Chapter 5
        Sasami's Quest



     Sasami found herself in pitch black darkness, nothing but nothing 
around her, her own hand unable to be seen when placed clear in front of 
her face.  She was blind to her surroundings, pupils straining against the 
darkness, flailing her arms to see if she could move.  She stood there, 
listening to the ringing sound of silence which flooded the room.  Despite 
the blackness, however, she didn't feel scared.  She felt, instead, a 
certain kind of safety in it, as though nothing could touch her there.
     "Grandfather?" she called, sending a deadly echo throughout the 
surroundings.  "Where am I?"
     "This is your first test, my grandchild," the gruff voice answered, 
sending an echo of his own.  "You must find me."
     "But how?" she asked.  She stood, listening for many seconds, but 
received no answer.  Fine, she thought.  If he wants to be like that, then 
I'll just find him.  He isn't very courteous, that's for sure.
     She started walking forward, arms stretched out in front, taking 
small steps as she proceeded.  The sound of his voice had come from the 
right, although it had been distorted by the echo.  She trusted her ears 
anyway, and proceeded slowly, listening to the loud sounds of her steps, 
echoing in every direction.  She was close, now, deadly close.  Her pupils 
could almost make out an outline of something large in front of her, about 
two to three feet tall.  She proceeded.
     "I see you grandpa," she said, echoing throughout the room.
     "Do you, now?" he asked, and the figure was gone.
     "What?"
     "Don't trust your senses, my dear," he echoed.  "Trust your ability."
     She could hear him from behind her now, very close.  She turned and 
began a careful descent towards him again.  Adjusted to the darkness, her 
eyes could now surely make out an outline.  She smiled, staring at the 
unmoving shape, which stood deadly still.
     Then at once, when she was about to grab him, he was gone.  She 
groaned angrily.
     "Trust your ability, Sasami," he called again.
     The sound was behind him again, but she was through with that.  She 
closed her eyes instead of wandering the darkness, acting on instinct.  She 
could hear him breathing behind him, but her mind told her that wasn't 
him.  He was to the left.  She turned left instead of back, trusting her 
mind, walking briskly instead of carefully and slowly.  She could hear 
footsteps echoing behind her, but she continued forward, ignoring the 
sound.  She heard the breathing of him from behind, wheezing now, begging 
for her attention.  She ignored it, continuing forward.  Her mind told her 
that she was deadly close, although her ears told her he was far behind, 
but she was through listening to those ears.  She listened to her mind, 
continuing forward, jogging now, reaching out to seize him.  At the end, 
she heard a voice calling from behind "HEY!!" but she ignored the sound, 
not letting it slow her down, and continued forward.
     As she grabbed, she opened her eyes, seeing nothing but black in 
front of her, her eyes showing no trace of an outline.  But she did grab 
something solid this time; she caught hold of cloth.  As she grabbed him, 
she reached out with her other hand, grabbing another handful of cloth.  
"GOTCHA!!!" she screamed in triumph.
     All at once light flooded the room, causing Sasami to reel back in 
pain, clutching her burning eyes.  The light was so bright it stung her 
eyes to look at it, and for a few moments she was blind.
     "Good job," the gruff voice said, no longer accompanied with the loud 
echo.  "You passed the first test of your trial, Sasami.  Ready for the 
next?"
     Sasami tried opening her eyes to the brightness, her eyes burning 
again.  "Bring it on," she said, trying to hide the pain.
     "Very well."
     Suddenly the bright light dimmed, allowing Sasami to open her eyes 
with only a small effort.  The room was now gone, and instead was a cliff 
in front of her, looking over a large cavern filled with red lava far 
below.  All around her, green pasture seemed to stretch on for miles and 
miles.  There was a another cliff across the cavern, more than thirty feet 
away, on the edge of it Ryoko, one gloved hand lying over the side.  Blood 
was dripping from a ghastly wound in her side, trickling down her arm, her 
hand, her fingers, and finally into the cavern below.
     "RYOKO!!" Sasami screamed.  Ryoko was not moving, her body laying 
limp on the dirt, her hair tasseled, her tight suit somehow wrinkled on her 
body, covered with soot.  She was dead, freshly dead.
     Behind her, Sasami heard the cries of Aeka:  "Sasami!  Come back!!  
She's dead, Sasami!  Come back!!  COME BACK!!!"  Sasami didn't even turn 
around.  She got herself up, her eyes burning, pleading for relief from the 
light, which had become suddenly dazzlingly bright.  She went to the edge 
of the cliff and looked to the left and to the right.  The cliff seeming to 
stretch on forever, following in a straight line, always keeping the same 
distance between the two lands.  She looked down into the cavern and saw 
the lava bubbling, rising almost to the edge of the cliff as the heat stung 
her even from that far away.  Sasami looked across at Ryoko again, deadly 
remorse in her eyes.
     She took one step back.  Two.  Three.  Then she ran, faster than she 
had ever done before, towards the cliff and the lava and Ryoko.  One foot 
almost slipped off the edge as she leaped over chasm.  She could suddenly 
feel her body being lifted into the air, and she seemed to hang in air 
forever as she made her jump, proceeding slowly to the other side.  She 
looked down, seeing the lava rise and fall, bubbling up higher, and she 
could feel the heat rise up her dress, burning her legs.
     Finally, she landed on the other side hard, tripping and falling on 
her face in the dirt.  She picked herself up and looked around furiously 
for Ryoko, and saw the space pirate's body lying, still blood-soaked on the 
ground.
     "Ryoko!" she cried, crawling over to the pirate, almost falling to 
her face again as she clawed furiously at the ground.  She reached down to 
touch Ryoko's gloved hand, to wipe the blood away with her dress, but her 
fingers passed through the glove and hand, scratching dirt beneath.  Sasami 
gasped and tried again, her hand passing a second time.  She bent closer to 
the space-pirate's body and saw that she could see right through it, like a 
hologram.  She realized that the pirate had no substance at all.  "What is 
this?!" she screamed at the air.
     "That was your second test, Sasami," the gruff voice replied in 
answer.
     All at once, the place disappeared in a flood of the bright light 
again, Sasami again reeling from the brightness.  "Next will be your last 
test, my granddaughter."
     The light extinguished again, permitting Sasami to open her eyes.  
Then she saw something terrible, something that made her heart skip a beat 
and her blood turn cold, something she would never forget, something that 
would make her bolt up in bed, sweat guzzling down her face, covers wet 
from perspiration, shaking violently, wondering feverishly what she was 
dreaming about, but not really wanting to know.  Something that would pop 
in her mind all at once at any given moment, an image so frightening it cut 
off all thoughts and turned her thoughts to mush instantly.
     In front of her, gazing down, smiling with a large, hungry grin, 
floated the black destructor beast known to all throughout the universe as 
Kain.  Sasami fell backwards from surprise and fear, falling on her 
backside with a small thump.  Then surprise left her and terror gripped her 
tight like a fist around a struggling bug.  The beast threw up its head and 
gave out a frightful laugh, booming across the plains they were in.  The 
plains seemed to go on forever in every direction, showing no signs of life 
except few patches of grass for all eternity.  These plains weren't nearly 
as fruitful as the ones in the previous stage, and they looked to be 
cowering from the destructive force of the monster, Kain.
     Her first thought was that it wasn't real that it was just a dream, 
an illusion created by her grandfather.  Then the behemoth threw down its 
fists, striking the ground with a thundering crash, creating a huge 
earthquake which made the entire plains rock, throwing Sasami up and 
landing her on her butt once again.
     No dream, she realized as she got up to run from the monster.  She 
raced away from the thing, feeling its presence wafting behind her, 
compounding on her terror.  She raced away, feet hardly seeming to touch 
the ground, dashing from her death, certain grizzly and horrible death.  It 
destroyed my grandfather, my father, and almost destroyed Tenchi, her mind 
screamed as she raced away at top speed, not needing to look back to know 
he was there, reaching for the back of her dress so to send her feet 
careening forward, strangling her before he reeled her in like a fish.  
There was no way she could defeat this monster.  Powerful men had tried and 
powerful men had failed miserably.
     Then a realization caused her to glance back, a realization that 
shown like a small beam of bright light in the blackness of her terror.  It 
was the realization that this beast was already dead.  She turned and saw 
that it was indeed chasing her, one deathly white hand reaching for her.  
But Sasami started slowing for some reason, a reason that took her a while 
to figure out.  It was a feeling that fear wasn't the way to handle this 
situation that running couldn't solve her problem.  All at once her terror 
was gone, her horror vanished like some mirage that had been extinguished 
by good sense.  Sasami stood her ground just as the creature swiped . . . 
and missed.
     He flew right through her.  Her mind suddenly screamed for her to go 
that she would not have another chance, but she stood her ground again 
turning to meet the monster's blow.  This time the monster turned back, its 
face in a horrible smile and just as he was about to strike, as Sasami's 
mind thundered fear in her skull . . . he passed through her again.
     It is an illusion, she thought.  He's not really there at all.  She 
looked at the beast again, this time in fascination rather than terror, its 
black surface as solid looking as she was, and let it fly through her 
again.  Its smile never changed, its face looked locked in a permanent 
state of eternal giddiness.  She let out a laugh before turning away from 
the monster.  She started laughing just as Kain flew through her again, its 
body never even felt by the princess.  She had to wipe tears from her eyes 
before she could stand to speak.
     "Did I pass, Grandpa?!" she called into the air.
     The monster passed through her again, forward and back again, and 
then disappeared, like a mirage snuffed out by good sense.  "Aye, you did," 
the gruff voice called again.  "You have earned your power," it said 
warmly.  "But know this.  It will only work for the truly noble, my dear.  
If he or she that you're trying to save is not noble at heart, then that 
person does not deserve to live again and must stay with us in the land of 
the dead.  Do you believe this Ryoko is noble at heart?"
     "More than anything."
     Bright light started to flood the entire plains, seeming to come from 
everywhere at once, but this time, Sasami did not need to shut her eyes.  
She stood comfortably in the light, ready to be returned home.
     "Then go to her, my granddaughter.  Save her and others like her.  
That is your mission, my granddaughter.  Go and be happy."
     With that, the place became a field of total white light, clouding 
everything in the bright veil.

     Aeka leaned against the wall, sobbing into Kamadaki's uniform.  The 
red knight held her gently, patting her back every once in a while.  It had 
been two minutes since the little princess had disappeared.  Azaka and 
Hasamato leaned against the wall, Azaka with his head between his legs, and 
Hasamato cursing silently under his breath.
     "I-I could have duh-done something," Aeka was sobbing.  "I could have 
moved if I really tried."
     "No, my princess," Kamadaki comforted.  "You-"  Suddenly, he let go 
of Aeka, sending her falling forward, nearly hitting her head on the hard 
floor.
     "What's th-" she started, but stopped short.  Sasami was walking past 
them, out from the wall.  She strolled by, unnoticing of the four gawkers, 
and walked towards the dead body of the space pirate.
     "SASAMI!!" Aeka screamed, tears flooding in her eyes from joy, but 
Sasami didn't even flinch.  She kept on her course, unmindful of her 
company.  She walked up to the body and stood there over the pirate, 
unmoving, silent like a statue.  "Sasami?" Aeka tried again, but was 
answered with the same silence.
     "Sasami," Kamadaki tried, but was met by silence also.  Sasami 
stood over Ryoko for what seemed to the four onlookers as an eternity.  
They didn't dare interrupt her, however, for they knew that she, as the 
Azusa from hundreds of years ago had done, was working her magic.  Finally 
Sasami held out her hands, one cupped in the other, palm outward, over 
Ryoko's unmoving chest.  Then she spread her arms apart slowly and 
whispered a little chant so low that it was unintelligible to the ones 
sitting just steps away.  At the end of the chant, Sasami closed her eyes 
and prayed for what seemed like yet another eternity, and stood perfectly 
still.
     Then, with a jump, she was released from her daze and looked around, 
finding herself back in the chamber where Ryoko's body laid.  She looked 
down, seeing the dead space-pirate, and started tearing up again.  The 
events involving the quest were completely forgotten, lost to her memory 
forever.  Except for brief flashes from time to time, she would never 
remember them.  The others' constant questioning in the future would arrive 
at nothing.
     But, as Sasami was about to break out in fresh sobs, she noticed 
Ryoko's finger twitch.  She gasped and started looking intently at the 
finger.
     The others had apparently woken from their daze also and had come 
timidly over towards Sasami, Aeka putting her arm around her sister and 
holding her tightly before Sasami shushed her and pushed her away, still 
staring at the finger.
     Then Ryoko's mouth twitched, her lips opening and closing slightly.  
All their gazes followed the movement intently.  Ryoko's eyes slitted open 
slightly and blinked groggily.  The party gasped as they watched.  Ryoko's 
eyes adjusted, opening a little more as she looked from one shapeless 
figure to the next around her.
     Sasami hung over her on tiptoes, watching her every movement.  Then, 
with a realization that could be described as nothing less than shocking, 
she realized that it had worked.  She let out a sudden scream of joy before 
jumping on top of her newly awakened friend, hugging her ferociously.  
"RYOKO!!!" she screamed, laughing and sobbing at the same time.  "YOU'RE 
BACK!!!"
     Ryoko flinched as the princess landed on her, moving a hand achingly 
to the young girl's back, patting her gently.  "Sasami?" she asked groggily.
     "Yes, it's me!  How are you?!  Are you alright?!"
     "Where am I?" she asked, looking over to see somehow familiar faces.
     "You're alive, Ryoko.  That's all that matters."