**Standard disclaimer**
**  This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to real people or
**places is either coincidental or used in the pursuit of literary
**reality.  Many of the characters and concepts embodied in this
**work are the property of AIC, Pioneer, and probably other
**Japanese people, all of whom are richer than I.  Please do not
**sue me.
**//Standard disclaimer**
**Author note thingum**
**  This is the third work in a series begun with 'Birthday
**Wishes', my first fanfiction.  'On Pale Wings I Fly' is a
**story set in that universe and takes place some time after the
**events of 'The Wayside' which is, itself, the sequel to
**'Birthday Wishes.'
**  Continuity wise, Pale Wings is set in the OAV universe,
**plus 'Birthday Wishes' and 'The Wayside.'  Like my two year
**temporal shift at the beginning of the series I have taken a
**couple of liberties here.  Kiyone never appeared in the OAV
**series (I do not consider MnE or the Mihoshi Special parts of
**it so much as side stories, rather like my own) and so we
**cannot say how she would have behaved in that universe.  The
**Kiyone I portray looks the same as the other Kiyone and
**occupies a similar position in the  universal order of things,
**but please do not expect her personality  to match that of the
**TV Kiyone or the Shin Kiyone.  Kiyone is her  own woman and
**that is especially true here.  I also make mention
**of an incident which occurred in the TV continuity here.  It is
**not, I feel, a scene which was out of character for the
**participants in their OAV incarnations, and I see no reason it
**could not have occurred as easily in that universe.
**  Before you ask, yes there will be another story following this
**one.
**-- Krin (krin@hotmail.com)
**/Author note thingum**


				    On Pale Wings I Fly


	   for Ivy and Dan, you know who you are and what you do


					   -- one --
					 holiday cheer

	Aeka stood on the dock, a chill winter wind tugging her long
purple hair around her shoulders and across her face.  The scent
of woodsmoke was sharp in the crisp air, a smell Aeka once found
repulsive but was now somehow welcoming.  As the final glowing
traces of her teleportation from the Jurain transport ship that
she knew would now be leaving orbit faded Aeka wondered at how
good it felt to be back here.  She had gone to Jurai to search for
herself, but every hour Aeka spent wandering the wide, peaceful
corridors of the royal palace and the quietly busy streets of the
surrounding city she found herself dreaming more and more of
returning here, to Earth.  To Okayama.  To her home.

	Aeka delicately brushed her hair back from her eyes with a
finger and looked around, wondering where everyone could be.  She
had called ahead to Washuu's lab to let them know she was coming,
so had expected they would be out here waiting for her, or at
least have come out to greet her once she arrived.  As the last
vestiges of the disorientation Aeka always experienced after
teleportation dissolved she scolded herself for the selfishness of
her thoughts.  *It's the middle of winter, they're probably all
inside waiting for me to come in like a sensible person.  What was
I thinking?  That they would have waited out here all the weeks I
was away so they could be standing in the same places I left
them?*  Aeka shook her head and started across the weathered
timbers of the dock, lifting the hem of her dress to keep it from
being snagged by any errant splinters.

	Aeka looked up at the distant sound of a closing door when it
reached her ears, carried on the winter wind.  She had been
carefully navigating the maze of wet patches left by a recently
melted snowfall and so not noticed the figure opening and stepping
through the front door.  When she looked up Aeka was momentarily
disappointed.  It was not her family as she hoped, and every
moment that they were not there Aeka's resolve shrank.  She had
prepared the explanation she planned to give them for weeks, but
it would be a hard thing to do and she wanted it done before she
lost her nerve.  Aeka's momentary disappointment was dashed away
by curiosity as she watched the distant figure turn from the door
and start forward.  *Who?*  Aeka squinted, her journey toward the
house halted as she focused her attention on the advancing figure
rather than the somewhat precarious, for slippered feet anyway,
ground around her.  *Has Tenchi attracted More women since I
left?*  Aeka wondered incredulously.  The approaching figure was
obviously female, clad in a soft pink shirt and blue jeans that
hugged the slender curve of her legs.  There was something odd
about the way she walked, but Aeka was too distracted by the
unexpected surprise of being greeted by a stranger to notice.

	*I can't believe that Tenchi would have invited another woman
to live here after he and Ryouko-*  Aeka's train of thought was
neatly derailed as the distance between herself and the young
woman diminished.  *No,* Aeka thought amidst a confused welter of
sudden emotions, *Oh no, it can't be...*  Aeka's denials grew
stronger but less effective with each step the young woman took.
Her hair, a greenish shade of blue, was so hauntingly familiar.
The light dusting of freckles across her nose.  Her eyes.  Her
big, round, pink eyes that were firmly fixed on the ground as she
slowly approached the stunned princess.

	"Sa.. Sasami?"  Aeka stuttered.  The apparition did not
respond, only halted her approach a few meters from where Aeka
stood frozen in confusion.  The young woman folded her hands in
front of her, still staring at the ground, and seemingly
unconsciously hunched slightly forward as though trying to make
herself shorter. *It can't be,* Aeka thought frantically, *She's
not old enough!  By the trees, she's still only twelve!  She
should have months to go before it even begins!*

	Aeka stared at the woman standing silently before her.
Reality seemed obstinately unwilling to alter itself to meet the
demands of denial her scattered thoughts attempted to impose and
gradually facts won out over shock.  Only twelve she might be, but
Sasami had very obviously not only begun her first Change, but by
the look of things already finished it as well.  *And I missed
it,* Aeka thought with mounting despair, *One of the most
important moments in my sister's life and I've missed it.  She's
had her Change early and I wasn't here.  Oh Tsunami, is she
crying?*

	The young woman with Sasami's features hadn't moved an inch
since coming to a halt, only her long blue-green hair stirred as
it was whipped in gentle waves by the same breeze that tugged at
Aeka's tresses.  Now a few stray strands stuck to her face, caught
in the shining trails of silent tears.  Aeka searched for
something to say, some way to respond to this strange and terrible
situation.  There was only one thing that came to mind, a phrase
etched deep in her psyche by a lifetime of hearing it said around
her.

	"Jan wa he Sasami monosuat,"  Aeka said gently.  The words
were ancient, a litany passed down through the females of Jurai
for longer than all recorded history.  No one knew what they meant
anymore, no one had known in a long, long time.  They were simply
the words to be spoken upon meeting a female loved one who had
entered her first Change, words that had been spoken in that
situation since before the first stone of the Great City was laid.
Some said they went back even before the trees, to days when
Jurains still stared up at the stars in the night sky and wondered
what they could be.  It was said that words from those times had
power, that speaking that particular phrase started the young
woman on her journey and eased the way of passage.  Aeka's heart
ached that she had not been there to speak the words at the proper
time, when Sasami had first entered her Change.  That she could
speak them only now, when her sister had already completed her
first transformation, tore at her emotions and threatened to bring
tears to her eyes.

	*She must have known,* Aeka realized, *It must have begun
even before I left for Jurai.  Why didn't she say anything then?*

	*Because I would have stayed,* Aeka answered herself almost
immediately, *If she had told me I would have stayed to be with
her, and Sasami wanted me to go back to Jurai and do what I felt I
needed to do.  The poor girl, she must have been so afraid and
confused without her family around her.*

	*But her family was here,* Aeka's grief lessened by a tiny
fraction at the realization, *Tenchi and Ryouko were there, Washuu
and Mihoshi, Father and Grandfather, little Ryou-ohki... But I
missed it.*

	Sasami had finally looked up and was now staring at her
silent sister.  "Hi Aeka," she said in a tiny voice.  Aeka was
startled anew by the strangeness of her sister's voice, familiar
despite being shifted with maturity, coming from the mouth of a
woman who was, for all appearances, at least six years older than
the girl she had left behind.

	"Sasami?"  Aeka stepped forward and took the young woman's
hands, "Why are you crying Sasami?  Aren't you glad I'm back?"

	Sasami shook her head and held tightly to Aeka's hands,
looking back down at the ground as she replied, "It's not that.  I
missed you Aeka, a whole lot.  But I was scared you'd be mad
'cause I..."  Sasami's voice failed as her tears began to flow
more quickly.  She stuttered syllables between the sobs that
overtook her, but couldn't get out so much as another word.

	Aeka stepped closer, putting her arms around her sister and
hugging her tightly.  It was strange holding Sasami the way she
had so often before, but resting her sister's head against her
shoulder rather than her chest.  Sasami was actually taller than
her older sister now, but threw her arms around Aeka in exactly
the manner she had all her life.  She abandoned her attempts at
speech and cried into her sister's shoulder as Aeka patted her
back and whispered in her ear, "I'm not mad Sasami, I'm not mad.
How could I be?  Look at you, you've grown so big and you're so
beautiful.  How could I be mad?"

	Sasami pulled her head away from Aeka's shoulder and sniffed
loudly, wiping tears from her eyes only to have fresh ones take
their place.  "Y..ya..you really think I'm p..puh..pretty, Aeka?"

	Aeka nodded enthusiastically through the tears now blurring
her own eyes, "Very pretty. Why, if you looked like this a few
years ago Ryouko and I wouldn't have had a chance with Tenchi."

	Sasami giggled through her tears and any doubts Aeka may have
held were banished.  Whatever had happened, this was her sister.
This beautiful young woman was Sasami.

	Aeka wiped her own eyes and, curiosity overcoming her
emotions, asked, "But how did it happen, Sasami?  Did we get the
math wrong when I converted your birthday to Earth months?"

	Sasami sniffed one final time and shook her head.  "Huh uh,
you were right.  But we'd better go inside.  I made everybody wait
in there while I came out here by myself and they'll get upset if
we make them wait too long."

* * *

	"But I still don't understand, Miss Washuu.  What do
pheromones and neuro-whatevers have to do with Sasami?"

	Washuu had tried explaining how her sister's transformation
could have come over  a half a year early twice now, but both
times Aeka only stared blankly as the scientist rambled on about
circadian rhythms and meta-cognitive psycho-distortion patterns.
This time Washuu sighed dramatically and threw her hands up in
surrender.

	"Okay, I give up!  Sasami had her Change early because she's
on Earth.  Humans begin having growth spurts anywhere between
twelve and fourteen years old and Sasami's body reacted to the
people around her.  If she weren't from Jurai she would only have
grown a few centimeters since you left, but her altered
biochemistry initiated the first cycle of her Change instead.  Her
glands started producing hormones that-"  Washuu stopped when
Aeka's eyes began to cloud over once more.  The genius took a deep
breath before starting in again.

	"When Sasami started puberty she had it all at once, like any
Jurain would during their first Change.  She just had it early
because she's on Earth."

	"Oh," Aeka said thoughtfully, "I suppose that makes sense."

	Washuu buried her face in her hands and muttered something
about people who like to assume chickens are spheres to make the
math easier.  Aeka had hoped the scientist would be easier to deal
with now that she had apparently assumed her older body
permanently, but whether in the body of a twelve year old or that
of a woman in her third decade, Washuu was Washuu.

	"Oh my," Aeka gasped as a sudden realization struck her, "But
Sasami hasn't had any of her lessons yet.  We wouldn't have even
started preparing them for months.  How can she be dealing with
all of this without having had them?"

	"Well,"  Washuu said, looking back up at the princess, "I
don't know exactly what goes into those 'etiquette lessons'
everyone gets on Jurai at their first Change, and Sasami wasn't
very clear on it either..."

	"Of course not," Aeka said reproachfully, "It would be
improper to tell a child about them."

	Washuu harrumphed and continued, "So I did my best anyway.  I
know you Jurains have a whole ceremony for it, but all I could do
was give Sasami some pain blockers when the accelerated growth
really kicked in, and afterward I explained about menstrual cycles
and gave her the injection."  Washuu shook her head, a look of
mild scorn in her eyes, "I couldn't believe a child from a
civilized society wouldn't know about that, but Sasami had no
idea."

	Aeka looked puzzled and said, "Children don't need to know
until their first Change.  It's all covered in the lessons.  I do
hope you didn't give her any strange ideas Miss Washuu."

	"I just gave her the facts,"  Washuu grinned, "What she does
with those is up to her."

	"You said something about an injection?  What do you mean?"

	"Oh, you know," Washuu looked relieved to be back on
technical ground, "The usual.  After her menarche I gave her the
prophylactic injection.  If she ever wants to have children she
just needs to go get the injection to have her cycle re-
initiated..."  Washuu trailed off at the look on Aeka's face.
"Whaaat?  Don't tell me they don't do that on Jurai?  I thought a
Jurain invented the thing."

	Aeka shook her head, "Of course we have it on Jurai.  But you
said you explained it to her, you don't mean to say that you
talked to Sasami about...  About..."

	Washuu cackled wildly, grasping her sides and nearly falling
backwards off of her floating cushion onto the floor of the
section of her lab where they both sat.  Aeka fumed until Washuu
brought herself back under control and, wiping her eyes, gasped,
"I'm sorry Aeka, but the look on your face...  No, I didn't have
That talk with Sasami.  I only explained the aspects dealing with
her period, even I know not to cross certain lines."

	Aeka smiled weakly and gave an inward sigh of relief.  Washuu
was her friend, a part of her extended family here on Earth, but
she did not even want to imagine the sorts of strange notions
Sasami may have wound up with had Washuu explained sex to her.
Aeka repressed a shudder and thanked the trees that she hadn't
been too late for Everything.  She decided to order the lessons
prepared and sent from Jurai as soon as possible.  With Washuu and
Ryouko around it was only a matter of time...

	Aeka dispelled the thoughts and smiled at Washuu.  Whatever
faults the scientist might have, she was Aeka's friend and it had
been a long while since she was in any condition to talk to her.
"So what has happened since I left?  I was in such a hurry to find
out what had happened to Sasami that I barely said a word to the
others."

	"Well, lets see..."  Washuu pulled her legs up to sit cross-
legged on her floating pillow and looked thoughtful.

	"Mihoshi finally came back from that patrol of hers that kept
getting extended and I should have Yukinojo back in flying
condition in another few days.  She missed the lake this time."
Washuu rolled her eyes before continuing, "Nobuyuki's firm got a
contract to design a new office building in Osaka, so he's been
out more than in all month.  Ryou-ohki is up to one-hundred-
fifteen characters that she can read now, she  only knew eighty
when you left."  The pride in Washuu's tone was obvious.  Aeka
tried to decide if it was pride in the flexibility of her
creation, or simply the pride of a mother for her.. well, not
daughter exactly...  Aeka gave up, whatever their relationship
was, it was the emotion that counted.

	"Tenchi and Ryouko found an apartment in Tokyo, they went and
stayed there all last week to get to know the neighborhood so it
won't all be new when their classes  start in January."  Washuu
paused and gave the princess a calculating look that Aeka assumed
was an attempt to gauge her reaction to the news.

	"I'm glad," Aeka finally said quietly into the growing
silence, "Ryouko was very excited about that.  Is it a nice
apartment?"

	Washuu continued to give her a probing stare for a few
seconds longer, then grinned and nodded. "Lord Katsuhito says
they're really lucky to have found such a big place in Tokyo at
such an affordable price.  And it's only a few miles from the
campus."

	Aeka smiled and made a mental note to remember to tell Tenchi
about the money.  During her stay on Jurai Aeka discovered that
the crown had been setting aside an allowance for Yousho every
year for the seven centuries he had been gone.  Knowing that
Tenchi's grandfather would not be willing to claim it she inquired
with the royal clerks and discovered that Tenchi qualified to have
the money awarded him as Yousho's sole heir.  Aeka planned to
present it to him on Christmas, but if he was going to be paying
rent and such now it was especially important.  "Did anything else
exciting happen while I was away?"

	Washuu scratched her chin and peered up at the ceiling.  "No,
I think that's pretty much it.  With you away and Tenchi and
Ryouko out of the house it's been pretty quiet.  How was your
trip?"

	"It went well, but if you don't mind Miss Washuu, I'd like to
tell everyone about it at once."

* * *

	"Hand me the new box of lights, Tenchi!"

	"Another year,"  Tenchi thought as he bent over to fish the
brightly-decorated box from within the larger box of decorations,
"Another box of lights."  Every year his father bought one box of
outdoor lights and added it to the growing mound of tangled wires
that was relegated to a corner of the attic for all but this one
season.  Tenchi's eyes roved over the massed jumble of glass and
plastic as he stripped away the packaging and passed one end of
the string up to his father where Nobuyuki perched atop a ladder
over the front door.  *I wonder which of these is from the last
year we had Christmas with Mom,* Tenchi wondered as he picked
through the pile, trying to separate one strand from another,
*Would dad even know?  Other than that some of them are the old
kind, with the big bulbs, they all look the same...*  Something
about that saddened Tenchi, besides thoughts of his mother's
death, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.  So instead
he tried to push it out of his mind and concentrate on untangling
the horribly complex knot into which the lights had somehow tied
themselves during the summer months, listening to the steady
whunk-whunk of his father's staplegun tacking the lights into
place.

	When Tenchi felt the tiny ripple in the field of energy
surrounding his body he remained carefully still, continuing to
pry at the knot of Christmas lights with fingers too numb from the
cold to be doing much good in the task.  He waited until her
fingers were close enough to brush the hairs on the back of his
neck before saying quietly, "Hi, Ryouko."

	"How do you Do that?!"  Ryouko sounded frustrated but amused
as she knelt beside him, carefully balancing three steaming mugs
in one hand.  "I used to be able to sneak up on you, but now you
always know I'm there.  It's not fair."

	Tenchi smiled at her, taking one of the mugs and sipping
carefully before shrugging and saying, "My heart cries when you're
away and sings when you're near, I just listen for the song."

	Ryouko blushed but continued staring into his eyes.  "Listen
to you," she remarked teasingly, "Getting all poetic on me.  Keep
that up and you'll end up like your grandfather."

	Now Tenchi took his turn at blushing before managing to
reply, "Guess it comes naturally when you've got the right
inspiration."  He leaned forward and kissed her briefly before
rising to his feet, cocoa and a freshly excavated string of lights
in hand.  "Come on down, Dad.  Ryouko brought us hot cocoa, let me
take a turn at it while you're drinking."


	Nobuyuki traded his staple gun for one of the steaming mugs.
"Thanks Ryouko, I always knew you'd make a good, thoughtful wife
for my Tenchi.  And cute too!"

	Ryouko chuckled.  Noboyuki had changed in the months since
Tenchi's birthday, they all had, but he still had his moments.
Somehow by watching his son's evolving relationship with Ryouko
Noboyuki had found whatever it was he had spent years reaching out
for.  He was still hentai as anything at times, but Noboyuki was a
calmer man now and Tenchi seemed more willing to spend time with
his father.  Last weekend they had even played golf together.
Tenchi told Ryouko later that it would be both the first and last
time at that particular activity, but she suspected it was more
because they were both appallingly bad at it than any conflict
between them.

	*If I had known that giving Tenchi my gems could change so
many things...*  But Ryouko knew that even had she the power to go
back in time, she would not have given Tenchi the necklace a
moment sooner.  She had no idea how things might have turned out
had Tenchi fallen in love with her a year earlier, two years
earlier, or a day earlier but it would have been different, and
Ryouko was sufficiently happy with how her life was going now that
she had not the least desire to change it.  Last week, living
alone with Tenchi in the apartment in Tokyo, had been like heaven.
They went out every day, shopping for furniture and household
items, and spent each evening over quiet dinners together.  Most
of Ryouko's fantasies about life with Tenchi had centered around
how he would finally tell her he loved her, occasionally expanding
to her taking him off on a whirlwind tour of the universe and a
few cherished dreams of her hoped for wedding day.  She had never
considered what ordinary, day-to-day life with Tenchi at her side
would be like, but the reality of it was wonderful.  Being with
him made things that she would have considered mind-numbingly
boring seem like fun.  They spent hours one day picking out
flatware, an activity Ryouko would have cringed at a few months
ago but now thought back on warmly.

	Ryouko turned to watch Tenchi climbing the ladder, mug and
stapler in one hand, strand of lights held in his teeth, and knew
that no matter where life took them, no matter what turns fate had
in store, she could be happy so long as he was with her.

	Ryouko phased out from the ground where she stood,
momentarily startling Nobuyuki, and reappeared floating beside the
ladder as Tenchi climbed.  She had half expected him to jump when
she did it, but he only turned his head and smiled around the
Christmas lights.  It was almost eerie the way he seemed to know
she was coming.  But she didn't think he would have been startled
even without whatever method of foretelling her approach he had.
Even Washuu had been unable to fluster Tenchi in weeks, and after
his comment about being immune to her surprises she had certainly
tried.  Her Tenchi had gained more confidence than just in matters
of the heart over the time since his birthday.  It had happened so
slowly and naturally that Ryouko didn't even notice the change
until her own birthday.


	Nobody had been much in the mood to party, what with Aeka
stumbling around the house, barely alive even after finally
finding the will to eat and drink away from Washuu's machines
again.  Tenchi went into town and bought her a cake and a bottle
of her favorite sake and they went up the mountain to the little
clearing where they had had that first picnic.

	This time there was the bite of coming winter in the air
rather than the lush warmth of summer, but it had been a beautiful
day none the less.  They ate the cake and drank some of the sake,
Tenchi was more willing these days but still not much of a drinker
and Ryouko found herself growing less attracted to the drink as
she grew closer to Tenchi.  Afterward they went for a walk in the
woods and when Tenchi kissed her Ryouko teleported up into a tree
to tease him.  She wasn't sure now why she did it, but assumed she
must have had a bit more sake than she intended since it had
seemed a good idea at the time.  It had been raining the previous
night and there was a large patch of moss still damp on the branch
Ryouko chose as her perch.  When her foot twisted and slipped she
fell, too disoriented by the combined effects of alcohol and
teleportation to simply stop herself in midair.  Tenchi caught
her, cradling her in his arms and asking if she was okay.

	In that moment, looking up at the concern and love in his
face, feeling herself supported in his strong, caring arms, Ryouko
realized just how much Tenchi had changed.  Once upon a time she
felt like she needed to defend him from the world, like she could
hold back danger and pain at the point of her energy sword and
keep them away from her Tenchi.  But that day she realized it
wasn't true anymore.  She didn't feel the need to protect him
anymore, and in that moment she realized that more than anything
she wanted him to protect her.  She had spent thousands of years
amidst danger and strife, all of it against her wishes and nearly
every memory from that time a bad one.  Staring up into her
lover's eyes Ryouko knew that she didn't want to hold a sword
anymore.  She would still fight to defend him if the situation
called for it, but now she wanted to be the one being protected.
And in Tenchi's caring eyes she saw the strength to do it,
strength she herself had never even suspected he had.


	Tenchi set his mug down on the top step of the ladder and
leaned over to begin stapling his string of lights in place.

	"I'll hold that for you, Tenchi,"  Ryouko said, taking the
mug when he had to adjust his position to avoid knocking it over.
"Do you remember what I said that one time, about drinking from
the same container?"  Ryouko asked it in an innocent tone and
Tenchi looked at her over his extended arms, one eyebrow cocked in
askance.

	"You don't remember?"  She asked coyly, flashing him a look
of mock reproach, "I said it's almost like kissing..."  Ryouko
took a tiny sip from Tenchi's mug and then, staring into his eyes,
ran the tip of her tongue in a circle around the cup's rim.

	"Wouldn't you rather just kiss me?"  Tenchi asked in
amusement, continuing to work with the string of lights which
seemed particularly reluctant to stay attached to the house.

	"Mmm,"  Ryouko agreed, "But you're busy.  So I just have this
mug to keep me company."  She set her own mug down on a windowsill
and dipped her finger in the cooling chocolate.  Gazing intently
at Tenchi Ryouko brought her finger to her lips and sucked it in
before drawing it slowly back out, giving the nail a flick with
the tip of her tongue after it had exited her mouth.  Tenchi
shifted on the ladder, finding it increasingly difficult to
simultaneously hold his balance, avoid sending a staple into his
hand, and keep his eyes on Ryouko where she had so efficiently
riveted them.

	Ryouko tipped the mug back, draining the contents in one
swallow.  She smiled seductively and licked her lips before
closing her eyes and rubbing her stomach.  "Mmmm," Ryouko said in
a voice that was almost a moan, "I love cocoa on cold days.  It
makes me so.."  She opened her eyes and drifted closer to whisper
in Tenchi's ear, "..Warm."

	Tenchi gave up on the lights, setting the stapler down on the
ladder and letting the string hang.  "Ryouko, my dad's right down
there..."

	Ryouko glanced to the side before grinning and saying, "He's
busy with the lights."

	"Oh,"  Tenchi grinned back and put one arm around her waist,
leaning against the wall for support.  "Then don't you mean hot?"

	Ryouko looked momentarily puzzled, then remembered what she
had been saying before being interrupted by Tenchi's short-lived
protest. "Huh uh, it's just chocolate.  Now you on the other
hand,"  Ryouko tugged lightly at Tenchi's shirt and bit his
earlobe gently before whispering, "You make me hot."

	"Ryouko!  Tenchi!"

	The two lovers looked down just in time to see Mihoshi
opening the front door.

	"Mihoshi!" Ryouko and Tenchi shouted together, "No!"  But it
was too late, the policewoman continued outward, pushing the
ladder away from the house and sending it falling, off balance, in
the other direction.

	Ryouko had her arms around Tenchi and was preparing to
teleport them to safety when she found herself on the ground,
still holding him.  She looked around in confusion as the ladder
completed its descent and clattered noisily on the frozen ground,
the staple gun skittering wildly across the lawn as the impact
jarred its trigger.

	"Thanks Ryouko,"  Tenchi said while smiling gratefully at
her, "That would have hurt."

	Ryouko furrowed her brow and shook her head saying, "But I
didn't..."

	"Oops!"  Mihoshi came running across the grass, followed by
Noboyuki as he rose from the box of lights.  "I'm so sorry, I
didn't know it was there!  Are you okay?"

	Tenchi nodded and stood, helping Ryouko to her feet.  "I'm
alright, Ryouko teleported us out before we hit the ground."

	Ryouko bit her lip but remained silent.  She wasn't sure what
had happened, but knew that now was probably not a good time to
figure it out.  They had moved from mid- air to resting on the
ground, and she knew she had not been the one to do it.  It
obviously had not been Mihoshi, and there was no way for Nobuyuki
to have accomplished such a thing...

	Ryouko smiled and nodded in agreement with Tenchi's
statement.  "We're okay Mihoshi."

"I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?"

	"Of course Mihoshi,"  Tenchi smiled gently at the young
woman.  "It was an accident."

	Mihoshi sighed.  "I wish I weren't so clumsy all the time."

	"It's not your fault Mihoshi, you didn't know the ladder was
there."  Ryouko wondered at Mihoshi's reaction, the police woman
didn't seem her usual, bouncy self today.  "So what's up?  You
sounded like you were looking for us."

	"Oh!"  Mihoshi smiled, banishing some of Ryouko's concern,
"Miss Washuu and Grandfather are out back with the tree and they
said to come get you so you could help get it inside."

	Tenchi nodded and took Ryouko's hand as they stood.  "Come on
Dad, lets go help with the tree."

	Nobuyuki patted his son on the shoulder but shook his head,
"You three go on.  I'm going to keep working on this."  He looked
down at a string of lights in his hand, the old style kind with
the big, fat bulbs that got hot if you left it on long.  Tenchi
noticed that the string seemed predominantly blue as his father
turned away, heading for the fallen ladder.  *Mom's favorite
color...  Maybe he does remember.*

* * *

	Aeka watched the winking lights of the Christmas tree for
long moments in silence.  She had gathered all her family around
her to tell the story of her visit to Jurai, but now that the
moment had arrived she realized she did not even know where to
begin.  Finally she took a tiny sip from the warm cup of sake in
her hand, they all had one, except Sasami.  It had been a long but
satisfying day, decorating the house for the coming holiday, and
when Aeka called everyone into the darkened livingroom around the
glowing tree it seemed a good excuse to relax.

	"When I left here for Jurai," Aeka began slowly, "I was very
confused.  On the one hand, I love you all dearly and you have
become my family over the years we have spent together.  On the
other hand, I am of the royal house of Jurai, separated by
tradition from most of the universe.  I am Aeka, a woman as in
need of friends and companionship as any.  But at the same time I
am the crown princess of an empire that spans the galaxy and can
have no favorites among my subjects.

	"When you told me that you were in love with Ryouko, Tenchi,
I was shattered.  For most of my life I searched for my lost love.
It was the quest of a woman, not a princess.  In that time I fear
that I forgot that other part of my life almost entirely and
losing my love once more broke the woman I had become in two.
I... I tried to kill myself that night, out beneath Funaho's
branches."  Aeka waited for the startled gasps to subside before
continuing, "I do not know by what agency my life was spared.
Perhaps my kimono broke under the strain, perhaps I cut myself
down at the last moment but have buried the memory.  In a dream
Yousho came to me..."

	Aeka looked at Katsuhito who only shook his head, saying,
"I'm an old man, Aeka. I do not go running about people's dreams
at night."

	Aeka chuckled and continued on once more, "The Yousho in my
dream was young, the prince who left me all those centuries ago.
He told me that Tenchi loved me still, if not in the way I had
hoped.  I didn't believe it then, I thought that if you didn't
love me as your future wife, Tenchi, then you must not love me at
all.  I was so desperate for contact, so in need of companionship,
that when I saw.. saw Shiko in the kitchen that day I clung to him
like a life raft on a stormy sea.  Even when he.. when he hit me,
I was so desperate to not be alone again that I convinced myself I
deserved it.  When he was gone I lost my only connection, however
twisted and flawed, to reality.  I fell into a dark hole and saw
no way to crawl back out, could not even find a reason to try.

	"When I finally began to claw my way back out it was not for
love, but for duty.  I realized that no matter my own trials, the
people of Jurai needed me.  I felt like you had betrayed me,
Tenchi, and you too Ryouko.  Like everyone I cared for had turned
against me.  Even Yousho, my dear brother, had in some way
prevented me from taking the escape I so desired.  So when I found
my way back to life, it was as a princess and not a woman.  Only
by pushing away my own feelings, viewing them from atop the throne
of Jurai, was I able to slowly separate them and deal with them.
I returned to Jurai in confusion, knowing that I had to live for
the empire, but with little will to do so as a woman.  I came to
realize that you had not turned against me, that you were my
family and had acted only out of compassion for me, but I still
felt so lost and alone...

	"So I went to Jurai, hoping that there I could see the people
for whom I was now living.  I hoped that I could find reason to go
on in their faces when I could not seem to find it in my own
desires.  When I arrived, though, I did not find what I had hoped
to.  Jurai was not the idyllic wonderland I had built in my
memories.  It was a harsh world, every bit as cruel and uncaring
as Earth, in its way.  I saw my parents, growing old before their
times with the pressure of rulership.  The holy council exists as
little more than a figurehead by its own wishes, all the decisions
are left up to my father and mothers.  I saw bigotry in the way
that the royal families looked down on citizens of the empire, and
the way that even citizens looked down on one another based on how
close they could come to tracing their blood back to the trees.  I
realized that the Jurai of my dreams, the one of happy citizens
who I could keep happy by taking my place on the throne when my
time comes, doesn't exist.  Jurai is a wonderful world and I will
love it all my life, the trees sing in my blood and I cannot look
upon the Great City without feeling a pang in my heart, but there
are no wonderlands.  I realized that my life could not be a simple
shell, a placeholder until I am old enough to pass on the throne
to another.  This is a hard world we live in and if we are to
exist in it we have to find our own happiness, not exist solely
for that of another, or a trillion others.  So I prayed with the
trees and, slowly, I came to realize that my happiness was here.
Where I had before thought that you all, my family, were merely a
part of my life as princess, I discovered that it was the other
way entirely.  My family Is my life, you are my existence and it
is my role as princess which is secondary.  Heir apparent to the
throne of Jurai is my title and my job, but my family is who I am.

	"And now,"  Aeka's voice softened as she drew to the end of
her story, "I've come back to my family and my home, and once more
discover the things I failed to realize before.  It seems I must
be constantly in flux, moving from one side of my life to the
other and only upon reaching my destination realize what I was
leaving behind.  I have my reasons for living now, I can go on and
I can find happiness and know that always I will have people whom
I love and who love me back to return to and share it with, but I
think that my goals must lie on Jurai.  The things I saw, the
prejudice and the injustice, pain me like knives driven into my
heart.  I do not know how I can begin to mend the wounds of a
world, but I think I need to try.  These feelings are all very new
and I'm afraid I have not explained them well, but I hope that you
understand."

	"I think I do,"  Tenchi said slowly when no one else seemed
ready to respond, "But what will you do?  Are you going to go back
to Jurai permanently?"

	Aeka smiled and shook her head, saying, "No, this is my home.
I have work to do on Jurai and I'm afraid I will need to spend a
lot of time at it, but this will always be where I come when the
work day is done.  Miss Washuu tells me that she can, in time,
create a portal between my two worlds so that I may live in both.
I think that after the holidays are done I will return to Jurai
for a time and try to find a starting place in my work.  You and
Ryouko will be in school for the spring and I was hoping that
perhaps we could gather here once more come summer.  By then Miss
Washuu assures me that her device will be ready, and it will give
me time to find my way once more in the politics of Jurai."

	"You're going away again Aeka?"  Sasami's voice trembled as
she asked, "But you just got back, and if you leave now and don't
come back 'till summertime that'll be months and months and I'll
miss you..."

	"It is a long time, Sasami,"  Aeka replied gently, "But I was
thinking that perhaps you would come with me.  Father and our
mothers are very upset at having missed your Change, when I called
to have your lessons prepared they told me that it tested the
limits of their restraint not to simply drop everything and come
here to be with you.  Unfortunately the situation on Jurai is
delicate right now, something very complicated between a few of
the sectors that I didn't have time to understand during my visit,
and they simply can't leave it behind.  That is exactly the sort
of thing I want to put to rights, it is horribly unfair that
parents can't be with their child at a time like this and if
Jurain government had a proper infrastructure there would be no
such problem."

	While her sister talked Sasami grew increasingly agitated.
Finally she looked desperately at Tenchi and Ryouko, who looked at
one another and nodded back at the young princess in unison.
"Aeka,"  Tenchi began, "There's something Sasami has wanted me to
ask you, but I thought it could wait since you were back now..."

	"What is it, Tenchi?"  Aeka looked between her sister and
Tenchi, both of whom looked very uncomfortable.  "You should know
you can ask me anything, what is it?"

	"Well,"  Tenchi scratched his neck, searching for a way to
ask the question he knew Sasami was counting on him to ask in her
place, "Sasami told us a few weeks ago that she wanted to come to
Tokyo with us in January and enroll in highschool.  She looks old
enough now, and she wants to make some new friends.  We didn't
know you were going to be returning to Jurai so soon or I would
have said no, but now she has her hopes up and..."

	Aeka looked at her sister in confusion, "But you can make
friends on Jurai too, Sasami.  Don't you want to go back to the
palace and see everyone?"

	Sasami looked back and forth between Tenchi and her sister
while everyone else in the room looked around uncomfortably for
something to focus their attention on during what was quickly
becoming what seemed to be a private conversation.

	"I miss Mommy Misaki and Mommy Funaho and Daddy lots,"
Sasami finally answered, her voice quavering with emotion and her
eyes lowered, unable to meet those of her sister, "But if I go
back I'll miss Tenchi and Ryouko and Washuu and everybody too.
And all the girls on Jurai that I tried to make friends with just
wanted me to get Daddy to do favors for their families, nobody
really wanted to be my friend.  That's why I always spent all my
time with animals, they never wanted me to do stuff for them
except maybe get them something to eat.  I thought you'd be back
here by the time school started and maybe I could just go from
here to Tokyo by portal every day and then I could be with
everybody and make friends and everything, but if you're going
away I don't know what to do..."

	Aeka's heart lurched as her sister slipped further and
further into confused misery.  Here she was trying to force the
poor girl to choose between one part of her family and another
right after she had finished saying how important her home here on
Earth was.  And despite her new appearance, Sasami was still just
Sasami, a little girl who had only her sister for a friend for
much of her life.  Aeka knew what Sasami meant about playmates at
the palace only wanting to garner favors for their families, she
could remember dealing with exactly that during her own youth and
spending much of her time with Yousho as a result.  Finally she
sighed and got up, going to the couch where Sasami sat and hugging
her sister tightly.

	"You can stay here, Sasami.  I know you'll miss me, and I'll
miss you too, but you'll make lots of new friends at school in
Tokyo and I'm sure the time will just fly by for you.  Then we'll
be together again all summer and we can decide what to do after
that when we get there, okay?"  Aeka wiped the tears from Sasami's
face and smiled, trying to hide her own pain at the thought of
being away from her sister once more.

	Sasami looked doubtful but nodded.  "If you're sure it's
okay, Aeka..."

	"I'm sure, Sasami.  I'm sorry I put all this on you, you're
right to want to make friends and if I could avoid it I wouldn't
want to leave here either.  But if I don't go back to Jurai I
won't be able to be happy, thinking about all the things that I
could be trying to set right if I were there.  There are still
lots of things we'll need to talk about before I leave, but I
don't see why you can't stay here and go to school."

	Sasami found a smile somewhere and squeezed Aeka in a
crushing, Misaki-inherited, hug.  Finally Aeka stood and wiped her
own eyes, saying brightly, "Well then.  Does anyone else have
anything important to talk about?  It seems tonight is a night for
confessions and sad decisions, so we may as well get any more out
of the way now and have a nice holiday together."

	"I... I have something I wanna say."  Everyone looked
startled as Mihoshi stood awkwardly, uncomfortable being the focus
of attention.  "I guess it's not as important as everything Aeka
said, but I've been worrying about it and Aeka's right, you're the
closest to a family I've had... For a long time."

	Aeka sat back down, wondering like everyone else at this new
side of Mihoshi.  The blonde woman usually seemed happy and
carefree, but something in her voice now hinted at ancient pain
left long buried.

	"When I was gone so long on my last patrol it wasn't really
because it kept getting extended like I said,"  Mihoshi explained,
"I got a new partner and I had to show her what we're supposed to
do, but I knew if I said anything you'd want me to bring her here
so you could meet her, and I didn't want to 'cause she was really
mean.  But after I'd been with her a while I found out she's not
really mean, she's just lonely.  She doesn't have anybody either,
she spends all her time at work and doesn't have any friends.  She
was always yelling at me for being so clumsy all the time and I
got really mad at her, then one day I accidentally deleted our
report and she started really screaming at me and I started
crying.  She got all sad too and she said she wasn't really mad at
me for being clumsy, she just thought I could do better and
yelling at people is just how she tells them that.

	"Anyway, when we were finally done with the patrol and I was
coming back here I felt kinda bad leaving her alone out at the
station with hardly anybody around.  There's never anybody there
really, but right now everybody's out by Jurai 'cause of the thing
Aeka was talking about and so there's only a few people on the
station at all.  But I didn't want to say anything 'cause I was
afraid if I brought her here she'd be mean to everybody and you'd
all hate her, and I didn't want that to happen 'cause now that I
know she's not really mean I kind of like being her partner and I
don't want her to not get along with everybody...  But after Aeka
said all that stuff I feel really bad for not seeing if she could
come with me when I came back from my patrol and spend the holiday
here with us, she doesn't have any friends or anything and she
looked really sad when I was leaving."

	Mihoshi sat back down, blushing and looking down at the
carpet as everyone tried to avoid gaping at her.  Anything longer
than a couple of sentences was a major speech for Mihoshi under
most circumstances, and the amount of observance and compassion in
her story was nearly staggering for the young policewoman.  This
time it was Katsuhito who first found his voice and said, "I don't
think anyone would mind if your partner came here for Christmas,
Mihoshi.  The more the merrier, eh?"  He lifted his cup of sake in
a toast to Mihoshi's compassion and quaffed the remaining
contents.

	"Oh, gee,"  Mihoshi exclaimed gleefully, looking around the
room, "Really?  Nobody minds?"

	"Of course we don't, Mihoshi,"  Ryouko said kindly, "I'm sure
we'll all get along with any friend of yours, right Tenchi?"

	"Oh.  Oh, sure,"  Tenchi agreed when Ryouko nudged him, "Do
you think you could get ahold of her now?  She'll have to leave
soon if she's going to get here in time for Christmas."

	Mihoshi bounced to her feet, a happy grin on her face.  "Oh
sure, she said she wasn't going anywhere.  Can I use your
communicator please Miss Washuu?"

	Washuu stood slowly and nodded, "Of course, Mihoshi.  Come
on, I'll show you where it is in my lab."  The scientist eyed the
blonde with a look of deep consideration as they headed for the
broom closet where the lab was once more located.

	"Wow,"  Mihoshi said with something closer to her usual level
of happiness, "Kiyone's gonna be so happy!"

* * *

	"Tenchi?  Mind if we talk for a little bit?"

	Tenchi was sitting at his desk, staring out the bedroom
window at the moonlit treetops and sipping at a cup of cocoa
spiked ever so slightly.  He really didn't like drinking alcohol
much, but after Aeka's confession and everything with Sasami he
needed something to relax before going to sleep.  When Ryouko
asked her question from where she lay on the bed, chin propped up
on a pillow on the footboard to stare at him, her feet kicking
idly in the air, he set the cup down and turned his chair to face
her.

	"Of course not, what's up?"

	"Well..."  Ryouko twisted a strand of her cyan hair around a
finger nervously, she obviously wanted to talk about something but
was having difficulty deciding how to ask it.  "It's about this
afternoon, when you were helping Nobuyuki put up the lights and
Mihoshi knocked the ladder over."

	Tenchi raised a eyebrow and asked teasingly, "Upset we didn't
get to finish what we started?"

	Ryouko flashed a grin at him before going back to the serious
expression she had been wearing, "Well, there's that too, but it's
about what happened when the ladder fell over."

	"You know I don't mind you teleporting me around, Ryouko,"
Tenchi said, slightly confused.  "Especially when you're saving me
from getting hurt like today."

	Ryouko frowned, saying, "That's just it.  I didn't do it.  I
was going to, I was all set to teleport us down to the ground when
all of a sudden, there we were.  I thought maybe you had done
something..."

	Tenchi shook his head, confusion shifting in focus, "You know
I can't do anything like that.  But if you didn't do it, what
happened?"

	"Maybe mom did something and forgot to tell us,"  Ryouko
suggested, "You know how she can get sometimes."

	Tenchi frowned but said, "Yeah, that's probably it.  Why
don't we go ask her tomorrow?  I'm grateful if it was her, I
probably would have broken my other arm if I'd hit the ground, but
I don't like the idea of getting teleported around without knowing
who's doing it."

	"So what do you think about Mihoshi bringing her new partner
here?"  Ryouko changed the subject in the hopes of dispelling the
vague doubts still lurking in her mind over the teleportation
issue.

	Tenchi shrugged and replied, "Well, anyone who puts up with
Mihoshi and is still nice enough to make friends with her can't be
all bad."

	Ryouko chuckled and said, "Oh come on Tenchi, she's not that
bad."

	Tenchi nodded agreeably, "I know.  She's a wonderfully
thoughtful person once you get to know her, but most people
probably wouldn't bother.  And Mihoshi seems to really like this
Kiyone person, which is usually a good sign."

	Ryouko started to nod but was interrupted by a sudden and
wide yawn.  "Mmm,"  she sighed afterward, "It's been a long day."
She got up and went to Tenchi, leaning over to kiss him before
saying, "I'm going to go to sleep, don't stay up too late."

	Tenchi smiled and agreed, "Okay, just let me finish off my
cocoa and I'll come to bed."

	Ryouko turned and headed back toward the bed, yawning again
as she slipped out of the long shirt she had been wearing and
under the covers.  "Don't think I'll be awake when you get
here..."  Ryouko's words were distorted by another yawn mid-
sentence.


	Tenchi swallowed the last of his drink and stood, stretching
and yawning himself as he headed toward the bed.  When he climbed
under the covers and slid his arms around Ryouko she stirred
gently but only murmured something unintelligible.  True to her
words, she was already asleep.

	"Goodnight, Ryouko,"  Tenchi whispered, kissing her neck and
settling himself for sleep.

* * *

	Washuu was not sure that inviting Mihoshi's partner had been
such a good idea afterall.  The green-haired woman on the
communicator screen seemed grumpy and not really very excited
about flying all the way out to Earth to spend a holiday she had
never heard of with people she didn't know, but Mihoshi assured
her that that was just how Kiyone was and that she really was
happy.

	"Thanks for letting me use your comm screen Washuu, mine's
kind of broken right now."

	"Yeah, well that's what happens when you send your ship into
the ground in a nosedive from orbit."

	Mihoshi blushed and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Washuu.  You're
always so nice, fixing Yukinojo every time I crash and I never
even thank you for it..."

	"Ahh, don't worry about it,"  Washuu grinned and patted the
younger woman on the back, "Gives me something to do.  There's not
much to occupy a genius around here you know."

	"What about Grandfather?"

	Washuu looked sharply at Mihoshi and asked in a voice couched
in suspicion, "What exactly do you mean?"

	"I dunno,"  Mihoshi said nervously as they began walking back
toward the lab's exit, "You two are just always talking and I
thought since Ryouko had Tenchi..."  Mihoshi trailed off,
seemingly unsure what exactly she thought.

	"Mihoshi,"  Washuu stopped her path across the lab and
pointed back the way they had come, "Come sit down for a minute?
I wanna talk to you."

	"Oh..okay,"  Mihoshi stuttered, confused by the sudden change
in Washuu's mood.  "I didn't do something wrong again, did I?"

	"I don't know, Mihoshi,"  Washuu said thoughtfully, "I think
you'll have to tell me that."

* * *

	"I'm gonna miss you Dad."

	Natsuri Onomasi looked uncomfortable.  He was a consummate
businessman but had difficulty with personal situations.  Even
today, seeing his son off at the airport, he had worn a three-
piece suit and had his business card holder, a beautiful golden
box engraved with his name which his son had given him on his
birthday years ago, stowed carefully in his breast pocket in case
he happened upon a potential deal.

	"I... I will miss you as well, Mataeo.  You will do well in
Tokyo, I am sure.  You make your mother and I very proud."

	Mataeo Onomasi shifted uncomfortably.  He had grown up his
father's son and, while he did not have Natsuri's inherent
difficulty with expressing emotions, he was not sure how to deal
with them around his father.  Was he supposed to hug him?  He
couldn't remember ever having hugged his father, but a handshake
did not really seem right when you were going away to college in
another country and wouldn't see your father again for four years
or more.

	"Also,"  Natsuri's apparent discomfort increased, but he had
made a promise and he was not one to break his word, "Fujihara-san
asked that I remind you to take care of Ai.  She has never been
away from home before and he fears she will be confused in Tokyo.
Please make sure that she finds a place to stay and that the
landlords do not gouge her for rent."

	Mataeo nodded and struggled again with the idea of hugging
his father.  Finally he decided that it would only make Natsuri
uncomfortable and that there was something he could do that would
leave a better, more lasting impression with him.  Mataeo reached
into his jacket pocket, a simple windbreaker that clashed horribly
with his father's formality, and withdrew his wallet.  He flipped
it open with the casual flick of his wrist that his father had
taught him to use when opening a business card case and withdrew a
card bearing his name and his new address in Tokyo.  Mataeo bowed
formally, offering the card to his father.

	Natsuri acted automatically, returning the bow while taking
the card carefully by the edges.  As they straightened he studied
it carefully, giving it all the attention he would have given the
card of a business partner, and slipped it carefully into his
breast pocket before retrieving one of his own and offering it in
similar fashion to his son.

	"Goodbye, Mataeo," Natsuri said stiffly as the familiar
ritual ended and he was once more on his own in a difficult
moment, "Good luck in Tokyo and your mother wishes that I remind
you not to forget to write."  That said he turned on his heel, not
waiting for a response, and strode quickly across the airport
lobby.  Mataeo watched the retreating back of his father and waved
belatedly, saying softly, "Bye dad.  Love you too."

	"Thank you for visiting Hong Kong International Airport,
flight one-two-eight to Tokyo now boarding at gate nineteen."
Mataeo hefted his carry-on bag and turned toward the gate as the
message repeated itself in Chinese, Korean, and English.  As the
attendant checked his boarding pass Mataeo turned and looked out
across the sea of travelers, but his father's figure was already
lost amidst the crowds.

* * *

"Ah doan see how y'all eat with them thangs."

	Ai Fujihara looked up from her dinner at the speaker.  The
comment was made in English by a person with an accent
sufficiently thick that she almost did not understand.  Her reply
to the large man with the handle-bar moustache wearing the
slightly ridiculous cowboy hat was in the clipped speech of a
person who, despite being fluent in the language, only rarely
spoke it outside of a school.

	"It is not difficult, would you like me to teach you?"  Ai
held up her chopsticks and snapped the tips together
demonstratively, but the large white man shook his head.

	"Nah, fork'll do well 'nuff fer me.  Always has.  So what's a
purty lil' thang like you doin' flyin' all by yer lonesome?"

	Ai tried to decide if the man was merely being friendly or
was trying to seduce her, it was so hard to tell with Americans
sometimes.  "I am on my way to Tokyo to attend university there.
My parents live in Hong Kong, so I am flying alone because they
remain there."

	"Aw shucks, darlin',"  the large man laughed, "I didn't mean
ta offend ya, I'm jes tryin' to be friendly.  Name's Jones, Steve
Jones."  Mr. Jones held out his hand and Ai shook it firmly.  Her
mother had taught her that women could only succeed in the world
by breaking the stereotypes given them, so when dealing with
foreigners she made sure to act boldly rather than with the quiet
reticence usually expected of a woman of her nationality.

	"Ai Fujihara,"  she inverted her name for the introduction to
avoid the inevitable confusion that would result otherwise.  "It
is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones.  You are going to Tokyo for
business, I assume?"  He looked of the sort of American
businessman who flew to Tokyo.  The kind of gaijin who acted like
Japanese businessmen usually made the rest of the world come to
them, rather than going to it.

	"Ayup,"  Jones agreed, "My company jes bought up some of them
dot-coms and now we're lookin' at expanding inta computer sales.
I always knew them computers was the way of the future, shoulda
told somebody years back and I'd own half the damn planet like all
them silicon-valley types.  Anyhoo, I'm goin' over ta Japan 'cause
my advisors say you Japanese like doin' business in person.  Even
learned me a little of yer nip-pon-go to wow 'em with.  How's this
sound?"  Mr. Jones carefully recited, "It is a pleasure to meet
you, Musashi-san.  I look forward to doing business with you."

	Ai winced inwardly and his pronunciation and said, "Perhaps
you should stick to English, Mr. Jones.  You may find Japanese
businessmen will be more impressed if you are yourself than if you
try to 'wow' them."

	"Mebbe yer right, lil' lady.  Never did like puttin' on airs
anyway.  Lemme let you get back to yer food, this oriental
cuisine's right nasty when it gets cold.  No offense o' course."

	The large American turned back to his own little tray of
airline food and pulled on a pair of headphones.  Ai prodded at
her dinner but was not really hungry enough to eat it.  She was
nervous about going so far away to school, no matter what her
parents said about it being a good experience for her.  If Mataeo
were not going to the University of Tokyo as well she thought she
probably would have begged her parents to allow her to stay in
Hong Kong and go to school there.  She was Japanese by birth, and
had lived there for the first years of her life, but she could not
help thinking of Hong Kong as her home and Tokyo seemed very far
away.

	Ai sighed and put her chopsticks down across her tray.  She
thought of Mataeo and smiled weakly, thinking, *It is far away,
but at least there will be one friendly face.*

* * *

	Sasami walked quietly beside her sister down the steps from
the shrine.  They had not gone up there for any particular reason,
it was somewhere to walk that took a while to get to, and Aeka had
wanted to talk to her.

	"So you understand now Sasami?"  Aeka asked, breaking the
silence which had stretched between them for the past five
minutes.

	"I... I think so.  It sounds very,"  Sasami thought about it,
searching for a good word to describe it all, "Sticky."

	Aeka blushed and chuckled softly behind her hand.  "Yes, I
suppose it does.  Really this should have waited until your
lessons arrive from Jurai, but I didn't want you getting any odd
ideas from Ryouko or Washuu.  The important part to remember is
that it's just for people who love one another."

	Sasami nodded slowly.  "Like Ryouko and Tenchi?"

	"Yes,"  Aeka responded quietly, "Like Ryouko and Tenchi."

	"So you've never..."  Sasami stopped on a step and looked at
her sister.

	"No, I've never."  Aeka continued walking.

	"But," Sasami gasped after hurrying to catch up with the
older princess, "If you haven't... How do you know?"

	"It's all in your lessons, Sasami.  There are.. pictures."

	"Okay, but,"  Sasami argued, "How do you know?  What if it's
not the same for people on Earth?  What if I meet somebody and I
want to... But it doesn't work right?"

	Aeka was the one to stop walking this time.  She turned on
Sasami and attempted to remain calm while saying, "You are most
certainly not going to find out!  I just finished telling you that
it is only for people who are in love."

	Sasami nodded, "I know, I understand, but what if I fall in
love with somebody?  You fell in love with Tenchi right away, what
if I meet somebody nice in Tokyo?"

	"Perhaps that wasn't such a good idea afterall," Aeka frowned
at her sister seriously, "I'll not have my sister going about
being... Being promiscuous!"

	Sasami was rushing down the slope toward tears when she
turned away from Aeka and cried, "It wouldn't be being
prom..proim...that thing if I was in love! And this is all so
confusing and I don't..."  Sasami turned back around, her face
flushed and the tears that had threatened before beginning to
form, "And I'm a big girl now!  Back on Jurai you said that when I
had my Change I could do what I wanted to, and I want to go to
Tokyo and go to school!  I don't wanna go back to Jurai and have
to be nice to all those horrible duchesses and baronesses and
things, they were all mean and I hate them!  I'm not going and you
can't make me!"

	"Sasami..."  But her sister didn't hear Aeka's plea, she was
running down the steps, only the sound of her wailing sobs left
drifting on the air behind her.

* * *

	Washuu tapped at her transparent keyboard, watching in
frustration as the same data she had been looking at since last
night scrolled by.  *Who Are you Mihoshi?* Washuu wondered
intensely, *Where did you come from?  Who were your family?  Why
don't you remember anything before a few years ago?  And why don't
you want to?*

	Washuu had taken the young police-woman back to a quiet part
of her lab to talk and had, with as much tact as she could manage,
asked Mihoshi those very questions.  In all the time she had known
Mihoshi Washuu had never heard her say anything about herself
beyond that she was in the Galaxy Police, that she had relatives
fairly high in the chain of command, and that she, somehow, had a
very good career record.  The strange turn Mihoshi's behavior had
taken since her return from her extended patrol had set Washuu to
wondering why exactly that was.  The girl seemed like an
extraordinarily lucky idiot most of the time.  She was a fine
young lady, but she acted most of the time as though she had the
mentality of a ten year old, and one rather less mature than
Sasami had been.  But then sometimes, ever so rarely, she would
have some startlingly accurate revelation.  *Like today,* Washuu
thought, *Nobody knows that I'm interested in Katsuhito, I'm not
even sure he takes me seriously about it.  But she somehow saw it,
and she's off on patrol half the time.*

	Mihoshi had proved singularly unhelpful in revealing her own
past.  She remembered waking up one day a half dozen years back,
and next to nothing before that.  She thought of the Commissioner
as her grandfather, but seemed to have no idea whether they were
truly related.  She was stationed so far out from everything that
she hardly ever talked to anyone besides her immediate supervisor.
>From what Washuu could gather Mihoshi simply appeared at the GP
academy on Dalris one day ten years ago and enrolled.  The
scientist could find no record Anywhere of where Mihoshi had been
before that, and besides a long list of commendations awarded over
the four years following her enrollment there was no record of her
existence beyond that until six years ago.  At that point, the
point Mihoshi could now remember back to and no further, she lost
whatever edge she had had as a police woman.  She became,
overnight, the bumbling bubble-head that they all knew and loved.
The Mihoshi spoken of in her commendation reports was a valiant
officer who risked life and limb in dangerous situations,
outwitting criminal masterminds and hunting down the most elusive
hoodlums.  Then, six years ago, something had changed.  Mihoshi
got into one screw up after another and eventually landed out here
patrolling Sol system, what had been until a few years ago the
single least important assignment in the patrolled galaxy.

	And she didn't want to know why.  That was what so thoroughly
confounded Washuu.  The nature of the block on Mihoshi's memory
was such that she did not actively realize she had forgotten much
of her life, thoughts about times before that day six years ago
simply drifted away.  But when Washuu had confronted her with it
directly she violently opposed having her memories examined.
Washuu had explained that it wouldn't hurt and that, even if they
found nothing, her current memories would be in no way effected.
But Mihoshi was entirely opposed to the whole idea.  She had
broken down into tears after screaming at Washuu that she didn't
want her poking around in her head, begging Washuu to forgive her
for her outburst.  The scientist had, of course, forgiven her and
tried to comfort her.  With the speed only Mihoshi could manage
the blonde's mood slid back to happiness and she had trotted out
of the lab in search of Sasami so the princess could help her wrap
Christmas gifts.

	So now Washuu sat, combing through the same data again and
again but getting no closer to discovering the strange and elusive
story of Mihoshi's life.  Washuu sighed and sat back from the
floating terminal, letting her eyes rove over her lab.

	*Ahha!* Washuu thought triumphantly when her gaze settled on
her communication screen, *Kiyone!  She's a GP officer, and
Mihoshi said she had been with the force a while.  She'll have
heard about Mihoshi's exploits before and after whatever happened
six years ago.*  Washuu rubbed her hands together, excited by the
impending answer to her dilemma.


	"Washuu?"

	Washuu looked up at the sound of her name.  "Hey Ryouko!
What's up?  Time for lunch?"

	Ryouko shook her head as she walked across the lab toward her
mother, saying, "Not lunchtime yet.  I wanted to ask you about
something though."

	"Sure thing, shoot."  Washuu was in a good mood now that she
saw an answer within reach to the whole Mihoshi question.  Not
being able to find Any data about someone had been rather
disturbing.

	"Did you... Did you do something yesterday? And maybe forget
to tell me?

	Washuu arched an eyebrow and asked, "Do something?  Like
what?  I did lots of things yesterday."

	"It was yesterday afternoon, just before we brought the tree
inside.  Tenchi was up on a ladder out in front of the house and
Mihoshi knocked it over.  I was going to teleport him to the
ground so he wouldn't get hurt, but someone else did it first."

	Washuu frowned and shook her head, "No... I didn't do any
teleporting of anything yesterday.  And you didn't feel any
strange power sources at the time?"

	"No, just one second we were up on the ladder, the next we
were down on the ground.  Tenchi didn't notice anything either, he
thought I did it."

	"Hmmm,"  Washuu hmmed, "That is strange.  Tenchi's energy
detection resolution at close range is much finer than yours.  It
shouldn't be possible for someone to spend the energy for
teleportation and he not feel it."

	"Ahha!"  Ryouko cheered, "So That's how he does it!"

	"Does what?" Washuu asked in confusion.

	"He always knows when I try to sneak up on him, but he
wouldn't tell me how."

	Washuu laughed, "You never guessed?  He told you himself that
he can sense things through the Jurai energy field around him."

	Ryouko flushed slightly.  "I guess I just never thought about
it that way..."

	"He probably doesn't know himself," Washuu commented as she
summoned up her terminal again, "I picked up his capacity for it
when I was scanning him after the incident with Shiko, but I
didn't bother to say anything.  Hmm," Washuu tapped at her
keyboard and frowned at the results, "No, I don't see anything
anomalous in my sensor data for yesterday.  There are a few tiny
power spikes around the right time, but they're the same as all of
your trans-spatial-" Washuu saw her daughter's expression and
amended herself, "Teleportations.  No, wait... This one's
different.  It's only by a phase shift of a hundredth of a degree,
but it's different.  You're right, whomever popped you two onto
the ground wasn't you.  But I've never monitored this signature
before."  Washuu sighed and shook her head, "I'll work on it
Ryouko, but without some more data I don't see how I can find out
who did this."

* * *

	"Was that Sasami?"  Azaka rotated toward Kamadake where they
hovered on the lawn near the front of the house, tracking the
young woman as she ran past them and through the front door.

	"Yes," Kamadake replied, "I believe it was.  And she seemed
to be crying.  I wonder what's wrong."

	Azaka rotated back toward the distant staircase when he
sensed another life form approaching.  "Ah, time for episode two.
Here comes Aeka."

	"That's an odd way to put it Azaka."

	"Is it?  She seems to be crying as well..."

	"Yes, she does that, but-Oh, Hello Ryou-ohki."  The cabbit
hopped up to the floating guardian and meowed plaintively.

	"In the house, Ryou-ohki.  I believe you can catch her if you
hurry."

	"You understood that?"  Azaka asked of his long time
companion when Ryou-ohki had hopped away after Sasami.

	"No, but what else could she have been asking?"

	"Yes, I suppose-Oops, here comes Jurai."  Azaka rotated to
follow the running figure of Aeka as she fled into the house after
the cabbit and her sister.

	"Really, Azaka.  We must have Miss Washuu examine your neural
grid, your turns of phrase are just getting stranger and stranger.
'Here comes Jurai'?  What is that supposed to mean?"

	"Well," Azaka replied slowly, "Aeka's family name is Jurai,
and she was coming..."

	"Going, really."

	"Yes, yes, but I already said 'here comes Aeka,' I was being
literary."

	"Can you be literary without writing it down?"

	"I don't see why not."

	"Technically you don't see at all, you have a sensor array
wired into the neural grid holding your consciousness."

	"Come now, Kamadake.  Must you always be so literal?"

	"You were the one who was being literary, I followed suit."

* * *

	"It's a toaster."

	Ai looked at the wrapped package and then back up at Mataeo
as he held it out to her.  "If you were just going to tell me what
it was anyway," Ai asked, "Why did you wrap it?"

	Mataeo grinned and apologized, "Sorry, I've never given a
housewarming gift before."

	Ai stepped back from the doorway, taking the box from Mataeo
and beckoning him inside.  "Come in and help me move some of my
boxes around so I can plug this in the kitchen.  I'm afraid
everything is still a mess."

	Mataeo entered the little apartment, taking off his jacket
and hanging it from a hook by the door.  "Alright, but I can't
stay too long."

	Ai stopped in her path toward the kitchen and looked back at
him, arching an eyebrow, "Got a hot date tonight?"

	Mataeo laughed and followed the young woman with long,
straight, raven-black hair through the little arch separating the
kitchen from the livingroom.  "You know I don't Ai, you're the
only girl I have hot dates with."

	"Well, where are you going then?"  Ai pushed at a stack of
boxes and Mataeo snatched the top one out of the air when it fell,
stopping it just before it impacted her head.  Ai blushed and
smiled thankfully at him, moving to a shorter stack.

	"I saw an advertisement that the gym up the street from my
apartment is looking for someone to teach children's Aikido on
weekends, I thought I would go apply."

	"Is that a good idea?  You don't want to compromise your
school work with a job, especially since your father is paying
your bills."

	Mataeo shrugged and said, "If it gets to be too much I'll
quit, but I like teaching.  And I don't like using Dad's money
when I take you out.  It would be nice having some money I earned
myself for things like that."

	Ai smiled and stood up on her toes to kiss him before saying,
"Then I hope you get the job, you're certainly qualified."

	"You should come down there with me some time, it's a really
nice facility and your mother wouldn't want your self defense
skills getting rusty just because you're away from home.
Especially because you're away from home."

	Ai laughed and started unwrapping the toaster, having found a
place to plug it in.  "You're right, mom will probably attack me
the next time I see her just to make sure I haven't been 'exposing
myself to dangerous street thugs.'"


	Ai took the two slices of toast from the toaster as it
ejected them, handing one to Mataeo and taking a bite of the other
herself.  "Mmm, my first home-cooked meal."

	Mataeo laughed, "And may many follow."

	Ai looked at him slyly and said, "It's not the first
important one though.  That'll be when you finally come to your
senses and invite me to move in with you."

	Mataeo coughed nervously and looked away before joking
weakly, "Such talk, what would your mother say?"

	"She'd say, 'Ai, you hit that Onosami boy over the head until
he comes to his senses, he should know he won't find anyone better
than my daughter!'"

	Mataeo looked at his watch nervously and said, "I'd better
go, Ai.  I'll miss the auditions for the job."

	"Okay, Mat,"  Ai sighed, hugging him before he went to
retrieve his jacket, "Good luck."


Ai leaned against the door frame and sighed, watching Mataeo hurry
down the street toward a bus stop.  *I wish I knew why he's so
afraid of commitment.  We've been dating for years, I know he
doesn't want anyone else, but every time I bring up anything more
serious he gets all flustered and runs away...*

* * *

	Aeka knocked gently on the door asking, "May I come in
Sasami?"  Her sister's muffled approval filtered through the door
and Aeka slid it open, stepping through and shutting it behind
her.

	"I'm sorry, Sasami," Aeka said as she moved to sit down near
her sister, "I should not have said what I did, and of course you
may go to Tokyo. I know how important that is to you.  Talking
about that particular subject is just difficult for me, mother was
very formal about that and I suppose I have inherited her ways of
thinking."

	Sasami sniffed, she had stopped crying by then but the
evidence of her tears was still fresh on her face.  "I don't wanna
be promiscuous, Aeka..  I looked it up in the dictionary and I
don't wanna be that, but I've got all these new feelings that I
didn't used to have and I keep thinking that maybe I'll meet a
nice boy in Tokyo and fall in love and we can get married someday.
And then when you said I couldn't I got all upset and I don't even
know why, now I'm not upset and I feel silly instead."  Sasami
sighed and shook her head wearily.

	"Everything's so different now.  I thought when I had my
Change I'd just get taller and look more like Tsunami, and that
happened, but now I have all these weird feelings when I do stuff
and I don't understand them.  I got all upset 'cause you said I
couldn't.. couldn't have sex, and I'm only twelve.  Tenchi would
say that's really hentai, but I don't Feel twelve anymore.  Back
on Jurai everybody always said that when you had your Change you
started acting like a grownup, and now that I've had it I really
do feel different, but I don't feel like a grownup.  Did you feel
like this when you had yours Aeka?"

	Aeka nodded sympathetically and took her sister's hand, "At
first I did.  When I had my lessons it helped, and then pretty
soon I was used to all the new feelings and I didn't mind anymore.
You're having so much trouble with it because your Change came so
early.  We weren't expecting it for months still and you didn't
have time to get ready for it.  When your lessons arrive from
Jurai and you've had them you'll feel less confused about
everything, trust me."

	Sasami nodded but asked, "What's in them anyway?  Everybody
called them 'etiquette lessons,' but you said they have all sex
stuff in them too.  And I already had etiquette lessons before and
I don't see how knowing when to bow and what to call your aunt on
your daddy's side four times removed when she asks you to pass a
biscuit could help me any."

	Aeka giggled, she remembered those etiquette lessons as well.
The procedures for behavior at court on Jurai were complex beyond
all reason, with special titles given to everyone based on their
relationship and the nature of the conversation.  She could think
of seventeen different ways, off the top of her head, to respond
to the situation which Sasami had outlined jokingly.

	"Well, they have all of the 'sex stuff' as you put it
Sasami,"  Aeka explained reluctantly.  It really was not proper to
tell someone what was in the lessons before they received them,
but she supposed that since Sasami had already had her Change it
could be allowed, "And they have some of the bowing and name-
calling as well, though not as much.  Mostly they're about how to
deal with all of your new feelings and how to react in certain
situations."

	Aeka paused, considering what else to tell Sasami.  *Well,
the tree does not bloom halfway...*

	"Has anyone ever told you how you have the lessons?"

	When Sasami shook her head Aeka continued, "You see, there's
this sort of device that you wear, it looks like my tiara," Aeka
pointed to the wooden item in question, "But it's made mostly of
fibramic.  When you're ready it puts all the lessons right into
your head, like how Washuu looks at people's memories sort of, but
in reverse."

	"Does it hurt?"

	"Oh, no.  It is a bit disorienting at first, having so many
new things that you can remember without having actually
experienced them, but that goes away quickly.  And it's all over
in a matter of minutes."

	Sasami wrinkled her nose, a habit she had retained through
her transformation and, Aeka thought, managed to look just as cute
on her new face.  "Do I have to have them?  I'm not sure I like
the idea of having stuff put in my head...  And Tenchi didn't have
them, and he's okay."

	Aeka paused, she had never considered that someone might not
Want to have the lessons.  Everyone had them on Jurai and nobody
ever seemed to question them.  "Well," Aeka said slowly, trying to
figure out how to respond, "Tenchi is mostly Earth human.  He grew
up slowly, so he had time to deal with all the new things that
happened to him as he grew older.  You had everything that Tenchi
would have experienced over a period of years, were he female, in
just a month and a half or so."

	"I guess you're right," Sasami agreed reluctantly, "I guess
I'm just nervous 'cause everything has changed so much already and
I'm not sure I want it to change even more."

	"Don't worry, Sasami," Aeka patted her sister's hand, "I'll
be here with you and everything will be okay, you'll see."

	"I'm also kind of worried about Tsunami," Sasami said
quietly, "She used to talk to me sometimes, in my head, but she
hasn't in a while.  Not since before my Change.  She said before
that when I had it she'd be able to talk to me more, and when I
had my second Change she'd be there all the time, but I wouldn't
really notice anymore 'cause she'd be part of me and I'd be part
of her."

	Aeka was not sure how to respond to that, the idea of her
little sister becoming one with a goddess whom she had been
worshipping as long as she could remember was more than a little
daunting.  Sasami really did look more like Tsunami now, at least
from what Aeka could remember from the few times she had seen her
and the few murals and statues around the palace.  It was not
anything like a perfect match, though Aeka supposed it would be
once Sasami had her second Change, but that wouldn't be for
another twenty years.  *Well, probably not anyway.  She had this
one early afterall...*  But that was more than Aeka wanted to
think about.  She herself still had a good few years to go before
that event, and Sasami already looked somewhat older than she did.

	*Mostly because she's taller, I suppose,* Aeka thought,
looking at her sister where she sat on the futon next to her, *And
perhaps a bit more.. developed.*  Not that Aeka would ever say so
out loud, of course.  The fact that her sister had become an
attractive young woman was something she could barely think about
consciously and explaining sex to her had taken all the resolve
Aeka could muster.  Aeka's years here on earth had loosened her
once iron grip on a moral code of propriety mother Funaho had
instilled in her, but since Shiko she had found herself relying
more and more on those old guidelines.  He, or the thing
controlling his body, she reminded herself, had forced her to say
some truly awful things, and had even made her expose herself to
him once.  She was glad now, in retrospect, that the being
controlling Tenchi's cousin had such a horribly twisted version of
humanity.  It had not been interested in her physically at all, it
had only wanted to make her feel ashamed and, if possible, hurt
Tenchi with that shame.  Had it realized what raping her would
have done to him it probably would have done that too, but luckily
Tokimi had apparently not given her servant that knowledge.  Aeka
still had great difficulty remembering those days and the things
that that being had done to her, but had it done that as well she
was sure she never would have been able to come back to herself.
Now thoughts of physical love seemed more likely to bring up
memories of the things that creature had made her say than
anything else, so she strove to avoid them.  Talking to Sasami
about it had been very difficult, but she knew it had to be done
quickly before her sister got any ideas from the other women of
the house or, worse, from Nobuyuki's rather extensive collection
of hentai media.

"I'm glad you're here, Aeka,"  Sasami said suddenly, startling her
sister out of her own train of thought, "I was really confused,
and I guess I still am, but I couldn't talk to Ryouko, Washuu, or
Mihoshi about it.  It would have been too embarrassing.  I just
wish you didn't have to go back to Jurai so soon.  What if I need
to talk to somebody and you're not here?"

	"You can always call me from Washuu's lab, Sasami," Aeka said
warmly, "No matter how busy I get on Jurai I'll always have time
to talk to you.  And if you really need someone to talk to and,
for some reason, I'm not around, I want you to talk to Ryouko.
Okay?"

	Sasami nodded and hugged her sister while Aeka thought, *I'll
simply have to have a talk with Ryouko about what sorts of things
are appropriate to tell Sasami.  But she does need someone she can
go to if she gets upset, and I can't hug her over a comm screen.*

* * *

	Ryouko watched Kiyone and Mihoshi stringing popcorn with
Sasami and wondered how she could have ever thought Mihoshi's new
partner to be mean spirited.  The green-haired woman had arrived
much more quickly than they expected, apparently there were rather
more direct routes between the GP outpost and Earth than the one
Mihoshi normally followed.  At first Ryouko, and most of the
members of the household, had thought Kiyone to be rather
disagreeable and a bit cruel to Mihoshi.

	It only took a few days, however, for Kiyone to open up and
show that she really wasn't the grumpy person she appeared.  And
Mihoshi not only didn't seem to mind Kiyone growling and,
occasionally, even yelling at her but, in fact, Ryouko would swear
that a few times she had even seen the blonde smiling when Kiyone
angrily showed her how to do whatever it was Mihoshi had done
wrong in the first place.  It was a bizarre relationship, but
Ryouko was glad Mihoshi had found a new friend.  With her, Tenchi,
and Sasami gone in Tokyo and Aeka returning to Jurai the house
would be quiet for the spring, and Mihoshi would need someone.

	*There's something else there too,* Ryouko thought as she
watched Kiyone nudge Mihoshi and whisper something in her ear,
making the other woman laugh delightedly, *I don't quite know what
it is, but there's something...*

* * *

	"I'm sorry Miss Washuu, but I really just don't know."

	Washuu sighed and asked again, "You're sure?  Nothing?  Not
even a little bit?"

	Kiyone shook her head, she wished she could help the
obviously distressed woman but truly did not have the answers
Washuu sought.  "I've been on the force two years longer than
Mihoshi, but I was stationed back at central HQ when she was off
winning all those awards.  I heard about her back then, everybody
did, she was the most decorated junior officer in a hundred years,
but I didn't meet her until I was assigned to Sol system."

	"What did you do to get stuck out here anyway?"  Washuu
asked, giving up on the Mihoshi problem for the moment.

	Kiyone blushed slightly when she answered, "I requested it
actually.  They wanted another officer for this duty station with
all the increased activity recently, and I volunteered.  I loved
working at central, but it's always so hectic there...  I lost my
father a few years ago, he was a cop too and some stupid punk took
him out with a lucky shot.  I've wanted to go somewhere quiet for
a while and think since, but I don't want to leave the force to do
it.  Sol seemed as good as anywhere, and I kind of wanted to meet
the legendary Kuramitsu Mihoshi.  I've been hearing about how she
took out the unobtanium smuggling ring out in sector 9 most of my
career, I wanted to see what had happened to the wonder girl of
the GP.

	"But I don't know any more about her than the stories, and
those commendation records you found tell those better than I
could.  Six years ago her record just turned south.  She still
made some amazing collars, but where she used to be able to go
into the worst situation and come out on top, she started ending
up emerging from a pile of rubble looking as confused as the
criminals she dragged out with her.  The Commish thought it would
be best if she were out here where nothing much ever happened for
a while."

	"Did you know the Commissioner?"  Washuu asked, suddenly
excited again.

	"Sort of, I worked in his department for a while pushing a
desk."

	"Was he really Mihoshi's grandfather?  I can't find any sort
of birth records for her anywhere, I thought if he's really
related I could trace back..."  Washuu trailed off as Kiyone shook
her head sadly.

	"Sorry, Washuu, but he's not.  He loves her like a
granddaughter, but there's no relation.  I asked him about her
once and he told me that when she came into the academy he was
teaching the Ethics in Modern Policing course and took a liking to
her.  It's kind of weird though, Mihoshi talks about him sometimes
and I'd swear she doesn't know he's not really her grandfather."

	"She doesn't," Washuu sighed, "Mihoshi doesn't remember
anything before six years ago and I have no idea why.  She won't
let me look at her memories to find out, and she seems to have no
interest at all in exploring the block herself."

	Kiyone nodded thoughtfully, "That would explain a lot.
Whenever I ask her about some of her more famous collars she just
shrugs and says they weren't that great, then changes the
subject."

	"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Washuu said with
determination, "There's something important behind this, I can
feel it.  Mihoshi does things that shouldn't be possible and she
has no idea how she does it or, most of the time, even that she
did it.  Will you help me, Kiyone?  You're her friend, help me
find her past?"

	Kiyone looked troubled but agreed reluctantly, "I'll help
Washuu, but I don't want to do anything to hurt her.  If she
doesn't want to remember her past she must have a reason for it.
If we find out what happened to her and it's too bad, I don't want
her to know we know."

	Washuu looked at Kiyone calculatingly and asked, "You like
her don't you?"

	"Sure, Mihoshi's my friend."  Kiyone laughed, "You know she
made a sign for our room at the station that says, 'Partners
against the scum of the universe'?  Everybody thinks it's a riot,
but it's sort of cute."

	"No,"  Washuu clarified, "I mean, you Like her, don't you?"

	Kiyone looked at the strange scientist for a moment before
shaking her head, "I don't know what you mean, Miss Washuu.  If
you don't mind I need to go report in with the station."

	Washuu nodded thoughtfully, "Go ahead Kiyone, you can use my
comm screen."

* * *

	Tenchi admired his new dress kimono once more as he hung it
carefully in his closet.  Aeka had given it to him and he couldn't
wait to find somewhere to wear it.  Tenchi had always admired the
style of dress in ancient Japan and thought that a woman in a
properly fitted kimono far more appealing than some of the modern
styles.  He told Ryouko that once and she now owned half a dozen
yukata and three silk kimonos which she wore whenever she could
think of an excuse.  Tenchi, on the other hand, had worn one
exactly ten times in his life, twice for shichi-go-san, once a
year after he turned fifteen to preside over that same event at
his grandfather's shrine, and twice when he accompanied Katsuhito
to consecrate land.  Each time he had enjoyed the feel of it, and
thought he actually looked fairly good in a kimono.  This one was
a lustrous gray embroidered with a pattern of flowers down the
sleeves in black and red.  Tenchi ran his fingers across the silk
and smiled before closing the closet door.

	"Did you have a nice Christmas, Ryouko?"  Tenchi asked as he
turned away from the closet toward where she sat at his desk,
toying with the palmtop computer her mother had given her.
According to Washuu it had more processing power than all the
computers on Earth combined, but it was disguised well enough that
she would be able to use it in class without anyone knowing.
Ryouko looked up and smiled.

	"It was wonderful.  Every holiday here has been, but this
year was particularly nice."

	"Oh?  Why's that?"  Tenchi asked, moving to sit on the edge
of the desk.

	"Because you'd already given me the gift I've wanted so
long."

	Tenchi smiled and opened one of the desk drawers, drawing out
a very familiar cloth-wrapped box.  "I have one more gift for you
Ryouko."

	Ryouko took the box with suddenly shaking hands and opened it
slowly.  The cloth was the same she had wrapped Tenchi's necklace
box with, but the box within was different.  This one was covered
in red felt and, as she saw upon opening it, lined with white
silk.  The necklace, however, was the same.  And on it hung two
red gems.  Ryouko touched the gem in her right wrist and looked up
at Tenchi.

	"But... Where?  Where did you get these?  They were fused
with the sword..."

	Tenchi smiled again and explained, "They aren't real.  Well,
I mean, they're real rubies, but they aren't gems like yours.  I
had the clasp repaired and those set in place of your gems."

	"I don't know what to say Tenchi..."

	"Don't say anything yet.  You gave me that necklace on my
birthday and I returned it once already.  This time it comes with
two other things.  First," Tenchi reached into the drawer again
and drew out Tenchi-ken, "I'm returning your gems to you Ryouko,
the real ones.  I should have done this long ago, but somehow it
never even occurred to me.  You never said anything..."

	"I..."  Ryouko shook her head, she had not thought about the
gems in a long while.  Being with Tenchi fulfilled her more than
their power ever had, but now that they were so close she could
feel them calling her.  Their power sang in her veins and the gem
at her wrist seemed to pulse gently.  Almost without thinking
Ryouko reached out to touch the hilt of the sword, all three gems
glowing gently as they grew closer.  Tenchi closed his eyes and
gripped the handle with both hands, willing the gems back to their
owner.

	"I love you, Ryouko," Tenchi whispered as the gems vanished
from the sword and faded back into existence at Ryouko's wrist and
throat.  Ryouko's eyes closed and her back arched.  The gems glow
increased in intensity and she gasped, "I... love... you...
tooooo..."  Ryouko's voice lowered toward a moan and finally
failed entirely.  Tenchi opened his eyes in time to see three
circles of blazing green appear on his lover's forehead and then
fade just as quickly.  The glow of the gems faded with them and
Ryouko collapsed, falling forward into Tenchi's waiting arms.  She
panted faintly and her skin was covered in a sheen of perspiration
which Tenchi gently wiped from her forehead.

	*Gods, what did they do to her?* Tenchi wondered as he
cradled Ryouko in his arms, *I didn't think anything like that
would happen... Maybe I should go get Washuu, she looked like she
was in pain...*

	//No, I'm fine.//

	Tenchi held Ryouko back away from him far enough to look at
her face.  She was smiling.  The voice in his mind had been his
own, the one all his thoughts normally occurred in, but here was
something about it... A Ryouko-ness that separated the words from
his own internal monologue.

	*Ryouko?  Was that you?*

	Ryouko shook her head, the concentration was plain on
Tenchi's face.

	//No, Tenchi, not like that.  Like This.//  Something..
twisted.. in Tenchi's mind.  It was like flexing a muscle he had
never known he had, somewhere near the back of his head.  Tenchi
felt around it mentally, sure that it hadn't been there before.

	//Ryouko?// Tenchi thought, twisting that strange..thing in
his head.

	Ryouko nodded.

	"But.. how?"  Tenchi's eyes were full of confusion as he
stared at the woman in his arms.

	//The gems Tenchi,// Ryouko told him mentally, //It must be
like what happened on your birthday.  The gem I had was linked
with the others when you claimed Tenchi-ken, Washuu told me that
that was how I gained my empathy with you.  It only received part
of the partial imprinting that the gems took when the sword
aligned itself with you.  The other two were actually a part of
the sword at the time and received nearly the whole thing.  Mom
told me once that this might happen when you gave me the gems
back, but I was so happy just being with you that I hardly thought
about them.  I'm sorry Tenchi, I should have warned you.//

	Tenchi smiled and kissed her forehead, searching for that new
part of his mind once more.  //Don't be sorry, this is.. amazing.
I was so afraid when you collapsed like that, I thought the gems
had hurt you...// Tenchi found glimpses of his memories of that
recent moment flashing across the link through which he spoke to
her.

	Ryouko grinned and shook her head.  //No, they didn't hurt.
It was... Let me show you.// Ryouko touched her fingers to
Tenchi's temples and looked at him for approval.  When he nodded
she reached out through their new bond again, //Brace yourself,
Tenchi...//

	Tenchi stiffened as Ryouko let the memory pour through her
mind and into his.  Unlike Ryouko, Tenchi's eyes remained open.
In fact, Ryouko noticed apprehensively, they seemed to be
stretched wider than normal.  When Tenchi began to shudder against
her Ryouko stopped the flow of feeling, closing the link between
them.  But Tenchi didn't relax.  Ryouko drew back as Tenchi's
shivers became shakes, his muscles trembling as they all pulled
against one another simultaneously.  Tenchi's mouth opened but no
sound came out.  He rose slowly to his feet, his arms stretched
out to his sides as he continued the horrible, silent scream.
Ryouko backed away, her hand over her mouth in horror as she
watched Tenchi tremble in place.  *Oh god, what did I do?  What
happened?  It felt so good when the gems transferred back to me,
what's happening to him?*

	Tenchi's eyes grew even wider and she heard his joints
popping as his muscles tried to pull them all in opposing
directions at once. The marks of his birthright flared on his
forehead and Ryouko could feel the power rolling off of him in
waves.

	//Mom!  Help!//

	Washuu was there, Ryouko thought she might have arrived even
before she sent the panicked message along their link.

	"Wha.. what's happening to him, mom?  What did I do?  Oh god,
what did I do?"

	Tenchi's feet lifted off the floor and he hung, arms spread
and head tilted backward, suspended by nothing visible.  The flood
of Jurai energy was almost overwhelming, Ryouko was forced to step
back away from him.  Washuu, she saw, was also backing away.
Ryouko caught her mother's eye and sent a wordless plea across
their bond, but Washuu only shook her head.  The fear in the
scientist's eyes told Ryouko all she needed, her mother had no
more idea what was happening than she did.

	"Tenchi!  What's going on in there Tenchi?!"  Aeka and Sasami
burst through the doorway just as the Lighthawk wings shimmered
into being in front of Tenchi's floating body.  Aeka screamed and
fell to her knees, clutching the tiara-form key on her forehead.
It was glowing with an eerie silver light, but she tugged at it as
though it were burning her skin.  Sasami knelt next to her sister,
futilely tugging at the tiara.

	Ryouko looked back from them to Tenchi.  The wings had grown
in opacity.  Where they had always appeared as gossamer sheets of
energy before, they now seemed almost solid.  Tiny arcs of green-
white flame leapt between them and thicker veins of it slowly grew
between the hovering wings and Tenchi's body.  Aeka's key
skittered across the floor where she threw it, finally having
wrenched it from her head.  It glowed so brightly now that it was
painful to look at, but seemed positively dim compared to the
light flaring from the marks on Tenchi's forehead.

	"What's happening Aeka?  What's wrong with him?  Help him!
Someone!"  Ryouko was sobbing now, tears streaming down her face
as she watched Tenchi slowly being enshrouded in those strange
green flames.

	All at once the fires and the wings winked out.  Tenchi fell
to the floor, landing heavily on his feet.  Ryouko started to rush
forward but stopped in her tracks when Tenchi raised his head from
where it had fallen, chin against his chest.  His eyes were on
fire.  Where his familiar brown eyes had been were now two holes
into a blazing green inferno.  The marks on his forehead were
still there, glowing with such intensity that they, like his eyes,
appeared more like holes into some green abyss than marks on his
body.  There was absolutely no expression on Tenchi's face as he
raised his hands, his muscles had become completely slack and were
he not moving Ryouko would have sworn he was dead.  When Tenchi's
hands came together in front of his chest the Lighthawk sword
exploded into them.  The blade dripped tongues of blue fire over
his hands to land, hissing, on the carpet and sputter out.  Tenchi
turned slowly, leveling those horrible green portals that had
taken the place of his eyes on each of them in turn.  Finally he
turned back to Ryouko and stepped forward, raising the gleaming
brand over his head.

	STOP.

	Tenchi stopped.

	FIND YOURSELF, MASAKI TENCHI.  YOUR POWER WAS NOT GIVEN FOR
THIS.

	Ryouko looked to the source of the voice, if it could be
called that.  It was more like the world was vibrating to a tune
than any sort of speech.  The meaning came across clearly, searing
itself into her mind, and she could feel its source, but it could
not truly be called a 'voice.'

	Sasami's mouth opened and the voice rang through the universe
once more.

	FIND YOURSELF, MASAKI TENCHI, it repeated.

	Tenchi collapsed to the floor in a heap, the blazing fury of
the Lighthawk sword winking out, the green fire vanishing with it
from his eyes and forehead.

	Ryouko's eyes shifted back and forth between Tenchi lying
unmoving on the floor and Sasami where she stood by the door, lit
by some undefinable light.

	"What... Is he..."

	HE LIVES, RYOUKO, Sasami's mouth moved in time with the words
once more.  Ryouko stared at her, at the strangeness of her eyes.
They were still Sasami's, still the pink orbs which had so often
looked at her in concern or happiness, but there was something
more there.  Looking into them was like falling into a void.  She
could see age in their depths, age beyond anything she had ever
imagined.  They were eyes, she knew without knowing how, that had
watched the birth and death of stars.  Of universes.

	"Are you..." Ryouko still could not seem to form a full
sentence.

	WE ARE TSUNAMI.  The power of the statement blasted through
Ryouko's mind like a tornado.  Where the world seemed to ring like
a struck bell with Tsunami's voice before, this was stated in a
reverberation like a detonating sun.  With it came a deep sadness,
a heart-wrenchingly awful loneliness like nothing Ryouko had ever
experienced.  In all the centuries she spent in her cave Ryouko's
loneliness never came close to touching on the depths of sadness
embodied by the goddess' emotion.

	Ryouko fell to her knees.  She had never knelt to anything in
her thousands of years of existence, but the power in Tsunami...
The age, the horrible, timeless age...

	STAND, RYOUKO.  I APPEAR TO YOU AS A FRIEND, NOT AS A GOD.

	Ryouko stumbled back to her feet, keeping her head lowered
both out of respect and of a desire not to look into those
timeless orbs again.  "But," Ryouko stuttered, thinking of how
Tsunami had appeared before, "You... Before... What did you..."

	I APPEARED BEFORE IN MY ASTRAL FORM.  THIS IS MY BODY, MY
TRUE SELF.  I AM SORRY FOR FRIGHTENING YOU, BUT TIME RUNS FAST
HERE AND I HAVE LITTLE TO SPARE.

	Ryouko summoned all her resolve and managed a full question,
"Will Tenchi be okay?"

	I RETURN HIM TO YOU.  TAKE CARE OF HIM.  Tsunami looked
momentarily distracted, then continued, I MUST GO. THERE ARE OTHER
WORLDS THAN THIS AND MY ATTENTION CANNOT BE DIVIDED NOW.  FARE
WELL, MASAKI RYOUKO.

	And she was gone.  Sasami was still there, still standing in
exactly the same position, but the presence of Tsunami was gone.

	*Masaki,*  Ryouko thought as the light of the room faded back
to normal, all trace of the many forms of supernatural
illumination now gone.  *She called me Masaki.  But Tenchi hasn't
proposed to me yet, I'm still Hakubi.  Why?*

	Ryouko went to her fallen lover and checked him for injuries.
Aeka and Washuu were slowly coming to, rising from the positions
where they had fallen unconscious at Tsunami's first word.
Grasped tightly in Tenchi's fist she found a short length of blue
ribbon, slightly frayed along one edge.  Ryouko had no idea what
it was, but for Tenchi to have held on to it through all that it
must be tremendously important to him.  She carefully took it out
of his now limp fingers and placed it in his desk drawer before
returning to kneel beside him, cradling his head in her lap while
she waited for him to regain consciousness.  Tsunami promised he
would live and Ryouko could find nowhere within herself the
ability to doubt the goddess' words.

* * *