Hello again!  It's taken me a while, but I'm finally getting around to 
writing the seventh episode of my fanfic.  But before I begin, I have to get 
something out of the way.  Tenchi Muyo! and the characters contained therein 
are the property of Pioneer and AIC.  I hereby relenquish all claim to the 
characters in this episode, and the basis of the story is not mine, though the
storyline itself is.  I don't want to be sued for being a fan, so I'm asking 
Pioneer and AIC not to.  

*******************************************************************************

				    Bushido Muyo!
			      By Jeremy "Kraken" Acord
				Azhrei701@hotmail.com

		Episode 7:  "No Need for Confession!"

Tenchi ascended the steps solemnly.  His right hand slid mechanically up the 
banister.  With each progressing step he attemted to make a plan, some idea or 
goal to cling to when he confronted Aeka.  He felt as if his stomach were being 
slowly strangled by his intestines.  And with the end of each step came anew the
realization that he could not possibly prepare himself for Aeka now.  All he 
could do is play the hand dealt him as best he could.  But with each passing 
footfall Tenchi's mind worked anew, frantically searching for an answer, the 
desperation of a man about to walk from a precipice and unsure of his ability to
keep himself from that self-destructive act.

He wasn't consciously ignoring Ryoko: He had absolutely no idea that she was 
following him.  Ryoko frowned, hopping up the steps with her usual disregard of 
gravity.  She turned and followed Tenchi as he crossed the balcony and turned 
into the hallway.  The soft touch of his feet against the carpet sounded in the 
deathly silence of the hall as though thunder rolled with his footstep.  

Tenchi reached the door to Aeka's room, and stopped.  He looked uneasily at the 
door, and swallowed.  Still unaware of Ryoko's prescence, he muttered something,
and slid the door open.

Upon entering the room Tenchi felt as if he were being smothered.  A heavy 
silence and dim covered the room.  The lights of the room, it seemed, could not 
make this darkness abate.  Aeka knelt facing the door, eyes covered by her long 
bangs, hands folded in her lap.  She was the center of an unnerving stillness, a
deathly calm that seemed to suppress Tenchi's will.

Tenchi fell to his knees before her as if a defeated warrior, awaiting a quick 
deathblow from his victorious adversary.  He stared fitfully at the small 
expanse of floor between them, and it seemed to him an unbridgable chasm.  
Tenchi swallowed again, summoned the whole of his resolve, and prepared to 
speak.  

"Aeka, about this morning..."  He began.  

"You chose Ryoko," She cut him off, "and I can accept that.  But I will NOT 
tolerate you coming here to gloat over me!!"  She shouted.

A ripple spread outward to the walls as Aeka's sheild expanded to fill the room.
Aeka shook her head suddenly to her right.  Tenchi turned in surprise as Ryoko, 
encased in a bubble of energy, flew across the room and crashed into the far 
wall.  She pouned on the shell, but to no avail.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted.  "What are you doing here?"  

He began to rise, but Aeka's head snapped back toward him, though he still 
couldn't see her eyes.  

"If you had just left me alone, this wouldn't have happened." Aeka said.  "Had 
you left well enough alone, I could have let you go.  But now..."  she paused.  
"... now..."

>From the folds of her kimono she withdrew a long bladed dagger, and lunged at 
Tenchi.  "... I must take you away from us all!"

					   ***

A loud thud was clearly heard in the Masaki family living room.  Sasami emerged 
from the Kitchen, clutching at her apron.  Kiyone and Mihoshi turned from where 
they sat on the couch.  "What was that?" Mihoshi asked.

Washu shut down her spectral terminal and stood from the table.  "Nothing good."

Everyone hurried upstairs.

					   ***

Tenchi rolled away from Aeka, and came to his feet.  He stepped back quickly as 
Aeka slashed at him.  He slowly retreated, wary of Aeka's quick attacks.

Ryoko pounded franticly at the bubble, on the verge of tears.  Tenchi was 
backing toward her, and Aeka was stalking him.  Ryoko attacked incessantly, 
driven by the fear that she would be an impotent spectator upon Tenchi's death. 

"Aeka!  Stop!"  Tenchi said.  But from Aeka he got no response.  She clutched 
the dagger in her right hand.  She feinted a backhanded slash, and when Tenchi 
hastily stepped backward, she lunged forward again, catching him off balance.  
Tenchi and Aeka tumbled to the floor.  

Tenchi looked at the knife, imbeded in the floor beside his neck.  Aeka grasped 
it in her right fist and pulled it free, holding it underhand.  She swung it at 
Tenchi's temple.  Tenchi stopped it, grabbing Aeka's wrist.  Then, he clamped 
her left arm to his side with his right, and pinched one thigh between his 
knees, immobilizing her.  This done, he looked up at Aeka's face.

Aeka's lips parted in a beast-like snarl, and her whole body quivered.  Sweat 
trickled down her thin nose.  Tenchi almost let go of Aeka's right hand when he 
saw her eyes.  Her pupils had shrunk to pinpoints.  Open wide and bloodshot, 
they gave her an almost inhuman appearance.  

"Aeka." Tenchi pleaded.  "Don't do this."  But something about her eyes stuck in
his mind.  Suddenly, he realized where he had seen these symptoms before.  

"Don't do this, Aeka," Tenchi continued, "I love you."

The snarl dissapeared.  Aeka's mouth hung slack.  Her pupis dialated slightly, 
making her appear less demonic.  A slight whimper issued from her small mouth.  
Her knife hand relaxed.  But then, Aeka sneered and resumed her assault.  Tenchi
was tiring, and he knew the end of this battle would be soon.  

"Dammit Aeka, you don't get it, do you!?"  Tenchi shouted.  Swinging his right 
arm back against the floor, he let go of Aeka entirely and surged upward.  

Ryoko wondered momentarily what had made them stop.  Over Tenchi's shoulder, she
could see Aeka's head, bent to the side.  Her left eye, all that the space 
pirate could see, was fully dialated.

The dagger clattered to the floor.  Aeka hugged Tenchi convulsively.  She 
clutched at his shirt, shaking uncontrollably.  The shock of Tenchi kissing her 
was clearly hitting her quite hard.  Then, her grip relaxed, and her eyes 
closed.

The lights brightened, the sheilds dissapeared, and Ryoko was freed.  She flew 
quickly down to them.  "Tenchi!" She cried, grabbing his shoulder, "Tenchi, what
are you doin-"

She was silence by Tenchi's hand at her lips.  Tenchi's body turned, allowing 
Ryoko to see a limp Aeka supported by Tenchi's left arm.  "Shhh," Tenchi 
admonished, "don't wake her."

Tenchi turned and walked to the door, sliding it open with his foot.  He was 
greeted by the silent faces of Sasami, Mihoshi and Kiyone.  Washu stood behind 
them, arms folded, patiently awaiting her turn.  He walked through the crowd to 
stand in front of the red haired scientist.

Bending forward, he said to her.  "You can take your recorder back now."

Washu's eyebrows jumped up.  "You knew about the bug."

Tenchi smiled.  "I'm not a total idiot.  Besides, I know there are more 
uncomfortable ways for you to find out what happened."

Washu threw him a suspicious look.  "You're getting wiser, Tenchi." she 
muttered.

Tenchi straightened, and readjusted his grip on the sleeping Aeka.  "She's been 
hypnotized.  Can you deprogram her?"

"I'm a genius, remember?  It's all just a matter of time.  C'mon, well go to my 
lab."

					   ***

Washu followed Tenchi out of her laboratory once Aeka was sleeping soundly.  
"My psyche-straightener will be working on her for a while.  You did well, 
Tenchi, but I can't help but disagree with your methods."

"You know better than anyone that I didn't have any options."

"That doesn't stop me."

Tenchi cracked a half-smile.  "That's like you."  The smile dissapeared.  "How 
is she doing?"

"Well, unfortunately, most of her memory of the past few days will have to be 
erased."  She glanced sideways up at Tenchi.  "She'll never know you kissed 
her."

"What!?" Kiyone, Sasami and Mihoshi yelled.  Sasami got down from her stool at 
the kitchen counter, Kiyone hopped over the back of the couch, and Mihoshi 
simply turned around.

Sasami ran in to stand next to Washu.  "What was that?  You kissed my sister, 
Tenchi?"

"Uh, yeah." Tenchi replied sheepishly.  He turned to look at Ryoko, who was 
watching the proceedings from the hallway.  "Are you satisfied with this, 
Ryoko?"

Ryoko harumphed and looked away.

Mihoshi scratched her chin.  "Hey, Tenchi, if Aeka was hypnotized like you said,
who hypnotized her?"

Tenchi smiled.  "No wonder you're a detective, Mihoshi.  I was just getting to 
that.  I'm going to go search-" He was interrupted by a deep rumbling, windows 
rattling, and cups shifting on the tables.

Tenchi ran past Sasami and went outside, closely followed by the girls.  Ryoko 
resumed her casual pose at the front door.  All eyes turned to a great ellipsoid
rising from the lake, framed by a blazing red sunset.  It was a dark green, 
rounded at the front, with several antennae protruding from the back, framing a 
giant engine.  There was a bright blue flash, and the craft ascended quickly, 
leaving a firey trail.

"COWARD!"  Tenchi yelled.  "Damn," he continued, "I wanted to find out what he 
was after."

"Hmmm." Kiyone mused.  "This kind of job requires some special talent.  But that
ship was a little big for a mere henchman..."

"For a henchman, yes," Washu remarked, "But not for a top-notch mercenary like 
that one."

Kiyone turned to the childish scientist.  "What makes you think it was a 
mercenary job?  Hypnotists and advanced chemichal experts aren't uncommon in the
underworld."

Washu extended her hand, and her spectral terminal appeared.  She quickly called
up a file on Aeka.  "My samples revealed a hypnotic agent in Aeka's 
bloodstream."  

"So?  That's not uncommon when conditioning a sleeper."

"In case you didn't know, my dear, Juraians are awfully vulnerable to 
overdosing.  Especially with truth serums and hypnotic agents.  With this 
particular drug, had the hypnotist administered a cc more or less, it might have
put her into a coma, or even killed her."

"Wow.  I didn't know that." said Kiyone surprisedly.

"Most Juraians don't like to talk about that kind of thing with outsiders." 
Sasami interjected.

Tenchi frowned, and turned back toward the house.  "Well, I think that was a 
full day.  Good night, everybody."  He walked back inside.

					   ***

Tenchi was walking home with the sun on his back.  It had been two days scince 
Aeka had awoken, and to all appearances she had suffered no ill affects from her
ordeal.  Tenchi smiled to himself.  The ordeal, after all, had been more his 
than hers.  Ryoko had only kept away from Tenchi for one day, and then renewed 
her typical behavior.  The gap in Aeka's memory still threw Tenchi off, though 
all else had returned to normal.  

He wiped his forehead.  Adjusting the pack of carrots on his back, he crossed 
the bridge over the lake and deposited his load in the vegetable pantry.  When 
he entered the house, he found a common situation.  Washu in her lab, Sasami 
cooking, as she seemed to do perpetually, Ryoko relaxing in her bed in the 
rafters, Kiyone and Aeka watching TV, and Mihoshi nowhere in sight, probably 
sleeping.  Aeka turned her head to look at him, and smiled.  "Hello Tenchi.  
Hard day of work?"

"Yes.  I still have homework to do, though."

"No rest for the wicked."

"Who are you calling wicked, Aeka?"

Aeka winked at him.  "You should get to your studies."

"You should stop acting like my mother."

"And what should I act like?"

"Hey.  Cut that out now." Ryoko called.

Tenchi grinned at her, then turned back to Aeka.  "I think I'll leave that to 
your discression."

Tenchi hung his jacket back in his closet, and sat down at his desk.  Or rather,
he began to.  He hesitated when he saw the note atop his stack of homework.  

"What's this?" he asked himself, unfolding the paper.  "Some kind of thank you 
note?" he began to read.  "Thank you, Tenchi.  I will never forget what you have
done for me." he paused.  "WHAT!!!"



"LOVE ALWAYS, AEKA!!!!"

********************************************************************************

How did you like it?  I'm finally working again, after doing some work on my 
other fic.  It'll be posted soon, if it isn't already.  It is another regular 
called "Saddle Up, Tenchi".  Anyway, send all questions, comments, and 
complaints to azhrei701@hotmail.com or to Zerokraken@aol.com.  Have fun reading!

-Kraken