**Note**
**This is chapter two of On Pale Wings I Fly.  If you have not
**read chapter one, you are in the wrong place.  All disclaimers
**and such from chapter one apply to this chapter as well.
** -- Krin (krin@hotmal.com)
**/Note**

					   -- two --
					    friends


	"Come On Sammy, we're gonna be late!"

	Sasami covered her cellular phone with her hand and turned to
say, "Okay Eto, I'll be right there!"

	"So I'm gonna be kinda late, okay Tenchi?"  Sasami said into
the phone.

	"No problem, Sasami.  Ryouko and I are going out to dinner
tonight so if you get home and we're not there make sure you start
getting packed.  We're leaving early tomorrow morning."

	"Okay, Tenchi.  I'll talk to you later, Eto wants me to
hurry."

	"Alright,"  Tenchi's voice came from the hot pink phone as
Sasami lowered it from her ear to end the call, "Have fun with
your friends."

*Like I ever leave anything until the last minute,* Sasami thought
indignantly as she pulled her book-bag out of her locker and,
making sure it was empty, shut the door for the last time.  "Okay
Eto, I'm ready."

	"Finally,"  Eto sighed, "Girls, I swear..."

	"Girls what?"  Sasami asked, looking at him with raised
eyebrows and one hand on her hip.

	"Nothing,"  Eto said defensively, raising his hands in
surrender, "Nothing!  Come on Sammy, we're gonna miss everybody if
we don't hurry."

	Sasami nodded and took Eto's hand, signaling that she forgave
him for his almost comment about her gender.  They walked sedately
to the door leading out of the school, then broke into a run
immediately outside it.  School was out for summer break and,
though Sasami had thoroughly enjoyed the term, she shared her
friends' excitement at the sudden freedom.  They would be leaving
for Okayama tomorrow, but today she was still in Tokyo and she had
all the afternoon and evening ahead of her with her new friends.

* * *

	Tenchi dropped the phone back into its cradle and looked down
at the paper on his table.  In theory he was working on a project
for his structural engineering class.  The semester was over
already, of course, but he would have the same professor for the
second term class and he had given work to be ready at the
beginning of the fall semester.  In reality Tenchi had spent most
of the last hour sketching in the margin of his work.  He looked
at the sketch, a recreation of a photo that he knew stood on the
mantle back home, it depicted his family standing clustered under
Funaho, Washuu and Sasami standing together in the middle with
opposite hands raised in V's.  Tenchi sighed and officially
abandoned his homework by gently shading Washuu's hair.

	"Who was on the phone Tenchi?"  Ryouko entered the livingroom
from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a cloth.  She had spent the
morning cleaning up around the apartment so nothing would be left
to fester during their absence for the summer.

	"Sasami,"  Tenchi answered without looking up, "She's going
out with her friends."

	"You mean with Eto."

	Tenchi looked up and arched an eyebrow, "Yeah, I think Eto
was going.  Why?"

	Ryouko sighed and sat down on the back of the couch so she
could continue facing him.  "I think she has a crush on that boy."

	"Really?"  Tenchi asked, startled by the concept, "I had no
idea.  Guess I'm not very good at picking up on those things."

	Ryouko chuckled and folded the dishrag absently, "Tell me
something I don't know Tenchi.  I worry about him though, I'm not
sure I trust him with her."

	"You sound almost like Aeka," Tenchi teased, but Ryouko
remained serious.

	"I can't blame the princess," Ryouko sighed, "Sasami's
growing up fast.  She almost acts like a normal teenager now.
Well, as normal as any of her friends anyway."

	Tenchi chuckled, "So what if she does like him a little?
What's the worst that can happen?  A couple kisses behind the
school?"

	Ryouko looked up at him with raised eyebrows and asked, "Have
you actually looked at Sasami lately, Tenchi?  Even you probably
would have wanted to get in her pants at that age."

	"She's still only twelve Ryouko, do you really think she's
going to go further than a kiss?"

	Ryouko shook her head, biting her lip in concern, "I don't
know Tenchi.  She may only have been alive and aware for twelve
years, but she doesn't have the body of a twelve year old, or the
feelings of a twelve year old, and at least some part of her mind
is a goddess older than the universe."

	"So you think Tsunami is out looking for some action?"

	Ryouko tossed the dishrag at his head, but Tenchi dodged it.
"I'm serious Tenchi!  What if she does something with that boy?
Aeka would never forgive me!"

	"I'm sorry Ryouko, I just don't think it should be a concern.
You're right, Sasami is very mature for her age, but I think that
will give her some restraint, not take it away.  And I don't think
Eto's such a bad kid.  Kind of odd sometimes, but not a bad kid."

	Ryouko sighed, "You're probably right Tenchi, but Aeka
entrusted me to watch out for Sasami and I worry."

	Tenchi stood and went to her, wrapping his arms around her
and resting her head on his shoulder, "I know you do honey.  We're
going back home tomorrow and you won't have to worry about it for
a while.  Sasami's been a good girl all the time we've been here,
I think she'll survive one more night while we go out to dinner."

	Ryouko chuckled and nodded.  "Come on, we've got to get ready
or we'll be late."

	Tenchi looked at the clock hanging on the wall and said,
"It's only four o'clock, our reservation isn't until seven."

	"You know how long it takes you to get into that thing, and
we'll have to go pick up Ai."

	Tenchi leaned down and kissed her in answer.

	"Mmm," Ryouko breathed afterward, but placed her finger
across his lips when Tenchi leaned in for another kiss.  "We have
to get ready," Ryouko repeated, trying to sound stern.

	Tenchi rolled his eyes dramatically and said, "Yes ma'am,
whatever you say ma'am, I live only to please you ma'am."

	Ryouko laughed, "Come on, lets get you into your kimono."

* * *

	Mataeo looked at himself in the mirror and prodded his short
brown hair again with the comb but it stayed essentially as it
always did, poking out in every direction.  Mataeo never dared let
his grow much longer than the inch or so it was now, he was afraid
of what he might look like with it long.  Standing back from the
wall a bit Mataeo straightened his kimono and posed dramatically.
He thought it looked much better now that he had traded in his
glasses for contact lenses, the combination of modern eyewear and
ancient clothing had always been too much of an anachronism to
work.

	*Don't know what Ai sees in me,* Mataeo thought as he shifted
poses, *But it's not my devilish good looks.*  Not that he was
really all that hard on the eyes.  Mataeo knew he looked fairly
average really, but there was nothing outstanding about his
appearance.  His face was slightly long for someone of his
culture, but not so much as to be unattractive.  He was strong,
but it was a wiry sort of strength, not the kind that came with
impressively bulging muscles.  Mataeo sighed and tossed his comb
back onto the dresser thinking, "At least I can afford a decent
kimono.*

	Mataeo's father was sufficiently generous that he could
easily have acquired the money for a much more expensive one, but
he felt uncomfortable with spending his father's money, no matter
how often Natsuri tried to throw it at him as a replacement for
affection.  No, the money for his current attire and for the bill
he would pay for himself and Ai at dinner tonight came from the
savings he carefully hoarded from his wages at the gym teaching
children Akido on the weekends and, once in a while, an evening
Bushido class for a few business men.

	It was the same job which had, indirectly, led to he and Ai
going to dinner at a restaurant where traditional dress was the
norm.  Mataeo glanced at the clock and, seeing that it would be a
while before his friends were due to arrive, sat down to wait.
Thinking about the planned acitivities for the evening Mataeo's
musings led eventually to remembering how he had met Tenchi and
Ryouko.


	It was back at the beginning of January, before the start of
the spring half-semester classes he and Ai had been forced by
scheduling delays to take instead of full term ones.  Tenchi and
Ryouko had taken the same schedule, though out of preference
rather than from lack of options.  Mataeo took Ai to the gym a few
days after being hired on to teach the Akido classes so she could
see the place.  She was over on one of the weight machines while
he worked his way through a kata and noticed, in mid-kick,  Tenchi
and Ryouko standing against one wall, watching him.  They would
have stuck out even had the gym not been fairly uncrowded.  Cyan
haired women and long-haired Japanese men were not a common sight.
Mataeo found out later that Ryouko had been trying to talk Tenchi
into challenging him to a match and Mataeo was glad now that she
eventually succeeded.

	Tenchi was good, but Mataeo could tell he had done most of
his training with a weapon.  With a sword in his hands Mataeo
didn't think he would have had much of a chance against Tenchi,
but open handed the fight was weighted more heavily in his
direction.  Mataeo didn't recognize the style Tenchi used,
something like tai-chi, and he had yet to get his friend to
divulge so much as the name, only that he learned it from his
grandfather.  Whatever it was, the technique was solid and Tenchi
was fast, but Mataeo had studied Akido for most of his life.  It
was a long, grueling match, but eventually Mataeo found himself
holding Tenchi pinned to the mat, one hand poised over his throat,
as Ai, Ryouko, and a dozen other gym patrons who had interrupted
their workouts to watch came forward clapping and offering praise
for the show.

	As Mataeo helped Tenchi back to his feet the strange young
man stunned him by asking, "Will you teach me?"  Mataeo had had
opponents ask to be taught before, but never one who he had to try
so hard to defeat, and Tenchi didn't even know he was a teacher.
Eventually he bowed and agreed, asking later why Tenchi had chosen
him when there were so many others in the area who were better
know.  "Because you can beat me," Tenchi replied simply, "In all
the years I learned from my grandfather I never won against him,
not once.  Others might have the technical ability, but
Grandfather would say you have the heart of a warrior."

	Since then their friendship had grown to extend outside of
the gym.  Mataeo was majoring in engineering, but he shared some
of the more basic classes with Tenchi.  Ai was in foreign studies,
she wanted to become a translator, and since Ryouko seemed to have
an amazing aptitude for picking up on foreign customs they got
along well.  About a month after school started the Masakis
invited them out to dinner.  Not that they called themselves the
Masakis.  Ryouko's name was Hakubi, though she always looked
distantly wistful when she admitted it, and Sasami's was Jurai,
but Mataeo and Ai usually referred to their friends as 'the
Masakis' when they were alone.  It suited the trio.  They went out
to a little place in a relatively undeveloped part of town that
Tenchi said they had stumbled across accidentally.  Mataeo didn't
see how they had found it at all, there wasn't even a sign
outside.  In any case, stepping through the low doorway of the
little restaurant was like walking back in time.  Inside
everything was decorated in traditional style, the light came
candle-lit paper lanterns and a few oil lamps, everyone from the
waitresses to the patrons dressed in traditional styles, and most
evenings there was a Noh performance.  The owners of the place had
even somehow procured a permit to allow their customers to wear
swords.  Mataeo chuckled at the memory of being presented with a
waiver at the door and his reaction to the 'waives the right to
prosecute the establishment in the event of injury during a sword
fight while on the premises' line.

	Now they went there once a week, occasionally skipping a week
when school pressed in too heavily on their time.  Sasami joined
them a few times, but she was not as caught up in the mystique of
ancient Japan as the rest of them so usually elected to skip it.
Mataeo and Ai had discussed Sasami a few times between themselves,
but still had been unable to figure out the relationship between
the teenage girl, Tenchi, and Ryouko.  She said she was sixteen,
though she looked closer to nineteen, and Tenchi and Ryouko were
both twenty-one, so it was physically impossible for her to be
their daughter.  There was absolutely no resemblance between her
and either of them, so she obviously was neither's sister.  The
three of them always said Sasami was Tenchi's cousin, but never
offered any explanation as to why she was living with the two of
them, or why she had transferred in the middle of the school year
from Kurashiki to a highschool here in Tokyo to do it.  But then,
there were a lot of odd little things about the Masakis and Mataeo
had gotten used to ignoring them.  Tenchi was the best friend
Mataeo had ever had, mostly because his father's position at his
company intimidated the parents of other children and Mataeo
rarely had anyone to play with as a child.  Ai was very close to
Ryouko as well, which was somewhat odd for Ai since she normally
didn't make friends with other women, she thought most women were
too timid.  So when one of the Masakis said something bizarre or
some odd new facet of their lives popped up, Mataeo and Ai tried
their best to ignore it.  There was, for instance, the fact that
previous to moving to Tokyo the three of them apparently lived
with Tenchi's father and grandfather, Sasami's older sister,
Ryouko's mother, and some other woman named Mihoshi.  It wasn't
really odd for a large family to live in the same house of course,
especially since Tenchi's family was Shinto, but Mataeo had no
idea how Mihoshi fit in.  Or why Sasami and her sister lived with
their distant cousin rather than their parents who were,
apparently, still alive.  The whole 'mommy Misaki' and 'mommy
Funaho' thing Mataeo chose not to touch, he didn't think he wanted
to know the story behind that.  Then there was Ryou-ohki.  Sasami
seemed extremely attached to Ryou-ohki, though whether Ryou-ohki
was an animal or a person neither Mataeo nor Ai could discern.

	And to top it all off, they were rich.  At least, Mataeo was
fairly sure they were.  Tenchi never flashed wads of Yen or
anything, but an apartment in Tokyo the size of theirs must cost a
small fortune.  Mataeo, coincidentally enough, lived in the same
building, but his apartment was on the ground floor and only
slightly larger in total than their livingroom.  What had really
convinced him was when Tenchi quietly offered one day to pay plane
fare for Mataeo and Ai to go home for the summer.  He didn't know
how well off Mataeo's father was, which was mainly because Mataeo
didn't like talking about it and usually tried to spend as little
of his parent's money as possible.  They had refused their
friend's generous offer, of course, but Mataeo knew it had been in
earnest and that if he were to ask now Tenchi would still follow
through on it.  He knew how much plane tickets back to Hong Kong
would have cost, and it was not cheap.  His father had made a
similar offer, which had also been politely refused.  Not that
Mataeo and Ai did not want to go home for the summer, they missed
their families as much as anyone would, but neither liked spending
their parents' money and since Mataeo was dead set against
indenting himself any further to his father Ai decided to stay in
Tokyo with him.

	Mataeo's thoughts shifted focus to center around Ai and he
sighed.  He wished he could give her what she wanted.  It seemed
like every time they were together anymore she would start hinting
around, and sometimes just bluntly stating, that she wanted to
move in with him.  He knew it was a logical move, the savings on
bills alone would justify it.  And he did want to move their
relationship along, he had been with Ai for a long time now and
knew he would never find anyone better, but somehow the thought of
inviting her to live with him just did not seem right.  Whenever
she brought it up he would get flustered and try to change the
subject or just leave outright.  He knew how it hurt her and
wished he understood why he was doing it, but he just couldn't
seem to bring himself to even think seriously about it without
getting nervous.

	The knock at Mataeo's door startled him out of his musings
and he realized he had been sitting there for a half hour dwelling
on the past and his current problems.  Grabbing his keys and
wallet Mataeo headed for the door to greet his friends.  Tenchi
was in his usual grey, black, and red kimono.  He had mentioned
that he would need to get another one what with the changing
seasons, and actually the colors were already out of style for the
season, but he looked so natural in them that Mataeo had trouble
picturing Tenchi in anything brightly colored.  Ryouko, on the
other hand, was wearing one of her numerous yukata, a slightly
off-white summer kimono decorated with a subtle pattern of lily
blossoms in navy blue.

	"Evening Mat," Tenchi greeted his friend with a small bow,
"Ready?"

	Mataeo nodded saying, "Yep, I called Ai a while ago and she
said she would be ready when we got there.  Sasami not coming
tonight?"

	"She's out with her friends," Tenchi explained.  Mataeo
thought he saw a flash of something cross Ryouko's features when
Tenchi said it, but she smiled again and he forgot about it
quickly.

	When they piled into Tenchi's car, another reason Mataeo
thought the Masakis must have money, he noticed that Tenchi was
wearing his sword again.  The only other time he had worn it there
had been trouble and Mataeo hoped there wouldn't be a repetition
of that.  A fair portion of the male patrons he saw there wore a
sword, but they were generally just decorative.  Mataeo knew that
Tenchi's sword was far from decorative, he'd seen proof of that
with his own eyes.


	The last time Tenchi had worn his sword to the restaurant
another man, reeking of sake, decided to challenged him over it.
The drunkard said that the very distinctively carved ivory handle
was clearly from his great-great-great grandfather's collection
and that Tenchi had no right to carry it.  Tenchi had looked up
from their table and said that it was a gift from his grandfather
and that while he had no idea how he might have come by the sword
before giving to him for his birthday, it most certainly was not
stolen from the man's ancestor and requested that he leave them
alone.  The man had become angry, pulled his own sword, a cheap
looking thing that he probably bought at a store in the mall, and
challenged Tenchi to hand over the blade or defend himself.
Mataeo would never forget the look in Tenchi's eyes as he looked
up the blade of the drunken man and said, "Put that away, you
don't want this."

	Mataeo knew that if someone had looked at him like that and
said those words that way, he would have stepped down, no matter
how much sake he had in him.  But the other man was apparently
either too brave, too drunk, or too stupid.  He lunged at Tenchi
with the sword, but Tenchi whipped himself to the side and the
blade hit only air.  Tenchi rose to his feet when the man started
waving the sword around again and said, "Put it away, you're going
to hurt someone."

	By then the other patrons had stopped eating and were
watching the exchange, along with the frightened staff and the two
toughs the restaurant had to throw out people who did exactly that
sort of thing.  They weren't stupid enough to rush a guy with a
sword though, no matter how drunk he appeared to be, so they were
hanging back to see what would happen first.

	The man didn't put his weapon away despite Tenchi's second
warning.  He swung it around in a wild arc and Ryouko had to duck
to avoid it slicing her hair.  When Tenchi saw that he growled,
"That was a mistake."

	Mataeo didn't even see the sword out of its sheath.  He heard
the sound of metal on metal, saw Tenchi's hand moving to and from
the handle of his katana, and saw the other man's blade shatter
from the impact, but he never saw Tenchi's steel leave its sheath.
After the drunkard backed away in horror, holding up the jagged
stump of his toy sword, Tenchi sat back down and apologized for
interrupting dinner.  The toughs grabbed the other man and threw
him out, but none of the restaurant staff said a word to Tenchi.

* * *

	"Excuse me," Ai said as she stood up from the table, "I need
to go powder my nose."  Tenchi blinked, he did not know anyone
still used that phrase.  Ryouko stood up as well, saying, "Me too,
you boys be good while we're gone."

	When the girls were well away Tenchi leaned forward and
asked, "Why do women always go to the bathroom in pairs?  What
could possibly be so important in there for them to talk about?"

	Mataeo laughed, "Don't know Tenchi, I've often wondered that
myself."  Mataeo sighed then, taking a sip from his small,
steaming cup of sake.  His humour vanished entirely as he looked
back up at Tenchi and said, "You know, I really admire you
Tenchi."

	Tenchi looked at his friend in confusion.  Mataeo was
normally fairly reserved about saying things like that, and in any
case Tenchi would never have expected Mat to look up to him, of
all people.  Tenchi wished he could get the kind of grades Mataeo
seemed to earn without even trying, and even after months of
practice with him Tenchi still could not get the best of his
friend on the gym mat.  "Why me, Mat?  What have I  ever done
that's admirable?"

	Mataeo chuckled and took another sip of his sake, "What don't
you do, Tenchi?  The rest of us are stumbling through life from
one spot to the next, just trying to figure out how to get from
here to there.  But you, you walk through life like it's just a
day in the park."

	Tenchi shook his head.  Mataeo must have had too much to
drink, he did that occasionally.  "I don't understand Mat, I just
do what everybody does."

	"No, Tenchi," Mataeo said with sudden intensity, "You don't
do what everybody does.  I don't know what it is about you, but
you're different.  Even just with normal things, like Ryouko."

	Tenchi chuckled, "Ryouko is most definitely not normal."

	"Yeah, yeah, but that's what I mean," Mataeo said leaning
forward across the table, "Look at you two.  You're barely in
college and yet you're like an old married couple.  Then here I
am, Ai all over me all the time to let her move in with me, and I
don't even know why I don't say yes!  I think she even thinks I'm
cheating on her because anymore every time we're together she
starts in on me about commitment and I run.  What I wouldn't give
to be you for a day, Tenchi.  It's like you've got everything all
planned out and you're just going along the path."

	"I don't have anything planned out Mataeo," Tenchi said
gently, "Believe me.  I don't even know what I'm doing after
college.  And I don't do anything special with Ryouko," Tenchi
shrugged uncomfortably, he had trouble talking about their
relationship with other people, "I just do what feels right."

	Mataeo shook his head, "That's just it Tenchi.  The rest of
us can't do that.  If we did everything that felt right we'd end
up living out in a ditch somewhere, but you do it and everything
turns out great in the end.  Most guys would give their right arm
for a girl like Ryouko, but she fawns all over you and you just
take it all in.  Most parents can barely control their teenage
kids, if they can at all, but you give your cousin, or whatever
Sasami is, the word and she jumps.  You fight like somebody out of
an old story, you've learned Akido in a few months almost as well
as I have in half my life, and after months of asking old men at
the gym I still haven't found anybody who knows where the hell you
learned that other style.  Who Are you Tenchi?  Some kind of god
come back to live with us mortals?  What?"

	Tenchi shook his head and absently moved the bottle of sake
out of Mataeo's reach.  "I'm nobody, Mat.  I'm just a guy like
everybody else.  I had some weird stuff happen to me a few years
ago, and I moved on.  Would you believe I knew Ryouko for four
years before I fell in love with her?  I never know what to say to
her and half the time I feel like I'm taking her for granted.
Sasami listens to me because she wants to, not because I do
anything special.  The only thing I do any different than anybody
else is that I stopped just letting things happen to me.  Two
years ago you wouldn't have admired me, you would have wanted to
hit me over the head for being so passive.

	"If you want to fix what's wrong between you an Ai, tell her
how you feel.  Let her move in with you, you won't regret it.
I've seen you two together, you're not going to find someone
better than her any sooner than I'm going to find someone better
than Ryouko.  We're damn lucky guys Mat, and the only difference
between you and me is that I went through some really weird stuff
that made me wake up and stop letting life happen to me while I
watched and wished I could do something about it."

	Mataeo sighed and sat back, "I wish it were that easy,
Tenchi."

	"It Is that easy."  Tenchi leaned over and poked his friend
in the chest, "You know deep down you want Ai to move in with you.
You're nervous because it's new and different and you're afraid
you'll screw it up."

	Mataeo sighed, "I think part of it is because of my Dad.
We've lived in Hong Kong most of my life, but he comes from a very
traditional family.  He wouldn't even talk to me for most of a
month when he found out I was dating Ai outside a group and
without him talking to her father.  Mom isn't so bad about stuff
like that and she eventually talked him around to being okay with
it, but I think he would disown me if Ai moved in before we were
married.  He'd probably disown me right now if he knew I stay over
at her place some nights.  His marriage to mom was arranged before
she was born but they were never alone together until after the
ceremony, I don't even want to think about how he'd react if he
knew about me and Ai."

	"Well how do you feel about it?"  Tenchi asked carefully.
His father had always told him that traditions like that were
silly, that love was what really mattered, but he knew a lot of
his fellow countrymen still took it very seriously.

	"I don't know," Mataeo sighed, "I don't think there's
anything wrong with living with someone before you're married if
you're in love...  I guess that's kind of western of me, but does
anybody really take that kami stuff seriously anymore?  Our whole
society is full of people who want one thing and do another
because it's what's proper and expected.  Now here I am, stuck
wanting to get closer to Ai but holding myself back because of
tradition.  And even though I pretty much know that's what it is
now, it's like there's nothing I can do about it."

	"Believe me, Mat, I know how you feel."

	"So how do you deal with it?"

	"I don't," Tenchi sighed, "I just do seems right and hope
it's the right thing to do."

	Mataeo snorted and Tenchi shook his head, "When Ai gets back
from the bathroom, tell her you want her to move in.  Do it now,
while you're too drunk to be nervous.  If you let it go eventually
she's going to stop asking and you're going to regret it for the
rest of your life.  Trust me, I know all about regretting letting
things wait."

	"Alright," Mataeo sighed, "Maybe you're right.  But I'll only
do it right here and now if you'll tell me what happened to you.
I want to know where you come from Masaki."

	Tenchi's head whipped up and his eyes bored into Mataeo like
a diamond-tipped drill.  "What did you call me?"  Tenchi's voice
was low and dangerous, like the time with the drunk guy, but worse
somehow.

	Mataeo shook his head, startled by his friend's sudden shift
in mood.  "Did I say something wrong?  You know how I get after a
few too many of these..."  Mataeo held up his empty sake cup and
tried to grin disarmingly, but it failed miserably under Tenchi's
penetrating gaze.

	"You called me by my family name.  Why?  Why did you do that
Mat?  You never call me that.  Are you Mat?"  Tenchi leaned
forward, his hand going to the hilt of his sword.

	Mataeo felt the pleasant mugginess inspired by the sake he'd
been drinking with dinner drain out of him, leaving him stone cold
sober.  "Woah, Tenchi, calm down.  It's your name, right?"

	Tenchi stared at him hard and, for a fraction of a second,
Mataeo thought he saw a green light flashing in his friend's eyes.
Finally, when Mataeo was afraid he would just stand up and behead
him right there, Tenchi leaned back and took his hand off of his
sword.  "Never do that Mat, never."

	Mataeo's heart slowed gradually as Tenchi remained calm and
he said, "Alright Tenchi, I won't.  That's part of the 'weird
stuff' too, right?"

	Tenchi nodded distractedly, "Yeah.  Something like that."

* * *

	"How do you do it Ryouko?"

	Ryouko looked at Ai in the mirror.  They both stood at the
long, marble-topped counter in front of the mirror in the little
restaurant's women's bathroom. Ai was re-applying her lipstick and
Ryouko was checking to make sure her hair hadn't escaped the
careful braid she wore it in when coming here.  "Do what?"

	Ai sighed and put her lipstick away before saying, "You and
Tenchi, how do you two do it?"

	Ryouko looked at her friend in confusion, not at all sure
what she was being asked.  "Do what?"  She repeated.

	"You know, how do you two keep it together?  You're the same
age Mat and I are, but it's like you've been married for a decade.
I can't even get Mat to let me move in with him."

	Ryouko shrugged, she'd never really thought about how she
acted with Tenchi, she just did whatever felt natural.  "I don't
know Ai, I just do.. whatever, you know?"

	Ai shook her head sadly, "I wish I did.  I love Mat, and he
loves me, but he's so afraid of commitment...  I think he even
thinks I think he's cheating on me, but I know he's not.  I almost
wish he was, then at least I'd know why he doesn't want to get any
more serious with me.  How did you get Tenchi to invite you to
live with him?

	Ryouko considered the question and how best she might answer
it.  Ai liked talking about relationships and feelings, and thanks
to her tendency to drive the conversation in that direction Ryouko
could now discuss Tenchi without finding herself constantly either
at a loss for words or too embarrassed to say them.  Most of the
time.  Ryouko still couldn't bring herself to talk about sex with
her friend, which Ai liked to tease her about, and then sometimes
Ai would ask something that Ryouko simply had no answer for.  This
time was one of the latter.  Finally Ryouko chuckled and said,
"That's a really, Really long story Ai, and I don't think it would
work for you anyway."

	Ai looked at Ryouko quizzically, "What do you mean?"

	Ryouko sighed, "The way Tenchi and I met was kind of unusual,
and I wound up living with him before he was really interested in
me.  I guess I can't really give you and advice for getting Mat to
invite you to move in with him, but I know I chased after Tenchi
for a long time.  One day I stopped chasing so hard and that's
when I caught up with him."

	"So if I stop asking Mat about it, he'll let me move in?"

	Ryouko shook her head, "No, that's not really what I mean."
Ryouko stopped and tried to decide exactly what it was that she
meant.  Usually Ai was the one giving her advice when it came to
dealing with Tenchi, trying to reverse roles was confusing.
Suddenly inspiration struck in the form of Washuu.

	After Tsunami's words on Christmas night Ryouko had grown
increasingly anxious about Tenchi asking her to marry him.  She
knew it was silly, that of course Tenchi wanted to marry her and
was only waiting for the right time to ask.  But the more time
went by, the more she worried that the right time would never
come, that she would remain Hakubi Ryouko forever.  At the time
she had not yet felt comfortable talking intimately with Ai, and
could hardly explain about Tsunami in any case, so she went to her
mother.  Washuu helped her realize that she had been so nervous
about Tenchi never proposing that she had been carefully avoiding
even mentioning marriage.  Since then she had been dropping casual
hints about it and hoped that, one day, she would have the courage
to come right out and talk to him about it.

	Ryouko realized Ai was staring at her, probably wondering why
she stopped mid-thought for so long.  *This whole friends thing
certainly takes work,* Ryouko thought randomly, *Especially when
you can't talk about ninety percent of your life.*

	"If you stop talking about it," Ryouko said slowly but with
growing confidence in her own advice, "He'll probably think you're
not interested anymore.  Men are weird that way, you give them
what they want and then they forget they wanted it.  What I'm
saying is that you need to think about Why Mat isn't letting you
move in with him.  I wanted Tenchi for a long time, and all I ever
thought about was how much I loved him and how he should love me
back.  When I felt... When I thought about what he was feeling
instead of what I was feeling, I realized that by chasing so hard
I was driving him away.  Maybe if you try to figure out why Mataeo
isn't letting you get closer you can deal with it."

	Ai sighed, "I wish I knew what it is.  His parents have a
happy enough marriage and he had a couple of girlfriends before
me, but he never had any bad break ups or anything."

	"Well, maybe he just-" Ryouko stopped in mid-sentence,
staring at the wall separating them from the dining-room.
"Tenchi," she gasped, and was halfway to the door before Ai could
react to her friend's odd behavior.


	It was all Ryouko could do to keep herself from teleporting
out into the middle of the restaurant.  The fear and anger that
had surged across their bond had frightened her, but not half as
much as what she sensed even without the link established by her
gems.  Tenchi had, for just a moment, channeled Jurai energy.  In
the months since Christmas he had not touched it once and Ryouko
had not tried very hard to make him.  That night had shaken him
badly.  He wept uncontrollably for hours after he came to and told
her that he had been conscious and aware through the whole thing,
but unable to control his own body.

	When she let him feel the power flowing through her body when
she regained the gems Ryouko had unknowingly opened a dam in
Tenchi's mind that even he did not know existed.  His control over
his link to the Jurai power faltered for a moment and it surged
in, overwhelming his limited ability to focus it.  He told her it
was like having a wild animal in his head, tearing around and
around with no way for him to stop it.  He would have killed her,
he told her in a halting voice between sobs, he would have killed
all of them if Tsunami had not been attracted by the massive
concentration of power.  The Jurai power is only a force, it has
no will one way or another, but Tenchi told her that when it
entered his body it demanded to be used.  So much of it had
flooded into him that night that he had no way to control it, it
took over his mind and his body and sought to lash out at anything
nearby.  Because of the knowledge of her own powers stored within
Tenchi's memories it chose her as the most potentially harmful
target.  Since then he had been afraid to touch his gift, afraid
that if he opened himself to it, even a tiny bit, it would flood
through his control again and take over, and this time Tsunami
would not be there to stop it.  Ryouko couldn't think of anything
that would have made him change his mind while she was in the
bathroom talking to Ai, but the energy in the air was
unmistakable.

	Ryouko tried to rush back to the diningroom but got caught
between three arguing cooks.  //Tenchi,// she sent while trying to
extricate herself, //Are you okay?  What's happening out there?//

	His answer was long, tense moments in coming but finally he
returned, //It's alright Ryouko, Mat called me Masaki and I
overreacted.//  Images flashed through Ryouko's mind along with
the words, memories of confronting Shiko in the guest bedroom last
year, of the horrible thing that had used his face stalking toward
them in the hallway afterward, of the bruises covering most of
Aeka's body that took months to heal.

	//You... You didn't hurt him, did you Tenchi?//  In the time
since his birthday Tenchi had become a very gentle man, he hated
causing pain and studied martial arts now only because he was
almost obsessively concerned with protecting his family from
Tokimi, but she would never forget the look in his eyes that day
when she pulled him off of the thing he thought to be his cousin.
He would have killed him had she not interfered.  Once it was done
and rational thought returned he would have hated himself for it,
but Ryouko had no doubt that he would have beaten Shiko to death
with his bare hands had she not pulled him away.  The rage that
burned in his features had been unlike anything she had seen in
Tenchi before or since.  Except for on Christmas, Ryouko realized,
the awful green portals his eyes had become that night were almost
exactly like the empty holes of burning anger she had seen in the
guest bedroom.

	//No,// The voice in Ryouko's mind was, as always, her own,
but she could feel Tenchi's relief, //No, thank the gods I stopped
myself in time.  Mat isn't that thing and I couldn't...// The
stream of thoughts dissolved into a confusion of emotions, but
Ryouko knew what he was getting at.  Finally getting around the
angry cooks Ryouko straightened her kimono and walked more calmly
back out into the diningroom to rejoin Tenchi and Mataeo at the
table.  Tenchi was just finished apologizing to Mataeo when she
sat down and smiled at them, asking if she had missed anything
important.

	"Nah,"  Mataeo said with a grin, "Just us guys grunting at
each other over the last piece of meat."  Tenchi laughed and
Ryouko joined him.

	Ryouko was glad Tenchi had found such a good friend here in
Tokyo.  After higschool Tenchi purposefully lost touch with the
few acquaintances he had there, telling her that he had never been
particularly fond of them to begin with.  Since then she had
worried that Tenchi might have trouble finding any new friends,
what with having to keep pretty much everything that had happened
in the past few years a secret.  Ryouko had never really
considered her own social life, she was happy enough living with
Tenchi and had never really had any friends anyway.  She talked to
Aeka every few days via a phone call routed through Washuu's lab,
but it had come as a surprise when she found herself warming up to
Fujihara Ai.

	Ai reminded Ryouko a lot of herself in ways, she didn't take
crap from anybody and was almost fanatically devoted to Mataeo.
She was also a very skilled conversationalist and Ryouko seemed to
end up telling her more than she meant to every time they talked,
like nearly mentioning her temporary empathy during the
conversation in the bathroom.  She had not let slip anything
important so far, but Ai did drag more about her emotions and her
relationship with Tenchi out of her than Ryouko would have thought
possible.  One of these days Ryouko knew they were going to have
to either tell Mataeo and Ai the truth or end the friendship, but
she could not decide which would be worse.

	"Uh oh Mat, here she comes.  Well, what's it going to be?
Going to take my advice or not?"  Tenchi pointed discretely at Ai
as she approached from the hallway leading to the bathrooms.
Ryouko arched an eyebrow but did not ask.

	"I dunno Tenchi, you pretty much knocked the sake right out
of me.  If I do it will you live up to your end?  Tell me what
happened?"

	Tenchi looked uncomfortable and said slowly, "I... I don't
know if I can do that Mat, but I promise I'll think about it."

	"Then I'll think about my end too."

	Tenchi grimaced but tried to hide it as Ai sat down.

	//What was that about?//  Ryouko asked silently.

	//We were talking about life, Mataeo's worried that he's
losing Ai because he's afraid to let her move in.  I told him to
do it now, before it's too late.  He said he would, but only if
I'd tell him what happened to me over the past few years.//

	Ryouko expressed the mental equivalent of a comforting hug
across their bond and sent, //You know we have to tell them
eventually.  We can't hide it forever, and when Sasami and I never
get any older someone's bound to figure it out.//

	Tenchi sighed silently and sent, //Yeah, but how do you tell
your best friends that you've been lying to them for months?//

	"If I didn't know better I'd swear you two were telepathic or
something."  Ryouko and Tenchi started at Ai's sudden observation
and turned to look at her.

	"What.. what makes you say that, Ai?  Was I bending a
chopstick or something?"  Tenchi grinned nervously and picked up
one of his eating utensils, peering along the length at Mataeo.

	"No,"  Ai said seriously, "But the way you two stare at each
other sometimes... It's like your having a conversation nobody
else can hear.  And the way you said Tenchi's name and ran out of
the bathroom, it was spooky."

	"Sorry, Ai, I didn't mean to upset you."

	//See?//

	//They're on to us,// Tenchi returned jokingly, //We'll have
to put them in Washuu's stasis pod and replace them with replicas
before they expose our plot to take over the world.//

* * *

	"You want us to wait here, or you going to stay the night?"
Tenchi grinned at Mataeo where he stood on the sidewalk outside of
Ai's apartment.

	"I don't know if I'll stay the night,"  Mataeo said
thoughtfully, ignoring his friend's humorous tone, "But I think I
need to talk to her for a while.  You two go on, I'll catch a bus
home if I need to."

	Tenchi nodded and waved, "Good luck, and remember what I said
before."

	"Yeah,"  Mataeo replied seriously, "I'll remember.  Hey, if
I'm not at my place call over here before you leave tomorrow
alright?  Ai won't be happy if she doesn't get to say goodbye
before you're gone for the summer."

	Tenchi chuckled and agreed, "Sure thing Mat, talk to you
tomorrow."

* * *

	Kiyone glanced toward the bathroom door when the shower
stopped running and said quickly into her comm screen, "Alright,
I'll do it this one last time.  But if this one doesn't work, I
want you to give up on this, Washuu.  None of your ideas have
helped so far, and if we keep messing with her head she's going to
figure it out."

	The reddish-pink haired scientist nodded in the screen and
said, "If this one doesn't work I promise I won't try anything
else for a while."

	"That's not what I said!  I want you to quit trying to make
Mihoshi remember, period.  Not just for a while.  If she ever
remembers on her own, good for her, but if this one doesn't work I
want you to leave her alone."

	Washuu grimaced and grumbled, "You don't understand,
Kiyone..."

	"Maybe not,"  Kiyone agreed, "But I know that if this keeps
up Mihoshi's going to end up hurt.  Uh oh, here she comes, gotta
go."

	Kiyone cut the comm link just as Mihoshi stepped out of the
bathroom, immodestly naked and toweling her hair dry.  "Who was
that, Kiyone?"

	"Just Washuu,"  Kiyone said quickly, looking around for
something to look at besides her partner and finally settling on
the window screen, "She wanted to make sure we were still coming
back tomorrow."

	"I'm glad we're going back," Mihoshi's voice was muffled by
the towel as it fell all over her face while she tried to get it
wrapped around her hair, "Patrols are so Boring..."  Mihoshi
continued struggling with the towel, which managed to get caught
under her chin so that when she tried to pull it up and off of her
face it only strangled her.

	"Mihoshi,"  Kiyone sighed and got up to go help the blonde,
"You're the only person I know who can get stuck in a towel."
Mihoshi grinned at her when Kiyone pulled the towel free and
wrapped it around her partner's head properly.

	"Thanks Kiyone.  I'm glad you're my partner, I screw stuff up
a lot less when you're around."

	Kiyone flushed and looked down, only to feel her blush deepen
when she realized she was staring at Mihoshi's chest.  She quickly
looked back up and thought, *It's not like that.  I'm not like
that. She's my partner, that's all.  I'm not interested in her
that way, she's just... Just a cute girl.  It's okay for a woman
to notice another woman is cute.  And even if I Were like that I
couldn't... She's so.. so.. innocent...  But I'm Not.*

	Kiyone retreated to her bed and lay down, staring firmly at
the ceiling while Mihoshi got dressed.  *I'm not interested in her
that way,* Kiyone repeated firmly to herself, *I was almost
married once for crying out loud, I'm not a.. a lesbian.  She's
just my friend, that's all.  And I've been so upset since Dad..
since Dad went away, I haven't had many friends.  That's all it
is.*  Kiyone rolled over and stared at the wall.

	*And now I have to do this stupid thing for Washuu,*  Kiyone
grumbled inwardly, *I know it's not going to work, I should just
tell her I tried and it didn't work any better than any of her
other ideas.*  Kiyone sighed, she knew she wouldn't do that.  Her
father had instilled in her too strong a sense of honor to allow
for anything like that, and deep down she really did hope that
this time it would work.  In the months since being assigned to
Mihoshi and agreeing to help Washuu Kiyone had begun to share the
scientist's passion to find out what it was that Mihoshi was
hiding so thoroughly.  She didn't take her desire to know as far
as Washuu, but she really did want to find out, not only for
herself but for Mihoshi as well.  She knew a lot more about
Mihoshi's exploits than she admitted to Washuu.  Nothing that
would have helped, but she knew every story about Mihoshi's record
by heart.  She had heard probably a hundred accounts of the
unobtanium ring bust alone during her career.  Kiyone didn't know
what it was about Mihoshi that so fascinated her, but there was
just something about the girl...

	From the first time Kiyone saw her, just a few seconds on a
video of a sting operation on a pirate gang, she knew that some
day she had to be Mihoshi's partner.  Now that she had finally
achieved the goal she discovered that, rather than happiness, she
only felt sorrow for Mihoshi.  The woman used to be the best of
the best, probably would have wound up the youngest Commissioner
in history if her career had kept on track, but now she was just a
bumbling girl with an astounding lucky streak.  Kiyone knew she
yelled at Mihoshi too often, and tried to keep herself from doing
it, but her father had been the same way and learned habits died
hard.  She was fairly sure Mihoshi understood that, and she was
always careful to help Mihoshi with whatever she had messed up.

	Kiyone sighed again when the chronometer built into their
desk pinged, it was time for their last patrol this cycle, and
time for her to put Washuu's plan into action.

* * *

	Mihoshi looked around frantically, trying to separate the
mass of blinking warnings and screaming alarms into individual
things, but there were so many and they were coming so fast that
she couldn't do it.  "Kiyone!  Help!  What do I do?!"

	Kiyone gritted her teeth and took a deep breath as her
fingers danced across the controls of Yukinojo, "Clam down
Mihoshi, we'll be okay if we keep our heads clear.  They're coming
in from vector eight-eight-one by seventeen, just kill your alarms
and bring the targeting system back up.  You know how to do that."

	"Oh.. okay, Kiyone,"  Mihoshi carefully pressed the necessary
controls and smiled as the mass of warning systems shut down.
"Yay!"

	"Don't get too excited yet, Mihoshi,"  Kiyone warned, "We
still have the pirates to deal with."

	"Oh, right," Mihoshi continued to carefully touch controls
one at a time, ordering Yukinojo's automatic weapon systems online
and targeting the incoming contacts on the sensor display.

	Kiyone gripped the edges of her console as the little ship
rocked with an impact, "We're hit!"

	Mihoshi looked around frantically and Kiyone crossed her
fingers.

	"Oh, right,"  Mihoshi touched the damage control system
indicator and smiled as the impact warning siren went silent.

	"Mihoshi, there, by the fourth moon of that gas giant, six
more of them!"

	Mihoshi cringed away from the constellation of data that
appeared in the tactical globe as six new contacts lit up from
behind the moon labeled Callisto.  "Wha..what do I do Kiyone?
There's so many!"

	"We've got to run, Mihoshi, there are too many."  *Oh god,
let this work...*

	Mihoshi started pecking at the controls again, laying in a
course away from the incoming pirate vessels.  Yukinojo's engines
built in pitch as they accelerated into suddenly blue-shifted
stars, but the pirates were gaining anyway.

	"Evasive maneuvers, Mihoshi!  They're catching up!"

	Mihoshi touched a dozen controls in sequence and Yukinojo
jinked around the next volley of energy blasts.  Kiyone's hopes
rose momentarily, only to be dashed away again when Mihoshi's
fingers slowed and she looked frantically around at the winking
controls.  She slowly pressed one key, then another, then shook
her head and buried her face in her hands.  "I can't do it,
Kiyone!"  She wailed miserably, "I don't know how and there's too
many!  I'm sorry Kiyone, I'm sorry..."

	The impact warning siren came roaring back to life, joined by
the hull breach klaxon and soon the containment failure warning
completed the chorus.  Kiyone touched a few controls in sequence
and they fell silent, the blue-shifted stars faded from the
display screen and the pirate vessels vanished from the tactical
display.  Mihoshi didn't notice though, she still had her face in
her hands and was begging Kiyone to forgive her for getting them
killed.

	Kiyone got up and went to her partner, patting her back
gently.  "It's okay Mihoshi, they're gone now.  It's okay."

	Mihoshi looked up, tears streaking her face, "But how...
They got us, Kiyone, I was too slow and they got us, and.. and..."

	Kiyone stumbled when Mihoshi threw her arms around the green-
haired police woman, clinging to her while she sobbed violently.

	*God damn you, Washuu.  I knew this was a bad idea.  I
thought for a second there.. but she didn't show any sign of
remembering this mission at all, and now how do I explain that it
was all a fake?  She thinks she got us killed, how the hell do I
explain that I tricked her?*

	Kiyone put her arms awkwardly around her partner and patted
Mihoshi's back.  She didn't know how she was going to explain
this, but she pushed that out of her mind and concentrated on
trying to calm Mihoshi down before she started hyperventilating.

* * *

	Despite the purifying waters of the tsukubai the taste of tea
hung at the back of Katsuhito's mouth.  He sat beneath Funaho,
looking out over the water of her pond in silent meditation.

	Katsuhito had been surprised, to say the least, when Washuu
presented him with the invitation.  The small scroll sat now on
his dresser where he could admire the skillful calligraphy at
leisure, but at the time it had come as a bit of a shock.
Katsuhito realized long ago, of course, that Washuu was interested
in him, but affairs of the heart were never his strong suit, as
both of his past wives pointed out on numerous occasions.

	The quiet, careful Washuu who greeted him for the chanoyu was
a surprise as well.  Katsuhito had grown accustom to her
eccentricities and was more than a little overwhelmed by the
apparent effort she spent on observing even the fine details of
the ceremony.  Her execution was flawless.  Better, Katsuhito
knew, than he had done as host for tea ceremonies during his first
hundred years on Earth.  When he complimented the food she served
and her precision in serving the tea it was without any trace of
guile, and he could see that her concentration and attention while
handling the fukusa was honest as well.

	Katsuhito breathed slowly out through his nose and pushed his
glasses up absently.  He liked to think that after close on a
millennia of life there were few things that could throw him, but
Washuu's behavior today had done it efficiently and thoroughly.
During the time she shared his house Katsuhito had always assumed
her interest to be primarily playful, more of a diversion than
anything real or lasting.  But what did it say about the
seriousness of a woman's interest when she practiced a ceremony in
secret in order to present it to you with memorable skill?

	Katsuhito leaned his head back against Funaho's trunk and
closed his eyes.  *It's been a long time since I courted a woman,*
Katsuhito thought silently, *Do I want to start down that path
again?  And would I even remember the way after all these years?*

	From somewhere in the depths of his mind came the voice of
his second wife, "You've been lonely a long time Katsuhito, is
your pride so strong you will stay alone forever?"

	"I have Tenchi and Noboyuki," Katsuhito replied to he ghost
haunting his thoughts, "Family is enough company."

	"The company of men is not the company of a woman," replied
the voice of his first wife, "And Noboyuki grows old as you watch.
Tenchi will leave with Ryouko someday to see the universe you have
given up, will you still be content to remain alone then?"

	"I have watched two wives grow old and die, I want no more
pain."

	"But she will never grow old, Yousho."  This time the voice
was Aeka's.  Not the Aeka who would be returning from Jurai soon,
a young Aeka, remembered from before her Change, "She is far older
than you and, if she so chooses, will live long after you are
gone."

	"But will she be content with me in that time?  I am a simple
man now with a simple life, I would be only a burden to her."

	"You aren't a burden, Lord Katsuhito."

	Katsuhito opened his eyes to see Washuu standing at the edge
of Funaho's island.  So involved in his meditations had he been
that he neither heard her approach nor realized he had spoken
aloud.

	"You catch me unawares, Miss Washuu."

	"Just Washuu, please."

	"Then call me Katsuhito, Miss Washuu."

	Washuu walked closer and sat down next to him on a root of
the ancient tree.  "I'll call you that the day you put away the
mask of a tragic samurai and let someone else into your life."

	Katsuhito was silent for a long time while they sat together,
watching the waters of the pond ripple this way and that in the
gentle summer wind.

	"I am who I am, Miss Washuu," Katsuhito replied finally.

	Washuu stood and turned away from him, her hands folded
across her chest, and said angrily, "You're an old fool, too set
in his ways to see what's right in front of him."

	"Perhaps, Miss Washuu, but I am who I am."

* * *

	"You're right,"  Ai agreed after Mataeo finished explaining
what happened while she was in the bathroom, "That's bizarre even
for Tenchi.  And you managed to just sit there and pretend it
never happened?"

	Mataeo leaned back into the cushions of Ai's couch and
sighed, "What else could I do Ai?  Tenchi looked like he was ready
to kill me, right then, right there.  No 'sorry Mat, gotta kill
you now 'cause I'm a raving lunatic who escaped from a mental
institution in Okayama' or anything, just this look on his face
like I'd suddenly turned into his worst enemy.  I was really
scared Ai, Tenchi's never scared me like that before.  I don't
know what happened to him to make him react that way, but it must
have been really, really bad."

	"So what are we going to do?  Stop being their friends?"

	Mataeo shook his head, "No, I don't want that.  Tenchi scared
the hell out of me tonight, but instead of making me want the
sensible thing, to run away and not look back, I just want to help
him.  For a second there he looked just as scared as I felt, and
whatever can do that to Masaki Tenchi is something that doesn't
need to be wandering the streets."

	Ai stopped pacing back and forth across her small livingroom
and sat down next to her boyfriend on the couch, asking again, "So
what are we going to do?"

	Mataeo scratched the back of his head thoughtfully before
replying, "I think the first step is to find out just who the hell
they are.  We've ignored, or tried to ignore, all the weird little
things they do for as long as we've known them.  I think they
really like us, and I know you like being friends with Ryouko as
much as I like being friends with Tenchi.  There's something going
on here and they need help.  You've seen how they get sometimes,
we'll be talking about something totally normal and then all of a
sudden, Wham, they get all far away and emotional.  People who
don't have problems, even weird people, don't do that."

	"Well,"  Ai said, trying to apply logic to the problem at
hand, "What were you two talking about?  I know you said you were
talking about life and all, but what exactly?  Maybe it wasn't
just his family name that set him off, maybe it was something else
in the conversation that built him up and that just triggered it."

	Mataeo looked away nervously and said, "No, I don't think it
was anything else in the conversation.  He was acting pretty
normal right up until I said I wanted to know where he came from."

	"Come on Mat," Ai said taking his hand gently, "Talk to me.
What's wrong?  Every time I've brought up what you were talking to
Tenchi about tonight you've changed the subject."

	Mataeo sighed and looked down at her hands where they were
folded around his.  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly
before saying in a quiet voice, "Alright, we were talking about
you.  About you moving in with me.  And why I'm so nervous about
it."

	"Oh," was all Ai could think of to say.  That was the closest
Mataeo had ever come to contributing to a discussion about their
living together in which she was a participant.  "What... What did
you talk about?"

	Mataeo pulled his hand out of hers and, for a moment, Ai
thought he was going to run away again, but he only put his elbows
on his knees and buried his face in his hands.  His voice was
muffled and distant when he replied, "I want to live with you Ai,
I do.  I want us to get married one day and, if you want to, have
kids together and be a family.  I love you, you know that.  But
for some reason I just can't... I can't... And I'm so afraid I'm
going to lose you because of all this that I end up lying awake
some nights thinking about it.  This is the first time I've ever
even been able to Talk to you about it and I think that's half
because of how shaken up I am over what happened at dinner."

	Mataeo looked up and Ai saw that there were tears in his
eyes.  "I love you Ai, and that should be enough.  But somehow it
just isn't.  I don't understand why, but it isn't."

	Ai's heart lurched at the sight of Mataeo crying.  Mataeo
never cried.  Even when his grandmother died he didn't cry.  "Oh
Mat, I'm so sorry,"  Ai put her arms around him and held him
tight, "I didn't know... I thought you were just nervous and if I
kept asking you'd get over it... I didn't know it hurt, I'm so
sorry..."

* * *

	Aeka ran her fingers reverently over the supple wood of the
frame holding a photo of her family clustered beneath Funaho.  Her
makeup, so carefully applied before the audience, was now a
streaked ruin from the combination of tears and failed attempts to
remove those tears without smearing.

	"You bring dishonor to your house and shame to the council of
Jurai," the councilor's words still rang in her head and Aeka
wondered if they would ever stop.  Aeka knew that change would be
hard to enact within the government of an empire as long lived as
Jurai's, but she had hoped that with the help of a few like-minded
councilors and the support of her family she could overcome.
Unfortunately there did not seem to be any like-minded councilors,
and even the support of her parents flagged.

	Funaho had been excited by Aeka's ideas at first, but as time
went on and it became increasingly obvious that Jurains not only
were happy with the status quo, they didn't even seem to be aware
there Was a status quo, her excitement turned to quiet support,
and finally to silent disinterest.  Azusa wanted only to please
the people and told his daughter that she could do as she wished
in the council so long as it was to the common good, but would not
lend his powerful voice to her cause.  After the uproar caused by
his pronouncements about mixing Jurain blood with that of other
races he seemed only to want to work his way back into the hearts
of the people before his time to step down from the throne came.
Misaki, for her part, unfalteringly supported Aeka at every turn,
but Aeka had been dismayed to discover that Misaki's opinions did
not count very highly at court.

	The audience had started out so well, the councilors all
listening attentively as she laid out what she saw as the
fundamental problems with Jurain government and how they could be
readily fixed.  But when she began the taemag, the ritual showing
she was open to the questions of her fellow councilors, it all
turned bad.  Lord Yotoshi accused her of trying to dethrone her
own father in order to instate herself as queen before her time.
Lord Mihoru said that her ideas for eliminating prejudice between
the royal families and normal citizens were juvenile and ill
conceived.  Then Lady Utanai stood and delivered the scathing
oratory that ending in the words which now reverberated through
Aeka's mind like a struck gong.  The female councilor not only
reiterated her male counterparts' statements but added that Aeka
was betraying the sacred trust given their people by Tsunami, that
she had sullied her blood by associating with savages from
backward worlds, and finally that she was unfit to stand as a
councilor and should be stricken from court.

	Azusa intervened then, denouncing Lady Utanai's claims that
Earth was a backward world of savages and affirming that he felt
his daughter fully capable of functioning on the council, but his
unwillingness to sway against the will of the majority held him
from saying anything in defense of her views.

	Tomorrow Aeka would be leaving by portal to return to Earth
and she was wondering now if she would ever return.  She had such
high hopes after her last visit to her home in Okayama, her mind
full of visions of a bright future and almost able to hear the
cheers of support she had imagined gaining from the council.  But
now all those things were gone, dashed away by the spectacular
failure of her presentation today.  There would be no
restructuring of Jurain government, no grand changes in social
custom to bring the royal houses together with the citizens of the
empire.  It had all been a beautiful dream but, as Aeka now knew,
dreams could not stand in the face of harsh reality.

	*Soon Sasami will be Tsunami,* Aeka thought, *And will be a
more fit ruler than I could ever hope to become.  Lady Utanai was
right, I'm a dreaming child with her feet too far out on the
branch.  I will return to Earth tomorrow and stay there.  I'll
watch Sasami grow up in spirit to match her body and, when she is
ready, I will perform the mitagi and pass my birthright on to her.
Jurai needs a strong hand to rule over it, and I am nothing but a
weak-kneed seed plucker.*

	Aeka covered her eyes to keep from seeing the mess she had
made of her face in the mirror and felt the moisture of fresh
tears against her fingers.  As Aeka unwillingly watched the events
of the day running through her mind once more her mouth began to
move.  The words were buried deep in her memory, in a black pit
that she shied away from while awake but seemed to drift ever
nearer in her nightmares.  "Gae na itao, shimnae na itao.  Mimka
so naminagi shu."  She whispered it softly twice in the old tongue
before saying it again in the Japanese of her new home, "I am
nothing, I am dishonor.  May the blade of atonement be true upon
my flesh."

	Aeka did not remember speaking them afterward, no more than
she remembered when Tokimi's servant forced her to say them before
carving them into her arms.

* * *