It starts back 20,000 years ago. No .. it goes back much further than that. Okay, I think I can trust both of you to keep all of this in confidence. What I am about to say will break the agreement that I made 20,000 years ago with my two sisters Tsunami and Tokimi. For all of that time, the common knowledge has been that I have no memories of my past life as a goddess, as one of the Choushins. But that is in fact not true at all, I retain all of my memories of that past life. My sisters were not heartless enough to destroy my memories, so we agreed to this, to only pretended to lose my memory and avoid problems that way. People at that time were so afraid of me, that no one could accept my presence among them as I was. You two, Ryoko and Sasami, are the first ones to ever learn this.
Now to begin. Without going into a lot of detail, at the beginning of time as you know it, the three of us created the Universe. Each one of us each assumed a different responsiblility in the creation of the Universe. Tokimi's job was to actually construct the Universe - dimensions, space, stars, planets, galaxies - all of the physical realms. Tsunami's job was the creation and propogation of life, to fill the Universe with living creatures. And as an outgrowth of that Tsunami created the spiritual realms as well. My role was to make all of it work, to provide harmony and a peaceful existence for all elements of the Universe. I know that may seem pretty overwhelming, but that's what I set out to do. Being a goddess gives you a little different perspective on how things work in the Universe. If a problem arose somewhere, immediately I would go and fix it. It was quite simple to me at the time, and I didn't realize that wiping out troublemakers was such cataclysmic process. Their worlds, empires, even whole races were easily exterminated and peace would be quickly restored. It's not hard to imagine that soon I would become the most dreaded being in the Universe. Everyone feared my approach. Everywhere I went I was met with fleets of warships or mechas, bristling with weapons. There was no discussion anymore, they would just attack on sight with full power. But their powers were miniscule compared to mine, and I erased them from existence with just a single thought.
And as such things went for uncounted thousands of millenia and nothing improved. Nothing I did ever restored harmony to the Universe, and in most cases just made things worse. I never thought of myself as a evil being back then, but I was hated by everyone everywhere. Even my sisters had begun to remark on how badly I had failed to maintain peaceful coexistence in the Universe. Eventually I despaired and began to even hate myself. I went to my sisters Tsunami and Tokimi and begged them to destroy me, but they refused. They came up with this instead *points to herself* Their idea was that I had such a hard time understanding the "little creatures" we had created, that if I were to become one of them, I would learn and understand their problems. That way I could come up with better solutions to the problems of people in the Universe. I agreed to their plan and they made me the creature of flesh you see here today. My powers they sealed in the three gems, but my intellect they left intact. Everyone was told that my memory had been erased to allow me to live among people without them being so afraid of me. The people at the Science Academy were willing to accept that I had been changed for the better, so they welcomed me to come and teach there. It wasn't too long after that that I met Mikamo.
Mikamo was unlike any person I had ever met, even to this day. He was a sweet, kind and gentle person. A fellow professor at the Academy, he was highly intelligent, yet was very straight with his feelings. Never did he hide anything from me. Mikamo knew about my history of course, but he wasn't frightened of me, on the contrary, he was very interested in me and wanted to know more. His openness and willingness to accept me was hard to understand, because no one had ever been nice to me before. Many nights and weekends we spent together sharing our time and friendship together. All of this was so new to me, his kindness was so captivating and I couldn't help but fall in love with him. About a year after we had first met we got married and our son Mikumo was born about a year after that. I remember that being the happiest time in my life. In just a few short years I had gone from the dark depths of empty despair to a life full of love, joy, and happiness. And it was Mikamo who had brought that to me and added that dimension to the person I am now. However it was not meant to last.
Mikamo had mentioned to me about how he had misinformed his family about his new wife. He was fully aware that they would not accept me, the evil goddess Washu, into their family, so he intentionally told them lies about who I was. Mikamo was very much in love with me and our relationship was that important to him, that he would lie to his own family to protect us from them. It wasn't too long before they found out though. His family was and still is very powerful on Seniwa and they were furious when they found out about what had happened, I found out later. Naja and I had been gone several weeks on a research expedition and when we returned to the Academy, Mikamo and our son were both gone, taken back to Seniwa by his family. He lost his position at the Academy and never returned. They left terrible, threatening notes warning me of dire consequences if I ever tried to return and see him or my son. I could not have been more devastated. For weeks I cried over everything I had lost, everything that was precious to me had been cruelly taken away. It was then that I had started to understand a little of how others must have seen me as the cruel and evil goddess Washu. All I could do was walk away. I could have easily reclaimed my goddess powers and taken my revenge upon Mikamo's family, but that would have only served to prove them right about me.
Eventually I was able to overcome my grief and sorrow and get on with my life as an Academy professor. Naja was a great help during that time, I still owe her a lot for helping me through it all. But there are some things that time cannot heal. To this day I still love Mikamo, and my son Mikumo, and I will forever, nothing could ever replace them in my heart, nothing could ever fill the emptiness left behind by their loss.
And that brings me to your question Ryoko - why did I create you? Lonliness, that's why. For another 15,000 years I taught at the Academy, and met thousands of different people from all over the Universe. Some thought I was brilliant, some thought I was eccentric, and some thought I was just plain strange and stayed away from me. There were even a few that thought I was cute and fun to be around, but none, not a single one ever showed any romantic interest in me at all. After all that time I had given up on ever finding a boyfriend or husband, Mikamo was the only one ever meant for me. To this day I am totally convinced of that, he was my "Tenchi" Ryoko. Naja and I were discussing a cloning project together, when I conceived the idea of creating a daughter for myself. Maybe I would never be married again, but I could still have a family. So I used my own ova combined with the masu to clone a girl with half of my own genes, a true daughter. And the day you were "born" Ryoko was the happiest day for me in 15,000 years, I loved you too right from the very start, so innocent and beautiful. the most perfect child a mother could ever want. But like before, my joy was so short-lived ...
