I think it was just around the corner, or perhaps slightly sideways from
reality.

Continuity:  This happens in a sort of Nebulous ideal tenchi where the Manga,
Tv series and Oavs are all reasonably true.  Kinda.   
Mind you, I own none of those, and have no right to profit by this.
Comments: Just a kind of nebulous meloncholy.




	  Who would be up wandering around at this time of night?
	  Oh. Only myself in the mirror.   
	  I note the smile on my face as I recognize my unconscious
self-importance.  
My oft made reply to my son in law, �Is that so?� comes to mind.
	  It could be any of us, wandering the halls.   Insomnia is not uncommon
in our household.
	  Ryoko spends many nights up, watching over Tenchi as he sleeps, when her
memories rise up to press on her mind.   Washuu often looses track of time in
her experiments and wanders out of the lab to get a snack in the wee hours.  
Tenchi sometimes wakes in a cold sweat, from dreams of the battles he has been
forced to partake of.   Sasami�s occasional bouts of �nightmares� can keep her
up till nearly dawn.   Noboyuki or I cook on those days.   Noboyuki also walks
the halls sometimes�especially on certain dates.  Her birthday, their
anniversary - on those two days he does not sleep, I know.
	  Ayeka sometimes sits awake in the living room until dawn comes, agonizing
over her choice between duty and happiness - or perhaps other things. 
	  Kiyone will stay up the entire night practicing Kata or studying galactic
news when the galaxy Police stay over.    There is an expression in her
eyes of one torn between duty and her calling at that time.
	  Once Miss Mihoshi sat up singing lullabies and crying all night. Kiyone
seemed to know what was going on, and insisted that we leave her partner
be.   It is a private matter, so I have not asked.
	  Since they have come from Jurai, Azaka and Kamidrake are slowly 
adapting to the difference in this time and this world.   Often they will
spar late into the morn, discussing how they can deal with this new time, 
and the new skills in manipulating the Jurai power they must adapt to.
	  So when I see a form wandering the halls, and I think to myself, �It would
only be myself in the mirror.� I realize how little progress this old priest

has made.
	  Old priest.   I know I am not truly old  the illusion of age I have worn as
Katsuhito is far from the truth, and I am as hale as Yousho has ever been, and
will remain so.   I have no real dependence on the trees.   But I feel old.   
	  Very old, some days.
	  It was that feeling that brought me here, I think.   My fight against Ryoko
was certainly the obvious reason, but that is just an excuse  I could have
made my stand against her on Jurai, had I wished. Too many know it, these
days. It seems no matter how great the skill of the Hero becomes, he can never
lie to his mother.
	  What was it?    The realization that father would push my own sister
towards me in the name of convenience?   My best friends madness, when the 
Jurai Power consumed him?   The realization, perhaps, of just how hollow our 
customs had become?
	  It doesn�t matter.    I had become old.    In mind, if not in body, I was
very tired.
	  So when the Destroyer of Artifacts sent his Demon, I seized the chance
to run away.  I had intended, I think, to go out in a blaze of glory, facing a
opponent I could not hope to defeat - Ryoko, infamous for the destruction
of entire worlds, and Ryohki, who held off the entire fleet!.
	  I still do not know how it was that I won, except that somehow, she -
they - must have been trying to lose.    I was able to take the source of her 
power from her, and then she collapsed into hysterical tears, and begged 
me to kill her, before �he� could come to take over again. 
	  It was a week before I understood that she would have to be sealed away.
His influence came and went, sometimes possessing her, sometimes leaving
her in screaming hysterics and others driving her to fits of tears that
were heart
rending to watch.   She was a threat to both herself and others left free,
with his influence still within her mind.
	  How that affected me.    If the Demon was just a woman held by a
madman�then the true villain must be the sorcerer.  While I understood how to 
battle the Demon, the way of the warrior, this was the way of the
corruptor, and the way needed that to battle the manipulative evils of the 
world�.I had no experience with them.  
	  I had been the hero, after all, fighting face to face with my enemies.
But the Priests of the Masaki shrine did, and so I sought teaching from
them.   Perhaps, if I live long enough, I can look into the mirror�
	  �And see the reflection of a man who can counter the evil itself as they
did, rather than fighting evil men as I have.  
	  Who can tell which is the higher calling?
     An old Priest looking back at me.
Gamlain, transuniversal courier & Hero for rent Gamlain@airmail.net
Of course, my homepage is at
Http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/8762/index.html
"Venus Love Me Chainsaw Masacre"