Erik Tuttle
"Zero Signal" .END.


>>CHAPTER NINE<<    "Zero Signal"


	Everything about the school was cracked and broken. No area had been left 
unchecked by the powers Nagi and I had emanated. The halls were shattered, 
classrooms tussled by the counter flow of the energy we had expended. The 
aftermath of destruction. Down one of these halls is where I made my way 
now. The school was evacuated along time ago and the hall was littered with 
student books and possessions. Deep back inside me a small voice breathed, I 
hope no one was hurt, but then it vanished. Who cares?
	"Who cares?" Was the question that I asked myself aloud. "I don't." I 
reached the bottom of a small flight of steps and took to leaning on my sword 
once again. My legs were just as badly beaten as the rest of my body and they 
could not hold their own weight. So I walked the halls using Tenchiken as a cane 
as I searched for an exit. The destruction all looked 
the same to me. Cracked tiles and walls, doors hanging on a single hinge, and 
the books on the floor where a nice touch too, then one of them caught my eye. 
It was an all white paper-holding binder with writing and illustrations all over 
its cover. A sketch of a cartoon cat, a person on a motorcycle, a telephone 
number, and I caught my breath in my lungs. The 
words. "I love Ryoha." Who was Ryoha and why did I gasp? Pain. Slowly I watched 
as the letters rearranged themselves. Some disappeared and others materialized 
on the binder, then they stopped, they stopped to form a phrase. "I love Ryoko." 
I let go of the sword and in doing so fell to the ground from the lack of 
support. That was it! Her name! Her name was Ryoko! Her name.. was Ryoko.... Hot 
tears that had been kept in check before ran down my face now. They stained the 
floor, they stained my hands, but most of all they stained my soul. Her name 
was.. Ryoko... who is Ryoko? DESTRUCTION! DESENT! My cries of pain escalated. I 
pounded the floor with closed fists and screamed. FALLEN! DEPARTED! DESENT! Why 
did it hurt? Why so bad? WHO WAS RYOKO!? This brought even more emotion to the 
fore, I pounded harder and harder until there was a dull snap and my tantrum 
ceased. Holding my right hand before my face I saw that my small finger was 
broken, crushed from smacking the tiled floor but it didn't hurt. No pain after 
the fall. My mind hurt and my emotions hurt more. That's what hurt. No pain 
after the fall. My eyes and mouth pouted, wept, but I did not know why. Why did 
I weep? If I couldn't answer that question then I would not dwell on it. Live in 
the now. Win. Don't die. With the help of my cane I got to my feet and resumed 
my journey. The words of the binder spelling "Ryoha" once more. One long last 
tear flew out from my eye in a trail and splashed down 
on the notebook as I turned away from it forever.

	"Excuse me?"
	I had been wandering the school aimlessly for about an hour now until I 
heard the voice. She was a pretty school girl with shining purple hair a portion 
of it was cut short to flow around the back of her head and the rest was tied 
back into two long tails that fell down around her ankles. Her face was smooth 
sharpen and cute while her eyes shown a deep pink. Beside her was a smaller girl 
who's features were different yet somehow the same to the tall one. The younger 
one had even larger and brighter pink eyes and her hair was blue instead of 
purple but it was still cut short in one area on her head and had the two tails 
like the other women's. These tails however, sprouted off the side of the girls 
head and almost like sagging antenna that dropped to her ankles.
	"Pardon me?" the purple hair asked again. "But are you called Tenchi? Is 
that your name?"
	"Of course it is sis that's what I told you!" The little one shouted.
	"Now Sasami behave and don't yell! We have to make sure that he is the 
one."
	I looked at the two faces before me now. Yes they defiantly were sisters. 
Stupid of me not to see it before. I addressed them both. "Yes my name is 
Tenchi," I grunted from a pain in my side. "Can I help you?"
	"Oh thank heavens you're still alive!" The older one rushed to me and 
offered her support with I thankfully took. "Help us? No you have done quite a 
bit of that already! But please don't take me for rude, my name is Ayeka and 
this is my sister Sasami."
	"How do you do." The little girl gave me a bow which I tried to return but 
found myself unable.
	"What are you two doing here?" I asked.
	"Well Tenchi you're part is done for now, I have come from Jurai's royal 
palace to take you back there for some rest. My sister here holds deep inside of 
her the power of the goddess Tsunami."
	"Tsunami!? I am trying to remember something about that." Who cares? Not 
you.
	The two girls looked at each other surprised. "You mean to say that you 
are the one who defeated Nagi but you know nothing of Tsunami?" Ayeka was 
curious.
	"I really don't remember much of anything anymore..."
	"Oh goodness Sasami help me, he's fainted!"

	I had ridden the wave of darkness that had devoured me and now my head 
broke the surface of the icy water as my lungs coughed for breath. My closed 
eyelids parted slowly.
	"Oh he's awake."
	"Yes he is."
	"Tenchi can you hear me? Tenchi?"
	"He might be able to hear you now but it would be the next thing to a 
miracle if he could speak."
	"What do you mean?" The voice was Ayeka's.
	"Princess this man's body has sustained so much pressure, taken so much 
damage that it would be simply amazing for him to react at all now. He should be 
dead, killed three times over!"
	Death? That felt good. Don't die. To die is to loose. To win is to kill. 
Win. I've won now can I be free? No. Kill. Pain. Destruction. Don't win. Don't 
win? Loose but not yet.
	"Yes but his eyes are open. Look!"
	"Well they are now but they won't be for long." The other voice was right. 
The wave had returned and I was dragged under once again.

	The rehabilitation had been remarkably fast on their scales but to my 
standards it was remarkably slow. Doctor Mihoshi had informed me that the 
quickness at which my body healed was unheard of--supernatural even. She 
insisted that I rest more but I pushed hard to get back on my feet again and 
in two weeks I was better. I could walk unaided again, I could run, and do 
almost any normal day to day task. My body was still stitching itself back 
together though, so it made fighting and other strenuous activities foolhardy to 
participate in and I knew this so I stayed away. Ayeka had 
offered me a room in the palace as an honored guest and I took it. I had 
audiences with the king and queen and other nobles of high position. They all 
thanked me and asked just how I had destroyed Nagi. For some reason they always 
were surprised and a little insulted when I asked them whom Nagi was.A person I 
had to beat to... win? I assumed that it was a person and that it was also the 
cause of my ill health but other than that I had no recollection of anyone or 
anything named Nagi. Why were these people asking me about something that I had 
never known? Things certainly were strange around here, all of these people 
seemed to know more about me than I knew myself. They asked me to about a man 
named Yosho. I told them that I had never met such a man and this troubled them 
to. When I had time to think and be alone by myself I usually never tried to 
think about my past but sometimes I did. Each time I thought I never came up 
with anything solid. All I knew was that I had existed before the two weeks of 
my rehabilitation. And that's when I began to fall.


>>CHAPTER TEN<<    "Decent"


	1:23 is were the hands pointed on the ornate clock in my room. It was wood 
and beautifully crafted at that. No doubt by a master Jurai artisan. 1:23 how 
long had I been here? Three weeks, yes, three. Long enough to know my way 
around. I knew where she was. Perhaps I should follow? I knew this feeling 
inside. I remembered it from a past with no pictures. No pain. A past that was 
just that, past. It would never come again. It had passed. Why? Who cares. 
Should I see her? Would she want to see me? I know that she would. She's that 
way. I don't think that she would admit it. But she is. She was that way in the 
past. The past? Forget it. Why? Who cares. Am I that way? I can't remember not 
being this way. It seems bad doesn't it? No not really. She's that way. She'd 
like it. She'd want it. She does want it. She started it after all. Where? When? 
Who cares. I love her. She loves me. I remember that oh yes I do. That's one of 
the only things I do remember. It was a starry night. We had gone fishing. 
Fishing? Who cares. She said she loved me. I said that I loved her. I loved her. 
She loved me. Love? Who 
cares.

	My feet made no noise on the wooden floor. I took a step forward in my 
socks. Then another. Then another. I loved her. She loved me.

	My hand hovered over the ornate door. It was wood and beautifully crafted 
at that. No doubt by a master Jurai artisan. I knocked. No answer. I waited. I 
knocked again. I waited again. I've been polite and formal enough. The door
latch turned. Unlocked. The room was dark at 1:23 in the morning. The sun would 
not rise for six more hours but the drapes were undrawn allowing the moons light 
to shine through the open windows. It really was a lovely room much nicer than 
mine was. I liked mine, but this one was just nicer. It fit the room of a 
princess such as herself. The bed was huge and in the center of the room. There 
was enough space to comfortably sleep five men abreast but only one woman dozed 
there. Woman. Wiomfn. WImnF. WIEF. WIFE. Wife? Who cares. The bed had drapes and 
warm sheets. It had warm drapes, and warm sheets, and I loved her. She loved me. 
I thought back to that night under the stars.
	"Ayeka!" I remembered calling her name but this time I whispered. "Ryo-! 
Ayeka." She slept on her side and twitched a bit. "Ayeka I love you. You love 
me." The sweet woman I had known all my life woke up and looked at me. The sleep 
still clouded her eyes but it soon cleared. "Ayeka," I said.
	"Huh, whu? Tenchi!? What are you doing here!?" Her whispers were 
surprised. I loved her. She loved me.
	"Ayeka I love you," was what I said gazing long into her warm eyes.
	"You love me, what are you talking about? Oh!" She realized that she was 
in her nighty and pulled the sheets up to cover herself. She would never do 
that! She would smile and pull me close and-. She would do that. She would? Who 
cares.
	"Tenchi what are you doing here its late!"
	"I love you Ayeka," my lips moved closer as I spoke the words. "I came 
here to remember. Don't you remember?"
	"Remember? Remember what? Tenchi this is so unlady like of me having you 
in here I really think that you should go." She was playing hard to get with me. 
This was fun.
	"I remember that night under the stars Ayeka don't you?" I fell on her and 
she cried out briefly. Warm. Always warm. "How could you forget? That's the 
first night that we found each other, the warmth and the love." I loved her. She 
loved me.
	"I most certainly DO NOT remember!" Her grip tightened on my arm. I knew 
it. She hadn't forgotten and she wanted me. Needed me. Now. I kissed her and 
hereyes grew wide. Are you sure? Yes I love her. She loves me. She squirmed a 
little but not too much. "What are you doing? Don't you understand that this can 
never happen? I am royalty and you are common folk. We simply can't have this! 
Who asked you into my room anyway?"
	"I knocked. Twice and it opened."
	"Just because my door was left unlocked doesn't give you or anyone else 
permission to come in!"
	"But you are my WIFE and I love you."
	"What?"
	"We need to share like before."
	"Your wife? Like before? Tenchi you make no sense you must be sleep 
walking!"
	"No this is no dream. You are here. You are real." I touched her. She 
cried out. Are you sure? No. Who cares.
	"Stop this! Stop this now!" she pleaded but I kissed her to stop the 
sound. She wanted nothing to do with it. "Stop this! Stop this now or I'll 
scream for the guards!" But the door was closed. I loved her. She loved me.

	Waiting was unbearable, she hadn't spoken to me in a week. What was wrong? 
Bad. Something bad. She never did this before. Ayeka had been avoiding me like I 
had a roaring disease. I would tour the palace of have tea with the court and 
whenever she saw me she would disappear, it was as if she couldn't bear the 
sight of me.

	A month had passed since I had been brought to the palace. It was a warm 
place, a rich place. Slowly sleep left my mind and my eyes opened. There she was 
on top of me. Like before! Like the first time! When she saw my eyes open she 
gripped my throat hard and I choked.
	"What's it like now!" She screamed. Above me she was naked strangling my 
neck and pressing a gold letter opener to my Adams apple. Gold like her eyes. I 
gulped and felt the lump in my throat bob against the sharp object held there.
	"What are you doing?" I managed to croak.
	"So this is it! This is sweet revenge for what you did to me you bastard! 
I invite you to my home and look at how you thank me! I'm naked now, isn't that 
how you wanted it in the first place, the first time? Do you like my body, my 
breasts, my face!? Well it's the last thing that you'll ever see so I guess that 
you'll die a happy man!" Her grip tightened. Loose. You're going to loose.
	"I thought that it was good for us." Loose now.
	"No THIS is what's good for US!" My head was pushed back and I could feel 
the metal. The metal deep inside my throat that stirred my life as a spoon. I 
watched my blood spray now as I had seen Nagi's spray a month before. Nagi? 
It covered Ayeka, caressing her face, her breasts, and running down between her 
cleavage. Her body was a glorious living altar of human sacrifice. Dribbling 
down her chin, kissing her navel and thighs, dyeing my sheets. Franticly she 
carved at my neck digging out chunks of flesh, her teeth gritted. Somehow it
felt better this way. This is how it was supposed to be.

	A month had passed since I had been brought to the palace. It was a warm 
place, a rich place. Slowly sleep left my mind and my eyes opened. I jumped. She 
was not there. No Ayeka. No knife. No blood. I won. I touched my neck and felt 
for a cut, a scar, anything, there was nothing. I relaxed.
Historicyoshoryokolifebeforethewoodthelifetheliethewrongyouarebadyouarebadbadbad
ayekaprettyayekaryokoryokoayekaprettylovenicefriendbaddosomethingaboutbadbadfixm
akerightyouknowbadgoodyouknowmakerightmakefinebadrightgoodmakefinefinishmartyrfi
nishmartyrdie.
	WHA-? Cut short.
	Goodmakefinefinishmartyrbadtobearoundnowgoodmakefinefinishmartyrmartyrfini
shmartyr. Martyr. Finish martyr. To finish martyr is to loose. Martyr is me. 
Finish me. Loose. To loose is to die. To loose is to martyr. Finish martyr.

	It wasn't that old but it was still a good size. My tree stood before me 
or I stood before it. The leaves were black, dead. I was dark, dim, dead. "I'm 
sorry old friend but this is the way we must be. TENCHIKEN!" The blade of steel 
was in my palm, we had a date with what we should have met a long time ago.
	"NNNAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"





										a cut.



		blood.



	My tree fell shots of thick red sap shooting up from its severed trunk and 
oozing out of it's fallen heart. I held my pose for a long time never swaying 
the sword in my hand hovering in the air. Martyr.... After minutes I lowered the 
blade and walked to my heart, my source of life, my tree. It had fallen, it's 
branches crushed between the severed hulk and the earth. I knelt and touched it 
with my palms.
	"Let's help them," I said addressing the tree. Help who? Help them. "They 
deserve the hero they thought they had found." Nirvana white.


>>AFTER<<    "Timelessness"

**********
	He had watched it happen and it was spectacular. They had come together as 
one. The tree, the sword, and the boy he himself. Now it was gripped in his 
palm, a wooden hilt with tangles running down it to a circular butt end. The end 
had three strange empty spaces in it, what they were for the boy had no clue but 
he knew the blade to be the best. It was blue like the gem given to him by an 
old man and it was not solid but formed purely of energy. Only a proper user in 
sync with this master key could use it and use it for good.
	He had made it back to the palace gate and the guards. They had come to 
him and offered him assistance but her refused. Take this sword to the queen he 
had said. Then he had fallen. The once pure angel had fallen taking a tumble 
down from heaven, striking the earth, and letting it seep inside of him.
---"I've felt darkness... closing in on me."
	Later Lady Ayeka gave birth to a male child. She then married quickly in 
an attempt to disguise the child's origins.
---"Chilling shadows...."
	Despite her efforts the boy's true father was discovered. It was a 
disgrace and a shame to the royal family.
			    ---"Surrounding me."
---"I've had the poison leek into my skin and it CORRODED MY       HEART away."
---"BLED A!-way."
	That night Ayeka sat on her floor. Why had this happened? Why? To her? 
Why? Such a disgrace. Such a disgrace.... Ayeka took her life that night.
---"CUT A!-WAY!"
---"Dark night of my soul...."
	The boy then became Sasami's responsibility. She married Ayeka's former 
husband and welcomed the infant into her life.
---"Dark night of my soul...."
	After Sasami adopted him the court had no choice but to accept him as one 
of their own, a boy of royal blood.
---"Dark night of my soul...."
	He lived, married, and died.
---"Dark night of my soul...."
	Life moved on as it always had.



THEE END