TMiL: "Onmitsu No Ai."

<part 1>

DISCLAIMER: I didn't create the characters. They were created by
the wonderful people at Pioneer/AIC.

EDITOR's NOTE: This story takes place *DURING* Tenchi Muyo in Love,
but in a slightly different universe. There are some scenes from the
movie in this story as a result.

-CHAPTER 1-

     He was cute.
     That was the first thing Tanaka had thought when a young man
with chestnut brown hair walked into the classroom for the first
time. His eyes were a pale shade of silver. A ray of sunlight had
come into the classroom and shone in his eyes, turning the surprisingly
reflective pupils a soft shade of golden yellow. The effect was
breathtaking.
     The bus stopped to pick up a few more students, but Tanaka took
no notice of this, she was too busy contemplating the new student who
had so intrigued her and had stolen her heart so easily.
     The other students had their own opinions of their new classmate.
     "Spooky." Some said.
     "Creepy." Others agreed.
     "His eyes are weird." One elucidated. "His pupils are slitted."
     "Like an animal's eyes." Another pointed out.
     It was clear that the new student was feeling self-conscious
about all this talk. He had taken to keeping to himself, sitting quietly,
not raising his hand in class, even taking lunch in solitude.
     Tanaka could sense deep sadness in him, sadness he tried desparately
to hide behind a facade of stoicism. Or perhaps he was in shock, she told
herself.

     But why? She wondered. People just didn't wander around in shock for
no good reason, did they? So what had happened to him? She thought of 
asking the teacher, but the regular teacher was out and the new substitute
seemed to have been picked from the bottom of the barrel. She was fairly
good, but she got frazzled easily and seemed jittery in the way a bunny in
a fox's den would be.

     The sound of the bus coming to a stop pulled Tanaka's mind back to the
present. She stepped off, cheerfully, and made her way into the crowd on
the school lawn. She could see the young boy in one of the nearby rows and
she smiled to herself.

     The morning was pretty much the same as always at first, Then
Tanaka remembered that she still had a magazine she had borrowed from
her friend Achika.  Achika... her confidante, and one of the finest
people she had ever known. And, who just happened, Tanaka smiled to
herself, to be in the same homeroom as the young man she'd fallen in
love with.

      After asking politely to be excused, Tanaka rushed to get to the
classroom where Achika and that wonderful boy were attending. She raced in
and saw him leaning on the window. He was gazing, intently, at Achika, and
for a moment Tanaka thought her heart would shatter. Was this young man in
  love with Achika? Then Tanaka realized that it wasn't love she saw in the
young man's eyes, but fierce protectiveness, not the protectiveness of a
lover, but of a self-appointed bodyguard.
   "Achika," she called hoarsely. She was, after all, just recovering 
from a sore throat.  She had only seen the new boy on the first day he'd
arrived.  "I'm...returning your magazine"

   "I haven't seen you for days, Tanaka." Achika replied, then smiled. 
and asked, "How's your cold?"
   "I still have a sore throat, but I've got a test, too." Tanaka
explained.
   Nobuyuki blushed as Achika paused by his desk and waved to him.
Tanaka could see that he was in love with her and wished that the new boy
would love her just as much as they loved each other.  "Achika, are you 
listening to me?"
   "Yes." Achika turned away from Nobuyuki for the moment and went
over to her friend.
   The two discussed the articles Tanaka had read while the boy
Tanaka was so deeply infatuated with gazed over in their direction.
Tanaka wished he was looking at her with love in his eyes, but she knew
it was Achika he was looking at. He's being protective again, she told
herself.
   She smiled to herself, then frowned. Why was he being so
protective of Achika? He wasn't in love with her, just protective. Tanaka
wondered if he knew of some danger Achika was in. If so, why hadn't he
told the teachers? Or hadn't he? He did seem a bit more mature than the
other students. Maybe he really was a secret service man, or some kind of
secret agent, she thought, maybe he's here to stop something awful from
happening to Achika.
   That's when Tanaka noticed a girl with outragiously spiked blue
hair.  She was looking at the chestnut haired boy with a gaze of bitter 
mistrust.  He noticed this and quickly turned to look out the window."
Achika, who hadn't noticed that he was watching her, returned to her
seat while Tanaka blew the chestnut haired boy a kiss. He must have
caught what she'd done out the corner of his eye, because Tanaka fancied
she caught a hint of a blush on the boy's alabaster cheeks. She blushed a
little, too, at her own forwardness, then rushed back to her own homeroom.
   'Naoki' had noticed that the blue haired girl was not the only one who
had been watching him in the classroom. Achika hadn't noticed him watching
her, or perhaps she'd thought that he was simply a shy boy who thought she
was pretty, which, he had to admit to himself, she was, but couldn't bring
himself to tell her or was trying to gather up the courage to do so.
   'Naoki' laughed in his mind. Him trying to gather up courage was like a
cherry blossom trying to gather up beauty. He didn't need any more. In 
fact, the people he'd lived with before he'd come here felt quite the 
opposite was true. They called him reckless, foolhardy, daring. Bravery
was on adjective which described the boy very well. But here, in this place,
people thought of him with only two adjectives... quiet and shy.
   If those he'd lived with had heard him described those ways, they would
have been amazed. But then he had come her unprepared, torn from his home,
and from those he'd called his family. His heart ached as he thought of
them, the nightmare vision he'd seen forever etched upon his soul. That
nightmare had a name. A name he hated with the very essence of his being.
The name belonged to a creature that those he'd cared about had, in their
own arrogance, thought they could contain forever in their devices. And,
for a hundred years, they had. But now it was free, and its first act of
freedom had been to slaughter those around him, as it fled. Not all of them
were massacred by the evil that had escaped their strongest prison. But he
knew that those who had been there had perished. He had seen it happen, the
demon's energy slamming through the station, electrocuting and executing
all in its path. And while it had attacked, the creature had been building
up another energy wave, the one that would take it back to 1970 where it
would destroy, once and for all, the only people who could stand against
it. And then, the creature had made a mistake. One that had saved the boy's
life. When it had reached out with energy to destroy him as it had those
around him, it had lashed out the *wrong* energy at him, transporting him
in an instant back to 1970. At first, he'd been dazed, unable recall who
he was or where he was from. Then something in his mind, which he later
realized was a memory recall device in his internal computer, switched on
and he remembered who he was. He also remembered the nightmare he'd seen,
and he remembered its name.  It's name was Kain.

   He was sitting alone at lunch, as he always did, and Tanaka almost
sat with him. Almost. As she reached his table, she could have sworn she
heard him growl at her, or maybe he was arguing with a tough bit of meat.
He didn't have the best table manners in the world, she'd noticed, but a
boy as cute as he was could afford to be impolite now and again. After 
all, she told herself, everyone was entitled to one or two faults. He
had brought his own meal, not that anyone blamed him, school lunches are
notorious for tasting horrible, which consisted of spareribs and some 
teriyaki steak, it was a lot of meat for a Japanese meal, but he was an 
exchange student... and was tearing at them, growling with each bite, like
some wild animal enjoying its meal and warning off scavengers. The growl
was frightening and Tanaka told herself he was obvious not in the mood for
company, so she sat at a nearby table, keeping her eye on him. When he was
finished, he licked the teriyaki sauce from his hands and then lickgroomed
his face to clean off any teriyaki sauce that might have got there. He
quickly finished and took a sip of his milk. A moment later, he crushed
the small carton in his hand as if he'd suddenly realized what he'd done
and was angry at himself for such a major slip-up. He got up and walked 
over to the door with an amazing amount of dignity considering how he'd 
been acting during lunch, slipping a hand into a pocket so he appeared
almost regal, then tossed his milk carton into the trash as he left the
room.

   'Naoki' studied his face in the bathroom mirror. A little pale compared
to most of the other students there, but quite handsome otherwise. It
was his eyes that troubled everyone. He'd had a pair of contact lenses
that would've helped matters considerably, but they'd been lost along 
time ago. He recalled vividly the events surrounding the loss. He'd been
attending an medal-giving ceremony at which the being who had saved his
life when he was a child, a being whom he was later reunited with as a
youth when he'd first arrived after graduating at the Academy, was being
honored. When he had returned to his cabin, down the hall from the one 
belonging to his rescuer and friend, he had discovered, to his amazement,
that he'd been robbed! Several items had been taken from him, including
his contact lenses and, to his embarrassment, his diary.
   Of course the thief had never mentioned any of the entries in his diary.
'Naoki' had never spoken of these facts to anyone and talking of them would
have given the thief away, and so his private life had remained at least
mostly private, known only to himself and the thief. He'd never recovered
his lost property, but in the years that followed, his work had earned him
more than enough money to replace the items he'd lost. He never, however,
started another diary, and he also failed, entirely, to replace the contact
lenses. He hadn't really thought they'd be neccessary. He'd only gone to
Earth once before, and then no one had ever looked him in the eye. Not even
just once.

   "You know," a student observed, walking into bathroom and lighting up a
cigarette, "you're never going to win her over with this shy routine. If I
were you, I'd stop moping about and go after her."
   "And if I were you, I'd put that damned thing out before I shove it 
down your throat." His enhanced senses had their drawbacks and one of them
was the smell of cigarette smoke. He had nothing against smokers, or their
habit, and to be fair he had spent more than his share of time in the
proverbial smoke-filled room, that was inevitable in his line of work. But
today, he wasn't in a very accomodating mood. Already he'd had managed to
embarrass himself at lunch, and he was sure he'd been recognized by that

damned blue-haired girl. Why couldn't she keep her mind on what she was
doing and just leave him alone. She was going to blow it, he knew, and it
irritated him. And now this mere boy was presuming to try to give *him*
advice like he was an idiot.
   Within a few seconds of the boy's rather expected comeback of "I'd like
to see you try it.", 'Naoki' was on his way back to class while the other boy
was lying sprawled out on the floor of the boys' room.

   In her next class, Tanaka found herself seated next to the boy who 
she had been daydreaming of all day. With him so close, she found it
difficult to concentrate on her studies. He was very handsome, she

reasoned, that's why she couldn't keep her mind on her schoolwork, and
she was falling in love with him. She blushed at the thought, knowing
that he would've blushed, too, if he could've read it.
    Something, perhaps the latent maternal instinct in all women,
told her that he had clearly faced more than his share of traumas.
Despite this, she was sure that he was as pure as she was.
   "That might be a problem on our wedding night." she remarked,
not realizing at first that she'd spoken aloud.
   He looked over at her with a bewildered expression on his face and
his head cocked to one side in puzzlement.
   Tanaka realized she'd spoken out and blushed, deeply, turning red
all over.
She looked totally flustered. "Oh my!" she gasped, in a state
of near-panic. "Oh dear..." The boy put a hand onto hers, meaning to
soothe her and ease her mind. Instead, the act had just the opposite
effect. Her heart leaped up into her throat and the butterflies that
were in her stomach began to dance the minute waltz. Then he looked at
her and she saw the twin slits of his pupils up close for the first
time. Those eyes, entrancing, exotic... They held her spellbound for a 
moment and she gazed back up into them, Her own eyes shone with love
and admiration, and perhaps just a twinge of fear. He leaned forward and
she wondered if he was going to kiss her. The butterflies gave up the 
minute waltz in favor of mimicking the combat of her favorite anime
series' mecha and she thought she would faint.
   Just then, the schoolbell rang.
       "Damn," she though to herself, though she was too polite to say
the word aloud.
   The boy pulled away and started off for the next class on his
schedule and Tanaka did likewise. As it happened, they were down the
hall from each other, a fact that Tanaka made note of as they entered
their classrooms. She wondered if she could get herself transfered into
his class. But what reason would she give the teachers? She surely could
not tell them she wanted to attend the class because she was in love
with this student.
   She politely asked to be excused, lying about having to use the
facilities, and quietly made her way down the hall. She knew it was wrong
but she could not get his hypnotic eyes out of her mind. She had to see
him again. She stopped at the door of his classroom and peeked through
the small window atop the door, she was a little too short to do it on 
her own and needed to stand on a chair.
   The new janitress joined her and she stumbled back in surprise,
falling off the chair. The woman caught her with surprising ease and
Tanaka thought she must be a Martial Arts student, a brown belt at the
very least, probably in Judo.
   "Is this what they mean by falling in love?" the janitress
kidded her.
   Tanaka blushed, deeply. Was it really that obvious? She tried
to make a witty comeback, but it died in her throat. She had fallen
in love. There was no denying it. But who was he? She realized she

had no idea of this and it took her by surprise. She'd heard a few
rumors in the locker room. One of these suggested that his parents had 
abandonned him at birth because of his strange eyes. Another rymor said
that they were both dead, A third combined the first two, saying they'd
killed themselves because they'd believed they'd brought a demon or
monster into the world. The first and third of these made Tanaka very 
angry. She could not believe anyone could abandon a boy as handsome as
he was. She wanted to marry him, to give him a family and perhaps let 
him take her last name if he didn't have one of his own. If this boy
had spent his entire life unloved, she wanted to be the one to give him 
all the love he'd missed, to make sure he was never without it again.
   "Don't worry," the janitress smiled, "your secret's safe with me.
So, which one do you like?"
   "The chestnut haired boy." Tanaka whispered back.
   "'Naoki'?" the janitress asked.
   "'Naoki'." Tanaka whispered, mostly to herself, saying the name with
the love and reverence people usually reserved for the supreme being of
their choice. "Is it true that he was abandonned because of his eyes?"
she asked.
   "His eyes?" the janitress asked. She looked at the boy in question
and soon saw what Tanaka was referring to. Eyes of pale silver, turning 
pale gold when the light hit them just right, pupils slitted like those
of an animal. She'd seen those eyes before, she realized, but in a much
different face. If only she could remember...  "I see what you mean." she
said aloud. "I think he's an orphan." she said, getting it right but not
realizing it. "My name's Kiyone."
   "Tanaka." Tanaka replied.
   "I'm pleased to meet you, Tanaka."
   Tanaka turned her gaze back to the boy in the classroom and
Kiyone returned to her janitorial duties, wondering where she'd seen eyes
like that before.
   The schoolbell rang and Tanaka barely made it off the chair and
out of the way before a horde of students ran out of the door she'd
been standing in front of. She stood there panting as they rushed by, 
then a horrible realization took her. She'd missed her entire third
period class, staring at a boy she knew nothing about. The teacher would
be livid when she saw her the next day! Tanaka hurried to her next class
and took her seat. As it happened, 'Naoki' was in this class with her,
too, and again she was seated next to him.

   'Naoki' sighed and slumped over his desk. His posture usually varied 
between two favorite poses, slumped over, or rigidly upright with his 
arms folded in front of him. On occasion he wore an expression of fierce
rage, as if a bitter memory had surfaced, but most times his face looked
like all the sorrow in the universe had decided that his soul was a nice
place to live. He'd never smiled in all the time Tanaka had seen him, his
lips always either noncommittally straight or set in a frown.
He put his face in his hands and Tanaka thought he was going to cry. She
hadn't seen him do this yet, but given his general mood, she was sure 
tears weren't far away. Tanaka reached over and patted his head, kindly.
"Don't worry," she told him, her voice kind, "it'll be all right."
   He grunted derisively, as if to say "nothing will ever be all right 
again." and didn't look up at her.
   She knew it was early to say this, but she thought it might cheer him
up a bit, so she told him: "I think I love you."
   "And I know that you don't." he replied, bitterly, with an edge
to his voice that would've cut diamonds.
   Tanaka was rather taken aback by this and blinked away tears.
He's just acting this way because he's upset, she told herself. Out loud
she said, "No, you don't know that."
   "Yes, I do." He snapped. "And if you do love me, you'd be better off if
you didn't."
   "I find that hard to believe." Tanaka told him. "And if you're trying to
stop me from loving you, I don't think you'll be able to."
   "Suit yourself." The boy told her. "If you want to throw your life away,
that's fine with me."

<continued in next post>