I opened my eyes to blackness and pain.  I blinked.  Dust passed
beneath my nostrils, and I coughed.

	"Ah good.  You're awake.  I was getting bored."

	Ryouko's voice seemed a bit ... strained.

	"I ... Ryouko?  What has happened?"

	"Guess you knocked your head around when you caused that
landslide, huh?"

	Landslide?  "I don't know what you're talking about."

	"Let me refresh your memory.  You took Tenchi to visit my `tomb'
for the express purposes of seducing him.  I interrupted you, and in a
hissy fit, you unleashed `the awesome power that is the birthright of a
Princess of Jurai' -- I'm quoting you, but you probably guessed that,
causing a collapse that left both of us sealed in this tomb."

	I blinked again.  "But ... I wouldn't be that careless ... what
happened to Tenchi?!"

	"I *think* I knocked him far enough up the passage that he didn't
get buried alive, but I don't know.  Way to go, Ayeka."

	"Oh no ..." I whispered.  I tried to get up, and stopped when the
sharp pains in my left leg signalled me to stay where I was.  "Ryouko?
Can you move?"

	"Nope."

	"Why not?"

	"Fallen stalactite through my lower ribs, pinning me to the
ground.  Nice shot."

	I gasped.  "I ... does it ..."

	"Hurt?  Oh yeah.  Not that you care ..."

	"That's not true!"

	"Ah ... so you admit to being a sadist."

	"WHAT?"

	"Please, you expect me to believe that you're not thrilled that
I'm in pain?  You hate my guts, remember?"

	"I ... I will admit to a considerable degree of antipathy towards 
you, but I do not enjoy observing other beings in pain!"

	"Bullshit ..." she sang sweetly.

	"It is not, damn you!"

	"I saw your face while you were torturing me ... you loved every
second of it ..."

	"NO!  NO, I didn't!"  I didn't, I didn't ... I didn't enjoy
enjoying it, truly I didn't.

	"You are so full of it, Ayeka ..."

	"Oh ... just shut up and die, will you?!" I screamed.

	She obliged me.  At least on the first part.

	A few minutes passed, while I thought about what she'd said had
happened.  I could remember ... walking with Tenchi, enjoying the new
spring ... and he'd offered to show me Ryouko's tomb again, as he had when
I had first come to this world.  And I accepted ... I don't remember why.
Even if Yoshou had left clues as to his wherabouts there, I *knew* where
he was now ...

	I *couldn't* have intended to seduce Tenchi.  That's *absurd*.

	Although ...

	... what if he had tried to do something ...

	No, that's even *more* absurd!  Tenchi has an excellent grasp of
proprieties, unlike *some* people ... he wouldn't try to seduce me.

	I might enjoy it, but he wouldn't do it.

	Satisfied with myself, I called out, "Ryouko!"

	For a moment, she didn't respond.  "What," she finally bit out.

	"For your information, I did *not* attempt to seduce Tenchi.  So,
this entire situation is your fault."

	A long silence.  "You've *got* to be kidding me.  *My* fault?  You
fired first!"

	"No I ..." I asserted, then trailed off as I realized that I
couldn't remember ... and that I very well might have ... Defensively, I
retorted, "Well ... you deserved to be fired upon!  Why must you always
try and ruin Tenchi's peaceful moments with me?!"

	"Because I love Tenchi, and you want to take him away from me."

	To that, I could say nothing.

	"And the worst part is, you *don't* love Tenchi," her voice
continued, in a very quiet, cold tone.  "You're using him as a subsitute
for dear, sweet Yoshou-oniisama ... and you blame me for that, too!"

	"It *IS* your fault that Yoshou left Jurai!  Don't you dare try
and shift that onto me!"  It's not true!  I care about Tenchi as a person,
not because he looks like Yoshou ... it's not *true*!

	"Ah, but he was going to leave anyway, wasn't he?  All that Jurain
contempt for `half-breeds', remember?"

	"How ... how dare ... how do you know about that?" I burst out.

	"Oh, *every*one knows what a pack of elitist bastards the Jurain
nobility are.  You're full breed, so naturally, they wouldn't show any
contempt for sweet widdle you ..."

	"I can't help what they are!" I cried.  "I can only be what *I*
am!  And I am *not* like the people who drove Yoshou away!"

	"Oh really?  Howcum ya stuck Tenchi in a zoo, first time that
you met him?"

	My jaw drops.

	"You're just as much a racist as any of them, Ayeka-dono," she
sneered, loading that honorific with a vast amount of dripping contempt.

	"That's not true!"

	"If Tenchi weren't Yoshou's grandson, you wouldn't want anything
to do with him."

	"That's not TRUE!  I ... I love Tenchi.  I love him for his
courage, his gentleness, his honour.  I want his heart.  I want his soul.
And yes, Ryouko, I *do* want his body.  But it's because it is *his* body,
not because it is the genetic descendant of Yoshou ..."

	And she was silent.

	And then there was another rumbling.  I closed my eyes, and waited
for the tomb to collapse on me.

	"AYEKA-SAN!"

	My eyes flashed open, and there he was, staring down at me with a
look of mortal fear.  "T-tenchi-sama," I whispered, my voice suddenly
hoarse.

	"Oh, praises," he murmured, "you're ..." he looked down
towards where my leg was pinned beneath a large stone.  He swallowed.
"You're basically all right ... Ryo-oh-ki-chan!"

	I wondered for a moment how the cabbit was going to help this
situation, then saw something I had only had described to me.

	Dozens of Ryo-oh-ki -- perhaps hundreds -- pushing at the rock
that was holding my leg prisoner.  It rolled over finally, and my leg was
free ... torn, bruised, and hurting terribly, but free.

	"Oh, Ayeka-san," Tenchi said, holding me tightly but gently.  "Why
did you lose your temper like that?  Didn't you realize what could
happen?!"

	"Gomen nasai, Tenchi-sama ..." I said.  There was no excuse that I
could make.  At least, he didn't seem angry with me ... more frightened
than anything else.  Perhaps everything was going to be allright after
all.

	And then Washuu stepped into my sight.  "My daughter is where?"
she said simply.

	Her voice was slightly warmer than deep space.

	"I ... I saw her fall over th--"

	Washuu turned away from me, and stalked in the direction that I
had pointed.  I noticed, now, that the rockslide that had sealed off the
entrance to the cave had simply ... ceased to be.  Disintegrated.

	I gave Tenchi a stunned look, and he nodded, guessing my meaning.

	"Tenchi-dono.  I will need your assistance," Washuu called.

	"Hai!" he said quickly.  "Ojichan, could you take care of Ayeka?"

	"Of course," said Yoshou, standing in the entrance of the cave
with a typically bemused expression.  Tenchi flashed me a quick smile,
then got up to walk to where Washuu was standing, working at her computer.
Yoshou picked me up, and started to carried me out, just as Tenchi gasped
as he saw Ryouko.

	"Washuu-sama!  Is she ..."

	"Don't be silly.  Do you seriously expect a stalachtite through
the ribs to bring death to the greatest creation of an untragenius
scientist with the most powerful brain in the galaxy, mwah-hah-hah?"
Washuu asked in a monotone.  "Ryouko's brain is set up to put her in a
state where her life functions are at the minimum level for survival, if
she ever sustains this kind of damage.  She'll be fine, once I set up the
subspace gate to my laboratory ... but you'll have to keep her warm until
then."

	"Uh ... how?"

	"Body-heat.  Strip."

	"BUT ..."

	"She's unconscious, has been since she got hit.  She'll never
know, and I'll never tell ..."

	Unconscious ...

	But then who talked to me, in the darkness?

Author's Notes

	I considered writing Ayeka's episode of this series in the same
format as Ryouko's monologue ... but it didn't work.  I suspect that Ayeka
is not really given to monologue.

	The characters of Tenchi Muyou were created by Hiroki Hayashi, and
brought to North America by Pioneer LDC.  This story, while incorporating
aspects of this motion picture held under copyright by others, is
copyright 1997 by Chris Davies.

	Nobody sue me, okay?