership.

Episode 1:  No need for dreaming

            Ryoko bolted from sleep with a sharp gasp, blinking away the haze of sleep.  ‘What was that all about?’  She thought as she ran a hand through her hair.  ‘Haven’t dreamt like that in—‘ Someone stirred beside her, the motion froze her in place.  Glancing over without moving, her breath caught in her throat—Tenchi!

            ‘Okay, would anyone else be quite as confused as I am right now?’  She bit her lip and stared at him.

            He opened his eyes and sat up.  “Ryoko, what’s wrong?”

            “Bad dream.”  She was looking at him oddly almost frightened. 

            “Ah… I’m sorry.”  He sat up and put his arms around her drawing her head to his chest.  “What about this time?”

            She sat motionless in his arms, face contorted in confusion.  “Uh… I uh… I don’t really… I don’t remember.”  ’This has to be a dream… Just go along with it.’ She shrugged and looked up at him with a smile.  “It’s nothing… really.”

            He smiled back at her and kissed her on the forehead.  “Okay, I’d better get back to sleep… it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

            She nodded at him.  “Yep, long indeed.”  ‘Especially when I wake up in my own bed.’

*           *            *

            Ryoko stretched and yawned before kicking off the covers.  Squinting at the sun streaming in through the window she sat up, eyes widening as she realized where she was.  ‘Still in Tenchi’s Room?’  She pursed her lips.  ‘What the hell…’

            “Ryoko!”  It was Tenchi, from downstairs by the sound of it.  “Ryoko, are you up yet?”

            “If I wasn’t before…”  She muttered, floating to her feet and pushing the door open to peer down the hall.  “Yes, I’m up.”

            “Hurry up, we’ve got to go.”

            “Oh yeah… Wouldn’t want to miss it.”  She looked about the room frantically for some clue as to what was going on.  Nothing out of the ordinary—it was clean, everything tidied up except the covers she left strewn about the bed. 

            She opened the closet door and pawed through the clothes: hers and Tenchi’s hanging side by side.  “Okay, this is just weird.”  She complained, selecting a dark blouse and matching pants.  “What is going on?”

            The door opened as she was buttoning up the pants, her shirt was already in place.  Tenchi walked in dressed in a dark suit, a thin tie dancing in front of the buttons on the white shirt.  “What’s going on?”  He asked.  “Are you okay?”

            She sighed.  “Actually, no I’m not Tenchi.”  She crossed her arms.  “I’m confused.”

            “Ryoko, I know it’s hard… I’m sad too but not showing up isn’t going to help.”

            “Showing up to what?”  She threw up her hands.

            “Ayeka’s funeral?”  He asked, squinting at her.  “What’s wrong with you?”

            “Tenchi…”

            “Are you guys ready?”  Mihoshi’s voice asked quietly from the hall.

            “Yeah, Mihoshi.”  Tenchi glanced back at Ryoko with a frown.  “It’s going to be hard, Ryoko… but we’ll get through it together.”  He extended his hand.  “For better or worse remember?”

            A lump appeared in her throat as she took his hand, noticing for the first time the gold band gracing her slender finger.  “My God…” She whispered and allowed him to lead her out and down the stairs.  It was going to be a long day indeed.

*           *            *

            The funeral flew by like some kind of perverse dream and Ryoko was in the mist the whole time.  The words echoed eerily in the background, a mockery of reality and the guests who attended didn’t really seem to be there.  Half way through, she swore she was going to be sick as an overwhelming nausea settled on her stomach. 

            When she looked around, they were in the lobby of the temple and she had no idea how she got there.  Tenchi was holding her hand tightly and she realized she was partly using him for support.  People were expressing their condolences to her—giving her hugs, squeezing her arm, a kiss here, a pat there… 

            She wanted to scream, something within her wanted to lash out, cause a commotion and explain to them all ‘This is not the way things are supposed to be!’  Only twelve hours earlier, she had gone to bed not five feet from Ayeka.  She was fine, nothing was wrong with her at all.  So what was all this insanity?  When did she marry Tenchi!?

            Her eye caught Washu standing in the hall near the restroom—she was waving to her.  “I’m going to talk to Washu for a minute.”  She whispered to Tenchi and he nodded, kissing her on the cheek before she departed.

            She crossed the room, eyes fixed on Washu, her heart pounding in the hope that she would have some answers for her.

            “What the hell is going on, Washu?”  Ryoko asked as she came to stand before the red head.  “What is all this?”

            “What do you mean?”  Washu looked up at her smugly, smiling.

            “Don’t play games right now, Washu.  I’m really confused.”

            “I can tell.”  Washu frowned and crossed her arms.  “As far as I can tell, something happened that changed everything.”

            “Huh?”  Ryoko shook her head.  “That doesn’t make sense.  If that happened, then why didn’t it change me?”

            “Maybe you’re just too mean for temporal displacement to fool with.”

            “Oh very funny.  Is that the best that the greatest scientific genius can come up with?”

            “Hold on now.”  Washu looked around.  “We need to discuss this at home in the lab.  Maybe we can piece together some answers there.”

            “Why don’t we go now?”

            “Ayeka was your best friend, Ryoko.  Don’t you think you should show your respect?”

            “My best—“  Ryoko itched her head.  “Now wait a minute… I wouldn’t call Ayeka my best friend.  Hell, how can you call us that?  We were always at each other’s throats.  How the hell did she die anyway?”

            “Remember when Sasami was kidnapped by Yazuha?”

            “Yeah…”

            “Well, Ayeka stumbled on the incident and tried to help her but Yazuha killed her.”

            “That’s not how it happened at all!”  Ryoko began to pace.  “She was hurt, yeah but not dead.  In fact, if it wouldn’t have been for her, Tenchi and I would never have made it out of her domain.”

            “The tree of life?”  Washu quirked a brow.  “That was all thanks to Yosho.”

            “I don’t believe this.”  Ryoko buried her head in a hand, the other tucked under her elbow.  “This can’t be happening.”

            “Are you alright, Ryoko?”  Ryoko looked up to see Kiyone dressed in her dress uniform, a sad smile etched on her face.

            Ryoko shook her head.  “No… no, Kiyone I’m not.”

            Kiyone put her hand on Ryoko’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry… I know what she meant to you.”

            Washu patted Kiyone on the arm and nodded toward Tenchi.  “Say, Kiyone could you tell Tenchi that I took Ryoko home?  She isn’t feeling very well.”

            “Yeah, no problem Washu.”  Kiyone looked back at Ryoko.  “Take care.”

            Ryoko turned away, eyes on the floor. 

“Shall we go then?”  Washu looked up at her—Ryoko just started walking in response.

“What are the chances that you can undo whatever has happened, Washu?”

“I don’t even know what has happened yet.”

“I can’t believe that you don’t have some theory though.”

“Well, if it is some kind of temporal displacement, it’s just a matter of rectifying the problem before it begins—thus going back in time to the point that it was meddled with and—“

“Yeah, yeah… we’ve been through that before.”  Ryoko shook her head.  “Let’s just hope that you can figure it out.”

*           *            *

            Washu sat in the center of half a dozen holographic screens, scanning each in turn.  Ryoko paced behind her, musing to herself about everything she had been forced to absorb through her morning.  “Did you experience anything unusual in the last twelve hours, Ryoko?”

            “Other than waking up in an alternate dimension and finding myself displaced from everything that I know?”

            “Yeah, other than that.”

            Ryoko frowned and rubbed her chin.  “I woke up from a bad dream last night and I was sleeping with Tenchi… I thought that was all a dream too.”

            “Really…”  Washu said knowingly.  “And was there anything about that—caught your attention perhaps?”

            “Well… There was the fact that he made it sound like I had nightmares for a while…”

            “Maybe we should give you a physical, Ryoko.  Maybe the trauma of what happened to Ayeka lapsed your memory somehow—“

            “Are you saying that I could have amnesia?”

            “It’s a possibility.  I don’t see any disturbance in the space/time continuum and I’m not sure I have another theory at the moment.”

            “Maybe I’m crazy.”  Ryoko chuckled wryly.  “How do we go about checking my memory?”

            “Step around the way there and take a seat.  It’ll just take a moment to scan ya.”

            “Great.”  Ryoko followed the instructions and tried to relax but her body was tense.  “When did I marry Tenchi, Washu?”

            “It was just before Mayuka came around.”

            “This is all so ridiculous!”  Ryoko shook her head.  “Let’s get this over with.”

            Washu tapped the controls and frowned at the readings.  “Hmm.”

            “Hmm?”  Ryoko shrugged.  “That’s all I get is a hmm?”

            “It’s just strange—I don’t understand what could have happened.  Your memory seems to be fine.”

            “Obviously it’s not fine though.  I don’t remember a wedding, I don’t remember Ayeka’s death… Where’s Mayuka for that matter?”

            “Everyone voted against my bringing her back…”

            “What else could be different?  Do I still have a criminal record?”

            “Sasami used some influence to get your name cleared—“

            “Sasami?”  Ryoko’s eyes widened.  “Okay, so where am I, Washu because this place certainly bares no semblance to home.”

            Washu sat back in thought, folding her arms.  Ryoko mimicked her posture, watching her intently.  An indeterminate amount of time passed before Washu snapped her fingers and hopped to her feet.  “I’ve got it!”

            “Great!”  Ryoko feigned excitement.  “What is it?”

            “You’re in your own subconscious mind.”

            “Huh?”  Ryoko looked at her confused.  “What are you on about?”

            “In other words, you’re dreaming.  All of this—even me—is just a dream.”

            “That’s absurd… I mean, how could this possibly be ‘just a dream’?”

            “Do you have another explanation?  You don’t remember key events that have happened recently yet there’s no memory loss nor damage to your brain.”

            “So what do I do?”

            “Why, wake up of course!”

            “You know Washu, I don’t know what I’d do without you!  Sheesh, you’re so helpful!”

            “Alright, enough with the sarcasm.”  Washu pondered.  “I’m sure that I can rig something to wake you up in your ‘real’ world but it will take some time.”

            “Okay… can I stay here with you?”

            “No way.”  Washu shook her head.  “I know how you are and you’d go crazy waiting for me.  If you want to hide out, you’ll have to find somewhere else to do it.”

            “Thanks a lot.”  Ryoko sighed.  “Okay, how long before you’re done?”

            “Couple hours—maybe less.”

            “I’ll talk to you in a couple hours then.”  Ryoko disappeared.

*           *            *

            ‘Just a dream huh?’  Ryoko sat on the branch of a tree overlooking a forest of trees gently swaying in the breeze.  It was a glorious site, the sun beaming through the clouds was extra bright and the colors were so vibrant.  It was as if she saw them for the first time.  ‘I mean… married to Tenchi?  Sure, I’ll buy that’s a dream of mine but not Ayeka’s death.  There has to be more to all this…’

            “Ryoko!”  She heard a voice off in the distance call her name—it was definitely Tenchi.  For the first time that she could remember, she dreaded facing him.  Even in a world that potentially didn’t exist, she couldn’t bring herself to accidentally hurt him with her sketchy memories of the events in this world.  “Ryoko, where are you?”

            Closing her eyes she knew she couldn’t let him worry about her.  She pushed off from the branch and flew in the direction of his voice, gliding to a halt above him and levitating slowly to the ground.  “I’m here Tenchi.”

            “Ryoko!”  Tenchi took her hand as she landed.  “I was worried about you.”

            “I’m fine, Tenchi.”

            “Kiyone said that Washu took you home… I wish you would’ve told me you were going.  I would’ve left with you.”

            “I just… I needed some time with Washu.  I think we needed some mutual consoling.”  She wondered how many of those quick saves she had in her.

            “Oh…”  He nodded.  “Would you like something to eat?  Mihoshi and Kiyone are at the house preparing something.”

            “I’m not really hungry.”

            “You’ve got to eat something.”

            “I won’t starve… I just don’t want anything right yet.”

            “Ryoko, is there something else wrong?  Something more than Ayeka?”

            “What makes you say that?”

            “You seem… I don’t’ know… confused.  Dazed even.”

            “I didn’t sleep very well last night.”  She shrugged.  “I’m just a little weirded out by the whole affair you know?  I just can’t bring myself to believe that she’s dead.”

            “I know what you mean…” Tenchi looked down.  “I miss her a lot.”

            “I—I somehow feel responsible.”  If this was indeed her dream world, then her imagination was responsible.

            “If we would’ve listened to you to begin with, none of it would’ve happened.  If we would’ve acknowledged your concerns about Mayuka right from the start, Sasami would never have been abducted, Ayeka never would’ve gotten hurt and you and I wouldn’t have had to go to that horrible place.”

            “Yeah… but—“

            “Ryoko!”  Mihoshi’s voice called from the house.  Ryoko rubbed her eyes, suddenly wishing for her more anonymous existence back in the real world.  “Ryoko, Washu needs to see you!”  Now that was a good sign.

            “Hmm… Maybe I can do with some food afterall.”  She offered a weak smile to Tenchi and he leaned forward, kissing her gently on the lips. 

            “I’m sure you need it.”  He returned her smile and offered his arm, which she gladly accepted.  They walked together back to the house and for the first time since she woke up that morning she felt almost happy.

*           *            *

            “It’s much worse than I thought.”  Washu paced in her lab, Ryoko watching her from near the door.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “We have a bigger problem than I initially imagined.  You’re not asleep in the real world.”

            “No?”

            “No, you’re missing from the real world.”

            “So I’m… I’m really here then?”

            “In the flesh I’m afraid.”

            “How’d you figure this out?”

            “When I scanned the space/time continuum, I didn’t take into account that this world doesn’t work the same as the world that I normally exist in… In fact, it would work only as well as you understand the mechanics of it—after all, everything here is your invention as to how it works or exists in your ‘ideal’ paradigm.”

            “I’ll go on faith so you don’t have to try and explain that better.”  Ryoko frowned.  “So what did you do then?”

            “I scanned a different frequency if you will and found that there was a strange break in the temporal world—your entrance into this world.”

            “So I teleported here?”

            “Makes sense to me—if you can teleport anywhere you’ve been, this has to be an easy connection to make.”

            “So I should be able to teleport right back then right?”

            “Not quite as easy as that.  You see, the reason you were able to come fully across to this world instead of just your conscience is because of the fragility of the gateway between the two worlds.  The power to make that gateway passable again is going to require power that I simply can’t generate on my own.”

            “What do we have to do then?”

            “I don’t know yet…”  Washu frowned.  “But I’m working on it!”

            Ryoko ran both her hands through her hair and nodded slowly.  “So until you ‘figure it out’ what should I do?”

            “What do you normally do when you dream?”  Washu shrugged.  “Enjoy yourself!”

*           *            *

            “Lord Tenchi!”  Ayeka rapped on his bedroom door several times, practically bouncing from panic.  “Tenchi, open the door!  Ryoko’s missing!”

            Tenchi stumbled from his bed and opened the door.  His hair was disheveled, eyes squinting.  “What?  Ryoko?”

            “She’s missing!  She’s not in her bed.”

            “Maybe she just went out for a walk or something—you know how she is.”

            “You don’t understand!  Sasami saw her disappear!  She just vanished—but she was still aslepp!”

            Tenchi blinked several times, now wide-awake.  “Strange…  We need to look for her.  I’ll get grandpa.”

            “Kiyone and Mihoshi are already looking and Sasami went to tell Washu.”

            “Okay, let’s meet at the temple in an hour—see what we’ve found out.”  He closed his door and pulled on his clothes quickly, his heart throbbing painfully in his chest.

*           *            *

            Ayeka was pacing at the top of the stairs of the temple, eyes probing the darkness.  An hour of wandering the woods with a flashlight and no sign of Ryoko anywhere.  She was the first one to the temple and the inactivity gave her time to stew on her worry. 

            She wanted to be angry with Ryoko—to think it was just her being fickle and leaving without telling anyone but something inside her told her otherwise.  There was a nagging feeling in her chest that they weren’t going to find her.  “Oh, Ryoko!”  She sighed indignantly.  “What’s going on now?”

            “I didn’t find anything either.”  Tenchi walked up beside her, staring into the darkness.  “Grandpa’s still looking but he suggested that I get you all home.”

            Mihoshi and Kiyone came up the stairs.  “Nothing.”  Kiyone shook her head.  “It’s so dark though and if she’s hurt—“

            Tenchi shook his head.  “We’ll definitely look again in the morning.”

            “No reason to,” Washu’s voice made Ayeka jump as she crept from the shadows behind them.  “You won’t find her anywhere on the planet.”

            “Huh?  Miss Washu?”  Tenchi looked at her oddly.  “Where is she then?”

            “I’m not sure yet… but I thought that I would come and tell you that there was a shift in the temporal alignment earlier this evening…”