What Might Have Been Chapter Seven: Kiyone's Law

	Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written with the consent of Pioneer/AIC.  I 
do NOT own the characters, with the exception of Kei.  Please do not sue me.
	Comments, criticism, flames, and death threats may be sent to 
Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com.
	!!WARNING!!	This is NOT mainline Tenchi.  It is an alternate universe, 
and the characters at times will be VERY ooc, compared to those in the series.  Please 
remember that the versions in this story line had very different experiences.

*****

	Kiyone was sitting in the station cafeteria, sipping a cup of coffee, and 
frowning down at the paper she'd found tucked under the mug.  On it was an innocuous 
enough message - Call Aunt Aerenia For Her Birthday at Four tonight.  It was the sort 
of memo anybody might have given to herself, completely harmless.  As long as you 
didn't know the cipher, anyway.
	It was something that Kiyone had always had a knack for, memorizing codes 
and ciphers, and then reading them like a linguist might another language.   This 
particular one was something Nagi had taught her, an all but ancient cipher that bounty 
hunters often used.  It wasn't really all that complex, but it was difficult to recognize as 
a cipher, unless you knew the sign.  The tip off in this message were the I's - instead of 
being dotted, they had very tiny check marks.
	Read with the key, the message became a section number and a time.  It had 
to be Nagi, but Kiyone was debating on if she should go or not.  She'd woken up with a 
small ball of frozen ice in her gut, and when she'd gotten the note, it had only gotten 
bigger.  Something just didn't feel right about it.  And then there was the humanoid 
across the cafeteria that was watching her.
	He seemed normal enough at first glance.  Average height and build, with 
slightly vulpine features, and short brown fur covering every inch of exposed skin.  But 
there was something about his eyes that troubled her.  They were... distant.  Cold.  
Almost dead.  She could feel that gaze, and it was making her skin crawl.  It had to be 
just her imagination, but still...
	A long time ago, she had come up with something she called Kiyone's Law.  
It was sort of a combination of Murphy's Law, and the way she usually managed to 
wind up in the middle of it.  Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, just in time for me 
to get it full in the face, she thought, and it seemed to have been working overtime 
lately.  Somebody finding out, or even just suspecting what they were up to...
	"Stop beating yourself up, you're all nerves as it is," she muttered.  Finishing 
the drink, she stood and put a couple credit chips on the table for her waitress.  As she 
walked toward the exit, she saw the strange man rise out of the corner of her eye, and 
begin to move after her.  With an effort of will, she didn't freeze or let herself panic.  
Instead, she headed toward the promenade of the station.  Not exactly laying low, but 
it'd be a lot easier to lose a tail in that mess.
	Kiyone had to assume that somebody had a good idea of what she was about - 
it might just be a training exercise for one of the rookies, but that would have been too 
much of a coincidence for her.  Turning a few corners, she reached the promenade - 
glancing at the reflection of a store window, she saw that he was still with her.  She 
stepped into the milling throng of civvies and off-duty cops, and let its flow take her.  
Mentally, she ran a checklist.  With the noise, he'd never be able to hear her; not even 
the most sensitive nose could pick out her lone scent  in this crowd.  That meant the 
only ways he could track her was by sight and DNA.  But if he was tracking her by 
DNA, she'd have been long since gone.
	As she moved along, every once in awhile, she'd catch a glimpse of her 
follower in the window of a shop.  Who could have found out, and how?  Nagi 
wouldn't have let it slip, not even by accident, and Mihoshi had stayed in their quarters 
since they'd arrived.  Kiyone had only gone out twice, once to go to the Yagami and 
signal Washu, and now today to get something better than water to drink.  She paused 
in front a shop, and pretended to inspect the tiny rings and necklaces to give herself 
time to think.
	"Did ya hear about Princess Ayeka and Sasami?  Word is they were 
kidnapped out in the Sol system!"  It was only chance that she over heard it; if she 
hadn't stopped for a moment, she'd never have caught it.  She never even saw the 
speaker, not that it mattered.  Suddenly it all clicked - somebody might have heard or 
known that she was stationed there, and found out she'd arrived on station only three 
days after they vanished, and then put two and two together.  Which meant...
	"Oh shit," she muttered.  That meant that it didn't matter if she lost her 
mysterious follower; he already knew enough to see if she had any accomplices.  "Ok, 
Kiyone...  How are you going to get out of this mess?" she asked herself.  Glancing at 
the window, she noticed that he'd vanished from sight.  On the verge of thinking maybe 
she'd been over reacting after all, a new thought struck her.  "Mihoshi!"  If he knew 
enough about her that he knew where she'd been assigned, then...
	Kiyone ran.

	Mihoshi looked up from the vid-com, as the door chime sounded, blinking.  
Kiyone had told her not to let anybody come in, but she hadn't said anything about not 
answering the door...  She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, trying to decide if 
Kiyone had meant not to open the door either.  The chime rang again, more insistently, 
and she decided that she had better answer it - after all, maybe it was something from 
Nagi.  Having chosen to see who it was, Mihoshi got up and went over to the door.  
Taking a deep breath, she keyed in the open sequence.  The door swished aside to 
reveal a young looking officer with brown fur.  He gave her a cool look, as he moved 
his hand away from the keypad.
	"Detective First Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu?" he asked, in a nearly toneless 
voice.  Suddenly Mihoshi wasn't so sure that she should have answered the door after 
all, but it was too late to close it again.  Slowly, she nodded.  "I am Operative A.  I 
have some questions to ask you.  Please move aside so I can enter."  An alarm went off 
in the back of her mind, as she carefully thought out her answer.  She wanted Kiyone 
to be proud of her, so she'd be really careful and not tell him anything she wasn't 
supposed to.
	"I'm not really supposed to let anybody come in, Mr. Operative A.  Gee, isn't 
that kind of a weird name?  Wouldn't something like Jim or Bill or Bob or Dave or 
something be better?" she asked, putting on her most vacant look.  That was something 
Kiyone said she was really good at, being vacant.  Operative A blinked, seemingly 
caught off guard.
	"Operative A is the designation I was given-" he started.
	"It's just that it sounds like something a secret agent or somebody like that 
might be called.  Are you a secret agent, Mr. Operative A?" she asked.
	"No, I-"
	"Oh come on, go ahead and admit it, I won't tell anybody, like, 'Operative A is 
a secret agent!' or something like that.  It must be really interesting doing all that spy 
stuff.  Do you have one of those watches that shoots lasers and turn into saws and 
everything?" she asked him.  The man kept starting to open his mouth, but before he 
could say anything, she'd ask him another question.  He was just starting to look like a 
hunted man when Mihoshi saw Kiyone racing down the hall toward them.  She broke 
into a wide grin.  "Oh hi Kiyone, Mr. Operative A was just telling me how much fun it 
is to be a secret agent, and do you think we'd make good secret agents?" she asked 
cheerfully.
	"Actually, I was just leaving," he said softly, before turning smartly on his 
heal and striding off quickly.  Kiyone came to a stop, watching the officer's back 
warily.  
	"You didn't tell him anything, did you Mihoshi?" she asked, once he was well 
out of earshot.  Mihoshi giggled, pleased with herself.  
	"I just did what you say I'm good at," she said.  Kiyone's eyebrow rose.
	"It's a wonder he stayed as long as he did.  You're the only person I know who 
could torture somebody trying to torture you..." she said, grinning slightly, and then 
looking to the side as Nagi appeared from the direction Kiyone had come from.
	"When you didn't show, I figured something like him might have happened," 
she said quietly.  "You two had better get back inside.  Get your gear ready...  I'm 
going to see if I can't do something to take care of our test-tube friend."

	Operative A moved quickly away from Detective Mihoshi as Detective 
Kiyone distracted her.  This was a new experience for him - he'd never met someone as 
easily distracted as Mihoshi - or so impossible to get a word in edgewise with.  It was 
as though she was incapable of understanding that he wasn't a secret agent, and that he 
only wanted to ask her if she had seen anything strange while she and her partner were 
on patrol.  He didn't think that she'd actually stopped to take a breath that entire time - 
she'd just kept talking and talking.
	He'd originally intended to speak with Detective Kiyone, but before he'd 
decided on the best way to approach her, she'd gotten up and left.  Then he'd lost her on 
the promenade - one moment he'd seen her, the next he'd lost her in a swirl of people.  
He'd assumed she'd returned to her quarters, and so had gone there.  And now he felt 
almost as though he'd been used for target practice.
	Frowning slightly, he turned toward the Special Criminal Retrieval office.  He 
knew that he didn't have enough worldly experience yet to understand fully most 
humanoids, but Kiyone and Mihoshi both were Galaxy Police officers, so they should 
understand the importance of answering a few simple questions.  He knew that the 
apparent kidnapping of the Princesses wasn't the GP jurisdiction, but this was what he 
had been created for, after all, and if Kiyone and Mihoshi could provide some 
information...  In any case, his duty shift was beginning, so he had to report in.
	Almost before he'd gotten in the door, Section Commander Nagi signaled the 
communicator on his cybernetic arm.  "Operative A, report to Control immediately."
	"On my way, Commander," he replied, turning and going quickly to the main 
turbolift shaft. "Control, maximum track," he ordered.  It beeped, and then the 'lift 
burst into motion.  When the doors swished back open, and Operative A stepped out, 
Nagi and Station Commander Ragit were waiting for him.  Nagi frowned a moment.
	"How do you feel your on station training is going?" she finally asked.  He 
blinked, confused; she was better qualified to rate his performance than he was.
	"According to my scores, I am completing my tests with well above average-"  
He paused, as Nagi sighed, and shook her head.
	"Perhaps I should rephrase that.  Do you think your training is doing you any 
good, or do you honestly believe that it may not be worthwhile anymore?" she asked.  
He looked at her, not entirely sure he understood, and said as much.  She sighed again 
in irritation, and glanced at the Station Commander.  "Let me put it this way.  Are you 
ready for a solo assignment, in your estimation?"  Ah, now he understood.  She wanted 
HIS opinion on the matter.
	"Yes, Commander Nagi.  I was programmed to be field-ready upon activation.  
The training can still be of use, but I do not require further training," he answered.  
Nagi nodded, and looked at the station commander.  He nodded.
	"Commander Nagi believes that you are ready as well, and as such asked if I 
would clear you for a retrieval.  Although I have my reservations over sending out a 
rookie so early...  I must admit that your scores do reflect those of somebody ready for 
a greater challenge, and you are something of a special case.  That being the fact, I 
have decided to assign you to a case that we've just been asked for assistance with.  
Turning slightly, he activated a viewscreen; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nagi's 
eye twitch.
	"This is the Sol system.  Three days ago, Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami 
disappeared in this vicinity; Sasami's ship was found drifting, undamaged.  Two days 
ago, the Royal Guardians accessed the GP data banks in order to access information 
about Detectives Mihoshi and Kiyone, who are, as I'm sure you are aware, on station, 
arriving just two days ago.  I want you to investigate, and see if they are able to give 
you any leads.  Should that be the case, you are authorized to follow up on them in any 
way necessary."  Deactivating the viewscreen, he turned back to him.  "Do you 
understand your orders?"  Operative A nodded.
	"Yes, sir," he replied.
	"Very well, get to then.  Dismissed," he ordered.  Operative A nodded again, 
and then turned.  As he did, he saw Nagi quickly hide a frown, before turning to the 
station commander and speak a little too softly for even him to pick up.  Shrugging, he 
turned, and stepped into the turbo lift, already formulating his strategy - preferably 
avoiding Mihoshi, if he could.

	Kiyone was just starting to relax when Nagi burst through the doorway, 
scowling.  "Get your gear, we've got to do this right now," she said.  Automatically, 
Kiyone stood up, grabbing the duffel bag she'd just set down.  
	"What happened?" she asked, as she shook Mihoshi awake.  Nagi laughed 
ruefully.
	"I tried to get Trakal off your scent by having Ragit give him a case, and it 
backfired on me.  He got assigned to Ayeka and Sasami's 'disappearance.'  It seems that 
the Guardians accessed your files the day they landed on Earth," she said.  Kiyone 
winced.
	"Of course - Ayeka must have scanned us, and wanted to verify that we were 
who we said we were through the PDT codes," she said.  Nagi nodded.
	"Sounds like what I've heard about her - trusting but careful.  If I know 
Trakal, right now he's checking to see if you contacted anybody before you arrived 
before coming here to actually question you," she said.  Kiyone winced again.
	"Which will lead him right to you.  I'm sorry, Nagi," she sighed.  Nagi 
smirked.
	"Ah, I was getting sick of filing reports anyway," she replied.  "But come on, 
let's move it.  I faked the logs, but I'm a little out of practice, and I have the feeling it 
won't take that arm of his long to work through it," she said.  Kiyone nodded grimly.

	Tenchi frowned slightly, as he looked around.  Ayeka had said that her 
younger self would be coming by here today, on her way to the flower field.  The plan 
was to follow her out, and then meet up with the others there, hopefully catching the 
miasma between the two groups.  His mother had secreted herself into the Royal Villa 
with Ayeka's help, playing the role of Governess while she was there.  His father was 
watching for Ryoko, already out at the field with Sasami and the elder Ayeka
	Which left Tenchi, Kei, and Ryo-Ohki to shadow the younger Ayeka and her 
entourage.  He sighed, not seeing any sign of her, and ducked back into the alley where 
he and Kei were waiting.  She gave him a quick grin.  "Still no sign of her?" she asked.  
Tenchi nodded.
	"This waiting is going to kill me," he said.  "I just want to get this over and 
done with so we can go home," he sighed.  Kei looked at him for a moment, before 
sighing.
	"Are you really that eager to get back to normal life?" she asked him.  Tenchi 
blinked.
	"Well, yeah, aren't you?  I mean, sure it's nice to have a change of scenery 
now and then, but a whole different time and world?  That's a little drastic for me," he 
said carefully.  Kei sighed again.
	"Yeah, I guess..." she said after a moment.  Tenchi frowned, knowing that he'd 
managed to say the wrong thing, even if he wasn't sure how.
	"Hey, what's wrong?" he finally asked her.  She blinked at him.
	"Huh?  Oh, nothing, it's just...  I was thinking that once we got home and 
made sure that everything was back to normal, we could maybe...  I don't know take a 
trip together, with Ryo-Ohki," she said quietly.  He looked at her in surprise, but as he 
opened his mouth to reply, he suddenly thought of what his ghost had told him the 
night before.  About hurting Ryoko when he'd asked her to give up her world, and why 
it had hurt her.  Quickly, he changed what he'd been about to say.
	"Well... once we get home, who knows?  But before we can get home, we 
have to settle here, right?  Once we do that... well, Ayeka did invite us to be guests on 
Jurai, didn't she?" he said, smiling.  "And from there... who knows?"  Kei blinked at 
him, and then grinned broadly.
	"Yeah," she agreed.  Tenchi smiled at her, but before they could say anything 
else Ryo-Ohki miyaed loudly, and they both looked out of the alley just in time to see 
the young Ayeka go by, flanked by the Guardians and his mother.  Achika caught his 
eye as she went by, smiling encouragingly, before disappearing around the corner.  
Tenchi looked at Kei.
	"Let's go," he said.  She nodded, pausing to put on the sunglasses Washu had 
given her.  In the shade of the alley, she hadn't needed them, but now that they were 
heading into more direct sunlight...
	They stepped out in to the street, slowly strolling along just within sight of 
Ayeka's party.  Tenchi put his arm around Kei's waist as they looked.  Anybody that 
looked at them would have seen just a happy couple - and they would have been right, 
he mused.  They just wouldn't have known the whole truth. 
	Ayeka's group wound its way through the city.  Tenchi had been surprised 
when the elder Ayeka had told them that only the Guardians would be along as 
protection for her.  She had explained that the entire planet was basically just one huge 
summer retreat for the royal family - its population was servants and caretakers, and 
none were allowed on the planet unless they'd been heavily screened.  With the codes 
she had gotten from her ship, Ayeka had been able to get them onto the surface with no 
questions asked - at least until if got back to Jurai proper that they had been used.  
Once that happened, a small military force would be sent to inquire.
	"A small military force, she said.  Just a couple hundred warships," he 
laughed.  Kei glanced at him.
	"Hmm?" she asked, and he grinned.
	"Nothing, I was just thinking about Ayeka's idea of a 'small' fleet," he said.  
Kei chuckled.
	"Yeah, I have to admit, two or three hundred does seem a bit excessive, 
doesn't it?" she said, grinning.  He nodded, as they continued walking.  Up ahead, 
young Ayeka's party took a turn; they hurried a little to catch up.  As they went around 
the corner, Tenchi felt the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stand on end.  He 
paused, frowning, and looked around.  For a moment, he thought he smelled... 
something like a freshly overturned grave, but almost as he noticed it, the scent 
vanished.  Kei tugged at his arm.  "Hey, come on, before we lose them," she said 
softly.  Tenchi blinked, and looked at her.
	"Do you smell anything... I don't know, kinda musty?" he asked her.  Kei 
shook her head slowly.
	"No, why?" she asked, frowning.  Tenchi looked around again, and then 
shook his head.
	"Never mind," he said.  It must have been just his imagination, but it had 
smelled almost familiar...  He shook his head again.  "Let's go," he said, and she 
nodded.  They hurried after Ayeka and the rest of her group.

	As the boy paused, and began to turn, the entity quickly melded itself with the 
building next to it.  The boy's gaze swept over it, and after a moment he and the girl 
started moving again.  It waited until they had stepped out of sight, and then came out 
of hiding.
	The girl had at first appeared to be one of its targets - one of the two 
duplicates it had sensed, but this close to her it sensed that she was only a copy, likely 
sent to draw it out.  But no… it had outsmarted them.  It would wait.  Then, once they 
were all together, it would strike, killing the originals first and then the copies, just to 
be sure.  Then He would be pleased.  Knowing this, the entity began to flow after them, 
keeping to shadows so it remained hidden.

	Operative A sat down at his computer station, and connected to the station's 
main computer through his arm's interface.  Logging on, he accessed the main logs, 
and then frowned a moment.  Kiyone and Mihoshi had arrived at 0600 hours.  
Backtracking a little, he was surprised to find that the log files appeared to have been 
altered.  He frowned.  It wouldn't take him long to reconstruct the original data, but 
first he would have to get permission to unlock the system so he could delve deeper 
into it for tracks.  Logging off, he turned to the intercom, and then paused.  He'd been 
ordered to investigate the matter, and follow up on any leads.  Commander Ragit had 
given him permission to use any means necessary to do that, and this was a possible 
lead…
	After a moment, he turned back to the station, and logged back in.  Activating 
his internal data probe, he sat back and waited for the reconstruction to begin.