[Tenchi][FanFic] Almost

ALMOST

A Tenchi in Tokyo Fanfic
By Cheshire Grin

[Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to anything Tenchi. More people than
I can mention do. I make no money from this. I only own my imagination.]


Yugi sat quietly on top of the Masaki Shine. Her thoughts were an almost
incoherrent jumble, each crying for dominance yet all pointing
ultimately in the same direction. It was night time and a gentle
darkness surrounded her, seemingly ageless trees whispering with a cool
breeze and reminding her of their existance.

Despite the darkness, Yugi felt comfortable. Even the smallest of sounds
and touches assured her that she was not confined. Perhaps not confined
now but still alone she thought, her mood darkening.

Ever since she could remember, she had been alone.

Oh, sure she had her playthings. Creatures she had created to fulfil
anything she wished, yet all fundamentally incapable of fulfilling the
one thing she wanted desperately. True companionship.

She guessed it was all she had ever really wanted. As a child she had
developed awesome power, the abilities to alter, create and destroy as
she wished. Yugi had worked hard to help people at first, helping anyone
who asked, asking only an unspoken question. "Would you be my friend?"

She had seen the fear in their eyes, seen their nervousness around her.
Yugi had fiercely ignored it, some subconscious element in her believing
that it would go away if she ignored it. She was just a little girl, not
some hideous monster.

She just wanted to please. And she had pleased, had momentarily been
thilled by the looks in the eyes of others as she gave them what they
had asked for. But always that thrill had slowly died away as they bowed
and thanked her, their delight being suffused with their nervousness as
they made excuses to leave.

She had become more and more desperate as she grew older, yet all to no
avail. Yugi had ultimately remained the same in the eyes of the world,
the unspoken words "freak", "demon" and "frightning" flitting through
her dreams.

Yugi could not remember when she had developed the brilliant idea of
creating her own friends. It had seemed such a good idea. If other
creatures were scared of her she could create ones that trusted her, if
others avoided her, she could create ones that would come to her when
she needed.

It had worked well enough at first and she had been relatively happy,
enjoying the company of her creations. Friendship however is based on a
very simple factor that despite it's simplicity can never be duplicated.
Free will. Yugi had gradually realized that her 'friends' possesed no
will other than her own, each a tiny fragment of her mind materialized
before her as a toy, more a possesion than anything else.

She also realized that her creations had grown from tiny, cute animals
to gargantuan monstrosities, towering over the world below. Their size
had gradually increased over the years without her really being aware of
it. Perhaps it was some subconcious attempt to compensate for their
fundamental inadequacies.

The people of Jurai had not liked this and their fright and mistrust
grew. Every now and again Yugi's pets caused them trouble, accidentally
stepping on a building or eating some of the crops they had grown.

The civilization that incidentally owed much of its advancement to this
estranged little girl, united against her, sealed her inside a
coffin-like satellite and cast her from their planet. She woke in a
darkness that stripped her of all her defences and power, leaving her
locked away without protection from her childish fears and needs.

For hundreds of years, Yugi had remained trapped in the dark, tormented
and betrayed, despair and anger eating away at her soul and an
unimaginable sadness replacing the unending dark with a pool of tears.

She supposed she had drowned in it.

Yugi reaction to the world on which she landed and awakened was
understandable. Maybe not entirely justified or condoned as it seemed,
but understandable. Her overwhelming fear of the dark almost crippled
her and she stayed hidden for a long time. As Yugi gradually emerged
into a new world a newer fear assailed her. People.

They might lock her away again or worse, although she could not really
think of anything worse. But the fear and hatred was unshakable and the
need for protection overshadowed everything else. This world was not as
powerful as Jurai and it was within her power to control it and prevent
it from hurting her. She would control this world and all it's people
and thereby stop them from casting back into the abyss of nothingness
that terrified her more than anything else.

Snapping her eyes open, for a moment the memories leaving her, Yugi
glanced around. The Masaki Shrine was peacefull in the pre-dawn darkness
and the breeze had softened and grown cooler. Morning and a new day were
not far away, she mused. Morning when she would reveal her intentions
the Masaki family. It hurt to think about, and part of her was terrified
but another part filled with relief and acceptance.

Without knowing she did so, Yugi shook her head slightly and dismissed
the thought from her mind. The memories returned and she closed her eyes
once more.

Tenchi Masaki seemed to represent and embody her fears and hatred. He
did so without malice or even knowledge of her existence, yet that did
not matter. He remained the one being on this small world who had a
chance of imprisoning her again. On top of that he was Jurian and the
unknowing protector and guardian of this planet. Tenchi was the legacy
of those who had cast Yugi, begging and pleading into hell.

Even in exile they still held the sword to her neck.

Yugi hated him. Centuries of fear and desperation gave force to her
instinctual hatred. And so, hidden in a layer of dimention beside that
of Earth, the darkness carefully banished by the crystal-like fortress
she had built (no-one else knew, but her fortress was actually
constructed of solidified light), Yugi vowed to destroy him.


It was strange how things worked out. The culmination of her carefully
planned attack on Tenchi Masaki and his companions had resulted in a
cataclysmic loss. All of Yugi's anger and fear was stripped away until
only the numbing sad despair which spawned it all was left. Her defences
crumbled until unthinkably, Tenchi stood before her holding the sword
she had worked so hard to rid him of.

Yugi's world shattered and in that moment she accepted completely that
she WAS alone, would be alone for all eternity, never to be accepted or
even tolerated. She had tried her hardest but had never stood a chance
from the start. Even Sasami who had said she was Yugi's friend now stood
against her.

Yugi had not planned to try to become friends with anyone until she was
sure she would be safe, but when she met Sasami, who reminded Yugi of
herself before she was incarcerated all those centuries ago, the
loneliness and desperate need had been too much.

Now Sasami stood against her, aiding Tenchi in Yugi's destruction, and
in the wake of that newest betrayal, the one person she had ever dared
to call her friend had abandoned her, Yugi's despair completely consumed
her. The one thought consuming her was her desperate prayer that Tenchi
would kill her rather than cast her back into a cell of nothingness.

Fate chose to have pity on her at that moment however and rather than
imprison or kill Yugi, Tenchi Masaki had taken her completely by
suprise.

Dropping his weapon, Tenchi had dropped to his knees and embraced her,
protected her, replacing the strength she had lost with his own.

He had in effect become her friend.

She had been skeptical at first, doubting him, doubting herself, unable
to believe what had happened, that her worst enemy had protected her,
helped her and even offered his home to her. But he stayed with her
despite her misgivings, never leaving, remaining beside her for endless
days as she cried her pain and fears into his shoulder until they had
finally left.

She had wanted Sasami to be her companion, had believed she was. Yet
somehow Sasami had not been able to understand her. The young princess
had never really known the pain and loneliness that had become the
foundation of Yugi's life. Sasami had unwittingly deserted her, the
eternal optimism and inability to understand suffering had presented an
insurmountable barrier.

She never would have believed that Tenchi would be the one to understand
and accept her, he seemed stupid and nieve and a BOY.

However, Yugi had gradually learned that he was much more like herself
than she initially thought. The young Masaki knew well what it was like
to feel trapped and helpless. Powerless to escape and isolated. Tenchi
knew what not being accepted was like. The girls who always surrounded
him viewed him as a prize to win rather than a friend. Tenchi understood
all about being alone.

To top it all off, the greatest irony was that despite all of this,
despite her newfound friend and acceptance, Yugi was still alone.

She sat atop the shrine and contemplated it. Dawn had come, the first
dim rays of the sun lighting the forest. She could see the Masaki house
in the distance beginning to come to life.

She sighed, a sad smile flashing across her face. She would go back
soon. Tell them all of her decision. Not the whole reason behind it all
of course, but nevertheless her intentions would be made clear. She
supposed she owed them that much.

Yugi stood and floated to the ground. Slowly beginning the walk back to
the house, she looked around at the world. A sudden flood of tears ran
down her face and she fell to her knees, allowing herself to be weak for
one last time.

She had come to realise that she had fallen in love with Tenchi during
the last few days. She supposed that was the greatest sadness of all.
Here she was, a strange and tormented girl fallen desperately in love
with a man who already had a whole host of beautiful women vying and
fighting for his attention. She had seen their fury when she had tried
to destroy him, seen their devotion and posessiveness.

Yugi had considered reverting Sakuya, the illusion she had created to
weaken him and which he had grown to love, and joining the fray but she
quickly discarded that idea. It would not be herself and she would still
feel alone and unloved.

There was simply no chance for her, no space in the bevvy of beauties,
all of whom were older and more beautiful than herself. Besides she had
no real right to claim him nor would even consider it. It was unlikely
that Tenchi would appreciate another lovestruck girl in his house and
even less likely that his admirers would tolerate it.

Tenchi was handsome, kind and chivalrous but he was also busy,
overstressed and claimed at least three times over, each by beautiful,
powerful women. There was no room for a strange little girl with a
painful past.

Even now she was still alone.

So she walked back to the Masaki home and announced her plan after
breakfast, inventing some alternate reason behind it and refusing to be
swayed by the reasurrances that she was welcome to stay with them all.
Besides, in a way she would be. She was certain that they would remain
in her dreams.

Standing within the Masaki shrine, she was relieved that rather than
being dark, it was illuminated by a soft green glow. Moving over to the
monument in the center, Yugi hesitated a moment. Taking one last look at
the 'Masaki Family', Tenchi in particular, burning him into her memory,
She lay in the centre of the shrine, preparing to re-enter a world of
dark nothingness, this time of her own free will. And this time she
would sleep.

Tenchi Masaki looked down at the young, haunting and yet somehow ageless
face of Yugi. He felt a sadness he couldn't quite express, once again
not knowing quite what to do or say.

Yugi looked back and gave him a slight smile tinged with an almost
undiscernable trace of sadness.

"It's alright." she mouthed to him.

She decided that she could almost believe that.

Almost.


The End

Notes: Well, what did you think? let me know 'K. I know Tenchi in Tokyo
is not the most popular of the Tenchi series and for the most part I
agree. However Yugi for some reason happens to be my favorite Tenchi
character so I think she deserves at least one short fic, ne?

Comments, criticism, greetz always welcome.

Ja,

Cheshire Grin