Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author owns
only the writing.


A Brief Taste of Eternity


	Tenchi Masaki gently placed the bouquet of Callidonian violets
on the grave of his late wife and smiled.
	"Happy birthday, my dearest Ayeka."  He took a few steps to
the right and knelt down next to the grave of his other late wife.
He placed a single rose there, placating his often touchy first wife
as he had done so for ten millenia.  "And you, Ryoko my love," he
whispered and smiled again, "Try to go easy on her today, huh, it's
her birthday."  He stood up and took a step back.  The Jurain sky
above him was gray.  He felt a raindrop land on his cheek.  It was
going to start pouring soon, but he didn't mind.  "I love you both,"
he told the two grave markers.
	Standing on a nearby hill overlooking the graves, two women
stood there watching the former king of Jurai.  One was elderly,
with white hair worn up in a conservative bun.  The other looked to
be in her mid twenties, her blue hair long and vibrant.  Her pink
eyes gazed upon the sight of the king and his loves.  She held a
bouquet of flowers in her hand.
	The elderly woman turned to her.  "Grandmother, it's going to
rain soon.  We should go back to the landcar."
	"You go ahead back to the hotel,"  the 'younger' woman told
her.  "I'll remain here."
	The elderly woman sighed.  "Yes, Grandmother."
	The blue haired woman started down the hill, careful not to
trip over the hem of her blue kimono as she navigated the grassy
slope.
	"Tenchi?"
	The former king turned and saw her.  "Sasami!"  he said smiling.
He walked up to her and embraced her.  "I didn't know you were coming.
Why didn't you call?"
	Sasami smiled.  "I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it."  Above
them, the sky growled in thunder.
	Tenchi smiled.  He was close to ten thousand years old, but
looked no older than the day Sasami first saw him on board Ryu-Oh.
"It's good to see you," he told her.
	"Well," Sasami said walking towards the two grave markers.
"I couldn't miss my sister's birthday."  She knelt down and gently
placed the flowers on Ayeka's grave.  She placed her palm on the soil
there and made a silent prayer.  Standing up, she turned to the grave
next to her sister's.  "Don't worry, Ryoko," she said with a smile.
She reached into her left sleeve and produced a small bottle of sake.
"I didn't forget you."  She opened the bottle, raised it in toast,
took a quick drink, and poured the remainder on Ryoko's grave.  As
she replaced the bottle in her sleeve she threw one last remark at
the demon.  "And please try to go easy on her," she begged, "It's her
birthday."
	Tenchi laughed.  Sasami turned to him and smiled.
	"How long has it been, Tenchi?"  she asked.  "Since we got
together like this?"
	"Sixty years," he told her.  "I haven't seen you since..."
He broke off suddenly.
	She smiled.  "Since Olorin's funeral," she finished.  "It's
okay to say it, Tenchi.  It's been a long time."  They stood there
silently for a few moments.  Sasami looked around her at the beautiful
forest and landscaping around her.  "You have a lovely estate, Tenchi.
I love coming here."
	Tenchi smiled.  "I think it's a little extravagant, but Yosho
insisted that a king, sitting or not, could not simply live in a
downtown apartment."
	Sasami smiled.  "How is your son?"
	"He's...older,"  Tenchi told her quietly.
	"I see."
	Tenchi took a breath.  "I knew it would happen, that he
wouldn't inherit my immortality, but a part of me did hope."
	"Tenchi...let's go for a walk."
	He looked up at her and nodded.  The two started down a forest
path that led to a nearby lake.  As they walked, they caught up on old
times and old friends.
	"Have you heard much from Washu?"  Tenchi asked.
	Sasami nodded.  "She and her new husband are out exploring the
galaxy.  She swears that she's going to understand the universe
before it kills her."  Tenchi laughed at this.  Finally, Sasami
brought up the subject she had been meaning to for years.
	"Tenchi, why haven't you remarried?"
	Tenchi stopped in his tracks.  "What do you mean?"
	Sasami took a breath and continued.  "I'm worried about you,
Tenchi.  It's been *two thousand years* since  Ayeka died.  Why are
you still alone?"  Tenchi said nothing.  "And don't tell me it's just
never come up before," she warned him, "I happen to know that the
Queen of Danitan has made inquiries into you marrying one of her
daughters.  I also know that Duchess Pare za Vounoui of Belegast has
made similar inquiries.  So why are you still alone?"
	His eyes shot up in astonishment.  "You've been *checking up
on me*?!"
	"Don't change the subject.  Why haven't you remarried?"
	Tenchi bit his lip and remained silent.  "It's not that easy,
Sasami."  He paused before continuing.  "I loved them with all my
heart," he whispered.  "How could I go and marry someone else?  They
were my wives for *thousands* of years.  How do I turn my back on
them?"
	"Tenchi..."  Sasami began.  "I know what you're going through.
When Carvin died...I was shattered.  I watched him grow old, while
I stayed young.  I saw him die an old man.  Afterwards, I swore that
I would never love anyone like I loved him.  So, I stayed alone.  I
played with my grandchildren, then my great grandchildren, then my
great great grandchildren.  I watched them all grow old."  She spoke
sadly.  "Then, I met Vazner, and for the longest time, I wouldn't
acknowledge the fact that I was falling in love with him.  I was so
afraid of betraying Carvin's memory.  Every time Vaz would smile at
me or everytime I found myself laughing at one of his jokes I would
feel so *guilty* about turning my back on Carvin."
	She looked up at him and continued.  "Then, one day, I realized
something.  I realized that if Carvin could see me, he'd be so
ashamed at what I was doing to myself.  He would *want* me to be
happy.  He would *want* me to live my life."  She smiled.  "So I
married Vaz, had three beautiful children, and ninety years of
happiness with him."
	She looked at him.  "You were luckier than I was Tenchi," she
told him.  "You got to spend *millenia* with the people you love.
At best, I had a century with each.  But you have to move on.  You
have to live your life.  Thanks to Tsunami's influence, you're going
to be alive for a *very* long time.  We both are.  The question now
is, do you want to spend the rest of eternity alone?  Would Ryoko and
my sister *want* you to be alone forever?"
	Thunder crashed overhead.  Rain began pouring down on them,
saving Tenchi from having to answer the question.  Tenchi looked up
at the stormclouds and cursed.  "I thought only a light shower was
scheduled for today,"  he muttered.
	He reached out and grabbed Sasami's hand.  "Come on.  Let's get
inside!  This way!"  Sasami ran as fast as her kimono would allow,
but they were still both thoroughly drenched by the time they arrived
at a nearby cabin.  Sasami looked at it and blinked.  It was a quaint
little mountain cabin.  The garden was untended, but the structure
itself looked to be in good condition.  It wasn't Tenchi's home, by
no means.  She knew he lived at a small palace almost a mile away.
He opened the door and helped her inside.
	Tenchi hit the light switch, illuminating the room.  They were
both shivering from the cold.  Tenchi walked towards the small
fireplace while Sasami examined her surroundings.  The inside of the
cabin was cozy.  A simple loveseat stood in the center of the room
facing the fireplace.  There seemed to be little else aside from a
music system on the far wall.  Tenchi gave a cry of triumph as a
cheery fire began to crackle.  He stepped back and gestured to it.
"For what it's worth," he said.
	Sasami stepped forward and began to remove her kimono.  Tenchi
blinked in surprise as she stripped down to her blue and white
undertunic as casually as if she were doing laundry, and placed her
kimono near the fire to dry.
	"Um...I guess, I'll wait outside,"  Tenchi said, some of that
old, nervous, shrine tender tone coming back to his voice from another
lifetime.
	Sasami looked up at him and blinked.  She noticed him blushing
and began to laugh.  "Tenchi, it's pouring out, not to mention
freezing.  Stay inside where it's warm."
	"Yes, but I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable..."
	She smiled.  "Tenchi, we've known each other for ten thousand
years,"  she laughed again, "I think my virtue is safe with you."
	He smiled.  "All right."  He removed his own outer tunic and
placed it next to Sasami's kimono.
	"I don't think I've ever been here,"  Sasami told him, looking
around the cabin again.
	"Ayeka had it built,"  Tenchi told her as he began searching
through a tiny cabinet.  "Said it reminded her of..."  He broke off.
	Sasami looked at him and blinked.  "Of what?"
	He closed the cabinet door.  "Of the day she fell in love with
me."
	Sasami took a breath of realization.  "That cabin in the woods
near your shrine?"  she asked.  He nodded.  "Ayeka told me the story.
Somehow, I didn't think it had looked like *this*."
	He laughed.  "It didn't.  It was just a worn out old wood shed.
She told me that she wanted someplace where we could go just to
remember it."
	Sasami smiled.  "That's nice."
	He began rooting through another cabinet.  "I haven't been back
here since she died.  Still, there's gotta be something around here
we can...a-ha!"  Sasami saw him pull a bottle out of the cabinet and
blow some dust off it.
	She blinked in astonishment.  "If you haven't been back here
since she died," she began, "Then how long has that bottle of wine
been in here?"
	Tenchi examined the label, his eyes going wide.  "Long enough
for me to sell it and buy a star cruiser," he said, only half joking.
	Thunder clapped outside.
	"But, it's all we've got,"  he said.  He began searching for
glasses.
	Sasami shrugged and waited while he poured a glass.  She took
it from him and sat on the love seat, pulling her legs up under her
as she sipped the wine.
	Tenchi went to the window and looked out at the rain pouring
down outside.  He took a sip of the wine in his glass.  He smiled and
laughed as a memory came back to him.  He struggled to keep from
spitting up the wine.  Sasami saw this and started to laugh.
	"What?"  she asked with a smile.
	He got control of himself and turned to her.  "Do you remember
that prank you pulled on Ayeka and Ryoko when you were little?  The
one where you convinced them that my father's girl's comics were
really manuals on how to win love?"
	She blinked as she remembered, then started to giggle.  Soon,
she was laughing hysterically.  "Oh, Tenchi," she cried, tears
streaming down her face as she struggled to breathe over her laughter.
"I'm so sorry!  I didn't realize how much hell they'd put you through!"
	Tenchi continued to laugh.
	"I remember..." she stopped as she was overcome with more
laughter, "I remember them...studying those books like scripture!"
	Tenchi's laughter died off.  "It's a nice memory," he said
quietly.
	Sasami saw the solemn look on his face and took another sip.
	"You should make new ones," she told him.
	"What?"
	She looked up at him.  "New memories.  Tenchi, you can't just
live off old memories.  You need to make new ones at the same time.
Otherwise, what joy is there in your life?"
	Tenchi looked at her in puzzlement.  "Why are you so anxious to
see me married again?" he asked her.
	She smiled.  "Because I want to see you happy.  Because I know
that *they* would want to see you happy."
	"I'm happy," he told her.  "I have everything I need right
here."
	"Really?"  she asked.  She stood up and approached him.  "When
was the last time you spoke to your son?"
	"What difference does that make?"
	"Your daughters?"
	Tenchi locked eyes with her.  "They don't need me anymore," he
told her.  "They have lives of their own."
	"You're their father."
	"They have great grandchildren of their own, Sasami!"  he cried.
	"How many servants do you have in your house?"
	Tenchi laughed and turned from her.
	"What's so funny?"  she asked.
	"The number of servants?" he asked.  "How many servants do *you*
have?" he asked.
	"Two hundred, twenty three," she told him flatly.  "I can name
them if you like."
	Tenchi was brought up short.
	"How many, Tenchi?"
	He took a breath. "Three."
	"Three," she repeated quietly.  "You're practically alone."
	He didn't answer.
	She held her glass out to him.  Tenchi refilled it without
saying a word.  She turned and went back to the loveseat.  "I remember
the Startica party you had at the palace, let's see....six thousand
years ago.  The palace was *full* of people.  Laughing, crying, having
fun.  I remember how happy you, Ayeka, and Ryoko were.  It was more
than a Startica party, you were celebrating the anniversary of the
end of the Goddess War, you were celebrating *life*."
	Tenchi said nothing.  He finished his glass of wine and poured
another.  He felt the end of his nose begin to grow numb, a sign that
he was drinking a little too much of the potent wine.  He remembered
that party.  It wasn't too long after that that Ryoko had...stopped.
She was Washu's avatar, she was supposed to be immortal just as he
was, but she had expended so much energy in the final battle with
Tokimi, it had cut her life expectancy drastically.  One day, she had
simply gone to sleep and didn't wake up.
	"I don't want to talk about this, Sasami," he said quietly.  He
put on a smile.  "I haven't seen you in *decades*.  Can't we put this
topic aside and catch up on old times?"
	She looked up at him and smiled.  "All right...For now," she
warned.
	He nodded.  "How's Hiroko?"  he asked.  "Last I heard she was
going for her Master's degree at the Royal Academy."
	Sasami's face clouded over at mention of her granddaughter.
"She's...passed on, Tenchi."  She turned her head from him and took
another drink of wine.
	Tenchi cursed himself.  He hadn't heard about that.  He knew
how close Sasami had been to Hiroko.
	"I'm...sorry, Sasami," he told her.  "I didn't know."
	Sasami closed her eyes and wiped a tear away.  "I was there
when she was born, and I was there when she died."  She shook her head.
"Is this what Tsunami meant when she told us about her, 'gift?'  To
have to watch our children grow old and die while we stay young?"  She
took another sip.  "And powerless?"  she bit out.
	Tsunami's, "gift," had been one of immortality.  As her Avatar,
Tenchi was immortal unless slain.  As her assimilated host, Sasami was
the same way.  Even now, Tsunami's consciousness lay dormant within
her, but her immortality as a goddess transferred to Sasami.
	Tenchi bit his lip and cursed himself again.  She had come all
this way to see him, and he had to go and bring up a painful memory
for her.  He stepped forward and sat down next to her.
	"I'm sorry, Sasami," he told her quietly.  "I didn't know."
	She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it and giving him
a wan smile.  "It's okay, Tenchi.  It just hurts sometimes."
	Tenchi hadn't had to endure what Sasami had yet.  He had had a
son with Ayeka, who now sat on the throne, and two daughters with
Ryoko.  Thanks to the combination of his Jurain blood, Ayeka's,
Ryoko's...unique physiology, and Tsunami's influence, all three
children were still alive with families of their own.
	Sasami, it seemed, had been cursed by Tsunami's gift.  She had
been married three times, but never once to a noble Jurain.  Nobles
lived for a few thousand years.  The average life expectancy of a
common Jurain was about one hundred and twenty years.  Sasami's first
husband, Carvin, had been an agent in the Jurain Secret Intelligence
Service.  Tenchi had been rather fond of Carvin.  He was a kind,
warm, heroic man.  He remembered feeling easier knowing that Sasami
had him for a husband.  Her second husband had been a Mollidoni
ambassador named Vazner.  Tenchi hadn't known him as well, but
remembered him as a man who was constantly smiling.  Her third
husband was a Jurain attorney named Olorin.  Tenchi had found him
to be a pleasant enough man.
	She had had children with all three men, but even her noble
blood and Tsunami's influence wasn't enough to extend their life
expectancy.  Most were dead of old age.  The few still alive were
elderly, their grandchildren had gray hair.
	He squeezed her hand and decided to change the subject.  "What
about you?" he asked.  "What have you been doing?"
	"Not as much as I should," she confessed.  "I try to make myself
visible.  The people seem to take comfort from that.  You should
really try to make yourself more visible to the public, Tenchi.  You
may not be king anymore, but you're still the hero of the Goddess War."
	He shook his head.  "No, I moved out here to get away from the
public eye."  He poured himself another glass of wine and offerred
the bottle to her.  She held out her glass and allowed him to refill
it.  He placed the bottle on the loveseat between them.
	"Hmmm," she said.  "Za Vounoui is the same way," she commented.
"She prefers a nice, quiet life away from the mainstream.  I could
introduce you if you like," she said smiling. It seemed that the wine
was beginning to affect her.
	"Sasami," he warned.  "No meddling."
	"Oh, come on, Tenchi," she said.  "I'm good at meddling.  If
it wasn't for my meddling, Haruo and Kiyone would never have gotten
married."
	He laughed.  "Ayeka was sure they'd never get married.  They
needed a push.  But don't go thinking that *I* do."
	She took another sip of wine.  "Oh, sure," she said. "Tenchi
'Surechoice' Masaki.  *I* think you became king of Jurai just so you
could marry both Ayeka and Ryoko and avoid having to pick one over
the other,"  she said accusingly.
	Tenchi laughed and nearly spit up another mouthful of wine.
"Enough truth to that, I suppose."
	Sasami looked at him in shock.  He grinned at her.  She started
laughing again.  "If they could hear you joke like that, they'd
*kill* you!"  She laughed again.  "You know, Tenchi, when I was young,
I had the biggest crush on you."  She smiled.  "That's why I cooked,
you know."  Tenchi arched an eyebrow at this.  She nodded.  "Yes, I
never did much of it before landing on Earth.  I learned from the
Palace cook on Jurai.  She agreed to let me hide from Ayeka in the
kitchen, but in exchange, I had to help her with the cooking."
	He laughed and finished the wine in his glass.  He examined the
glass critically, as if it had somehow betrayed him.  He looked up to
see Sasami finishing the contents of her own glass.  She picked up
the bottle and shook it, listening to the tiny bit of remaining wine
sloshing around inside.
	"It's a good vintage," she said, eyeing the bottle.
	"How much is left?"
	"One glass," she told him.  She raised her glass up and
prepared to pour.
	"Hold on a sec,"  Tenchi said.  "Why do *you* get the last
glass?"
	"I'm the guest," she told him, her speech slightly slurred.
	"But it's *my* bottle!"  he pointed out.
	"But *I'm* the one holding the bottle,"  she pointed out.
"Tough luck, Tenchi."  She lifted the bottle to her glass.
	"Give me the bottle, Sasami.  C'mon.  Share."
	"Oh, no, no, no..." she said.
	He held his hand out.  "Sasami, c'mon.  Gimme the bottle."
	She held it away and smiled playfully.  "Uh uh."
	"Sasami," he warned.  He reached out to take the bottle, but
she pulled it away.  "Sasami!"  He reached out again, and again she
pulled the bottle out of reach.  He grinned and lunged at it.  She
cried out in surprise and fell backwards onto the loveseat, somehow
keeping hold of the bottle.  Tenchi, in his alcohol induced haze,
miscalculated and missed the bottle entirely, just managing to reach
out and stop himself before landing on Sasami.  As it was, they were
barely inches from one another.
	Perhaps it was the wine.  Perhaps it was how close they've been
all ten thousand years of their lives, or perhaps it was simply the
dark specter of loneliness that had surrounded him the past two
thousand years, but *something* made Tenchi lean down and kiss her.
He both heard and felt her breath quicken as his lips approached
her's.  Her hand went up and gently caressed his face as he kissed
her.  He could still taste the wine on her lips.
	When their lips parted, they stared at each other for a moment
before Sasami finally spoke.
	"Tenchi," she whispered, "This isn't why I came here."
	"I know," he whispered back.
	"But," she continued, "It...could be the reason I stay...if
you want me to."
	Tenchi swallowed nervously.  "Sasami, I..."
	"Tenchi," she said, "I'm tired of watching the people I love
grow old and die.  I want someone *I* can grow old with."
	Tenchi looked into her pink eyes and found a sadness, a
loneliness there.  He suddenly realized that he wanted the same
thing, that the reason he had chosen to remain alone was that it
was simply too painful to watch someone he loved slip away while he
was powerless to stop it.  To endure that again would be too much
for him to handle.
	So he had simply turned his emotions off and cut himself off
from the world, rather than risk feeling the pain again.
	He had never felt so alone.
	And the entire time, there was someone who had known exactly
what it was like, and had endured it better than he had.
	He thought of Ayeka and Ryoko.  Could he betray them like that?
	Sasami seemed to know what he was thinking.  "It's not a
betrayal," she told him quietly.  "It's not a betrayal unless you
forget them."
	He said nothing for a long time. Then, "Stay," he whispered to
her.  "Please."
	She leaned up and kissed him again.  He responded in kind and
ran his fingers through her still damp hair.  She wrapped her arms
around his neck and held him closer to her.

	The rain finally came to an end, and the sun emerged from
behind the clouds right on schedule.  Sasami stepped outside and
adjusted the obi on her kimono.  She looked at the drenched forest
around her, saw raindrops dripping from the leaves of nearby trees.
Tenchi stepped out a moment later.  She reached out and took his hand.
He smiled at her and gently squeezed it.  She returned his smile.
	He looked at her.  He remembered the little girl he had known
ten thousand years ago.  If someone had told him back then that he
and Sasami would become so close, he would've laughed.  Now...
	He decided he *would* marry Sasami if she would have him.  She
was right. It *was* time to move on, to create new memories.
	And he couldn't think of anyone better to make them with than
her.
	He liked to think that Ayeka and Ryoko would approve of this.
Somehow, he was sure they would.  He knew that what he felt for
Sasami would never be as intense as what he had felt for Ayeka and
Ryoko, and he knew that what she felt for him would never be as
passionate as what she had felt for Carvin.  Even so, they had a
connection, and that was enough to start.
	And any chance for happiness was worth taking.
	"So what do we do first?"  he asked her.
	She leaned up and kissed him.  "Let's start making memories."
He smiled.  "But slowly," she told him.  "We have plenty of time."
	Hand in hand they started down the wooded path together.


Author's Notes:

Yeah, I know.  I'm getting a MISA award for this.  Go ahead.  Take
your best shot.  I believe that all possible outcomes of Tenchi must
be explored, even the unpopular ones.  In this fic, I tried to
determine under what circumstances could Tenchi and Sasami be drawn
to one another.  This is what I came up with.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my prereaders, Meg
and Cav, not only for helping with this fic, but my others as well.
Meg, you were especially helpful with Paradise Lost, and for that
you have my eternal thanks.
Tell me what you think.  Send C&C to,

Thomas "009" Doscher
doscher009@hotmail.com