The Eden Chronicles:
			          Epilogue: Love You Forever

			FROM THE JOURNAL OF RORIC TAK

"Dear Journal,
	Quite a bit has happened since I came to live with the Masaki family. I've 
grown in both strength and skill, and my friendships with the members of the 
family do nothing but flower. Axis and Gear are dead, and the Eden has been 
destroyed by Ryokaku. After all these weeks it's still hard to believe that I've 
been harboring a god!"

	Roric tapped his pen on the small book that was in his lap. His new room, 
the one that had been finished barely a week after the incident with the Eden, 
still smelled of fresh wood. He smiled, leaning back into his pillow. Ryo-Ohki, 
once more in her child form, was snuggled into his side, purring in her sleep. 
He smiled fondly at her, and continued writing.

	"Ryo-Ohki hardly ever walks around as a cabbit anymore, and she follows me 
wherever I go. She's three years old in human years--such a big girl!--and 
already knows the names of everybody in the house, quite a feat. I feel like 
she's more like my kid sister or my daughter than the family pet. She usually 
crawls into bed with me when she has nightmares.
	Mihoshi and I have grown even closer in the time since Eden's explosion. 
Not as close as Tenchi and Ryoko, who are scheduled to get married after Tenchi 
finishes his last year of High School, which begins in the fall."

	This was the part that Roric didn't want to remember. He took a deep 
breath, blew out a forlorn little sigh, and pressed pen to paper.

	"Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to join him like I was supposed 
to. A letter from my foster parents came last week. I'm to board the next plane 
back to Bangor, no questions asked. Today is the day I leave. My bags are all 
packed, but I have to say...I think I'm going to leave my heart here. Tenchi is 
here, and jii-chan. Nobuyuki and Kiyone. Especially Mihoshi...
	I love her too much to leave here now. I don't care what happens back 
home. My parents barely paid me any attention, my friends were nothing like the 
friends I've gained here. I don't want to leave. I never..."

	The door was pried open, and Sasami poked her head in the door. Her smile 
was fake, too fake to be hiding anything but absolute sadness. 
	"The bus will be here in about twenty minutes," She said with false cheer 
in her voice. "It's time for you to go."
	Roric nodded as she closed the door. His gaze wandered to the sleeping 
girl next to him. He eased off the bed, and kissed the cabbit-girl's cheek.
	"Bye-Bye, Ryo-Ohki," He whispered. She purred in her sleep and batted at 
his glasses. 

*		*		*		*		*		*

	The wait by the bus stop was intolerable. Roric stood stoically with his 
suitcases next to him, while Sasami kept behind him, holding Tatsuyari as if 
never to let it go. Ryoko and Tenchi held hands with looks of sadness in their 
eyes. Ayeka had the regal dignity and pride she had forced upon herself ever 
since Tenchi had proposed to Ryoko. Washuu was nowhere to be found, after 
dragging Katsuhito off in secret. Nobuyuki and Kiyone both looked grim, and 
Mihoshi...
	She couldn't stop crying.
	Roric felt as if he were going to cry as well, just looking at her eyes. 
He took a deep, cleansing breath as the bus rounded the corner of the country 
road. 
	"This is it," he whispered to his friends, fighting to keep the tears 
down. "This is good bye..."
	"We'll see each other again," Tenchi assured with a stony face. "I'm...I'm 
sure of it."
	"You've got a lot of guts, Roric," Nobuyuki said. "They'll get you far in 
life. Never...ever give up on what you strive for."
	He turned to Mihoshi. The girl he had nearly died for, the girl he had 
professed his love to. She could barely say anything as she watched him pick up 
his suitcases. With a cry she threw here arms around him and pressed her lips to 
his in a crushing kiss. It lasted for very close to a minute, and when she 
pulled away he was weak in the knees.
	"Don't ever forget me," She whispered into his ear. She ripped herself 
away from him and fled to a nearby tree, where she collapsed in a storm of 
sobbing. Kiyone began comforting her silently.
	"I'll never forget you..." Roric placed one foot on the stairs of the bus. 
"Any of you..."
	The sound the door made as it closed seemed to seal his fate.

*		*		*		*		*		*

	The bus smelled faintly of cinnamon and roses, and the driver-an old man 
with a gray ponytail-wore his cap low in such a way that it hid his face.
	"Tokyo Airport?" He asked in a low voice.
	"Yeah," Roric was only half paying attention as he slid into a seat.
	"Got something to get off your chest?"
	"No...I'm just leaving a lot of loved ones behind..."
	The driver nodded sagely. "My mother used to say that when you've got 
loved ones you've left behind the best thing to do is head back for square 
accounts. Why are you leaving them?"
	"I...I have to..."
	The driver scratched his hidden cheek. "Why?"
	"A note from my family said..."
	"Family...aren't they your family?"
	Roric stopped in mid-thought.
	"Yessir," The driver continued, puttering along at a slow pace. "You fit 
right in with that motley bunch. You belong wherever you want to belong, kid. 
Don't let anybody tell you different."
	"..."
	"..."
	"Stop the bus."
	"Good kid."
	He practically threw himself out the door and sprinted down the path, arms 
outstretched. He wanted her. He needed to hold her in his arms.
	"Mihoshi!" he called. "Mihoshi!"
	The entire family turned awestruck eyes towards him even as he bolted 
through them and caught his love in a gentle embrace. They shared another 
minute-long kiss before Mihoshi stuttered a few words.
	"But...what about your family?" She asked.
	"This is my family," He responded. "This is where I want to be! Here. With 
you!"
	A great cheer erupted from the crowd. Katsuhito stepped from the bus, 
removing the driver's cap he had been wearing just moments ago.
	"Good pep talk," Washuu whispered with a smile. 
	"I rather thought it was nice," Yosho returned.
	"I love you, Mihoshi!" Roric was saying exuberantly. "I love you, and I 
never want to let you go!"
	"I love you too, Roric!" She said with equal exuberance, kissing his cheek 
several times in rapid succession. 
	"This is the way it should be," Ryoko observed quietly, squeezing Tenchi's 
hand.
	"You're right," He returned, smiling. "Just the way it should be."

End of the Eden Chronicles

AUTHOR'S NOTES
	Hey, thanks for putting up with it all the way here. Love it? Hate it? 
Send me comments at WillNilesborne@aol.com. 
	I would like to make it known that this was not a self-insertion fic. My 
name is not Roric. I do not study Tai Chi. As a matter of fact, I study Kendo. 
Somebody once said, however, that all fics have an element of self-insertion. I 
created Roric as the ideal of what I want to be. A man with strong values and 
possessed of awesome skills as well as a pure heart and fertile mind. I believe 
that this was my element of SI. 
	I'm going to try and write more, and expect to hear more of Tenchi Masaki 
and Roric Tak's bizarre adventures. Thanks for being there, and I'll see 'ya 
when the lights go down.

									~Marshall Leach