Sanctuary&Asylum[.33]

by Negative-Z

Over-ambition-marries-cliche-that-we-hold-the-sun-yet-rue-the-day.

2. Verse Two is Friends Part 1&2&3

---------------------------

Standard Disclaimer:

I thank all the owners of the Tenchi characters who have chosen not to sue me for suggesting some alternative uses for them.

Standard Advertisement:

I thank all the readers who have perused my other submissions and favorite authors. Those who acknowledge someone for leading them this way will earn that kind person an ^extra^ review.

Standard Procedure:

Be diplomatic when serving as a diplomat.
^Tenchi Muyo: Sanctuary and Asylum^

-Verse Two-
-Friends (Part 1)-
Maybe this-cheap setup---has a let-down cry.

But these-won't letup---till com-plete sets buy.

But that-new getup---is a sty-lish lie.

Maybe those-small grow-ups---now all/I'll have-to try.

-ZJS
Almost almost-grown-up, Sasami brushed with a grin for the smooth overkill of each knot at the end of her pigtails. At every other stroke she stole a glance from her reflection to an official-looking document stuck in the corner of a royalty vanity mirror. She closed her eyes and smiled luxuriously as her free hand continued to chase bristles through the small sea of silk threads.

Satisfied that the new beauty kit still looked nearly fresh and unused, The Second Princess of Jurai stood up and snatched the real-important-looking- paper smartly from its reflection's kiss. Her bright pink eyes twinkled as she read a specific section twice, then again, each time widening the smile across her face. One more silent glance-over and the youngest highness hugged the paper to her chest like a cherished childhood toy then looked up at the ceiling. Paper continued to crinkle as she closed her eyes, only a small amount of concentration watered down her glee.

"It is hereby confirmed that princesses Aeka and Sasami will both be residing on a class 21 yet untitled planet. They will remain for however long it takes them to thoroughly study the primitive sciences and cultures found there. By living in primitive conditions amongst the natives they will be able to return to Jurai better equipped to perform their royal duties."

Sasami recited the decree in an excessively masculine and authoritative voice. Accuracy checked; she crushed the paper again, shaking her smile even wider. An inevitable giggle rolled her priceless ticket into a disposable telescope and planted it in the open pocket on the larger of two suitcases. Check, check. Check-check. The show of shaking her head to mentally catalog each bag ended when she turned to behold her rather plain- faced audience.

"What can I do with myself?" Sasami said through lips so focused that they were nearly pouting, trying different angles and halfhearted hair pulls

"I don't really look that much different---I guess I'm a little taller."

"I don't even feel that different really," she continued softly, running her hands lightly over up her stomach, stopping at her chest.

The still-a-girl looked down and pulled at the dress top with a hooked index finger. She let down a barely formed sigh to match and spoke in an impatient whisper, "^Come on. What are you waiting for^?"

The alerting hinges of the door made Sasami put her hands down to her sides faster than a dueling gunslinger. Only the royal family had the ability to enter each other's chambers without knocking first, and Sasami quickly put on her nearly overstretched affection face in preparation for more of her mother's intense goodbye hugs. She had just begun to squeak out a "mommy" when she turned to see Funaho walking towards her.

Sasami's surprise was quickly replaced by a warm smile and a proper greeting for the First Queen of Jurai.

"Hello Sasami, have you packed already?" Funaho asked in her usual tender yet composed voice.

"Well yes, but I'll probably change my mind on what to bring a few times before Aeka gets here anyway. I'm still so excited." Sasami said brightly.

"Yes, many people are quite interested in Aeka's return." The queen spoke to Sasami and herself at once.

"Yeah, all the generals really want to see the re-grown Ryo-Oh don't they," Sasami said a little awkwardly, trying to think of a way to avoid the controversy of the situation.

"Yes, they certainly do. Your father and mother want to see Aeka most of all, and so do I of course," Funaho smiled at Sasami who returned it nervously as she was reminded of Funaho's uncanny ability to, as the saying went, 'give shade without casting a shadow'. Sasami could only think of one way to keep her return to Earth as pleasant an experience as possible.

"I-I can't thank you and mommy enough for convincing daddy to let me go--- and to let us stay," the young princess said sheepishly.

Funaho's smile shrank slightly as she took a long blink and sat down on the bed. Sasami noticed her motion and sat down at the same time. Both of them looked at their laps. Funaho raised her head to look out the window and spoke frankly.

"It certainly wasn't easy Sasami. We all want you and your sister to stay, but you both seem quite attached to this planet---and to Yosho's grandson." Sasami blushed slightly and opened her mouth to speak but stopped as Funaho continued.

"The children of many nobles spend long periods of time on other worlds to become more cultured, but it ^is^ usually a cover for something else. Your father's only solace is the belief that this is only an extended vacation...and an infatuation that you will both soon grow tired of."

Funaho's voice had grown harder but not yet cold, taking on the urgent tone singular to a parent speaking to their child like an adult for the first time. Sasami tried not to sigh or look defensive; she had told herself that the only way to get through this would be to act grownup, to behave like a princess who wants to make decisions rather than a child who wants their way.

"What do you think?" Sasami tried to imitate her stepmother's formality and hoped that asking her a question directly rather than asking something of her ^auntie^ would make a good impression. Funaho looked straight into Sasami's eyes, regained her tender smile, and returned some ease to the conversation. When she spoke it was as a woman speaking to a dear friend.

"You have taken the water of life now Sasami, thus you are rapidly leaving childhood behind. I've never doubted your intelligence or your caring nature, and I chose to trust that this is what is best for you and the home you've grown into on Earth."

Sasami's straightened and welled up; at last one of her three parents seemed to truly acknowledge how she felt about the Misaki home and the people in it. She contemplated waiting to see if Funaho was done speaking before embracing her, but couldn't contain herself.

"Oh thank you Auntie Funaho! Thank you sooooo much!" Royal and excessive gratitude was barely muffled under a tight hug.

The First Queen retuned the affection graciously, stroking Sasami's head down to the base of her neck for all the chances she'd never had to do so. After at least a minute, the moment ended with another question pulling out troubled eyes and a timid voice.

"What about---what about Mommy?"

"Your mother wants to do what ever it takes to make you two happy, and although she wants to trust you as well, I think she also hopes that this is a phase." Funaho answered without hesitation, clearly anticipating the question. Sasami's face began to lose some of its light before Funaho put a reassuring hand across her shoulder.

"The hardest part of parenting is knowing when to grant your child's wishes. It pains all three of us to see you two leave again, but the hope that Aeka will return betrothed to someone of royal blood comforts us. Well, your mother and I anyway." The tenderness in Funaho's voice began to take on slightly more weight.

"But why doesn't daddy-" Sasami began.

"The whole situation with Yosho---and with you girls, is truly more overwhelming to him than he cares to admit. He has chosen to accept our council for now, but the pain of reuniting with one's children only to say goodbye to them again is difficult to deal with even for an emperor."

Funaho almost turned solemn after almost hurrying her words after the mention of her son's name, though she never showed the slightest will to inspire guilt. All the same, Sasami searched in long moments of silence for a way to lift the spirits in the room again. But instead of comfort, a question raced from Sasami's mind out her mouth that she instantly wished she'd reconsidered.

"Will Aeka be able to read any letters from the people?"

Funaho's face froze for a perfect imitation of a post-emotion icon, keeping the pose even with her eyes shut for a question she'd not anticipated.

"No, Sasami. She knows these are dangerous times, just like you should."

A quick apology never made it; a bubble of royal blood took its right to be informed.

"Are we only aloud to go to earth because it's a safe place to hide?"

Funaho's eyes were hurt more than any statue could convey, and, Sasami thought, with more pain than her question should have carried.

"^This^ is the safest place you could be, Sasami. You'll understand soon enough why Jurai must--- watch its words sometimes, but never, never believe that we'd willingly hide our children."

The growing lump in Sasami's throat clenched and vanished in surprise; the First Queen literally reabsorbed an emerging tear back into her eye. Search and strain as she did for a fitting apology, all that emerged was another question. It changed the subject back with the kind of childish curiosity many people try to grow out of, but it hardly changed Funaho's face.

"Did you or mommy ever want to have more children after---after Aeka and I left to search for Yosho?"

Funaho breathed in deeply, closed her eyes, and shared a secret that was only unspoken and only important to herself.

"It is not a queen's place to ask children of her husband---but, although it might seem selfish, your mother and I both want to have more children with all of our hearts."

Sasami eyes then brightened with a slightly mischievous gleam, at last believing she'd found a way to mend both their spirits.

"Couldn't you, well---^surprise him^?" Sasami suggested playfully though with an obvious touch of genuine hope.

Funaho's surprise shook the weight from her face and she affectionately brushed back a lock of hair from the princess's ear.

"You are definitely your mother's daughter," she began lightly, "but I'm afraid it's just not an option. Hopefully someday your father will be ready again."

The pair adjusted their weight a little, finally smiling at each other in the long awaited glow of an important conversation at last ending well. They both rose and embraced again.

"I know things have been very busy lately, but I'll try my best to spend some time with you before Aeka arrives." Funaho promised into Sasami's hair.

"I'd like that." Sasami answered eagerly.

At the eager answer, Funaho made her way back to the door, letting their hair separate at its own leisure. Sasami inhaled deeply through her nose and made a sound of curiosity.

"What is it Sasami?" Funaho looked over her shoulder after the second step.

"It's funny, I can smell mommy's favorite perfume on you."

Eyes that had remained relatively composed even though obvious pain widened dynamically and quickly darted about the room.

"Well---your mother and I share---women's things all the time," Funaho regained her composure well with a quick swallow for a less than entirely certain choice of words. A flash of recollection seemed to replace it though. As she began walking out the door again, she paused and addressed Sasami without turning to face her.

"Oh, and Sasami."

"Yes, Auntie Funaho?" Sasami answered as innocently as ever.

"Don't worry, you'll be bursting out of your clothes in no time at all." A knowing tease returned every thread of previous composure with interest.

The First Queen of Jurai smiled at the sound of a tiny gasp closing the door between them.

***

When Tenchi entered Sasami's room he half expected to see her waiting to greet him or maybe doing whatever it was little Jurain girls did to amuse themselves. But the only other quarters aboard Ryo-oh contained nothing to suggest anyone would be hosting any tea parties or doll fashion shows. He shook the embarrassing forgetfulness from his head and entered the regal yet vacant room with renewed awe.

The fully re-grown space tree had been a continual source of wonder from the moment he'd been recovered from the disorientation of having his molecules drawn into it. He'd quickly, though not without effort, forgotten his first 'visit' aboard Ryo-oh in favor of a chance to better appreciate Jurai technology. Although Aeka had told him that this regeneration was actually "economized" compared to the original, he'd eventually found himself walking through a haze not unlike the one at his first amusement park. There had seemed like no better time than the present to start in on all the questions he had about her ship, her planet, her culture, yet Aeka had asked to show him something first. The plastic- defying contours of Sasami's room eventually became a dull background to the memory of recent events.

She'd stepped out of her formal position beneath the bow of Ryo-oh and beckoned to him with affectionate eyes, hardly needing to ask that he follow her to a far side of the bridge. Patience then grew thin while he waited, delicate fingers tracing the rounded boxes and pointed lights of a control panel growing from the wall. The very bark of the tree itself eventually spread away from where her hand had been like melting cotton candy. A window the size of a school projection screen presented a vision of such brilliance that it had literally made him feel like slouching back into a chair. Of all the times he'd been able to catch an inspiring picture of the sun, none could have compared to what Aeka paused her ship to gaze upon.

The curve of half the earth, slowly coming into position under the majesty of the sun struck him and melted him. Every last photo buff and poster poser would have paper-cut a wrist to capture this glaze of pure energy spreading across the planet. Both he and Aeka took a deep breath together, witness to the first formation of life on a dead world, or the first steps of their child.

"As many times as I've seen a sunrise like this it still captivates me. I thought you might like to see it too Lord Tenchi." Aeka had spoken softly and taken a small sidestep closer to him.

"Yeah..." He answered in whispered awe, having been almost too absorbed to notice her motion.

Tenchi picked up a happy picture of himself next to Aeka and her sister, lightly tracing his fingers over the beauty of the older princess's face with the ultimate sunrise still fresh in his mind. At that inspiring moment he'd felt a twinge, then a burn of impulse to put an arm around the princess to thank her for sharing it with him. Still digging into the photograph's eyes, he wondered why he had stopped; it was as if an overwhelming argument against the idea had already been prepared to stop him. The screams in his arm were muffled behind a wall again and again but were no less shrill.

Her family relationship to him was always mindfully ready, however, as with every time before, he could find no real emotion even suggesting that romantic thoughts of the princess were wrong (save for the ones that came whenever he had romantic thoughts of any kind).

Tenchi's smile reflected on the picture as his imagination conjured up a beautiful image of a wedding elaborate enough to resemble a circus parade. Aeka would be standing there next to him, bathed in regal layers of white silk and a rain of flower pedals, as planetfuls of adoring people looked up to them as the new lords the most powerful empire in the galaxy. The thought of dancing, music, and those beautiful eyes watching over him and their family made him sigh dreamily. But his mind inevitably began to wonder to other parts of the princess; he snapped himself out of the fantasy and carefully put the picture down.

Heirloom-quality bags landed softly on the bed one after the other, but they still looked almost insulting as they sank into a mattress fit for royalty, Tenchi unpacked quickly as he admired how a tree could grow a bed box from an elaborate series of intertwined wingspan clouds. An unfamiliar and unmistakable sense of pride for his Jurain ancestry moved Tenchi back and forth, opening dresser drawers that felt like heavy and masterful origami. Royal faces smiled at him from almost the exact spot they'd been placed after Aeka had cut them from a photo of everyone at the Misaki home.

***

Throughout her entire scientific career no one had ever doubted Washu's ability and not eaten humble pie soon afterward, one way or another. Jealousy-born and bearing suspicion frequently caused formality- sworn and swearing confrontation; just how brilliant was she, how could she be? Those who could not accept that there were absolutely no wooden nickels in her fountain of scientific knowledge never published their wish- lists for very long before disillusionment and disinterest and dismissal. On uninspired days like this, however, she almost missed the presence of a skeptic tank to clean out.

Her current lull in enthusiasm had been thickening since Sasami's departure, but she continued to assure herself that it was simply a small side effect of genius. A little boredom once in a while was inevitable for someone so brilliant, her mind mumbled it every step up from the lab, she chewed it into her tongue as she entered the kitchen, but the rare look of creative defeat remained. She beat a shrill tune into her bowl as she gruffly stirred in some noodles, again cursing herself for believing a little art might get her back in the mood for science.

Forget her scientific career, never in her life could she remember a time when she'd picked up a brush or pen and created a work of art that fitted anyone older than her currently projected age. Yesterday's paintings had turned to lifeless messes in a matter of minutes as she quickly grew frustrated with the environments and characters her imagination smeared out. All her haiku similarly turned into paper ball sculptures. The only mood her poetry could create was pitiful nausea, even in free form.

With Noboyuki at work, Mihoshi off on one of her routine patrols appropriately nicknamed "naps", and Ryoko avoiding her to no end, she was left alone to sulk in her lunch. But with the slurp-pop of an artificial noodle and the snap-fizz of an imagined light bulb Washu's dull emeralds shined from curious to devious, dragging the rest of her slowly up to Tenchi's room.

Watching her steps up the stairs through the semi-transparent laptop, Washu searched for the energy signature of a very special object. The data placed the treasure only a few meters away, but she smiled for more than that after tactfully knocking, then knocking the ajar open, despite how little she usually liked surprises.

Ryoko was sitting on the bed with her knees pulled in and Tenchi's favorite jacket held against her muzzle in tightly clenched hands. The tail of her kimono was lying limp over the crumpled sheets and her eyes starred ahead at less than nothing. Washu took a quiet step inside, balancing her toe on the floor when Ryoko moved. The mourning figure hardly woke to reality, but looked over with cold glass eyes to make it clear that she knew her mother was there.

Her expression never tried to confuse withdrawal for relaxation, too placid, not at all tranquil. Yet, there was a sense of fragility that Washu needed no psychic link to detect. The wrong gesture, perhaps any gesture, could snap her daughter in either direction. They continued to face each other, one barely holding back, and the other barely holding on. Before Washu could think of some way to better tiptoe around the unstable situation, Ryoko merely turned her head forward again and gathered a little more of the jacket into her hands.

A sigh readied itself for her daughter's decision to keep ignoring her, but Washu kept silent and focused down at the screen as she walked calmly over to Tenchi's desk. The moment between looking and invading privacy met a its inevitable interval.

"Good luck trying to get the gems out of that sword." Ryoko said in a voice barely alive enough to suggest that she'd tried to do so already. Washu glanced over in time to see her daughter teleport away, taking the jacket along.

She opened one of the drawers with a curious frown towards the empty dent on the bed; Ryoko had predicted her actions, but it certainly wasn't by telepathy and couldn't have been clever insight. One more question she didn't feel like disassembling, she'd spoken and that was more than she'd done in a while and would have to do for now.

The object in question was wrapped carefully in a dark brown cloth and tied with a bit of shoestring. While she tried to open the package without removing it from the drawer, images of Ryoko kept distracting her. She inwardly lectured herself as she opened a small subspace portal with a robotic arm at the other end.

*You could have said something, could have said anything. Right now is the perfect time, but you keep making excuses. Is studying the sword and the gems more important than at least ^trying^ to comfort her? If they come back and Aeka's closer to him, and just keep telling yourself that this time alone won't seal the deal, she will very likely never speak to you again.

Washu starred down at the sword then visually traced its contours, all the while seeing only her daughter. Three of her best robotic arms each tried and fried to remove the gems, till finally somebody came to mind as a potential aid her immediate problem as well as the one distracting her from it.

***

Tenchi moved a game piece forward and promptly retracted it with an embarrassed sigh. Every time he played the Jurain equivalent of chess he eventually ended up confusing the movements of a piece with the ones he'd been playing with since he was six. Aeka did the same when he first taught her to play "earth chess" but had adapted more quickly, of course the delicate giggle she used whenever he made the mistake usually overshadowed any embarrassment. He smiled sarcastically to himself, figuring a mistake like that to throw off her confidence might be the only thing to save him. He eventually scanned the rest of the board with a more focused expression, but his thoughts were already drifting to how well the trip had gone thus far.

Azaka and Kamadake served gourmet Jurian meals, right on time and fresh from the food replicater. They were no Sasami-specialties but certainly put any previous vacation food to shame, and they traveled rather well for the picnics they'd had in the garden around Aeka's quarters, much easier to enjoy when he wasn't an escaped prisoner sneaking through them. Talk about the differences and similarities between Earth and Jurai continued to provide good conversation whenever they tried to exchange some less complicated board games.

Ryo-ohki was still the life of the party though; the tricks she was learning to do with her humanoid body were becoming more cleverly coordinated than most children her size. Although it had startled him at first, Ryo-ohki sleeping on his bed in cabbit form comforted him as much as an old cat had when he used to stay over at his aunt's house. Tenchi feel asleep the first night hopping that the near incident in the sunrise would be the only moment of uneasiness, naturally one more managed to present itself.

When they eventually got tired with board games Aeka decided to show him a catalog of Jurai fashions on the main viewing screen. Although Tenchi had mentally prepared himself to answer the inevitable question: 'how would I look in that one', a retreating moment still managed to sneak up on them.

Aeka had turned to a handsome young Jurain in attire that would've been considered classy on any plane and Tenchi had merely stated:

"Wow, that one's pretty cool."

Upon his compliment Aeka turned a deep pink and looked down at her hands, apparently trying to suppress a smile. Tenchi had hesitantly begun to ask her if anything was wrong when she replied with a shy yet remotely seductive voice:

"That is one of the outfits many Jurain men wear on their honeymoons."

Tenchi had been instantly thrown into his favorite defensive position: filling a moat with blush and building a wall with an itch on the back of his head. Normally someone would have changed the subject till they could feign forgetfulness, however, much to his shock and slight excitement, she had looked up at him with sweet and seemingly inviting eyes. The swarm of butterflies in his nerves settled only when he heard the bounce of Ryo- ohki's red ball too late to stop its collision course.

After rubbing the sting and shock from her skull Aeka had turned a raging face towards a slightly frightened Ryo-ohki, but re-holstered her weapon as she remembered Tenchi still sitting in the corner of her flaming eye. He tried to confirm that she was okay, but Aeka only replied with suppressed gruffness.

"I wonder why Washu included such dangerous toys in the games file."

Dragging his thoughts back to the chess game, he noticed his queen begging to be moved. The sight of a king and queen next to each other, as corny as this was, brought more visions of himself and Aeka in that position.

*Just tell her you're having a nice time. You can't stay afraid of this forever, you always say you wish you had a way to help you choose between her and Ryoko, well now YOU'RE COMPLETLY ALONE WITH HER! For crying out loud Tenchi, let things get romantic if they will. You may not like to trust fate, but look at what those chess pieces are making you think of. Face it; the cards are defiantly set for you two. You're about to see her home planet-it ^is^ technically half yours by the way.

Every word of Tenchi's inner lecture brought his eyes up closer to the violet wonder of the princess's gaze. Just as he was considering her lips he heard an overhead announcement from Azaka. The princess endured a swallow of something fowl and turned her head to answer it.

"Incoming transmission from Jurian Warship Rona Five," the guardian reported in his usual official voice.

"A warship?" Aeka's surprise forgot her frustration as she rose from her seat and walked towards the main viewing area beneath the leafy heart of her ship.

"Oh I suppose father ^would^ want a little more security in this area wouldn't he. Open up communications Azaka."

Tenchi looked to his right and noticed that Ryo-ohki seemed to have frozen in the middle of approaching them with a game of chutes and ladders. The sudden appearance of a stout Jurain officer on the ship's viewing screen distracted him from the slightly anxious looking cabbit.

"This is Jurain military vessel Rona Five. Greetings your highness, I hope you are well. My name is Captain Chiron, and I have been ordered to inform you of the kings recent decree." Though he spoke with the utmost professional respect, he either couldn't see her from his own screen, or was trained never to look royalty in the eye.

Aeka darkened, but quickly regained her presence.

"At ease Captain, what is this new decree?" The nervousness barely showing through could have been impatience.

The Captain brought up a piece of paper and read formally. The nervousness barely showing through could have been motivated by something besides Aeka's position.

"Until further notice, or unless specified by the Emperor Himself, no one is to enter or depart from the central Jurai system save for the Emperor and the High Nobility. I can only allow you to pass Princess, your current passenger must either be detained or depart."

"WHAT!" Aeka yelled with wide eyes and clenched fists before the top of the paper even disappeared.

Tenchi took a step back from where he had approached the screen. Ryo-ohki walked up and wrapped an arm around his leg for comfort. Aeka inhaled deeply without any real belief that it would calm her.

"I knew he'd try something like this, I just knew it!" Aeka yelled at the floor before looking up at the officer violently. "Well Captain, I'll have you know that my ^passenger^ is a direct descendant of Jurai's royal bloodline, and he ^will^ pass!"

This time the guard looked directly at her, either he was an android, or he more than feared the emperor's will; he believed in it.

"I'm very sorry Princess Aeka, but I shall be executed if I disobey my orders."

As Aeka sucked in more air to continue the argument a gentle hand covered her shoulder. She whirled around wildly and barely calmed at the recognition of Tenchi's face.

"It's okay Aeka, I'll just meet you back at home," he tried in a calming voice.

"Back at home? But how will-," she began with confused exasperation.

"I'm sure Ryo-ohki could take me back." Tenchi assured her with a smile down at the cabbit toddler who instantly raised a thumb in enthusiasm and with a faint squishing sound was compacted again, sitting obliviously on top of the chutes and ladders game.

"Oh," Aeka snapped into softness, "I suppose that's our only real option then isn't it."

"Yeah...but I don't think Ryo-ohki has a food replicater, do you?" Tenchi asked hopefully, but received a sad little meow and a shake of oversized ears.

"I guess I'll have to bring along enough nonperishable food for a few days."

"I suppose you will."

"I'm sorry Aeka." He tried to sound extra sincere, though he knew it wouldn't help.

"It's not your fault Tenchi, I'll try to get back as soon as I can." In short time the train station had become a wake.

"I guess I'll go pack my things then." His voice was bland as he walked quickly off to Sasami's room. Once he turned the corner Ryo-ohki began to hop after him.

"Ryo-ohki." Aeka called like a mother to a child who should have known better than to think they could get away with anything.

Ryo-ohki stopped in her tracks, drooped her ears, and turned her head with a hesitantly questioning meow, shrinking into the floor as Aeka took very slow steps towards her. Gently and purposefully held up to eyelevel by the scruff of her neck, the somehow smaller animal tried in vain to look away.

"I know I don't have to tell you to take good care of Tenchi, do I?"

Ryo-ohki gave a nervous affirmative meow and looked from side to side to avoid the merciless glare.

"I'm sure your mistress will be very pleased with how things worked out--- but I will never forgive her for this." The ice in Aeka's voice grew into sharp stalagmites and made her culprit shiver, but it only took a few more unfinished sentences to fester her rage into an eerie calm.

"That you had to distract him from---now he has to ride in. That--- 'woman'. Does she think that this makes matters easier for anyone? What gives her the right to try and rob me of ^every^ opportunity? She's not the only person who's put their life at risk, and who would do so a million times more. She's not the only one who cries for him almost every night."

Aeka lips and eyes were beginning to quiver just slightly enough to be seen when she brought Ryo-ohki a little closer to her face.

"Is it because she thinks I already have everything I could ever need? Does she think my title earns me spite the same way it usually earns me respect?"

She gently placed Ryo-ohki back on the floor. Holding emotion under heavy stone even as the distressed cabbit tried to meow something of an apology. The floor squeaked a little with the force of her turn away, her last words tried to be more than final.

"I may truly never forgive her for this, and it may be hard for me to ever trust you again.

Aeka's brow plowed a ditch with a slave's nearly completed hate while Ryo- ohki's ears swept the floor like the veils of an abandoned bride.

***

As Tenchi stood ready next to the repacked and replicated supplies he forced himself to try again to catch Aeka's eyes.

"I-I really did have a nice time. Maybe we-" Tenchi began nervously before he noticed Aeka looking down at his feet. She answered in a distant voice.

"Travel safely Lord Tenchi."

He opened his mouth to reply and was teleported inside Ryo-ohki, his luggage and rations safely shrunk and sealed where his house had once been. The lone passenger looked empty deck and trying to open communications with Ryo-oh before he left. He lowered his head silently when he realized defeat in nothing to say.

"Let's go home Ryo-ohki."

The ship's affirmative meow passed over its only passenger and dissipated into the indifference of space.

***

-Friends (Part 2)-

Age before beauty ascend. Age before beauty await.
As glamour and mundane command what they must and what they will.
As knowledge of time commands all things, proper respect to experienced skill.

Age before beauty inquire. Age before beauty request.

-ZJS

Washu stood at the top of the shrine steps, almost panting from the long walk she'd felt obliged to take, already telling herself that the time for breaths would give her time to prepare for the immanent conversation. She pictured him inside, serenely sipping tea, waiting for her knock so that he could say 'Come in Ms. Washu' in that knowing tone of his. What she needed was a few direct questions, wrapped in formal greetings and goodbyes. Efficiency could beat out sentimentality even at this thin altitude; it had before.

Both of them instantly saw more than clever disguises when they first met. The only people to meet her searching stares had been lovers and bitter enemies, and she'd almost told herself to defy the empathy next time it came around for the supple aura nourished by long periods of time lost in thought. There was little doubt in Washu's mind that if she were not careful she'd end up sharing more than a few old memories. Something about a handsome face attaching itself to a genuinely compassionate nature always turned her to gruel. The typical consequences of romance, however, hardly worried her half as much as the thought of opening things up to wide to close again. The questions she finally had ready by the time she reached the door were each fairly serious, all the more reason to keep things as impersonal as possible.

"Come in." A formal voice for her gentle knock.

*You know he knows it's you, just play along. And whatever you do don't call him Yosho. *You must have felt compelled to speak to him for a reason.

Washu smoothed her shirt and entered with as innocent a look as she could put on.

"Why Ms. Washu, what a pleasant surprise. Would you have some tea with me?" Yosho invited with hospitable hypotheticals.

"Thank you, Katshuhito." Washu replied like a good friend, in business.

They sat across from each other and took three sips nearly in unison. An impatient songbird gave up trying to cue the conversation and flew off before Washu finally spoke up.

"So, did ^your^ daughter have a rebellious stage?" Washu asked with an air of exaggerated exasperation to leave room for humor.

Yosho's left brow rose thoughtfully above his teacup before he slowly put it down without taking his eyes off the fluid inside. A longer time passed than Washu had anticipated for him to search for a memory and find a voice. Just as she was about to add a delicate amount of sympathy for his loss, Yosho spoke with a moderate amount of nostalgia for someone who'd lost a grown child.

"The strange thing is, she didn't, not really anyway." Yosho began then took another breath for a fact that still seemed to puzzle him. "We disagreed on things of course, but she never seemed to have any desire to... 'test' me."

"Really," Washu asked with interest and a hint of disbelief.

"It actually worried me, I began to wonder if she was acting so agreeable to cover for something more severe than the usual things a growing child does." Yosho's perplextion ran almost parallel to Washu's.

"On her wedding day I actually joked with her that just because she was such a cooperative child didn't mean her children couldn't be little monsters." A smile crept across his face at the fond memory and he hesitated.

"But I guess Tenchi has never really been rebellious either, has he?" Washu asked with a rising disappointment that she might not receive any experienced advice, but her sage eventually looked up at her and smiled warmly again.

"As valuable as experienced or educated advice on parenting may be, there is no scientific formula for it---just as there is no scientific formula for children." Yosho guessed a test at Washu's intent in his wise tone.

She gave him a half smirk and looked down at her tea knowing that he was trying to be helpful, and also starting to get personal whether or not they were one in the same. Just as she was about to move the conversation onto the next issue, Yosho spoke again, this time with a greater amount of empathy for her situation.

"Ryoko is a very unique person, as I'm sure you know better than anyone, however, she seems to have all the basic emotions of most people. Children usually react to their parents based on how they think their parents feel about them, I think if you show Ryoko that you think of her as your daughter rather than your experiment she'll be more open to you." Yosho spoke clearly enough for Washu to be certain that he'd prepared this advice in advance.

"Thank you, Katshuhito," Washu answered after a long sigh.

"You are very welcome." Yosho gave no sign that he noticed her moment of hesitation before his name.

The laptop's functions began to beep under Washu's fingers before it had even fully displayed itself. A small dimensional portal opened next to her. The sword hilt, encased in a soft green sphere, floated out with a small saucer shaped piece of machinery below it.

"I wasn't able to collect any data on the gems after Ryoko used them, and I wont be able to collect much while they're still in the sword, could you-" Washu was cut short despite her attempt to speak rapidly.

"I'm sorry Washu, but I cannot remove the gems from the sword at this time. It might not make sense, but my reasons are my own." Yosho stated in a voice that left no room for argument but invited it anyway.

*Okay, now he's pushing it. Why the hell won't he take the gems out? It has something to do with Ryoko of course, but what? Does he still not trust her? Is he just trying to get me going? I know scientists and holy men are supposed to have the greatest arguments, but I need to hold off on this.

*Fine, I'll let him win, today. I need to throw him off somehow, besides I can always get Tenchi to-

Washu typed meaninglessly on her laptop to buy time while she thought the situation over again. She raised her head and gave a disappointed but obviously accepting sigh of defeat. The sword came down in its little sphere as the machine placed it respectfully on the table in front of Yosho. He looked down on it and back up with a blank expression.

"So, do you think Tenchi forgot to take it with him." Washu asked lightly with her arms crossed. Yosho imitated her half grin and answered in a casual tone that sounded more like Tenchi than himself.

"No, he's been through so much with this thing already that he probably doesn't even want to look at it."

***

Tenchi watched Aeka's ship disappear into the artificial wormhole and continued to stare at the withdrawing Jurain warship until even the feeling that it was waiting for a fight faded into space. Carry-on luggage dropped and resonated loudly in the stillness of the ship's only room. He searched out a spare piece of earth fruit and took a passionless bite. Even his slow chewing almost echoed in a juicy slurp

"I guess it's just you and me Ryo-ohki," he swallowed solemnly, making a chair of his softer bag. One of the crystals floating around him flew up with a reflection of Ryo-ohki's face in it. Her meow sounded far away and was clearly just as happy about the situation as he was.

The ship's smooth and angled surfaces were kind of cool, he thought, but also kind of...cold for a ship that was actually alive. Memories of his first and only other time inside Ryo-ohki began to creep in but he shook them away, feeling that he'd been through enough with Aeka today and didn't need to start worrying about Ryoko too.

"So can you really understand what I'm saying Ryo-ohki?" Tenchi curiously began to recall the times where it seemed she understood Sasami.

"Meaoww!" Ryo-ohki answered enthusiastically.

"Well then," he smiled, "Lets figure out a code or something, uh...hmm. Tenchi clenched his face in thought before shrugging it off. "I guess one meow for 'yes', two for 'no', and three for 'I don't know', yeah, I guess that'll work."

Tenchi and Ryo-ohki tested out the new code and it seemed to translate perfectly, he considered trying to decipher a language out of her but decided it would be best to keep things simple.

"So---" Tenchi looked around with his classic neck scratch and a tiny gleam of perspiration. "Are there any, uh, facilities in here Ryo-ohki?"

"Meow-Meow-Meow," Ryo-ohki answered quizzically.

"Oh boy," Tenchi mumbled then explained hurriedly, "you know, a ^bathroom^."

Ryo-ohki made a sound rather like she was trying to muffle a laugh before returning an enthusiastic affirmative. The sound of glass being smeared against a heavy palm made the anxious passenger turn around with a start. A rectangular crystal was growing from the floor. It matched the surrounding crystals in color but gradually shaped itself into what was clearly a box-like toilet.

Tenchi sighed in relief and walked briskly towards it, he looked down and pressed against the extra modern looking latrine with the palm of his hand. A grateful smile reflected on the surface that was much softer and warmer than he had expected. He began to undo his belt then stopped and looked around uneasily.

"Ryo-ohki? You can't---see me, can you?"

The ship remained silent to his hope for a little longer than usual before answering that she could not.

***

Ryoko floated out to the center of the onsen, inviting the steam to coddle her tired nerves. She closed her eyes and stretched, hypnotically running her hands through submerged hair as it ungulated like soft seaweed. Her arms came up to rest upon her stomach. As one hand moved down it brought a piece of a long side-lock with it. She opened an eye at the hairs sticking to her chest and began to daintily remove it. When only a few strands remained she felt compelled to press her palm against her heartbeat.

The lone bather began an infrequent and invaluable private ritual, reminding herself with a soft inner voice that she ^was^ a person, that her love for Tenchi ^was^ real, that someday he would press his ear against her heart as they floated in the onsen. The thought of his skin against her in the warm water splashed a blushing grin across her face. She closed her eyes and hugged herself tightly.

A few more tranquil moments and her eyes flared open at the sound of something falling into the water. She jerked her head towards the intruder and relaxed slightly when she saw the wash bucket she'd set by the edge floating like a paper boat. Right on cue her broken trance admitted thoughts of the very person she'd been avoiding.

*Washu had better give me at least a few more minutes in here before she comes in and offers to wash my back or something. Trying to make me breakfast was one thing, trying to look at a dress catalog with me was another, but trying to talk to me about Tenchi---I could have killed her! Just waltzed onto the roof, poured herself some of my sake, then sat down and tried to be all dramatic: 'Ryoko...how do you really feel about Tenchi?'

*I should have just blasted her head off right there. I could have dealt with a quiet and boring house for a week but instead she had to convince herself that pretending to be my mother was more important than any of the gadgets in her lab.

The anger in Ryoko's face blinked away to triumph as she remembered what day it was. Slightly pruned feet swung above her gracefully as she back-flipped into the water. For a few seconds the onsen was still before Leviathan shot up from the depths, flipping her cool mane back and throwing a proud arch of water towards the ceiling.

*But Tenchi's coming back today and so is Sasami. Everything will be okay, I won't crush Tenchi when he arrives, I'll wait for him to come up to me and then I'll give him a soft hug, it'll kill me but I'll do it. If I can just stay calm around him for a little while longer I'll get my chance. He'll come around, he-

Ryoko's perception snapped back to the frontline for a faint sound. She tilted her head and wiggled a finger in one ear to make sure she wasn't hearing something uninteresting. It might be a plane, but plane's got loud then went away. This noise, she thought, was getting louder, and it didn't sound like it was passing over it sounded like it was...descending.

An anxious breath filled and lifted her out of the onsen. She brought both hands together in Mihoshi-like giddiness with a lip bite for eyes dancing in gold light.

Comforts of home, the living room, showered with droplets of steamy water and cheesy fried snack puffs, filled with a startled shriek as Ryoko teleported within an inch of Mihoshi's lounge. The glimmering and slightly insane face almost propelled the shocked officer over the edge of the couch. Instead of falling, however, she was caught in a crushing hug by a nude and very wet body.

"HE'S BACK YOU BRAIN-DEAD COUCH POTATO!" Ryoko announced in near hysterics as pained baby blues bulged out above the dripping cyan mop.

Just as Mihoshi seemed to be forming a word Ryoko dropped her back on the couch in a gasping heap and turned toward the kitchen. She faced off with her mother's confusion as she carried out a small steaming bowl of noodles. With emeralds stretched wide, Washu had only enough time to gasp before being lifted a few inches off the floor by her cheeks.

"HE'LL BE HERE ANY MINUTE ^LITTLE^-WASHU!" Ryoko shouted into the frog-fish face between her palms before pressing her lips into the spiky ruby. A loud and exaggerated kiss smacked out of Washu's brain before her daughter dropped her and her soup into a yelping pile on the kitchen floor.

Droplets of water sprinkled themselves about as Ryoko flew towards the doorway. She passed a weary Noboyuki then backed up and stared at him with bursting bliss. The man's face turned in-over-his-head-pervert-red.

"Uh...uhhh." Noboyuki began to blubber before Ryoko asked in a near psychotic voice:

"Guess what 'dad'...THE PRODIGY SON RETURNS! HA!"

Ryoko promptly bent and smacked Tenchi's father on the rear end, literally knocking him off his feet. A soaking blur of fleshy plastic and cyan cotton phased through the front door as a middle-aged wail clutched what felt like a broken tailbone.

Washu stood up with a deep frown, surveying the carnage while picking off bits of noodle.

"The expression is 'the ^prodigal^ son returns'," she grumbled and began to roughly wring the broth out of her blouse.

***

The welcoming party shifted her weight from foot to foot to resist the urge to fly up into ship as it parted a small group of clouds. She began waving upwards and giggling to herself till a sudden breeze made her notice her nudity. Ryoko glanced about anxiously and teleported away with a small blush. She reappeared in a few seconds fully clothed in her blue and yellow house-kimono. The fabric was clinging to her still moist body but she only considered the situation for a moment before she smiled mischievously and decided to act oblivious.

The ship hovered motionless for a minute before the colorful transport silhouette of a person appeared on the dock beneath it. Ryoko teleported in front of the indistinguishable aura and as the gentle reassembling of atoms began to take shape she closed her eyes and began taking not panicking breaths.

From the shore Washu brought out a half grin as Ryoko and Aeka stood in front of each other with closed eyes and happy smiles. When they simultaneously greeted Tenchi with a tender embrace their eyes and entire faces shot open in disgusted shock. Ryoko levitated back a few feet while Aeka worked her rusted arms down. When a second silhouette revealed a slightly taller second princess, Ryoko stared in disbelief. Sasami smiled brightly at Ryoko, not noticing her grave expression, then waved at the rest of the household as they made their way up the dock. The brat and the demon remained locked in a deadly starring contest till at last the better villain spoke.

"Where---is---Tenchi," Ryoko asked in a vehement whisper.

"What?" Aeka's confused hush began to drain the color from both their faces.

"Hey you guys, where's Tenchi and Ryo-ohki," Sasami asked turning between the two solemn figures and the clueless-looking group.

Aeka and Ryoko looked from Sasami, to a puzzled Washu, then back to each other. Realization crept up on Aeka like a venomous snake. Her eyes nearly swallowed the sky.

***

Tenchi was not a daydreamer. He did not make time to brush his head through the clouds or idle his hands in empty pockets. Mentally drifting off to fantasy worlds, he thought, was something that should be left behind with diapers and magic. Both Tenchi's father and grandfather had reminded him constantly that success would not come without focus. He'd yet to find anything to prove them wrong.

Magic. Tenchi thought to himself. He often thanked fate for providing Washu to remind him that everything the 'master key' had brought him was at least explainable if not believable. Of course, Tenchi preferred not to believe in fate either. Spiritual or metaphysical questions always made him uneasy, he figured he wouldn't settle into that kind of thing till he was an old man. Unfortunately the few days left aboard Ryo-ohki would give him nothing but time to think.

He shifted his weight on the bed-like crystal Ryo-ohki had snuck up behind him when he tried to spread a spare blanket on the floor. What seemed like a hard surface before had somehow turned into a surprisingly warm and comfortable amorphous cushion. After the nap that soon followed he had "talked" with Ryo-ohki till he was all out of yes or no chitchat. Now he was almost ashamed to be mentally reciting equations and foreign phrases to keep himself occupied.

It was futile, trying not to think about Ryoko while in her ship. But Tenchi tried all the same. At last he pressed his hand into the crystal cushion and a vision of Ryoko relaxing in the same spot blurred everything else. The knowledge of what she would do if she were there came next and caused him to lightly slap his hands over his face with a sigh of defeat. Ryo-ohki seemed to pulse with Ryoko's aura, just as strong as Aeka's connection to Ryo-oh, and perhaps just as desperate. He still had to think of an effective, yet safe way to even things out for leaving with Aeka; careful consideration straightened his face.

Ryoko's mannerisms had been simultaneously getting better and worse every day since Aeka's parents had visited. She'd started to share more of the house work, and only tried to smoother him when she got drunk which also seemed to happen less frequently, however, she was getting more clever and daring in her attempts to seduce him. Tenchi, tried to blink away memories of a few "accidents" that had made him blush even more for thinking back on them. He groaned and shook his head at the time he'd actually tried to forgo hygiene to try and repel her, he should have known it would have the opposite effect. Ryoko had whispered something in his ear about sweating in the dirt and he almost blacked out. That was a particularly long, cold and paranoid shower.

Tenchi finally figured that his best hope would be to take her somewhere that would keep her too distracted to have enough time to work up another scheme. Potential outings bounced around in his head.

"Merrow!"

The urgent cry startled him onto the floor as the ship seemed to come to an abrupt stop.

"What the heck is going on Ryo-ohki," Tenchi asked with mild annoyance as he collected himself.

"Meyooooooow," Ryo-ohki called. A screen appeared holographically over a small section of the surrounding dome.

Tenchi's eyes widened at the image of a rust red and rusty spaceship floating near or far for all he could tell on the crystal floating before him. Its shape reminded him of a plastic wig or a streamlined brain, pipe veins and antenna hairs were worn and there didn't seem to be any obvious weapons on it, or any lights. The craft remained lifeless as Tenchi asked Ryo-ohki the usual questions and continuously received three meows.

The crystal began to buzz and snow with interference. Ryo-ohki began to speak in cabbit language again before beckoning Tenchi closer with glimpses of a human face and what sounded like a distress call.

***

-Verse Two-
-Friends (Part 3)-

Tenchi looked frantically for the image to return in a different spot.

"Ryo-ohki, can you bring him back?!"

"Meow-meow."

"Well can you bring him here, he looked like he was drowning or being electrocuted or something!"

"Mer---meow-meow," her disappointment blew through the surrounding crystals like wind chimes.

Tenchi began to pace and clutch at his skull, wondering and running with thoughts of 'too late' and 'mistake' and not really reassuring himself with a 'could be a trick'. But the man's voice had clearly pleaded for help, and a crippling lump of compassion choked him into submission. He exhaled resolutely, looked at the ship still displayed on the crystal, and spoke as first mate of the star ship Cabbit.

"Ryo-ohki-can you transport me to where he was transmitting the message from?"

"Mrrrreeew," Ryo-ohki seemed to be considering the question as she began moving quickly through space again. Both of them remained silent for a minute till the slightly larger vessel seemed like a stone's throw away.

"Meow!" Ryo-ohki answered triumphantly.

"You can," Tenchi asked hopefully and received the same sound in confirmation.

"Well then-"

He hesitated his enthusiasm, realizing that once aboard he might not have a way to tell Ryo-ohki to bring him back. Tenchi stood there all but biting his nails as he wimbled over the situation till an idea finally broke through his indecisiveness.

"Ah-ha!"

Tenchi scrambled towards his bags and came back with an old portable radio that would save the day.

"Ryo-ohki, if I turn this radio on inside the ship, will you be able to pick up the signal?"

"Meow," Ryo-ohki answered after her passenger alternately filled the deck with static and silence.

"Okay then---lets do it." Tenchi confirmed with a deep breath's preparation. He closed his eyes and clenched his lungs, finger on the radio switch like a trigger.

***

The temperature aboard the alien ship was cold, but somehow Tenchi could tell it was under control. Every tiny notch on the radio left its signal on his hand as he dared to open up to the toxic gases swirling around him.

A deep inhale of almost mountain-fresh air flung his eyes open in startled relief. He breathed in again through his mouth and let it out slowly. The next breath should have been for relief, instead, he began scratching the back of his head as he looked for more overt threats in the new surroundings. The fact that nothing looked particularly alien should have comforted him, should have given him sanitarium jitters at worst since the sterile metal tunnel contained nothing more than lifeless strips of hospital light.

The hallway curved around to identical mystery on both sides. Tenchi took a few steps in one direction then a few more in the other and stopped to center his clueless expression. He looked at the radio then brought out his wallet and pocketknife from the other pocket. These meager supplies offered him little more than a coin to flip. He probably couldn't and shouldn't try to carve any arrows in the floor.

An eerie moan from the left hall made him breakout in gooseflesh and wish even harder for his grandfather's sword. The house haunters and padded cellers had nothing on whatever pain or position this person was in. It had to be the man from the message, Tenchi assumed, not thinking to believe he had more than one person to rescue. He managed to pocket his tools and dash towards the sound before he could thoroughly consider going back for help. Forcing away his fear along the way was like battling a sour aftertaste.

He hadn't gone more than twenty yards before the hall opened up into a room large enough to contain his entire house. The rectangular chamber seemed identical in design to the hallway save for three significant differences: a large window taking up most of the farthest wall, a truckload of elaborate machinery spread out near the center, and a man suspended in what looked to be an extremely painful force field.

Tenchi hurried over to the side of the static glow prison and stared helplessly. It had to be the man from the transmission. The sickly yellow light encasing him crackled more violently as he quivered out a hand while fighting for words.

"Can you hear me sir?!"

Tenchi looked him up and down for some sign or even inspired guess.

"How do I turn this thing off," he asked again with even less valiance.

The man stared straight at him for long enough to practice some obscure new hybrid of delusional rage, but quickly closed his eyes back into an expression of obvious torment and strained to point. Tenchi watched intensely as it slowly shook its way towards a thin cylinder jutting out of a pile of dense tubes and spidery wires. He scrambled in the appropriate direction and looked down. It was roughly the height and diameter of the polls used to connect ropes and keep impatient children busy in amusement park lines. A square red button gleamed on the top, almost hot as he held his palm a few centimeters above it.

"Sir, do you want me to press this?!"

He began to shake almost as much as the man he was trying to help, who, after a moment, showed his teeth and nodded his head violently. For a moment the prisoner's clenched teeth stretched enough for a maniacal smile. Tenchi closed his eyes just as tightly and slammed his hand onto the button. The field vanished and collapsed its contents onto the floor before Tenchi could thank anyone for making his heroism relatively easy this time.

The freshly liberated man was dressed in simple dark green slacks with a white long sleeve shirt. As Tenchi helped him to his feat he noticed how soft the material was, and that it didn't seem to have a drop of sweat on it despite the near hyperventilating winds beating down on his neck and shoulders. Tenchi stood back as the man bent to clutch his thighs and slow his breath.

The aided rescuer placed a comforting hand on the helpful victim's back when both had apparently regained their calm.

"Are you okay sir?"

The man moved quickly at the quiet voice and slightly startled Tenchi as he took the youth's hand in both of his.

"Thank you! Thank you so very much! I've been praying for so long that a ship would come by. I am in your debt kind sir." His voice whined between a starving dog and an overacted coward. He had sunk to his knees again and hung his head as if begging for his life rather than being thankful for it.

"N-n-no problem," Still nervous, Tenchi helped him to his feet.

The man was only an inch taller, with a soft and homely face. When he looked at his benefactor his eyes shimmered gratefully but maintained the slight focus of someone recognizing an old acquaintance. Tenchi bowed formally to suppress the chill running down his spine at the thought that this man somehow reminded him of Ryoko.

"My name is Masaki, Tenchi." After the hurried introduction he remained bowed for longer than normal as the stranger remained deathly still.

"Masaki..." He sighed as Tenchi's manners eventually had to shape up. "My name is Dr. Hetmu."

The Dr. neither bowed nor extended his hand but stood still with breath and smile both rising in excitement. Tenchi grimaced and began to look around the room again, mostly to avoid the repulsion of the Dr.'s awkward face as it now reminded him of the more hopeless geeks at his school.

Right on unknown cue, the Dr. floated eagerly back to where he'd been imprisoned moments before, explaining how he'd accidentally walked across the field generator. He spoke with all the ineloquent enthusiasm of someone trying desperately to impress a potential new friend. Tenchi only half-noticed the explanation, and the uneasy silence that followed as he tried to figure out how this man could levitate about the way Ryoko did.

*Maybe it's the gravity. But then why are my feet on the floor? Oh well, it's probably normal for him, and it's probably best not to ask.

"Well Misaki Tenchi, I think the least I can do now to repay you...is to show you something ^special^."

Dr. Hetmu beamed as he wrung his hands over the worn control panel between them. Tenchi tried to remain polite as he noticed the tiny gleam of nervous perspiration on the Dr.'s forehead and began to feel a trickle of his own.

"Show me---show me what?"

"You're probably wondering why I'm out here in the middle of nowhere, right? Well I'm doing work with something very important, and I can't have anything get in the way." Burned out flash words fell away and the Dr. began to speak more fluidly as he typed away on the panel. Tenchi continued to tell himself not to be suspicious and hence rude, but still pocketed his hands to feel the reassurance of the radio.

"Really?" He asked knowing that he'd be given more information shortly whether he spoke or not.

"It's something the military has recently abandoned. They said it was too unstable." The Dr. chuckled softly as he looked up with a knowing expression. "Maybe for simple minds. Please observe the window Misaki Tenchi." One last key clicked with flare as his voice softened in almost sinister anticipation. Tenchi turned and looked, but instinctively kept glancing back at the still floating figure.

A clear tube roughly the diameter of a basketball rapidly extended into space, a circular indentation beneath the window seemed to connect it to the inside of the ship. Tenchi's quivering hand almost switched the radio on when he noticed Dr. Hetmu duck quickly behind some scenery. The scientist popped his head back up again after only a moment with a wide and excessively friendly grin that forced Tenchi to relax.

With all the paranoid hesitation of a lab shut-in, he got up and walked towards the window caring a force field container that bore a striking resemblance to the one's Washu used to carry important samples. The thick disc emitted a cylinder of glass-like light around an amorphous ball of energy slightly bigger than a fist.

The reddish center of the orange globule reminded Tenchi of the animated films about cells he'd seen in science class. He examined it curiously, uncertain of what state of matter it was in. Before he could inquire, Dr. Hetmu roughly pressed open the indentation leading to the tube outside the ship. Tenchi was no less shaken when a button on the bottom of the container released the sample. A secondary door closed behind it and within seconds the strange orange mass raced out the tube.

"Tenchi, that funny little glob was simply a class 9-G plasma cell. They give off no radiation and are generally harmless. Scientists use them all the time for probes and other tests because they're ^very^ sensitive to change." Dr. Hetmu explained almost professionally as he made his way back to the pile of machinery near the control panel. He lifted and sifting through a cloth bag and removed a small object with the glossy shine of luxury plastic.

Tenchi once again balanced his finger on the radio switch as the Dr. strode purposefully toward him, grasping the pill shaped instrument in his hand like a weapon. Again a meter apart, Dr. Hetmu held the object level with Tenchi's face. A short probe flashed out of the top like a switchblade, sending him into a defensive posture by the end of his flinch. The Dr. chuckled and closed his mouth around the tip of the probe.

"What the-" Tenchi asked dumbly and relaxed his pose.

Loud chuckles gurgled out of Dr. Hetmu as a drop of what looked like toothpaste foam leaked out from the corner of his mouth.

"It's just a mouth sterilizer Misaki Tenchi," the Dr. teased with a hearty swallow, "nothing to be afraid of." Tenchi watched nervously as he held it forward again and sprung the moist probe in and out of its compartment like a child playing with the automatic lock on a car door.

Dr. Hetmu opened out his other hand to show Tenchi a tiny black box.

"Take this, and press the red button if you please."

Hesitantly, though the offer didn't even sound like a sales pitch, Tenchi took the small device. He looked at it like a bomb, became noticeably nervous, and pressed the button roughly as he closed his eyes. No change till Dr. Hetmu roared with laughter.

"Misaki Tenchi---it's all right---I'm not going to kill my benefactor," his laughter barely settled enough to continue, "with a mouth sterilizer,"

Tenchi opened his eyes, pressed the button again, and noticed the prong in Dr. Hetmu's hand retreat back into storage. He repeated the process and sighed in embarrassment when he realized that the world detonation button now controlled the strange man's toothbrush. Now that they were both relaxed the Dr. went and put the little tool into the tube he'd sent the plasma cell through. As the small object chased into space Tenchi raised a confused eyebrow.

"Now, please do me a favor and don't press the red button again until I ask you to," the Dr. spoke in his professional voice again, but sounded as if he were talking to himself. His hands pressed eagerly against the window.

"Uh, okay," Tenchi replied with sluggish curiosity and slowly walked towards the window to figure out what toothbrushes had to do with plasma cells. He stood a few feet to the left of Dr. Hetmu for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"All right Misaki Tenchi." The Dr. said softly.

"You want me to press the button?"

Tenchi's uncertainly was answered with a slow nod. He looked at the small device in his hand, shrugged, and casually jabbed his thumb into it. A brilliant flash of orange energy exploded in front of them. The detonation raced out to an enormous size before stopping its growth while maintaining its glare, it reminded Tenchi of someone he'd seen blow cigarette smoke into a soap bubble.

The ship shook with a violent tremor that flung Tenchi onto the floor and out of his shock. Underneath his own yelp he heard the sound of cracking plastic. He looked up at the still statuesque Dr. and patted his pocket with a look of fear that soon turned to slight panic. Pieces from the old pocket radio were scattered everywhere.

A shadow spreading over him brought his attention back to Dr. Hetmu. Tenchi smiled up at the suddenly stone face sheepishly and accepted a hand that pulled him upward with more force than he'd expected. Tenchi rubbed his lower back and bit his lip.

"What the heck was that?" Tenchi asked with suppressed indignity.

"^That^ was the plasma cell. You see Misaki Tenchi, with a few slight modifications the sensitive qualities of theses cells can be exploited to make hypersensitive mines. The miniscule flux of energy released from my mouth sterilizer within a few meters of the cell caused the explosion that we felt more than fifteen kilometers away. Can you imagine how invaluable such mines would be? Specialized equipment can maintain or change their position quite effectively, and they don't even have to be touched to detonate; all they need is the tiniest change in energy."

Dr. Hetmu spoke in an enchanted monotone, the only obvious sign of emotion shone in his eyes as they stared at Tenchi with something like obsession. The hero's initial uneasiness returned tenfold, and he scratched the back of his head, averting his attention over to the Dr.'s machinery in the hope that when he looked back the unsettling display of power would be over.

"Can you imagine the possibilities my friend! Surely you agree that this discovery cannot be discarded as 'too dangerous'." The Dr. sounded almost fanatical now as he gripped Tenchi by the shoulders with a fierce grin.

"You really are a hero Misaki Tenchi, if you hadn't freed me I might have never been able to use this invention to its full ^protective^ capabilities!" The Dr. relaxed his hands, but the intense look on his face still made Tenchi feel thoroughly threatened.

"Uh, no problem-well it looks like you have things under control here," Tenchi began anxiously. The Dr.'s face calmed and he let his hands fall from his audience's shoulders.

"I'm sorry about your device Tenchi, I should have warned you. Well, lets pick up the pieces and see if I can't fix it." Dr. Hetmu offered warmly. Tenchi smiled graciously and bent to collect what he prayed would be his ticket far away from this scientist and any other explosives he might have. As he made his way towards the largest piece he decided firmly that if the radio couldn't get him back aboard Ryo-ohki within the next five minutes he'd ask the Dr. to transport him. He clung to the hope that he could make it home before a massive search party was sent out.

Tenchi bent over to pick up one of the radio's batteries and held it tightly in his palm, he was reaching for the other when he noticed a change in the room's lighting. The slow appearance of numerous orange glares on the polished metal floor made him squint curiously. He angled his head at Dr. Hetmu, but his question retreated back into his throat at the singularly violent grin starring down at him from the assembly of machines. Widened eyes instinctively rolled upwards and twisted the rest of his body with them like a wet washcloth. At least a dozen amorphous balls of orange plasma were rapidly descending from holes in the ceiling.

"Dr. Hetmu!" Tenchi shouted as he sprang to his feet.

The alarm reverberated around him and the cells seemed to respond with a foreboding yellowish glow. He crouched and put his hands up like a child about to be pounded by the schoolyard bully, sparing only the pitiful plea for mercy. When he opened his eyes again the cells were floating around the room, each about two meters from the floor and some closing in on him.

The collective glow of energy cells subsided and gave him no more than a meter of space on every side. Soundless, but altering their amorphous shape like thick soap bubbles, they hovered in place with no more emotion than a shark's eye. With a terrified gulp Tenchi shrank and balanced into a crouch. He was preparing to call out to the Dr. again in a desperate whisper but was cut off by the hairpin rasp of a nasty little chuckle cut off into mocking confidence.

"Tenchi, if you do not stay calm you will most surely set off an extremely destructive chain reaction."

The sudden change in how he was addressed brought back all the young man's original reserves about boarding a strange ship. They almost jeered him.

Every step Hetmu took to close the distance between them widened Tenchi's eyes a little more. The cells seemed to move respectfully out their master's way while collectively creating a denser crowd around the next potential test subject. Dr. Hetmu sat down across from him with all the suppressed excitement of children gathering for story time, his benefactor lowered his posterior to the floor as if it had just sustained a painful injury.

"Dr. Hetmu, I, uh, get your point, I'm sure these things will be very handy, but could you ^please^ just-" Tenchi gave up his desperate whisper as he noticed the almost giddy expression on the Dr.'s darkened face. Every feature contrasted with the warm colors that had almost completely cocooned around him. A raging glare over a sharp grimace; like a sinister demon mask he'd seen at a festival. There was no longer anything about the Dr. that reminded him of Ryoko, the slight tint of gold had become a dirty venomous yellow; the only person who came to mind was Kagato.

"So this is it Tenchi, a hearty sneeze out of you would do the trick. By the way; as passive as you may think teleporting back to Ryo-ohki may be, well...you're welcome to try it." The accomplished Dr. had also apparently written the book on how to gloat over a tortured prisoner.

Tenchi rewarded him with another layer of fear at the sound of the cabbit's name. He began to mouth his disbelief, but was cut off by another rancid giggle from his captor.

"And those light hawk wings of yours-" the next inhale must have had some good drugs in it, "you wouldn't get them half formed."

"You killed my master Tenchi, but now you will avenge him yourself," he lowered his head willfully close to the edge of the cage, savoring every anxious breath his prisoner made, "one way or another."

"But h-h-how," Tenchi asked despite his overt fear of any answer. The Dr. merely smiled even wider and placed his hands on his knees.

"I'm so glad you asked Tenchi. I'd explain with a professional presentation of charts and diagrams, but such a display might ruin the joy of having you detonate the cells yourself. So, I'll just tell you a little story." Despite all the typical mannerisms of a stage villain, Tenchi realized that the Dr. was likely following a premeditated script, but was definitely ^not^ acting.

"After you killed my master and destroyed his ship I was released from the storage dimension I'd been waiting in." The Dr. paused and inhaled spitefully.

"He only put me in there for safekeeping. Ryoko was expendable. He only wanted to call on my loyalty when he really needed to," Each sentence reassured him quicker and hotter than the last, but he seemed to still be barely sane enough to notice the second glow rising on his face. His teeth caught and ground most of his next accusation.

"^You should have just let her go back where she belonged^!"

Tenchi had enough time to re-gauge his surroundings while the Dr. de-raged himself with head down and arms relaxed.

"Luckily, when the dimension collapsed, shortly before the ship, I was able to teleport away from the explosion onto a distant freighter I knew of. Kagato had this ship in a private storage facility with a number of his other 'acquirements' including these handy little cells.

"He thought he'd only use them as a last resort. I guess they are a sort of cowardly weapon---but the ends justify the means here Tenchi." With every word Dr. Hetmu sounded more and more ready to reel up and squirm down into either sobs or maniacal laughter.

"Keeping track of you without Washu knowing wasn't too hard, but I started to grow impatient and considered bringing these gifts right to you."

Having taken long enough to prepare the look to be ^the^ look of winning malice he figured he might as well raise it slowly to display.

"Then you decided to take your little trip. I'd hoped to intercept you on your way back from Jurai, however, this will do."

He folded his arms and casually removed a remote from a strap on his wrist.

"So now Tenchi, here are two options; you can try to get past these cells, or you can try to get the control switch from me. Although you are quite surrounded, maybe you could turn yourself into something small or nimble enough to sneak through.

"But if your transformation doesn't set them off a clap of my hands surely will. I guess-" he continued with an air of cruel euphoria, "I guess that only leaves the options of praying, begging, and getting it over with."

Tenchi struggling through his gapping mouth for some any-words. The Dr. just smiled.

"I'm sure you already understand; now that I have you, my work, my life here---is done."

The man Tenchi had known not to trust from the first moment greedily sucked his smile in and hugged himself in childish triumph.

***

Ryo-ohki scanned the ship again, located two life forms and sighed a small meow to herself. Her worry and homesickness were only evident in echoes across blank, darkened crystals.

***

Tenchi tried to keep his eyes on his hands, every time he looked up he was instantly repulsed by an expression that made him feel like a piece of dark pornography. It was difficult enough to stave off panic, much less devise a plan. He'd finally taken enough deep breaths to think clearly and gone over his surroundings enough times to paint them from memory, but still he wasn't blessed with even dumb-luck inspiration. All his training thus far had been based on quick reflexes, strength, and stamina; now only the latter now seemed useful. The same fear kept returning; someone would come to his aid only to end up with the same fate Hetmu had planned for him. He fought viciously to keep himself from thinking of his family in the past tense.

*It's too soon to give up Tenchi. This guy thinks he's holding all the cards, and he definitely seems to enjoy watching you squirm. Grandfather always said that overconfidence was one of the easiest things to exploit in a battle.

*But DAMMIT! He doesn't seem to mind getting blown up with me, how the hell do you reason with a kamikaze pilot? He's just sitting there, waiting for me to kill us both. In his mind he's already won---his mind. Just how crazy is he?

"Why are you doing this?" Tenchi asked solemnly.

"Why?" Hetmu returned curiously after taking a moment to acknowledge that someone had spoken. Tenchi kept calm despite his frustration at not being able to tell if the doctor was considering his question or mocking it.

"Is this really the greatest thing you can do with your life: use it to kill us both? If you know so much you have to know that I didn't ^set out^ to kill Kagato." Tenchi continued with an effort of compassion. He struggled to keep his face serene as Hetmu's maintained its mask of perverse enjoyment.

"You'll have to do better than that, I figured out the meaning of my life a long time ago. Keep your fear of death Tenchi, and keep any notions of ^enlightened compassion^ that might 'make me see the light', I-" Hetmu stopped his bitter response and chuckled again.

"I guess it is a little rude of me not to provide you with a holy person before you go, no last requests, not even a last meal---which reminds me: I can go without food or sleep for a very, ^very^ long time."

Tenchi closed his eyes and took another deep breath. He wondered if maybe his captor was actually intending to watch him whither away rather than instantly vaporize. A look over at one of the energy cells and then back at all of Hetmu's sick glee; it was enough to consider calling his bluff. After a momentous gathering of courage, he tried to stare the sadistic man down, watching for any signs of wavering, of insincerity. He found nothing but a cold weight in his stomach from direct exposure to such a truly miserable creature.

"How can I make you understand?" Tenchi asked softly, almost surprised by his now genuine, albeit not entirely outward, sympathy.

"If I could have gotten Kagato to leave Ryoko alone without any violence I would have---don't you see that it isn't right to try to own people? I can't imagine how you could want to avenge someone like him, weren't you a slave too?" A memory of the battle pulled on his throat.

"You don't know anything!" Hetmu whispered harshly, his face twisting with barely suppressed rage. "Ryoko was a tool. I was---I was like a ^son^ to him. He cared about me." Hetmu flattened his lips over his teeth with clenched fist eyes. "The real question---is how could you care so much about that, that ^thing^?"

Tenchi lowered his head and fought back the urge to lunge forward. The burning sensation he'd felt towards Kagato as he robbed Ryoko of her humanity was rising fast. He smothered the flames, but in doing so left only the softer ashes. Visions of Ryoko's smiles began to scroll past him, despair was creeping in again and the thought of her and everyone else's reaction to his disappearance made him choke. His eyes perspired for the weight hauling up his throat.

The idea of dying without being able to say goodbye to anyone spread across his mind like a bitter frost. It entwined him like a surreal worm, every thought stained and crippled under a slow and pitiless crawl. Eventually the feeling, once completely gorged, crystallized, festered, and spread thick wings to suffocate Tenchi's mind. He spoke in shivers:

"I'm---I'm sorry Dr. Hetmu. You're wrong about Ryoko...but maybe I'm wrong about Kagato. I never wanted to kill anybody, I don't have any quarrel with you and I just don't see why we both have to die like this."

"Shut! Up!" Hetmu hissed at the withering spirit. "You had your opportunity to try to talk me out of this and you failed...^miserably^. One more reason out of you will be all the reason I need to end this game." A bit of spittle flung itself over his bottom lip, and he wiped it away with half a surly gesture, not wanting to hide his pride surprise for such clever wording.

"But, of course, you're welcome to snivel all you like."

Tenchi hardened himself as Hetmu's willful inhumanity overloaded and stretched a crack in his self-pity. He tried to remain dignified and once again gathered his will to stare back at his captor. Neither wavered till he was satisfied that Hetmu had understood his silent defiance.

He closed his eyes and assumed a meditative posture, a little surprised that it came so naturally.

*I never was too good at meditation, but this seems like the best time for it. None of the regular methods seem to be working and I'll be damned if I'm just going to wait for my life to flash before my eyes.

* Maybe I'm too young to achieve the acceptance of death those old priests have. I don't know if I can 'free my mind' but if now isn't the time to try then I don't know what is.

Hetmu fidgeted then cautiously began to pace around his relatively motionless captive. The confident smile shifted on a vulture's head to watch for the last twitch of his vanquished nemesis. He idly caressed the surface of the controller with soft anticipation, resisting the urge to cut short any plan the young man might be devising.

Tenchi hoped his frustration at the difficulty of his task would not set the cells off. Disconnecting himself from physical sensations was never as easy as it sounded. Everything around him was perfectly standoff quiet, but his mind continued to flood him with memories and thoughts.

For a single moment, however, he caught, or rather, he felt a glimpse of what he was pursuing. A tiny speck of tranquil euphoria entirely unlike anything imagined, much less promised, blinked in and out of his consciousness. He held tight to his already fading memory of that state or unnamable place and chased it for what would be measured on earth as almost a day.

***

The battle to ignore the aches of his body showed no signs of an end, not as a coddle or even a tease, however, when Tenchi resigned to open his eyes, he did so as someone awakening to the sun rather than a buzzing piece of machinery. The first thing he saw was the same loathsome face he'd turned away from. He stared at his executioner with unflinching sadness and a weightless measure of acceptance. His captor appeared momentarily puzzled and readied himself to mock his prisoner once more. Each of his tears felt like condensation gathered on glass instead of oil squeezed from stale food, and he slowly placed his hands together to search out what he could not find in his battle to capture meditation. One desperate prayer spread throughout existence like a tiny ripple of water.

Hetmu was so consumed with how best to climax the degradation of his already humbled foe that he remained oblivious to the uninvited host, even as he hummed a decadent pipe organ tune.

***

By sibling resilience and common ancestor defiance, and always more, beginning concepts bend to the wills of two sisters, pulled back like a hasty feud curtain drawn across a shared room. But just for mutual benefit formality, reassured. A voice spread and a will focused, falling leaves and tempered stone for mutual concern, formality. Too soon for offense, yet still in defense, a caretaker spoke first, taking care not to disturb her younger future self.

^What do you 'know' of this?

*Shouldn't you be more concerned with what I 'do' for myself?

^That has already been postponed.

*And so will this.

^Then please, tell me why I'm still inspired to ask you.

*I'd rather not speak on this---this matter.

^Are you frightened then?

*Why should I be, if I already know?

***

His footsteps were barely more audible than the light flapping of excessive fabric. The pale man walked like a shadow up to take its place, wearing his height, his grooming, and his very existence with the all- consuming pomp of an emperor with new clothes. Every color of his loose robe-like jacket fit into every ill and overpriced shade of green and white. His lifeless gray hair was flattened back and down with all the natural beauty of a very well made taxidermy. Melted chalk spread over smooth plastic and passed for skin. The way he peered over his dark little spectacles confirmed the voice of all these neutral colors as they called out declarations of pitiless greed. Kagato spoke coyly into his dignified steps.

"Well Hetmu, I must say I'm impressed."

Captor and captive jerked their attention in his direction with a head-start, soon racing to see who could drain the blood from their face the quickest. Tenchi uncorked his mouth and put the lids on his eyes to shake them clean. Hetmu's arms curled to his face like overcooking strips of meat and he stammered worse than Tenchi had.

"M-m-master! Master...it c-can't be!"

Kagato continued at the same pace and held his hand out. When Tenchi saw him begin to palm a ball of green energy he felt his whole body brace for the last impact. The pirate roughly gripped and squeezed the ball into a large sword radiating between thick light and dark metal. After the instant explosion that never came, Tenchi tried to relax but was almost confused into shock that the cells had not reacted at all.

"I'm no ghost, so you can stop your shaking." Kagato stopped to Tenchi's left and looked down on him with that same cold superiority that Tenchi had tried too hard to forget.

"It would take more than a lucky strike."

"^But how^?!" Hetmu choked and his master turned slowly, approaching him with a hand for the suddenly timid man's shoulder. The contact served to freeze rather than comfort.

"Well, I suppose it was a bit of a close call. Witnessing what I thought was my own demise was indeed fascinating...wouldn't you agree Tenchi?" He brushed the words out without even looking at the shocked face behind him.

"But...the Soja...I...you-" Hetmu muttered, still staring wildly at Kagato, who smiled as smugly as a child who'd found the perfect hiding place.

"It took a while, a lot longer than I would have liked, for me to regenerate, but I did. Without a ship I hid out in an artificial dimension to consider my options. I wanted to call you to me, but I saw this as a perfect opportunity to observe how you'd react on your own."

While Kagato was explaining himself, Tenchi blinked again and starred in disbelief, not at the arrival of someone he thought he'd killed, but at the way the pirate's hair seemed to be parting itself in the back, as if by a pair of invisible hands.

"I-I-forgive me master! I should have known you were still alive-I should have looked-I just wanted to avenge you so badly that-" Hetmu nearly sobbed as he sank to one knee, bowing before Kagato like a slave awaiting his deserved punishment.

"Come now Hetmu, don't get sentimental with me. I'm here and that's all that matters now. I am actually proud of you, this trap for Tenchi was rather clever." Kagato said with a microscopic hint of kindness.

"R-r-really sir!" Hetmu anxiously dared to look up.

Kagato reassured his servant by going over the details of Hetmu's deception and the finer moments of the prisoner's humiliation. All the while the conversation gradually became distant to Tenchi as he stared more and more intensely at the strangely exposed area on the back of Kagato's neck. When a small black rectangle phased out of the resurrected pirate's flesh he merely mouthed the words: 'what the-'.

Hallucination became a likely explanation; upon closer inspection the black rectangle appeared to be a plastic slot similar to the ones people fed credit cards to. He told himself that this apparition had to be the result of his exhaustion, but soon thousands of other explanations rushed in to exploit the possibilities of Tenchi's departed sanity.

*Is Kagato a machine? Is he even really there? Am ^I^ really here? Have my prayers been answered or am I in hell already? Ryoko...Aeka...Tsunami...I can't be loosing it like this.

Tenchi continued mouthing the names of his family in another pitiful attempt at contact. He stopped moving and thinking all together as the possible hallucination became too vivid to ignore. Thin paper with large type began to snake its way out of the plastic slot like a receipt, and he could do nothing but gape and read:

^Hello, Tenchi. Please try to stay calm and try to believe me when I say that you are neither dreaming nor insane...I don't think. I am assuming Kagato's form so that I can get us both out of here. If you can simply play along this will all work out perfectly.^

The utterly stupefied expression remained on Tenchi's face as Hetmu rose and starred down at him. Kagato turned and the message faded away.

"Well, I guess my master has something even ^better^ in mind for you." Hetmu tried to imitate the confidence of his master but came across as a hyperactive gremlin.

"W-what," Tenchi asked with half a breath and wide eyes that grew even wider as the plasma cells began to rise upwards. Only a shadow of a memory of quick escape reflexes waved in the distance before he saw then felt the menacing shape of Kagato's blade slide in a millimeter beneath his throat. He looked up its length into his new captor's eyes and could only imagine that this was either indeed the cruel being he'd battled more than a year ago, or an excessively accurate impersonation. The heat under his chin increased.

"Up," Kagato ordered his much-loathed pet.

Tenchi slowly rose on gelatinous legs.

"Now Tenchi, just because you aren't surrounded by my special mines, don't think for a moment that you have any more chance of escaping." Kagato kept his focus on the hall both he and his prisoner had entered through. Soon as his steps found a matching pace Tenchi's dumbfounded expression froze itself to the floor.

"Master-" Hetmu called out respectfully. They stopped beneath the hall's first arch. "I shall wait here then?" Tenchi looked up at the sinisterly calm face, but it remained focused ahead.

"Yes Hetmu, I shall secure him and his ship and return for you. You've done well."

Tenchi tried again to pick out something to identify this Kagato as an imposter but failed.

"Thank you master...^master^?" Hetmu asked from beneath the grateful worms.

"What is it Hetmu," Kagato responded with calm impatience.

"Forgive me for asking master but, will you be long...in returning?"

Tenchi almost turned to look at him, unable to believe but still curious to see if any being could carry so much pain in their voice without shedding a tear, however, he remembered his position above Kagato's sword and looked up it again. The pirate closed his eyes and pushed up his spectacles. He smiled and looked down at Tenchi as if they shared a private joke.

"I'm sorry if you had to wait in the stasis of that dimension for so long, but don't worry Hetmu, you'll be with your master relatively soon."

They rounded down the hall, the glow of the plasma cells fading behind them. Tenchi eventually guessed that Hetmu couldn't even hear their synchronized footsteps anymore, then realized that he wasn't the one matching their step. He closed his eyes tightly; walking in the dark could hardly add more absurd terror to this situation. A cold, freezing, vacuumed hell rush of air blasted them open. For no more than a second or a half he was completely without perception save the vision of solid white.

Tenchi collapsed to his knees on the bridge of Ryo-ohki gasping and clutching at his chest and something worse than asphyxia, completely overwhelmed with a mixture of prickling dizziness and pure terror. There was a pounding urge in his head to scream out like a lunatic, but at last he began to feel the calming effects of the oxygen Ryo-ohki was generating excessively for him amid worried meows. Only mildly better, and only physically, he rose to his knees and glanced around. Everything was as he'd left it, and Kagato was standing over him with an amused look on his face.

"Sorry I didn't warn you about that, traveling this way is always rough the first few times, but you'll be just fine."

Kagato spoke not only in an uncharacteristically friendly voice but also in a completely different voice altogether. It was similarly calm, old experience still too vain to show a wrinkle, seduction seemed just softer- sober enough. When he rolled his head, however, instead of cracking neck bones, the sound of gently crumpling fabric carried throughout the small ship; Kagato's flesh and clothing fell away like a bathrobe.

The skeleton underneath was a slender man with a proud to be tall posture. Intense blue eyes lorded over the smooth plains. His blonde hair grew down behind his ears and half a foot past his shoulders onto a long-sleeved metallic raspberry shirt, its velour hanging loosely over straight black pants. He held the heel of one shiny rounded boot to the side arch of the other, ready to bow or walk a tightrope or trip if he wasn't careful. The nail polish and underline of mascara were a dark strawberry, almost mirroring, perfectly matching his shirt. It was probably gloss on his lips, but it matched just as well just the same. With his wiry fingers stretching the fabric over his tough sissy biceps, Tenchi could only remember a flamboyant group of American musicians he had seen on TV. Kagato's impersonator smiled for the sincere flattery to come.

"We can work on explanations later, for now I recommend you direct this ship out of here."

His croon went a little more relaxed and a lot more frank. Tenchi merely nodded and ordered Ryo-ohki to take them home as fast as she could. The ship meowed so enthusiastically that he tensed at the idea of setting off the mines with a victory parade, but the only flash came in a blur of stars. He smiled awkwardly and slumped into the non-personal though still personalized crystal chair.

The captain looked at his savior again who strolled up to the far left to watch nothing pass them by. Unable to keep his eyes open, the still balancing figure began to disappear into darkness. He cringed in painful aftershock at what he'd felt when they left the immediate trap. But the memory soon passed with the last weary thought before the dream, that his new passenger's smile was noticeably warmer than Hetmu's.