What Might Have Been Chapter Eight: The Price of a Soul

	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.

*****

	Achika caught herself looking around for the miasma, and mentally sighed.  It 
wouldn't attack until Ayeka and Ryoko came together, she reminded herself, and they 
wouldn't come together until they reached the flower field.  They were all in position, 
and as ready as they could be.  Still, she couldn't help but wonder where Ryoko was.  
Nobuyuki, Ayeka and Sasami still hadn't seen her.  She just hoped that she wouldn't cut 
it too closely.  Sighing again, she glanced down as little Ayeka tugged on the hem of 
her dress.
	"Governess, why do you walk beside me, instead of behind me, as other 
servants do?" she asked.  Achika winced inwardly, knowing that she should have been 
paying more attention to where she was.  After a moment, she replied.
	"Because, Princess Ayeka, I prefer to think of those in my charge as friends, 
rather than Masters or Mistresses.  It is more enjoyable to spend time with them, then," 
she said.  Ayeka's brow furrowed as she thought about that.
	"But…  I am of the nobility, and you are only of the common people," she 
said, frowning in curiosity.  Achika felt her eyebrow twitch.
	"True.  Does that mean we can not be friends?" she asked, with a slight smile.  
Ayeka quickly shook her head, and Achika smiled wider.  "Perhaps it is easier if you 
think of it this way.  The nobility is made up of people, and the commoners are made 
of people.  Both are people," she said.  Ayeka frowned.
	"So… You are saying that they are the same?" she asked.  "But, if that is true, 
then why do we consider them separate?" she countered.  Achika smiled again, racing 
for an answer.
	"Because, sometimes, some people like to think that they are better than 
others.  It's very rare that it is true, but sadly, it happens.  They believe that, because 
they were born to a certain family, or a certain line, they are more special than 
somebody not born to that line or family," she said, before smiling.  "But there's a 
secret that you should remember, and I'll only tell you if you promise to never forget," 
she said.  Ayeka brightened, and Achika grinned.  Just like Tenchi; he never could 
resist a secret.
	"I promise, Governess," she said.  
	"Alright.  Remember very well, no matter who they're born to, all children are 
special, especially to their mothers," she said.  For a moment, Ayeka turned that 
particular idea over, while they continued to walk.  Then suddenly, a bright smile 
blossomed on her little face - Achika was taken aback by how much like Sasami's 
freckle-faced smile Ayeka's was at this age.
	"Governess, what is your name?" she asked.  Achika blinked, but cautiously 
answered.
	"My name is Achika," she said.  Ayeka smiled again.
	"Then you must call me Ayeka, and I will call you Achika, since we are 
friends, yes?" she said.  Achika blinked, and then smiled.
	"As you wish, Ayeka," she replied.  Ayeka giggled softly, slipping her tiny 
hand into Achika's.  She breathed a short sigh of relief.  That was pretty much how 
things had gone since she'd been slipped into the position of Governess.  She'd do 
something that a real governess wouldn't have done, Ayeka would question her about 
it, and she would race to find an acceptable answer.  So far, she'd always managed to 
come up with something to satisfy her, but she truly feared a big slip before they 
stopped the miasma.  Something like that would be disastrous, possibly altering the 
timeline even further.  Then again, just being here was altering the timeline, she 
reminded herself.  Or was it?  She sighed.
	Suddenly a thought occurred to her, and she blinked, surprised that she hadn't 
thought of it before now.  "Ayeka, may I ask a question?" she said.  Ayeka nodded.
	"Certainly, Achika," she said.  Achika smiled.
	"Have you ever met a little girl about your age with golden eyes?" she asked.  
It was a long-shot, she knew, but still worth asking.  Not surprisingly though, Ayeka 
shook her head.
	"Not that I remember, no, but one of my nannies had golden eyes.  I 
remember her because she was one of my favorites, except one day Father came and 
made her leave.  I remember Mother was very upset as well.  She liked her a lot too." 
she said.  Sighing inwardly, she briefly wondered why the nanny had been sent away.  
Probably caught with her hand in the royal jewelry box.  "She was really very pretty," 
continued Ayeka, "especially with her silver hair.  But her tummy started getting 
bigger just before Father sent her away."  Achika stumbled, nearly falling flat on her 
face in surprise.
	"What young kids notice that adults never do.  Hand in the royal jewelry box 
indeed," she muttered, as she regained her balance.  Ayeka was giggling.
	"Are you ok, Achika?" she asked.  Achika smiled at her briefly.
	"Fine, just fine," she assured her.  Ayeka giggled again, and again Achika 
thought of how much like Sasami she was at this age.
	"You should not be so clumsy, if you are to set an example for me," she said.  
Achika laughed weakly.
	"No, I suppose that I shouldn't," she said.  Inwardly, she wondered what twist 
of fate had thrown that curveball at them.  Abruptly she grinned, remembering all the 
fights Ryoko and Ayeka had gotten into while they'd stayed with her and her father.  
She remembered wondering once or twice if they were sisters, to fight so often but still 
be so close.  "More than I knew," she said aloud.  "More than either of them knew, 
that's for sure."
	"More than who knew, Achika?" asked Ayeka.  Achika grinned.
	"Some friends I was just thinking of.  Sisters," she replied, before laughing.  
Ayeka smiled.
	"Will you tell me about them?" she asked.  Achika grinned.
	"Sure.  One, you see, was a lady, from an old and very powerful family.  The 
other was a space pirate, known the galaxy over…"

	As his cybernetic arm beeped, Operative A glanced up at the screen.  
Although his arm could have fed the information directly into his mind, he'd found that 
most people seemed a bit more comfortable around him when he actually read it off the 
screen.  He found that the reconstruction had been completed; nodding, he brought of 
the repaired records.  "Search for any communications from Ranger-class cruiser 
Yagami," he ordered the computer.  Almost immediately, it brought up the single 
transmission, which had been routed to…  Operative A blinked in surprise, as he 
opened his comlink, and said, "Operative A to Commander Nagi."  He paused a 
moment, but no reply came through.  Frowning, he repeated the call, but still, there was 
no answer.  "Computer, is Section Commander Nagi's comlink down?"
	"Section Commander Nagi shut down her comlink at 1934 hours."  Frowning, 
he leaned back in the chair a moment to think all this through logically.  Nagi had been 
contacted by Kiyone and Mihoshi.  Nagi had tried to dissuade him from investigating 
the Ayeka and Sasami disappearance.  Kiyone and Mihoshi's files had been accessed 
by the Guardians of Jurai.  Kiyone and Mihoshi had been reluctant to answer questions.  
Immediately after trying to talk to them, Nagi had had him assigned to a case that 
likely would have taken him off station, had Kiyone and Mihoshi not been here to 
question first.  Nagi had been surprised and unhappy that he'd been given this case, 
which officially required he question Kiyone and Mihoshi…
	"Computer, access academy files on Kiyone Makibi and Mihoshi Kuramitsu.  
Cross-match classes that they took with classes that Section Commander Nagi taught," 
he said, and again, a single reference appeared on the screen.  Both had trained under 
Nagi for covert operations.  His frown deepened.  That still wasn't proof, but…  
"Computer, initiate a full lockout of the Yagami's computer systems, and locate 
Officers Nagi, Kiyone and Mihoshi."
	"Lock-out of Yagami confirmation code?"
	"Delta Gamma Delta Alpha."
	"Identity confirmation code?"
	"Operative A, ID confirmation code, 'I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your 
house down.'"
	"Identity confirmed, lock-out confirmed.  Officers Nagi, Kiyone and Mihoshi 
are all in the subspace room," said the computer after a moment.  He nodded, 
unhooking his arm from the main computer.
	"On my way, alert the station commander."

	Kiyone was frowning at the lock to Kain's particular prison in the subspace 
net, as she quickly opened up her satchel.  Removing the box, she began to pull out 
wires and connections.  Nagi squatted beside her.  "Well?"
	"They must have upgraded the locking mechanism, this isn't the same as what 
Washu showed me.  I can still hook it all up, but I'll need a moment to find all the new 
placement points.  There shouldn't be any trouble - all I'm really worried about are the 
last six wires," she said.
	"Why the last six?" asked Nagi.  Kiyone looked at her.
	"They have to be placed in a specific sequence, and in under a minute," she 
said.
	"Or?"
	"Or the power connection to the main lock gets cut by the security system, 
and Kain gets out," said Kiyone dryly.  Nagi nodded.
	"Remind me not to interrupt you," she replied.  Kiyone nodded.  "Mihoshi and 
I will cover the door.  Hustle, by now Trakal has probably reconstructed the logs, and 
is on his way here," she finished, before moving back over to the blast door.  Kiyone 
frowned again, before removing the cover plate, and starting to hook the wires in one 
by one.  On the box, multi-colored lights began to flash on and off in sequence, 
confirming that the wires were in at the right places.  After a few minutes, a timer 
appeared, flashing 60 seconds.  Now she paused, and studied the lock again for a 
moment.  If she messed up now…
Kiyone took a deep breath.
	Slipping in the first wire started out the timer.  Frowning in concentration, she 
added the second, third, and then the fourth.  She was just picking up the fifth, when 
Kiyone's Law finally kicked into effect.  There was a shout from the doorway.
	"Freeze.  Drop your weapons, raise your hands, and move away from the 
device," growled the fox-faced officer - Trakal, Nagi had called him.  Kiyone glanced 
at the time.  Forty-five seconds.
	"Stand down, Operative A," ordered Nagi.  He glanced at her.
	"Section Commander Nagi, until your role in this conspiracy has been 
determined, I regret to inform you that I can not follow your orders.  I repeat, drop your 
weapons, and move away from the device," he repeated.  Kiyone risked looking at him.
	"Look, if I don't make these last two connections in the next thirty seconds, 
Kain will escape and we're all going to die," she told him.  Trakal frowned at her.
	"That device has not been cleared through Control.  You are under arrest for 
conspiracy, mutiny, and kidnapping.  Main security has been alerted and is on its way," 
he replied.  Kiyone frowned, as she glanced back at the timer.  Ten seconds left.
	"Screw it," she muttered, as she scooped up the sixth connection; in her 
puerperal vision, she registered him raising his hand.  Ignoring him, she jammed the 
fifth connection in, and was just starting to push the last one in as he fired.  She jumped 
in anticipation of being hit.
	The startled sound of pain that she heard as the connection slid home wasn't 
her own; the timer stopped flashing at five.  She turned, and blinked at what she saw.  
Nagi was standing with her blaster aimed at Trakal's forehead.  Trakal was staring at 
Nagi in surprise from below a hole that had partly obliterated his skull.  He blinked, 
and slowly started to turn toward her.  Recentering her blaster, she icily fired three 
more times, blowing a hole through his heart and then blasting off the cybernetic arm.  
With a final groan, he toppled and then lay still.
	Slowly, Kiyone's eyes swept to the right, where Trakal had been aiming, and 
saw Mihoshi.  The blonde was standing with her back to Kiyone, but even as her gaze 
settled on her, she began to turn.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nagi's eyes 
widen in abruptly.  Mihoshi completed her turn, and gave Kiyone her usual wide, 
goofy, slightly absent smile.
	"Did I do good, Kiyone?" she asked, before she stumbled, leaned heavily 
against the wall beside her, and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor.  
Though she tried to fight it, Kiyone's gaze slowly moved down from Mihoshi's face, to 
where a dark stain was spreading out from between her breasts.  With a snapping 
sensation, time started moving again, and Kiyone scrambled over to her, the box 
forgotten for the moment.  
	"Mihoshi?  Come on, stick with us here!" she said, lightly slapping her 
partner's cheeks..  Mihoshi grinned at her drowsily.
	"I'm kinda tired, Kiyone.  Can I take a nap now?" she asked, as her eyes 
started to slide shut.  Kiyone shook her lightly.
	"No Mihoshi, you have to stay awake, it's very important.  Do you hear me?  
You have to stay awake!" she told her, as Nagi knelt beside them.  Gently, she peeled 
away Mihoshi's tunic, and then winced as she lightly probed the wound with her 
fingertips.  Kiyone winced too, as Mihoshi whimpered in pain.  The hole wasn't very 
big; roughly a quarter-inch wide, and nestled just above and to the right of square 
between her breasts.  She didn't need Nagi's slight head shake to know the truth.
	"If the bullet didn't pierce her heart, it hit the aorta.  It's just a matter of time," 
she said softly.  Kiyone nodded numbly.
	"So… tired," mumbled Mihoshi.  "Can I please go… to sleep, Kiyone?"  
Kiyone looked at her, with a sort of painful horror slowly spreading through her.  If she 
told Mihoshi to stay awake, she'd try, right up until her body finally just gave out…  
Nagi looked at her quietly, and slowly, sadly, Kiyone nodded.
	"Yeah, Mihoshi.  You did really good.  You can sleep now," she said at last.  
Mihoshi smiled widely at her, as her eyes fluttered shut.
	"Good… night, Kiyone.  See you… in the morning," she sighed.  Then her 
head slumped forward, and she was still.  Kiyone squeezed her eyes shut, as her grip 
on Mihoshi's shoulder involuntarily tightened.
	"Mihoshi…  Why did you do that, you stupid girl?" she asked softly.  Nagi 
put a hand on Kiyone's shoulder.  
	"Because she was your partner.  You were more important to her than 
anything else, even her own life," she told her quietly.  "Look… as much as I'd like to 
say that we have the time, the shots fired had to have set off the alarms, on the off 
chance that he really hadn't called Security.  Do you need to do anything else with that 
box?  Otherwise, we gotta leave, right now."  Kiyone slowly nodded, and turned before 
she opened her eyes.  Making herself let go of Mihoshi, she turned to the box, and 
keyed in the final sequence.  Beeping, it floated up and nestled itself into the locking 
mechanism, and then vanished.
	"There," she said slowly.  "Washu said it can't be found, now - the box is 
slightly out of phase."  Nagi nodded, and gave her a light pull toward the exit.  Kiyone 
paused, looking at Mihoshi's still form a moment longer.  Nagi gave her another, 
stronger pull.
	"Come on, Kiyone," she said, gently but firmly.  "Don't make her death a 
moot point, you can sob later.  We'll need to escape on the Yagami," she said.  Kiyone 
let herself be pulled along, moving mechanically as Nagi directed her.  Why did she 
feel so… alone, suddenly.  Hadn't she wanted to be rid of Mihoshi?  She'd been a pest, 
had required more attention than the sector that they'd been assigned to.  But Nagi had 
already given her the answer to her questions.
	Mihoshi had been her partner, nothing less, and much more.  And now she 
was dead, killed by a bullet that had been meant for Kiyone.  If she hadn't inserted 
those last two wires, they'd all be dead and gone, but that didn't change the fact that 
Trakal had been aiming for her, and Mihoshi had jumped between them to give her 
time to make that last connection.
	"Come on Kiyone, let's get this bucket going!" ordered Nagi.  Kiyone blinked, 
and realized that they'd arrived at the Yagami.  She forced herself to put her pains 
aside, and focus.
	"Right…  Looks like Trakal activated the computer lock," she said, after a 
moment.  
	"Damn.  I can work through it, but -" started Nagi, and then broke off as 
Kiyone shook her head, grinning slightly.
	"Don't bother.  That box wasn't Washu's only trick.  "Yagami, activate master 
override, passcode, 'Washu is the greatest genius in the entire universe,'" she said.  
Nagi gave her a wry smirk, as the control panels unlocked and the ship's engines began 
to power up.
	"At this point, I'm rather inclined to agree.  Let's get moving."

	"Sir, patrol ship Yagami has overridden the computer lock-out, and is 
uncoupling from the station.  Should we scramble fighters to pursue?" shouted one 
deck officer through the chaos that was Control.  Ragit looked up at the monitors 
briefly.  Had Nagi been planning on causing all this? he wondered briefly.
	"No.  Return station to normal status, and do not pursue," he said quietly, his 
voice slicing through the noise.  There would be repercussions for this, he knew.  A top 
detective and Operative A both dead, and the Subspace Room breached, even if 
nothing had been released.
	"But Sir!"
	"It wouldn't be any use.  Commander Nagi knows more ways to lose a pursuer 
than any ten smugglers, and even if they did manage to stay with her, with the 
armament on Yagami, she'd have no trouble taking them down.  I won't waste time, or 
lives on it.  We've already lost one life today; that's one too many," he said.
	"Yes, Sir," the officer replied after a moment.  Ragit nodded, as alarms and 
alerts began to shut down.  He'd been surprised, when Nagi had told him the truth, only 
hours before, after he'd given Trakal the assignment that she'd all but begged him to 
give.  That had struck him off guard; Nagi never begged, not for anything.  At first, 
he'd almost called Security, but…  There had been something in her eyes that had made 
him pause. 
	They'd been friends a long time, Nagi and him; almost since he'd first joined 
the academy, and bumped into the then apprentice hunter on his way to one of his 
classes.  It had been him that had offered her the position of Section Commander of 
Special Criminal Retrieval, after she'd lost Ken-Ohki.  She'd lost more than just her 
spaceship and partner, though…  Nagi had lost a strange sort of invincibility that she'd 
always had as a bounty hunter.
	But that flicker had been there, when she'd told him what Kiyone had told her.  
If it had of been anybody else, he'd never have believed what she'd said, or did as she 
asked.  But he knew her, and knew that she wouldn't have helped them if she hadn't 
have believed.  Even then, he might not have agreed to put his own career on the line, 
except that he'd seen that flicker, deep in her eyes.
	"Good luck, old friend.  I hope that we'll meet again," he murmured as the 
Yagami vanished off the scopes, before turning back to the deck officer.  "I'd like you 
to take care of something personally."
	"Yes, sir?"
	"See to it that Operative A's remains are placed in a stasis box marked 
'Dysfunctional,' and shipped back to R&D, along with my recommendations that the 
project be terminated immediately," he ordered.  The deck officer nodded.
	"Yes, Sir.  May I ask, Sir, what it is you'll be doing?" he asked.  Ragit sighed.
	"Three things, actually.  Writing up my official report on what occurred.  
Terminating Nagi and Kiyone's contracts.  And arranging a funeral for Detective First 
Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu."

	Nagi looked over at Kiyone, as the Yagami sped away from the Galaxy Police 
headquarters.  The younger woman was staring blankly out of the view port, so she 
reached over and keyed in the ship's internal dampening field.  Until they could get far 
enough away to remove their PDT's, it would prevent anybody from tracking them.  
Ragit had promised her that he would cancel out any pursuits, but still, better safe than 
sorry.
	They flew in silence for an hour, Nagi quietly piloting the ship while Kiyone 
continued to stare off into nothing.  She knew what Kiyone was going through, all too 
well, unfortunately.  Every once in awhile she still got a remembered throb of pain 
from Ken-Ohki's death, which had been nearly fifteen years ago, now.  Finally, though, 
she spoke up.  "Hey, are you going to be alright?"  Kiyone blinked a couple of times, 
and then looked at her as if surprised to see her there.
	"Huh?  Oh, Nagi," she said after a moment, and then paused.  "Yeah, I was 
just thinking," she said quietly.  Nagi glanced over at her.
	"About?" she prompted.
	"When I first met Mihoshi.  She tripped over something or other, and ended 
up knocking me down too.  Our data books went flying, and in the confusion I 
accidentally picked up one of hers.  When I found out, I went to return it to her, and 
she invited me in for awhile."  She paused, shaking her head.  "By the time that I 
finally went back to my quarters, it was almost time for my first class, but I was so 
tired that I slept right through it."
	"So why did you stay so long?" asked Nagi.
	"I'm not sure, even now.  I guess that it was because, in a way, she kinda 
seemed lonely.  A lot like me.  Neither of us had any friends.  She had a reputation for 
being a klutz, and I was too quiet for most.  Mihoshi kinda latched onto me, after that," 
said Kiyone quietly.
	"It's surprising how you can get so used to having somebody around that you 
take them for granted, even if you think you'd be far better off without them, isn't it?" 
mused Nagi, as she produced a small locket, and handed it to Kiyone.  She gave her a 
curious look as she opened it.  Inside, Nagi knew, was a picture of a man a few years 
younger than Kiyone.  "My older brother, when he was seventeen.  Oh, I hated him.  
He teased me, pulled my hair, called me names, got me in trouble.  You name it, he 
probably did it.  Never anything to really hurt me, but you get the idea."
	"Where is he now?" asked Kiyone.  Nagi smiled sadly.
	"Buried, along with my parents and sister.  Know how he died?  Carrying me 
through the plasma fire that gutted our house.  He went back in to try to rescue our 
sister - she was the youngest," she said.  Kiyone blinked, as she slowly handed the 
locket back to her.  For a moment, Nagi looked at the picture closely.  "Like I said, it's 
surprising how you can take a person for granted.  I thought that I hated my brother, 
and that he hated me.  Turned out that I was wrong on both counts."  She paused, 
looking at Kiyone.
	"I also wasn't expecting to feel as alone as I did, without him around to keep 
me on my toes.  It was a bit different than how I missed my parents, or my sister.  After 
all, I'd known that someday, I'd be moving on past my parents.  But somewhere along 
the line, I'd gotten the idea in my head that he'd always be around to bother me.  Funny 
thing is, after awhile, two or three months after the house burned down and I moved in 
with my grandparents, I started noticing little movements out of the corner of my eye, 
or feeling light tugs on my hair.  You understand what I'm saying?" she finished 
quietly.  Kiyone frowned at her a moment.
	"He was still with you… and Mihoshi is still with me," she said.  Nagi 
nodded.
	"That's the general idea.  There are plenty of cultures that believe the dead 
hear us when we think of them.  I never really put much stock in organized religion 
myself, but even so, I still find myself thinking about my family at least once a week."  
Then she smiled just slightly.  "Besides, I just thought of something."
	"What's that?" asked Kiyone.  Nagi smirked.
	"Well, Mihoshi is still around to pester you - in the other timeline," she 
pointed out.  Kiyone blinked.
	"I suppose that she is, isn't she?" she said, after a moment.  "And probably 
driving me out of my mind, or at least, my double out of hers."  Slowly, she nodded, 
and then smiled slightly.  "Right.  Ok, pass control over to me, and I'll set a course for 
Earth."  After a moment, she added, "Thanks, Nagi."  Nagi grinned slightly, as Kiyone 
started entering in the course.
	"So, tell me something.  Have you ever considered being a bounty hunter?"