Homecomings:A Tenchi Muyo/El Hazard crossover

By  Kain The Seeker
  Aka Andrew Graham (kaintskr@aol.com)
With Creative input by Deunan (deunan@aol.com): Thanks Heaps Deunan [it's all
your fault!!!]
My Website: http://members.aol.com/~kaintskr/index.htm

CMA Disclaimer: All characters are property of their respective owners and
distributers. So, I hope that no one plans to sue me (I'm in the Navy, so I
don't have any money!)

Afra Man floated up to the Eye of God and landed gently at the edge of the 
platform. She hadn't been up here since that day, six months ago when the war
with the Bugrom ended. 

The day Ifurita had been banished across space and time. The day he started
dying bit by bit without her. 

Makoto didn't even notice as she landed, he was concentrating on a section of
the book that he had taken from the Royal Archives. Nearby was Ifurita's 
staff Key. He looked frustated as she approached, tossing the book aside.

"I was so sure," he muttered as he picked up the Staff Key and walked over to
pick the book,"I'm so close, I know it." He noticed Afra Man as he turned.
"You here to bring me back to the palace, Afra?"

"No, Makoto. The princess' didn't send me, I came on my own. To see how you 
were doing. Everyone is worried about you. You don't sleep, you don't eat and
you've pulled back from everyone that cares for you."

He turned away and looked at the surface of the immense  artifical  moon that
he stood on. Trying to  put the feelings into simple words was the hardest
thing that he had  ever done.

"Afra, have you ever loved someone so much you can't get out them out of your
mind? I see her ever time I close my eyes, gliding down that shaft and
knowing that she will waiting for me before I ever met her. 10,000 years
worth of waiting. She might not be able to survive past the time that she
sends me back here."  He closed his eyes and pushed the pain back down deep
before continuing "I'm afraid that she won't recognize me when I finally get
back."

Afra sighed and turned him to face her. "You love her more than I have ever
seen anyone love someone before Makoto. You will find her." She took his hand
and walked him away from the platform," If you don't kill yourself in the
process. Come on, when was the last time you ate?"

"I.... I can't remember." Makoto replied quietly, the fight and fire had gone
out of him, exhausted if she was any judge of things.

"Well, as a friend, I won't let you work another minute without some food and
rest first."

--------------
Elsewhere, a world away.......
Aeyaka closed the large text book startling the concentrating Tenchi. Sasami
who was watching nearby giggled at watching him jump.  

"We're done already?"  Tenchi wondered. For the past couple of weeks, he was
being tutored on his Jurai heritage.  So far the tutoring sessions only
concentrated on the Royal Language.  It was beginning to knaw on him that
nothing, so far, ever delved into Jurai's history.  

"I know its been bothering you that we haven't gone into any of our history,
Lord Tenchi.  But I wanted you to learn enough of the Royal language to at
least understand part of this...,"  The princess trailed off trying to find
the right human words for it, "This...song?"  Tenchi watched as a strange
emotion flickered across her's and Sasmai's face.  "It embodies Jurai
itself."    

The song began softly in the royal language of Jurai seemingly penetrating
and surrounding his very essence at the same time.  He was mesmerized like a
sirens call, yet not understanding all of the words.  So beautiful and yet
very sad at the same time, his heart seemed torn.  Then he saw.....

A world beautiful and at peace with a civilization that spread almost to the
heavens. Then images of a brutal senseless war encompassing all.  Children
turning to men on the battlefield.  Bodies strewn across entire landscapes.
 Then a man.  His face hard and cold looking down upon a city. Tears mixed
with blood as he thrust his clenched fists towards the sky. Then ebon flames
consuming all.....

"Tenchi?"  Sasami shook him gently out of the trance.  

"Oh, sorry."  He whispered as Aeyaka finished the song on one last mournful
note.  Sasami wiped a tear from her eye.  

"That was beuatiful," he said.  Aeyaka gave him a wry smile.

"Thank you.  I apoligize for my lack of skill, but Mother is the true singer
of the family."  

"What was the song about?"  He asked even as the images of his vision seemed
to slowly slip away, "I still don't understand enough to make it out."

"It is about how the Lost Clans came to Jurai, over 10,000 years ago. We, our
forebears, were at war with a great evil. Finally, our ancestors were forced
to use a weapon of the greatest power to turn the tide." Aeyaka sat on the
grass beside Tenchi, "a few of those people stood their ground against the
enemy, to buy the time that the others needed to make the Great Weapon ready.
When it was unleased, they expected to die. Instead, they were 
banished from their homeworld and found themselves stranded on what would one
day be called the planet Juria."

"Which means 'haven' in our ancestor's native tongue." Sasammi added as she
unpacked the lunch she had brought.

"Exactly, Sasammi. We were given a second chance at life, on a world that was
fertile and peaceful. Our ancestors eventually lost hope at ever getting back
home and instead set about making Juria our home. Very few reminders of the
Time of the Beginning remain. You have one of them. The Master Key. The other
is our traditions and stories of that time.

"What does the last bit mean, Aeyeka?" He couldn't get that last mournful
verse from his mind.

"The song ends like this... 'When will we return, when will the clans be
reunited, when will our hearts again be whole."

------
Sheyla ran through the halls of the palace.  -Afura, you little weasel
bringing Makoto down and not even telling me.-  She finally arrived at the
palace kitchen.  Carefully, she put her ear to the door listening for
anything.  Nothing.  She opened the door to find Makoto sitting alone at a
table staring into a goblet.  

"Makoto?"  She asked tenitively.  He seemingly took no notice and downed the
entire contentents in one swift stroke.  Setting the goblet back down, he
refilled it.  

"Heh, Sheyla."  He whispered.  "Now I can see why you and Fuji-sensai drink
this stuff."  She went to his side and saw four empty jugs of wine. -Oh lord-
 

"You'd better ease off the stuff, your going to feel like hell in the
morning."  She tried to say it lightly only to choke. It pained her to see
him that way.  A bitter chuckled worked its way to his lips.

"I don't care," he said slightly slurred.  He held up the goblet to his eyes
swishing around the red liquid.  "I still see her you know...," he said his
voice trembling on the brink of choking in sobs, "in my dreams just like the
day she left."  He rose suddenly and hurled the goblet agaist the stone wall.
 It shattered into a million shiny pieces.  "and I couldn't save her...and I
can't save her now!!"

Sheyla stepped back startled at the force of his words.  "No, you can't
believe that.  YOU PROMISED TO FIND HER,"  She said almost in disbelief at
Makoto's words. She had never seen him loose faith, even in the darkest hours
of the war. He took several breaths.  He looked up at Sheyla tears coursing
down his face.  

"I know."  He said hoarsly. His body was whracked by sobs, and he collapsed
in a ball. Sheyla rushed to his side holding him in her arms. He cried into
her shoulder, and she held him gentley rocking him and stroking his hair.

Sheyla looked down at the boy, no man, that slept fitfuly in her lap. She
wondered why he began drinking.  The answer came to her easily.  -To keep the
memories away I'll bet.- She wished she could talk to someone about this.
Everyone had been out of the palace attending to some duties or another.
Afra, she flew back to Mount Muldoon to check the shrine. Miz and Fugisawa
were off planning their wedding, and Nanami had been hiding away in her room
for a week now. -Not to long ago, I would have killed to have you in this
position Makoto,- she silently told him as she ran a hand through his hair,
-Now, all I want is to see the pain leave your face for a second even if it
had to become my own. It isn't fair, you saved the world. You deserve a
little peace of your own.- Tears ran down her face at the injustice of it.
The pain was almost as bad her own pain when she realized that Makoto could
never love her. "It's just not fair," She whispered to the night, not sure
wether she was refering to her situation or Makoto's.

Makoto stirred restlessly, trapped in the dreams of the past. Images of
Ifurita, before and after her imprisionment, flittered through his dream 
along with the Eye of God. He saw images of the Great War, memories he had 
taken from Ifurita when they bonded last, the Time of the Makers as it had 
become to be called. An age of marvels before the end of the war. The ebon
fires of war parted and suddenly their was only one image left in his  mind.
A simple object, but one of great power. -The Master Key- whisphered a gentle
voice in his mind. The his dream faded as he fled into a deeper sleep.  

----- 
Elsewhere, a world away.......

Tenchi stirred restlessly in his bed. The night was quiet, Kyoni and Mahoshi
were out on partol, Wasu was locked away in her lab meddling with the secrets
of the universe. -Something that doesn't require the services of her favorite
'guinie pig'- He smiled wryly, life had certainly not been dull since the day
that he snuck into the family shrine. Even Aeyaka and Ryoko had held off
their feuding today. -All in all, a very good day-

The only thing that kept him awake tonight was something he had heard this
afternoon. Aeyaka's voice kept ringing through his head, a little bit of her
song that wouldn't go away. -.. when will we see our homes again... when will
our hearts be made whole.-

"What does it mean?" He rolled over, pulled something out from under the
sheets beneath him. He lifted the small slender object into view. -The Master
Key-, he looked over the sword, many people had hinted that it had greater
power than he had drawn from it yet. Aeyeka, Grandfather, Wasu, Ryoko and
Kagato to name a few. "What are you really capable of?"

-----