*Whew* Finished! Please send lots of C&C as it seems to be a little awkward
in parts towards the end. Please, also let me know if you want to see more of
Ayeka and Ryoko in stories like this.
Agreeable Komodo
He who bought it, supplied it.
Just say yes to prophylactics.
"Wait a minute! You can't be a horse! If you're a horse, how come you can
talk?"
"I can't, the horse next to me is a ventriloquist."
"Ventriloquist-How can a horse be a ventriloquist?"
"How should I know, it's your dream."
-The Jack Benny Show
***************
When Ryoko's hearing and eyesight returned, she found that she was clinging
to Tenchi. Both were hovering inside an energy bubble. It was then that she
looked down.
"Oh bloody fuck," she said softly. The top one-eighth or so of Noa was
missing, blasted away as though a giant had grabbed it in his fist, sliced it
off, and carried it away.
"Ryoko?" Tenchi's voice was awestruck.
"Yeah?"
"Look."
Ryoko looked and felt her jaw drop open and just hang there. As far as she
could see, every building had been sliced as Noa had. Instead of a wildly
varying array of towers, the famed Saradin skyline had become an army of
buildings, all reduced to precisely the same height.
"Miyahhhh. . ." Ryo-Oki said from where she was hanging from Ryoko's ankle
and staring down fearfully.
"What are you scared for?" Ryoko demanded. "You can fly, remember?"
"So can you," the cabbit's answering look seemed to say. Feeling a bit
sheepish, Ryoko let go of Tenchi and then picked Ryo-Oki off her ankle and
held her.
"What caused all this?" She asked.
"I'm not sure," Tenchi replied, his eyes distant. "There was release of
power, the kind wielded by a family member of Jurai Royal Family."
"But what-" Ryoko started to ask and then broke off as realization hit her.
"Ayeka!" they exclaimed in unison.
"Ryo-Oki!" Ryoko exclaimed but the cabbit was already leaping out of her arms
and within moments, she and Tenchi were standing on the bridge. "The center
of the blast Ryo-Oki," Ryoko ordered. "And step on it!"
"Miyah!"
***************
Though the trip was short, both Tenchi and Ryoko were shaken as they neared
the epicenter. In a way, the closely built buildings had both saved the
planet and devastated it, taking most of the explosive force and at the same
time, doing much of the damage. Steel had been liquefied and then reformed,
fires raged and in several instances, body parts had been embedded in and in
some cases, through walls.
"I think I may be sick," Tenchi said.
"I may join you," Ryoko replied as they came in sight of what had been
Cerban. Like the other buildings, the roof had been liquefied but as it was
the epicenter, the liquefaction had turned the massive skyscraper into a
crater. In the middle of it, Ayeka knelt, head bowed.
Teleporting out, Ryoko raced to her side, Tenchi close behind.
"Ayeka?" Ryoko asked. "Hey Princess?"
"Are you okay?" Tenchi asked.
"My Lord," Ayeka said, standing as she did and looking him levelly in the
eye. "I have fulfilled your orders, the Kingpin is dead." then she turned, col
lapsed into Ryoko's arms and stayed there, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
***************
Saradin Governor's Mansion
Thirty-Six hours Later.
Tenchi and Sasami, resplendent in their official robes of state, the cloaks
trimmed in black as a sign of mourning, gazed out at the sea of reporters.
Sasami's face was troubled and in the distance, smoke from some of the fires
still burning cast a dark cloud over the city.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press," Tenchi began. "Azusa, one hundred
twenty-third Emperor of Jurai died at the hands of the Criminal known as the
Kingpin. This brutal murder is what caused the recent devastation. The
Kingpin himself has been sent to a. . .higher court." As the press began to
shout questions, Tenchi silently cursed the necessity of having to lie to the
press, and by extension the rest of Jurai.
***************
Meditation Sector of Yoah Orbital Gardens, in geosynchronus orbit around
Planet Jurai.
one week later.
Tenchi stepped onto the stone path that wound it's way through the plants.
High overhead, he could hear the sounds of birds calling to each other. A
wide array of scents filled his nostrils and he almost against his will, he
felt at peace. 'But then that's the point of this part of the Gardens, isn't
it?' he thought as he continued, following the sound of the waterfalls and
eventually coming in sight of the falls.
They were magnificent. Towering almost to the roof, the water twisted and
wound it's way along a rocky riverbed before plunging a full mile down to the
lake below. Pausing for a moment to admire it, the sight still filled him
with wonder, Tenchi turned and headed down a side path eventually arriving at
a small clearing near the edge of the dome that covered the Gardens. On a
bench sat Ayeka, looking out at the stars.
"Hello Ayeka," Tenchi said softly, sitting next to her. Ayeka said nothing
and Tenchi fell silent, waiting for her to speak.
"How is mother?" Ayeka asked, a while later, her voice very quiet.
"Still in a coma," Tenchi replied. "Nobody is sure if she'll ever wake up."
"And Auntie?"
"Shaken, but she's healing. She's been staying Misaki's room at the Medical
Center." Ayeka took a deep breath and then released it. "Tenchi, I asked you
here for a reason."
"Yes?"
"When I killed Father, his mind was totally open to me and I learned much."
She stood and walked to where the dome met the stone floor. "Why did you
finally decide to be Emperor?"
"Well, I. . ." Tenchi frowned. "Now that I think about it, I can't remember.
It's like I-"
"Just decided to do it?" Ayeka asked, her voice quiet. Tenchi nodded mutely
as Ayeka continued. "What were those 'personal reasons' you mentioned for
marrying Sasami?"
"I. . .I can't quite put them into words."
"Nor will you be able to. Those same 'reasons' are why you chose to become
Emperor and why Ryoko and I took the news that you were going to marry Sasami
so calmly. Father manipulated all our minds." Tenchi was shocked into silence
"W-Why?" he asked, when he finally found his voice
"The Kingpin was originally a persona," Ayeka said, sitting back down beside
Tenchi. "Such as an actor might don for a performance. But over time, the
role came to dominate him, took on a life of it's own, so to speak. You must
understand that we of the Royal line cannot commit suicide. I, for example,
cannot take my own life any more then you could breathe in vacuum."
"I don't understand."
"When Father realized the Kingpin was becoming dominant, he used his powers
to set things up so that I would come to face him and then kill him."
"But why-" Tenchi started and then he sighed and let the question die.
Perhaps it was best if he didn't pursue the subject. "What will you do now?"
"I will take Ryoko and go to an abandoned training facility for Juraian
Knights on the border worlds where I will remove the blocks on our minds."
Tenchi nodded as Ayeka returned her attention to the stars.
"I'll see you when you two get back then," Tenchi said quietly. Then, sensing
the meeting was over, Tenchi stood up and walked back towards the path.
"Tenchi," Ayeka said quietly and he stopped and half-turned back towards her.
"Yes?"
"Sasami must never find out about the manipulation. She did not receive the
conditioning I did and to discover that her marriage is not the result of
true affection and love, but the result of Father's manipulating, it may be
more then she could bear." Tenchi nodded and left the clearing and Ayeka
alone with her thoughts.
Almost slowly, Ayeka reached into a pocket and removed a reader. Then for the
longest time, she stared at the words on the screen;
Behold the Last Emperor who shall named from both Heaven and Earth. Born
under a distant star, he will have but one wife who shall embody the full
power of the Lighthawk and he will be able to draw on its power as no other
can when he meets the King's chosen in open combat. But though the Princess
and The Pirate will go with him, only the Princess will return.
Ayeka frowned at it and then looked at her hand and then held it out, palm
towards the floor. The faint shimmer of a Lighthawk wing appeared.
"Not if I can help it," she whispered and then her hand clenched and the
Lighthawk wing flared to full life, as it had just before she cut Azusa in
half and bathed her in it's light.
And there she sat, thinking.
***************
Epilogue
The Imperial bedchamber,
Two hours after midnight,
Three days later.
"My lord?" asked a voice.
"Mmmph," Tenchi replied, his voice muffled by the pillow.
"My lord?" Asked the voice, a bit stronger this time and accompanied by a
slight shaking. Opening one eye, Tenchi looked for the source of the
disturbance and found a Knight. Karn, he recalled a moment later, one of
those who stood gaurd outside his chambers.
"What is it?" Tenchi asked, keeping his voice low to avoid waking Sasami.
"I apologize for disturbing you, but there's a Captain Kazurgi calling from
the border worlds. He says it's urgent."
"Give me a moment and then I'll take it in my office."
"Yes my lord."
Planting a soft kiss on Sasami's cheek, Tenchi slid out of bed and grabbed his
robe. Sliding it on, he slipped out of the room and padded down the hall to
where his office was. Rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes, he pressed
the key and the face a man in his later years dressed in a naval uniform
appeared on the screen.
"Your Highness, my deepest apologies for waking you."
"It's all right, what's this all about?"
"We were on routine patrol when we picked up flashes of energy coming from
the Saras system. Upon investigation, we found these two," he said, gesturing
to someone off screen. After a moment, a crewman pushed Ayeka and Ryoko into
view. Both women's clothes were torn, burn marks dotted their exposed skin
and their hair looked as though it had seen better days. Ryoko lifted one
hand half-heartedly in greeting and then let it fall. Ayeka refused to meet
his eyes.
"Orders, your Highness?" Kazurgi asked.
"Bring them back here as soon as you can."
"Yes, My lord," Kazurgi replied and the screen winked off.
It was another two days before Ayeka and Ryoko entered Tenchi's office.
Neither woman looked at each other and both were making a visible effort to
stay as far away from each other as possible.
"I'm not going to ask what happened there," Tenchi said flatly and both women
seemed to loose a bit of their stiffness. "Instead, I'm going to send you
both to Semul. There's a small diplomatic matter that needs tending to.
Officially. Unofficially, the six of you are to investigate some things on
the smaller of Semul's two continents." He slid a folder across the desk to
Ayeka.
"Six of us?" Ayeka asked as she picked up the folder.
"Six of you," Tenchi replied. "Aside from the damage wrought by Azusa's
death, the Saradin mission was a success and in going through your father's
old files I've discovered a few that don't seem to have been followed up on."
"Files marked with an X?" Ryoko asked, a smile playing about her lips.
"Something like that," Tenchi said. "In any case, Kiyone has resigned from
the GP and joined the Knights of Jurai. The preceptor has assigned you,
Ayeka, as her instructor. Ryo-Oki is the fourth."
"And the other two?" Ayeka asked, her eyes skimming the file.
"Washu, who apparently was eavesdropping on the terminals and decided that
what you're doing might be fun. The sixth is a flight officer Lon, supposedly
the best pilot in the Navy."
"What do we need a flight officer for?" Ryoko demanded, planting her palms on
the desk.
"I'm going to give you a ship, a diplomatic transport actually. Ryo-Oki is
too small to have enough range and there may be times when you'll need to
spend a lot of time in deep space. Any questions?"
"When do we leave?"
"As soon as you can."
***************
High Imperial Court
Judge Anskane Tor, presiding.
Three months later.
Judge Tor looked down at the screen on his desk and sighed. He had re-read
the case three times and it still didn't make sense. Returning his attention
to the prosecution table, he adressed the woman in formal robes standing at
it's edge.
"Lady Ayeka," he began. "Was it really nessacary to admit an entire Solar Syst
em as evidence?"