Hi everyone!  To understand this fic, please note that sections with 
quotation marks "like this" are spoken/thought by Sasami, while sections 
with square brackets [like this] are spoken/thought by Tsunami.  Oh yeah, 
and my proofreader says that you're better off if you don't read too fast.  

Please be sure to send your comments and criticism on this fic!  Thanks!  
Also, special thanks go to my proofreader, AleeN.  

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are property of Pioneer 
and AIC.  This story, however, is mine.  Please don't sue me, because I'm 
just writing this for fun.  Hey, it's the holiday season, a perfect time 
for fun!  I'm actually not avoiding homework to write this fan fic!  

Where the Sky Meets the Sea
By Literary Eagle (literaryeagle@hotmail.com)

Part 1: "Heaven to ocean"

	An endless mystery.  
	A hand that can shape the destinies of countless worlds...
	The tale of Tsunami.  

	[She is dying.  The second princess of Jurai's royal family is 
dying.  I can sense the fighting outside.  The space pirate Ryoko is 
causing many deaths out there.  All of the Juraians are my children, of 
course, but there is something about the young princess lying before me 
that makes the leaves of my tree quiver.  There is no breeze, and yet my 
leaves are trembling, whispering the young one's name.  Sasami.  Sasami.  
Sasami.  
	[Her blood is spilling into the water that surrounds my tree.  
What is this that I feel?  Am I ... crying?  How can this be?  This has 
never happened before.  Although I have always loved my children, love is 
not an emotion.  
	[The battle rages on outside, and yet all I long to do is hold 
this small child.  I must save her.  Her hair, her eyes ... they are the 
same shade as mine.  Is this how I would have looked as a child, if I 
were a real human?  
	[I will not let you die, little one.  You are a very special 
child, I can feel it.  There is much I would like to teach you, but 
there is also much that I would like to learn from you.  
	[Your blood has mixed with my tree's water.  Now I have cried for 
the first time.  And so I descend from my otherworldly sanctuary and 
repair your small form, looking to the future and wondering how it will 
feel once we are fully joined.  Is this what it is like when humans look 
to the horizon, where the sky meets the sea, and wonder what awaits in 
that intense blueness?]

	"What's happening?  Where am I?  Wait ... who am I?  Am I the 
new Sasami?"  

Part 2: "Ocean to earth"

	"Life on the planet Earth is so much fun!  I like being here with 
big sister Ayeka, 'big brother' Tenchi, Ryo-Oh-Ki, and everyone else!  
Tenchi tied a swing to one of the trees here, just for me!  Sometimes I 
like to stare at the sky while I swing, so it feels like I'm actually 
flying, without a spaceship.  I like to hold on to Ryo-Oh-Ki when I swing 
like that, so I can pretend that we're flying together.  
	"Sometimes when I'm pretending to fly, I imagine that I'm a 
magical girl, and that Ryo-Oh-Ki is my sidekick.  Now that's fun!  
	"Ryoko flies all the time.  Ayeka knows how to use her Jurai 
powers to fly.  Ryo-Oh-Ki is a spaceship, so I guess that she can fly any 
time she wants.  I haven't told Ayeka or anyone else about me and Tsunami 
yet.  I know that there are powers waiting for me to use when I grow up.  
	"I should feel excited about growing up.  What's wrong with me?"

	[I never had to learn how to tie my shoes.  I was unprepared for 
the incredible joy that could be felt from mastering this simple task.  
	[I was never astounded by the height of the largest trees, I had 
created plenty of them myself.  
	[I had never daydreamed before.  I never had to dream of anything.  
I had created a race of people, shaped the progress of an empire.  
	[Such a strange and wonderful thing it can be, to be a child.  
Such a strange and wonderful thing it can be, to be human.]

Part 3: "Earth back to heaven"

	"I told Ayeka and the others that I'm not the real Sasami.  They 
didn't turn away from me.  They don't hate me.  
	"I guess I should be happy, but I'm a bit scared, too.  What if 
they like me only because I helped to save Tenchi during the fight with 
Kagato?  Wait, I shouldn't be thinking stuff like that.  Ayeka and the 
others aren't like that.  
	"I'm still scared, though.  What's gonna happen to me when I grow 
up and become one with Tsunami?  Tsunami is my friend, but I don't want 
to BE her.  I like being who I am now.  I like being Sasami, even if I'm 
not the real Sasami.  
	"I don't care if I don't ever get Tsunami's powers.  I just want 
to be able to make people happy.  I just want to be the girl who loved 
everyone, and whom everyone loved ... loved so much that Tsunami felt 
that she had to make another after her death.  
	"I have the original Sasami's memories.  I know how she used to 
pick flowers and give them to anyone she saw.  I know that she made 
everyone smile, like a fairy in some wonderful story.  Is it wrong for me 
to want to continue her story?  
	"Maybe that's what the problem is.  I have scary memories of 
Sasami dying.  I have scary dreams where everyone dies because of me.  
Sasami's story didn't have a happy ending.  Maybe there's no 'happily 
ever after' this time, either."

	[Sasami...  I wish that I could simply tell the poor child that 
she is the real Sasami, but she must learn this herself in order to truly 
believe it.  I believe that when we become one, she will understand.  
	[I have learned so much from this girl.  From her living in the 
Masaki home, I have begun to see individual faces, rather than simply 
masses of people.  One of those faces, of course, is Tenchi.  He is also 
one of my children, as are Yosho and Ayeka.  Once, I always saw all those 
of Juraian blood, all of my children, equally.  But now there are some of 
them who stir something deep within me that I have never felt before.  It 
is not love, for I have always loved all of my children, and nothing will 
ever change that.  
	[Whatever it is, there is no doubt that my children in the Masaki 
home are special to me.  Their friends are also special to me, as are my 
sister Washu and her daughter, Ryoko.  To gaze upon any of them is to 
feel something almost like what I had felt at the sight of Sasami on that 
fateful day, seven hundred years ago.  
	[They also make me feel something else that I have never felt 
before.  Fear.  I am afraid, for Lady Tokimi is coming.  I fear for all 
of my children, but I fear for the ones on Earth most of all, and that 
only increases my fear.  For when Tokimi comes, the arrival of chaos and 
destruction is inevitable.  All of my children will have to fight, and 
the war will be terrible.  If ... if I were forced to choose between 
defending Jurai and defending my children on Earth, if I could not save 
them all ... I fear that I would choose to save the handful on Earth, and 
not the millions on Jurai.  
	[And so I feel something else that is entirely new to me.  Shame.  
I am ashamed, for the being I was seven centuries ago would never have 
considered placing a few children above all the others.  
	[And yet, I do not regret what I did for Sasami on that day.  I 
love her.  I know that she has helped others, such as Ryoko, to heal.  
Because of Sasami, I have seen the simple pleasures of life, felt the 
power of special bonds formed with people that I now see as a wonderful 
family.  But I am also very, very afraid.  
	[What a painful thing it can be, to be human.]

Part 4: "Show me the path engraved by the light"

	[Happy birthday, Sasami.]

	"Another year, huh?"

	[Yes.]

	"I can talk to the trees now.  I can hear them think."

	[Oh?]

	"Earth trees aren't like Juraian trees.  They're a bit more shy."

	[Hmm...]

	"Tsunami?"

	[Yes?]

	"When ... when we assimilate, what happens to ME?"

	[I do not know any more than what I have already told you.]

	"Well, what will happen to you?"

	[I am not completely certain about that, either.]

	"Really?  Are you scared, Tsunami?"

	[Yes, I am.]

	"Um, were you ever able to feel scared before ... before me?"

	[No.]

	"So, you're scared because of my emotions.  Because of me.  I'm 
sorry."

	[There is no need to apologize.  I am glad to have known you.  I 
am glad to share life with you.]

	"Tsunami, I never really thanked you for giving me the chance to 
be Sasami.  She was a wonderful person who died too soon."

	[...]

	"The scary lady from my dreams ... Tokimi ... is she coming?"

	[Not yet.]

	"When?  Before or after we assimilate?"

	[I cannot be certain.]

	"Trying to see the future has gotten harder for you, hasn't it?  
I'm really scared, Tsunami."

	[There is no shame in being afraid, Sasami.  As I said, I am also 
somewhat apprehensive about what lies in store for us, since I cannot 
predict everything that will happen to me - to us - once we...]

	"Once we reach that far away place on the horizon, where the sky 
meets the sea?"

	[Yes.  So you have obtained that memory of mine?]

	"Uh-huh.  I wish I had a better idea of what's going to happen, 
and what we should do.  I wish there was something like a lighthouse on 
that horizon."

	[Sometimes we have to make our own light.]

	"I know.  Tsunami ... why are you crying?"

	[Because ... because I can.  Sasami?  Can you hold my hand?]

	"Sure."

	A little miracle.  
	A heart that can move mortals and immortals alike...
	The tale of Sasami.  

Author's notes: I know that people are going to object to my using the 
word "human" to describe Sasami.  Well, I just wasn't sure that "Juraian" 
would have had the same impact on readers.  I tried using "mortal", but 
it wasn't working.  At any rate, I didn't mean that Juraians were 
necessarily human in the biological sense.  

Actually, I suppose that Juraians have to be human enough to procreate 
with Earthlings, otherwise people like Yosho and Tenchi would never have 
been born, right?  (Okay, I'm not a science student, so if I just said 
something incredibly dumb, then please forgive me.)  Heck, even the long 
lifespan that Juraians are noted for isn't strictly a biological thing, 
the trees and life water are a factor in that.  After all, Lady Funaho 
is an Earthling, and she's gotta be centuries old now.  

Let's see, did I forget anything?  Oh yeah, the quotations that were used 
to label parts 1 to 4 ("Heaven to ocean", etc.) are from Sasami's chant 
in OAV episode #6.  

So what did you think?  Please send your comments and criticism to me at 
literaryeagle@hotmail.com  I'd also appreciate feedback on my other fics, 
"Confess to You" and "With my love always".  (Shameless plugs!  Ha ha 
ha!)  Thanks for reading!  

Text copyright 1998, Literary Eagle
(But the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)