PRINCESS, PIRATE, POLICEWOMAN, WIFE...

Author: Daferge

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! is copyright AIC/Pioneer Ltd.

All respective characters are property of their original owners. All original characters and ideas are property of the author.

Chapter 28....

( Jurai Royal Palace...)

A large number of men, High Lords of the Jurai Empire, were sitting around the large, long table in the middle of the huge room...

They were talking, chatting and arguing among themselves...

This was the Juraian Royal Council, which had been called together in the Royal Council Room for an emergency meeting...

Lady Misaki Jurai, second Queen of Jurai, sat in the only padded chair ( there was a very good reason for that ), which was usually reserved for the Emperor, but since he was off planet, she was going to have to be the one who had to put up with all these idiots today...

Normally it would be Lady Funaho, who was the Minister of Intelligence and Inspector General of Information, who had to put up with this, but Azusa had wanted her to join him when he visited the Juraian Military Academy and the next meeting of the council wasn't to have been until he was back...

It was something that one of the nearby lords said that caught her attention...

" Lord Negon... You were saying?... "

Being less than 300 years old, Lord Negon was not only the youngest member of the council, but the newest, as his father had recently gotten fed up with the council and turned his seat over to his oldest son as soon as he came of age...

Already, Lord Negon was beginning to look forward to HIS son coming of age...

He turned to the first Queen, two chairs down...

" Your Majesty!!... I was just wondering what the Crown Prince had done now that had Lord Nagato so upset... "

They both looked down the table at an elderly, snow-haired lord who was the center of a number of other elderly lords, all who were discussing this, that or the other...

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Lord Nagato was the head of one of the other major families that shared what was known as Royal blood or pure Juraian blood lines...

Almost every one within the Juraian Empire had at least some percent of it, but only those with one hundred percent were considered PURE or of the ROYAL blood and Nagato was the leader of those who, because of that blood line, felt they could openly speak out against any of the Emperor's new policies...

And, of course, those few had a bad habit of looking down on every one else, in fact, MOST of the upper classes had developed that that point view...

Azusa was Emperor because his family had, long ago, proved that it was the most powerful, thus having the right to have JURAI at the end of their name and no one since had managed to successfully challenge that right, at least not openly...

His family name was Masaki, it was a rather large family and not ALL of it's members were of PURE blood...

Lord Nagato had been a major pain in Azusa's father's side and when Azusa had ascended to the throne, he had become Azusa's pain...

From the very beginning, Lord Nagato had looked down on Lady Funaho when Azusa had announced that she was to be his wife, because she wasn't from Jurai...

Later he had caused such an uproar that Azusa had been forced to take Lady Misaki, who was of full Juraian blood, as a second wife...

Funaho and Misaki had realized early in this union, that if they didn't work together and support their new husband, he could not only lose his title, but perhaps even his life...

Misaki didn't like Lord Nagato, but she had learn to followed Funaho's example and to just ignore him as much as possible...

She knew that although Funaho may seem to ignore him, that was only because in her special posts, she was in a position to have others keep an eye on him and any others who might pose a threat to their husband...

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In later years, after Yosho's birth, Lord Nagato had openly opposed Yosho's being named Crown Prince, even though he became the Empire's most famous swordsman and was next in line for the throne, all because of his non-Jurai blood...

It was only after Ayeka's birth that he seem to let up, some, on Azusa and with Sasami's birth, he even begun to hint of a possible marriage to some one with pure blood...

However, the announcement of Ayeka's engagement to Yosho had messed up his plans to put forth some one from his family as her husband...

And then Ryoko's surprise attack on Jurai had forced those plans to be tossed out the windows...

After Yosho took off, in pursuit of Ryoko, Lord Nagato thought he might have another chance to get Azusa to reconsider his relative for Ayeka...

However, in the aftermath of the attack, it turned out that the young man in question had been in charge of the Juraian defence fleet during Ryoko's attack and he was willing to accepted full responsibility, offering his resignation...

Azusa, upon Funaho's advice, had refused to accept it and had him put his new experience to work for the Empire, rebuilding the Home Defences...

Eventually, Ayeka's request to set out in search of Yosko helped to defuse the situation for the next 700 years...

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THEN!!!...

Tenchi had let Ryoko out and the universe had been turned upside down...

Especially when it was discovered that not only was Prince Yosho still alive, but that he had a Grandson whom he had been training to be Crown Prince...

Azusa hadn't been happy, due to the the fact that his new Great-Grandson had even less Juraian Blood than Yosho, which promised to be an even BIGGER political headaches for him...

However, Tenchi's destruction of the greatly feared, Eternally Most Wanted criminal Kagato, his defeat of Dr. Clay and the sudden appearance of Lighthawk Wings, had all helped improve a lot of people's views of Tenchi, even Azusa's...

When Tenchi had been KILLED, Misaki was surprised at all the different reactions...

Even Azusa's, after all those centuries they'd been together, she had learn how to detect those micro signs...

It had not been as apparent as others, especially Ayeka and Ryoko, who's cries were heard and felt clear across the Empire, but it had been there...

And since his return and it's many side effects, she had seen Tenchi's popularity soar to the stars and opinions held for centuries being changed...

Being Pure Blooded just wasn't that important any more, except for a very few...

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It seem that people were beginning to say, " If the Crown Prince can do it, Maybe I can do it too... "...

Reports were coming in from around the Empire about citizens stepping up and helping those who were in need...

Even Lady Seto had reported that the number of Pirate crews had dropped and that although it still existed, it was no where near what it was before Tenchi had appeared...

Being a Space Pirate had always been dangerous, but when the feared infamous Space Pirate Ryoko returned after a 700 years absence, became a Juraian Princess AND announced that she would defend Jurai, a lot of crews began to have second thoughts...

Then the notorious Pirate Hunter, GP Detective first class Mihoshi Kuramitsu, joined Ryoko and First Princess Ayeka Jurai in marriage to the Crown Prince, and Space Pirating suddenly got to be far TOO dangerous as an occupation...

Although there were a number of those who were still willing to take their chances, some decided to retire, while others had joined the newly created Juraian Border Patrol which offered royal pardons to crews willing to be put their past experiences, in space, to work defending the Empire's Border...

Lady Seto, who tended to revel in chasing down Space Pirates, was getting bored...

Of late, it wasn't PIRATES she had been chasing down, it was RAIDERS, who had even more powerful ships and didn't operate like Pirates...

Pirates tended to hit and rob, while Raiders tended to hit and DESTROY...

Pirates had certain types of targets they would go after, Raider's targets could be just about any where or any thing...

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As Lady Misaki looked down the table, half way down she was able to see the very upset Lord Nagato...

She tried to think back to something Tenchi might have done of late...

The only thing involving Tenchi, that came to mind, would be the return of Lord and Lady Tanaka's long missing 14 year old son, Keiichi...

Lady Tanaka had not only been a close friend, but also a member of the Masaki family...

The news of her death, about 10 years ago, along with that of her husband and son, had caused Misaki great sorrow...

Her eyes began to narrow, as she considered that there might be a possible connection...

Thus it was that when Lord Nagato happen to glance up, he found Queen Misaki looking directly at him...

And something in the way she was looking at him sent chills down his spine...

Remembering her famous strength, the possibility of getting her mad suddenly sounded like a very bad idea...

Perhaps he should have waited until the Emperor had returned before trying to complain about Princess Ryoko...

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( In the Badlands... )

GP Detective third class Rodger Kuramitsu sat in the special chair in the corner of the Bar office when the men in black forced their way in...

The owner, known as Old Sam, turned to face the intruders...

" What do you want?... "

In his long life Sam had always found it difficult to back down when trouble raised it's ugly head...

He'd even stood firm when Kagato had showed up, only Ryoko's intervention had saved his life...

He wasn't about to start backing down now...

The special chair Kuramitsu was sitting in had been created by Washu and therefore was VERY unusual...

In this case, it had taken the person sitting in it out of phase with the rest of the room, so, while he could see what was going on, no one could see or touch him...

And so it was that he had to watch while the men, whom he believed to be Raiders, began to question Sam and they weren't being polite about it...

He could only hoped that his cousin, Mihoshi got there soon...

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( Deep in space... )

Tenchi sat back in the control seat on Ryo-ohki's bridge, looking at the screen, watching the stars zipping by...

Everything was very quiet, the girls were asleep and he found that looking at the stars was very relaxing...

Suddenly he sensed something, something he'd recently noticed and come to recognize, he smiled...

" Shouldn't you be getting some rest, Ryoko?... "

He turned to find Ryoko standing several feet away, her mouth open, holding her robe closed...

Smiling, he stood, walked over to her and lifting his hand to her chin to close her mouth...

" How?... "

He couldn't help sighing...

He leaned closer, gently kissed her on the cheek and whispered...

" When you get really emotional, you radiate... So much, that I can feel it... "

Ryoko shook her head, once again Tenchi amazed her...

She looked at the screen...

" How long before we get there?... "

It was Ryo-ohki who answered...

About 10 hours...

Ryoko giggled and Tenchi began to worry...

" Plenty of time!!!... "

Smiling, she put a hand on each of Tenchi's shoulders before he could move, allowing her robe to fall open and they both vanished...

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( Washu's Lab... )

Washu had felt Ryoko's surprised emotions as she was caught by Tenchi...

She had been sensing that something was happening with Tenchi...

Since they'd gotten to Jurai, she had felt some very odd reactions from Ryoko, ALL having to do with Tenchi...

From what she could determine, Tenchi was beginning to sense Ryoko's emotions, just as she could, was he forming a connection too?...

This was a development she hadn't expected...

She was wondering if he might also begin to make similar connections with Ayeka and Mihoshi?...

She couldn't help smiling as her favorite little Guinea Pig surprised her again...

This meant she was going to have to set up some special test for him when they got home from this latest mission...

After some thought, she decided she would have to include Ryoko, Ayeka and Mihoshi in those tests...

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( Jurai Military Academy... )

The two young female cadets were late getting to class and so they were running down the hall ways of the Academy, something they shouldn't be...

And so, as they rounded the corner, the two collided with someone who was coming the other way...

The person was tall and very well dressed...

The two stunned girls would have fallen down, if a pair of very strong arms hadn't caught them...

" Ahh...mumm!!... "

Both girls turned their heads to find an elegantly dressed Juraian lady standing across the hallway, smiling at them...

It took a few moments, but the girl's eyes widened as they recognized her..

Lady Funaho Masaki Jurai, the First Queen of Jurai and the Great-grandmother of Crown Prince Tenchi Masaki...

With the greatest reluctance, the two then looked up to see who it was who had prevented them from falling...

Behind a full beard, were a pair of bright eyes and a VERY familiar face...

Azusa Masaki Jurai, Emperor of the mighty Juraian Empire and the most powerful person in the Galaxy...

" You must be Mayu and Haruko!!! "

Azusa watched as both girl's eyes rolled back into their heads and they fainted...

Across the hall Funaho smiled and tried very hard to keep a straight face...

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( Galaxy Police Headquarters... )

The Grand Marshal looked at the report that Washu had sent...

Young Kuramitsu was being chased by Raiders within the Badlands...

He was safe for the moment, Tenchi and the girls were on their way...

The Grand Marshal smiled, Ryo-ohki, Tenchi, Ayeka, Ryoko and Mihoshi were equal to a large GP or Juraian task force...

But he had also noticed that although Washu had not explained how his officer was being protected, she said he was safe and if she said he was safe, he WAS...

But that brought up the reason that he was being chased...

The Raiders were going to a great deal of trouble for just a rookie officer...

There had to be something they weren't seeing...

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After re-examining the reports from the past several days, he decided he needed to have young Rodger report back to Headquarters...

Something said that this was something very important...

He had that gut feeling that had saved him countless times...

He started to sent orders out that young Rodger was to report back to Headquarter as soon as he could start back...

But after second thoughts, he prepared a request to Washu to try and discover what was going on...

Although Pirate activite was down, Raider activite was increasing...

First there was that ambush of the GP Task Force and then there was the assault on the Juraian cruiser carrying all those cadets from the Juraian Military Academy, who were mostly from the upper classes of the Juraian families...

The Raiders were getting bolder and even more violent...

Wheels were in motion and if he didn't watch out, they were going to roll right over them ALL...

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( A GP fast courier above Jurai... )

Detective first class Kiyone Tanaka stared out the window at the planet below...

She could see it, but she still didn't believe it...

Only a short time before, she had been at GP headquarters, working just like she had for the past three years...

Then the Crown Prince of Jurai finds the younger brother she had thought dead...

After spending an hour or more talking with him, the Grand Marshall, himself, informs her that she and her brother are related to the Royal family through their mother...

Shortly there after that, she found herself aboard the fastest courier the GP had, headed to Jurai...

And within a short time, she found herself here, above her mother's home planet...

Her thought was interrupted by a message to bucket up for landing...

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A short time later, she exited the courier...

A young couple stood alone on the platform, both dressed in very elegant Jurai garments...

It was only when she got closer that she recognized the male as her little brother...

Her years of training and control, broke, she rushed forward and hugged the only family she had in the universe...

He held her tight and it took her a while to realize it was her sobs she was hearing...

She barely heard the giggling behind her...

" So, Kei... I take it, this is YOUR big sister?... "

The voice sounded familiar, but her brother came first...

" From what little I saw of her, I think so... "

More giggling, she still didn't care...

" I know, Ayeka is like that every time we're apart too long... Now she's got Tenchi and the others to worry about... "

Bells started to ring, Ayeka, Tenchi?...

Turning her head, she discovered a young girl with light blue hair in two pony tails, red eyes and a very big smile...

Princess Sasami Masaki Jurai...

" Welcome to the family, Kiyone... "

To be continued...

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