The Gentle Sound of Thunder By BGlanders Chapter 1: Through Yosho's Eyes ***** I still can't believe that this has happened. Today started out so peacefully. The sun was so red and perfect in the morning sky, the birds were singing sweetly outside my open window. I woke up with a smile on my face, expecting this to be a particularly good day. If I had only known... *** I always leave the house early, before the girls awake and start their usual quarrelling. I sneak out through the kitchen door and make my way to the Shrine office. I usually stay there for most of the day, but today I decided to change my routine a little. The beautiful day outside was too tempting to ignore and I just felt to alive to be cooped up all day reading ancient texts and writing haiku's. I decided to go for a walk. The air seemed crisp and clear. There was something in it, something that just reminded me of... Highly concentrated energy bursts. I decided to wander over to the house and see what all the fuss was about. My first thought was that Aeka and Ryoko had gotten into a fight for Tenchi's love, but when I got there, I had no idea... What I saw completely floored me. Of all the things I didn't expect to see, this was right at the top of the list. Ryoko was wearing her red and black battle suit, her light saber drawn and her eyes filled with tears. In front of her was Tenchi in a defensive stance, the master key activated in his hand. "This is your last warning Ryoko. Back away now or else!" I had never seen Tenchi in actual battle, although I had heard stories from the others. He was obviously serious about his threat, his eyes were dead set on Ryoko. Ryoko's hands were shaking and her sword was faulting, but she refused to move. "Tenchi please, for the last time, I will not back down. You just don't understand..!" That's when I saw Aeka lying behind Tenchi, obviously hurt. She was garbed in a black komono and her hair was tied back. I also saw that the Guardians weren't helping, but instead were off to one side, as if observing. Suddenly I realized what was going on. "NO!" I screamed as I activated my Light Hawk sword and charged to stop the inevitable. Ryoko raised her sword as the tears were streaming down her face. "Please! You don't know what you're doing! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!" It was over before it began. Ryoko charged towards where Aeka was lying, a primal scream of rage and despair emerging from her lips. Tenchi brought his sword forward. I was still too far away to stop it from happening. All I could do was to scream. From somewhere, I heard Sasami cry out as well. Time seemed to freeze. Tenchi's blade was embedded deep into Ryoko's throat. Her face was a mask of despair. "Tenchi.." was all she could mouth as she slid off the blade. With a sickening thud she collapsed on the ground. I finally made it to Tenchi's side and deactivated my own sword. I reached out and gently forced his arm down. He was frozen with shock. I couldn't blame him, he had just killed one of the most important people in his life. After awhile, the others started to snap out of it. Tenchi blinked several times then looked around. He turned to me, whimpered something, and then buried his face in my shoulder. I hugged the boy and tried to calm him, but I knew that there was nothing I could do. Suddenly I became aware of the others around me. Sasami was at Aeka's side, trying to get her sister to stand. Mihoshi was helping, but both were glancing at the body of Ryoko lying on the ground. Ryo-Ohki hopped over, nudged her fallen master several times, and then gave out a howl of despair. After Aeka was helped to her feet, she looked from me to Ryoko and then to Tenchi. She didn't know what to say or think, and frankly I didn't care. I knew whose fault this was. Aeka tried to find some solace in my eyes, but I met her with nothing but disgust and hatred. With a gesture, she called the Guardians to take Ryoko's body away. *** Now the laughter has stopped in the household. Tenchi still doesn't understand why what happened had to happen. He doesn't know who to blame for all of this, and I sympathize with him. Sasami has been caring for her sister's wounds all day while Mihoshi left in the Yagami to report on what has happened. I took it upon myself to inform Washu about her daughter. She just paused when I told her, no emotion showing on her face. See simply nodded, said, "I see" and went about her business. I'm trying to take that as a good sign, but right now I just don't know. Damn my family! Damn their rules! This wasn't supposed to happen, how DARE Aeka..! I try to calm myself, I try to tell myself that somehow it will all turn out for the best. Things in this household seem to have a knack of fixing themselves. In the distance, I can hear the sound of thunder... ***** A quick apology. First off, I want to apologize for those annoying y umlauts appearing in my last four postings. They were due to a transfer problem and will hopefully not show up again. Second, TM: Space and Time is taking longer than I had hoped to get off the ground. Also, Thanks to Brazil for providing a review page for Tenchi fics. ^_^ For a link, see Gensao's fanfic page (I think. It's late and I'm not going to bother searching) Tenchi & Co. belong to Pioneer and AiC All C&C to BGlanders@aol.com please. The Gentle Sound of Thunder By BGlanders Chapter Two: Through Tenchi's eyes ***** I remember that it had looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. I had woken up early to try to get to the restroom without being harassed, and low and behold not a soul was in sight. In fact, I didn't see anyone until I finally made it downstairs and saw Sasami cooking breakfast. "Good morning, Tenchi!" "Good morning, Sasami," I told her. "You're up awfully early." According to the microwave, it was only seven. Usually no one but grandpa was up this early. "I know. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to cook." I could see that Sasami was forcing a smile at me and trying not to look me in the eye. I went over to her, put my hand on her shoulder and asked her, "Sasami, what's wrong?" She broke down right then and there. She just started bawling and buried her face in my shirt. I hugged her and tried to calm her down, but I don't think it did any good. "Oh Tenchi! I..I've had the mo..most horrible dre..dre..dreams! I didn't know wh..who to talk to and I..I.." She broke out with a fresh string of tears and I hugged her even tighter. We must have stayed like that for a good ten minutes before she finally calmed down. It absolutely floored me. I had hardly ever seen Sasami get so upset over something, especially a dream. She was always so happy, so full of life that to see her cry went through me like a thousand daggers all at once. I took her tiny hand in mine and led her out to the back porch. I figured that maybe it would be good for her to get outside and clear her mind. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her. She sniffed for awhile and just stared at her feet. Then she finally said something. "Tenchi, I had a dream..I dreamed that Aeka and Ryoko were doing the Jenna-Hotaru and that you were involved too! And Ryoko...!" I stopped her. "The Jenna-Hotaru? What's that?" She sniffed again and looked at me with two sad pink orbs. Before she could answer, I heard footsteps from inside the kitchen. "Come on Sasami, let's go back inside. Besides, this Jenna-Hotaru thing can't be all that bad, now can it?" She grabbed my sleeve and tried to make me stay. "No, you don't understand..!" I picked her up and patted her head. "You're right, I don't. Sasami, don't let it trouble you. I'm sure everything is fine. Now let's go inside and have some breakfast, shall we?" When we got inside, I saw Ryoko and Aeka already seated at the table. Aeka was dressed in a black kimono and her hair was in a single ponytail. Ryoko was in her battle suit. Something was definitely up, but at the time, I didn't think.. "Good morning, girls." I tried to put as much cheer as I could into my voice. The kitchen was as quiet and as somber as a grave. "Good morning, Tenchi." They said in unison. I was starting to get nervous. This wasn't typical behavior for Aeka and Ryoko. By now both should have been fighting or name-calling or something along those lines, but this silence thing was just plain creepy. And the uniforms.. After breakfast, both girls stood and made their way outside. I was curious, so I decided to follow to see what was going on. They both walked to opposite ends of the yard, faced each other, bowed, then.. Then all hell broke loose. Aeka suddenly screamed a battle cry and unleashed a force bolt. I didn't even know she was capable of such a feat. Later on I learned it was a highly concentrated force field, but I guess it doesn't really matter now.. Ryoko dodged and let loose with her own barrage. At first I thought they were just practicing, but then I saw the looks on their faces, the hate and determination in their eyes. I knew that this was for keeps. I saw that Aeka had activated her Light Hawk sword and was now charging at Ryoko. At first I was shocked, but then I realized that all members of the royal house probably had this power. Anyway, she charged and Ryoko met her with her own light saber. The two fought for a good length of time, but it was clear that Ryoko was winning. As trained as Aeka was, Ryoko's years of experience were showing through. Finally Ryoko landed a blow to Aeka's side, cutting her deeply. I had seen enough. I already had the Master Key in my hand, so I activated it and jumped between the two. I didn't know why they were fighting to this extent, but I knew that it had to stop now, or else someone was going to die. "That's enough Ryoko." I tried to see how badly Aeka was hurt. Then I noticed that the Guardians were only twenty feet away, but not lifting a finger to help (assuming that they have fingers). "Ryoko looked stunned that I had tried to stop them. She was so thrown by what I had done that she almost deactivated her sword when I jumped between the two. "Tenchi? What are you doing?" "I'm stopping you before you do something we'll all regret." "Tenchi, this doesn't concern you. Just walk away Tenchi, please. I don't want to see you hurt." I stood my ground. Behind me I could hear Aeka moaning in pain. "Are you insane Ryoko? You could've killed her!" "And I would have if you hadn't interfered!" "WHAT?!" I screamed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You're saying that you wanted to kill her? Why?" Ryoko suddenly assumed a battle stance and looked me dead in the eye. "Unless you want to take her place, I'd advise you to move. Now." "If that's what it takes, then I will take her place! Ryoko this is madness!" She froze a look of terror shot across her face. "Tenchi! No, you can't mean that! Please Tenchi, take it back now!" I refused. There was no way I would let her kill Aeka. "This is your last warning Ryoko. Back away or else!" "Tenchi please, for the last time, I will not back down. You just don't understand..!" "You're right, I don't. Right now, all I know is that someone I care about is about to die, and I can't let that happen." When I said that, she looked as if a thunderbolt had just torn through her heart. "Tenchi, no... you can't mean that.." "I can and I do. Now put your sword down and we'll talk about this." Ryoko raised her sword as the tears were streaming down her face. "Please! You don't know what you're doing! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!" That's when she charged. I reacted out of instinct, I didn't even know that I was stabbing her. I saw my sword go right through her throat. Her eyes went wide and tears were streaming down her cheeks. I saw her mouth my name, then.. Then... The next thing I remember is grandpa holding me while I was sobbing. He helped me into the house and up to my room. I just lay on the bed and wept at what I had done. I still couldn't believe that I had killed her, that it had come down to that. I could still see her face in my head, those eyes that were full of sadness. I knew what I had to do. I started to pack my travel bag with some necessary items and changed into my travel clothes. I took some yen that I had been saving out of a jar and took one last look around my room. All my posters, books, all my belongings, they seemed so trivial. None of it was worth a damn next to her life. Her life.. I sat down at my desk and tried to write a note to dad and grandpa to try and explain why I was leaving. It was hard trying to find the right words, but eventually I got them out. I knew that even if dad didn't, grandpa would understand. I set the note on the kitchen table and tried to leave before anyone noticed me. As I walked through the living room, I saw Aeka sitting on the living room sofa. She was waiting for me. Damn, I was hoping to avoid this. I didn't want to talk to any of them.. As soon as she saw me, Aeka lept from the sofa and tried to block my way out. She just gave me a look that screamed disappear. I stopped when she put herself between me and the door. She was begging with me, pleading for me not to go. She was saying that it wasn't my fault, that I couldn't help what had happened. I looked at her with the coldest expression I could gather. "If it wasn't my fault, then whose was it? Hers? Yours? All of your fighting, all of your jealously, its all come down to this. As long as I feel that her death was somehow my fault, I won't be able to go on. Not here, at least. I'm leaving now, and I don't want you or anyone else to try and follow. If I ever come to terms with what happened, then maybe I'll return someday, but until then..." Aeka was clinging to my jacket and sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't understand what she was saying, and at the moment, I didn't care. Nothing could bring Ryoko back, not her explanations or Sasami's dreams or my soul searching. I pushed her aside and walked out the door. As I made my way down the path to the bus terminal, I tried not to look back at the house, at my family. I just kept going, all the while trying to see through the tears that just kept coming. After awhile it started to rain. In the distance, I could hear thunder. ***** Tenchi & Co. belong to AiC and Pioneer. The story, however, is MINE. Check out my other 2 series in progress.. Masaki Inc The Devil & Mr. Masaki Some feedback would be greatly appricated! BGlanders@aol.com The Gentle Sound Of Thunder Chapter 3: Through Sasami's Eyes ***** I wish I could have done something to stop it. For a week I'd been having the scary dream. At first I didn't know what it meant, but then it got clearer and clearer. I saw Aeka and Ryoko and they were fighting, but not like they usually do. They were fighting to realy hurt eachother really badly. It was scaring me because I couldn't stop them. I tried to get Azaka and Kamadaki to stop them, but they just floated there. I tried to get Mihoshi to stop them, but she just stood there watching. No one would listen to me! No one would belive me! Then I tried to tell Tenchi, but he just smiled at me and told me not to worry. Not to worry? Aeka and Ryoko were killing each other! Of course I'm going to worry! Aeka's my sister and Ryoko's my best friend! Both of them were getting really mean and nothing I could do would stop them! Suddenly it got really dark and I was all by myself. I tried to call out for someone, but I couldn't find anyobody, so I started running. Then I tripped over something. I looked down and saw Ryoko, but she had a big hole in her throat. I tried to wake her up, but she just wouldn't open her eyes! Then I saw Tenchi standing far away. I tried to call out to him but he just started to walk away. I started chasing him, but he was moving too fast and I was starting to sink. I lloked down and saw that I was in a pool of sticky red stuff. Then I swa that the red stuff was comming from Ryoko's neck. That's when I'd usually wake up screaming. This morning I realized that today was the day it was supossed to happen. Then I remembered the Jenna-Hotaru. I remembered the test of the empire that had gone on since before my daddy was born. I realized that the Jenna-Hotaru was what my sister and Ryoko were doing. That's why the Guardians weren't interferring! I knew what I had to do. I got up super early and started to make breakfast. I hoped really hard that Tenchi or grandpa would come downstairs before the others, and after awhile Tenchi finally came down. I tried to act happy and not let him know how scared I was. "Good morning Tenchi!" I forced the cheeriness out. Suddenly I started to get scared. How as I going to tell him that Ryoko was going to die? How would I get him to stop it from happening? I knew that in my dream he didn't seem to care, but I figured that in real life he would do something, that he would stop them...! "Good morning, Sasami. You're up awfully early." "I know. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to cook." Well, it was kinda true. I was trying to pass the time by cooking, but I was still getting pretty anxious. What would I do? How could I stop them? I just didn't know! I just.. "Sasami, what's wrong?" I felt his hand on my shoulder. I felt his closness. I couldn't take it. I knew that it was then or never, and I was about to burst. I just turned around and started bawling. I didn't know what to do anymore. All I knew was tha if anyone could do something, it would be Tenchi. "Oh Tenchi! I..I've had the mo..most horrible dre..dre..dreams! I didn't know wh..who to talk to and I..I.." I just kept crying and crying, all the time trying to chocke the words out. I wanted to tell him, to warn him, but I just couldn't stop crying. I knew that it was hopeless. After awhile I felt Tenchi take my hand and start to lead me outside. It was a really pretty morning and the birds were really loud, but it was nice. I was glad because it kinda calmed me down. "Do you want to talk about it?" We'd been sitting there for awhile I guess, and when he started to speak it kinda scared me. I started to think about the scary dream again. I saw Ryoko and Aeka, and then.. "Tenchi, I had a dream..I dreamed that Aeka and Ryoko were doing the Jenna- Hotaru and that you were involved too! And Ryoko...!" Suddenly his hand was on my shoulder. As scared as I was, it kinda made me blush a little. Then he tried to talk to me as soft as he could so I'd calm down. It was really nice of him. "The Jenna-Hotaru? What's that?" I forget sometimes that Tenchi doesn't know very much about Jurian customs. It just kind of suprised me, since the Jenna-Hotaru IS one of the oldest traditions on Jurai. I was about to tell him when we heard Aeka and Ryoko comming into the kitchen. Tenchi stood to go in and I tried to stop him with all my might. He had to listen, or Aeka and Ryoko...! "Come on Sasami, let's go back inside. Besides, this Jenna-Hotaru thing can't be all that bad, now can it?" I grabbed his sleeve and tried to make him stay, to make him listen! "No, you don't understand..!" He picked me up and patted me on my head. Suddenly I felt very much like a little kid and that he was so much older than me. It made me feel so tiny and weak, like there was nothing I could do and I knew it. "You're right, I don't. Sasami, don't let it trouble you. I'm sure everything is fine. Now let's go inside and have some breakfast, shall we?" All through breakfast Aeka and Ryoko just sat there looking really scary. Aeka was wearing the special clothes I had helped her set out last night. I remember that she was acting real noble and princess-like and that kinda made me nervous. She never acts like that around me when we're alone. Anyway, she was wearing her traditional Jenna-Hotaru Kimono that our ancestors had worn a long time ago. It was kinda creepy to see it on her. Ryoko was in her red and black fighting suit and looked very scary. Neither of them talked all through breakfast, and that really made me nervous. I guess I was still hoping that they'd come to their senses and not do this, but then breakfast was over and they went outside... Mihoshi was already out there with the Guardians so I stood by her. Aeka and Ryoko walked the required distance away from each other, bowed, then.. Aeka's a really good fighter. All Jurain royalty is required to learn and master the deadly arts for self-defense. Heck, even I know a little, but mommy insisted that I wait till I was a teenager till I started to really practice. But Aeka was a teenager and she was really good with her power. She had showed me one day that she could make her force field do whatever she wanted it to, and at the time I thought it was really neat. Aeka went first, using her force field like a lazer beam, but Ryoko dogged it. I knew that Ryoko was the better fighter, but maybe Aeka had a chance. Then Aeka made her field into a sword and the two fought all over the yard. They started getting really fast and really wild and then.. Ryoko saw an opening and put her sword deep into Aeka's side. I screamed, even though spectators aren't allowed to talk. I didn't care, my sister was dying! Then Tenchi broke the ultimate rule; he jumed in front of Aeka with the Master Key and challenged Ryoko. "That's enough Ryoko." Ryoko must have been really stunned, 'cause no one EVER interfeers when the Jenna-Hotaru starts. She just gave Tenchi a really funny look and stopped. "Tenchi? What are you doing?" She sounded really confused, and beside me I heard Mihoshi saying, "Oh my, this is not supossed to happen at all." "I'm stopping you before you do something we'll all regret." I'd seen Tenchi fight before, and I always thought his noblity was really neat, but right then I wished he wasn't so brave. "Tenchi, this doesn't concern you. Just walk away Tenchi, please. I don't want to see you hurt." Ryoko sounded really concerned. After all, if Tenchi died, then all this would have been for nothing. Then I saw Aeka struggling to get up. She was bleeding really bad and her face was all scrunched up in pain. I didn't want to see her like that. I wanted to run out there and just start screaming at them to stop. I was about to, but then Azaka teleported beside me and put a force field in front of me, just to be sure. "Are you insane Ryoko? You could've killed her!" Tenchi still didn't understand what was happening. He didn't realize that that was exactly what Ryoko was trying to do. "And I would have if you hadn't interfered!" "WHAT?! You're saying that you wanted to kill her? Why?" Ryoko suddenly got really serious and stared at Tenchi dead in the eye. "Unless you want to take her place, I'd advise you to move. Now." "If that's what it takes, then I will take her place! Ryoko this is madness!" Everyone gasped at what Tenchi said. I felt Mihoshi's hand tighten on my shoulder in shock and fear. Beside me, I heard Azaka say, "Oh dear..." "Tenchi! No, you can't mean that! Please Tenchi, take it back now!" Ryoko still couldn't belive what she was hearing. She couldn't belive that he would do this, and frankly neither could I. Tenchi didn't know it, but he was enacting the oldist loophole in the history of the Jenna-Hotaru; the pinch hitter clause. "This is your last warning Ryoko. Back away or else!" "Tenchi please, for the last time, I will not back down. You just don't understand..!" Oh please Tenchi, don't get hurt! I knew that this was going to happen and now there was nothing I could do to stop it. "You're right, I don't. Right now, all I know is that someone I care about is about to die, and I can't let that happen." When he said that, she looked as if a thunderbolt had just torn through her heart. Her face got real sad all of the sudden and she started to cry right there. I guess if I had been her, I would have done the same thing. "Tenchi, no... you can't mean that.." "I can and I do. Now put your sword down and we'll talk about this." Ryoko raised her sword and started to cry a LOT. I'd hardly ever seen Ryoko cry before and now it was really starting to scare me. "Please! You don't know what you're doing! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!" She charged. He defended himself. There really wasn't anything else he could have done. After awhile I saw grandfather hugging Tenchi and trying to calm him down. Then I realized that Azaka had dropped the force field, so Mihoshi and I ran to Aeka. It turned out that it was mostly a flesh wound, and that she really wasn't all that hurt. I picked her up on my shoulder and Mihoshi and I carried her into the house. Aeka and I stayed in her room all day bandaging her wounds. I couldn't take the silence between us. I had to ask, to know.. "Why Aeka? Why did you have to do that?" She looked at me and tried to put on her most Royal face. "Because Jurain custom demanded. We both knew the risks, and besides, she had it comming." I couldn't belive what she was saying. Aeka sounded so hartless, so cruel! Besides, Ryoko was my friend. How dare Aeka talk like that! Then I did something I never thought I'd ever do. I pulled my arm back and slapped her as hard as I could. She recoiled in pure shock. I could see tears in her eyes, and I guess I was crying too. I turned my back to her and told her to get out. I didn't want to see her anymore for a long long time. She had gotten my best friend killed over some stupid tradition and she didn't even care! She tried to plead with me, but I just ignored her. After awhile she went downstairs and I slumped into my futon and cried. When I was done, I looked out the window to see if Azaka and Kamadaki had taken Ryoko away yet. That's when I saw Tenchi walking away with a bag in his hand. I opened my window and tried to call out to him, but he was too far away to hear me. I just kept calling, hoping that he might decide to come back, to stay.. I watched him until he vanished over the hilltops. I stayed and watched a little longer in case he decided to come back. I waited. I watched. I cried. Outside it started to rain. ***** PHEW! Another one bites the dust! Tenchi & Co belong to AiC and Pioneer All C&C should go to BGlanders@aol.com "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." -Revelation, 6.8 BGlanders Presents... The Gentle Sound of Thunder Chapter 4: Through Aeka's Eyes... ***** Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do. I always try to do what's right. I was raised to, as a princess of Jurai. I was taught to always think of my people, my family, my traditions first. It was instilled into me from an early age to always do what was right for the kingdom and not for myself. For years I always tried to live up to what my family, my subjects expected of me... I had recived the kimono from my mother about a month ago. She had claimed that she was here on a social call, but when she handed me the log container that was enscribed with the acient symbols, I knew why she was there.. I had been raised to belive that certain things, certain traditions were beyond wanting. It was etched into my soul for years that certain things were unavoidable, that certain traditions were more importaint than my own wants or needs.. I've tried to tell myself that it wasn't my fault, that what happened was unavoidable. We both knew what we were doing, and that Lord Tenchi's inteferrience was something that neither one of us expected, but deep down, I knew.. Maybe I let her cut me. I still can't get that nagging voice of guilt out of my head. Maybe I wanted Ryoko to get the upper hand so that Lord Tenchi would do what I knew he would do. I wanted him to get between us No I didn't. His interruption was completly unexpected.. Oh damn it all! I knew that Tenchi was going to interviene! I could just sit here and keep telling myself that it was for the good of Jurai. I could say that I was only doing what was right and that Ryoko was acting out of obligation as well.. I know. I knew then that Tenchi would have tried to stop us. I kept telling myself that somehow he would understand that this was unavoidable.. Oh the hell it was! The law of the Empire is set! It is as old as time and as solid as stone! Nothing can be higher, not feelings or emotions or love..! Love? When I first came here, it was because I was in love with Yosho. I had travelled for over 700 years to find him and to finally do what I had always dreamed of. I would be a bride. His bride. I hunted across countless star systems, salied over oceans of space until I finally arrived here on this backwater planet out in the middle of nowhere. I had finally found him, the one I had wanted to spend the rest of my life with.. Then I found Tenchi. Suddenly my whole world turned upside dwon. Suddenly I found myself marooned here with no way home. Sudden;y I found myself living with my hated enemy. Suddenly, I found myself falling in love. At first I didn't know what to think of what I was feeling. At first I thought it was just lonliness that kept turning my thoughts to this pathetic little earthling. At first, I did my best not to care. It is against Jurain custom to marry a commoner, and there was no way I would ever disobey tradition, not for my own feelings or for anyone else's.. But then.. Then I found myself drawn to him like no one I had ever known before. Here was someone who liked me for who I was and not what I was. My whole life I had been surrounded by false smiles, false well-wishers, false love. Now, here, I had found something more than any of those two-dimensional pansies could ever hope to achive. I found nobility, honor, frailty... I found love. In this simple boy, I found a reason to go on when I should have given up. I saw in him a reason to go on living, a reason to live. Soon, he became my world, my life, my light. For that love, that friendship, that light, I comitted the one, unforgivable sin for a Jurain noble to undertake. I went against my families wishes. I disobeyed my father, my family and my people all in one fell swoop. I did all this to be near him. I did all this on the off chance that he would someday love me, that he would someday ask me to be his bride. That was the first time I had ever even thought of opposing my upbringing, and it felt good. I'm not going to sit here and say that I was shocked at myself, well, actually I was shocked, but no in the way I should've been. I should've been mortified at every word that had come out of my mouth, but instead.. I was happy at what I was saying. I loved it, I adored it, I was relishing in it for God's sake. I wanted to keep disobeying him, to keep telling him what I thought. I wanted to tell him about every other thought I'd ever had about disobeying him. About the drugs when I was 14, about sneaking off with the palace guards every time I was particularly angry at one of his decisions, I wanted so badly to just up and start screaming at him right then, but something stopped me. I was suddenly gripped by an overwhelming fear from somewhere deep in my stomach. Fear of discrasing him, my family, my mother.. I couldn't.. But I already had. I didn't realize it until later that I was quite possibly the biggest hyprocryte in the history of the Royal family. I had come in search of my brother and had stayed for the love of a boy. I had goen against my father's wishes, yet kept silent about my own rage and feelings. And now, I've become the biggest hyprocryte of all. All I remember of what happened is that Ryoko and I were fighting, then suddenly she found a weakness, an opening in my defences.. I let her find it. No I didn't! I was fighting to win, damnit! I knew I could if I gave it all I could that I had a chance. I was doing good, no, I was doing great. Then I saw Tenchi out of the corner of my eye. I saw the look on his face, the shock in his eyes. He couldn't belive what we were doing. I knew that he was just looking for a way to stop us, a break in our dance, a pause in our fighting, anything. So I gave it to him. I let Ryoko cut me, let her gain the upper hand. I let her win. I was down and boy did it hurt. I had never felt pain like that before. I suddenly remembered all the other times in my life I had been hurt. I remembered when my father thought I had slept with one of my suiters, some pimple-faced loser from some far-off system that I had only heard of in passing. He had asked me to take a walk with him and I had said yes. We walked through the Royal orchards for at least an hour without anyone around. I had thought it would be good to get away from all the prying eyes of the court. Then he boasted to his friends back home that he had made it with a Jurain slut of a princess. It was a lie. I had never even touched him, let alone made love to him. I remembered my father bursting into my room with a look of rage on his face. I remember that he had grabbed me by the shoulders and thrown me against the wall and accused me of sleeping with that little shit. I remebered I was scared of him; his eyes were so filled with rage and hate. I tried to tell him that it was a lie, that the boy had lied. He didn't listen. He hit me then as hard as he could with the back of his hand. I went flying across the room and landed on my bed. He just stood over me, saying that I had discraced not only him but my entire family. He kept going on about how much family meant and how I had besmirched my ancestor's honor. How could he have thought such a thing? I was only 13 and he thought I had.. Then he ordered the Royal physicans to check me to see if I had...contracted anything. Once they confirmed that I was...unscathed, my father apologized. It was a muddled, quiet whisper that sounded like, "Im sorry." After that, he pretended like nothing had ever happened. I never told anyone about it, not my mother or my sister or anyone else that I knew. I just kept it bottled up deep inside next to all the other things that had hurt me. And now, now this blow that Ryoko had laid seemed like nothing. It was only skin deep after all. Then something more happened, I suddenly felt that I was going to loose the one thing that meant something to me in life, I was going to loose Tenchi. Right then that horrible rationalzation struck home. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I knew that Tenchi was suddenly in front of me, defending my life. At first I heard a voice in my head screaming that this was a breach of the oldest, most sacred tradition in galactic history. Then suddenly this boy had thrown himself between Ryoko and I. He had done what is considered to be one of the most noble act that one can preform. He took my place. I knew that what he had done drove a thousand daggers right into Ryoko's soul. Over the pounding mallets of pain in my head, I could hear her voice. "Tenchi! No, you can't mean that! Please Tenchi, take it back now!" "This is your last warning Ryoko. Back away or else!" I knew that she didn't realize what he was doing, and that he didn't either. I knew that Ryoko had only one option left. "Tenchi please, for the last time, I will not back down. You just don't understand..!" "You're right, I don't. Right now, all I know is that someone I care about is about to die, and I can't let that happen." That's when it sunk in. Her voice started to break and thorugh tear streaked eyes I saw that her light saber was flickering. She was broken. "Tenchi, no... you can't mean that.." "I can and I do. Now put your sword down and we'll talk about this." Ryoko raised her sword as the tears were streaming down her face. "Please! You don't know what you're doing! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!" I knew what was comming. A part of me didn't want to look, but a larger part of me, something in me that I didn't want to face up to forced me to look. That part of me wanted to smile, to laugh at what I was seeing. I know that Tenchi thought she was attacking, but that wasn't what was happening at all. She knew that there was only one option left.. She threw herself at him. He defended himself. The next thing I rememberd was Sasami and Mihoshi carrying me up the stairs to our room. I was still in a daze. One side of me was happy that Ryoko was dead, that Tenchi had defended me and that now he was mine. The other part of me was screaming why? Why in the hell did you do this? Why did you force this? For so long you've gone against everything! All the traditions that I had held so dear for so long..! When I was in our room with Sasami, I tried to convince myself that it had been for the best. Then I looked at her, I looked into her eyes and I knew that I had made the worst mistake of my life. "Why Aeka? Why did you have to do that?" I looked down at her then. Sometimes I forget that she's so much younger than I am. She seems so old, so mature. I knew that nothing I could say would help, so I put on my most regal apperance and tried to save face. "Because Jurain custom demanded. We both knew the risks, and besides, she had it comming." I couldn't belive what I was saying, but that was nothing compared to what she did next. She pulled her arm back and slapped me as hard as she could. It was like a freight train slamming into my face. I couldn't belive what she had done. Yes I could No I couldn't! I had never seen Sasami raise a hand against anyone or anything in my life, and to be hit by her of all people.. That hurt me more than anything Ryoko could have done. Her rejection of me at the time that I needed her most was the last thing I had expected. Of all the people, she should have known that I didn't mean what I had said.. Hor had I? For a solid year I had tried to fight Ryoko, tried to best her for Tenchi's hand. For one year, all my hatered, all my agression had been directed towards her. She was a monster, a demon! And yet.. And yet.. She had been my friend at times that no one lese would. At times that I thought my tradition had intefeered with my friendships here, at times when the fighting had gotten to severe, she had actually been there for me. I still remember her with her bottle of sake, telling me to lighten up, to relax. She was always trying to have a good time with her friends, ehr family. Us. And now, this..this mockery of tradition! What had I been thinking? Why? Why did I do what I had done? What had I been thinking? I know what I was thinking, I thought it would finally get me Tenchi. I thought it would finally solve everything that I thought I wanted. What I wanted? What did I think I didn't have? Here I had family, here I had friends. Here I had love. I tried to get her to turn around, to face me. I needed her to tell me that everything was all right, to hold me and rock me back and forth. I wanted her to take me in her arms and sing the song that our mother used to sing us when we were little to scare all the monsters away.. Right now though, I wanted one certain monster to come back. I went downstairs, hoping to find some solace there. I was sitting on the couch, trying to tell myself that Lord Tenchi would forgive me for what had happened. That he would understand! But at that moment, I wasn't sure that even I understood what had happened. Finally I heard footsteps comming down the stairs. I turned and saw him, saw Tenchi. He was dressed in his No. He was in his travel clothes. In his hand was his duffel bag. He was leaving. I jumped up and ran to him. I grabbed him and begged him not to leave us, not to leave me. I wanted to stop him but then he looked at me. His eyes, they were filled with such hate, such anguish at what had happened. At that moment I knew that nothing I could say could stop him from going, but I had to try. I owed Ryoko that at least. I put myself between him and the door. I begged him not to leave. I told him that it was beyond his understanding, and that it wasn't his fault. I sobbed, crying out that he should stay! It wasn't your fault damn it, you weren't responsible! I couldn't tell if I had actually spoken up or if I was just sobbing uncontrollably, but after awhile he spoke, and I so wished he hadn't. His voice was like..like.. It was if he were dead, to me at least. "If it wasn't my fault, then whose was it? Hers? Yours? All of your fighting, all of your jealously, its all come down to this. As long as I feel that her death was somehow my fault, I won't be able to go on. Not here, at least. I'm leaving now, and I don't want you or anyone else to try and follow. If I ever come to terms with what happened, then maybe I'll return someday, but until then..." His words cut through me like a knife. I found myself begging, screaming for him not to go. He just kept his eyes straight ahead and..and.. And then he was gone. I fell to my knees pounding my fists on the door. It wasn't your fault! Damn it Tenchi, would you please listen to me? There are things you just don't understand, things that go beyond what you understand! Please, it wasn't your fault, it was.. It was my fault. *** Now all is quiet. Sasami still hasn't come down from our room and Mihoshi left awhile ago to report what happened to the Galaxy Police sub-ship in this solar system. I tried to talk to Yosho as he emerged from Washu's subspace lab. He just shot me a look that brought all my guilt bubbling to the surface. I broke down right there. I ran to him, I grabbed him and sobbed. I needed him to tell me that it would all be alright, that everybody would be just fine! But everything wouldn't be just fine. I saw that in Yosho's eyes. When he looked at me, I saw the same hate that had been in Sasami's eyes. The same hate that was in Tenchi's eyes. His look was enough to force me away. I backed up, almost stumbling when I hit the couch, and just cried as he walked up the stairs to check on Sasami. I had gone against everything I had belived in, and then gone against what I had fought for. I was alone. I am alone. I know that now. No one here will ever talk to me again. I could go back, back to my palace and my people on Jurai, but then.. Then I'd be accepting something that I had denied, and that would be the final blow to my humanity. I still have my dignity, my honor. And by God, I intend to carry out the last honorable act I can no matter what. I have no family on earth. I have no family on Jurai. I have nothing. I kneel now, beside the lake. In the distance I can see the onsen floating away, reminding me of happier times. To my right, I see my brother's ship, the Funaho standing as if nothing had happened. I kneel and prepare. I've been preparing all day. I'm ready now. I know, I know what I must do. I take a breath.. Goodbye my brother I pick up the knife.. Goodbye Sasami I take another breath.. Goodbye my dearist Overhead, I hear thunder. ***** Wow. That's all I have to say. Wow. I never thought I'd end ch. 4 like this! It's amazing what you can do at three in the morning! Anyways.. Special thanks to Gensao (as always) and Phil Masters for all the C&C, at least I think it was Phil.. Tenchi &Co. belong to Pioneer and AiC All C&C should head to BGlanders@aol.com "Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed. -PSALM 6:2 BGlanders presents... The Gentle Sound of Thunder Chapter 5: Through Ryoko's Eyes... ***** Pain. That was the first thing I ever felt. Searing, white-hot pain. The pain of a billion stars crying out. I felt a thousand knives going into every crevice of my body. I could feel my skin exploding, twisting, melting. I felt every atom in me start to fuse, to meld. I felt my very essence being thrown at a hurricane's pace into togetherness. I felt myself being born. When babies are born, it's a slow, graduial process that lasts for nine blissful months. In nine months, one frail human child can be born. In nine minutes, I was born. That's one of the things about being a highly evolved being, you have senses and thoughts the moment you are born. I didn't know what the word birth meant, but I knew that I was going through it. I knew what pain was, but I couldn't put a name to it, since I didn't know what words were. I knew fear, but couldn't call it by name because I didn't know what screaming was. For five thousand years after that, I was alone, alone with daddy. That's what he made me call him. I didn't know that he wasn't my father, so I didn't question it. For 500 years he tried to teach me, to mold me into what he wanted, a perfect killing machine. For long hours we'd practice in the Souja's training room, bobbing and weaving past one another's attacks. Expanding and experimenting with what I had, what he had given me. No, what Washu had given me. I remember the first time he showed me other people. We were on the bridge of the Souja looking out over a planet. I knew what a planet was of course, but I never knew that there were things like him and me on them. Lots of them, and that they were called 'people'. I didn't know that they each had thoughts and feelings, goals and ambitions in their lives. I didn't know any of this, until he showed me. "Ryoko, look at that. Tell me, what is it called?" He pointed out the window at a green orb floating in space. "It's a planet." "It's a planet, what?" I sighed. "It's a planet, daddy." He patted me on the back, a little lower than I would have felt comfortable with. "Very good, Ryoko. It's a planet. And do you know what lives on a planet?" "No, what daddy?" He waved his hand over a control panel and instantly a thousand screens appeared out of nowhere. On them I saw people. Millions of people. Young people, old people, people with babies, brothers, sisters, families. I saw a family for the first time in my life. I saw them together, I saw their love for one another. I saw so many families, so many people. Then he held his hand over a button that I had never noticed before. "Pay close attention Ryoko, today I teach you about life." With a press of a button, I suddenly felt all of the Souja's energies being focused into one source, one focal point. I realized all too late what he was about to do. With that feeling of fear in my stomach, that feeling that I had felt too many times to just brush aside anymore, I turned to the screen, feeling very helpless, feeling alone. The orb exploded in a flash of dazzling colors. The shock rocked the mighty ship even with its incredible shields up. I turned my head away, tears streaming down my face. I turned to him, to Kagato for some kind of support, some sign, anything. His eyes were glued to the screen. They had that gleam in them. I had grown to fear that gleam more than anything I had ever known. I saw the gleam when he felt like hurting, when he was feeling particularly brutal during a practice and keep beating me even after I'd fallen to the floor of the training room. I saw that gleam every time he entered my quarters late at night and.. And.. Then he started to laugh. That icy, cold laugh that just cuts through you like a freezing blade. That laugh that just drains all the courage and strength out of your body. He looked at the floating debris and countless bodies drifting in the inky blackness and laughed until I had to cover my ears to make him stop. Suddenly I felt him grab my wrist. I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face. I looked into his hate-filled eyes and felt all the muscles in my stomach knot up at once. "Do you know why I did that, Ryoko? I did that because I could, that's why. I have power, therefore I use it. If someone else doesn't have power, then they shouldn't be allowed to suffer. Remember Ryoko, we must always crush those beneath us to survive. Do you understand?" "Ye..yes.." He tightened his grip and got closer to my face. Now he was screaming. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND, RYOKO?" "Yes! Yes daddy..I..I understand!" Then he hit me with the back of his hand. I fell to the deck of the ship sobbing my eyes out and begging him to just stop, to just leave me alone. I just wanted to go back to my room, take Ryo-Ohki in my arms, curl up on my cot and just cry. Cry for all those people who up until five minutes ago I didn't even know existed. I wanted to cry for all the others I knew that he had hurt for no other reason than to feel powerful. I wanted to cry for me, because I knew why he had made me watch him. He was preparing me for killing. I knew that over the years he had been creating the ultimate weapon, and that weapon was me. Then I heard my door slide open and Ryo-Ohki hissing. I heard him stride across the steel floor to my cold cot and toss Ryo-Ohki off into a corner. I felt him grab me and spin me around till I was on my back. I felt him pin me with that iron strong grip of his, felt his hot breath on my cheek as I tried to turn away from him. At first I would always try to fight him off, to try and make him stop, but it was no use. He'd just keep fighting me until I just shut everything down. I'd just go limp, my mind would go blank. I'd just let him enter me, let him set the rythym. I'd lie there and let my mind go deep, deep down into an ocean of calm. A sea of deep, safe, calm blue. I'd stay there and not even feel it when he would enter me. I wouldn't hear him start to grunt or feel the pounding of his hips on me increase. I would just float in my sea of blue. My sea of calm. That's where I always felt safest. Afterwards he would just get up and leave. Every once in awhile, he'd pat me on the shoulder and then just..just walk off. I didn't really know it was wrong. I had my gut instinct, that voice that screams that this shouldn't be happening and that no it's not okay it's wrong Ryoko it's wrong it's wrong why did he do that WHY DID HE DO THAT? Then he showed me the box. The box was what he used to control me. With it, he said he could make me kill just like he had done, only better. He said that I would kill more than he ever though possible and that I'd keep doing it until he told me to stop. I told him he was full of shit and that I would never kill for him no matter what kind of box he had. Then he pushed a putton on the box. I remember every scream, every crying child, every innocent person that I had run through. I remember with crystal clarity every single face that begged for me not to slay them. I remember a sea of the dead and rivers of blood flowing because my hand had caused it to be so. Then came Jurai. My mission was simple, get Tsunami. All I had to do was go to the palace and bring back a tree. Oh yeah, I also had to kill as many people as I possibly could. It was all going so well, I had managed to only do some major properity damage and saly only a couple of citizens before Yosho came. I still remember him standing before me with the Master Key in his hand. His eyes were so filled with hate and rage, but there was something more. Somewhere in them I saw something that Kagato had never even known. I saw honor. We danced across the galaxy until he finally brought me down. I remember that he had found and opening, that he had fired off a lucky shot No he hadn't I had let him Oh all right, maybe I had let him hit me. I was tired. I was tired of all the killing, all the fighting. I just wanted it all to stop. I wanted to just sink into my world of blue and just stay there forever. Well, I got my wish. We fought. We danced. We destroyed the countryside. I had never felt so free, so alive. Then.. then he found another opening, another weakness in my attack. I felt him plunge his sword into my neck. I felt the beam of energy go right through my being, then.. Then I felt the jewels that had given me my power for countless years suddenly leave my body. I suddenly felt stripped of everything that I was. Every iota of strength that I had just seemed to tricke down that shaft of blue energy. It just kept draining until.. Until.. Then I started to sink into my world of blue again. Only this time, my world of blue was surrounded my another. Yosho was trapping me, imprisioning me inside a cave. He was locking me away like some kind of old tool that no one had a use for anymore, that no one cared for. For 700 years, I was trapped there, trapped in that cave. I had no air, no food, but I really didn't need any. I could go on forever without sustanance. I draw what I need from the energies around me. Luckily there was enough spirtual energy in the surrounding forests to give me the strength to carry on. For awhile, I was happy. I was finally free from Kagato, free from everyone. Then.. Then I saw Tenchi. I could wander in discorperal form around the outskirts of the cave, and there I first saw this little boy wandering around, trying to get inside the rusty old gate that stood in the caves mouth. I watched him as he grew older, as he grew wiser, more mature. I watched as the boy grew into a young man, filled with energy and life. I saw all this, and as I watched, I felt something I had never felt before start to stir inside my breast. I started to feel love. *** Blue. Deep, calm blue. All around me is this ocean of never ending peace. I'm floating, drifting in perpetual bliss. I am.. I am.. Where was I? I remebered something about a fight. A fight? Aeka I think, no, wait, was it Aeka? I wasn't sure. I tried to focus and found that I couldn't. I tried to concentrate on everything that had happened. Something about a fight, a challenege.. something.. "I'm stopping you before you do something we'll all regret." A voice. Tenchi? Tenchi was..was.. what was he doing? I remembered a fight, a test.. Oh my God. That bitch. That little bitch! I remember! I remember everything now! I remembered the challenge made in the onsen, the kimono, the sheer absurdity of it all. I thought it was a joke, some boast made in a moment of anger, but no.. We had actually done it. I remembered fighting, remembered dancing. I remembered my sword going into her side, feeling the blade cut through soft flesh just as it had so many times in the past. I rememberd that I was about to end it all. I was about to disband my saber and just walk away, but then, then.. Then it had all gone straight to hell. I remembered Tenchi getting between us. I remembered him taking her side, taking that little slut's side over mine! He wouldn't listen, oh why didn't you listen to me Tenchi? Why did you have to come between us and say.. Why did you say that you loved her? No! That is not what he said! He said, he said.. "Right now, all I know is that someone I care about is about to die, and I can't let that happen." Of course. What else would he say? After all, it's Tenchi. He's not really a Jurain, he's an earthling. He doesn't know about the Jenna-Hotaru. He doesn't know the magnitiude of what he was doing, he couldn't. And I..I didn't even realize it at the time. I just remebered the feeling of my heart being torn open. I remembered feeling all the muscles in my stomach tighten up again just like they did when Kagato when Daddy would look at me back on the Souja. I remembered the sheer dispair and torment that my soul suddenly fell into at that moment. I remembered that right then, there was only one thing that I could think of to do. I took a breath.. Goodbye Tenchi I took another breath... Goodbye Sasami I lunged at Tenchi and gave him an opening. Years of Jurain training had made him react almost automaticly. Suddenly I saw Yosho stabbing me in the throat. I saw my life running down that blade. I felt myself just sinking back into that world of blue... And Aeka.. She had known! She knew that Tenchi didn't know what the hell was going on! She knew that he would act as he had the minute I struck her! The minute she.. The minute she gave me an opening. She knew. She had known from the beginning. And now, now she was going to pay. I swore by everything that I knew, everything that I held dear that I would have my vengance. I swore by my love for Tenchi that I would destroy that miserable slut with my bare hands. I could almost feel her blood running thorugh my fingers, over my hands, over..over.. Over everything. I suddenly realized that I was covered with something. Thias wasn't my world of blue. This wasn't Aeka's blood. This was something else, something forgin. Something that I didn't like at all. I tried to move and found I couldn't. I tried to scream but my lungs filled with liquid blackness. I suddenly felt like Kagato was back and that this was for not comming back. He was going to keep me in here for days and days and then he'd take me and pin me down and and and And that's when I let loose with a force bolt. The tank around me shattered as I screamed loud enough to break a human's ear drumbs. I fell to my knees hacking up a thick, black liquid that ran down my body in greasy streaks. When I was done coughing I started to cry. I couldn't help it. I just let all the toughness in me flow out and away in little streams like that black bile. I curled up into a little ball, shivering uncontroably and crying. Then I felt something warm, soft and dry wrap around me. I felt a conforting hand on my shoulder and then a presence at my side. I heard a female voice that I knew all too well saying, "There, there little one. Mommy's here now. Just let it all out." I leaned into her then and cried for what felt like years. She just held me tight and rocked slowly back and forth while she hummed a lullaby from long ago. Finally, I stopped crying, but I didn't get up until ten minutes later. Finally I spoke. I still felt drained, so it came out like a whisper. "What happened?" "You were dreaming about the past." "No, I meant before that. What happened to me?" She stopepd rocking me but still kept her ar around me. "You and Aeka did something very stupid. You commited the Jenna-Hotaru, then you commited seppuku." I jumped up, my energy already forming in my hands. "That bitch! I'll kill her! She knew what she was doing, damnit!" "Ryoko.." SHE KNEW! She knew that Tenchi would be forced to take her side! She knew what I'd do! Ohh, whe I get my hands on her..!" "Ryoko.." "All this, all for Tenchi's love! Ha! As if he could ever truly love someone after doing something like that! He must have realized what she was doing, he had to! She forced him to attack me, damnit I know it! Ohh, I'll kill her! I'll tear her limbs off one by one! I'll rip her heart out and shove it down her fucking throat..!" "Ryoko she's dead." Those three words struck me like a freight train. Dead? No, that was wrong. She couldn't be dead. There was no wayshe could be dead, I hadn't had time to kill her yet. She was alive and Washu was wrong. Yeah, that was it. Washu was always stuck here in her lab, she didn't know what was going on. No, Aeka wasn't dead, she couldn't be. "What do you mean she's dead? How? How could she be dead?" Washu came over to me then with a look on her face that I had hardly ever seen before. Grief. She was almost crying, andprobaly would have, but she knew that someone had ton remain strong, and that it had to be her. "She killed herself when she realized what had happened. After you died and Tenchi left, she broke down. Her mind, it just up and snapped, that's all. By the time we found her by the lake, she had already bled to death." I just stumbled back until I fell on my butt and let all of what Washu said sink in. I tried to analyze everything that she had said over and over again, but I couldn't comprehend what was going on. Aeka, dead? Tenchi, gone? No. Aeka couldn't be dead. Tenchi couldn't be gone. It was a mistake, that's all, a mistake! "It's no mistake, Ryoko. It all happened, and it's no mistake. I'm sorry, but it's true. I wish to God that it wasn't, but it is." "How long have I been out?" "About 12 hours, give or take. I had the Guardians bring you here when you were run through. I figured that I could get you fixed up and then everything would be okay, then when I was almost done, Yosho walked in and told me... about Aeka and Tenchi. I made him bring the body here. I tried to save her but she was to far gone... I'm sorry Ryoko." Sorry? SORRY? That bitch tried to kill me! She tried to get Tenchi to turn against me1 She tried to knock me out of the picture completly! Sorry? Sorry that my hated enemy had perished by her hand? Sorry that the one source of frustration in my life was finally gone? My enemy? The woman that had sat up with me late at night and drank with me until neither one of us could see straight? The woman who would go with me into town and do karioki bars with me until we were thrown out, all the while laughing our asses off? The woman who had been there, even after the most vicious of our fights? She was gone. My greatist enemy. My greatist...friend. My friend was dead. And Tenchi... "What do you mean Tenchi's gone? How can he be gone? He didn't just up and leave, did he?" Washu suddenly held out a piece of paper with Tenchi's handwriting scrawled across it. I reached out, my hand trembling in anticipation of what I would read. I started to feel tears welling up behind my eyes as I started to read his note to us all. *** Dear Family, I don't know what has happened, and I don't know why it has, but I feel that it was some how my fault. I can't shake the feeling that there was something more that I could've done to prevent what happened. Maybe if I had listened to Sasami, or maybe if I had tried to come between them earlier on, I don't know. All I do know is that I can't be here as long as I'm not sure of myself. I don't know where I'll be going, but I only ask that you don't try and find me. I need to start over and try to find some answers, but those answers don't include any of you. Please don't take this the wrong way, I love all of you. Dad, Grandpa, Sasami, Washu, Aeka, all of you. You are, and always will be my family. You will always be the ones that are nearist to my heart, but now, a great hole has appeared in my soul and I need to try and fill it, alone. Someday, if and when I come to terms with what has happened, I'll return, but until then, I only ask that you let me do this by myself. I love you all, and I know that I'll never forget the bond that we all shared. Love, Tenchi *** I just kept reading the letter over and over again. I couldn't belive it. He was gone. He was gone forever and I couldn't get him back. He had left because of something that wasn't his fault, something that could have been avoided all together. Hell, I wasn't even hurt anymore! I was fine now.. No I wasn't. He had hurt me. He ran me through with his sword without even thinking twice. He had tried to kill me! No, no it was self-defense. That's what it was. He didn't know what he was doing. He had no idea that by galactic tradition he was rejecting my love and taking her as a bride by taking her place in battle. He had no idea that I had purposly thrown myself into him. Hel, I had been trying to end it all, hadn't I? Hand't I? I'm Ryoko. I'm one of the toughest creatures in the galaxy. I've been shot, beaten, stabbed, burned, impaled, decapatated, ra.. I'd been hurt a LOT. I knew that there was nothing Tenchi could do that could kill me. Hell, I practically have to be atomized for that to happen. So why did I suddenly throw myself at him? Why did I let him run me thorugh? I know I can't die, but I can certainly feel pain just as much as the next person. I can feel when my flesh is cut and burned, when my throat is impaled by a beam of white- hot light. I know that even though I'd be immobilized, I'd still be alive. Besides, Washu was here to put the pieces back together again. That's me, Humpty-Ryoko. All the King's soldiers and all the King's Trees couldn't lay a finger on little old me, with the exception of his son, that is. So why had I done it? To see, of course. To see if he would actually take her side. To see if he would just try to stop me or try to kill me. To stt what my life really meant to him. Maybe that was another reason he left, maybe he wasn't sure why he hadn't just tried to knock me to the side. Maybe.. Maybe.. There were a thousand things that could have happened, a thousand things that could have changed. This however, is what did happen. I walked out of the lab, only half-consiously morphing my clothes to my body. I looked around the household for signs of life, and saw Yosho on the couch with Sasami crying in her lap. He just loked at me with tears streamming down his cheeks. He was trying to play the stalwart grandfather for Sasami, trying to be a pillar for her to cry on, but he was starting to crack. I looked from him to the windows and watched the rain run down the glass panels in little streams and vertical rivers. I heard it pattering on the roof of the house. The roof, where Aeka and I had sat on night and gotten so drunk I had thought she was going to fall off. I saw the couch where we had all sat and watched our galactic soaps. I looked to the darkened kitchen and saw where we had eaten countless times, side by side. I went over to Yosho and sat beside him. Washu came over then, and took Sasami by the hand. "Come with me little one, we need to talk." She was reluctant, but Washu insisted and eventually won out. Sasami gave Yosho one last hug and slowly followed Washu into her lab. I turned to Yosho then and saw something I had never seen before. For as long as I had known him, he had been a pillar of strength, a tower of reason and honor. But sitting there, looking into his eyes, I saw.. I saw fear. I saw lonliness. I saw a little boy that had forgotten what it was like to be afraid. I took his hand in mine and told him that everything was going to be okay, that it was all right. He leaned on my shoulder and just started crying. Yosho, of all people! I put my arm around him and started rocking him back and forth, whispering that it was all right, to just let it all out. Then I found myself singing the lullaby that Washu had sung for me back in the lab. I didn't know why, but it just felt like it was what I was supossed to be doing. And more importiantly, it felt...it felt right. He didn't stop for a long time, but when he did, he sat up, righted his glasses and quietly said, "Thank you." Later I found myself up on the roof. I just curled up into a ball and stared up into the pouring rain. It was only water, but every drop felt like a dagger cutting into me, going right into my soul. I didn't know why, I just felt like it was my fault somehow. Maybe for accepting the challenge, maybe for not seeing in time, maybe Maybe for being born. I just looked up into the sky. An endless grey expanse from which the knives just kept falling. The rain fell, hit my fave, mixed with my tears and just rolled away. I knew that it was time. Overhead, I heard thunder. ***** Author's tip: When writing, try to get some sleep. I apologize for the pleathers of spelling mistakes, but right now I can't even focus on the screen I kid you not. Only two more chapters to go! Thank you to a whole lotta folks for the helpful ideas and C&C! Tenchi&Co. belong to AiC and Pioneer. All C&C should go to BGlanders@aol.com "Things fall apart, the center does not hold." -Yeates BGlanders presents... The Gentle Sound Of Thunder Chapter Six: Through Washu's Eyes... The ship appeared around noon, just like they said it would. We stood and waited in the drizzle as it slowly came through the clouds. In 20,000 years I don't think I've ever seen anything as beautiful as a Jurain ship. One of the few things in the universe that successfully combines mechanical and organic components to form a living, breathing work of art. This one was no different, its sleek bow steered through the clouds like a ghost floating in a cloud of mist. I had contacted Funaho as soon as things calmed down around here. Yosho was a nervous wreck and Sasami... That poor child. She's gone through so much in her life, seen so much pain. And the kicker of it is, she's the one person who never complained about it. She took every day with a smile, but sometimes I could see that the smiles and cheeriness were forced. Who could blame her for being down at times? She went 700 years without seeing her mother, had to grow up on a backwater alien planet with only her sister for family. Yosho doesn't really count anymore, he's more of a grandfather to the family now. We've all become so close this last year, seen so many things, so many times both good and bad. We've become a family... We? The others have spent so much time together, seen and done so much while I just sat here in my lab typing away on my holo-top. Whenever something went wrong, I directed the actions from my lab. Whenever they got close or shared a special moment, whenever they would celebrate some event or just enjoy each other's company, I was in my lab, watching through Ryo-Ohki or Ryoko's eyes. Whenever Ryoko and Aeka got into a fight... I was in my lab. I knew what would happen. Those two are easier to read than an open book. I knew my daughter would do something stupid like throw herself on his mercies or something equally stupid, but then as to what happened next? How was I supposed to know Aeka would commit suicide? There was no reason for it! It made no dammed sense! What force on God's green earth could have made her think that what happened was irreversible? I mean, come on! You're living with the greatest scientific genius in the universe! The person who MADE Ryoko for Christ's sake! Are these people blind or what? No, I guess not. They're not blind, just...human. Well, not in physiology of course, but in spirit. They all have thoughts, feelings, emotions, and to see one of their closest friends slashed through the throat would unnerve any of them. It's only natural, besides, when you see someone killed like that, how often do you think, 'gee, I'll just send the corpse to the whacked-out red-haired bitch under the stairs. She'll know what to do!' The sad thing is, that's exactly how they see me. None of them feel comfortable when I'm around. None of them like to be near me for very long. Heck, Tenchi would rather go against a horde of man eating cabbits than come into my lab. And the reason? Me. I've made it a point to force the others away. After spending so much time without friends, without a family, I needed some time to adjust, to get used to being around people who cared again. I had been burned too many times in the past just to jump into the frying pan again, so I put up walls, hid behind facades, locked myself in my own little world and never came out. And now? Now I'm right back where I started. I brought her back, I knew I could. Hell, her body would have healed itself eventually, I just gave it a push. But I waited too long, pushed too late.. I should have pushed when I saw what they were going to do. I should have pushed when they started the fight. I should've.. Should've would've could've. They say that only 65 percent of all disasters can be prevented. Well, toady fell into that dammed 35 percent. How could I have known? How could any of us have even guessed? In my field, it's my job to theorize about different continuities and theories, but today's was completely beyond me. Ryoko went up to the roof after things calmed down. We all have our little hiding places, our little nooks and crannies that we like to hide in when we need to think. Ryoko has the roof, I have my lab. Tenchi liked to go out into the fields and just let his mind wander while Yosho hid in his shrine and Aeka.. Aeka had Funaho. I often watched her through Ryo-Ohki's eyes as she just laid back and watched the stars at night. I watched as she sat there and dreamed about her life and family before Ryoko came and destroyed it all. Whenever I saw her like that, I wanted to go out there and take her in my arms and just...sing to her. I know, I know, it sounds like an odd thing to do. Mother's have the right to take obscure things and turn them into signs of affection. I remember when my baby would cry I would take him and sing a lullaby that my mother sang to me. At least I think it was my mother. I don't remember a thing about her except that song and I don't even know if it was her that sang it. All I know is that it made me feel better inside, and that whenever I sang it for my baby, he would stop crying and smile at me. When Ryoko came out of her stasis tube, she was having flashbacks to her life aboard the Souja. I couldn't stand being forced to just sit there and relive what that bastard did to her, did to us, but that's exactly what I did. Hey, I lived it for five thousand years without being able to do a damned thing, so what was 24 more hours? When she came out, she was hysterical, frightened. Scared. I did the only thing I could have. I took an old blanket I had in a dimensional pocket and wrapped it around her shoulders. I hugged her as tight as I could and started singing the same lullaby that I sang for my baby way back when. I didn't know if she could hear me or not and at the time I didn't care. All I knew was that she was hurt and alone, and that at the time I didn't know what else to do. The funeral was a disaster. The Royals arrived several hours ago. As soon as they beamed down I half expected Lady Masaki to give Sasami one of her trademark bear hugs, but she just took her in her arms gently and just started bawling. Auzua and Lady Funaho stood as still as pillars while Yosho stood before them with his head bowed. "Father...I.." That's when Auzua hit him as hard as he could. Yosho went sprawling as Funaho moved to help her son, then stopped. "How could you? How could you let my Aeka take her life? Where were you when she did it? Why didn't you stop her? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER?" Then he ran forward and started kicking Yosho in the side. I kept expecting Yosho to jump up and stop him, or to at least do SOMEthing, but he just lay there, curled up and crying as his father continued to scream and kick him. I just put my head in my hands and shook it. This was quite possibly the biggest disgrace to Aeka that I could imagine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mihoshi crying and shaking. That poor ditz never could stand violence. Sometimes I wonder why she became a Galaxy Police officer in the first place. I knew that Funaho wanted Auzua to stop, but she was too scared to intervene. Masaki was watching the event with tears in her eyes, quietly trying to ask her husband to stop. Auzua had this look in his eyes, the look of a wild man. At that moment I could tell that he wouldn't hear anything Funaho, Masaki or even myself would have said. Thank God Sasami finally broke down. "Stop it! Just stop it! How could you? This wasn't Yosho's fault! Please stop this! Don't you know she's dead? Don't you even care?!" That stopped the bastard cold. Everyone froze as Sasami locked eyes with her father. Slowly, he lowered his foot to the ground and just stared straight ahead. At that moment, Funaho rushed forward and helped Yosho to his feet. He was going to need some medical attention later on, but right then he was fine. I took that moment to step forward and start the ceremony before someone got killed. "Today we are gathered to pay homage to Aeka Jurai. Aeka, the first crown princess of the greatest empire in the galaxy, was more than just a figure of royalty. She was a person, a confidant, a friend. When she was stranded here on Earth, she was able to take each day and live it out to the fullest. Through it all, whether it was a fight with her friend and rival Ryoko or just spending time with the light in our lives, Sasami, she was the very model of caring and compassion. Without her, I know that life will never be the same and that we all will miss her love and light." By the time I had finished I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I've never been good at funerals and this was no exception. Why do we have to speak about people when they leave us? Why do we have to open the wounds all over again? Well, I guess that as impromptu as my eulogy was it got the point across. Auzua was standing beside Yosho and actually had his hand on the young prince's shoulder. Even though it was a whisper, I heard Auzua say, "I'm sorry." Later on, I took a walk with Funaho on the shrine steps. The sky was still gray but at least it wasn't raining. Sasami and the others were back at the house consoling one another. "So now what are you going to do?" Funaho sighed and kept her eyes forward. "I don't really know. For the time being, I'm pretty sure that Masaki is going to take Sasami back home for awhile. This has left us all pretty shaken up. Tell me, little Washu, why did she do it?" I sighed and continued walking, trying to fix my eyes on something, anything but her. "I don't really know. Maybe she realized that her actions finally got someone killed. Oh hell, Ryoko wasn't even badly damaged! No, I don't know why! I don't know why any of them do anything anymore! First Tenchi, then Aeka and now Ryoko and Sasami! One by one things are falling apart and I just don't know what to do!" I found an innocent pebble on the path and kicked it with all my might. Funaho stopped beside me and stared out across the lake towards her namesake. I could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind. "When Sasami leaves, you know what that will mean." "Yes, it means that Mihoshi won't be required here either." I actually felt bad saying this. Me of all people. One would think that I would be the one wanting that blonde bombshell gone the most, but deep down I knew that I would miss our little chats late at night in the lab. I knew that I would miss the constant challenge that she offered my life. I would miss her love and light. Love and light. How could so much be lost in such a short time? How could things fall apart in only a day? We were a family. We had a base of love and strength that was unmatched by any other. Each one of us was different and special in their own right. Each one of them had a magic about them. Each one of them was gone. "So little Washu, when will you find Tenchi for us?" I sighed again. I knew that this was coming but I was still hoping that we could get around it. "Tenchi needs some time alone. I could find him in a nanosecond, but I refuse to. He needs time to think and to sort out what has happened, and I'm not going to interfere with his soul searching. If the Jurain empire can't understand or respect that, then all I have to say is go fuck yourselves. No offense Lady." She snickered at that and I actually saw a smile on her face. I knew that Funaho was the only person that could appreciate the humor in an otherwise blunt attack on the royal house. "I understand, and I'm sure that Auzua will once I stress the issue with him. Tenchi's still young and has a lot to learn about life. Auzua has at least several thousand years to go before he'll start to worry about succession. Where's Ryoko, if I may ask?" I almost tripped at the question, but continued on. Funaho caught my reaction out of the corner of her eye and smiled a bit. "Ryoko...has her own issues to take care of." Funaho nodded and simply said, "I understand." When we got back to the house, the others were waiting outside for us. Auzua was standing beside a red-eyed and formally dressed Sasami. The others were standing in a line behind them, just like a row of tin soldiers. Mihoshi was in her GP uniform and still sobbing lightly. I walked over to Sasami and gave her a hug. She started to cry into my shoulder as I patted her head and rocked her back and forth. "There there little one. It's going to be all right." Sasami just shook her head. "No it's not. Everyone's gone now and I'll never get to see you or Tenchi or Mihoshi again! I..I didn't even get to say goodbye to Ryo-Ohki! Why'd they leave without telling me goodbye..wh..wh.." She burst out with a fresh stream of tears as her father snorted behind her. "Figures. Worthless space pirate would leave while the going was good. She probably took some of Aeka's possessions with her, the little tramp." Now I try not to be violent, but when I heard that, I shot up so fast Masaki and Funaho stepped back in shock. I put my hand across Auzua's face so hard it left a red mark. "How dare you strike an emperor...!" "No. How dare you. How dare you come here and put us all in this position. You weren't here two minutes and you disgraced your daughter at her own funeral, beat up your only son, forced your daughter to leave and now you've insulted my family in my own home. What the hell do you think gives you the right to bad mouth my daughter like that? She's saved your children countless times and she's one of Sasami's only friends on this hellhole planet. She was the best friend that both your daughters ever had and she would have given her own life to have saved anyone here, so don't you DARE bad mouth her here or anywhere, you pathetic wife beating excuse of an emperor! And another thing, if you ever lay a hand on Sasami or your wives the way you used to beat Aeka or the way you beat your son today, I swear that no amount of Jurain power will be able to save you when I come hunting you down you inbred son of a bitch!" By the time I was done I was shaking with rage and so close to Auzua that I could have bitten the bastard's nose off. The others were cowering in fear of me by now and Sasami was almost in tears yet again. I felt her tug on my shirt sleeves as Auzua slowly backed away. "Washu, please don't hurt my daddy..." I suddenly put on a smile and turned to the little princess. "Don't worry little one. I'm just reminding him to be nice, that's all." Mihoshi, Yosho and myself watched as the somber four traveled up the beam to Auzua's ship. We watched as it slowly and silently rose into the clouds and vanished. After awhile, Mihoshi turned to me and saluted. "Well Washu, I have to leave now too. Headquarters says that since there's no need for protection, this planet can be declared off-limits with a beacon around Saturn to warn people away. I'm.. I'm really gonna miss you two..." I hugged Mihoshi as Yosho put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you both so much for being so nice to me all this time. I know I'll never forget you..and I'll..I'll.." I put my finger to my lips and said, "Shh, don't cry now. There's been enough of that today. Now you just go on and promise that you'll visit us from time to time. Maybe by then Tenchi and Ryoko will have come back and we can be a family again." Her eyes got really wide at that and her smile, that smile that I've grown to know and love came back full force. "Oh, thank you! Thank you very much little Washu! I promise to return as soon as I can!" Yosho and I watched as she went to the lakes edge, took out her dimensional cube, and vanished with a splash. A couple of minutes later, we watched as the Yagami rose from the lake, fired her thrusters and took off for the outer atmosphere. We stood and watched until long after everything had quieted down, neither one of us saying a word. Finally I broke the silence. "I've...got some things I need to finish up in my lab. Are you going to be okay out here?" He just nodded and started to walk towards the lake and Aeka's grave. I turned and plodded through the now empty house to my lab. I sat in there for a good thirty minutes, not typing or processing data, but just looking around. I looked for the first time at everything that I had surrounded myself with. I saw the endless isles of glass tanks and the countless computers that held the secrets of countless universes. I saw my lab for what seemed like the first time, and I saw what the others had seen. A dark, cold, empty place. A tomb. No... A hiding place. I've spent all these years hiding from my life, what I've gone through and most importantly, who I really am. I couldn't deal with the loss of my child or the string of bad relationships that followed, so I hid. I hid behind my work and eventually used it to scare people away. I was scared to let anyone get to close. I was scared to get hurt. Suddenly, I had a family, a home. I had everything I had ever wanted, but I was too scared to even see it for what it was. I choose to hide behind a false body, a false persona, a false life. I finally saw that my whole life up until this point had been a lie. A lie. And because of that lie, I had lost the people that I held dear to me. The people that made life worth living. And now, there was no one left. Or was there? I stood up, closed the holotop before me and started to walk towards the door. As I did, machines that had run for countless eons were suddenly winding down to a whisper, then to silence. Lights that had blazed for thousands of years started to go off one by one as I passed them. When I got to the door, there was only the overhead light to let me know that anything was here at all. With the lights and machines off, my lab became a black hole of cold and darkness. I grabbed the door handle and opened the door. I took one last look around before shutting it forever. I'm not going to hide from myself anymore. ***** Thank you all for being so patient for this chapter to come out. A special thanks to Dr Tran for proofreading this chapter, and thanks to Gensao and the Jusenkyo Guide for posting this story. BTW: If you're wondering what the hell happened to Ryoko, well... heh heh Chapter 5-A will be out soon. Tenchi&Co. belong to AiC and Pioneer. All C&C should go to BGlanders@aol.com "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." - Anais Nin BGlanders presents... The Gentle Sound of Thunder Chapter 7: Through Another's Eyes... ***** Sasami *** She didn't even say goodbye. I watch from the window of my private room as we took off from Earth. Mother and aunt Funaho are in the next room consoling each other. I told them I wanted some time alone. They said sure. I never thought I'd have to leave like this. I always thought I'd leave when I was ready too, with Aeka. I always thought I would get a chance to say goodbye to Tenchi and Ryoko and the others. I always thought... Ohh, I don't know what I always thought! I never tried to think about leaving! That was something I never thought I'd do. I never wanted to, I never try to think about bad things, like death or being alone or going away or anything. And now here I am, speeding away without my sister. Here I am, and I didn't even get a chance to tell Tenchi goodbye. Here I am. Mommy doesn't understand why all this has happened. She couldn't figure out why Aeka was dead or why her little girl couldn't be buried on Jurai, 'like a princess'. I wish I could make mom see that Earth was just as much of a home as Jurai was. On Jurai, we were treated like we were made out of glass. No one played with us, everyone treated us like we were going to break if we were handled wrong. Tenchi was different. He treated us like human beings. He treated us like friends. He was the first person that ever talked to us without being afraid of our titles. He was special, and he treated us special too. After awhile though, I started to get lonely. I had friends here and family too, but there was no one my age to play with. Sure, Ryoko was fun to watch TV with and we did do lots of neat stuff together, but it wasn't enough. I wanted a friend who was the same size as me. I know Washu tried to cheer me up from time to time, but she was the oldest one there. Then came Ryo-Ohki. She was like a pet to me, and then after that time with the Mass, she was like a sister. We did everything together. We'd go exploring, or cook together, or even just play a game. She was my best friend on Earth, and I loved her with all my heart. Now I'm leaving forever and she didn't even say goodbye. I searched everywhere and I couldn't find her, net even in the carrot fields. She knew I was leaving, I know she did. Why didn't she see me off? I wanted to see her, just one last time, I just wanted to tell her I love her very much and that I'll always remember her. I just wanted� Just wanted to... I just wanted to say goodbye. The Earth looks so small now, like a little blue ball. I know that somewhere on that little ball is Tenchi. I know that my sister is somewhere down there, resting forever. I know that the little blue ball was my home. I know that it will never be my home again. Goodbye Tenchi, goodbye Mihoshi and Washu and Grandpa and everyone. I love you. *** Tenchi *** It's only been a couple of days, but it seems like forever. Only a couple days ago, I was at home with my family. Only a couple of days ago, I was around those that I love. And now... Now here I am, alone in a world without Ryoko. Here I am, leaving those that I loved the most. And why? Because I made a mistake. I made a choice, and in one fleeting moment I lost someone who meant the world to me. I made a choice, and now there's nothing I can do about it. I couldn't stay, I had to leave. I couldn't look into their eyes day in and day out and know that it was my fault that they would never see their friend again. I know that what Aeka and Ryoko did was a tradition, but I don't pretend to understand it. I know that they felt they were doing 'the right thing' when they tried to kill each other, and I know they did it because of me. I never asked for this, this carnival. I always thought I'd live a normal life. Then I found Ryoko in that cave and everything just started moving at a mile a minute. I never minded, but I never seemed to stop complaining. I just wanted them to stop, for just one minute. I wanted to enjoy time with the both of them, not as a lover or as a prize to be won, just as a friend. They could never understand, all I ever wanted was their friendship, but they always were after something more. For them it was all or nothing. They couldn't understand that I loved them both, but not in the way they loved me. Now Ryoko's dead and I can never go back. I can't bear to look into Sasami's eyes, knowing I'm the one responsible for her best friend's death. I can't live with them, knowing what I've done. I don't care if it was my fault or not. The fact is I did it. I killed her. And now I'm here, on the docks with my travel bag on my shoulder. I have to get away. I have to leave this place. There's just too much here, too many memories. Everywhere I look I see something that reminds me of them. Something that reminds me of her. So I'm going. I'm leaving Japan. I don't know where I'll end up or if I'll ever come back, but I know that this is the only thing I can do. If I don't leave, then I'll always be guilty. I don't care if the other's forgive me. I have to be able to forgive myself. The ship looks old. There's a lot of rust on the equipment and the others in line are all a lot older than me. I finally get to the man with the book and he asks me my name and where I'm headed. I tell him, "My name is Tenchi Masaki, and I don't care where we're going." He nods and scribbles in his book. I know what he's thinking. He thinks I'm a runaway and that I'm looking for a life of adventure or something like that. He thinks that I'm out for fortune and glory, and that I've got a big lesson to learn about hard work and humiliation. Adventure? No thank you. I've had enough to fill several lifetimes. Humiliation? I don't have a problem with that either. Fortune and glory? I'd rather have Ryoko back. As we leave, a fog bank starts to roll in. I stand on the deck and watch as the Kyoto port gets smaller and smaller, and then it vanishes completely. I know now that this is the end of the line for the crown prince of Jurai. This is the beginning of Tenchi Masaki. *** Mihoshi *** This has been a really bad week. I mean, I'm just watching TV and everything's great and then Ryoko and Aeka have to go and do the Jenna-Hotaru and then Tenchi interferes and Ryoko dies and Tenchi leaves and then Aeka kills herself and Ryoko comes back and.� Huh? Oh, sorry Yukonojo. I didn't mean to ramble. It's just that so much has gone wrong in the last couple of days. I can't help thinking that I could have done something to prevent all this. After all, I'm a Galaxy Police person and my job was to watch over the Princess Aeka. And now she's dead and Washu can't fix her and and and.� I have to remain calm. I have to be calm for the commander when he asks me what happened. I know that I'll be reassigned for this, I'm sure of it. I know that there's no reason for me to stay on Earth anymore, so I'll probably be sent to the Batlath system or some other remote place for not doing my job right. I never mean for things to turn out like this, they always just seem to happen, you know? I mean, I could never stop Ryoko and Aeka from fighting, but after awhile I knew that they were just playing around. I never thought they would ever try something as dangerous as the Jenna-Hotaru. I never ever thought Aeka and Ryoko would both die, or that Tenchi would feel so guilty that he would leave. I always thought of Tenchi as my destiny. I know it sounds silly, but I always hoped, somewhere in the back of my mind that he would choose me someday. I knew he wouldn't though. I mean, if he was going to pick, he probably would have picked Aeka or Ryoko, but not me. I was never as close to him as the others were. I was always the ditzy blonde who could never do anything right... Oh darn it! Where did I put that control cube? Huh? Oh, thank you, Yukonojo. What would I do without you? Anyway, I always felt like I was incompetent around them. They were always putting me down and making fun of me, but Tenchi never did. He was always so kind and nice to me that I always used to let myself think he was courting me, but I knew he wasn't. He was one of those kind of people that you never meet anymore. He was an honest to goodness nice guy. He and Sasami always treated me with kindness and I tired to repay that as much as I could. Sasami especially. I mean, she's a princess and I'm just a police officer, but she always treated me like an equal and we always had fun together. She cared about me, she really did, and so did Tenchi. And Washu, she always used to sit and talk with me about this and that and what was going on in the universe down in her lab. We would sit and jabber for hours about the latest criminal cases or the best scientific discoveries, although I could never really follow her too well on the science part of it. I know I will miss them all, and that as soon as I can I'll pay a visit to Sasami and Washu and everyone. I just hope that they will still remember me. Yukonojo, plot a course for the main vessel. It's time to go. *** Ryoko *** The Earth is gone now. I can't distinguish it from the other stars out there. I don't want to. I'm doing this for a reason; I need to get away. I have to. There's nothing left for me on that planet, not even.. Not even Tenchi. I told Ryo-Ohki to just fly. I don't care where she takes us, I just want it to be somewhere far away, where the rain can't fall forever and the friends you make don't die. I know that's just a pipe dream, though. Friends die. Rain falls. You get hurt, but you always have the choice of going on. I've been knocked down countless times in my life, but I've always been able to get back up again. I never look back, I can't afford to. There's always something ahead, but there's also always something to make you turn around. I thought that this was different, that I had found my dream, my never-ending carnival. I thought that life was perfect and that for the first time ever, I was happy. There was no more death, no more hate, No more Daddy. I thought that I had found happiness with people that loved me. I thought that I had found out what love is, and all in the form of a boy. Tenchi. Ryo-Ohki's slowing down now. I can feel it. Her thrusters are slowing to impulse speed. Why? Is there trouble? Is she hurt? What is going on here? "Ryo-Ohki! Why have we slowed? Are you hurt?" Suddenly the screen before me comes alive and I see a ship I never thought I'd see again. It was the Masaki and it is hailing us. I know who it is, it's the Emperor. He wants to confront me about his daughter's death. He wants to blame me for what happened and he's probably right to do so. If I hadn't accepted that challenge in the onsen than none of this would have happened, but I did. And now there's nothing anyone can do. I feel so helpless right now. I feel just like I did back on Kagato's Daddy's ship when he would do his tests on me. I feel like I did when he would beat me for no reason and I wanted to fight back, oh God how I wanted to, but I couldn't because that was wrong and if I did something wrong he would do the bad thing and I I I... NO! Damnit that was 700 years ago! It's over and done with and that bastard's dead now, so drop it Ryoko! Let's see what this bastard wants now. I order Ryo-Ohki to answer the hail and I brace, ready for the onslaught from Emperor Azusa. I expect his eyes to burn into me like two dark slits and his whole body to be shaking with rage, but instead... Instead I see two happy pink orbs blinking at me. Instead of an angry king, I see a freckled face with blue hair and a happy smile peering back from the viewing screen. Sasami. "Hi Ryo-Ohki! Hi Ryoko! I didn't think I'd ever see either one of you again!" A crystal floats beside me and suddenly pops into humanoid form, complete with a little carrot dress. I swear, Ryo-Ohki's cuteness can be almost too sweet to see sometimes. "Myia! Myia Myia!" Ryo-Ohki is jumping up and down now and her eyes are so shiny I think I'm going to go blind. Sasami is giggling on the viewer and I even catch myself starting to grin a bit. "Hi Sasami. I'm sorry we couldn't see you off, but we� We had to leave. I hope you understand." I look into those eyes and I know instantly that I'm forgiven. I look into those eyes and I see why I'm not the same person I was 700 years ago. It was Sasami and the others that taught me what strength is. I don't mean crushing rocks or throwing a plasma ball, that's easy. I'm talking about strength of the soul. They taught me how to love and how to open up. And even now, I feel I'm learning something from her. Look at her. Her entire world has just come crashing down around her, and all it takes is the sight of Ryo-Ohki and myself and she's smiling again. I pray that someday I'm that strong. "It's okay, Ryoko. I know that you wanted to. So where are you two going now?" I take a deep breath and try to draw some strength from her. I try to keep my voice steady. I try to remain Ryoko. I do a decent job, too. "We're just out to see you off, Sasami. I thought, since Ryo-Ohki and I couldn't say goodbye on Earth that we would.." She nods and I look into her eyes. I suddenly see that she's forcing the smile and that tears are welling up, but she won't cry now. No, she'll wait until we can't see her before she breaks down. She wouldn't be much of a princess of she showed emotion, or would she? "Ryoko? Are you and Ryo-Ohki gonna be there when I come back to visit?" I hear a tremor in her voice, and I do the only thing I can. I lie. "Of course we will. Don't you worry, Sasami. Washu and Ryo-Ohki and myself will be there whenever you visit, I promise." Her face lights up again, and in my mind I hear Ryo-Ohki's thoughts. I know that she's scolding me for lying to Sasami, but she keeps quiet about it. Let Sasami have her moment. She needs it. "Yay! I'll come back as soon as I can, okay Ryoko? I'll be there with you and Grandpa and Washu and we can pretend things are just like they were and..." I see her catch herself and now I know she's losing the battle of tears. Behind her I can hear someone coughing and I know it's Azusa. That bastard. Does he have to listen in on this, of all conversations? Sasami straightens up at the sound of his cough, and says, "I have to go now, Ryoko. We have to go back to Jurai." "I know, kid. You take care now, okay? You promise to keep out of trouble?" She smiles at me, and says in a shaky voice, "I'll try Ryoko. Goodbye, Ryo-Ohki! Now you stay out of those carrot fields until Tenchi comes back to plant some more, do you hear me?" Ryo-Ohki gives out a myia and I can tell she doesn't want Sasami to go. I can hear her in my head, screaming for her not to leave. A thousand images suddenly flood my mind, images of Sasami and Ryo-Ohki. I see all the times they had together, all the fun and secrets they shared. I know that Sasami's thinking the same thoughts as well. "Ryo-Ohki? Before I go I want to say I love you very much. You've been like a sister to me, and I'll never forget you. Ryoko? I love you too, and I hope I see you both real soon. You two were always so nice to me and I�I�" "Goodbye Princess Sasami." I bow to her and she bows back. I can see her starting to cry, so I do the only thing I can. I shut off the monitor and turn Ryo-Ohki around. I drop to my knees and just let the tears flow. I can't take it anymore. Her leaving, Tenchi's leaving, Aeka's dying, it's all setting in now. Everything that's happened, up until now I guess I've been trying to convince myself that it's all a bad dream, and that if I just sit and wait, it will all go away. I hug my knees and try to will it all away, but I know it won't happen. I know that I'm alone. No, I'm not. A tiny hand touches my shoulder, and I look up into to shiny, yellow eyes. I pull Ryo-Ohki close and hug her tightly, feeling her body convulse with sobs. The bridge is very quiet now, and the only light is from the stars shining through the dome. We head towards Earth until the Masaki leaves our sensor field and then change course. "Just promise me that you'll never leave me. You hear me, Ryo-Ohki? You're all I've got left." I feel her hug me tighter and I can hear her thoughts in my head. I know that if nothing else, I'll always have someone, no matter what. I know that I'll never be truly alone, not so long as I have my friends to turn to. In my head, I can hear Ryo-Ohki speaking, and as she does, I start to smile. "I love you, Ryoko." *** Washu *** He's still there. I go outside and he's still standing by the lake, staring out at the Funaho. I walk across the wet grass and come to a stop at his side. We don't say anything, we just stand and stare out at the tree in the middle of the lake. It really is something else. Jurain trees are the smoothest, most perfectly shaped plants one could ever hope to see. No science could produce something as beautiful or as complex as that. No, that was a work of magic. "Did you take care of everything inside?" I nod. I know instantly that he knows what I've done. I don't know how, but he seems to always know exactly what I'm about to do. No matter how outrageous it may be, he can always second-guess me, and for the life of me I can't figure out how. "It's done." He turns at the sound of my voice. It's deeper, more adult. He turns and I see his eyebrow raise in either surprise or interest, or maybe a little of both. "I see you've shed your disguise." He turns his gaze back towards the water. I do the same. I could start to ramble on about why I did it and the possible consequences. I could present theories and facts about how ironic it is that a 20,000 year old being was in the body of a 12-year-old. I could act exactly like a Little Washu should. But I'm not Little Washu anymore. "When will you, Katsuhito?" He sighs, and out of the corner of my eye I see him tense slightly. An aura of light surrounds him and when it vanishes, I see him. The real him. I see Yosho the way he looked when he was younger, when he was still a Jurain. I see a young man with strength in his body and wisdom in his eyes. I know that we're the last. I know that the others won't ever come back. Eventually Mihoshi will forget about us, Sasami will grow up and Ryoko... I don't know what will happen to Ryoko. They may visit once or twice, but come back? Never again. That chapter of our lives is closed. We played out our roles and now it's time to move on. They all have their whole lives ahead of them, lives that have no place for people like Yosho and myself. They will go on throughout the universe, but we, we will remain here. And why? Well, for Yosho, this is his home. He had his time among the stars, and he choose to leave it all behind. This is his life now, and this is how he wants it to remain until he dies. As for me? I've been alive 20,000 years. I've seen more than I ever hoped to, and all the while I wanted more. Now, after everything that's happened, I think I've had my fill. It's time for me to stop hoarding life and to start enjoying it. I lean against him, and I feel him put an arm around me. It's been several thousand years since I've opened up to someone, but now I think I'm ready to try, at least for one moment in time. I know he doesn't love me, and that's okay. I don't love him. We just happen to be two old souls who wound up together, and that's good enough for now. If something ever comes of it, I wouldn't mind, but for now... For now, I am content. I look across the water, and then my eye catches a glimmer. A ray of sun peeks through the clouds and hits the surface of the lake, causing it to sparkle. As we stand and watch, I see the clouds slowly starting to break up. After two days, the storm is finally over. I rest my head on his shoulder, and realize that for the first time in my life, I have no idea of what will happen next. I realize that I can't theorize about the future anymore than I could change the past. For the first time in my life, I'm about to head into the great unknown, but I know that as long as I have my strength, and as long as he has his, then I'll never have to fear it. I close my eyes, and ask him a question. I know we don't know the answer, and right now, I don't really care. "So what happens now?" ***** Tenchi and Co belong to AiC and Pioneer All C@C to BGlanders@aol.com