I don't own Tenchi Muyo.
A Claim To The Throne
By The Great El Dober
Chapter Four
Part Ten - Devastations
It was unbelievably incredible, but also horrifically terrifying. In
short it was simply impossible. There stood that girl, the young Princess Sasami. She
should be dead, obliterated, blasted from existence but she wasn't, she still stood there
and the reason for it was mind-blowing.
Shimmering all around her, like open flower petals, shone the ten light
hawk wings, the full power of Tsunami. It was protecting her, guarding her, or perhaps
even summoned by her. But that just couldn't be! He had researched it all, there was no
way that this could happen in these conditions, it was completely impossible.
"You didn't know did you?" Ayeka managed to spit out, but her
strained voice still carried tones of victorious smugness, "Sasami and Tsunami are
one in the same! Didn't expect that did you, you slimy bastard."
"What?" Kagato's shocked voice cried. Ayeka just smiled and
watched the shocked man's confidence wilt away to be replaced by fear. She might not live
to see the next hour but at least she could die with the assurance that her friends and
family would be kept safe. Just like Washu had said, Kagato planned everything out, it was
all premeditated according to his knowledge but had no knowledge of Sasami's secret. He
had no way to prepare for this.
It was over, he had lost.
"Why have you done this?" Sasami demanded as tears began to
well up in her eyes as the surveyed the blood and carnage all around her, "Why are
you hurting each other?"
No answer.
Tenchi and Ayeka were too absorbed in their dying anguish to respond.
Tenchi just gripped at his chest, trying desperately to claw away this ripping pain while
Ayeka lay sprawled out, soaked in her own blood, desperately clinging to her fading life
as it slowly slipped through her grasp and seeped as a red stain onto the ground beneath
her.
Ryoko on the other hand was in no such pain but in no condition to
answer either. She just floated there like a zombie, a toy, a puppet waiting for its
strings to be pulled.
Realistically Kagato was the only one who could have answered but he
didn't. His mind was still spinning with this new information. What should he do? What
could he do?
Nothing. So Sasami's question went unanswered.
"This is all about power isn't it? You are all fighting over a
claim to the throne," she continued, tears beginning to fall from her eyes, her voice
beginning to choke up, "Well if this is what power does to people then no one will
have it. No one will have a claim to that power!"
Then it happened.
The moment that Jurai would never forget, the moment that would change
it forever.
The moment that they Jurai power turned on itself.
Suddenly Sasami's light hawk wings folded in on themselves and shrouded
the young princess in the most radiant, majestic robes that shone with a glory beyond
belief. The clouds in the sky began to swirl and form a turbulent whirlpool of white and
blue above her head. A thunderous wind coursed across the land, all a testament to the
earth-shattering power being unleashed.
Tsunami's full, unrestrained power was being exerted and it filled all
with a fearful, indescribable awe.
Her dazzling clothes shone as her twin ponytails were blown up straight
by the sheer pressure of the wind that emanated from her and in the midst of all this
awe-inspiring power Sasami stayed calm, her only movement was in her lips as they echoed
the words spoken centuries ago.
"This land might rise,
This land might fall,
But if you lose love,
Then you shall lose all."
As he struggled to hold his ground against the enormous power being
applied all around him, Tenchi's mind cast back to when he had first heard those words,
only a day ago at his own wedding.
"It is written that in the beginning Tsunami
descended to this land and taught us many lessons," the priest had said, "She
told us that our land might rise, our land might fall, but if we lost love then we would
lose all. It was a message that love must come before power and all else."
It was at that moment that he finally understood. It hadn't been a
lesson, it had been a warning. It was a warning that if power hungry greed ever came
before love then there would be grave consequences and here they all were, fighting in a
battle for power. That had never been Tenchi's motives or intentions but in truth it was
the case, he was fighting Kagato in a battle for power.
Maybe this was just the breaking point, perhaps Jurai had been heading
this way for centuries. Tenchi had seen that, Tsunami's people seemed to care more about
their own interest that Tsunami's values. It was no longer about maintaining peace or
missions of reconciliation, it was about how strong their fleet was and how well they
could defend themselves. Perhaps Yosho's pursuit of Ryoko in Funaho was the last time that
a Jurain treeship had been actually used to help someone else and even that had been
tainted with doubtful motives and hints of vengeance. Tsunami's children had been used for
these unjust and self-centred causes and now Tsunami was striking back.
But Tsunami couldn't strike herself, she couldn't strike through the
Royal family either so she struck through the heir to her power, Sasami. In truth Sasami
held the only one true claim to the throne, a claim to that divine throne that was the
absolute power of Tsunami herself and now she was taking a hold of that authority.
The time had come.
A brilliant white light engulfed the whole land as it altered and
reshaped the order of things. As he shielded himself from the sheer force and dazzling
light, Tenchi could feel it. He could feel those tears and impairments on his heart heal
themselves and he could feel the godly force course through his blood and purge the poison
from him. He was cured.
Ayeka felt it too, the sinews and fibres of her flesh sewed themselves
back into place, the wound closed over and the injury was soon nothing but a memory. She
was healed.
But it was far more than that, all around Jurai people were being
stripped, denied of their right to control the Jurai power. They had lost that right.
Their grip on the greatest power in the universe was shattered. Gone forever.
Then it was over.
The blinding light vanished, the clouds settled in the sky, the roaring
winds ebbed away to small dust clouds and most importantly Sasami's fantastic power faded.
She fell from her suspended position were she had levitated inches above
the ground and fell into an exhausted heap in the dust. Fearing for her safety, Tenchi
scrambled to his feet and rushed to her side, followed closely by Ayeka. He scooped the
young princess into a cradling clutch, much like when he had cradled Ryoko earlier, and
supported her head up as she summoned the strength to speak two final words.
"I'm sorry," her sweet voice whispered before her eyes
drowsily closed and for the first time in over 700 years the symbol that adorned her
forehead disappeared leaving her skin smooth and bare.
"Sasami!" Ayeka screamed in terror, pulling
her sister's body away from Tenchi's arms, "Sasami wake up! You can't die Sasami you
just . . ."
"Relax," a voice chirped from behind them, "She's just
unconscious, nothing more."
"Washu?" Tenchi asked in disbelief as he turned to face her,
"How did you get here?"
"And how do you Sasami is okay?" Ayeka asked with her back
turned, still cradling her fallen sister as her crying eyes faced the opposite direction.
"Neither of those things matter," Washu dismissed casually,
"But aren't we all forgetting someone?"
"Ryoko!" Tenchi cried out as his attention
that had been grasped by Sasami's frailty was released and fully focused on Ryoko, his
bride. His panicking eyes quickly swept across the surrounding area in a frantic search
for her.
There she was, her wedding robes in a tattered, ripped mess, her body
decorated in burns and bruises as she knelt in the dirt, unresponsive, just staring into
space. He sprinted towards her with a yearning desperation, longing to be with her once
more but as he approached her, his frantic steps became more restrained and cautious. He
wasn't prepared to go through that a second time, he had to be sure so before taking her
lovingly in his arms he decided to check . . .
Her eyes stared back at him with a traumatised vacancy. She hardly
moved, she just knelt there absorbing the shock of it all, and trying to stop her guilt,
shame, memories and nightmares as they rode through her mind like the four horsemen of the
apocalypse. But there was one thing that distressed her more than all of that put
together.
The sorrow of she knew had to be done.
"Here Tenchi," her breaking, tear-choked voice finally spoke
up, "Take it back, I know you won't want me to have it anymore."
Tenchi just watched on in a shocked disbelief as Ryoko's handed him back
the blood bathed wedding band that he had so lovingly presented to her during their
wedding.
"I want you to know that I'm sorry and that I still love you but I
don't expect you to ever forgive me," she choked out as she rose to her feet, hiding
her tear stained face under a veil of drooping cyan hair, "Goodbye Tenchi."
And with that she turned and fled, unable to face this horrid pain and
anguish any longer. That bastard had spoilt it for her, her one dream, her single wish, to
be with Tenchi and it had been ruined forever. He would never want her back after what she
had just done. It was over, their relationship was broken and so to was Ryoko's fragile
heart. She couldn't handle that overpowering volume of sorrow so before she broke down
completely she just turned and ran.
Or at least she would of.
Immediately she felt his hand latch around her wrist and prevent her
from going anywhere. She struggled fiercely in a desperate bid for escape. She couldn't
face him, not now, but still his hand remained clutched on her. She was about to phase
away when she felt it, the most touching, meaningful feeling she had ever felt in her
entire life.
The feeling of Tenchi's hand slipping the wedding band back onto her
finger.
She stopped as this sensation sent new thoughts streaming through her
mind. Did he still want her? Was he prepared to forgive her? Reluctantly she turned to
face him, to gaze into his eyes with the expectation of meeting a gaze of pure anger and
disgust.
He looked back at her with gleaming eyes that sparkled with the crystal
lining of fresh tears, his face a look of complete love and devotion, exactly the way it
had been the moment they had been married, the moment before all this had happened.
Nothing had changed.
She collapsed on his shoulder and cried tears, some of joy and some of
relief but none of loss, and as Washu and Ayeka looked on, Tenchi comforted her without a
hint of the embarrassment that had plagued him so many times the past.
Ayeka and Washu stood there admiring with satisfied smiles. Ayeka's was
more a smile of happiness for her friends, as if some of their joy was transferred to her.
She shared in their moment of happiness. Washu's was more a smile of pride, she had
finally witnessed her daughter getting what she truly deserved, a second chance at
happiness. It was wonderful.
Yes, both had to admit that when all was said and done those two really
did make a wonderful couple.
Part Eleven - Repercussions
"The people of Jurai are in a terrible state. They can't believe
that their lifespans have been shortened to that of a human. They can't accept that they
are going to die in less than a hundred years."
"But that is how it should be, mother. Spending time on Earth
taught me that. Nothing lasts forever, Jurai should be no different."
"Perhaps you are right but the people are still very upset with the
state of the Royal trees. Before they were mighty, divine guardians, now they are nothing
but bark and roots."
"Perhaps that is also for the best. The people relied far too much
on the Jurai power, some abused it. Now we will have to survive honestly just like any
other planet."
"And losing that power has another interesting effect, doesn't it
son? I wonder what will happen now that you can't use your Jurai power to mask your true
age."
"Ayeka will be upset, won't she mother?"
"Yes Yosho," Funaho replied while sipping her tea, "Yes
she will."
Part Twelve - Conclusions
"Feeling better?"
From her hospital bed Sasami twists her neck around to see Washu
standing before her, in full adult form holding a cup that steams warmly, wafting heavenly
smells through the air.
"Take this," Washu offers, "I know it
will make you feel better."
"You are different now," Sasami observes uncertainly as her
quivering hands accept the cup, "I mean you have changed back haven't you?"
"Yes, I am a goddess once more," Washu nods, "The gems
were Jurain in nature so when you purged the Jurai power from the universe you not only
broke Kagato's control on Ryoko but you also broke the seal on my power. But don't
worry," she assured with a warm, friendly smile, "I'm still me."
"But what happened to Kagato," Sasami asked. She didn't
remember killing him with her power. Where was he?
"I . . . how can I put this," Washu wondered, looking for a
proper way to phrase what had been done.
"Let's just say that I removed him," she finally announced
with the faints signs of a wicked smile gracing her lips but Sasami didn't notice, her
troubled mind was now preoccupied with one single worrying thought.
"Is Tsunami mad at me?" she finally asked timidly, "Is
she mad because she can't come back now?"
"Oh no, Sasami," Washu assured as she sat up on the edge of
the bed and put a comforting arm of the young girl's shoulder, "You know Tsunami,
when people do their best and do what they think is right she is always delighted and
proud."
"I miss her," the young princess admits mournfully as she
lowered her head down towards her steaming cup in regret.
"And she misses you too," Washu replied, "That is why she
is making preparations for you, for all of us. There are many existences beyond this one
and although the rest of your life seems long it's only a day away in the eyes of an
eternal goddess. This wacky little adventure of ours isn't over yet. You will meet each
other again some day."
"Really?" asked the hopeful girl as her head shot up again in
renewed optimism.
"Yes really, trust me, I know these things," Washu promised,
"Just you worry about enjoying the rest of your life, we'll worry about the
rest."
End of Chapter Four
End of Story
Note - Well, that's it, I can't think of anywhere else to take this
little tale so I've brought it to a natural end here. The ending is a bit unusual but
after taking a clichéd start of having Kagato return I didn't want a clichéd finish.
Like it? Anyways thanks to everyone who reviewed the story and encouraged me to continue.
And here is one last small scene that I thought of but found no
practical space to insert it in, so I'm pasted it on here at the end.
Final scene - Investigations
Underneath the table he was rubbing his hands with glee, restraining
himself from cackling like a mad man. Not even hell itself could hold the great Kagato,
soon he would be out, he might even get his life back as compensation. That would be
sweet, a second chance at vengeance.
Hell was an extremely regulated and lawful place, it was totally unlike
anything he had ever expected it to be. Here he was, able to appeal his sentence, a whole
investigation panel and investigation inquiry set up at his request. It would be a
cakewalk.
They were all friends and associates of Tsunami weren't they. All he
needed to do was give an account of Ryoko's attacks on Jurai, a much altered and twisted
account of course. He would tell them all how that evil demon had corrupted him and forced
him to carry out those heinous acts, then just turn on the water works towards the end as
the final touch. As long as he turned the courts against Ryoko he was fairly sure he would
get off the hook. Hey, it was worth a try, he didn't have anything to lose.
He smirked deviously. It wasn't over yet, no, Kagato was far from
finished. As soon as he got out he would continue his dark reign of terror, either in
heaven or the living world, preferably the living world but either would do. Anywhere but
here.
Then there was movement and commotion in the courtroom. It seemed that
his trail was about to begin. He calmed his nerves, went over his plan and tactics in his
mind and prepared for the greatest performance of his death.
"All stand. This court is now in session," the official
announced, "the honourable judge Washu residing."
As he saw that red haired menace stride out with a mischievous, superior
smirk of pure mocking pleasure and smug dominance, Kagato's whole state of mind could be
summed up in one word.
"Fuck."
The Absolute End
