[The Mental Library(tm) is dark; Cerina and Tomy are sprawled out on
separate futons, snoring away. A tiny feline shape slinks towards them,
then suddenly pounces.]

LilTigre: WAKE UP!!!!!

Cerina: (rubbing her eyes) Wha-? Huh? Are we under attack?

LilTigre: (bouncing) Nope!!

Tommy: (mumbles)

LilTigre: Not that either! It's Fic review! (singing) Fic review, fic
review.....

(The projector pops up...)

On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Christopher Angel wrote:

A little word of introduction:
This is part of a series of stories that are part of Turn the Page.  They
show some of the events that shaped my Crystal Tokyo and the people that
inhabit it.

Tommy: (chugging coffee) That's more than a little word....

Cerina: All right! Hey, Tigger, remind me to ask God-boy if this is the
first one of these he's done....

They put their entire lives on hold for me, and one of them died for it.

Cerina: Now why am I not surprised?

LilTigre: What?

Cerina: It's already dark, and this is the first sentence!
 

It was all like a dream, those months we spent together.  One after another,
they came to me, stayed, and made my life richer.  One morning I was an
average teenager who was looking forward to his next year of school, and the
next I was one of the most powerful people in the universe.

Sometimes I'm convinced it IS all a dream.

Tommy: Kinda like the last episode of *Newhart*, ne?

LilTigre: (singing) Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a
dream........
 

I should have seen what I was doing to them.  I knew that they fought over
me.  It was hard not to, the way they were.  But I just couldn't accept it,
couldn't believe that those beautiful, amazing women would want someone like
ME.  Those women who could have anyone they wanted, men a million times
greater, would want someone like me.

Cerina: Love has its reasons of which reason knows nothing of....

Tommy: Poetic today, aren't we?

Am I really that special?

LilTigre: Finding a sweet guy in anime that doesn't wanna fondle you right
off is next to impossibe, so, yeah, you're special.

I shake my head when they insist that I am, that I am more than worthy of
them and their love.  I don't see it.  What kind of man can't decide, even
if they are all beautiful?  Even if they are the most amazing, wonderful
people I've ever known, I should have been able to choose, to pick one of
them.  What kind of man loves four women instead of one?

Cerina: Y'know, I could make a crack about polygamy and religion here, but
I won't. It's too early in the day to be offending people.

Tommy: Having four hot babes like that, and he's upset???

LilTigre: (whaps him with her mug of cocoa) Baka. Your brain hasn't caught
up with your hormones yet, has it?
 

But no, I had to avoid the question.  I had to push them all away when they
tried to get closer to me, and yet come closer to them in every word I said,
in every action I made.  I had to let them believe that my heart was a prize
that could be won, when all of them had already won it.

Cerina: (corny voice) Yes, ladies, you have all won Tenchi's heart in the
Tenchi Muyo! Clearing House Sweepstakes!
 

Oh, Kami-sama, why?  Why did she have to die?  I still remember it.  I still
remember how I felt like it was yesterday...

***

The image on the starship's screen was fuzzy and grainy, but it was clear
who was sending it.  A beautiful, well-tanned blonde in her mid-twenties,
with the most beautiful blue eyes.  Those eyes were now bright with pain,
the left one reddish as blood from a cut on her brow flowed into it.

Tommy: Beautiful, yes. I.Q. over 2, no.

(The girls glare him down.)
 

"...I repeat.  This planet is now under a Level One Galactic Quarantine,
pending the results of the Ascension."

Ascension.  A single word, that described a horror that only certain races
brought upon themselves.  An attempt to turn themselves into something
greater long before the race was ever ready to cope.  At best, it could
devastate a civilization, almost destroying it.  At worst, it could succeed,
and wipe a civilization from the galaxy.

LilTigre: Ascension? Was that in the series?

Cerina: (frowns) I'm not sure, Tigger. Maybe it's the Galactic word for
the Second Impact.
 

As they watched, the recording repeat itself.  "This is First Class
Detective Mihoshi, Number 2334215.  The planet Earth has begun the Ascension
process, and is now under Level One Galactic Quarantine.  No ships may
depart or land this planet until Ascension has been resolved."  A pause, as
she tried to wipe the blood and tears from her eyes.  "Sayonara, Tenchi,"
she whispered, then composed herself.  "I repeat.  This planet is now..."

All: *sniff*
 

"Ascension," Washu whispered in horror, and summoned her computer.  She
typed a few keys and frantically scanned the data that flowed across the
screen.  With a wordless, strangled cry, she collapsed to the ground.  She
looked with tear-streaked eyes at Tenchi, who was now arguing with Ryoko and
Ayeka.

Tommy: I grant it this doesn't bode well....
 

"What are you waiting for?" he demanded.  "We have to go down there!  You
saw her, she was hurt!"  He whirled to the crystals that hovered near the
front of the bridge.  "Ryo-Ohki, let's go."

"Iie, Ryo-Ohki!" Ryoko and Ayeka countered in unison.

"Why the hell not?" Tenchi demanded.  "We have to save her!"

"She's dead."  They whirled to look at Washu who was still crumpled on the
floor.  Her voice was soft, as if she didn't trust herself to speak louder.
"Mihoshi, Yosho, Noboyuki, they're dead.  Them and two billion others, dead
in moments."  She shook her head, and hid her face in her hands.  "Oh,
Bubblehead, gomen, I should have seen this coming."

All: WHAT???

LilTigre: *sniff* I never really liked Mihoshi, but.... this is so sad....

Tommy: Them, Akane, Xian Pu and Ukyo, all of Nerima, the TAC, Momiji...

(Cerina glares at him as LilTigre starts bawling.)

Cerina: Smooth move, baka ahotare! (whaps him)
 

"Dead?" Tenchi whispered, and then shook his head angrily.  "The message-"

"Recorded," Washu interrupted.  "Probably the last thing she did."

Cerina: *sniff* My God...
 

Tenchi stared at her in horror, as her words finally hit him fully.

Dead.

His father.  His grandfather.

Dead.

Mihoshi.

Dead.

While he was romping over the galaxy with the others, visiting Ichi and
Sasami on Jurai, she had died.  She was there because of him, and she was
dead.

It was HIS fault.

Tommy: No, brother, it wasn't. It's kinda like Einstein's Law of Reality:
R = Shit happens.
 

"My fault," he whispered, self-loathing permeating his voice, and tears
streaming down his face.  "I shouldn't have gone with you.  I should have
been there.  I should have been there to protect her."

Ayeka suddenly hugged him.  "Iie, Tenchi, it wasn't your fault.  You
couldn't have known."  She suddenly stiffened as she felt another pair of
arms circle Tenchi and her.  She looked into Ryoko's eyes, and a message
passed between them.

Right now, Tenchi needed them.  The fights were over.

Ayeka looked over to Washu, and caught her gaze.  She nodded slightly, and
the woman rose to her feet and also hugged the crying man.

Cerina: It's awful that it takes a tragedy to bind people together, but
it's soo true....
 

"I...I shouldn't have led you all on like that," he whimpered.  "You all
stayed there because of me.  I should have chosen one of you."

Ryoko grew cold.  "Who would you have chosen?" she asked in a faint voice.

Tenchi suddenly shook their arms off of him.  "I DON'T KNOW!" he roared,
then feel to his knees.  "I still don't."

"Did you love her?" Ayeka asked softly.

"Yes," he admitted.  "Damn me, I loved you all.  I still do."

Tommy: Poor guy.

Cerina: Not really. See how rich he is, with all those people there who
love him? But it's still sad....
 

"She knew that you loved her," Ayeka told him, a bittersweet smile on her
face.  "We all knew that.  That's why we stayed.  Not just for you, for
ourselves.  I love you too."

"I do too," Ryoko agreed.

"As do I, Tenchi," Washu echoed, and then suddenly smirked.  "You're my
favorite guinea pig, after all."

LilTigre: (manages a weak grin) Good ol' Washu-chan.
 

Tenchi stared at her in shock, and then began to laugh weakly.  It grew into
something more hysterical before it faded into tears.

***

If they could share me, how could I not share myself?

Tommy: Share and share alike, ne?

(The girls groan.)
 

I wish I had accepted it as early as they had.  They had known after those
three strange men arrived.  Those men who summoned the Light Hawk Wings like
I did, yet not.  My sons.

Tommy: (looks confused)

Cerina: Probably when the Norns send Usagi-hime, Toraneko-hime, and
Tenchi's kids into the past.
 

They had known, back then, that they would have to share me.  Looking back,
I see how the fights had changed, from fights over me, to fights over less
important things, for the sake of appearances - out of habit more than
anything.

Those four wonderful women, who I loved more than anything.

That is my one true regret after all these years.  Not giving up the throne
for Ichi.  Not devoting my lives to the three women I married.  What I
regret the most is that I didn't tell them before Mihoshi died.  That
Mihoshi never heard me say the words.

What would have they done, if they had known back then?  Would they have
shared me like they do now?  Would they have hated me?  Would they have
fought yet harder?

I wish I knew.

Cerina: Very good job! It ties everything in together, even though it's a
bit dark.

Tommy: Well, what do you expect after the Second and Third impacts?
Happiness?

Cerina: Point taken. (thinks a moment, then summons her naginata and
whacks him.) That's for making LilTigre cry!

Tommy: (groaning) Uhh... well, until next time, keep up the good work....!
(stumbles off for some aspirin)

[Camera fades out.]

Jess, the LilTigre =^_^=