Credits: Tenchi Muyo!/No Need For Tenchi is a product of Pioneer/AIC.
As such, I'm getting no compensation for writing this fiction other
than my own enjoyment, because the thought of getting sued is rather
unpleasant.
Mr. Long T. Tran for his "Tenchi Muyo: Ryoko's Love Prologue"
story line, parts one, two, and three, and the characters created
therein. His fiction can be found at GenSao's excellent Tenchi Muyo
Fan Fiction Page: http://www.tmffa.com
Disclaimer: All characters *I* have created are purely a work of fiction. Any
resemblance to persons living or dead is pure coincidence. Anyone
who thinks otherwise is probably just itching for a fight. Also, please
do not try and distribute this story in some lame attempt to make a
buck; it would be bad karma to say the least.
Tenchi Muyo!
"No Need For Sasami"
A Fan-Fiction by Michael McAvoy
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I -
I took the road less traveled by,
And it has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost
The road less traveled by is probably that way for a reason.
-- Anonymous
-* Chapter Two *-
Did I mention that I am somewhat newly independently wealthy?
Well, regardless of my current financial worth, I still fret a lot over how I
spend my money. Being the product of my parents that I am, I was instilled
with a "save now, play later" philosophy from an early age. As a result, I
tend to be somewhat thrifty when I can help it. I am not one of those types
who will drive twenty miles to save fifteen cents, but I am close. I even
still clip coupons on Sundays before I go to the grocery store; I figure that
little habits like that will allow me to 'play' longer.
So, with this in mind, I was somewhat in shock over the costs of
items in Japan. I can use hotels as a perfect example: if you've ever driven
across the United States of America, you are aware that for about thirty five
to forty dollars, you can get a decent and clean hotel room in just about any
town, no matter how far off the beaten path you are. If you are looking for a
little more comfort, you can spend about sixty dollars and get a fairly plush
room for an evening from a host of hotel chains out there. And if you are a
really big spender, one hundred dollars or more will get you something of the
resort nature quite easily. In Japan, it's a bit different. For example, I
was spending the equivalent of about sixty U.S. dollars a night to sleep in a
Spartan Japanese equivalent of a European youth hostel. Anything even remotely
more lavish would quickly have run me into the two hundred dollar range per
night. Similarly extrapolate price increases to everything else in Japan, and
you get a pretty fair picture of the cost of living here.
Then again, I did not come to Japan to critique the economic
differences from what I was used to. Actually, I was not exactly sure why I
came to Japan. My official excuse was as I had explained to the lady in the
airport; I simply was a tourist exploring a country for a few weeks.
Observing my rather non-detailed schedule of things to see, however, I quickly
realized that most of my destinations were old temples, shrines, and other
natural or historic sights, some well off the beaten trail. I had allowed for
a few days of rest in Tokyo, mainly to reset my internal clock and recoup from
the stresses of air travel. I *was* terribly interested to see what a
mega-city like Tokyo would be like, and I was not disappointed at all. In
fact, how a city so large can keep its streets so clean mystified me entirely.
However, I knew from the day I started planning my trip, I really
wanted to see outside the big cities and explore the smaller towns and country
side places. Perhaps this was to enjoy a bit of travel that was quiet
enough to let me do some inner searching of myself, away from the brightly lit
distractions that cities offer. At any rate, three days was enough to get my
mind and body as one again and head out of Tokyo for the lesser populated
areas.
Heading anywhere in Japan usually means traveling by train or bus
for foreigners and natives alike. After all, city traffic is very congested,
renting a car is *very* expensive, and trying to understand traffic signs is
all but impossible if you can not read kanji. Traveling by train and bus was
much safer, I concluded, for both myself and the unfortunate motorist I would
have probably ended up plowing into had I decided to rent a vehicle.
I wound up purchasing a special, multi-use, extended duration train
pass while I was still in America. For some reason the pass had to be
purchased before I came to Japan, but once I started using it, I could not deny
the practicality of train travel here. It was somewhat crowded while I was
still in the city, but gained more elbow room as the train got away from Tokyo.
A note of advice that I received from a frequent traveler to Japan:
never, ever, under any circumstances, travel by train in Japan during national
holidays, especially at the New Year. Everyone in Japan who can closes up
shop and travels by train somewhere for the holidays. I can not vouch for how
hectic it really is, but to hear it described, you would think people must be
stacked in on each other length wise to accommodate all the holiday travelers.
At any rate, this was *not* one of those times, thankfully, and I was
making good progress out of the city. By late afternoon I had departed the
train at one of the more 'remote' stations, and had eventually caught a bus to
a smaller town some forty miles further away. I departed the bus at a town
station, and proceeded to locate a tiny inn I knew to be in the area.
Actually, I had made reservations at this tiny traditional looking inn weeks
before. As small as this little operation was, they had their own English
translated web page describing how wonderful it was to stay there. I wondered
if I was the first foreigner ever to have made use of it. Maybe the owner was
just a big fan of the Internet and made the page more for personal fun than
anything else. I never bothered to find out.
Making my way through the town, it took about forty five minutes to
walk to the inn, toting my suitcase and backpack, but I managed to make it
before the sun went down. Heading up the walkway to the inn, all the classic
Japanese goldfish pools and tiny gardens surrounding the building were just as
the web page had promised. Actually, the inn looked quite a bit larger on the
Web than in real life, but John Wayne had a similar quality with regards to his
apparent height in movies, so I figured it probably did not matter much in the
grand scheme of things. Ignoring yet another in a series of little protests
from a muscle in my lower back, I shuffled up to the inn's front door and went
inside for the evening.
* * *
Ryoko was known to have, on occasion, something of a short
attention span. In fact, she would be the first to admit that anything shiny,
unusual, or having the slightest hint excitement would be enough to instantly
yank her away from just about anything else she might be engaged in at the
time. While marriage, motherhood, and reincarnation and definitely had a
mellowing effect on her personality, Ryoko's eyes still frequently shone with a
feral gleam on a regular basis whenever she felt a particular itch to satisfy
some curiosity or agenda that intrigued her.
That was why the onetime pirate/demon was moving about the
kitchen just before lunch time with a look of calculated purpose on her face.
Opening and closing numerous drawers, cabinets, and even the refrigerator
several times, Ryoko proceeded to pack a decent sized wicker basket filled
with food and drink. Outside, the sun was bright overhead, with plenty of
fluffy clouds broken across the sky to keep the day from being uncomfortably
hot. Ryoko stopped by the sink, leaned forward, and peered through the
curtains outside.
'Perfect,' she thought, 'this couldn't get any better if I had Washu
generating the weather for me.'
Thinking of her mother brought Ryoko up short, lips pursed.
'It might not be a bad idea to bring Washu along,' she mused to
herself. 'Certainly, if this is going to work, Washu could be invaluable as
help.'
The more she thought about it, the more the notion appealed to her.
Ryoko looked over her shoulder from the sink to see her husband walk inside
with a bushel full of carrots, a glassy-eyed Ryo-ohki trailing hot on his
heels. Tenchi set the carrots down on a counter and eyed the wicker basket
with a smile.
"Here're the carrots you asked for. That picnic basket looks like a
wonderful way to spend an afternoon," he said, looking outside. "Where are
we spending it?"
"*We* aren't spending it anywhere," Ryoko replied primly. "This is
for Sasami, so she will hopefully climb out of whatever has been bothering her
this past week."
"Oh," said Tenchi thoughtfully. "I didn't realize she hadn't been
feeling well lately."
Ryoko turned and walked up to him.
"That's okay, Tenchi," Ryoko purred, patting him on the cheek,
"you've had good reason to be distracted these past few days, haven't you?"
Tenchi turned a shade of red and raised his face towards the ceiling,
scratching his chin in embarrassment. "Uh- yeah... so what do you want me
to do with these carrots?"
Ryoko leaned down and lifted up a carrot by one end, looking at Ryo-
ohki who was firmly attached to the other half.
"I want you to take *this* carrot fiend up to the shrine and make sure
she's fully occupied for the next few hours." She eyed the cabbit. "This is a
girls' afternoon out, so to speak, and I don't want Ryo-ohki interrupting
things by encouraging Sasami to head off somewhere before we've had our little
talk."
Tenchi sighed, hefting up the bushel of carrots, "All right, then, I'll
see what I can do."
Ryoko phased out of sight and reappeared behind Tenchi, her feet not
touching the floor. Her arms snaked around his shoulders and neck.
"Don't think I won't be sure to reward you handsomely for this later,
my prince," she crooned in her low voice.
Ryoko let go of Tenchi, settled her feet back to the floor, and watched
with a gleaming satisfaction as her husband teetered in a dazed manner out the
kitchen door with Ryo-ohki in tow.
"Aaaahhhhh!" exclaimed Ryoko, stretching her arms upwards while
entertaining a number of pleasant scenarios of just how best to 'reward' her
husband. She brought her arms down and crossed them, her brow scrunching
up thoughtfully.
'Guess I should see if Washu is up to a double team effort.'
Ryoko blurred out of the kitchen and reappeared beside the hall closet
door, the entrance to Washu's dimensional laboratory. Not stopping to open
the door, Ryoko slid right through it, disappearing from the hallway.
* * *
Melancholy is a state of mind that self-perpetuates with ease, if
allowed to run unchecked through a time of crisis or low self-esteem. Without
much extra effort, a 'blue funk' can quickly lead to self-pity, an emotion that
can be surprisingly comforting for a while. As a result, people who engage in
such thoughts tend to view picking themselves out of such depressions with
some distaste, because of the incredible effort doing so sometimes requires.
In just such a state of mind, Sasami leaned forward and rested her
forehead on the face of the mirror in her room. It felt wonderfully cool and
serene, as if offering a reflective detachment for the taking. Sasami stared
deep into one of her own eyes, looking in on reflection upon reflection upon
reflection...
"Who are you?" she mouthed.
Her reflection didn't answer.
This annoyed Sasami a bit. Of recent, she had been asking herself in
various reflective media that same question over and over. So far, she had yet
to receive any response, satisfactory or otherwise. She brought her hand up on
either side of the mirror, and pushed her body away until she could see most of
her entire figure in the reflection.
An increasing number of years spent on Earth had slowly, but surely,
had it's effect on Sasami in a variety of ways. Gradually, her traditional
Juraian dress had been replaced by more current Earthly fashions. In fact, her
favorite fare for working and living around the Masaki house was nothing
more than a pair of jeans, comfortably broken in, and any number of varieties
of simple blouses or tee shirts. Sasami certainly didn't mind modes of fine
dress that regular princess duties called for (in fact, she two or three formal
Earth dresses stashed away in her closet that she adored, even though she
never had any cause to wear them), it was just that a simpler style of dress
afforded her to forget for a time that she was a princess or maybe the
incarnation of a powerful goddess. Sasami appraised herself again.
She certainly was pleased with what she saw. Sasami was not self-
absorbed about her looks as much as her sister, Ayeka, tended to be, but she
was not ambivalent towards her natural beauty, either. The shape of her face
and how it was framed by hair that fell in long, flowing strands down her back
made just about any pair of old clothes she might be wearing absolutely
alluring.
"Not that anyone has ever stopped to notice," she grumbled.
"Exactly *what* is it that none of us have ever stopped to notice,
kiddo?" a voice queried from behind her.
Sasami jumped out of her skin, spinning around to see Ryoko sliding
through her bedroom door.
Ryoko pulled herself fully into view, and with a feigned look of
puzzlement, she brought a finger up to her chin and said, "Stopped to notice
that you've been very depressed lately? Stopped to notice that you haven't
been doing many of the activities you usually delight in while on Earth? Or
maybe even stopped to notice that one of the people we care about the most is
less happy than Ryo-ohki in a carrot famine?"
"R-Ryoko-san, I just -" Sasami began.
"Ah! Not to worry," interrupted Ryoko with an impish grin. "I
promised you some time several days ago to talk about whatever it is that's
bothering you, and I intend to honor that promise."
She paused momentarily. "Truthfully, I have been rather occupied these
past few days. Being married to Tenchi is a constant work in progress, and
sometimes I just get totally engrossed in my efforts!"
Sasami went several shades of red. Though she had been exposed to
Ryoko's habit of freely discussing matters other people might consider rather
personal, Sasami had never quite been able to keep from blushing a bit
whenever Ryoko discussed her husband. Perhaps it had to do with more of her
Ayeka's influence on her personality than she was willing to admit. This
thought made Sasami frown just a hair.
Ryoko picked up on it immediately.
"Yep, you are definitely in need of some 'quality' time. Come along,
princess," Ryoko ordered, grabbing hold of Sasami's hand and pulling her
towards the door. "We're getting you out of this house!"
"Wait! Where are we going?" Sasami demanded, as Ryoko began to
slide both of them though the solid wood of the door.
"Just for a walk, Sasami," Ryoko replied. "You'll enjoy it."
* * *
To say that Washu was uncomfortable setting a picnic blanket and
laying out an afternoon lunch would be something of an understatement.
While being a super genius did have any number of unimaginable benefits in
life, somehow food preparation on a summer day in Japan was not one of
them. For the first time that she could remember, Washu did not have a
precedent for this exact scenario.
It did not seem that it should be all that complicated, really, but
something about this whole scheme, specifically setting a moment to help with
Sasami's blue mood, left her uncertain. When an experimental device had a
'blue mood', all you had to do was replace a few wires, microchips, or dark
matter you pulled from a trans-dimensional interspersing ion storm. And
those were the 'easy' problems to deal with. Machines, for the most part,
lacked emotions, and therefore were not difficult to diagnose when a problem
arose.
Washu paused as she laid out some cheese and fruit. Perhaps the
main source of her discomfort, aside from not having much experience with
these 'picnic' things, was that she was not in control, was not the architect
of the coming experiment. Her daughter, Ryoko, had stated from the outset,
while barging into Washu's laboratory and dragging her away from
monitoring a *particularly* interesting galactic dust anomaly, that the
greatest scientific mind in the galaxy ("Universe!" Washu frantically
corrected) was not in charge of this operation. Furthermore, when Washu had
decided to whip out her virtual computer console, in order to best calculate
the position for a picnic site based on available light, temperature,
humidity, emotional stimulation potential, and a bird sneezing ten miles away,
Ryoko had quite sarcastically let loose a small bolt of energy past her
mother's head while suggesting Washu just 'wing it'.
One would imagine, having observed Washu pull incredible
technological inventions out of thin air on a regular basis, that 'winging it'
would not be such a big deal for her at all.
'On the contrary,' Washu thought to herself, 'how exactly does one
improvise cheese and crackers without proper research, experimentation, and
rigorous testing by use of the scientific method?'
Washu developed a slightly sick feeling in her stomach.
'Maybe I *have* been in laboratories for too long,' she fretted.
In response to her thought, two puppets, each caricatures of Washu,
appeared, one on each of her shoulders.
"No, no, Washu!" puppet 'A' exclaimed, "You are perfect!"
"Yes, yes, Washu!" puppet 'B' agreed, "Don't ever change!"
Somehow, Washu doubted their sincerity. Basically, she realized in
order to better understand interpersonal relationships and activities with
regards to her own emotions, she would need extensive monitoring and
observations of all sorts before developing an experimental plan of how best to
proceed. The only problem was, since she would essentially need to be the test
subject and the observer at the same time, an obvious paradox would occur as
she could not make hypothesis based on observations of actions she had not
made yet. She would have to be in two places at once. She would need at
least two of herself to even *possibly* make this work...
A very slow, creeping smile spread across Washu's face.
"Washu! Washu! You are a genius!" cried puppet 'A'.
"No one is as smart as you, Washu!" piped puppet 'B'.
This time, Washu had to agree with them. Smiling to herself, Washu
continued to lay out food in drink in the shade of an old maple tree, no longer
thinking about little problems like picnics.
* * *
Ryoko had not spoken since she and Sasami had left the house and
started their walk. They had been hiking for about ten minutes or so, just
absorbing the life around them such as the trees sighing in the wind and birds
tweeting here and there. Since Ryoko was leading the way, Sasami did not
need to really pay attention to where they were heading, and she could afford
to get lost in her thoughts again.
Sasami shook her head distractedly. She had been 'getting lost' in
her thoughts entirely too much the past week. Now and again, she would
blink and find that she had been staring at something for minutes without any
awareness to the passing of time, totally absorbed in a blank zone.
'One way or the other,' she resolved, 'this has to stop.'
The only difficulty was that, lately, zoning out was the best solution
to the problems that Sasami had been able to come up with. She looked a few
steps ahead of her where Ryoko was walking along at a fairly relaxed, though
purposeful, pace. Sasami wondered how much she should let Ryoko know
about her problems in life, both those immediate and those more abstract that
seemed to follow her every day. She made an effort to look around her as they
continued.
'Maybe I should just confess everything to Ryoko,' pondered Sasami.
'She's been through numerous situations like this... maybe she'll know what I
should do. *I* certainly don't know what I should do. I wonder if being a
pirate would have more perks than being a princess?'
The trail they were traveling on exited a large stand of trees and
emptied into a lush meadow. Flowers were everywhere, in hundreds of subtle
shades of blue and yellow, just barely past the peak of their blossoming glory
for the summer. The meadow grasses themselves were also somewhat past
their prime as they were a little dry and crunched slightly underfoot.
On the far side of the meadow, Sasami spied Washu sitting
comfortably on a large picnic blanket under a maple tree, with a basket and
several bottles and other items laid out about her. Ryoko and Sasami made
their way across the meadow towards Washu, stirring up crickets and
butterflies as they walked. An enterprising bird dove behind the pair,
snagging several of the hapless bugs in the process for dinner. Washu looked
up as the two approached.
"Well, then," she stated, "I was beginning to wonder if the Universe's
cutest scientist was going to have to enjoy this food and drink all by herself
today. Happy the two of you decided to make it."
Ryoko plopped down beside her mother. "Ya, ya, Washu. Not like
it'd be the first time you'd spent the afternoon eating your lunch by yourself."
Ryoko peered up at the clouds in the sky. "You have to admit," she
continued, "this scenery is a whole lot more pleasant than your dreary lab."
Sasami picked a corner of the blanket and gracefully eased herself
down.
"Hey, don't forget," Washu retorted, "you were *born* in a dreary lab
like that!"
"Hrmmmm, so *that's* what went wrong with me. Amazing."
Sasami grinned a small grin in spite of herself. She could sense this
was a set up from a galaxy away, but the banter between the pair of women
and the location of the picnic was too much, even for the most downhearted of
spirits.
"Ahhh, there we have it!" Ryoko declared, pointing at Sasami, "the
first legitimate smile I've seen on this princess's face in days." Ryoko
turned and eyed a bottle of sake with interest. "I'm starved, let's eat."
Washu nodded and started to serve some cheese, crackers, and rice
cakes while Ryoko loaded several cups to the brim with the sake. Sasami
blinked in surprise was she was passed food. She had expected Ryoko to force
her to plunge right into her problems, and she had not expected to see Washu
at all, much less with lots of food. Instead, Ryoko was doing nothing of the
sort, but was handing Sasami a fully loaded cup of Japanese wine. She looked
a bit uncomfortable with the cup in her hands.
"Oh, don't tell me you've *never* had alcohol before," Ryoko
drawled playfully.
"Well... no, it's not that," Sasami said, "it's just that sister Ayeka
disapproves of alcohol quite a bit, and there isn't much to be found in the
royal palace."
Washu raised her eyebrow at that. "Really? As I seem to recall,
Empress Ayeka had no problems drinking her share of alcohol when she
wanted to -"
"Wanted to??" Ryoko sputtered. "That girl could almost drink *me*
under the table." She sighed, "Actually, I'm not surprised. Lots of those
'good girl' types tend to become over-angelic about things like this when
they're a bit embarrassed over their own little misadventures with alcohol."
Ryoko then downed her cup in a swig, exhaling loudly in process. "I,
on the other hand say, a little drink now and again is good for the soul.
Anyway, you wouldn't want to become just like your sister, eh Sasami?"
That made Sasami blink in surprise. With a look of determination,
Sasami tossed back her cup of sake. Immediately, her throat was on fire and
she began to cough violently. Ryoko cheered loudly while Washu looked on
with a smile.
* * *
It was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed. After a filling
meal and more than a prudent amount of alcohol, Sasami had drifted into a
lethargic state of consciousness, awake but with clouded thoughts. Indeed, all
three of the women were in similar states of comfort, allowing the combination
of sated stomachs and pleasant shade from the sun to lull them into a quiet
peace. No one had spoken for quite some time, allowing an uncharacteristic
calm, for the Masaki residence anyway, to settle.
At some point Sasami had laid her head down in the comfort of
Ryoko's lap, her long hair fanning out along the picnic blanket, occasionally
rustled by a passing breeze. Ryoko's face was soft and relaxed, her eyes sleepy
and half closed, as she absently stroked Sasami's head. Washu leaned up
against the maple tree, her eyes closed, dreaming about whatever it is genius
scientists dream of.
Sasami lay powerless under the comforting strokes of Ryoko, her eyes
watching the maple leaves gently sway above her. Now and again she would
be able to spy a patch of blue sky and sun through the leaves for a moment
before the wind moved the leaves again, obstructing the view. Only the sound
of locusts singing in the distance gave clue to how warm it was beyond the
maple tree's shade. The waving motion of the limbs and leaves of the trees
worked its way through Sasami's haze and gave form to the emotions she had
been wishing to express for days now.
A thought dawned on her.
'This is what Ryoko was trying to do,' she guessed, 'she set up this
whole picnic so I could speak out on my own time- when *I* was ready to do
so...'
She peered up at Ryoko's face and smiled slightly.
"None of you see who I really am," Sasami began.
Ryoko continued to look out across the meadow. "Hrmm? What do
you mean, Sasami?" she asked softly.
Sasami looked back up at the leaves swaying, forming her thoughts
before speaking again. "When you see me, Ryoko, you see Sasami, ne?
Describe me. Tell me who you see."
Ryoko paused her hand, resting it on the side of Sasami's head. From
her position against the tree, Washu opened her eyes.
"Uh," Ryoko said, "when I see you, I see Sasami, a young woman."
Her eyes scrunched up thoughtfully. "I have to admit," she continued, "that's
taking some time to get used to. I hear you coming up behind me, and I turn
around expecting to see you the way I remember you, thirteen years ago, as a
child."
"Tell me... describe that child."
Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "Well, she is sweet and full of happiness.
Enthusiasm, too. Loves to cook - is up every morning almost to start
everyone's day with a good meal."
Ryoko closed her eyes and thought harder, trying to look beyond the
obvious. "Sasami is the most heartfelt girl I have ever met. Always going out
of her way to lift other peoples' spirits, always making my day brighter when
she is near..."
Ryoko opened her eyes and smiled, "... she is a royal princess of Jurai
and the girl who helped raise my daughter to be the fine young woman she's
grown into."
Ryoko's voice fell silent, thinking of her daughter. Sasami took that
moment to address Washu.
"Tell me what you see, Washu," she insisted.
"I see Sasami, sister of Empress Ayeka and a royal princess," Washu
stated in a matter-of-fact analysis. "You are also the incarnation of Tsunami,
possessing the potential for all the powers she once had. Though from the
planet Jurai, you have spent most of your adolescence on Earth, helping to
raise Mayuka and Yui."
Washu stopped and smiled. "Soon, you will have obtained all the
knowledge and abilities as Tsunami and develop into the powerful being you
are destined to be."
Sasami sighed almost in spite of herself. Rolling over on her side,
she used her hands to push herself up out of Ryoko's lap and sat facing mostly
away from the two women. She drew her hands together and let her
shoulder's fall slightly.
"Ryoko sees me as the happy-go-lucky sister of Ayeka she remembers.
You see me as Tsunami. Yui and Mayuka look upon me as their aunt Sasami,
while Tenchi sees me as a little sister. Even my own sister sees me only as a
royal princess who must fulfill all kinds of duties, now that she is empress,"
Sasami finished.
"I don't understand," Ryoko admitted with some confusion, "you
*are* all those things we've described, aren't you? I admit that I *remember*
you as a little girl, but that's only because I never got to see you grow into
the young woman you are now."
Sasami nodded her head. "That's exactly the problem, Ryoko. I feel
like no one sees who I've grown up to be. I know you've been gone for so
long, but everyone else sees either little princess Sasami or Tsunami."
She looked up from her hands and stared at Ryoko. "I-I feel that I've
grown up and no one has bothered to notice... no one has bothered to see who
*I* am. I'm *not* little Sasami that you remember..."
She looked at Washu, "... and I'm *not* the Tsunami that you expect
me to be. I'm not even an unquestioning, dutiful princess that my sister
commands me to be.
"All of these Sasami's you have described to me are what all of *you*
see," she whispered, "but deep in my heart, even though I know I am these
Sasami's... and even Tsunami... I'm not who you expect me to be."
Sasami felt a frustration and a stinging in the corner of her eyes.
"I've grown up into someone in between, someone unique, but no one sees me
for who *I* am." Almost unbidden, tears were starting to well up in her eyes
along with a torrent of emotion whose source she could not readily identify.
Ryoko's eye's gleamed with a sudden insight. "Oh, Sasami... I think
I understand."
Washu blinked. "You do?"
"Yes, Washu, I think I do," she affirmed. "Our dear Sasami has
become a woman without ever having been given the chance to explore what
that means, or so I would guess."
Sasami looked at Ryoko with a hopeful expression while Washu
crossed her arms with a non-comprehending look.
"All right, all right, Washu, let me try to explain what I'm thinking,
since that look on your face says you have no idea what I'm getting at." Ryoko
turned and looked Sasami up and down.
"When I died, you were still all those things I remember you being as
a young Juraian princess, but then I was gone and missed you growing up.
However," continued Ryoko, "from what I've heard, I can fairly guess that
helping my Tenchi take care of the children, being a wonderfully supportive
aunt, took up much of your time keeping you here on Earth a lot. And
truthfully, that probably didn't bother you too much, did it?"
Sasami wiped an eye and shook her head, "No, it didn't. Sister
Ayeka was taking her control of the Juraian court and felt she had to be
involved in everything herself with no outside help. There was nothing for me
to do on Jurai other than stand behind Ayeka and her husband and look
dignified."
She looked up at the limbs of the maple tree. "I could have used
aiding Tenchi, since he is part of the royal family, as a legitimate excuse to
leave Jurai and my duties if sister had balked at the idea of me departing, but
I didn't need to. She was so busy with court, but so wanting to support Tenchi
and his children... I was the perfect substitute..."
"-And that was your life, essentially, for the past thirteen years,"
finished Ryoko. "As Mayuka and Yui grew older, though, they became more
and more independent, didn't they? You and Tenchi and Washu probably had
less work to do, I bet."
"Actually," Washu interrupted, "the older Yui got, the more
interesting she became. Yui took a definite interest in some of the things I
was doing in my laboratory as well as piloting around Ryo-ohki from time to time."
Washu then took on a slightly disapproving look. "Mayuka never has
had much interest in science, though. Always drawing landscapes or watching
old detective movies."
"That's true," agreed Sasami, "but you're right, Ryoko-san, I did find
myself with less to do. Yui was spending more and more time with after
school activities and friends... Mayuka was just the same with her art... I
still did plenty of things with them, just not the same way I used to." She
wondered where Ryoko was going with this.
"Well, then. I have to ask," said Ryoko, "how much of your free time
did you spend exploring Earth? You had Ryo-ohki. You could have gone
anywhere and seen lots of things."
An uncomfortable silence grew as Ryoko paused and looked at the
princess steadily. "You never left the mountains much, did you?"
Sasami shook her head, and Ryoko sighed. "I don't suppose this had
to do with your Juraian upbringing did it? Always confined to the palace,
never meeting outsiders... you got to spend all this time on Earth, but you
just didn't know how to get out and go."
Sasami sighed and looked embarrassed. "It sounds like just an
excuse, I suppose, but it's true. Anytime I wanted to go out, I'd travel to the
local towns by myself and such easily enough, but I never really met or talked
to anyone."
Washu was not saying anything yet, but looked to rapidly be
developing an idea of what was going on inside the princess's head.
"I-I suppose I lived vicariously through Mayuka and your daughter,
Ryoko-san," continued Sasami. "They would come home from school
complaining about all their boy problems or talking about something they had
done with friends... At night I would imagine myself in those situations, what
I would do and say." The princess's eyes unfocused momentarily while
recalling her memories.
She blinked after a moment and said, "It made me feel good, I guess.
I'd return to Jurai now and again, but there were few people there to talk to.
Everyone just gave me the royal princess line, and every young nobleman who
came to the palace at parties saw me only as a link to the empress by marriage,
ignoring the fact that I *might* be a real person."
Sasami snorted, "And, naturally, the fawning attention I got alienated
me from the other noblewomen my age who weren't married yet. I suppose
it's no real surprise why I enjoy staying on this planet so much."
"Then we resurrected Ryoko, and the remaining pretense for your
staying on Earth was gone," Washu gathered. "Yui had her mother back,
Mayuka was already out on her own at college, and you suddenly realized you
were grown up and didn't have your own identity yet. And to make things
more difficult, all of us were still trying to fit you into the image or
identity of the young Sasami or Tsunami, royal princess or goddess, neither
of which really fits on its own anymore. That about sum it up, Sasami?"
She bobbed her head up and down, "Pretty much, I guess."
Ryoko snapped her fingers and stared at Sasami with feral eyes.
"That's *not* pretty much it, is it?" she demanded with a small grin.
"I-I don't know what -" Sasami stammered.
"Oh, yes, princess! I'm afraid you let it slip at the end," Ryoko
said, looking at Sasami's rather cornered expression with compassion. Washu
leaned forward in interest.
"Living vicariously through Yui's encounters with boys? Young
nobles seeing you only as a marriage prospect? Sounds like your having man
troubles, aren't you?" she asked, while smiling knowingly.
* * *
Together, all three women had picked up the remnants of the picnic
and headed back to the house. Uncharacteristically, they left all the dirty
plates and cups sitting on the kitchen countertop unwashed and forgotten the
moment they arrived. Instead, Sasami led Ryoko and Washu up to her room
and asked them both to wait while she fished an object out of a drawer.
Finding what she was searching for, Sasami brought out what
appeared to be a small cylinder of Juraian wood, not more than six inches
long. Setting it on its side atop the dresser, she pushed an unseen button on
the cylinder and stepped back. The piece of wood began to hum and glow a
bit, suddenly splitting open a hair's width down its entire length. A light
shone up from the wood, forming an image of Empress Ayeka.
"A tiny courier ship delivered this a week ago," said Sasami.
"Greetings, dearest sister, Sasami," began Ayeka. "I hope you have
been enjoying your stay on Earth since my departure back to Jurai. Earth in
the summer time is always so very pleasant, and I wish I could be there more
often myself. Unfortunately, duties here on Jurai prevent me from such
frivolous journeys, but such is the duty of a member of the royal family."
An uncomfortable looked came over Sasami's face, as she knew
already what was coming in the next part of the message.
Ayeka's face shimmered slightly as a distortion affected the
message's image, but she continued smoothly.
"I feel it is time you, too, returned to Jurai, Sasami. You have spent
most of your past years on Earth, neglecting you duties as royal princess.
While I understand that your time was well and dutifully spent helping Lord
Tenchi's household in its time of need, with Ryoko's rebirth and return to
Lord Tenchi and Yui, it is obvious that you have been discharged from your
obligations there. As such, it is time for you to return to Jurai and once
again assume all of your royal duties. Additionally, it has been noted by a
great majority of the court that it is time you fully considered a royal
marriage with a suitable member of the nobility -"
Ryoko's jaw dropped, and Washu raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.
"- as you are the proper age for such a union."
Ayeka paused and smiled brightly, "As you know, my child will be
born in a number of months, causing an interruption to many of the duties I
normally perform for a while. It is absolutely necessary that you be present
to assist me in this time, Sasami, and a marriage with a suitable member of the
nobility will strengthen your ability to deal with the court while I am
indisposed."
With the same bright smile on her face, Ayeka plowed on, "I have
arranged for your ship and honor guard to arrive on Earth in less than three
weeks after the arrival of this message. They will collect you promptly, so
please be ready to leave at that time.
"I can not *wait* to see you upon your return, Sasami," she beamed.
"Please be sure to leave my fondest love for Lord Tenchi and his family, as
well as Lord Yosho. Oh, and do not let them know of the wedding, yet. We
will be sure to surprise them with royal invitations in a few months! Oh, my!
That should coincide with your birthday as well, should it not? Truly, it will
be a *wonderful* occasion. Be well, sweet Sasami!"
Her image froze for a moment, but then the wood cylinder powered
down and the image vanished. The cylinder quickly resealed itself, while
three women stared in silence at the device for many moments.
"I'm really not surprised -" began Washu.
"I don't believe it!" Ryoko gaped.
"-but," Washu continued, "I *am* rather miffed that her royal
majesty didn't see fit to say hello to me. Oh, well. She never did fully
appreciate my scientific genius."
"WASHU!" yelled Ryoko, "Would you please try to focus on the issue
here? Sasami is being forced to marry a complete stranger just so life can be
a little more convenient for Ayeka! It's horrible!"
"I will not argue that we are biased in favor of Sasami's feelings on
this matter," Washu countered, "but, Sasami *is* a royal princess and *is*
subject to Empress Ayeka's commands, correct Sasami?"
Sasami nodded unhappily.
"However, you could just as easily ignore Ayeka and exist in life as
you please using your own natural talents as well as those assimilated from
Tsunami, correct?" inquired Washu. "I'm betting, however, you don't want to
ignore your sister, because doing so would force her to disown you from the
royal family, and you aren't willing to do that, are you?"
Sasami shook her head again. "No. I love my sister and my planet
Jurai too much to force Ayeka to banish me from there for life. And since she
apparently has made my return and availability for marriage a public
proclamation, she would be forced to take some action against me if I refused
to go. The court nobility would demand it of her."
"Well, wait a minute," demanded Ryoko, waving a hand dramatically
in the air, "isn't she the high and mighty empress of Jurai? If you convince
her that you don't want to get married to one of these noble goons, wouldn't
she just be able to proclaim that? Isn't her word law?"
"It doesn't exactly work like that, Ryoko," Sasami disagreed. "The
emperor or empress of Jurai does have in large part complete control of the
empire, but the empire is supported by the noble families of Jurai. Without
their support, Ayeka would essentially have a vote of no confidence, and her
further proclamations would be worth very little. So in essence, she has to
follow the will of the noble families to an extent."
"And the will of the noble families is to see you married to one of
their offspring, it seems," pondered Washu. "Certainly every family would
want to have a closer connection to the royal throne. I'm amazed that they
haven't bothered to encourage Ayeka for your return sooner."
"They may have. I don't know for certain," confessed Sasami.
"Ayeka may have held such demands at bay, citing my duties to Lord Tenchi
as an excuse, but as she said, those obligations no longer exist."
Sasami turned, walked to her bedroom door, and paused. "Also,
when I have been able to get some prolonged sleep, I've had a few vague
precognition dreams about my marriage. You all know that my dreams
generally indicate the path of events that will occur around me."
Using her hand, Sasami drew her fingers through her hair along her
scalp.
"I really can't see any way out of this, I guess," she said and left
the room, leaving Ryoko and Washu to themselves.
Ryoko quietly fumed for a minute before exploding.
"I can't believe *she* would stoop to doing this to her own sister!
It's so hypocritical, especially since she blew off the entire court to chase
after Yosho for seven hundred years, and we all know what the court felt about
him!"
Ryoko lifted off the floor and shimmered out of sight, bent on
releasing her anger somewhere less populated where the damage to property
would be minimal. Washu watched her go impassively.
"It does seem unfair to us," she spoke out loud to no one, "but I can't
see what can be done about it."
Washu sighed and looked at the wooden message device.
"I'll be the first to admit that in the affairs of politics and love,
science is oft times lacking in solutions."
Shaking her head Washu left Sasami's bedroom and headed for her own
laboratory to work.
* * *
With a mighty burp and a contented sigh, Ryo-ohki teetered off her
feet and rolled over onto her side, her furry belly radically distended from
the glutton of carrots she had consumed. Tenchi smiled down at the cabbit
briefly before looking out over the lake and valley down below.
'Looks like my work here is done,' he thought.
Picking himself up from one of the shrine steps, Tenchi lifted the
significantly heavier Ryo-ohki up and laid her gently in the bushel basket,
picked the basket up, and headed down the steps towards the house. Yui
would be home from school soon, and Tenchi always enjoyed meeting his
daughter not far from the bus stop and walking home with her.
Turning his head slightly, Tenchi thought he heard something like an
explosion off in the far distance. He could not be certain, however, and
decided it was just his imagination as he continued down the steps.
* * *
From my resting spot on a bench in the courtyard of the country inn, I
looked up towards the mountains in the distance where a faint echo of what
sounded like an explosion emanated. I was taking a break from my day's
worth of wanderings around town as well as from the heat, and a bench in the
shade seemed the best place to do so.
"Almost sounded like a sonic boom," I said to myself in English.
"Wonder if some Japanese pilots are having some supersonic fun."
I had lived for a number of years in the flight path of a U.S. air
force base, and to hear a sonic boom was a rare occurrence due to the
annoyance it caused nearby residents. So if pilots wanted to break the sound
barrier, generally they would try to do so in as sparsely populated an area as
possible.
An elderly woman who helped work at the inn heard my ramblings to
myself and asked me politely what I was saying. I considered trying to explain
my sonic boom theory, but did not have the confidence in my vocabulary to
make such a statement in Japanese. Instead, I smiled and told her I thought I
heard a noise, while pointing in the general direction of the mountains.
The elderly woman nodded in agreement. "Every now and again,
we'll hear a strange noise from off that way. No one knows what the noise is."
The woman leaned towards me and said in a conspirator tone, "I
think that it is the old demon turning over in its tomb."
"Demon?" I asked, surprised. "There is a demon in the mountains?"
The old woman nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes. Long ago a demon
came to this part of the country and caused great woe, until it was banished by
a powerful samurai and sealed in a tomb for all eternity. That's where those
mysterious noises come from time to time, as I do declare!"
I really dig these kinds of stories about demons and monsters and
battles. Needless to say, she had me hooked, even though I perfectly realized
it was just a story.
"Wow, I'd love to see a tomb like that!" I exclaimed.
"Oh," she said, "no one knows where the tomb really is, but there is a
shrine up in the mountains dedicated to the memory of the battle between the
demon and the samurai. It is called the Masaki shrine, and has been there in
one form or another for as long as anyone can remember."
I have often wondered at the way life works. There are infinite paths
and possibilities at every moment for every decision you make. When you stop
and think about it, given all the possible decisions you can make at every
instant, it is really amazing that anything ever gets done, much less that
simply spectacular events collide together to change your life forever. But, I
get ahead of myself.
At that moment I decided to ask for directions to the Masaki shrine
for the next day's worth of travel. I had seen all the in-town sights, and a
country trek would be a perfect compliment to the experience I had so far. The
old woman excitedly gave me directions to the seemingly obscure shrine, and I
wandered back into town to find a bus schedule that would take me somewhere
near the area where the woman indicated the shrine was located. I was in
luck, because a bus made its way near the area every morning at six thirty.
Needless to say, I would have to get up earlier to catch the bus as it left this
little town to get to that stop, so I decided to make for an early dinner and
catch some sleep.
In the center of town, a small celebration was taking place for some
important event in the town's history that I didn't quite understand, but there
were a few musicians playing in the small square. I made my way to a little
restaurant and had dinner by myself, just absorbing the flute and drum music.
Eating dinner out by myself has always brought me to a somewhat melancholy
state of mind, so I began to ponder if I had led a mostly solitary lifestyle
for too long. Twenty-eight did not seem that old to me at all to still be
single, but I had to admit it would be nice to be able to share dinner with
someone on a regular basis.
At any rate, I chatted with a waitress for a little bit on and off
about nothing in particular, managing to illicit a number of giggles from her
as I mutilated the pronunciations of a number of words. She patiently
corrected me in an amused fashion until she had to head off to take care of
other customers. Another tip when you are traveling abroad: there is no
better place to perfect your second language skills than out in public. You
learn a heck of a lot more a heck of a lot faster than you ever will out of a
book.
I called it quits for the day fairly early, just as the sun was going
down, as I had planned. Back at the traditional inn, I packed a number of
necessities into my internal frame backpack, and left the rest neatly in the
room. It had been my plan to use whatever hotel or hostel room I was staying
in as a kind of base camp and explore outwards from there. It had worked
well in a number of states back in America for me as a system, so I saw no
reason to change my habits.
I only planned to be gone for the day, but, as I have found out from
time to time, things happen when you least expect them to, so it's best to be
prepared. As a result, I packed some extra clothes and an incredibly compact
thermal blanket, along with some more food and water, just in case I got stuck
somewhere. After all, you never know when you are going to get knocked
upside the head, as my mother used to say.
* * *
The next morning I awoke before daybreak, thanks to my trusty West
German (made back when there *was* a West Germany) battery operated
clock. Any clock the size of a pack of cigarettes that you can drop off a
fourth story balcony, smash to bits, and then snap back together and still
keep perfect time after ten years is a winner in my book.
Nothing was open yet that would be serving breakfast in the inn, so I
headed out for the town bus stop, snagging a cold soft drink and a candy bar
along the way. Not exactly the breakfast of the gods, but anything was better
than nothing at five in the morning. I jumped aboard the small bus just as it
was warming up and getting ready to head out. The driver was a bit surprised
to see anyone, much less a foreigner, hop aboard his bus so early before
daybreak. At this time of day, the driver generally only picked up people from
a few stops up in the surrounding mountains. I explained briefly that I was
sight seeing and looking for a shrine or two, but he did not seem terribly
interested, so I did not bend over backwards to chit-chat.
As we drove out of town in a rather bumpy fashion, the sun started to
warm the sky in the east. I did my best to stay awake and observe the
surroundings as the day got brighter, but the morning twilight and the rocking
motion of the bus got the best of me, and I quickly nodded off in my seat.
Occasionally, the bus would hit a particularly nasty bump which would knock
my chin up from my chest, startling me awake momentarily before I snoozed
off again.
Every fifteen minutes or so, the bus would stop and pick up a
passenger or two along the road. I assumed they were people who lived up in
the mountains who needed to get to town to do some business, though it
occurred to me that they might all actually be commuters, doing this on a daily
basis. At any rate, the scenery was beautiful, when I was awake enough to
appreciate it.
Around six thirty the bus pulled up before a well maintained path that
seemed to disappear into the trees, heading towards one of the mountains. I
believed that this was my stop, but I checked with bus driver just to make
sure. He agreed with me and nodded in the direction of the path, and then he
muttered something under his breath that sounded like "-late again-".
Whatever he was referring to did not seem to involve me, so I just
thanked the driver and stepped off the bus. Shouldering my backpack, I
stretched up on my tip toes, extending my arms in the air and yawning loudly.
I turned and looked at the bus, which was not going anywhere for some
reason. Again, I did not think it had anything to do with me, so I turned and
headed up the path a ways until I lost sight of the vehicle around a bend. I
could still hear the engine, though, when I came to the foot of a large stone
staircase that led up a small, steep ridge for about sixty or seventy steps.
I realized quickly that this shrine was probably up on top of the
mountain way above my head, and that these first steps were only a taste of
what was to come. I 'sucked it up', so to speak, and started climbing steps.
About halfway up the flight, I heard a honking coming from back behind me
where the bus was. I stopped and looked back momentarily; I could not see
the bus due to the trees, but I imagined it sitting there still waiting.
"Someone regular passenger must be pretty late this morning," I
surmised, looking out through the trees.
Suddenly, I got a chill down the back of my spine, as if something
very bad was about to happen to me very, very soon. I had just started to
swing my head around to look up the remaining stairs when I heard:
"Whoa!! Look ou-!" said a feminine voice just before I felt a violent
impact against the right side of my entire body.
There was a blur, and I was jolted backwards through the air with the
steps approaching me rapidly from below. The last thought I had before I
struck the stairs was my mother's warning about getting knocked upside the
head. I impacted with an sickening 'thud', and at the same moment,
everything went incredibly dark.
* * *
Coming up in Chapter Three:
"Well, at least I can *appear* to be happy."
Washu gets to play doctor, everything gets fuzzy for Nathaniel, and fun with
medical tape!
Send comments to Mike McAvoy
http://members.nbci.com/mmcavoy/
Last updated December 14, 2000.