Hiwa Takahashi

Hiwa Takahashi (高梁 日羽) is a fictional character in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, a close acquaintance of the title character who makes an appearance in Hitoshi Okuda's No Need for Tenchi! manga.

Unexpected visitor
Hiwa and Tenchi are old friends, almost inseparable from the time they were six years old. They spent most evenings having fun and playing games together (even "Doctor"), going so far as adopting a little injured bird they named Ukan. Unfortunately, Hiwa's father moved to Osaka, and being so young with no income of her own Hiwa was obliged to follow. However, she never stopped caring about Tenchi, and years later shows up on the Masaki's doorstep looking to continue their relationship and even marry him, as she had promised when she was a little girl.

Unfortunately, things aren't so clear-cut as they seem: Hiwa is not quite herself, not in the flesh anyway. After some cajoling from Washu, she explains that two days earlier she had been hit by a speeding car, left bruised and broken on the side of the road. The first thing Hiwa sees afterwards is herself laying on a hospital bed, with the doctor telling her parents the girl only had days to live. Somehow Ukan, the bird she and Tenchi had taken care of and Hiwa still looked after, was able to lend its body as an avatar to Hiwa's spirit and brought her to Tenchi. She arrived to be pleased yet also extremely saddened to see Tenchi surrounded by people who loved him. Unfortunately, Hiwa is too far gone for Washu to heal her, causing the scientist to scoff how the "greatest genius in the universe" can't even save a single girl.

The test
Knowing she won't have much time left, Hiwa wanted to test Ayeka and Ryoko to see if their love for Tenchi was true by subjecting them to illusions generated by one of Washu's inventions. The final test for Ayeka was being told Tenchi wasn't really family and being threatened to lose her title of princess unless she returned to Jurai; meanwhile Ryoko broke up her dream date with Tenchi and decided to help a pregnant woman she had met make it to the hospital by using her powers, expressly against Tenchi's wishes. Both made the right choice, and now knowing their love for Tenchi was sincere Hiwa departs an angel, thankful to know there were those who would love and care for him as she did once she was gone.

Unable to accept that Hiwa is gone, Tenchi has an idea of someone who could save their friend where Washu could not. Sasami is able to use her power as Tsunami to bring back Hiwa, restarting her heart moments after death. Doctors and nurses are shocked by her recovery as Hiwa is embraced by her parents while white feathers still fall from the sky.

Trivia

 * Like many characters in Tenchi Muyo!, Takahashi takes her surname from a locale around Japan's Okayama Prefecture, in this case a city located within the Oda District. Ukan springs from this pattern as well, and as an interesting parallel was merged into Takahashi on October 1, 2004.