(All characters in this story originated with AIC/Pioneer. No, Chan, they aren't mine!)

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Tenchi Masaki dutifully swept the flagstones of the family shrine. It was a calm day, a beautiful day, and he patiently applied himself to the task, as he had since he was old enough to hold a broom.

Perhaps it was the soft scratching of the bristles against the stone, or perhaps it was because his mind was drifting that Tenchi failed to notice the visitor until he was already past the entrance. The boy looked up with surprise. he called out, immediately regretting his rudeness. The shrine-keeper was very insistent when it came to good manners.

Tenchi bowed low. Welcome to Masaki Shrine, Honored Visitor!

Thank you. the newcomer said simply. Tenchi looked up at the young man. The visitor was scarcely five years older than Tenchi. He wore an American bomber jacket, jeans, and a white tee. His hair was very. very long, reaching down his back in a ponytail. The glasses the visitor wore gave him an intellectual demeanor. You're Tenchi, aren't you? he asked.

This startled the teenager. Y-yes! Yes, I am! But before he could ask how the stranger knew his name, Tenchi heard the shrine office door slide open. Quickly, he bowed again, as if he had been honoring the guest all along.

Tenchi stayed down, listening to the soft footfalls of the elderly shrine-keeper. Host and guest both remained silent, and Tenchi could only stand there, bent over and sweating. Finally, when he could take it no longer he lifted himself just enough to again look at the guest.

The young man looked sullen, if not angry. Tenchi wondered what it was about a simple back-country shrine that could generate such a brooding attitude. Some how, he knew the person standing behind him returned the suspicion and mistrust.

You didn't waste time getting here, said the shrine-keeper in a full, round voice.

Hello, Grandmother, said the stranger.

He knows Grandmother! thought Tenchi. And he knows me, somehow? Who is this guy? Why are they so tense?

He turned to look at the ancient shrine-keeper. Old was the perfect word. She must be nearly one hundred, if not past that milestone. Her body, once tall, now stooped over a rough black walking stick. Her hair, once gray, was now pure white, and there was a lot of it, bound tightly behind her head in an enormous bun. Decades indoors had left her face pale, and with few wrinkles, but the ones she did have were deep and prominent, especially at the corners of her eyes. Disdaining any make-up, her mouth was a frog-like slit. But her deep brown eyes had suffered none of time's ravages; They were bright and they were sharp and they could cut through appearances and deceptions like a sharp and pampered blade.

Those eyes mocked the visitor's mistrust.

I see you've met Tenchi, here, she said. Tenchi, meet Yosho, a distant cousin of ours. He's your new teacher in sword fighting.

Both young men looked at her in surprise.

A new swordmaster? Hey that's great! It will be an honor to train with you, Master Yosho!

said Yosho. I see Grandmother saw fit to make this a surprise!

Yeah! She does that! Tenchi was very eager. I haven't had any new training since the last master left three months ago. What style do you favor?

It's ... my own style, I guess you could say.

It's called, Jurai,' Tenchi, said Grandmother, ignoring another hard look from Yosho, or perhaps enjoying it. Now, go down to the house and make sure everything is perfect for our new guest.

But wouldn't Dad ..?

I didn't ask your father, Tenchi. I asked you!

Tenchi hunched his shoulders a bit. Yes, ma'am! He set down his broom, and took off at a run. The others waited until he was well down the stairs leading to Masaki house, then Yosho turned to the shrine-keeper.

I see you're still manipulating people! he said.

Grandmother waved an arm. Can I manipulate you into helping me sit down? He stepped forward, firmly grasped her arm and helped her sit. Ah, much better! Thank you! You wouldn't be so easy to manipulate if you just stopped being a gentleman, you know!

The man ignored this. So, that's my grandson! I like the idea that I'm to train him, but that's not what your message said! It said ..

He will be here in less than three months, Yosho. Kagato will be here, and Tenchi must know the Jurian High Style by then! He's a great student, and he soaks up sword fighting like a sponge!

That's ridiculous! No one can master the High Style in three months! And even if he did, the Master Key is lost! What good will knowing the High Style be without the Key to channel his power? Assuming he even has the power of Jurai!

Oh, he has the power, Yosho! You'll find that out, and soon! And we only have three months, if that! Kagato will be here, and Tenchi is our one surprise!

You have no proof of that! You can't know he's coming! You don't know if he's still alive! And you don't even know it was Kagato who took control over Ryoko! There were all sorts of possibilities back then! Any number of powerful people! It could have been Hasid, or Clay, or Pastramis, or Washu!

Well, Yosho, if you hadn't killed the only person who could tell us for certain, then I suppose we could be sure who was responsible. However, I am very willing to believe the records kept by my branch of the family. Your own ship tree, Funaho, spoke to your descendants, Yosho. She told them the name, Kagato. The Masakis have dutifully considered him the enemy for seven hundred years, even as they dutifully set up this shrine and watched over you, as you slept those seven hundred years healing from your fight with the Demon Caller. I'm sorry, but I believe it's Kagato. He is coming.

Then I will fight him, said Yosho with anger.

Then you will lose! The old woman shook her head. Even after being out of that cave for forty years, you haven't gained a moment of maturity, have you, boy? Think! Use your head, why don't you?

I guess I'm just too ignorant to understand what you see so clearly, ancient one!

Grandmother Masaki sighed. Then understand this, my prince!

Ryoko ravaged client worlds and colonies of your superior Jurian Empire. She did so under the control of someone else, letting go who for the moment.

interrupted Yosho. She was definitely under some form of mental control. It was perhaps the only advantage we had over her.

And yet she beat everything Jurai threw at her. That's when you decided that it would take a prince to stop her! You set out in pursuit. And it was then, and only then, that she headed out into the frontier! She wasn't afraid of the Jurian fleet, yet she was afraid of one man? Really!

Perhaps I had some power over her I didn't know of! I did destroy her, after all!

She closed her eyes and gave a deeper sigh of frustration. She didn't fear you! She couldn't fear you! She was under control, remember? So why did she run, eh? Why did she lure you out beyond Jurai's ability to help you? Give that some thought, your Highness!

She squinted into the sun. Too late to start today. Better to start tomorrow. Help me up! He did so. Everything to your liking at the house?

Yes, Grandmother. Nobiyuki was fairly cold. Perhaps it would have been better not have told him the truth about me.

Which truth, Yosho? That you're over seven hundred years old? That you came here to destroy a demon-woman, only to fall yourself in the battle? That you were the Demon locked under Masaki Shrine, sleeping for all that time until I released you over forty years ago?

The truth that my alien background may have been responsible for Achika's untimely death, said Yosho in a soft, dangerous voice.

The mention of Yosho's daughter took the edge off the old woman's tongue. Yes, well, he loved his wife very much. As did we all. As did we all. He finds it easier to blame aliens than to think his perfect love was killed by influenza. I suppose he'll be staying in his apartment in town while you're here. Actually, that works out. Better there were no non-combatants here, when the time comes.

Yosho stepped back into the yard. Yes. Well, it's been some time. I think I'll have a look around, if you don't mind. I'll see you at dinner, then?

Yes. At dinner, Yosho.

It was with hard eyes that she watched him leave the shrine, even as it was with hard eyes she quietly watched him some twenty minutes later walk up to a giant tree at the heart of a sheltered grove. Impatiently, she waited, hidden in the bushes, as Yosho stood, hand upon the rough trunk, communing with the tree that was much more than a tree. Finally, the man from alien Jurai dropped his hand, and left his Jurian companion behind.

When she was certain he was gone, Grandmother Masaki left her hiding place and also approached. The tree was massive, and incredibly ancient. It sat in a bit of a bog, standing water about its roots. stepping stones the only safe way to reach it. The woman stood much as Yosho had, one hand upon the tree.

Please, Funaho, she said, grant me what you denied him. Please, old friend, it's truly begun.