As you all know, this is a fan fiction story for all the Tenchi
fans out there, but I have decided to write this down before you read the story.
The character, whom stays at the Masaki residence, is one of my own making. Also,
there are a few things you should know about her: (for some reason an extra girl
in the Tenchi world does not seem out of place) she is one of a select few people
in the world whom have an abundance of Chi energy in their soul. Through special
training from others who can tap into this source of chi, these people can use it
to enhance their natural talents.

                For example, one can enhance their strenght enough to lift a car,
or enhance their speed until they can outrun a speeding car. Also, upon getting in
contact with the chi, all the senses are automatically heightened to a metahuman
level and one can see in the dark and hear stuff better then an average human
being. A person is also endowed with strength, agility, speed, endurance and
healing which is twice that of an Olympic athlete. Further enhancement of these
abilities requires concentration. Also, in dire consequences, the chi can
instinctively project a skin tight cone of energy about the body to prevent it
from serious injury but only when the person is using the Chi.

                But there is a consequence to using this power. The human bodies
metabolism is nearly tripled in order to order to keep up with something enhanced
muscles or speed. Also, one must be careful when using enhanced strength. They can
use super strength but could break a bone from the sheer weight of whatever that
person is lifting. Also, constant use of the Chi could ravage a body completely
out of fat and then feed on the muscle.

                Well enough of the descriptions. I'll describe my character in the
story, now on to the legal stuff.

All the characters, and cabbits, of Tenchi Muyo belong to Pioneer, except for my
character, so please don't sue me! I'm only writing a story to entertain, just
like you guys do. The timeline takes place after the Mihoshi special.
________________________________________________________________________
Surprises All around: Chapter 1

The sunrise over the landscape of Japan was a perfect beginning to a well deserved
vacation for the tall redhead that snoozed in the middle of second class. Sitting
beside the window, the warm light from the sun touched her skin, warming it and
bringing her awake. Yawning, she stretched as much as she could in the cramped
seating and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.  The redhead smiled, she was back in
the land of the rising sun.

The pilot brought the huge 747 in for a smooth landing, and soon afterwards the
young woman was standing in the middle of the bustling Tokyo international
airport. Hefting her large travel bag without much trouble, she went down to the
exit, looking like a giant amidst the people of Japan, and proceeded to walk into
the center of Tokyo.

A few hours later, she realized that even getting a hotel room proved to be an
impossible mission and she was about to give up when she spied a small
advertisement on the side of a telephone bill.

"If I don't find someplace to crash in, I'll have to bunk with Hikiro and the last
thing I want to do is put someone out- hey! What have we here?" she thought.

The small advertisement was in Japanese but, during her time with Hikiro studying
the martial arts, she had also studied the Japanese language in both speaking it
and reading it. The small piece of paper advertised that a small room was for rent
at a house in the countryside about an hour or two drive outside of Tokyo. The
young woman looked about the huge city of Tokyo, it's bustling streets and canyons
of steel and concrete and then thought back to the pleasant times she had had
training  in the countryside.

"Well this does present me with an opportunity to *really* get away from it all
and a month in the countryside should do the trick nicely. Yes, a nice *normal*
month with no life threatening situations at this Masaki household in the middle
of summer should do me just fine."

(Author: You can tell that I'm asking for it, can't you...:-) )

                                *               *               *
"Give me that cookie Ryoko! I saw it first," nearly shouted a proper sounding
voice.

"You were too slow Princess! And besides, I saw it first," issued a second voice.
The sound of a cookie being eaten are soon replaced with those of an escalating
fight as sounds of energy can be heard from downstairs.

"Oh no. I'd better stop those two before the house gets wrecked again," thought a
young man, standing up from his desk and walking downstairs.

As soon as the young man had come within sight of the fight, he knew that his day
was doomed. Both girls looked at the man they loved and immediately shouted
,"TENCHI", in their cutest voices. Ryoko, whom had eaten what had been the last of
the cookies, teleported and reappeared beside Tenchi, glomping onto him from the
right and getting a rise out of the woman in the multi purple colored kimono.

"You let go of Lord Tenchi at once you demoness," shouted Aeka, strolling forth
and grabbing onto Tenchi's left side.

"Girls stop! Please don't fight," Tenchi pleaded, feeling as if his arms were
about to be pulled out of their sockets as the two wom cookie then none of this
would have happened!" stated the Jurian Princess.

"And if you had just left me alone with Tenchi then.....he wouldn't be....here,"
the former space pirate paused in her tirades, looking about for the absent man.
"Now look what you did ya walking grape vine! You scared Tenchi away!"

The two women growled at each other, electricity pulsing in Ryoko's hands even as
miniature logs began to appear about Aeka's body. Mihoshi, showing more
intelligence then usual, suggested to Sasami that it would be best if they
reentered the kitchen. The younger Princess of Jurai gave no time to agree but
merely ran into the kitchen with her. Outside, a relieved and whole Tenchi sat on
the bench and stared at the morning sky, glad for a chance to relax and waiting
for the two women to stop fighting.

Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the house and the front doors blew open and
outwards, flying onto the grass a few yards away from the house.

"Omigosh!" he said, and ran inside, fearing what was within but strangely knowing
what he was about to see.

Aeka was on one side of the room, laying against the wall beside the staircase
while Ryoko was on the other side, her whole body sunken into the wall. Both were
covered in debris and their clothing was ripped and scorched in several places.
Tenchi starred with shock at the mess that had been the living room and, despite
the fact that Washu could fix this mess up easily with her super technology,
fought to keep a rising anger down.

In the silence of the aftermath, the phone could be heard ringing and the young
man was amazed that it even worked.

"I'll get it," Mihoshi shouted in her usual cheerful voice of hers and sprang into
the wreck living room, grabbing up the phone even as Tenchi called out to Washu.

"What can I do for you- Oh. I see," said the small red headed scientist.

 "I'm sorry but the head of the house is out right now. Can I take a message?
Sure! It'll be no problem, we have lots of room here. Okay! See you in an hour!"
Mishoshi hung up the phone.

"Uh, who was that Mihoshi," Tenchi asked, slightly afraid that it was a dangerous
criminal or rival faction of the Jurai court actually announcing that they were
going to come and disrupt his life.

"Who it was? Oh dear, I forgot to ask, but she sounded very nice!" the blonde said
cheerfully.

"So you invited someone here and you don't know who it is," Sasami asked, helping
her older sister to her feet.

"Um....I guess so. She was asking about a room for rent and I told her to come on
over."

Washu was helping her daughter out of the wall when that last part sunk in. "And
how do you think she will feel when she realizes that we are not whom we seem to
be, hmmm?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," Mihoshi said, voice trembling and on the verge of
crying her eyes out.

"Room for rent?" Tenchi pondered, scratching his head. "Oh no I forgot! Dad
decided to rent out a room in order to bring in more money!"

With Ryoko standing shakily on her own, Washu had pulled her portable computer out
of midair and was busily typing on it. As she did, automated robots of various
sizes teleported into the living room and proceeded to clean up the mess and
repair the damage. "How could you have forgotten about that-. Oh. I see," the
brilliant scientist said, looking at the amazing devices going about their work.

"Well don't worry! With the amazing power of my intellect, I'll have this place up
and looking better then ever!"

"Don't forget! We have to disguise the onsen as well. Can you make it invisible or
something," Tenchi asked.

"Invisible? Now who would want that? I'll just put a solid light hologram about it
to make it look like it was built in a tree," Washu replied. "And I'll have it all
done before that girl even gets here."

That last part sunk into the dazed minds of Ryoko and Aeka and both spun to look
at Tenchi, neither one of them looking happy at the proposed aspect of a potential
rival for Tenchi's heart.

"Exactly who is this girl Lord Tenchi," Aeka asked calmly. Ryoko asked as well.
Tenchi could only rub his head to try to get rid of the headache within.

                                *               *               *
The redhead bounded through the trees, being careful not to let the straps of her
travel bag get caught in any entangling branches. From branch to branch she
jumped, using her own natural strength to hold onto supporting limbs and balance
herself .

"Now this is what I call fun! I'm actually able to do stuff that's exciting
without the worry that I could get killed. Too bad that I couldn't do this kind of
thing back in BC but they don't have alot of trees like this," she thought.

With her own natural strength, the young woman's physical condition was about one
level down from that of an Olympic athlete and she enjoyed the chance to feel her
muscles working for fun instead of working to save her life. Stopping on a low
thick branch, she checked her watch and realized that she was going to be late for
meeting the people at the house. Relaxing her body, she concentrated and brought
forth the chi within her soul, enhancing her senses and refreshing her barely
tired body.

Next she concentrated on enhancing the muscles, pushing their limits in speed,
endurance, and strength further then they had been before. The few kilometers left
to the Masaki household vanished beneath her feet. Stopping just short of the tree
line, she released her hold on the chi and climbed down the tree she had perched
on. Walking out of the trees, she caught her breath at the beauty surrounding the
place. A big house sat at one end of a small lake, about twenty yards away from
the shoreline, and a trail could be seen snaking from the house to the top of a
small hill where a shrine was held.

"I think that I've come across paradise. This is exactly the kind of place where I
can unwind for a month. Peaceful. Deserted. Yep, this is perfect," she thought.

Breaking into a light jog, she made it to the house in a matter of minutes and
knocked on the door.

                                *               *               *
"Okay now remember that we're all related here and should act as brother and
sisters whenever she's around," Tenchi hastily explained. He was very nervous
about the arrival of the guest and did not want her to suspect that only he and
his dad were the only human beings in the household. He remembered his own shock,
and even a little bit of fear, when he first came across Aeka and her little
sister over a year ago. Encountering an alien race, and then finding out that he
was half alien himself, had not been an easy experience for him. Added to the fact
that this girl could accidentally leak to the word that aliens were on the plant
and his already jumbled life could be further tangled up.

"But why do all of us have to be your sisters Tenchi," cooed Ryoko, snuggling up
to him.

"Because I don't want to raise any suspicions Ryoko. And besides, this will be
only a temporary thing until Dad can get more work." As of late, plans for houses
and other such projects had been slow, giving Noboyuki a chance to catch up on
what projects he had and then run out of plans to work on. With the damage created
by Aeka's and Ryoko's fights, the father had to think up of a way to generate more
cash and renting out a room appeared to be the only way.

His friends caught the logic of his reasoning and grumbled their agreement to it.
Just as they had, a knock came to the door.

"I'll get it," Sasami giggled, always happy to greet new people.

Before she opened the door, Sasami looked back at Tenchi, silently asking his
permission to allow her in. He looked around to make sure that nothing was out of
place and that all evidence of the earlier fight had been cleaned up. Seeing none
of each, he nodded at the girl and she opened the door.

Sasami had to crane her neck in order to look at the smiling face of the redheaded
woman, so tall was she, but Sasami gave a giggle and introduced herself with a
bow. This was the first surprise for the group of friends. The second came when
Tenchi commented," An American," and the woman replied, in perfect Japanese,
"Actually I'm Canadian, not American." She took no offense to the comment and
bowed to them in a polite manner. Her trim athletic form moved into the house with
a cats grace, her red hair tied in a ponytail and swishing from side to side with
her movements.

"I'm Samantha Jones. Nice to meet you."

                                *               *               *
As soon as Samantha had entered the room, she perceived that two things troubled
her. The first was that the group gathered before her had the feeling about them
that a child has when cleaning up a mess and getting it done just before the
parents get back. The second was the unusual coloring that they had in their eyes
and hair.

"I'm Tenchi Masaki. Welcome to my home," said the young man, extending his hand in
a western custom of welcoming.

"Thank you. I appreciate you welcoming me into your home," she replied, taking his
hand and pumping it. The grip was good and were half covered in calluses. It was
the handshake of someone who was no stranger to hard labor.

"Allow me to introduce me to my family. These are my sisters: Sasami, Mihoshi,
Washu, Aeka, and Ryoko ."

Samantha meet each one in turn and bowed to each, trying to keep her eyes off the
strange coloring of their eyes and hair. Coming to Ryoko, she felt the strength in
her hand when she shook her offered hand.

"Quite a grip you got there. Do you exercise?" she asked.

"Whenever I get the chance, yes," Ryoko replied.

"I see. Well," she said, turning to Tenchi. "I know that I have to talk with the
head of the house before moving in, but do you think that you could show me to my
room. The trip has been tiring and I need to change my clothes."

Tenchi nodded and showed her upstairs to her room. When she was out of earshot,
the group started to talk in harsh whispers.

"Wow! She's tall," Sasami said.

"Taller then me," Ryoko grumbled.

"And she speaks Japanese fluently," Aeka added.

"She certainly is full of surprises. I had no idea that earth females could grow
that high," Washu commented, scratching her chin thoughtfully.

"Well if she goes after my Tenchi, I'll cut her down a few inches," Ryoko sneered.

This almost led to another argument when Mihoshi made a very wise statement. "Hey
remember guys! We're all Tenchi's sisters and should get used to that fact until
she leaves."

"She's right," Aeka admitted.

"Thank you. You can keep from becoming an old maid after she leaves," Mihoshi
added in that goofy way of hers.

The princesses rage grew and the group had to refrain her from killing the
detective.

                                *               *               *
"This will be perfect. Thank you Tenchi," Samantha said, dropping her bag at the
foot of the bed and opening it up.

"If there's anything else, just give me a shout. Lunch will be in three hours,"
Tenchi said.

"Lunch? Oh good, the trip was long and plane food tastes like plastic."

Tenchi nodded and left the room, going back downstairs. Sliding the door closed
and locking it, Samantha began to empty her bag. When she reached the bottom of
the bag, she took out a black cardboard box, and opened it. Inside was the black
suit of her alter ego, Silhouette. She quickly repacked the box back in the travel
bag and changed into a fresh change of clothing.

"I'm here to relax, not fight crime. So unless a real emergency comes up, I won't
be needing you," she thought at the suit as if it were a different entity instead
of clothing. "I think I'll go check out that shrine I saw earlier, find out about
it's origins."

                                *               *               *
"Did she do anything to you Tenchi?" Ryoko cooed, snuggling against him and
playfully exploring his chest with her hands.

"No she didn't. She was very nice and well mannered," Tenchi replied, choking a
bit under her grip.

"Release Lord Tenchi, Demoness," Aeka said, breaking her hold on him and pushing
her away.

"Please stop girls. Remember the deal," Tenchi said.

Aeka and Ryoko growled at each other then, with a hmmph! from both sides, broke
off the staring contest. Tenchi sighed in relief. It was going to be a long month.

"Hey," Sasami said. "Where's Ryo-oh-ki?"

                                *               *               *
The cabbit in question was in Samantha's room, cheerfully sleeping under a pile of
clothing. When the fight had started earlier, the cabbit had ran upstairs and hid
under the blankets of the spare bed, enjoying the peace granted to her by the
noise dampening blankets. Samantha's pile of clothing dropped on top of the
animal/spaceship and woke her up, the cabbit giving a questioning meow.

Struggling out from under the heavy load of clothing, she poked her head out from
under the blankets and looked at the new person. Sensing a kind soul, she took a
mighty leap up and landed on the redheads right shoulder. Samantha gave a startled
yelp but calmed down almost instantly when the animal gave a meow and rubbed
against her cheek.

"How cute, a cat" she said and took what she thought was a cat off her shoulder in
order to get a good look at it.

"What the heck," she said as the cabbit meowed and gave a cute expression. "A
rabbit that talks like a cat. This is a new one in someone's book somewhere."
Samantha scratched behind her ear and the cabbit meowed happily.

"Ryo-Oh-ki," called out the voice of Sasami.

The young woman, dressed in a pair of cut off jeans and a tank top, opened the
door and there she was. The cabbit meowed happily and jumped out of her hands and
onto the young girls head.

"Oh thank you for finding her. I was so worried," Sasami said.

"No problem. If anything, she found me. Cute pet."

"Thank you. Lunch is in a couple hours."

                                *               *               *
Lunch was beautifully done, the food delicious and great. There was an awkward
moment when Tenchi went to find a fork and spoon for Samantha.

"It's no problem. I can handle chopsticks quite well," she replied, taking the
implement and popping some rice into her mouth with no trouble.

"So tell me, what is it like in Canada?" Washu asked.

"It's quite nice. The people are friendly and you're never far away from nature.
We're so close in fact that the small towns have quite a bit of trouble with bears
and moose coming in to root around in the garbage dumps," Samantha explained.

"Bears?" Sasami inquired.

"Uh. Think of bears as huge puffs of fur with big teeth and claws as long as your
fingers. Definitely not as cute, at least the older ones, as Ryo-oh-ki." The
Canadian petted the cabbit, who looked up from it's meal of carrots to accept the
pat affectionately.

"About how many people in Canada are there?" Tenchi asked, always interested in
different peoples and places.

"I would say....about twenty six million or so."

"That's not very much. Especially when compared to Japan's population," Aeka
observed.

"You could say that," Samantha started. "But on the other hand....."

The rest of the meal went on like this, with Tenchi and his friends asking the
Canadian about her homeland and all the different things they had heard about on
television or read in a book. However, the peaceful mood of the lunch was
interrupted when Samantha inquired as to where Tenchi's mother was.

She spied the look of sadness on his face and immediately knew the answer.

"Aw geez, I'm sorry Tenchi. I didn't know. I..ah, god I'm an idiot," she stumbled
over her words.

"It's all right," Tenchi said. "You didn't know. My mother died when I was very
young."

Silence. Amazingly, it was Ryoko who turned up another subject and got the meal
out from under the somber mood.

After lunch, Samantha helped Sasami with clearing the table and washing the dishes
and the group went about their own ways, enjoying the day and it's beautiful
weather in their own ways.

"Hey, what is that?" Samantha asked Tenchi, spying the onsen in the tree.

"That's the onsen," Tenchi replied.

"You have your own bath and sauna...in a tree? Wow! I wonder how it works? Um. Do
you think I could take a dip in it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure. I don't see why not."

Samantha, dressed in a one piece black bathing suit, spent the rest of the
afternoon soaking up the sun and the water in the onsen, feeling tight and
constricted muscles melt under the treatment the same way wax melts under heat.

"Now this is the life! I don't know how this could get any better. He he. God I
need this. But there's one thing that bothers me. That strange hair and eye color
that Ryoko and the rest have. Except for Mihoshi. *That's* normal."  The young
woman paused in her thoughts and chuckled lightly, floating in the water. "Oh give
it up Samantha. You're just trying to dig up mysteries where there is none when
you should be relaxing. Arrghh! There I go thinking to myself from  second
person's view again. Am I glad that I did go on this vacation! I really need to
relax."

                                *               *               *
Tenchi looked over his friends, happy to actually see Ryoko and Aeka in the same
room without fighting, and asked the question that he knew wanted to be answered
by his friends.

"So what do you think of her?"

Currently, the group was in the living room, lavishing on the couch and enjoying a
midafternoon tea and snack prepared by Sasami. The answer, or several answers in
this case, was not long in coming.

"She's very nice. Even Ryo-oh-ki likes her," Sasami said. The cabbit, ever present
atop her head, meowed it's approval between bites of it's carrot.

"Very well mannered. One would think she were royalty," Aeka piped up.

"She ain't going after Tenchi so she's all right with me," Ryoko said and Aeka was
quick to agree with her.

"She's fun. Samantha showed me how to take my thumb off," Mihoshi said, placing
her hands together and attempting to do the illusion that one could separate their
thumb and move it along their hand. "Oh nuts! I forgot how. Guess I'll have to get
her to show me how."

"She is very tall. I wonder if maybe I could get a blood sample for some readings,
try to figure out how she managed to grow to such a height," Washu said.

"Oh no you don't. A redheaded kid attempting to get some of her blood would
definitely raise suspicions that we don't need," Tenchi pointed.

"I suppose you're right. And what do you mean by *kid*? I'm twenty thousand years
old and hardly a 'kid'."

"Anyhow, we'll have to tell Noboyuki and Grandfather about her as soon as they get
back," Tenchi steered the conversation back to the topic at hand. Yousho and
Noboyuki, taking the opportunity of Noboyuki's lull in work, had gone to visit
Tenchi's aunt and Taro. "They should be back at about dinner time."

                                *               *               *
Dinner came and, with a hasty explanation by Tenchi to Noboyuki and Yousho before
Samantha got back from the onsen, the final introductions were made.

"Nice to meet you," Samantha bowed to each man in turn and then shook their hands.

"I'm honored," Yousho replied.

"Always nice to meet such a pretty young lady such as yourself," Noboyuki said.

Samantha blushed slightly. It had been a *really* long time since someone had
considered her as pretty. Dinner, prepared by Sasami as usual, was, as usual,
delicious and well made. The two men talked about various things with Samantha,
and talked about themselves a little bit.

After dinner, and after paying Noboyuki for one month's rent on the room, Samantha
went outside and sat on the bench, watching the sun as it slowly set in the West.
The peace of this household was having a profound effect upon her, soothing her
mind as well as body and helping to heal some of the mental wounds she had
received in recent months fighting the various gangs and Mafia men back in
Vancouver.

"It certainly is nice to get away from it all. And I've picked such a nice spot to
do it in too," she thought. She closed her eyes and relaxed. "Yep. Life don't get
much better then this."

A yawn split wide her lips and, after a day of doing nothing, she lay down on the
bench and went to sleep.

                                *               *               *
A gentle shaking of her shoulder brought Samantha wide awake, though sleepy eyed,
and she saw Sasami, with the cabbit on her head as always, gently shaking her
shoulder.

"If you want to go to sleep then you had better do so inside," she said.

"What time is it," Samantha asked, remembering to speak in Japanese.

"Nearly ten."

"Thanks for waking me. I've always thought of myself as an outside kind of person
but a soft bed is better to sleep on this this hard old bench."

"Your welcome."

Samantha followed the young girl inside, internally marveling at the color of her
hair and eyes. The two went upstairs, the house quiet as the rest of the family
was already asleep. After saying goodnight to Sasami, Samantha closed and locked
her door, feeling restless.

"I need to do a little running around outside, wear myself down a little bit
before I go to sleep," she thought.

Looking out the window of her bedroom, she eyed the forest she had swung through
on her way to the house earlier, an idea forming in her mind. A few minutes later,
after traveling under stealth to the forest, the young woman was swinging about in
the trees, connecting with the inner energy enough to enhance her senses and
nothing else. Feeling her muscles stretch and tense with the exertion, she built
up a good sweat, bounding from branch to branch, testing her reflexes by purposely
losing balance and catching herself before she could fall far, and so on until her
limbs felt that they were made of lead instead of flesh and bone.

"Now *that* is a good workout," she thought, her blazing white eyes, as they
always became whenever she connected with the inner energy, scanning the woods.

Coming out of the forest, she was careful not to step on a single dry leaf, her
training in stealth coming to her aid as she soundlessly made her way back towards
the house. But, had she looked towards the window that belonged to Tenchi's room,
she would have seen a pair of pink eyes watch her approach the house and leap up
to the open window of the spare bedroom.

                                *               *               *
The next morning brought another beautiful day, with a clear blue sky and the sun
rising in the east. Samantha woke up and, after realizing that she had slept in
her clothes, changing into a fresh shirt and jeans that had the legs cut off to
make it into shorts. Smelling the scent of Sasami's cooking, she rushed downstairs
and entered the kitchen, seeing the little girl whipping up a storm as usual.

"Good morning Sasami," she said.

Shocked, the girl dropped the ladle she had been using to stir the breakfast soup
and it clattered to the floor. She gave a nervous hello, picked it up and went on
back to preparing breakfast.

"Is something wrong? Did I scare you?"

                                *               *               *
Sasami smiled nervously at the older woman, explaining her nervousness at having a
bad dream the night before. What she did not tell her was that, after waking from
the nightmare about the mysterious woman, she had gone into Tenchi's room and
asked him if she could sleep in his room. He had agreed and, after spreading some
blankets on the floor, had drifted asleep. Sasami, on the other hand, had trouble
sleeping despite the young man's comforting presence and had gone to the window to
stare into the night.

It was then that she saw Samantha running back from the forest, her eyes blazing a
fierce white, and jumping up to the window with a practiced ease. She had no idea
what to think of the young woman now, scared that maybe she was the mysterious
woman who had haunted her dreams brought to real life to make them reality. This
theory was dashed before it could gain any credibility, when she saw the genuine
concern for her on Samantha's face. No. This was not the face of the woman who
flooded her sleep with nightmares.

The younger princess of Jurai began to think, her mind a whirl as she sought an
answer about how to deal with this dilemma.

"I could tell Washu. She's so smart she could come up with an answer in a second,"
she thought. "But she's asleep in her subspace room and if I go there now or any
other time Samantha's around, she could see me and that would probably make more
problems."

"Oh why do things have to be so difficult," Sasami thought and, in a direct
approach that Ryoko would have been proud of, she said, "I saw you coming in last
night."

The young girl could not have picked a better time to admit this considering that
the rest of the household was still in bed and it would be a few minutes before
they woke up. However, she could not anticipate the reaction from the young woman.

"You.....saw me?" she asked, the redheads face etched in shock.

"Yeah. I didn't mean to. I had a bad dream and I was looking outside when I saw
you come back in," she explained.

Samantha was shocked. Never had anyone seen her in action without the mask and
suit on and those that did know of her secret, of those they were hardly a hand
few, they knew because she had decided to reveal her secret to them. Her mind was
numb, unable to think of a reason to dissuade the young girl from knowing her
secret. No good. She sighed and leaned against the wall, unable to think of
anything to say to her.

Except the truth.
________________________________________________________________________
For those of you that have any questions or comments for me, my e-mail address is:
xwing@perf.bc.ca  I accept any suggestions or criticisms on my story. Thanks!

Yours Truly,
Jamie Jeans


Jamie Jeans                             Surprises all around
November 4/97

Author's notes: I hoped you liked the first chapter. This one took a bit longer in
coming because I did not want to screw it up in any way. I want to give the
reader, you people that read this, something to hang onto when the action comes.

Now the legal stuff: All of the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to
Pioneer. Only Samantha Jones belong to me. Now: ON TO THE STORY!
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2

Samantha held onto the wooden practice sword with her right hand and propped
herself up with her left, feeling new bruises form on her butt. Sweat had formed
on her brow and she stood up, keeping in a yelp of pain. Upon starting practice
with Tenchi and his grandfather, she had gone two rounds with the elderly old man,
getting her butt whipped in a minute. Considering that he was the teacher, she
accepted the defeat with a dose of humility and thanked him for the few lessons he
had silently taught her. That had not bothered her.

It was when Tenchi had defeated her three times in a row.

Sensing a good sparring partner in her, the grandfather had set the two up and
stood back to watch, a smile on his face as he watched his grandson defeat the
woman time and time again.

"Are you all right Samantha?" Tenchi asked nervously, extending a hand towards
her.

"Sure. Thanks," she replied, taking the hand gratefully and standing up.
Internally the young woman was not feeling all right. Her confession to Sasami
about her other persona in life and her continuous defeats at the young man's
hands was beginning to irritate her. She knew that she shouldn't be mad at herself
or Sasami and resolved to meditate for the rest of the afternoon once the practice
was done.

"You aren't hurt too badly are you," he asked, a look of concern on his face.

Samantha was startled by this look, even though he had been wearing it ever since
her second defeat. His concern for her helped to break the dour mood she was
hiding and it amazed her the amount of modesty the young man had. She had mistaken
it at first for sarcasm, but soon realized that it was his true feelings.

"No I'm not. I've taken far worst hits back in the tournaments in Canada."

"Very good Samantha. You're improving although you've got to learn how to move
faster. Tenchi, very good my boy. Pretty soon, you'll be able to defeat me,"
Grandfather Masaki said, the ends of his lips twitching into a smile.

Samantha took the encouragement good enough but within, she could not help to
suppress a feeling of shock at being so easily defeated with a style she had
barely seen in her many years of life.

"This kid is good," she thought, stepping away from him and taking up her sparring
stance for the fourth time. She cleared her mind of everything and studied Tenchi,
intent on concentrating on the duel at hand instead of the new problem.

Tenchi resumed his stance as well, the two awaiting Grandfather's signal to spar
again.

"GO!"

Samantha decided to haul back on her offensive maneuvers, allowing Tenchi to make
the first move on her. He came at her with an overhead slash, which she blocked
easily, then slid it off her blade and made a wide circle with his sword. Jumping
back to get some room, she realized his intent and came in on his blind side,
hoping to score a hit before he recovered from his wild swing.

Too late. The wooden blade was stopped in midair by his sword and she backed off,
hoping for a different angle even though it gave him a chance to recover.

"What I have to do is give him an opening and then shut the trap on him," she
thought.

All the while, Yousho watched the two duel, struggling to keep the pride he held
for his grandson's improvements off his face. It would not be good to encourage
Tenchi too much. All along, he knew that Tenchi had the skill but was lacking the
confidence to use it correctly. But, with the introduction of a new sparring
partner, he was beginning to grow in that area.

Samantha struck forward, meeting Tenchi's blade and backing off only to strike
again. Again and again they struck at each other, the wooden blades actually
chipping tiny bits off the edges of the swords from the force the two were putting
into the match. All of his little tricks had been used earlier and she knew how to
keep from falling for them. The match had lasted over two minutes, a minute and
thirty seconds longer then the previous three matches, and Tenchi was beginning to
sweat as much as Samantha was.

Then she gave him his opening.

Samanta brought her sword about in a wide circle, forcing Tenchi to duck or else
receive a blow to the head. Taking the opportunity to use the precious second she
would need to recover, he swung his feet around in a short sweep, knocking her off
her feet. He rushed her, hoping to bring his sword point to her throat and end the
match when she made her move. Releasing her sword, she rolled backwards, out of
his reach, came to her feet and tackled him to the ground, picking her sword up on
the way. It wasn't fancy, had no style, and worked great. His sword clattered to
the ground as she straddled him and said, "I finally won." Her sword point was to
his throat.

"Good move," he complimented her. Samantha got off his chest and helped him up,
glad that she had pressed her concerns to the side and winning at least one bout.

"That was a good practice for today Tenchi. You too Samantha. You may take the
afternoon off if you wish," Yousho said.

The young man wiped the sweat from his eyes. "Yeah I think I will."

"I'll join you. I haven't had a workout that tiring since....well never," Samantha
said. "By the way, what style is that? It's nothing like I've seen before."

"It is an ancient style from over seven hundred years ago," Yousho replied.
"Although even I am lost as to what it's true name is."

"Ah. That explains it. There's a lot of the past that has been lost to history."

                                *               *               *
"Is something the matter Sasami?" Aeka asked when she noticed the troubled
expression on her face.

"Huh!," Sasami replied, lost in thought. "Oh nothing." A pause and then, "Actually
yeah. I had another bad dream last night."

"Oh dear, not again. Oh how I wish that I could do something about it," Aeka
replied, unable to think of anything comforting to say.

"Thank you Aeka. Tenchi let me sleep in his room again."

The elder princess of Jurai suppressed a surge of jealousy when Sasami told her
this. It had been her secret dream that she and Tenchi would one day..... She
blushed slightly at the thoughts and had to suppress giggling like a little girl.

"Here, let me help you with lunch," she offered, getting the dishes out of the
cupboards and bringing them to the table just outside the kitchen.

"Thank you Aeka. You can set the table while I cook lunch," Sasami instructed,
back to her usual cheerful self.

Aeka smiled, glad that she was able to, at least, take her younger sister's mind
off her problem if she couldn't solve it.

"Maybe Washu can invent a machine or something that will allow her to dream only
peaceful dreams. Then again, she could be having those nightmares because of
Tsunami," she thought, referring to the goddess that had merged with Sasami all
those years ago.

"Hi sister," said an irritating voice.

The princess felt herself cringe at the sound of *that* voice, knowing that it
belonged to the space pirate who was her rival for Tenchi's affections.

"Oh how I wish that Samantha was gone so that I can go back to fighting with
Ryoko. Anything is better then having her call me *sister*," she thought,
spreading the plates into their usual position.

"Setting the table for lunch eh? Well at least Sasami kept you out of the kitchen
considering the last disaster you made in there," Ryoko sneered, attempting to get
a rise out of the princess.

"Well at least I tried cooking instead of doing nothing like *someone else* around
here. Hmmph," Aeka shot back, finishing setting the plates and going into the
kitchen to get the tea cups and chop sticks.

Ryoko felt her own anger rise at the comment and was preparing an energy bolt to
blast into the princess when she got back when Samantha and Tenchi came in. The
ball of energy dissipated as soon as it had appeared and was not noticed by either
her love or the guest.

"Hi Tenchi. How was practice," she asked nonchalantly.

It stilled bugged the space pirate to have to pretend to be Tenchi's sister
whenever the guest was around but she had to agree with him about not raising any
suspicions. Tenchi smiled at her and replied that it had gone well. Noticing this,
Ryoko had to wonder if Tenchi would always be this happy if she continued to greet
him in this fashion since he seemed allot more comfortable then when she glomped
onto him the moment he entered the door. The more she thought about it, the more
distressed she felt at Tenchi thinking of her as a sister or good friend rather
then a future lover.

"But if it makes him happy, Maybe I *should* continue this after Samantha leaves,"
she thought. At the mental mention of the guest, Ryoko finally noticed that the
tall redhead was limping inside rather then walking normal.

"Hey what happened? Why you limping?" She asked.

"Your younger brother here kicked my butt three times in a row in sword practice,"
Samantha explained, rubbing her backside tenderly.

"Way to go Tenchi!" the cyan haired woman applauded him.

"Gee, wish I had an older sister to do that," Samantha said with mild envy.

"Older," Ryoko repeated.

"Yeah. You are his older sister aren't you?" Samantha asked.

"Older, yes. But I would use words such as wise and experienced and...."

"Old maid," said a primp and proper voice.

Samantha saw Aeka coming out of the kitchen and knew that it was her who had
issued the insult.

"How dare you." Ryoko looked ready to deck the girl in the purple and blue striped
Kimono.

"Come on now. No fighting. Remember your promise," Tenchi interjected, stepping in
between the two before the fight could escalate.

"Lunch is ready," Sasami called out, bringing two bowls of food and a smaller one
of rice out to the dining table.

"Here, let me help you with that," Samantha said, rushing forward and catching the
two larger bowls of food before they tipped.

"Thank you."

                                *               *               *
It was a bit unsettling for Samantha, having yet another person that knew of her
identity and it was all due to her carelessness. Despite herself, the young woman
was having grievous doubts as to her vacation.

"Maybe I was wrong in taking this vacation. Maybe what I needed was some time off
to resharpen my skills in stealth and such. Had I been up to peak performance, I
would have saw Sasami from the woods and stayed hidden until she went back to
sleep."

She tensed up when Sasami was about to say something and relaxed when she only
asked her sister to stop bugging Ryoko. Luckily, none of the other people saw her
reaction and no suspicion was raised.

"God! I thought she was going to say something there. No! I shouldn't think like
that. Sasami is a trustful, innocent child, at least as far as I can tell, who has
had several opportunities to tell her family about me but hasn't."

Samantha mentally relaxed and headed upstairs, telling her land lord that she was
merely going to have a bath and asking Sasami to save some lunch for her.

"This could all be nerves, nerves still stressed out from fighting so much evil
and having so little peace. Maybe all I need to do is put blind trust into someone
I barely know and count on her human goodness to keep my secret safe. Yeah. That's
it."

                                *               *               *
Sasami watched Samantha ascend to the upstairs bathroom from the corner of her
eye, missing what Tenchi had asked her.

"Huh. What did you say Tenchi?"

"I asked if there was anything wrong. You seem preoccupied."

Aeka saved her from what would have been a shaky response. "She's been having
those nightmares again."

"I know. Do you think they'll ever go away," Tenchi asked, his face worried.

"I don't know. I hope so," Sasami replied half heartedly, knowing instinctively
that they wouldn't.

"Well continuing or not, we'll be here for you," Tenchi said, laying a comforting
hand on her shoulder.

The rest of the group entered shortly, Mihoshi from her room and Washu from her
subspace lab, after making sure that Samantha would not see her exit what was
supposed to be an empty broom closet, and they all sat down to enjoy the meal.

"So how is our guest doing?" Washu asked.

"Okay. Samantha and I actually went a few rounds in sword practice today," Tenchi
said.

"And how did you do?" the scientist inquired.

The young man's modesty took over at that moment and he appeared a bit sheepish at
answering the question. However Ryoko was not.

"He kicked her butt but good!"

"I won a few times," he said meekly.

"But the point was you won! I should have known. After all, you are my man," Ryoko
said, snuggling up to him in an embrace, the pretense of being sister and brother
lost in her excitement.

Tenchi's cheeks burned red with his embarrassment, thus further strengthening the
space pirates idea that Tenchi appreciated her more when she was more docile and
not so straight forward.

"Let go of Lord Tenchi you cur!" Aeka growled, her own anger making her forget the
delicate illusion they had to maintain about Samantha.

Luckily, with the water running for her bath, Samantha was oblivious to the
exchange between the two rivals for Tenchi's affection and, after she had finished
cleaning up and dressed in fresh clothes, walked downstairs to enjoy what was left
of lunch. The air was tense and she guessed that there had been an argument
between Aeka and Ryoko. The tension was so thick she could have cut it with a
knife.

"Ah. Sibling rivalry," she said aloud to the shocked looks of the two sisters,
slightly envious that they had sisters to argue with.

And so it went on for the next few days, Samantha enjoying the peaceful summer
outside either tanning and relaxing in the onsen or practicing with Tenchi and
Katsuhito Masaki in sword practice. There were tense moments and even times when
Ryoko and Aeka fought in front of Samantha, albeit without their powers, and the
Canadian had asked what it was about, they explained to her that each was trying
to hook up Tenchi with a girl that they thought was appropriate for him.

"Well why don't you both introduce the girls to him one at a time and allow Tenchi
to make up his mind about them?" Samantha had suggested. "After all, he should
feel that he does not have to be pressured into it."

That had given the girls pause in their argument. It lasted for only a few seconds
until Ryoko found something wrong with the girl that Aeka had picked for Tenchi
and the argument picked up where it had ended, but with new excuses in place of
the old.

"Do they do this every day," Samantha had asked Mihoshi. The blonde nodded her
head sadly.

Throughout the next few days, a pattern became apparent in the family life of the
Masaki household and Samantha integrated herself into it smoothly. All throughout
this time, the Canadian began to realize that Washu spent very little time around
the others. Tenchi had explained that she was mostly hiding in a secret *lab* or
could be found outside, typing continuously into a portable computer.

"I had my own fortress of solitude when I was young as well. In my imagination it
had all kinds of magic hidden in every corner with a new adventure ready to be
explored," Samantha had admitted to Tenchi. "God, those days were so simple
before....."

"Before we had to grow up," Tenchi finished.

Ryoko, Aeka, Washu, Mihoshi, and Sasami, along with Tenchi, Noboyuki, and Yousho,
were able to keep the illusion of one big family about the group for a whole week.
It was, however, not to last. At the end of the week, the illusion crumbled.

                                *               *               *
Strangely enough, for Samantha that is, it all started with a dream. Not willing
to take the risk that she could be spied flexing her enhanced muscles in the
middle of the night, the young woman had taken to going to bed early. It was a
good practice, enabling her to sleep longer hours then she had before and still
wake up early enough to talk with Sasami before everyone else woke up. Talking
with Sasami had also become a regular routine, the older female telling the
younger of her exploits and the need for a long relaxing vacation. And the more
she talked to Sasami, the more she trusted and liked the young girl, even though
Samantha knew that she had secrets of her own to protect.

The dream came Sunday night, when everyone in the household, except for Washu who
was working in her subspace lab, was asleep and dreaming peaceful dreams.
Everyone, that is, except for Samantha and Sasami.

It started with Sasami, the same nightmare she had been seeing of a dark woman
with incredible powers and a hunger for more power that killed all of her friends
and left her dying. The first to go was Tenchi, followed shortly by Aeka, Washu,
Ryoko, and Mihoshi. Then she was next. The younger princess of Jurai screamed a
cry mixed with fury, fear, and despair as the mysterious woman that she knew only
as Tokimi came for her, a hand outstretched to zap the life from her.

That was when Samantha came.

With a mighty battle cry, she crashed into Tokimi and drove her to the ground,
sending a tremendous rumble through the ground and seeming so real that Sasasmi
almost woke up then and there. The redhead, eyes blazing a fierce white tinged
with red, battled the powerful woman, more powerful then her but sustained by the
inner energy of her soul and the determination to win, a determination she had
seen only in Tenchi.

A powerful blow sent the Lady flying backwards and Samantha came at Sasami,
picking her up from where she was rooted to the dreamscape by her fear, and
leaping away. Tokimi got up and blasted her with her powers, incinerating both in
a blaze of white fire.

                                *               *               *
Samantha sat straight up, coming awake with a startled shout on her lips, one that
was mirroed in a younger voice elsewhere in the house. Her heart was beating so
fast she thought that it would break out of her rib cage. Sweat soaked her
clothing and the bed clothes and she thought about how she was supposed to
explained this to anyone if they saw it. She then noticed that her surroundings
were as visible to her as if it were the middle of the day and she realized that
the dream, so intense it almost felt real, had ignited her inner energy as if she
were facing a real opponent.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" she thought, releasing her hold on the chi and
laying back down.

As soon as she had, an intense wave of nausea passed over her. So strong was it
that whatever undigested food was left in her stomach rushed to her mouth and
threatened to spill over everything. Samantha clapped a hand over her mouth and
got up, rushing to the bathroom in a stumble, the air left in her lungs burning as
much as the stomach acid in her mouth. Getting into the bathroom, she barely made
it to the toilet before emptying her mouth and stomach. After a few dry heaves,
she lay down on the floor, leaning against the wall for some comfort.

Samantha was shocked. The abundance of chi that was hers to control not only
enhanced her physical attributes but also enhanced her immune system to a level
where no sickness or disease on Earth could affect her. Suddenly hit with Nassau
for no reason upset her as much as the dream had. The pitter patter of little feet
announced to her that someone else was up and Sasami stumbled into the bathroom,
emptying her own stomach into the toilet. After she was done, Sasami lay against
the other side of the toilet.

Samantha looked at her and pressed the switch, flushing the toilet of its
contents.

"Thanks," the younger princess of Jurai said.

"Bad dream," Samantha asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

Uncomfortable silence passed over the household, which was comforting in a way
since that meant the two had not woke anyone else up. The two just sat there, both
drained of energy and waiting for the last waves of Nassau to pass.

"Tokimi," Samantha suddenly said.

There was a sharp intact of breath and Sasami sat up from the wall, her pink eyes
staring into the steel colored orbs of the Canadian.

"Something is going on Sasami. Something big and I want to know about it,"
Samantha said, her eyes telling her that she would take no for an answer.

"I really don't know what's going on. I just get these nightmares and....." Sasami
sputtered to a stop, tears forming in her eyes.

Samantha's hardened expression softened at this and she got to her feet, a bit
unsteady but standing nonetheless. She bent down and scooped Sasami up, grabbing a
face cloth and soaking it with water to wash both their faces clean. She carried
her to Tenchi's room, Sasami having told her earlier before that she found comfort
when she slept in the young man's presence. The young girl was asleep before they
got there.

She knocked gently on his door until she heard a grumbling and stumbling from
within. The door opened, revealing a very tired looking Tenchi in his gray boxers.

"Nice boxers," Samantha commented, smiling when she saw how he blushed. He then
noticed Sasami in her arms and, without needing any further words, allowed her in.
Gently laying Sasami on his bed, she turned to leave when Tenchi stopped her.

"Another bad dream right?" he asked nonetheless.

"Yeah. Another one."

"What are you doing up," he asked.

Samantha patted her stomach and said, "Indigestion. I think Aeka helped Sasami
with dinner."

Tenchi smiled in sympathy and wished her a good night. Samantha went back to her
room and fell to sleep. The young man, after closing the door, spread some spare
blankets and an extra pillow on the floor before switching off the light and
turning in for the night.

                                *               *               *
The large elegant Jurian ship floated softly through space, it's destination:
Earth. A tall slim figure cloaked in Jurian robes stood on the bridge of the ship,
his pink hair done up in a ponytail that hung just past his shoulders. His face
was drawn up in a definite scowl as his mind thought up of more and more ways to
exact revenge on the primitive savage whom had unfairly defeated him in combat.

"I swear that the grandson of Yousho shall pay dearly for embarrassing me in front
of Princess Aeka. Surely she cannot love that ape when I am such a prime example
of pure Jurain royalty. Yes. How can she? How could she?"

The pride in his voice as he said this would make other people, had they heard it,
think that the Jurian noble took this as an insult that went beyond his hurt pride
and ego.

His mind churred up thoughts of his humiliating defeat at the hands of that
ignorant savage.

"He must have some kind of control over her. Yeah. That's it. Some kind of mind
control device no doubt made by that savage Washu of his. After all, *I* was
chosen by her father to wed her. Why else would she refuse me for that primeval
barbarian! I shall rescue Princess Aeka and Emperor Azusa will thank me dearly for
my efforts," thought Seriyou.

                                *               *               *
As the members of the Masaki household and their guest slept, a shimmering figure
in blue and white appeared over the resting form of Sasami, gazing at her with a
smile that was both happy and sad. The pink eyes of the apparition, so much like
the young girl below her, lingered on Tenchi for a moment before moving on.
Through the walls of the house she moved, the walls offering as much resistance to
her passage as the air did. Finally she came to her destination: Samantha Jones.

The Canadian tossed and turned in her sleep and Tsunami, one of the most powerful
beings in the known Galaxy, stared at her in pity as she gazed into her dream. It
was an anxiety dream, one brought about by her shared nightmare with Sasami. Again
she was carrying a young life in her arms, far younger then even Sasami's physical
age, away from a blazing inferno. Tsunami watched as Silhouette raced towards the
exit and tripped a few feet away from it. The burning building came down on her,
extinguishing the life of the baby boy but not killing the vigilante.

The goddess eyes would have filled with tears were she able to resume a physical
body at the scream of pure sorrow that issued from the buried heroine. Waving her
hand over Samantha, she used some of her Jurian magic to calm her dreams, the need
to comfort her coming from feeling pity that this young woman had no one to turn
to for comfort unlike Sasami.

She floated away, down and into the bowels of the household towards Washu subspace
lab. She entered without a sound and appeared behind Washu using her Jurian magic
to manipulate the holographic projectors to form her image in the air. Before she
could say anything, the genius scientist spoke.

"Visiting Tenchi again, Hmmm?"

Tsunami thought she could hear a bit of annoyance underlayed in the teasing voice,
but decided to ignore it....for now.

"Actually I was visiting the new tenet," she replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"What do you want Tsunami?"

Washu, despite herself, was like most scientists found anywhere on any planet. She
had the need to fully understand anything and everything that came into her life
and, like those other scientist, hated the unknown and it's affects on that which
she did know and understand. Thus it was hard for her to control her annoyance
around Tsunami, who was nothing more to her then a very big unknown in her life.

"Samantha is beginning to share Sasami's dreams," Tsunami started to explain.

"What? How can that be? Each brain pattern, be they human or alien in origin, acts
on a completely different wavelength that makes them-," Washu started lecturing.

The goddess stopped her before the scientist could build up more speed. "I know
that as well as you do. But there is something more to Samantha then meets the
eye. And it is this special something in her that is allowing her mind to share
the same dreams Sasami is having, albeit with more control then she has."

"Now who's lecturing?" Washu sneered.

"We need to find out what it is. It may be a deciding factor when Tokimi arrives
in this dimension."

"That name sure sounds familiar. And what do you mean by *we*? Last time I
checked, this was supposed to be your problem." The scientist never had any
conviction behind the words even as she said them, knowing, deep down inside, that
she would sacrifice everything to protect her newfound family and friends.

"When the time comes, I *will* need your help," Tsunami admitted. "And this woman,
Samantha Jones, may be of great help to us."

Immediately, Washu knew that the goddess had just admitted to something that had
been very hard for her to say. She bit her bottom lip thoughtfully and pondered
for a few moments.

"You do realize that we might have to reveal everything to her," she finally
acknowledged. It was a statement, not a question.

"I do. And we will, as humans say, burn that bridge when we come to it," Tsunami
said.

"Say, you are getting good at humor. Keep it up and you'll be a regular comedian,"
Washu commented. The goddess smiled, nodding at the compliment and the fact that
the scientist's voice had lost it's edge. "Let's talk tomorrow night. I'll try
doing some tests and investigating and show you what I come up with."

"Try looking into mysterious people dressed in black in Canada," Tsunami offered
helpfully before disappearing.
______________________________________________________________________
Well what do you think? Getting pretty intense isn't it? I hope whoever downloads
this likes it. Once again my e-mail address is: xwing@perf.bc.ca and I would not
mind any questions or criticism as well as comments and compliments. After all, a
writer can always see room for improvement.

Jamie Jeans                                          Surprises all around
November 5/97

This third installment took a while longer because I wanted enough time to write
it out properly. Making this storyline has been fun but challenging as well
considering that, as a friend told me, I had to be careful not to make the story
center on one character for too long and give a good amount of time to each
character. Also, I really have to be careful in basing this on the OVA series of
Tenchi considering that I never saw the entire series and only know what others
have told me.

Once again, the legal stuff: All the characters of Tenchi Muyo are property of
Pioneer Inc. except for Samantha Jones which is my character. Please don't sue me.

________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 3

The graceful ship Magnificent, named by it's owner, glided through space towards
Earth. On the bridge of the organic ship, Seriyou chuckled lightly at the painful
and humiliating revenge he would exact on the barbaric earth boy Tenchi.

"And after that, I shall rescue Aeka and bring her back to Jurai, where I shall
have the best doctors rid her mind of whatever nasty mind control devices that
demoness Washu has installed in her mind. After that, we'll be wed and I shall
become the Emperor of Jurai."

Were anyone about while he made this speech, they would wonder why the self
proclaimed suitor of Princess Aeka was talking to himself.

"The I shall bring the demoness Ryoko to justice, thus *proving* my greatness to
all the other barbaric races of the Cosmos and, especially, to Lord Azusa."

He paced the bridge a little bit before coming to a stop where he started from
before. "And just in case the others interfere, especially that weak blooded
Yousho, I have a little something waiting for them," Seriyou thought. He turned
and his gaze alighted on a spot of the bridge where the shadows seemed almost
alive.

A metal form slipped out of the shadows and into the light, it's coloring so black
that light barely reflected from it. It's size was big, twice the size of a Galaxy
Police battle suit and it's contours were as sharp and precise as those of a
diamond.

"This battle droid shall keep them off my back until I have completed my goal. I
can not wait for the look on that ignorant savages face when I plunge my sword
through him." He laughed a small bitter note. Without even caring, he laughed out
loud, his bitter voice ringing off the walls of the ship.

                                *               *               *
The morning sun shone in through the window and warmed Tenchi's cheek, waking him
up to another beautiful day. He looked around and was glad to see that there was
no Ryoko floating over him or actually sharing his futon. That kind of wake up
almost always led to a confrontation between Ryoko and Aeka with him getting the
worst of it.
Sitting up and stretching, he looked at the bed and saw that Sasami was no longer
sleeping on it. The bed clothes had been neatly made up. He smiled at her
thoughtfulness for making his bed and not waking him up.

Stretching again, he got off the futon and got dressed, admiring the beauty of yet
another summer day. As he often did when things were going good, he wondered as to
where Ryoko was and prepared himself for the worst.

"Oh give it up Tenchi," he silently berated himself. "Aeka and Ryoko are not
fighting, as far as I can tell, Washu has not gotten a hold of me for any weird
experiments, there are no life threatening enemies about and it's a beautiful day.
I should relax and enjoy it."

Walking downstairs, he smelled the delicious aroma of Sasami's cooking and hasten
his pace to get some breakfast. When he got downstairs, he spied Ryoko sleeping on
the couch, her face holding nothing more then a peaceful expression. That
certainly explained to the young man why Ryoko had not been in his room. Even
though she knew that they had to keep the illusion of being a family, he did not
put it past her to have teleported into his room in the middle of the night
despite the fact that Sasami had shared his room.

"Morning Sasami. Did you sleep well," he asked her.

"Oh yes. Thank you for allowing me to sleep in your room," she replied.

"It's no problem considering all that you do for us."

Sasami blushed slightly at the comment and turned her attention back on the
breakfast she was cooking. By the time it was done, everyone would be up and
about, except for Mihoshi who had to be waken up nearly every morning.

The next person to come down the stairs quickly followed the smell of the cooking
food and went into the kitchen.

"Good morning Samantha," Tenchi said cheerfully, then he did a double take and saw
how haggard looking the young woman looked.

Bags were stretched under her eyes and her face looked as if it had seen all seven
hells. And the way she stumbled slightly suggested that she had not gotten much
sleep in the night. Her dress for the day consisted of a pitch black T-shirt and
black swimming shorts and these hung on her as if unwilling to stay on. Sasami
noticed this most of all and felt guilty for inadvertently giving the Canadian the
nightmares she thought she had shared with no one.

"Morning to you too. Hello Sasami. I know, I know. I must look horrible. Didn't
get much sleep last night," she mumbled, making an honest attempt to fix her
clothing.

"Did you have a nightmare," Tenchi asked.

Samantha looked up, a bit surprised but it passed quickly. She reasoned that
anyone looking the way she felt, it would be easy for others to assume that they
had a nightmare. "You could say that." She leaned up against the wall and
plastered a smile on her face. "But dreams are dreams and they can't hurt the
living. Boy, that breakfast sure smells good Sasami."

"Thank you. It'll be ready in about ten minutes or so. Do you think you could wake
up Mihoshi before she misses it again," Sasami asked, glad for the change in
subject.

Mumbling an OK, Samantha straightened her walk and went to wake up the Galaxy
Police Detective. A few minutes later she returned with the tired blonde in tow.
The smell of food immediately woke her up as fast and as quickly as a bucket of
cold water would and she helped to set the table for breakfast.

"Oh boy! I am so hungry," she said enthusiastically, bringing the dishes to the
dining table.

"You certainly do have an appetite. But how do you keep from gaining weight?"
Samantha inquired.

"Oh I don't gain any at all. No matter what I do!"

"Some people have all the luck," the Canadian replied.

But Mihoshi, distracted by her new friend's words, tripped on a small fold in the
carpet and pitched forward, the dishes in her hand flying out of control. Samantha
made an attempt to catch them but tripped on Mihoshi and both went down in a heap.
The redhead expected to hear the crash of dishes against wood but only heard
clatters. Getting up, she saw, to her amazement, that the plates that had flown
out of her hand had landed perfectly, undamaged, and in the spots where the people
of the house would eat from them.

"How the...." she began, quickly running out of words to say.

"Oh that. It kinda happens to me all the time," the blonde said.

The only response Samantha could conjure up was a look of total puzzlement and
awe.

                                *               *               *
Breakfast went as it usually did, Samantha continuing to steal glances at Mihoshi,
ponder about the incredible event, and returning to her meal. All through the
meal, she did not notice Washu giving her looks of her own, studying the young
woman as she would a strain of DNA or a test result.

"Now how am I supposed to conduct my tests without her knowing it?" the scientist
pondered. "This is indeed a challenge and Tsunami knows I can't resist one. I will
solve it. They don't call me the number one scientific genius in the universe for
nothing."

She watched the morning chit chat with detached amusement, wondering if Samantha
ever really knew that the girls that Ryoko and Aeka were arguing was best for
Tenchi were, in fact, Ryoko and Aeka. Again the Canadian gave them her earlier
advice but this time took it one step further, brining it directly to Tenchi. The
young man blushed and squirmed in his seat, giving no answer at all by stuffing
his mouth with food. Sensing she had stepped on a sensitive subject, the redhead
backed off, chuckling at a dumb comment from Mihoshi and quickly changing the
subject.

It was indeed a tough assignment for the genius scientist to pull off but she
would. Her scientific pride, as well as the abundance of knowledge to be
discovered and analyzed, was at stake.

                                *               *               *
After breakfast, Washu had a stroke of genius and, after waiting for Samantha to
accompany Tenchi in sword practice, she went upstairs and started to root around
in her things.

"Now she's got to have a comb around here. Can't have that hair of hers so
straight without one," she mumbled, moving things aside after giving the room a
look over for the required object. "And if I can get just one strand of hair, I
can use that for DNA testing and scanning and it'll be easier to get than a blood
sample. That reminds me: gotta get that sperm sample from Tenchi once she's gone."

"Maybe it's in her travel bag," Washu thought, dumping the contents onto the bed
and spilling the cardboard box. Her photographic memory quickly memorized the
layout of the bags contents but she stopped her search when the cardboard box.

A comb came out after the plain black box, but she had lost interest in it, green
eyes fastening onto the box even as her hands fastened onto it and pulled it open.
She took out the suit belonging to Samantha Jones's alter ego: Silhouette.

"Now what the heck is this for," she wondered aloud.

It was at that moment that Sasami, hearing Washu's voice in Samantha's room,
stopped and opened the door. A sharp intake of breath and she stomped inside,
forgetting to close the door all the way behind her.

"What are you doing Washu!? You put that back right away!" she demanded.

"Huh? You mean this isn't my spare clothing? Oops! Wrong room. Guess I'd better
get going," Washu feinted, trying desperately to get out of the room with a good
reason, but even her brilliant couldn't find one.

Then, while listening to the younger princess of Jurai scold her for intruding on
others, her mind caught a very important thought: Why was Sasami not shocked to
see the mysterious suit she held in her hands? Immediately Washu had the answer.

"You knew about her right from the start," she said suddenly. It was a statement,
not a question.

This caught Sasami totally off guard and, after seeing no way out, shook her head
yes.

"And who was it that told you to go searching through Samantha's clothing?" she
suddenly turned the tables on the scientist.

"She's been hanging around Ryoko *far* too much," Washu thought.

As the two young girls, both hardly young in years of existence, argued over the
scientist's intrusion into Samantha's room, Ryo-oh-ki poked her head into the room
and trotted inside, jumping onto the bed and rolling about in the spilled
clothing. The cabbit spied the mask of Silhouette and, with a playful meow,
pounced on it, wrapping herself in it good. It was finally able to untangle itself
enough to get her feet and eyes uncovered and raced out the door, hopping for
someone to get her untangled from it.

Sasami saw the cabbit making for the door and ran after it, shouting for it to
stop. The cabbit, thinking that this was a playful game of catch the mask, ran
outside into the hallway and downstairs, easily outdistancing it's bigger
playmate. After tumbling the last two steps downstairs, it tumbled into Mihoshi
who, always willing to help, picked up the hurt cabbit and giggled as it tried to
untangle itself from the encumbering mask.

"Wow! Where did you get this Ryo-oh-ki?" she asked it, getting the cabbits big
ears out of the eye holes and flapping the mask to get it back into it's normal
shape.

"Oh wow! I'd never thought that I would see one of these in my life time!" she
said cheerfully and, unfortunately, a bit too loudly.

Sasami and Washu made it downstairs in time to see Aeka and Ryoko, who had been
watching TV, turn to see what Mihoshi was talking about.

"What is it," Ryoko asked, arching an eyebrow.

"A Strikers mask," Mihoshi replied happily before Washu and Sasami could stop her.

"Give it back Mihoshi," Sasami quickly said.

"How can that be," the Detective replied, her face shaped in confusion. "It's much
too big to be yours. And besides, you're not a member of the most dangerous and
hardly seen assassins guild." The confused look was replaced with a happy one.
"You're too young to be one."

The part about the assassins guild caught and held Ryoko and Aeka's attention and
both got up from the couch, scrabbling around Washu and Sasami to get a good look
at the mask.

"The strikers are an Assassin's guild," Ryoko asked, obviously confused about
Mihoshi's statement.

"Oh yes. They are a most terrible band of people indeed. Even the Galaxy Police
have been having a hard time trying to bring even *one* of those guys in for
questioning. Why all they wear is black and their masks are exactly like this one.
But they only wear them whenever they're about to kill someone," she cheerfully
explained. A thoughtful look came over her face as she pondered aloud whom it
belonged to.

The group knew each other very well, having shared secrets with each other that
they would not share with anyone else. The only other person whom they could not
say the same for was Samantha.

"Hey!" Mihoshi shouted. "Do you think this could be Samantha's?"

"Hold on Mihoshi! Don't go jumping to conclusions," Sasami pleaded but knew that
she had lost the fight before she had even started.

"Now, who could she have come to kill if it's hers," the Detective pondered aloud.

One name issued forth from two different throats at the same time: "Tenchi."

Ryoko and Aeka had wondered why the young woman had been spending what seemed like
an inordinate amount of time with their man. Jealousy and concern for the young
man's life tripped up whatever common sense was trying to make them see. In a
flash, Ryoko was gone.

Aeka was running for the door but was stopped by Sasami, who immediately began to
instill some common sense in her sister.

"Oh these kids. Always letting their emotions get in the way," Washu thought,
trying to instill some of her own common sense through the telepathic link she
shared with her daughter but finding it blocked with anger. She teleported after
Ryoko, hoping to stop her before she killed Samantha.

"Did I do something wrong," Mihoshi asked to no one in particular.

Ryo-oh-ki meowed and rubbed against her comfortingly.

                                *               *               *
Samantha blocked Tenchi's over head swing and pushed it up, momentarily putting
him off balance. Going low, she swung her left foot in a short arc at his feet,
hoping to pull off the same maneuver she had tried about a week ago. The young
woman had put off trying it again, knowing that the young man would remember it
and take appropriate measures to avoid it.

Her left foot caught air as Tenchi did a short flip backwards, completely avoiding
the trap and giving him time to plan his next attack.

"Damn. He remembered," she thought, then smiled. All it meant was that she would
have to work harder.

It was yet another beautiful day at the Masaki shrine, the sun shining it's
brilliant warmth over the landscape through a pure blue sky. After finishing his
morning chores, Tenchi had announced that he was going to practice with
Grandfather. As before, Samantha was invited along and both had taken sparring
rounds with each other and Grandfather Masaka. He stood silently, watching the two
spar back and forth over the cobblestone of the court yard, totally different from
each other in the sounds of their fighting styles.

While Tenchi issued battle cries and grunted with exertion or shouted in triumph,
Samantha was quiet and somber, preferring the silent approach.

Standing back up, she went into the defensive, preferring to conserve her energy
for an attack after he had tired himself out. This was a tactic that Tenchi had
learned from Grandfather in earlier fights. He went on the offensive, making the
young woman work harder and burn more energy in blocking his blows or else risk
becoming disarmed. Samantha backed up, feeling her muscles burn at the exertion of
deflecting or blocking the young man's attacks. The two stopped neared the middle
of the courtyard, swords crossed and faces close to each other.

Both were exerting their full strenght against the other, barely concealed grunts
of strain escaping their lips into the air. The long practice, along with the hot
weather of summer, was taking its toll on their stamina and Samantha knew that she
had to end this sparring soon.

She relaxed and stepped to the side.

Not expecting the move, Tenchi stumbled forward onto his hands and knees.
Samantha, with the first victory cry she had made in all the times the two had
sparred, jumped into the air and brought the wooden blade down at the young man's
neck, planning on stopping a few inches away in a moment of overconfidence.

The victory cry was stopped half way through as something solid materialized in
mid-air and slammed into her stomach. Eyes were shut and she did not see her arc
over the court yard into the forest.

"Try to kill my Tenchi will you? I'll show you," growled an enraged voice.

Between fits of coughing, Samantha recognized the voice as Ryoko's and wondered
just how she had jumped her in mid-air when she had not been around at all. Her
curiosity changed to amazement and fear when an energy sword appeared in her right
hand and lashed downwards towards her chest.

Samantha, acting purely on instinct, tapped into her chi with very little
concentration and slapped both hands onto the descending energy blade. It stopped
with a splash of sparks and the sizzle of flesh, her limited durability barely
strong enough to keep the blade from slicing her hands off.

To Ryoko, the scene reminded her very much of the time that Kagato had blocked
Tenchi's attack, bare handed, and with only one hand. The thought of Tenchi's past
near death further augmented her anger and she pressed down harder, using all of
her extraordinary strength to bring the glowing orange bade closer to Samantha's
neck.

As for the young woman, the pain in her arms combined with the incredible strain
to make it a tough time for her to concentrate. Every time her concentration
slipped, the energy blade bit just a bit deeper into the palms of her hands and it
was becoming difficult for her to split the chi into both enhancing her strength
and keeping the durability up. Finally, when her mind was on the verge of
collapse, Samantha pushed the sword to the side and let go, the sword sinking
deeply into the ground.

Ryoko, off balance by the move, opened her hand and the sword dissipated. But she
was too far off balance to move quickly enough and received a powered fist into
her midsection that forced her into the trunk of a thick tree.

"Who is she? What the heck is going on?" this and many other questions raced
through the Canadian's mind as she got to her feet and Ryoko got to hers. She
ignored the pain as best she could and hopped that Tenchi would be able to talk
some sense into his sister.

Suddenly the black and red clad figure thrust her left hand forward and Samantha
thought that she was going to create another energy sword. That prediction was
grievously disproved as a bolt of orange energy sailed through the air towards
her. Again the mysterious chi that rested in her soul saved her life, hardening
her skin to a steel like durability and she took the brunt of the blow. The force
of it, however, knocked her off her feet and sent the young woman rolling down the
hill.

The world tumbled around and around as Samantha tried to control the pain, her
curiosity, and her fear, all at the same time. Coming to a painful stop at the
trunk of a tree halfway down the hill, she had barely enough time to get to her
feet before Ryoko came at her, swinging that blade of hers like an executioner.
The slash went high and Samantha was able to duck under it, swinging her feet in
an arc to trip Ryoko off hers.

"Ahh," Ryoko shouted, landing on the ground with a painful thud, her sword
dissipating.

Acting quickly, Samantha jumped on her and pinned her arms to the ground even as
she straddled her stomach.

"There! Now that you're immobile for the moment, why don't you tell me what the
heck you're doing?!" she shouted. A pain in her side told her that a rib had been
broken on the way down the hill.

"You're trying to kill *my* Tenchi," Ryoko shouted back.

"Kill him? Didn't you say that before-," Samantha's words were lost as a gut
wrenching sensation overtook her and suddenly she was no longer straddling the
woman's chest but hanging in midair from her wrists.

She looked down and saw that they were at least a thousand feet above the peaceful
surface of the lake.

"This is not good," Samantha thought as Ryoko phased her body out of the redhead's
grip and watched her fall.

On the way down, Ryoko threw bolt after bolt of energy after her, hoping to hit
the redhead but she twisted out of the way of the shots and plunged into the
water. Diving deep, Samantha swam far away from where she had entered the lake.
The cold water made her forget, however shortly, the pain of a busted rib and she
was able to get to the lake's shore without surfacing once.

"About two minutes. Never knew that I could hold it that long."

Samantha stood up and winced, feeling the pain of the rib making itself known yet
again, and walked towards the house. Her gray eyes scanned the area about her,
noticing that Ryoko was no where to be found and that Sasami and the others were
coming out of the house towards her. Suddenly Washu and Tenchi appeared before her
and she stumbled back, thinking that it was another attack by Ryoko.

"Are you all right Samantha," Tenchi asked, coming forward and helping her to her
feet.

"Ah! Except for this broken rib, burnt hands, ripped clothing, and pain about a
mile long, I'm fine. How are you?" she hissed through teeth clenched against the
pain.

"Only that? Going up against Ryoko, you're lucky that you didn't get killed let
alone those few scratches you received," Washu commented. "Oh here she comes." The
space pirate came flying out of the lake, having gone in to find her quarry, and
now hovered as the group of friends surrounded Samantha.

Samantha smiled inwardly. "I've always had this ability to tick people off by not
dying."

"I'm so sorry Samantha but Washu was looking through your clothes and I wasn't
able to stop her in time from finding the box and...." Sasami blubbered on, coming
to a stop.

"It's okay. Do you think we can calm Ryoko down?"

"Oh yeah. Once Tenchi yells at her to stop and listen to him," Sasami said, which
the young man had started doing.

"But Teeennnnchiiiii," Ryoko cooed.

"No. You listen to me. Samantha is not an assassin here to kill me," Tenchi said,
rising his voice in anger at her for one of the few times that he would. "We were
sparring and she was just joking around. And she could not have killed me with the
practice sword. They're only wood."

"But the mask and....." Ryoko tried explaining.

"The mask is a part of her suit because she's the vigilante from Canada, the one
on the news we heard about a few times, remember? The one they called Silhouette?"
His voice was softer now, seeing the look of thought on Ryoko's face.

"She is? Then Mihoshi was wrong about the assassin's guild and stuff?" Tenchi
nodded and the former space pirate looked extremely sad and stupid, having made
herself look like a fool in front of Tenchi and nearly killing an innocent person.

"Yes, Mihoshi was wrong about the aassain's guild! Now you apologize to Samantha
right now," the young man ordered, a stern look on his face that quickly melted
into one of kindness.

Ryoko stepped forward and up to Samantha, who had taken to leaning on Mihoshi for
support, and stopped, ashen faced.

"I'm..uh. ah...really sorry for trying to kill you," she mumbled.

"Excuse me, what was that? I didn't hear you," Samantha said.

"I said I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

"Forgive you? YOU NEARLY KILLED ME OVER A MISTAKE!!!!!"

This outburst shocked Ryoko and she could feel her own anger rising. She could not
simply figure out why the Canadian just simply accept the apology and let life go
on. But Samantha's face was red with rage and she desperately fought to keep it
under control. Everyone else had been shocked by her outburst, knowing her only as
a quiet person not given to shouting until now.

"Okay, okay. I'm fine. I am really pissed at nearly being killed right now and
thought I *won't* forget it, I can try to forgive." Samantha's face was still red
with rage but she wasn not shouting anymore and she held out her hand to Ryoko.

Ryoko took it gingerly and shook it, a weak smile on her face.

"Now that you all know about me, and I know that you're all more then you seem,
would you mind telling me exactly is going on around here?" Samantha asked,
feeling her anger mixed between nearly being killed and having her secret revealed
to so many people.

Before anyone could say anything, a large spaceship suddenly decloaked above them,
it's massive size blocking out the sun and casting the group of friends into
shadow.

Suddenly, a spark fell from the ship, moving as fast as light and hit the ground.
Then was a huge explosion and everything went white.
________________________________________________________________________
Getting pretty exciting huh? Well I wanted everyone to find out about everyone
else but not voluntarily, thus the reason for Washu tramping about in Samantha's
belongings. This one if a bit short compared to the first two but the next will be
longer, I promise. What do you think about the story so far?

Give me a shout at: xwing@perf.bc.ca

Remember, I accept all comments and criticisms. It helps me to become a better
writer.

Jamie Jeans                             Surprises all around
November 10/97

If you're wondering why I delayed Seriyou's arrival until this chapter, it was
because I wanted to give a resemblance of normal life in the Masaki household, or
at least as normal as it gets, with Samantha participating in the day to day
affairs. I'll be doing some more of that in future chapters once this whole mess
with Seriyou is cleaned up. Also, I intend for Ryoko, Aeka, and Samantha spend a
night on the town.

Legal stuff: All the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to Pioneer Inc
except for Samantha Jones and Silhouette which are mine. Now, on to the story!
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 4

As soon as the spark had descended from the ship, everyone had sprung into action,
Washu teleporting away with Sasami and Aeka in tow while Ryoko teleported away
with Mihoshi and Samantha in tow. Luckily, Ryo-oh-ki was still inside the house,
having been told by Sasami earlier to stay inside where it was safe. Samantha felt
the gut wrenching sensation and thought that she was going to toss up her
breakfast when they reappeared close to the house. The shockwave, however, was
stronger then they had thought and all were slammed off their feet by it, only
Samantha and Ryoko having the strength to stay conscious.

"What the hell is going on here," Samantha shouted.

"It looks like a Jurian battleship but it's one I don't recognize," Ryoko replied.

"Aliens? Oh great. Even worst, they're attacking aliens! Can't this day get any
better," the red head said, her anger getting the better of her.

A blue ball shot out from the ship and Samantha prepared for another explosion and
shockwave but this time it landed gently on the ground and, when it disappeared, a
man only an inch or so shorter then herself appeared. The Canadian did a double
take, her eyes taking in the ludicrous style of his clothes and the color of his
hair. The hair was pink and he wore a white cloak, a pink coat underneath the
cloak and blue pants completed his ansemble. The redhead didn't know who he was,
of course, but Ryoko knew immediately.

"Seriyou." She spat the word out like it was a curse.

"Ah, so your primitive brain remembers her superior, how nice. You may now bow
before my excellence," he said, holding his chin up in a way that really irritated
Samantha.

The Canadian gave Ryoko an amazed look, as if to ask that this guy really thought
that highly of himself. The space pirate nodded her head yes.

"And who have we here, hmmm? Another barbarian here to keep me from exacting my
revenge on Tenchi and rescuing Aeka? Well one or a dozen more cavemen will not
help you against my awesome powers. After all, it is my duty, no, the duty of any
civilized being in the cosmos to rescue Aeka from the clutches of a flea infested
planet such as this."

The stench of his ego was so powerful that Samantha could almost smell it and,
despite her confusion at his words of revenge and rescue, she pinched her nose and
waved the air before her as if it held a bad smell.

"God he reeks! Anymore and I wouldn't be able to stand the smell," She said to
Ryoko.

Ryoko smiled and took up the same act, both knowing on some deep instinctive level
that they had to get time for Tenchi and the others to recover and get away.

"How dare you mock the proper suitor of Aeka?" Seriyou said, face turning red with
rage.

This drew Samantha up short. "Proper suitor?" She turned to the space pirate for
answers.

"Long story. Remind me to tell you about it once I'm done pounding this guy into
the ground." She smacked her right fist into her left palm, as if anticipating
giving a well deserved beating to the man just for his ego alone.

"Well I never! How dare you comprehend even laying your filthy hands on me!" he
said, shocked to his core.

"And you probably never will, dressed like that and with that attitude. I bet you
drive girls away faster then soap drives grease away!" Samantha was thinking on
her feet, just the way she liked it, hoping that if this guy was like most of the
men she had met in her life then he would get extremely angry at her comments. He
did and he shot a bolt of energy at them.

Samantha dived for the ground while Ryoko teleported, the energy bolt missing both
by a mile and striking the ground in front of the house. She got back up and ran
up to Seriyou, who was busy contesting with Ryoko in a play of energy swords.

"Geez, does everyone have one of those things," she thought, deciding to reserve
her chi until she really needed it.

Although her honor demanded she attack this *proper suitor* from the front, she
decided that she could bend it this once considering the cowardly way he had
attacked her and her friends from the safety of the ship. Connecting to the chi,
her senses were enhanced to a razor sharpness that few predators of the wild could
attain and her speed and strength were automatically doubled. Jumping into the
air, she unleashed a battle cry and twisted in midair, extending her left foot in
a kick.

She slammed into his back even as he blasted Ryoko away from him, knocking the
suitor face first to the ground. He tried to shift onto his back she pinned his
arms to behind him and spoke into his ear. "I don't know who you are but I don't
appreciate you trying to kill my landlord and friends." Despite his claims to
greatness, she had no trouble keeping his physical strength at bay since it felt
to be little more then a weight lifters strength.

"How dare you touch me you barbaric primitive," he said, hot rage distorting his
voice at being handled in such a manner. The rage turned into an energy pulse that
shot out from his body, knocking Samantha from his back.

"Hmmph!" He stood up and gave the target of his anger a look over, his eyes
longing over her curves, curves made more noticeable by her dip in the lake and
her wet clothes hanging onto her frame. "Another *disgusting* human female."

"Would you shut up? I'm *really* getting sick of listening to you," she replied,
charging at him. She had only a moment to wonder where Ryoko had gone to before
Seriyou unleashed a barrage of energy bolts at Samantha.

Reacting with lightning quick reflexes further quickened by the inner energy,
Samantha leapt to the left and landed running, trying to outdistance the energy
bolts. No good. Two struck her in the chest and sent her spinning away.

"Hmm. I had a feeling that you ignorant savages would prevent me from extracting
my revenge on Tenchi and my rescue of Aeka so I prepared a little present for
you," Seriyou said.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Samantha had to wonder just what the heck he
was babbling about. She also had to wonder just how many more blasts she was going
to take in the chest this day, her shirt burnt to all but a modest assembly of
cloth rags. A second beam of light came down from the huge hovering ship, landing
behind Seriyou. As the energy of the transport dissipated, it took the shape of a
large bulky figure with massive arms and legs attached to an even bigger torso and
small head.

"This is an attack droid used by the Galaxy Police for raids against Pirate
headquarters. They can take almost anything in laser blasts and detonation bombs.
Although I don't know who you are, I do know that this Attacvk droid shall ripe
you limb from limb."

"Talk, talk talk," Samantha said, getting to her feet and casting sidelong glances
at her unconscious friends. The longer she kept his attention, the longer they had
to recover and defend themselves. Not only that but, to her rising hope, she saw
Ryoko teleporting in and out of the house, bringing in each person as quickly as
possible.

"Aren't you an arrogant, pompous, ignorant, male chauvinistic pig. Why I've meet
Earth males that had more class and dignity then you," she said. The young woman
knew that she didn't know a thing about this other worldly visitor but thought
that insulting him would keep his attention on her.

From the look on his face, she knew that she had struck a nerve. His face grew red
then purple with rage as the full implications of the insult registered in his
mind. "Arrogant!? Pompous?! A lesser being then Earth males?!!!" He practically
shrieked the last bit. "How dare you! I shall show you the full folly of your
words."

Rushing at her, his pink and white cloak flapping behind him, he slashed at her
mid section with an energy sword that grew from his right hand. It was deep purple
in color.

"Geez does everyone have one of those," Samantha could not help thinking again,
backing up from the wild slash and jumping in close, under his guard. Grabbing his
right hand, and mindful of the energy sword that still blazed from it, she flipped
him over her shoulder and onto the ground. She was about to end the fight when a
massive black fist struck her in the side, driving her back from Seriyou.

The chi protected her from the blow but the blow had also broken her
concentration. Losing her mental grip on the chi, she landed badly and felt the
broken rib rake her insides with pain. Seriyou gave a cry of triumph and launched
himself into the air, deep purple blade descending towards her in a killing
stroke. Before it could get within two feet of her chest, another energy blade
appeared, this one blue in color, and blocked the blow without wavering.

"STOP," shouted a voice.

Samantha looked to where the voice had come from and saw Tenchi standing to her
right, holding the hilt  of the sword in his hand and dressed in what could only
be described as a battle suit. Ryoko stood behind him, her own energy sword drawn
and at the ready. A movement on the stairs leading down from the shrine showed
Yousho racing down, ready to intervene if Tenchi needed his help.

"This is between you and me Seriyou. Leave her out of it," Tenchi said, his voice
brave and strong.

"You're right. This *is* between you and me savage. And after I've defeated you, I
will take your corpse to Emperor Azusa, thus showing him who is the rightful
suitor of Aeka," he sneered.

"You will never be my husband, not as long as I draw breath," Aeka screamed at
him, having come out of the house to watch her man fight for her. The others,
despite Tenchi's protests, had also came out to watch and cheer their friends on.

Seriyou sighed. "I shall definitely have to see about freeing your mind of
whatever mind control device Washu has over you. After all, Azusa picked me to be
your husband and how could you deny me unless you were controlled by some outer
force."

"Kill," Seriyou instructed the large attack droid. Without giving any sign that it
had received the command, the attack droid advanced on Samantha with a speed that
seemed impossible given its large size. Both combatants jumped back to do battle,
getting out of the way of the advancing battle droid, Tenchi unable to come to
Samantha's aid for his own fight had begun.

Leaping backwards, the redhead evaded the metallic grasp of the robot and jumped
forward, hitting the ground and sliding between the legs. Standing up, she drew
back her right fist,  took a millisecond to enhanced its hardness and strength
before slamming it into the dark steel. There was a sound like a large cymbal
being rung and her fist bounced back off the metal. Pain lanced up her arm and
Samantha realized that she had come close to breaking nearly every bone in her
body.

"What is this thing made of," she thought, shaking her hand and watching the droid
turn to face her. "Titanium?"

"Duck," shouted a familiar voice. Without waiting to ponder why, Samantha dropped
to the ground and watched in amazement as a barrage of energy blasts struck the
battle droid in the chest. It stood up to the barrage for a full two seconds
before being blown off it's feet and onto it's back some ten feet away.

Samantha got up and saw that everyone, Aeka, Washu, Mihoshi, Ryoko, and even
little Sasami, were holding futuristic guns, the barrels of which were smoking a
little.

"Thanks. That guy was one tough cookie," the Canadian said.

As if taking the statement like an insult, the battle droid roused itself from the
ground and stood back up, advancing once more on it's target.

"Correction, still *is* one tough cookie," Samantha gulped, steeling her body for
a long and tiring battle.

                                *               *               *
Tenchi parried the Jurians blade and angled it into the ground, slashing through
his tunic and scoring first blood. He didn't care.

"Very good savage. I'll give you that. But you're no match for a pure blooded
Jurian trained by the best swordmans in all of Jurai," Seriyou said, advancing
with a straight stab that turned to cut Tenchi when he dodged to the right.

His voice was beginning to irritate Tenchi and he turned that irritation into
anger to fuel his limbs and body.

"I am sick of you and your *pure Jurian* talk! All I want is to be left alone and
people like you continuously interfere in my life," he shouted, blocking the
turned blade and shoving it back.

Off balance, Seriyou fell to the ground when Tenchi's overhead strike landed
squarely on his sword. Sparks flew as the blue blade grinded again the deep purple
one, sounding like metal tearing under high pressure. In order to break the
stalemate, Seriyou placed his lift foot against Tenchi's chest and shoved him
back. No sooner had he gotten to his feet had Tenchi slammed his sword against
his, the impact sounding like two hollow aluminum pipes colliding together.

Yousho arrived at the battle halfway through and nodded in satisfaction at the
improvements in Tenchi's battle prowess. But he kept his body tense, ready to
spring to his grandson's aid should he need it. He didn't.

All his pent up anger at the involvement the royalty of Jurai had in his life was
all released on Seriyou, his sword flashing in and out in a rapid series of
movements that was impossible to follow. It was a miracle all in itself that
Seriyou managed to block or parry Tenchi's attacks.

With a mustering of strength, Tenchi brought his sword down on Seriyou's,
shattering it into atoms and nearly breaking his hand. Realizing that he was on
the verge of losing the battle, Seriyou blasted Tenchi with a wide field beam, the
energy pushing him back rather then killing him.

"Your death will be slow and torturous Tenchi. And it shall start now.
MAGNIFICENT! BEAM AEKA AND RYOKO ABOARD!" he shouted.

Ryoko, surprised by this command in the midst of getting up close and personal
with the battle droid with her sword, was caught off guard by this command and was
promptly slammed into the ground by the battle droid. Samantha, being closer to
the two combatants, jumped and slammed into Ryoko, pushing her out of the way a
split second before a globe of blue energy engulfed her while a second one
engulfed the attack droid. Simaltaneously, Aeka, shouting for Tenchi, was beamed
aboard in a similair fashion with Seriyou following suit. As soon as the three
were aboard, the massive ship turned around and streaked up through Eath's
atmosphere.

Upon exiting the atmosphere, a black hole appeared in front of it and it
disappeared from sight.

"He used my warp gate," Washu shouted, cursing herself for not putting a security
device on the subspace holes. They were a favorite invention of hers that she had
made for the Royalty of Jurai to use in order to make the long trip between Jurai
and Earth much shorter. Instead of a many day journey, the trip could now be made
in under twenty hours.

"Quick," Tenchi said, panting from his fight with Seriyou. "Get Ryo-oh-ki. We have
to rescue Aeka and Samantha."

Washu nodded and ran inside for the cabbit while the young man went to check on
Ryoko.

"Are you all right," he asked. There was a flash as the Jurian battle suit
disappeared, leaving him in his regular clothes.

"I's a bit shaken but I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes," Ryoko replied,
then looked at where the Jurian Battleship had been. "If it hadn't been for
Samantha then I would be up there as well, having to listen to that pompous voice
of his." She shuddered at that thought.

"Well you'll be hearing it again pretty soon if we're quick enough," Tenchi said.
"Looks like it's finally a trip to Jurai." He did not seem pleased about it.

The cabbit came out of the house and jumped into the air, immediately turning into
a spaceship. Mihoshi tapped on her wrist communicator and her own ship burst out
of the water of the lake, water coursing down it's sleek hull.

"I'll go ahead first Tenchi, and try to slow him down," Mihoshi said.

Before he could say anything, the ship's teleporter brought her aboard and the
sleek craft zoomed up into the sky, entering into the subspace portal to Jurai
just outside Earth's atmosphere. The young man had to smile at this. No matter how
accident prone or dumb she appeared, Mihoshi could be counted on in a pinch to
help him and his friends out.

"I wanna go too Tenchi," Sasami said, tugging on his shirt sleeve.

"I'm sorry Sasami but you had better stay here where it's safe. It might get
dangerous up ahead," he told her.

"But Ryoko is going with you," the younger princess of Jurai argued.

"Because I'm needed to pilot Ryo-oh-ki. And besides, things might get too
dangerous for a little kid like yourself," Ryoko pointed out.

"Oh all right," Sasami finally agreed. Then to Tenchi: "But please don't get hurt
and bring Aeka home."

"We will," Tenchi promised.

The three, Washu, Ryoko, and Tenchi, were ready to leave when Washu snapped her
fingers.

"I almost forgot," she said, teleporting away.

"Forgot what," Tenchi mused.

Washu appeared a few seconds later, carrying a black cardboard box. "Okay
Ryo-oh-ki! Bring us up."

"Good luck," Yousho said as the three were engulfed in a red globe and brought
upon Ryo-oh-ki. A few seconds later, the sub space gate opened for a third time as
the cabbit/spaceship entered it and disappeared.

                                *               *               *
All was black and pain.

She opened her eyes mainly to replace the black with light and received only more
pain when the brightness stabbed her eyes. Agony racked her form as red hot
daggers continuously stabbed her in the side, breaking any concentration she might
have mustered. Laying on her back, the cold steel of the deck she was laying on
brought some comfort and she came around. Through waves of agony, she was able to
sit up and take a good look at her surrondings

The deck of the ship she was currently on looked nothing more then one large zoo.
But instead of iron bars set in a rectangle or square cell, there was round domes
of branches with green grass on the inside on the floor. There were many of these
cells, which she suddenly remembered were referred to as brigs on a ship, and the
the deck she was on was huge.

"What sci-fi movie did I stumble into," she whispered, her voice sounding
dreadfully loud in the oppresive quiet of the ship.

Forgetting that she had been beamed aboard an alien craft by hostile people, or at
least one hostile person and one hostile Android, the Canadian continued to look
around, amazed at the alien sights her eyes looked over and feeling nothing but
awe and wonder at her surrondings. It was when she came around one of the large
doomed brigs with what appeared to be tree branches for bars that she heard a
famaliar pompous voice.

The sound of the voice evicted anger even as her broken rib evicted pain. Tapping
into the chi, the pain subsided, numbing those nerves that conveyed the message of
something broken in the body, and her enhanced hearing caught the conversation.

"-Father hears that you have treated me in such a manner, he will have you working
in the lowliest post that he can find for the rest of your life," shouted an
enraged voice. Samantha immediately reconized it as Aeka's.

"No he won't Princess Aeka," said the arrogant voice of Seriyou. The young woman
pondered at the Princess part then concentrated on the rest of the conversation.
"Indeed not, for when Azusa, I mean Emperor Azusa, hears of the great deed I have
performed, he will reward me greatly!"

"And what great deed is that!? Kidanpping a Princess of Jurai's Royal family?
Attempted murder of the Crown Prince of Jurai? Coming to Earth without a Royal
escort more then proves that you did not get permission from father!"

"Why, the great deed of freeing his daughter from the mind control of that
barbaric Tenchi of course! Once I show him that you were under his control and
that I was the one whom set you free, he will surely give me your hand in
marriage. Afte that, we shall travel to Earth and exact our Justice upon Tenchi
and his barbaric family!"

The thought of any kind of danger coming to her Tenchi set Aeka into a rage and
she grasped the branches of her prison, trying to pull them apart so that she
could get at the noble and strangle him to death with her bare hands. When that
failed, she tried to use her powers to break free but discovered, to her dismay
that they did not work!

"I predicted that whatever mind control Tenchi had Washu place over you would be
strong enough to make you want to go back to him. So I constructed this cell
especially for you. It neutralizes the powers of any Jurian Noble, no matter how
strong they may be." There was a undertone of barely disguised smugness in his
voice that made Samantha want to step out and pound this guy flat.

"But then what kind of guest would I be," she thought sarcastically.

"But that will come later. Since the Magnificient is more a battleship then a
Hospital, with only limited resources in determining the kind of mind control
placed over you, I must wait until we get back to planet Jurai where a full
diagnosis can be done. Until then my future bride," Seriyou concluded and started
to walk away.

"I am not being brained washed," Aeka shrieked in a most unladylike, and
definitely unprincesslike, manner.

Hearing the sound of light feet tapping the deck and heavy metal ones pounding the
deck, Samantha knew that the attack Android was with the Jurai Noble and quickly
looked about for a place to hide. She looked at to the top of one of the cells and
leaped up, catching the spot where the branches descended from and hung on the
outside, being careful not to fall inside and become trapped.

As soon as the Noble and his mechanical flunkey were gone, Samantha jumped back
down to the floor, jarring her rib slightly and bringing about a fresh wave of
pain. She saw Aeka, sitting on the floor of the cell, sobbing quietly.

"I had a feeling that you guys were more then you let on," Samantha said, coming
right up the bars.

Aeka jumped and relaxed a bit when she saw that it was Samantha. She immediately
tensed up again when she saw that her friend's eyes were blazing white orbs
instead of the friendly steel gray eyes she had come to know.

"Oh, sorry" Samantha said, disconnecting from the chi, her eyes reverting back to
their normal color. The pain in her side rose as the chi left her body but it was
more bearable now.

"I am so glad to see a friend here," the Princess of Jurai said. Something occured
to her despite the hope that Samanta's freedom brought and she asked, "Exactly how
did you get out of your cell."

"I don't know. Just woke up on the floor and I heard you two talking so I came
over. But would you mind explaining something to me? Like why he referred to you
as Princess and what's all this crap about mind control?" Samantha was feeling
more then a bit irritated from being left in the dark. The pain from her wounds
were not helping her attitude in the least.

"Well mind you that we do not tell everyone that comes to our home that we are
aliens from a far off planet. That would bring about attention that Lord Tenchi
does not deserve," Aeka replied. "And as for the mind control, Seriyou has deluded
himself into thinking that I have been brainwashed by my beloved in order to stay
with him. Like I need to be controlled in such a way to stay with Lord Tenchi!
Hmmph!"

"Okay, now I know you two aren't brother and sister. Do you think you could tell
me once we get away from the nut?" Samantha asked.

"After saving mine and Tenchi's life, it is the least I can do," Aeka replied. Her
face took on a pained expression at the thought of the man she loved.

"Hey are you all right? You're not injured are you?" the Canadian inquired.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I was thinking about Tenchi and how he is faring thus far."
________________________________________________________________________
Almost forgot this. Send your comments and criticisms to me at: xwing@perf.bc.ca

It helps me to become a better writer. I hoped you liked this chapter. The next
one will involve the royal family and the......Well you have to read it to find
out because I ain't saying anymore.

Jamie Jeans                             Surprises all around
November 10/97

Well I hope that everyone has been enjoying the story thus far. I've worked very
hard on it and have had help from a friend who filled in the gaps in my knowledge
when it came to certain people in the Tenchi Muyo universe. Once again I say not
to fear when writing me with your comments or criticisms, I appreciate both since
it helps me to make this story a better one. My e-mail is xwing@perf.bc.ca

Legal stuff: All the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to Pioneer Inc
except for Samantha Jones who belongs to me. Please don't sue me If I got this
part wrong.

Now on to the story!
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 5

Physically, Tenchi was fine. Emotionally, he was a seething cauldron of emotions
which ranged from concern for Aeka and Samantha, curiosity over what Seiryou had
planned, anger at the member of royalty for disrupting his life, and confusion at
what he had said prior to their fight.

Currently the young man was standing beside Washu on the bridge of Ryo-oh-ki, the
genius scientist piloting the vessel as well as her daughter ever could. Behind
him stood Ryoko while Mihoshi was a half minute ahead of the cabbit/spaceship in
her sleek Galaxy Police Cruiser. Sasami, after a short argument, had been left at
home with Yousho in case the chase after Seriyou became too dangerous.

"What *was* Seiryou babbling on about? What mind control?" Tenchi thought.

From his past expierence with the Jurai noble, he knew the man to be extremely
arrogant and knew that, whatever his reasons for trying to kidnap Ryoko, his true
intent was upon marrying Aeka. Tenchi shuddered at the thought, not only at Aeka
being forced to take Seriyou's hand in marriage but for fear of Samantha's safety.

The young man still had much to learn about the workings of the Jurai Royal
family, despite the fact that Aeka had been teaching him for a while now, but he
knew that if Seriyou ever did get Aeka's hand in marriage, he would be the next to
ascend to the throne. And if such an extremist did rise to such a state of power,
Tenchi knew that it would mean trouble for him and his friends, not to mention the
rest of Earth.

"We have to rescue Aeka and Samantha as soon as possible," he told Washu

"Then that means we should go faster right?" Mihoshi suggested.

"Ryo-oh-ki is going as fast as it can. I never knew any of the Jurian battle ships
to be faster then Ryo-oh-ki," Washu said.

"It could be a young tree from the nursery," Tenchi suggested.

"Hey guys. My ship is not going at full speed. Maybe I should go ahead and catch
up with Seriyou," Mihoshi suggested.

"No I don't think so. That is a Jurai battle ship and you would be severely
outclassed. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt," Tenchi said.

"Thank you." Mihoshi blushed.

"Tenchi's right. But unfortunately, I don't think we have much in the way of
choices. Go on ahead but don't get too close," Washu instructed.

"Okay! See you guys later." Mihoshi's face disappeared off the viewscreen,
replaced by a display showing her ships increase in speed through the subspace
tunnel.

"Are you sure this is wise? I would hate to place any of us in danger," Tenchi
said, his voice full of concern.

"Oh don't worry Tenchi," Washu reassured him. "She may not be the brightest person
around but she knows how to stay out of trouble.....I hope."

                                *               *               *
Seriyou watched the graph on the viewscreen of the bridge, showing him how far he
had yet to go before his ship arrived at the planet Jurai. It would be another
three hours before he would reach Jurai and, in that time, he would try and
determine what form of mind control Washu had placed upon Aeka.

"And after I have determined what vile treatment that savage has done to her, I
will correct it and, in her right mind, Aeka will see that *I* am the one she
wishes to wed instead of the barbaric human," he thought to himself.

"Once she and I are wed, Emperor Azusa will have no choice but to step down from
the Throne, allowing me to claim my rightful spot as Ruler of the Jurai Empire!
After that, I shall endeavor to make Jurai the fountain of purity it was once
before, cleansing it of the humans and making it pure again!"

Either because of his arrogance, or the pride he held in his ship, or simply
because he forgot, Seiryou did not bother to check on the cell where Ryoko would
have been beamed aboard. Had he done so, he would have noticed that the Space
pirate was not in the holding cell, awaiting arrival to the Jurai prison. It will
be this mistake that costs the Noble his plans.
                                *               *               *
"So you're a Jurian, Sasami's a Jurian, Tenchi's part Jurian, as is Yousho, and
the rest, except for Noboyuki, are aliens from different worlds, right?"

"In the most simplistic of terms, yes," Aeka said.

Samantha was still somewhat confused at the state of things and the complicated
relations of the supposedly normal family she had moved in with. But at least she
was feeling up to specks, a bout of healing having cured the wounds she had
sustained in battle with Ryoko, Seriyou, and his Battle droid.

"Well I'll figure it out later. First I need two things: some of your clothes and
how to get you out of here."

Aeka was confused by the first request until she gave Samantha good look over and
noticed how her shirt was nothing more then an ensemble of barely held together
scraps of cloth. She took off the outer part of her kimono, a light blue one this
day with red strips running along the edges, and tossed it through the gap in the
bars. Samantha, having seen how the bars would close up whenever the prisoner
inside would try to escape, thanked her and started to rip up the outer portion of
the kimono into appropriate pieces.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll buy you a new one when we get back."

Soon the strips of clothe were tied together in a fashion that was more of a tank
top then a shirt.

"It's modest but at least I won't have the top half of me naked when I pound him
face," Samantha said. "Now that that part is over with, how do I get you out of
here. We're on Seriyou's turf plus he has that big steroid filled android with him
so we're going to have to rely on stealth and that means getting you out of there
without raising any alarms. Any ideas?"

"If you could get the key to this ship from him, you could hand it to me and I
would be able to control this ship," Aeka explained.

A picture of Seiryou placing a metal key into the appropriate place and starting
up the starship like an old car appeared in the Canadian's mind and she had to
fight to keep the smile off her face.

"Any idea what this key looks like or where it is," Samantha asked.

"Almost every Jurian Noble has the key to their ship with them at all times. I am
sure of it. As to what it is, I have no idea." The princess frowned then
brightened up. "But you can be sure that it is in the same style as my tiara."

Se pulled back her purple bangs to show Samantha the smooth wooden style of the
key to her own ship, Ryo-oh, which was currently regenerating in Washu's lab, and
she nodded in understanding.

"That part will definitely blow any chance at stealth we might have had but
considering how few our options are....." The Canadian sighed. There seemed to be
no easy way to do anything. Not that she liked things in her life to be easy.
"I'll just have to make do and improvise."

"I take it this is not the kind of vacation you had in mind when you arrived in
Japan," Aeka guessed.

"Samantha flashed her a smile. "What? You mean to think I like peaceful vacations
with nothing life threatening getting in the way?" She saw Aeka frown at the bad
attempt at witty sarcasm and started off, wondering just how she was supposed to
get to Seiryou without him knowing it.
                                *               *               *
"Oh my, there they are!" exclaimed Mihoshi, the sensors on her ship picking up the
Magnificient. "Now what did Washu say?"

"To stay back a safe distance and keep an observation on the Jurain Battleship,"
the tired sounding voice of Yukinojo reminded her.

"Of course! Don't want to get into a fight now do we," the blonde said. "Better
stay back a ways so that we don't show up on sensors as well, right?"

"Correct," Yukinojo said, and issued electronic commands to follow the orders.

                                *               *               *
"Now what have we here," Seiryou mused aloud as his sensors picked up Mihoshi's
space ship. "Ah! That is the Galaxy Police Cruiser piloted by that Mihoshi. It
appears as if Tenchi was unable to come in Ryo-oh-ki so he came in her ship
instead. Nonetheless, in one ship or another, he will die. I shall wait until we
have come out of the tunnel and then come around and attack that ship."

A devious idea came to the Jurai noble and he activated the speaker system for the
lower deck that held the brig.

"Just thought you would like to know," his obnoxious voice filtered through the
speakers. "That once we arrive at Jurai, I'll be bringing the Magnificient about
to finish Tenchi off once and for all. Have a nice day!"

Aeka's eyes went wide in terror. The battle ship was to turn around and destroy
Ryo-oh-ki, with her only love inside! She knew that the spaceship/cabbit was
faster then this ship, however new it might be, but that it was no match for the
sheer firepower it held. A deep depression threatened to overcome her until she
realized that there was still one hope running about in the insides of the ship.

"Oh please Samantha hurry. Please hurry!" she begged silently, a single tear
coursing down her cheek.
                                *               *               *
Samantha, having looked for a ventilation shaft to climb up through unnoticed,
heard the announcement and decided to risk stealth for speed. Frantically she
looked about, searching for what might be an elevator. She finally found one,
inside the trunk of a very tall tree, and jumped in, hoping that she would not be
too late to save Tenchi and the others.

                                *               *               *
In the black peaceful space around the planet Jurai, a ripple in space appeared,
growing bigger and bigger until the Jurai Battleship Magnificent shot out of the
hole. The Defence Fleet of Jurai, consisting of nearly twenty second generation
ships, formed a web of protection about the home world. The Admiral of the fleet
was surpsrised to see the nobles ship fly out of the warp hole. To his current
knowledge, only the Royal family had access to it. He was even more surprised when
the Galaxy Police cruiser emerged a half minute later and took up a position a few
dozen kilometers paralell to the Magnificient.

"Attack that ship," The Jurai noble commanded the fleet of five ships.

"But sire, that's a Galaxy Police cruiser and....." the Admiral of the fleet
protested.

"That ship has been captured by Space Pirates who are intent on assassinating me!
Now follow my order and attack that ship!" Seiryou shouted over the comlink.

"I am sorry sire but I cannot open fire on an ally of the Jurai Empire nor can I
take orders from you. I must inform Emperor Azusa of this." The admirals image
disapeered from the view screen.

"Insolent fool! I will...." Red fury nearly took hold of Seiryou's senses until he
forced himself to calm down. "He is right. I cannot command the fleet so I must
take matters into my own hands."
                                *               *               *

A blast rocked the ship and jolted Mihoshi out of her nap.

"Wahh! What's going on? Did something bad go wrong?" she shouted, taking hold of
the stick and sending the cruiser into a deep dive. The next barrage immediately
following the first missed her ship by scant inches.

"We are under attack from the Magnificient," Yukinojo promptly replied, hardly
believing that it had to state the obvious for its pilot.

The shots missed the cruiser as MIhoshi sent it into a wild zip zagging pattern,
throwing off the aim of the bigger ship.

"Oh what do I do? I can't fire on the Magnificient. I certainly can't keep this up
forever and...and...Oh I don't know. OH NO!"

Twisting the stick down and to the left, Mihoshi sent the cruiser into a down ward
corkscrew away from the Magnificient, which had tried to get closer to get closer
to the smaller ship, evading the laser blasts like a bad hail storm. But one bolt
did make contact with the ship....and immediately rebounded off the cruisers
shields. This shot, combine with the miraculous luck that stuck to the Galaxy
police Detective like paper to glue, raced back to the Jurian ship who had fired
it and struck it.

It did not strike the Light Hawk Wings.

Instead, it passed through the one part of the Wings where it's defense was weak
on the port side and slammed into the portion of the Battleship where main power
was located.

Like a light switch being flicked off, the barrage of energy bolts stopped and the
ship darkened.

Realizing that there was one less ship firing at her no longer, Mihoshi easily
outdistanced the other ships and came to a stop a few kilometers away.

"Uhm. Did I do that?"

                                *               *               *
Samantha, having been in the elevator when main power was disabled, felt energy
propelling her upwards sputter and die. For a split second her receeding upward
momentum combined with the ships artificial gravity, allowing her to stay still in
midair for a split second. Then gravity won her over and she started a stomach
flopping plummet.

Instantly she connected with the chi and enhanced the strenght in her arms and
hand. Samantha knew that she could not punch a handhold into the material of the
shaft without proper levarage and instead waited for a doorway to one of the lower
decks to come by. In the few precious seconds she had before a door loomed into
view, she focused the chi tighter about her arms and hands in order to prepare
them for the sudden jolt.

"I had better get this right or else I'll my arm out of it's socket," she thought.

When a doorway below her came, easily seen by her enhanced eyes, she reached out
with both arms and grabbed the ledge. The stop was both immediate and violent,
nearly wrenching her arms out of their sockets and sending pain through her entire
body. Gasping for breath, it was all she could to hang on and fight from blacking
out.

"That's the last time I do that," she thought.

Suddenly her sharp ears caught the sound of minarature turbines and she looked up.

"Oh great," Samantha muttered. "Can this possibly get worse?
That was when the Attack Droid spotted her.
                                *               *               *
Seriyou was furious, his face taking on a deeper shade of red under the red glow
of the emergency lights powered by emergency power. How could a single ship,
without firing a single shot, get a shot past his Light Hawk Wings and take out
the main power. He looked about the bridge, searching for something to take his
anger out on, found it, and slammed his foot into that of the attack droid.

"Oww! My foot," he cried, nearly breaking it on the hard metal of the droid's
skin.

"Magnificent! Institute emergency repairs immediately." A thought occurred to him
as he gazed about the darkened bridge. "If the power is out then that means that
*she* will be able to escape the brig. You!" he pointed at the massive attack
droid. "Go below and check on Aeka! If she has escaped, apprehend her but do not
harm her!"

The massive attack droid moved to carry out its orders. Moving to the elevator it
stepped inside and fell for a moment of free fall. That stopped when it ignited
its jets and began to softly descend.

"I swear! I will get my revenge on that barbaric boy," Seiryou swore, energy
coursing in his hand to the pulse of his anger.

                                *               *               *
Down on the planet Jurai, in the Royal palace containing the ruling family of the
Jurai Empire, Azusa looked about the gathered nobles and noticed that Seiryou was
not among them. He pondered this, knowing that the pompous young man whom he had
once chosen to become Aeka's husband usually liked to take this moment to make a
speech and bring more praise upon himself.

They were in the Royal Throne Room, with the gathered Nobles of Jurai seated about
talking to each other before the Royal meeting would begin. Funaho, as always, was
seated to his right while Misaki was sitting on his left. He sighed, a common
sound nowadays, as he thought about his two young daughters so far away on a
backwater world with a young man who looked so much like Yousho. He would never
admit this to no one else but his wives but he missed them dearly and hoped for
the day that they would return and help him to govern the empire.

"But of course Aeka will not leave Tenchi's side, even though he does not return
her love for him the way he should! Maybe it is time for me to visit Earth again
and talk with Yousho's grandson. Misaki and Funaho keep on telling me that I
should and-" his thoughts were interrupted by a holographic display that suddenly
appeared before him, showing a very nervous Admiral of the home fleet.

"What is it Admiral," Azusa demanded, never happy when someone interrupted his
thoughts, and standing up to face the hologram.

"I know that you do not wish to be disturbed before the meeting sir but I feel
compelled to tell you that Seiryou has exited from the warp hole leading to
Earth," the Admiral began.

"So Earth is where he has been the past few days. He risks much using the warp
hole without my permission," Azusa thought. The Admiral was waiting for Azusa to
give him permission to continue and he did so.

"He then ordered us to open fire on a Galaxy Police Cruiser, which also came
through the warp hole shortly after he had arrived. When I refused to do so,
Seiryou attacked the ship himself!"

"What? How dare he open fire on an ally of ours!"

"Emperor Azusa! The Ryo-oh-ki has just exited the warp hole and the Magnificient
seems to have been damaged in the fight!"

Azusa thought over his options for a few moments, wondering what Seiryou had done
in order to prompt the appearence of the Ryo-oh-ki and the Galaxy Police Cruiser.
Whatever it was, he knew that it wasn't good.

"Open up communications to the Ryo-oh-ki, the Galaxy Police cruiser, and the
Magnificient," the emperor ordered.

"I cannot open a link to the Magnificient Sire. She seems to have lost all
communications. However, I have the link to the cruiser and the Ryo-oh-ki open
sire," The Admiral explained.

The Emperor nodded and the Admirals face disapeered from view, replaced by a split
screen of Mihoshi and Tenchi and his friends.

"What is going on?" Azusa demanded.

"Um.Well Seiryou came to Earth to try and kidnap Ryoko and Aeka but got Aeka and
Samantha instead. But that came after a big fight where he tried to kill Tenchi
and Samantha and then he brought Aeka and Samantha onboard," Mihoshi started.

This hastily explnation stunned the Royal family and Azusa and Misaki, being more
emotional, nearly turned crimson with anger.

"He kidnapped my daughter!" Azusa roared in anger and surprise. "I shall have his
head for this! By what outlandish reason has he to do what he has done?"

Tenchi walked up closer to the viewscreen and started talking. "He said that we
were brainwashing her into staying on Earth with me. But we don't have time for
this! We need to get on his ship and rescue Samantha and Aeka!"

"OH! If I get my hands on that Seiryou, I'll......" Misaki choked up with rage,
leaving the imagination to wonder exactly what she would do the noble if she ever
got her hands on him.

"Calmness sister," said Funahos soothing voice, with just a little bit of worry
underlining it. "We shall worry about that later, but for now Tenchi and the
others must rescue Aeka and this Samantha. How can we help?"

Tenchi was silent. He had not dealt with this kind of situation before and could
think of nothing to say. Fortunetly Washu stepped up and answered for him.

"Just leave it to us your Majesty! We'll have Aeka back as soon as possible!"
_____________________________________________________________________
Don't have much to say at this part except to keep reading to see what happens
next.

Send any e-mail to me about this story at: xwing@perf.bc.ca