Note 1-26-03: Made a few changes to streamline it.
Note 1-28-03: Part 6 is taking longer then I thought. I'm making a large
number of edits and writing new parts. I should be out in at most a week.
Note: I don't own any of these characters (If I did, do you think I'd spend my
time writing fanfics? Hell no. I'd spend all my time spending the profits I
make from Tenchi Muyo merchandise.) Anyway, Pioneer owns this all, so please
don't sue me (Not that you'd get any money, I'm broke.)
Note: this takes place in a modified Tenchi OAV Universe. (Yes, they're
"modifications", not inconsistencies or plot holes heh heh.) Basically,
everything that happened in the OAV happened here.
Jurai Blues Part 5: Ayeka comes home
By James Kane (Or Psyco Panda, if you prefer)
===== Previously, at Tenchi's house =====
" ... I repeat this is not a joke. An apparent alien spacecraft has
appeared over the United Nations building in New York City. Details are sketchy
as to what is happening inside." The announcer said. " This feed is coming in
live. No one is quite certain... Something appears to be happening." Tenchi
knew immediately what was happening. The entire area seemed to darken, except
for one place, which seemed to brighten. There were what looked like cherry
blossoms falling around it, and seven people appeared. Ayeka stood in the
center, in an aquamarine hooded Jurain robe. The hood fell deeply over her
forehead, and her face looked dark and shodowed beneath it. To her left, stood
Sasami in Turquoise and pink robe. A man in what looked like a military uniform
stood to her right, and four guards formed a box around them. Azaka and
Kamidake appeared a few moments later, and the group headed inside. Tenchi had
a feeling he wasn't going to like what was about to happen.
===== Earlier, in Northern Canada=====
No one would ever think that the woman casually walking down the street
was the queen of an empire from another planet. Quite a few people stopped
to look at her, but they were mostly young men and it was for an entirely
different reason. Jurai, as any powerful nation, had many enemies, so not even
on Earth, where no one knew who she was, would a queen let down her guard. But
queen had been given basic training in blending in, and 700 years with which to
sharpen her skill. Right now she was wearing a pair of jeans and a non-
descript, red turtleneck. It wasn't very flashy, or flattering, and no one
would have thought twice about it, except maybe for her extremely long hair,
though that could be easily written of as eccentricity. That was the reason.
Queen Funaho was a master of infiltration. She had an expert sense of
awareness. Only the best spies or assassins could come with-in twenty
feet of her without her knowing. So she was well aware of the fact that someone
had been following her all morning. Though, in all honesty, most people would
have been in this case. The loud crashes that had been following her all
morning were enough to get anyone's attention
" Ooopsy. I'm so sorry. Let me help you with that." Another crash,
followed by angry shouting. A blonde woman in what anyone off Earth would
easily recognize as a galaxy police uniform was standing near the door of a
cheesy souvenir shop. A table with various little snow globes and other
touristy things was lying on the ground, many leaking.
" I'll pay for that. I really will." Lady Funaho didn't have to try
hard to guess why Mihoshi was in Canada. Tenchi was so insecure about her
safety here on Earth. Funaho watched as Mihoshi tried to help clean it up but
she kept knocking over other things. She watched on, with an amused smile on
her face, as Mihoshi lost her grip as she picked up about five snow globes and
actually was able to juggle them for about thirty seconds only to have them all
hit the ground at the same moment in a loud crash. Eventually the shopkeeper
just shooed her away, and surveyed the damage with a look of awe on his face
Lady Funaho had never seen matched. Mihoshi walked to a corner and started
looking around, and Lady Funaho could only guess for her. Funaho watched for a
few moments as she started to panic, then waved to let Mihoshi see her. The
galaxy police officer cheer fully waved back until she remembered that Tenchi
had asked her not to be seen.
" Oh shoot." She said. She blushed a little in surprise and
embarrassment, and then, not knowing what else to do, ran across the street to
talk to her, and nearly got run over twice. " Hi there. I was just, ummmmm
errrr, what a coincidence I always come here for sake after work." Mihoshi
said.
" Sake is a Japanese beverage. You won't find a whole lot in Canada.
Even less that's good." Funaho said. Mihoshi started squirming uncomfortably.
" From what I hear, Canada seems to be more beer centered."
" Yeah, well, uhhhh..." Mihoshi bluffed. " I meant beer." She said,
and nodded as if it was the truth. " Uh huh."
" Tenchi worries too much. He should have known I'd be all right."
Funaho said. Mihoshi grew wide-eyed as a shocking idea formed in her head.
" Oh, then you already knew I was here. I thought Tenchi told me you
didn't know. That's so weird, I wonder why he did that?" Mihoshi said.
" Yes, I wonder." Funaho said. Lady Funaho was far to composed to face
fault. Besides, she was used to dense people. A bad side note of nobility,
though thankfully Jurain medicine had conqured inbreeding problems, was that
sometimes people were given power that really didn't deserve it. In the court
of Jurai, there were people, though few, much worse then Mihoshi. Seiryo, the
man Azusa had chosen to wed Ayeka, was one that came to mind.
" Would you care for a cup of coffee?" Funaho said. She motioned
towards an outside café, in the shadow of the city walls of old Quebec. The
city used to be a fort, and it showed. Old Quebec was placed on a huge hill,
and was surrounded by a thick wall of stone. The streets were tiny, built for a
century or more ago, but it was still cozy. Everything had an aged quality that
Funaho found comforting.
Mihoshi nodded a yes and they walked over and took a seat. Mihoshi
started a rambling commentary, completely uninformed on the city. It wasn't
exactly where Lady Funaho had lived but it certainly seemed like home compared
to the vastness and spiraling towers of Jurai. Mihoshi commented on how pretty
it was, and how it was nice that it was so different from Japan. Lady Funaho
ordered two cups of coffee, and the waiter wrote it down, made a non-chalant
glance at her chest with a quick grin and went to the kitchen.
" How did you get here, Mihoshi? Did Washu open a hyperspace wormhole?"
She said.
" Oh that. I put it down outside of town. Washu gave me this cloaky-
thingy-dealy to put in my ship, so no one will see it." Mihoshi said. " This
place is so pretty. It must have been great growing up here."
" It wasn't exactly like this when I was here. Not nearly this busy."
She said, reminiscing of her youth. She pulled out a small device made. It
looked somewhat like the palm pilots some business people used, but this one was
made of polished wood, with a display that any science lab could tell was
diamond.
" What's that thing?" Mihoshi asked.
" It's just a little data pad. Part of the reason I came to Earth was to
do a survey. I have to get around to it sometime." She said.
" Oh, you mean like how well this planet has developed? At the galaxy
police academy I had to write one on this planet in the Syklan sector and it was
so interesting. Did you know they make most of the sectors nano-circuitry
there? Oh I hope I'm not bothering you." She rambled. A few people sitting
nearby gave her a sideways glance as she said, but just ignored her as some kind
of nut job who thought she was from space. A little later, they wouldn't have
doubted her.
" It's all right. Misaki and I haven't been away from each other for
this long in well over a century. Having you here makes it seems like she's
still here. You two are so similar in many ways." She said with a knowing
grin, as Mihoshi was oblivious to the unflaterring comparison.
" That's so nice." Mihoshi giggled. " No one's ever compared me to a
queen before." A minute later, the waiter appeared.
" All right, we got two coffees, black, and a message from the
gentleman." The aspiring fan fic writer working at a dead end summer job said,
then smiled knowingly, as if he knew exactly what was going to happen, as he put
the coffees and a note written on a folded sheet of paper. Funaho curiously
looked at it, and then scowled at a man across the café, who gave her an
enticing wink.
" What's that?" Mihoshi said. Funaho frowned, crumpled it up and tossed
it over her shoulder.
" Nothing important." She said. The people around her might have found
it very interesting if they knew that it contained a suggestion for a "ménage et
twois" and several other things that her husband wouldn't have hesitated to
destroy the planet for. 'Perhaps I shouldn't have missed this planet that
much.' She thought. She was about to turn about and give him a piece of her
mind, and possibly a broken arm, when a shout from across the street grabbed her
attention.
" What the hell! We're being invaded by aliens!" Suddenly the crowd
babble died down as the words were absorbed. Most people just shrugged it off
unbelievingly. But more and more people shouting and screaming as the gathered
around a TV in a nearby store. Perplexed, Mihoshi and Funaho got up to go see,
while Lady Funaho kept her head bowed and cupped her left fist in her right
hand, an ancient Jurain superstition akin to crossing of the fingers on Earth,
as a feeling of unbelievable dread filled her. As they moved through and were
able to see the TV, they say a Jurain Battle cruiser hovering over the UN
building.
" Ayeka, you idiot." She quietly swore.
===== Jurain Battleship Eternity, earlier=====
" Have you made the announcement yet?" Ayeka asked, running a comb
through her long, light blue hair. Its color was due to a dye. It was her
original hair color, and the same as Sasami's and her mother Misaki's. She'd
changed it when she was younger to make her self more attractive to her future
husband, Yosho, and had grown to like it and kept it that way. 'Not anymore
thought,' she'd thought in disgust. She'd had it changed back in an attempt to
forget about both the men who'd crushed her heart, but unfortunately it would
take time before her hair changed back on it's own, and she'd dyed it to make it
even.
" Yes, your highness." Azaka said.
" We informed them you would be arriving soon, but we did not share with
them the reason." Kamidake said. Ayeka's guardians hovered towards the back of
the bathroom.
Ayeka was dressed in a very formal three-layered Jurain garment, with a
hooded aquamarine overcoat. It was something only worn for state functions.
Sasami rushed in wearing a Jurain silk robe colored turquoise and pink.
" Ayeka! Are you ready yet?" She panted. Apparently she'd run all the
way down from the bridge, after watching their approach to Earth. " I can't
wait to get back down to Earth. I know it's only been a little while, but I've
missed it a lot."
" Sasami!" Ayeka shouted, and Sasami jumped back a little. Ayeka took a
second to calm down. " Sasami, we are not returning to Japan now, nor do I
have any plans to in the future. We'll be going to a place called New York
City, to meet with representatives from all over the Earth. I don't think we'll
be seeing," she hesitated, and said with a bit of a growl. "Tenchi, any time
soon." Sasami looked doubtful. Tenchi would probably find them. The door
chime sounded and Ayeka sent Azaka to get the captain. When he entered, Sasami
couldn't help but notice that he looked very different. His face seemed tired,
and his eyes were tight with worry, like he hadn't slept in a few days. Ayeka
continued to work with her hair obliviously.
" Princess Ayeka, we have arrived at Earth, and are preparing to descend
at the designated area." She nodded, but Captain Sakuma stood there, and wrung
his hands. " Princess, we still haven't received word from Jurai. Princess, I
think before we do this we should contact your parents. Earth is still on the
list of protected planets, requiring permission from the Jurai royal family..."
" Which I am a part of." She interrupted, staring heatedly at him. He
immediately nodded.
" Of course, my lady. But we still have not received orders from Jurai.
Perhaps your parents are reconsidering this first contact. We should break
radio silence and contact headquarters. Excuse me for saying this, but I never
understood why we had to maintain silence in the first place." Ayeka sat still
for a moment. Deathly still. Then slammed the brush down, making both Captain
Sakuma and Sasami jump back.
" I am terribly sorry captain, that the word of a Jurain princess isn't
good enough for you." She stood up and marched towards him. Even though she
was more then a foot shorter then him, he still felt like he was looking up at
her. " But my authority still carries the force of law on this ship and until
you are told other wise, you will do exactly as I say." She said. Her face was
contorted in near fury. She reached over and grabbed her coat from a chair and
stormed towards the door. " We'll go now." She said, and stormed out the
door. Kai exchanged looks with Sasami, looking for some sort of answer, and all
Sasami could do was smile uncomfortably.
" She's usually not like this."
===== Masaki household, now =====
Tenchi could only stare blankly at the screen. What the hell was Ayeka
doing? Apparently he'd said it out loud, or Washu was that good at judging him,
because she answered him a moment later.
" I really don't know, Lord Tenchi. I really don't know." She shook her
head. By this time Noboyuki had woken up by the noise downstairs. He came
downstairs, and his eyes fell on the TV.
" Could we contact them? Send them a message?" Tenchi asked.
" We could, but not until Ayeka returns to the ship. To bad we don't
have a ship of our own. Mihoshi took Yukinojo, and Ryoko took Ryo-oh-ki. I'd
get started on a hyperspace warp, but I really can't drag myself away from the
TV. It's like a train wreck. Can't look away. Plus creating a warp would most
likely tear New York apart in the process." She said, like it was an
unimportant side note. Tenchi cradled his head in his hands, but his eyes never
left the TV, as it followed them inside the building. Inside, the general
assembly waited breathlessly as the small group walked down the aisle and onto
the stage. Even the news commentators remained quiet, knowing there was nothing
they could do or say that could possibly add anything to this.
As Ayeka reached to podium, she reached back to drop her hood. Tenchi let
out an audible gasp as it fell.
" Her hair... It's blue. Like Sasami's." He said.
" Yes, she changed it when she was still a child." Tenchi and Washu
finally looked away from the screen. Yosho stood in doorway to the hall,
wearing his traditional priest dress. His glasses were askew and his hair was
unkempt, as if he had just gotten up. " That is her original hair color. She
changed it suit me, because it was what I preferred." He smiled and rubbed the
back of his head in a careless way. " Perhaps I shouldn't have let a girl
willing to do that for me get away." He joked, and Tenchi grimaced.
" Grandpa, this isn't funny. I don't know what she's doing at the United
Nations building, but it can't be good."
" You take life too seriously Tenchi. This may seem important now, but
once you've lived 700 years, you learn it will all pass." He said.
" Earth has just discovered there are aliens. How is that not a big
deal?" Tenchi countered. " What the hell does she think she's doing?" He
swore.
" It's not that hard to figure out what she's doing." Washu said.
Her arms were crossed, and she frowned slightly. " She's probably just going
force Earth into joining the Jurain Empire."
" What?" Tenchi shouted. " She can't do that. Can she?"
" Yes, she can." Yosho said. Tenchi envied his serenity " Members of
the Jurain Royal family have almost absolute power, especially among the
military. They can only be overruled by someone of higher authority in the
royal family."
" Quiet." Washu said, and pointed towards the TV. " She's starting."
" People of the Planet Earth." Ayeka said. She looked slightly
uncomfortable addressing so many people, but she continued. " Approximately
Six thousand years ago, colonists from the Kingdom of Jurai left in order to
expand the kingdom. Most of these colonized worlds expanded, and quickly took
they're place in the Jurain empire." She said. The crowd grew quiet as most of
the people came to the obvious conclusion. " But not all. For some reason
lost to the mists of time, this one was not. So I have come to extend the
greetings of the Jurain Royal family, and welcome you into the Jurain Empire."
The camera pulled back a little bit to show the rest of Ayeka's party while the
reporter muttered something unintelligible. Tenchi saw a look of...
uncomfortableness was the only way to put it, on the face of the older man with
them. Sasami just kept throwing nervous glances at her sister, and more nervous
glances out at the assembled ambassadors.
" Hmm. I didn't think she'd tell them the truth." Washu said. She had
quickly regrouped and switched back to "mad scientist" mode.
" What truth?" Tenchi asked.
" Nothing really. Just that the Earth was actually created as a study in
psychology by Jurai and the science academy. A habitable world was chosen and
seeded with cloned genetic material from volunteers to study progress in
differing climates and isolation." She shrugged. " I should know, I was the
overseer of the project." She smiled wickedly as Tenchi absorbed this
uncomfortable truth. " There's actually a chamber inside the sphinx and other
'monuments' we built that says 'Property of Washu, the greatest scientific
genius in the universe. Of course it's in Sokotese, but it's there."
" That's great Washu, but how do we stop her?" Tenchi said in a panicked
voice.
" Not much we can do now." She shrugged. " But wait for someone to
connect you to her." Tenchi was about to say something, but she shushed him and
an uncomfortable look crossed her face, and she seemed to flinch for some reason
Tenchi couldn't detect. " Quiet. I think things are going to get
interesting." Tenchi wanted to ask what was happening but Ayeka spoke again.
" I know many of you may have a problem with this. You hold allegiance
to your own nations, and own sets of beliefs, but I..." She said and trailed
off as insane laughter echoed throughout the auditorium. Laughter which, to
Tenchi's surprise, was not coming from Ayeka. Tenchi understood at last. The
camera panned around and tilted up to reveal a woman with cyan hair, wearing a
black and red bodysuit, hovering in the air and clutching her stomach, doubled
over (as much as one can be when floating) with laughter and a small animal
clinging to her. The news anchor muttered something inaudible. There were
gasps from the crowd below as everyone started to turn and look, and a low
growl, much like a cat who'd been teased fifty times too often, coming from the
front. Ayeka stood at the podium with a slightly disgusted look.
" Ryoko." Ayeka hissed.
" How's it going princess?" Ryoko chuckled. Sasami gasped in surprise,
but smiled in joy.
" Ryo-oh-ki!" Sasami gasped, and flung herself down the stairs,
forgetting all of her royal training, as the cabbit leapt off Ryoko's shoulder.
They reached each other and Sasami embraced the cabbit, as everyone looked on,
stunned.
" Dissension in the ranks already, Princess?"
" Well, um, it appears that someone else has now... has now appeared."
The reporter stuttered out, though no one was really listening, in the Masaki
residence or elsewhere.
" Ryoko." Ayeka growled again. The camera turned back to her, and
Tenchi nearly gasped. Her face wasn't contorted in rage, but merely blank,
almost hollow except for her eyes. They were tight and screaming volumes about
pent-up rage. Ryoko wiped a tear from her eyes, and settled down. The camera
panned back and forth, not seeming to know who to point at.
" Ayeka, of all the things I thought you'd do, this wasn't one of
'em." She said grinned. " And here I thought I'd completely blown it, then
you go and do this!" She said, and burst out laughing again.
" Silence criminal!" Ayeka shouted, but Ryoko wouldn't be silenced.
" It's nice to see you too." Ryoko said.
" I hardly have time for this now. Leave now." Ayeka said.
" Or what? Are you going to arrest me?" She mocked.
" Actually," Ayeka said, with a feral gleam in her eye. " That's
exactly what I plan on doing. I knew I'd see you again, and if I hadn't, I'd
have come looking. And I can't let you interfere." Ryoko inhaled silently and
gave Ayeka cock-eyed look of confusion. Everyone else had the good sense to shut
up right then
" And how are you going to do that? Statute of limitations, remember."
Ryoko offered.
" The statutes of limitations on your previous crimes have run out. But
not on your more recent ones." Ayeka said. Ryoko blinked in surprise. She
wasn't aware of any recent crimes (at least, that Ayeka knew about).
" Especially not for the attempted murder of a princess of Jurai!" The crowd
gasped in shock, though no one was certain why. Most had given up on trying to
figure out what was going on, like a convoluted comic or Soap opera story line.
" If you're talking about all those times that I kicked your butt, I
never tried to murder you." She said. She had floated forward a bit so she was
now just a little in front and above Ayeka. " Severely injury maybe, but not
murder."
" No. Not me. For the attempted murder of Princess Sasami." She said,
a predatory gleam in her eye. Ryoko was shocked, and opened her mouth as if to
say something, but nothing came out. Even Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki seemed
surprised.
" Sasami? When did I ever try to murder Sasami?" Ryoko finally managed.
" How quickly you forget. I guess it's all just the same to you. It
happened right before you crashed my Ryu-oh." Ayeka said. Ryoko put her hand
to her chin, then snapped her fingers a moment later.
" Oh yeah. That." She said, and teleported over to where Sasami was.
She gently patted Sasami on the head. " Oh, Sasami. Do you remember that
thing where I kind of held you against your will? It was right after you met
Tenchi for the first time." Sasami nodded.
" Yeah. I think so." She said innocently. Ryoko smiled sweetly.
" You're not going to press charges against me for that little thing, are
you? You know I wasn't serious. You know that." She said.
" Well, I guess I won't."
" That's a good girl." Ryoko said, patting Sasami lightly on the head.
"Got anything else, Princess?" The space pirate mocked, which Ayeka answered
with a pleasant smile. That's when Ryoko started to worry.
"Actually I do... Although the galaxy police or Jurai may not be able to
arrest you." She said, with an evil grin. She let it hang for a few seconds,
and then finished. " But the Kingdom of Manticore can. Indeed, the Solaria
league also has a current arrest warrant out for you. And Jurai does have
extradition treaties with them." She said matter-of-factly. " Azaka,
Kamidake, arrest the criminal." She flicked her wrist forward towards Ryoko,
but the guardians were already in motion. The took up positions on either side
of her, and energy
crackled around her, while Ryoko teleported upwards, not as an escape maneuver,
but just to put some distance between her and everyone else.
`" Just a minute!" Someone cried out. Immedialty every person in the
room snapped to this new voice. " You come in here, telling us we are going to
become part of your alien empire. Then someone else arrives and you scream for
their arrest. I think we deserve an explanation for all this before we can just
let someone be arrested for some reason we know nothing about." Said a man. He
stood with arms planted firmly on the desk in front of him, but a slight shake
in his voice made his real feelings clear. Ayeka just threw the
man a mean look.
" Hey, no need to help." Ryoko said. As the two guardians closed on her, she
crossed her arms, creating a visble distortion in the nearby area, like the heat
coming off a hot street in summer, in what more then one anime fan watching the
proceedings would think was a pretty damn good Goku impersonation. She held the
pose for just a second, as the guardians approached, the released with a bang.
In the blink of an eye, she flung her arms out, and a shockwave pierced the air,
along with a sonic boom. In the enclosed space, built with acoustics in mind,
it was near deafening, and many ambassadors had a ringing in their ears for
hours afterwards. But that's then. When the dust settled Azaka and Kamidake
were imbedded about six inches deep on opposite sides of the wall, and several
people swore they saw little birds fluttering above them.
" But thanks anyway." She landed in the aisle and made a show of
yawning.
" See princess. You never understood. I could have taken you out any
time I wanted, but I didn't." Ryoko mocked. Ayeka was fuming, more so because
she had just been humiliated and mocked in front of the entire world, then the
realization of how powerless she was. Ryoko teleported again and this time
appeared to the right of Captain Sakuma, who had been looking very nervous the
entire time. With the space Pirate Ryoko, the only person to ever attack Jurai
successfully, right next to him, he started sweating and his hand wavered above
his gun.
" Personally, if I were her, I'd just go home, and leave this planet to
Tenchi and me." She met Kai face to face. " But then again, she never could
take a hint." Ryoko shrugged. Meanwhile she missed Ayeka reaching into the
folds of her robe to get something. She didn't miss however, the familiar snap-
hiss she'd heard at the two most important moments of her life, the second time
meaning the loss (temporary though it might have been) of a hand. She turned to
see Tenchi-ken in the hands of Ayeka, with the blade mere inches from her
throat.
" Ayeka, no!" Sasami gasped. She picked up Ryo-oh-ki and hurried back
to Ayeka. Ryoko just stared at her.
" I may not be the swordsman Yosho is, but at this distance that won't
matter." Ayeka growled.
" Can you do it, Princess? It's not easy to take a life, especially for
a spoiled rich girl like..." She said, but her voice faltered as she met
Ayeka's stare. She felt afraid of her for the first time, with the fires of
hell almost burning from her eyes. She might just do it, Ryoko thought. Not
being an idiot, Ryoko teleported away to a safe distance, leaving Ayeka holding
a blade to thin air. " You really are serious. I guess I'll give you a little
time to cool off. There's something you need to know, but I just want to see
the look on your face when Tenchi tells you." Ayeka didn't respond. Just
glared at her, and held the blade still.
" Come, Ryo-oh-ki!" The cabbit nuzzled Sasami good-bye, then leapt into
the air, turning into a spaceship, and unintentionally putting a huge hole in
the ceiling.
" I'll... I can pay for that." Ryoko said blankly. She teleported away,
Ryo-oh-ki rose up, and seconds later they were gone as Sasami waved goodbye.
" Come captain, we're going back to your ship." Ayeka said. " Sasami!
We're going!" She said. Captain Sakuma breathed a sigh of relief with Ryoko
gone.
" Okay!" Sasami replied meekly. " But what about them?" She pointed
to the crowd, and Ayeka grumbled impatiently. She snatched up the microphone,
and said quickly:
" You'll all receive more details and orders in a little while." She
said curtly, and motioned to Captain Sakuma. Moments later, they were
teleported away.
=====Masaki residence=====
" I don't believe this. I just don't believe this! In front of the
entire world." Tenchi kept repeating. He held his head in his hands as if
the trying to make the world stops pinning. With Ayeka gone, things have
finally settled down, and the UN had come to order and started bickering amongst
themselves again. Washu took the remote and turned it off. Tenchi started
pacing and Yosho just shook his head.
" I never thought she would do this." He said.
" Well we're going have to figure out what we're going to do." Washu
said.
" Can we contact the ship now? It's got to be in orbit if she's
teleporting, right?" Tenchi said.
" Technically it only has to be within about one point seven AU
(Astronomical unit for the Astronomically illiterate, the distance from the
Earth to the sun) to teleport, but yes I could easily contact them." Washu said
casually. " But that wasn't what I was talking about. Ayeka, Sasami, and Ryoko
were known about town. It's only a matter of time till someone connects you
too. You need to figure out what you're going to do when the news casters
starts beating down your door."
" I hadn't thought about that." Tenchi murmured. " Not that I really
had time too."
" Feel free to take sanctuary down in my lab." Washu offered with a
suggestive grin. " You can use my bed."
" Or up at the shrine. Funaho (the tree) can create a force field to
shelter the shrine." Yosho said.
" Thanks," Tenchi grimaced. " but I think we'd better deal with Ayeka
first. We should have some time before we have to worry about press." Tenchi
said. At that same moment there was a knock at the door. Slowly, Tenchi,
Washu, Yosho and Noboyuki turned to stare at the door in disbelief. A moment
later, there was another knock. Everyone looked at Tenchi. He suddenly got
very nervous, and stared at the door for a few minutes, then he slowly walked
towards it. He reached out, took the knob in one hand, and slowly twisted it.
The door creaked open.
" Hey Tenchi, why didn't you tell us you were getting it on with an
alien?" Daisuke said. Hiroshi threw an arm around his shoulder headlock while
Daisuke patted him hard on the back.
" What?? I... No. I'm not. How did you get here so quickly, that alien
princess' speech just ended a couple of minutes ago?" Tenchi asked.
" Oh, I called Daisuke as soon as I figured it out, and we came over
here." Hiroshi said, mussing Tenchi's hair.
" We figured you could give us the whole scoop about what's really going
on." Daisuke said. Tenchi weaseled out of the headlock and took a few steps
back.
" Well I'm sorry you came all the way here. I don't know her." Tenchi
bluffed. Clearly they didn't believe him.
" So you just happened to be living with a woman named Ayeka, a VERY
uncommon name, shared only with an alien princess." Hiroshi said.
" Yes."
" Who just happened to have a sister who shared another uncommon name
with another princess?" Daisuke added.
" Yes."
" Who both bare a striking resemblance to the two people your posing with
in that picture back there?" Hiroshi said, pointing to a picture on the wall.
Tenchi walked over, took it off the wall, and gave it to them. It was a picture
taken last Christmas, with Ayeka and Sasami, along with everyone else, posing
for the camera.
" There's no resemblance." Tenchi said with a remarkably straight face.
" Oh come on, Tenchi." Daisuke said.
" Hey, did she have some sort of weird alien sexual organ?" Hirsohi
said.
" I'm telling you guys, I have no idea who she is." Tenchi said and he
did it so calmly and truthfully, that they might have believed him if Ryoko
hadn't appeared right then. He felt her before he saw her, felt her semi-formed
fingers grasping at his chest even before she finished teleporting.
" Oh, Tenchi." She squealed, hugging him tightly. " Can you believe
what that mean old Ayeka did?" Ryoko laid in repose, floating about five feet
off the ground and hugging him tightly. There was a quick flash and Tenchi
turned to see Daisuke with a disposable camera, the kind you can get out of
vending machines, taking pictures. Ryoko looked at them with a wry smile.
" Make sure you get some good shots." She said, and tossed out a peace
sign as Daisuke flashed away. A moment later Ryo-oh-ki, in cabbit form, miya'd
and jumped up on his shoulder and tried her very best to wrap her tiny cabbit
forelimbs around Tenchi's head. Washu even got into it and started striking
poses with a pair of fans in front of them.
" So is sex with aliens better then with Earth women?" Hiroshi asked,
forwarding his camera.
" You bet it is." Ryoko answered suggestively, nudging Tenchi gently
with her chest.
" You know, Ryoko, I'm still not sure I'd like you around right now."
Tenchi said. Ryoko, obviously not expecting this, let go of him and let her
feet fall so they touched the ground. She crossed her arms indignantly, and
turned away from him.
" So you'd rather have the stuck up princess who's trying to take over
your world. She probably was going to threaten to the destroy Earth if they
didn't make you her love slave."
" Maybe." Tenchi said.
" Oh come on, Tenchi. Plese, can't you forgive me? I know what I did
was childish and stupid, but I really didn't mean it." She pleaded, turning
back to him with big puppy eyes. Tenchi stared at her for a moment.
" All right." He gave in.
" So Tenchi, mind telling us what's going on?" Daisuke asked. Tenchi
looked at his friend and grinned.
" It's kind of a long story."
Note: There's part five. Much better then 3 and 4, if I do say so myself.
Part six is already written, I just have to proof read it and edit and send it
in. If it's not in this update, it will be in the next.
Note 1-28-03: Part 6 is taking longer then I thought. I'm making a large
number of edits and writing new parts. I should be out in at most a week.
Note: I don't own any of these characters (If I did, do you think I'd spend my
time writing fanfics? Hell no. I'd spend all my time spending the profits I
make from Tenchi Muyo merchandise.) Anyway, Pioneer owns this all, so please
don't sue me (Not that you'd get any money, I'm broke.)
Note: this takes place in a modified Tenchi OAV Universe. (Yes, they're
"modifications", not inconsistencies or plot holes heh heh.) Basically,
everything that happened in the OAV happened here.
Jurai Blues Part 5: Ayeka comes home
By James Kane (Or Psyco Panda, if you prefer)
===== Previously, at Tenchi's house =====
" ... I repeat this is not a joke. An apparent alien spacecraft has
appeared over the United Nations building in New York City. Details are sketchy
as to what is happening inside." The announcer said. " This feed is coming in
live. No one is quite certain... Something appears to be happening." Tenchi
knew immediately what was happening. The entire area seemed to darken, except
for one place, which seemed to brighten. There were what looked like cherry
blossoms falling around it, and seven people appeared. Ayeka stood in the
center, in an aquamarine hooded Jurain robe. The hood fell deeply over her
forehead, and her face looked dark and shodowed beneath it. To her left, stood
Sasami in Turquoise and pink robe. A man in what looked like a military uniform
stood to her right, and four guards formed a box around them. Azaka and
Kamidake appeared a few moments later, and the group headed inside. Tenchi had
a feeling he wasn't going to like what was about to happen.
===== Earlier, in Northern Canada=====
No one would ever think that the woman casually walking down the street
was the queen of an empire from another planet. Quite a few people stopped
to look at her, but they were mostly young men and it was for an entirely
different reason. Jurai, as any powerful nation, had many enemies, so not even
on Earth, where no one knew who she was, would a queen let down her guard. But
queen had been given basic training in blending in, and 700 years with which to
sharpen her skill. Right now she was wearing a pair of jeans and a non-
descript, red turtleneck. It wasn't very flashy, or flattering, and no one
would have thought twice about it, except maybe for her extremely long hair,
though that could be easily written of as eccentricity. That was the reason.
Queen Funaho was a master of infiltration. She had an expert sense of
awareness. Only the best spies or assassins could come with-in twenty
feet of her without her knowing. So she was well aware of the fact that someone
had been following her all morning. Though, in all honesty, most people would
have been in this case. The loud crashes that had been following her all
morning were enough to get anyone's attention
" Ooopsy. I'm so sorry. Let me help you with that." Another crash,
followed by angry shouting. A blonde woman in what anyone off Earth would
easily recognize as a galaxy police uniform was standing near the door of a
cheesy souvenir shop. A table with various little snow globes and other
touristy things was lying on the ground, many leaking.
" I'll pay for that. I really will." Lady Funaho didn't have to try
hard to guess why Mihoshi was in Canada. Tenchi was so insecure about her
safety here on Earth. Funaho watched as Mihoshi tried to help clean it up but
she kept knocking over other things. She watched on, with an amused smile on
her face, as Mihoshi lost her grip as she picked up about five snow globes and
actually was able to juggle them for about thirty seconds only to have them all
hit the ground at the same moment in a loud crash. Eventually the shopkeeper
just shooed her away, and surveyed the damage with a look of awe on his face
Lady Funaho had never seen matched. Mihoshi walked to a corner and started
looking around, and Lady Funaho could only guess for her. Funaho watched for a
few moments as she started to panic, then waved to let Mihoshi see her. The
galaxy police officer cheer fully waved back until she remembered that Tenchi
had asked her not to be seen.
" Oh shoot." She said. She blushed a little in surprise and
embarrassment, and then, not knowing what else to do, ran across the street to
talk to her, and nearly got run over twice. " Hi there. I was just, ummmmm
errrr, what a coincidence I always come here for sake after work." Mihoshi
said.
" Sake is a Japanese beverage. You won't find a whole lot in Canada.
Even less that's good." Funaho said. Mihoshi started squirming uncomfortably.
" From what I hear, Canada seems to be more beer centered."
" Yeah, well, uhhhh..." Mihoshi bluffed. " I meant beer." She said,
and nodded as if it was the truth. " Uh huh."
" Tenchi worries too much. He should have known I'd be all right."
Funaho said. Mihoshi grew wide-eyed as a shocking idea formed in her head.
" Oh, then you already knew I was here. I thought Tenchi told me you
didn't know. That's so weird, I wonder why he did that?" Mihoshi said.
" Yes, I wonder." Funaho said. Lady Funaho was far to composed to face
fault. Besides, she was used to dense people. A bad side note of nobility,
though thankfully Jurain medicine had conqured inbreeding problems, was that
sometimes people were given power that really didn't deserve it. In the court
of Jurai, there were people, though few, much worse then Mihoshi. Seiryo, the
man Azusa had chosen to wed Ayeka, was one that came to mind.
" Would you care for a cup of coffee?" Funaho said. She motioned
towards an outside café, in the shadow of the city walls of old Quebec. The
city used to be a fort, and it showed. Old Quebec was placed on a huge hill,
and was surrounded by a thick wall of stone. The streets were tiny, built for a
century or more ago, but it was still cozy. Everything had an aged quality that
Funaho found comforting.
Mihoshi nodded a yes and they walked over and took a seat. Mihoshi
started a rambling commentary, completely uninformed on the city. It wasn't
exactly where Lady Funaho had lived but it certainly seemed like home compared
to the vastness and spiraling towers of Jurai. Mihoshi commented on how pretty
it was, and how it was nice that it was so different from Japan. Lady Funaho
ordered two cups of coffee, and the waiter wrote it down, made a non-chalant
glance at her chest with a quick grin and went to the kitchen.
" How did you get here, Mihoshi? Did Washu open a hyperspace wormhole?"
She said.
" Oh that. I put it down outside of town. Washu gave me this cloaky-
thingy-dealy to put in my ship, so no one will see it." Mihoshi said. " This
place is so pretty. It must have been great growing up here."
" It wasn't exactly like this when I was here. Not nearly this busy."
She said, reminiscing of her youth. She pulled out a small device made. It
looked somewhat like the palm pilots some business people used, but this one was
made of polished wood, with a display that any science lab could tell was
diamond.
" What's that thing?" Mihoshi asked.
" It's just a little data pad. Part of the reason I came to Earth was to
do a survey. I have to get around to it sometime." She said.
" Oh, you mean like how well this planet has developed? At the galaxy
police academy I had to write one on this planet in the Syklan sector and it was
so interesting. Did you know they make most of the sectors nano-circuitry
there? Oh I hope I'm not bothering you." She rambled. A few people sitting
nearby gave her a sideways glance as she said, but just ignored her as some kind
of nut job who thought she was from space. A little later, they wouldn't have
doubted her.
" It's all right. Misaki and I haven't been away from each other for
this long in well over a century. Having you here makes it seems like she's
still here. You two are so similar in many ways." She said with a knowing
grin, as Mihoshi was oblivious to the unflaterring comparison.
" That's so nice." Mihoshi giggled. " No one's ever compared me to a
queen before." A minute later, the waiter appeared.
" All right, we got two coffees, black, and a message from the
gentleman." The aspiring fan fic writer working at a dead end summer job said,
then smiled knowingly, as if he knew exactly what was going to happen, as he put
the coffees and a note written on a folded sheet of paper. Funaho curiously
looked at it, and then scowled at a man across the café, who gave her an
enticing wink.
" What's that?" Mihoshi said. Funaho frowned, crumpled it up and tossed
it over her shoulder.
" Nothing important." She said. The people around her might have found
it very interesting if they knew that it contained a suggestion for a "ménage et
twois" and several other things that her husband wouldn't have hesitated to
destroy the planet for. 'Perhaps I shouldn't have missed this planet that
much.' She thought. She was about to turn about and give him a piece of her
mind, and possibly a broken arm, when a shout from across the street grabbed her
attention.
" What the hell! We're being invaded by aliens!" Suddenly the crowd
babble died down as the words were absorbed. Most people just shrugged it off
unbelievingly. But more and more people shouting and screaming as the gathered
around a TV in a nearby store. Perplexed, Mihoshi and Funaho got up to go see,
while Lady Funaho kept her head bowed and cupped her left fist in her right
hand, an ancient Jurain superstition akin to crossing of the fingers on Earth,
as a feeling of unbelievable dread filled her. As they moved through and were
able to see the TV, they say a Jurain Battle cruiser hovering over the UN
building.
" Ayeka, you idiot." She quietly swore.
===== Jurain Battleship Eternity, earlier=====
" Have you made the announcement yet?" Ayeka asked, running a comb
through her long, light blue hair. Its color was due to a dye. It was her
original hair color, and the same as Sasami's and her mother Misaki's. She'd
changed it when she was younger to make her self more attractive to her future
husband, Yosho, and had grown to like it and kept it that way. 'Not anymore
thought,' she'd thought in disgust. She'd had it changed back in an attempt to
forget about both the men who'd crushed her heart, but unfortunately it would
take time before her hair changed back on it's own, and she'd dyed it to make it
even.
" Yes, your highness." Azaka said.
" We informed them you would be arriving soon, but we did not share with
them the reason." Kamidake said. Ayeka's guardians hovered towards the back of
the bathroom.
Ayeka was dressed in a very formal three-layered Jurain garment, with a
hooded aquamarine overcoat. It was something only worn for state functions.
Sasami rushed in wearing a Jurain silk robe colored turquoise and pink.
" Ayeka! Are you ready yet?" She panted. Apparently she'd run all the
way down from the bridge, after watching their approach to Earth. " I can't
wait to get back down to Earth. I know it's only been a little while, but I've
missed it a lot."
" Sasami!" Ayeka shouted, and Sasami jumped back a little. Ayeka took a
second to calm down. " Sasami, we are not returning to Japan now, nor do I
have any plans to in the future. We'll be going to a place called New York
City, to meet with representatives from all over the Earth. I don't think we'll
be seeing," she hesitated, and said with a bit of a growl. "Tenchi, any time
soon." Sasami looked doubtful. Tenchi would probably find them. The door
chime sounded and Ayeka sent Azaka to get the captain. When he entered, Sasami
couldn't help but notice that he looked very different. His face seemed tired,
and his eyes were tight with worry, like he hadn't slept in a few days. Ayeka
continued to work with her hair obliviously.
" Princess Ayeka, we have arrived at Earth, and are preparing to descend
at the designated area." She nodded, but Captain Sakuma stood there, and wrung
his hands. " Princess, we still haven't received word from Jurai. Princess, I
think before we do this we should contact your parents. Earth is still on the
list of protected planets, requiring permission from the Jurai royal family..."
" Which I am a part of." She interrupted, staring heatedly at him. He
immediately nodded.
" Of course, my lady. But we still have not received orders from Jurai.
Perhaps your parents are reconsidering this first contact. We should break
radio silence and contact headquarters. Excuse me for saying this, but I never
understood why we had to maintain silence in the first place." Ayeka sat still
for a moment. Deathly still. Then slammed the brush down, making both Captain
Sakuma and Sasami jump back.
" I am terribly sorry captain, that the word of a Jurain princess isn't
good enough for you." She stood up and marched towards him. Even though she
was more then a foot shorter then him, he still felt like he was looking up at
her. " But my authority still carries the force of law on this ship and until
you are told other wise, you will do exactly as I say." She said. Her face was
contorted in near fury. She reached over and grabbed her coat from a chair and
stormed towards the door. " We'll go now." She said, and stormed out the
door. Kai exchanged looks with Sasami, looking for some sort of answer, and all
Sasami could do was smile uncomfortably.
" She's usually not like this."
===== Masaki household, now =====
Tenchi could only stare blankly at the screen. What the hell was Ayeka
doing? Apparently he'd said it out loud, or Washu was that good at judging him,
because she answered him a moment later.
" I really don't know, Lord Tenchi. I really don't know." She shook her
head. By this time Noboyuki had woken up by the noise downstairs. He came
downstairs, and his eyes fell on the TV.
" Could we contact them? Send them a message?" Tenchi asked.
" We could, but not until Ayeka returns to the ship. To bad we don't
have a ship of our own. Mihoshi took Yukinojo, and Ryoko took Ryo-oh-ki. I'd
get started on a hyperspace warp, but I really can't drag myself away from the
TV. It's like a train wreck. Can't look away. Plus creating a warp would most
likely tear New York apart in the process." She said, like it was an
unimportant side note. Tenchi cradled his head in his hands, but his eyes never
left the TV, as it followed them inside the building. Inside, the general
assembly waited breathlessly as the small group walked down the aisle and onto
the stage. Even the news commentators remained quiet, knowing there was nothing
they could do or say that could possibly add anything to this.
As Ayeka reached to podium, she reached back to drop her hood. Tenchi let
out an audible gasp as it fell.
" Her hair... It's blue. Like Sasami's." He said.
" Yes, she changed it when she was still a child." Tenchi and Washu
finally looked away from the screen. Yosho stood in doorway to the hall,
wearing his traditional priest dress. His glasses were askew and his hair was
unkempt, as if he had just gotten up. " That is her original hair color. She
changed it suit me, because it was what I preferred." He smiled and rubbed the
back of his head in a careless way. " Perhaps I shouldn't have let a girl
willing to do that for me get away." He joked, and Tenchi grimaced.
" Grandpa, this isn't funny. I don't know what she's doing at the United
Nations building, but it can't be good."
" You take life too seriously Tenchi. This may seem important now, but
once you've lived 700 years, you learn it will all pass." He said.
" Earth has just discovered there are aliens. How is that not a big
deal?" Tenchi countered. " What the hell does she think she's doing?" He
swore.
" It's not that hard to figure out what she's doing." Washu said.
Her arms were crossed, and she frowned slightly. " She's probably just going
force Earth into joining the Jurain Empire."
" What?" Tenchi shouted. " She can't do that. Can she?"
" Yes, she can." Yosho said. Tenchi envied his serenity " Members of
the Jurain Royal family have almost absolute power, especially among the
military. They can only be overruled by someone of higher authority in the
royal family."
" Quiet." Washu said, and pointed towards the TV. " She's starting."
" People of the Planet Earth." Ayeka said. She looked slightly
uncomfortable addressing so many people, but she continued. " Approximately
Six thousand years ago, colonists from the Kingdom of Jurai left in order to
expand the kingdom. Most of these colonized worlds expanded, and quickly took
they're place in the Jurain empire." She said. The crowd grew quiet as most of
the people came to the obvious conclusion. " But not all. For some reason
lost to the mists of time, this one was not. So I have come to extend the
greetings of the Jurain Royal family, and welcome you into the Jurain Empire."
The camera pulled back a little bit to show the rest of Ayeka's party while the
reporter muttered something unintelligible. Tenchi saw a look of...
uncomfortableness was the only way to put it, on the face of the older man with
them. Sasami just kept throwing nervous glances at her sister, and more nervous
glances out at the assembled ambassadors.
" Hmm. I didn't think she'd tell them the truth." Washu said. She had
quickly regrouped and switched back to "mad scientist" mode.
" What truth?" Tenchi asked.
" Nothing really. Just that the Earth was actually created as a study in
psychology by Jurai and the science academy. A habitable world was chosen and
seeded with cloned genetic material from volunteers to study progress in
differing climates and isolation." She shrugged. " I should know, I was the
overseer of the project." She smiled wickedly as Tenchi absorbed this
uncomfortable truth. " There's actually a chamber inside the sphinx and other
'monuments' we built that says 'Property of Washu, the greatest scientific
genius in the universe. Of course it's in Sokotese, but it's there."
" That's great Washu, but how do we stop her?" Tenchi said in a panicked
voice.
" Not much we can do now." She shrugged. " But wait for someone to
connect you to her." Tenchi was about to say something, but she shushed him and
an uncomfortable look crossed her face, and she seemed to flinch for some reason
Tenchi couldn't detect. " Quiet. I think things are going to get
interesting." Tenchi wanted to ask what was happening but Ayeka spoke again.
" I know many of you may have a problem with this. You hold allegiance
to your own nations, and own sets of beliefs, but I..." She said and trailed
off as insane laughter echoed throughout the auditorium. Laughter which, to
Tenchi's surprise, was not coming from Ayeka. Tenchi understood at last. The
camera panned around and tilted up to reveal a woman with cyan hair, wearing a
black and red bodysuit, hovering in the air and clutching her stomach, doubled
over (as much as one can be when floating) with laughter and a small animal
clinging to her. The news anchor muttered something inaudible. There were
gasps from the crowd below as everyone started to turn and look, and a low
growl, much like a cat who'd been teased fifty times too often, coming from the
front. Ayeka stood at the podium with a slightly disgusted look.
" Ryoko." Ayeka hissed.
" How's it going princess?" Ryoko chuckled. Sasami gasped in surprise,
but smiled in joy.
" Ryo-oh-ki!" Sasami gasped, and flung herself down the stairs,
forgetting all of her royal training, as the cabbit leapt off Ryoko's shoulder.
They reached each other and Sasami embraced the cabbit, as everyone looked on,
stunned.
" Dissension in the ranks already, Princess?"
" Well, um, it appears that someone else has now... has now appeared."
The reporter stuttered out, though no one was really listening, in the Masaki
residence or elsewhere.
" Ryoko." Ayeka growled again. The camera turned back to her, and
Tenchi nearly gasped. Her face wasn't contorted in rage, but merely blank,
almost hollow except for her eyes. They were tight and screaming volumes about
pent-up rage. Ryoko wiped a tear from her eyes, and settled down. The camera
panned back and forth, not seeming to know who to point at.
" Ayeka, of all the things I thought you'd do, this wasn't one of
'em." She said grinned. " And here I thought I'd completely blown it, then
you go and do this!" She said, and burst out laughing again.
" Silence criminal!" Ayeka shouted, but Ryoko wouldn't be silenced.
" It's nice to see you too." Ryoko said.
" I hardly have time for this now. Leave now." Ayeka said.
" Or what? Are you going to arrest me?" She mocked.
" Actually," Ayeka said, with a feral gleam in her eye. " That's
exactly what I plan on doing. I knew I'd see you again, and if I hadn't, I'd
have come looking. And I can't let you interfere." Ryoko inhaled silently and
gave Ayeka cock-eyed look of confusion. Everyone else had the good sense to shut
up right then
" And how are you going to do that? Statute of limitations, remember."
Ryoko offered.
" The statutes of limitations on your previous crimes have run out. But
not on your more recent ones." Ayeka said. Ryoko blinked in surprise. She
wasn't aware of any recent crimes (at least, that Ayeka knew about).
" Especially not for the attempted murder of a princess of Jurai!" The crowd
gasped in shock, though no one was certain why. Most had given up on trying to
figure out what was going on, like a convoluted comic or Soap opera story line.
" If you're talking about all those times that I kicked your butt, I
never tried to murder you." She said. She had floated forward a bit so she was
now just a little in front and above Ayeka. " Severely injury maybe, but not
murder."
" No. Not me. For the attempted murder of Princess Sasami." She said,
a predatory gleam in her eye. Ryoko was shocked, and opened her mouth as if to
say something, but nothing came out. Even Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki seemed
surprised.
" Sasami? When did I ever try to murder Sasami?" Ryoko finally managed.
" How quickly you forget. I guess it's all just the same to you. It
happened right before you crashed my Ryu-oh." Ayeka said. Ryoko put her hand
to her chin, then snapped her fingers a moment later.
" Oh yeah. That." She said, and teleported over to where Sasami was.
She gently patted Sasami on the head. " Oh, Sasami. Do you remember that
thing where I kind of held you against your will? It was right after you met
Tenchi for the first time." Sasami nodded.
" Yeah. I think so." She said innocently. Ryoko smiled sweetly.
" You're not going to press charges against me for that little thing, are
you? You know I wasn't serious. You know that." She said.
" Well, I guess I won't."
" That's a good girl." Ryoko said, patting Sasami lightly on the head.
"Got anything else, Princess?" The space pirate mocked, which Ayeka answered
with a pleasant smile. That's when Ryoko started to worry.
"Actually I do... Although the galaxy police or Jurai may not be able to
arrest you." She said, with an evil grin. She let it hang for a few seconds,
and then finished. " But the Kingdom of Manticore can. Indeed, the Solaria
league also has a current arrest warrant out for you. And Jurai does have
extradition treaties with them." She said matter-of-factly. " Azaka,
Kamidake, arrest the criminal." She flicked her wrist forward towards Ryoko,
but the guardians were already in motion. The took up positions on either side
of her, and energy
crackled around her, while Ryoko teleported upwards, not as an escape maneuver,
but just to put some distance between her and everyone else.
`" Just a minute!" Someone cried out. Immedialty every person in the
room snapped to this new voice. " You come in here, telling us we are going to
become part of your alien empire. Then someone else arrives and you scream for
their arrest. I think we deserve an explanation for all this before we can just
let someone be arrested for some reason we know nothing about." Said a man. He
stood with arms planted firmly on the desk in front of him, but a slight shake
in his voice made his real feelings clear. Ayeka just threw the
man a mean look.
" Hey, no need to help." Ryoko said. As the two guardians closed on her, she
crossed her arms, creating a visble distortion in the nearby area, like the heat
coming off a hot street in summer, in what more then one anime fan watching the
proceedings would think was a pretty damn good Goku impersonation. She held the
pose for just a second, as the guardians approached, the released with a bang.
In the blink of an eye, she flung her arms out, and a shockwave pierced the air,
along with a sonic boom. In the enclosed space, built with acoustics in mind,
it was near deafening, and many ambassadors had a ringing in their ears for
hours afterwards. But that's then. When the dust settled Azaka and Kamidake
were imbedded about six inches deep on opposite sides of the wall, and several
people swore they saw little birds fluttering above them.
" But thanks anyway." She landed in the aisle and made a show of
yawning.
" See princess. You never understood. I could have taken you out any
time I wanted, but I didn't." Ryoko mocked. Ayeka was fuming, more so because
she had just been humiliated and mocked in front of the entire world, then the
realization of how powerless she was. Ryoko teleported again and this time
appeared to the right of Captain Sakuma, who had been looking very nervous the
entire time. With the space Pirate Ryoko, the only person to ever attack Jurai
successfully, right next to him, he started sweating and his hand wavered above
his gun.
" Personally, if I were her, I'd just go home, and leave this planet to
Tenchi and me." She met Kai face to face. " But then again, she never could
take a hint." Ryoko shrugged. Meanwhile she missed Ayeka reaching into the
folds of her robe to get something. She didn't miss however, the familiar snap-
hiss she'd heard at the two most important moments of her life, the second time
meaning the loss (temporary though it might have been) of a hand. She turned to
see Tenchi-ken in the hands of Ayeka, with the blade mere inches from her
throat.
" Ayeka, no!" Sasami gasped. She picked up Ryo-oh-ki and hurried back
to Ayeka. Ryoko just stared at her.
" I may not be the swordsman Yosho is, but at this distance that won't
matter." Ayeka growled.
" Can you do it, Princess? It's not easy to take a life, especially for
a spoiled rich girl like..." She said, but her voice faltered as she met
Ayeka's stare. She felt afraid of her for the first time, with the fires of
hell almost burning from her eyes. She might just do it, Ryoko thought. Not
being an idiot, Ryoko teleported away to a safe distance, leaving Ayeka holding
a blade to thin air. " You really are serious. I guess I'll give you a little
time to cool off. There's something you need to know, but I just want to see
the look on your face when Tenchi tells you." Ayeka didn't respond. Just
glared at her, and held the blade still.
" Come, Ryo-oh-ki!" The cabbit nuzzled Sasami good-bye, then leapt into
the air, turning into a spaceship, and unintentionally putting a huge hole in
the ceiling.
" I'll... I can pay for that." Ryoko said blankly. She teleported away,
Ryo-oh-ki rose up, and seconds later they were gone as Sasami waved goodbye.
" Come captain, we're going back to your ship." Ayeka said. " Sasami!
We're going!" She said. Captain Sakuma breathed a sigh of relief with Ryoko
gone.
" Okay!" Sasami replied meekly. " But what about them?" She pointed
to the crowd, and Ayeka grumbled impatiently. She snatched up the microphone,
and said quickly:
" You'll all receive more details and orders in a little while." She
said curtly, and motioned to Captain Sakuma. Moments later, they were
teleported away.
=====Masaki residence=====
" I don't believe this. I just don't believe this! In front of the
entire world." Tenchi kept repeating. He held his head in his hands as if
the trying to make the world stops pinning. With Ayeka gone, things have
finally settled down, and the UN had come to order and started bickering amongst
themselves again. Washu took the remote and turned it off. Tenchi started
pacing and Yosho just shook his head.
" I never thought she would do this." He said.
" Well we're going have to figure out what we're going to do." Washu
said.
" Can we contact the ship now? It's got to be in orbit if she's
teleporting, right?" Tenchi said.
" Technically it only has to be within about one point seven AU
(Astronomical unit for the Astronomically illiterate, the distance from the
Earth to the sun) to teleport, but yes I could easily contact them." Washu said
casually. " But that wasn't what I was talking about. Ayeka, Sasami, and Ryoko
were known about town. It's only a matter of time till someone connects you
too. You need to figure out what you're going to do when the news casters
starts beating down your door."
" I hadn't thought about that." Tenchi murmured. " Not that I really
had time too."
" Feel free to take sanctuary down in my lab." Washu offered with a
suggestive grin. " You can use my bed."
" Or up at the shrine. Funaho (the tree) can create a force field to
shelter the shrine." Yosho said.
" Thanks," Tenchi grimaced. " but I think we'd better deal with Ayeka
first. We should have some time before we have to worry about press." Tenchi
said. At that same moment there was a knock at the door. Slowly, Tenchi,
Washu, Yosho and Noboyuki turned to stare at the door in disbelief. A moment
later, there was another knock. Everyone looked at Tenchi. He suddenly got
very nervous, and stared at the door for a few minutes, then he slowly walked
towards it. He reached out, took the knob in one hand, and slowly twisted it.
The door creaked open.
" Hey Tenchi, why didn't you tell us you were getting it on with an
alien?" Daisuke said. Hiroshi threw an arm around his shoulder headlock while
Daisuke patted him hard on the back.
" What?? I... No. I'm not. How did you get here so quickly, that alien
princess' speech just ended a couple of minutes ago?" Tenchi asked.
" Oh, I called Daisuke as soon as I figured it out, and we came over
here." Hiroshi said, mussing Tenchi's hair.
" We figured you could give us the whole scoop about what's really going
on." Daisuke said. Tenchi weaseled out of the headlock and took a few steps
back.
" Well I'm sorry you came all the way here. I don't know her." Tenchi
bluffed. Clearly they didn't believe him.
" So you just happened to be living with a woman named Ayeka, a VERY
uncommon name, shared only with an alien princess." Hiroshi said.
" Yes."
" Who just happened to have a sister who shared another uncommon name
with another princess?" Daisuke added.
" Yes."
" Who both bare a striking resemblance to the two people your posing with
in that picture back there?" Hiroshi said, pointing to a picture on the wall.
Tenchi walked over, took it off the wall, and gave it to them. It was a picture
taken last Christmas, with Ayeka and Sasami, along with everyone else, posing
for the camera.
" There's no resemblance." Tenchi said with a remarkably straight face.
" Oh come on, Tenchi." Daisuke said.
" Hey, did she have some sort of weird alien sexual organ?" Hirsohi
said.
" I'm telling you guys, I have no idea who she is." Tenchi said and he
did it so calmly and truthfully, that they might have believed him if Ryoko
hadn't appeared right then. He felt her before he saw her, felt her semi-formed
fingers grasping at his chest even before she finished teleporting.
" Oh, Tenchi." She squealed, hugging him tightly. " Can you believe
what that mean old Ayeka did?" Ryoko laid in repose, floating about five feet
off the ground and hugging him tightly. There was a quick flash and Tenchi
turned to see Daisuke with a disposable camera, the kind you can get out of
vending machines, taking pictures. Ryoko looked at them with a wry smile.
" Make sure you get some good shots." She said, and tossed out a peace
sign as Daisuke flashed away. A moment later Ryo-oh-ki, in cabbit form, miya'd
and jumped up on his shoulder and tried her very best to wrap her tiny cabbit
forelimbs around Tenchi's head. Washu even got into it and started striking
poses with a pair of fans in front of them.
" So is sex with aliens better then with Earth women?" Hiroshi asked,
forwarding his camera.
" You bet it is." Ryoko answered suggestively, nudging Tenchi gently
with her chest.
" You know, Ryoko, I'm still not sure I'd like you around right now."
Tenchi said. Ryoko, obviously not expecting this, let go of him and let her
feet fall so they touched the ground. She crossed her arms indignantly, and
turned away from him.
" So you'd rather have the stuck up princess who's trying to take over
your world. She probably was going to threaten to the destroy Earth if they
didn't make you her love slave."
" Maybe." Tenchi said.
" Oh come on, Tenchi. Plese, can't you forgive me? I know what I did
was childish and stupid, but I really didn't mean it." She pleaded, turning
back to him with big puppy eyes. Tenchi stared at her for a moment.
" All right." He gave in.
" So Tenchi, mind telling us what's going on?" Daisuke asked. Tenchi
looked at his friend and grinned.
" It's kind of a long story."
Note: There's part five. Much better then 3 and 4, if I do say so myself.
Part six is already written, I just have to proof read it and edit and send it
in. If it's not in this update, it will be in the next.