Hi, everyone!  Thanks for following this series so far!  An extra big
thank-you to those who sent comments and criticism!  Please keep it
coming!  By the way, if you e-mailed me and didn't receive a response,
it's probably because I e-mailed you but the message got sent back to
me.  I always feel so bad when my thank-you letters don't make it to
their destinations!  ::sniffles::  So, if you e-mail me and want me to
write back, please make sure that you use an e-mail address that will
actually accept my response.

[AleeN: Hey, Lita, it sure took you a long time to get this new chapter
done!]

Yeah.  Sorry about that.  But, as promised, this chapter contains scenes
of Ryoko and Tenchi spending some quality time together.  There's plenty
of stuff involving the other characters, too, so let's get to it!  I'll
save my babbling for the Author's Notes at the end.  ^_-  But first, the
necessary disclaimer...

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are the property of
Pioneer and AIC.  This story, however, is mine.  Please don't sue me,
because I'm just writing this for fun.  Fun is good for my health.
Suing me is not.  ^_-

Oh, and if you'd like to post this story on your site, please ask me
first.

Last Chapter: One year after the events of Manatsu no Eve, Ayeka left
the Masaki home to start a new life.  Meanwhile, Washu received a
strange reminder of the past...

Confess to You: Chapter Five - Departure from the Light
By Literary Eagle (literaryeagle@hotmail.com)

	Sagas.  Secrets.
	Promises.  Prophecies.
	History.  Their story.  Our story.  All part of one story.

	If one only knew how to listen, one could hear the tale of this
strange place.  It was a very grand, very unusual place indeed.  There
seemed to be an endless number of tunnels.  The tunnels themselves
appeared to be endless in length.  Twisting and splitting off in all
directions, they resembled blood vessels.  In fact, this realm really
and truly was alive, for it was mostly made of wood that had grown
twisted together to form the walls of the tunnels.  Although the lives
that made up these tunnels could not speak, they had memories, and had
quite a history to share.
	Yes, if one only knew the right way to listen, one could hear
their story: how this realm had once been something different, but had
been warped beyond recognition by a family tragedy.  After that, the
remaining inhabitants had been bitter and twisted individuals whose
presence had brought sickness to the dimension and warped it further
still.  That had been the end of all joy for this world, until
centuries later when something wonderful had happened: the arrival of
four visitors.  All four of them had had certain traits that were signs
of two cherished beings who had left before.  It had been a sign that
things were about to change, after all this time.  It had been a sign
of hope.
	And now, one year later, one of those visitors had returned!  The
amethyst-haired young woman who had appeared with the branch of light
had returned!  If not for the fact that the living wood that made up
this realm had become weak and sick, the entire place would have sung
with gratitude and joy.  She had come to keep her promise about the
light always prevailing!  She had come back!  Although they were
voiceless, the wood just had to find some way to thank her.  They
summoned all the energy they could spare, to commit this one small act
of thanks.

	Ayeka wiped at the drop of water that had suddenly fallen onto her
head.  Compelled to taste it for some reason, she found it to be the
sweetest water that she had ever tasted.  And yet ... and yet she could
not shake the feeling that it was a teardrop.  Not one of sadness, mind
you, but the kind of tear brought about by the kind of sheer,
indescribable joy that smiles alone could not convey.  It was a strange
feeling.  But it was a wonderful feeling as well.  Still, she could not
let the distraction slow her down too much, and so she kept walking.
	Ayeka had been walking in these tunnels for days, not stopping to
rest even once.  She could keep walking for as long as she had to, for
there was no time in the Dimension of Darkness.  Fancy that: she had
died, been without a body on her way to this dimension, then obtained
a real physical form again, and despite the energy all of that had
required, she wasn't even tired now.  It was almost funny.
	"Turn left", instructed the voice in Ayeka's mind, causing the
princess' thoughts to turn serious again.  She obeyed the familiar
voice of her guide, frowning with worry at the same time.  The voice
sounded even weaker than before.
	"Are you alright?" Ayeka whispered to the air.
	"Please..." the Voice in her mind replied weakly, "Please talk to
me.  About anything."  The plea was hardly louder than a whisper, but
it filled Ayeka with such concern that her hands shook.  But she knew
that she could not reach out to hold the other's hand or offer a
reassuring embrace, so she kept walking.  As Ayeka walked, she spoke
softly about life in the Masaki home.
	She described waking up to the smell of Sasami making breakfast
every morning.  She talked about watering flowers in the garden, and the
conversations she often had with Kiyone there.  She spoke of Mihoshi and
Ryo-Oh-Ki making angels in the snow when it was winter and sleeping on
the porch when it was summer.  Most of all, she talked about Tenchi.
She talked about his kindness, his warmth, his smile.
	Ayeka had a sort of mental image of her unseen companion clinging
onto her words for support.  At the same time, Ayeka was comforting
herself with her words, banishing her doubts and fears by reminding
herself why she was doing this.  _I do this for Sasami.  I do this for
Lord Tenchi.  I do this for Miss Ryoko.  I do this for all those I care
about._
	Meanwhile, the tunnel had begun to curve upwards so sharply that
Ayeka had to climb rather than walk at some places.  Eventually, the
tunnel became completely vertical, with walls too smooth to climb.  Her
Jurai power would not work in this realm, but fortunately Ayeka had
other resources.  Taking slow, deep breaths, Ayeka closed her eyes and
wished...
	Wished...
	And whispered...
	And pleaded...
	Opening her eyes, she saw that her tiara was casting the silver
light of her new power, adding to the tunnel's natural illumination (for
the walls were made of a strange wood that gave off a soft glow).  The
wood in front Ayeka began to twist and buckle, until the formerly smooth
surface now had enough handholds and footholds for climbing.  Making it
to the tunnel's end, Ayeka stepped into a cavern that contained many
more tunnel entrances.  The voice told Ayeka which way to go, and the
princess made her way in that direction, still talking about Tenchi.
"I am grateful to him," Ayeka whispered, "It was he who started me on
this path.  It was he who first opened my eyes."
	"And now, who will open Tenchi's eyes?" the Voice asked her.
	In reply, Ayeka began to talk about Ryoko.  She smiled as she
described Washu and Ryoko washing Mayuka at the onsen, trying out a new
soap that Washu had created.
	"The soap made Mayuka smell like cherry blossoms," Ayeka
whispered, remembering, "I told Miss Ryoko how pleasant the scent was,
and she jokingly suggested I use the soap on myself to get rid of the
'royal stench'.  We got into a playful fight, flinging water at each
other, until Miss Washu decided to join in the fun by dumping an entire
barrel of the soap onto the two of us.  Miss Ryoko and I wound up
smelling so strongly of cherry blossoms that we had to stay outside the
house in order to keep the odor from overwhelming everyone else.  Miss
Ryoko brought some sake, and we got drunk and made nasty jokes about
Seiryo far into the night..."
	"Ryoko is your friend," the Voice said.  It was not a question.
	"Yes," said Ayeka.
	"But you did not think she was worthy of friendship at first,"
said the voice.  This was also not a question.
	"Well, I was wrong," Ayeka said softly.
	The Voice let out a small, self-deprecatory laugh.  "As for me, I
have been wrong about many things, haven't I?" the voice said.
	"I forgive you," said Ayeka.
	"Thank you," the Voice said, "I only wish that I could forgive
myself."
	Ayeka kept walking.

	There was a great splash, and Ryoko rose out of the sea, followed
by a school of flying fish providing escort.  The spray of water
surrounding her nude body caught the sunlight, sparkling like strings of
precious jewels with rainbows woven around them by the sun's golden
fingers.  As Ryoko's body hovered motionless in midair, the fish took
the shimmering rainbow silk that had been created from the water, and
wrapped it around Ryoko.  Once she was dressed, the fish nodded with
satisfaction, and dove back into the sea.
	Ryoko casually began to walk across the surface of the sea,
towards the shore.  As soon as her feet touched the dry sand, the
illusion of the beach disappeared, revealing snow in place of sand.  The
sea behind her turned into blue sky.  She was now standing on a
mountaintop.  Ryoko made her way forward, until she found a great block
of silver standing before her.
	Ryoko gazed at the gleaming surface of the silver block.  Golden
eyes stared back at her from her reflection.  So ... she was not the
blind, silver-eyed Ryoko here.  Not that such a thing really mattered to
her.  No, what was important to her was finding the one who made her
complete, no matter what shade her eyes were or how well they could see.
If she could see him with her heart, feel him with her soul, then that
was what mattered.  Him above all.  Love above all.
	Ryoko picked up a sharp stone from the ground and attempted to
smash the block open.  The stone broke, and the surface of the silver
block was left without the slightest scratch.  Trying a different
approach, Ryoko reached out and touched the block with her bare hand,
tracing circles with a fingertip.  The silver began to melt like ice in
the sun.  Ryoko knelt in the snow, placed her lips on top of the block,
and closed her eyes.
	She could feel the block continuing to melt, until her lips were
no longer resting upon silver, but upon the lips of someone else.
Opening her eyes, Ryoko saw the sleeping face of the dark-haired,
enchanted prince.  Pulling her head back, she saw that the silver had
completely melted, and that the prince was now lying in a pool of
silvery liquid.
	The prince's eyelids fluttered.  "Ryoko?" Tenchi asked softly,
blinking at her and sitting up.
	Tears of joy ran down Ryoko's face, as Tenchi put his arms around
her and kissed her.  After stopping to catch Ryoko's tears in his hands,
Tenchi ran his fingers through her hair, the tears turning into trails
of diamonds and opals that his fingertips left behind in her cyan
tresses.  Ryoko lay down and pulled Tenchi down with her, sighing
happily as his warm body pressed against hers, and his lips brushed
against her neck.  She gently lifted Tenchi's head so that they could
kiss again, while a curtain of flower petals blew in on the breeze.  The
fragrant curtain completely surrounded the mountaintop, so that not even
the birds could disturb the pair.
	Ryoko broke off the kiss and opened her eyes.  "Tenchi..." she
began, but stopped when she saw that Tenchi was gone, and she was alone
in darkness.
	"Tenchi?" Ryoko called out worriedly.  Feeling strangely cold,
she tried to wrap her arms around herself, but she could not feel her
arms.  She stretched a hand out in front of her, and could not see her
hand.  Frantic, Ryoko began to run through the darkness ... but she
could not feel her legs, and wasn't even sure that she really was
running.
	Why was she here?  Why was she alone?  What had become of Tenchi?
Ryoko continued running (Was she even running?).  She tried to scream,
but panic froze her vocal cords.
	A figure materialized in front of her, and Ryoko ran towards it,
desperate not to be left alone in this dark place.  As she ran closer to
the figure, Ryoko could see that it was a gray-haired woman in a
lavender kimono.  As she ran closer still, she recognized the woman as
Tenchi's mother, Achika Masaki.
	"Come to me, daughter of Washu," said Tenchi's mother.
	Something about Achika's voice made Ryoko stop running.  Staring
hard at Achika, Ryoko realized that the whites of her eyes had a strange
blue tinge to them, and her hands were purple claws.
	"Come to me, daughter of Washu," Achika said again, holding one of
her clawed hands out to her.
	"No," said Ryoko, taking a step back.
	Tenchi stepped out of the darkness just then.  "Mother," he said
softly, smiling at the strange Achika.
	Achika kissed Tenchi on the forehead.  "No one will be able to
stop us," she whispered, wrapping her clawed arms around him in an oddly
gentle embrace.
	"Mother," Tenchi said again, returning her embrace.  He then
turned his head to look at Ryoko.  "Join us, my love." he said.
	Ryoko took another step back.  "You're not Achika!" she snarled
at the woman, "Who are you?"
	"Join us, daughter of Washu," the false Achika said, acting as if
she had not heard Ryoko's last words.
	"No!" Ryoko shouted, "Now let Tenchi go!"  She lunged forward,
ready for a fight ... but Achika faded from sight, as did Tenchi.
	"Where are you?" Ryoko shouted.
	A spotlight pierced the blackness, shining down upon a series of
shelves holding glass figurines, most of which had been smashed.  The
light glinted off the bits of glass so harshly that Ryoko almost felt as
if her eyes had been stabbed.  So distracting was the glare that Ryoko
was completely startled when some of the glass shards suddenly came
flying through the air in her general direction.  Crying out in
surprise, she flew out of their path, but they followed her and embedded
themselves into her forehead, several dozen pinpricks of fire burrowing
through her skin.  She fell to the floor and screamed in pain, her
scream causing the shards to bury themselves in deeper.  Through the
pain, Ryoko became dimly aware of a clawed hand placing itself upon her
shoulder, and despite the pain she managed (barely) to look up to see
the false Achika gazing down at her.
	"I will have you both," the false Achika said softly.  She held
Ryoko in a firm but gentle grip, and Ryoko began to sob as the
nightmarish Achika pulled the shards of glass out of her forehead.  Once
the task was done, the false Achika's blue-tinged eyes gazed into
Ryoko's, and she stopped crying.
	"Mother," said Ryoko, the word rising unexpectedly from her
throat.  Her eyes widened in shock at what she had just said, and she
began to cry again.  Achika merely smiled and kissed her on the forehead
before letting go of her.  Ryoko slumped to the floor, trembling.  Her
forehead had gone numb.
	"I will have you both..." the false Achika repeated, before
disappearing again.

	Ryoko awoke with a start, her heart pounding.  Through the open
window of the room she shared with Mayuka, she could hear birds greeting
the morning.  To Ryoko's panicked senses, their chirps felt too loud,
too harsh.  She put her hands over her ears and whimpered.
	It was so dark!  Where was Tenchi?  He was in danger.  No wait,
that had just been a dream.  Then why was it still so dark?
	After a moment, Ryoko became fully awake, her mind finally
catching up to her racing heart.  She sighed and rubbed at her sightless
eyes, which were smarting for some reason.  A nightmare.  That was all
it had been.  Still, Ryoko tried to recall exactly what about the dream
had frightened her so.  Something about Tenchi being in the dark?  The
memory had already become too hazy.
	Giving up, Ryoko stood and made her way to Mayuka's crib.  The
infant was not there.  Ryoko fought down panic as she reminded herself
that it was not unusual for Sasami or Washu to take the baby downstairs
before she was awake.  Not wanting to stay in the room all alone, Ryoko
phased through the door and made her way down to the kitchen.

	Washu's lab was a scientific symphony.  Machines hummed and pulsed
to the rhythm of distant star systems.  Following this rhythm, numbers
cascaded down computer monitors like mathematical rivulets feeding a
growing sea of knowledge.  Various specimens hopped about in their cages
or swam in their tanks, their growls and chirps and purrs all songs of
their worlds.
	Once, this lab was Washu's greatest comfort and joy.  It had not
always been that way, but at any rate there was a time when it was so.
Later, her need for seeking comfort in her work had lessened, as the gap
between her and her daughter had ceased be an obstacle, bridged by the
sweetness of the baby Mayuka, and the love and support of the other
Masaki home residents.
	Oh, she still enjoyed working in her lab from time to time, but
did not always do so in solitude.  She sometimes had the company of her
lab assistant Kiyone, or her daughter, or one of the others.  Usually
it was NOT Mihoshi, but sometimes even she was welcomed in for cookies
and milk and a light chat.
	But there were times when Washu still wanted to be alone inside
her lab.  Today was one of those times.  However, all of her machines
and monitors and specimens were being ignored for the moment, as Washu
stared at a faded newspaper clipping.  The technological wonders of her
lab whirred and flashed and begged for their creator's attention, but
she was absorbed in looking at this worn and yellowed piece of paper, of
all things.  The headline began with "Washu Hakubi and Nobuo Mizutani
are proud to announce the birth of their first child...".  Much of the
rest of the text in the article was blurred, to some extent simply faded
with age, but the ink had also run in some places where tears had fallen
onto the paper.
	Washu's gaze finally left the newspaper article, and she looked up
at her transparent computer.  The spot on her hand where she had gotten
a splinter from Ayeka's silver tree branch was beginning to itch again.
She scratched her hand and sighed.  It had been several days since
Ayeka's farewell message to the Masaki household ... when Washu had
heard the princess mention a Detective Yuri Mizutani to Mihoshi.
	Washu was looking at the file on Detective Mizutani that she had
recently obtained (not legally, mind you, but right now she didn't care)
from Galaxy Police records.  She studied the picture of the
blonde-haired, green-eyed woman who had been Mihoshi's partner before
Kiyone.  According to the file, Detective Mizutani was presumed dead
after the planet Amano's sun had exploded.
	The itch returned, and Washu grumbled as she scratched her hand
again.  None of her ointments had helped any.
	Amano.  The name of Washu's husband's home planet.
	Washu scratched her hand again.
	Mizutani.  The family name of Washu's husband.
	Washu's eyes watered, and she wiped at them with her sleeve and
sighed.  Mizutani ... But that was impossible!  Thousands of years ago,
long before Amano had been destroyed, the Mizutani line had been wiped
out.
	They had killed themselves.
	No one had informed her of the mass suicide, even though her
husband and child had been Mizutanis.  She had found out about it on the
news just like everyone else.  She had returned to her lab after another
day of teaching at the academy, and had turned on the news just as they
were describing what police had found in an old building just outside
Amano's capital.  According to the report, the bodies made up the entire
Mizutani clan.  Just when it had seemed to Washu that her life could not
be any worse, just when Washu had already thought that her very
existence was so painful that every breath she took hurt, THIS had
happened.
	Washu had waited for word from her husband, hoping against hope
that he and their son were alive.  But she had heard nothing.  She could
have hacked into police files and searched through pictures of all the
bodies to be sure, but she simply had not been able to bring herself to
do so.  She had been certain that, if she were to find their bodies
among the dead, it would destroy her.  But something about the
possibility of NOT finding them had frightened her even more.  If they
weren't dead, and her husband had not contacted her, even though his
relatives were no longer able to keep them apart ... then what would
that mean?  It would mean that he no longer loved her, that's what it
would mean.
	And so, she had simply tried to stop caring.  In some ways, she
had already done so beforehand: when the Mizutanis had taken her husband
and child away, she had buried herself in her work, avoiding social
contact outside of teaching and working with her lab assistants.  Once
she had learned of the mass suicide, she had even changed her body into
that of a child's, to make herself even more unapproachable.
	She never, ever wanted to feel hurt like that again.  Damn the
Mizutanis for their elitist ways!  Damn whatever cult they had created
for themselves!  Damn them for ruining her family!  And ... and damn
herself for trying not to care anymore.  This was not a life.  When that
realization came to her one day, she chose to create a new family.  And
so, Ryoko and Ryo-Oh-Ki were born.
	Washu shook her head, bringing herself back to the present.
Actually, she was really just bringing herself back to the present long
enough to try and learn more about the past.  Reading over Detective
Mizutani's file, Washu noted that the woman's name apparently was Yuri
Kobayashi earlier in life, and that she had changed her name to Yuri
Mizutani later on.  What did it mean?
	With trembling fingers, Washu accessed the file that she once
swore she would never look at: the Galaxy Police report on the death of
the Mizutanis.  The case number of the file stared at her from the
computer screen, and below it rested a message telling her to press any
key to continue.  Washu hesitated.  What would she find?  Did she really
want to know?  Was it really worth it?
	The pain from thousands of years of not knowing clawed at the
inside of her skull, then traveled down her spine and settled into a
heavy feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach.  Still, Washu
hesitated, her hand hovering uncertainly over the keyboard.  If her
thoughts had not been so occupied, she might have found it a rather
comical pose for the "Greatest scientific genius in the universe".
	An image came to her mind, then: not of her husband, not of her
son, but of Mihoshi.  She recalled the tears of joy in Mihoshi's eyes
when Ayeka had said to the detective in her farewell message, "I know
for a fact that Detective Yuri Mizutani would be proud of you".  Who was
this woman who had meant so much to Mihoshi?  Who?  The itch on Washu's
hand flared up again.  Washu grimaced, but did not try to scratch it.
	Instead, she brought her hand down and jabbed the nearest key.

	Sasami hummed a cheery tune to herself as she prepared breakfast.
For the past few days, she had not needed to prepare as much food as
usual.  Mihoshi and Kiyone had departed for Jurai with Ryo-Oh-Ki to
deliver Ayeka's farewell message to her parents, which had been stored
in the cabbit's memory.  Much to everyone's surprise, Katsuhito had
insisted on going with them.
	At any rate, with so many of them away, meal preparation was
considerably less work for Sasami.  However, that was not why Sasami was
humming.  The fact was that Sasami enjoyed cooking for the entire
family, and she missed the absent household members, especially Ayeka
and Ryo-Oh-Ki.  It was also too quiet without everybody at home.  No,
the reason why Sasami was humming was because she had ... plans.  A
mischievous smile crossed her face, but she carefully made her facial
expression neutral when Tenchi came into the room.  Time for step one of
the plan.
	"Good morning, Tenchi," she said.
	"Hi, Sasami," he said.  He smiled at Mayuka, who was sitting in
the kitchen in her highchair, and tickled her.  The baby laughed with
delight.
	"Oh, Tenchi, there's still some time before breakfast is ready,"
Sasami said casually, "So why don't you go to the onsen and have a nice
bath?"
	"That's alright," said Tenchi, grinning at Mayuka and continuing
to tickle her, "I think I'll just stay here and-"
	"Urp!" Mayuka spat up onto Tenchi.
	"Then again..." Tenchi muttered.
	"Guess you'll have to go after all," said Sasami, trying to hide
her relief.  Thank goodness for Mayuka!  Her plan had almost not worked.
	Once Tenchi left for the onsen, Sasami began to work at cleaning
up some of the mess Mayuka had made.  She had almost finished when Ryoko
entered the kitchen.  Sasami smiled.  Time for part 2.
	"Good morning, Ryoko," said Sasami.
	"Good morning, Sasami," said Ryoko, rubbing her eyes for some
reason, "Can I help you set the table?"
	Sasami knew that, despite being blind, Ryoko was perfectly capable
of table setting and much more.  That also meant that Sasami was able to
have some more fun.  "Sure," said Sasami, "Could you set places for
three people, please?"  She smiled to herself and waited for the
reaction.
	"Uh, Sasami," said Ryoko, "Don't we need two more?  Don't tell me
other people left while I was asleep..."
	"No, it's not that," Sasami laughed, pleased to have been able to
puzzle Ryoko like that.  _Okay, time to really get things rolling._
Sasami then said in a sly whisper, "You see ... Tenchi's at the onsen
right now."
	Ryoko's sightless silver eyes fixed themselves on Sasami, as if
trying to read the young princess' expression, even though of course she
couldn't really see Sasami.
	"You'll find a picnic basket hidden near the onsen, in those
bushes that Mihoshi got tangled in once," Sasami said calmly, "It should
have enough food for you and Tenchi to have breakfast and lunch."
	"Um, thanks..." said Ryoko.  To herself, she thought, _We have GOT
to make sure Sasami quits looking at Nobuyuki's manga collection!_  But
secretly, she was a little pleased.
	Once Ryoko was gone, Sasami giggled.  Tenchi was in for a surprise.
	_Enjoy this day,_ Sasami thought, _You two deserve it._

	Ebb.
	Flow.
	Ebb.
	Flow.
	From her otherworldly sanctuary, Tsunami listened to the ebbing
and flowing of the waters on Earth.  She felt their movement, their
music... the whispers of the gentle mists, the ferocity of the roaring
waves.  She also felt her own inner turmoil, the swirling of emotions
within her, and sighed.  She was a goddess, but sometimes she felt like
a lost little girl.
	She missed her family.
	Correction: She had a wonderful family because of Sasami, but what
about her older sisters?  Washu was there, but she had lost her memory.
And as for Tokimi...
	Tsunami sighed again and buried her face in her hands.  Tears ran
between her fingers and dripped down to her feet.
	Like all water, the teardrops sang.
	"Tenchi," sang one.
	"Ryoko," sang another.
	"Ayeka," sang a third.
	So much of what happened next was up to Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka
now.  But Tsunami had already put them through so much!  If she could
fight all the battles, take all the blows herself, she would without
hesitation.  But it just wouldn't work that way.  She had known that for
centuries, as she had made her plans and shaped the destinies of her
children, the Juraian people.  Still, that didn't make it easier to
accept that the moment she had prepared for was drawing nearer.
	She had been waiting for this time to arrive, but now that it was
so close, she was very, very afraid.  Not afraid for herself, but for
all those she had grown to love.  Ayeka, for one.  Tsunami wanted to be
able to protect her children from all harm, and yet she had sent Ayeka
into the gravest danger.
	And then there were the others.  Sasami.  Her son Tenchi.
	And as for Ryoko...
	Tsunami was about to put Ryoko through a test.  Another one!
Tsunami did not want to take away the special abilities that she had
recently given Ryoko, but it was the only way to see if her niece had
true understanding of them.
	Tsunami bit her lower lip and held herself tightly.  What if ...
what if she was throwing away the lives of people she loved, trying to
save others who simply could not be saved?
	At that moment, she did not feel like a powerful goddess
protecting the universe, nor like a mother who was helping her children
to learn and grow.  She just felt very confused and weak and frightened.
More tears ran down her face, their small, mournful melodies joining
with the music of the waters on Earth.
	Ebb.
	Flow.
	Tears...

	Tenchi liked to think while in the bath.  It was one of the few
places where he could have a little peace and quiet, given how crowded
the house normally was.  Of course, now that Ayeka, Ryo-Oh-Ki, Mihoshi,
Kiyone, and even his grandfather were not there, the house wasn't
anywhere near as crowded as it used to be.  Still, that didn't make the
onsen any less pleasant to visit.  Things had changed so quickly in the
past week that Tenchi needed a place to sort it all out in his head.
	In just a few days, he had professed his love for Ryoko, then she
had lost her eyesight, and then Ayeka had departed.  Then Mihoshi had
volunteered to take Ryo-Oh-Ki to Jurai, Kiyone had of course decided to
watch over her, and for some reason that no one could figure out,
Katsuhito had left with them.
	Why had his grandfather decided to return to Jurai?  He had not
been home in over 700 years.  In fact, he had told Ayeka that he never
wanted to go back there.  As far as Katsuhito had been concerned, Earth
was his home, Earth was where he would live the rest of his life, and
Earth was where he would be buried.  At least, that was what he had
said.  Why the sudden change of heart?
	Tenchi's thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone coming
into the onsen.  Whirling around, he saw Ryoko stepping into the water.
The first thing Tenchi noticed was that she was wrapped in a towel for
once.  The second thing he noticed was that he was actually slightly
disappointed that she was wearing a towel!  Good grief, where had that
thought come from?
	"Hi Tenchi," Ryoko said, turning her eyes on him almost as if she
could see, "Is it okay if I join you?"
	Was it Tenchi's imagination, or was the temperature rising?  Talk
about being caught with your pants down!  Or caught without a towel, at
any rate.  It was like the incident last year when the sixteen-year-old
Mayuka had walked in on him.
	Tenchi nearly smacked himself as a reminder that Ryoko couldn't
see, so it didn't matter whether or not he had a towel on.  Besides,
seeing as Ryoko had covered herself, this clearly wasn't an attempt
to ... um...
	Tenchi turned red at the thought (even though the thought was ...
rather pleasant), but managed to recover and say, "Sure, come on
in."
	Ryoko waded over to Tenchi and sat down beside him.  She sighed
happily and sank deeper into the water, up to her shoulders.  The two of
them sat together in silence, enjoying the tranquility and the soothing
waters.
	Tenchi's thoughts eventually returned to his grandfather.  It was
just so puzzling...
	"What's wrong, Tenchi?" Ryoko said suddenly, "Is something
bothering you?"
	_I should have known better than to think that Ryoko wouldn't pick
up on it,_ Tenchi thought.  He felt like opening up to her, felt a need
to voice his concerns out loud, not to mention a need to be honest with
his beloved, but he knew that she was not all that comfortable with his
grandfather.  Understandable, given their history.  "It's nothing,
really," said Tenchi, shifting uncomfortably.
	"Tenchi," Ryoko said softly, "You can tell me."
	Tenchi took a deep breath and let it out.  "It's about Grandpa,"
he admitted, "I can't stop wondering why he left for Jurai."
	Ryoko glanced away from him, and Tenchi immediately felt a pang of
regret for speaking.  However, Ryoko's hand came out of the water and
came to rest on Tenchi's shoulder.  Her eyes glowed with a gentle silver
light, and Tenchi began to feel a warm tingling sensation in his
shoulder.  He couldn't help but smile as Ryoko began to tickle his
shoulder in this way.  Ryoko smiled in return, looking quite pleased
with herself for finding such a use for her new power.
	"It's okay, Tenchi," said Ryoko, the glow fading from her eyes but
her hand staying on him, "Even I'm a bit worried about your grandfather.
I don't hate him for what he did to me.  After all, it was because of
him that I met you, right?"
	"Thanks, Ryoko," said Tenchi, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Ryoko smiled and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
	The squeeze suddenly became tighter when Ryoko let out a sharp
gasp and sat up straight.  Her eyes widened, and her pupils twitched so
that it seemed as if she was gazing at something far away.
	"Ryoko?" said Tenchi, slightly alarmed, "What's wrong?"
	But Ryoko could not reply.  The dull pain that had afflicted her
eyes when she woke up that morning was now much worse.
	When Ryoko did not answer him, Tenchi leaned in closer to her, and
carefully looked into her nearest eye.  A small spot of gold appeared,
looking like a drop of honey floating in the silver pool of her iris.
The golden droplet grew larger, the honey covering the silver until
there was no silver left.  Tenchi looked at Ryoko's other eye and saw
that the same thing had happened.
	"Ryoko?" said Tenchi.
	Ryoko blinked a few times, then turned and looked at Tenchi.
Somehow, Tenchi knew that Ryoko really was LOOKING at Tenchi.  "I ... I
can see!" said Ryoko, shaking her head in disbelief.
	"That's great!" said Tenchi, throwing his arms around Ryoko.
	"Uh ... I..." Ryoko began.  She suddenly stopped trying to talk
and glanced downwards.  She let out a giggle and blushed slightly.
	Tenchi glanced down too, and received a rather embarrassing
reminder that he was not wearing a towel.  Ryoko giggled again as
Tenchi scrambled to get something to cover himself.  Once he had put a
towel on, he made his way back to her side.  Ryoko had a small smile
on her face, but she was also still blushing, and had closed her eyes.
It was quite a difference that Zero's presence made, Tenchi mused.
Still, Ryoko seemed to have been able to get around that when she had
seen a naked Mayuka clinging to him last year.
	Sitting back down beside her, Tenchi remained silent, waiting for
Ryoko to make a move.  But she did not, and remained in place with her
head bowed, eyes closed, and cheeks still quite pink.  Tenchi slowly
reached out and put his arm around Ryoko, and her smile grew but she
still kept her eyes closed.  Very, very slowly, Tenchi leaned forward
and kissed her bare shoulder, then her neck.  Ryoko purred, and her
lips parted so that she was smiling with her fangs showing.  Ah, now
this was more like his Ryoko!
	Tenchi moved to kiss her earlobe next.  Unfortunately, he did so
just as Ryoko had decided to turn her head to face him.  The tail of
hair that hung in front of her ear brushed under his nose, and Ryoko
kept moving her head...
	"ACHOO!"
	...Which resulted in Tenchi sneezing right into Ryoko's face.
	Tenchi and Ryoko sat there staring at each other for a few
minutes, stunned expressions on both their faces.
	"Um ... I ... uh..." was all Tenchi could get out.
	Just then, Ryoko grinned evilly.  "You're going to pay for
that!" she exclaimed, laughing as she pulled him under the water.
	For the next while, the onsen absolutely rang with the sounds of
laughter and loud splashing.

	Kiyone's ship, Masami tTAN, continued on its course for the planet
Jurai.  It was the first time the ship had been in space since Kiyone
had first arrived on Earth, about two years ago.  As for Katsuhito, this
was his first time in space since he had arrived on Earth over 700 years
ago.
	Everyone on board the ship was currently keeping to himself or
herself.  While Kiyone flew the ship, Mihoshi quietly sat in a corner
and kept herself entertained with some sort of origami project.
Ryo-Oh-Ki was taking a nap someplace, and Katsuhito went to yet another
part of the ship to simply stare out a window and think.
	He had not been in space for a very, very long time.  And now that
he was in space again, he was heading for Jurai, of all places.
Katsuhito knew that his decision to go to Jurai had surprised everyone.
What he had not told anyone was that he did not know why he was going,
either.  The fact that they could not even go to Jurai in Ryo-Oh-Ki, for
fear of being shot at (even though Ryoko had been officially pardoned),
was a reminder of the intolerance that had made him decide to leave
Jurai in the first place.
	He thought of the Earth, which he had long ago chosen as his new
home, and which indeed felt more like home than Jurai ever did.  He
thought of the people he had met, when he had first arrived.  He thought
of all the people he had known during the centuries he had spent on
Earth.  Friends.  Wives.  Achika.  Gone, all of them.
	It was a very lonely existence, to live on Earth and be nearly
immortal.  When Ayeka and the others had become a part of the Masaki
household, he had looked forward to having a family that appeared, for
the most part, to be one that would last for a long time.  True, he was
the type who often preferred solitude, but whenever he had wanted
company, they had always been there.
	Always, that is, until the day they had found Ayeka's lifeless
body by the tree Funaho, and watched the body disappear.  Even though
they had found out the next day that Ayeka was alive, that did not
change the fact that Katsuhito had been deeply affected by what had
happened.  Of course, everyone had been affected by what had happened,
but Katsuhito was someone who had already outlived his wives, daughter,
and countless friends.  To see that happen with his sister had been
devastating, to say the least.
	Yes, he now knew that Ayeka was alive, but many questions still
occupied Katsuhito's mind.  Had he apologized enough for hiding the fact
that he was Yosho when she had first arrived on Earth?  And what about
the other secrets he had kept from her, ones that she still knew nothing
about?
	So many questions.
	Ayeka had only been on Earth for a few years, which was really
nothing, given a Juraian's lifespan.  Katsuhito had thought that there
would be plenty of time to tell her the truth.  (Which truths?  All of
them?  Or only certain ones?  He had thought there was plenty of time to
decide.  Seeing Ayeka's pale, unmoving body had brought all that
crashing down.)
	So many questions.
	Why was he going to Jurai?  Had Ayeka's "death" given him such a
strong need to see the rest of his family again?
	Or, was it that he needed confirmation of what Ayeka had said in
her farewell message, about him having been right to leave Jurai and its
royal life?  But ... he had never questioned that before.  Why now?
	"Oh, hi!" Mihoshi's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Are you
looking out the window?  It's such a nice view, isn't it?  Is it okay if
I look, too?"
	Katsuhito turned around to look at the blond detective.  She was
holding out several little men and women made out of folded paper.
"Look," she said, smiling excitedly, "Sasami taught me how to make birds
out of paper last year ... well, they didn't come out right, but aren't
they cute?"
	Mihoshi sat down beside him, and Katsuhito wordlessly turned back
to the window.  Now Mihoshi was another puzzle.  He had never been as
interested in observing her as he had been in some of the other
household members (mainly Tenchi, Sasami, Ayeka, and Ryoko), but she
still made him curious.  She had been deeply saddened by Ayeka's
supposed death, but she rather quickly bounced back to her usual
cheerful self once she knew that Ayeka was alive.
	"Look at all those stars!" said Mihoshi, "Aren't they pretty?"
	Katsuhito simply nodded.
	Mihoshi leaned in closer to him and studied his face.  "Are you
okay?" she said, "You look like something is bothering you ... well,
actually, your face doesn't look much different from the way it usually
does, but I still get the feeling that something is bothering you ...
um, does that make sense?"
	Katsuhito didn't know why, but he suddenly opened his mouth and
began to explain to her what was on his mind.  Perhaps he felt more
comfortable telling this to someone who wasn't connected to the Juraian
royal family, perhaps it was just the strange feeling of being back in
space, or perhaps it was the way Mihoshi looked at him like a puppy
happily listening to its human companion.  At any rate, he told her
about some of the questions that were plaguing him (but only some of
them), and how lonely he sometimes felt.  It was unusual, highly
unusual, for Katsuhito to open up so much to anyone.  He wasn't even
sure if Mihoshi was following what he was saying.  He felt a bit ashamed
for using Mihoshi like some sort of pet, but he did feel somewhat better
voicing his concerns to someone, at any rate.
	When he was done, Mihoshi lost the vacant, listening puppy look in
her eyes, and nodded.  "I know what you mean," she said, her eyes bright
and clear, "Sometimes I have lots of questions, and I get confused about
stuff.  And when that happens, I want to find the answers, but sometimes
I get scared, and that makes me more confused.  And ... and I know what
you mean about the loneliness thing, too."
	Turning her head away from the questioning look on Katsuhito's
face, she stared out the window, placed the little origami people on her
lap, and said, "My first partner in the Galaxy Police was Yuri Mizutani.
She was very pretty, and smart, and a good detective.  She was also my
best friend.  We solved lots of cases, and when we weren't doing that,
we were having fun at the karaoke bar.  Once, we were trying to sing
this really difficult song, and I guess we didn't do it very well,
because the karaoke machine broke, and we both laughed, and then
Mizutani did the funniest thing ... Oh, sorry, I'm getting off topic,
aren't I?  What was my topic again?  Oh no, I forgot ... Ah!  I remember
now!  I ... I was supposed to talk about loneliness..."
	Mihoshi sighed and began to twist one of the paper dolls in her
hands.  Her voice became unusually soft and serious.  "One day, we were
on our way to Amano, Mizutani's home planet, for a vacation.  But the
planet's sun blew up, and I woke up in a hospital.  My mother told me
that ... sh-she told me that they were ... all dead.  Amano was gone,
and all the people were dead.  All those people.  All those happy
children in the pictures of Amano's famous beaches that Mizutani had
shown me.  All gone.  Mizutani was gone, too.  I was the only one left
after the explosion."
	Mihoshi twisted the paper doll in her hands so hard that the paper
ripped.  She let go of the torn pieces of paper, and picked up another
of the little dolls.
	"After that," Mihoshi continued, "I worked alone for a while, but
my grandfather eventually assigned me a new partner.  That was Kiyone.
I was so lucky to have a new partner who was also such a great detective
and true friend.
	"But one day," Mihoshi whispered, starting to rip the paper doll
just like the last one, "When ... when we were on the case of an
ultra-energy matter thief, Kiyone sacrificed herself to stop this
criminal ... and that was the last I saw of Kiyone for a time.  E-Even
now, even though Kiyone is back, sometimes I have dreams about the
people of Amano, and Mizutani, and Kiyone ... all dying.  After that, I
dream of waking up, only to find that everyone in the universe is gone,
and I'm alone ... a-all alone..."
	Katsuhito turned to look at Mihoshi, and his eyes widened when he
saw that she had torn all of the little paper dolls except for one.
Mihoshi stared at the last remaining paper doll in her lap, "All
alone..." she whimpered, her falling tears darkening the paper figure.
Mihoshi grabbed the last paper doll and wrung her hands.  She was just
about to tear it up when Katsuhito's hands shot out and rested on hers.
	"Don't," was all he said.
	Mihoshi dropped the paper doll and began to sob.  Katsuhito put
his arm around her.  He had taken his sister for granted.  He had quite
obviously taken this good family friend for granted as well.
	All the questions on Katsuhito's mind melted away for the time
being.  There was a friend who needed comforting.  Right now, that was
all that mattered.  Taking one of the paper dolls that had been torn in
half, he refolded both pieces into two new dolls.  Mihoshi accepted the
one he offered her, and managed a weak smile.

	Ryoko and Tenchi left the onsen holding hands and laughing, still
giddy from their little water fight.  They had chased each other around
the onsen, trying to splash each other and pull each other under the
water.  Ryoko's ability to fly and teleport had given her the advantage
in the game, but Tenchi had still managed to dunk her every so often.
Of course, Tenchi suspected that Ryoko had simply wanted to be caught
those times.  Not that he minded.  In fact, the idea of holding her in
his arms again sounded very good right about now.  He put his arm around
her...
	"Oh, I almost forgot!" Ryoko exclaimed, pulling away and running
off towards some bushes.  This resulted in Tenchi being caught off
balance and falling over.  If Ryoko had bothered to turn around, she
would have seen Tenchi in a very comical position on the ground with a
very comical expression on his face.
	By the time Tenchi caught up with her, he saw that she had
discovered a picnic basket hidden in the bushes.  Tenchi read the note
that was attached to it: "There's plenty of food in here.  Hope you like
it!  Also, don't worry about taking care of Mayuka today, the guardians
and I will do that.  Enjoy this day!  And I really mean that, so don't
show your faces around here again until dinner, otherwise I will be very
disappointed in you!  (Wink.)  Love, Sasami."
	Tenchi blinked.  "We have got to make sure Sasami quits looking at
Dad's manga collection!" he muttered.
	"Oh, quit pretending you don't like it!" Ryoko laughed.
	Tenchi grinned.  "Come on, let's go find a nice spot for a
picnic," he said, grabbing the picnic basket with one hand and leading
Ryoko by the arm with the other.
	Once they had found a large clearing in the woods, the two began
to enjoy the wonderful food that Sasami had prepared.  Sasami had
obviously been practicing recipes that she had seen on American
television shows; there was a plate full of adorable little finger
sandwiches.  Not typical breakfast food, but the sandwiches just looked
too tasty to wait for lunchtime.  Ryoko held out one of the finger
sandwiches for Tenchi to eat.
	Once he had eaten it, Tenchi took out another one and held it out
for Ryoko to nibble on.  A bit of jam came off onto Tenchi's finger, and
Ryoko smiled and then licked it off him.  Tenchi laughed at the tickling
sensation from Ryoko's tongue.
	Once they had their fill of little sandwiches, Tenchi searched the
basket for some fruit.  Finding a bunch of grapes, Tenchi took it out of
the basket, then plucked off a grape and held it out for Ryoko.
	When Ryoko leaned towards him to eat it, Tenchi suddenly shouted
"Catch!", throwing the grape as far as he could.  Laughing, Ryoko
quickly flew into the air, opened her mouth, and caught it.  "Not bad,"
said Tenchi, grinning as he took another grape and tossed it over his
shoulder.
	Ryoko teleported behind him and caught the grape between her lips,
then winked as she sucked it into her mouth.  "I see that Sasami isn't
the only one who has been looking at a certain manga collection!" she
said.
	"But you like it, right?" said Tenchi, smiling.
	"Oh yes," Ryoko said in a low voice, pressing herself against
Tenchi's back and running her fingertips down his chest, "It's so ...
playful."  She giggled and stepped back, waiting for him to throw
another grape.
	Tenchi tossed the next grape back in forth between his two hands.
Ryoko flew in very close to Tenchi, caught the grape in her mouth, and
then floated in even closer so that she could kiss Tenchi on the
forehead.
	They went on like this for a while, until there was only one grape
left.  Tenchi closed his hand around it in a fist, then opened his hand
to reveal that the grape was gone.
	Ryoko blinked.  "Where is it?" she asked.
	"I'll give it to you ... on one condition," said Tenchi.
	"What's that?"
	"I want a kiss first," said Tenchi, grinning, "A long one."
	"That's simple enough," Ryoko said, moving her face in closer to
his.  She pressed her lips against his, wrapped her arms around his
back, and closed her eyes.  _Heck, he doesn't need to hide grapes from
me to make me want to do this!_ she thought to herself.  Of course, this
kind of playing WAS fun ... perhaps Nobuyuki's manga collection was good
for something after all.
	Ryoko's breath quickened when she felt Tenchi's mouth open.  She
opened her mouth to let his tongue in ... then, when his "tongue"
completely came off into her mouth, she realized that it was the grape!
	"Gotcha!" Tenchi laughed.
	"Oh, you!" Ryoko giggled, swallowing the grape and giving Tenchi
a light whap on the head, "How did you do that?"
	"Dad used to do these silly magic tricks at parties," said Tenchi,
still laughing, "I learned how to do a few of them."
	Ryoko shook her head and laughed.
	"Oh, that reminds me!" Tenchi said suddenly.
	"What is it?" asked Ryoko.
	"Do you know how to waltz?"
	"Waltz?" said Ryoko, "No."
	"I'll teach you, then," said Tenchi.
	"I'd like that," said Ryoko, smiling warmly.
	Ryoko mastered it rather quickly; it wasn't long before the two of
them were waltzing effortlessly around the clearing.
	"This is so nice," Ryoko sighed happily, "Where did you learn to
dance like this, Tenchi?"
	"Dad taught me when we were away for that fishing trip," said
Tenchi, "We practiced in the cabin, and..."
	Ryoko burst out laughing.  Now that mental image was just too
much!  Tenchi and his father, alone in a cabin in the woods ...
waltzing!  Ryoko kept laughing until she had to let go of Tenchi to hold
onto her sides, which were beginning to hurt from laughing so hard.
Tenchi had a perplexed look on his face, then he suddenly said "Oh..."
and laughed along with her.
	Eventually, the two went back to waltzing, but Ryoko kept teasing
Tenchi with comments like "So, did your father hold you close?  Did he
whisper sweet nothings into your ear?"  This went on until Ryoko asked,
"Did he give you kissing lessons too?  Who's a better kisser, your
father or me?"
	"Definitely you," said Tenchi, grinning slyly before he pressed
his lips against hers.  He broke off the kiss and yelped in surprise
when Ryoko suddenly levitated the both of them, so that they were
dancing on air.  She smiled reassuringly at him, and Tenchi calmed down
and smiled back, but he held onto her a little tighter ... Which was
exactly what Ryoko had been hoping for.
	Ryoko began to hum, to provide some musical accompaniment.  Tenchi
recognized the tune easily: it was her song about stars and happy dreams.
	"Ryoko, can I ask you something?"
	"What is it, Tenchi?"
	"I was just wondering ... where did you learn that song?"
	"I made it up," Ryoko replied, "the words and the music ... I made
them up."
	"Really?" said Tenchi, amazed.
	A bad memory whispered through the back of Ryoko's mind.  She
tried to push it away, but it turned to a roar that washed over her and
made her shiver with cold.  "Kagato loved music," Ryoko murmured,
staring at the ground below, "He played music a lot..."
	Ryoko brought them back down to the ground, and they stopped
dancing.  Ryoko stared at her feet.  She knew that she should not think
about it, but she could not help it.  Perhaps it was the uneasy feeling
that her nightmare had given her, but she could not stop herself from
hearing music in her head ... organ music playing, while she lay on the
floor, bleeding from the latest beating...
	"I'm sorry, Ryoko," Tenchi said, taking her face in his hands,
"I'm sorry."
	Ryoko shook her head and blinked tears out of her eyes.  "It's
okay, Tenchi.  You couldn't have known."
	Tenchi gently and wordlessly wiped her tears away.  Ryoko nodded
her thanks and murmured, "I think I just want to sit for a while."
	They sat on the ground near the picnic basket.  Ryoko leaned
against Tenchi, and he put his arm around her.  She thought of those
years spent trapped in the cave, alone in the dark.  700 years.  The
last seventeen of those years, when she had watched Tenchi grow up, were
the ones that she had spent composing that song.  Seventeen years of joy
and sadness, and fondness that grew into love. Seventeen years of
watching and wishing and longing all poured into that one song.  She had
been exposed to music for thousands of years, but had never written a
song before.  She had spent seventeen years getting it right.  Seventeen
years taking what she had learned from Kagato, and turning it into
something good.  Not just something that sounded good in terms of melody
and lyrics, but something that reflected her soul, and that would
hopefully reach the ears and touch the soul of the most special person
she had ever known.
	Now she was finally with Tenchi, and now she had shared that song
with him, and he had sung it with her.  No more darkness.  Even her
blindness was gone.  So ... what was bothering her?
	Ryoko's other sight was gone, that was it.  The new sense that
Tsunami and Ayeka had given her.  The one that had allowed her to see
beyond eyesight, to sense what was bothering Tenchi a few nights ago,
when he had been disturbed by a nightmare that had quickly left his
memory, but continued to disturb his heart.  She felt as if something
inside her was missing.  Compared to the power she had been given during
her blindness, sight seemed so ... limited.  Besides, it was the last
thing that her friend Ayeka had given her.  Still, she knew that she had
to count her blessings.  She still had a voice to sing, and hands to
hold Mayuka.  She had her mother.  She had ... she had this moment alone
with Tenchi.
	"I think we're going to have to disappoint Sasami a little," Ryoko
whispered to Tenchi, "We're going to have to go back before dinnertime."
	"I understand," Tenchi said softly, stroking Ryoko's hair before
standing up, "If you want to go home now, that's fine-"
	"No, no, it's not what you think," Ryoko laughed, "I still want to
spend this day alone with you.  It's just that I want to ask Sasami if
she has any more grapes!"
	Both laughed.

	Ayeka saw that the tunnel she had been walking down stopped in a
dead end.  Telling herself to be patient, she stood quietly and waited
for the Voice to have enough strength to tell her how to proceed.  For
the past few hours, the Voice had grown weaker, and its communications
with her had become shorter and far less frequent.  It was a sure sign
that time was running out.
	Worry and impatience crept into Ayeka's mind, and she soon found
herself nervously pacing back and forth.  Forcing herself to stop, she
took a deep breath and then let it out.  Pacing was no good; it would
only increase her anxiety.  She let her royal training take over,
relaxing and composing herself as if in preparation for making an
important speech.  Funny that she should be using her royal training to
prepare for leaving her old life behind.
	It was when she had completely relaxed that she was finally able
to sense the Voice again.  Her nervousness had been drowning it out.
The Voice was incredibly faint, and it had to repeat itself several
times before Ayeka understood what she was supposed to do.  Nodding,
Ayeka walked over to the wall that was the tunnel's end.  Placing her
hands on it, she closed her eyes and imagined the wood becoming soft.
Her tiara began to glow, warming her forehead slightly.  Eventually,
the wood under her hands also became warm.  Opening her eyes, Ayeka
saw that the entire wall had become transparent, so that the sea of
golden liquid behind it was visible.
	Ayeka pressed her hands harder against the wall.  The wood, now as
soft and yielding as gelatin, allowed her hands through, into the
liquid.  Nothing spilled out, though: the fluid stayed on its side.
Flexing her fingers experimentally, Ayeka found that the golden
substance was very thick, and warm as blood.  She walked forward, so
that her arms pushed all the way through into the wall's honeylike
innards.  Taking a deep breath, Ayeka then pushed her entire body past
the wall, immersing herself completely.  A sound traveled through the
liquid to let her know that the wood behind her had become solid again.
No turning back now.
	The fluid was very thick indeed, too thick for swimming.  Knowing
that she didn't have much time before she needed to breathe again, Ayeka
did her best to remain calm.  It wouldn't do to come all this way just
to drown, without having accomplished any of what needed to be done.
She focused her thoughts on a single word: heat.
	Her tiara glowed with an intense silver light.
	Heat...
	The glow spread to her entire body.
	The liquid surrounding her began to grow hotter and hotter.  Still
not enough.  She had to hurry.  Gritting her teeth, Ayeka squeezed her
eyes shut and concentrated.  She could hear her immediate surroundings
begin to bubble.  Soon the sound became louder, as the heat spread to
more and more of the golden sea.  She was using her powers to protect
herself from the intense heat, but it was becoming increasingly
difficult to do so when she was beginning to feel lightheaded.  She
needed to breathe!  Her concentration faltered, and she let out a scream
as she felt the boiling fluid for a split second.
	Scream?
	Ayeka opened her eyes and took a breath.  It had worked!  She was
able to breathe in the liquid.  Not only that, but it had become
considerably less thick, and Ayeka began to swim in the direction she
had to go.  This environment had recognized her power, and now welcomed
her.  The waters caressed her skin gently, healing the damage caused by
the heat when her protection had failed for that brief moment.
	_I am coming for you,_ Ayeka thought as she swam, _The time is
near._

	"The time is near.  Princess Ayeka is coming, and she will finish
you," the Voice whispered.
	"She is of no consequence.  I will claim the son of Tsunami, and
the daughter of Washu will follow."
	"Such overconfidence..." the Voice retorted.  But it wavered as it
did so.
	"Listen to how weak you have become!  You are in no position to
frighten me.  Already I have your physical form, I have your past, and
it will not be long before your full powers are mine."
	"..."

	Ebb.
	Flow.
	Ebb.
	Flow.
	Flowing tears.  Tsunami's vision blurred as tears flowed freely
from her eyes.  She was listening not only to the waters of the Earth,
but to Sasami's heartbeat as well.  Oh, it is so very easy for a goddess
to plan to create warriors for the horrible battles to come ... but not
so easy to send those warriors off into battle when said goddess is
gaining human emotions, is it?  It was true.  Slowly merging with Sasami
had caused Tsunami to love all her children like she had never known
love before.  It was wonderful.  But it hurt.  Oh, did it ever hurt.
	Tsunami was frightened ... so frightened ... and she had no one to
share her fears with.  For she would not scare Sasami by telling these
things to her.
	Tsunami had an older sister who had been human for a very long
time, but she could not talk to her, could not ask her for advice.
Washu did not remember ever having been a goddess or Tsunami's sister,
and she would never remember, unless...
	Tsunami sighed.  Should she?  It had been her plan all along to
give Washu her memories back.  But was it right?  Was she also doing
this to help Washu, or was it for selfish reasons and nothing else?
Yes, Tsunami missed her older sister ... NEEDED her older sister, but
besides that, didn't Washu have a right to know who she was?  Or was she
better off not knowing?
	_There's no turning back now,_ Tsunami told herself sadly, _You
knew that when you began to act on your plans._
	It was true.  To have gone this far ... it was too late for second
thoughts.  And deep down, she knew that it was the only way she could
possibly have a chance at victory.  But even that chance was a slim one,
and the thought that this plan would fail, that Ayeka and others were
going through such pain and hardship for nothing ... that they might
die, with their efforts doing nothing to change the outcome that Tsunami
was trying to prevent...
	Tsunami shook her head.  She knew that to do nothing would be even
worse.  If she had not formed this plan, then everything would be doomed
for certain.  Better to have a slim chance at stopping it, then no
chance at all.  Better to try to fight the darkness and fail, then stand
by and do nothing while the darkness consumed all.
	It was risky, but she had faith in her children, and their friends.
	"Forgive me, Washu," Tsunami whispered to the air, "Please forgive
me..."
	Tsunami let her consciousness ride the sounds of the Earth's
waters, allowing the tides to sweep her mind to the Masaki household, to
focus on Sasami's heartbeat again.  She could feel the heartbeat
hovering protectively near the place where Sasami had hidden Ayekaken,
the sword that had been created from the silver tree branch Ayeka had
left behind...
	Tsunami sighed.  They were probably going to have to put that
sword to use soon.
	Next, she focused on Washu.  "Please forgive me," Tsunami
whispered once more.

	A golden-haired woman lay on the floor, her face pale, her eyes
closed, a thin line of bluish liquid trickling out of the corner of her
mouth.  Her hands clutched an open bottle that held more of the bluish
liquid.  Some of it had spilled out into a small puddle in front of her.
	Bracing herself, Washu pressed a key on her computer.  The image
changed to that of the woman's brother, who had died by taking the same
poison.
	Washu sighed as she scratched at her hand yet again.  She still
had not seen a picture of her husband, or one of her son.  While she was
definitely not looking forward to finding them among these pictures, she
felt the need for closure.  Besides, she was also trying to find out if
every member of the Mizutani line had indeed died there.
	She went through still more pictures.  As she did so, her computer
kept a list of the people she saw, and compared them to records from the
planet Amano.  Nothing suspicious so far.  Every one of the bodies she
had seen was indeed a Mizutani.  The pictures matched photos from
Amano's records, and the fingerprints of the bodies also matched
records.
	A picture of three dead children came up, and Washu gasped and
looked away.  While they were all too old to be her son, it was still a
very disturbing sight.  What had driven the Mizutanis to do this?
	The next picture was of a baby completely covered in a blanket,
except for one pink hand that stuck out from under the wrap.  Washu's
heart froze, for she recognized the blanket as a quilt that she had made
for her son.  It felt like an eternity before Washu was able to bring
herself to look at the caption below the picture.  Sure enough, it was
her son's name.
	Washu buried her face in her hands, staying like that until her
body began to shake so much that she was unable to stay on her floating
cushion.  She sank to the floor and lay there, sobbing.
	So now she knew.  Finally, she knew.
	Her hand, the one that had been pierced by the splinter, gave an
involuntary twitch, causing her to gasp and sit up.
	_Look again,_ a voice seemed to whisper in the back of her mind,
_Look again._
	The trembling left her body.  Slowly, hesitantly, Washu sat down
in front of her computer again, and saw that the picture said "Photo 1
of 2".  Pressing a key, the second picture came up.  In this picture,
the quilt had been removed, revealing the baby's round face, his curly
blond hair, his lifeless blue eyes staring at the camera.
	Blue?  But her son's eyes were green!  "It's not him..." Washu
whispered to herself.  Had another baby died in her son's place?  And
if so, why?  Not only that, but why hadn't the police noticed?
	Washu checked the name of the police officer who had written the
report.  A detective Hajime Kobayashi.  Kobayashi was the same family
name that Mihoshi's old partner Yuri had used, before changing it to
Mizutani.
	It seemed highly unlikely that it was mere coincidence.
	Washu stared uncertainly at her computer.  Should she search
through the rest of the pictures for her husband, or try to find out
more about this Hajime Kobayashi?
	It turned out that Washu ended up doing neither.
	The itching on Washu's hand suddenly turned into a sharp pain,
which was mirrored by a throbbing in her skull.  She let out an
anguished shout and collapsed to the floor, seeing stars as if
something had struck her in the head.  There was a roaring sensation
in her ears, like an approaching rush of water.  What was happening to
her?  Alarmed, she tried to call out to her daughter's mind for help,
but found herself blocked somehow.
	The pain subsided after a few moments, as Washu's hand began to
feel unusually warm.  Raising her hand in front of her face, Washu
looked at the spot where the splinter from Ayeka's silver tree branch
had pierced her, and saw a tiny droplet of blood appear.  Upon coming
into contact with the air, the little drop changed from red to silver.
	"I understand," Washu murmured, a strange smile forming on her
lips.  She closed her eyes, then reopened them to find herself floating
along the mysterious waters of a forgotten past.  She stretched and
sighed as wave after wave of returning memories washed over her ...
being a goddess, the powers she forgot that she had, her sisters ...
intoxicated by this relearned knowledge and eager for more, she tried
to dive into the next wave of approaching memories.  But this next set
of memories was much darker and harsher than the others had been, and
she became overwhelmed, sinking into the cold dark sea of sadness and
pain that she had forgotten.  Tokimi ... How could this have happened?
Washu wanted to scream, but she could not stop herself from sinking
further into the cold dark waters.
	A hand as delicate as a moonbeam and powerful as a Light Hawk Wing
slowed the progression of this wave of memory, allowing Washu to
resurface and breathe.
	"Go slowly," a female voice advised, "Some of it is not easy to
accept."
	"Tsunami..." Washu whispered, recognizing the voice, "Sister."
	Sasami materialized, swimming beside Washu.  "Tsunami asked me to
help you through this," the young girl explained.
	Washu nodded gratefully, just as another wave came at her.
Tsunami was right; some of the past was not easy to accept at all.  But
whenever she felt herself sinking, Sasami would pull her up and help her
to stay afloat.  Whenever it became too painful, Sasami would hold her
until she was ready to continue.
	Eventually, the two of them washed up onto a warm beach that dried
them instantly.  It was over.  She remembered her life as a goddess, the
bad with the good.  Washu sighed and wiped tears away.
	"I'm sorry, Washu," Sasami said softly.
	Washu managed to rest a reassuring hand upon Sasami's head,
despite the storm of sadness and turmoil and anger within her.  Anger at
what, she didn't know.  Exhausted, Washu sighed again, and closed her
eyes for a moment.  When she reopened them, she found herself back in
her lab.  Glancing at her body, she saw that she was now in her adult
form.  Sasami was lying next to her, fast asleep.
	"Thank you," Washu whispered to the girl, before she also fell
asleep.
	The report on the deaths of the Mizutanis remained on Washu's
computer, ignored.  However, a few minutes later, the report was
replaced by a reading that the computer had gotten from one of the many
devices that Washu had scanning the universe.  Washu's other machines
excitedly took in this new data, adding to the flowing streams of
numbers that raced across their monitors.  In the Amano system,
something incredible and inexplicable had happened.  It was something
that demanded the immediate attention of the machines' creator.
	D3, the sun that had exploded and destroyed the planet Amano, had
inexplicably returned, now a sun without a planet.  But neither Washu
nor Sasami awoke, and eventually the report was replaced by the
computer's screensaver.  While the machines continued with their
analysis, miniature red crabs walked across Washu's computer screen,
watching over the sleeping pair.

	Ryoko and Tenchi took a long walk, enjoying the beauty of the
forest in summer.  As they began to walk up the steps that led to the
shrine, Ryoko reached into the picnic basket and took out a small bottle
of liquid.
	"What's that?" Tenchi asked.  He then noticed that a note and two
plastic wands for blowing bubbles were strapped to the bottle.
	Ryoko read the note, "I thought you two might have some fun with
this.  It's perfumed bubble mixture from Jurai: it smells like Startica
Bells.  Love, Sasami."
	Tenchi opened the bottle and sniffed.  "So that's what Startica
Bells smell like," he said, "Very nice."
	Ryoko dipped one of the plastic wands into the mixture and blew
through the loop on the wand.  Pearly bubbles came out and danced on
the light breeze, colors swirling on their clear surfaces.  Finally,
they all popped except for one.
	The last remaining bubble floated towards Tenchi.  He moved to the
side a bit, but the breeze moved the bubble so that it was still heading
towards him.  "This one's coming on to me," he said jokingly.
	Ryoko pouted in mock jealousy and popped the bubble with her
finger.  Tenchi laughed and dipped the other plastic wand into the
bubble mixture.  He waved his arm and watched the bubbles that flew out.
	Ryoko smiled and closed her eyes.  To Tenchi's amazement, the
bubbles began to fly together, merging to create one large bubble about
the size of a beach ball.  The gem on Ryoko's wrist began to glow, and
reddish sparks of energy appeared in the air.  The sparks eased
themselves into the large bubble, pushing through its surface without
popping it.  While shades of blue and purple chased each other on the
bubble's exterior, the reddish sparks danced inside the sphere, like
fireflies in a glass globe.  Tenchi stared at Ryoko's creation,
entranced.
	"You and your father aren't the only ones who can do magic
tricks," Ryoko laughed, delighted at the expression of wonder on
Tenchi's face.  Concentrating, Ryoko made the bubble float towards
Tenchi's hands.
	Without thinking, Tenchi raised his hands to catch the orb.  It
popped, and the sparks of energy were released.  Ryoko laughed and waved
her hand.  The sparks paired up and began to swirl in time to some
unheard melody, giving the impression that they were dancing.  Ryoko
flew into the air, and the sparks danced all around her.
	Tenchi applauded, and Ryoko landed considerably further up the
steps and took a bow.  Somehow it appeared as if the sparks were taking
a bow as well.  "And now, for my next trick," Ryoko said in a
dramatically loud voice, grinning down at Tenchi, "Take out your opera
glasses and watch with amazement as I-"
	But Ryoko never finished that sentence, for everything suddenly
went dark.  The sparks of energy she had created vanished like snuffed
out candle flames.  Ryoko looked around, but not a single thing was
visible.  _What's happening?  Am I blind again?_ Ryoko wondered.
	"Ryoko?  Where are you?  Are you alright?" Tenchi's voice called
through the darkness, "I can't see you!"
	"I'm okay!" Ryoko called out.  She tried to sound calm, but a
shiver went down her spine.  If it was dark for Tenchi as well, then it
was not that her blindness had returned.  What was going on?  A vague
memory returned to her of the nightmare she had had before awakening,
where she had been lost in the dark while Tenchi had been in danger.
She nervously bit her lip and shivered again, but this time the
shivering was from cold.  She could no longer feel the sun.
	_Mom?_ Ryoko called out to Washu's mind, _Is this one of your
experiments?_  Ryoko's mental voice ran against a wall.  Something was
blocking her.  Ryoko stiffened, as if the darkness were constricting
around her.  "Tenchi?" Ryoko asked, her voice shaky with fear.
	She was about to fly down the stairs to find him when she heard
rustling sounds behind her.  Frowning, she whirled around, creating her
energy sword as she did so.  The sword's light was swallowed by the
darkness, but she could feel its reassuring presence in her hand, hear
its familiar hum as she shifted her weight slightly.
	The rustling noise returned, much louder this time, and
accompanied by similar sounds coming from the left and right of her.
Ryoko tensed, trying to figure out from which direction the first attack
might come.  The sounds became louder and more menacing, as if growing
stronger when they responded to each other.  Whatever was making those
sounds, they were closing in.
	"Tenchi!" she shouted.
	Moments later, they swarmed in hungrily.

	Tenchi heard Ryoko call his name, but her voice was strangely
faint, as if she were shouting from behind a wall.  "Ryoko?" he called.
	No response.
	"Ryoko?"  Tenchi cautiously began to move up the steps in the
darkness, but stopped at a sudden rustling noise beginning to come from
somewhere in front of him.  "Who's there?" he asked.  The only response
was the rustling becoming louder, closer.  That was when Tenchi suddenly
felt something clawed and scaly grab his arm.  "Ryoko!" he shouted
again.  The Light Hawk Sword flared to life in Tenchi's hand, but was
extinguished only a heartbeat later.  It was like being in the Dimension
of Darkness.
	Luckily, that split second had been enough for the Light Hawk
Sword to free Tenchi from his attacker.  As the unseen menace hissed in
pain, Tenchi quickly backed down a few steps, nearly tumbling down the
stairs in his haste.  Catching his balance, he grimaced as he pulled the
creature's severed claw off his arm.
	There was a rush of air as the attacker recovered and lunged
towards Tenchi.  Knowing that in the darkness he might fall down the
stairs if he leapt back, Tenchi quickly moved to the side instead.  He
came up against a large rock, and scrambled behind it.  He wasn't sure
if the creature was able to see in the darkness, but even if it could,
the rock might still provide some protection.
	But he still didn't know what was happening to Ryoko.
	He couldn't stay there.
	Staying close to the side of the stairs so as not to lose his way,
Tenchi began to dash up the side of the hill.  It was not long before
there was a sound of stone being smashed behind him.  He ran faster,
shouting Ryoko's name.  Still no response.
	Something snaked tightly around his waist and yanked him back.
Tenchi grunted and thrust his elbow into the creature, hoping to make it
let go.  There was a squishing sound, and Tenchi gasped as his first his
elbow, and then the rest of his arm, was swallowed into the creature's
flesh.  It was absorbing him!
	"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted.  His voice echoed back mockingly at him.
	A claw roughly shoved him from the front.  Another creature.
Tenchi kicked at the second creature, but it grabbed his foot with
another of its claws.  Caught off balance, Tenchi fell back into the
first creature, whose hungry flesh continued to absorb him eagerly.  The
second creature shoved him again, this time with about a dozen claws,
pushing him further in.
	Tenchi managed one last scream before he was completely thrust
into thick fluid.  He pushed against the walls of flesh around him, but
they were no longer soft enough to break through.  Worse, he realized
after a few moments that they were constricting.  He tried again to
break free, but they pulled around him, squeezing so tightly that he let
out the breath he had been holding.
	But once he had exhaled, the creature's flesh relaxed its hold on
him, and he gasped.  That was when he realized that he could breathe in
the liquid.  Space inside the creature was still cramped enough that he
was forced to remain curled up in a ball, but at least he was able to
breathe.
	The creature's body began to sway, probably because it was on the
move.  There was also a faint pulsing sensation coming from somewhere,
almost like a heartbeat.  It was eerie, and yet strangely calming,
almost hypnotic.  The fluid was very warm.  Tenchi could feel his mind
wandering, no matter how hard he tried to stay focused on escape.  What
was this creature doing to him?  He tried to shake off an increasingly
overwhelming urge to sleep, but it was a struggle that he was losing.
	_Ryoko!  Remember Ryoko!_
	Tenchi shook himself and tried once more to push his way out, but
the flesh constricted around him and squeezed painfully until he stopped
resisting.  Struggling to catch his breath, it took Tenchi several
minutes before he noticed that the fluid now had an oddly sweet smell to
it.  Sleep beckoned once more, even more powerfully this time.  The
fluid was so warm...
	"You are mine, child of Tsunami," a voice whispered in Tenchi's
mind as his eyes fell closed.

	"Such pleasant weather," Azaka commented.
	"Another beautiful summer day," Kamidake agreed.
	The two guardians were taking Mayuka out for a stroll.  She was
happily floating between the logs, in a protective field that they were
generating.  The guardians were very happy that Ayeka had assigned them
to protect Mayuka, since it had given Sasami the idea to send them out
for walks with her.  It allowed them to move around and really enjoy the
sights, rather than stay posted at the same spot outside the house all
the time.
	The logs floated through the woods, making their way towards the
shrine steps.  Mayuka cooed in contentment, and the guardians could not
help but let out happy sighs of agreement.  Every flower and blade of
grass appeared outlined in a halo of sunlight, and the songbirds sounded
particularly beautiful on this day, almost angelic.
	"Did you say something, Azaka?" asked Kamidake.
	"No," Azaka replied.
	"That's odd, I thought I heard someone whispering to me..."
Kamidake was cut off when a cold feeling suddenly washed over the three
companions, and the world turned dark for all of them.

	Ryoko cursed as her sword vanished and she found that she could no
longer fly, just as another wave of creatures could be heard charging
in.  Her powers were draining even more rapidly than when she had been
in the Dimension of Darkness.  And the creatures had come for Tenchi,
she could feel it.
	Dodging a set of claws, Ryoko grabbed at the limb of another
creature and twisted it so that it was right in the path of the incoming
claws.  There was a loud snapping sound, and then a howl of pain as the
claws of one creature slashed off the limb of the other.  She had to get
to Tenchi before it was too late.  She thrust the severed limb, claws
first, at one of the creatures.  To her surprise, the flesh of this
creature was very yielding, and she managed to thrust the limb right
into the creature, and keep pushing.  Ryoko's hands became scraped from
gripping and pushing the scaly limb so hard, but she ignored the pain
and pushed harder, even as thick fluid oozed out of the creature and ran
all the way down her arms, causing her skinned palms to sting.
	The creature bellowed and attempted to shake her off, but Ryoko
held fast, even as her feet left the ground.  Her feet soon came up
against the side of another creature, and Ryoko took advantage of the
position by shoving her full weight against the limb, pushing it further
into the creature until its wild thrashing ceased.  Leaping to the top
of the unmoving creature, Ryoko reached out into the darkness, found a
tree branch, and climbed onto it.
	Thanks to her training with Mihoshi during her blindness, Ryoko
knew the feel of these treetops well.  Downhill was ... that way.  She
leapt from treetop to treetop, as the enraged creatures searched the
stairs for her.  Their rustling rose to a nearly deafening roar.
	"Tenchi!" Ryoko shouted over the clamor, hoping for a response.
Her voice echoed back at her.  An echo, at the shrine steps?  What was
going on?
	Calling out had been a mistake.  The charging creatures streamed
down to her tree at an insane speed, knocking it down.  Ryoko cried out
as she and the tree spilled to the earth below, branches scraping her
from all sides.  Her shin banged against the trunk of the tree, sending
pain shooting up her leg when she hit the ground.  Just her luck that
her healing ability wasn't working either.  Still, it was better than
if she had fallen onto the stairs.  Unable to untangle herself from
the branches fast enough to get away, Ryoko grabbed a branch and pulled
it back, releasing it when she could feel the first creature's breath
upon her.  The branch snapped up and struck the creature, giving Ryoko
some small satisfaction before the other creatures yanked her out of
the branches and pinned her to the ground.
	She tried to break free, but she could not escape from so many of
them.  They held her down, claws pressing her from all sides, but did
nothing else.  Tenchi was being taken away, she could feel it.  They
were stopping her from trying to go after him.
	"No!" she shouted.

	An alarm sounded somewhere in the lab, and Washu awoke with a
start.  Sasami, already awake, grabbed Washu's arm and tugged at it
urgently until she stood up.
	"Come on, Washu, we have to go!" said Sasami, "Tsunami is telling
me that it's started!"
	"What has started?" asked Washu, stumbling over to her computer to
investigate the source of the alarm.  Grogginess made it difficult to
adjust to running in her adult body.  Her eyes widened when she saw the
emergency message displayed on the computer screen.  "Something has
happened to Azaka and Kamidake!  They were with Mayuka near the shrine
steps when they suddenly switched off!"
	Sasami nodded.  "I know, and that's why we have to go!  You go get
Tenchi's father, while I get the Tenchiken!" she said, running towards
the door leading out of the lab, "Meet me at the front gate, and I'll
explain what I can on the way!"

	Held down by claws.  Held down by cold.  Held down by darkness.
	Torn apart by fear.  By nightmares.  By helplessness.
	Ryoko was trapped in the cave, unable to comfort Tenchi after his
mother's passing...
	...Imprisoned by Kagato, watching helplessly as Ryu-Oh was
destroyed with Tenchi on board...
	...In the Dimension of Darkness, her powers fading, unable to help
Tenchi as Yuzuha tried to kill him...
	"NO!" Ryoko shook her head violently.  "Stop making me remember!
Just let Tenchi go!"  But somehow she knew that Tenchi had already been
taken away.  She was too late.  There was nothing she could do.
	She had failed to protect him again.
	Ryoko could sense something else, too ... a familiar presence,
someone she loved dearly, but someone other than Tenchi.  Who was it?
Who?
	She forced herself to calm down.  The creatures holding her had
not ceased their constant rustling, so she had to strain her ears before
she could hear it: the sound of a baby girl crying.
	Mayuka!  Mayuka was trapped in the darkness somewhere!
	Ryoko tried once more to move, and the creatures pushed down on
her so forcefully that she screamed.
	Her powers were drained.  Everything she had practiced with
Mihoshi was useless, because she could not move.
	"Ayeka!" Ryoko cried, "Ayeka!  Help!"
	Something soft and delicate touched her hand.
	"Why do you ask for me, Miss Ryoko?" she thought she heard
Ayeka's voice say, "You have power."
	What power?
	The power that Tsunami and Ayeka had given her?  But it was gone.
Ryoko had gained her sight back, and that power had disappeared.
	Hadn't it?
	Mayuka cried out again, and Ryoko focused on that cry.  Not on how
dark it was, not on her discomfort, not even on what had happened to
Tenchi.  She let Mayuka's cry fill her ears, and focused on nothing
else.  Mayuka.  So little and so precious...
	"I'm coming, Mayuka," Ryoko whispered.  Her lower lip quivered,
but she bit down on it and kept concentrating.  Tears spilled from her
eyes, but she closed them.  "I'm coming," she whispered again, her voice
trembling.
	She fell silent, not panicking, not trying to force anything, not
even thinking, except letting Mayuka's cry reach into her...
	And then, something within her responded.  A whisper at first, and
then a roar, like a lioness rushing to protect her cub.  The world lit
up before her eyes again.
	Trees.  The creatures were trees, walking on their roots.  Their
scales were bark, their clawed limbs were branches.  Many of them had
rotted in places, which explained how some of them had such weak flesh.
Fluid - sap, she realized - flowed from their open wounds.
	Tapping into her power, she tried to fling their clawed branches
off, but nothing happened.  Remembering Ayeka's lesson to her about the
different songs of water, Ryoko realized that a different tactic might
be necessary.  Reaching out with her power, the same power she had used
a few days ago to ease Tenchi's pounding heart after a nightmare, she
began to slow down the pulsing she felt within each of the
tree-creatures.  She slowed them down, lulled them to sleep, caused
their roots to enter the ground and stay there.  Now free to stand,
Ryoko did so.  The soft delicate thing that had touched her hand before,
a butterfly, took to the air and directed Ryoko's gaze to Azaka and
Kamidake.
	She hurried to the fallen Azaka and Kamidake, pushing them aside
to free Mayuka, who had been trapped between them, but was not hurt.
Hugging the baby close to her, Ryoko shook the two guardians, but they
did not respond.  Best guess was that they had simply chosen the wrong
time to visit the shrine steps.
	"I'm here, Mayuka, I'm here..." Ryoko whispered, sitting down on
the ground and continuing to hold the baby close.  "I'm here."
	But Tenchi was not.  They had taken him away.
	Ryoko choked back a sob.  "I'm here..." she said to Mayuka again,
"And I'm going to find your daddy."  Exhaustion overcame her, though,
and she sank to the ground, unable to move.  But she kept a protective
arm around Mayuka.

	Washu, Sasami, and Nobuyuki waited anxiously outside the dark dome
that had covered part of the shrine steps.
	"Ryoko is trapped inside," Sasami explained, "The one responsible
for Tenchi's abduction hopes to come back for Ryoko later.  But if Ryoko
can understand her new power, she can free herself from the dark prison.
Mayuka's presence will help, I think."
	Washu nodded, although Sasami was practically speaking in riddles.
_It must be Tsunami talking through her,_ she thought, _Like when we
found Ayeka's body.  I wonder what has my sister so occupied this time
that she can't materialize?_
	The dark dome collapsed, and the trio gasped as they saw what had
been left behind.  The stairs were broken in some places, and huge trees
were covering many of the steps there as well.  By the side of the
stairs, they found a half-conscious Ryoko clinging to Mayuka.  Silver
raced past Ryoko's irises, then disappeared, leaving her eyes in their
normal golden color.  Ryoko then closed her eyes, and Washu sighed.

	Ayeka swam until she reached a portal.  Entering this portal,
she was transported to a tank filled with greenish-gold water.
Peering through the glass, she could see that she was in the center of
a large room.  Shelves of books, tucked in between gigantic tree roots,
made up the walls.  Christmas decorations left by Yuzuha were still up.
Looking upwards, Ayeka could see through the surface of the liquid to
the ceiling above, including the glass that Ryoko had smashed through
to carry Tenchi and Sasami away from Yuzuha.  That meant that the Tree
of Darkness was up there.
	She was directly below the Tree of Darkness, swimming in the tank
where Mayuka had been created.  This was a place of power.
	Ryoko had rediscovered her new power.  And Tenchi was above her
right now.  Ayeka longed to go to him, but she knew that it was not the
way.  She wasn't the one to save him.
	For now, all she could do was wait, and gather the strength she
needed for what was to come next.

	Soon, very soon now.
	In a large cavern with walls made of dark wood twisted together,
water rippled around a small island.  The island was in fact made of
large tree roots.  Small waves licked at these roots, giving the
appearance of tongues longing for the taste of a power that was no
longer there.  Once, the Tree of Darkness had proudly stood here.  All
that was left of it now was a large rotting stump.  But that would soon
change.
	The waves rose slightly higher as someone materialized on the
island, kneeling by the prize that had recently been left for her there:
Tenchi Masaki, the most powerful child of Tsunami.  She smiled as she
stroked the unconscious Tenchi's hair.  "I don't love you," she
whispered into his ear, repeating the words she had said to him in a
dream that she had sent, "But I love the devoted son that you will soon
become..."
	Tenchi moaned softly and began to stir.  The water around the
roots rose and fell excitedly, the waves growing stronger.
	The being smiled again.  "I shall free you from Tsunami," she
whispered.  She transformed, taking on the form of Achika Masaki, but
kept her blue-tinged eyes and purple claws.
	"Ryoko..." Tenchi moaned in his sleep.
	"I did not have enough power to bring you both," the being
whispered to Tenchi, "But do not worry.  The child of Washu will come to
us, because of her love for you.  She will join us, and we will be
unstoppable."
	Tenchi stirred slightly again.  His eyelids fluttered, but fell
closed again.
	"Your blood remembers this realm, I see," she purred, "Your blood
remembers this realm where you..." she suddenly scowled and raised her
claws above his head, "...killed my daughter Yuzuha!"  She traced a
clawed finger along the side of Tenchi's neck.  She could kill him so
easily right now ... but that was not her intent.  No, she would have
her revenge against Tsunami and Washu by claiming their most powerful
children as her own.
	Shoving his limp form against the tree stump, she turned Tenchi's
hands palm upward.  Two of the tree stump's smaller roots pulled
themselves out of the water and placed themselves above his wrists.
	With an almost tender smile she kissed him on the cheek, and at
that moment the roots plunged into Tenchi's wrists.

	It was a strange feeling for Kiyone to be back in deep space
again.  Gazing at the star-filled sea of purple and black outside her
window, she leaned back in the pilot's chair of the Masami tTAN and
sighed.  The chair squeaked in a way that did not sound good to her.
Darn ship was practically new, and it was already making weird noises!
Kiyone reached down to try and find which part of the chair was making
the sound, and her hand encountered Mihoshi's rubber ducky, which had
somehow become wedged under the seat.  Oh, so that was it!  Despite her
mood, Kiyone could not help but chuckle.
	The last time she had been in deep space had been her trip to
Earth to reunite with Mihoshi and join the Masaki household.  But that
was not the reason why it felt strange to be back in space.  The reason
was the very long time she had spent in deep space before that, when she
had been left stranded on the wreck of a mad scientist's creation after
a little ... accident while she and Mihoshi had been on the trail of an
ultra-energy matter thief.
	She had been left for dead in the middle of nowhere, and her only
protection from cold, airless outer space had been some kind of energy
shield that she couldn't even see...  Not dead yet, but with the chances
of rescue being so slim, there were times when she had thought that she
might as well be.  The food supply she had found was fairly large, but
not endless (perhaps enough to last a year), and there was no telling if
the air exchanger might fail, or even the shield itself.
	During the first few days of that ordeal, the emotion she had felt
the most had been anger, mostly expressed by shouting out at the stars
"Mihoshi!  I swear, I will kill you!".  After a while, it had been
replaced with self-pity.  Something in the life of Kiyone Makibi going
totally wrong ... again.  Eventually, though, all that was replaced by
loneliness.  She had told herself that she would give anything to see
her friend and partner Mihoshi again.  Or anyone, for that matter.
	Not that she had made many friends besides Mihoshi.
	She had been so driven to succeed in her career, that she had
ignored almost everything else in life.  Still, when one was trapped in
the middle of deep space, one would be happy to see almost anyone.  She
would have been happy to see a stranger.
	Depression and loneliness had settled in, becoming so overwhelming
that she had stopped eating, and simply spent most of her time sleeping.
Whenever she had awakened, she had simply cried until she fell asleep
again.  Sleep was the only way she knew how to escape from the
situation... Until her final day there, when she had opened her eyes and
had had a hallucination of a woman talking to her.
	Kiyone squeezed Mihoshi's rubber ducky in her hands as she tried
to remember the woman she had seen.  It was a moment that Kiyone did not
recall very well (and one that she usually did not like to think about,
anyway), but for some reason it suddenly felt very important that she
remember it...
	She had found the woman to be very beautiful, but now she couldn't
remember exactly what she had looked like ... a glowing white figure who
had smelled like Juraian flowers - more specifically, Royal Teardrops
and Startica Bells - but other than that, the memory was too hazy.
	"Do you hate Mihoshi?" the woman had said.
	"No," Kiyone had replied softly.
	"Do you miss her?"
	"Yes."
	"I am glad," the woman had said, placing a glowing white hand onto
Kiyone's forehead, "I am going to tell you certain words, and when the
time is right you will remember them.  You must make sure that you pass
them on to Mihoshi..."
	Kiyone gasped and dropped the rubber ducky.  Good grief, she had
never remembered that part before!  She had remembered the apparition
speaking to her, but not the actual words that had been said.  Why had
it come back to her now?
	Wait a minute...
	"Kiyone, I am glad to have known you," Ayeka had said in her
farewell message, "The conversations I had with you in the garden will
always be among my most treasured memories.  Now, please listen
carefully ... one day, you will remember certain words, and you must
make sure that you pass them on to Mihoshi."
	"I don't believe this," Kiyone whispered to herself.  The
apparition had been real!  But what did all this mean?  Kiyone tried to
remember what it was that she was supposed to tell Mihoshi, but the
words would not come to her.  She sighed in exasperation and rubbed her
temples.  She stopped when her fingertips brushed against her red
headband.  Her father's headband.  Well, at least her memories of what
had happened after the apparition were clearer...
	When she had next awakened, she had found herself aboard the
Jared Possum, a ship belonging to a bounty hunter called Jaf.  Luckily
for Kiyone, Jaf's hobby was searching remote areas of space for treasure.
	"Such pretty eyes!" Jaf had said once he had noticed that Kiyone
was awake, "What a treasure you are!  Normally I'd charge a fee for your
rescue, but I'm willing to forget about that if you'd go out on a date
with me..."
	At any rate, after Kiyone had taken out her wallet and paid Jaf
(Come on!  What were you expecting?), he had dropped her off at the
Galaxy Police headquarters.  To say that they had been surprised to see
her would be an understatement.  She had decided not to go back to work
right away, though.  She had spent about a year after her rescue resting
and recovering.
	She had also visited her tombstone.
	What had gone through her father's mind as he had stood there,
saying his final goodbye to his daughter, not realizing that she was in
fact still alive?  Kiyone was unable to ask him, though, for he had died
shortly after and been buried right beside her "grave".
	He had been the only family that Kiyone had ever known.  As she
had gazed at the two graves through tear-filled eyes, her hand had
instinctively reached up to touch the red headband she always wore.
Among her people, it was traditional for parents to give their headbands
to their children to show that they were proud of them.  Her father had
given her his headband to wear when she had graduated from the Galaxy
Police Academy.
	"Kiyone Makibi, beloved daughter and friend", the inscription on
her tombstone had said.  Below that had been what appeared to be a
series of random designs carved into the stone.  Kiyone had recognized
them: when she was a little girl, one of the games her father had played
with her had been to exchange secret messages using a written code that
he had created.
	The coded message on her tombstone had said: "Kiyone, I will
always love you.  I will always be proud of you.  You always placed
others before yourself, and dedicated your life to helping people."
	Kiyone had dropped to her knees and cried until her strength was
gone.  Dedicated her life to helping people ... the truth was that she
hadn't.  Actually, she had, but had she done so enough?  Probably not.
After a while, the career itself had become more important to her than
the act of helping.  Mihoshi, on the other hand, had never lost sight
of that.  That was why Mihoshi had turned down so many promotions in
the past, before her mind had ... changed.  Mihoshi had always
preferred helping people directly, rather than working behind a desk.
In fact, she still did.
	Never before had Kiyone ever felt so unworthy of praise.  Never
before had she understood Mihoshi as clearly as she did on that day.
	That was why, upon returning to work, Kiyone had turned down a
promotion and asked to be partnered with Mihoshi again.  Once, there was
a time when Kiyone had thought that the last thing she'd ever choose
would be to turn down a promotion to be with Mihoshi.  But now it made
perfect sense to her.  It felt right.  And it felt good.
	Her assignment to help Mihoshi watch over the Juraian royals on
Earth had turned out to be even more satisfying than she had expected.
She had wonderful new friends - no, a wonderful new family - and was
also learning a great deal as Washu's lab assistant.  Add all that to
the fact that Kiyone was now closer to her friend Mihoshi than she had
ever been before, and she knew that her choice had been the right one.
No longer did she fear that wearing her father's headband was like
living a lie.
	Oh, she still considered accepting a promotion someday, but for
now, she was happy.  And even if she did move on to a rank where she sat
behind a desk, she would still be helping other officers to help people.
The most important thing was not what position she held in the Galaxy
Police, but WHY she was in that position.  So long as she never again
lost sight of what her job stood for, she knew that she was making her
father proud.
	Speaking of which, what the heck was she doing sitting alone in
the pilot's area of the Masami tTAN when her friends were in another
part of the ship?  Carefully setting the autopilot, Kiyone got up from
her seat and went to look for Mihoshi and the others.  As if the death
of her father hadn't been enough, then surely Ayeka's departure was a
reminder to Kiyone that nothing stayed the same forever.  Best that
everyone enjoy what time they had together.  Other concerns could wait
for now.
	She found Mihoshi, Katsuhito, and Ryo-Oh-Ki (in her humanoid
toddler form) sitting around a table, folding paper into various shapes.
	"Hi Kiyone!" Mihoshi said upon noticing her partner, "Tenchi's
grandfather is giving us an origami lesson!  Here, I'll show you how to
make a butterfly..."
	Mihoshi made a number of folds in the square of paper that she
held, until she had made a little paper doll of a woman with spiky hair
and a tail.  "Oops, that's not right..."
	Next, she made a little paper cabbit.  "Oh wait, that's still not
it..."
	Kiyone laughed.  "Make room for me," she said, sitting down beside
Mihoshi and taking a square of paper to fold, "I don't want to miss
anything."
	"Oh, now what did I do wrong?" said Mihoshi, blinking in
bafflement at a paper carrot that she had just made.
	"Not wrong.  It look good," said Ryo-Oh-Ki.
	"It looks good to me, too," said Kiyone, laughing and patting
Mihoshi on the shoulder.  As she had hoped, Mihoshi smiled.

	Tenchi found himself standing in darkness.  He could not move, and
his powers were not working, so he simply stood there, alone in the
darkness.  Darkness surrounding him, darkness filling him, darkness
inside of him.  Cold, dark emptiness pushing every thought out of his
mind except fear...
	Until a woman stepped out of the shadows.
	It was Ryoko, wearing a dress of red velvet that flowed gracefully
over the curves of her supple form, the skirt rippling with her every
movement as she walked towards him.  Her matching red shoes were buckled
by gold ornaments shaped like rosebuds, while a gold broach that looked
like a rose in full bloom rested on her shoulder.  Red velvet gloves
covered her arms from fingertip to elbow, their touch as soft as rose
petals on Tenchi's cheek as Ryoko began to caress his face with one
hand.
	Under Ryoko's gentle touch, Tenchi found himself able to move
again.  He sighed with relief and pulled her closer to him in a tight
embrace.  "You saved me..." he whispered, before she pressed her soft
lips against his.  He closed his eyes and continued to hold her, taking
in her warmth, and the faint scent of roses coming from her hair.
	Eventually, their lips parted, and he opened his eyes.
	Ryoko slipped out his embrace.  She was crying.
	"What's wrong?" Tenchi asked.  He reached out for her, but she
stepped away.  Ryoko gestured towards the gold rose broach at her
shoulder.  As Tenchi's gaze fell upon it, gold turned to red.  Had it
become a real rose?  How?
	Taking a step forward, Tenchi saw that it was not a rose, but a
rolled-up red ribbon, made of the same velvet as Ryoko's dress.  The
ribbon began to unwind itself, slowly unraveling to the dark floor
below.  Tenchi looked up at Ryoko, but immediately forgot any questions
he was about to ask when her dress suddenly began to unravel like the
ribbon.  Ribbons of velvet fluttered away from her breasts, slid past
her arms, fell down to the floor.  Tenchi felt his cheeks grow hot, but
Ryoko ignored this and turned around, gesturing towards her back.
	It was covered in bruises, where Tenchi's arms had been when they
had embraced.  "Ryoko!" Tenchi gasped.
	Ryoko then turned around to face him again.  Scraps of her dress
were still in place, slowly sliding off her body, and the ribbon at her
shoulder was still unraveling.  No ... Not a ribbon, but blood!  It was
no longer a ribbon falling to the floor, but blood pouring off Ryoko's
shoulder, although there was no wound.  To his horror, Tenchi saw that
Ryoko's dress was turning into a pool of blood on the floor ... and
Ryoko was sinking into it.
	"Ryoko!" he shouted, leaping forward.
	Ryoko simply stared at him, a vacant look in her eyes, and with
one rapid tug the pool of blood pulled Ryoko in completely.
	"Ryoko!"  Tenchi frantically attempted to reach into the pool and
pull her out, but it turned out to be only a few millimeters deep.  What
was going on?  Someone suddenly knelt at the other side of the red pool,
and Tenchi looked up and saw his mother beginning to scrub at the blood,
her lavender kimono growing dark as it became soaked with it.
	Tenchi's eyes widened with recognition.  This was a variation of
his recurring nightmare.
	Colors began to swirl inside the blood.  This wasn't a usual part
of the dream.  Tenchi stared in horrified fascination as the colors came
together into an image of Kagato and Ryoko.  They were yelling at each
other.  Ryoko shouted in defiance of Kagato's newest order.  She took a
swing at him with her sword, but he cut her powers off from her and
struck her.  She recovered and attempted to punch him, but he grabbed
her arm, then picked her up and threw her through a glass table.
	Tenchi watched helplessly as he saw Ryoko lying on the floor
bleeding from numerous cuts, and Kagato saying something about this
being an interesting way to observe how well her self-healing ability
worked.  He turned on a camera and left the room.  Moments later, music
could be heard coming from outside the room, as Kagato played the organ.
He had casually left to play the organ!
	"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted, his fingertips turning white as he
pressed his hands against the floor in frustrated helplessness.  The
scene continued to play before him, Ryoko bleeding as Kagato played his
music ... why wasn't she healing yet?
	"No more," Ryoko whispered hoarsely, her voice barely audible over
the organ music.  She closed her eyes.
	Oh no.
	She was holding back.  She was trying to die.
	"NO!!!" Tenchi screamed.
	But then Ryo-Oh-Ki came running up to her, crying and nudging her.
Weeping, Ryoko opened her eyes and allowed the cuts to heal.  She would
not leave Ryo-Oh-Ki alone with that monster.
	Tenchi's mother stopped scrubbing at the blood and moved to
Tenchi's side.  She held Tenchi tightly, and he sobbed in her arms, so
distraught that it took him a few moments before he realized that his
mother was whispering to him...  She whispered that she understood his
grief, that one such as Ryoko had not deserved such pain, and that she
knew how much he loved Ryoko and wanted to help her put all that behind
her...
	With one hand she reached into Tenchi's shirt and pulled out the
small velvet bag he kept on a string around his neck, the one that held
the engagement ring Ayeka had given him so he could propose to Ryoko
when he felt the time was right.
	She whispered to him that she knew how much he loved Ryoko...
Something about her tone of voice made Tenchi turn to look at the pool
of blood again, and he saw another image forming there.  It was a replay
of the time Ryoko had torn the sleeves off his mother's kimono, and then
Tenchi had yelled at Ryoko that he hated her.
	Tenchi cried out, but Achika held his head firmly against her with
one hand so that he could not turn away.  Out of the corner of his eye,
Tenchi fearfully saw her hand suddenly grow claws and turn purple.  With
her other hand, which had also grown claws, Achika pointed at the pool
of blood again, and this time Tenchi saw himself slapping Ryoko during
her fight with the sixteen-year-old Mayuka.
	"Ryoko!" Tenchi cried, "Ryoko, I'm sorry..."
	"And what about Ayeka?" his mother reminded him, "How long did you
remain silent about your feelings for Ryoko, because you had been afraid
of hurting Ayeka?  Did you actually think that hiding truth for so long
would really help Ayeka?  Was it fair to her?  Was it fair to Ryoko?"
	Tenchi sobbed and lowered his head.  "It wasn't fair to either of
them," he said in a haunted whisper.
	Achika pulled Tenchi to his feet.  A shelf appeared before them,
holding glass figurines of all the people Tenchi cared for most.  His
friends, his family ... his mother.
	Achika jabbed a claw in the Ryoko figurine's direction.  It
shattered, bits of glass falling off the shelf in a small sparkling
cascade.  She did the same with the Ayeka figurine, and it shattered as
well.
	She then pointed at the floor, and Tenchi looked down to see
fallen shards of glass sparkling on the pool of blood, which was still
there.  This time, the images that appeared in the pool were of a
younger Tenchi yelling "I hate you!" at his dying mother.
	There was the sound of breaking glass, and Tenchi did not even
need to look up to know that the figurine of Achika had shattered.
	The pool of blood then showed Tenchi killing Yuzuha, the tortured
soul who had desperately wanted to be loved.  More shattering sounds.
	"Do you think that you deserve to be loved?" Achika whispered, "Do
you?"
	Tenchi felt as if he were drowning.  What had Ryoko said to him,
the night she had detected traces of the intense guilt that haunted him?
Why did she continue to love him?  He couldn't remember.  His mind was
becoming blank, all reasons and arguments being swept away, and they
pulled away even faster as he tried to grab them, tried to call them
back.
	"Do you deserve to be loved?  Do you?" she asked him again.
	"No," Tenchi answered, squeezing his eyes shut as tears came
forth, "No."
	Achika suddenly pulled him very close to her, and tenderly kissed
him on the forehead.  "Tenchi," she said gently, "I forgive you."
	Tenchi opened his eyes and gazed into Achika's.  The whites of her
eyes now had a bluish tinge to them.  Tenchi knew now that she could not
possibly be the real Achika, but he could not look away from those
strange eyes.  They looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't remember
why.  They were so beautiful...
	She wiped the tears from his eyes.  "It was Tsunami's fault," she
said soothingly, "She could have taught you how to use your power to
save your mother.  She could have helped you to release Ryoko from her
prison earlier.  But she did not want you to discover your power until
it was convenient for her.  All that has happened is her will, part of
her scheme for the universe.  She and Washu betrayed me centuries ago.
Last year, she tricked you into killing my daughter Yuzuha.  She has
made Sasami, an innocent girl, into her puppet ... and now she has
similar plans for Ayeka."
	She pressed her hand against Tenchi's forehead, and suddenly his
mind was no longer blank, he could feel understanding flowing into him.
"Tsunami is no better than Kagato," he said slowly.  It was so clear
now.
	Yuzuha's mother nodded.  "Tsunami does not deserve to have a son
like you," she said, "Let me help you.  We can destroy Tsunami, and
then we can create a new family, we can be together always, you and I
and Ryoko... and my granddaughter Mayuka."
	Tenchi suddenly felt his powers open up again.
	"Do you remember your fight with Kagato?" Yuzuha's mother asked,
"Your power is independent of Tsunami's.  Join your power with mine, and
we can weaken Tsunami."
	Tenchi hesitated.  His gaze had still not left her beautiful eyes.
There was no doubt in his mind of the truth of her words, and yet
something felt ... wrong, somehow.
	"Please, Tenchi," Yuzuha's mother said, "You do not have to be
Tsunami's pawn any longer.  Be the loving person you have struggled so
much to be, the one Ryoko knows you can become."  She embraced him again
as he began to cry, and felt warmth envelop her as Tenchi's power joined
with hers.
	"Oh my child, how I love you," she whispered into his ear.

	Ayeka floated in the waters, her eyes closed, her hands clasped in
front of her as if in prayer.  It was happening.  The moment had arrived.
	"You poor girl ... are you sure?" the Voice said to her.  It was
extremely faint now, but Ayeka could still hear every word, "To have
fallen in love, and to not have that love returned to you ... twice!
And to have to leave your life behind, and be asked to do this..."
	_Enough,_ Ayeka said mentally, _There is no time to waste.  I am
not afraid._
	"Such a brave young lady..." said the Voice.
	Ayeka smiled.  _When you live for others, when you would do
anything to protect those you love, your heart becomes strong enough to
hold a surprising amount of courage._
	"I think I knew of such strength, once.  I wish to know it again,"
said the Voice ... the voice that sounded so much like Ayeka's, and yet
wasn't.
	Ayeka opened her eyes.  _Then let us begin._
	"Yes."
	Remaining suspended in the golden fluid, Ayeka stretched her arms
out in front of her, palms facing outward.  A piercing silver light came
from her tiara, the brightest one yet, and then she suddenly redirected
the power inward, causing the light to disappear.  She watched
unflinchingly as the skin began to peel off her hands, whitish flakes
fluttering away through the liquid.  The process began to pick up speed,
and all the layers of skin fell away, revealing not flesh, but white
light.  The process continued up her arms, and spread, until all of her
being had become pure light.
	The light began to break up into smaller and smaller pieces,
floating throughout the tank until Ayeka resembled pearl dust floating
in liquid gold.  Then there was a bright flash, and Ayeka disappeared
completely.

	Ryoko opened her eyes to find Nobuyuki and Sasami looking down at
her with concern.  Washu stepped into view beside them.  To Ryoko's
surprise, she was in her adult form.
	"It's just like Tsunami said," Sasami whispered.
	Washu frowned slightly, but quickly made her expression calm
again.  Ryoko had already recognized the expression, though.  It was the
look Washu had when she didn't understand something.
	"Don't worry, you'll be alright," Washu said to Ryoko, "Azaka and
Kamidake will be fine, too ... they just need to be reenergized."
	Nobuyuki gently began to take Mayuka from Ryoko's arms.  She
protested weakly and tried to take the baby back, but Washu stopped her.
"It's okay, Ryoko," Washu said quietly, "She'll be fine.  You need to
get some rest.  Tenchi's going to need you soon.  We all will."
	Afraid to let Mayuka out of her sight, Ryoko shook her head and
tried to sit up, but Washu pushed her back down.  Ryoko sighed and
stayed on the ground this time.  "Why?" she asked softly, referring to
Washu's adult body.
	"Never mind that now," Washu whispered soothingly, "Right now you
must rest.  Sasami has something that will help you to feel better."
	With that, the young Juraian princess reached into her robe and
pulled out Tenchiken.  Ryoko blinked in surprise as she felt her missing
two gems being returned to her.  A rush of energy filled her, but after
the first few seconds it was replaced by a feeling of heavy warmth.  Her
body relaxed and her eyes closed.
	Through a haze of fatigue, Ryoko heard Washu ask in a low voice,
"You still haven't explained everything to me.  What happened here is
Tokimi's doing, isn't it?"
	"No," came Sasami reply, "You've got it wrong, Washu..."
	"Then why has Tsunami sent Ayeka to fight her?" asked Washu.
	Sasami's voice again: "Tsunami didn't send Ayeka to fight Tokimi.
She sent her to save Tokimi."
	Who was Tokimi?  Trying to make sense of it all, Ryoko struggled
to remain awake, but the pull of sleep was too strong.  Her
consciousness was dragged back into darkness.  But this time it was a
warm darkness, cradled in a shining power that whispered of a promise,
a prophecy...
	What was it?
	All questions dissolved in the gentle arms of sleep.

	Pain.
	Tsunami clutched her chest and held back a scream as she felt
something like hands squeezing around her heart.  This had been
happening on and off for the past fifteen minutes now.  She knew what
was causing it, but she would not fight it.
	She would not harm Tenchi.
	Tsunami had expected this.  Her opponent did not know it, but she
had planned for this.  So Tsunami simply squeezed her eyes shut and
clenched her teeth, and endured the pain.  She was unaccustomed to
physical pain, but she would rather go through this than let any of
the baleful energies touch Sasami.
	Her patience was rewarded, and she let out a sigh as the pain
subsided once more.  Her companion, a woman wearing a white robe who
had very recently materialized in her private realm, continued to hold
Tsunami comfortingly in her arms.  "Thank you, sister," Tsunami
whispered.
	They sat there in silence, until another wave of pain overcame
her, and Tsunami burst into tears.  She sank deeper into her sister's
arms, sobbing quietly as her sister held her and rocked her gently.  The
pain eventually went away, but the tears of joy - for that is what they
were - kept coming.  At last, at long last, she had a sister again.
	"My, my, look at you," her sister said, brushing some of the hair
out of Tsunami's face, "You're a mess."
	They both laughed.
	_She has never looked more radiant,_ Tsunami thought as she smiled
at her sister.  The skirt of her white robe spread out on the ground
like the petals of a flower, and an aura of silver light had formed
around her in response to the power of this sacred place.
	"I know what is in your heart, Tsunami," her sister said gently,
"You are afraid that your plans will fail.  But you mustn't fear,
otherwise you will fail for certain."
	"What if there was a better way?" Tsunami said in a haunted
whisper, "What if I've made a horrible mistake?"
	"Tenchi has come this far.  Do you have faith in him, as I do?"
she said in response.  When Tsunami nodded, her sister added, "And
Ryoko?  Do you believe in her abilities?"
	Tsunami nodded again.
	"Then what you feel is guilt for what you have put Tenchi and
others through," her sister said, "But you mustn't worry about that now.
Do not focus on what cannot be changed, but on the battles to come.  You
must be strong."
	"It's so difficult," Tsunami murmured.
	"I know," her sister said softly, "But when I was with Tenchi, I
felt more like myself than I ever did before.  That's how it is, when
you are with someone you love.  If anyone can help Tenchi to overcome
the guilt and self-loathing inside him, Ryoko can."  Slowly,
reluctantly, she took her arms off Tsunami and stood.  "I must go now,"
she said softly.
	"I know," said Tsunami, "Good luck to you."
	"The light will always prevail," she replied as she faded away,
"Don't forget that, sister."
	"Thank you, sister..." Tsunami said, closing her eyes as she
whispered her name, "...Ayeka.  Thank you so much."

	"We should be arriving at Jurai shortly," Kiyone commented,
applying the final folds to the paper flower she was making.  By this
point, Mihoshi had reconstructed nearly the entire Masaki household
out of paper, including the house itself, and was still trying to
figure out why she couldn't make a butterfly.  Ryo-Oh-Ki giggled, and
even Katsuhito could not hide a smile.
	Kiyone smiled as well, but a strange thought had settled into the
back of her mind.  Perhaps it was just the feeling of being in space
again, but she could not help but sense that something was going to
happen.
	"Oh, I still can't get it right!  This isn't a butterfly!" said
Mihoshi, indicating her latest creation.
	"No, but it's a perfect Ayeka," Kiyone laughed.
	Perhaps something really was about to happen.  Perhaps not.  One
thing that Kiyone knew for certain, though, was that she might be back
in space, but she was not alone this time.  And she would do everything
she could to make the most of it.  She gave Mihoshi another piece of
paper and watched as her friend tried again.  There were cheers and
applause when Mihoshi produced a butterfly this time, and placed it onto
the flower Kiyone had made.

	In a place of power in the Dimension of Darkness, there was a
swirling in the green-gold fluid of the tank in which Mayuka had been
created.  Like a miniature galaxy giving birth to a star, the whirlpool
produced a red gem.  The sides of the tank trembled for a moment, as the
gem gave off waves of power.  Purple and silver danced within the gem's
core, before leaving the gem and spreading throughout the liquid.  The
green-gold became liquid amethyst laced with silver, and the tank shook
once more.  The living wood that made up this realm sensed what was
about to happen, and trembled for the briefest instant.
	There was a bright flash, and the purple and silver light
retreated back towards the gem, allowing the fluid to return to its
green-gold hue.  The new light did not reenter the gem, though ... it
clustered around the jewel, and solidified into a young woman.
	The tale of the Dimension of Darkness was a long and complicated
one.  Adding to the complexity was the fact that it connected to other
stories, as all stories do.  The mystery of a young policewoman who had
died during the destruction of a planet ... The guilt-ridden son of
Tsunami whose fate would determine the fate of countless others ... The
beautiful cyan-haired daughter of Washu who would do anything for the
man she loved...  While all these, along with other stories, were going
to come together in this place very soon, at the moment only one aspect
of this web of events interested the living wood of this realm.  In the
face of so much, it was easier to focus on one small part, especially
when it was right there: the woman in the tank.
	She opened her eyes and began to swim, rising through the golden
waters.  Liquid splashed out as she broke the surface and flew into the
air.  The effect was something like seeing the petals of a Juraian
flower cage open to release a butterfly during the Juraian Spring
Festival...
	A symbol of renewed hope, a promise that had been kept.
	Ayeka had been reborn.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: The war of Darkness and Light intensifies as battles are
fought, mysteries are solved, and lives are changed forever.  Most
importantly to Ryoko, the soul of Tenchi Masaki hangs in the balance!
Don't miss Chapter 6 of Confess to You, "Salvation"!

Author's notes: Whew!  Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter
done, but life threw a few surprises at me, and I suddenly became a lot
busier than I had planned.  Oh well, surprises are what make life
interesting.  Heh heh.

Special thanks go to my prereaders: AleeN, Max "Foxanime" Gilliland,
Rhys "DJ Wite Trash" Doyle (Geez Rhys, whatever happened to
"Frigidheat"?), Lost Magi, The Eternal Lost Lurker, Magus The Dark,
Megami-Ryoko, Owen "Masami" Kuhn, and K'thardin.  Most of them are
fan fic writers, so you might want to check out their stuff too.  ^_^

By the way, I haven't heard the CD Specials or read any of the novels
(and I can't afford to ^^;;;), so I don't use them in my fics.  There,
now I'm covered if I accidentally contradicted them.  ^_~

Anyway, I want to hear from you!  Please send C&C, suggestions, or
questions concerning this story (or any of my other fics) to me at
literaryeagle@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading!  See ya next chapter!

Thought of the day: Okay, so Yuzuha's Yuzuha, and Mayuka's Mayuka.
That still doesn't tell me who Gabbo is!

[AleeN: I figure it's some guy.  Some guy named Gabbo.  ^_^]

Text copyright 1999, 2000, Literary Eagle
(But most of the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)