Tenchi Muyo! Legacy of Tears
Book One: The Sorrow of a Happy Day

Chapter One
Those Whom Time Forgot
---------------------------------

 The soft moss grew tall on the floor of the caverns. Growing in tall spikes of
varying shades of green, it might have resembled grass had those who walked upon
it if they had ever heard of such a thing. They had not, but they grew it like a man
grow grass because it felt comfortable beneath their feet and it made their world a
little more colorful.

 The cavern consisted of many giant stalagmites which grew up from a
core too far down to be seen. The tops of these weren't entirely level, but they
were so wide that entire towns, suburbs, and even large cities had been erected
atop them. The smallest of these,  only seven miles in diameter, was the location of
the planet's central government and was the only one not connected to the others by
a permanent bridge. The largest was the home of the planet's primary capital Komoriji.

 In the midsized town of Kiamori, life was fairly peaceful and relatively quiet.
The children, of which there was always ample amounts, seemed, as most children do,
to abhor the idea of complete quiet and did their best to ensure that such a thing did not
make itself known, much to the chagrine of the elderly people who wished for nothing more
than a quiet afternoon.Still, grumble as they might about the noise, the old folks loved
the children and, despite whining about several matters, the children felt the same about
the old folks.

 Shiasta Komoriko watched her younger siblings as they played outside on the
moss that served as the lawn for her family's small home. She longed to play with them,
but illness had crippled her long ago and so she could only watch them, enviously.
 "Some day you'll be out there, too." Her mother assured her.
 "When my hair is as grey as yours?" She laughed.
 Her mother joined in.
 After a while, Shiasta stopped laughing. "I shan't touch the outside soil again,
I fear, until it is time for me to be buried in it. Still, at least my eyes were not
afflicted so even though I cannot join my brothers and sisters, I can watch them. And I
have my dreams."
 The family gardener, Miaku Morichi, waved to them from his place outside.
 "I think he likes you." Takero, Shiasta's mother observed.
 Shiasta nodded. "That's why he's here." She agreed. "He doesn't actually do
much gardening. Just spends most of his time picking dead leaves off the little flowers
outside my window. I think he does it as an excuse to look at me."
 "Indeed." Her mother asked in mock horror. Truth was she had suspected and
even encouraged this. Miaku was a kindly young man and Takero was certain he'd make
a good husband for her daughter. "I really must have a word with him."
 "I'm beginning to think you've been encouraging him." Shiasta remarked.
 "My dear daughter!" Takero gasped in mock dismay. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

  Shiasta sighed and leaned back in the wheelchair that had been her prison since a
childhood fever had caused her to have a stroke and had left her legs paralyzed. She was
barely an adult now, having finished school only the year before. While she'd attended
school, she'd been able to be amongst her peers. But her grades, while passing, had not
been college material and her family had spent so much on medical treatments over the
years, trying to cure her that they could not afford to send her with a scholarship.
  She had first met Miaku in her Sophomore year of high school and had taken a liking to
him. He had earned her admiration after calling her a stuck up little bitch. Not because
she actually was one, but because she was pleased that he didn't feel that he needed to be
polite just because she was in a wheelchair. However, for the sake of appearances, she'd
spent a long while pretending it pissed her off until he apologized to her for the remark.
   When Shiasta was in her senior year, and it became clear she wasn't going on to
college, Miaku, realizing he might not see her again, had spoken to her father about
becoming the family's landscaper. Her father had agreed and had set the young man up with
a small but fair salary as well as a schedule which was just as equitable.
   A tear came to Shiasta's eyes as she thought about her father. He had been killed in an
accident at work a year earlier when one of the machines at the factory had malfunctioned
and crushed him. There had been other deaths, and many lawsuits, but no one was really
rich enough to sue the factory successfully and Shiasta's mother was too heartbroken to
even bother. The machine in question bore no built in safety features at the time of her
father's death or at the time of any other deaths that it caused. It wasn't until the
plant manager's own grandchild had been crushed in it that they'd added a safety bar to
the damned thing. A vile thought welled up in Shiasta's heart, that the child's death was
the gods way making things fair, but she pushed it away. It was sad, really, that it took
the death of that child when the matter should've been dealt with after the death of the
first man.
   Miaku had comforted Shiasta when her father had died. Had held and reassured her. That
was when she had fallen in love with him. However, she suspected that he would not wish to
be burdened with a cripple for a wife, and so she kept her feelings silent, hiding them
from all but her mother, from whom she could hide nothing.
   "When are you going to tell him?" Takero asked her daughter.
   "Tell him what?" Shiasta asked in feigned ignorance.
   "That you love him." Her mother said, pointedly.
   "I'm not going to. And neither are you." Shiasta replied. "The last thing he needs
   right
now is to be burdened by someone like me. Its bad enough that you have to suffer for it."
   "Shiasta, the only one who sees you as a burden is you." Takero pointed out. "Now I
wish you'd stop putting ideas into other people's heads. Miaku is a nice young man and
he'd be a good husband, I'm sure."
   "There you go again. Trying to pass me off to someone else." Shiasta sighed.
   "If you're trying to make me feel guilty, don't bother." Takero replied. "I know
   perfectly
well that you know that's not the case. I also know that you and that young man love each
other and I really wish you'd stop pitying yourself and admit it."
   There was a knock on the door.
   "Come in, Miaku." Takero invited. She knew his knock.
   Miaku walked in, bowing politely as he did so. "Good afternoon, ma'am." he told his 
employer. "Good afternoon, Shiasta." He added.
   "Yes, it is." Shiasta replied, curtly, not turning to look at him, even though she was 
able to do so.
   "Here is your money for the week." Takero paid him the salary he and her late husband 
had agreed upon.
   Miaku thanked her for the money and was about to leave when Takero stopped him. "Yes?"
   "Do you think my daughter would be a burden?" Takero asked, deciding that she had had 
enough.
   "Why, no ma'am." Miaku replied. "She'll make some young man a fine wife one day."
   "Indeed she will." Takero nodded, giving Miaku a smile that suggested that particular 
young man might be standing in the room.
   Miaku looked over at Shiasta, but she blatantly ignored him and his hopes, again, 
fell. 
   "I must be going." He bowed politely as he backed out of the room. "My family will 
have supper on the table and I do not wish to make them wait. Goodbye then." He finished 
as he left the room.
   "Goodbye, Miaku." Takero said, politely.
   Shiasta didn't bother to say it, pretending not to notice his departure instead.
   "I have to make dinner too, come to think of it." Takero noted as she left the room.
   Alone at her window, Shiasta watched Miaku depart down the road until he could no 
longer be seen.
    "I love you, Miaku." She whispered, silently, as a tear ran from her eye and down 
her soft furry muzzle.

Lt. Trakal
Operative of the Galaxy Police SIU