**Note**
**This is chapter three of On Pale Wings I Fly.  If you have not
**read chapter one, you are in the wrong place.  Otherwise, all
**the disclaimers and such from chapter one apply here as well.
**-- Krin (krin@hotmail.com)
**/Note**

					-- three --
					  destiny

	There is nothing, Tenchi realized, quite as odd as having the
music from that American movie with the shark playing through your
mind of other than your own volition whilst a cyan-haired woman in
a rather skimpy bikini attempts to pull you under the water.

	Not that he was complaining, of course.

	//No fair!// Tenchi sent to his submerged lover, //You don't
have to breath!//

	//No,// Ryouko agreed as she finally succeeded in pulling him
under, //But neither do you.//  Ryouko locked her lips around
Tenchi's and fed him a breath of the air she had stored in her
mainly cosmetic lungs for the purpose.


	Tenchi broke the surface and swam toward the pool's edge,
leaning against it and looking up at the stars through the dome of
the floating onsen while he caught his breath.  Ryouko phased into
being beside him a moment later and asked, "Why'd you swim away?
Did I do something wrong?"

	Tenchi shook his head and smiled, "No, nothing you did dear.
I just can't breath well underwater.  You're a lot prettier than a
snorkel, but it just doesn't feel right and I lost my breath."

	Ryouko smiled and floated up to him, pulling one of Tenchi's
arms around her shoulders and resting her head on his chest.  "I'm
glad mom left the pool in, swimming in the lake always made my
hair feel gritty for days."

	Tenchi chuckled and ran his fingers through her damp tresses
where they hung limp down her back.  It was a hot night and since
Mihoshi and Kiyone had not arrived yet and Washuu was busy with
the final preparations for portalling Aeka in from Jurai he and
Ryouko decided to steal a few moments alone in the onsen.  Though
he supposed it could not really be called that anymore, what with
much of the space being taken up by the big, tiled, cool-water
pool.  They would all have arrived by tomorrow morning and Tenchi
was sure life would resume the hectic jumble it had always been
with them all in the house, but tonight was his and Ryouko's
alone.  They had not really been alone, he realized, more than a
few hours at a time in months.  Either they were out of the
apartment at school or with Mataeo and Ai, or they were home with
Sasami and, sometimes, her friends.

	Tenchi looked down at the woman in his arms and smiled.
There was something he had been meaning to do for months now, but
somehow the time never seemed right.  Maybe this was it.

	"Ryouko?"

	Ryouko looked up at the sound of her name and smiled back at
him with half-lidded eyes.  "Last time I checked."

	"Ryouko, I..."  Tenchi trailed off, his courage suddenly
gone, washed away by her voice like footprints on the beach as the
tide came in.  He so wanted to ask her, but something held him
back.  He just could not do it.  But he had to say something, he
had started and she was waiting, "I love you."

	Ryouko nuzzled her head back against his chest and murmured,
"I love you too, Tenchi."

	*Why can't I ask her,* Tenchi raged at himself, *What's wrong
with me?  I love her.  I love her with all my heart and soul, but
I can't ask her a simple question!  Am I becoming the boy I was
last year all over again?  Next month I'll be twenty-two, a year
since Ryouko sacrificed her powers for me and helped me find my
way out of my hole.  Am I going to reward her now by crawling back
into it?*

	Tenchi sighed inwardly, he knew it was not that.  Life still
seemed bright and full of the promise of new adventures, not dull
and gray like it had a year ago.  *I'm as bad as Mat,* Tenchi
thought sullenly, *I know what I want and I know what it would
mean to the woman I love to take that step, but I'm holding myself
back without even understanding why.*

	"It's a shame Mat and Ai aren't here,"  Ryouko said quietly,
startling Tenchi out of his thoughts.

	*Was she listening to me?  No, she can't do that... She only
heard my thoughts on Christmas because the connection was still
establishing itself, Washuu explained all that.  Must just be a
coincidence.*

	"Mmm," Tenchi replied noncommittally.

	"What?"  Ryouko looked up at his face, "You don't think it
would be nice having them out here for the summer?"

	Tenchi shrugged uncomfortably, "I don't know.  They're our
friends, and it Would be nice having all of our friends together
for the summer.  But I feel so bad about having to lie to them all
the time.  I wish we could just tell them the truth and have done
with it, but there are so many things that could go wrong if we
did."

	"Yeah,"  Ryouko sighed, "I guess you're right."  Ryouko
pulled away from him then, floating back slightly out into the
waters of the pool.  Tenchi noticed absently that she was not
actually swimming, just hovering in place in the water, her feet
hanging motionless meters above the pool floor.  Ryouko grinned at
him and said playfully, "But tonight's our night, right?  No more
depressing talk, okay?"

	Tenchi nodded and let go of the pool's edge to swim out to
her, but Ryouko drifted continually out of his reach.  "You know I
never actually learned to swim?"  Ryouko asked casually, reaching
around behind her back.  "Want to teach me, Tenchi?"

	Tenchi was about to agree when Ryouko tugged the string
holding her top on, letting the little piece of brightly colored
material float away from her body across the pool.  "What do you
say, Tenchi?" Ryouko asked, holding her hands demurely over her
breasts and looking at him coyly, "Wanna teach me how to stay on
top in the water?"

* * *

	Sasami sighed and transferred another armload of clothes from
her suitcase into the cylindrical Jurain cabinet.

	*I'll call him tomorrow,* Sasami thought silently, *And I'm
sure he'll apologize.  I mean, what did he expect?*  Sasami
abandoned her clothes and tossed herself down on her futon.

	*Eto you idiot, why'd you have to try to kiss me?*  Sasami
rolled onto her side and stared at the futon lying next to hers.
*I bet Aeka knew what would happen.  She must have known, she said
she had the same lessons I did.*  Sasami sighed again, she
couldn't blame it on her sister.  If she had just said no right
away like she knew she should have it never would have happened.
If she'd told Eto she wasn't that kind of girl when he put his
hand on her waist and grinned at her like that everything would
still be okay, probably.  He might be a little miffed that she
turned him down, but at least she would not have slapped him.

	*I can't Believe I slapped him,* Sasami thought in
frustration, rolling back onto her back, *I didn't even know I was
going to do it until my hand was halfway to his face.*

	"Ugh," Sasami groaned in frustrated disgust, "Why did I have
to be from a society with a built-in moral defense system?  What
if I'd actually Wanted to kiss him?"

	Sasami sighed a third time.  "Not that I ever will.  Unless
he comes up with a really good apology.  I can't believe he called
me a bitch."

* * *

	"Alright Mihoshi,"  Kiyone said supportively, resting her
hand on her partner's shoulder, "Time to start the final
approach."

	Mihoshi nodded and bit her lip in concentration while
carefully touching the proper controls in the display floating
before her.  Mihoshi paused as she neared the end, her finger
wavering between three glowing icons.  "I... I'm not sure..."

	Kiyone squeezed her partner's shoulder silently, thinking,
*Come on Mihoshi, you can do this.*

	"Oh yeah!"  Mihoshi exclaimed happily, touching the proper
control icon, "Yellow is for ground, right Kiyone?"

	"That's right Mihoshi, you're doing great.  Now what's next?"

	"Umm... Lets see..."  Mihoshi peered into the complex landing
graphs now arrayed before her.  "Oh, right."  Mihoshi coughed to
clear her throat and stated slowly, "Yukinojo, begin controlled
descent to defined landing coordinates, controlled descent vector
Okayama one."

	Mihoshi smiled delightedly as the graphs rotated and a bright
yellow line traced its way from the blinking icon representing the
Yukinojo down toward the plane representing their destination.
She leaned back in her control chair and smiled up at Kiyone, "I
did it Kiyone!"

	"You sure did Mihoshi,"  Kiyone smiled proudly, "You did a
great jo-"

	"Control vector degeneration detected," Yukinojo's voice
interrupted, "Descent parameters compromised by local airspace
fluctuations, manual override recommended."

	Mihoshi watched the happy graphic of their landing skew out
into a big, dangerous looking parabola.  "What's that mean Kiyone?
What's going on?"

	Kiyone's fingers danced across the control board and she
frowned, "It means we ran into a thunderstorm and Yukinojo can't
figure out how to get us down."  Kiyone hooked her hair back over
one ear and smiled confidently at Mihoshi, "You'll have to guide
us in manually Mihoshi.  You remember how to access the override
controls?"

	"I.. I think so," Mihoshi said unsurely, looking between the
confidence in Kiyone's eyes and the confusingly big control board.
"It's... This one, right?"

	Kiyone nodded and Mihoshi touched the control icon
cautiously, as though expecting it to bite her.  The bulk of the
control icons shifted aside, replaced by a smaller grid of simple
square icons.

	"Okay Mihoshi, now enter our descent vector."

	Mihoshi nodded, slowly gaining confidence, and entered the
required data.  This time the control grid merged into a single
square, expanding upward into a cube.

	"Now," Mihoshi said nervously, looking at her partner for
reassurance, "I stick my hand in it and tell it where to go,
right?"

	"That's right Mihoshi.  Go on, you can do it."

	Mihoshi cautiously slid her hand into the glowing cube,
tilting it at a careful angle and gently curling her fingers.
Exterior view displays sprang into being around her, each overlaid
with atmospheric and geo-magnetic data displays to assist in the
landing.  Mihoshi peered back and forth, curling and uncurling her
fingers to control Yukinojo's rate of descent while guiding the
ship with slow motions of her hand.

	When the Masakis' house hove in view Mihoshi slowed the ship
to a crawl, relatively speaking, and looked up at Kiyone.  "I... I
don't think I can do it Kiyone, I've always crashed before..."

	"It's okay Mihoshi," Kiyone said gently, "I'm here to help,
and you'll do fine.  I believe in you, Mihoshi."

	Mihoshi nodded and smiled weakly, slowly increasing the angle
of descent.  Finally, a few hundred meters off the ground, she
brought the ship to a floating halt and withdrew her hand from the
control cube, it was trembling visibly.  "I can't Kiyone... I'm
too scared I'll crash again."

	Kiyone sighed, "Come on Mihoshi, we've practiced this.  It's
easy, right?  Here, put your hand back in the cube and I'll help
you guide us in, okay?"

	Mihoshi looked unconvinced but slid her trembling hand back
into the amber glow of the control cube.  When the ship jittered
slightly from her trembling Kiyone sighed and leaned across
Mihoshi to slide her hand in on top of the blonde's.  She
carefully curled her fingers around Mihoshi's and held her
partner's hand steady while they completed the descent and came to
a gentle landing on the grass beside the house.

	Kiyone turned her head to look at Mihoshi, her face only
inches away.  The blonde police-woman was beaming and said in an
awed voice, "I... I did it, Kiyone.  I landed and nothing blew up
or anything."

	"Yeah," Kiyone said, leaning slowly closer to Mihoshi's face,
"Yeah, you did."

	When Kiyone's eyes slid slowly closed Mihoshi leaned back
asking in a nervous tone, "Kiyone?  What.. what're you doing
Kiyone?"

	Kiyone pulled away, startled, and drew her hand out of the
control cube, off of Mihoshi's.  "I... I..."  Kiyone shook her
head and turned away.

	"I'm sorry Mihoshi," Kiyone said softly and walked out of the
control room toward the aft of the ship.

* * *

	"Miya?"

	Sasami sat up on her futon when Ryou-ohki phased through the
door.

	"Ryou-ohki!  There you are!  I looked all over for you when
we got here but I couldn't find you anywhere!"

	Ryou-ohki hopped forward and into Sasami's lap, nuzzling her
stomach and meowing happily.

	"I missed you too, Ryou-ohki.  I've got so much to tell you
about!"

	Ryou-ohki hopped back out of her lap and a few feet away from
the futon.  Sasami started to ask where she was going, but then
the cabbit expanded upward into her humanoid form.  She was taller
now, only by an inch or so since Sasami left for Tokyo, but by
feet from the toddler form she had taken after gaining the
ability.

	"He..he... Hello, Sasami,"  Ryou-ohki said haltingly, "I...
Missed you."

	"Ryou-ohki!"  Sasami leapt to her feet and grabbed the furry
young girl in a hug, "You can talk!"

	Ryou-ohki meowed in agreement before remembering herself and
saying in the slow, careful words of someone still struggling with
the concept, "Only... A little.  I... Learned your... Name,
first."  Ryou-ohki smiled and blushed through the thin layer of
fur covering her face.

	"That's so great,"  Sasami said happily, beaming at her fuzzy
friend, "Is Washuu teaching you?"

	"Miya," Ryou-ohki agreed, "Mommy... Says... I'll know lots...
Words quick.  I... Talk in head... To Ryouko, long time.  Now I...
Learning mouth."

	Sasami grabbed Ryou-ohki in another crushing hug and
exclaimed, "I'm so proud of you Ryou-ohki!  Maybe in fall you can
come to school in Tokyo with me and you can meet all my new
friends and everything."

	"Miya!"  Ryou-ohki meowed happily, trying to imitate her
friend's enthusiastic embrace.

	When Sasami released her Ryou-ohki bent and picked up the
photo her friend dropped when she sat up.  "Who... these?"

	"Oh," Sasami said, taking the photo and sitting down.  She
patted the space next to her for Ryou-ohki to sit down too and
then explained, "They're some of the people I met in Tokyo.  See,
this is Ayumi, and this is Miyami."

	"Who," Ryou-ohki asked, pointing to the male figure in the
picture, "Who that?"

	"Oh,"  Sasami wrinkled her nose and said, "That's Eto.  He's
a real ass."

	"Ass?"

	Sasami giggled and said, "Yeah.  I learned that from my
friends at school, but Tenchi says I shouldn't say it 'cause it's
not polite.  It means..."  Sasami paused, trying to think of a
good definition.

	"I... I know, means,"  Ryou-ohki interrupted, "Ryouko...
Ryouko use naughty words, lots... In head.  Mommy says... I not
use."  Ryou-ohki grinned, "Too much.  I mean... why ass?"

	Sasami giggled again and said, "He tried to kiss me, then
called me a bitch when I slapped him.  Only I didn't mean to slap
him, my lessons made me do it."

	Ryou-ohki frowned and said, "You right, Sasami.  Eto sound...
Like ass.  Bad to... kiss, not ask.  What lessons?"

	"Oh, you remember when I went to Washuu's lab and Aeka said
you had to stay outside?  I had to get lessons put in my head from
Jurai that tell me how I should act when I feel funny 'cause of my
Change, only I wasn't supposed to tell you about 'em."  Sasami
grinned, "Oops, I guess I did."

	"Why... Not tell?"

	"Aeka says I'm not s'posed to 'cause anybody who's not Jurain
isn't s'posed to know about 'em.  Lots of people know we get 'em,
but nobody's s'posed to know what they're all about, and mine are
special 'cause I'm from a royal house, so I'm not even s'posed to
talk to most Jurains 'bout 'em."

	Ryou-ohki frowned in concern and said, "Maybe... Not tell?"

	Sasami shook her head, "I don't mind telling you about 'em
Ryou-ohki.  You wouldn't tell anybody else, and you're my best
friend.  If I can't talk to you about 'em, who Can I?"

	Ryou-ohki smiled brightly, she liked being friends with
Sasami.  Being Ryouko's sister was nice, but she could barely talk
to Ryouko for a long, long time because of Kagato.  After Ryouko
got out of the cave they talked some, but Ryouko was so sad
because Tenchi didn't love her she was not really much fun most of
the time.  Ryou-ohki felt bad for her, but it just was not her
nature to be sad all the time like that.  She wanted to have fun
and play and Sasami liked those things.  Now that Ryouko and
Tenchi were together Ryou-ohki thought maybe Ryouko would want to
have fun too, but all she ever talked about was Tenchi and boring
stuff about school and some friends she made in Tokyo.  That's
really why Ryou-ohki wanted to learn how to talk, although making
Washuu happy was good too.  She wanted to be able to talk to
Sasami, and since she could not talk to her in her head like she
could Ryouko, she had to learn how to talk with her mouth.

	Ryou-ohki grabbed Sasami for another hug and said the first
words she had learned, "I love you Sasami.  You my best friend."

* * *

	Nobuyuki looked up when the door opened and called out, "Hi
Kiyone!  What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone on a night
like this?"

	"Shut up!"  Kiyone shouted and ran up the stairs.

	"Wow," Nobuyuki said quietly to himself when she was gone,
"Wonder what got into her."


	Kiyone slammed the door to the guest bedroom behind her and
threw herself on the bed angrily.  *What the hell was that?*  She
railed silently at herself, *What was I trying to do?  Kiss her?
God damn it, I'm not like that!  I'm not!*

	Kiyone vented a breath of frustration, half sigh, half growl,
and stared angrily up at the ceiling.  *What would Dad say if he
knew I tried to kiss a woman?  He probably wouldn't talk to me for
a month!  A year!*  Kiyone pulled a pillow over her face and
groaned into it, "Arg, you're such an idiot Kiyone.  You finally
get Mihoshi over the thing with the pirates yesterday with a lie
about it being a training exercise, and then you go and pull a
stupid stunt like this.  Mihoshi's never going to forget about
this one, and you can't just call almost kissing her a training
exercise!"

	Kiyone knew, in a way, that she was being irrational.  She
had been a member of the Galaxy Police since her fourteenth
birthday, the minimum age of enrollment for the academy.  Before
she enrolled she lived with her mother on their home planet,
Midris, in a little town on a little island.  Midris was, in the
galactic scope of things, a backward world.  In a lot of ways it
was like Earth, really.  But, unlike the people of this planet,
the citizens of Kiyone's home world had exploded into space
vigorously and not slowed down when they got there.  Only decades
after their first manned space launch they had a generation ship
headed for the nearest star and more probes fanning out across the
galaxy than the humans of Earth had launched in the near century
since their own first rockets.  In a century the Midrins had
developed subspace travel, instantaneous communication, and stasis
fields for use on extended missions and when they stumbled across
a Jurain survey ship their spaceward explosion became more like a
small nova.  Midris was nearly depopulated by the rush to the
stars once they knew there was other intelligent life out there
waiting.  Harsh laws were enacted to keep the planet populated, it
was ruled that only one person per family would be allowed to
leave the planet permanently without special government
permissions that took years to procure.  They promised it would
last only until aliens started coming in and filling up all the
space left by the outward bound Midrins, but the alien hordes
never came.  There were visitors, of course, and even a good many
permanent settlers, but Midris was just too much like so many
other worlds to become any sort of tourist attraction.  So now,
two centuries after the first Midrin spaceflight, the limit was
set at two per family and there was no sign of it changing soon.
When Kiyone's father left to join the GP she knew she had to
follow.  Midris was, for her, an unutterably boring place.  She
watched the holo-vids about life on Jurai and Dalris, about the
Science Academy and the Royal Fleet Yards, and she knew she had to
go there, see those places with her own eyes.  When the
opportunity finally came, she leapt for it.  Kiyone was sad to
leave her mother behind, but she could never have left Midris even
without the two-person limit.  Kiyone's mother was something of a
freak on Midris, a person with no wanderlust whatsoever.  She was
content to stay home and watch life passing her by while the rest
of the world yearned to explore, but for Kiyone and her father
that simply was not an option.

	It was not until she reached Dalris and the Police Academy
that Kiyone realized how backward her world really was.  Despite
their lust for space the Midrins never really developed,
culturally, past the point Earth's Americans swept by in their
1950's.  Not that Midris looked like the pastel nightmare Kiyone
had seen in texts about Earth history she had to study for the Sol
assignment, her homeworld was one of advanced technology and all
its trimmings, but socially her people were slightly inept.  They
held to mores that most of the galaxy considered inane at best,
and downright harmful at worst.  There were strict laws about
things like nudity, language, and sex on Midris and most Midrins
were quite happy to abide by them.  There was no homosexuality on
Midris, at least not openly.  Kiyone supposed there must be some
gay people on her homeplanet somewhere, but she had never heard of
one.  On worlds like Dalris there was no gender bias, couples
formed based on love regardless of the sex of their partner and
people did not look down on one sex or the other as weak or
inferior.  Kiyone knew that that outlook made more sense than her
own inherently Midrin moral code, she had been friends with a
number of people at the academy who didn't even fall into a 'male'
or 'female' gender, either because their race had not evolved that
way or because their society simply offered more choices through
creative body enhancement.  It was a big, complicated galaxy and
Kiyone had often struggled to fit her Midrin worldview into the
society she saw thriving around her, usually failing.

	So now, mentally browbeating herself for her actions with
Mihoshi, she knew deep down that her staunch denial that she was
attracted to her partner was pointless.  She knew she shouldn't be
hung up on the fact that they were both female, or that her
father, a very strongly Midrin man, would have disapproved.  But
despite knowing it deep down, she couldn't get past those facts in
her thoughts.  She was a woman and Mihoshi was a woman, it simply
was not right for her to be attracted to the blonde.

	"Arg,"  Kiyone groaned into her pillow, "Why did I try to
kiss Mihoshi?  And why does she have to be so damned Cute?!"

* * *

	Mihoshi leaned back in her command chair and bit her nails
nervously.  Kiyone looked so upset when she left, Mihoshi knew she
must have done something wrong.

	"Yukinojo," Mihoshi called to the pink hemisphere set into
the ceiling, "Human interface mode."  Mihoshi watched proudly as
the sphere rolled down and expanded, growing eyes and something
like a mouth.  Before Kiyone came to be her partner she had always
had the ship set in that mode without even knowing there were
other ones.  Now she knew how to change them and what most of them
did, and was quite proud of being able to use them effectively.

	"Show me events in the command chamber for the past..."
Mihoshi looked down at the chronometer softly pulsing on the
control panel, "Fourteen minutes."  Kiyone taught her that too.
Mihoshi had not known Yukinojo kept records of everything that
happened in and around the ship before and was quite embarrassed
when most of the video Kiyone pulled up to demonstrate how showed
Mihoshi sleeping on the job.

	Now, as the holo-vid of the command chamber played out in the
air between Mihoshi's face and the floating pink sphere, she
watched carefully, just like Kiyone taught her to, looking for
where she had screwed up.  Finally, after watching the whole thing
through three times Mihoshi gave up.

	"What did I do wrong Yukinojo?"

	"Your descent vector was off of pre-stated mission objectives
by seven point three one six degrees.  Your observable descent
rate was inappropriate for atmospheric conditions on this planet
under stated mission stealth objectives by four arc seconds per
minute.  Fuel usage was eight point nine percent over optimal due
to pilot error during landing.  Command message, 'I did it
Kiyone,' irrational and a waste of computer resources..."

	"No,"  Mihoshi shook her head, "I mean what'd I do wrong with
Kiyone?  Why'd she get so upset?"

	"Unable to form response to stated query, Yukinojo unit not
programmed for interpersonal relationship analysis in humanoid
subjects."

	Mihoshi sighed, she should have known it would say something
like that.  She used to talk to Yukinojo all the time, but
realized now that the ship never really said anything helpful.
She just liked talking to it because it was a voice to hear
answering her, and she was really lonely out in space during her
patrols most of the time.  But now that Kiyone was her partner she
did not talk to her ship much anymore and when she did she
realized it was not really much like talking to a real person.

	"Iconic command mode Yukinojo," Mihoshi sighed, getting up
from the chair and stretching.  As she made her way back through
the ship to the sleeping quarters she shared with Kiyone during
patrols she hoped that she had not done anything too horrible,
whatever it was.  She knew Kiyone yelled at her because she wanted
her to do better, and was fairly used to it.  When you know
someone's only yelling because they want to help you, Mihoshi
reflected, the yelling isn't really so bad.  But this time Kiyone
had not yelled at her, she had just been really quiet and walked
off without saying goodbye or anything.

	Mihoshi picked up their luggage from their bunks on either
side of the room and started for the airlock.  She had to go tell
Washuu they were there so the scientist could put Yukinojo into
subspace before any Earth satellites saw it.  *Maybe Washuu can
help me,* Mihoshi thought, *She's real smart and she said before
she wanted to help me remember stuff.  Maybe if I ask right she'll
help me with Kiyone and not ask me about remembering stuff again.*

	Mihoshi was not really sure why she was so uncomfortable with
the prospect of Washuu helping her to remember what had happened
during the, presumably, eighteen to twenty years of her life
previous to the day she woke up six years ago and could not seem
to focus on anything that happened before.  There was just
something about the idea that seemed Wrong to Mihoshi.  Not wrong
like impossible, she was sure if there was a way to do something,
Washuu would know it, but Wrong like... Like arresting innocent
people.  Mihoshi knew it was really, really bad to arrest somebody
if you did not have proof to show they needed to be brought in for
questioning and, in a way, the wrongness centered around her
memory felt like the wrongness about that.  It was not really the
same, she knew, but it was that kind of wrong.  The 'you can do
it, but if you do you'll be real, real sorry' kind.

	"Uh oh,"  Mihoshi said to herself halfway to he airlock, "I
left my control cube back in the bunkroom."  She carefully set
down the luggage and went back for it, poking around the slightly
disordered side of the room that was hers.  Kiyone always kept her
side of the room really neat and tidy and Mihoshi tried to imitate
her, but was not very good at it.  Her side of the room was much,
much cleaner than it used to be before Kiyone came, but it was
still fairly disorganized.  When Mihoshi finally found her cube it
was by tripping over it.

	"Oof!"  Mihoshi grunted when she hit the ground.  She sat up
and picked up the cube from where it had been wedged against the
edge of the bunk.  "Oops, I half-twisted it."

	Mihoshi peered at the cube, trying to ascertain which way was
up.  Kiyone had shown her how to use it better than she used to,
but she still had trouble remembering if you had to twist it right
or left for some things, and it was especially hard when you
started off half-twisted and couldn't just give it the 'align this
way' command.

	Mihoshi sighed, she could not remember how to figure out
which way was which when it was half-twisted and Kiyone was not
around to help.  "Oh well," Mihoshi sighed, "One twist won't hurt
anything too much."  With that, she twisted the cube the rest of
the way.

	"Arg," Kiyone's voice came out of the cube.  *Oh,* Mihoshi
realized, *The comm channel.*  She was about to say hello when she
heard Kiyone say, "Why did I try to kiss Mihoshi?  And why does
she have to be so damned Cute?!"

	Mihoshi stared at the cube for a long moment before absently
giving it two quick twists to turn off the comm channel.  *Kiss
me?  Is that what Kiyone was going to do?*

	Mihoshi thought back to how Kiyone looked just before she got
upset and realized it was probably true.  At the time, seeing
Kiyone so close up and having her be all quiet like that, Mihoshi
thought she was upset about something.  When she closed her eyes
Mihoshi was scared for a second she would hit her.  Mihoshi wasn't
sure why she had thought that, really, it just came to her out of
nowhere that that's what was going to happen.

	Mihoshi absently passed the cube back and forth between her
hands, staring off into the distance while sitting there on the
floor.  *But why would Kiyone try to kiss me?*  She wondered, *Why
would she wanna do that?*

	"Ohhh,"  Mihoshi said softly as sudden realization overtook
her, "Kiyone likes me."
	Mihoshi blushed and toyed with the control cube while she
tried to figure out how she felt about that.  Unlike Kiyone
Mihoshi didn't have any prejudices against people having
relationships with people of the same gender, but she had never
been interested in other girls like that.  Mihoshi had been out on
a few dates in the past six years, though none of them went very
well, but all with men.  She could not remember ever even thinking
another woman was cute.  Thinking about it now she supposed Kiyone
was one of the prettier girls she knew, though she thought Aeka
would probably be cuter than her partner if she did not wear such
old fashioned clothes.  But it was only an observational kind of
realization, not any sort of attraction.  Mihoshi felt flattered
that Kiyone was interested in her like that, but she couldn't find
anything in herself but friendship for the green-haired police
woman.

	Mihoshi sighed and wished she could talk to Kiyone about it,
Kiyone always helped her when she was confused.  But who was she
supposed to talk to when she was confused about Kiyone?

* * *

	Katsuhito lit the last of the three sticks of incense and sat
back, breathing the scent in deeply.  He clapped twice and offered
a brief prayer to the spirits of his wives before settling into
the familiar rhythms of meditation.  He sat silently, eyes half
closed, staring into an unseen distance until the sticks of
incense had burnt down halfway.  Offering another prayer to the
many spirits surrounding him Katsuhito snuffed the fragrant sticks
and closed the small shrine.

	Katsuhito rose smoothly from his knees and thought, *I
suppose soon I will have to start grimacing when I get up after
kneeling.  Otherwise people will begin to wonder why an old man
has no pain in his joints.*


	Katsuhito slid his front door open and stepped out quickly,
shutting it behind him again before the cool air could escape into
the warm night.  Stopping midway across the courtyard Katsuhito
fished under his sleeve and pulled the thin bracelet down from his
forearm to dangle loosely at his wrist.  Washuu gave it to him two
years ago, on the pretense that it would be best if they had some
way to quickly reach him from the house without having to send
someone all the way up here.  He knew she had never told anyone
else though, and he himself kept it well hidden though it was a
rare day that he did not wear it.

	Looking at it now he wondered why he did wear it.  At first
he wore it because it was, in Washuu's way, a gift, and Katsuhito
valued gifts from friends highly.  But to wear it day in and day
out for years; he could not say that was simply of respect for a
friend.  Now he touched it in the places she had shown him and
called quietly, "Miss Washuu?"

	"Yes, Lord Katsuhito?"  Her voice came quickly, she was not
busy then.

	"I would speak with you,"  he said into the bracelet, "If you
can spare a moment."

	"I think I have one free," Washuu said as she stepped from
behind a tree at the edge of the paved yard, "Since you asked
nicely."

	*Was she there this whole time?*  Katsuhito wondered, *Or
only arrived now?*  Washuu was the only member of the household he
could not sense from a distance.  Be it his fading link to the
power of Jurai or simply the result of centuries of meditation, he
could normally tell when there was another person near, especially
a person whom he knew well.  But not Washuu.  Something about her
blocked his perception, kept him from knowing when she was close
by.

	"I wished to thank you, Miss Washuu, for your assistance in a
certain matter some time ago."

	"Oh?" Washuu asked, walking toward him in the moonlight,
"What matter?"

	"It involved a tree and a young woman, if you recall."

	"Ah,"  Washuu agreed, stopping a modest few meters away,
"That matter."

	Katsuhito nodded and said with true gratitude, "I have not
thanked you before, but I am in your eternal debt.  I fear what
would have happened without your shielding the tree."

	"Yes," Washuu nodded in understanding, "Funaho tried to
transmit some very strong signals that night, we would have had
half the fleet here by morning."

	"And the other half by the next night."

	Washuu chuckled, "True."

	"Did you..."  Katsuhito paused, something he never did when
speaking to anyone but her, he was always sure of his words with
the others, "Did you watch me, Miss Washuu?  You said you would
not be able to track me that night, but you did not say that,
knowing where I was, you could not monitor me."

	"Very perceptive, Lord Katsuhito," Washuu said with approval,
"Most people wouldn't have thought of that."

	"Did you?"

	"If I did?"

	"I would prefer that, if you did, you forgot what you saw
that night."

	"If I saw anything I have said nothing since, have I?"

	"No, but perhaps you are biding your time, waiting for a
moment to turn your knowledge to profit."

	"If I had such knowledge and the will for that, would I not
have already used it?  You know what I want, Lord Katsuhito."

	Katsuhito chuckled, "It has been a long time since I was at
court Miss Washuu, my level of subterfuge and intrigue has been
stolen cookies and forgotten homework for many years."

	"Your secrets are safe with me, Lord Katsuhito."

	"Then you saw?"

	"No, not that night."

	"Then when?"  Katsuhito asked, watching her eyes, "With
mother?  When they were here?"

	"No," Washuu shook her head and looked out at the shadow-dark
forest, "I didn't see with my eyes or my sensors, Lord Katsuhito."
She turned back to him, "I know your secrets, but I've seen them
only with my heart."

	Katsuhito sighed and closed his eyes, rocking back on his
heels, "I remember a time you would not have said that, Miss
Washuu.  A time when you would have laughed and joked about the
young prince in an old man's body."

	"Times change, Lord Katsuhito."

	"Yes,"  Katsuhito nodded sadly, "And people with them."

	"Are you ready then?  Will you take off your mask and let me
see the second man in twenty thousand years to find my heart?"

	"No,"  Katsuhito's voice was full of regret but he pressed
on, "I'm not sure that time will ever come, Miss Washuu.  I'm a
foolish old man, set in his ways."

	"I'm sorry, Lord Katsuhito, I did not mean that."

	Katsuhito stepped forward and patted her shoulder, "Yes.
Yes, you did.  And I am sorry too.  Goodnight, Miss Washuu.  Thank
you."

	Katsuhito turned and went back inside, leaving her standing
with only the moonlight for company.

	"God damn you,"  Washuu whispered as she turned away from the
shrine, "God damn you Katsuhito.  I won't let you break my heart,
you old fool."

* * *

	Aeka bowed to her parents and said formally, "I bid you
farewell, my heart shall beat more slowly with distance until the
song of the trees once more sings in my ears."

	Azusa returned the bow and said, "In your absence the sun's
light shall shine less brightly.  Return quickly and restore your
house what it loses with you."

	Aeka sighed inwardly as the formal ceremony ended.  She was
not sure she would ever be back here, but she could not tell her
parents that.  Instead she painted a smile on her face and said,
"Goodbye mommy, mommy Funaho, I'll miss you."

	Misaki rushed forward and gave her daughter a crushing hug.
"You have fun back there Aeka, you've looked so depressed all the
time you've been here.  Next time I see my daughter I want there
to be a real smile on her face."

	Aeka hugged her mother and kissed her cheek gratefully, it
was nice to know someone would miss her anyway.

	"Goodbye Aeka," Funaho said gently as Misaki regretfully
released her daughter, "Have a nice summer."

	Aeka looked at her father, but Azusa avoided her eyes.
"Goodbye daughter," he said gruffly, "Do not do anything to
embarrass yourself."

	"Azusa!"  Misaki hit his shoulder lightly in reproach,
"That's no way to say goodbye when we won't see our Aeka again for
months!"

	"We did not see her for seven hundred years, Misaki," Azusa
sighed, "What are a few months?"

	Misaki only frowned in response.

	Azusa stepped forward and awkwardly hugged his daughter,
whispering in her ear, "I'm sorry Aeka.  I will miss you, court
presses on me very hard right now and I am not in the best of
moods.  It is not your fault and I should not take it out on you."

	Aeka hugged him back and whispered, "I understand father,
that is why I had sought to-"

	Azusa pulled away, shaking his head, "None of that now.  You
know my stance, I cannot allow myself to be swayed from the will
of the people."

	Aeka sighed, she had hoped... "I'm sorry, I should not have
mentioned it again.  I will give your love to Sasami."

	"And tell her to come with you next time!"  Misaki called as
her daughter stepped backward through the red gateway that hung in
the air for a moment before snapping shut behind her.

	When Aeka was gone Funaho turned to Azusa and asked, "Will
she return?"

	The emperor of the greatest civilization in the galaxy sighed
and shook his head, "I do not know Funaho, our Aeka has changed
and I fear that I have failed her."

	Misaki took her husband's hand gently and said, "You did your
best Azusa, that's all anyone could ask, even of you.  Aeka will
be back, I know she will."

	"Yes," Funaho said, looking suddenly very far away, "But what
will she bring with her?  An ill wind stirs the branches and I
fear for its portents."

* * *

	Mihoshi's timid knock at the door was answered by a gruff,
"Who's there?" from Kiyone within.

	"It.. it's me, Kiyone.  Can.. can I come in?"

	"Your room too, Mihoshi."

	Mihoshi opened the door to the guest bedroom and walked in,
setting the luggage down next to the bed.  Mihoshi blushed as she
realized there was only the one bed, she had not even thought
about it before, but now...

	"Ki..Kiyone?"  Mihoshi asked nervously, her partner was lying
on the bed facing the wall away from her, "Are you mad at me,
Kiyone?"

	"No, Mihoshi," Kiyone said wearily, "I'm not mad at you."

	"I brought your luggage in for you, you left it on Yukinojo."

	"Thank you, Mihoshi," Kiyone replied, still facing the wall.

	"And I got Washuu to put him in subspace so nobody'll see."

	"That was very thoughtful of you, Mihoshi."

	"Kiyone..."

	"What is it, Mihoshi?"

	"You can kiss me, if you want to, Kiyone."

	Kiyone rolled over and sat up, "What?"

	"I...  I..."  Mihoshi stammered, "That is... You..."

	"What did you just say, Mihoshi?"

	"You... You were going to kiss me, before, weren't you
Kiyone?"

	"I,"  Kiyone felt a lie coming to her lips and stopped
herself, she had lied once already, she was not going to make it
twice in as many days, "Yes, I was.  But it was a mistake.  I'm
sorry."

	"You don't wanna kiss me then?"  Mihoshi sounded confused
now.

	Kiyone sighed, "I don't know anymore Mihoshi.  It's not
right, I shouldn't want to.  I don't know why I wanted to, but...
God!  I can't believe I'm having this conversation!"

	"You can, if you want to.  I won't stop you."

	Kiyone stared at her partner for long moments and Mihoshi
fidgeted nervously under her gaze.

	"You want me to kiss you, Mihoshi?"  Kiyone asked slowly.

	"I.. I want you to be happy, Kiyone.  I like being your
partner and you're my best friend and you show me how to do stuff
and when I thought you were mad at me I didn't know what to do
because I couldn't ask you because you were mad at me."

	"What are you saying, Mihoshi?"

	"You're my friend Kiyone.  You wanted to kiss me and you got
upset when I stopped you, I don't want you to be upset anymore so
you can kiss me if you want to."

	Kiyone laid back on the bed again and rolled over on her side
to face the wall once more.  "I don't want to kiss you, Mihoshi."

	"You.. you don't?"  Kiyone thought she actually sounded
vaguely hurt.

	"You'll make some guy really happy someday, Mihoshi.  I'm
still your friend, I don't have to kiss you for you to be my
friend."

	"But you don't want to now?"

	"It doesn't matter, Mihoshi.  Some things aren't right, and
even if you sort of want them to be right they're still wrong."

	"Oh."  Kiyone could tell she didn't understand.

	"It's late, Mihoshi.  Let's get some sleep and maybe we'll
talk about it tomorrow."  They would not though, not if Kiyone had
anything to say about it.  She could not remember ever being more
embarrassed in her life.

	"Okay, Kiyone.  Only..."

	"Get into the damn bed, Mihoshi.  I'm not going to try to
feel you up in your sleep."

	"I didn't mean..."

	"Yeah, neither did I.  Goodnight, Mihoshi."

	Mihoshi pulled her slippers off and started to take off her
uniform, then stopped.  *Should I?  What if she doesn't want me
to?  What if she Does want me to?  I don't think I should ask, she
sounded like she sounds when I ask too many questions...*

	Mihoshi decided that discretion was the better part of valor
and crawled under the covers still fully clothed while Kiyone lay
there staring off into space.  "Goodnight, Kiyone."

* * *

	"What?!"

	Ryouko paused at the corner and peered cautiously around to
see who Sasami was yelling at.

	The young princess was holding the telephone receiver to her
ear, a look of shocked disbelief and rising anger painted across
her features.  Ryouko started to keep on around the corner but
just as she began to move Sasami said, "I.. I.. Arg!  I can't
Believe you Eto!  After what you.. you... And you expect Me to
apologize?!"

	*What you what?*  Ryouko wondered, pausing again and too
distracted by the possibilities in Sasami's teasingly vague words
to think about the fact that she was eavesdropping.  *What'd that
little pervert do?* Ryouko thought, *And how far into it did he
get before you stopped him?*

	"Well what Else did you think I would do Eto?" Sasami
demanded, "I'm not that kind of girl!"

	*That's my girl,* Ryouko thought with pride, *Give it to him
good Sammy.*

	Sasami's eyes widened as she listened to the response to her
demand and finally she said angrily, "I was Not leading you on!
You know how I feel about that stuff and I can't believe you would
think just because I was being nice to you I wanted you to.. to..
ugh!  You're such a..."

	*Wanted him to What?  Come on Sasami, what was he trying?*

	"Fine!" Sasami shouted and Ryouko wondered furtively if
anyone was near enough to hear.  She thought they were all
outside, but was not entirely sure.  "Fine Eto!  Whatever!  But
don't expect me to be going out with you anymore this fall!"

	Ryouko grinned.

	"Who?"  Sasami asked, the anger slipping from her voice to be
replaced by something like shock and perhaps a touch of pain,
"Her?!  But.. but.. I've only been gone three days!"

	Ryouko frowned.  *No Sammy, don't let him get to you.. he's
probably lying to make you beg for him to take you back.  Tell him
off and hang up...*

	"But Eto.. I.. how can you say I wasn't your girlfriend?"
Sasami paused, listening to his response.  "Just because I
wouldn't... God Eto, you're such a..."

	Ryouko's frown deepened and her heart lurched when she saw
Sasami's lip trembling.  She wanted to go grab the phone, tell Eto
just what he could do with himself, and tell Sasami it would be
okay.. but she knew Sasami would be angry with her for listening
in on her conversation.

	"I.. how..."  Some of Sasami's resolve returned, though a few
lonely tears were rolling slowly down her cheeks, "How dare you
call me that?  You.. you... I hope you're Very happy with her Eto!
I'm sure she'll let you do whatever you want with her!  Yeah, well
screw you too, you asshole!"  Sasami slammed the receiver down
hard enough that Ryouko was afraid she might have broken the
phone, then turned and put her face in her hands before breaking
down into helpless sobs.

	Ryouko went to her then, she could not stop herself.  She put
an arm around Sasami's shoulders and tried to shush her, but
Sasami only pulled away.  When she looked up at her with a pained,
tear-streaked face Ryouko's heart lurched again.

	"Ry..Ryouko?" Sasami asked, confused.

	"It'll be okay Sasami," Ryouko promised gently, trying to
take one of the girl's hands.

	Sasami frowned and pulled away again.  "Go away," she said
quietly, turning her back on Ryouko, "I don't wanna talk to
anybody Ryouko."

	"I know Sammy," Ryouko said, "But you'll find someone better.
Someone who likes you for who you are, not just your body."

	Sasami turned back and looked at her, wiping her eyes and
leaving smears in her makeup, "You.. you listened to my
conversation?"

	Ryouko frowned and nodded sadly.  "I'm sorry Sammy, I.. I
didn't meant to but-"

	"Doesn't Anybody trust me?!" Sasami demanded angrily, "First
Aeka, now you too Ryouko?  Just leave me alone!  This is all your
fault anyway!  If you hadn't talked me into moving to Tokyo with
you and Tenchi..."

	"But.. I..."  Ryouko looked hurt and searched for a response.
"I thought you wanted to go..."

	"Everybody thinks they know what I want!  Just leave me alone
Ryouko!"

	Ryouko sighed sadly as Sasami turned away again, crying into
her hands.

	"Sorry Sasami," Ryouko whispered and phased out, leaving the
young woman to her tears.

* * *

	Tenchi picked up the ringing phone and answered, "Masaki
residence."

	"Hey Tenchi,"  Mataeo's voice greeted him, "How's it going?"

	"Oh, hi Mat.  Pretty good, you?"

	"Eh, not so great.  I lost my job at the gym."

	"What?"  Tenchi asked, shocked, "Why?  What happened?"

	Mataeo chuckled, "Ran out of customers.  Not enough of the
kids wanted to keep at it all summer for them to keep me on, so
they said to come back in fall when there'd be more business."

	"That's awful, Mat.  You're a great teacher, you should find
someplace that appreciates you."

	"Nah," Mataeo brushed aside the compliment, "It's not their
fault.  They asked if I wanted to teach adult classes a month ago,
but the hours would have been longer and I didn't want to commit
myself during school.  They got some other guy instead, so there's
nobody to blame but myself."

	"Still, though," Tenchi sighed, feeling sorry for his friend.
He knew how much Mataeo enjoyed his work at the gym, he got real
pleasure out of teaching.  "So how's Ai?"

	"You mean 'how are things with me and Ai,' don't you?"

	"Yeah," Tenchi admitted, "That too I guess."

	"She's alright.  We talked and... I think we'll be okay."

	Tenchi wanted to ask if he had invited her to move in, but
could tell Mataeo wouldn't be comfortable with the question so
just left it at that, "That's good."

	"How's Ryouko?  And the rest of the clan?  Having a good
time?"

	"It's only been three days," Tenchi chuckled, "Barely had
time to say hello to everybody.  Ryouko's fine, if she were around
she'd say to say hi to Ai for her."

	"Not around?  Where'd she go?"

	"Oh, I didn't mean like that," Tenchi explained, "She's just
up in the.. lake, with the rest of the girls."

	"Ahh, why aren't you out there with them then?  Tenchi scared
of the water?"

	Tenchi laughed, "No, I was just sitting around watching TV
with Dad.  You know, the old 'go away for a while then come back
and bond with your father' thing."

	"Yeah," Mataeo said, his voice suddenly sad and distant,
"Sounds like fun."

	"So what's up Mat?"  Tenchi asked, trying to change the
subject, "Calling for anything in particular?"

	"Nah," Mataeo answered, trying to inject some cheer back into
his voice, "Just bored and thought I'd give you a ring.  I'll let
you go, Ai'll probably call later to gossip with Ryouko, it's
unbelievable the number of seemingly earth-shattering events which
can apparently take place in three days."

	"Oh?"

	"Yeah, like yesterday the lady up the street that runs the
vegetable stall apparently arranged for her son to marry the
daughter of the old guy that always hangs around outside the
shrine two blocks over."

	"Ahh, That kind of earth-shattering importance."

	Mataeo chuckled and said, "Alright, Tenchi.  You have fun,
talk to you later."

	Tenchi started to take the phone away from his ear and
stopped, calling, "Mat, hey, you still there Mat?"

	"Yeah," Mataeo answered, "What's up?"

	"Mat..."  Tenchi paused, was he sure?  He thought back to the
distant pain in Mataeo's voice when he mentioned his father, and
to the boredom so obvious in his tone for most of the
conversation.  Yes, he was sure.

	"We're going out to Iizuna to go camping for a week in a few
days.  Why don't you and Ai come with?"

	"I... No, we couldn't Tenchi.  It'd be imposing on your
family."

	"Come on Mat, we're not even going to be in the house.  How
can you be imposing?  Besides, I'm inviting you, it's not imposing
if you're invited."

	"I don't know Tenchi, I mean..."

	"I'm not taking no for an answer Mat," Tenchi said, his
confidence in the rightness of his choice firming when he heard
the shift in his friend's tone, "Ryouko missed you two the first
day we were out here.  If you don't want to stay for the summer
that's fine, but you're going to come camping with us.  You two
have been in Japan for months now and haven't seen anything
outside Tokyo, come on."

	"Alright Tenchi, I'll ask Ai.  If she wants to we'll come."

	"Great.  And don't worry about tents or anything, we have
spares."

	Tenchi said goodbye and hung up the phone feeling somehow
lighter.  Leaving their friends alone for the summer had been
hard, but Mataeo and Ai insisted that coming to stay at the house
in Okayama would be imposing on Tenchi's hospitality.  Now that
they would be here with the rest of his friends and family Tenchi
felt relieved.  He worried about having to lie to them again, and
about having to get everyone else to cooperate in the shared
fiction, but he was glad all his friends would be together for a
while.

	//Guess what honey,// Tenchi sent to Ryouko across the
distance as he headed back to the livingroom.

	//What?//

	//Mat and Ai are coming camping with us, he just phoned and I
talked him into it.//

	//Great!  I'll tell everybody.//

* * *

	Sasami's voice accompanied the knock, asking, "Ryouko?  Can I
come in?"

	Ryouko looked up, startled, and pushed the little box down
deeper in Tenchi's bag, covering it with one of his shirts.  "Sure
Sasami."

	Ryouko glanced around the bed as Sasami slid the door open
and snatched a bit of lace and elastic from the pillow, stuffing
it into her own bag quickly.

	"What's up Sasami?"  Ryouko asked, pushing her hair back from
her forehead.  Getting everything folded and stuffed into the
little backpacks was harder than she had expected.

	Sasami sighed and sat down on the end of the bed before
saying, "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday Ryouko.  I.. I was
really upset and I didn't mean it.  I did want to go to Tokyo, and
if you hadn't talked me into it I would've been really lonely
staying here or on Jurai."

	Ryouko smiled and patted her shoulder reassuringly, folding
another of Tenchi's shirts and placing it in his bag.  "It's okay
Sasami, I know you were upset.  Do you... Do you want to talk
about that?"

	The occasions Sasami had come to Ryouko for advice or just
for someone to talk to had started out few and far between,
usually she would just call her sister on Jurai and ask.  But
after a while Sasami started coming to Ryouko with her problems
instead.  Aeka was her sister, but she was also all the way away
on Jurai and any problem Sasami was having could not be discussed
without Sasami first explaining everything leading up to it too.
Ryouko did not know everything that went on in her life, of
course, but she at least knew all her friends' names.

	Ryouko was still not entirely comfortable with it though.
Not that she did not want to talk to Sasami when the young woman
needed help, but Ryouko was not sure she was the right person for
her to ask.  She had not had so much more experience in dealing
with people in anything like a normal fashion than the princess
that she felt confident in her advice, but Sasami seemed to
appreciate it and Ryouko found it helped most when she just
listened anyway.  She was constantly afraid, though, that she
would say or do something that would end up offending Aeka or
damaging Sasami's relationship with her family, and so she was
always very careful in what advice she gave.

	"I.. I dunno," Sasami said, toying with the hem of her shirt,
"It's all so confusing..."

	Ryouko put another shirt in Tenchi's bag and picked up a
handful of socks, sitting down next to Sasami at the end of the
bed while she balled them up.  "If you don't want to tell me it's
okay, but you know how much better you usually feel if you explain
what's going on."

	Sasami sighed and wrinkled her nose.  "I guess so," she said
slowly, "But you have to promise you won't get mad at Eto and you
won't.. won't tell Aeka."

	Ryouko frowned, Sasami had never asked her anything like this
before.  "I don't know Sasami.. maybe you should talk to your
sister about it."

	Sasami shook her head violently.  "Uh uh, I can't talk to
Aeka about this.  It'd be.. it'd be bad.  She'd get really mad at
me, and at Eto, and at you and Tenchi.. and she's in town with
Tenchi picking up Mat and Ai anyway."

	Ryouko nodded.  The princess had gone with Tenchi in her
stead so she could pick up a few things for the camping trip while
Ryouko stayed and packed her and Tenchi's bags.

	"Okay," Ryouko agreed cautiously, "I promise.  But I might
tell you to stop if I don't think I can listen to any more and not
break my promise, okay?"

	Sasami nodded, still looking down and playing with the edge
of her shirt.

	"You.. you know about how I had my lessons, right?"

	"Yeah, Aeka was excited about it.  But I remember you weren't
too happy."

	"I.. I was just kinda scared.  But in my lessons there was
stuff about.. sex, you know?"

	"Mmm," Ryouko said noncommittally.  Sex was one of those
topics she was always very, very careful about around Sasami.  She
knew how much it would upset Aeka if she gave Sasami any 'weird
ideas,' as the princess had put it before giving her permission to
watch over Sasami in her place in Tokyo.

	"Well," Sasami said, pressing on despite Ryouko's response,
"I was worried that if I.. if I actually wanted to, you know, Do
it with somebody from Earth it wouldn't work right.  There were..
pictures, in the lessons.. but they were all Jurain and I didn't
know if humans on Earth did the same stuff and everything.  I
mean.. I know mommy Funaho is from Earth, and she and daddy had
Yousho, so it must be possible.  But what if Earth humans did it
different?  Or wanted to do different stuff?"

	"Mmm?"

	"And all my girlfriends always talk about it.. it seems like
all of them have sex with their boyfriends, but Aeka and the
lessons told me it was supposed to be really special and I
shouldn't do it with just anybody.  And I know that's true.. I
mean, it seems really silly when you just look at it, and I
wouldn't want to do that with anybody who wasn't really special.
And on top of that I was worried it wouldn't even Work right if I
tried.  So, so this one time.. I..."

	"Did you have sex with Eto?"  Ryouko asked calmly, resting
her hand comfortingly on Sasami's knee.

	"What?  No!"  Sasami shook her head and said quickly, "No,
not that.  I.. I bought one of those magazines Tenchi's dad looks
at."

	Ryouko tried to keep herself from grinning.  Here she thought
Sasami had.. and she had just bought a dirty manga.  "So?"  Ryouko
asked, "How.. er.. how was it?"

	Sasami wrinkled her nose.  "It was.. weird.  I.. I don't
think I got a very good one."

	"You shouldn't use things like that as a guide for real.. for
making love for real, Sasami," Ryouko said gently, "Those are for
hentais that usually have really bad taste.  I've seen some of
them, and it's not.. it's really not like that."

	Ryouko had done much the same thing Sasami had been through
before her first time with Tenchi.  She worried that, as a
creation of Washuu's lab, she might not even be capable of it.
That her mother had never said anything regarding the subject
bolstered Ryouko's confidence, and having seen other women naked
she knew she was at least set up the same way.  But she was
nervous anyway.  During her time under Kagato Ryouko had picked up
on how two people actually went about the act, but it was a big
galaxy and there were a lot of variations.  Some of them sounded
really uncomfortable, and she certainly could not just go to any
of Tenchi's family and ask if they happen to do things the same
way as, say, Gisifians.

	So she snuck into Nobuyuki's room and 'borrowed' a few of his
manga to look at and see what she was in for.  She did not think
she would ever forget the expression on Tenchi's face when she
asked nervously if maybe they could not use the ropes and all the
first time.  Ryouko heaved an inward sigh of relief that Tenchi
was not like his father that way.  She loved him and would
probably do anything he asked, but the idea of being tied up.. it
reminded her too much of the cave.

	"I know," Sasami said after a few moments of silence, "I.. I
didn't think it could really be like that.  But there was enough
there that I know it works the same for people on Earth as for on
Jurai."

	Ryouko took a deep breath and bit her lip before saying,
"Sasami...  If you ever.. if you ever have any questions about..
that, and you don't want to ask your sister.. I want you to talk
to me, okay?  Reading those magazines isn't going to help, and I
haven't had a whole lot of experience or anything, but I'll tell
you what I know, okay?"

	Sasami looked up at her then, looking searchingly around her
face.

	"But you have to promise," Ryouko said nervously under
Sasami's gaze, "Never to ever tell Aeka.  Okay?  She'd kill me if
she found out I even offered."

	Finally Sasami nodded.  "Okay, Ryouko.  I.. I guess maybe I
could talk to you.  Aeka's never.. and I just know she'd get
really mad if I asked her about it."

	"So what were you so upset at Eto over?"  Ryouko asked,
trying to lighten the subject.  "Did you ask you to do it with him
or something?"

	"Oh, no," Sasami said and Ryouko cheered mentally, "He tried
to kiss me.  I.. I only said about the magazine because it kinda
has to do with the kissing thing.  I never knew anybody with a
boyfriend on Jurai except Aeka, and I almost never saw her and
Yousho in the same place, so I didn't really know what to do with
a boy I liked.  All my friends were always all flirty with their
boyfriends, so I tried doing that too."

	Sasami sighed and looked down, shaking her head.  "I guess
that was wrong.  Eto thought I wanted him to do stuff, like
kissing me, that I didn't.  I mean, I guess I kind of wanted him
to kiss me, but I wasn't really ready when he tried.  I.. ever
since I had my Change I think about boys a lot, and before my
Change I was never interested in any of Tenchi's dad's manga, so I
guess I do sort of want to do some of that stuff.  But wanting to
and actually doing it are really different, for me anyway.  I can
kinda think about it and think how it'd be nice if Eto kissed me,
but when he actually wanted to I just thought about how he might
want me to do other stuff if I did that, and how it could really
be nicer the first time, and maybe Eto wasn't the first boy I
wanted to kiss... So I slapped him."

	Ryouko stifled an urge to giggle.  "Really?  You slapped
him?"

	"Uh huh," Sasami said sadly, "Right on the face.  And I
thought maybe when I called him yesterday he would apologize for
trying and then I could apologize for slapping him and we could go
back to how we were before...  Only he said he wouldn't apologize
and I should apologize to Him for leading him on when I didn't
really want to do anything.  And then he said he's been going out
with this girl, Nomasuki Anoru, for weeks 'cause he didn't think I
was really his girlfriend.  Anoru is.. everybody says she'll do
anything with.. with a guy.  I guess 'cause it makes her popular
or something."

	Ryouko squeezed Sasami's knee, "If he wants to go out with
some bimbo who'll do it with anybody who asks, let him.  He'll
probably get some disease.  You did the right thing, Sammy.  If
someone wants to do something with you you're not ready for, tell
them no.  Just because it might make you popular isn't a good
reason to do something, especially something as serious as sex."

	Sasami smiled weakly.  "Yeah, I guess so."

	"Besides," Ryouko added, "Your friends probably aren't doing
it as much as they say they are.  The more somebody talks about it
the less they usually are actually doing it."

	"Wow, really?"

	Ryouko nodded sagely.  "Uh huh."

	"Well," Sasami said, grinning, "Their mothers probably never
offered to give them pointers either."

	Ryouko blinked and she felt the blood draining from her head
toward her toes.  "Wh.. what do you.. what do you mean by that,
Sasami?"

	"You said you'd talk to me about...  Oh," Sasami paused,
blushing as she realized what she had said, "I.. I don't know.
You always talk to me when I have problems and I guess I sort of
thought of you as being like Aeka when Aeka's not around, or when
it's something I can't talk to her about.  And Aeka was more like
my mom than my sister on Jurai, mommy Misaki and mommy Funaho were
always busy with daddy doing stuff for court and kids weren't
allowed until after their Change.  I.. I'm sorry Ryouko, I didn't
mean to upset you or anything."

	Ryouko smiled.  "No, don't worry about it Sammy.  I'll talk
to you about whatever you want."

	Sasami sighed.  "I wish I could talk to mommy Misaki more
often."

	"You could call her," Ryouko suggested.

	Sasami shook her head.  "It's not that I can't talk to her
really.. it's just when I try to I don't know what to say.  Like I
said I hardly ever got to really spend much time with her on
Jurai, and now it's like anything I could talk about she wouldn't
understand.  When I talked to her after my lessons she was really
nice and told me how pretty I was and how proud of me she was, but
I couldn't talk to her about how I felt or anything.  It just felt
too weird.. like trying to talk to Aeka about stuff in Tokyo when
she doesn't know any of my friends and just gets upset if I
mention Eto."

	"I know how hard it can be trying to talk to someone about
personal stuff when you're afraid they won't understand, or won't
say what you want them to," Ryouko said, absently folding socks.
"When I started talking to Washuu like she was really my mother it
was really hard telling her about how I was feeling.  I didn't
really even want to admit to myself how I felt sometimes, how
could I tell someone else about it?  Especially when it was Washuu
and she was always acting goofy?"

	Sasami nodded.  "Yeah, that's what I mean.  But you and
Washuu are happy now, right?"

	Ryouko smiled and nodded slowly.  "Yeah, I guess so.
Sometimes she still jokes around when I want her to be serious,
but I can talk to her and not be afraid she'll just laugh at me.
She really does know a lot, and if she wants to she can usually
explain things."

	"I.. I guess that's how it is for me too," Sasami said
quietly, a little caution in her tone, "With.. with you I mean.
When we went to Tokyo I didn't want to talk to you when I was
upset because you.. well, you know."

	Ryouko nodded, she knew she had not been a model of
compassion and propriety.

	"But," Sasami continued, "Now I'm not afraid and it's nice
having someone I can talk to who understands.  I couldn't talk to
Tenchi like this, it'd be way too embarrassing.  And Aeka..."
Sasami shook her head.  It was obvious to Ryouko that there was a
lot Sasami wanted to say about her sister, but for her own reasons
was unwilling.

	"I don't..."  Ryouko paused, trying to decide how to phrase
it to keep from hurting Sasami's feelings.  "I like that you feel
comfortable talking to me Sasami, but I don't know if I'm a good
person for you to think of like a substitute mother.  I'm a couple
thousand years old, but what of that time I can remember I usually
try not to.  Really, in years that count, I'm only as old as
Tenchi.  And since I spent most of that in the cave I'm really not
too great at.. you know, people and stuff.  You can talk to me any
time you want to, about anything, and I promise I'll try to listen
and help if I can, but I.. I don't want to take your sister or
your mother's place just because you're around me more."

	Sasami smiled.  "I'll always love Aeka and mommy Misaki, I
didn't mean it like that.  I just meant..."  Sasami sighed, "I
guess I don't even know what I meant.  I just wanna keep being
your friend Ryouko, and really I just came up here to make sure
you know I'm not really mad at you about yesterday.  And I.. I
hope you and Tenchi will let me come live with you again in the
fall for school."

	Ryouko put the socks aside and hugged Sasami tightly.  "Of
course you can Sammy, the apartment would seem awfully empty
without you around.  And I still can't cook."

	Sasami giggled.  "You're not That bad Ryouko.  You can make
breakfast now.. usually."

* * *

	Mataeo started when Tenchi grabbed his arm, he had not heard
his friend approaching through the forest.  It was eerie the way
Tenchi moved through the woods,  like his feet rested atop the
leaves rather than crushing them.  Though if Tenchi was eerie,
Sasami and Aeka were downright disturbing.  If Mataeo didn't see
their legs moving he would swear they floated.

	Mataeo looked at Tenchi were he stood now, holding his arm in
mid-swing.

	"Er," Mataeo asked, "Something wrong?"

	"Don't take this one," Tenchi said, looking down at the
fallen tree Mataeo was about to begin chopping for firewood, "It's
still alive."

	"It is?"  Mataeo looked at the log, it certainly looked dead
to him, "How can you tell?"

	"Here," Tenchi pointed to a tiny green leaf on a tiny branch
growing from the bulk of the tree, "See?"

	"How..."  Mataeo shook his head, he did not want to know how
Tenchi could have seen that from wherever he had been walking
before coming to stop him from attacking the log.

	"Here," Tenchi turned to another log that looked, to Mataeo,
essentially identical to the first, "We'll take this one."

	While Mataeo started to work with the hatchet alongside his
friend he reflected on the camping trip so far.  When he told Ai
about Tenchi's invitation she was downright eager to go.


	They left the next morning after calling Tenchi again and
arranging for him to come pick them up at the train station in
Kurashiki.  The train trip was pleasant, it had been a long time
since either of them were outside a city and watching the
countryside roll by was relaxing.  When they arrived Tenchi was
standing on the platform with a rather attractive woman with long,
purple hair and pink eyes.

	"Wow, Ryouko," Mataeo said walking up to them, "You weren't
kidding about the country air being different from Tokyo.  I think
the new Ryouko is cuter, how about you Ai?"

	Ai rolled her eyes and bowed to the purple-haired woman, "I
am Fujihara Ai and the rude man with me is Onosami Mataeo.  You
must be Sasami's sister."

	"Why yes," Aeka answered with a bow, "But how did you know?"

	"Sasami talks about her sister quite often and pink eyes are
not exactly common," Ai said, "Though I confess I was under the
impression that she had an older sister."

	Aeka blushed and said, "I am Sasami's older sister."

	"Really?  Certainly not by more than a few months then?"

	When Aeka's blush darkened and she did not answer Tenchi took
the opportunity to fill the lull in conversation by welcoming his
friends and formally completing the introductions, telling them
Aeka was his cousin and that Ryouko stayed behind to help with the
packing.


	When they arrived at the house Sasami opened the door and
greeted them with a happy, "Hi Mat!  Hi Ai!" and the odd little
creature on top of her head chimed in with, "Miya!"  Sasami tried
to look up at it, her eyes crossing as peered upward and said, "Uh
oh..."

	"Hi Sasa-"  Tenchi stopped mid-sentence and mid-step, staring
at the furry little animal on her head, "Sasami?  I thought we
talked about this."

	"I'm sorry Tenchi," Sasami apologized, "I.. I was making
lunch and forgot she was up there and then I came to answer the
door and I didn't even think..."

	Mataeo and Ai looked back and forth between one another,
Tenchi, Sasami, and the furry little creature that was peering
around with apparent interest at the new arrivals.  "Miya?" it
asked.

	Tenchi sighed, "Well, I guess it's too late now.  Mataeo, Ai,
meet Ryou-ohki.  Ryou-ohki, Mataeo and Ai."

	"What..."  Mataeo stared at Ryou-ohki, "What is it?"

	"She's Ryou-ohki," Sasami answered defensively, taking the
animal down off of her head and holding it out toward them.
"Miya!" it said happily.

	"Yeah," Mataeo agreed, reaching out to pet the adorable
little thing despite himself, "But what is she?  A cat?  A
rabbit?"

	"She's certainly cute," Ai said, scratching Ryou-ohki's chin.
Ai was always better at dealing with unexpected surprises than her
boyfriend.

	"Ryou-ohki," said the reddish-pink haired woman who walked up
to the door behind Sasami, "Is a cabbit."

	"A what?"  Mataeo asked, not noticing that the residents of
the house seemed as interested in this particular explanation as
he was.

	"A cabbit," the woman repeated, "Half cat, half rabbit."

	"But," Ai protested, "That's impossible.  They're totally
different species, you can't just mix them together."

	"Ahh," the woman said knowingly, "That's the genetics part."

	"But you can't mean to say-"

	Ai's protest was cut off by Tenchi hurriedly stepping forward
and saying, "Mat, Ai, this is Washuu, Ryouko's mother.  Washuu,
these are our friends from Tokyo.  Why don't you and Ryou-ohki go
finish making lunch Sasami?"

	Sasami nodded happily and turned back to the interior of the
house, asking Ryou-ohki, "Did you know you were a cabbit Ryou-
ohki?" and receiving an ambivalent "Miya" of response.

	"Come on," Tenchi said, "Let's go inside before anything else
happens."


	Between then and leaving the next day for the campground at
Mt. Iizuna there were no more big surprises.  Mataeo and Ai met
Mihoshi and Kiyone, Katsuhito and Nobuyuki, and Washuu spent a
long, confusing hour explaining to Ai that Ryou-ohki was an
experiment from an American lab where she worked until a few years
ago, and that technically was supposed to have been destroyed.
Mataeo had no idea if the things Washuu described were actually
possible, but Ryouko's mother certainly sounded like she knew what
she was talking about and was willing to describe the process used
to create Ryou-ohki in enough detail that even Ai eventually gave
up on it.  The part about smuggling Ryou-ohki out of the country
to avoid having her destroyed when the experiment was over was
easier to believe.  Mataeo could not imagine that anyone but a
scientist could be heartless enough to destroy anything as cute,
harmless, and apparently intelligent as the cabbit.

	Since arriving there had been a continued dearth of
surprises, besides the almost ethereal grace with which Tenchi,
Aeka, and Sasami moved through the forest.  When they went out
hunting firewood for that night while the girls pitched the tents
and set up camp Aeka mentioned casually, though forcefully, that
they should only take dead wood.  Tenchi agreed and Mataeo thought
it was a good sentiment, the forest was beautiful and should be
preserved.  He thought Tenchi was probably going a little
overboard with the log, nobody would have known afterward that it
had still had a couple of shoots left growing, but he had met
environmentalists before and a concern for the woodlands was
considerably less odd than most of the unusual things about his
friends.


	Mataeo wiped his forehead and pushed the latest piece of log
out of the way with his foot.  He and Tenchi had been at it for an
hour now and were nearly done, though it would probably take them
two or three times that to haul all the wood back to camp.  He
eyed the pile and thought it would probably be worth it though, as
much wood as had come out of the fallen tree would probably last
them half the week.  At least, he hoped it would.  This was only
Mataeo's second time camping in his life and he had not expected
it to be quite so much work.  Camping usually summoned up images
of sitting around a merry fire telling stories or fishing in
clear, gurgling streams.  Not being up to your elbows in dust and
wood chips with blisters quickly developing on your hands from
swinging an axe.

	*Well,* Mataeo thought as he set the latest log section up
end-wise to split it, *At least it's a change of pace.  Without
school to keep us busy I don't know what Ai and I would have done
in Tokyo all summer.  I've lived in a city most of my life, but
over here the only people I've got to spend time with are Ai and
the Masakis, and going out to the same clubs and restaurants every
night would have gotten old fast.*

	Mataeo aimed carefully and brought the axe down the way
Tenchi had shown him, cleaving halfway through the log.  *Maybe I
should let him talk us into staying at their place all summer,*
Mataeo thought, *I don't want to impose, but everybody really does
seem to not mind a couple of extra visitors and even with all the
work this trip has been more fun than anything I could be doing
back in Tokyo right now.*

	"Nice cut, Mat," Tenchi observed, startling his friend from
his thoughts, "You're a natural."

	Mataeo grinned and brushed off the compliment, "It doesn't
take a lot of talent to use a big hunk of metal to hit a bigger
hunk of wood."

	Tenchi chuckled, "You'd be surprised.  It took me days just
to get where I could hit the middle of the log."

	"Yeah, right," Mataeo replied jovially, "It's not That hard
Tenchi.  Besides, the way you move you could probably split these
things in fourths with one whack from a stick."

	Tenchi raised his eyebrows and asked, "Way I move?  A stick?
What are you talking about?"

	"Come on Tenchi," Mataeo sighed in exasperation, laying the
axe down against the stump he was using as a chopping block, "You
glide around out here like some kind of forest kami.  I've been
half expecting you to start talking to the trees or something."

	When Tenchi only looked at him in further confusion Mataeo
expanded, "You know I know you're not just a normal guy, Tenchi.
We've been over all that before, and there are just too many weird
little things about your family for you to be like everybody else.
I mean, your cousin's best friend is some kind of weird genetics
experiment your girlfriend's mother whipped up... When are you
going to tell me who you are?  I want to be your friend, Tenchi,
but I don't know how long that can last if you're not going to
trust me."

	Tenchi sighed and put down his hatchet, saying, "I don't know
Mat.  I want to tell you, I really do, but it would cause a lot of
problems if I did.  Not just for me, for you and Ai too.  I know
you'd keep a secret for me, but even Ryouko and I have trouble
keeping it all in sometimes, and we live it.  How much easier
would it be for you to accidentally let something slip that you
don't think is really such a big deal?"

	Mataeo shook his head.  "If you're not going to tell me all
of it maybe you shouldn't tell me anything.  The more you say the
weirder it all sounds and the more I want to know."

	"I'll talk to the others later," Tenchi promised, "Maybe we
can come up with something.  But how about you?  If you and Ai are
going to find out about us, are you going to hold up your end of
the bargain?"

	Mataeo picked up the axe and buried it once more in a log
before replying quietly, "Too late Tenchi, I invited her to move
in with me on the train ride here.  I'm surprised you don't know
yet, I figured that would be the first thing Ai told Ryouko."

	Tenchi grinned broadly and clapped his friend on the
shoulder, "If so she hasn't said anything to me.  Congratulations,
Mat.  You won't regret it."

	"No," Mataeo said wistfully, "I don't think I will.  We're
going to find a place before the start of the fall semester and
hopefully sometime between now and graduation we'll get married.
Then my Dad won't flip when we go back to Hong Kong."

	"Married?"  Tenchi asked, surprised at the ease with which
Mataeo seemed to take the idea considering his nervousness about
cohabitation.

	Mataeo chuckled and said, "Yeah, I know.  But somehow
marriage doesn't seem as hard a inviting her in was.  Asking Ai to
marry me doesn't offend anybody and I know she'll say yes, so
what's there to be worried about?  We've talked about it before,
and we wanted to get married eventually, but now that we're going
to live together it just seems natural that it'll be soon."

	Mataeo looked up from the half-split log at Tenchi and his
voice was touched with deep gratitude when he said, "Thanks,
Tenchi.  If you hadn't made me look closer at my feelings that
night at the restaurant and scared me bad enough to talk to Ai
about it later, I don't think I would have ever been ready.
Sometimes you've just got to step back and say, 'Is this what I
want out of life?  Is there anything that would feel more right
than this?'  And if it weren't for you, I'm not sure I'd have
realized that."

	Tenchi felt himself blush as he looked down at the remains of
the log near his feet.  "I didn't do all that, Mat.  You did it, I
was just there."

	"No, Tenchi," Mataeo shook his head, "You weren't just there.
Once again you've done something that I wouldn't have figured was
even possible and don't seem to realize what you did.  I want to
know your story Tenchi, but I'll wait for when you're ready.  I
owe you a lot and that's the least I can do."

* * *

	Kiyone gave up and got out of the tent.  She had been lying
there for hours trying to fall asleep but thoughts about Mihoshi,
and anger at herself over those thoughts, were keeping her awake.
So finally she crawled carefully out of her sleeping bag and
slipped out of the tent without waking Mihoshi.  Nobody else
seemed to be up, or a least if they were they weren't doing
anything that required lights, so Kiyone decided to go up the
trail a ways to the little stream that fed into lake Daizahoshi.
She, Mihoshi, and Sasami had found it that afternoon and it seemed
like it would be a peaceful place to sit on a moonlit night.


	"Couldn't sleep either Kiyone?"

	Kiyone arrived at the stream to find Ai already there,
sitting on a rock and watching the coolly sparkling water flow
past with the darkness of reflected night.

	"No, too many bumps in the ground I guess," Kiyone lied.

	"Yeah," Ai agreed, sounding sincere, "Guess I'm just a city
girl too.  Mat passed right out but every time I moved I found
another rock right under my back."

	Kiyone sat down next to the young woman she had only met the
day before and nodded, "I've never been camping before.  It's nice
out here though, I'm glad Mihoshi invited me along."

	"I've only been a couple of times, but you're right, it's
very peaceful out here.  I'm glad Mat let Tenchi talk him into it,
he's been so upset over losing his job I was worried he'd just be
depressed all summer."

	"Mmm," Kiyone agreed unsurely.  She was a relatively private
person and was not entirely comfortable with people who could just
open up to a new friend.

	"So how'd you end up out here Kiyone?  I know you're a friend
of Mihoshi's or something, but everything's been so busy since
yesterday I haven't gotten to really meet everybody yet."

	"I..."  Kiyone paused, reminding herself that she was
supposed to be an ordinary Earth girl around Tenchi and Ryouko's
friends, "We work on the Kurashiki police force, I'm Mihoshi's
partner."

	"Oh," Ai said, "So how does Mihoshi know Tenchi's family?"

	Kiyone shook her head, "I'm not sure exactly.  They've been
friends for years but I only met Mihoshi a few months ago.  I
think Ryouko was involved in a case Mihoshi was working on or
something."  Kiyone really wasn't sure how her partner had met up
with Tenchi and the rest, she had never really thought to ask.
She could certainly see why Mihoshi was friends with them though,
she had only spent a week and a half or so with them between now
and back at Christmas but they all treated her like a member of
the family.  It was a nice feeling after being pretty much alone
since her father passed away.

	"So you and Mataeo are getting married or something?"  Kiyone
asked, "Ryouko was saying something about it but I only caught the
end."

	Ai blushed and looked out at the water, "No, not married.  He
asked me to move in with him on the train ride up here.  We're
going to get married too, eventually, but it took Mat a long time
to get up to inviting me to live with him, I'm not going to rush
anything else."

	Kiyone mumbled congratulations and sat silently watching the
stream.  Kiyone was more comfortable with the idea of people
living together without being married than a lot of things, but it
still seemed vaguely wrong.  Back on Midris nobody would even
consider living with a romantic partner without been legally
bonded first.  They did not have the complex marriage rituals
practiced here on Earth, but there were certain documents and
procedures to be followed saying that you were bound to the other
person and entitling them to the right to prosecute if you had an
affair.  Not that that happened very often, Midrins were too
tightly wound about sexual matters for casual extra-marital
flings.  But the GP had taken Kiyone to enough worlds without
marriage contracts of any kind that she was relatively comfortable
with the idea that people could be bonded by love instead of law,
and Ai seemed like a nice person.

	"How about you and Mihoshi?"  Ai asked, looking back at
Kiyone from the gurgling stream.

	"Huh?"  Kiyone asked, startled, "What do you mean?"

	"Oh, I'm sorry," Ai blushed in the near-darkness, "I didn't
mean... I thought you two were... I'm sorry."

	*Am I that obvious?*  Kiyone wondered, *I don't want to
believe my own feelings exist, but this girl can see right through
to them.  Is she just observant or is it blatantly clear that
I'm.. interested.. in Mihoshi and everyone is just too polite to
comment?*

	"No offense taken, Ai,"  Kiyone said quietly, patting Ai's
hand, "I'm.. I'm just Mihoshi's friend."

* * *

	"Ryouko?  Are you awake?"  Tenchi asked, leaning on his elbow
on the tent floor and looking down at her.

	"Mmmm?"  Ryouko asked muzzily.

	"Sorry, go back to sleep."

	"No," Ryouko rubbed her eyes, "I'm up.  I wasn't sleeping
very well anyway, too many roots and things.  What's up Tenchi?"

	"I.. I can't sleep.  Come out for a walk with me?"

	Ryouko nodded and sat up slowly.  She really was not sleeping
very well anyway and Tenchi sounded like he needed to talk to her
about something.  Ryouko pulled on a pair of pants to go with the
shirt she had worn to sleep and looked around for her sandals
while Tenchi crawled out of the tent.


	"So what's bothering you Tenchi?"  Ryouko asked when they
were away from camp, "You sounded upset."

	Tenchi walked on in silence for a few moments before
responding, "I was talking to Mat before, while we were out
getting firewood.  You know he asked Ai to move in with him?"

	"Yeah," Ryouko said with a grin, "She went on about it for an
hour and a half while we were putting the tents up.  I'm really
happy for them, she's wanted this for a while."

	Ryouko reached over and took Tenchi's hand, leaning against
his shoulder while they walked.  "And she says it was because of
some advice you gave him."

	"I don't think so," Tenchi said distantly, "I think it was
more Mat than he wants to admit, I'm just an excuse for him to get
around the traditions his father brought him up to follow."

	"Well, either way you helped him,"  Ryouko brought his hand
up and kissed the back of it before going on, "That's why I love
you Tenchi, you're such a wonderful man and never get a swelled
head about it."

	Tenchi sighed and squeezed her hand in his, "I'm not so
wonderful."

	"Sure you are,"  Ryouko comforted, wondering what was
bothering him.

	"No,"  Tenchi shook his head, "No, I'm not.  Here, lets go
sit down on that rock over there.  I.. I need to talk to you about
something."

	Ryouko frowned at the tone in his voice but went and sat
down.  Tenchi reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of
cloth.  The moon gave enough light to walk by, but it was still
dark and Ryouko was not entirely sure, but she thought it was the
ribbon she had taken from his hand on Christmas night.

	"This was my mother's, Ryouko," Tenchi said, looking down at
the strip of blue cloth in his hand, "She used to wear it in her
hair.  I've been carrying it around, on and off, ever since she
died.  Sometimes I take it out and I run it between my fingers and
it's like I can feel her arms hugging me again."  Tenchi sighed
and looked up at her.  "I lied to you, Ryouko."

	"What?"  Ryouko's frown deepened and she had to struggle
through the emotions Tenchi's words about his mother had brought
rushing to cloud her mind, "What did you lie about?"

	"When I told you..."  Tenchi's voice faltered but he squeezed
the ribbon in his hands and went on, "When I told you that I was
finally ready to love you, when I said that your courage had given
me the strength to let you into my life... I was lying Ryouko."

	"Wh..."  Ryouko couldn't finish the word, much less the
sentence.  He lied?  He didn't love her?  No, no, this couldn't be
happening.  Ryouko pinched herself hard, almost drawing blood, but
she wasn't waking up.  Her mind spun and the world seemed to tilt.

	"No, no, Ryouko, I didn't mean it like that," Tenchi said
hurriedly, taking her in his arms when she nearly fell off the
rock, "I love you, I love you, I do, I didn't mean that."

	Ryouko looked up at him frantically, searching his eyes and
slowly calming when she saw the truth of it there, "Don't you ever
do that again Tenchi.  Don't scare me like that, not ever."

	"I'm sorry,"  Tenchi kept one of her hands in his but went
back to playing with the ribbon in the other one, "I'm sorry
Ryouko, I didn't mean to upset you like that.  I didn't think
about how what I was saying sounded.  That's not what I meant, I
love you, I'll love you forever, I..."  Tenchi shook his head, "I
can't explain it this way.  Let me.. let me show you."

	Ryouko knew what he meant and nodded, squeezing his hand
hard.  He had shaken her badly, but his calm voice and the truth
in his words was bringing her back.  He loved her, she knew it,
and whatever was upsetting him must be pretty bad for him to have
jumbled his thoughts around that badly and for him to want to
share his memories directly with her.  They had done it a few
times since Christmas, but Tenchi was always very nervous about it
and had only given her his memories once.  Christmas was months
ago, but she knew the pain of that night was still fresh for him.

	Now he reached up and stroked her forehead gently, kissing
her reassuringly and saying again that he loved her.  Ryouko
smiled and covered his hand in hers, nuzzling her face against it
and opening herself to his mind.


	Pale sunlight filtered in through the rice-paper windows as
Tenchi walked into the room where his mother lay.  The sun made
Achika's pale skin seem to almost glow and Tenchi, though only a
child, thought she looked very beautiful.  But she was very
obviously in pain too, and that made Tenchi's whole body seem
stiff and unwieldy.  He went to her, crossing the wooden floor
slowly on slippered feet, and knelt beside the futon on which she
rested.

	"Mommy?"  Tenchi asked in the voice of a young boy, "What's
wrong Mommy?  Grampa said you wanted me to come see you."

	She looked up at him, her eyes focusing on his face slowly,
and she reached up with visible effort to stroke his cheek.
"Tenchi," she sighed, "Oh my beautiful little Tenchi."

	"What's wrong Mommy?"  Tenchi asked again, worrying at the
distant quality of his mother's voice.

	Achika's hand fell back to the bed and she sighed heavily
before speaking again.  "Tenchi, I have to go away soon, and I'm
afraid I will not be able to come back."

	"What?"  Tenchi asked, confused, "Where are you going Mommy?
Can't I come with?"

	"No, my Tenchi,  I'm afraid I have to make this journey
alone."

	"No, Mommy,"  Tenchi cried, holding her hand to his face
again, "No, don't leave.  Please, I'll be good, I promise."

	"Oh Tenchi, I'm not leaving because of you my son."  Achika
sighed, "I... I wanted to make this easier for you, Tenchi, but I
can see that I was wrong.  You're a big boy now and I should have
told you the truth."

	"What do you mean Mommy?  Where are you going?"

	"I am dying, Tenchi.  I have been sick for a very long time
and now my life is finally going.  It is nothing you did, my dear
Tenchi, I promise you that."

	"No, Mommy,"  Tenchi fell over her, trying to hold her there
though she was not moving, "No, Mommy, you can't die, you can't!"

	"I'm sorry Tenchi, if I could I would stay with you, but the
gods do not give us choices in these things.  I am sorry that this
has to come at such a young age, I hoped to live until you were a
man and did not need your old mother anymore, but I can not hold
on to life much longer."

	"Please Mommy," Tenchi sobbed, "Please... Please..."

	"Tenchi, look at me Tenchi."

	Tenchi looked up at her slowly, wiping tears from his eyes
though new ones flowed in their place immediately after.

	"I need you to be strong, Tenchi," Achika said softly, "I
need you to be strong now and help your father."

	Tenchi nodded, hoping that by doing what she asked she would
stay, "I will Mommy, I promise."

	Achika smiled at the courage in her son's face and reached
slowly to her hair, "Here Tenchi, I want you to take this ribbon.
I have worn it all my life and there is some of my spirit in it.
When you are frightened or alone, I want you to take it out and
look at it and remember that your Mommy loves you very much and
will always be with you."

	Tenchi took the ribbon from her weak hands and looked at it.
He ran it between his fingers and held it up to smell the scent of
his mother on it.  When he looked back up at Achika her eyes were
closed.  He felt panic rising in his chest, but saw that she was
still breathing.  She had fallen asleep, exhausted from the brief
conversation.

	"I love you Mommy,"  Tenchi whispered, hugging her tightly
before running from the room.  He ran out of the shrine and down
the mountain, all the way to the old cave his grandfather had told
him he must never enter.  He did not know why he went there, only
that when he ran it was the place his feet took him.  When he got
there he threw himself down at the cave's mouth and sobbed into
his arms, letting the tears he held back to make his mother proud
flow and clutching her ribbon tightly in his fist.


	Tenchi looked up at Ryouko as the memories faded from her
mind.  There were tears in his eyes and she realized that she was
crying as well.  She remembered that day, remembered seeing Tenchi
weeping outside the cave and wishing she could comfort him.

	"That was that day,"  Tenchi said quietly, confirming her
unvoiced recollection, "You told me once that that was the day you
fell in love with me Ryouko."

	Ryouko nodded, holding his hand tightly in hers but unable to
speak.

	"But on the day you fell in love with me," Tenchi said sadly,
"I lost my love.  I loved my mother more than anything in the
whole world, Ryouko, and when she left me I stopped being able to
love anything else and didn't even realize it.  I love my friends
and I love my family, but in my heart I've kept myself separated
from them all.  I've locked a little bit of myself away all my
life because I'm afraid of what will happen if I let anyone see
that part.  I was too afraid to let you all the way into my heart
for fear that I would lose you the way I lost my mother.

	"When I told you I was ready to let you in, Ryouko, when I
said that I was finally ready to open my heart again... I didn't
know I was lying, but I was.  I love you, I love you more than
I've loved anyone since my mother, and I thought I was finally
ready to give myself fully to it again.  But I was wrong, Ryouko,
I didn't know it, but I was wrong.  I.. I was going to ask you to
marry me Christmas night.  After I gave you the gems I was going
to ask you, but after everything happened I couldn't find the
courage again.  It was just gone and I couldn't find it.

	"But today, talking to Mat, I realized why.  I almost killed
you Ryouko, if it weren't for Tsunami I would have killed you,
killed all of the people I love and probably killed myself.
Almost losing you just as I was ready to give myself completely
over to loving you.. it was too much and I shut my heart up again.
But Mat said something today, he said that because of what I said
to him he realized that sometimes you have stop, step back from
life and say, 'Is this what I want?  Is this what feels right?'
And I did, I stopped and I looked and I asked, and the answer was
no.  This isn't what feels right, this isn't what Is right.  I
can't let my fear of losing you hold me back, Ryouko.  If I do I'm
not being fair to you and I'm not being fair to myself."

	Tenchi looked up at her then and smiled at her through his
tears.  He took the ribbon in his hands and reached up, gathering
her hair behind her head.  She felt him tie the ribbon in place
before lowering his hands again.

	"I love you Ryouko.  I'm ready now, ready to let you in.  I
loved my mother and I will miss her all my life, but I can't let
that stop me from feeling anymore."

	"Ryouko," Tenchi began, taking her hands, "Will you marry
me?"

	Ryouko tried to answer, but her voice was gone.  She had
dreamed of this moment for years, dreamed of it in the dark years
in the cave and dreamed of it since Tenchi let her out into the
world of light and life again.  She had hoped and prayed that it
would come one day, that her Tenchi would ask her to be his wife,
but somehow it had always seemed a dream.  She knew he loved her
and knew he wanted to be by her side, but to be his wife, to be
able to say, 'I am Masaki Ryouko, Tenchi is my husband and I am
his wife.  I belong at his side and there will I remain forever,'
that was almost too beautiful a dream to ever be true.  But now it
was.  He had asked and he wanted her to say yes.  He wanted to be
her husband and for her to be his wife and to be with him always.
Ryouko wanted to say yes, wanted to scream yes, wanted to yell it
to the stars for a thousand years, but her voice was gone.  So
instead she leaned forward and kissed him, and with the contact of
her lips on his she let her affirmation flow across their bond.
It was more than 'yes,' it was more than there are words for in
any language Ryouko knew.  It was a promise to be with him
forever, to never leave him and to hold back even death should it
try to separate them.  It was a promise that she would be Masaki
Ryouko for all time, would be his wife until the stars guttered
out at the end of the universe, and to be with him in the darkness
beyond it until time itself ran down.

	Finally Ryouko found her voice again and, though she knew
Tenchi knew her answer, had felt the answer she sent with her
heart, she had to say the words.  She had waited so long and
prayed so hard; to not say them, she felt, would be a sin.

	"Yes.  Yes, Tenchi.  Yes, I'll marry you."

* * *

	"Miya?"  Ryou-ohki asked when Sasami sat up in her sleeping
bag.

	"Shh," Sasami crossed her lips with her finger and patted
Ryou-ohki on the head.

	//Quiet, little one, do not wake Aeka.//

	//Sasami?// Ryou-ohki sent incredulously, //You can talk in
my head?  How come you never did before?//

	//No, little one, not Sasami.//

	//Oh,// Ryou-ohki responded as realization came to her,
//Tsunami.//

	The goddess with Sasami's face nodded and patted Ryou-ohki
again.

	//Would you like to be my friend as well, little one?//

	//Aren't you gonna be Sasami one day?//

	//Yes, I am.//

	//Then I'm already your friend.//

	Tsunami smiled, it had been a very long time since she had a
friend.

	//You must leave now, little friend, I must speak to Aeka and
it would be best if you were not present.  Go to your sister now,
Sasami will be here with the light of dawn.//

	Ryou-ohki hopped away through the wall of the tent, headed
for the one Ryouko shared with Tenchi.  Tsunami watched her go and
reached deep within herself, \\Sasami, are you ready?\\

	\\I,\\ Sasami's voice was hesitant in the depths of the
goddess, \\I don't know Tsunami.  It's going to hurt her so much,
does she have to know?  Can't we just tell them and take it
away?\\

	\\You know the answer to that, Sasami.\\

	\\Yeah, I know.  We cannot intervene in the affairs of our
sisters.  The first law.  I know.  But Aeka is my sister too, and
it's so bad...\\

	\\I am sorry Sasami.  There is no other way.\\

	\\I know.\\

	\\Ready yourself then, Sasami.  It is time.\\

	Tsunami whispered Aeka's name and two points of light
appeared upon the princess' forehead.  In the language known on
Jurai as the voices of times past, the language of the trees,
Tsunami whispered, "It is time.  Remember."

	Aeka stiffened and her eyes snapped open.  Her mouth opened
but only a strangled choke emerged.

	"I'm sorry, Aeka," Sasami whispered as she stepped out of the
tent, "There is no other way."

* * *

	Washuu woke to the sound of sobbing outside her tent.  When
she opened the door flap she found Aeka kneeling there, her face
flushed red and tears streaming down her cheeks.  Washuu started
to ask what was wrong but, as sleep receded, she saw other things
about Aeka's appearance that froze her voice in her throat.
Aeka's clothes were torn as though someone had tried to rip them
away to expose her chest, what was left of them was covered in
vomit and her fingers were smeared in blood.  Blood obviously from
the deep gouges scored across her breasts where she had ripped at
her own body.

	Washuu tried to find her voice again, tried to ask what had
happened, what could possibly be happening to make Aeka do such a
thing to herself, but Aeka spoke first.

	"Washuu,"  she begged in a voice choked with fear, pain, and
disgust, "Washuu, you must help me, Washuu.  You must... You have
to get it out..."  Aeka looked up at her then, her eyes so full of
fear that Washuu wanted only to comfort her, to take away whatever
could be so frightening her.

	"It'll be okay,"  Washuu comforted, "Slow down Aeka, what's
wrong?  What's going on?  Why did you do this to yourself?"

	Aeka shook her head and choked out, "No time... No time...
You have to get it out Washuu, it's inside me and you have to get
it out!  I can feel it, I don't know how I didn't before, but I
can feel it now and you have to get it out!  You have to!  Oh
please Washuu, please.. please..."  Aeka's voice broke and she
fell to sobbing again, weakly scraping at her already damaged
chest.  Washuu grabbed her hands, pulling them away before they
could do more damage.  She had no idea what was going on, but she
was going to find out.


	Washuu looked at the thing floating in stasis and then back
at the princess lying in a regenerative field over one of her
suspension beds.  According to her analysis the horrible little
device was a subspace transmitter, one cloaked with a technology
she barely understood ever after having disassembled it.  Somehow
Aeka had shut it down with a burst of Jurai energy while it was
still buried in her chest.  Had she not Washuu doubted she would
ever have found it.

	In form the device resembled a ten-legged spider with no
head, only a flat, grey disk of a body where the transmissions
gear was located.  It had apparently stopped transmitting when
Aeka did whatever it was she had done to shut it down and now
Washuu could find no way to start it again.  Whatever band it had
sent its messages on, and whatever those messages may have
contained, would remain forever a mystery.

	*Unless,*  Washuu thought as she turned back to Aeka's
floating form once more, *Unless she has the answers locked away
in her head.*


	Washuu hesitated as she lowered the scanning gear into place
around Aeka's head.  She did not want to do this without the
princess' permission, but it would be hours before Aeka regained
consciousness and sufficient awareness to give it.  And whatever
that thing Washuu had taken out of Aeka's chest was, it was
obviously not something meant to be there.  She had to find out
what it was, why it was there, and who was receiving whatever
transmissions it sent before they came to find out why their
little spy had stopped talking.

	*Forgive me, Aeka,* Washuu thought as she engaged the memory
resonators, *I have no choice.*


	Aeka smiled as she loosened the ties from her hair for the
night.  It had been a wonderful evening and she could not remember
a time in recent memory when she had felt so alive.  Shiko was an
awful singer, but the karaoke bar had been fun and, despite her
apprehensions about Australian food, dinner had been pleasant.
Shiko was such a kind, gentle boy and, once he got past his
initial mistrust of her motives, so much more open about his
feelings than Tenchi had ever been.

	Aeka began brushing her long purple hair with slow strokes
while she played back the events of the evening again in her mind.
She blushed at the memory of how Shiko had looked at her while
reading poetry to her over dinner and felt her face darken to an
even deeper shade as she remembered taking his hand and kissing
his cheek when they arrived back at the house, thanking him for
giving her such a wonderful evening.

	The princess sighed then, hoping she was not acting too
rashly.  The pain of losing Tenchi was still fresh in her heart
and she feared she was rushing headlong into Shiko's arms only to
dull it.  *Am I truly interested in him,* Aeka wondered, *Or is it
only my longing for love that I want to fulfill?*

	Aeka sighed again and put down her brush.  "Oh, Shiko...  If
only..."

	As though summoned by her thoughts Shiko's voice came through
the door, "Aeka?  Can I talk to you?"


	Aeka looked around the guest bedroom nervously.  He had
invited her to his room to avoid waking Sasami, but she feared he
might have gotten the wrong impression for her behavior earlier.
*I shouldn't have kissed him,* Aeka thought helplessly, *Now he'll
expect more than I want to give.*

	But Shiko didn't come toward her for another kiss, he only
went and sat down on his bed while she remained standing near the
door.  He was looking down at the floor and Aeka wondered
momentarily if perhaps he had fallen asleep sitting like that, his
body seemed so relaxed.  When he looked back up at her there was
something deep and awful in his eyes.  Aeka looked away,
uncomfortable with the strange intensity of his gaze.

	"You've been lying to me, Aeka."

	She looked back then, startled.  "What.. what do you mean,
Shiko?  What have I lied about?"  *He can't know,* Aeka thought as
she said it, *I let nothing slip.  I was so careful, he can't know
I'm anything more than the cousin to Tenchi I've pretended...*

	"You've been lying," Shiko repeated, "You lied about who you
were, and you've lied about other things too."

	"But," Aeka started in disbelief, "How... What.. what are you
talking about?  I haven't lied..."

	"You're lying again, Aeka."

	Aeka shook her head and stopped trying to speak.  She did not
know how he knew, but obviously he did.  She did not look back up
until she felt his hand on her arm.  He was gripping her hard,
painfully hard, and he was standing close enough that she could
feel his breath on her face.  When she looked up at him, startled,
he frowned and those strange, hard eyes bored into her.  They were
nothing like the eyes he had looked at her out of over dinner, the
color was the same but there was such pain and such anger there...

	"You've lied to me Aeka, and you must never do that."

	"Shiko," Aeka protested, trying to pull away, "Stop Shiko,
you're hurting me."

	He didn't let go, only squeezed harder and shook her.  "You
lied!  You're not Tenchi's cousin at all.  I can't stand liars
Aeka."

	Aeka shook her head in confused distress and tried again to
pull away.  *He's so strong,* Aeka thought fearfully, *How can he
be so strong?*

	"You know what kind of women lie, Aeka?"  Shiko asked in a
low voice full of scorn, "Whores.  Whores lie, Aeka.  Real women
don't lie."

	"How.. how Dare you?!"  Aeka pulled harder against his grip
but still could not break free.  "How Dare you call me that!  Have
you any idea who I am, you... You...."

	"Who?"  Shiko asked, those awful eyes gleaming, "Who are you,
Aeka?"  He shook her again, squeezing her arm so hard she was
afraid he would break it.

	"I am Aeka,"  she said proudly, ignoring the pain to stand
straight, "Of the House Jurai.  If you do not release me this
instant, you wretched little boy, I will make you regret your
actions."

	*What am I doing?!*  Aeka thought in horror, *What am I
saying?  Tenchi will never forgive me if I give away our real
story...*  But everything seemed so confusing suddenly, it was so
hard to think clearly...

	"I said release me,"  Aeka heard her voice saying, "Release
me now or suffer for your insolence!"

	"You lied, Aeka,"  Shiko said softly, showing no sign of
releasing her arm, "You lied and now You have to suffer for it.
I'm sorry, Aeka.  I don't want to do this, but you've given me no
choice."

	Shiko drew back and punched her, hard, in the stomach.  Aeka
doubled over in pain and gasped for air that suddenly did not seem
to want to fill her lungs.  Shiko released his hold on her arm and
she collapsed to the floor, curling up in pain.  Aeka looked up at
him through a haze of pain-wrought tears and wondered how he could
possibly be so strong.  No human his size should have been able to
hurt her that badly with one blow, it should not be possible.  She
was Jurain, of the noble house.  Her body was the finest that
Jurain medical technicians could create from her parents' genetic
code.

	"I'm sorry Aeka," Shiko said, some of the softness returning
to his eyes for a moment, "I didn't want to do that.  But you
don't want to be a whore, do you Aeka?  You don't want to be a
lying slut, do you?"  Shiko shook  his head sadly and when he
spoke again Aeka felt her confusion turn to horrified shock, for
he spoke now in the House tongue, a language only taught to those
of royal blood on Jurai, "Sometimes words and lessons are not
enough.  Sometimes pain must be the word and solitude the lesson."

	Aeka gasped, her body stiffening as the sudden flood of
memory overtook her.  Those words... Her father spoke those words,
long ago and far away.  She had forgotten.. had made herself
forget.  But now they came back to her.  She remembered arguing
with Yousho, remembered arranging to have him catch her with a
handsome servant in order to teach him a lesson, and winced at the
childish ignorance of her actions then.  But her wince turned to
deeper pain as she remembered her father, not her brother,
catching her in the falsified act of kissing the servant.  He flew
into a rage and accused her of disgracing him by sullying herself
with a commoner when she was promised to one of royal blood.
Funaho tried to stop him, but he took a cane to her back and said
those same words Shiko had spoken now before locking her away in a
dark room with her pain and her tears for two whole days.

	Aeka trembled with the pain inspired by the memory, flinched
from the savageness of her father's beating as it came to her from
the mists of the forgotten past.  And, she realized, that was not
the only time.  There had not been many occasions when she had
inspired that fury in him, but when she did the words were always
the same.  He would look at her, his eyes full of pity for his
daughter who could not seem to learn what was proper, and he would
say those same words, "Sometimes words and lessons are not enough.
Sometimes pain must be the word and solitude the lesson."  And
then he would beat her and lock her away with her thoughts.  She
realized as the memories came flooding back that it was his
actions which had so inspired her propriety.  Other members of the
royal houses were not so prim as she realized she had been, it was
out of fear of her father's anger that she had so long carefully
controlled her behavior.  And now, as the pain of those lessons
swept through her, melding with the confusion and anger she felt
toward Shiko, she curled further in on herself and wept.


	After that horrible night Aeka pushed the memories away once
more.  Shiko acted as though it had never happened, and she hoped
that if she were careful she could avoid inspiring his anger once
more, avoid incurring his wrath the way she had avoided her
father's.  It went well, so long as she told him only the truth.
She did not know how Shiko could possibly have gained all the
knowledge he seemed to have, but asking him brought that
frightening look to his face and she had learned to avoid it.  Now
she did not mention Jurai or, in fact, anything beyond the
boundaries of Earth when they spoke unless he brought it up.  They
continued reading poetry together and Aeka discovered Shiko shared
her appreciation for the other arts as well.  They listened to
music together, went into town to visit an art gallery, and spent
long hours talking.  So long as she could avoid thinking of that
one awful night Aeka could believe she was happy with him.

	But then it happened again, and after the second time his
anger seemed to come more quickly and with less provocation.
Sometimes she would say something without thinking, or she would
mention Tenchi, and that horrible aspect would return to Shiko's
features.  At first she tried to defend herself, to protest that
she had done nothing to deserve the treatment he gave her in those
times, but he was so strong, and something about the way he looked
at her made it so hard to think properly.  She would start out
blustering and trying to escape him, but would end up a weeping
wreck on the floor, bearing more bruises to attest to the lessons
Shiko always apologized so profusely for having to inflict on her.
And each time it happened the little voice in Aeka's mind that
shouted that this was wrong, that there was something horribly,
horribly wrong here and that she should run, should go to Tenchi
or Ryouko or Washuu and make them stop Shiko, drew further away
and became harder to hear.  Shiko told her that Tenchi did not
love her, that he had never loved her and that she should forget
him.  He had Ryouko now and would have no interest in Aeka.  He
explained to her that Tenchi hated her because she lied, lied to
him and to herself.  Shiko told her that she had been a lying
whore of the worst kind, she had let Tenchi rape her emotions with
his uncaring attitude and had accepted it with a willing smile.

	At first Aeka tried to argue, tried to say that it was not
true and that Tenchi did love her.  She knew he did not love her
as the prospective wife she once hoped to be, but she tried to
insist that he loved her as a friend and a member of his family.
But every time Shiko would growl in the House tongue that she was
only lying to herself and slowly Aeka came to believe it.  So now
she did not talk about Tenchi in front of Shiko and tried to avoid
thinking about him otherwise.  Sometimes Shiko would mention
Tenchi, and when he called his cousin by his first name Aeka knew
it was okay to smile and agree with whatever he had said.  It was
when he referred to Tenchi as only 'Masaki,' his voice dripping
hatred, that Aeka knew to give the feelings he was forcing into
her with his fists voice.  But those times, too, she pushed away
and tried to forget.  When Shiko was happy, when she did nothing
to bring on his violence, he was still a gentle and caring young
man who shared many of her interests.  And if she buried memories
of his lessons the way she had memories of her father's, if she
pretended she had fallen down the stairs or bumped into a door to
gain the bruises that slowly crept across her body, if she thought
of him only as the gentle young man who had taken her to dinner
that night, she could pretend she was happy.  She could live her
life in a pleasant fantasy where Shiko loved her the way Tenchi
never had, where she was not alone and where life had meaning.
Aeka became very good at pretending.

	So when Aeka woke and thought to take Shiko up the mountain
for a picnic it was without thinking of his horrible violence,
thinking only of sitting in the sun with him while he read to her.
But when she entered his room he was angry.  He was pacing back
and forth, the fearful gleam she had come to recognize as a sign
of his anger flashing in his eyes.

	"Masaki is on to me," he mumbled, seemingly ignoring her
presence and speaking only to himself, "He must be.  I can't get
near the bitch without him being there..."

	Suddenly he looked up at Aeka, as though realizing only then
that she was there despite having invited her in.  "You," he said
in a chillingly emotionless voice, "Take off your clothes."

	Aeka started and blustered, "What?!  No!  No, Shiko.  I
won't.  You can't ask that."  The tiny voice that had been fading
away came rushing back into her mind and demanded she leave, right
then and there.  "I.. I'm going to go get Tenchi, Shiko.  You..
you've been..."  But he was staring at her again and everything
seemed so big and confusing suddenly.  Thinking was like trying to
push her way through a miasma of pain and confusion.  She
wanted... Wanted to go to Tenchi?  But Tenchi hated her...  Why,
why did she want to go to him?  Aeka shook her head, trying to
clear it.

	"I said," Shiko growled in the House tongue, "Remove your
clothes.  Now, whore."

	Aeka tried to protest but found her hands moving
automatically, untying her ubi and letting it fall to the ground.
The words were there, buried in her mind, the anger that she knew
she should feel lurked there, but it was so hard to do anything
but obey...

	"Kneel,"  Shiko growled, "Kneel and perform the liann.  Offer
your body to me, whore.  Offer yourself to me, Now."

	Aeka's mind raged as she tried to fight the darkness clouding
her thoughts, tried to push away the pain of knowing Tenchi hated
her, tried to avoid taking comfort in this awful man and tried to
stop herself from complying.  But the darkness pressed in and even
the subdued rage receded, drawing further and further away.  Aeka
let her kimono slip from her shoulders and then removed her modest
undergarments before sliding slowly to her knees, looking away
from Shiko's face.  Her mind was so numb she did not even blush at
her nudity, she felt nothing at all.  Only a vague wish to avoid
his anger, avoid incurring another lesson.

	"The liann.  Now."

	Aeka bowed her head and spread her arms wide, intoning the
words of the ceremony she had never expected to perform, "I give
you my body.  I am unworthy of flesh and give it unto you that you
may find my worth once more.  I am nothing, I am dishonor.  May
the blade of atonement be true upon my flesh."

	Shiko stepped forward then and grasped her chin, raising her
face to look up at his.  Aeka tried to look away but he slapped
her, backhanded across the face, and she pulled her eyes back to
his.

	"She does not know I have this,"  Shiko said, obviously
assuming Aeka would not understand and would doubtless not
remember anyway, "I stole it from Clay's ship and she doesn't
know.  But we won't tell her, will we?  No... Nobody will know but
you and me, my little whore.  And you won't tell, will you?"

	Shiko drew a small, grey object from his pocket and held it
up.  Aeka shuddered in something like horror as it spread ten
little legs to wiggle in the air.  She knew, distantly, that she
should be scared, that she should be ashamed, but it was all so
hard.  It was so hard to care about anything.

	"Open your mouth, slut.  Open wide and take it.  You took
Masaki's abuse for years and you liked it, you would have fucked
him if he gave you half a chance, wouldn't you?  Even after
everything, you still love him."  Shiko shook his head, "All of
you are weak, weak little sluts and whores who fawn over Masaki
like some kind of god.  Masaki's no god, my little whore.  I'm the
only god here."

	Shiko pinched her mouth open and shoved the metallic grey
insect in, squeezing her lips shut behind it when she tried to
spit it out reflexively.  Distantly Aeka felt it crawling down her
throat and the last vestiges of emotion faded.  She felt nothing.
Nothing.

	When Shiko took out the knife and knelt to cut the words of
the liann into her arms as tradition demanded she did not even
watch.  She only stared at the wall and felt the transmitter
burrowing slowly into her body.


	"My god,"  Washuu whispered in horror as the last image faded
from her mind.  She lifted the reception band from her forehead
and let it slip from her fingers, clattering to the ground.
Washuu leaned heavily against the bed over which Aeka floated and
tried to keep herself from vomiting.  "My god," she gasped again,
"The poor girl.  The poor, poor girl... And she fought me, kept me
from taking away the memories, just so she would be able to warn
us."

* * *

	"Tenchi, Ryouko, wake up.  We need to talk."

	Tenchi opened his eyes groggily to find Washuu in their tent.

	"Good morning Washuu," Tenchi said blearily as he sat up in
his sleeping bag.

	"What is it mom?"  Ryouko asked, slightly annoyed at being
woken up after a late night, though her annoyance faded quickly
when she remembered why she was up late.

	"It's about Aeka," Washuu said seriously, "I'm sorry I had to
wake you two, but I waited as long as I thought was safe."

	"Safe?"  Tenchi asked, rubbing his head in tired confusion.

	Washuu sighed and said to her daughter, "Take us to the door
to my lab please Ryouko?  It will be easier if I can show you, but
my portal gear is still rigged for Jurai and after last night I
don't have the energy for teleportation."

	Ryouko looked at the concern in Washuu's eyes and nodded,
taking one of her mother's hands and one of Tenchi's before moving
back to the house.


	"And that's when I took off the receiver.  I don't think
there was any more, but I couldn't stand it.  I don't know how she
survived remembering that..."  Washuu shook her head sadly as she
finished her explanation of the previous night's events.

	"Aeka..."  Ryouko's face was ashen and she clung tightly to
Tenchi's arm.  "God, I knew it was bad, but..."

	"We have to find him," Tenchi said, his voice low and his
eyes distant, "We have to find him and kill him.  He needs to
die."

	Ryouko nodded, her eyes as distant as his.

	"I agree," Washuu said, "But we have to tell the others
first.  And figure out what to tell your friends.  And how we're
going to handle that thing when we find it."  Washuu shook her
head sadly, "I want it destroyed as badly as you do, but we can't
just rush off swords in hand.  You saw how powerful it is, Tenchi
summoned the wings and it still repelled him with no obvious
effort.  And it has Tokimi behind it.  From Aeka's memories I get
the impression her servant was acting at least partially without
her blessing, but I don't think she'll let us just destroy him out
of hand."

	"What about Aeka?"  Tenchi asked, trying to focus on
something besides the anger he had no way to direct.

	"I've blocked some of the memories again," Washuu said,
"They're still there, she still won't let me remove them for some
reason, but I put back the mental blocks she had protecting
herself from the worst of it.  They'll dissolve on their own
eventually, when she's ready to handle it, but judging by her
psychic pattern when I brought her in last night the remembrance
was somehow forced on her."

	"Alright," Tenchi said as he rose to his feet, Ryouko
standing beside him, "Let's get back to camp before they miss us
so we can figure out what to do now."

	"Let me wake Aeka," Washuu said, moving to the suspension bed
where the princess hovered, "Her wounds are healed and she should
be there for the discussion."

	"What will she remember mom?"  Ryouko asked, her voice still
soft and far away.

	"More than I like," Washuu said sadly, "I wanted to block it
all, but she fought too hard.  I managed to repress the worst of
it, but she'll remember most of the details."

* * *

	"Hey Tenchi!"  Nobuyuki called to his son as he walked into
camp with Ryouko, Washuu, and Aeka, "Where were you?  We're going
hiking but couldn't find the four of you."

	"We need to talk Dad," Tenchi said as they came to the middle
of the campsite where the rest of the extended family was
gathered, "All of us need to talk."

	"What's going on Tenchi?"  Mataeo asked, thinking that the
look on Tenchi's face was too similar to the one he had worn that
night in the restaurant for comfort.

	//What do we do about Mat and Ai?// Tenchi asked Ryouko
across their link.

	//We should tell them.  They're our friends and we may not be
coming back from this one.  If we're going to tell them, we should
do it now.//

	"Mat, Ai," Tenchi began, trying to decide how to even begin
explaining the situation, "You know how you wanted to know about-"

	Tenchi stopped, looking around wildly.

	"Is that..."  Tenchi asked slowly, trailing off in mid-
thought as he turned, looking searchingly around the woods
surrounding the clearing where they had set up camp.  A moment
later Ryouko gasped and grabbed his arm.

	"It's him, he's here."

	Mataeo looked back and forth between them, wondering what was
going on.  He was too concerned with his friends' strange behavior
to notice when Washuu summoned her floating terminal saying,
"You're right.  The transmitter must have been on a regular cycle
and he came to investigate when it didn't send an update...  But I
can't get a fix on him, there are subspace distortions all over
the place..."

	"What's going on?"  Ai asked nervously, "What is that thing
Washuu?  Who's here?  What are you talking about?"

	Aeka clutched at her head suddenly, falling to her knees.
She had been silent since entering camp but now she moaned
something that Mataeo thought sounded like 'shiko.'

	"What the hell is going on Tenchi?"  Mataeo asked, taking
Ai's hand.

	"You remember when you called me by my last name, Mat?"
Tenchi asked, continuing to look searchingly around the forest
around them, "Remember how angry I got and how you wanted to know
why?"

	"Yeah..." Mataeo answered slowly, trying to ignore the little
cosmos of glyphs and symbols floating in front of Washuu like
something out of a science fiction movie.

	"It's a really long story Mat," Tenchi said hurriedly, "And
there's no time right now.  But there's a.. thing.. that called me
by my family name.  It pretended to be my cousin and abused Aeka,
then threatened to kill all of us before it disappeared.  It
implanted a transmitter in Aeka and Washuu took it out last night,
now it's back.  Somewhere... Are you having any luck Washuu?  It's
like he's all around us..."

	"Woah, Tenchi," Mataeo said, shaking his head, "You want to
explain that again?  This sounds like something out of a bad
anime.  A thing?  Implanted a transmitter?  And what the hell is
Washuu doing?"

	"Mat," Ryouko said, turning to him while Tenchi closed his
eyes and stood very still in the middle of the clearing, "I know
how it must sound, but it's true.  That thing is awful.  If
there's anything in the universe like evil incarnate, that thing
is it.  If it's here, there's going to be a fight.  You and Ai get
down out of the way somewhere and don't move.  I don't care what
happens, don't move.  And if it looks like we're not going to come
out on top, run.  Just run away and don't look back and forget
that you ever knew us."

	"That way!"  Tenchi shouted, his eyes snapping open as he
turned toward the side of the camp away from the trail.
"Grandfather,"  Tenchi yelled to Katsuhito across the clearing,
"My sword!  It's in the tent!"

	Mihoshi moved out of the old man's way, explaining in a
halting voice what was going on to Kiyone while Nobuyuki and
Sasami tried to comfort Aeka.

	"Hang on Ryouko," Mataeo said slowly, trying to figure out
what was going on amidst the sudden confusion, "I don't understand
what's going on here, but if something's trying to hurt you I'm
not going to go hide.  You, Tenchi, and Sasami are my friends and
I'm not going to stand by while my friends are hurt."

	"Yeah," Ai piped up, turning away from the lightshow in front
of Washuu, "You know us better than that Ryouko."

	Ryouko looked nervously back at Tenchi, as if to make sure he
were still there in camp, then turned back to them saying, "This
isn't some guy with a grudge Ai.  I'm sorry there's no time to
explain it all, but that thing is getting closer.  Just listen to
me when I say you do Not want to mess with it.  Please, go with
Nobuyuki, Katsuhito, and Sasami.  Mom will hide you."

	Mataeo started to protest again but Ryouko was already
hurrying away from them toward Tenchi.  Aeka was back on her feet
now and standing beside Tenchi and Washuu who were peering at some
sort of map hovering in the air.

	"Tenchi!"  Katsuhito yelled as he emerged from the tent,
"Here!"

	Mataeo watched what looked like a carved sword handle arc
through the air into Tenchi's hand.  Katsuhito gathered his son, a
crying Sasami, and a nervous Ryou-ohki before nodding to Washuu.

	"Mataeo, Ai," Washuu said, looking up from her terminal, "Get
over there with them."

	Mataeo wanted to argue but Ai took his arm and guided him
toward the group.  She did not know what was going on any more
than he did, but it was obvious Tenchi and Ryouko were serious
about this, and if their friends said they couldn't handle
whatever was out there, she thought it was probably a good idea to
listen.

	"MASAKI!"  The shout rang through the forest in a voice like
gravel on sheet metal, "Time to die Masaki!"

	"Holy crap," Mataeo said, looking around in a futile attempt
to find the source of the awful voice, "What the hell was that?"

	"That,"  Tenchi said as Kiyone and Mihoshi joined the group
at one end of the clearing and Washuu did something, causing an
odd blue glow to grow around them, "That was my cousin."

	Ai reached out and touched the edge of the blue glow, but her
hand met a growing resistance until finally she could push no
further.  She felt Katsuhito's hand on her shoulder and turned to
look at the old man.

	"Do not be afraid, Miss Fujihara.  Miss Washuu will protect
is as best she can."

	"What's going on here Mister Masaki?"  She asked
respectfully, "I don't understand any of this..."

	Then the shadows exploded out of the forest.

	It was like the darkness was alive, Mataeo thought, like the
shadows cast by the sun had come to life and were swarming the
clearing.  They gathered together across the clearing, forming a
rough triangle with Tenchi, Ryouko, Washuu, and Aeka as one point
and the rest of the group within their blue dome as the other.
The darkness gained solidity and a figure stepped out of it.  It
was hard to tell if it was male or female under the great black
cloak swirling around its shoulders.  The head offered no help
since it was nearly featureless.  The skin was nearly translucent
and entirely hairless and the face held only rudimentary features.
The eyes were little more than holes, the mouth a simple gash
across the lower face, and the nose a protrudence somewhat off-
center between them.  It had no ears to speak of, just two lumps
where ears might have been and within the holes where eyes should
be there were only glitteringly white orbs, totally lacking any
sort of pupil.  When it spoke the voice was an awful parody of a
human voice, every syllable weighted with hatred and pain.

	"I told you I would be back, Masaki.  Did you think I was
joking?  You dare to interfere with the little gift I gave the
royal slut?  I wasn't ready for our game yet, Masaki, but you've
forced my hand."

	The figure raised one hand and something like a sword formed
there.  It was more, Mataeo thought, like a hole in the air than a
sword.  It was utterly black, blacker than the cloak around the
figure's shoulders and blacker than the shadows from which it had
emerged.  It was like someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut
a sword-shaped hole in the air, exposing a void beyond.

	When Tenchi stepped forward, placing himself between the
black-cloaked figure and the three women, and raised the sword
handle Mataeo was, somehow, totally unsurprised.  A glowing blue
brand grew from the end of the handle and Tenchi assumed a stance
he did not recognize, but somehow it all seemed right to Mataeo.
That his friend should be about to do battle with something out of
a nightmare using a weapon that looked like a cross between
something out of an American movie and a legend seemed right.  It
was like he had expected this all along but never realized until
the moment arrived.

	Mataeo took Ai's hand and tried to smile supportively at her,
then turned to watch his best friend fight for his family's life.


	Tenchi stepped forward and let the blade of the master key
form.  He felt Ryouko's fear and anger flowing uncontrolled across
their bond and could hear Aeka's panting breath as she forced
herself to stay though he knew she must want to run from the thing
which had inhabited Shiko's body.

	"I'm not the one that's going to die today," Tenchi growled
at it, "You're going to suffer for what you did to her."

	It laughed and replied, "Good!  I was afraid you might just
give up Masaki, you have no hope of winning but I was afraid you
might not even bother trying.  Come on then, you've forced my game
before I wanted, let's get it over with."

	Ryouko formed her energy sword and started forward when
Tenchi began moving toward the black figure, but Washuu grabbed
her wrist and held her back.

	"No, Ryouko.  It's either the three of us or Tenchi.  I don't
know how your power will react with the combination of his and the
dark energy that thing is using, Tenchi's wings will overload
Aeka's nervous system if she's too close, and I'm afraid I don't
have the weapons with me to even touch that thing."

	"So what am I supposed to do?  Just watch them fight and hope
he wins?!"

	Washuu nodded sadly, "That's all we Can do."

	"He's not going to win," Aeka said quietly, startling them
both.  Besides her moan before she had not said anything since
Washuu woke her in the lab, "Shiko is too strong, Tenchi can't
win.  You have to do something Miss Washuu, use your machines and
get us out of here before he kills Tenchi.  Please..."

	"That isn't Tenchi's cousin," Ryouko growled, "It's some kind
of.. of Thing that Tokimi created.  And Tenchi Will win."

	Washuu was frowning and tapping at her keyboard.  "I don't
know Ryouko, the power he's drawing is phenomenal.  Tokimi must be
backing him, there's no way any physical object could handle that
much dark energy without being ripped into its component
particles.  I'm going to warm up the portal generator, if it
doesn't look good I'm getting us all to Jurai.  With Tsunami there
he should not be able to follow."

	Aeka looked startled, some energy momentarily coming to her
nearly lifeless eyes.

	"No," she whispered, "I can't..."  Aeka sighed and shook her
head, "Yes, take us to Jurai Miss Washuu.  Quickly, you must
hurry.. Shiko is so strong..."


	"This isn't right," Sasami said behind Mataeo, a tone in her
voice he did not recognize, "It should not happen this way.  He is
beyond her control, this is wrong..."


	Tenchi leapt at the black figure, Tenchi-ken arcing downward
only to be blocked easily by the thing's black sword.  Tenchi
attacked again and again, every time being blocked easily by the
thing's sword.  It did not attack, did not even move.  It simply
swung the sword around with amazing speed at every attack,
catching Tenchi-ken and repelling Tenchi's attack.

	//Tenchi, what are you doing?  Summon the wings Tenchi, you
can't win like this.//

	//No,// Tenchi responded between attacks, //No, I can
win...//

	//No you can't Tenchi,// Ryouko sent desperately, //You
haven't even touched him!  When that thing actually attacks you're
not going to have a chance!//

	//I can't, Ryouko.  I can't...//

	"Mom," Ryouko turned desperately to Washuu, "Get that portal
open quick.  Tenchi can't summon the wings.  That thing is going
to kill him..."

	"What?"  Aeka looked surprised, "Why can't he?"

	Ryouko shook her head, "He's afraid...  After what happened
on Christmas he's afraid he won't be able to control them..."

	"But that's-"  Aeka stopped when the being Tenchi was
futilely attacking took a step.  It caught Tenchi-ken by the blade
in its free hand and laughed.

	"Time to die Masaki!  I thought you were going to fight me,
not play."  It raised the black sword over its head and grinned
awfully, delaying the final blow.

	//Tenchi!//

	//No, I can't... I almost...//

	//Do it Tenchi!//

	//I almost killed you...//

	//I'd rather die at your hands than watch you die to that
thing.//

	//No...//

	//Do it Tenchi!  I'm not watching you die after you promised
to marry me!//

	//I can't...//

	//You can!  Do it!  I believe in you Tenchi, you can do
this.//

	//I...//

	//Tenchi, remember the ribbon Tenchi?  Remember how you felt?
Don't do this to me Tenchi.//

	//For you,// Tenchi sent, the whole exchanging having taken
only moments, //For you Ryouko.  But the gods forgive me.//

	Tenchi opened himself to the power and it poured through him.


	"This is wrong," Sasami repeated, stepping forward, past
Mataeo.  She reached up to the blue dome and it melted away.  "She
has lost control of her servant and these are no longer the
affairs of my sister."


	Aeka fell to her knees, grasping her head, but Ryouko and
Washuu were too focused on Tenchi to notice.


	The wings of the Lighthawk exploded into being between Tenchi
and his opponent.  They were solid white, as intense in their
opacity as the darkness of the black sword.  Tenchi's opponent was
blown backward, skidding meters across the forest floor before
coming to a halt.  Tenchi raised his hand and touched the wings,
white-green fire arcing between them.  The wings dissolved at his
touch, melting and combining to form a blade too bright in its
fury to look at directly.  He stepped forward toward the thing on
the ground, raising the sword over his head.


	Ryouko felt frantically for her link to Tenchi, but it was
gone.  The bond between them melted away under the power of the
wings and she could not find it.  The last thing she felt before
it vanished was the pain, the horrible pain of the power burning
through Tenchi's body.

	"Almost..."  Washuu tapped hurriedly at her keyboard and
slammed her finger against the final key triumphantly, "Got it!"

	The portal sprang into being in the center of the clearing, a
disk of red light blurring into the air around it in a way that
made the eye want to slide off of the edges.


	Tokimi's servant looked up as Tenchi approached, the sword
raised for a killing blow.  "I have won," it growled, "You have
lost your humanity, Masaki.  It's burnt away under the power and
you are no better than I.  I've won!"

	Tenchi halted in his approach, lowering the sword slowly.
The fire in his eyes dimmed slowly and finally flickered out.  He
shook his head, fighting the power for control of his body.  The
thing was right, if he let go of himself to beat it he was no
better than it was.  He would kill them all when it was dead, he
knew it.

	*No,* Tenchi screamed within his mind, *No!  I won't be like
that!*


	Ryouko watched as Tenchi clutched his head in his hands, the
Lighthawk sword gone.  She could feel the link again and felt his
confusion through it.  Then she saw the thing on the ground raise
its hand.

	"Tenchi!  No!"

	But Ryouko's shout did not halt the power gathering in the
palm of Tokimi's servant.  The sphere of darkness expanded quickly
and the thing grinned again as it released it.  The resultant bar
of darkness shot through Tenchi's shoulder, passing through him as
easily as the air.  It flickered and disappeared quickly, leaving
a gaping wound in Tenchi's shoulder where it had passed, the edges
crackling with arcs of darkness.

	"No!"  Ryouko shouted again, rushing forward, "No! No, no,
no, no, NO!"

	Tenchi fell to the ground limp and lay there unmoving as
Ryouko shot across the clearing.  Tokimi's servant struggled to
stand but its legs appeared to have been broken by the power of
the wings.

	Ryouko opened herself to the gems.  All her existence she had
drawn their power carefully, using what was needed for her purpose
and no more.  Now she simply released her hold over their power,
drawing it without purpose or plan, only with the knowledge that
that thing had hurt, possibly killed, her Tenchi and that it could
not be allowed to exist.


	Tsunami's eyes widened and she gasped as the power surged
into Ryouko.  When the wings formed before the cyan haired woman
the goddess' aspect left Sasami and the girl collapsed to the
ground.


	Ryouko was not aware of the Lighthawk wings forming before
her.  She was not aware of the way she pushed and shaped the
energy flowing through her body or conscious of raising her hands
toward the struggling being on the ground.  She was aware only of
Tenchi's pain in the moments before his consciousness fled from
their bond after Tokimi's servant hit him.


	The blast rocked Washuu backward off of her feet.  Tenchi had
always summoned the wings either in their defensive form or in the
form of the sword.  Ryouko did neither.  She summoned their power
and released it in a single burst at the thing lying on the ground
before her.

	When the smoke cleared the body of Tokimi's servant was gone.
All that remained were Tenchi's still form, Ryouko, and a deep
hole in the ground.

	Ryouko collapsed to her knees beside Tenchi, tears streaming
down her face.  She grabbed his limp form and held it against her
chest, sobbing his name over and over.

	Washuu looked down at her terminal and gasped.

	"Ryouko!" Washuu shouted, "It's not dead!  It's re-forming,
get him through the portal!  Now!"

	Ryouko looked up at her mother through the haze of tears,
understanding coming only slowly.  Finally she stood, holding
Tenchi in her arms and nodded to Washuu before heading for the
portal.

	"Everyone," Washuu yelled, "Go through!  It shouldn't be able
to follow us there!"


	Washuu monitored the subspace activity while they vanished
through the portal.  Tokimi's servant was rebuilding its body
quickly and would be back in minutes.  When she dismissed her
terminal only Katsuhito was left this side of Jurai.

	"Go through, Lord Katsuhito.  I'll issue the shutdown command
on my way after you."

	"No," Katsuhito shook his head and picked up Tenchi-ken where
Tenchi dropped it, "I can't go back there Miss Washuu.  That part
of my life is over now, I will stay here and hold it off while you
get them to safety."

	Washuu could not believe what she was hearing.  "What?!  Are
you insane?  You saw what it did to Tenchi, you wouldn't last five
seconds!"

	"Nevertheless, it is what I must do."

	"Get through the portal, Lord Katsuhito.  I'm not letting you
play the tragic samurai this time.  It shouldn't be able to follow
us to Jurai and you can't stop it if it can."

	"No, Miss Washuu.  I can not return to Jurai.  This is my
world now, my life."

	"This will be your death in a minute!"

	Katsuhito sighed and closed his eyes, "So be it.  My life is
here, so will be my death."

	Washuu grabbed his chin and held his face where she could
look into his eyes when she said, "God damn you Katsuhito.  You
aren't doing this to me.  Get through the portal, now, or I'll
throw you through it myself!"

	"You called me Katsuhito."

	"Yes, now get through the portal!"

	"I cannot," Katsuhito said sadly, "Jurai is my home no
longer."

	"God damn you!"  Washuu shouted, inches from his face, "I
love you, you old fool!  I'm not letting you die for no reason!"

	"We do what we must in life, Washuu," Katsuhito said, his
voice full of pain.

	Washuu let go of his face and looked down.

	"Forgive me Katsuhito," she sighed.

	"There is nothing to forgive Washuu.  Go, our destinies were
set long ago."

	"You're right," Washuu said, a ball of energy forming in her
hand, "And this is what I must do."

	Katsuhito flew backward through the portal when Washuu
released the energy blast into his chest, letting it dissipate
into the air as much as possible to avoid blowing a hole in him.

	Washuu issued the shutdown command to her portal generator
and stepped through, the shimmering red disk shrinking into
nothingness behind her.

* * *