Disclaimer: All characters are copywrite of their respective creators.


He stood alone on the road leading to the Masaki home, his long
chestnut hair blown about his bat-like face by the rising wind. There 
was a sense of anxiety about him, understandable given the 
circumstances. This was all new to him. He'd never done anything like 
this in his entire life. Ironically, that was still true.

"Go ahead." A voice said, in his mind. There was a time when such a
thing would've sent him running right to the nearest psychiatrist. But
that was all past him and in his present state it was a perfectly
natural and normal occurrence. "You're going to do just fine." There 
was something about the woman's voice, perhaps its lack of pretense, 
that made him trust it implicitly. Without hesitating any longer, he 
began to walk toward the house.

"Perhaps I should go in looking as I did in disguise in 1970?" he
wondered.

"No." The voice told him. "Tenchi's seen aliens before. He can handle
another one. Never be ashamed of who you really are."

Tantei-A stopped at this and seemed thoughtful for a bit. "I've been
so many people over the course of my career that I don't even know for
certain who I am."

The voice came again, gentle and reassuring. "You're one of us." it
said.

Tantei-A sighed. He wasn't sure what that meant. But somehow, the
statement was as reassuring as the voice's owner apparently intended
it to be.  He continued on his way until he found himself at the Masaki
home.

He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

One eventually came in the form of a blond-haired girl with big blue
eyes and a very surprised look on her face. "Um? Hello? Are you here
to arrest Ryoko?"

Tantei-A wondered for a moment how she knew about that. Perhaps Ryoko
had mentioned it to her. Probably bragging about how she had fought
him to a standstill. Actually, that particular bit depended greatly on
one's point of view.

Ryoko was just walking by when she heard this. It couldn't be *him*!
He was dead. She'd seen his body. Torn apart. He sure as hell hadn't
survived *that*.

On the other hand, *he* did seem to be the type who was just obsessive
enough to come back from the dead just to arrest her.

"No." He told Sasami.

Ryoko breathed a sigh of relief. It was him, but at least it wasn't
*her* he was after.  But then, why...

"My business is with Ryoko." He continued. "But it's of a far more
personal nature."

"If he says he was drawn here from heaven or whatever his race
believes in by his love for me, I'll clobber him." Ryoko muttered under
her breath.

"Well, she's here somewhere." Sasami told him. "Why don't you come on in
and I'll see if I can find her."


"I'm right here." Ryoko said, walking into the hallway. "So, what
brings you back to the land of the living?"

"I'm here because you need me." Tantei-A replied.

"Like hell I do." Ryoko scoffed. "I need *you* like I need a large
hole in my head. No thanks. Why don't you go back to hell?"

"I wasn't in hell." Tantei-A replied. "Ryoko, you may not realize it,
but you need me."

"So, what are you? My guardian angel? Go earn your wings somewhere
else." Ryoko turned away.

Tantei-A sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. "Look, if you want the 
truth, I don't want to be here any more than you want me here. I don't 
think I'm the right person for this job. But there are others who think 
that I am and they're the ones who sent me here."

"Oh, so there's a committee of angels who've decided to punish me by 
inflicting you upon me?" Ryoko asked, sarcastically.

"I think their idea was more along the lines of helping you by sending 
a firm hand to guide you through a difficult patch of your life."

"So, you're here to help me win Tenchi?"

Tantei-A shook his head. "I cannot interfere with the free will of 
another." he told her.

Ryoko turned the words "a difficult patch of your life" over in her
mind a few times. Maybe they knew, in heaven, that Tenchi was about to
chose another over her. Maybe Tantei-A had been sent to make sure she
didn't kill herself as a result. No, that was ridiculous. Tenchi would
chose her. She was sure of it.

"So, what is this difficult patch?" She asked.

"I can't tell you ahead of time." He replied. "I'm not allowed to give 
you foreknowledge of the events in question. I'm only allowed to help 
you through them as they occur."

Tenchi walked into the hallway at that point. He saw Tantei-A standing
there, talking with Ryoko, then he turned around, and walked off
muttering. "I did not see that. He's not there. I'm just feeling guilty
over his death. That's stupid. I shouldn't be feeling guilty." A bit
more loudly he added "I WASN'T THE ONE WHO DECIDED HE SHOULD GO AFTER
KAIN ALONE WITH A GUN!"

Tantei-A winced, as if struck, and closed his eyes. The memory of the
moment of his death came back to him like a slap in the face with a
fisherman's glove. He leaned on the wall for support as the world
faded from view and he felt cold terror envelop him.

But then he felt her arms around him, her gentle soothing caress.
"It's okay." She told him. 

"You did die horribly, and it was your own foolish pride that caused
it." another woman's voice, audible only to him and the soother,
added.

"You don't have to rub it in." Tantei-A complained. "I can't change
that."

"No." The second woman told him. "You can't."

"Will I have to endure remembering it all every time it's mentioned?"

"That depends on you."

"Are you okay?" Tenchi asked.

Tantei-A nodded.

"Look, I"m sorry if..." Tenchi began.

"Don't worry about it." Tantei-A cut him off. "It was my mistake. Not 
yours."


Kiyone walked into the house, looking extremely angry. She turned to 
Ryoko, not noticing her former colleague. 

"Ryoko," She told her, "I'm placing your under arrest for the attempted 
murder of Lady Ayeka."

Tenchi's expression turned to one of utter horror. "Ryoko!"

"Tenchi! I didn't..." Ryoko pleaded.

All of Ryoko's past fights with Ayeka, her history as a ruthless living 
juggernaut destroying planet after planet, her violent arrival into his 
life, took on a new and sinister meaning as these new accusations mixed 
in with them.

Ryoko turned to Tantei-A. "What do I do now?" She asked.

"You must decide that for yourself." He replied.

"I thought you were here to help me." Ryoko snarled in frustration.

"I'm here to help you with the emotional consequences of whatever 
decisions you make," Tantei-A explained, "not to make the actual 
decisions for you."

Ryoko was confused. If she went along into custody, Tenchi might see it 
as her admitting her guilt. On the other hand, if she fled, he might 
see it her being afraid to face a trial because she was guilty. Either 
way, she'd lose Tenchi.

And worst of all, she was innocent. She hadn't hurt Ayeka. But for some 
reason, Kiyone was saying she did. She began to wonder if she had done 
something while drunk. Perhaps set up a boobytrap that she'd forgotten 
about? No. That couldn't be it. 

Someone was setting her up! They had to be! But who? Why? Of course! 

She teleported to Ayeka's location, using Ayeka herself as a focal
point. She expected to find her safely tucked away someplace laughing
over false evidence that had been planted to get her out of the
picture so Ayeka could marry Tenchi.

Instead, she found Ayeka lying dormant on a bed. She was barely alive. 
Ryoko stared at her, as if trying to will her to open her eyes.

Yosho, who was sitting by Ayeka's bed, looked up. "Come to make sure 
she dies?" He asked, drawing his sword.

"I didn't..." Ryoko tried to tell him. She barely teleported away in 
time as Yosho's sword cut through the air where she'd been standing 
moments before.

Kiyone was comforting Sasami in the hallway when Ryoko returned. 

"Will you come willingly, or do I need to force you?" Kiyone asked.

Ryoko looked down at Sasami, her eyes filled with tears. She felt
sorry for the child. Ayeka was indeed hurt, even if she herself didn't
do it. "I didn't hurt your sister, Sasami." She told her. "You know I
wouldn't..."

Sasami turned away.

Ryoko turned to Kiyone. "I'll go with you." She gave in.

Tenchi watched with a heavy heart as Kiyone lead Ryoko toward her
ship.

***

Ryoko sat alone in her cell aboard Yagami. She wondered why her 
so-called guardian angel hadn't come along. "Some help he was." She 
muttered, bitterly.

***

"Oh, why can't I *ever* get this thing to make me a cup of coffee?" 
Mihoshi complained as she twisted her control cube over and over.

"Mihoshi! Be careful with that thing." Kiyone said, as she rubbed the 
lumps on her head from the set of children's blocks that had just 
fallen on her.

Mihoshi turned it a few more times. Kiyone watching her carefully.

"No! Not that way!"

Too late. The Yagami reversed its course and headed back to Earth.

***

Tantei-A watched the sky. calmly, as the Yagami hurled back toward 
Earth on a collision course.  The ship crashed into the lake behind 
Tenchi's house.

Kiyone and Mihoshi soon emerged from the wreckage with Ryoko in tow.

***

Tenchi Masaki was unaware of either of these events. He was sitting 
with Ayeka who, by some miracle, had just woken up.

"Ayeka," he asked her, gently, "what happened?" He knew she would tell 
him all about Ryoko's attack on her.

"That woman." Ayeka cursed. "I should've known not to trust her."

"Kiyone's taken Ryoko into custody." Tenchi told her. "You don't have 
to worry about her any more."

"Ryoko?" Ayeka sounded perplexed. "But she's not the one who attacked 
me."

Tenchi was confused. "Ryoko didn't? But you just said..." A concerned 
look came over his face. "What woman?" He asked.

"I can't remember." Ayeka replied. "But she wasn't Ryoko."

***

Kiyone wasn't convinced. "If she can't remember who attacked her, 
Tenchi, then I can't accept that she knows it wasn't Ryoko. It had to 
be her."

"I'm not so sure, Kiyone." Tenchi replied. 

"That's why we have trials, Tenchi." Kiyone told him. 

"I just hope its a fair trial." Tenchi muttered.

Kiyone glared at him. "Are you suggesting something?"

"Um. No." Tenchi spluttered, somewhat flummoxed. "I'm sorry. I didn't 
mean to accuse..."

"Look, let's just drop this until the case actually begins." Kiyone 
suggested.

***

"Thanks for nothing." Ryoko called out as she bathed herself in the 
women's bath. She was still under arrest, but was now simply confined 
to the Masaki home, which she technically had not left. She rinsed and 
dried herself off. Once she was dressed again, she returned to the main 
house, just in time for supper.

***

"So, are you enjoying your dinner, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, after what 
seemed like an endless silence.

"Hmm." Ryoko replied, sounding very hurt. Tenchi had only recently 
suggested that he believed her capable of a crime as horrible as 
attempted murder and had until a couple hours ago, been treating her 
like she was the worst person in the world. She intended to make him 
feel very guilty about it.

"Ryoko," Tenchi bowed, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Ryoko asked, pointedly. "About what?"

Tenchi sighed and resumed eating.

The table fell silent once again.

It was at that point that Tenchi heard the knocking. He excused himself 
and went to see who was at the door.

A tall woman with bluish-grey hair done up in a severe bun. stood
there. She wore a pair of quiet blue spectacles and was dressed in a
very business-like light grey skirt and jacket with a nicely tailored
white blouse. She smiled and handed him a small rectangular card.
"Good afternoon," she told him, "My name is Miss Gatako."

Tenchi took the card and read it carefully. The woman appeared to be a
lawyer. 

"What brings you here?" He asked, suspiciously. The idea of a lawyer 
just happening to arrive here was a bit too fortuitous. Something had 
to be up.

"The courts have appointed me to be Ryoko's attorney." the woman 
explained.

Court-appointed attorneys were not unusual, and it seemed a good 
explanation, so Tenchi let the woman in.

The woman followed Tenchi into the dining room.