The Gentle Sound Of Thunder

Chapter 3: Through Sasami's Eyes

*****

I wish I could have done something to stop it.

For a week I'd been having the scary dream.  At first I didn't know what it
meant, but then it got clearer and clearer.  I saw Aeka and Ryoko and they
were fighting, but not like they usually do.  They were fighting to realy hurt
eachother really badly.  It was scaring me because I couldn't stop them.  I
tried to get Azaka and Kamadaki to stop them, but they just floated there.  I
tried to get Mihoshi to stop them, but she just stood there watching.  No one
would listen to me!  No one would belive me!  Then I tried to tell Tenchi, but
he just smiled at me and told me not to worry.

Not to worry?

Aeka and Ryoko were killing each other!  Of course I'm going to worry!  Aeka's
my sister and Ryoko's my best friend!  Both of them were getting really mean
and nothing I could do would stop them!

Suddenly it got really dark and I was all by myself.  I tried to call out for
someone, but I couldn't find anyobody, so I started running.  Then I tripped
over something.  I looked down and saw Ryoko, but she had a big hole in her
throat.  I tried to wake her up, but she just wouldn't open her eyes!

Then I saw Tenchi standing far away.  I tried to call out to him but he just
started to walk away.  I started chasing him, but he was moving too fast and I
was starting to sink.  I lloked down and saw that I was in a pool of sticky
red stuff.  Then I swa that the red stuff was comming from Ryoko's neck.  

That's when I'd usually wake up screaming.

This morning I realized that today was the day it was supossed to happen.
Then I remembered the Jenna-Hotaru.  I remembered the test of the empire that
had gone on since before my daddy was born.  I realized that the Jenna-Hotaru
was what my sister and Ryoko were doing.  That's why the Guardians weren't
interferring!  I knew what I had to do.

I got up super early and started to make breakfast.  I hoped really hard that
Tenchi or grandpa would come downstairs before the others, and after awhile
Tenchi finally came down.  I tried to act happy and not let him know how
scared I was.  

"Good morning Tenchi!"

I forced the cheeriness out.  Suddenly I started to get scared.  How as I
going to tell him that Ryoko was going to die?  How would I get him to stop it
from happening?  I knew that in my dream he didn't seem to care, but I figured
that in real life he would do something, that he would stop them...!

"Good morning, Sasami.  You're up awfully early." 

"I know.  I couldn't sleep, so I decided to cook."

Well, it was kinda true.  I was trying to pass the time by cooking, but I was
still getting pretty anxious.  What would I do?  How could I stop them?  I
just didn't know!  I just..


"Sasami, what's wrong?"


I felt his hand on my shoulder.  I felt his closness.  I couldn't take it.  I
knew that it was then or never, and I was about to burst.  I just turned
around and started bawling.  I didn't know what to do anymore.  All I knew was
tha if anyone could do something, it would be Tenchi.

"Oh Tenchi!  I..I've had the mo..most horrible dre..dre..dreams!  I didn't
know wh..who to talk to and I..I.."

I just kept crying and crying, all the time trying to chocke the words out.  I
wanted to tell him, to warn him, but I just couldn't stop crying.  I knew that
it was hopeless.

After awhile I felt Tenchi take my hand and start to lead me outside.  It was
a really pretty morning and the birds were really loud, but it was nice.  I
was glad because it kinda calmed me down.  

"Do you want to talk about it?"

We'd been sitting there for awhile I guess, and when he started to speak it
kinda scared me.  I started to think about the scary dream again.  I saw Ryoko
and Aeka, and then..

"Tenchi, I had a dream..I dreamed that Aeka and Ryoko were doing the Jenna-
Hotaru and that you were involved too!  And Ryoko...!"

Suddenly his hand was on my shoulder.  As scared as I was, it kinda made me
blush a little. Then he tried to talk to me as soft as he could so I'd calm
down.  It was really nice of him.

"The Jenna-Hotaru?  What's that?"

I forget sometimes that Tenchi doesn't know very much about Jurian customs.
It just kind of suprised me, since the Jenna-Hotaru IS one of the oldest
traditions on Jurai.  I was about to tell him when we heard Aeka and Ryoko
comming into the kitchen.  Tenchi stood to go in and I tried to stop him with
all my might.  He had to listen, or Aeka and Ryoko...!

"Come on Sasami, let's go back inside.  Besides, this Jenna-Hotaru thing can't
be all that bad, now can it?"  I grabbed his sleeve and tried to make him
stay, to make him listen!  "No, you don't understand..!"

He picked me up and patted me on my head.  Suddenly I felt very much like a
little kid and that he was so much older than me.  It made me feel so tiny and
weak, like there was nothing I could do and I knew it.  

"You're right, I don't.  Sasami, don't let it trouble you.  I'm sure
everything is fine.  Now let's go inside and have some breakfast, shall we?"

All through breakfast Aeka and Ryoko just sat there looking really scary.
Aeka was wearing the special clothes I had helped her set out last night.  I
remember that she was acting real noble and princess-like and that kinda made
me nervous.  She never acts like that around me when we're alone.  Anyway, she
was wearing her traditional Jenna-Hotaru Kimono that our ancestors had worn a
long time ago.  It was kinda creepy to see it on her.  Ryoko was in her red
and black fighting suit and looked very scary.

Neither of them talked all through breakfast, and that really made me nervous.
I guess I was still hoping that they'd come to their senses and not do this,
but then breakfast was over and they went outside...

Mihoshi was already out there with the Guardians so I stood by her.  Aeka and
Ryoko walked the required distance away from each other, bowed, then..

Aeka's a really good fighter.  All Jurain royalty is required to learn and
master the deadly arts for self-defense.  Heck, even I know a little, but
mommy insisted that I wait till I was a teenager till I started to really
practice.  But Aeka was a teenager and she was really good with her power.
She had showed me one day that she could make her force field do whatever she
wanted it to, and at the time I thought it was really neat.

Aeka went first, using her force field like a lazer beam, but Ryoko dogged it.
I knew that Ryoko was the better fighter, but maybe Aeka had a chance.  Then
Aeka made her field into a sword and the two fought all over the yard.  They
started getting really fast and really wild and then..

Ryoko saw an opening and put her sword deep into Aeka's side.  I screamed,
even though spectators aren't allowed to talk.  I didn't care, my sister was
dying!  Then Tenchi broke the ultimate rule; he jumed in front of Aeka with
the Master Key and challenged Ryoko.

"That's enough Ryoko."

Ryoko must have been really stunned, 'cause no one EVER interfeers when the
Jenna-Hotaru starts.  She just gave Tenchi a really funny look and stopped.

"Tenchi?  What are you doing?"

She sounded really confused, and beside me I heard Mihoshi saying, "Oh my,
this is not supossed to happen at all."

"I'm stopping you before you do something we'll all regret."

I'd seen Tenchi fight before, and I always thought his noblity was really
neat, but right then I wished he wasn't so brave.

"Tenchi, this doesn't concern you.  Just walk away Tenchi, please.  I don't
want to see you hurt."

Ryoko sounded really concerned.  After all, if Tenchi died, then all this
would have been for nothing.  Then I saw Aeka struggling to get up.  She was
bleeding really bad and her face was all scrunched up in pain.  I didn't want
to see her like that.  I wanted to run out there and just start screaming at
them to stop.  I was about to, but then Azaka teleported beside me and put a
force field in front of me, just to be sure.  

"Are you insane Ryoko?  You could've killed her!"

Tenchi still didn't understand what was happening.  He didn't realize that
that was exactly what Ryoko was trying to do.

"And I would have if you hadn't interfered!"

"WHAT?!  You're saying that you wanted to kill her?  Why?"

Ryoko suddenly got really serious and stared at Tenchi dead in the eye.
"Unless you want to take her place, I'd advise you to move.  Now."

"If that's what it takes, then I will take her place!  Ryoko this is madness!"

Everyone gasped at what Tenchi said.  I felt Mihoshi's hand tighten on my
shoulder in shock and fear.  Beside me, I heard Azaka say, "Oh dear..."

"Tenchi!  No, you can't mean that!  Please Tenchi, take it back now!"

Ryoko still couldn't belive what she was hearing.  She couldn't belive that he
would do this, and frankly neither could I.  Tenchi didn't know it, but he was
enacting the oldist loophole in the history of the Jenna-Hotaru; the pinch
hitter clause.

"This is your last warning Ryoko.  Back away or else!"

"Tenchi please, for the last time, I will not back down.  You just don't
understand..!"  

Oh please Tenchi, don't get hurt!  I knew that this was going to happen and
now there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"You're right, I don't.  Right now, all I know is that someone I care about is
about to die, and I can't let that happen."

When he said that, she looked as if a thunderbolt had just torn through her
heart.  Her face got real sad all of the sudden and she started to cry right
there.  I guess if I had been her, I would have done the same thing.  "Tenchi,
no... you can't mean that.."

"I can and I do.  Now put your sword down and we'll talk about this."

Ryoko raised her sword and started to cry a LOT.  I'd hardly ever seen Ryoko
cry before and now it was really starting to scare me.  "Please!  You don't
know what you're doing!  DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!"  

She charged.

He defended himself.

There really wasn't anything else he could have done.  After awhile I saw
grandfather hugging Tenchi and trying to calm him down.  Then I realized that
Azaka had dropped the force field, so Mihoshi and I ran to Aeka.  It turned
out that it was mostly a flesh wound, and that she really wasn't all that
hurt.  I picked her up on my shoulder and Mihoshi and I carried her into the
house.

Aeka and I stayed in her room all day bandaging her wounds.  I couldn't take
the silence between us.  I had to ask, to know..

"Why Aeka?  Why did you have to do that?"

She looked at me and tried to put on her most Royal face.  "Because Jurain
custom demanded.  We both knew the risks, and besides, she had it comming."

I couldn't belive what she was saying.  Aeka sounded so hartless, so cruel!
Besides, Ryoko was my friend.  How dare Aeka talk like that!  Then I did
something I never thought I'd ever do.

I pulled my arm back and slapped her as hard as I could.

She recoiled in pure shock.  I could see tears in her eyes, and I guess I was
crying too.  I turned my back to her and told her to get out.  I didn't want
to see her anymore for a long long time.  She had gotten my best friend killed
over some stupid tradition and she didn't even care!

She tried to plead with me, but I just ignored her.  After awhile she went
downstairs and I slumped into my futon and cried.  When I was done, I looked
out the window to see if Azaka and Kamadaki had taken Ryoko away yet.  That's
when I saw Tenchi walking away with a bag in his hand.

I opened my window and tried to call out to him, but he was too far away to
hear me.  I just kept calling, hoping that he might decide to come back, to
stay..

I watched him until he vanished over the hilltops.  I stayed and watched a
little longer in case he decided to come back.  I waited.

I watched.

I cried.

Outside it started to rain.

*****

PHEW!  Another one bites the dust! 

Tenchi & Co belong to AiC and Pioneer

All C&C should go to BGlanders@aol.com