Heaven and Eternity
by K'thardin
Standard Disclaimer: If you don't know what these say by now,
you probably never will, but here goes. You will never win!
Muhuhahahahah! Sorry. Anyway I don't own Tenchi Muyo! I do own
my characters! There! Oh, by the way; feel free to reprint this,
just remember to credit me.
I'll forgo the forward on this one. Actually I can't. I need to
thank BGlanders for letting me use his idea in 'Wag the Cabbit' (I
recomend reading it if you haven't). Thank you much.
Aftermath part 1
"Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death; I
shall fear no evil. For I am the meanest motherfucker in the
valley!"
-Unknown
<Opening Theme-Sweet Child 'O Mine-Guns and Roses>
Everywhere.
No where.
Everything.
Nothing.
The description is the best a mortal's language will allow.
How would you describe being disbursed; your substance spread all
over the universe; yet still conscious? Aware of what is
transpiring everwhere you are; which is everywhere. Everything.
He was aware of this, and at the same time not. He would
remember this, but only as if it were a dream. Quickly forgoten;
except for a feeling of being even greater than he was.
A hard task considering what he was before.
Yet even being on every level of creation was not the same as
being connected to everything in existence. It should overwhelm
him. For some reason it never did. He knew why...here? There was
no here as what he was. Maybe he knew why because of what he was
would be a better description. In any case he knew now, but would
not later.
In fact he knew a lot more than ever possible, but would not
later.
Absently he checked the state of his...body. Body was not a
term that could be used for it. His form was physical; continued
to have certain...needs that a physical body needed. Yet he
transcended simple physical forms; he reached into every
conceivable dimension, yet maintained himself on the physical
plane.
Impossible. Yet he did it.
More impossible was there were many like him that did the
same thing. Had been doing it almost since time began. Did time
have a beginning?
Well since it became. That would have to do for the
description of what happened when the universe came into existence.
He was rambling to himself. You'd think being like this
would be anything but boring. Unfortunately being connected to
everything meant everything going on was known to him. Very boring
when there were no cosmic disaters and the like going on. Not to
mention he couldn't do anything like this. Even more boring.
There was one consolation. A presense was always with him.
That of One who was always connected to everything. Wheather She
knew it or not.
It was like bathing in pure love. So powerful was the
feeling She bore for him.
This was better than Heaven. He could stay like that
forever; just blissfully floating in the light and warmth of Her.
But that wouldn't be very fair to Her, as She only knew his
presence on a most basic level. He knew She needed more.
Far be it for him to deny Her what She needed. He would
rather die and his sould be cast into oblivion before that
happened.
Anyway back to his body. It was slowly healing in the
expanse of the universe. It's energies infusing it; restoring it;
giving it new life.
Not too much longer now, he thought to himself.
There is a question of why this happened to begin with. In
truth he did it to himself to save his own life. Why you ask? It
was the only way, his body; not just physically but in every way he
existed, was severely damaged. His power was spent to the point he
could no longer use it to restore himself. This was bad.
That meant he needed a power source to revive himself; one
that he could adapt quickly to his own use. One that could sustain
his life while he used it to heal himself.
Sinking into the universe was a very convienient means of
repairing himself. Fortunately he still had enough power left to
do it. That was good.
Now he just had to wait. After all there was nothing else he
could really do. That was a danger of spreading your mind out to
encompass the entirety of everything. The more you spread yourself
out the more YOU are spread out until finally; you couldn't do
anything. But what he was doing now.
No. It was best just to keep yourself focused when dealing
with what they did.
Doesn't make too much sense; but it is the best that can be
done with the language.
This is about the billionth time he had gone over this. And
that was only this time, as he had found it neccessary over the
course of many millienia to disburse himself like this on occasion.
Well there are worse things, he sighed. I could be dead. Still I
wish I could...now there is a thought. Perhaps I can talk to
someone. Well maybe not talk.
He felt the warmth of Her still; all around, permeating
everything about him. So he tried to do the same for Her. He felt
the confusion momentarily; then the love of She held for him flared
around a thousand times greater than before.
That which he was now smiled.
Somewhere on a remote planet on one of the outer arms of the
Milky Way galaxy a being; both mortal and goddess, felt something.
Something that made them feel hope for the first time in awhile.
"Cyraqs..." they said softly.
Washuu looked up momentarily from her terminal. "What about
him?"
"I feel him."
You feel him do you? I wish I could. She tapped a few more
keys. "I envy you."
More test devices ran over Sasami as she lay prone on the
examination table. "Why?"
"A lot of reasons." she answered as she read the data the
scans produced.
A beam of light projected itself from one of the devices. It
slowly traced it's way all over her. She found herself wishing it
wasn't the beam that was touching her everywhere. Oh my...that was
a rather emabarrasing thought. She noticed Washuu smiling at the
blush that traced it's way over her. "He loves you too."
Trying to keep us from delving into why you were coloring I
see. Well not too hard to figure out the way that beam is moving
over you. "I know. It's just I know you and he will be with each
other forever. In fact have known each other for most of his life.
Whereas I have only just met my son...well really met my son
anyway." she sighed, "I just wish I could be his mother for
awhile. I wish I could be Ryouko's mother for awhile. I wish..."
Tsunami looked at her sister with a kind of wry regret. "I
wish a lot of things had never been too. But let's not get into
that right now. Otherwise.."
"Yeah. I know." Her sister rose from her floating cusion.
Obviously the sitting down for so long was getting to her.
Especially in her condition.
"You're beginning to really show; you know that?"
Washuu blissfully placed her hand on her middle. "Yeah. I
know." She said it this time in a very different tone of voice.
But a slightly worried expression crossed her features.
"Don't worry. Only way something will screw that one up is
if they destroy the universe." A scared expression crossed
Washuu's features momentarily; then she chuckled.
"I guess so. Still I can't help worrying; my luck with
children isn't too hot." She began smiling blissfully again. "Yet
I find that I'm still looking forward to this. Feeling my child's
life as it grows inside of me. Watching our child grow up after
he's born. Ah, babies, babies, babies." she trailed off
blissfully.
He? Tsunami and Sasami thought in amusement. Ah well, of all
of us you'd think she would be the last to want children. Yet look
at her now! Just radiant! "Now you're making ME jealous."
Washuu smiled. "Sorry sis."
"Whatcha found Washuu?" Sasami asked.
Washuu clutched her forhead momentarily. Watching those two
bounce back and forth was giving her a mild headache. "Well from
what I can tell, those mood swings from hell you've been having..."
"Yeah?"
"They're going to get worse."
They facefaulted, "What do you mean WORSE?!"
Washuu calmly walked over to her and began scanning them with
something that looked suspiciously like a tricorder. "Well with
you growing to about the age of 15 all of the sudden and Tsunami's
power amplifying the process; your hormones are going to reach
levels the likes of which even I will be in awe of."
They sat up and grabbed her, "THAT'S INSANE!" They started
shaking her roughly, "How in the hell are we going to function
like that?!" They suddenly realized they had given Washuu whiplash
and let her go. Right to the floor she fell.
After she picked herself up (cracking her neck a little) she
calmly replied, "Well I think I can come up with something."
"What?"
Her expression turned evil. "It was something Cyraqs came up
with in his academy days; when he was going by a very different
name." A holoboard appeared in front of them allowing both the
goddesses a view of something.
"Are you serious?" Sasami asked the mad goddess/scientist.
"Yep."
"Why did he..."
"You should have seen him at the academy. He was probably
the biggest stoner there. I swear there was not a day that went by
he didn't come into class wasted." She thought for moment, "Then
again that's how most of the students were."
And you guys are supposed to be the number one genius' in the
universe. They looked at each other for a long moment. "I think
I'll get off this subject."
"Probably a good thing." Washuu agreed
"By the way, won't this incapacitate me?" Tsunami asked.
"Not with the amount of chemicals that are going to be
floating through your body. At most this will be a mild sedative."
"Better than nothing."
And so it was for the next two weeks. Most of the time the
little concoction of Cyraqs' would enable them to retain control.
Sometimes though; sometimes the pain, the hormones would become too
much.
During those times one of two things happened: They would be
in a rage that would make worlds quake; or they would collapse in
tears; usually in the arms of whoever was convienient. Problem was
those times came without warning. Like one minute they were
talking to a reasonable logical person; they next they were
wondering why they were holding a sobbing girl.
So it came down to this: tread lightly when around Sasami.
There were other effects of these little mood swings.
However those of the household could take an overaffectionate
Sasami and/or Tsunami. That was no problem.
There were also days that they were so...frustrated it drove
them nuts. The one person they knew could relieve this kind of
'stress' was not here, and taking care of it themselves only lead
to further frustration. At times like this everyone made
themselves scarce. Probably due to the way she eyed everyone; and
I mean EVERYONE. Seeing the burning lust in their gaze
was...rather frightening.
Burning lust was an understatement. Ataru Moroboshi would be
put to shame. And due to the fact she was a goddess; a few of the
more sensitive in the house felt it too.
Mihoshi was the designated peacemaker during these times. It
seemed she was the only one not affected by Sasami's little mood
swings. In all actuality she was, but she just did not let it get
to her. How she did that was anyone's guess.
Presently she was walking out of Washuu's lab in somewhat of
a daze. She wasn't even aware that what she had seen was
physically possible. In any case it looked kind of painful, she
almost felt sorry for Hayes. Almost. She made a mental note to
not get around Washuu when she was in the mood to play doctor.
Various others in the household were in a similar state.
Katsuhito...er Yoshou (that was weird finding out he was
still a young man) and Kiyone had been at it since early this
morning.
Achika had cornered a very willing Nobiyuki in the baths.
Tenchi had vanished completely; leaving behind two females
very frantic and frustrated. Too bad for him, she thought to
herself.
Ryuken had been working the forms since very early in the
morning; trying in vain to loose himself in the movements. In all
truth she would have been very willing to help him relieve some of
his building tention, but he was way too proper about certain
things. She smiled faintly, well he wouldn't last too much longer
that was for sure. It's not like she didn't already have it
planned out; so what was the harm in having a little fun first? Oh
well.
She didn't know where Drakhenn and Ryo-ohki were. She had a
suspicion, but she didn't want to pursue it. Not that it mattered
to her, he just better not hurt her friend.
She came to Sasami and Ayeka's room and hesitated before
entering. Absently she clutched the hypo spray bottle in her hand.
The reason she had been in Washuu's lab to begin with. It was a
more concentrated form of the 'medication' that Washuu had been
making for them. At this level it would kill anything normal a few
million times over. So in their case it would probably knock them
out, at most. However at this level it was only to be used in dire
emergencies as it did have certain side effects. That being once
she came out of it; she would have something equivalent to a
hangover.
Hangover would be inaccurate. Take your common hangover:
headache, queasiness, cotton for the head, dehydration, sensitivity
to light and sound, etc., etc. Now add cosmic energies, massive
amounts of hormones, a lot of prior pain, and multiply it all by a
few thousand times. Then you would have what Sasami would have the
next day.
Not a pleasant experience. The only way to keep that from
happening was to keep her dosed up; and then slowly decrease the
doses back to normal. This took about a day, but for that day they
smiled very beautifically and watched all the pretty colors.
That's why this was used only in the most dire of emergencies.
Well I am fairly certain with everyone going into a mad
sexual frenzy around here it would be considered an emergency,
thought Mihoshi.
She knocked on the door in three simple raps. No answer.
She tried again. Still no answer.
She opened the door, and was almost knocked over by the power
that came radiating out. Whoa! Now that's impressive. Inside she
saw Sasami, she was pretty sure it was Sasami, sitting on the
futon, covers wrapped around her. Eyes clenched tight in pain.
Wave after wave of power issued forth from her. Power and desire.
"Ya know there are some interesting parrallels here." she
said. She walked into the room and sat down beside the young
woman. Reaching up to Sasami's neck she activated the hypo.
Almost instantly the girl's muscles began to relax; her face
unclenching as the pain faded.
"Thank you." Mihoshi inclined her head. "It got really bad
today didn't it?" Mihoshi nodded sympathetically. "How is
everyone else?"
"About what you'd expect."
"They be O.K.?"
Mihoshi nodded, a small smile of ammusement on her face. "In
a couple of hours. Maybe more for some."
Sasami laughed a little. "Well at least that doesn't hurt
anyone. I wish I could control it better."
Mihoshi impulsively drew Sasami into her arms. "Don't worry
about it. We love you too much to let something like this bug us."
"Thanks." She yawned, "What did you mean about a parallel?"
Mihosi laughed. "First Cyraqs, now you."
Sasami started laughing when she realized what Mihoshi was
talking about. "Yeah but he had a real easy..." Sasami broke off
when she realized what she was about to say. Mihoshi's eyes lit up
in anticipation. Go on finish it. I want to hear this one.
"Well? What were you going to say?" Mihoshi pressed.
"It's nothing." She blushed hard.
Yeah right. "Go on. Admit it."
Sweat beads popped out over her forhead. "Admit what?" That
was both of them talking now.
"C'mon! When Cyraqs was going through his rage thing you
went to him and...cured his problem."
Sasami started up quickly. "How..?"
"It's easy. He was screwed up one day, and fine the next.
You were blushing like..." she paused, "you are now," Sasami was
doing a really good impression of a stop sign, as a matter of fact,
"everytime he even came into the room for days afterward." she
smiled a little knowingly, "That and I saw you creep downstairs and
outside from the kitchen that one night."
How could she..? I made certain...How?
This is Mihoshi we're talking about Tsunami. Y'know how
impossible she is.
True. They were trying to control the furious blush that
spread over their body; yet they were slightly worried. "What are
you going to do about it? Only a couple of others even know."
"Nothing. I just want to know what you thought about it,
Sasami?" Her wording was very deliberate, she was asking Sasami
that question.
"I...well..." she was fumbling; she wasn't entirely sure what
Mihoshi wanted.
Realizing her dilema, Mihoshi amplified her question. "Did
you feel weird? Maybe a little sick?"
"NO!" she said, a little louder than she meant to. "If you
must know, I felt good. IT felt good. I can't bring myself to
feel strange about it. I mean sure, I am only ten, sort of. But
at the time I was also older, sort of." She got a faraway look in
her eye. "I loved every second of it. I loved him. Even through
the madness, I could tell he felt the same for me. What more is
there? I'd do it again if it were neccessary. I can't wait to do
it again! Is that so strange? Should I feel weird about it?"
Mihoshi smiled patiently. "No. I just wanted to be sure you
knew your own mind. You're growing up very quickly. In some ways
you are even more grown up than any of us here; you just had to
wait for your body to catch up." Not to mention what's going to
happen to you later, "Just becareful. You are getting into an area
that you must always approach cautiously. In his case, you will be
making a lifetime commitment. Be sure that he is what you want."
Were you always this wise Mihoshi? But she did know how to
answer Mihsoshi. "He's everything I want."
"Everything? Even his darkness? Even his faults?"
"ESPECIALLY THOSE!" she flared, "He needs me more than I can
say because of those."
"And what about you?"
What are you getting at? "I need him, because he will always
be there. I need his darkness and his light; to always be there to
remind me of what those really mean. I need his insight, his
perspective, as different as it is from ours. I need his teaching
so I'll never forget." And? Mihoshi's eyes seemed to ask. "And I
need his love, and I want him to know I love him." She was
breathing hard. That admission had taken a lot out of her for some
reason. In fact she was beginning to have a hard time staying
awake.
"Good." Mihoshi replied simply. She smiled gently as the
drugs had their final effect and Sasami dropped off to sleep in
Mihoshi's arms. Hurry up Cyraqs. She...They...no she needs you to
be with her.
Idly she glanced at her watch. "Waaa! Now I've got to make
dinner!" Then again she thought after a moment, I wonder if anyone
will be at dinner? An evil thought crossed her mind. Oh Ryuken?
Two days later Sasami found herself in a secluded spot in the
forest, right near the edge of the lake. In fact this was the same
spot where she had created the singing trees for Cyraqs; to show
him there are a few things she could do better than he. They were
still singing now as she practiced the forms of Juraian sword
combat.
It was peaceful like this just her, the lake, the movement,
and the song. They found it to be rather relaxing. Took their
mind off what their body was going through in any case.
She finally worked herself through the last few, smiling in
satisfaction. Much better than when I first started, thanks
Tsunami.
Don't mention it. Tsunami had been giving her otherself
lessons not even Yoshou could possibly give her. After all as
powerful as he was he was still constrained by certain mortal
limitations. Limitations Sasami was rapidly outgrowing.
"Not too bad."
They jumped about ten feet into the air. Then turned in rage
at the one who had startled them. "Tenchi-niichan, one of these
days I'm going to..." she left it hanging.
"What?" He asked in amusement.
She had to think what she could possibly do that would really
hurt him without hurting him. "I'll make you eat Ayeka's cooking."
"That's not very nice." he smiled.
All of the sudden she was consumed with the need to show him
massive amounts of affection. He took it in stride. Just another
mood swing. These though I can handle, he thought as she hugged
him. Then she started sobbing. This I can't.
"It's alright." he told her over and over.
"I miss him so much!" they cried.
"He'll be back to annoy you before too long." He looked
toward the setting sun as it reflected off the lake. What he saw
made him grin. "You should know by now that he'll always return."
Something in his tone made them look up, and they saw him looking
behind them. Puzzled they turned and saw...
"Cyaraqs." walking on water almost lost in the glare of the
sun. Gasping, blinking; they almost didn't believe what they were
seeing. How..? They hadn't felt anything. But it was him. No
one felt like that to them. And now he was broadcasting loud and
clear.
Tenchi watched him as he strode across the lake. As he grew
closer it almost seemed that the sun shimmered across his form in a
massive aura. Only part of it was artifice. My god, thought
Tenchi in wonder, have you become even more powerful Cyraqs? He
glanced down at Sasami as she pulled away from him. Then took one
step. Then another.
On their own their feet began to move faster over the ground.
Crying in joy she ran to him. They reached the water and steped
across it witout missing a beat; the lake almost seeming to hold
them up as they sped across it to him. Reaching him they grasped
the smaller man like they would die if they did not hold on.
"Damn you! Don't you ever leave me again!" she commanded
quietly.
"Don't worry. I'm here for you always." he promised her.
They held each other there on the lake for a very long time.
Eh, Tenchi shrugged to himself as he watched. Now I hope we
can get some peace and quiet.
end part1
Cyraqs was a little tired. It had been one hell of a
day...er well evening anyway. He had finally healed enough he
could put himself back together; a jarring experience as always.
Then with everyone glomping him; his mother examining him in
the lab, Sasami and Tsunami making themselves a permanent
attachment to his arm, Ryouko trying to strangle him, Drakhenn
headlocking him, and he not fully revcovered even now. It had been
a very tiring reunion.
And they wouldn't let him go back to his cabin to sleep. His
mother had been very adamant about it.
"You will sleep on the Sofa in this house, so I can keep an
eye on you!" Washuu had told him.
He didn't bother stating all the inconsistencies of her
statement. Logic would not prevail in this matter; for she was
speaking as a worried mother, not a scientist. So his answer had
been what all sons had been no matter their age. "Yes, mother."
He knew he was defeated even before he had begun to fight.
Oh well, these next few days are probably going to be like
this. No big deal. He did a sort of internal diagnostic. Another
five days or so and I'll be fully recovered. Means I'll have to
sleep a lot. Translation: I'll have to sleep a normal eight hours
like everyone else; man sleep is a waste of time.
He was almost knocking on Morpheus' door when he felt
movement under his covers. Strange I'm not moving. Why are my
blankets moving? Hmmm. No wind that's not it. Nobody is using
any power that I can sense. He felt a pressure on his chest and
two strong arms snake around him. Oh, there is someone there; that
would explain...wait a sec, he did a fast backtrack from the realm
of dreams.
He could feel tell tale signature of her life even before he
pulled the cover down enough to see. Even if he didn't; he would
have been pretty sure of who it was.
As sky blue hair (she's been playing in the sun again, the
analytical part of his mind noted) came into view he rolled his
eyes. Yep, there she was smiling comfortably; looking at him with
those pink eyes. The ones, to be really cliche about, you could
drown yourself in and die happy.
"What do you think you're..." She silenced him with her
fingers.
"Please I just don't want to let you go for awhile. Please
let me stay." she pleaded.
"Wha..?"
"I'm just so afraid you'll dissapear on me again. Just for
tonight?" Those pink eyes almost begged him. Damn. Here I am, I
face things that could completely wipe out this universe. Yet when
it comes to these two...I can't win!
"Alright." he sighed. She smiled sweetly at him. He
considered what the others might do to him seeing him in bed with a
girl this young. The mental image that came to mind was many
versions of his funeral. "Y'know I'm probably going to get the
hell kicked out of me for this."
She smiled. "Naaa. No one will care. And if they try..."
she turned angry now, "...they'll face us!"
And whoa be it to those who would tick off a goddess, right?
Satisfied that he would attempt no other objections she
pulled herself up on his shoulder. Her head tilted up slightly so
she was breathing the same air he was. Or breathing air that he
would be breathing if he had such a need. So beautiful, he
thought. Her lips were very close to his, parted slightly; almost
expectant. He found it very hard to refrain from kissing them.
Painfully hard in fact. She's still young, a part of him said.
Only in part, another argued. The other part older than you ever
thought of being. Finally a compromise of sorts was reached and he
kissed her forehead. Sighing contentedly, he wrapped his arms
tightly about her and continued on his trip to slumberland.
Washuu watched her son kiss her sister goodnight. The two of
them quickly dropped off to sleep. A tear trickled out of her eye.
I'm getting soft in my old age. Or maybe it's just the hormones,
she thought wryly. I'm happy for you two. A presence walked up
behind her. "Hello Ayeka."
"I wonder if I should tell her it isn't really proper for an
imperial princess to be doing that at this age?"
Washuu looked at her wryly. "Do you honestly think you could
keep those two apart?"
"I suppose not." she sighed. After a time she sighed again,
rather enviously. Washuu chuckled a little.
"Don't worry. You'll be get your happy ending one day."
Ayeka gazed at Washuu, thanks evident on her face. "Cyraqs
taking off tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yeah, him and Tenchi have something they need to do."
Ayeka's brow furrowed momentarilly. "What does he think he's
doing leaving Sasami like that?"
"He's not." Ayeka looked at Washuu. "He's taking her with
him, and they should be back sometime tomorrow night."
"Oh good. Now I won't have to kill him." They both laughed
at that.
Ryouko looked down from her bed in the rafters and watched
her brother and Sasami fall asleep in each others arms. That's
right Sasami. That's how you do it. You see something you want
you go get it. Then she contemplated Tenchi, and wondered why it
didn't work with him.
Then again she reasoned, I haven't given up. Just changed
tactics. And you were right about one thing Washuu: I think
fairly soon we will get our happy ending. Assuming Ayeka has been
hinting what I think she has been hinting.
We'll see.
Begin Part 2
Three solitary figures appeared in front of a simple house on
the planet Cosentia. The white-haired one walked up to the door.
As he approached, the door opened of it's own accord.
Expecting us, huh? Now let us see what exactly it is that
you know. From what Achika told us it's even more information than
even those three goddesses have. Then again you went to the
Ver'thock oracle so that is to be expected. Wonder what nifty
little secrets you have in store for us. He then contemplated a
problem he was about to have. How to keep Sasami and Tsunami from
following us in here. Achika told us that it was for Tenchi and
myself to see first. Yet these two just will not let me out of
their sights. He sighed to himself. Damnit I love
her...them...arrgghhh...whatever too much, I don't want to hurt
them any. Perhaps they might listen to reason...
Hoping against all hope, he turned toward the blue-haired
goddess that had glided up behind him. "Listen, Odin wanted us to
see this first. Can I get you to wait in the fortress, or maybe
get you to stay in a certain part of the house while we..." he
trailed off as he saw a very determined gleam come into their eyes.
He glanced over at Tenchi, who was trying in vain to keep from
laughing. He gave Tenchi a gaze that promised a very untimely end.
He sighed. "O.K. what will it take?" he asked; defeated. For some
reason he was being defeated a lot these days.
She leaned down and whispered in his ear. He started in
shock as she finished. "You're not serious." She smiled demurely
at him. "You can't be." She fluttered her eye lashes. Tears were
streaming down Tenchi's face as he forcibly held in his laughter.
Defeated again. What the hell. It's not like I won't enjoy it.
"Merc." he accused. She smiled sweetly an expectant look in her
pink eyes; the nature of her 'request' obviously belying the
expression on her face. Sighing he tried for a simple chaste kiss.
Which she would have none of. She drew him close to her and kissed
him quite thouroughly on the lips. She wrapped her arms tightly
around him and held him like that.
For a good ten minutes.
Finally they broke away from each other, staring deep into
the others eyes. Lost completely. It was Tsunami who managed to
brake the spell first. "I'll go and stay at the Fortress." she
told him. "Just don't be too long."
"That's not exactly up to me."
"I suppose not." she sighed, "Well try not to take too long
anyway."
"I'll try." Concentrating he sent her to their mountain
fortress. "What?" he asked Tenchi; glaring at him.
"Nothing." Tenchi answered; grinning.
*
"O.K. Ryouko. Since this concerns you too..."
"Let's just get this over with." Ryouko said irritably. I
don't care what excuse that Sonofabitch had. There is nothing that
could justify what he did to me. Or to you too mom.
What he did yes. I forgave him for what he did to me. I did
not forgive him what he did to you. His own daughter.
He's not my father!
At one point in time he was. The memory is just so deeply
buried by the rest of it, that well... Washuu sighed to herself
"Let's just see what it is he has left for us to discover."
She reached over and tapped a few keys on her holopad. A screen
showing the science academy logo appeared above them. She typed a
few more keys, and a very familiar image appeared on the screen.
"Kagato." Ryouko hissed.
"Well now, Ryouko, Washuu. I suppose Hayes is skulking
somewhere about." The image of Kagato gave the impression of
looking around. "It doesn't matter anyway. If you are watching
this it means that I'm very dead." He grinned in a most sinister
way. "Which is good. Time to pay the dues of a life spent
destroying the lives of others. I suppose you have many questions.
I'll answer your first one right now, my little red head." Ryouko
was somewhat stunned. The look had just turned from the familiar
evil to one of affection, and tone of caring. It was an alien look
on his face, and yet...she looked at Washuu who simply bowed her
head, mom is saddened by it. What she was feeling, he had caused.
Seeing this she wondered, could he have ever really been like that?
"Here is how I found out about you Washuu." The scene on the view
screen shifted to show...
Ryouko's eyes widened. "WHAT THE?!"
*
Ayeka walked up to the shrine. Not even bothering to pause
for the priest to notice her arrival she walked into the shrine
office. Disregarding completely all traditions and protocols.
Absently she noted that Kiyone was nowhere in sight. Not that it
would have mattered in any case.
"Ayeka." Y...no that BASTARD greeted her.
Just that?! Ayeka?! Is that all he has to say? Is that all
that MOTHERFUCKER has to say?! She made a mental note to quit
drinking so often with Ryouko; she was beginning to curse almost as
much as she did.
Out of consideration for Tenchi's request, she had put a
tight lid on her emotions concerning her brother's deception. And
though the flames were covered, they had smoldered. Grown even
larger than they were at first.
But now Cyraqs was back. Now the fire burned again. Now the
kid gloves were off. Now there would be just retribution for being
so played with!
She gave him a look that conveyed every feeling she had ever
had for him; all of that betrayed by what she was seeing now.
Those feelings; could he have not known how powerful they
were for him?
How much she loved him.
How could she not love him?
Jurai had been nothing more than a place of false feelings
and overbearing 'nobles'. Nobles? That very concept was laughable
when applied to those of the houses of Jurai. They had no idea
what nobility and honor truly were.
No idea what kindness was.
Her only comfort was her sister, her mother, her aunt, on
rare occasion her father, and...and...
Him. The only man to EVER show her true compassion, caring.
The only man who ever gave a damn for her. The only man who cared
nothing for her title. Her Yoshou. Her hansome, caring brother
Yoshou.
So when she was told of the arrangement of marriage by her
mother; she was happy. So very happy that she would be with a man
who really cared for her. A man she loved.
Yet when Kagato sent Ryouko to retrieve Tsunami; forcibly
from the royal gardens. The forces of Jurai stood staunchly,
bravely, they didn't have a snowballs chancen in hell against her.
Except Him. He had driven her back. He was the only one
besides her mother or her father who stood a chance. And he'd be
damned if they died while he could still save their lives. Such
was the mark his master Cyraqs had left on him.
He fought her for all he was worth; proving that day beyond
any reasonable doubt, that he was the most powerful, most noble,
most caring man Jurai had ever produced. And he won. At the end
he drove her from Jurai and into deep space.
Then she saw him look around. Saw the pain in his eyes as he
surveyed the devastation. The death. He wept then. Her heart,
her soul, everything about her wept with him as she went to him.
To comfort him.
Though it was more a question of who was holding who at the
time.
And she wept that this kind and gentle man was forced to do
what he had done. For you see in his battle with Ryouko; many more
had died. Some of those from his power.
She also remembered what on of the generals had said to him
once they returned to the ruins of the castle.
"That will teach even that bastard Kagato not to mess with
the power of Jurai!" Yoshou's eyes turned hard when he heard this.
He had never liked this particular general, for the reason he did
not like most of the nobles; a bunch of bigoted, self centered
pricks with no concern fot the people who provided them their
power. 'Course the bigotted part he never had to hear himself.
Him or his mother. The last person to make such a racist statement
(that one had been about his mother) had found himself on the
receiving end of his very superior fighting skills. Then after he
was done with the offending noble, Cyraqs took over. Then once
their father got wind of it...well you get the idea. NO ONE said
shit like that within earshot of the Imperial family. Yet still
the feelings were there; in some cases just barely contained. Like
now.
It seemed to her that her brother's hand flew on it's own;
breaking that general's jaw. And when he spoke, he spoke with such
quiet rage. Rage that put any her father had ever had to shame.
"Look." he pointed toward the devestation. He bent down and
grasped the fallen general's hair, still pointing. "LOOK YOU
COWARD!" His eyes fluttered open and focused on where the prince
indicated. "You see that? YOU SEE IT?" The general managed a
weak nod. "Those were our people. Some of which died because I
could not afford to hold back. Some of which died because I did
not get here in time." He looked at the general in disgust. "Our
power?" he asked in loathing. "Fuck our power. Fuck it all; it
means nothing next to their lives!"
She watched all this as did her mother, Misaki. And she
remembered being almost scarred of her brother then. For she had
never seen such anger issue forth from him. Yet, through it all
she felt pride, and something else, something she could put no name
to at the time, that her brother cared so much. So unlike so many
others; he cared.
She could name it now. This was true honor. This was what
it truly meant to be a man. Or a woman. This is the virtue called
nobility.
She remembered he walked over to her mother and spoke for a
time with her. It was very quiet; the only thing she caught was 'I
can't let her do it again.' A strange feeling of dread overtook
her. She knew what he was going to do, and she was afraid she
would never see him again.
She tried to get him to take her with him. He just looked at
her with those gentle eyes; showing more in that gaze than words
could ever express. I will not endanger you my sister. This was
something he could not be moved on. She asked no more.
The next day he was gone. Gone to chase down Ryouko. Gone
from their lives. Gone from her life. Gone never to return.
Very shortly after she had runaway with her little sister.
There was no way she could leave Sasami there; all alone. At the
mercy of those...nobles. The very thought nearly made her spit.
She just had to find him. Had to. He was the only one in
the universe who could ever look past all the fop that Jurai put on
her, and see her as just Ayeka. Ayeka with thoughts, feelings, and
desires of her own.
Or so she thought.
Knowing this search could last sometime she sealed both her
sister and herself in stasis, and set the ship on automatic. After
all it was a big universe. Well she would find him. If nothing
else; to show him the lessons he had taught her about family and
duty did not just apply to him.
Stubborn to the point of obsessed most would say. Most would
be right.
But when she had finally found him...he was almost done with
life. Or so she was tricked into seeing. But during her search
she had found someone else. Someone who accepted what she was, no
questions asked. Someone who saw she had needs and desires of her
own.
Here recently; she had found herself to be a major
disappointment to the example of her brother. The same lessons he
himself learned from Cyraqs. While Tenchi recognized hers, she did
not recognize his. That could have ended things very badly. Then
again Cyraqs was here again to keep that from happening. To steer
Tenchi into a very mature descision; even though she knew how badly
it hurt him to make that descision. We owe Cyraqs a great amount,
she thought.
Now though her brother had been revealed to be, still young.
She was not that shallow that she would not have married him if he
were older, but she thought it would not have been fair to him;
that she could not grow old and die with him. Now though, now...
He had betrayed her. Why had he done that?! Not for the
excuse of having to fight her for the throne. As valid as that
was; if that were the case he wouldn't be trying to set her up with
Tenchi. Not for the predjudice; the same reason was still
applicable. Why?!
As she once remembered his hand moving of it's own volition,
so now did hers. She slapped him with force enough to destroy a
good sized tree, and with tears in her eyes, gave voice to her
anger. "WHY?!"
He stood unmoving and gazed at her with those scarlet eyes.
At the moment they held many feelings saddness, regret, love. A
brothers love. However, when he spoke, his voice was as
emotionless as some of the proposals she had received from suitors
on Jurai. "That all you got?"
Kiyone found it very hard to keep her promise to her lover as
she saw the shrine walls burst outward due to the force of his body
being propelled through it. Please God, she prayed, please don't
let this end badly.
Tsunami strode the halls of the stronghold very bored.
Nothing really to do here, she commented to Sasami. Everyone is
gone. Even Librarian, so we can't even find something to read.
There isn't even a T.V. or something around here? Sasami
asked.
No. Everything like that isn't stored here. They never need
it, and if they do they bring it in then take away when they leave.
Makes me wonder why they even have this place to begin with. Then
again it did have a purpose a long time ago.
What was that?
This place is also called the War Room. Here we schemed and
planned during the wars of the Djinn. I suppose they've used it
for similar purposes since then.
Wars against the Djinn? Sasami asked puzzled.
The great evil the Juraians helped turn back many thousands
of years ago.
They rounded a corner as they continued aimlessly on. I
don't get it. With their power they could wipe out whole galaxies
without much effort. What were these Djinn that could threaten
them? And if they could threaten these guys; how could even we
Juraians help them.
Tsunami smiled. Well the Djinn were beings that used the
life energies of the dimensions they traveled to sustain their
lives. Only problem with that is that this has the effect of
destroying all life in those dimensions.
That's kinda bad, huh?
Tsunami chuckled. Rather bad, yes. Now when the Djinn first
appeared here these guys felt what they used to sustain their
lives, and asked if they could help them find an alternate source
of power. The Djinn responded by killing five of them outright.
That's how powerful they were. Worse they could truly combine
their power making them even stronger than these guys.
'Truly combine their power'?
Forces combined more than make the sum of their total. These
guys have certain...restraints...imposed on them by...a certain
couple of beings. This is so they don't become too powerful; so if
they go bad (which has only happened once) they can be stopped.
One is the inability to combine their power without a true medium.
A true medium being something not of them that would allow them to
use them to mix their powers within itself.
What could do that?
You and I could if it were needed. They entered a large
ampitheatre and headed toward a set of stairs in the distance.
Anyway, back to the problem they had. They were also outnumbered
around five to one, and these beings could replenish their numbers
as they were a true race. Meaning they...
I understand, Sasami blushed.
Good. Then Tsunami herself colored. Damn, just thinking
about that is frustrating.
Yep. Sasami agreed. Let's keep talking about the war.
Right. These guys cannot as they are an assocation; of
sorts. It would take too long to explain the full details of what
they are. Let's just say a higher power picks them out of the
races of this dimension. So they were at a major disadvantage even
as battle hardened and powerful as they were. So they went looking
for help.
And they found you.
I was one of the beings they found. There were many others.
Anyway it was Cyraqs himself that found me. I can still remember
it. He came up to me within my own personal dimension because he
had felt my power radiate from Jurai and homed in on me. At first
I was a little shocked. I remember thinking 'How the hell did some
get in here?' Then I was intrigued as he continued looking at me
puzzled. I remember asking not why he was here or what he wanted;
I asked what he was puzzled about.
So what did he say.
He said and I quote. 'Why does something made of energy feel
the need to assume a humanoid form; and a well developed woman at
that?'
Sasami burst out laughing.
I had the hardest time convincing him that I was in fact a
woman. Took almost two thousand years to do it.
Sasami's curiousity was piqued. How did you do it?
They finally reached the stairs and began scaling them.
Simple, I screwed his brains out.
Sasami's jaw dropped. YOU DIDN'T?! Wait a minute if you
were energy how...I mean...how...? Sasami was blushing furiously.
If you were a fly on the wall you would see a young woman with
rapidly changing facial expressions and very red skin walking
through this fortress. Talking to herself.
If you didn't know what was going on you'd be very puzzled.
Or figured the girl had lost it.
As a matter of fact I did. Tsunami told her smuggly. And as
to how I did it; it was more instinctive than anything else. I
remember I was finally so pissed at him for not believing that I
reached out and kissed him causing my energies to flow into him.
He was very surprised at first then he began to reciprocate trying
to convert himself to a type of energy to allow me to share some of
him. It was the most intense thing I had ever experienced.
Somehow it escalated until we were mixed so completely...oh wow!
She shuddered at the memory. Sasami was sharing the same memory as
Tsunami and shuddered with her. It took days before we were
finally satisfied enough to seperate. He ought to feel honored, he
was my first. Come to think of it; I think he is the only one I
have ever done that with. Haven't seemed to have the time; except
when he was conveniently around. Sasami laughed. It was only on
rare occasion. She told Sasami. Sasami continued laughing.
Tsunami ignored it; pressing on with her story. Well after that he
never questioned the fact I was a woman again. Mission
accomplished. They creseted the stairs and began wandering the
upper levels. I remember that there was a little of his energies
he left inside of me. I knew that it was the equivalent of what a
man gives a woman to make children in the physical realm.
You didn't do anything with it, did you?
No. I simply absorbed it, but the thought was there. I knew
I could if I wanted to later. Now...they both lost themselves in
blissful thoughts about babies for a moment. Well back to the
original conversation; they needed help, and I was one of the
beings they found. I proved to be a very effective yet foolish
fighter. I threw myself into things that almost got me killed; I'm
surprised Cyraqs tollerated me during those times. However, I was
the only one who they had found that could wield the Light Hawk
wings. That was a power that easily; and I mean easily killed the
Djinn. They were powerless against it. I remeber all those guys
tried to study and duplicate it, but I couldn't even get their
beings to accept the power when they found they couldn't wield the
power. Only Cyraqs was able to see how to do it. Took him all of
five seconds when I showed him the first time. I wondered about
that at the time, now I know why he could do it.
Washuu. Sasami stated.
Yes, his mother. And as the tree of Jurai are my children; I
was able to bequeath some of my power to them; almost like
recharging a battery. Using them and the Juraian people we beat
the Djinn back, and finally destroyed them. That's about all there
is to that.
Sasami checked the time. Killed an hour.
Only an hour?! We're going to die of boredom. Tsunami
wailed.
Well I told you to bring some of those comics.
Nag, Nag, Nag. Suddenly they felt an energy enter the
fortress. It was close. Traking it they found one of the others
had returned. Their eyes widened when Tsunami saw who it was.
"Hey Rumia! Looks like you put yourself together again
finally. How you doing?" Tsunami greeted as she entered the room
he had appeared in.
The one she named Rumia looked up in surprise. "Damn. Guess
I should pay more attention. How you doing Tsunami?" He walked
over and hugged her warmly.
"Oh, I'm fine. Are you?" she asked placing a great deal of
emphasis on the question.
"Yeah. I'm O.K. Everything works. So I take it Cyraqs is
here running through Odin's computer files."
Tsunami nodded, "Yes. That's why we're here."
"We?" he asked; puzzled.
"Yep, I'm here too." Sasami answered.
Rumia shook his head and rubbed his eyes. That was screwed
up. Her energy is slightly altered. Just enough to tell me I'm
talking to someone else. Not too much different than her though.
"I won't ask."
She had obviously had too much time on her hands; for a plan
had formed in their devious littled head. A very evil one. "You
can get in touch with everyone of our old comrades, can't you?"
she asked.
He nodded. "Yes. Why?"
She smiled mischeiviously in reply. Soon he was smiling just
as evilly.
end part 2
The two walked through the house in a bee line path toward
the basement. Something was calling them there.
"Not too subtle is he?" Tenchi asked sarcastically.
"Gets the job done." Cyraqs answered as they reached the
stairs that led down.
"True."
The basement door opened up as they reached it. Not even
pausing they walked inside. It was a simple room; two chairs, a
table, and a simple computer terminal on the table. There were not
any decorations or other trappings in the room.
Looking at each other for a moment the two sat down. The
computer terminal powered up and a holoscreen appeared before them,
showing the old and wizened visage of Odin.
"Hey Odin. Guess what; you're dead!" Cyraqs grinned.
"Ya think?" The image replied. "'Bout time you two got
here." The image turned to look at Tenchi. "Tenchi, I presume."
A nod. "May I say I wish I could have known you in life. As it is
I can only hope the information I have for you can help you out.
It's the least I can do for you."
Tenchi smiled regretfully at the image, "The feeling is more
than mutual."
The image of Odin almost looked embarrassed at the displays
of emotion. "Yeah well...anyway, Let's get stared." The two
agreed. "I'll start in the beginning...In the beginning...."
"All was as a void..." Cyraqs interrupted
Tenchi and Odin groaned.
begin part 3
The two listened intently to Odin's tale as he told them of
the creation of the goddesses, of the war, and of their own
creation.
Odin finished the tale; all the deceits; all the tricks; all
the half truths; and all the schemes were now revealed. Then Odin
showed them why it happened like this. The other ways it could
have been. Some were comical. Some were happy. Some were sad. A
few pissed them off. A few even scared them. Once done Odin
looked at them expectantly. "Any questions?"
If silence were a sound you would be deafened.
"C'mon. You've got to have at least a few."
Tenchi's eyes had begun to glow black behind his glasses; his
face showing no other expression. "So that's all I am? A weapon?"
he asked quietly.
"Hmmm. That's how you started out; yes." Odin answered
emotionlessly. Contrary to Tenchi's fury, Cyraqs looked on the
verge of laughter. Tenchi noticed this. "I would figure you'd be
pissed off too."
Cyraqs strained to maintain control of himself. "You don't
get it Tenchi. You're not old enough to understand." Tenchi
looked at him strangely. Yes you are young Tenchi. I suppose
we'll have to explain it. "First off the nature of...our creation?
Would that be right Odin?"
The image shook his head. "Yes. You were Washuu's first
attempt to make something to combat Tokimi. She used her very
substance and that of another, a very powerful man, to create you."
And God, being the cosmic comedian he is, picked a man that
fit those criteria; that she would fall madly in love with. Cyraqs
chuckled a little. "Well anyway it doesn't change who we are now.
We made our lives and have grown beyond their simple little
machinations. Although there is more to it than that."
"Quite right." Odin agreed.
"What do you mean?" Tenchi asked. No longer was he furious.
Now he was confused.
"Well the information I received from the oracle stated that
you, Cyraqs, and even Ryouko were supposed to be champions of a
sort. Basically the original plan was to somehow force Tokimi into
a kind of agreement where they would use fighters instead of
fighting themselves. Such a fight destroyed quite a lot the first
time around, and the second time...well you were there you know."
Odin said wryly.
"'in a tournament called Mortal Kombat.'" Cyraqs quoted
grinning. Tenchi and Odin groaned again.
"Anyway..." Odin continued glaring at Cyraqs, "That would not
have worked. Tokimi was taking a completely different track.
Augmenting her power with Conquered realms, Cloning soldiers in
mass amounts..."
"That's one thing I don't get. Those guys could wield the
light hawk wings. How the hell were they able to do that?" Cyraqs
asked.
Odin looked at him for a moment almost to say 'quit
interrupting,' but he did answer. "Well it was a combination of
the armor and the person inside. The armor was a power amplifier,
and the people inside were the original source of the power. They
were all clones; so they were very weak; also enslaved genetically
to Tokimi's will. Which stands to reason as the original soldier
was something she created from her own substance..."
"Oh. That's how she did it." Cyraqs mused out loud.
"I don't get it."
Cyraqs looked at Tenchi for a moment. You know I'd figure
he'd get some of it at least, he thought in exasperation. "Think
about it for a moment Tenchi. Who are the only ones who can use
the light hawk force?"
Tenchi thought about it. "Well lets see. Tsunami, Washuu,
Tokimi, the ships of Jurai, those soldiers, Ryouko, Ryo-ohki,
Minagi, you, me..." he trailed off when it struck him and started.
"All of us related in one way or another."
Cyraqs looked up in exasperation. "Ye gods! He finally got
it! Yes Tenchi. All related. Only members of our family can
wield that power."
"So what about the Ranger?"
Good, your finally thinking Tenchi. "The Ranger could wield
it because Ranger is alive. I gave Ranger a piece of my life to
make it alive. It is a piece of me, and can wield the wings."
Tenchi frowned a little. "O.K. So that question is answered.
Now back to the original one. Why wouldn't their plan work?"
"Because now that Tokimi was too powerful, and had both
allies and soldiers beyond number; it wouldn't work." Odin
explained. "Tsunami knew she would have those hence what she tried
to do with the trees of Jurai (that was the original plan, the Wars
against the Djinn were a good test of those ships); to help her
force Tokimi into that agreement. Washuu for her part was busy in
weapons development; as well as the creation of her own fighter:
Cyraqs. However Cyraqs was taken; hence her creation of Ryouko.
Unfortunately Tsunami grossly underestimated the forces arrayed
against her. Then you all came along causing her to change her
plans...I bet she was almost frantic with worry." You could say
that, Cyraqs thought. "So a certain being (or beings depending on
how you perceive them) realized that though the goddesses were
trying to restore the balance that one of their number disrupted;
it wouldn't be enough. So he started you two on a different path."
"'Different path?'" Tenchi asked.
"Basically he made us members of his little protection
agency. However we had the ability to use the light hawk force, so
we were even more than that." Cyraqs stated.
Odin nodded. "Exactly."
"So that's why..." Cyraqs began.
"Yes." Odin cut him off. "That's why you and your father
were taken from Washuu, Cyraqs. For your training. That's why
only now have you revealed who you are to your mother. That's why
only now have you destroyed your empire. Ever wonder why it took
so long? That's why at the times when you seemed on the verge of
ultimate victory something would happen. That's why you never
found out about Kagato kidnapping Washuu..."
"That was very uncool." Cyraqs' eyes began to glow black,
betraying his anger; a strange red aura began forming around him.
"No it wasn't." Odin replied calmly, "That was unavoidable
and you know it. Destroying The Ell'lel entity was paramount. You
did what you had to. What happened after none of us could
prevent...or even anticipated." Odin sighed, "You destroyed it,
but the HATE that thing contained was released, and you absorbed
it. I don't even want to think about what would happen to me if I
took that much raw feeling inside of myself. You are lucky to have
survived it at all." Tenchi was looking at Cyraqs hard. It wasn't
that he was shocked this happened; Cyraqs looked on the verge of
tears, and he was breathing. Breathing?! If he were normal this
would be called hyperventilating. "You nearly tore yourself apart,
before we could get to you." Odin smiled sadly, "Somehow you kept
it together. And you ran! You fled to the far reaches of the
universe; wasted out of your mind. Fortunately Tsunami found you
and brought you back to Jurai so she could heal you."
"You don't know..." Cyraqs said hoarsely, "The mindscreams of the
hate...that thing fed on those beings psi energies as they died...I
felt them all die...I was right in the middle of it...the hate that
thing possessed...It took everything I could...wasn't enough..."
He looked down then back up; horror had ravaged his face. Tenchi
put his hand on Cyraqs shoulder; linking minds with him; adding
some of his strength of will to Cyraqs. In return Tenchi felt what
Cyraqs did. Felt the overwhelming scream of TERROR, PAIN, HATE,
DEATH, MADDNESS... Kami-sama! How can one being bear than much
pain alone? Tenchi gritted his teeth and bore it until it passed.
Cyraqs looked at him gratefully, "Yeah, that was not a very cool
time in my life." He laughed a little bemusedly, "Tsunami found me
a couple of thousand years later; I was trying really hard not to
be found, but she could always track me down. That was about the
time I picked up Drakhenn. Goddamn lady." he grinned at that, I
never knew you loved me that much. I never knew I loved you that
much. "Took a long time for her to get me back on my feet. She
put me inside of herself and I slept there for around a thousand
years as I healed within her light. Longer still did it take to
get me off whatever drugs I could get a hold of." He looked
lovingly at his cigarette, "Except these." He glanced at Tenchi.
"Shut the fuck up! It's my one vice."
Tenchi raised his hands in surrender, "I didn't say
anything."
Cyraqs shook his head in amusement. "After that she put me
to the task of training certain individuals she brought me.
Thinking that if I went back to my old habits it might bring me out
of it." He smiled then, "Yoshou was the finest of those. Damn
kid." His smile turned grim, "She also kept in touch with my
family; I owe her a lot for that. She notified me when they got
into a 'slight' problem there, and I left..."
"Only around thirty years before Ryouko attacked." Odin
finished, "From there Yoshou left and grounded himself and her on
Earth..."
"As per the advice of Tsunami," Tenchi interrupted. What a
complex tapestry that has been weaved! he thought in amazement.
"Who used the people of Earth in her selective breeding to make me,
however it wouldn't happen in near enough time before Tokimi made
her way here..."
"So Achika, who had been hiding herself manipulating certain
events, intervened by going to Earth personally..." Cyraqs
continued.
"And with the combined efforts of the two of them made you;
Tenchi." Odin completed.
Tenchi shook his head "And so when Tokimi made her presence
known..."
"Boom. Achika 'dies' to prevent any chance of her tracking
you down. It's funny. You were supposed to be weapons, but they
turned out loving you because you were their children. Oops. Now
they had to figure out a way to try to use you and save you as
well. Oops again." Odin said.
Cyraqs grinned. "However Tsunami didn't know Achika was
there, but when Tenchi came of appropriate age, Yoshou was
contacted, He set off the chain of events by 'giving' you the
keys..."
"I freed Ryouko...Everyone converged on me..."
Cyraqs nodded. "Even Kagato; who had somehow found out about
Washuu..."
"And the rest took care of itself." Odin finished. "However
with the allies and Machinations of Tokimi herself we were still
hard pressed to come up with a suitable strategy..."
DAAAMMMMNNNN! thought Tenchi. "We got kinda lucky didn't
we?"
"Very much." Cyraqs agreed. He handed his smoke to Tenchi
who took it and inhaled deeply. Letting the drugs have their
effect. Almost immediately he began to relax as they worked what
magic they could. To think these things would kill anything
mortal. Tenchi handed it back; Cyraqs taking it took an immediate
puff.
"So what now?" Tenchi asked.
Odin looked at Cyraqs. Thanks old fart for passing the buck
like that! Cyraqs thought sarcastically. "It's done. The reason
we were created is done. God, the fucking sadist that he is, has
added his own little touch to this entire affair. I have a few
things to discuss with 'auntie Tsunami'..." Tenchi and Odin
cracked up laughing, "maybe a couple of things to discuss with
Washuu, after that I think I'll go into semi-retirement. I have a
feeling I'll be otherwise occupied." he mused.
"Yeah getting married does that." Odin grinned.
"You're lucky you're already dead, and only an interactive
program now." Odin grinned a little more. "After that I'm just
going to let the rest of it go. I've lived too fucking long to
hold any grudges against people doing what is necessary."
Tenchi nodded in agreement. Yeah, we're so much more than
what we originally were made to be. They weren't heartless
monsters that made us for their own amusement, only out of
necessity. They also found out what is was like to have a family
along the line; what it was like to have that kind of love. We've
all come a long way. "I'll have to talk to mom and dad. I'll let
you talk to Tsunami." Cyraqs nodded, "After that, I suppose we
just see what happens next." Tenchi shrugged. "Are we finished
now?" That was a loaded question and the other two knew it. So
they looked at Tenchi kind of funny. Tenchi cringed sheepishly,
"The fight never ends, I know. Stupid question."
"Very." Cyraqs and Odin said together.
Cyraqs had noticed Tenchi writing for some time on a note pad
that he had pulled out of nothing. Cyraqs groaned when he saw what
it was.
G/LOUIS CYPHER
|
| {ACHIKA'S INTERFERENCE}
____________|_____________ |
| | | | |
TOKIMI--ACHIKA--TSUNAMI--WASHUU |
|-------| | | | |
|- NOBIYUKI---TENCHI |-----CYRAQS---HAYES
| |
| TSUNAMI TOKIMI
| |
{A FEW GENERATIONS} |
| |
| JURAI
| |
|-----------YOSHOU---ACHIKA
|
MITZUKI
Cyraqs looked at it for a moment and shook his head. A quote
came to mind. 'If your family tree does not branch...' They both
looked at each other and assumed a very sober expression. "Let's
not go there Tenchi." Tenchi kept his laughter under control and
sent the pad and pencil to subspace. "Well my brother, shall we go
pick up Sasami and Tsunami and head out?"
"Brother?" Tenchi asked in amusement.
"Why not? Brothers in all things important. Brothers of the
same destiny." he smiled tolerantly, "Brothers because if we tried
to figure out just how we were related we'd go nuts!"
"Right."
Tenchi and Cyraqs walked into the room they felt Tsunami and
one other in. The man they saw was around 5'6", well muscled, long
brick red hair tied behind him in a pony tail, young looking with
tattoos of leaves on either side of his face. He was also wearing
a simple brown smock and well worn brown leather pants. And the
customary sunglasses they all wore. In any case they knew Rumia
quite well. Tsunami and he were laughing at something while she
was shamelessly pilfering candies from Rumia's candy jar.
"Now you know you two have to watch your figure right?"
Cyraqs smiled as he walked up behind them.
They turned and quite literally threw themselves at him.
"Why?" she grinned. "You have any particular reason you want us to
keep our figure?" Sasami asked archly. Cyraqs gave them a look
that promised they would pay for that remark. They looked back in
a way that gave the reply of 'oh would you, please?'
"Shut up!" Cyraqs told the two snickering behind him. He
turned to Rumia, Tsunami still attached to him. "Rumia think you
could do something for me."
He smiled a little strangely, but he nodded an affirmative.
"Can you have this built for me?" Cyraqs tossed him a crystal that
he had pulled from subspace.
"What is it?" Rumia asked as he caught it.
"New plans and design specs for Rangers new body."
Rumia hmmed as the crystal lit up and he read the
information. "Why does it want...?" he asked at one point.
Cyraqs cut him off "Don't ask."
"O.K." he continued reading the information; he was done a
few seconds later. "Sure I can have this built for you. Even put
in the special touches you wanted." He assumed a merchants
demeanor as he looked at Cyraqs, "You do realize I will need you to
perform a service for me as well." Cyraqs nodded tolerantly,
"Don't worry I will just need you to guard a very important
shipment of mine as it travels through the pirate territories while
I do something else."
"Easy enough."
You say that now Cyraqs; we are going to have such fun with
you later. "Well I'm outta here. Take care all. You two as
well." he told Sasami and Tsunami
"We will."
"Later." He said as he vanished.
Sasami and Tsunami turned back to the man they loved; and
pulled him close to them savoring in the way he pulled them as
well. We wasted so much time Tsunami thought. Well somehow we'll
make it up. That's for sure, Sasami agreed. He won't get away
from us. They both giggled. "So what now?"
I'm hearing that question a lot. What do you all think? That
I have all these answers?! Sheeit no! "Now?" he echoed. "Now you
and me talk, and after I think I take you to see your mom Sasami.
That's what I think." Sasami grasped him tightly.
Mommy. She began to shed tears again. Unconsciously that
was something she was really needing. Had been needing for awhile.
In her 'condition' it would probably be best to have her mom
around. Once again he had hit the nail on the head. A nail she
wasn't even aware she needed until he had mentioned it. "Thank
you." she said softly.
"Hey listen, I'm going to head back now." Something occurred
to him, which he voiced to himself. "Have to see if grandpa is
still alive." Tenchi stated.
All three...er four stiffened as the full impact of Tenchi's
words settled in. That could be...
"OH SHIT!" They shouted together.
Tenchi shifted himself back to Earth wordlessly; just now
realizing what he had said and just how true it was. The other
two...er three grimaced.
"I hope sis hasn't killed him." she said; obviously very
worried.
As do I. Tenchi can take care of it in any case. Now we
need to talk about a few things. Actually just one thing. He
turned them to face him directly, and kissed them lightly on the
lips. He starred into their eyes for a long moment, almost as if
he were gathering courage. That thought almost made the
goddess/mortal laugh. The day I find something he is really afraid
of is the day I quack like a duck. "Tsunami..." he began,
something in his voice made them very afraid. What did they find
out? "I want you to know right now I love you. Every bit of you;
Sasami as well." Sasami felt her insides go very gooey at that. "I
also want you to know I don't care that you are technically my
aunt. I don't care about any of the rest of it. There comes a
time when you just shut up and go with it and now is one of those
times."
"Then wha..." he silenced her with another kiss. Almost a
desperate one. She shut up and listened to whatever else he had to
say. He now looked almost afraid, and his eyes...did they have a
slight purple glow to them?
"The only thing I have to ask is this...WHY did you do what
you did with Sasami?"
Tsunami gasped. Ummm Sasami? What? Can I get you to tune
out for a moment? Sasami considered it for a second. Is what he
asked that bad? I mean you did what you did for my family right?
She's still doesn't get it yet, Tsunami thought in the silence of
her part of their shared mind. Even if I were to explain
it...Damn. It may become so. she continued explaining. I need to
speak with him privately. Sasami sighed. Alright just don't screw
anything up with him. Sasami did the mental equivalent of putting
her fingers in her ears as Tsunami took the podium for lack of a
better term.
"You could have healed her. Didn't have to do that." He
looked at her strangely, almost in anger. "Sacrificing your and
her self was..."
It was Tsunami's turn to get angry now. "GODDAMNIT! It
wasn't like that! I had no idea she was there, so when she fell I
couldn't prevent it." Now she was desperate. Clutching at him in
tears she continued. "She was knocking on heaven's door before I
could react! And react I did. Her blood called to me, my energy
and hers mixed! All I knew was I didn't want her to die! All she
knew was she didn't want to die! This was the result." she
gestured to herself. He nodded. "Even now she doesn't understand.
She still thinks I created her." She looked at him sadly, "I love
her Cyraqs. It pains me to see my other self like that."
He smiled then, and kissed her for a third time. "She will.
My only concern is what will happen to you two after she
understands."
"We become one." Tsunami replied simply. "I don't know what
happens then." Tears of despair formed in her eyes. "I don't even
know if I'll love you then. I don't want to stop loving you!" she
began to cry on him. "I don't want to even think it!"
"shhhhhhh." he told her. "Then let us enjoy what time we
have with each other while we are still able." his voice was very
heavy with emotion as he held her tighter. "Besides no one knows
what the future holds, not even you; or even Sasami with her little
'talent'." Damn I can't stay down when you're around. she thought
in mock anger. Still though he was right she remained worried. If
there is any justice in this universe I hope what we become still
loves him. If for nothing else I don't think he could survive it.
Sasami had by this time sense Tsunami's sadness and had begun
listening and seeing again. Whatever had passed between the two
had been not all that good. However we are all still together, so
it couldn't have been that bad. She also knew that whatever they
had discussed had involved her rather intimately. What could they
have been talking about? Tsunami is afraid of loosing him, but not
by his rejection, but by something that will happen in the future.
What could it be?
"You there Sasami?" he asked interrupting his thoughts. She
nodded. "Then come on. I'll take you home." Another nod. Still
in his arms; he shifted them to Jurai.
It could be said Ryouko was dumbfounded. Shocked, confused,
in a state of disbelief. All that could be said to be true. Then
again it is doubtful those statements would do any justice to what
the sight she saw before her did to her. She hardly felt Ryo-ohki
bounce into her lap in cabbit form.
Kagato had said this was how he found out about Washuu's true
status in the universe. How THIS did it would be very interesting
to discover she thought. What little part of her mind could think
anyway.
She spared a glance at her mother. She was blushing
furiously, eyes very wide at what she was watching on the screen.
Strange that anything could cause her to blush, after some of the
stuff Ryouko had heard she had done over the years.
Her mother, strange that she finally acknowledged this. When
Washuu had first appeared she didn't even remember her; yet...all
her life vague impressions of this loving woman of red hair and
green eyes would dance in front of her tantalizing; teasing; just
out of reach. When she finally met this woman; finally remembered
at least a little bit of it; she couldn't believe this...she
couldn't think of a word low enough was her...she wouldn't even
acknowledge Washuu's status to her at the time.
Worse she had fallen for Tenchi; HER TENCHI. Just like most
of the others in this house. HER OWN MOTHER WAS TRYING TO TAKE HER
ONLY LOVE FROM HER! Why? She could name how she felt now? She
claims to be my mother, but why is she trying to take him from me?
Does she hate me? My own, mother hates me! She doesn't care about
me! She loves him more than me! The rejection she felt then was
worse than any pain she had ever gone through in her life.
In a way she was even jealous of Tenchi. She tried and
tried to convince herself it was childish, stupid, to feel that
way. Yet it did nothing to change how she felt. Her mother who
was supposed to love her was hurting her, her Tenchi just couldn't
seem to understand. No one cared...not exactly true. That
beautiful angel of the blue hair, Sasami, had loved her; been there
for her. Sasami even once told her that Tenchi would one day tell
her how much he really loved Ryouko.
It was then she never feared that Sasami would take her love
from her. She did wonder however who it was that said that.
Tsunami or Sasami. She supposed in the final analysis; it didn't
matter.
After a time she realized; no Washuu doesn't hate me. My
mother is just so lonely! In a way that I could understand. Her
husband had been taken. Her child taken. No one could help her.
No one could comfort her. She buried herself in her work trying to
shut out the pain.
Pain that nagged and nagged and nagged always at the back of
her mind; never ever leaving her.
Sometime later a brilliant scientist who went by the name of
Yakage came to work with her. At last a friend; someone she could
share her exploits and pursuits with. Someone who could understand
her. So it came to pass that they did become friends, but no more.
It was enough for her.
However the universe seemed to decide it wasn't enough, and
gave her someone else. A young Tetranian by the name of Kagato.
Ironic that her second love was of the same race as her first.
She hadn't known until recently that her meeting Kagato was
no accident. Her own son had set her up. He had taught Kagato to
work around the injuries he had sustained in one of the fights
between the families. How to use the full powers available to him.
He became a being of near energy. It amazed her just how resilient
he was; and just how bright. Easily a match for her. Also just
how driven he was; he had so many great things he wanted to do for
the universe. Almost believing if he somehow accomplished
everything he wanted; what happened to him wouldn't happen again.
It was an admirable goal, one that she could easily share with him.
Together the three of them continued their pursuits in the
various fields of science. Over time she noticed that she and
Kagato had become close, very close. Or maybe it was the knowing
smiles Yakage gave the two all the time.
So it was no surprise one day, for no reason, due to no
outside influence, no anything; that something...happened. They
were busily studying the effects of the Mass' energies on certain
high grade materials used in star craft. Of course all matter was
annihilated by the Mass, but if they could just find a crystalline
structure that was durable enough to withstand this powerful force;
the uses of such a hyper durable material were boundless.
One second they were comparing equations. The next they were
in each others arms.
She found making love to a man of power (their private little
pun) was much different than doing it completely physically. It
was much more intimate, in that she was making herself somewhat
energy to do it too. Meaning they were joining what they were with
each other in a way that went a little beyond simply physical.
Although he, in a rather mischievous turn of mind, made a part of
himself more solid than normal and was using it on her as they
joined in this way. An incredibly pleasurable experience for her.
For him as well, though he felt nothing physically. As an energy
being, on the other hand...
One thing she didn't know at the time was that only a very
'different' being could do what she was doing with him. After all
this had to have been the first time something like this happened;
a physical being and an energy being joining like this. Who could
know what it would take to do that? Not her, she was really not
one for questioning such a wonderful thing happening to her.
She had been given a friend and a man who loved her. Whom
she loved too. This was one of those things she was wise enough
not to question.
She did remember the embarrassment she felt when Yakage had
stumbled upon them afterwards; naked on a hastily cleared off table
in each others arms. He walked in with a few papers in his hands,
took a good look (twice), grinned as she turned all one color,
turned around, walked outside, and laughed loud enough to set off a
fault in another province.
Their relationship progressed quite well over the next
century. Marriage was never discussed between them; as he knew she
was still not over her first time around. He knew you just do not
loose the love of your life; and a child of that love, and go on
normally. Ever again. Well he would be there for her as much as
he could; he told her as much. He really did love her so much.
She also loved him very much. Enough to want to do something
else with him. Unfortunately he was incapable of having children.
But maybe there was a way...after all I'm the number one genius
scientist in the universe, and genetics is one of my favorite
hobbies.
It could be said Ryouko was conceived in that moment. Not in
the traditional sense of the word; biologically if you will. But
in the mind of the slightly insane scientist, and her will to make
it happen.
So the Ryouko project came about. Using one of her egg
cells; Kagato's knowledge of the masses energy manipulation, and a
little help from Yakage in the power control department; Ryouko was
created in a containment chamber and born within hours.
She grew quickly in knowledge and power; both parents loving
her dearly; a child conceived of their love. If a little
differently than most.
After a time they noticed she seemed a rather lonely child.
Though she smiled and laughed easily; still something seemed to be
missing. Kagato correctly hit what it was when he suggested that
perhaps a companion would be good for her. Not like the other
children around; she quite literally blew them away when it came to
anything they did.
So Washuu created a companion for her. A companion that
resembled the companion of her first child almost identically. So
it came to pass Ryo-ohki came into existence. After that those two
were never seen apart, and she never seemed lonely again. Washuu
also noticed that she was strangely connected to them both. She
always knew where they were, what they were doing, even thinking.
It was definitely useful at times when they were feeling
mischievous.
Ryouko's mastery of those enigmatic power gems that Washuu
had always had with her came as a complete surprise. Yet when that
was discovered, both Ryouko's parents had encouraged her to
discover the full use of them. Now Yakage's little contribution to
her became apparent when she used them to form a crude, but
powerful beam-saber. Almost a match for even the most powerful
ones of the Juraians.
She grew well under the watchful eyes of her parents until
the age of around fourteen; which is when this scene on the screen
was recorded.
On it Ryouko saw Kagato and Washuu both without clothing.
Moaning and moving with each other. Cloaked in a strange aura of
power; as Kagato thrust inside of Washuu again, and again.
Eliciting cries of pleasure from her at each thrust.
She glanced at her mother again who was breathing almost in
time to what she saw. IT WAS ACTUALLY TURNING HER ON! Even if she
was blind so she couldn't see it, she could feel it through the
mind link.
Finally they finished after what seemed hours, though in all
actuality it was only a little over ten minutes. Ryouko finally
remembered that her jaw did not belong on the floor and scooped it
up.
Kagato looked about as winded as beings of energy look
(meaning he couldn't move very quickly) when he asked a question of
his lover. "Are you relaxed now, my little red head?"
A faint reply of "umhmm" was heard from the pile of pudding
that was once Washuu. I think he over did it actually, Ryouko
thought still a little shocked.
"Good then just relax some more; even sleep, and I can run
these experiments on you...O.k. never mind." She had already
dropped into an exhausted sleep.
"If he needed you sedated; why didn't you just take
sedatives?" Ryouko asked; her eyes still hadn't blinked.
Washuu looked down shyly and replied very softly. "It wasn't
quite as much fun that way."
Ryouko was barely aware of nodding.
The bed they were on was suddenly surrounded by various
testing and examining devices that popped up from subspace. He
rose from the bed; disentangling himself from her limbs. Walking
over to a terminal; completely unconcerned about his lack of
clothing he began activating the equipment.
"Why was he doing this?" Ryouko asked.
"Routine check up. We did this a lot to each other."
Ryouko sighed in defeat. Scientists.
Suddenly there came a loud beeping from the panel Kagato was
working on. He began frantically tapping at his terminal; the test
devices obviously not doing what they were supposed to be doing.
All of the sudden he rose and formed his power sword in his hands.
With one swift motion he destroyed the terminal.
"Clay I am going to kill you!" he said in a tone she never
knew he could utter. One of rage at someone hurting someone he
loved.
"Clay?" Ryouko asked puzzled.
Washuu was almost livid with fury. "That bastard Clay was
always fucking our things up."
"Truly?" A voice behind them asked. The only thing it
uttered. Ryouko turned to see Hayes standing behind them. Which
really scarred her, she hadn't known anyone was there, yet it
appeared he had been watching for quite sometime.
Washuu was just as surprised, turning to him with a question
on her face.
He answered her question with a silent one of his own. One
that asked if she would rather he not be here.
She nodded a negative. "No. Please stay." He continued his
silence as he walked up behind her. He remained standing as he put
his arms around her and held her.
Ryouko's mind had quit working a long time ago. What she had
seen; what she was seeing, Kagato and her mother; the simple
acceptance of Hayes and her Mother. She had no clued what to
think, do or feel. Just keep watching a part of her mind said.
Well she had no better ideas.
So she watched the devices stop, but whatever they had done
had already been done. It appeared nothing had harmed Washuu, and
while that relieved Kagato, it also seemed to puzzle him. A
movement caught his eye and he walked over to what had caught his
attention. The camera followed him as he came upon...
"Zero!" Ryouko exclaimed.
"Oh god; he made a copy of my memory." Washuu said quietly.
The screen flashed back to the more familiar image of Kagato.
"Correct. I supposed he was laughing his ass off at there being
two Washuu's. Only problem was one of them was consciously aware
of her full memory; I would suspect due to the fact the other part
of Ryouko was also in there. And Ryouko had your gems." Kagato
said bitterly. "I couldn't believe what your double told me at
first, but then a few things, like the gems, began to make sense.
After that your double swore me to secrecy, then erased herself.
NO ONE was to know of your true status Washuu." he gave them a
slightly malicious smile, "I however, made a vow to myself; that I
would prevent Tokimi's plans. Whatever the cost."
"So you later bottled me up, and took your own daughter as a
weapon to be used in this private war you undertook." Washuu shook
her head. Damnit. We've all done some pretty shitty things in
this affair. I mean damn, look what I do. I make my son then when
he is forced from me I make a daughter for this purpose. Though I
only did it subconsciously, it still doesn't excuse it. Washuu
glanced at Ryouko who was lost in thought. So what does he do when
he feels he has no recourse; takes the idea of a weapon and
perfects it. It must have driven him near insane close to the end.
She is aware of the tightening of Hayes' grip on her shoulders.
She looks up into his eyes and sees he has come to the same
conclusion she has, but there is no rejection in them. More of a
self loathing. And she knew him well enough to know why. He would
have done the same thing had he known. If not for a near miss of
fate it might have been him on this screen and not Kagato.
"I got hurt, nearly killed so many times..." Ryouko said
quietly to the image.
"As was necessary." Kagato told her sadly, "Every time, you
got a little stronger, a little faster. Especially when you or
Ryo-ohki nearly died. You evolved to over come anything sent at
you." He grinned again, in pride. "You were my best creation, my
daughter."
Her expression grew dark.
He chuckled. "And after a few thousand years, you had
finally grown powerful enough to take on the Jurai, and retrieve
Tsunami for me. Just like you had been retrieving other useful
items of power. I supposed I should have been a little more
patient, allowed you to get a little stronger, but I must admit I
was growing slightly unstable." That is an understatement, thought
Washuu. "Fortunately your Tenchi managed to take me out. Rather
refreshing it was getting killed. Shocked me back to my original
purpose. Tell him I thank him for it." Oh I will you bastard.
"Then with Cyraqs showing up and revealing he had a little part in
this, the other things I saw going on...heh, it became very
interesting toward the end."
Ryouko's frustration and anger finally came forward. "WHY
DIDN'T YOU JUST ASK ME TO HELP? Instead you take control of me,
force me to do what you needed..." Why?!
The image of Kagato looked at her for a long time. Almost
long enough to make them believe he hadn't anticipated this
question. But no, it was more like the image was composing itself;
almost to show what it was he felt about this subject. "I did."
they all gasped. "I did ask you to help me protect your mother, I
knew she would be the target." he said bitterly. "I remember your
first mission daughter. You couldn't complete it. You couldn't
hurt anyone. Because you were just like that little girl Sasami."
he said softly, "And you knew this...The first time...and you
knew!" Tears began trickling down his face. Kagato cries?! Ryouko
thought. Unbelievable! Almost laughable! Yet here it was. "So
you know what you asked me to do?!" he asked incredulously. "You
asked me to make you into the perfect warrior. Someone who could
do what needed done." Anger was in his voice now. However it
seemed directed more toward himself than to anyone else. "You
begged me. And I did...God help me...I DID! I took your freewill
and conscious; leaving only what would be of use to us." They all
watched him mouth 'and may I burn for it.'
I understand now. Ryouko thought. I remember some of it
now! She glanced at Washuu. All that shit...all of the
killing...all to protect her. Hunh. Towards the end we were both
going insane. That cave...that cave was probably the best thing to
happen to me. Need to thank Yoshou for sparing me. Probably
Tsunami too. Heh, no wonder I liked Sasami so much, even after she
called me an old lady. Ryouko shook her head wryly. So much shit
has happened. I wonder if my brother and Tenchi are finding out
things similar to this. She looked at Washuu in pity. Through the
bond she had almost heard everything Washuu was thinking.
"So I guess the question is; what do we do now Ryouko?" Ryouko
jumped. Ryo-ohki hadn't said anything throughout this entire
thing. In fact she had been actively shielding her thoughts. Now
however she was showing Ryouko exactly what she was feeling. Which
was funny because it was the same thing Ryouko was feeling. Anger,
hatred, confusion (definitely confusion), and a few other things
that she couldn't put a name too. She took that back; one of the
things she could put a name to was shame. Shame because there had
been times, oh those times, when she had actively enjoyed what
Kagato made her do. She felt an incredible freedom as she roamed
destroying things seemingly at will. Yes thank god for the cave,
she thought. Or perhaps a goddess would be more appropriate.
<I'm tired Ryo-ohki. So very tired. I say we just get on
with our lives.>
"Miya." she agreed. Ryouko laughed, her little sister/
friend/companion hadn't done that in awhile.
Kagato looked at them for a moment. "Any more questions?"
"Just one." Hayes stated. Kagato looked at him expectantly.
"That sword, unless I miss my guess that sword of yours was of a
power opposite that of the Light hawk force. How did you come
about being able to use that?"
Kagato smiled slyly. "I'll never tell." Hayes was not happy
with that answer, to put it mildly. "Anyway if there is nothing
else..." No one had anything else to add. "Very well then." It
appeared he tapped something over to the side. A crystal rose out
of one of Washuu's terminals. "That crystal should help Ryouko
remember a few things. If she wants." Ryouko betrayed no
reaction. "Now it's time for this program to be erased." He
looked directly at Hayes, "You take care of my family. Don't do
what I did."
"On my life. On my soul." He told Kagato. To those that
don't know that is the strongest vow, a Deneign priest can make.
"Later." he saluted. The holoscreen went away.
No one moved. No one breathed for a moment. Suddenly Washuu
choked. Then cried loudly. And just as suddenly Ryouko found
herself holding her mother.
"I'M SO SORRY RYOUKO! I'm ss..ssucch a pieecc..piecce of..."
Ryouko grasped her mother roughly; aware that Ryo-ohki had grown to
her adult form and was doing the same. "...I'..I'm a...a"
Ryouko's face grew very tight. "Shut..."
"UP!" Ryo-ohki finished roughly. Washuu looked up at her two
daughters in despair.
"We don't want to hear what a shitty mother you are! We
don't want to hear all the crap you've done!" Ryouko said angrily.
"Don't you dare wallow in self pity! That won't get anything
done." Ryo-ohki told her. "We've done some pretty bad things too.
Don't blame yourself entirely." she grimaced. "You want to make
up for it? Then you be a good mother to out new brother or sister,
you keep trying to help others with your inventions." She smiled,
"This time remember: you have a whole family to help you now."
Washuu looked at Hayes; and found not a bit of loathing in
those eyes for her. She wondered why? He should hate her, for a
lot of the things she had done to others. Why didn't he? "You
expect me to hate you?" he asked. "I cannot." It wasn't
telepathy. It was on a much deeper level that he knew what she was
thinking. He looked away for a moment; then looked the three of
them in the eyes, "For I would have done the same things. What
does that say about me?" He began to shake in rage, "But I can say
this. I will not let it happen again. I'll die first!" His mood
changed from anger to near hysterical laughter, "I'd have done the
same fucking thing. I have done it with my empire. What the fuck
good am I?"
Ryouko gave him a look that said in no uncertain terms 'Don't
you start!' He nodded. "We've learned some hard lessons. I
suppose that's what it comes down to. Maybe now we can finally get
on with our lives."
"My thoughts exactly." Ryouko replied.
*
"Good punch." Yoshou said approvingly. He recovered his
footing absently noting the trickle of blood that came out from his
lip. "Think you can keep it up?"
Ayeka said nothing as she advanced on him. Her battle
clothing had settled around her, and a sword had appeared in her
hand. Actually it was a forcefield shaped to be a sword, but it
would have the same effect. With it she struck.
She didn't even see him move as the Tenchi-ken rose to meet
her blade. The two strained against each other; little sparks of
electricity dancing between them. Yoshou was actually being hard
pressed to keep them like this. I wonder if this really was a good
idea, he thought to himself in near sarcasm. She shifted her
footing slightly, and pushed his blade slightly up allowing her to
land a kick in his stomach. "WHY?!" she cried again.
He had been knocked back a few feet. Using a few of the
dirty tricks I taught her. he smiled to himself. Good. His eyes
maintained their seriousness as he smiled. Need to do this just
right. Hopefully I won't get killed in the process.
Kiyone continued looking on worriedly from her spot in the
sky. Thankfully she was far enough away from them so they couldn't
see her hovering up there, but not so far away that she couldn't
see them with her senses. However she was concentrating so hard on
them she didn't even notice two others coming up behind her.
"Whoa! Think he'll make it?" A familiar voice asked. She
whirled to face the owner. Kamidake. Clothed now in a simple
Karate gi of Terran design, but still Kamidake.
"I'm fairly certain Lord Yoshou can handle it." She looked
at his companion. Azaka. Clothed very similarly. That stood to
reason; they had moved out into town and made a living as martial
arts instructors. Though they visited often. She simply frowned
at the two of them before turning back to the fight. Now Ayeka was
lobbing power blasts at him; which he was blocking with a light
hawk wing he was able to generate with the help of Funahou.
"What'd did I tell you?"
She whirled to face them in anger. "Would you two have some
sense of decency and shut up! Right now he could die! He made me
promise not to interfere!" She fumed. "I've been looking for a
man like him for longer than I can remember. I don't want him to
die! I need him to live! Just when I find him I don't want to
loose him!" She was screaming at the two of them now. Not that she
cared, she just hoped they would cease their incessant prattle.
<Love?> Kamidake asked telepathically.
<Yep.> Azaka replied.
<Should we tell her about Asahi?> Kamidake asked again.
For his answer this time he received a thump on the back of
his head, and a glare that conveyed an attitude of 'what the hell
do you think?'
Yoshou was definitely beginning to reconsider his original
plan. He was expecting to have to fight her. He wasn't expecting
her to go nearly all out on him. This could destroy a lot of
things. The shrine, the house, this mountain to name a few things.
Ah well, I can't really blame her he thought as he blocked another
volley. Now It's time to end this.
His focus, his stance, suddenly changed. Ayeka saw it, and
it seemed the area around him noticed it too. For everything had
gone still. She never saw him strike. "You want to know why?" he
asked in slow even tones. She picked herself up and readied
herself to attack again. Again she never even saw him move. This
time she felt herself on the ground; his weight on top of her. His
mouth on hers; his tongue forcibly entwined with hers; his left
hand roughly clutching her breast. She was so shocked she didn't
think to do anything, but let him continue. After a very long time
he broke the kiss.
"Is that what you wanted, my...sister..?" he drew out in
anger. "Did you want your brother to marry you;...invade your
body? Because that's exactly how I would have considered it." She
was still in a state similar to shock. "Only because I was the
only man to show you any real love? IS THAT THE REASON?!" He
shouted into her face. She wasn't aware that he had stood them up.
"I loved you..." she began.
"YOU LOVED A CONCEPT!" he shouted again. "You loved the idea
that I was the only possible one for you because I was really the
only one who showed you love." he said. "It is true I love you;
but as a brother loves his sister, not as a future wife." he
turned and walked a ways from her. "That was one of the biggest
reasons I left. It's true I would have had to have fought you for
the throne. Stupid idiots we had for parents didn't even consider
it at the time. That wasn't the real reason though. I needed to
get away from you. So you would no longer be fixated on just me.
So you would see the worth in others besides me." he gave her a
wry grin. "Believe it or not such men do exist on Jurai." He lost
his grin. Ayeka's battle gear had also faded to be replaced by her
yellow kimono. She heard everything he said, but still wasn't sure
how to think. "I never thought you would be so fixated that you
would follow me through the cosmos." he laughed without humor.
"Such obsessiveness must run in our family. I won't even tell you
the stories about Father and how he pursued my mother when he was
trying to convince her to come with him to Jurai. Or what happened
between Funahou and Misaki during the time father was courting them
both on Jurai." As a matter of fact she remembered hearing some of
the stories about that. Almost reminded her of some of the stuff
she and Ryouko did to each other in their pursuit of Tenchi. "And
I knew what would happen if you saw me like this. This little
disguise of Tsunami's has really paid off over the years." Ayeka
gasped. Tsunami helped... "Yes she did." he said as he watched her
reaction. "There were many other reasons; a lot of which dealed
with what we just went through with Tokimi. But in your case..."
he grinned with humor, "in your case...you finally found what I'd
always hoped you'd find. Another besides me to make you realize
there are many in the universe who are honorable and noble. I was
so proud of my grandson right then for teaching you that..." he
trailed off in a most Soun Tendou like manner. Eventually he came
back to himself. "I was worried that Sasami might have the same
problem. She was beginning to get fixated on Tenchi because he was
the only man around, but fortunately someone else came around to
teach her the same lesson." Ayeka grinned at the mention of her
sister's beloved Cyraqs. Yes he did do that, didn't he?
She bowed her head. In shame. How could I have been so
blind? she wondered. How could I not have realized...she felt arms
on her shoulders. Looking up into the scarlet eyes of her brother
she saw now that he did love her. Just as he said...as a brother.
"I should have explained it to you. I should have..." She shushed
him with her fingers.
Looking at him wryly she began to answer him. "I wasn't
ready to hear it yet." she began to tear. "I still love you so
much my br..br.." he grasped her to him as she began to cry freely.
Rocking her back and fourth much as he did when she was younger.
She'll be alright now he thought. She'll be fine. "And I love you
sister. My sister."
She looked up at him after her tears subsided and smiled at
him. "Are you happy with Kiyone?" she asked.
He looked away a little embarrassed. "Uhhh...hmmm...That
came as a surprise, but yeah I think I'm happy; for the first time
in many years."
"So what happens when Asahi comes by for a visit? You know
she likes you too." Ayeka grinned.
"One problem at a time please!" he begged. For some reason
she couldn't help but laugh.
Yes thought Kiyone; she'll be fine. You're quite a man to be
able to bring her out of that. This author thinks it's very
fortunate she quite listening when Ayeka started crying. Who know
what could have happened then, ne?
end part 3
Every living thing in this universe has a distinctive life
signiture. Not one living being is the same. Despite the fact
there is life beyond counting out there. It is the one thing in
the entire Universe that cannot truly be copied. For beings like
the one who was currently scanning the planet Jurai; seeing that
distinctive signiture was no problem.
He was looking for two life signitures in particular.
Figuring the most likely place for them would to be would be the
royal palace; he concentrated his search there. He did not begin
in any particular place in general when he began scanning; simply
took it all in on shot. There were over a zillion life signs of
various types; filtering out the ones he didn't want he registered
15,463 humanoid life forms presently in residence. He applied a
secondary filter to 'highlight' the ones he wanted. It could be
asked why he didn't do that to begin with. The answer was simply
he was slightly bored. They were presently together; inside what
he knew to be the inspector general of information's office. It
was newer than the last one he had seen; as that one had been
destroyed some 700 years ago. Concentrating further he found they
were discussing modifications they were making to Jurai's orbital
defense grid.
This took less than a fraction of a nano second. At present
time he was in the space between spaces. Where time and space had
no meaning. Going 'here' (It is both a place and not a place) he
was able to go anywhere in the realm; in fact the universe, that he
wanted. He could also use it to travel in time, however that was
something ageed upon by proxy that should NEVER be done. It would
take a cataclysm of a proportion beyond simple universal
destruction before they would do that.
He decided to shift them to an overhang of sorts that had
survived the attack 700 years ago. In fact he was rather grateful
it had survived. He had spent quite a lot of time staring at the
beauty that was Jurai.
Yes Jurai. Beautiful beyond any attempt at description.
There were very few known races like them. Races that blended
their technology and ecology so seemlessly that the two were
indistinguishable. In fact it could be said they were the same
thing. Every thing was alive; from the homes they lived in, to the
ships they used to travel in. All of it a part of the biosphere of
Jurai.
And the greatest of these structures was what they were
standing on now was the Royal palace. A tree large enough to dwarf
some small mountains. This tree had been home to the royal family
of Jurai for millenia beyond counting.
To think; all of this was the product of the mind and love of
a goddess. This planet in some strange way a piece of herself; a
mirror of her soul. That same goddess who now held his arm as she
looked outward at her world with him. She looked at him after a
time with those eyes. Eyes that stared into your soul, taking up
residence there, making herself a permanent piece of you.
I wonder if she knows how distracting that is; Cyraqs thought
to himself as he lost himself. She smiled suddenly and hugged him
in thanks. It had been a very long time since they had seen their
world. He knew this; and figured that it would be good for them to
see what they were now viewing.
It was almost dusk where they were and together they watched
the Juraian star sink slowly into the horrizon; coloring the sky
with pinks and yellows; the colors reflecting beautifully off the
clouds; and a few of the sattelites that could be viewed from the
surface.
Night spread it's cloak over the planet; stars twinkled as
they appeared. And the moons that surrounded the planet were full
this night and spread their light over the canopy of the living
forest; which was in all actuality a city filled with over a
million people.
This was the kind of night that proposals of marriage were
given. Babies were conceived. The kind of night that couples who
would never otherwise meet; found each other.
Also the kind of night where werewolves came out, normal
people went postal, and stable men jumped off of roof tops. Which
kinda kills the mood, but hey, it does happen.
Speaking of romantic; Cyraqs was begining to feel a response
from the permanent attachment to his arm. She had pushed their
entire body closer to his and she had begun emitting waves of a
certain type of psychic energy (not counting other responses he was
seeing, smelling, hearing, etc.) that was telling him that they
were becoming rather...aroused. This was bad, because it was
arousing him too.
This wouldn't be a problem normally. Couples in this
particular situation would have no trouble letting nature take it's
course. Multiple times and with great abandon.
In fact for one part of the goddess of the blue-hair he would
be more than happy to share himself in that way with her for this
and every other night. Days as well. Hell whenever they had the
opportunity; he finally amended. However the other part was still
a child of sorts. Ten years old by Earth's reconing; she now had
the body of a fifteen year old. However she had the wisdom and
soul of someone of the age of 50.
Old enough by quite a number of the races of the cosmos for
what she now wanted. However they knew that he would never do that
with them under normal circumstances. He wouldn't do that to such
a young girl. They really got a kick out of that thought. One of
these days...Oh well. So it was no surprise when he turned to them
and suggested, "Let's go find your mother now."
"Yes." Sasami and Tsunami agreed, a little disappointed at
him spoiling the building mood. Suddenly they realized something.
"What?" he asked noticing their hesitation.
"Ummm..." they looked down at what they were wearing. Simple
plain clothing; a plain dark green dress with a simple belt around
the waist. That and her hair was not nearly as long as it had been
and was free flowing. She really didn't want people asking certain
questions...
He chuckled as he realized her dilema. To be honest this
wouldn't normally be a problem, but until Sasami matured fully;
Tsunami had very little access to her power (though that changed as
time progressed). They shot him a dirty look.
"Allow me." he smiled. They felt a wave of...something flow
over them.
"Did you cloak us or something?" Tsunami asked.
"Hmmm. Not exactly. Let's just say that presently we are
unremarkable."
"Ah." This guy knew more techniques on how to be invisible
than she had created life forms. Which was o.k. in and of itself.
But he was so...smug about it. She did however get some
satisfaction out of the fact that for some strange reason; SHE
could always see through anything he did. It did gall him at
times, but she also knew it was more play acting than anything else
as he said more times than she could count how he really liked the
way she was always aware of him.
Together they began to walk through the palace. She gawked
at all that had been done with the place since she had been gone.
She tensed as the first retainer passed them, but as promised they
were never noticed. Soon they came upon the door that led to the
waiting area, and beyond to the office which was their ultimate
destination.
They passed the guards with no incident, as well as the
secretary who waited outside the office itself. Smiling slightly
he made them slightly intangible, and passed through the door.
Inside they saw the two queens hunched over various diagrams and
schematics scattered all over the room.
"...so if we place the new..." Misaki trailed off as she
felt...something enter. She looked around.
"What is it, sister?" Funahou asked.
She continued scanning the room...and noticed her eyes seemed
to be skipping a certain spot. Focusing her concentration vague
impressions seemed take shape until finally...she saw them.
Cyraqs and someone else. Very familiar. On his face though was a
very amused smile.
"'Bout time. I was wondering when you would see us." Funahou
jumped about twenty meters. After she landed she looked at the
short man with a rather annoyed expression. However something drew
her attention to the person he was with. She was slightly taller
than him; blue hair like Misaki's; pink eyes like Misaki's; and the
two halves of the triangle on her forehead...Wait. A true power
rune? Only members of the royal family wore those...and as for
that particular one...
But how could that be Sasami?
Misaki was looking hard at the young woman. The young woman
stared back, many emotions playing on her face. Fear, expectaion.
Longing.
How could...How...My little...Misaki watched as Sasami
finally broke down. "MOMMY!" she cried and flew headlong into
Misaki's arms.
"Oh my little baby girl! I'm here!" she told the sobbing
girl. It didn't matter what was really going on. Only thing she
knew was her daughter needed her, and that was what needed done.
There were going to be some major explanations on the subject later
though. Even if she had to tear it out of their asses with a laser
scalple and a plunger.
Funahou looked at Cyraqs in askance. He simply made a glance
at the door; indicting they should talk elsewhere. She nodded in
agreement. Her eyes also betrayed her extreme desire for an
explanation. Oh this was going to fun, he thought to himself
wryly.
Tenchi reappeared next to the Shrine. First thing he noticed
was there was a lot of residual energy around the area. Second
thing he noticed was there was a lot of damage to the general area.
The kicker though was the third thing he registered.
The rather large Katsuhito shaped hole in the shrine itself
really caught his attention. He was about to begin scanning the
place when he noticed his grandfather and Ayeka sitting in the
shrine (he saw them through the hole) drinking tea and talking.
Course his grandfather had a busted lip and a black eye that was
rapidly swelling shut, and Ayeka looked a bit roughed up. He
sighed in relief. "Could have been worse." he commented to
himself. "I wonder if I should...naa they'll work it out. Hmm
wonder where Kiyone is."
"She's is at the house my son."
"Oh thanks mom. I..." he turned to look in her direction.
Must have been taking how to stay invisible lessons from us. He
did notice she had a very warm, but amused smile on her lips.
"Damn. Thought I cured myself of talking to myself." Her smile
turned somewhat not amused.
"You should watch your language." she 'suggested'. He
stopped smiling. There were a few things he could say to that.
These past couple of months he had enjoyed this time getting
to know his mother. Getting used to being a family again. Still
there were a few things that well...he couldn't help but feel
anger? Perhaps. A rather imature childish anger that had festered
in the dark reseses of his mind. Pushed back so far into the
depths of his consciousness that he was never aware of it. Despite
the fact it had grown into a rather large lingering ache that he
had never gotten around to letting go of. That anger was composed
of one seething burning question. WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME ALONE
MOMMY? He knew the reason at the time. Now he knew the true
reason. That still didn't satisfy the child that he was, and
though he was a man now; he understood (hell would've done a few of
the same things without hesitation) why, they question still
remained. A childs question, a child who just got a crash course
in mortality. A question a lot of people in the universe had; for
many reasons. Not many would ever really find the answer. He was
one of those few. And he knew she did it to try to protect him
from Tokimi coming upon him when he wasn't ready. To protect him
until the time that he would be needed in the fight he had recently
been a major part of. He also knew she had harbored a vain hope
that somehow Tokimi wouldn't find her way here. That he would live
a normal life if she stayed gone (she had done a number of other
unmentionable things to try to steer Tokimi from her goal; all in
vain).
Nope. The universe needed balance restored and it was up to
us to make sure that happened. So when it was apparent that
wouldn't happen she had done everything she could behind the scenes
with his now decesed comrade Odin to optimize their chance for
victory. And when it came down to it; It was him and Cyraqs
against ultimate destruction. Somehow; through guts, skill, space
cold rage, they had won. Now we settle this. Balance is restored.
Dad now sits as the fourth pillar of all that is. Idly he wondered
if any one of them knew what they truly were. Not just pillars of
the universe; no they were the divided consciousness of the
universe itself. That battle was as much a fight the universe
trying to right itself somehow as it was a massive power struggle.
Now...mom...
She saw his changing expressions and walked up to her son a
sad, gentle expression on her youthful face. He wouldn't give her
a day over twenty five; until you looked hard at the scarlet eyes.
As his reflected the universe; hers reflected eternity. She
reached up and stroked his cheek. She nearly giggled. He has
grown a bit since this all began. A little taller, a little
broader, quite a bit more muscular, all that baby fat now gone, and
that strangely innocent expression had changed. Oh it was still
there; just tinged with a bit of confidence, and just a hair of
weariness; due to what he had been through these nearly three
years. "Say it. Let it go. I see it in your eyes. Please." she
said softly.
A great many more emotions played across his face. He so
wanted to tell her to fuck off; that he was so angry...that he
wanted the universe to END. He so wanted to Scream bloody murder.
He wanted to hold her and tell her it was fine; no troubles. He so
wanted her to hold him while he cried; while she said everything
would be fine; like he remembered when he was younger. He so
wanted...wanted...
"Let it go." she told him again. She smiled a little
whimsically. "I understand..."
Something snapped, and he let go. DAMN, but he let go. That
scream rocked through the psychic ether of this and quite a number
of other worlds. All who knew weren't going to interfere. All
others who didn't know didn't want to.
It lasted for longer than would have otherwise been possible
for anything mortal. Mortality in the accepted meaning of the word
was no longer a problem for him. Not quite the response I was
expecting she thought as the ringing in her ears subsided. However
that wasn't the end of it. Not by far.
His new armor had settled around him; without it's normal
fanfare. His eyes begun leaking what they viewed.
The colors, she knew, had meanings. Green for happiness;
sometimes amusement of sorts. Blue for extreme bliss; water and
sky blue for sexual arousal (this was information she was told
during one of the converstions she had with Odin). Red was for
anger. She had seen purple once, she had a suspicion on that
color, but she couldn't confirm it. However when this
happened...it meant a kind of rage that...well it would do to be a
few star systems away. Maybe you wouldn't feel what came next.
You knew this was a possibilty; she told herself, and she made
ready for whatever would come next.
Just as suddenly as it had come though, it ended. His eyes
returned to their normal reflection. His armor disappeared. He
colapsed to his knees in her arms sobbing. She wasn't in much
better condition. They said nothing. Neither had too. They
looked at each other. Stary eyes of the universe to scarlet eyes
of eternity. Each seeing the others pain. Both of them connected
to the other in the way of the soul. Both talking in this way.
Sharing the others pain. Healing in this way; though complete
healing would take time. But they had that now. They remained
like that. Silent; holding each other; talking in this way for a
very long time.
For it is still true; that sometimes the important things
don't need to be spoken to be understood.
Cyraqs K'thardin finished what had to be the strangest
explanation explanation he had ever given, and waited patiently for
Funahou's reaction.
"So you are saying that my granddaughter is alive and well?"
She asked finally.
"Yes."
"And that she is really a goddess; on level with Tsunami, in
fact is her sister?"
"Yes."
She hummed to herself for a moment; betraying nothing on her
face. "Sasami is nearly grown now." She looked at him squarely in
the eye. He obliged what she was looking for by taking his glasses
off. "I see by the way she was grasping you she is quite taken
with you." Before he could answer to that she continued. "Which
is good. It was rather unhealthy of her nearly becoming fixated on
the only available guy she has seen." Her eyes narrowed.
"However; I must ask are her feelings hers or Tsunami's? She is
still quite young."
He smiled a little wryly. "Tsunami showed me what happened
shortly after she assimilated Sasami. Not sure I wouldn't have
reacted the same way. I admit *I* wouldn't have know what to make
of it either." 'Course if I had been around...well who knows what
would have happened then. Heh. He lost his amused expression. "I
once asked her the same question. You want to know what her answer
was?" Funahou's expression spoke for her. He obliged. "She said
this: 'Her feelings are hers, as mine are mine. However there
comes a point in time when we cannot be told apart. Such is our
feelings for you. Don't ask me to explain it further because I
can't.' I had nothing I could say to that. I DIDN'T know what I
could say. She as much as said she didn't know; only that she knew
what they both felt. So I asked Sasami (little girl is not ten
years old I don't give a shit how long she's lived)." He broke
off for a moment in thought. He felt her eyes on him; prodding him
to continue. "She smiled at me in that WAY of hers; and then she
looked at me with THOSE eyes..." Funahou smiled slightly. She
knew what he was talking about, it was something she had missed as
well, something she was really reminded about during their breif
visits. Sasami had a way of looking right into the very heart of
what you were; no deception or lie was possible in the face of that
gaze. She could see it all; all the darkness, the evil, every
dirty little lie and all the bad things. But so was the good; the
light inside of us all as well. The magic was that she saw all
that; and she smiled, and made it allright. She accepted it all;
tried to make you feel better; tried to help in any way her
diminutive little self could. The universe would be a wonderful
place, Funhaou thought to herself, if there were more people like
her in it. "Yes it would." She jumped. Damn, forgot he reads
minds when you think too loud. He smiled tollerantly. "Anyway she
simply told me that she did love me like that; and not to worry
everything would be fine." He smile turned a little sarcastic.
"As much as I love her that didn't cut it. So I sat her down and
explained to her that I was quit a bit older, that there were other
men around better than me, more her age, some just plain different,
etc, etc, etc...I'm sure you get the idea." Funahou nodded, an
amused twinkle had appeared in her eye. He noticed, but did not
comment. Yet. "She simply LOOKED at me again..." Funahou nearly
busted up. He turned a little annoyed. "What?"
"Nothing."
He didn't believe that for a second, but pressed on with his
story. For some reason though this was beggining to look to him a
lot like the 'conversation' he once had with Mihoshi and Ayeka.
"Looked at me and said 'But I know that. Lots of guys are noble
and honorable and nice like you. But ya know something?' Of course
I said no to this. 'You are the one I pick. So don't worry,
alright? We Juraians live a long time. And you live even longer,
so you don't need to worry about that. You're noble and honorable
and nice enough for me, so I don't know where you are getting that
from. You should really think better of yourself.' She actually
got pissed. 'And I don't have bad taste in men." His face grew
very sober. "That wasn't the end of it. I sat there for a half
hour while she proceded to destroy every argument I submitted. And
at the end she said this: 'And really Cyraqs; you should know by
now we're always going to be together. So quit trying to get out
of it. It's not like it's a bad thing, and I know you want it
too.' She kissed me lightly on the lips and went to cook dinner."
He paused for a moment; lost in his own thoughts. Funahou was
using every skill she had developed in the thousands of years of
her life to refrain from laughing her cute little ass off and was
succeeding. Though for how long; she didn't know. "At that moment
I wasn't talking to either Tsunami or Sasami. I had just received
a glimpse of the person they were going to become." The mood just
turned serious. "And I knew that I was now trapped. Utterly,
totally, with no hope to escape; trapped." He looked her in the
eyes; showing the feelings there. "'cause I knew if THAT lady
wanted me, quite a number of other arguments just became
irrelevant. And you know something? I can't make myself fight it
anymore. I love them. Everything that I am...is theirs. Just as
every bit of them is with me." Her amused expression had returned;
yet it was mixed with a slightly...disapproving one. He more felt
the reason than read it from her mind. "I will NOT do THAT with
her for a long time yet. She isn't even grown up. You think I'm a
pediphile or something? Geez THAT would confuse the hell out of
her now."
She bowed her head in appology. "Forgive me. I know you to
be an honorable man, and would not do that." Although If she
decides she's old enough...I don't know if you'll be able to resist
her. She started when she remembered he could read thoughts.
However he seemed lost in himself again, and did not register. She
breathed a mental sigh of relief. A slightly mischievious thought
crossed her head. "I suppose even the mightiest of the universe
can be laid low. In this case by nothing more than a little girl."
He stared at her hard.
She finally lost it.
He grimaced as she collapsed in an attack of the giggles.
"Your secretary be alright?" he asked trying to change the
subject. That was good for comic relief. Immagine it. You are
new on the job; maybe only a couple of weeks. One of your duties
(besides filing massive amounts of paperwork, scheduling
appointments, etc.) was to ensure that no one without an
appointment or proper authorization simply walked into the queen's
ready room. That's not counting you are also a trained bodyguard
and are backup to the guards outside should anything untoward
happen. Yet you never see a man simply walk past you; into the
office, and later walk outside with the lady in question. On her
face a not so friendly expression (not directed at her, but she
didn't know that).
Can we say freaked?
Sure we can!
After Cyraqs managed to revive the lady secretary, Funahou
told her to take a break and that she would call her again if
needed. AND not to worry this man had access everywhere (Not that
anyone could have kept him out).
For some reason this promted even more laughter from Funahou.
Cyraqs took it patiently; after all he couldn't really blame her.
The situation was pretty absurd. She finally, after quite a few
minutes, regained her control. Oh that felt good, she thought,
dabbing at her eyes. Haven't laughed that hard in almost a
century. "Yes she'll be fine. She's just a little nervous. New
on the job is all."
"Hmmm...O.K. then." Almost as if that were a cue; the door
to Funahou's office creaked open; revealing the Lady Misaki and her
daughter Sasami. Both had red rimmed eyes; obviously crying their
souls out. However Sasami looked about 557% better for it.
Misaki looked directly at Funahou. "We're going to Earth."
A simple statement. However it was all that needed said between
the two of them. After all duty was all well and good, but duty's
ultimate goal was to serve those you loved. If you couldn't do
that then you quit what you are doing; and did what was neccessary
to help your family. For that is the ultimate duty; the duty that
takes precedence over all others.
The next few hours were somewhat of a blur as the queens made
their arrangements. Packing needed done, people needed informed
(Asuza got a REAL kick out of this one), and last minute business
needed taken care of. Throughout it Cyraqs waited patiently
outside the Royal bedroom. That was one thing he could never
understand. Why become impatient about things that would take care
of themselves in their own good time? There was no real reason to
get uptight about it, unless he COULD help. Then he would do
whatever it took, but in cases like this there was really no reason
to get frantic like many individuals would.
He also did not protest this action. Both he and Tenchi had
known that this would be the most likely outcome of this meeting,
and had made preperations very early that morning. Besides; it's
what Sasami needed.
The door opened as he knew it would (only after about four
hours) and he was called inside. "You ready?" he asked. His
answer was a nod from Misaki. "Very well." He moved next to them.
An uneccessary action when applied to teleportation, but a
neccessary one considering that he knew Tsunami and Sasami wanted
to make themselves a permanent attachment to him while remaining
close to her mother. As she grasped his arm, he felt the change; a
definate absense of tension in her body. Which was good; the less
the better. Perhaps now the mood swings wouldn't be so bad.
Concentrating he moved them to Earth.
It was almost dinner time when they got back. Mihoshi and
Achika had started dinner, and once everything was put away for
now, had received some help from Sasami and Misaki.
Most had disbursed all over the place; to the places all
around the Misaki home they had made their own. All lost in their
own thoughts.
It was in this state that Cyraqs found Tenchi sitting by the
lake.
"Trying to get a handle on the situation? Trying to make
sense of it all?" He asked as he came upon the young man.
Tenchi didn't bother to look at him as Cyraqs sat down beside
of him taking a puff off his smoke. "Yeah."
"I can't help you with that. At most all I can say is that
this part needed done. I know; I would rather face one-thousand
Tokimi's with a billion Djinn as backup rather than do clean up in
the aftermath." The older being sighed, "That's always the hardest
to do. Facing others is easy; facing yourself...that's another
story. 'Cause that's what it came down to. How should we take
what our family has done in the entire affair. Hopefully now it
has been resolved enough that we don't have to do it again."
Tenchi sat and quietly listened to the words of wisdom from
his former mentor. It made sense, but still it was going to take a
while to work it through. But it would; it always did. Only one
thing bugged him about that last statement. "Sure this has been
resolved. Now it's on to something else. Confrontation to
resolution to another confrontation. Until we're dead." Tenchi
said sourly.
"Exaclty." Cyraqs answered. "Exactly. Why is that I
wonder? Tell me Tenchi what is the first thing we do?"
"Protect that which we love." He answered immediately. Then
grinned wryly. "Just like any of us would do. Just like we have
always done. That's the reason for it all."
Cyraqs nodded his head. "Good. I knew you weren't as bone
headed as you sometimes put out to be." Tenchi frowned while he
grinned. Suddenly Tenchi grinned too.
"I don't know you were pretty bone-headed when it came to
Tsunami. I wonder how long that that little outburst of hers to
build up. 16,000 years? 17,000 years?"
"I wouldn't go there Tenchi." Cyraqs told him in a
completely calm tone of voice. Which made it that much scarrier.
"I haven't even begun to go there."
"Fine. But I'd keep silent if I were you. Otherwise we'll
just discuss your little situation with Ayeka and Ryouko then."
Tenchi's jaw snapped shut. "Good choice." Cyraqs took a puff off
his smoke. "On the subject of couples; you want to help in shotgun
wedding tomorow?"
'Shotgun wedding tommorrow?' Tenchi mouthed.
"Yeah. I figure we should safely marry off my mom and dad
before anything comes along to interefere. What do you think bro?"
Tenchi thought about it for a moment. "Do they know?"
"Not a bit."
"Sure. Why not?"
They both got up and proceeded to walk back to the house.
"Oh one other thing."
Tenchi raised his eyebrow in question.
"You break my sister's heart and I'll be forced to kill you."
"What about Ayeka?"
"Then you get to talk to Sasami and Misaki."
"Ah." Tenchi stopped suddenly.
Cyraqs looked back. "What is it?"
"I was just thinking. It's all so confusing when you look
back on it. Not sure what it was we were supposed to learn from
it."
Cyraqs appeared to consider it. "Well as long as we learned
*something*."
"I suppose." Tenchi said dubiously.
Darkness was neat time. In it lots of things happened.
Alliances are conceived. Plans are formed. Empires rise, and
rulers fall.
It really didn't matter that quite a number of the beings in
the universe could see infrared and hear a pin drop a mile away.
It didn't take away the mystery and danger that the night brought
with it.
Darkness was the time that two humanoid beings in the
universe decided to meet on a planet; in a forest; devoid of any
sentient life for at least 20 parsecs. Not to mention they were
clothed head to toe in black clothing so that only their eyes could
be seen.
"Why are we clothed like this?" One of them asked.
"Smile and nod."
"Hmmm. We both know why we're here. Other families feel the
same. And with recent events being what they are now would be a
prime oportunity. The emporer is weak. He can't even keep his own
children in line. The time is come that the royal family be
replaced with a more competent line X."
The one named 'X' snorted. "And I suppose you have yourself
in mind for the position Y."
'Y' laughed. "Not I. I think my son will be a perfect
emporer."
X shrugged in his clothing. "Easilly manangeable you mean.
While you rule from the background; you make all the decisions, he
takes all the blame."
"Precisely." Y said in a most manacing manner.
"I will back you. But I must warn you about what you will be
facing."
"What? That boy?" he sneared. "Hell, If I were on the
throne I would have..."
"Lasted all of about 5 seconds. That's assuming he wanted to
play with you first." Y sighed. Stupid fool. Yet a stupid fool
with the backing of most of the major houses. "You have no idea
the kind of being you would be facing. I was there when we fought
the great evil as a boy. Believe me, the power they can muster
cannot be matched. Only the power of the Lighthawk force can hope
to even harm them." X grumbled a little. "If you really want to
do this you will have to do this carefully. One false move and
you'll wind up dead. And quit possibly all those with you. I have
a feeling that if it came down to it Asuza has the backing of that
'boy' as you call him. If that's the case we cannot use force.
Subtlty is called for. We will have to neutralize the threat he
poses. And that doesn't even take into consideration Tsunami. If
Asuza doesn't give up of his own free will that Tree will make sure
ours don't respond."
X gritted his teeth in frustration. "So what would you have
us do?"
Y smiled behind his mask. "There is always a way. In order
to get the throne we will have to make Asuza an offer he can't
resist. Can't help, but take."
"What would that possibly be?"
"Simple what does he love more than anything else, besides
his wives of course?"
X thought for a second. "His children."
"Right."
"How do you plan to use them? Simple extortion won't work."
X smiled again. It's funny how this has shifted to him
plotting to get the throne to him needing me to help get it. Well
he'll be as easily maleable as he thinks his son will be.
"Correct. I have a plan. I will need more information to be sure,
but I think that if even the least bit of what I heard coming from
my agents in the GP is true, It can be done. The trick will be to
get it done and not bring down the wrath of those who could crush
us with a thought." Y frowned momentarily. "We will still need to
have your son marry Ayeka though."
"That will not be a problem."
"Good." yes good. And soon the true power of Jurai will be
mine!
End Heaven and Eternity
End theme: Dreams-VanHalen
Whew! Now that took long enough. Heh. Man this has been a fun
ride. Acknowledgements are now in order I think. First off I
would like to thank GenSao for posting my stories on his page.
Arigato man. It means more than I can say. Second I would like to
thank Chris Angel, Happosai, Don Euclid and the other readers who
have given me C&C in an effort to make this story better. I am in
your debt. Third I'd like to thank all those who have read this
story and gave me any comments they could on it. Belive me it is
truly appreciated. Lastly I'd like to thank my friend who wishes
to remain nameless with his help on preliminary plot of this. I
don't think this story would have even happened had he not been
around to drive the concepts out of me. Thanks man.
Well let's see. I think I wrapped everything up nicely. Aside
from a few mistakes (that song that I thought was by Rage Against
the Machine was really Bullets with Butterfly Wings-Smashin
Pumpkins BTW) I'm fairly certain this story turned out pretty well.
Most everyone got a happy ending. Never did like the fact that
Washuu was out there flailing in the wind in a lot of stories when
it came to love life of the future. NTM Sasami/Tsunami. It seems
they either get Tenchi (KILL!) or no one at all (which sucks
majorly). I just hope the creators of the series catch a clue and
do something about all this. Make a third OVA series at least
cause this is really sucking. Makes for good FF though. Well I'm
at kthardin@geocities.com. Don't worry though. There will be a
sequal which is being plotted out as we speak. And as a hero of
mine once said 'Until all are one!' See you next story.
K'thardin
"One shall stand, one shall fall."
-Optimus Prime
And for a really good question: Why would anyone wish Tenchi on Sasami