Disclaimer: I own not a single TM character.

A/n: The eagerly awaited midpoint of the story (I'd really like feedback here if you guys don't mind). Again, soory for making everyone wait so long^^; Bad Wolfie, bad.

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Chapter 5: Awakening a Piece of the Past

"Are you positive this isn't going to hurt?" the cyan haired pirate questioned nervously. She was lying within a large doughnut shaped machine with lights concentrated on her forehead.

"I promise you it isn't going to hurt little one," Washu assured the girl for the fifth-teenth time since the girl had laid eyes on the machine. Normally, the redhead wouldn't use such an old model but her newer model, the one she had built, was currently under maintenance. "Now, just relax and lay still," she told her daughter as she activated the machine.

A deep breath exited the pirate; it signaled that she would try and comply with the scientist's orders. The graduate typed on her holographic laptop and soon the large machine came to life. The noises startled Ryoko and caused her heart rate to speed up; Washu felt the wave of panic cross her link and quickly sent soothing words across their mental link to calm the pirate down. It worked because it eased away the demoness’s anxiety.

"Alright, you're done," the emerald catlike eyed woman stated after 15 minutes. She typed in a few commands and Ryoko was released from the confines of the machine, which the younger female was happy about.

"So...how does it look?" the shorter woman asked curiously, peering over the taller woman's shoulder. Washu being in her adult form around Ryoko was now a common thing, at least...when they were not around other family members. Washu had learned that it made interacting with the former criminal easier.

There was a small pause before the golden eyed teen received an answer. "...It doesn't look good," the crab haired female answered honestly. As she looked at the images on her laptop her heart sunk at what she saw. The damage to her child's brain, more specifically the areas that withheld information and memories, was severely damaged.

"So, does that mean there's nothing you can do?" Ryoko inquired in a dejected tone. She should have known that was she was asking was impossible.

"Hey now," the mother began as she placed a hand into the pirate's spiky mane, similar to her own. "I gave you my word that I would do everything in my power to help you didn't I?" she questioned gently and Ryoko nodded. "I'll admit, just by looking at the pictures it doesn't look good but give me a chance and some time to analyze the images and I'm sure I'll be able to find a place for us to start."

"You're right, sorry I doubted you," the shorter of the two apologized. "If anyone can figure this out it's you Washu, because you are the number one scientific genius in the universe," she added, stroking the former Academy student's ego.

"Damn right!" the taller woman exclaimed. "Now, why don't you go run along? If you decide to go back to Earth's dimension I can have the computer recognize your DNA pattern so it will allow you the option of coming back here?" she suggested, already going about updating the security system.

"Thanks but I think for right now I'll go explore around here," the cyan haired demon called informed the genius. "Last time I was here I only explored the house...I haven't looked around outside or anything."

"Well then, have fun. I'll let you know when I'm done with my analysis," the older woman pointed out as her daughter turned and exited Washu's other lab; the scientist had numerous labs but her main station was located within the Masaki household.

Once the tailed ex-criminal exited the lab Washu turned her attention back to the screen. She began studying each image, trying to find some place to start. "Damn that bastard!" she whispered as she worked.

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The sun was high in the sky and practically beat down on Tenchi's back; working the field, even after numerous years, never got any easier.

"Whew...it sure is hot for it to be a spring day," he remarked to no one. He stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow. He stretched his muscles before getting back to plowing the fields. He was trying to move as quickly as possible, while still doing a god job, because he wanted to be home as early as he could because he wanted to spend the evening with his girlfriend.

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Ryoko was currently walking along the large lake near Washu's home; she still didn't see the house as hers even though Washu had told her it was their home. Ryoko would only accept that when she could recall those memories on her own. She had been exploring the area for about an hour now.

Eventually, she came across a spot that she liked and took a seat near the bank of the water. She dipped her hand into the water, it was quite chilled, and simply moved it back and forth; her actions startled off the few fish that were near the area.

"This place is so nice," she whispered as she removed her hand, picked up a rock, and tossed it across the surface of the water. "Can't believe I actually grew up here," she muttered.

As she looked out onto the vast property, something within her began to stir, it felt like she should be remembering something important her. When she tried to grasp at the feeling, or maybe it was a thought, she felt a slight headache coming on preventing her from digging deeper.

Figuring that she may be trying too hard, she abandoned her effort and went back to enjoying the scenery. She sat there for an undetermined amount of time and ended up falling asleep both from peace and the annoying aching of her head; she would go to sleep just about any place that made her feel safe. By the time she awoke again, it was late afternoon and her weird headache was gone. She sat up and stretched, releasing a big yawn in the process.

: Ryoko: the graduate called mentally.

: Yeah?: the child answered back a bit groggily.

: Can you come back to the lab? I've found something: she informed her daughter.

"Alright," the golden eyed woman answered aloud. She quickly teleported herself back to the house Washu lived in; she didn't want to teleport directly into the lab because she was unsure if there was a defense system surrounding it. It was better to be cautious than careless.

The older woman looked up from her work when she heard the door to the lab open. She stopped her work and turned to face the smaller female. "That was fast," she remarked.

"Uh-huh...so, what did you find?" the demon caller inquired with underlying anxiousness. What had the genius discovered?

Washu snapped her fingers and instantly a holographic model of the brain appeared. A cushion appeared behind Ryoko signaling that she would need to take a seat for this; the cyan haired warrior took a seat immediately.

"This is your brain Ryoko," the taller redhead pointed out. "I've analyzed it and according to what I found I labeled each section a certain color," she explained as simply as she possibly could. If she explained the situation at her normal pace her daughter wouldn't understand and would quickly become frustrated.

The tailed woman stared intently at her mother and the holographic image. The younger teen nodded showing that so far she understood what was being said. The nod was also a sign for Washu to continue.

"This large area right here is called your Cerebrum, or the "big part of your brain"," the jade eyed graduate said as she pointed to the area in question. "It’s broken into four parts. This part right here, colored blue, is called the Frontal Lobe. It’s responsible for reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving." she explained. "Got it?"

"Blue area is the front part of my head and does 6 things, got it!"

"Okay, the next area, colored pink, is called the Parietal Lobe it's also responsible for movement but also orientation, recognition, and perception of stimuli as well. Then this area, black, is called the Occipital Lobe dealing with visual processing. And the last area, yellow, is called the Temporal Lobe which deals with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech," the crab haired woman informed her child.

"So, my brain is broken into four parts I get that but what does that have to do with my memories?" Ryoko asked in a confused tone.

"When Kagato blocked you memories he damaged these parts of your brain and each color represents the severity of his actions. The area most affected by him is your Temporal Lobe because it deals with your memories. The least affected area is your Occipital Lobe."

"Okay, so how do we fix this?"

A sad sigh escaped Washu's lips. "This damage can't simply be fixed by science or surgery. The defense systems he's placed in certain areas of your mind are close to being unbreakable," she countered. She saw the saddened look cross her daughter's features but she continued. "But...there is a way we can attempt to beat this," she added.

"Really?! How?!"

"We can try unlocking a memory of yours in a section of your brain that isn't as heavily guarded as other areas. I believe if we can get one memory active then maybe we have a shot of taking down the other barriers, over time of course, as well," the emerald eyed "doctor" proposed as she laid out her plan.

"Are we going to try now?" the sitting female asked.

The "presenter" shook her head no; with a wave of her hand she dismissed the holographic image from sight. "No, that's enough for today. Why don't we go back to the house?" she suggested. "I'm sure the others are wondering where we are."

"Yeah....you're probably right," she conceded. The older woman opened a sub-portal, taking them directly into the Masaki household, so that they could spend the day with their family.

The pair arrived home just in time for lunch. After lunch was over everyone went their separate ways for the afternoon. Tenchi did let Sasami know, as he helped carry the dishes into the kitchen, that he and Ayeka wouldn’t be home for dinner because they were about to leave for Tokyo and wouldn’t be back for a while.

(New Day)-------

It was early morning at the Masaki house and everyone in the house was still asleep, even the family’s early risers; it was one of the few times that the entire house was completely quiet. Suddenly, a very powerful rumbling shook the house awaking not only its occupants but also people within a 200 mile radius.

"What was that?" Kiyone asked as she and the other housemates gathered in the living area of their home.

Before anyone could answer another powerful blast shook the house; hard to believe it was even more powerful than the first. Just what was the cause of such enormous power surges?

"Is everyone alright?" Tenchi questioned as he held Ayeka up with one arm to keep her from falling. His brown eyes held concern for his friends.

Sasami nodded. "We're fine Tenchi," she assured him. "But what's causing all these power surges?" she asked, slightly worried because she was unsure of what was going on.

"I think it may be coming from Washu's lab," Kiyone informed everyone as she pointed towards the door. There were flashes of light appearing from behind the door.

"Do you think she's conducting an experiment?" Ayeka asked, curiously. It was possible that the scientist was conducting some type of experiment which would explain the powerful surges being felt within the house; it also explained how they could feel such surges and not have the entire house collapsed down upon them.

"Maybe," the black haired male remarked. He wouldn't put it past the genius to be creating a powerful experiment but he was a bit skeptical; something felt...off.

"Or maybe she's running some tests on Ryoko," the blonde said out of the blue, successfully gaining everyone’s attention which her comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I saw Ryoko go in there early this morning because I was thirsty and came down to get something to drink. Maybe Washu did something to her that she doesn't like and it made her angry," the blue eyed officer reasoned.

Hearing this made Tenchi feel extremely protective of the pirate, knowing how much she hated being hooked up to machines. "Then let's go see," he said as he released his girlfriend and headed for the lab door.

With the others right behind him the teenage male opened the door. The sight that greeted them was both expected and surprising at the same time. What was expected was that there was fighting, what was surprising, was that Washu seemed to be holding her own in the battle against her daughter; they didn't know Washu could fight.

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Both the mother and daughter were levitating in the air, each woman holding and energy sword in hand. Ryoko was holding one energy sword, as usual, while the emerald eyed woman was holding two.

The cyan haired woman then charged the graduate. The red haired female held up one of her swords and fired energy blasts from it. The spectators that were watching had never seen anyone, even Ryoko, do a move such as that.

The pirate maneuvered through the barrage of blast, phasing to avoid them and even blocking them with her own sword if necessary. After she dodged the blasts sent her way the tailed warrior went in for a direct hit on her mother; she phased out of sight intending to appear right in the jade eyed genius's face.

However, things didn't go as planned. When the former criminal had re-materialized back in sight Washu was no longer in her original spot; the golden eyed woman scanned the area for her mother but found no trace of the taller woman nor her energy levels. Before the younger warrior could react, she felt the heat of a blade at her neck.

The crab haired female had come up behind the pirate and caught her off guard. The former Academy student took one hand and placed it across Ryoko's midsection, pulling the pirate's smaller frame into her larger one, and placed her other hand before her daughter's neck where she ignited her energy dagger.

The cyan haired fighter gasped as she felt her body pressed against her mother; she didn't know what possessed her to make such a sound, she figured it just came from the fact that the redhead surprised her. Still, the scientist's heavy breathing in her ear and Washu's heated breath on her neck made the pirate want to squirm within the woman's grasp for unknown reasons.

The older woman wanted to make the same sound, actually she wanted to release a possessive growl, but she resisted. She wanted so badly to place her teeth marks on the pirate's neck, showing she was taken; it took everything within the genius to resist the urge. Time seemed to stop for them until an unexpected voice startled them both.

"Washu, stop it!" Tenchi cried as he ran out onto the battle field; he honestly believed that the graduate was going to harm her only daughter. Had he been paying attention he would have questioned why the lab was looking more like a training ground and less like a lab.

Both fighters simply looked down at him. Washu spoke first. "Okay Ryoko that’s enough," she commented, breathing heavily into her child's ear as she spoke while making her energy dagger disappear.

The younger female nodded, trying to fight off the shivers that crept up her spine from her mother's voice in her ear, and vanquished her own sword as well. They both teleported to where the others were on the ground.

"Ryoko, why were you two fighting?" Sasami asked as she ran up to her friend, worry and concern visible in her pink eyes.

"We weren't fighting," the pirate answered simply, patting the young child on the head to assure her.

"We were having a sparring match," the scientist clarified, glaring at the black haired male; she was offended that he would think she would ever harm her beloved daughter.

"Oh," he responded, looking away. He now felt embarrassed for thinking such a thing.

The crab haired fighter then turned her attention to her offspring. "You've really gotten rusty," she remarked, referring to her child's fighting style. "Especially you’re fighting technique."

"Say what?!" the child demanded to know, completely offended by her mother's words.

"Well for starters, you use to fight with two swords and had begun learning to fight with a third in the process," the older woman countered.

"Wow, that sounds amazing Ryoko," Mihoshi said in a joyful tone, drawing attention back to the other family members.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here anyway?" the ex-pirate asked curiously.

"The house started shaking from power surges and we traced them to Little Washu's lab," Kiyone explained as to why they were all in the lab. "By the way...where is your lab Little Washu?"

The genius snapped her fingers and the area surrounding them was replaced by the lab everyone had become accustomed to seeing. "Better?" she question, it was a rhetorical question though.

“Okay everyone back to bed,” the blue haired Galaxy Police officer said as she began shooing her friends out of the lab. No one protested as exited the lab willingly; it was after all 4 in the morning.

"Oh, Little Washu," Tenchi began as he turned to face the adult form of the scientist. "I'm sorry about earlier. I should have known better than to think you would ever hurt your daughter," he apologized.

"Yes, you should," she countered. "But I accept your apology." she added. He smiled before exiting the lab and closing the door behind him.

The emerald eyed fighter released a deep sigh; if she was going to start training her daughter again, if the pirate accepted her offer, she would have to fix up their old training grounds before they had another match again. Washu didn’t want to wake the others any time she and Ryoko fought, especially during the wee hours of the morning.

“Little Ryoko isn’t the only one who’s rusty,” she remarked as she stretched, popping her back in the process; Ryoko had already made her way back to the house as the others were exiting the lab. She then opened up a sub-portal to her home to get some well needed rest of her own.

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“So…tell me again why we’re doing this?” the pirate asked as images flashed across a screen. She was hooked up to another machine of Washu’s. Ryoko wasn’t really sure what the device was for except that it had something to do with herself and her feelings.

“We’re doing this to see if any of these images from your childhood strike a strong feeling within you. If so, then maybe we can push deeper and hopefully breakdown a barrier and regain a memory of yours,” the taller woman explained as she type on her laptop. She was looking at the information that was displayed on her screen each time Ryoko saw something.

“What if this method doesn’t work?” the cyan haired demon caller questioned, as she watched some toys appear on screen.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it.”

The pair settled into a comfortable silence together. They were about 30 minutes into the experiment before something flashed across the large screen that brought forth a strong emotion from the golden eyed female. The images on screen were a saxophone and a trumpet.

The crab haired graduate quickly typed away on her holographic laptop trying to locate the section of her daughter’s brain that the feeling was associated with; the emotion was stemming from the Frontal Lobe section of the tailed female’s brain.

“That’s it Ryoko, try and focus more on your feelings for these instruments,” the mother motivated, hands flying over the keys of her computer.

The golden cat-like eyed warrior nodded. She stared intently at the two instruments, they felt so familiar to her somehow; she didn’t even register the fact that she had never played a musical instrument in her life. All Ryoko knew was that she felt an over whelming sense of joy when she looked at the two instruments. The more she thought about that feeling, and slowly others, the more she began to feel a pain tugging in her head, yet that did not deter her from feeling what she felt for the instruments.

The graduate noticed how small jolts of pain shot through her child’s brain and increased exponentially as the girl’s prodding led toward the Temporal Lobe; no doubt the jolts of pain were put in place to discourage Ryoko from unlocking her memories. Ryoko was definitely determined because she kept pushing despite the pain.

“I’ve managed to locate which barrier is blocking this memory,” the scientist informed her offspring. “You’re doing great Ryoko,” she praised the demon summoner.

Suddenly, it felt like something had been knocked loose within the pirate’s mind. The smaller woman released the most pain filled cry anyone had ever heard her make. She fell off the floating cushion provided by Washu successfully disconnecting the devices hooked up to her, and clutched her head tightly.

The former Academy student leapt from her seat to help her daughter; she called the pirate’s name but she got no response from the woman. The ex-criminal was oblivious to everything around her. Ryoko’s mind was only registering one thing: her newly awakened memory.

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A young Ryoko sat in her bed with her knees curled up to her chest, resting her head on them. Just from the fact that the little child wasn’t running around the house was enough to tell that something was wrong; plus, the sad sigh escaping her also helped confirm that fact.

Ryo-Ohki sat next to her “sister”, purring and nuzzling into the girl’s side trying to cheer her friend up. Her effort earned her a gentle pat on the head before the cyan haired girl began slowly stroke her soft fur. The attention caused Ryo-Ohki to purr again in contentment.

The door to the six-year-olds room slowly opened and in walked her mother. The Science Academy Director/Professor walked in and sat down on the edge of the smaller girl’s bed; Ryoko didn’t even bother to look up at the woman, she knew what was coming…this was a dance they had done before.

“So, tell me what happened?” Washu gently prodded her daughter.

“Today was talent day, everyone got to show off a talent of theirs,” the tailed child began to explain in a low tone. “Everyone had really good talents and people clapped because they were so good. When it was my turn to go up I thought they would clap too because I can fly a bit…but they didn’t. Instead, they just laughed at me…and called me names.”

“Little Ryoko…” Washu began but she was cut off.

The child interrupted her. “It wasn’t my fault. They started it,” she defended herself. She was always being picked on for what she was and she was always getting in trouble for her actions.

The mother sighed. “I know that little one but you still upset a lot of parents with what you did,” she informed the 1st grader. Her phone had been ringing a majority of the day about parents calling to complain about what her daughter had done to their children. To put it bluntly, her little one had tied a group of children to the flag pole and left them out there.

The golden eyed child scoffed, turning her head away from her mother. The crab haired graduate simply looked at her daughter with a sad expression, she wished that her young one wouldn’t let what the other children, and sometimes their parents, get to her. If only people could see her child the way she did then she knew they would treat the young girl better.

“Your powers aren’t your only talents you know,” the jade eyed female pointed out after a moment of silence. She could sense the child’s curiosity across their link and continued. “You have other talents.”

The 1st grader now turned to face her mother. “Like what, mommy?” she asked. Besides flying she didn’t think she had any other talents.

“Like your love of music of course,” the taller woman answered. She opened a sub-portal and pulled out two black cases, cases that Ryoko instantly recognized. “I talked to your music teacher. It explains why you can never be home on time after school,” she teased her offspring.

The small child simply blushed. “Are you mad?” she questioned while raising her head to look at the crab haired scientist.

“Of course not! Why would I be?”

“Because I don’t like science like you do and science always makes you happy,” Ryoko answered honestly. She thought her mother would be ashamed of her because she didn’t love science.

Washu placed a hand atop her daughter’s cyan mane. “Ryoko, I don’t want you to follow in my footsteps just to make me proud. I’m proud when you do what makes you happy and if that’s music that’s completely fine by me. I don’t care what you want to do Ryoko, as long as you’re happy with it, I’ll support you every step of the way,” she informed her daughter in a soft tone that was completely serious. “Remember little one that your powers aren’t the only talents you have and what your music teacher told and showed me proves that. I’m giving you this saxophone and trumpet so that whenever you think you don’t have any special talents you can just think of these instruments and me backing you 100 percent.” She added, placing a kiss on the child’s forehead.

Ryoko simply lunged into her mother’s arms, glad to know that she hadn’t disappointed the taller woman. “I promise mommy…I won’t forget about my other talents or you,” she promised into her mother’s shoulder.

The Director smiled from her child’s words. She knew that this step helped to boost her child’s confidence in herself tremendously; Washu knew what was said about her child and how all of those hurtful comments affected her daughter, she hoped one day Ryoko would learn to brush off such snide remarks.

“Hey, mommy, wanna hear me play?” the young Ryoko inquired excitedly, eyes shining with joy.

The redhead nodded. “Why, I would be honored if you graced me with a performance,” she answered as she released her child and watched as the girl got out the saxophone.

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Ryoko opened her eyes to find herself lying on the lab floor. She slowly lifted herself from the ground and got into a sitting position. She shook her head to get it back into focus. “W-Washu?” she called looking for the genius.

“Ryoko! You’re finally awake! I was so worried—” the scientist began babbling, she had been sitting behind the fallen pirate for 45 minutes now.

“I remember why you got me those instruments,” the shorter woman informed the emerald eyed female successfully halting the babbling. “You wanted me to know that I have other talents that make me stand out besides my powers, and just because what I liked wasn’t science, didn’t mean you weren’t going to support me,” she said in awe, shocked at such a memory.

“Ryoko you…”

“I remember Mommy, I actually remember something,” the golden eyed girl responded with a giant grin. She then lunged at the older woman, embracing her in a tight, joyful, hug. “I did it!” she exclaimed.

The redhead couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks nor was she going to stop them. Ryoko had done it; she had broken down one of Kagato’s barriers and had seen a piece of her childhood; that fact alone was enough to touch Washu’s heart and Ryoko unlocking that memory touched her even more.

“Yes, little one…you did,” the mother answered in a weak voice because she was just so happy. “Yes, you did,” she repeated as she stroked the pirate’s hair reveling in the girl’s happiness.

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Next time: Well, it seems that things are going great for Ryoko and Washu. Unfortunately, you can only have so many good days before something goes wrong.