Disclaimer: You've heard the story before. I don't
 own any of these characters, Pioneer does. So piss
 off and leave me alone. Actually, stay here and read
 this. That would be even better.

OPENING SONG

Heart - Return to the Beginning: By Shiroh Sagisu

	Light! Earth! Flowing air...

	Those sad days will soon become fossils
	And your pain will be secretly led
	To the forest of sleep
	Good night, all of you overly enthusiastic stray children
	Until impatience makes the evolving days into your dreams

	Life is waiting for that dazzling morning
	Even if the final penitence doesn't come true
	Someday the dark era will break into dawn
	World! Close your eyes
	Life is awakening, spinning time itself
	Like returning to your proof
	And so, the light tells your heart
	Heart! Return to the beginning

	On the beach of tears, you constantly stand,
	as though gently concealing you feelings, the secret mind
	Transporting them to the sea of memories
	Good night - your fingers and ears dirtied by morality
	Within your heart, let it sleep

	Life is waiting for that dazzling morning
	Rather than holding on to your worn-out scriptures,
	Someday the dark era will break into the dawn
	You! Cast away your prayers
	Life is awakening, spinning time itself
	Entrust yourself to the rule of nature
	And so, the light tells your heart
	Heart! Return to the beginning

	Life is waiting for that dazzling morning
	Even if the final penitence doesn't come true
	Someday the dark era will break into the dawn
	World! Close your eyes
	Life is awakening, spinning time itself
	Like returning to your proof
	And so, the light tells your heart
	Heart! Return to the beginning

	**********

STAINED HANDS
Chapter 3: The First Unison

	**********

	The warm sunlight of the dawn broke into the 
room, severing all ties to the darkness that once held 
dominion within its chamber. The two of them slept, 
neither of them disturbed by the rays of light 
protruding into the room. This day was fresh and new, 
and new experiences awaited the two young girls.

	Sasami slowly blinked her eyes open as she lay 
on the futon, her eyes hurting somewhat from the light 
entering them. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. She 
slowly examined her surroundings, content to find that they 
were in the exact same condition that they had been left in 
the night before.

	Sasami looked to her feet to see Ryo-Ohki curled up 
in a small ball of fur, sleeping soundly. To her right, Tomoe 
lay in the futon, also sleeping soundly. Sasami didn't really 
understand much about the girl, she was indeed very mysterious. 
But there was something about her that Sasami saw...she knew 
that she wanted to be friends with this girl.

	She giggled to herself, and managed to pry herself out 
of the futon. She stretched and yawned heavily, embracing the 
new day. She walked over to the window and opened the curtains 
to allow the light more access into the room. She stood there, 
staring contently out over the lake. She turned her smiling gaze 
over to Tomoe. 

	It was time to go and make breakfast...she should probably 
take Tomoe with her. Sasami walked over to Tomoe, and gently shook 
the sleeping girl.

	"Hey! Tomoe! Wake up, its morning!" Sasami said in a 
hushed voice.

	After several moments of gentle shaking, the girl was 
jarred from her sleep. She blinked her red eyes open. "S...Sasami?"

	The girl slowly sat up. Her short black hair fell down to 
her shoulders, as she too rubbed her eyes. Sasami stood up, and 
looked down at the girl cheerfully.

	"It's time to go make breakfast, Tomoe!"

	The girl blinked at her. "Make...breakfast?"

	Sasami nodded. "Uh-huh! C'mon!"

	Sasami slowly helped Tomoe to her feet. They stood there 
in their nightgowns for a moment. Ryo-Ohki was now awake, and 
she climbed up onto Sasami's head, and yawned. The two girls 
slowly made their way out of the room together.

	"We gotta be quiet...everyone's probably still sleeping, 
Tomoe." Sasami said, as they tip toed down the hall way together. 

	Tomoe nodded shyly, and simply followed Sasami. They 
walked quietly down the stairs, and then into the living room. 
Once they felt that there was no need to be so sneaky anymore, 
they increased their walking pace to a normal speed. Tomoe 
simply followed Sasami into the kitchen. Sasami smiled as she 
pulled out a small apron, and put it on.

	"Umm...what are you doing?" Tomoe asked out of 
curiosity.

	Sasami looked back at Tomoe, puzzled. "I thought I told 
you? I'm going to make breakfast for everybody!"

	Tomoe's expression didn't change. "What's...breakfast?"

	Sasami face faulted. "You...don't know what breakfast 
is?" Sasami thought to herself. <Whoa! How can you possibly 
not know what BREAKFAST is? >

	Sasami shook her head. "Well...it's when you prepare 
food, and then when the food is finished, you're whole family 
will gather and eat it together. That's what breakfast is."

	Tomoe nodded, still curious. She stood in the doorway and 
watched as Sasami moved about the kitchen, getting this and 
that, and preparing it. Tomoe really had no idea what was going 
on...this entire house was so different from what she was used 
to. It seemed so much more inviting than where she was before. 
<No...I don't want to think about that... >

	Sasami called from the other end of the kitchen. "Hey, 
Tomoe! Could you bring me the spatula?" A fairly long silence 
ensued. Sasami sighed. "The thing with the brown handle and the 
white top next to you."

	Tomoe nodded, and picked up the utensil. She slowly 
walked over to Sasami and handed it to her gently. 

	"Thanks, T...Hey! This is the egg beater!" The two girls 
looked at each other, and Sasami started to laugh. Tomoe really 
didn't understand what was so funny, but she started to giggle 
with Sasami anyway. She had never laughed before...it felt...good.

	"Well, you two seem to be getting along just fine!"

	They stopped and turned to the source of the voice coming 
from the entrance to the kitchen. 

	"Oh, good morning, Miss Washu!" Sasami said cheerfully. 
"It's not like you to be up so early!"

	Washu smiled, and folded her arms in front of her chest, 
as she leaned against the doorframe. "Actually Sasami, I haven't 
been to sleep yet. I was talking to your sister for the majority 
of the night."

	Sasami instantly remembered everything that had happened 
last night. Her feelings then became somewhat torn. She was very 
happy for Tenchi and Ryoko...but she felt terrible for Ayeka. 
"Umm...is my sister going to be okay, Miss Washu?"

	Washu chuckled. "I'm sure she'll be just fine, Sasami. Oh, 
by the way, she told me that won't be joining us for breakfast 
this morning, so don't bother making her share. We were up pretty 
late, so she wants to sleep in."

	Sasami nodded. "Is there anything else?"

	Washu nodded. "Actually, I would like to talk to Tomoe, if 
that's okay."

	Tomoe blushed, and looked over at Sasami. Sasami nodded. 
"It's okay, I can handle this. You can trust Washu, Tomoe."

	Tomoe nodded, and then slowly walked over to Washu. She stopped, 
and looked up at her. "What is it?"

	Washu stopped leaning on the doorframe. "Would you accompany 
me to my lab, Tomoe? There are some things that I think we need to 
discuss."

	Tomoe nodded, and the two of them set off to Washu's lab. 
Sasami watched the two of them go. "I wonder what that's about..."

	Ryo-Ohki miya-ed in agreement, atop the princesses head.

	**********

	Kiyone was shrugging off sleep as she continued to drive the 
small black car further and further up the mountain. She looked to 
her left to see a sleeping Mihoshi, instantly becoming jealous of her. 
The previous night's shift had taken a lot out of the two women...and 
now all they wanted was to go home, eat, and go to bed.

	Kiyone really wanted to question Ryoko about that incident. She 
was going to warn her to be more cautious about using her powers in an 
area like that...but then she decided against it...because this is Ryoko. 
It would simply go in one ear, and right out the other. Regardless...she 
still needed to ask her what that was all about.

	Kiyone started to become distracted as she watched the lines of 
the highway pass, one by one. She brought her coffee cup up to her 
lips...only to find that it was completely empty. Kiyone cursed under 
her breath, and threw the cup into the back seat, over her shoulder. 

	Ever since the had started to work as Police Detectives as 
opposed to Galaxy Police operatives, Kiyone had begun to regret it. 
Kiyone really enjoyed getting some action in and everything...hell, 
she hated uneventful posts. But this job was starting to wear thin on 
her. It felt as if the fabric of immorality that exists in downtown 
Tokyo was testing every single fiber of her being.

	Kiyone shook her head and concentrated harder on the road. 
Soon, she'd be home. Yes...at least things there were always 
predictable...a place where she could relax. Kiyone frowned, and picked 
up the speed of the vehicle. She was WAY too tired to care about the 
speed limit.

	*********

	"So how is your leg doing?"

	Tenchi and Ryoko sat together unclothed in Tenchi's bed, 
resting against each other. Neither of them had fallen asleep that 
night...it was way too exciting for them. The bath also contained 
many...amorous...episodes, so to speak. The two of them had simply 
lain in bed together, talking through the remainder of the night. 
Now that day had broken, they had slowly sat up.

	Tenchi rubbed his stitched up leg a bit. "Well, after that 
one hour...it seems to be doing alright now." He chuckled. "I think 
that we tore a stitch, though."

	Ryoko laughed with him lightly. "Yeah, well...all's fair in 
love and war, right?"

	The two of them shared a small laugh, content to be in 
the company of the other. Their thoughts that night had roamed 
to many different issues, but regardless of the severity of them, 
they really failed to think of anything else, other than that of 
each other.

	Tenchi sat up. "Well...we should probably get up, I guess. 
We got a lot to do today."

	Ryoko sat up with him. "Like what?"

	Tenchi threw his legs over the side of the bed. "Well, 
we have to talk to Ayeka. There's no escaping it. It has to be 
done, and it has to be done today. Also, we should properly acquaint 
ourselves with our new houseguest, don't you think?"

	Ryoko got out the bed with him. "Yeah, you're right."

	The two of them walked about the room, collecting clothing 
to wear for the day. Tenchi put on some deodorant, and put his 
watch on. Since it was summer, he decided to wear shorts. He put 
on his boxers, and then some lengthy brown shorts, and a green T-shirt. 
Ryoko smiled gently as she stood with the bed-sheet wrapped about her, 
contently watching Tenchi change.

	Tenchi looked back over to her, and saw her smiling at him. He 
smiled. "Aren't you going to get changed? Or do you think that my bed 
sheet is proper attire for getting acquainted to new houseguests?"

	Ryoko laughed, and phased into her red tank top and blue 
shorts outfit. She floated over to Tenchi, and wrapped her arms around 
his waist from behind possessively.

	Tenchi smiled. "I hope dad doesn't get pissed about the van. 
Getting blood out of fabric is almost impossible."

	Ryoko didn't comment as she continued to hold onto Tenchi. Tenchi 
rolled his eyes as he tried to walk to the door, but he was having a 
hard time with Ryoko holding him down. "Hey, gimme some room here, Ryoko!"

	She smiled brightly. "No deal. I'm never going to let you go, 
Tenchi!"

	Tenchi smiled and shook his head. He gently pried her arms off 
of him. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat, huh?"

	The two of them walked out of the room together, hoping that 
Ayeka would not be the first person that they met in the morning. 
They both were still quite unprepared for how to deal with the princess, 
but they knew that they had to. If they left it for too long, it could 
leave Ayeka with some unmendible wounds.

	The smell of Sasami's cooking lofted through the air, and into 
their nostrils. They walked quietly down the stairs together, as so 
they wouldn't disturb anybody who was still asleep. The house seemed 
to be very quiet on this particular morning, the dropped pin analogy 
fitting the scene quite adequately. 

	The two of them entered the kitchen, to find it to be 
completely devoid of all life, with the exception of Sasami with 
Ryo-Ohki perched atop her head. Sasami noted their presence, and turned 
too great them cheerfully.

	"Hi guys! It's just going to be us three for breakfast today, 
I'm afraid." She said.

	Ryoko nodded and floated over to a chair, and sat down. She 
stretched and yawned. Tenchi sat next to her. "Where are the others, 
Sasami?"

	Sasami spoke as she finished up with the food. "Well...Ayeka is 
sleeping in this morning, and so is Mr. Masaki. Grandpa said he wasn't 
hungry, and Washu and Tomoe are in the lab." She said, as she began to 
disperse the breakfast into bowls and plates. 

	Tenchi leaned back in his chair. "What about Kiyone and Mihoshi? 
It's Saturday, isn't it? They usually spend the weekends here."

	Sasami nodded. "Yeah, I made extra in case they showed up." Sasami 
handed Ryoko and Tenchi their breakfasts and they thanked her. She sat 
down across from them, with her own. 

	The three of them wasted no time in digging in. There was an air 
of silence for a few moments, before Sasami spoke up. "Um...I'm really 
happy for you two."

	Ryoko beamed a great smile to Sasami, and Tenchi nodded. "Thank 
you, Sasami."

	Sasami wasn't quite finished. She plopped some food into her 
mouth, and continued. "Yes...but I know that it really hurt Ayeka, 
Tenchi. You are going to talk to her, right?"

	Tenchi nodded with a serious expression on his face. "As soon 
as we can, Sasami. But to be honest, we really don't know what to say." 
Ryoko nodded in agreement as she continued to eat.

	Sasami sighed. "She's probably really hurt. I know that she can 
be hard to reach sometimes when she is hurt...but Washu said she 
talked to her all night. So maybe it will all turn out okay, right?" 
Sasami asked with a glimmer of hope resounding within her voice.

	Tenchi smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure everything is going to be just 
fine, Sasami. We'll both try our best to make Ayeka feel better, I 
promise."

	The three of them continued to eat their meal in silence, no 
one really able to think of a topic of mutual discussion. After a few 
more minutes, Ryoko spoke up.

	"Say, Sasami? What's Tomoe like?" she asked, trying to make 
discussion that didn't concern Ayeka.

	Sasami put her chopsticks down on the table. "She's...really 
shy. She's a nice girl...but shy. I think that she'll fit in okay. 
Although she doesn't know some stuff that most people know. I don't 
really know...I like her."

	Ryoko nodded. They were interrupted by the sound of a door opening 
and closing. They sat there, continuing to eat, as the sound of 
approaching footsteps neared the kitchen. Slowly, Kiyone and Mihoshi 
slugged around the corner, obviously extremely tired.

	"Hi you guys! I saved some breakfast for you!" Sasami said 
cheerfully as she jumped from her seat to go and get them some food.

	They sat at the table, Kiyone's face falling to the table in an 
instant, already completely asleep. Mihoshi was fighting off sleep in 
favor of getting food. She blankly looked around the room.

	"Hey, uh, where is everyone?"

	Sasami told them what she had told Tenchi and Ryoko. They nodded, 
and began to feast like wild animals on the simple breakfast Sasami had 
given them. Tenchi and Ryoko who were finished, watched for a few 
minutes. They smiled, and got up to leave.

	Ryoko bowed to Sasami. "Thanks for breakfast, kiddo."

	Kiyone stopped eating at the sound of Ryoko's voice. Obviously, she 
was too tired and hungry to notice that she was there before. She turned 
to Ryoko. "Hey, Ryoko? Can I ask you something?"

	Ryoko crossed her arms. "What?"

	Kiyone put her bowl down. "Did you kill a man yesterday?"

	Ryoko looked over at Tenchi quickly before she answered. 
"...yeah."

	Kiyone nodded, as her suspicions were confirmed. "Well...why?"

	Ryoko sighed, and sat back down at the table. Tenchi shrugged and 
sat next to her again. "Well, me and Tenchi were out, see. And we 
followed some guy who bumped into Tenchi. I could tell by the way he was 
walkin' he had something important on him." Kiyone nodded and continued 
to listen intently. Ryoko leaned back against the chair. "Well, anyway, 
we got behind this dumpster when he got surrounded. A bunch of guys got 
around him. They were pros, I could tell right away."

	She sighed, and closed her eyes. "Anyway, they got into an 
argument, then they popped the guy. Then we were discovered. I think 
you know what happened after that."

	Kiyone nodded in understanding. "Right, I was at the crime scene, 
only a few hours ago." She paused. "Did you by any chance shoot two of 
them?"

	Ryoko looked at her puzzled. "No, I just used my hands for the 
whole thing. Why?"

	Kiyone crossed her arms, awakening more by the minute. "Well, 
aside from the dismembered body that was obviously your handy work, two 
of the others were shot in the head."

	Sasami grimaced slightly, and decided that this was definitely not 
a conversation that she really wanted to hear the rest of. She quietly 
excused herself. They watched her go before continuing. 

	Ryoko shook her head. "I wouldn't know anything about that, Kiyone. 
Sorry. I actually wasn't going to kill any of them to start with, but that 
one guy blasted Tenchi, and I kind of lost it after that. Sorry."

	Kiyone and Mihoshi gasped. "Really?! Are you okay, Tenchi?" Mihoshi 
asked, quite concerned. 

	Tenchi nodded. "Yeah, it was only in the leg. Washu already fixed 
it up."

	The two girls sighed out of relief. Kiyone pondered this. "I wonder 
who shot the other two then..."

	Mihoshi returned to her breakfast. Kiyone looked back over at 
Tenchi and Ryoko. "Alright...so I guess one more question. Did you overhear 
them talking at all?"

	Ryoko folded her hands behind her head and leaned back fully into 
the chair. "Yeah...we heard everything."

	Kiyone continued to look at Ryoko, silently asking her to tell her 
what they said. Ryoko nodded. "Well...it's hard to say. It was a 
conversation that an outsider really couldn't get too much of, if you know 
what I mean. They said something about him having 'it' or something along 
those lines. After that, they found whatever 'it' was on the guy, then 
they blasted him."

	Kiyone nodded. "I see..." She continued to eat her breakfast as she 
tried to piece together a puzzle that probably wasn't even a puzzle to 
begin with.

	Mihoshi finished her breakfast. "So you guys...anything happen 
this week?"

	Tenchi and Ryoko looked at each other, and grinned.

	**********

	Five men in gray trench coats with black suits and golden sashes 
stood. They were standing at a harbor along the river, as if waiting 
for something. Two of the men carried hand held automatic weapons 
underneath their coats. Two carried pistols. One had a four-foot long 
katana at his side.

	The stood, waiting. They stood out in the sunlight, near the 
back entrance of a warehouse. An average sized black vehicle was behind 
them, the car they obviously arrived in. Grissom sneered.

	"They are here. Remember...wait until I say so."

	The other men nodded, as two other black cars pulled up near them. 
A total of eight men disembarked from the vehicles, and they all began 
to walk toward Grissom and his men. They all wore black suits and sunglasses. 
One man had a cigar in his mouth, and he stepped forward to meet Grissom.

	"Well...I was expecting Solomon...not his dog."

	Grissom half smiled at that remark. "He is busy right now. He felt 
that meeting with you would be a waste of time."

	The other man seemed to tense at that remark. "Whatever. I assume you 
brought it?"

	Grissom nodded, and motioned to one of his men behind him. The man 
stepped forward and handed him a black briefcase. Grissom took the briefcase, 
and the man stepped back to his comrades. Grissom brought the case up, and 
opened it so the other man could see.

	Within the case was padding. The padding was brown, and it was meant 
to protect the orange colored structure in the center of the case. The 
casing was a small stasis chamber. Within this chamber, was a black, bony 
fetus. The other man smiled.

	"Good, I see that the Black Dragon's live up to their word."

	Grissom nodded, and closed the case, handing it to the other man. 
The man took it. "Well then...I suppose now you can call on us whenever 
you need a favor. Is there anything we can do for you right now, 
perchance? I was hoping to discuss this with Solomon himself, but..."

	Grissom smiled, and spoke in his low, raspy voice. "No...you've already 
served your purpose. We don't need your assistance."

	The man looked at him puzzled, then in fear as Grissom lifted his arm, 
and the men behind him drew their weapons on the other men. "You see, you've 
already helped us as much as we needed."

	The other men quickly drew their weapons on Grissom and his men. 
The other man quickly recovered, and then smirked. "You fool. You are 
outnumbered 2 to 1! What the hell do you think you're trying to pull here, 
huh?"

	Grissom smiled. "We may be outnumbered..." he trailed off, as he 
reached into his coat, and withdrew a pistol. All men present watched tensely 
as he raised it...and raised it...until he was pointing it into the sky.

	The other side looked at him, puzzled. He smiled, then fired the gun 
into sky six times. Everyone there was prepared to fight at any given second 
now. But nothing happened.

	Grissom placed his gun back in his jacket, and shrugged. "It seems 
that now the odds are in our favor, old man."

	The old man looked completely perplexed as he began to slowly back 
away from Grissom, completely not able to understand what was going on. 
His and all the other's thoughts were interrupted as the sounds of sirens 
approached the warehouse. Grissom smiled a hefty smile.

	The other man's eyes flew open. "You...you fuck!" he turned and 
faced his own men. "Fall back! Now!"

	The other men quickly disengaged themselves from their aggressive 
statures, and began to run to their cars. Grissom snapped his fingers, and 
his men began to fire on the other men. They began dropping like flies. In 
less than 5 seconds, all 8 men were dead. 

	Grissom nodded. "Right...now we wait."

	The other men nodded, and put their guns away. They resumed their 
casual stances from earlier, as the sounds of the sirens grew ever closer. 
Grissom looked as calmed and composed as ever, as he pulled a cigarette 
from his pocket, and lit it up.

	He leaned against the car, and crossed his arms, waiting. His face 
was unreadable. After only a few moments, 4 police cars swerved around the 
corner at high speeds, and barreled towards the scene. Grissom and his men 
stood completely still and composed the cars screeched to a halt, and police 
officers rushed out of their cars towards them and the dead bodies.

	One officer ran up to them "Hands in the air!" He cried, his 
gun pointed at Grissom. Grissom spat the cigarette in the direction 
of the cop, and then nodded at his men. They nodded back, and all 
five of them slowly raised their hands. 

	Other officers were now there with their guns pointed at them, 
while other's checked the dead bodies. Grissom smiled as he saw one 
officer walk up to him, wearing a brown trench coat. The officer 
lowered his weapon, and called out to the other men.

	"Okay, you guys go check on the bodies. I'll question these 
men."

	The other police men yelled "Yes, sir!" Then ran over to the 
8 dead men behind them. The six men standing by the black car waited 
until all of the other officers were out of earshot.

	The officer put his weapon in its holster, then looked at 
Grissom. "Hmm...I thought Solomon was coming today. I wasn't 
expecting to see you here, Grissom."

	Grissom crossed his arms and nodded. His men put their hands 
down. "Well...you know Solomon. The Deus project is his top priority. 
He wanted to finish that up."

	The man shook his head. "Yeah, I know. But this had better be 
the last time. I'm not really keen on helping you eliminate rival 
syndicates like this."

	Grissom smirked. "Whatever. This was the last one anyway."

	The man nodded. "Was it real?"

	Grissom looked behind the man to see that some of the officers 
were examining the contents of the briefcase. He grunted. "Of course 
not. That wasn't even a real construct. You think I'd give that 
bastard something legit?"

	The other man smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I should've known. 
You people are so damn protective of that technology you got." He 
chuckled. "By the way...I heard the chief secretary of the JSSDF was 
found last night with two of his guards blown away and a nice air hole 
on his neck."

	Grissom chuckled. "I wouldn't know anything about that." The six 
men shared a small laugh with each other. Grissom looked over and noticed 
that all 6 of the officers at the scene minus the man he was speaking to 
were crowded around the briefcase.

	He looked at the officer. "You want to know what is really in that 
thing?" He said as he drew out a small hand held switch. The man looked 
back at his men gawking at the briefcase, then at the switch in Grissom's 
hand. He smiled. 

	"I think I have an idea."

	Grissom smiled as he pushed the button on the switch, and the 
briefcase exploded sending debris, shrapnel, and police officer limbs 
flying in every direction. The six men watched intently as the explosion 
rocked the dock, killing all of the officers.

	Grissom pocketed the switch. "All right, Uematsu. We'll just be 
leaving now, so you know what to do."

	Uematsu nodded. "Give Solomon my regards."

	Then Grissom and his men entered the car and drove off. Uematsu waited 
until they cleared the corner before bringing the communicator to his mouth. 

	"HQ! HQ! This is Uematsu! Oh GOD!..."

	**********

	Kiyone and Mihoshi simply sat there, dumbstruck by the new turn of 
events. They hadn't said a word about anything since Ryoko and Tenchi had 
filled them in on what was happening around the Masaki household. Kiyone 
managed to regain her composure.

	"Well...um, I'm happy for you two." She said, and elbowed Mihoshi. Who 
shook out her trance of shock and nodded in agreement. 

	Tenchi and Ryoko smiled, as Ryoko leaned over to Tenchi, and rested her 
head on his shoulder. 

	Kiyone stood up. "So where is this Tomoe girl now, anyway?"

	Ryoko blinked. "Uh, we don't know. We kind of just woke up a little 
while ago ourselves."

	Kiyone nodded. "Well, we're going to have a bath now. We'll talk 
to you guys later."

	Mihoshi and Kiyone left the room, leaving it all to Ryoko and 
Tenchi. They sat in silence for a few moments. Tenchi turned to Ryoko. 
"So, now what do you want to do?"

	Ryoko looked around and sighed. "I don't know...it's so different 
without anyone around. Maybe we should go check on Washu, and see what she 
talked about to Ayeka."

	Tenchi nodded, and they stood up and walked hand in hand to Washu's 
lab. They knocked three times, and entered...and were greeted with a very 
disturbing sound.

	They could hear the sound of a small girl half-crying, half 
screaming nearby. They looked at each other, then quickly ran to the 
source of the screams. They rounded a corner, and came upon Washu and 
Tomoe. Washu was standing a couple of meters away from Tomoe, and Tomoe was 
sitting on the floor, with her knees to her chest, and her face to her 
knees, sobbing and screaming.

	"NO! Please! Don't! Not again! Please not again! I don't want to do 
anymore! No more..." She wept.

	Tenchi and Ryoko glared angrily at Washu, who turned to meet their 
gazes, looking at them with sadness in her eyes. 

	Ryoko stepped forward and grabbed Washu by the collar, and lifted 
her so she could look her in the eye. "What the hell did you do to that 
poor girl, Washu?!"

	Washu slowly grabbed Ryoko's hand, and unclasped it from her shirt. 
"I didn't do anything, Ryoko. I swear it."

	Ryoko dropped the scientist. "Then what is wrong with her, 
huh?"

	Washu blinked. "I was going to hook her up to one of my machines 
so I could get a better reading on who she is exactly...it wasn't a 
painful procedure...but when she saw the machine, she started to freak 
out like this."

	Tenchi looked at the frightened little girl on the floor in complete 
sympathy. He slowly walked over to her, Washu and Ryoko eyeing him the 
whole time. He bent down and put a hand on her shoulder, and she stopped 
screaming. She looked up at Tenchi's compassionate face, her blood red eyes 
full of tears, and her cheeks swollen from sobbing.

	Tenchi smiled. "It's going to be okay, Tomoe. Everything will be 
fine, I promise."

	Tomoe hesitated for a minute, then slowly reached out with a timid 
hand. She slowly was reaching for Tenchi. Tenchi saw this, and gently took 
her scared hand in his, all the while, looking into her frightened eyes. 
"My name is Tenchi, Tomoe. Everything is going to be okay."

	She felt warmth from his hand...not just from the physical contact, 
but she felt like he was really telling the truth, like everything really 
was going to be okay. She felt like he actually cared for her. Still 
sobbing, she slowly leaned towards him, still a little unsure of herself.

	Tenchi slowly wrapped his other arm around her back, and pulled the 
broken child closer to him. He pulled her to his chest, and she lay her 
head against it, and continued to cry into his warmth.

	Washu and Ryoko watched this whole scene, starting to get a little 
teary. Washu smiled. "How does he do that..." she said, and Ryoko nodded. 

	Slowly, Tomoe eventually managed to stop crying. Tenchi slowly pulled 
her away from him. "Tomoe? What was wrong? Why were you crying, Tomoe? Did 
something scare you?"

	She nodded. "Y...yes. You...you see...where I came from...they...they 
always hooked me up...to machines like this...and it...it always hurt...and 
no one...no one ever cared when I cried...in fact...they used to stick 
pointy needles into me when I cried...and then my body would hurt too much 
to cry..."

	Tenchi nodded, and wiped her tears off her face. "Well then, don't 
you worry. You don't have to get in that machine if you don't want. And 
you can stay here, where we will care for you, Tomoe. I promise."

	Tomoe smiled gently, and embraced him, as if she was reunited with 
the father that she never had. After a few minutes, Tenchi noticed that 
the poor girl had fallen asleep in his arms. He smiled gently, and picked 
her up as he stood and turned to the girls.

	"Well Little Washu, I guess it would be best if you didn't hook her 
up to any machines until we can get her to trust us some more." He said, 
looking at Washu and Ryoko.

	Washu nodded. "Yeah, that's probably best, Tenchi. I really didn't 
mean for any of this to happen."

	Tenchi nodded. "I know. Let's put her back to bed for now, okay? 
Ryoko and I would like to have a word with you, if its not too much 
trouble."

	Washu shook her head, and the three of them left the lab together. 
Tenchi motioned with his head towards the living room couch. Ryoko and 
Washu got the hint, and went and sat down. Tenchi went upstairs with the 
sleeping Tomoe in his arms.

	Ryoko plopped down and sighed happily. Washu saw this and grinned. 
"So how are you feeling today, Ryoko?"

	Ryoko only response was a very large grin, which explained better 
than words could have. Washu chuckled. "He's sure going to make a great 
father, don't you think?"

	Ryoko crossed her legs on the couch. "Yeah...he sure is..." she 
said rather distantly. Washu frowned in puzzlement, and she was going 
to ask about it, but Tenchi returned. He sat down next to Ryoko, and 
then the two of them looked to Washu.

	Washu crossed her arms. "So what's up, people?"

	Tenchi spoke first. "Little Washu, we are curious as to what you 
said to Ayeka last night."

	Washu nodded in understanding. "Well, let's see. I told her all 
about Tomoe...and then we took a walk...and then we talked about you two. 
That about sums it up."

	Ryoko frowned. "Care to go in to more detail, professor?"

	Washu grinned. "Like about what? Ayeka, or Tomoe?"

	Ryoko rolled her eyes in frustration. "What do you think?"

	Washu sighed. "Well, I guess I won't bore you about everything I 
said...but let's just say, I tried to prep her for when you two talk to 
her. She's hurting. Badly. But I think I managed to show her that it will 
pass, and that the both of you still care about her. But I think no matter 
what you say, it's going to be a long time before she's back to her normal 
self...if she ever goes back."

	Tenchi gulped nervously. "She's not leaving or anything, is she?"

	Washu shook her head, and Tenchi let out a breath of relief. "That's 
good. I think that if we all go out of our way, we can help her be happy. I 
know that it's going to be hard, but I think we should all make an extra 
effort to do it."

	Washu nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. So...to change the 
subject...are you interested in what I told Ayeka about Tomoe?"

	Tenchi scratched the back of his head. "I...guess so. What is it?"

	Washu smiled. "Oh, it's not much. Just that 
she is a man made biological interface system that is designed to fuse 
two separate entities neurologically using some fairly basic protocol."

	Ryoko and Tenchi's eyes bugged out, and they both cried, 
"WHAT!?!" at the same time, which caused Washu to do her crazy mad 
scientist nasal laugh.

	"Yup, you heard me right."

	Ryoko recovered from the shock first. "So...what does that 
mean?"

	"It means that she is software, basically. She can be used to 
link two people's minds together, without getting too technical." Washu 
stated, as a matter of factly.

	Tenchi ventured a question. "Is...she...really...a human? I 
mean...does she have a mind of her own?"

	Washu looked Tenchi square in the eyes. "Well...what do YOU 
think, Tenchi? When you comforted her a few minutes ago, do you think 
that she was a simple program designed for human ego extrication, or 
do you think she was a real person?"

	Tenchi saw her point, and didn't answer. Washu stood up. "In any 
case, I think that we should be with the poor girl. I can tell that where 
she's from, she has really been getting the rough treatment...and I don't 
think an innocent little girl like that deserves to be treated that 
way. So we need to be extra careful for what we say and do around her, 
alright?"

	Ryoko and Tenchi nodded in agreement. Ryoko stood up. "You should 
tell everyone else this too, Washu."

	Washu nodded. "Right. But first.........I'm going to eat. I'm 
STARVING!" With that, the petite red head trotted off into the kitchen, 
once again leaving Ryoko and Tenchi alone.

	They turned to each other. Tenchi looked into Ryoko's eyes, and 
saw that she seemed...distracted. He frowned. He didn't like the idea 
of her shouldering more pain than necessary. He put his hand on her 
shoulder.

	"What's wrong, Ryoko?"

	She blinked. "Huh? What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

	He tilted his head to the side slightly. "Ryoko."

	She sighed. "I guess I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

	"Nope."

	Ryoko leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her. 
"It's just...I'm so happy...but...I didn't want..."

	Tenchi shushed her, and held her a little tighter. "It's 
alright, Ryoko."

	Ryoko smiled, and embraced him back tightly. "Do you think 
that...we'd ever make good parents, Tenchi?" She asked, her eyes 
closed. The image of Tenchi comforting Tomoe proved to her that he was 
definitely going to be a great dad. And, who knows? Maybe she'd be a 
good mom, too. But...like they had mentioned last night...what if 
they WEREN'T compatible? What if the could NEVER have that in their 
lives?

	Tenchi removed one hand from the embrace, and began to run it 
through her mane of cyan hair. "I think we'd be the best there is, 
Ryoko. And...remember...if we can't...we'll always have each other, 
right?" Ryoko squeezed him even harder, holding on to him as if her life 
depended on it. And...regardless of how strong she was, and how tight the 
embrace was, Tenchi made no comments of running out of breath, or crushing 
bones. He simply held her back and stroked her hair.

	Because...they would always have each other.


	*********

	Ayeka slowly blinked her eyes open. She was tired. No doubt about 
it. She knew that it was already into the afternoon...but she was still 
exhausted, and she felt no desire to get up. She simply lay in her futon 
on the ground, staring half eyed at the ceiling above her.

	She had dreamed that night. But she remembered little of it. It 
was as if a series of hallucinations that assaulted her sanity, as if trying 
to inflict other pains to her that would distract her from what was 
truly the cause of her grief. The pain in her heart was even stronger than 
it was last night, even though she was still half-asleep. It wasn't as 
much as it was that she lost to Ryoko, or that Tenchi didn't love her...those 
things still hurt. But the most painful thing of all was...she felt 
betrayed. She felt as if her trust and emotions had been scorned and struck 
down by the only one she ever placed them in. 

	She had never put the trust or the love in for anyone else other 
than Tenchi...and he never even acknowledged those feelings. It wasn't 
Tenchi's fault...he only was doing what he was brought up to do, and what 
he felt was the right thing. And it wasn't Ryoko's fault...she was her 
own person, she couldn't possibly be blamed for causing Tenchi's heart to 
choose her. 

	However, Washu had shown her that there were other things in the 
world than Tenchi. She knew this before Washu had told her, of course, but 
Washu had simply allowed those aspects of introspection to surface. She was 
unable to save her feelings from Tenchi, she gave them to him, and now they 
were destroyed. Her remaining feelings could attest to the weight of their 
now diminished brethren. And Washu had shown her that losing them had made her 
weaker, but carrying them would make her stronger. And that would prepare her 
so she could see and protect that which was truly important...but this would 
only happen if she let it.

	Ayeka blinked her eyes and sat up slowly. She was surprised for a 
moment, as she was unfamiliar with her surroundings, but then she remembered 
that she had slept in Ryoko's room last night. The thought of where Ryoko 
slept last night sent a shock of pain into her consciousness, but she 
quickly suppressed it. She WOULD defeat this. She HAD to defeat this. She 
wasn't the only person in the world...other people had feelings, too. And 
Washu was right. Why kid herself? She is an important part of many people's 
lives, and it would hurt them to see her broken as she was.

	She pushed her thoughts aside, and then rose slowly from the futon, 
and walked over to the window. She glanced outside, the summer sky cloudless 
overhead. She smiled as she saw Sasami and Tomoe outside together, running 
around in the mud, as Azaka and Kamidake were telling them to stop for fear 
of them getting filthy, but they paid them no heed. 

	Ayeka frowned for a second. Her thoughts went to what the scientist 
had told her about Tomoe the previous night. A construct, not even real. 
But...that really didn't matter, she supposed. She was friends with Sasami, 
and Washu said she had emotions and a soul like anyone else, so there was 
no real concern. The biggest concern was who built her, and why. And why 
did she end up at the Masaki household of all places in the world?

	Ayeka sighed, and realized that she was quite hungry...but she 
needed a bath first. Ayeka walked over to the futon, and rolled it up. 
She was going to put it away, but she decided against it. Now that Ryoko 
and Tenchi were together, and Tomoe was staying with Sasami, she might as 
well use this room for herself. She would tell Tenchi about that later. 

	Ayeka put the futon down again then grabbed a towel from the 
corner of the room. She walked over to the door, then stopped. Ayeka 
sighed. <Well...it's time to go face the rest of the world. >

	Ayeka slid the door open slowly, hoping with all her might that 
neither Tenchi nor Ryoko would be behind it...and she breathed a sigh of 
relief when she saw that they weren't. Ayeka stepped into the hallway, and 
started to make her way downstairs towards the bath, still in her nightgown. 
She was far too preoccupied to care about her appearance right now. 

	After a few quick glances in every direction, making sure that no 
one saw her, Ayeka slipped into the bath. She sighed out of relief when 
she saw that no one was in there. She gingerly closed the door behind herself, 
and slid off her gown. She wrapped herself into a towel, then waded over to 
a cozy spot, and plopped down into the warm waters.

	Ayeka closed her eyes, the water feeling incredible against her 
tired muscles. She didn't make them sore or anything, she hadn't used her 
powers lately, and she hadn't worked out or anything...but her muscles 
were still very tight. Stress, was the key word here.

	She slipped further into the water, allowing the steamy liquid to 
come up to her neck, as she closed her eyes. She sat in silent reverie for 
a few minutes. That was when she almost fell asleep again, if she weren't 
interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Ayeka opened one eye, and 
glanced over to the doorway. 

	Her eyes met with Ryoko. Ryoko held a basket full of towels, 
shampoo, and soap. She simply stood at the doorway, staring at the 
princess, her eyes full of sympathy. Ayeka was somewhat surprised 
inwardly, that she wasn't gloating about it...but she knew Ryoko better 
than that. 

	Ryoko stepped inside, and closed the door behind herself. After 
a few moments of silence, Ryoko spoke. "Umm...would it be okay if I 
joined you, Ayeka?" Ryoko asked, somewhat timidly.

	Ayeka sat up and nodded, closing her eyes again. Ryoko sighed 
out of relief, then walked over to the water edge. She put the basket 
down, then undressed her clothes, and put them next to the basket. Then 
Ryoko picked up a towel, and wrapped herself in it, and waded over to 
Ayeka, and sat down silently a few feet away from her.

	Ayeka watched all of this with interest, and partial surprise. 
<Ryoko TOOK off her clothes? She didn't phase out of them? Ryoko is using a 
TOWEL? Ryoko WALKED over here? What is she doing? >

	Ryoko was thinking about that as well. <I know she doesn't like it 
when I use my powers, plus I want to be as dignified about this as possible. 
Everything should be the way she wants it to be... >

	The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to gather 
their collective thoughts and bring them out into the imminent conversation. 
The sound of water falling into the bath was the only sound that either girl 
could hear. Eventually, Ryoko elected that she was going to have to initiate 
some kind of conversation.

	She turned to Ayeka. "Listen...about last night, Ayeka..."

	Ayeka shook her head and interrupted her. "It's...okay, miss Ryoko. 
You were only following your own feelings." She frowned. "At least I 
certainly HOPE you were..."

	Ryoko's eyes widened with a bit of surprise and anger. "Of COURSE we 
were, you..." She cut herself off. This is definitely not the time to fight 
with her. She closed her eyes, and shook her head. "Yeah, we were Ayeka. It 
wasn't a one night deal..."

	Ayeka nodded, glad that they hadn't just thrown caution into the wind 
in the throes of passion for the sole purpose of succumbing to primal urges. 
She sighed, and turned her gaze to the water, unable to think of anything to 
say to Ryoko. There were a lot of nasty things running through her mind, 
insults, and threats...but they were hardly appropriate. They would accomplish 
nothing more than creating an unnecessary rift between the two.

	Ryoko was desperately trying to think of some sort of comforting 
words to say to Ayeka, but they weren't coming easy. After all, Ryoko and 
Ayeka go WAY back...a long, long time before Tenchi came onto the scene. 
It wasn't easy trying to comfort your worst enemy.

	The two girls were once again struggling for things to say to the 
other, when Ayeka finally spoke. "Umm...I'd like to say...
congratulations...Ryoko."

	Ryoko simply looked at Ayeka, with a face of absolute bewilderment.

	Ayeka had her face downcast to the water, so Ryoko couldn't 
see her expression as she spoke. "I admit...that it hurts...a lot...but, 
I'm happy for you two." She paused, and thought about that. "Or at 
least...not right now...but I will be in a while."

	Ryoko's mind was racing all over trying desperately to think of 
anything to show Ayeka that she held her with a degree of sympathy...so 
she did the first thing that popped into her head. She reached out and put 
a hand onto Ayeka's shoulder. Ayeka's eyes flew open, and she looked up at 
Ryoko. It was indeed a very small gesture...but Ayeka knew how Ryoko felt 
about her. It meant more to her than it would to a normal person.

	Ayeka managed to smile through her now teary eyes. "Th...thank you, 
Ryoko."

	Ryoko smiled back. "Yeah, no problem, Ayeka. This is going to sound 
weird, coming from me, but...if you need anything, you can just ask me. I'll 
help you in any way I can, okay?"

	Ayeka smiled and nodded, as tears began to stream down her face, 
unchecked. "Yes...that is most generous of you, Ryoko." She sniffled and 
thought for second, then spoke again. "Actually...this may sound weird coming 
from me as well...but...I really am glad that Tenchi loves you, and you 
love him. I know with you that...that Tenchi will always be in good hands."

	Ryoko smiled greatly, as tears threatened to fall down her face. She 
also suppress the comment <Yeah, but I like it even better when I'm in HIS 
hands...hee hee hee >, electing that that type of humor was completely 
unnecessary for this current situation. Instead, she said, "Hey, don't worry 
Ayeka. You're a strong girl. You'll make it through this. Tenchi wants to 
help in any way he can too, you know. We'll all be here for you, Ayeka. We're 
a family, remember?"

	Ayeka wiped her tears away. "Yes, I remember." She leaned back against 
the wall of the bath, as Ryoko slowly took her hand off Ayeka's shoulder. 
Ayeka smiled. "Say, why don't we get some sake, eh Ryoko? We usually have 
some in the bath, right?"

	Ryoko grinned her normal, adventurous, mischievous grin. "So...we're 
feeling better now, are we?"

	Ayeka nodded. "A little, yes."

	Ryoko stood up. "Great! I don't need this anymore, then!" Ryoko 
grabbed her towel, and flung it aside. She floated over to the basket, 
and withdrew two bottles of sake, and clinked them together, before she 
flew back over to Ayeka, and handed her a bottle.

	Ayeka took it from her. "Thank you, Ryoko."

	Ryoko tilted the bottle back, allowing the liquid to enter her 
mouth. She wiped her mouth then grinned. "Sure, what are friends for, 
huh?"

	**********

	Solomon stared at his reflection in the mirror, then sighed. He 
stood back a bit, then straightened his tie on his dark green suit. He 
also reassured himself by checking to see if his gun was still in his 
inner holster, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that it 
still was. There really was no fear of needing it today, but even so...

	He turned on the faucet, and cupped his hands under the cool water, 
and splashed some onto his face. After doing so three times, he turned the 
tap off, then dried his face with a nearby towel. He looked at the mirror 
once again, and nodded at his reflection. He walked to the exit of the very 
fancy bathroom, then opened the door. His two personal bodyguards flanked 
either side of the door, waiting for him.

	He continued to walk down the hall is if they were never there, but 
they fell into step directly behind him. The three of them walked down the 
large hallway until they came to a large set of double doors. They stopped, 
as Solomon took in a deep breath. <Okay, here we go... >

	He knocked, then opened the doors, and saw the man he had come to 
meet sitting behind a desk in a very well furnished office. The man stood, 
and walked over towards Solomon.

	"Ah, Solomon! It is good to see you in person!" He said in a rather 
loud and deep voice, as he reached out.

	Solomon did the same, and they clasped hands. Solomon chuckled. "Yes, 
it is good to see you too, Yamashita. It has been a while, hasn't it?

	They released each other, and Yamashita guided Solomon to a very well 
furnished chair in front of his desk. "Oh, I'd say about 8 or 9 years. But 
whose counting?"

	They both laughed, and sat across the desk from each other. 
Yamashita offered Solomon a cigarette, but he politely refused. Yamashita 
took his own cigarette, and lit it up. As he did, he spoke. "So, what is it 
that you felt the need to see me about, my friend?"

	Solomon cleared his throat. "Arakawa's dead."

	Yamashita chuckled as he put the lighter away in the desk, and 
removed the cigarette from his mouth. "He certainly is. Heard he got his 
head chopped off last night, only a couple doors down from here. Grissom, 
right?"

	Solomon smiled and nodded. "Indeed. But what I am here to see 
you about is...your position."

	Yamashita leaned back in his chair, and took a puff, before 
blowing it out. "Continue."

	"You see...the Syndicate would be interested in seeing you as 
Arakawa's replacement." Solomon said, looking directly into 
Yamashita's eyes.

	He sighed. "That's what I figured. You are really hell bent on 
this 'Deus' thingy, aren't you?"

	Solomon's face turned serious. "I am. I will see it the way it 
was, no matter the cost."

	Yamashita smiled. "I admire that. I'll take the position...but 
first, tell me something, old friend."

	Solomon scratched his nose. "What is it?"

	"Why did you decide to take over the Syndicate? I never would've 
thought an ex-cop like you'd become a crime boss. Why?"

	Solomon sighed. "Remember what our sensei taught us all those 
years ago?"

	Yamashita chuckled. "He taught us a lot of things. Frankly, I thought 
that majority of it was incoherent horse shit, so I really didn't pay 
any attention."

	Solomon smiled a little. "Yes, I remember that. But anyway, there 
was one lesson he used to teach us frequently. Do you remember what that 
was?" Yamashita shook his head. "It was 'Sometimes, corruption causes 
justice to appear as insanity.' Do you remember now?"

	Yamashita nodded. "Yeah, now I remember. I take it this whole charade 
to drop the government is all about that, huh?"

	Solomon nodded. "Indeed. Really, we only need 3 more years...that is 
all the time necessary. Since the diplomatic role of Japan within the 
international community has now been brought into the public consciousness, 
I think that the project is travelling smoothly."

	Yamashita scratched his nose as he put the cigarette out. "And this 
is why you talk treason. For honor, right?" He sighed. "Somehow I don't 
think that the people will surrender their democracy so easily."

	Solomon nodded. "That is why we are changing it. Think...the Japan 
of today, is not the Japan our ancestors dreamed of. We have caused greed, 
plight, irresponsibility and neglect to become necessary instruments for 
survival within our culture."

	Yamashita chuckled as he leaned back into his chair. "Grissom, 
right?"

	Solomon smiled. "Yes. He is the perfect example of such. Sometimes 
in order to facilitate a greater good, someone must do something that 
which would be considered abhorrent."

	"And I take it you've make Grissom the embodiment of this concept, 
right? Well...I guess it makes sense. I'll help, after all, we did grow up 
together, and you do make a pressing argument. But, I have one more question 
first."

	Solomon nodded, and crossed his arms. "Shoot."

	Yamashita leaned forward, put his elbows on the desk, and crossed his 
hands in front of his face, as he took in a breath. "This Deus project of 
yours...I heard about the construct. That really has no place. I won't stop 
you. I said I'll help, and I will. But I just want to know..." he paused, 
looking for a long moment into the eyes of his old friend. "...is it for the 
girl?"

	Solomon sighed, and closed his eyes, and leaned back further into 
his chair, and simply nodded slowly. 

	"I see." Yamashita rose from his chair. "Well...that's fine, too. 
I'll take over Arakawa's position. I trust you'll keep me informed of 
all the necessary developments?"

	Solomon rose slowly and met his sad, compassionate gaze. "Count 
on it, my friend."

	**********

	Katsura drummed his fingers along the edge of his desk as he sat 
impatiently waiting for the Lieutenant. Iisuka was at his desk in 
pretty much the exact same situation, only instead of drumming his fingers, 
he was subconsciously spinning around and around in his chair slowly. 

	Katsura sighed. "What the hell is taking him so damn long?" he 
asked out loud to no one in particular.

	Iisuka chuckled. "I heard that there was some explosion this 
morning, and he was on the scene."

	Katsura turned to face him. "Really? An explosion you say, Iisuka?"

	Iisuka stopped spinning, and faced Katsura. "Yeah, didn't you 
know? He and 6 other officers were there. Heard that it was some shoot 
out between the Black Dragon's and some other syndicate. Apparently, 
all of our guys except for the Lieutenant were blown away."

	Katsura's eyes grew wide as he leaned back into his chair. 
"Shit..."

	Iisuka nodded. "Yeah, the Fire Department chief was bitching 
all morning about us not acting quick enough to alert them. Apparently 
a lot of the warehouse burned down."

	Katsura nodded, and their discussion was interrupted by the 
sound of someone clearing their throat. They looked over at the doorway 
to their shared office to see a man wearing a black suit with a police 
badge on his breast standing there, looking at them.

	They both stood quickly. "Lieutenant Uematsu sir! We didn't see 
you come in." Katsura said.

	Uematsu nodded. "Yeah, forget about it. I'm here to talk to you 
about yesterday."

	Iisuka sat back down. "What about yesterday?"

	He leaned against the wall. "Well, about the weapons and drugs 
you found in the warehouse."

	Katsura sat down as well, and withdrew a document from his desk, 
and chucked it onto his desk. "Here's the report, sir."

	Uematsu nodded, and walked over and picked it up. "Thank you, 
Katsura." With that, he turned and left the office. The two of them 
sat dumbfounded by the length of the conversation. Normally, Uematsu 
would grill them for hours on every little detail, report or not. But 
this time, he just took off.

	Iisuka ran his hands through his hair. "I wonder what that was 
all about. I guess seeing all of his men being blown away in front of 
his eyes really fucked with his head, or something."

	Katsura nodded, and took a sip of his coffee, trying to figure 
out what exactly was going on.

	Uematsu walked into his office, and shut the door behind him. 
He walked over to his desk, and sat down. He threw the report onto a 
pile of reports to the side of his cluttered desk. He sighed, as he 
reached for the phone. He quickly made certain that no one was coming 
into his office, then dialed the number. 

	The phone rang for four times before it was picked up. 
"Yes?" asked the deep raspy voice of Grissom on the other line.

	Uematsu cringed. He hated Grissom...the man was frightening 
to be around. The stench of death and murder followed him wherever 
he went...it was as if he was a demon in human form. "It's me."

	There was a pause at the other end of the line. "What do you 
want?"

	Uematsu tensed. He hated having to go against the law. He hated 
the fact that he had to deal with a snake like Grissom. He hated the 
fact he had to let his own men, who were honest, good people die. And 
most of all, he hated himself for not having the balls to do anything 
about it, because he knew if he tried, him, and absolutely everything he 
found to be important would suffer because of it. That was how the syndicate 
worked. <What kind of logic is that... > He thought to himself.

	"I have the information you need, Grissom."

	"Good. Give it to me." He demanded in quiet, frightening tone.

	Uematsu sighed. He knew that he was resigning all of these innocent 
people to the cold grips of death. But there was no other way. He wanted 
Solomon to accomplish his goals...he only wished that Grissom wasn't there. 
The man dispensed the will of the gods without mercy.

	Uematsu opened the folder in his lap, and began to read the enclosed 
information. "Alright. The blood of the person you identified belongs to a 
man named Masaki Tenchi. He lives in Okayama. He has a father and a 
grandfather. His mother is deceased. There are two police officers living at 
his house as well. I've been told that there are others, but I can't find 
any sort of registry on them."

	He could almost see the sneer on Grissom's face. "Excellent."

	Uematsu timidly asked, "Umm...are you sure that this is really the 
guy who did this to your men?"

	"Of course it has to be. Think Uematsu. The rain was pouring down at 
the time we arrived, and it had been for quite some time, and this specimen 
was just as fresh as the one from the other bodies. Meaning that the wound 
must have been made at the same time, correct?"

	Uematsu sighed. "I...suppose, so. I'm not going to help you on 
this."

	"Fine, don't. I don't need your help, anyway. You just be the 
good little boy and continue to keep up your elaborate little ruse, I'll 
take care of everything." He paused. "I hope you really don't have an 
emotional attachment to the officers living with him, Uematsu." Grissom chuckled.

	Uematsu was hit with somewhat of a wave of sadness. He liked 
Mihoshi and Kiyone. They were very good at what they did. Even Mihoshi, 
who was sometimes annoying, always managed to pull through for him. They 
were good-hearted people, and he had just signed them over to this lunatic. 
He managed to hold in his desire to curse at the man and send everyone in 
his power after him by thinking about his family at home. His wife, and 
his daughter. If he did that...

	He spoke quietly into the phone. "I guess I'll start looking for 
replacements..."

	Grissom chuckled. "You do that. I'll keep in touch."

	The phone clicked. Their deaths were assured. No one wins against 
the syndicate. Those who try, lose. They lose big time.

	**********

	"Hmm...it seems that you are improving." Yosho said as he helped 
a slightly battered and bruised Tenchi up off his feet. "I guess that 
will be all for today, Tenchi."

	Tenchi nodded as he rubbed his slightly bruised ribs, and handed 
his bokken over to his grandfather. He simply stood there and watched as 
Yosho walked out of the small clearing in the woods where they practiced, 
and went up the stairs to the shrine. 

	It was already well into the afternoon, and so far, things had 
been pretty normal. Tenchi had managed to get better acquainted with 
the small little girl who was now living in their house, and he already 
had completed all of his chores. Now...he needed a bath. Desperately. 

	As Tenchi took stride down the stone stairs of the mountainside, 
he thought to himself. The only thing left to do today was...Ayeka. He 
hadn't seen Ryoko or Ayeka for a while...maybe they had talked. He 
hoped that they would work things out peacefully. They were both fairly 
reasonable women...most of the time.

	Tenchi surveyed the sight of the rolling hills and forest in 
front of him. It was indeed a beautiful sight. Many times he would 
simply stare at it, and admire it for its beauty. But today, he kept 
walking. He chuckled to himself. There was something else that was even more 
beautiful that he would rather be staring at right about now...

	He partially limped his way onto the porch, as he slid the 
door open, then closed it behind him. No body was there...the whole 
house was completely quiet.

	<Jeez, how long can these people sleep, exactly? >

	Tenchi paid it no mind as he went up to his room to collect a 
towel to use for his bath. Sasami should be getting dinner ready sometime 
soon, he hoped. Working in the field and then working out with grandpa was 
really tiring...not to mention it really made him work up an appetite.

	Tenchi grabbed a towel, and scratched his head as he stared at the 
bed in his room. It was empty, but still unmade from earlier. Only 
earlier...it really happened. Tenchi fought down the excitement of the 
fact that he was really with Ryoko earlier. He felt like a giddy little 
kid all of a sudden, all spurred on by the simple fact of staring at his 
bed.

	It was strange. How simple things could spur on the craziest and 
most erratic of emotions. Tenchi smiled as he left the room with a towel 
slung over his shoulder, and a bar of soap in his hand. He looked around, 
and there was still no one. He decided to check on everyone. Tenchi walked 
over to Kiyone and Mihoshi's room. He slid the door open. The two of them 
were crashed on their futons, out cold.

	He enjoyed having the two officers over at the house. They lived in 
Tokyo during the week, and then spent the weekends here in Okayama. The 
house wouldn't be the same without their zany episodes. He smiled as he 
quietly shut the door on the two exhausted Police officers. He walked over 
to Ayeka and Sasami's room, and leaned in closely. He could here the sound 
of two children laughed, and a certain cabbit miyaing. Tomoe and Sasami had 
just met each other, but it was obvious that they would become great friends.

	Tenchi walked over to Ryoko's room, and listened. He didn't hear 
anything, so he slid the door open slowly. The room was completely empty. 
He closed the door, and then put his hand to his chin in thought. This 
meant that Ryoko and Ayeka were the only ones unaccounted for. Nobuyuki 
had decided to go into town to buy some chemicals to remove the bloodstains 
from the van's interior and pick up groceries as well, 
and Washu had gone with him. They obviously had something to discuss in private.

	Tenchi sighed, and decided to just go and have his bath, and not to 
worry about the two girls for the time being. He walked down the hallway, 
and then trotted down the stairs. Ever since he had admitted his feelings 
for Ryoko, he was so happy, that everything seemed to be enjoyable. He 
seemed to do everything with a little bit more spunk than usual.

	Tenchi went to reach for the door to the bath, but it slid open 
before he could, revealing a naked Ryoko and a toweled Ayeka, who were 
both smiling, obviously laughing about something. The three of them stopped 
for a moment, Ryoko and Ayeka staring at Tenchi, Tenchi staring at Ryoko and 
Ayeka.

	"Umm..." Tenchi started, not knowing where to take the situation. 
This was the first time he had seen Ayeka after last night, after all. 
"I was...uh...just finished training, so I'm going to have a bath now..." 
he was sweating profusely, as he noticed the two girls continued to stare 
at him.

	He blinked, as they grinned. "Wh...what is it?" He could tell that 
things between Ryoko and Ayeka were better than expected, but he could also 
tell that they were sharing some kind of inside joke.

	Finally, he sighed. "Listen, I, uh, don't know exactly what you two 
have said to each other, but I'd..." he stopped when he saw Ayeka shake her 
head.

	"No...it's okay, Tenchi. You don't have to apologize. I'm grateful, 
but..." her grin had diminished, and she was starting to become somewhat 
fragile again.

	Ryoko saw this, and sighed. She had a feeling that Ayeka might fall 
apart when she saw Tenchi. She also noticed that she was naked. It was no 
big deal, really, but there was a certain someone who she really didn't 
want to find her in the nude. But she also knew that this was a conversation 
that needed to take place, so she did the first thing that popped into her 
head.

	Ryoko clasped Tenchi's wrist, and led the two of them back into the 
bath together, and then shut the door behind them. "There...it's better in 
here than in the doorway, don't you think?"

	Tenchi nodded, and started to get a little red when he actually really 
noticed that Ryoko was completely naked, standing next to him. Although he 
normally had a similar action, one would think that once he had slept with 
her, he wouldn't get so nervous about it. The problem was, now that he had 
slept with her, he began to wish inwardly that they didn't need to have this 
discussion with Ayeka right now.

	Ryoko noticed Tenchi's face, and shook her head playfully. She wrapped 
a nearby towel around herself. She didn't want Tenchi to be distracted from 
this conversation...even though another part of her REALLY liked the idea of 
getting Tenchi distracted with her body.

	The three of them sat down on the floor of the bath, Tenchi trying to 
keep his clothes dry. He found it was getting really stuffy. He decided to 
begin again. "Ayeka, listen. I know that this must really hurt. And I'm sorry 
about that. I really am. And I want to make it up to you, in any way I can. I 
really have no idea what Washu or Ryoko have said to you, but I'm sure that 
they'll agree with me when I say that we're all here for you, Ayeka. If you 
need any help with anything, don't hesitate to ask."

	Ayeka blinked a few times, then inwardly chuckled. "Actually, so far, 
everyone has said that to me."

	Tenchi smiled and nodded. Ayeka continued. "It's true, Tenchi. 
It does hurt. More than anything I have ever experienced. And to be honest...I 
feel as though I want to lash out at you and Ryoko, or anything that is happy 
right now...but I know I can't. And the fact that I have no release adds to that 
hurt." Her face became sullen, and her eyes began to water again.

	Ryoko cursed inwardly. She had tried her best, but even she had failed 
to bring Ayeka out of the trenches of her despair. She was right...she did 
fall apart when she met up with Tenchi. <Maybe I should do what we always do...leave 
it up to Tenchi. He always finds the right thing to say...to no matter 
whom he's talking to. That's one of the reasons why everyone loves him. > 
Ryoko sat quietly and watched.

	Ayeka looked up at Tenchi, who was sitting cross-legged, looking 
back at her sympathetically. "Honestly Tenchi, there is nothing I would 
like more than to say, 'I'm okay. Everything will be fine, and I will be 
as I once was.' But...I would be lying, Tenchi. I don't mean to attack you 
with my emotions, nor do I mean for you to feel sorry for me. I really do 
want you to be happy with Ryoko, Tenchi." Ayeka was choking on her tears, 
struggling to hold them back, but a few stray ones fell lazily down her cheeks 
regardless.

	Tenchi and Ryoko simply sat and continued to listen. 
Ayeka looked back down at the ground. "I know whatever I say 
won't change the way you feel, Tenchi. And I don't want to. I 
don't want to change the way you feel, because you are doing what 
you feel is right." Ayeka took a deep breath. Ryoko leaned over and 
put her hand on Ayeka's shoulder again, and Ayeka looked into Ryoko's 
eyes, as she put her hand on top of Ryoko's. 

	"T...thank you again, Ryoko." She returned her gaze to Tenchi. She 
smiled. "You know...sometimes...I wish that everything was just a dream. 
That I would awaken from it all, and be somewhere else, as someone else."

	Tenchi felt that it was time to step in. "No, Ayeka. You mustn't 
think like that." He said quite sternly, which caused both girls to look 
at him questioningly. He shook his head. "No...you are who you are, Ayeka. 
You can't change that, and you shouldn't want to, either." He sighed. "I 
would like to say that just because I don't love you, that's no reason to 
be upset, but even I'm not THAT naive. Listen..."

	He sat up straight, and looked her square in the eyes. "I do love 
you, Ayeka. I really do. But I'm IN love with Ryoko. I know that is a 
pretty poor choice of words, but that is how it is. Besides, words are 
meaningless."

	Ayeka blinked. "What..."

	He cut her off. "What I mean is, I couldn't properly describe how 
important you are to me, Ayeka. To all of us. I know that your pain 
isn't going to disappear simply because of this small amount of 
consolation that I'm trying to give you, but that's how I feel, Ayeka. 
I've never told either of you how I felt until recently, and that's how 
it is. I know that life sucks, Ayeka. Believe me, I know. But there is more 
to life than what is around you, too."

	Tenchi breathed in heavily. This was going to have to be worded very 
carefully. "I know that you're probably thinking about all those marriage 
meetings and things like that, right?"

	Ayeka nodded sadly. Tenchi took notice of this, but continued. He 
WOULD heal her. He HAD to. "Well, don't. Stop thinking about that."

	Ayeka and Ryoko both looked somewhat shocked, but he pressed on. 
"I know you well enough that you make those out to be the bad part of your 
life. And that's fine. But don't think about that. And don't think about 
how you and I aren't together, either."

	Ayeka pulled back, somewhat hurt. Ryoko was about to say 
something to Tenchi, but he continued. "You know why I say this, Ayeka? 
Because there are GOOD things in your life that you have, right now. You 
should think about THOSE. You can make the best of what you have, right 
here, right now. For example, you have a wonderful sister, Ayeka. Sasami 
will always be your sister. No matter what happens, nothing will change 
that. Doesn't that make you happy? You have US, as well. Ryoko and I will 
be your friends forever, Ayeka. And even if you wish it were more, you 
should evaluate what a friend is exactly. As your friends, we will care 
for you. We love you, and don't you ever think otherwise. And then there is 
everyone else in the house. They are you're friends, too."

	Ayeka nodded, starting to feel a little better. Tenchi smiled, and continued. 
"And on Jurai...you have your parents. They love you, too. No matter what happens, 
there will always be people who love you, and want to be with you. So...instead 
of thinking about bad memories, or about things that could have been, or could 
be...think about all the wonderful things that you already have. I know that 
you wouldn't trade any of those things for anything, Ayeka. Take 
comfort in them...they will give you the strength you need. WE will give 
you the strength you need. You aren't alone, Ayeka."

	Tenchi took a deep breath, hoping with all of his heart that 
his little talk would be what would set Ayeka on the right track. He 
poured everything into that...he made sure that she knew that he 
meant everything that he said. He suddenly felt quite tired, but 
pushed it aside. He looked at Ayeka, who was brimming over with tears.

	"T...Tenchi...thank you, so much, Tenchi." She slowly leaned 
over to him, and embraced him, and he returned it. She cathareticly 
wept into his shoulder, and Tenchi could feel his own tears streaming 
down his face. He looked over at Ryoko, who was kneeling beside him, 
also with tears falling down her face. She mouthed the words "I love you" 
to Tenchi, and he smiled greatly at her.

	After a few minutes of gentle sobbing, Ayeka extricated herself 
from Tenchi's embrace, and leaned back. "Tenchi...you're right. That 
was...truly the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me."

	Tenchi shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I said we'd do 
anything for you, Ayeka, and I meant it. Besides, you also said that 
this was the most painful thing ever, so now I guess I broke even, huh?"

	Ayeka giggled, despite herself. "I suppose if you want to look 
at it that way." Ayeka began to feel different. The antithesis of her 
pain had subsided, and she began to feel warm. It still hurt, but there 
was more. There was the feeling of love that she wanted...she knew that 
she could find it, if she simply decided to look for it.

	Ayeka rose to her feet. "Well then, I suppose I'll leave you two 
alone for now. I'm going to get changed. Thank you again, both of you."

	Ryoko waved, and Tenchi smiled as she quietly exited the bath, 
leaving Ryoko and Tenchi alone together. The instant that the door 
closed, Ryoko assaulted Tenchi with an incredibly passionate kiss that 
lasted for quite a long time. After almost five minutes, Ryoko pulled back, 
and Tenchi was very much out of breath.

	"You never cease to amaze me, Tenchi." She said, wiping away the 
remnants of her tears.

	Tenchi did the same. "I guess people are just willing to listen 
to what I have to say, I suppose." He said as he held her in his arms, 
and smiled.

	Ryoko helped him up, and refused to take her eyes off him as he 
undressed, and refused to let him put on a towel as he went into the water. 
Ryoko discarded her towel, and the two of them sat naked and alone in the 
large bath together. They sat holding hands for a while. Tenchi opened his 
eyes, and looked over at Ryoko.

	"Hey, weren't you just in here for a long time? Won't you overheat?" he 
said looking at her.

	She shook her head. "Nope. I could spend an entire day in here before 
I overheat. It's nice not being an earth style human, every now and then."

	Tenchi chuckled, and kissed her. "I think you were great too, 
Ryoko."

	She looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

	"Well, I may have been able to reach her, but you were the one 
who set her up to be reached, Ryoko. If it wasn't for you, who knows where 
we'd be with her now." He said, looking directly into her eyes.

	Ryoko began to melt under his loving gaze, and she smiled wickedly 
at him. She moved over, and sat on his lap, folded her arms across his 
chest, and leaned forward until their face was only millimeters apart. Tenchi 
began to go the most amusing shade of red.

	"R...Ryoko...not HERE...!"

	Ryoko laughed, and leaned over to his ear. "Why not, Tenchi? Don't 
you want to? You can if you want. You can have me anywhere, anytime. Just 
say so, and I'm all yours, Tenchi."

	Tenchi felt like his skin was bubbling. He tried to say something, 
but all that could come out were incoherent squeaks. Ryoko pulled back, and 
looked at him again, this time, her expression serious.

	"Tenchi, all I want you to know, is that if you want me, you can have 
me. Because I love you, Tenchi. More than ANYTHING. Life is meaningless 
without you, Tenchi. You can have me because you already have my heart, now 
and forever." Ryoko said, in a very serious tone.

	Tenchi's temperature dropped completely. His face returned to normal, 
and he stared into her eyes. "I love you too, Ryoko. I really have no 
experience with this...but I'm willing to learn. Don't get me wrong, I'd 
rather refrain from, well...you know..." he blushed slightly. He caught 
himself and then continued. "...in front of other people...but the same goes 
to you, Ryoko."

	Ryoko's eyes widened.

	Tenchi's eyes never left hers. "If you ever want ME, Ryoko, you can 
have me. I will never run from you again, and I will never tell you to 
get off. I love you, and I trust you more than anything." He paused. 
"But...for your benefit, I'd probably perform better if there wasn't anyone 
watching..." he trailed off.

	Ryoko chuckled lightly. She stood up off his lap, and he looked up at 
her. She smiled very gently at him from above. She then extended her hand 
towards him, and he took it, and then she helped him stand. The two of them 
stood naked, not even inches apart from each, looking at each other 
longingly and lovingly.

	Ryoko whispered. "Is it okay then Tenchi if I take you up on your 
offer, right now?"

	Tenchi smiled and nodded.

	Ryoko took Tenchi hand, and held it with both of hers as she 
continued to look into his eyes. "Then...let's go to your room, Tenchi."

	Tenchi smiled. "You mean OUR room."

	Ryoko thought she was going to cry again as she led Tenchi out of the 
bath.

	**********

	"Hmm...I didn't know that you were such an expert at these sort of 
things, Miss Washu." Nobuyuki said as he continued to pile groceries into 
the back of the van.

	Washu smiled and helped empty the shopping cart beside him. "I'm 
not, really. It was really just that Ayeka is actually a lot stronger than we 
gave her credit for. And she isn't completely healed, just because of my words, 
Nobuyuki. Tenchi will probably be the one to do that."

	Nobuyuki nodded in thought as he closed the gate of the black van 
down tight. Washu wheeled the shopping cart over to an empty space, and 
decided to abandon it there. The two of them climbed into the van. Nobuyuki 
looked at the bloodstain on the driver's seat, and shook his head, as he 
closed the door, and sat down.

	"Poor Tenchi...he really thinks I'd be mad that he stained the seat." 
Nobuyuki said as he turned the vehicle on, and did up his seat belt. 

	Washu did up her seatbelt, and nodded. "The boy definitely has fears 
about a lot of things, that's for certain. It is quite unfortunate, but that's 
just how he is, I suppose."

	Nobuyuki nodded as he threw the van into reverse, and backed it out 
of the parking spot. As he put the van into drive, he spoke. "So why did you 
really come with me to the store, miss Washu? I know that you didn't come in 
order to keep this dirty old man company." He chuckled a little at that last remark.

	Washu sighed, a rolled down her window, letting the warm summer 
breeze fly into her face. "I guess...I wanted to ask you something."

	Nobuyuki kept his eyes on the road. "What would that be?"

	Washu stared at her reflection in the side view mirror. "I know that 
you often act quite boisterous and very promiscuous when it comes to Tenchi. 
And I can see why, the boy really does need a kick in the ass when it comes 
to women. But..." she trailed off slightly.

	Nobuyuki looked over at her in the corner of his eye. "Continue."

	Washu sat up. "I can't see that it would bring you much happiness, 
Nobuyuki. I can see that you really want Tenchi to go out and find a girl 
so he can share happy memories with her as much as possible. And now he has 
Ryoko to do just that with. But...is it because of Achika?"

	Nobuyuki sighed. The little scientist really did know too much. He 
quietly nodded, never taking his eyes off the road in front of them. Washu 
closed her eyes. 

	"You want Tenchi to seize happiness before it is stripped away from him, 
right?"

	Nobuyuki was silent.

	"I'm sorry, I don't mean to open up old wounds. It's just that...after 
I spoke to Ayeka, it got me thinking. I was thinking about how much it must 
have hurt for you to lose Achika. And...I know how Ryoko is. She attracts trouble 
like flies to a horse's ass. There is high probability that unless she changes her 
lifestyle somewhat...she's going to get hers, eventually. And I know that divine 
retribution isn't exactly something Ryoko deals well with."

	Nobuyuki looked over at Washu. "Why are you telling me all of this, Washu? 
I don't mean to offend you in the slightest, but...why me of all people?"

	Washu looked back over at him. "Because you know what it's like 
to love and then lose. I wanted to know how you dealt with that...that's 
why I wanted to talk to you. Because, then maybe I could talk to Ryoko and 
Tenchi about it."

	Nobuyuki returned his gaze to the road. "I could just tell them 
myself, you know."

	"Neither of them really take you all that seriously, you know. 
It's just who you are. There's nothing wrong with that, but I can't see 
them wanting to turn to you if something like that ever occurred."

	Nobuyuki nodded. "I see. So this is in case one of them...suffers...you 
can talk to them, right? I never knew that you cared about them like that, Washu."

	Washu looked at Nobuyuki, somewhat angry. "Hey, what the 
hell does that mean? I'm a member of this family just like anyone 
else, you know!"

	"I'm sorry, Washu."

	Washu recomposed herself. "Nevermind, it's fine. So...how did 
you deal with it, if you don't mind my asking?"

	Nobuyuki sighed heavily. "Poorly. I dealt with it in a way that 
shouldn't be used for advice for anyone. My soul was killed on that 
day, Washu. Killed. That part of me that she had that has gone will 
never come back. No matter how much I search, no matter what happens, 
that part of me is gone. And...it was the BEST part, Washu. It was 
everything that I held dear about myself. I gave all of that to her...and 
when she died, so did those feelings." He began to get somewhat teary, 
and his voice began to choke somewhat as his hands began to tremble 
around the wheel. "Now I've become a poor amorous father, who pressures 
his son into things he doesn't want, who looks at dirty magazines and 
drinks to kill the pain that just won't go away."

	Washu was desperately searching for some way to comfort the poor 
man. She cursed herself inwardly for bringing up such a tender subject. 
So she did what first came to mind. Washu reached her small hand over, 
and put it onto Nobuyuki's shoulder.

	She shook her head. "You're wrong, Nobuyuki. You're very wrong. 
You are most certainly NOT a horrible father. And don't you dare hate 
yourself for pressuring your son into doing things he doesn't want to. 
That's what all parents are supposed to do!" She paused, and thought 
of where she could take this. "And...she's with you now, you know? I 
think you know that."

	Nobuyuki wiped stray tears from his eyes, as they were stopped 
at a red light. "Yeah...I know. It's really the only thing that ever 
stopped me from killing myself...the fact that she was always with me. 
I can feel it...her presence...it's always in my heart." He paused as 
he started to drive again once the light changed. "Even if there really 
is no such thing as a soul or anything...or even if she isn't with me...I'm 
going to believe that she is. And nothing that anyone can say will change 
that."

	Washu smiled and leaned back into her chair. "There you go. There's 
the advice I was looking for."

	"Huh?"

	Washu laughed. "What you just said! That is exactly what to 
tell them. Of course, let's hope that it never has to come to that...but 
regardless..."

	Nobuyuki nodded. "Indeed. I hope Ryoko lives forever, Washu. I 
never want to see Tenchi put in the same situation as myself."

	Washu saw a mental image of Tenchi wearing black pants, a brown 
shirt and black suspenders, wearing glasses, looking at dirty magazines 
and grabbing his co-workers butts. She burst out laughing.

	Nobuyuki looked at her, puzzled. "What's so funny?"

	Washu braced herself on the dashboard as she forcibly stopped herself 
from laughing. "No...it's nothing. Sorry." She took in a deep breath as 
she stopped herself. "Well, I'm sure I can make it possible, you know."

	"What?"

	"Life extensions, I mean. That's something I can do rather easily. 
Ayeka and Sasami already have them, actually. All elite Juraians get them 
at a fairly young age. I could give them to Ryoko and Tenchi." Washu 
said, looking over at Nobuyuki.

	He looked back at her. "How much of an extension, exactly? And...why 
haven't you done this earlier?"

	Washu scratched her head. "Well, the process is actually rather 
painful. It's best done at a fairly young age. In fact, once the body 
reached final maturity, it is impossible to do the operation. But Ryoko 
and Tenchi are still young enough. And the extension is pretty long. From 
an earth humanoid's average life span, I'm pretty confident I could tack 
on an extra three, or maybe four thousand years without too much difficulty."

	Nobuyuki's eyes bulged out of his sockets as he seriously thought 
about this. "You'll definitely have to tell them about this."

	Washu nodded. "Yeah...that was the other reason I wanted to come 
with you."

	"Oh?"

	"Yeah. I wanted to see if you'd give me permission to do such a 
thing to Tenchi."

	Nobuyuki cocked an eyebrow. "Since when have you ever asked 
permission to do anything?"

	Washu sighed. "I see your point. But the thing is...like I 
said...it's painful. And I'm not talking scrape your knees painful 
here."

	Nobuyuki nodded. "Well, in that case...if it's okay with them, 
I'll be fine with it."

	The rest of the ride home was filled with mostly inane banter, 
and crude jokes. Needless to say, they both enjoyed it.

	**********

	That evening, the dinner table was alive. The whole family was 
gathered, and everyone's spirits were at an all time high. Or at least, 
high enough. Everyone was enjoying each other's company, and there were 
no fights, and no insults, and no mean looks. All there was, was a 
strong sense of belonging. Everyone at the table felt like they belonged 
there, as if there was no other place in the universe that they should 
be other than right there.

	Replacing the normally tense dinner, were conversations about this 
and that, jokes, laughing, sharing, and friendship. The whole family 
laughed as Sasami told them of how her and Tomoe were playing out in the 
mud, and they managed to get Azaka and Kamidake dirtier than they were. 

	Ayeka was quiet and reserved, more so than usual, but she still 
wore a face of radiance. It was a quiet radiance, but it was real. It wasn't 
a mask, or an act. She smiled and ate, listening to everyone talk. She laughed 
when Mihoshi irritated Kiyone, or when someone said something funny. She was 
mostly thinking about what Tenchi had told her earlier.

	<This is my family...they really do care about me, and they are right here! >

	She cheered to her inner self, confirming what the spiky haired 
youth had said. There was no need to wish for things. There was plenty 
of happiness right in front of her. All she had to do was to decide that 
it was still there. She simply sat next to Tenchi, and contently ate.

	Tenchi leaned over closer to her. "Are you doing alright, 
Ayeka?"

	She looked over at Tenchi. She smiled. "Yes, I am doing just 
fine, Tenchi. Thank you."

	He smiled, and returned to listening to Sasami tell the rest 
of the family the exciting episodes that she and Tomoe had shared 
earlier that day together. Ayeka placed her chopsticks down as she 
finished her meal, and decided to take a glance at every member sitting 
at the table.

	Ayeka looked to her right. Next to her, sat the newest member of 
the family, the timid little Tomoe. She knew little of the girl other 
than what Washu had told her, but she knew from the stories Sasami had 
been telling everyone that the girl had a quiet air of excitement within her. 
It was as if the girl was enjoying the very act of being alive and free.

	Ayeka looked beyond Tomoe, to Washu. Washu was laughing, and 
stuffing her face full of rice at the same time. Washu was really a 
walking mass of enigmas. She had an attitude about her that showed that 
sometimes she didn't care...but that was most certainly not the case. Last 
night had proven that. Washu had deliberately gone out of her way to comfort 
the princess. She stayed up all night with her, talking. That was something 
that had surprised Ayeka, greatly. Washu was almost like the caretaker of the 
family...she saw the problem, and she almost always knew the exact methods to 
go about fixing it.

	Ayeka turned her glance over to her sister, who was telling about 
how Tomoe and her had dumped Ryo-Ohki into the lake. Sasami was always full 
of energy. She seemed to be so simple, and so carefree, but that was totally 
not the truth. Sasami was most certainly the strongest member of the Masaki 
household. There was absolutely no question about that. Sasami had the uncanny 
ability to become friends with absolutely anybody. But there was more than that. 
She was the one who was always cooked, and could always be turned to when emotional 
assistance was needed...but it was deeper. Behind Sasami's mischievous, fun loving 
pink eyes, lay a maturity that was only matched by probably that of either Washu or 
Katsuhito. Regardless of the girl's young age, Sasami always had a firm grasp 
of the situation, and she always tried her best to make sure that everyone 
in the house was in the highest of spirits.

	Ayeka moved her gaze to the left, to look at Nobuyuki. He was 
contently chewing, listening to Sasami's stories. Mr. Masaki was indeed an 
interesting fellow. He was like Sasami...he held a surface persona that didn't 
really display his true character that lay underneath. No...in fact, almost 
everyone at the table had that quality. Nobuyuki was often a promiscuous 
voyeur, however, he always seemed to hold true and just intentions for his 
son...regardless of the actions he thought were necessary to achieve those 
intentions. But, no man is perfect, right?

	Ayeka giggled to herself, then moved her gaze over to left a bit more, 
to look at Kiyone. She was carefully sipping her tea while listening to 
Sasami. Kiyone was probably one of the most noteworthy of the Masaki household, 
simply due to the fact that she was, next to Tenchi, the most normal person. 
Not that everyone else couldn't fit in or act civilized, it was simply her 
nature that allowed to her to mingle with people in a fashion that couldn't be 
described in any other way other than normal. Not proper, not crude, not cheery, 
not silly, just...normal. And that was a virtue in itself. Kiyone also possessed 
an iron will. Not just because she had put up with Mihoshi's antics for far 
longer than was her due, but because she had a very strong sense of justice. 
Not really justice, more like...success. Kiyone strove for success at absolutely 
everything she did. She wouldn't settle for any less than what she believed to 
be the best she could possibly do.

	Ayeka looked to her left, to find the alter ego of Kiyone. Mihoshi 
was wiping of food particles on her T-shirt, really not paying attention 
anything other than that. Mihoshi was a mixed bag. As were all the members 
of the family again, but she was...interesting, to say the least. Mihoshi 
was definitely the type who was often found...let's say...skipping without 
a rope. However, she may be naive, slow, and ditzy...but she was suprisingly 
sharp. She was similar to Sasami, in that sense. She was almost the polar 
opposite of Washu, in fact. Whereas Washu knew everything about everything, 
but little when it came to dealing with people and emotions, Mihoshi was the 
other way around. Mihoshi's intentions were always rooted in the right 
place...it was just that a gap in knowledge often left her with undesirable 
results. She was a nuisance, and yet, at the same time, a necessity.

	Ayeka turned her gaze to Katsuhito, formally known as Yosho. He sat 
in his typical solemn pose, sipping his tea whilst listening to Sasami's tales. 
He was a very interesting fellow. He housed as many if not more secrets than 
Washu. Simply by looking at him, one could become mystified. There was so much 
hiding within those eyes, within that soul, that he never shared unless it was 
absolutely necessary. But, he was a teacher. He shared the wisdom and sageness 
within those eyes with Tenchi. Tenchi was who he was because of the great lengths 
Yosho had gone to, to make him who he is. Katsuhito was indeed a great man. He 
could always be counted on.

	Ayeka then looked over to her left, to Ryoko. Ryoko was wolfing down 
her dinner, mostly staring at Tenchi the whole time. It was very obvious 
to Ayeka that Ryoko was having a difficult time concentrating on anything else. 
Ryoko was one the most complex people Ayeka had ever met. At one moment, 
Ryoko could be as a demon, striking hatred and fear into all who looked upon 
her, and the next, she could be as a caring mother like figure, guiding and 
showing compassionate cultivation to a wounded soul. The biggest problem with 
Ryoko was, at least for Ayeka, it was always so hard to tell which Ryoko would 
surface, and when. For the majority of her life, Ayeka had been met with the 
brash, arrogant, and mean Ryoko, every time they had met. But...today, in fact, 
Ryoko had shown Ayeka genuine concern. And she meant it, too. It wasn't some act 
that Tenchi had put her up to. Ryoko had deliberately gone out of HER way to make 
Ayeka feel better. Ayeka now saw Ryoko differently as a result. Not as a friend, 
but not as an enemy either. Maybe one day...maybe one day they really could be 
friends? Who knows, it could happen, if they were willing to try.

	Finally, Ayeka cast her gaze on Tenchi who was sitting next to her, 
quietly chatting happily with Ryoko. Ayeka smiled. She still loved him...that 
would probably never change. But, she was comforted by the fact that he had 
said that he DID love her. He really did, she could tell that he really meant 
it when he said it. A part of her wanted to be sad about it that it wasn't the 
kind of love she wanted from him...but love is love. No matter what form it may 
take, its purpose is to heal and bring pleasure and happiness. And Ayeka had 
DECIDED that she WANTED to receive comfort from his love. She wanted Ryoko and 
Tenchi to happy with their love, too. Who knows? There are tons of other guys 
in the universe. Ayeka smiled greatly to herself. Yes...Tenchi was right indeed. 
There was happiness for her, right here.

	Ayeka finally stopped her introspection, and returned to listening to 
Sasami's stories.

	**********

	It was late. That's all Tomoe could tell. Everyone had gone to 
bed a long time ago, but she didn't feel sleepy at all. Tomoe sat up in 
her futon, her raven black hair falling down to her shoulders. She 
looked around the dark room, trying to get a better perspective of her 
immediate surroundings.

	Not a meter away, Sasami slept contently within her futon, with 
Ryo-Ohki sleeping soundly at her feet. Tomoe stared for a while at 
Sasami's face. This girl made Tomoe feel things that she had never felt 
before. Happiness. Comfort. Excitement. Belonging.

	Tomoe wasn't accustomed to this barrage of emotions that she had 
been assaulted with since she had begun to stay here...but she liked it. 
She liked it a lot. There was no way she could ever return to what it was 
before...

	Tomoe shook her head. She didn't want to think about that. Tomoe 
felt her throat was rather dry, and she wanted to get something to drink. 
She remembered that Sasami had told her if she ever wanted food or 
something to drink, she should open the big white box, and she could help 
herself to whatever she wanted.

	She rose quietly, not wanting to disturb her friend from her 
slumber, and she slowly crept out of the room. She slid the door open 
and stepped quietly out into the hallway. She quietly closed the door 
behind her, and then walked slowly down the hallway, then down the stairs. 
She gently took a hold of the railing to guild herself down, her hand 
barely being able to reach the top.

	She reached the bottom, and she walked through the dark living room, 
and into the kitchen. The tiled floor felt cold against her bare feet, as 
she walked across it, in her white nightgown that Sasami had given her the 
previous night. She walked up to the refrigerator, and examined it carefully. 
She saw Sasami open it, all she did was grab the metal bar, and pull it open.

	So Tomoe did the same. With some difficulty, the small girl managed 
to open the large door, the light from the machine illuminating the 
otherwise fairly dark room. As the door swung fully open, Tomoe stood there, 
looking at the contents of the fridge. It was at this time, that she realized 
she had no idea what anything in the fridge actually was, and she had no idea 
what was okay for her to drink. She sighed in slight frustration.

	Upstairs, Ryoko woke up. She blinked her eyes open slowly. She was 
lying across a naked Tenchi's chest, and she was being raised up and down 
ever so slightly as he breathed in and out. She glanced over at the clock. 
It was after 3 in the morning. She suddenly felt kind of hungry. She grinned, 
despite her being so tired. <It must have been all that exercise... >

	Tenchi was actually, when it came to that kind of exercise, an 
exceptionally talented athlete. Pleasantly more so than Ryoko had ever 
dreamed. 

	<Well...I guess a midnight snack wouldn't hurt anything. >

	She slowly rose from Tenchi, and kissed him softly on the 
forehead, as she got out of the bed, making sure not to awaken him. She 
wrapped the sheets back over him, and then put on a green robe to conceal 
her nakedness. She yawned, then phased through the doorway, as she headed 
downstairs to get a snack.

	As she entered the kitchen, she saw Tomoe standing in front of an open 
refrigerator, with a clueless expression on her face. She shook her head. 
The kid was nice, but really, really weird. She walked up to her.

	"Hey there, kiddo." She said as she slowly approached the girl.

	Tomoe turned to the sound of the voice. "Oh...hi, Ryoko."

	"It seems we had the same idea, huh?" Ryoko said, simply watching 
Tomoe.

	Tomoe nodded. "Umm...yes. I was thirsty...but I don't know what 
I can drink..."

	Ryoko smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it, Tomoe." Ryoko walked 
over to the fridge, and removed an orange drink carton, and handed it to 
the girl. She thanked her as she took the box in her hands. Ryoko grabbed 
some leftovers, and closed the fridge. She decided she'd eat 'em cold. She 
went and sat down at the table, starting to eat. After a minute, she 
noticed that Tomoe was still standing there.

	"Umm..." she said, swallowing her food. "You can sit with me, if 
you want, Tomoe."

	Tomoe nodded, then sat down across from Ryoko. She put the box down 
on the table, and watched Ryoko eat. After another minute of bingeing, 
Ryoko noticed that Tomoe hadn't said anything, or even opened her juice. 
Ryoko scratched her nose.

	"Aren't you thirsty?"

	Tomoe blushed. "I...uh...don't know how to open it."

	<Weird kid. Weird. >  Ryoko shook her head, and then opened the 
carton for her, and handed it back to her.

	"Thank you."

	Ryoko shrugged, and finished off her little snack. Tomoe was quietly 
drinking her juice, simply staring at Ryoko. Ryoko leaned back into the 
chair, and propped her arm over the back of it.

	"Something on your mind, kid?"

	Tomoe didn't say anything, she simply continued to drink.

	"Hey, I've been through some pretty crazy stuff myself, Tomoe. You 
can tell me, if you want. If something is wrong, you really should tell 
someone about it." Ryoko asked, starting to become a little worried for the 
girl.

	Tomoe put the now empty juice box down. "It's okay, Ryoko. Thanks."

	Ryoko leaned forward, and looked Tomoe directly in her red eyes. "No, 
Tomoe. It's not okay. If something is bothering you, you really should tell 
someone. They might be able to help."

	Tomoe sighed. "Well...okay. You promise not to tell anyone else?"

	Ryoko smiled, and nodded.

	Tomoe nodded back. "Well...I've been thinking about...this place. 
It's just so...different, from what I'm used to. Everything here is so 
weird."

	Ryoko fought back the urge to tell her that someone who can't open a 
packaged box of juice is weird, but fought it down. <She's just a kid, after 
all. No sense in going off and insulting her. >

	Instead Ryoko spoke differently. "I know what you mean, Tomoe. When I 
first came here, everything seemed so weird to me, too." She paused. "By the 
way...where exactly DID you come from?"

	Tomoe looked down into her lap. "I came from a bad place. A very bad 
place. No one there liked me. They would always hook me up to these cold metal 
machines, and then leave me hooked up to them for so long...and then they 
would get angry with me when I cried..." Tomoe's eyes started to tear up.

	Ryoko stood up, and went around the table, and sat in the chair next 
to Tomoe, and put her hand on hers.

	Tomoe continued. "It was like that for a long time. Really long. 
They were always shoving needles and stuff like that into my body...it 
really hurt...and no one ever cared." Tears began descending down the 
little girl's face. "But then...just yesterday, they were taking me to 
some other place. I was in the back of this truck...and then a tree fell 
onto it. The driver's were dead. Or really hurt, I'm not sure, I didn't check 
them. But...I escaped from the truck. I wanted to get as far away from it as 
possible. For some reason...I felt led...to this house. I don't know why. It was 
like my body was steering me in this direction, and I had no control over it."

	Ryoko was surprised of the maturity that this little girl possessed, 
but even more surprised about how she got here. <What could of lead her here? Why? >

	Tomoe looked up at Ryoko. "It has been so wonderful here, Ryoko. It's 
good, here. Not like where I was before. I never want to go back to that. 
Never."

	Ryoko shushed the girl, and stroked her hair gently. "Don't worry, 
Tomoe. You never have to go back there again. I promise."

	Tomoe smiled. "Thank you." She bowed slightly.

	Ryoko smiled. "C'mon kid. Let's get you back to bed, okay?"

	The two of them cleaned up their little mess, and then walked up the 
stairs together. Ryoko didn't know why, but she felt attached to this kid. 
There was something about her...Ryoko felt as if she and Tomoe had a bond 
between each other, even though they had only just met. Tomoe walked over 
to her and Sasami's room. 

	"Goodnight, Tomoe." Ryoko whispered. Tomoe waved back to Ryoko then 
shut the door behind her. Ryoko smiled, then phased into her and Tenchi's 
room. She saw Tenchi sitting up in bed. When she entered her turned to 
face her.

	"Where did you go? Is everything okay?"

	She smiled, and took off the robe, and climbed back into the bed. 
"Everything's fine, Tenchi. I was talking to Tomoe downstairs, that's 
all."

	Tenchi smiled, and fell back into his pillow. Ryoko climbed back 
onto his chest, and looked at him in the eyes. They stared at each other for 
a moment, then shared a short kiss, then fell back to sleep.

	**********

	The early morning light broke into the room, destroying any remnants 
of darkness. The birds were chirping happily on this Sunday summer morning. 
Tenchi blinked his eyes open and glanced over at his alarm clock. It was 
after 8:00. His left arm was asleep. He looked down, and saw that the cause 
of that was someone was asleep on his arm.

	He smiled at Ryoko's sleeping form, and slowly tried to pry his limp 
appendage out from underneath his sleeping beauty. He failed a couple of 
times trying to be gentle, so he just used his other hand to yank his arm 
out from under her. 

	"Wh...what?" She yawned, awakened. "Oh, good <YAWN> morning, my 
Tenchi." She leaned over and kissed him.

	He smiled, and started to wave his arm around, trying to get the 
blood flowing back into it again. Ryoko sat up, and stretched. It was going 
to be a great day today. Everything was fine in the house, so she could spend 
the whole day with Tenchi without any obligations. Ryoko floated out of the 
bed, and Tenchi followed. 

	They both yawned and stretched, as the smell of something cinnamon 
entered their noses. Tenchi quickly dressed himself, checking his stitches 
to make sure that none of them broke during the night. Ryoko put on a yellow 
T-shirt and cut off Jean shorts. Tenchi slapped on a white tank top and the 
same shorts he wore the previous day. The two of them smiled, and left the 
room to go eat breakfast.

	**********

	Outside the Masaki home, 9 men wearing black suits exited out of 
three cars. Two of them held sniper rifles, two had hand held automatics, 
three had shotguns, one had a pistol, and one was carrying a small rocket 
launcher.

	The nine of them crowded around each other, all of them wearing 
golden sashes and sunglasses. The man armed with the pistol spoke.

	"Alright, everyone get into position. Remember that we can't fail, 
otherwise Grissom will have our heads. Also, there are two cops in there, 
so be careful." The others nodded, and they all dispersed into the woods. 
Some snuck around to the far side of the house; some went in the other 
direction.

	**********

	Everyone was happily enjoying breakfast, as they did at dinner last 
night. Everyone was laughing, yawning, and asking how everyone slept, and 
similar questions. Nobuyuki made a comment about Tenchi and Ryoko's 'sleep' 
time, and every one except for them burst out laughing. Tenchi turned red, 
and Ryoko glowered at him.

	Mihoshi was laughing so hard, she accidentally knocked Tenchi's 
orange juice over, and it spilled all over his lap. He leapt back, but 
the damage had already been done. He stood there, the orange drink making 
it look like he wet himself. Ryoko started to laugh, and everyone simply 
laughed harder. Tenchi simply turned redder, and ran upstairs to change his 
shorts.

	**********

	The man with the pistol waited for a few minutes. The man with the 
small rocket launcher was next to him in the bushes. After a few minutes, 
he raised the COM to his mouth, and whispered.

	"Report positions." He waited for the answers.

	"All set."

	"Anytime is fine."

	"Ready to go."

	"Everything's a-o-k!"

	"Ready when you are."

	"Ready."

	"Ready to rock!"

	He turned over to his comrade with the launcher and nodded. The 
man broke the gun in two, and inserted a small, white rocket into the 
shotgun-sized launcher. He flipped the barrel up; it locked in place 
with an audible click. The man with the pistol nodded.

	"Remember, his room is that one." He said, pointing to Tenchi's 
room.

	Launcher man nodded, and raised his weapon, pointing it at 
Tenchi's window.

	**********

	Tenchi stomped up the stairs, embarrassed, annoyed, and humored 
all at the same time. He chuckled to himself as he looked at his shorts. 
He thought about how he'd rather have something like this happen than a 
fight between the girls. He opened the door to his room, and was about to 
step in, when Ryoko appeared next to him.

	"Hey, Tenchi. Sorry for laughing at you." She said, still grinning 
from ear to ear.

	He smiled and closed the door, and turned to talk to her.

	**********

	Launcher man had the window dead in his sights. After a few moments, 
pistol man nodded.

	"Fire."

	He pulled the trigger.

	**********

	"Don't worry about it Ryoko. It was all in good fun. I..."

	Ryoko's superior hearing caught wind of a high pitched squealing sound, 
growing increasingly closer. The instant she realized what is was, she 
lunged onto Tenchi, and activated her forcefield. In an instant, Tenchi's 
room exploded sending furniture, flames, wood, and dry wall debris flying 
every which way.

	Ryoko stayed on top of Tenchi just to be safe, as objects continued 
to bounce off of her shield. "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!"

	The remaining Black Dragon's within the thicket stood, and all began 
to unload their ammunition onto the house, spreading their fire all about. 
Launcher man dropped the launcher, and switched over to an Uzi as he fired 
at the house.

	Kiyone heard the fire, and acted quickly. She threw the breakfast 
table aside, bowls and all, and grabbed everyone. She shouted "AYEKA!"

	Ayeka nodded in understanding and instantly erected a barrier, 
covering everyone. The barrier shimmered as bullets constantly wracked it, 
Tomoe, Sasami, Washu, Mihoshi, Nobuyuki and Kiyone all cowering within Ayeka's 
field. After a few more moments of relentless gunfire, Ryoko and Tenchi 
appeared within Ayeka's forcefield, Ryoko holding tightly to Tenchi.

	Kiyone looked over at Ryoko. "I'll bet this has to do with that alley 
incident!" Kiyone yelled over the almost deafening gunfire. Ryoko simply 
nodded, as she held on tightly to Tenchi.

	After about a minute, pistol man held up his communicator. "Cease 
fire."

	All of his men stopped shooting. They surveyed the house. It was 
falling apart from the barrage of bullets that had assaulted it.

	Ryoko looked over at Kiyone. "What do you think?"

	Kiyone knew she had to think quickly. "They're probably going to 
come and make sure now. I wish we had our guns!"

	Ryoko nodded. "Where are they?"

	"Top drawer in our room."

	Ryoko nodded, and vanished. Kiyone looked at the frightened children. 
"We'd better be ready. The Black Dragon's are pros, but we CAN beat them." 
Ryoko rematerialized with three pistols.

	Kiyone took two of them, and Mihoshi took one. They disengaged the 
safeties. Kiyone quickly surveyed their situation and came up with a plan 
as fast as she could. "Okay, here's what we'll do. Ayeka, you stay here and 
protect the others, okay?"

	"Right. Leave it to me."

	Kiyone looked at Ryoko. "You, me and Mihoshi will go and fight. 
Agreed?"

	Ryoko stood up and nodded. "Right. Just make sure you two stay 
close to me, because you'll want to stay within my shield."

	Ryoko bent down and gave Tenchi a quick kiss before she stepped 
out of Ayeka's forcefield, and Kiyone and Mihoshi did the same. Well...minus 
the kiss part. Ryoko formed her own shield. She realized she was going to 
have to move around slowly to compensate for the two others she was going 
to have to protect. That basically meant long range fighting.

	The three girls walked out of the house. Pistol man saw them, and 
brought the COM up to his mouth. "Drop 'em."

	Heavy gunfire started to pummel against Ryoko's shield, and she 
gritted her teeth in anger. Kiyone and Mihoshi quickly surveyed the scene, 
trying to decipher where the gunshots were coming from. After spotting some 
white flashes, Kiyone turned, with both pistols drawn, and began to 
relentlessly lay down fire on a cluster of bushes.

	She heard a scream, and then began to fire in other wooded areas. 
Mihoshi was doing the same. Ryoko was sending energy blasts into the 
woods, causing concussion explosions. After a few moments, they stopped.

	No one was firing at them anymore. Ryoko quickly surveyed the 
scene. "How many, guys?"

	Kiyone thought. "I think I managed to hit about 3. Mihoshi?"

	Mihoshi shook her head. "I don't think I hit anyone."

	Ryoko nodded. "I'm pretty sure I hit at least 4. I wonder how many 
more there are? Okay, let's go, but stay close to me, remember."

	Pistol man clutched the bleeding wound in his shoulder. Units 2 
through 8 where down. Where the fuck did they get that kind of firepower? 
No wonder Grissom sent nine guys after them. And not a single shot hit them! 
Their backs were to him. He stood, and was about to fire, when something 
rustling in the bushes behind him caught him off guard. An old man leapt 
forth with some blue blade, and swung it at him.

	Before he knew what was happening, his head had already been 
severed from his body. Ryoko and Kiyone heard this, and whirled around 
and prepared to fire, but stopped when they saw Katsuhito walking 
towards them with Tenchiken blazing.

	"Don't worry girls, I got him. How is everyone else?" They 
breathed a sigh of relief.

	The sniper was the only man left. His leg had a massive burn 
mark from the weapon they used on him...but he had to succeed. He 
couldn't go back...or Grissom would kill him. They were talking to some 
old guy...this was his best chance. He decided to take out the one who 
was firing the explosives.

	He raised the rifle, and set the cyan haired woman's head right 
in the crosshairs, and put his finger to the trigger.

	Ryoko and Kiyone explained to Katsuhito exactly what was going 
on. Mihoshi yawned...and she dropped her gun. 

	"Whoops!"

	Mihoshi bent down to pick it up...just as the gun went off. Ryoko 
and Kiyone whirled around as Mihoshi screamed and fell to the ground, 
clutching her shoulder, blood oozing from it. Ryoko's eyes widened in anger. 

	"SNIPER!"

	Kiyone was already on it. She began firing at the bushes 
where the shot had come from, and kept on firing, even after she heard 
the cry of pain and death come from the assailant. The three of them 
quickly bent down to Mihoshi's side.

	"Mihoshi! Are you okay?" Kiyone asked, very worried.

	Mihoshi managed to get in a painful smile. "Of course...it's just 
a scratch, right?" She coughed.

	Kiyone picked up Mihoshi in her arms, and Katsuhito quickly 
looked around. Ryoko floated up a bit into the air. "I'm going to 
see if the coast is clear. You guys hurry back into the house."

	**********

	A few hours later, they all sat gathered in what remained of 
the Masaki living room. Ryoko's sweep had discovered that all of the 
people who were in the woods were dead. Washu tended to Mihoshi's wound, 
and now she wore a sling around her arm.

	Kiyone sighed, and finally broke the long, heavy silence. 
"They were the Black Dragon's."

	Everyone looked at her, puzzled. She nodded, understanding. 
"They are a Syndicate in Tokyo. All men from the Black Dragon's wear 
a gold sash, so that's how you can distinguish them. Obviously, them 
men Ryoko killed the other day were from their group, and they came 
here for revenge."

	Everyone nodded. Kiyone sighed. "The problem is...since they 
didn't get you now...they'll be back. And they'll keep coming back 
until they do get you. That's how these syndicates work."

	Ryoko looked at the ground sadly. "I'm sorry everyone. This is 
all because of me..."

	Tenchi stood up, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't feel 
bad about it, Ryoko. We've made it out of worse situations before. 
Don't blame yourself."

	On the couch, Tomoe was shivering. She was very, very afraid. 
She knew the that they probably wanted to take her back to that place 
where she escaped from. That place...where she was born. Tomoe buried 
her face in her knees, and began to tremble in fear.

TO BE CONTINUED

ENDING THEME
Soul Refrain: By Shiroh Sagisu

	Return to me, flowing through memories
	With gentleness to the source of the dream
	Shine to the stars once more, to be born...

	Soul Refrain

	Naked skin in blue shadows
	Trembling inside of time
	As if seeking to know the whereabouts of life
	Your fingertip searches me

	The you that was being embraced by fate
	Blooms in season like the ephemeral flower
	Holding the scent of hope in your chest
	Scattering hurriedly in splendid form

	Return to me, before you were born
	You passed over the earth
	Return to this hand, to meet again
	Miracles happen, but how often?

	Soul Refrain

	When you closed you eyes as if in prayer
	The world just disappears there into the darkness
	Even so, the heartbeat again starts to move
	Searching for a constrained eternity

	Return to me, flowing through memories
	With gentleness to the source of the dream
	You, too, return, to meet and love,
	Heart and body repeat

	Soul Refrain

	Return to me, before you were born
	You passed over the earth
	Return to this hand, to meet again
	Miracles happen, but how often?

	Soul Refrain

Author's notes: Whew! This one took a lot out of me! 
Well, there really isn't a heck of a lot to talk 
about this time. I guess...email me if you read this 
far. I'd really appreciate the feedback; regardless 
of what kind it is...as long as it's somewhat 
constructive. Hope to see you next time!