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Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 02:31:25 EDT
Subject: [xover][Tenchi/EH][completed][draft] Homecomings [4\9]
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Ryoko eased the door shut quietly, and slowly slipped into the hallway. There 
was only one thought in her mind, so it wasn't much of a surprise that didn't 
notice her watcher till she spoke aloud.

"Nice night out wouldn't you agree?" Ryoko spun around, a crimson sphere of 
plasma forming in her hands as she did. Sheyla Sheyla's eyes had a feral glow 
in them under the light. Ryoko relaxed and the light vanished as quickly as 
it had 
appeared, and the two of them were left with only the fitful moonlight to see 
by.

"What do you want?" Ryoko asked hesitantly, surprised with the speed at which 
she had reacted.

"Just to let you know that you are on notice." Sheyla said with a smile, "She 
didn't say it, but I know that you are the one that is responsible for 
Afura's injuries. You like hurting people don't you? I see it in your eyes, 
you've done it before. I'll be watching you from now on."

"Fine, I think that your friend recovering her focus would have been more 
important that hassling a new person, but then from what Tenchi and Makoto 
told me, you like starting fights." She walked by the priestess as she 
continued, 
intent on her destination, "I'm not like that anymore. It has too high a 
cost, Sheyla, remember that."

"So, where do you think you are going?" Sheyla said with an evil smile, "Do 
you think that Tenchi is eagerly awaiting for you." Ryoko glanced back, a 
flash of anger and hurt in her heart.

"I'm not the only one chasing a dream from what I saw between you and the boy 
Makoto." Ryoko turned and walked around the corner, leaving behind a 
speechless Sheyla behind. As soon as she was out of sight, Ryoko leaned 
against a wall and fought down the pain that threatened to overwhelm her.
 
She stopped just short of Tenchi's door, afraid to go any further. She 
started to move towards the door, only to stop as it clicked open. Quickly 
she stepped back into the shadows of the hall as someone stepped out into the 
hallway.

Ayeka giggled and kissed Tenchi before rushing off to the room that she 
shared with Sasami. Tenchi stepped back into the room with a smile. Ryoko 
leaned against the column and didn't even try to fight the tears.

-Too late.- She thought to herself. -Oh Tenchi, why couldn't I have said 
something sooner?-

-----
Tenchi tossed restlessly, Ryoko smiled as she watched him sleep. She sat down 
on the bed and ran her hand through his hair. -I never get bored with 
watching you sleep Tenchi.- He stirred at her touch on his cheek. She smiled 
at his 
confused look.

"Ryoko?" She placed a finger on his mouth.

"Shh..." Tenchi looked at her, and was surprised at the changes that she had 
gone through. The teasing and picking were gone, as well as the flashes of 
anger, replaced by nothing but need. She placed a hand on his shoulder, 
pulling him up as she wrapped the other around his waist."Let me show you 
something..."

Then they were gone, whisked away by her power, leaving an empty room behind 
them. 
------

Tenchi shook off the sensation of vertigo with a shiver as Ryoko's teleport 
placed them far outside the city. They had reappeared on a small hillside. 
Ryoko released him from her warm grip and took a few steps forward reaching 
the crest 
of the hill.

"Ryoko, where are we?" He asked carefully, he didn't want to hurt her. She 
looked up into the night sky towards the perfect stars above for long seconds 
before replying.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Her voice seemed almost distant, so peaceful, "I 
saw it from the Muldoon cliffs." He stepped up beside her. -It is beautiful.- 
he could see the whole city from the point. A slight breeze blew across the 
hilltop.

"Why did you bring me here?" He pressed again, cautiously. Ryoko paused, 
composing herself, before she turned to face him. He could see the tears 
gathering in her eyes, glittering in the moonlight. She never looked more 
beautiful, or so sad, in all the time that he had known her. It was too much 
to bear.

"Tenchi.. I ...well..." She stumbled, trying to put her motions into words. 
She averted her gaze quickly. -Why can't I say it? You never showed me how to 
do this Yosho..-

"Ryoko, are you okay?" He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She kissed 
him, pressing herself against him, putting all her hurt all her loss, need, 
and love into the kiss. A deeply buried part of Tenchi responded, and he 
pulled 
her into an embrace. Almost desperately, Ryoko ran her hands through his hair 
and down his back, trying to savor the contact that she had at that moment. 
Tenchi could feel the hammering beat of her heart, in time with his own.

Suddenly, he felt weak in the knees. He sat down, Ryoko falling down beside 
him, trying to hold the moment for as long as she could.

"Ryoko...." Tenchi stammered, "This isn't .. right." He finished 
breathlessly, afraid to continue as part of him wanted to return to the 
moment of the kiss. His hands trembled with the inner conflict.

"Please," She whispered huskily, holding  back a sob, "just this once, this 
one night, let me be yours..." She took his hand into hers. The warmth taking 
the edge off the nighttime chill. "Give me something of you to remember in 
the 
centuries to come." She kissed him tenderly, he returned it with deepening 
passion, taking her into his arms.

She was so warm, so beautiful. His whole world became the feeling of her 
skin, the ice-fire touch of her kiss. He lowered her to the ground. It would 
be so easy to let herself go, to yield to that side that so desperately 
wanted her.

An image slowly formed in his mind. Ryoko gasped at the feeling of his hands 
running down her back. -Ayeka.- he pulled out of the embrace suddenly, the 
moment's mood broken.

" I.. I can't do this," He choked, "It's .. I.. I.." He could feel the tears 
gathering in his eyes.  He feared hurting her, Ayeka, himself. ""I'm 
sorry..." It was all too confusing, as the feelings of guilt ran over him. 
She closed her eyes, her face set in a look of understanding and love.

"I understand," Her voice was low as she continued, "let me hold you a little 
while longer." She wrapped her arms around him, laying her head onto his 
chest. The rhythm of his heart was the most beautiful song that she had 
heard. 
Tenchi merely nodded, afraid to break the moment with words, and held her. 
They fell asleep holding each other, savoring the warmth of one another.

----

Tenchi woke slowly, not quite sure of where he was. The night's events 
gradually coming back slowly. -Ryoko!- he remembered as he bolted upright, 
only to be stopped by a bayonet pointed at his chest. On the other end of the 
rifle was 
a tall slender man with blue skin. -Phantom tribe!- he identified the man. 
Another pair stood nearby covering Ryoko in a simular manner, she looked over 
at him shaking with helpless rage. A spokesman stepped out of the crowd that 
stood 
around them.

"We've come for the Key." He told Tenchi quietly, with an almost arrogant 
manner about him, "now, we can be civilized about it or not, it is your 
choice."

Tenchi looked at him, helpless anger coursing through him. Evidently, they 
didn't know what they were looking for, since the Key was stuck in his belt 
and visible to anyone that looked. -Maybe a bluff will work.-

"I don't have it here, it's back at the palace." The phantom sighed and shook 
his head.

"Then, I would have to save your usefulness has ended, earthman." The phantom 
who held him at bay smirked, and ratcheted the action of his long rifle. The 
two covering Ryoko did likewise. "I am afraid that we no longer have any need 
for you then."

Ryoko didn't say a thing, she just blinked out from where she lay on the 
grass. The gunman covering him gasped in shock as she appeared beside him, a 
beam of crimson light in her hand impaled him before he could shift to the 
new 
threat. He convulsed as the plasma beam killed him, his gun discharging as he 
died. 

Tenchi felt a sharp pain along his side as the bullet grazed him, he gritted 
his teeth and rolled upright quickly. He stood with one hand on the bullet 
wound and drew out the Key with the other as he took a covering position 
behind Ryoko. 
They stood back to back, taking in the numbers of their foes. A blade of 
white light snapped into existence as he brought up the Key into a guard 
position. Ryoko shifted nervously behind him.

"Sorry Tenchi, when I awoke, they were already here and had you covered. I... 
I .. couldn't do anything without risking you." Something seemed odd about 
her, but Tenchi didn't have time to concentrate on it. The phantom's were 
gathering, 
getting ready to attack.

"Ryoko, got your bearings enough to leave yet?" She went stiff, and then 
laughed as she realized what he meant. She turned and wrapped her arms around 
him, pulling him close as she made ready.

"Sorry Tenchi, old habits die hard." she said with a musical laugh before 
they both faded from sight.

---- 

"Tenchi!" Ayeka screamed as they blinked into existence. Tenchi dropped to 
the ground holding his side, Ryoko's teleport had brought them into the main 
dining hall. The Key clattered to the ground. Ryoko was instantly at his 
side, 
pulling off a sash-belt to make an impromptu bandage, and Ayeka was beside 
him instantly.

The next few minutes flashed by quickly as help was summoned, and Tenchi was 
bandaged up as he told what had happened. He looked at Ayeka, guilt on his 
face, as the story progressed. Finally, she turned to leave, Tenchi reached 
over and grabbed her hand.

"Ayeka..." he started, only to be stopped by the impact of her hand across 
his face. He looked at her, stunned by what had just happened as she blew up 
at him.

"How .. could you do this to me, .. us, Tenchi.. " she asked, tears in her 
eyes before running from the room. Tenchi started to follow, but the group of 
medics around him would not have it. He sat back and let them take care of 
his 
injuries.

----

"Enough!" Afura screamed at Sheyla. "My pillow is fine! I have enough to 
drink! I don't need anything!" She looked at the red-haired priestess with 
iron determination. "If you are going to stay, you... will.. sit... down!"

"Okay," Sheyla whined as she pulled up a seat beside her friend's bed. Afura 
looked like a mummy for the most part, her arms and one leg wrapped to the 
point of immobility. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.. you 
know, 
Comfortable and taken care of." She wouldn't look Afura in the eye though.

"What did you do?" Afura asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Well I kinda...." The rest of it was lost in an indistinct murmur from 
Sheyla's downturned head. Afura barely made out what was said, and couldn't 
believe it.

"You did what!" she asked incredulously.

"I sorta threatened Tenchi's friend , Ryoko. " She looked away as she 
continued, "and Rune found out."

"And.. what did she do?" Afura pressed.

"She , ahh... she banned me from the main section of the palace till I could 
learn to get along with Ryoko. Ayeka told her that Ryoko was supposed to be 
some type of really powerful person. I don't believe it though."

"I would if I were you. I fought her remember?"

"Don't think that I've forgotten that.."

"Is that why you are after her..."

"Yeah, we take care of our own."


--
Ryoko paced the room, trying to find a way to fix the bind that she had 
caused this morning, and failed. Tenchi was in his room recovering from his 
injuries, and however much she wanted to go to, she knew it would be a bad 
thing to do 
that. Ayeka had retreated to her rooms, and most of the others had been 
trying to find some trace of how the phantoms had discovered them.

There was a noise at the door. Ryoko caught a flash of lavender in the corner 
of her eye, and didn't even bother to turn around. -I was wondering how long 
it would be before this argument started.-, she told herself as Ayeka walked 
up to 
her.

"How dare you!" Ayeka screamed at her, she had come looking for Ryoko as soon 
as she was sure that Tenchi was okay. "What were you thinking? Or where you 
thinking at all?"

"You've won, Ayeka, Tenchi..."Ryoko swallowed nervously, suddenly unable to 
continue, "...Tenchi ..loves you, and I've lost, so why don't you just leave 
me alone." her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, "I'm going to 
always be 
alone."

"You slept with him! Do you think that I can forget that." Ryoko turned and 
looked at Ayeka, the pain and loss in her eyes. 

"Ayeka, I'm older than you by quite a few centuries, and if Washuu is right I 
will outlive your grandchildren. Is it so wrong to try and get the memory of 
one night alone with the man that I love to keep with me for the thousands of 
years 
to come. I'm tired of our arguments, Ayeka. I don't want to talk anymore." 
Ryoko stepped off the ledge and floated into the night, leaving a speachless 
Ayeka behind.

-Would I have done any differently,- Ayeka asked herself, -If Tenchi had 
chosen Ryoko?- She couldn't answer herself. There were too many doubts.

----
Tenchi rolled over in his bed, unable to sleep. His arm throbbed from the 
wound and his stomach churned from the confusion that was storming through 
him. Two faces kept coming to mind. Ayeka, tears streaming from her eyes as 
she 
dashed from the room. Ryoko, the hurt and need in her eyes, as she lay on his 
chest last night.

He rolled over, too tired to get up but to upset to sleep. The Eye of God 
glowed palely in the nighttime sky. 

"Why can't things ever be easy." He whispered as he rolled onto his back and 
stared at the ceiling of his room.

------
Ryoko looked up at the sky, taking in the sight of the Eye as it set on the 
distant horizon. Trying to not feel sorry for herself, and failing. -I just 
made things worse now.- She told herself as the memory of Ayeka's hurt face 
rose in her mind. -Why can't things ever be easy?-


------
Ayeka paced the room nervously, trying to sort through the feelings of hurt 
and betrayal. It was so confusing, to feel betrayed on one hand and wanting 
to rush to her love's side and care for his wounds.

"Why can't things ever be simple?" she muttered as she paced the room. 

Sasami lay on her bed, a pillow over her ears as her sister paced the room, 
mumbling to herself and generally making just enough racket to ensure that 
she couldn't sleep. -Gods of Jurai, it is enough to try the patience of a 
saint!- she swore as she sat up and glared at Ayeka. 

Who froze in her glare like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming 
car. Sasami walked up to her and looked her straight in the eyes.

"If you must pace and mutter, please do it elsewhere. You've been doing this 
since this morning, when you aren't stalking Tenchi or trying to argue with 
Ryoko. I am tired, and still a little sick. I need to get some sleep and your 
confused love life isn't helping me." Sasami turned away muttering under her 
breath back on the bed. Long seconds passed as Ayeka watched her fluff the 
pillows and resettle in the sheets.

"Sasami, what did you just say? The last bit?"

"I don't understand why you and Ryoko can't just bond with Tenchi like mother 
and Funaho did with father. I mean, why do both of you refuse to accept the 
fact that he loves you both." Sasami heard her sister swear an oath as she 
bolted 
from the room at a run. She smiled and relaxed a little, sleep was not far 
away now. -There, I did it. She finally got the hint, Tsunami. Do you really 
think that it will be possible for them to do the Bond without a Royal Tree 
available?- The quicksilver essence of Sassami's otherself rose up in her 
mind and replied.

-I think that they will find a way, sister. Now rest and let us heal.- Sasami 
smiled as Tsunami's presence enfolded her in a warm glow. It was a comforting 
feeling to know that her otherself was returning. It had been a strange 
feeling to be only one being again, she had missed her otherself more than 
anyone could have ever known.


-I've been a prideful and thick headed child!- Ayeka told herself as she ran 
through the palace.-Worse yet, I nearly destroyed the three of us by sticking 
to the outdated Terran traditions that Yosho had told me of. How could I have 
been such a fool?- She came to the door and rushed in impulsively.

"We need to talk." she said to the occupant as she slammed the door behind 
her.


Tenchi rolled over, his sleep disturbed by the shifting of weight on his bed. 
The first sight that he saw was Ayeka's lavender eyes as she settled on the 
mattress beside him. 

"You love me don't you?" She said with a touch of fear in her voice.

"Yes!" He said with as emotion as he could muster, to assure her of his 
sincerity.

"But you love Ryoko as well." She said before he could explain. "I know 
Tenchi, and I am sorry that I have hurt you over all this time. I was wrong 
to force you to choose."

"I can't help it, I..." he looked at her helplessly, "it's just the way I 
am." 

Ayeka nodded and smiled at him as another set of arms encircled him. Royko 
leaned over his shoulder and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He gasped in 
surprise and shock, as Ayeka did the same on the other cheek.

"If there is enough room in your heart for both of us Tenchi, then we need to 
understand and accept that." Ryoko said as she sat down beside Ayeka. The 
princess nodded in agreement and something about the two women's manner told 
him that this wasn't subject to argument.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked quietly, trying to find some way to 
ensure that this temporary truce would remain between the two women. Ayeka 
looked at Ryoko, who nodded to her, before standing to explain what she had 
in mind.

"What I propose, and Ryoko agreed to, is something that my people call the 
Great Bond.."
----
----
Tenchi pace the halls, hoping that Ryoko and Ayeka wouldn't worry. It was 
just that he needed a little space, time alone without either of them 
pressuring him. He was so confused, it was all so alien to him.  The Terran 
in him rebelled at the thought of what they were offering him. -One. It has 
to be only one, that is the way things have been.- Not to mention that he 
wasn't sure of this.. bond, there was still both of their pride involved. It 
was just so confusing. There was so many things wandering though his mind. 
Would pride and temperament tear apart the delicate trust that existed 
between the threesome. 

"It's a beautiful evening." A soft voice said softly behind him. Tenchi 
glanced behind him.

"Yes, yes it is." He smiled, for the first time in hours, "Good evening Lady 
Miz." She laughed.

"It's just Miz, Lord Tenchi." she corrected. Her own smile faded somewhat 
seeing the lovelorn expression on his face. "Is everything alright?" He 
sighed, and she could see the pain in the expression on his face.

His heart began to pound rapidly, both in fear and anticipation. He never 
really talked to a woman about women before, mother had died when he was very 
young. "Yes.. No. It's all so confusing. Do you believe that someone could 
love two 
people just as strongly as one?"

"Miz's eyes opened wide in surprise. She had heard about the love triangle 
from Sasami but had never really considered something like this. She coughed 
and blushed rapidly. "You would seem to be fulfilling the dream of most men."

Tenchi relaxed a little, and smiled wanly. "Or nightmare. I don't know what 
to do. I can say it, but I don't think they are really hearing it. I'm scared 
that they will see the other trying to take me for herself."

Miz wasn't sure how to react to his words. She never really dealt with 
anything like this. If he was just a typical boy, it would be easy to 
separate his hormones from his mind.

"Then maybe you need a way to show them the way you feel about them,.. think 
about them. Show them your heart more deeply." Miz said quickly, improvising. 
-Why me? I'm never good at this kind of stuff. I hope that this doesn't screw 
the relationship even more.- Tenchi's eyes lit up.

"That's it! Thank you!!" He shouted only to shouted down by the nearby guards.

"HEY! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!"  An indistinct voice shouted from the 
palace.

"Sure! Don't mention it..." Miz trailed off as Tenchi vanished in the 
direction of the library at a full run.

------
Makoto ran his hand through his hair, it was pasty from the sweat that ran 
down his face. He was so close. Somehow, he knew the Key was on El Hazard, 
but he couldn't lock onto it with any precision. He needed a picture of it, 
something 
to give it a tangible feel to focus on.

"Makoto." Tenchi called out from the door as he entered.  Makoto looked up 
from the book he was flipping through. -He must really love her to do this to 
himself.- Tenchi thought as he took in the bags under the eyes and the strain 
on his face.  "Ayeka told me about her experience with you."

"The bonding." Makoto said despondently.

"Could you set that bound up between Ryoko, Ayeka and myself? I need this 
badly." 

"No." Makoto replied fiercely slamming his book shut and turning to leave. 
Tenchi stepped in his way.

"Why?" Tenchi asked, the need was so clear on his face.

"Because you don't understand what you are asking." Makoto said. "It not just 
a sharing of thoughts and memories. It... it is like becoming them, and they 
become you. No walls, no barriers, nothing stands in your path. They are all 
swept away. A part of you that should never be shared." Makoto's voice 
cracked under the strain of memory.  "...because when you lose them.. when 
they are gone... it's gone as well. Forever."

Tenchi ran his hand over his face. -That explains a lot. Like why you are so 
driven, so full of pain.- "What you and Ifurita share is more than love, 
isn't it?" Makoto nodded, to emotional to risk words. "Yet you would deny me 
the same, 
when it is the only thing that could possibly save the two women I love?"

He wanted to refuse, Makoto knew the pain of loss would be intense. All it 
would was a single 'no', and Tenchi would never have to suffer his pain.

"What do you want from me?" He asked his childhood friend. 

"The one thing that you can do to help me show the two women I love how I 
feel." Tenchi swallowed nervously as he continued, "I need them to 
understand, Makoto, truly UNDERSTAND how I feel."

Makoto nodded, there wasn't anything he could say to deny Tenchi in the light 
of his need.
---

They all met in the massive palace garden before dawn. It would be quiet for 
hours to come and all knew what they were doing was a private thing. Ryoko 
and Ayeka stood ready as Makoto paced nervously.

"So, you build the bond with Ayeka and then I join in though my gems, and 
once the bond between the two of us is complete you bring in Tenchi and 
withdraw right?" Ryoko asked as he ended his description of the bond with 
Ifurita.

"Yes, I am not sure that it will work though." Makoto said, trying to believe 
it himself.

"Makoto." Tenchi said as he put his hand on his shoulder, Makoto turned to 
face him. "It's time."

Ayeka held still as Makoto reached for her headpiece with one hand and the 
gem on Ryoko's hand with the other.  An aura surrounded the two as Makoto's 
power rose to his call. Long seconds passed as the two women adjusted to the 
new 
experience. Together they reached out and clasped hands, and then extended 
them out to Tenchi. 

"Take your sword and clasp hands with them Tenchi." Makoto said through 
clenched teeth. 

The sword's gems lit up as he brought it into the shared handclasp and the 
world disappeared in an explosion of white.
--

Tenchi gasped as his gems flashed and he fell to the ground as his strength 
was leached away by Kagato. Despair washed over him as Ryoko tried to fight 
Kagato, but he knew from bitter experience that his master was invincible in 
battle.
--

Ryoko looked up. Ayeka was calling her. She gathered up the wreath she had 
been making and ran to her. 

"For you, Ayeka." She said as she placed wreath on her head.

"Ryoko, why are you out here?"

"Because you went out, leaving me behind." Ayeka laughed gently as she 
scooped her up. Ryoko looked at him with a smile, blushing.

"One day, I will be a bride, won't I Ayeka?"

"When you grow up."

"It is the color of your eyes." Ryoko said as she slid the flower into the 
wreath. Ayeka set her down and pulled it out to look at it.

"A royal teardrop", somehow it disturbed her.

"What's wrong?", Ryoko was confused by her reaction. She looked in her eyes, 
suddenly sad and aged beyond her years.

"This flower shouldn't be used for a happy occasion."
--
 Ryoko and Ayeka watched helplessly as Tenchi wept at the Demon's Gate, 
unable to hold or comfort him as the misery of his mother's death. He was 
alone, father and grandfather were unable to fill the hole in his life that 
she had left.
--

Ayeka felt something in the water change, and saw a form slide down the ramp 
to her tomb. The first such visitor that she had in centuries. Since the day 
that Yosho defeated her and sealed her away forever.

The disturbance of her sleep had given enough energy to rise up and hold the 
hand of her savior. -Such a beautiful face- She thought as she rose from her 
watery prison.
--

Makoto nearly wept as he watched the three relive each other's lives through 
a mixed viewpoint. -I told you that this was wrong.- He said silently as 
three lifetimes worth of experience was replayed, one pain and loss after 
another. He 
leaned on the Staff Key and cursed himself for a fool. -Now, my loss has been 
redone threefold. Oh, Ifurita what have I done?- The light rose up and formed 
into a familiar form beside him.

"Ifurita!" She smiled and touched him gently, and with that touch he knew. -A 
phantasm!- 

-Not quite my love. But not quite real either.- She said with a sad look in 
her eye. -You carry a part of my soul with you always Makoto, as I carry a 
piece of yours.- She gestured to the trio. -How can the man that saved my 
soul and set me 
free be so wrong? Darkness is needed for the Light to exist- He glanced back 
and gasped at what he saw.
--

Ryoko lounged in the tree, smiling in the sunlight. Cherishing every moment 
that she lived. Because she was finally free. 

Ayeka looked at the small sapling and smiled as her senses told her of the 
gradual growth of power within it. Tenchi and the others couldn't understand 
yet what special bond she shared with the Royal trees, it was impossible to 
explain 
such a connection with mere words.

Tenchi watched as the two women had a rare moment of carefree picking. -It is 
so much nicer when they don't bicker.- he told himself.

Ayeka rushed into her mothers arms, for a short moment she was six again and 
the pain of her short childhood had yet to come.

Ryoko nuzzled Ryo-oki and listed to the chaotic noise of her ship's mind. 
Cherishing it for the one thing that she knew for certain. The little 
cat-rabbit loved her and she loved it back.

Tenchi sat hunched in the bushes and watched as Ayeka and Ryoko walked with 
his mother. Happy to have had this one opportunity to see her alive and well 
again. To know that his last memory of his mother was a happy healthy woman, 
and not the sick one that she would later become.

Ryoko watched as Tenchi and Ayeka consoled one another over Yosho's death. 
Watching as the two held each other and took comfort in their simple 
presence..

Ayeka watched Ryoko and Tenchi lay together on the grass and desperately took 
what comfort they could in that one night together

--
"See my love? Light and Darkness, without one the other is meaningless." She 
reached over and kissed him, "Watch and Remember, least the Dark consume you."

Makoto gasped in shock as he relived the day he freed her, feeling the raw 
power of her joy as the shackles on her soul were broken. Feeling the mixture 
of regret and hope as she flew down the shaft to a far distant past that help 
the 
promise of hope, of seeing Makoto at least one more time.

Makoto closed his eyes and pulled in all the good things and felt the weight 
on his shoulder lighten as something returned to his soul. Hope.
---

Makoto opened his eyes as the power faded away, it's task done. he looked at 
the Staff Key that he had brought with him. Ifurita's presence was tangible 
in it and deep within himself. He leaned on the staff and closed his eyes 
again, pulling forth the images of Ifurita that it and he carried. Cherishing 
the light and remembering it.

-I'm trying Ifurita, but is so hard. We had so little time.-

Tenchi pushed himself up to one knee and was surprised to see both women 
there to help him. He could feel their presence in his mind, and he knew 
without asking that they knew the same of him and each other. He felt their 
love for him through the bond, and something new towards each other. Not 
love, he knew that would take time, but respect and empathy for one another.

He pulled both of them into his arms and wept, an enormous weight on his 
shoulder was now gone.  He no longer had to fear hurting one of them for the 
other's love.
---

Ryoko awoke with a small gasp, only to freeze in place before she woke 
Tenchi. He had taken the brunt of the bonding's drain, something about his 
terran/jurian heritage that magnified the bonding beyond anything that Ayeka 
had led her to expect.

-I'm not sure that I am ready to share my mind with Ayeka for the rest of our 
long lives.- she thought to herself as she looked at the woman who lay on the 
other side of Tenchi.

-I have similar reservations, Ryoko; but I think that we don't really have 
much choice now.- Ayeka's voice whispered in her mind as the princess' eyes 
opened. The was a hint of amber amusement as Ayeka smiled at Ryoko's suprised 
face. "If you don't want me hearing your thoughts, you have to get better at 
hiding them. I think that we have to talk about that later. Now," her gaze 
rested on the man sleeping between them, "we should talk of other things."

"Agreed. First thing on the list is what the 'boys' back home will say when 
they here about the arrangement." Both women knew of the teasing that Tenchi 
got from his classmates concerning the 'harem' in his house, to say nothing 
of Tenchi's father. Long seconds passed as they considered the influence of 
all those hentai minds on their fianc?e.

-No Trios- Ayeka and Ryoko thought to other at the same time.

"Though, I think it could be kind of fun." Ryoko teased, just to raise a 
little sense of outrage in Ayeka.

Ayeka's reply was the mental equivalent of a raspberry as she stuck out her 
tongue, and Ryoko found it hard not to laugh at the ridiculous picture. The 
two women sat in the bed, looking at one another trying to find someway to 
continue. 
Finally Ayeka broke the mood.

"I think I understand you a little better Ryoko." She said as the image of 
Ryoko's time in the cave flashed between them. Compassion from Ayeka was 
something that she would never had expected. "I hope that we can learn to put 
the past behind us, and become friends."

Ryoko thought about it for a moment, it was a big step that the prideful 
Jurian was taking. She recalled a scene in an earth movie. -It seems 
appropriate.- She thought to herself as she held out a hand.

"Ryoko." Ayeka took her hand and smiled as they shook it.

"Ayeka, and I am pleased to meet you Ryoko." It wasn't much, they both knew. 
But it was a start.