Back in the prince's castle, Nagi, the gatekeeper, prepared to enter
Kagato's
study.  From outside the room, she heard horrible, whiny music.  Nagi winced
as she realized Kagato was playing with his organ again.  She opened the
door
and went in.
"Sire," she began, "do you really have to play that instrument?"  Kagato
stopped playing and turned.
"Nagi," he said.  Nagi went to his side.  He said, "I will trust you with
this secret.  Assassins from Earth are planning to murder my bride on our
honeymoon."
Aeka poked her head in the study, "Any word from Ryoko?" she asked.
"It's too soon, snookums.  Patience," Kagato told her, with a fake smile.
"She will come for me," Aeka said.
"Yes, I'm sure she will."  Kagato smiled deviously as Aeka left the room.
Kagato turned to Nagi, "She must not be murdered!  On the day of the
wedding,
I want the Thieves Forrest emptied before I wed!"
"It won't be easy," Nagi said.
    "Try ruling the universe sometime," Kagato bluntly replied.
The following day, Nagi organized a brute squad to eliminate all the
inhabitants of the Thieves Forrest.  It took several hours, but at last
nearly everyone had been evacuated or arrested.
"Is everybody out?" Nagi asked one of her soldiers.
"Almost," he replied, "there's a drunken geek giving us some trouble."
"Well, you give him some trouble," Nagi ordered.
Tenchi was leaning up against the wall outside his house, plastered,
surrounded by empty sake bottles.
"I'm waiting for you Kiyone," Tenchi's words were slurred.  "You told me to
go back to the beginning, so here I am.  Kiyone!"  One of Nagi's soldiers
approached him.
"The prince gave orders that you be moved out!" the soldier declared.
Tenchi stumbled to his feet waving Tenchiken.  "I am waiting for Kiyone," he
mumbled.
"Do you want some rigatoni?" a familiar voice said.  Tenchi turned and saw
Sasami standing beside him.  He smiled.  The soldier lunged for them, but
Sasami kicked him in the kneecap.  He fell over groaning in pain and crawled
away.
"It's you," Tenchi sighed in happiness.
"Meow!" Ryo Ohki said, glad to see Tenchi.  She hopped from Sasami's head
into Tenchi's arms.
"Tenchi," Sasami cried, "you're drunk!"
"I'm fine," Tenchi assured her as he toppled forward onto his face.
Sasami, Ryo Ohki and Tenchi were reunited.  Sasami attempted to nurse her
inebriated friend back to health by dunking his head in a large bucket of
coffee.
"I heard coffee was supposed to sober you up," she explained.  She then told
Tenchi about the existence of the Man with the Pi Symbol, Dr. Clay.
"Where is this Dr. Clay so that I can kill him?" Tenchi muttered as Sasami
held his head under the coffee.  Sasami released his head.
"He's in the castle with the prince," she told him, "but the castle gate is
guarded by 30 men."
Tenchi sighed, "I'm no good at strategy."  Then he got an idea, "We need the
stranger in black," he said.
"What?" Sasami asked.
    Tenchi stood up, "He kicked my ass.  He beat your ass.  He must have out
thought Kiyone, and anyone who can do that can plan my castle onslaught any
day.  Let's go!"
"But, Tenchi," Sasami said, "We don't know where he is."
"That's only a minor problem," Tenchi replied.  "At last my grandfather's
soul will be at peace."
Inside his castle, Kagato sat at his desk looking through some new organ
music.  Nagi entered, grateful he wasn't actually playing the damn
instrument.
"The Thieves Forrest has been cleared," she told him, "and thirty men guard
the castle gate."
"Double it," Kagato ordered.  "I will not have my wedding ruined."
"There's only one gate key," Nagi said smiling, "and I have it."
Aeka entered the room, a determined look on her face.
"Ah, my Jurian rose blossom," Kagato called to her.  "Tonight, we will
marry,
and tomorrow, every space ship in my kingdom will see us off on our
honeymoon."
"Every ship but your four fastest," Aeka reminded him.  Kagato looked
puzzled.
"Oh yes, of course not those," he quickly assured her.
"You liar," Aeka said.
"Excuse me," Nagi whispered as she quickly slipped from the room.
"You dare call me a liar!" Kagato growled.
"It doesn't matter, my Ryoko will come for me anyway.  I should have seen
sooner that you were just a coward with a heart full of fear," Aeka replied.
"I would choose my words more wisely, if I were you," Kagato warned.
"Why should I?  Ryoko and I are joined by the bonds of love, and you cannot
track that not with a thousand radars and you cannot break that not with a
thousand laser swords, and when I say you are a coward it is because you are
the most disgusting, vile creature to have ever slithered upon Jurai!"
Kagato grabbed her arm, "I wouldn't say that if I were you!" he threatened,
dragging her down the hall to her chamber and locking her within.
Then suddenly, he appeared in Dr. Clay's laboratory, running down the steps.
He stood over Ryoko's limp body, glaring down at her with his devious yellow
eyes, "You do love each other," he said, "so you might have been happy.
Nobody deserves that chance, nobody!  And so I think no woman will suffer as
greatly as you will.  Mihoshi, sing My Heart Will Go On, the theme from
Titanic!" he ordered.  Mihoshi snatched up her microphone.
Dr. Clay stood up, "No!  Not Celine Dion!" he yelled.
"Every night in my dreams I see you I feel you," Mihoshi began to sing.
Ryoko screamed in agony.  She felt her entire life draining away with the
lyrics of the song.
"Near, far, wherever you are," Mihoshi wailed.  Dr. Clay became fascinated
watching Ryoko's agony.  Ryoko's strength was quickly being sucked away.
She
realized that her soul was slipping away from her body and this world and
she
cried out because she would never be able to see Aeka again.
Outside the Thieves Forrest, Tenchi, Sasami and Ryo Ohki stopped at the
sound
of someone screaming from the immense pain of torture.
"Do you hear that?" Tenchi asked, "That's the sound of ultimate suffering.
My heart cried like that when Dr. Clay murdered my grandfather.  The
stranger
in black is making it now because his true love is marrying another tonight.
Come on!" He and Sasami, with Ryo Ohki on her head, took off in the
direction
of the sound.