Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters, technologies, 
etc. are property of Pioneer and AIC. All other characters 
and ideas are property of the author and their use is 
prohibited except by consent of the author. Any similiarities 
to actual persons, events, etc. are purely coincidental and 
in no way makes the author liable. To sum up all this legal 
stuff don't steal my original characters and don't sue me for 
use of ones that aren't. 
Lullabye is property of Billy Joel and whatever his recording 
company is. I do not own the original lyrics to the song nor 
the song itself.

Tenchi Muyo!: Airs of the Past

Chapter 6: A Hint of Things to Come

On the newly dubbed Sorrowful Oni, Ryoko had caught Tenchi and pinned him to 
the ground. She had chased him through most of the ship as he franctically 
tried to avoid her grasp and had done a fairly good job until she phased in 
on top of him and pulled him to the ground.

"Come now, Tenchi, I have you so give up. You can't get away now," Ryoko was 
smiling at him, holding him tight against the deck of the ship. He struggled in 
vain to get up but Ryoko had leverage on him and she was stronger than he was 
physically. 

"Alright, I concede to your strength, My Sorrowful Oni," Tenchi laughed as 
he reminded her of the name of the ship.

"You know thats not even true anymore, right? How could I be sad when I have 
you here to make me happy?" she inched closer as she said it and kissed him 
on the last word. 

By this time it was getting fairly late so they decided to head off to bed. 
The Computer Washu told them where the living quarters were and they left the 
computer in charge of the ship.

In Zari's quarter's, Aeka had broken down and was crying into Zari's shoulder. 
He quietly and intentively listened to Aeka tell the whole story of how she met 
Tenchi and how things had gone there. Now she was crying and hugging him. He 
wasn't sure what to make of it but all he could do was sit there, one hand running 
through her hair the other hugging her. 

He had no desire to become anything more than a friend to Aeka, He knew he could 
never be more. Eventually she fell asleep on him and he carefully laid her down 
on his bed. Then went back to his computer. Estimated time until arrival on Jurai 
was now eight hours. 

Tenchi was laying awake watching Ryoko sleep next to him. He just couldn't bring 
himself to sleep no matter how peaceful he felt or how happy he was watching the 
slow and rhythmic breathing of Ryoko as she slept, looking even more beautiful in 
a state of total peace. 

He was listening to his thoughts when Ryoko started to toss in her sleep. He looked 
at her and saw on her face a look of fear. "She must be having a nightmare." he 
whispered to himself as he reached over and shook her lightly trying to bring her 
out of her sleep. 

Ryoko slowly opened her eyes and saw Tenchi looking back at her she could feel his 
concern for her before he even said anything. She looked into his penetrating stare 
and fought back a tear as she remembered her nightmare. She was dreaming of when she 
was controlled by Kagato, and how helpless she was back then. She couldn't resist him 
at all, no matter how hard she tried. 

Tenchi saw how sad she was. He pulled her close and started to quietly, and gently 
sing to her.

Goodnight, My Angel, Time to close your eyes, and save these questions for another day.
I think I know what you've been asking me, I think you know what I've been trying to say.
I promised I would never leave you, and you should always know, wherever you may go, 
no matter where you are, I never will be far away.

Goodnight, My Angel, Now it's time to sleep, and still so many things I want to say.
Remember all the songs you sang for me, when we went sailing on an emerald bay.
And like a boat out on the ocean, I'm rocking you to sleep. The waters dark and deep. 
Inside this ancient heart, you'll always be a part of me.

Goodnight, My Angel, Now it's time to dream, and dream how wonderful your life will be.
Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullaby, then in your heart, 
there will always be a part of me.

Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on. They never die, 
that's how you and I will be. 

Tenchi held her in his strong and gentle arms as she drifted off to sleep and he 
wasn't far behind her. They laid together and slept perfectly silent and happy in 
each others embrace. 

Back in Zari's room, Aeka awoke to Zari shaking her. "We have arrived at Jurai, Aeka." 

Aeka had become friends with Zari. In some ways she reminded him of Tenchi. He had 
the same caring attitude and a calm voice with a hint of power behind it. He was 
taller than Tenchi but had similar dark brown hair. 

She wished Zari well and went to her room to prepare to go to the palace. She missed 
her family on Jurai and was anxious to see them again, but right now she wanted to see 
Tenchi. She missed him dearly and still wished he had chosen her. She wasn't mad that 
he had picked Ryoko. She was the one person Aeka felt was right for Tenchi other than 
herself, and even though she wouldn't admit it, she missed her too. 

Packing her things wasn't too hard she hadn't really gotten anything out. After 
getting her luggage ready, Aeka headed off the ship and boarded her private shuttle 
for the palace. 

Her family was awaiting her in front of the palace. Emperor Azusa was in the front 
and with Misaki and Funaho at his sides. There were a few high ranking officials too. 
Behind all of them there were some servants.

As soon as she exited the shuttle, Misaki had her in one of her patented crush the 
very life out of you hugs. Aeka gasped and tried to greet her back between breaths. 
Azusa stood there and calmly greeted Aeka home. 

Ryoko woke up with her head on Tenchi's chest. She could feel the slow rising and 
falling as she sat there content just to be with him. She slowly pulled her arm out 
from under him so she wouldn't wake him. She was so busy with her arm she did notice 
his was moving towards her.

Tenchi actually woke up before Ryoko and was lost in thought until he saw her move. 
Then he decided to see whether or not she was going to wake him or try to quietly 
slip out. 

Ryoko had gotten out and let out a little cheer of triumph when she didn't think 
Tenchi was awake. Just then Tenchi grabbed her and shot straight up. He suceeded 
in scaring the crap out of her. 

"Damn you, Tenchi, I didn't think I had woke you up!"

"You didn't. I was already awake, I was just laying here."

Just then the computer Washu popped up in a screen on the other side of the room, 
"Hey, you two are finally awake. I've stopped the ship and I am waiting for further 
orders. Last night, I received a distress beacon signal."

Tenchi being the caring person that he was wanted to help them, "What do you 
know about the ship?"

"Judging from long range scans of the beacon, which is now drifting, and the beacon 
signal itself I would say it came from a small fighter craft equipped for long range 
travel. It appears to have originated from Jurain space judging from the engine trails 
through this sector. Be advised, Captain, we are still in Jurain space but if we go 
to the location of the ship we will have entered into unclaimed territory. In this 
area there are still warrants for the arrest of the Space Pirate Ryoko. The area is 
also not very friendly to Jurai either, Sir."

"Can you tell if there are other ships in the area?" 

"Negative, also I cannot detect any engine trails leading away from the beacon. 
Sir, I am receiving a transmission, priority one from Earth. Shall I send it here?"

"Hold on a minute, let me dressed. Then send it in."

Only an instant after tenchi had his shirt on did a Washu pop up on the screen in 
the room. "Hi, Tenchi! Hi, Little Ryoko!" she smiled and waved really quickly, 
"I just wanted to check up on you and see if have forgotten me yet. How you two are 
doing? I have some quick news to give you, too! I do believe I know how your dreams 
were manipulated Tenchi and I have sent information to my construction droids aboard 
your ship to build accurate countermeasures so you don't need to worry about having 
another one of those dreams."

Ryoko listened quietly waiting for Washu to explain about Tenchi's dream. When she 
didn't Ryoko decided it was time to speak up, "So why did Tenchi have those dreams? 
Why were we hurt in it? Most importantly was it Aeka who stabbed me or was it someone 
else?"

"Someone very skilled managed to evade my sensors and use some device to alter our 
brainwaves from orbit of earth. I've heard of experiments in dream manipulation, the 
problem is not very many people can be affected unless tremendous amounts of energy and 
control are used. Even with enough power there are few people capable of having enough 
control over it to use it the way it was against Tenchi. If used correctly the effect 
can be used to bring death to one who is without abilities to protect them. If either 
one of you didn't have superior abilities compared to an average person, you would be 
dead from your injuries."

"What about Aeka stabbing us!" 

"Patience, Ryoko, I am getting to that. My bet is the one in control somehow duplicated 
all of us to use against Tenchi. The second Tenchi-ken was a real sword with the same 
energy signature as the original. I think he later managed to get Aeka to wield the 
weapon against him to convince you that she really did stab you."

Tenchi took a moment to soak up all the information, "So do you know who did it yet?"

"No, I don't yet but if that person wants to confront you again he would have to do 
it in person, that is if he has recovered from the injuries he got from fighting you two."

Tenchi nodded and thanked her, then ended the transmission. 

Back on Jurai, Aeka was going through books on history. She knew she recognized the 
man from somewhere and she was going to find out who it was. She had started with her 
own collection of books and then moved on to the library inside the palace. 

Aeka had gone through many volumes of history and books regarding great scientists. 
She knew from what Washu had told her after she had talked to her a few days ago 
that the man had to be a powerful scientist.

Tenchi and Ryoko had spent a few days in the spot were Washu had called them, 
among other things trying to decide whether or not to go to the distress signal. 
The Beacon itself had been launched towards Jurain space intentionally and this 
had been where it ran out of its small fuel supply. The information inside the 
pod was vague and seemed to be put together in a hurry. There was a quick transmission 
along with coordinates and a date. 

The man in the video looked to be in a small room with some crates. A cryogenic 
sleep chamber could be seen behind him. The man himself could not be seen well 
in the dim light.They could make out some Jurain clothing and they could see his 
somewhat large, green eyes at points in the video. 

All the man told them was the time and how long he could survive before the 
remains of his ship were pulled into the atmosphere of the planet it was orbiting. 
The transmission was made in early december by earth time and the ship should be 
able to survive until late October according to the pilot's best estimates. He 
didn't say anything about why he was there or who he was, he just asked for help. 
>From their current position it would take about two weeks to get to the system 
the ship was in so there was no immediate hurry.

Tenchi finally spoke up, "What do you think, Ryoko?"

"I'm not the knight in shining armor type, but if you want to help I'm fully willing 
to go along with you."

"You realize there are bounty hunters in that region of space. This also might just be 
a trap to lure someone out of Jurain space into a trap."

"I think we can handle whatever we come across together."

"Alright, Virtual Washu, we are going to go to the ship and see if we can help the pilot. 
Ahem? Washu? hello??"

The computer gave him a hopeful look, "You promised........"

Tenchi groaned then said what she wanted to hear, "Please, Little Virtual Washu"

"There, thats better!"

Ryoko stopped the computer from giving them privacy (or just up and abandoning them, 
she wasn't really sure which it was doing.) "Hey, Washu gave you star charts right?"

"That is correct. I have charts covering all but the most remote regions of the 
Universe."

"Can you tell me the name of the system the ship is in?"

"Why certainly, the name of the system is Coregor."

TO BE CONTINUED........ (rotten aren't I?)

Author's notes: ok I am really sorry it took so long for this chapter but I have 
good reasons. My stepbrother has been here from Ohio and has been begging to use my 
CPU to play Diablo 2. Another reason is It's fourth of July weekend! Last, but 
certainly not least....I just got the OVA DVD box set so I had to watch the whole 
OVA through again. (I had VHS before.) Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. Don't 
kill me for leaving it hanging like that though. The song Tenchi sang to Ryoko in 
the beginning of the chapter was Lullaby by Billy Joel. (just in case you don't 
read disclaimers) I thought this song embodied the relationship I tried to create 
between Ryoko and Tenchi. I'm not trying to turn this into a songfic but it will 
make sense later so bear with me. (hey, you've put up with more crap than this 
before.) I will try hard to get the next chapter out soon but I'm not gonna make 
any promises. As always, Questions, comments, critism, evil little pictures of 
fanfic writers being horribly dismembered, or promises to swear fealty to me for 
a piece of the mighty empire exsisting only in my own mind go 
to: kemanorel_7@yahoo.com