Haunting Dreams, Sobering Reality: Chapter XXVI

By Takeda Kenji

"Just breathe, Tenchi-sama."

It was around this time that Tenchi realized that being an Emperor wasn't all fun and games. It was serious business. It was also heartbreaking work and Tenchi found himself in the unpleasant position where he had to disagree with Ayeka. It was a disconcerting thing, he found as he sat on his throne, hunched over, face buried in his hands. Not crying, he rather takes slow deep breaths. Ayeka stood over him, gently rubbing his back.

"Tell me why this must be, Ayeka-san..."

"Because you became king," she said, invoking the truth.

"You were the kingmaker who made me Emperor…" Tenchi rebutted.

"No, I don't believe I can take credit for that," Ayeka replied somewhat annoyedly. "Tsunami would have to be that one…"

"It's wrong. It's utterly wrong," Tenchi whispered.

"I know, koishii," was all Ayeka could say as she knelt before him and kissed his face.

"There's no excuse for it," Tenchi said in a very small voice, finding himself pacified by Ayeka's sweet breath and soft lips.

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Because you won," she said, harking back to the logic previously invoked. It didn't help Tenchi's conscience.

"Ayeka, this is different from anything else I've ever done. Fighting in a battle, going to war, these are all difficult things and yet this is..." he paused for a moment, considering his words. "You're asking me to sign a death warrant; to enact proscription."

"Yes, I am."

"It's wholesale slaughter."

"Indeed it is, Husband."

"Run me through it again..."

"Husband, we've been through it."

Tenchi straightened up and looked to her, his eyes brooking no room for argument. "Please, Ayeka. Just run through it again for me, please."

"Very well, Husband. Before you, a secret order to enact a Proscription against one hundred individuals found to be guilty of treason."

"Yes. That much I understand. Why not try them? We're better than them, Ayeka. Why not show that to the rest of the Empire? We arrest them and put them on trial. If found guilty by a jury of their peers, they're under a death sentence anyhow."

"Because, Ousama, these men cannot see the light of day ever again."

"Why? Are we so fragile that we can't –"

"Yes. That's exactly it."

"That's unacceptable to me."

Ayeka walked over to Tenchi's desk, before picking up a stack of 100 files. For emphasis, she dropped it and let it thud against the desk. "Tenchi-sama, if the public were to learn of this...some of the names in here are so inflammatory that we'd be dealing with a major backlash."

"How's the public supposed to feel when it learns that a secret murder squad is murdering citizens?"

"Not a murder squad, just Ryoko."

Tenchi simply looked at Ayeka, "you would subject Ryoko to that?" he asked, the blood draining from his face.

"Ryoko is a surprisingly good killer—"

"There's nothing surprising about it!" Tenchi roared, his face reddened before he closed his mouth and considered his next words more carefully. When he continued, his voice was calmer. "what *is* surprising is your complete willingness to put the blood of Juraians on her hands. Because you know, it isn't like she hasn't had enough of that..."

"She's not being controlled and she's not murdering innocents."

"She's murdering people who haven't been presumed innocent until proven guilty."

"Tenchi, who do you think put together these files?" Ayeka asked, her voice the quintessence of cool.

"Ryoko..." Tenchi breathed, his face frozen in a picture of horrified understanding.

"Indeed," Ayeka whispered gently, "I could call her if it would reassure you..."

Responding to his nod, Ayeka pressed a button on the intercom. Ryoko walked in, the first question from her lips: "This is about the proscription?" Off of Ayeka's nod, "Tenchi, I compiled the list. I collected the evidence, and I will be more than happy to be the one to carry out my orders," Ryoko explained gently.

"Even if the orders include murder?"

"It's not murder, Tenchi, it's Tenchu: divine punishment."

"It's murder in cold blood."

"Sanctioned by the state..."

Tenchi turns to her. "I have not signed off on this!" he snapped sharply.

"You will not?" Ayeka asked, completely unfazed.

"I don't know how I could...this is…" Tenchi trailed off.

"What needs to be done. Darling, we told you this job was going to be difficult," Ryoko whispered, reaching for Tenchi.

Tenchi jerked his hand away. "You didn't tell me I'd have to forsake my moral judgement!" Silence. Tenchi got up from his chair and walked over to the table where he began to peruse through the files, taking his time and examining names, dates, and faces. Looking up at the two, his face was hard set with the slight permeation of a scowl. "There's no doubt as to the guilt of these men?"

"None whatsoever," came Ayeka's swift reply.

Tenchi walked over the window, the sunlight gently painting his face with light. It's was a fascinating visual dichotomy: a troubled, deeply frowning king with the beautiful beams of sun warming his face with serenity. "These are one of those moments where a man is tested and the strength of his character is tested. If I succumb to your will, Ayeka, not only would I be abandoning my sense of right and wrong - I'd be exposing the Royalty to a scandal.

"Can you see it: 'Tenchi Masaki: hero or butcher?' That would be the question the ordinary people ask themselves as they go about their little lives. They wouldn't know why I had these men killed...and more importantly, they wouldn't care. Neither would the historians. I'd be marked as a highwayman, killing those and seizing their money. Little more than a common thief, if you think about it. No. I'm not that man. You mean well, Ayeka, but I cannot let you take me down that path. That's not who we are. We're better than that and we'd be losing faith in the Juraian people if we thought they couldn't handle this. However, I do understand the wisdom of these words you speak.

"Which is why we'll have a compromise: we'll try these men by military tribunal. They'll have the best representation possible and we'll put our most skilled prosecutors to the task. Everyone will be sworn to secrecy. Ayeka, you'll be responsible for the organization of this task. Ryoko, I want these men captured quickly and quietly. There's no way a hundred of the most influential people in Jurai can disappear without questions being asked. We'll have to weather it; it's the price of doing business. I'm sure between the six of us; we can come up with some pretty inventive lies." Tenchi finished, his nascent understanding of implications dawning upon him. It was an impressive thing; to see the young Emperor slowly formulate the execution of kingly policy.

"A lie, Tenchi-sama, when only seconds ago we were talking about morality?" Ayeka said, with a smirk, "how ironic…"

"Apples and oranges, Ayeka-san."

"Well, you kids seem to have this wrapped all well and good. I have a lot of work to get to..." Ryoko said, walking over to Tenchi and kissing him soundly. "Be safe," she whispered against his lips.

"And you…" he whispered back.

Ryoko teleported away, missing another one of Ayeka's smirks. Tenchi turned to Ayeka and noticed the look on her face. "What?" he inquired.

"A wise decision, Tenchi-sama."

"Thank you."

"Yet you sought the middle ground. A compromise between terror of proscription and the pacifistic trial in broad daylight."

"Yes. Let us hope that will be enough..." Tenchi whispered. By Tsunami's name, he hoped it would be enough.

A/N: This is a day late, you can thank a statistics test. The Wedding subseries within HDSR will continue but I wanted to take a moment to frame some momentary conflict and perhaps foreshadow to a bigger problem. This is a dialogue heavy update as basically what I've done for some of the updates is write the chapter in scriptwriting software in script format and 'transliterate' it (if you will) into novel format. That's why some of the updates have more dialogue than the others. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review after reading and as always, enjoy!

Cheers!