--- Disclaimer:  I claim no rights, express or implied, over any of  
the characters, names, places, events or descriptions contained
in the Tenchi Muyo series.  My use of the aforementioned
items is for strictly non-profit and personally recreational
purposes.  
---  
"Iscariot Wept" Part 6: "Hopes and Fears"  
---

     Sometimes, even the most powerful man in the universe gets his ass kicked.
     Usually by his wife.
     Tenchi Masaki closed his eyes tightly and shuddered.  “You know,
you always win these games,” he ground out from between clenched
teeth.  “Why do you even bother?”
     Aeka smiled beatifically.  “Because I can.”  Her grin turned
feral.
     The Emperor and his first wife lay naked together on their bed,
their bodies joined in the most intimate way possible.  This much was
relatively mundane.  Lady Aeka had arrived home from her diplomatic
mission just a few hours ago; it was only natural that she and her  
husband would waste no time in “reacquainting” themselves.
     No, the odd thing wasn’t that they were horizontal and  
superimposed.  It was that neither one of them was moving.
     Externally, anyway.
     Tenchi gurgled incoherently as Aeka systematically tightened
herself along his length.  She had a very well developed set of  
internal muscles, and used them to her advantage.  Tenchi in some  
ways very much rued the day she’d been introduced to Doctor Kegel
and his evil, evil exercises...
     Aeka released him and grinned wolfishly.
     Tenchi’s head lolled back on his pillow.  He’d changed his mind.
He didn’t rue it at all.
     Some time early in their marriage, Aeka and Tenchi had hit upon
the concept of “rumpling.”  The act was an old earth custom wherein
two lovers would lie fully clothed with each other in bed for a  
significant period of time.  It had its roots in the pre-marriage
rituals of ancient Terra, but its usage had warped over time to make
it an excruciatingly frustrating form of foreplay.  They’d found it  
an extremely effective method of building sexual tension, and the  
lovemaking that usually followed had been decidedly explosive.
     At some point, they’d decided to put a twist on the theme.   
Since then, they’d taken to removing each other’s clothes, laying
down, joining with each other...
     ...and then holding very, very still.  The first one who  
couldn’t stand it any more and moved, ‘lost.’
     The first few times, Aeka had been the one to lose her self  
control first.  Then she’d learned of the good doctor’s pelvic muscle
control exercises, and she hadn’t lost since.
     That had been about three hundred years ago.
     Tenchi’s hands tightened, claw-like, on the mattress edges as  
Aeka slowly flexed and relaxed herself.  She moved up him like an  
elevator, stopping at each “floor” to tighten, then let go.  As she
moved upward, beads of sweat began to pop out on his forehead.
He knew what came when she reached the top floor...
     Aeka clamped herself down around the last inch of him and drew
herself ever so slightly upward.  The tight friction over the head
was too much, and Tenchi’s hips bucked a full half-foot off the bed
in involuntary reaction.  Aeka yelped as she found herself propelled
upward in a very satisfying fashion, then gasped as they crashed
back down together hard enough to bounce off the mattress.
     Neither of them moved for a moment.  Aeka caught her breath
first.
     “I win again,” she purred.
     “Gee, sucks to be me,” he shot back.  He reached out to grasp
her hips.  “Or NOT.”
     Aeka cried out as he surged upward underneath her again, this
time deliberately.  

----
     A few hours later Aeka was in blissful, if disheveled,
slumber.  Tenchi was gone, called away to yet another affair of state
involving yet another crisis.  She missed the warmth that he usually
provided, and she was shivering in her sleep...
     There was a soft knock at the door, followed by a softer voice.
“Lady Aeka?  Are you awake?” it queried.
     Aeka slept on.  The door opened slowly, and a head poked into
the room.  “Lady Aeka?”   
     Her eyelids fluttered open at the sound of her name.  “Yes?   
Who’s there?”  She sat up in bed and squinted at the interloper.
“What do you want?”
     “It’s me, Konda.”  The security Tai-I slipped fully into the  
room and quietly closed the door.  “I have news.”
     “Couldn’t it wait?”  Aeka looked down at herself, thankful
that she didn’t sleep nude.  Otherwise, Konda might be getting an  
eyeful...
     “No milady.”  The bodyguard shook his head.  “I thought you  
needed to see these right away.”  He handed her a smallish sealed
envelope.  She opened it and withdrew a data chip.  Her eyes went to
Konda.
     “What is it?” she asked.
     “I think you should look at it, milady.”
     Aeka harrumphed, but reached for her bedside chip-reader.
In a few seconds she was looking at a holographic image.  At first,
she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  The image was of Sasami
sitting at what appeared to be a table in a restaurant.  There was a  
man sitting across from her.  Aeka supposed that he was her younger
sister's most recent boyfriend; she'd been through a number of them
of late...
     She blinked.
    Then she squinted at the image.
    Then she blinked again.
    "Konda," she said slowly, "is that who I think it is?"
     The bodyguard nodded solemnly.  "Yes milady, it is."
     Aeka sighed heavily.  "Are they... together?"
     Konda considered for a moment.  "We've only seen them together
this once, but they did go to back to his domicile after the meal.
It would be logical to assume that they know each other from previous
encounters."
     Aeka stared at the picture for a few seconds before saying  
anything.  "Did they... well, did they?"
     "Not so far as we can tell, milady.  They slept in different
rooms."
     "She slept there?"
     "Yes milady."
     She looked up at Konda.  "Double the surveillance on him," she
ordered.  Then she visibly hesitated.  "I'll talk to her.  If we  
can't reach an agreement..." She frowned.  "...then double the  
surveillance on her, too."
     Konda nodded, then turned and left the room.  In the silence
that followed, Aeka found herself staring at the still-active
holo image.
     Suddenly she noticed that in the holo, her sister was smiling
quite happily at the man she was sitting with.
     *Sasami,* she thought,  *what have you gotten yourself into?*

----
     Later that morning there was another knock on Aeka’s bedchamber
door.  This time, the rapping was neither soft nor discreet.  It was
loud, sharp, and perfunctory.  The door opened before Aeka could even
call out an acknowledgement.
     Sasami stood in the doorway, looking extremely irate.
     “Okay, big sister, what’s the deal?”  The younger princess
stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.  “I was with
a GUY, damn it.  Not a real convenient time to have the Secret  
Service come knocking on the door!”
     Aeka looked evenly at her sibling.  “I’m sorry for the intrusion
on your personal life, but there’s something we need to talk about.”
     Sasami took a deep breath.  She knew her sister wouldn’t send
the goon squad after her unless it was important.  She probably
had no right to be angry, even though it WAS rather embarrassing
to have a bodyguard detachment wake you up at your date’s house...
“Right.  So what is it?”
     Aeka’s gaze intensified.  “Sasami, do you understand who that
man you’re dating is?”
     Sasami’s attempt to become un-irritated came to a screeching
halt.  “This is about THAT?”
     “Yes, it is.”  Aeka held her hands out in a palms-up gesture
of supplication.  “You, of all people, should know how dangerous
he might be.  It was your ascension when it happened.”
     “Aeka,” Sasami said quietly, “he had nothing to do with that.”
     “True, but he’s a point of access.  His uncle could use him to  
get to you.”  Her voice took on a pleading tone.  “Please.  There’s
too much risk.  There are billions of other men on the planet.  Must
you take an interest in this one, of all of them?”
     “It’s not a matter of must.  I HAVE.”  Sasami let out an  
exasperated sigh.  “I know full damn well who he is, who is uncle
is, and what his family’s done to us.  I know better than ANYBODY,
Aeka.”  She reached up and fingered the two bright green dots  
inscribed on her forehead.  “These are a constant reminder.  Even if
they weren’t there, every time I looked in a mirror, I’d remember.”
     “Then why?”  Aeka asked plaintively.  “It makes no sense!”
     “You’re the sister-wife of the woman who savaged Jurai and  
ruined your first betrothal,” she replied hotly.  “You tell me about
affairs of the heart and making sense.”
     Aeka’s heart stopped beating.  Sasami blanched.  “Oh gods, I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean that...”
     The Empress stared past Sasami.  “Of course you did.  And you’re
right.”  She re-focused on her sister.  “Do you love him, then?”
she asked quietly.
     “I just went on a first date, Aeka.  Of course I don’t.”
     “Then there is still time to make it make sense.”
     Sasami folded her arms over her chest.  “Sister, you told me  
once that the day you really grew up was the day you decided to stay
on earth with Tenchi, even though you knew everything else in your
life demanded you come home.”
     Aeka nodded silently.
     “I know this isn’t the same.  But damn it, it’s about time I  
started making my own choices, too.”
     “But this is a lot bigger than just you, Sasami-”
     “IT’S ALWAYS BEEN BIGGER THAN ME!  I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A  
GODDESS, AEKA!  WHETHER I LIKED IT OR NOT!”  Sasami thrust an  
accusing finger at her sister.  “Don’t you tell me about living for
something bigger than myself.  Don’t you even dare.”
     “Don’t I dare?  How dare I NOT?”  Aeka gestured toward a window.
“Think of all our people out there, Sasami!  You may not be their
goddess, but they still depend on you!  Think of how important
you are to our military, to our government, to our religion.  Think
of what it could mean if this man is even in the slightest tainted
or controlled by our enemies!”
     “And think of how part of the reason you’re married to Tenchi
is because of what Jurai’s enemies did seven hundred years ago,”  
Sasami retorted.
     Aeka changed tacks.  “I could order you to stop seeing him.”
     “You could.  And you’d sound just like father if you did.”
     Aeka sat down heavily on her bed.  She was at a loss.
     Sasami drew a shuddering breath.  “I’ll be careful, sister.
But it’s my personal life.  I like this boy.  I want to see what  
happens with that.  And who his family is, or what they’ve done, or  
what they MIGHT do, isn’t going to make me judge him any differently.
He’s his own person, Aeka.  And so am I.”  With that, she turned
around and opened the door to leave-
    -and bumped her nose hard against a surprised Konda’s chest.
He’d apparently been standing outside the door.
     “Move, Konda,” she growled.  The big man obliged.  Sasami  
stomped off down the hallway and out of sight.  The bodyguard
watched her go, then stepped into the bedchamber.
     “Your instructions, milady?” he queried.
     Aeka didn’t look at him.  “Let her go,” she said softly.  “But
watch them.  Watch them both.”  She looked up.  “I’ll speak to my  
husband.”  

----
     Sasami paused as she reached the palace vestibule; she realized
she didn’t know quite where she was going.  She wanted to leave,
certainly.  The surrounding mass of the palace was a continual,
omnipresent reminder of what her sister had just told her, and what
she knew in her heart to be true: her life was not her own, and it  
never, ever would be...
     For the love of the gods, was it too much to ask to be allowed
to choose whom she dated?
     The worst part of it was that she knew that Aeka was right.
That fact infuriated her.
     She thought about going to talk to Ryouko, but decided against
it.  It wouldn’t do at all to drag her into this.  She and Aeka were
sister wives, and it could get really messy if she brought those two
into conflict.  And really, this was about independence, wasn’t it?
There wasn’t much independent about going crying to the Emperor’s
second wife when the first one was giving you trouble.  
     *Screw it,* she finally decided.  *I’m going back to Kenji’s
place.*  The Juraian princess nodded to herself and walked resolutely
out the palace’s main doorway.  

----
     When she got to Kenji‘s house, Sasami found him still asleep.
She unceremoniously put an end to that condition by tossing a pillow
directly onto his face.  He promptly woke up.
     “What the hell?” he spluttered.  He looked around wildly for a  
moment, then saw Sasami standing in his bedroom doorway.  “Oh, hi.   
Did I oversleep?”
     “Yeah.”  She leaned against the doorjamb.  “I’ve been out and  
back again already.”
     Kenji blinked and sat up.  He was still feeling muzzy and  
unaware, and didn’t quite understand what was going on.  “Out?   
Back?”
     “Yeah.  As in ‘out’ to the palace, and then ‘back’ from the  
palace.  Didn’t you hear the protection detail rousting me this  
morning?”
     Kenji’s eyes widened.  “The Secret Service was HERE?”
     “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’  You must sleep like a rock.”  Sasami
pushed herself off the doorjamb and stepped into Kenji’s room.  “They
came knocking at about eight this morning.  Whisked me off to a  
‘meeting’ with my sister.”
     “Oh shit, that sounds bad.”
     “It wasn’t much fun.”  The princess walked slowly around the  
perimeter of Kenji’s bedroom, her eyes wandering about distractedly.
She felt the need to pace, to rant, to do SOMETHING to vent her  
frustration, but she suddenly felt very awkward.  Kenji was the whole
crux of her agitation right now.  What was she doing here, telling
her problems about him, to him?  It was bound to make him feel  
self-conscious as all hell.
     *Damn it, I should have thought of that BEFORE I stormed in  
here.*  She quickly started trying to think of a way to extricate
herself from the situation, but Kenji forced the issue a moment  
later.
     “So what was it about?” he asked.
     “National security stuff,” she hedged.
     Kenji blinked.  “Fuck, if it’s big enough to get you in for a  
consult, maybe I ought to be getting back to JFMITC.”  He swung his
feet onto the floor and pushed himself upright.  “Anything you can  
tell me here?”
     “No, no, it’s not like that.  Settle down.  She just wanted
to talk to me about something.”  Sasami closed her eyes and brought
her hands up to massage her temples.  “She was just worried about
some things going on in my life.”
     “Oh.  Okay.”  Kenji was confused, but he shrugged it off.  He  
supposed that the private lives of the imperial family and the  
concerns of national security probably crossed paths fairly often.
*Hell,* he thought idly, *there’s probably an analysis team assigned
to study the national implications of her dating choices- oh SHIT.*
    He winced and swore under his breath.  *She doesn’t want to tell
me what it is, it’s a national security concern, and it’s something
Empress Aeka is worried about going on in her life.  That adds up to
me.*  Kenji looked over at Sasami, who was saying something about
breakfast.  *She hasn’t looked me in the eye since she’s been in  
here.  She still isn’t now.  Fuck.  I hate it when I’m right*
     He decided to just come right out and ask.  As soon as she  
paused for breath, he spoke.  “So, your sister’s a bit concerned
that you were seen consorting with the nephew of a foreign power’s
head of state, eh?”
     Sasami gaped.  “How the hell did you know that?”
     Kenji laughed bitterly.  “Come on.  It’s not like it’s that hard
to figure out.”  He reached out to run his hand over the slats of the
closet door.  “It’s only been the same damn thing I’ve run into my  
whole stinking adult life.”  He looked over at her.  “What did she  
say?”
     Sasami frowned and dropped her eyes, unable to meet his gaze.
“That I was taking too great a risk to Jurai by going out with you.”
     “Wow.  That didn’t take very long.  One date and I’m a risk to  
national security.”  He shook his head.  “You know, I can’t fucking
win.  I never even KNEW the man growing up, Sasami.  But right after
the Fall, that’s all I ever heard.  ‘Hey, aren’t you related to...’
and ‘Hey, you know who you look like?’ and ‘So, does treason run in  
the family?’  Over and over and over again, every damned day.  Until
I finally enrolled in JFMITC just so they had to run a background
check on me, and I could hold that up and PROVE that I was loyal.”
He sighed heavily.  “I’ve got a clearance, I’ve got a commission,
and I’m serving in the forces that hold that bastard BACK, for  
heaven’s sake.  What else do I have to fucking DO?”
      “Nothing.”  Sasami reached out and put her hands on Kenji’s
shoulders.  She could feel him trembling with frustration.
“They’re just afraid, Kenji.  They don’t know you.  It’s not about
you.  She’s just afraid of the worst-case, is all.”  She pursed her
lips.  “And she’s my sister.  She’s always going to be protective
of me.”
     Kenji blew his breath out.  “I know, I know.  But it just gets
OLD.  And the worst part is that I can see why they’re worried.”
He looked at her earnestly.  “So, are we done?”
     “Done?”
     “Yeah, done.  As in nipped in the bud, ground aborted,  
cancelled, terminated, over.  One date and out.”
     Sasami got visibly angry.  “Damn it, give me more credit than
that.”
     “What?”
     “I’m my own person, Kenji.  I’m not going to dump you because
my sister thinks you’re the next herald of the apocalypse.  No matter
how well intentioned she might be.  Now, I might dump you because
you failed to REALIZE that,” she glared at him,  “but not because
of who you are.  Or who an accident of birth related you to.”
     “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to insult you.”
     “Apology accepted.  In fact, let’s forget the whole damn thing
and return to our original premise.”
     “What was that?”
     She laughed.  “That I’m cute, and you’re trying to seduce me.  
The first step of which would be to feed me breakfast.”
    “Seduce you?  I thought we were dating.”
     She quirked an eyebrow.  “There’s a difference?”
     “Wait a minute.  Speaking of seduction, weren’t YOU the one  
trying to get me to come upstairs last night?”
     “Yes, and since you apparently object, I’ll be sure to never
invite you again.”
     “Whoa, I did NOT say I objected!”
     Sasami laughed and walked out the door.  “In that case,” she  
called over her shoulder, “you had better get to work on that  
breakfast!”
     Kenji slapped himself in the forehead and rolled his eyes.   
“It’s a good thing you’re beautiful, or I’d kick your ass,” he  
muttered.
     “What was that?”
     “Nothing!  At all!” he replied hurriedly.  “So how do you like
your eggs?”  

----
     One of the advantages of being married to your boss is that you
can have a meeting with him whenever you want.  When Aeka beeped
Tenchi’s desk, he politely closed out the foreign policy meeting
he was holding and immediately headed for the palace’s residency
wing.  Five minutes later, he was popping his head into Aeka’s  
office.  “Hey babe.  What’s up?”
     Aeka tossed a chip reader loaded with the picture of Sasami
and Kenji at her husband.  “Take a look at that.”
     Tenchi stepped fully into the office and closed the door, then
activated the reader.  He studied it for a long moment.  “Hey, isn’t
that the kid nephew of the CFS prime minister?”
     “Yes, it is.  And this,” she punched up a feed to her desktop
display, then turned it so Tenchi could see. “is live.”
     The Emperor stared at the holoscreen.  Sasami and Kenji were  
sitting at a table, eating breakfast.  He didn’t recognize the  
surroundings, but it appeared to be a private residence.  “Hmmm.
Okay, so she’s having breakfast with him.”  He looked toward Aeka.
“What happened, did he deflower her and now you want permission
to assassinate him?  Whoa!”  Tenchi ducked as Aeka flung her display
at him.  It whistled by harmlessly to clatter against the door.   
“Take it easy, I was kidding!”
     “Don’t kid about that sort of thing, it’s not funny!  That’s
my little sister you’re talking about!”
     Tenchi held his hands up in a display of surrender.  “Okay,
okay, I’m sorry.  So what DO you want?”
     Aeka turned a rather interesting shade of purple.  “Isn’t it  
obvious?”
     “I wish it were, since I think I’m about to have my ass kicked
for not figuring out...”
     “Very astute, your Lordship.  She’s dating a blood relative
of the man who engineered the Fall!  Doesn’t that WORRY you?”
     “Um, no?”
     Aeka threw her hands up in the air and spoke to the ceiling.
“Am I the only one who sees this?”  She snapped her gaze back down
to meet Tenchi’s eyes.  “He nearly crippled us.  Getting to Sasami
would be precisely the sort of thing he’d do to finish the job.”
     “Aeka, that was centuries ago.  He was angry, and quite rightly
so.  Things are a lot different now.  He’s got a nation to think of.
And a parliament to deal with.  And elections coming up.”  Tenchi
shook his head slowly.  “Even if he’s still out to get us, I think
he’s way too smart to try stirring something up now.  And for that
matter,” he continued, “why use his nephew?  Everything we’ve got  
says the kid absolutely hates him.”
     “Tenchi, I am telling you as your Inspector General for  
Information that it is a very unnecessary and dangerous risk to have
this going on.  At the very least, we hazard exposing the true extent
of the Fall to our population.  At worst, we risk losing the heart
of our military power.”  Aeka put her hands on her desk and leaned
forward.  “As your wife, and her sister, I’m telling you that we  
can’t risk HER this way.”  She sat down heavily in her chair.  “Not
in good conscience.”
     Tenchi looked intently at his wife.  “What do you think he’s  
going to do?”
     “I don’t know.  Something bad.”
     Tenchi folded his arms over his chest.  “I’m sorry, Aeka, but I  
need more than that.  I’m not going to take action against one of my
own officers for disloyalty, or interfere in Sasami’s personal
life, unless you’ve got more than that to go on.”
     “Tenchi, please.”
     “Please what, Aeka?  What do you want me to do?”
     Aeka looked again at the holo display.  It was still where it  
had landed on the floor, but was humming right along despite the  
abuse.  Currently, it showed an image of Kenji and Sasami sitting
in the curve of a large bay window looking out to sea.  As she  
watched, Kenji said something, and Sasami punched him lightly in the
shoulder.  They both began to laugh.
     “Let me maintain the surveillance,” she answered.  “I’ll get  
evidence.  If it’s there, my agents will find it.”
     Tenchi nodded, then crossed the room.  Aeka stood to meet him.
As she rose, the Emperor swept her into a gentle hug.  “I know you  
love her,” he said, “but you’ve got to let her go sometime.”
     “It’s more than just me being protective.  I promise.”
     He looked into her eyes.  “I believe you.  You can keep a watch
on them, but keep it low profile.  Okay?”
     She gave him a squeeze.  “Okay.”  

----
     Just before the sun went down that night, Kenji and Sasami went
down to the beach below the estuary bluffs to watch the last touches
of color chase each other from the sky.  They spent the time quietly,
neither speaking, until the last of the sun’s disk began to dip below
the wave tops.  Just as the last ray of light faded, Kenji took out
a small glass vial.  He quickly ran out to the surf line, scooped
a bit of sand and water into the flask, then held it up and let the
last few photons of daylight pass through it.  Once the sun was gone,
he stoppered the vial and put it in his pocket.
     “What was that all about?” Sasami queried as he returned.
     “Old tradition.  When you think you’re beginning something
good, you bottle a sunset from the first day and keep it.  That way
you always have a piece of that beginning with you.”
     Sasami mulled that over for a moment.  “So, are we beginning
something good?”
     “One hopes so.  Though if that movie we saw this afternoon
was any indication...”
     Sasami grinned.  “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to see a  
martial arts flick!  It’s not my fault it sucked!”
     “Whoa, whoa, it’s not about whose fault it is.  At least not  
when it’s mine.”
     Sasami laughed and pushed him.  When he tried to push back, she
stepped neatly aside, and then stuck her foot out.  He tripped and  
went sprawling onto the sand.  Sasami promptly broke down giggling.
Kenji rolled over onto his back, saw that she was distracted,
and immediately snaked his arm out to pull her ankles out from under
her.  She fell with a shriek.  As soon as her body hit the sand,  
Kenji pounced upon her.  

----      
     In her office, Aeka heard the cry through her surveillance
feed.  When she saw Kenji leap upon her sibling, the Empress reached
for the button that would send her operatives down on them-
     The feed rolled on.  Aeka hesitated.  Her finger hovered over
the button for a moment, then withdrew.  Then she reached out and  
shut off the display.
     Aeka sat in her dark office for many long minutes after that,
thinking.  When Kenji had pounced, he’d not done a thing to harm  
Sasami.  In fact...
     She pushed her chair back from her desk and stood.  Maybe she  
was being paranoid after all.  Though she had to admit, when Kenji
had landed atop her sister, and Sasami had pulled him down into a  
kiss, and not a struggle, she’d almost hit the button anyway.
     She WAS her little sister, after all.  

END.

     That’s it for chapter 6.  Please send any and all feedback
to Hospitaller@msn.com and let me know what you think.  Thanks for  
reading!