Chapter 4 

    Tenchi sighed as he watched the ship disappear into the 
subspace fold.  It certainly seemed strange that the Emperor would 
suddenly call for the Royal family without summoning him.  But 
Tenchi didn't mind, for he knew that the Emperor sort of disliked 
him.  But also, in another way, Tenchi was sort of glad.  It meant 
that he didn't have to leave Earth at all.  In a way, Tenchi had 
grown up on Earth, and he felt that there was no way he could ever 
leave his home.

    "Tenchi!  Now that Ayeka is gone, how about having some fun 
with me?"  Ryoko ran up and gave Tenchi a hard hug.  Tenchi had to 
admire Ryoko's persistence, but sometimes he felt that Ryoko was a 
little to fervent in her attempts to win his love.  Tenchi somehow 
felt that he was not ready to commit at all, and he in a way loved 
all of the girls.

    "Um, well, Ryoko.  I have to do some chores, so maybe later."  
Ryoko reluctantly released Tenchi, and he walked off to the fields.

    As Tenchi walked up the hill to the clearing that contained the 
acres and acres of carrots, all for Ryo-Ohki, he suddenly realized 
that he had done all of his chores for the entire day.  With a sigh,
 he leaned against a tree, when he realized that he still needed to 
practice, even though his grandfather was not present.

    Mihoshi sighed as she finished dinner, albeit with minor 
difficulty.  Of course, Sasami was the best cook in the house, and 
Washu a decent cook.  But Sasami was away, and Washu was working on 
a project in the lab.  And everyone knew Ryoko just couldn't cook 
normally.  "Um Kiyone, I think dinner's ready.  What do you think?"

    Kiyone had been cleaning some things in the house, and she 
walked into the kitchen.  She looked at the dishes, and she nodded. 
 "I think it's perfectly fine Mihoshi."

    Mihoshi beamed quite unnecessarily at Kiyone's comment.  "You 
think so!"  She laughed.  "Well, you'd better get Tenchi."

* * *

    Tenchi sighed as he felt the numerous bruises over his body.  
His grandfather, perhaps in hopes of forcing Tenchi to gain better 
sense of balance and what not.  Tenchi sighed as he grabbed his 
wooden sword, and prepared for yet another round of being battered 
around.  Taking a deep breath, he launched himself at the obstacles.


    From left to right back to left, Tenchi struck out with his 
sword at the various targets.  As soon as Tenchi struck the target, 
he instinctively ducked, as the target spun around, bringing a 
heavy bag flying in Tenchi's direction.  But that was not all.  
After striking various targets, the incoming objects would come 
flying from a random direction, so Tenchi had to react quickly, or 
get pasted.  'Damn it!  I know that grandfather has too much free 
time.'

    With determination, Tenchi plowed through, and as soon as there 
were no more targets, he leaned on his sword in amazement.  For the 
first time, he had actually made it through one of his 
grandfather's exercises without getting hit at all.

    'Maybe I'm really getting better.'  Before, his grandfather 
noted that he was getting better, but Tenchi immediately doubted 
him completely, as he never thought that he could ever improve.  
'Maybe I can try something else.'

 * * *

    Kiyone looked at the empty carrot field.  There was absolutely 
no sign of Tenchi, anywhere.  'Oh great, so where did he go?'

    "If I were Tenchi, where else would I be?"  Kiyone looked 
around somewhat lost.  It didn't help that it was in the dark.

    "Miya!!!!"  Kiyone was startled by the noise, but in the fading 
sunlight, she could easily see Ryo-Ohki prancing about in front of 
her.

    "Ryo-Ohki.  Do you know where is Tenchi?"  Kiyone kneeled down 
so she could speak with the little cabbit.

    "Miya!!!!"  Ryo-Ohki's ears perked up, and she took off into 
the forest.  Kiyone followed close behind.

* * *

    With a grunt, Tenchi leaped from a tiny wooden platform, no 
larger than a branch, struck a target, and landed somewhat wobbly 
on the other side.  As soon as he landed, he forced himself to make 
another pass at the suspended target, and he continued to do so.  
'Ok, so I'm still a little unstable, but I'm getting better.'  
Tenchi thought happily to himself.  Perhaps all of his training was 
paying off.

    Tenchi made another pass at the target, and as he continued, he 
felt confidence returning to him.  Leaping high, he noted with some 
satisfaction that he smashed his bokken through the target, 
completely smashing it to bits.  Breathing heavily, Tenchi rested 
his sword on the ground and leaned on the hilt.  "Yup, I'm finally 
getting the hang of this!"

    Then Tenchi muttered.  "But why did it have to take 6 years for 
me to master this?"

    "Miyaaa!"  Tenchi heard the sounds of a small furry creature 
trying to break through the foliage.

    "Ryo-Ohki!"  Tenchi looked around, in the fading light for the 
little cabbit, and sure enough, a small bundle of brown fur burst 
through the bushes, scampered towards Tenchi, ran quickly up his 
leg and arm, and came to a rest on his head.  Tenchi smiled at 
Ryo-Ohki, and petted her.  "Ryo-Ohki, what are you doing here?"

    "Miyaaa!  Miyaa!  Miya! Miya!"  Tenchi looked befuddled for a 
moment, because Ryoko was the only person, besides Washu, who could 
understand Ryo-Ohki.

    "Ryo-Ohki!"  Tenchi heard another voice coming from the woods.  
Seconds later, Kiyone made her way into the clearing.  "Oh there 
you are.  I was having enough trouble trying to follow you."  And 
boy did it look that way.  There were leaves all over Kiyone's 
clothes, her hair wasn't in the neat ponytail, and she had some 
patches of dirt over her pants.  "Well, Tenchi, Mihoshi sent me to 
get you for dinner."

    "Really, I'm just about starving right now."  Tenchi shouldered 
his wooden sword, and made his way back to his home.

* * *

    "Tenchi!  Try this!"  Tenchi almost sighed, when Ryoko sat next 
to him, and began dumping food into his rice bowl for him.  Sure, 
one of the ways to a man's love is through his stomach, but Tenchi 
thought this was a little too much.  "Try this and this and this...
"  Tenchi sighed as the amount of food in his ricebowl grew beyond 
normal bounds.

    "Um, Ryoko, it might be a good time to stop,"  Washu said while 
shoveling rice into her mouth.  Washu paused in her chewing to look 
up at the mound of food in the bowl, which amazingly hadn't fallen 
down, yet.

    "Washu!  Just bug off!  You're jealous that Tenchi loves me!"  
Ryoko grabbed Tenchi, which caused his hand to shake, causing the 
pile of food in the bowl, which was in his hand, to shake 
precariously.

    "Well, it hurts a mother's heart when her daughter is an 
ungentle and unkind person.  Stop bothering the poor man."  Washu 
grabbed onto Tenchi and gave him a yank in the opposite direction.  
Kiyone and Mihoshi watched the giant pile of food start oscillating 
wildly.

    Washu stopped tugging Tenchi, and released him, causing him to 
fly into Ryoko's arms.  Oh yeah, the food all tumbled down all over 
Ryoko, covering her from head to foot in rice and other stuff.  
Washu stood up.  "I can detect a high energy reaction!"

* * *

    "Welcome Lord Yosho, Lady Ayeka, Lady Sasami.  Welcome back to 
Jurai."  A royal escort bowed before the threesome, before backing 
off so the three members of the royal family could walk off the 
platform.  However, something felt different.  No longer did Jurai 
feel like home to Ayeka, Sasami and Yosho.  It just felt like 
another place that the three were familiar with, there was nothing 
special about the place.

    Yosho took a deep breath as he looked at the sky, at the 
beautiful iridescent purple hued clouds.  "Well, Ayeka, you're home 
now."  He stared at the horizon, and sighed quietly, as he knew 
that this wasn't his home.  He wanted to be on Earth, his true home,
 the home of his deceased wife.  But, he knew, he couldn't disobey 
his father's orders.

    One of the palace guards gave Yosho a quick look over.  "Lord 
Azusa would like to see you right now."  Yosho nodded gravely, and 
he followed.  Yosho slowly followed, as if in a dream.  He could 
faintly remember a time, long ago, when he was still a young child, 
how'd he would play in these halls with his nurses, with his mother,
 but never his father.  His father was always busy trying to keep 
the entire Empire together.

    The guard interrupted Yosho's thoughts.  "Sir, you may enter 
now."

    With a held breath, Yosho walked into his father's study.

* * *

    "Sasami!"

    "Mommie!"  Ayeka shuddered slightly as she watched Sasami run 
into their mother's arms and gave her a hug.  "Mommie!  I missed 
you so much!"  cried Sasami as she held on tightly.  Of course, it 
was ok for Sasami to say "Mommie."  Ayeka, being a woman, shuddered 
at the thought.

    "Hello Mother, it was so nice to be back home so soon."  Ayeka 
immediately recoiled as she looked at Lady Misaki's stern face.  
Sasami shook her head.  'Damn it.  At least Ryoko isn't here to 
mock me.'

    "Mommie!"  cried out Ayeka as she ran towards Lady Misaki with 
her arms spread out.

    "Little Ayeka!"

    Family bonding can be such a moving experience, but let's stick 
to the action.

* * *

    "So Father, what did you have on mind, summoning Ayeka, Sasami 
and me back to Jurai?"  Yosho stood warily as he looked at his 
father, who was pacing back and forth.

    "Well Yosho, it would do me some service if you were to shed 
your disguise."  Yosho listened to his father's voice, and he knew 
that it was best if he listened.  Focusing hard, the illusion 
around him slowly faded away, leaving a young man behind.  "Ah much 
better," said Azusa.

    "The reason I called you to Jurai, is that I thought it was 
about time that I name the successor to my throne..."

    Yosho seemed hopeful.  "So are you going to consider Tenchi."  
Almost immediately, Yosho felt a shadow surface onto his father's 
face.  Yosho already knew what was on his father's mind.

    "No.  Tenchi simply does not have the training required to be a 
good Emperor to the people.  No, I name you to be my successor."  
Yosho looked extremely surprised.

    "But Father, I can't.  I want to go back to Earth..."  Yosho 
stopped as soon as he heard his father's harsh words.

    "I simply will not take 'No' for an answer.  You have delayed 
your duties for too long.  If you refuse the Crown, then may our 
glorious empire crumble to dust and allow chaos to rule the 
universe again."  Yosho realized that his father was very serious.  
"Yosho, I will give you a day to deliberate on my offer.  Refuse it,
 and you will finally know what it is like to have millions upon 
millions of lives under your influence."

    Yosho stammered out.  "But father, that isn't being reasonable..
."

    "Please leave..."

    "Are you doing this to avoid Tenchi?"  Yosho stood looking at 
his father with a certain amount of amazement.

    "Yosho, listen to your father.  When I ask you to leave, please 
leave."

    Yosho left the room with a sigh.  His father added something as 
he left.  "And Yosho, while you're on Jurai, you may not keep up 
your disguise."  Yosho stopped for a moment.  "And now go!"

* * *

    Tenchi stood up.  "Washu, what do you mean by a high energy 
reaction?"  Suddenly, there was an ominous laughing all around them.


    "Well, well."  Everyone froze as soon as they heard that voice.

    Ryoko drew her sword, disregarding the mess all over her, and 
looked wildly all over the place.  "Kagato!  You bastard!  I 
thought you died!"

    There was a flash of green that blinded everyone temporarily.  
As soon as the flash faded away, there was Kagato, standing in 
front of the Tenchi.  Kagato looked down at Tenchi.  "I believe 
three very important people have gone to Jurai.  Tenchi, be there 
in three days or face the consequences."

     With an evil laugh, Kagato faded into thin air.

* * *

    Ayeka slowly walked up the stairs, silently glad that she had 
been able to ditch her mother.  Not that she hated her mother.  It 
just was that she didn't like it when her mother expected her to 
act like a seven year old girl.  Looking out of the wall of solid 
glass, Ayeka focused her attention at the mountains in the distance.
  She was lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice a young man 
descending the stairs, also lost in thought.  Both crashed into 
each other.

    Ayeka looked up at the person, and she almost fell backwards.  
"Y-y-yosho.  Is that you?"  The person in front of her was none 
other than her older brother, except that he didn't look like an 
old man anymore.  Ayeka felt shock, as she didn't expect this to 
happen.

    "Ayeka!"  Yosho grabbed onto Ayeka as she fainted.  At that 
instant, a giant greenish globe of pure energy raced from the sky 
and crashed in through the palace defenses.