Note 1-26-03: All right, here is the revised, final chapter. I made some major edits, so if you see anything out of place please tell me right away so I can fix it.
Final Note: Finished my first story (Again). Hop you like it.
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.)
No need for global conquest
By James Kane (Or Psyco Panda, if you prefer) Email me with thoughts
and comments at confuciousays@hotmail.com
Jurai Blues Part 6: There's no place like home
===== Jurain Battleship Eternity, above New York =====
Ayeka stepped onto the bridge looking for blood. Ryoko's cutting
insults in front of an entire planet had pierced her to the core, and
undermined her authority with Earth. Now everyone would question why
they should listen to someone who apparently had no control over her
own empire. And it was all the fault of someone on this bridge.
" I demand to know why there was no attempt to stop Ryo-oh-ki,
and why you didn't even bother to tell us she was coming? Certainly
you must have detected her coming!" Ayeka fumed, and she looked
towards the most likely culprit, the First officer who was in charge
while Sakuma was gone. The first officer was didn't even glance at her,
just calmly brushed by her to hand a small PDA to Kai. Anyone else might have been concerned by this sudden change of attitude, but Ayeka was Ayeka was
nearly livid at being given the cold shoulder, and Captain Sakuma was
shocked at his own first officers right disrespect for royalty.
" I demand to know what's going on!" Ayeka said through
clenched teeth. Kai stared at the PDA, and his mouth dropped a little.
" Your mother is in your room." The captain said flatly. The
effect was immediate. Somehow, despite the fiery anger in her blood, her blood turned to ice. Captain Sakuma noticed this with only a little bit of shock. Despite having grown up respecting and honoring the royal family, even he had started becoming suspicious. Simply too much did not make sense. He continued. " She ordered my crew not to alert you of the arrival of herself or Ryo-oh-ki, nor to prevent Ryo-oh-ki from landing." He said calmly, still watching her.
" And.. that's it?" She said quickly. She seemed annoyed at
this. " And is it Misaki or Funaho?"
" Lady Funaho." He corrected himself. His eyes narrowed at the
princess. It was obvious something was very wrong, and it looked very
serious. " And nothing more. Just that she wants to see you as soon as
possible."
" Oh." Was all she said. She did a quick 180 and headed
straight for the elevator, and then went straight to the room she shared
with Sasami. Lady Funaho was sitting on the bed holding a brightly
smiling Sasami. It briefly occurred to Ayeka that Sasami hadn't been
smiling like that lately. Only now that she was with mother Funaho and
earlier with Ryo-oh-ki, did she seem happy. ' I should have sent her back to Jurai. I would have too, if I thought they wouldn't interfere with my plans.' She though. Funaho turned to Ayeka, and looked her over impassively, as if Ayeka were some priceless statue she had just bought.
" Ayeka! Funaho-mom is here!" Sasami shouted with glee.
" Well. It looks like you've been busy, Tasana-chan." Ayeka
grimaced at hearing Funaho's pet name for her. Partly because it
showed how little serious thought Funaho was giving her, but mostly because
even after seven hundred years she still had no idea what it meant,
since it was in her native language. Ayeka got straight to the point.
" Mother, why have you been interfering with what I've been
doing?" Ayeka said.
" Well, as a queen, and your mother, I have to clean up when my
eldest daughter makes a giant mess simply to spite a boyfriend." She
said, while stoking Sasami's hair. Ayeka's eye's focused intently on
her mother.
" Is that what you think I'm doing, mother? Lashing out at Earth to get even with Tenchi? I'm almost insulted that you think so little of me. You're letting your feelings for your son bias you." Ayeka accused.
" Well, just days after you think Tenchi dumps you, you hijack a
battleship and try to take over his planet. I can't see it any other
way." Funaho said. Ayeka bristled.
" See it this way. While I was living here, I got a good look at Earth. I saw so much suffering, poverty, disease, death, crime. Even though they don't know it, the people of Earth are all citizens of the Jurain empire, deserving of the same rights, privlages, and caring as any other. How could I turn my back on them, as a princess of Jurai? You may see them as nothing more then an experiment in psychology, but I haven't." Ayeka forcefully replied.
" How very noble." Funaho said, with a humoring smile.
" But why didn't you check with us? By the way, could I get Tenchi-ken back?" She said, holding out her hand to receive the master-key. Ayeka pulled it off her robe, but just held it in her fingers.
" I didn't call home because I didn't want to waste the time. I didn't see any way that a truly caring king and queens would want to make their subjects suffer." Ayeka said, lying. She knew exactly what her parents would have said. Her eyes narrowed on Funaho. " But perhaps I should have realized some people on planet Jurai wouldn't be quite up to the task of ruling an empire." Funaho caught the weakly subtle inference. She picked up Sasami off her lap, who had been watching the exchange silently with growing concern, and moved her onto the bed.
" And what is that supposed to mean, Princess Ayeka?" She said, finally growing aggravated and stressing her authority.
" It just strikes me as odd that so many, many problems seem to come from people from Earth. Why, it's almost like there's a problem on the genetic level." She said. Funaho's impassive face suddenly tightened.
" I'm not quite certain what you're talking about." Funaho spoke heavily. She had a good idea of what Ayeka was talking about, but she still wanted to give Ayeka a chance to back down.
" Really, then how about a certain Jurai prince whose mother was from Earth, for one, who although perfectly glad to take advantage of the advantages of being royalty, skipped out when it was time to take some responsibility." She said. Funaho clenched and unclenched her hand, as if preparing to use it. " And let's not forget that certain prince's grandson, who would sell out the power of Jurai royal blood to a whore and a pirate who slaughtered thousands on Jurai." Ayeka said, her lip curling into sort of a wicked smile. Sasami quietly knelt on the bed, forgotten. Neither was paying any attention to her, so neither saw tears beginning to form as their argument continued.
" And then then there's the princes mother. I wasn't alive when
she arrived on planet Jurai, but from all accounts she caused a severe
split of the Jurain nobility, almost a civil war." A vein began to
bulge on Funaho's forehead, and her hand finally lashed out across
Ayeka's cheek.
" Perhaps if the princess knew anything about real..." Funaho
stressed the word real " responsibility, instead of being pampered by
her elder brother at his shrine, she would not be so quick to judge
others. Perhaps she would have thought before acting. The cultures on
Earth are to primitive to accept the concept of non-human life, and the
people themselves have a long-standing dislike and distrust of
authority. Not even mentioning the fact that paranoid ideas about alien invasions have been popular fodder for films, and anime for years." Lady Funaho nearly sneered. " She might have realized that coming down with no warning at all, and declaring herself queen of Earth was the Worst! Conceivable! Thing! She could do." She said, stressing her words as anger flowed through her.
" As evidenced by the riots and protests already underway in almost half of the Earth's capitals cities. How many more people must die so a spoiled princess can get her revenge on a certain Jurai prince, who may not be quite so willing so sell out the power of Jurai royal family blood as she thinks. And as for that certain Jurai prince's grandfather, let's not forget that the princess used to be despertaly
in love with him until she met his grandson."
" A mistake I truly regre..." Ayeka said, when a scream suddenly shattered through the room and got both they're attention.
" STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING!" Sasami screamed. Her cry echoed
through the room, in no small part due to the help of Tsunami's power. She
wiped her tears away, and Ayeka instinctively tried to go to her.
Sasami pushed her away and ran crying out the door.
" Sasami!" They both shouted.
Ayeka started to follow her out the door, but turned to Lady Funaho, and said, almost growling...
" We'll talk again after I tend to Sasami."
As Ayeka searched the ship, she missed the most obvious place on the ship, the chamber of the Jurai tree at the ships core. She lay quietly on a bench near the great tree, Koyasu, who could only respond with a sort of melodious song. Jurai trees are quite sensitive to the feelings of those around them, even to people who they aren't joined with, and are very caring by nature. Any Jurai tree would have done the same, even without her link to Tsunami, obvious to any Jurai tree. Her link did give her a few benefits only she could have. Though many people bonded to Jurai trees knew generally what such songs as Koyasu sang were about, there was so much more to them then words. Through her link with the first Jurai tree, she understood the subtle changes in tone, in feeling, at least the ones her human ears could detect, and how they affected how the words should be interpreted. Any musician would have given his ability to reproduce to be able to do the same, but it was all secondary to Sasami at the moment.
Sasami's young mind couldn't quite grasp what was happening. Her
sister, whom she had spent years with, and loved more then anyone else
in the galaxy, had gotten into terrible fight with her mother, whom she
respected more then anyone, and insulted both Yosho and Tenchi, two
people she loved deeply. She couldn't quite believe it Ayeka could do
that, especially since she'd always seemed to love Yosho, even after she met Tenchi. Ayeka had seemed like a different person since Tenchi broke up with her. She just didn't know what to do. She barely noticed when the song stopped, and replaced with the slower patterns of normal speech. It wasn't
until the fifth time he said it that Sasami seemed to hear it.
" Really?" She asked the tree. The tree responded affirmative
with a few harmonic tones. " Thank you very much." She bowed politely, eyes still shining with tears, and rushed down to the landing bay, where a certain space pirate and her cabbit/space ship were about to dock.
Right as she arrived, Lady Funaho, and Mihoshi (Who had given Lady Funaho a lift to the Eternity in Yukinojo) were greeting Tenchi, Ryoko, Ryo-oh-ki, Yosho, Washu, and two people Sasami knew vaguely as Tenchi's friends from school, while Captain Sakuma surveyed the new arrivals from the back of the room. She ran up and threw her hands around Tenchi's waste.
" Tenchi Tenchi Tenchi! I've missed you so much Tenchi!" She cried out.
" Hello Sasami. I've really missed you too!" He said, patting her head. She smiled, then composed herself as a Jurai princess should, and let go, but stayed close to him and held his hand. Funaho smiled at her daughter in a re-assuring way.
" Thank you for coming, Lord Tenchi. I think we're going to need every person we can get to settle this." Lady Funaho said. Sasami could tell she seemed a bit drained.
" Lord Tenchi, Lady Funaho has told me all about you. I'm
honored to have Lord Yosho's descendent aboard my ship." Captain Sakuma said, with a curt bow, and a suspicious glance towards Ryoko. Yosho, for his part, stood towards the back and was glad he wasn't recognized.
" Who are your guests?"
" This is my grandfather Katsuhito, Little Washu, the greatest
scientific genius in the universe," He said. Washu grinned broadly
and giggled at Kai's disbelieving look. He motioned towards Ryoko, and noticed the captains suspicion. " This is Ryoko. She's not a pirate anymore. And these two..." He leaned over and threw an arm around Daisuke. Hiroshi was
over hitting on Mihoshi again. " These are my friends from Earth.
They said they wanted to come along to represent... what was it?"
Tenchi said, grinning cynically at his friend.
" Earth's interest." Daisuke said. " We're here to make sure
the people of Earth have a voice! Freedom eternal! No taxation
without representation! Viva la revoloution!" He said comically. Then he whipped out the camera and started snapping away. Kai blinked as the flash blinded him for a few moments, but he was more amused then angry when he realize what the camera was. " This is so cool."
" We've got a meeting room on the fifth deck. If you'll follow
me." Kai said, and motioned forward.
" After you." Ryoko said.
" I insisit." Kai said, motioning out the door. Ryoko flashed
a predatory smile at the captain, and walked through the door, and everyone followed, Tenchi with Sasami Sasami. As Tenchi walked out, Sasami let go of Tenchi's hand and looked over her shoulder. She'd seen Ayeka enter the room from a different door, apparently having been informed of Tenchi's arrival, while Tenchi and Daisuke were talking. She hadn't done anything, just
listened. Now, she met Sasami's gaze full on. She didn't really seem
angry, but her eyes were filled with pain. Sasami tried to mouth an
apology, though she didn't really know for what, but Ayeka just turned
and left. The only thing Sasami could do was run after Tenchi and her
mother.
Ayeka felt her heart sink. Since they had been children, after Yosho left and later, when she believed Yosho died, after Tench's betrayal, no matter what, Sasami had always been there at her side. When she had chosen to go off into space, searching for Yosho, Sasami had not hesitated to join her, even though it meant leaving their parents. Even if she had teased Sasami when they were younger, she had always loved her.
But now, as she walked slowly out of the landing bay, she could barely move. Sasami had abandoned her. For Tenchi. She supposed she shouldn't have been all that surprised. She was just a young girl after all. She needed her friends, and she didn't yet understand all that was going on. And though Tenchi had hurt her, Sasami had never felt betrayed. Perhaps she might have if she understood what Tenchi with Ryoko would mean, but then again she never seemed to understand exactly how dangerous Ryoko was. She smiled briefly at Sasami's innocence, but that only hurt her more.
A helpful crew member stopped to try and aid her, but she pushed him away, and tried to run, run anywhere that no one would see her. She knew she was going to cry, feel it as it welled up in her throat. She nearly retched as a sense of Déjà vu came over her. First Tenchi, now Sasami. Would it ever end?
Jurains loved nature and just because it was a military vessel, designers saw no need to make them go without, building actual gardens with holographic imagery depicting vast skylines. It was not the best place to be alone, but being Jurain, it was the place Ayeka felt most comfortable. A Jurain fetal position, perhaps. It was the only comfort her tortured heart could conceive of. That last, most primitive instinct we find comfort in when we have been abandoned by those we most care for. Or perhaps, when we abandon them without realizing it. (Writers note: Author not held liable for lethal doses of melodrama.)
The meeting room they were led too was pretty spacious, and shaped
in a half circle, much like a smaller version of an old Greek theater. In a dramatic change of theme, this no room had any wood in it all, or plants. It was gleaming metal. It could seat about fifty people, since the Eternity had the capability to lead a fleet, this was a very important feature, but with the few they had everyone was able to sit in the front row, except for Lady Funaho and Captain Sakuma, who took seats at the display, and Sasami, who quietly took a seat at the back of the room. Funaho had wanted her to sit next to her, but she seemed disturbed by something
" Before we start, Captain Sakuma, would you please have your
people find Ayeka, and escort her here. Whatever we decide, we're
going to need her to inform the Earth of it." Queen Funaho said.
Captain Sakuma nodded and spoke a few words into a com.
" What are we going to do?" Tenchi was the first to voice what
they were all thinking.
" I suppose the only thing we can." Yosho said. " We must
tell the world what really happened. It is the only thing that we can
do that might help restore some trust in Jurai."
" Just so I know," Hiroshi said " does Jurai actually have the
right to come in and take us over? They don't, do they?"
" Afraid so." Washu answered. " At least as far as the rest
of the galaxy goes, Jurai has the prior claim." She said, then
muttered, " Plus no one really wants to argue with the most powerful
empire in the galaxy over a tiny little speck of dust like Earth."
" What!" Daisuke said. " So even if they leave, Jurai can just come back anytime and absorb the Earth into it?"
" Well, Yes." Funaho said flatly. " That's probably what's
going to end up happening anyway. It won't happen for at least fifty
years, so no need to start a resistance movement right away." She said,
with a gently sarcastic smile. Daisuke blushed a little.
" So Ayeka's actions truly were without backing from the royal family?" Captain Sakuma asked, near hopless.
" I regret that it is so." Funaho replied.
" Damn." Kai sighed, in a severe breach of etiquette.
" I wouldn't worry about it, Captain." Yosho said. He hadn't
been doing much since they had begun, merely attempting to add to his
list of Zen/wise/ generally wise sayings (OAV 13, I think). " You probably should have suspected something when a tearful Jurai princess showed up on your
doorstep, but legally you did what you should have done. You won't be jailed for following orders."
" I feel so much better." He said saracasticly. " I'm such an
idiot for not seeing this sooner."
" Come now, Sarcasm doesn't become a captain of a mighty Jurain ship."
" Your right, I guess." Kai agreed, then frowned. " May I ask how you know so much about Jurai?" Yosho flinched, but as always his mom came to the rescue.
" We're not going to hold you responsible, but we may need to
use your ship for what we have to do." Lady Funaho said.
" Whatever you need, your highness, I will do." He said.
" And stop calling me your highness, Funaho is fine. I try not to stand on formalilty, especially at times like this." Kai nodded.
" So what are we going to do about Earth?" Tenchi asked.
" I see no reason we shouldn't go back to the UN and have Ayeka
speak there." Funaho said. " They won't be happy, but I don't think
theres much else we can do."
" What about after?" Hiroshi said, and Daisuke nodded next to
him. " Are you just going to leave, or are you going to stay a
little?"
" It depends on what the world wants." Funaho said. " If they
want us to stay and advise we will, if not we'll go until Earth is
ready to travel to other planets. Then we'll have to, since Earth is a
part of Jurai, and we'd be held responsible if they did anything too
bad. Does the Earth delegation have a problem with this?" She kidded.
" So no forced mating then? Damn." He said, snapping his
fingers in a show of disappointment, and Tenchi groaned at his friend's
poor joke.
" Oh, I'm sure we could arrange something like that." She
replied, and he blushed at the same moment a beep sounded. Captain
Sakuma reached and picked up his com unit.
" You have a call from the king, Queen Funaho." He said. Queen
Funaho nodded.
" About time. Is there somewhere I can talk to him?" She
asked.
" Certainly." He motioned for one of the guards. He told her which way to go, and she left. Things quickly got louder without Queen Funaho's maternal, calming presence. Mihoshi, who until this point had been kept busy playing
with a rubics cube, courtesy of Washu to get her out of the way, she quickly grew bored with it looked for something else to play with. Hiroshi and Daisuke got restless and started wandering around the room, pushing buttons
wherever they found them. Washu was trying to distract Sasami from her
depression by telling her about renassaince art, while creating a warp hole to bring Michealangelo's statue of David as an example. Tenchi waited patiently, while Yosho got into the lotus.
" Hey Ryoko, can I play with your hair?" Mihoshi asked. Ryoko
scowled and shook her head no. " I think it would look pretty in a
braid." Ryoko poked Mihoshi's chest.
" What's this?" She said, and when Mihoshi looked down.
" What do you think this does?" Hiroshi said. Daisuke
shrugged. " Let's find out." He pushed the button and the front wall, which had been blank was replaced by a picture of a nice looking, ringed planet.
" Stop that." Kai ordered. The two flinched and then moved to
another console.
" Owww. That hurt Ryoko. Your mean."
" Hey, I AM a space pirate."
" What about this button?"
" Looks important. I'll give you a thousand yen to push it."
" Deal." And the room plunged into darkness.
" Huh?" Tenchi said.
" That was the light switch!" Kai shouted. " Push the one
above it."
" Which one? I can't find it." Daisuke replied. " This one?
No, not it. I need some light." And there was. At that moment, the
door slid open as Funaho entered. She didn't even flinch as she entered the pitch dark room, just fluidly and seriously walked into the room, flipped the light switch and walked down to the table. Her stern look was more then enough to tell everyone in the room something was wrong. Hiroshi and Daisuke knew enough to return to their seats.
" What's happened?" Tenchi asked.
" Just about the worst thing possible." She sighed. " Azusa has decided to side with Ayeka in this matter. He thinks Earth should be brought into the Jurain empire. We're to follow Ayeka's orders in this." She nearly growled. The room broke out in surprise and outrage.
" What the heck?" Hiroshi said.
" What? Why?" Tenchi said.
" Officially, he thinks Ayeka has done the right thing, but I know him too well. He thinks he's being sneaky and hoping to drive a wedge between you and Ayeka. He's giving her more room to alienate you." She said, and Tenchi
stared, dumbfoundedly.
" Can't we do something? What about the Jurain supreme council?
Can't they do something." He said. Yosho answered with a head shake.
" The supreme council can not over rule the king. They exist solely because one man can not properly govern an entire star empire alone. They derive their power from the royal family." He said. " I never thought he could do this."
For a moment there was silence. No one quite knew what was coming next with Ayeka acting so unpredictably. No one could guess what was coming next. There was only one person most people could turn too. Lady Funaho was quick to
take responsibility.
" Captain Sakuma, you should go and tell your crew what's going on. If you Ayeka gives any orders, I'd appreciate it if you could try and be creative when following the orders to try and stall until I can talk to Azusa. Unfortunately, he decided, right after I talked to him, to call an emergency cabinet session and will not be available for a few days. Tenchi, would you go talk to Ayeka. Maybe you can reach her, or at least find out what's she going to do. And remember what I said about growing fond." Kai and Tenchi nodded. Her words hadn't occurred to him since Ayeka came back. " Ryoko, maybe you should leave for now. She may decide to try and arrest you again."
" Let her try." Ryoko boasted, until she noticed Tenchi giving
her an annoyed look. Not wanting to lose whatever trust she'd rebuilt,
she changed her mind. " But I guess it'll cause less trouble. I'll be
in Okayama if anybody needs me. Ryo-oh-ki you stay here." The cabbit
miya'd and she disappeared.
" And what do we do?" Daisuke asked.
" Wait until we know more." Funaho replied thoughtfully. " If
you went back now and told everyone what's going on, obviously they wouldn't be happy about it. There would of course be resistance on Earth, hoping to force Ayeka to leave. If Ayeka isn't too sure about what she's doing, that could influence her to stop, but if she's determined, people could die. I'm sure Captain Sakuma could put you up for a few days."
" Erm, thanks, I suppose." Hiroshi replied hesitantly.
" At least we get to stay and find more gizmos to mess with." Daisuke said, trying to be upbeat.
" In the meantime, I need to talk to Azusa, and Misaki to.
Maybe if he's dealing with the both of us, he'll rescind his order." She said, as she stood up. " Washu, if you would please keep an eye on Earth, and tell me if you think anything is about to happen." The tiny genius nodded. " Now, if you'll excuse me." She left, muttering silent curses towards her husband.
It hadn't been hard for Tenchi to find Ayeka. On a small ship, rumors about an irate, sulking princess threatening hideous death upon anyone foolish enough to disturb her spread quickly. Tenchi saw her sitting on a small bench amid many brigtly colored flowers. He was very glad she didn't see him. He took several deep breaths, uncomfortably aware that to the best of his knowledge, Ayeka still held Tenchi-ken. ' It's now or never I guess.' He took a few steps towards her until he walked straight into a forcefield with a loud 'Oof'. Ayeka's head whipped around in startlement, then as their eyes met, she regarded him coldly.
" Tenchi, of all the people I do not want want to see, you are at the very top of the list." She said, slowly and methodically, then returned her gaze to the stars. " Go away."
" I can't Ayeka. Things have changed. Your father has ordered the
captain to follow your orders. He's agreeing with you." He said, then immediately regretted it. If Ayeka didn't know her orders had to be followed then...
" I know. Azaka and Kamidake have been in contact with Koyasu, and they informed me." She said, without looking at him. " If your just playing messenger boy for Funaho, you can leave now."
" Theres more you need to know Ayeka. Would you mind lowering the force field?" He asked. Ayeka seemed to ignore him, but the field lowered. Tenchi slowly walked over and sat next to Ayeka, who still wouldn't look at him.
" What will you do about Earth?" He asked.
" I think it should be obvious. I'll start integrating technology and legal code of Jurai into Earth. Those that prove helpful will be given limited autonomy. Those that don't shall be destroyed." She said coldly.
" You can't mean that. People won't accept you." He argued. " There'll be war!" Ayeka threw him an uncaring glance.
" And who do you think will win?" She asked rhetorically. Feeling he was getting no where, Tenchi tried switching tactics.
" You know, Lady Funaho thinks your father is doing this to come between you and me."
" Then my mother has a keen grasp of the obvious." She muttered, to Tenchi's surprise. " Did you honestly think I didn't know? My father couldn't care less about what happens to this planet. I could blow it up for all he cares, but he does care about Misaki and Funaho. In many ways they're closer to each other then to father, and Misaki will almost always side with Funaho. Though they'd never openly break with him, they could certainly make his life a living hell for a very long time. The only reason he'd defy her wishes for the daughter he's barely seen or heard from in 700 years is to do something he feels protects Jurai. And he made the right decision in trying to keep us apart because I can see by the look on your face that absolutely none of this so much as occurred to you which is solid proof of why you'd never have fit in on Jurai." She said. " If something as simple as this is past your sense of politics, the convoluted schemes of Jurain nobles would cause your head to implode." Tenchi gritted his teeth, but let the insult slide. He didn't need to get into an argument right before he told her...
" It never happened." He simply said. Ayeka looked at him curiously for a moment.
" What are you talking about?" She said. Tenchi struggled to find the words. He knew she wasn't going to take it well. Then again, who'd take something like this well?
" What you saw wasn't real Ryoko and I never..." He tried to continue but Ayeka interrupted him, with fury in her eyes.
" How dare you, Tenchi! Do you take me for a idiot! How can you deny it?" She demanded. It distantly occurred to Tenchi that Ayeka got ugly when she was angry. He sighed.
" I thought you'd say that. Or rather," He said, slipping a hand into his pocket to remove a small item. " Washu did. She gave me this before I came. It's a portable holograph making... thing. You can give it verbal commands to make a hologram. It's what Ryoko used to trick you." He said. For a brief moment Ayeka's eye's flickered as she wondered whether to believe him. Tenchi wouldn't give her the chance to decide he was lying. He pushed a button, and Ayeka was shocked to see herself standing before them both.
" I realize it might be hard to accept. But it's the truth." She saw herself say. " Tenchi has never had intercourse with Ryoko, and felt betrayed when he found out." Then the hologram flickered out of existence. Leaving Ayeka, pale beyond words, staring at empty space.
" I made this just a few minutes ago." Tenchi said calmly. Ayeka didn't reply or even look at him. " Here. Take it." He said handing it over to Ayeka. Ayeka seemed to believe him, evidenced by the fact that her hand trembled, and she refused to meet his eyes. " when you're ready, I'd like to talk to you again." Ayeka waited until just after Tenchi left to break down.
It was a tribute to Ayeka's self control that all she did was squeeze the holo-projector into a shattered ball. And then throw the ball to the ground. And then stomp on it until it was dust. To be fair, most people would have done much, much more.
The room was warm, and comfortable, but to Ayeka it now seemed like a
cold, dark dungeon. She didn't quite know how to what to think now. Yesterday, she was so certain about everything. Tenchi was evil, and the Earth needed her guidance to achieve peace. Perhaps some would die in the initial instability, unable to accept her superiority, but that was acceptable. History was filled with examples such as that. She hadn't thought Queen Funaho would have gone along with it anyway, until she saw the glorious results of what she'd accomplished.
Now though, if it was all true... Ayeka sat on the edge of her
bed staring out the window. Earth seemed so peaceful, but she knew
that wasn't true. She really had deeply affected the people of it.
'Was it worth it?' She wondered. She couldn't answer her own question. She needed to know the question first. Did she do it because she wanted to help people, or to get even with Tenchi? Or both? She buried her face in the
pillow, though not letting herself cry in anger or pain. There was a gentle knock on the door. Ayeka ignored it, hoping they'd go away and leave her be.
" Ayeka. Ayeka!" Sasami shouted from the other side. " Come on, sis. Open up!" She said. " Please. I just wanna talk." Ayeka sighed into the pillow. She wanted to be alone right, now but she knew she shouldn't be alone, and at least it was Sasami, if anyone. Sasami peered in cautiously.
" Ayeka? Please don't be mad at me." She said, peering into the dark room. Ayeka chuckled quietly into the pillow, then looked up at Sasami.
" I'm not mad at you Sasami." She sighed. " Come here, Sasami." She didn't need to ask twice. Sasami bounded onto the bed, and sat next to Ayeka.
" I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you, but I just wanted to see Tenchi and Ryo-oh-ki and Mihoshi and Washu." She said, cuddling with Ayeka.
" I know, Sasami. I'm sorry, I know this must have been hard on you." She said, lightly stroking Sasami's hair. Sasami seemed to struggle with something.
" Tenchi said that what you saw that night wasn't real. Just a trick." She said. Ayeka choked up a little.
" I know that too. Tenchi told me." Ayeka said.
" So you don't want to take over Earth anymore? And we can go back to Okayama?" Sasami said.
" I... don't know, Sasami. After what's happened, it may be for the best if I continue, or else there could be anarchy. It could still be for the best. Earth could benefit a lot from Jurai. As for going back to Okayama..." She said, longing in her voice. " I'm sure Tenchi would let you go back, but I don't know if he wants to see me anytime soon." Sasami looked up, surprised.
" Of course Tenchi would like to see you again. You should go to him and apologize." She said. Ayeka shook her head mournfully.
" I tried to do something terrible, Sasami. I know that now." She said. " I don't think Tenchi can forgive what I tried to do."
" Of course he will! I'll go tell him you want to apologize." She jumped off the bed, and ran out the door.
" Sasami wait!" But she was already out the door. " I didn't want it to come to this. Not yet." She sighed, out of frustration and despair. She wanted to believe that Sasami was right, and Tenchi would forgive her. Another part of her was afraid Tenchi would reject her. She didn't want to have to face him. " What am I going to do?" She asked herself. She clutched her face in her hands. " What should I say to him?"
" I find 'I'm sorry' usually works pretty well." Said a familiar voice. Ayeka looked up, shocked.
" Ryoko?" She said, to shocked to even feel angry for a minute. Just a minute though.
" Trust me, I've piss'd off Tenchi enough times, I should know." She said, without the undertone of condesencion and mirth she usually had.
" Tenchi told me not to come, but I've never been too good at doing what I was told."
" If you came to gloat, just leave. I'm not in the mood." She glared at the cyan-haired woman, who simply shook her head.
" I'm in no position to gloat. It's not like I didn't get Tenchi pretty mad when he found out what I did, so don't think Tenchi's suddenly making protestations of love to me. No," She said simply, sitting down in a nearby chair, and looking away from Ayeka. " I came to apologize." Ayeka stared unabashedly open mouthed at Ryoko.
" What, you? Apologize? You never apologized for anything in your life!" She fumed. Ryoko scowled at her.
" I've apologized for a lot of things, like... What I apologized for isn't important. You're not making this a whole lot easier, you know." She barked back. Ayeka was about to make a retort when Ryoko cut her off.
" Look princess, the last thing either of us needs is to have Sasami bring Tenchi here and see us pummeling each other to a bloody mess, so I'm just going to say what I have to say." She said, with great difficulty. " Ayeka, I'm sorry. I went to far, all right. I let myself get carried away." They stared at each other for a moment. " So are you going to accept my apology or what?"
Ayeka seemed to think on it, and frowned a moment later. But she said
" All right, Ryoko." She said quietly. " But don't think this changes anything between us though. I still think you're an awful pirate who should be locked up." Ryoko just smiled, as though she had been complimented.
" Very well, and I still think you're a spoiled brat princess." She stood up and casually yawned. " I'll just get out of your hair. Nice color by the way. Looks better on Sasami though. I wouldn't worry about Tenchi. You could have blown up the Earth, and I still think he would have forgiven you. He's great like that." She started to float off.
" Ryoko, would you do me a favor?" Ryoko halted in mid-air. She shrugged.
" What do you need?" Ayeka grabbed an item off a nearby table and tossed it to Ryoko. " Would you give that to Tenchi for me?" Ryoko reached for it.
" Sure Ay... GYAAAAAAAAH" She screamed, as Tenchi-ken hit the floor with a clatter. (Editors note: Remember OAV2? She can't touch it) She growled at Ayeka, who just smirked.
" We're even now." She said. She was about to snap back at her, but restrained herself.
" All right." She struggled to say. " We're even."
Minutes later, Sasami appeared. Tenchi had said that if there was anything she needed to say, he'd be in the gardens. Ayeka procrastinated for about half an hour, working with her hair, trying to look perfect until Sasami finally grew frustrated, and dragged her out of the room. Neither she nor Tenchi spoke about what was said, though everyone suspected it had involved a lot of crying and pleading, but almost immedialy afterwards, she went to the bridge, and announced to the entire Earth that there had been a 'misperception' regarding the 'specifics' of her orders (Tenchi didn't say anything, allowing her a little bit of pride). Earth was angry but, still to confused about having an alien empire invade, then apoligize a day later to say anything about it. That would probably change in the future, but for a while afterwards things were quiet.
=====Several days later, Masaki residence, Earth=====
'It almost feels like old times.' Tenchi thought to himself with a wry smile. The entire group had gotten together for the first time in a days, even Ayeka. Ayeka, and Sasami, as well as Lady Funaho had stayed aboard the Eternity. Mihoshi and Ryoko had been enjoying they're new found fame, both becoming instant celebrities, especially Ryoko. Mihoshi had been contacted by the Galaxy police, and had been re-assigned as they're representative to Earth. Tenchi suspected they'd been praying for something like this to happen back at HQ, because it got her out of danger, and let them assign a new, more reliable officer to Earth. Things had been so great on Earth. Since she had begun giving interviews, she had sent more then a few interviewers into fits trying to get sensible answers out of her.
Ryoko had been somewhat vague about what she was doing, but she had shown up several times to give him expensive gifts and said simply that she was being paid by the Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) to study with them. Tenchi suspected there was no "with" but didn't say anything. Sasami had been staying with Ayeka. Ayeka had been 'pouting', according the Funaho.
Sasami had first asked him to do this, supposedly because she missed everyone, but Tenchi suspected that it was, at least in part, to cheep up Ayeka. To tell the truth, Tenchi had been kind of hoping for the same thing. Even when he forgave Ayeka, everyone still hadn't been in the same room since before Ayeka left. So he'd helped Sasami organize a little party.
It had been a extraordinarily dull for a party, especially a party Ryoko was at. Tenchi sat at the head of the table, with Ayeka to his left and Ryoko to his right. Both were being very polite to him, especially Ayeka. Washu and Mihoshi were next to Ayeka and Ryoko, and Sasami sat at the other end from Tenchi. Lady Funaho and Yosho sat on the couch, discussing Jurai and foreign affairs. Hiroshi and Daisuke had begged to come when they learned about it, but Tenchi flatly said he wanted this to be private.
" Mmmm. This Saysoh is really good." Mihoshi chirped. Saysoh
was a Jurian delicacy, and it was fortunate that the Eternity's cook
had a supply.
" But it's not as good as anything Sasami makes." Tenchi
replied, causing the young princess to blush. Captain Sakuma had nearly had a fit when he learned Sasami was going to be cooking, and had not relented until they had agreed to use the ships chef. Funaho watched them with grim amusement. She was still a little upset about what Ayeka had said to her.
" Tenchi seems to be very forgiving." Funaho quietly said to
Yosho, who was sitting next to her and very uncomfortable.
" He probably gets it from his grandmother. I can't possible
think of who on our side he could have gotten it from." He replied,
and Funaho gave a light chuckle.
" Your father has his moments of forgiveness. You just haven't been on Jurai during them." Meanwhile, Tenchi was enjoying the near godlike power he had over Ayeka and Ryoko.
" Could someone pass me noodles?" He asked, grinning inwardly,
and immediately Ayeka and Ryoko lunged across the table towards the egg noodles. Ayeka was just a little bit faster, or had been thinking about what Tenchi might need, and got to it first.
" Lord Tenchi.' She offered. Tenchi calmly took what he wanted, though not really needed, and Ayeka put the noodles back.
" Thank you Miss Ayeka." Tenchi said. If a person were keeping
score, which both Ayeka and Ryoko certainly were, then this would have
been the third 'Thank You' for Ayeka, but Ryoko still had four.
" Spoiled princess." Ryoko muttered.
" Cat eyed beast." Ayeka muttered louder. The pair's eyes
locked and they both began to emit an almost animal like growl.
" Girls, no fighting at the table." Tenchi calmly reminded them.
" Yes, Lord Tenchi." They both quickly replied. Ryoko had
begun calling Tenchi 'Lord Tenchi' to try and score brownie points.
' Enjoy this now, Tenchi', he thought. He knew this wouldn't last. In
fact, they'd both been getting bolder by the minute. Neither would
have dared insult the other in his presence a half hour ago when the
meal began. At least it wouldn't be happening all the time.
" So when are you leaving for that ship?" Mihoshi asked, oblivious to the fact that Ayeka DID NOT like being reminded of that particular fact.
" I do not see why I should be leaving." Ayeka replied, eyeing Mihoshi
angrily.
" But didn't Funaho-mom say you had to leave to that ship dad's
coming in?" Sasami said.
" Indeed." Funaho said, pretending to be helpful. " When the Jurain ambassadorial ship arrives, which it should very soon now, you will have to take your place as ambassador to Earth."
" Mother, I still don't see why I have live on this ship. Certainly we could arrange for something, a little closer to here to be built." Ayeka said desperatly.
" You just wanna be near Tenchi." Ryoko goaded with a smirk.
" Certainly not." Ayeka defended. " I just... like this area. I have grown fond of it."
" Will I be able to stay here with Tenchi?" Sasami asked.
" Certainly." Funaho replied.
" But mother..." Ayeka started, but Funaho broke her off with a
wave of her hand.
" You decided to make contact with Earth, so you must stay in contact with them." She said deliberately. " And it would be unfair to Japan to make them build a facility or make them the center of attention when we have an easy solution. It would seem like we were biased towards Japan if we did that. The Jurain ambassadorial ship your father is bringing has more the adequate facilities for all your needs. And we will be able to use it immediately, without having to build something."
" Your mother has a very good point." Tenchi agreed. " You don't want the world to think you're unfairly favoring Japan, do you?" Ayeka nearly cried when Tenchi took her mother's side, but that wasn't the worst part.
" Don't worry princess, I'll take good care of Tenchi." Ryoko
purred. Ayeka stared coldly at her, until Tenchi cleared his throat
and get her attention. Dejected, she sat with her head hanging low and sighed. She knew she couldn't win the argument. She wondered if Tenchi had invited her simply to drive her insane with these mixed signals. An hour later without (major) incident, Tenchi and crew had gathered outside, waiting patiently for the King of Jurai.
Tenchi didn't quite know how to respond to the king, after what happened between him and Ayeka. He certainly wasn't going to be happy to have had his plan destroyed by Tenchi again. His fingers lightly grasped Tenchi-ken, which Ayeka had given back to him.
At that moment, the tell tale hum of a Jurain teleporter sounded, and two figures appeared amidst the swirling cherry blossoms. King Azusa and Queen Misaki stood at the edge of the dock. Azusa's eyes immediately fell on Tenchi. They exchanged strong glances, Tenchi standing firm and showing he could not be bullied. Tenchi even felt a little thrill, knowing he had fought the plans of the most powerful man in the galaxy, and came out victorious.
" Oh Sasami!" Queen Masaki cried, and threw her arms around her
youngest. " I've missed you so much." She picked her up and held her
tightly, showering her with kisses.
" Funaho my love, it is so good to see you again." He said warmly.
" Azusa." Funaho coldly acknowledged. She received Misaki far more warmly. Masaki embraced Funaho almost as tightly as she had Sasami.
" Sister, you've been gone to long." She said.
" Well Tenchi, it seems you have been fairing well." Azusa said through gritted teeth. Tenchi bowed, and thanked him.
" As they would say on Earth, 'That's Tenchi two, Azusa zero." Funaho breathed in her husbands ear.
" I wouldn't know what your talking about." He said.
" Oh, my daughter Ayeka." Masaki said, and to everyone's surprise, just nodded her acknowledgement.
" Oh mommy!" Ayeka said, as she had said every other she'd seen her. Ayeka didn't have to be prompted, even though her mother was acting oddly. Masaki looked at Ayeka as if she had never seen her before.
" Ayeka," She said simply. " aren't you a little old to be calling me mommy?" She asked. Face fault, all but Funaho and Yosho. As everyone stood back up and stared in disbelief. Funaho leaned over and whispered in Ayeka's
ear.
" Now that you have responsibility, she sees you as a grown woman, and no longer her little girl." Ayeka sighed as at least one thing went her way.
" You should probably go up to the ship now and start getting settled. You should get started early." Misaki said, and Ayeka suddenly saw that perhaps this wasn't quite so good. Funaho nodded in agreement. Reluctantly, she headed outside, where she would contact the ship. She stopped at the door and turned to Tenchi.
" If you need anything Tenchi, call me."
" Oh I'm sure I'll be able to give him everything he needs," saying her
words deliciously. Tenchi frowned at her. " Have fun Princess." Patting Tenchi on the stomach, then went slightly lower, causing Tenchi to smile awkwardly. She said, smiling triumphantly. Ayeka groaned inwardly, at Ryoko's success. She felt like the entire night was simply an excrutiating form of torture. Tenchi seemed to be happy with Ryoko, and almost seemed to delight in showing her. Dejected, she turned towards the pier to contact the ship, nearly fighting back tears.
" If it's no big deal, I don't really think the party needs to end right now.." Tenchi said, silently enjoying Ryoko's facefault, and to a lesser extent, King Azusa grinding his teeth. Ayeka froze in place, and turned to look at Tenchi with wide eyes. She shook her surprise away and nodded quickly.
" Certainly. I don't see why not." She said, tossing a question glance at queen Funaho. It would be her say so if she could stay. Even Azusa wouldn't dare contradict her in this, Ayeka felt. The queen stood silently for a moment, taking her time. She nervously twirled a strand of her long aqua hair.
" I don't see why Ayeka can't stay a little longer." She finally said, smiling faintly. " What do you think Misaki." Sasami eagerly hugged her mother.
" Can she mom? I'd really like that." The little girl exclaimed.
" Perhaps it can wait just a bit longer." Misaki said, gently rubbing Sasami's head. Ayeka breathed a sigh of relief, quietly praised Tsunami (wondering if maybe she had had something to do with this) and began walking back inside.
" And to think I wondered if Tenchi would have problems on Jurai."
Funaho whispered to Azusa, as they entered . " If the way he plays Ryoko and Ayeka is any indication, he should have no trouble fighting Jurai politicians."
" I suppose you have a point." He said grimly.
The picture falls back to an exterior of the house, everyone goes inside, and begins to pull back. Eventually, it reveals the author standing on a hill, facing the camera, hands folded in front of him, in a very Rod Serling/Twilight Zone-esque manner.
" As a young girl discovered in a long ago movie, and Princess Ayeka of Jurai discovered today, there is simply no place like home. She discovered another truth as well. What makes a home? Is it a place? A building? A welcome mat saying 'Home Sweet Home'? No, a home is where our family is. As Princess Ayeka discovered today, family need not always be people to whom we are related to by blood, though they surely qualify. Family are simply people we love, and who love us in return. Friends and loved ones, whom shall never betray us, even if we might betray them. That, though we may burn down some bridges, there will always be people to help us ford our way back across. We need but to ask them. A brilliant insight into the nature of man and life, or simply a cheap way for an author to try and make his worrk seem more important? We may never know. Thank you, and join us next time in... the Tenchi Zone."
Note: Weird enough ending, but I always get my cameos :).
Perhaps I will make this Twilight Zone esque a way to explain my final
ideas in at the end. Well, it took me long enough, but I finally
finished it. I feel this was much better then my previous chapters, which
even I realize had some serious flaws. I plan on starting a new one sometime, look for it in the X-over section of TMFFA or simply the Tenchi one on Fanfiction.net. I've decided on the Ah! My goddess crossover as my next story. Thank you for reading my work, and feel free to email me at confuciousays@hotmail.com. As an interesting side note, I decided to leave my original monologue in. I makes less sense, but that's because I made some major revisions to this. I like the new one better of course.
" You can never go home again. It seems a simple enough statement. But as Princess Ayeka of Jurai discovered today, a true one. That does not mean, however, that one can not still build their own house, a new one, sometimes a similar one, with the timbers of burnt bridges, or that paths will always diverge from our loved ones, never to cross again. Life is a twisting thing, as mixed as the metaphor I just used. No matter how much we might wish it other wise, as we grow up, our lives change. Sometimes in great ways, sometimes in small ones, but the differences always exist. A brillant philosophical statement, or simply a cheap way for an author to try and make his work seem more important then it really is? We may never know. Thank you, and join us next time in... ' The Tenchi zone.'"
Final Note: Finished my first story (Again). Hop you like it.
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.)
No need for global conquest
By James Kane (Or Psyco Panda, if you prefer) Email me with thoughts
and comments at confuciousays@hotmail.com
Jurai Blues Part 6: There's no place like home
===== Jurain Battleship Eternity, above New York =====
Ayeka stepped onto the bridge looking for blood. Ryoko's cutting
insults in front of an entire planet had pierced her to the core, and
undermined her authority with Earth. Now everyone would question why
they should listen to someone who apparently had no control over her
own empire. And it was all the fault of someone on this bridge.
" I demand to know why there was no attempt to stop Ryo-oh-ki,
and why you didn't even bother to tell us she was coming? Certainly
you must have detected her coming!" Ayeka fumed, and she looked
towards the most likely culprit, the First officer who was in charge
while Sakuma was gone. The first officer was didn't even glance at her,
just calmly brushed by her to hand a small PDA to Kai. Anyone else might have been concerned by this sudden change of attitude, but Ayeka was Ayeka was
nearly livid at being given the cold shoulder, and Captain Sakuma was
shocked at his own first officers right disrespect for royalty.
" I demand to know what's going on!" Ayeka said through
clenched teeth. Kai stared at the PDA, and his mouth dropped a little.
" Your mother is in your room." The captain said flatly. The
effect was immediate. Somehow, despite the fiery anger in her blood, her blood turned to ice. Captain Sakuma noticed this with only a little bit of shock. Despite having grown up respecting and honoring the royal family, even he had started becoming suspicious. Simply too much did not make sense. He continued. " She ordered my crew not to alert you of the arrival of herself or Ryo-oh-ki, nor to prevent Ryo-oh-ki from landing." He said calmly, still watching her.
" And.. that's it?" She said quickly. She seemed annoyed at
this. " And is it Misaki or Funaho?"
" Lady Funaho." He corrected himself. His eyes narrowed at the
princess. It was obvious something was very wrong, and it looked very
serious. " And nothing more. Just that she wants to see you as soon as
possible."
" Oh." Was all she said. She did a quick 180 and headed
straight for the elevator, and then went straight to the room she shared
with Sasami. Lady Funaho was sitting on the bed holding a brightly
smiling Sasami. It briefly occurred to Ayeka that Sasami hadn't been
smiling like that lately. Only now that she was with mother Funaho and
earlier with Ryo-oh-ki, did she seem happy. ' I should have sent her back to Jurai. I would have too, if I thought they wouldn't interfere with my plans.' She though. Funaho turned to Ayeka, and looked her over impassively, as if Ayeka were some priceless statue she had just bought.
" Ayeka! Funaho-mom is here!" Sasami shouted with glee.
" Well. It looks like you've been busy, Tasana-chan." Ayeka
grimaced at hearing Funaho's pet name for her. Partly because it
showed how little serious thought Funaho was giving her, but mostly because
even after seven hundred years she still had no idea what it meant,
since it was in her native language. Ayeka got straight to the point.
" Mother, why have you been interfering with what I've been
doing?" Ayeka said.
" Well, as a queen, and your mother, I have to clean up when my
eldest daughter makes a giant mess simply to spite a boyfriend." She
said, while stoking Sasami's hair. Ayeka's eye's focused intently on
her mother.
" Is that what you think I'm doing, mother? Lashing out at Earth to get even with Tenchi? I'm almost insulted that you think so little of me. You're letting your feelings for your son bias you." Ayeka accused.
" Well, just days after you think Tenchi dumps you, you hijack a
battleship and try to take over his planet. I can't see it any other
way." Funaho said. Ayeka bristled.
" See it this way. While I was living here, I got a good look at Earth. I saw so much suffering, poverty, disease, death, crime. Even though they don't know it, the people of Earth are all citizens of the Jurain empire, deserving of the same rights, privlages, and caring as any other. How could I turn my back on them, as a princess of Jurai? You may see them as nothing more then an experiment in psychology, but I haven't." Ayeka forcefully replied.
" How very noble." Funaho said, with a humoring smile.
" But why didn't you check with us? By the way, could I get Tenchi-ken back?" She said, holding out her hand to receive the master-key. Ayeka pulled it off her robe, but just held it in her fingers.
" I didn't call home because I didn't want to waste the time. I didn't see any way that a truly caring king and queens would want to make their subjects suffer." Ayeka said, lying. She knew exactly what her parents would have said. Her eyes narrowed on Funaho. " But perhaps I should have realized some people on planet Jurai wouldn't be quite up to the task of ruling an empire." Funaho caught the weakly subtle inference. She picked up Sasami off her lap, who had been watching the exchange silently with growing concern, and moved her onto the bed.
" And what is that supposed to mean, Princess Ayeka?" She said, finally growing aggravated and stressing her authority.
" It just strikes me as odd that so many, many problems seem to come from people from Earth. Why, it's almost like there's a problem on the genetic level." She said. Funaho's impassive face suddenly tightened.
" I'm not quite certain what you're talking about." Funaho spoke heavily. She had a good idea of what Ayeka was talking about, but she still wanted to give Ayeka a chance to back down.
" Really, then how about a certain Jurai prince whose mother was from Earth, for one, who although perfectly glad to take advantage of the advantages of being royalty, skipped out when it was time to take some responsibility." She said. Funaho clenched and unclenched her hand, as if preparing to use it. " And let's not forget that certain prince's grandson, who would sell out the power of Jurai royal blood to a whore and a pirate who slaughtered thousands on Jurai." Ayeka said, her lip curling into sort of a wicked smile. Sasami quietly knelt on the bed, forgotten. Neither was paying any attention to her, so neither saw tears beginning to form as their argument continued.
" And then then there's the princes mother. I wasn't alive when
she arrived on planet Jurai, but from all accounts she caused a severe
split of the Jurain nobility, almost a civil war." A vein began to
bulge on Funaho's forehead, and her hand finally lashed out across
Ayeka's cheek.
" Perhaps if the princess knew anything about real..." Funaho
stressed the word real " responsibility, instead of being pampered by
her elder brother at his shrine, she would not be so quick to judge
others. Perhaps she would have thought before acting. The cultures on
Earth are to primitive to accept the concept of non-human life, and the
people themselves have a long-standing dislike and distrust of
authority. Not even mentioning the fact that paranoid ideas about alien invasions have been popular fodder for films, and anime for years." Lady Funaho nearly sneered. " She might have realized that coming down with no warning at all, and declaring herself queen of Earth was the Worst! Conceivable! Thing! She could do." She said, stressing her words as anger flowed through her.
" As evidenced by the riots and protests already underway in almost half of the Earth's capitals cities. How many more people must die so a spoiled princess can get her revenge on a certain Jurai prince, who may not be quite so willing so sell out the power of Jurai royal family blood as she thinks. And as for that certain Jurai prince's grandfather, let's not forget that the princess used to be despertaly
in love with him until she met his grandson."
" A mistake I truly regre..." Ayeka said, when a scream suddenly shattered through the room and got both they're attention.
" STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING!" Sasami screamed. Her cry echoed
through the room, in no small part due to the help of Tsunami's power. She
wiped her tears away, and Ayeka instinctively tried to go to her.
Sasami pushed her away and ran crying out the door.
" Sasami!" They both shouted.
Ayeka started to follow her out the door, but turned to Lady Funaho, and said, almost growling...
" We'll talk again after I tend to Sasami."
As Ayeka searched the ship, she missed the most obvious place on the ship, the chamber of the Jurai tree at the ships core. She lay quietly on a bench near the great tree, Koyasu, who could only respond with a sort of melodious song. Jurai trees are quite sensitive to the feelings of those around them, even to people who they aren't joined with, and are very caring by nature. Any Jurai tree would have done the same, even without her link to Tsunami, obvious to any Jurai tree. Her link did give her a few benefits only she could have. Though many people bonded to Jurai trees knew generally what such songs as Koyasu sang were about, there was so much more to them then words. Through her link with the first Jurai tree, she understood the subtle changes in tone, in feeling, at least the ones her human ears could detect, and how they affected how the words should be interpreted. Any musician would have given his ability to reproduce to be able to do the same, but it was all secondary to Sasami at the moment.
Sasami's young mind couldn't quite grasp what was happening. Her
sister, whom she had spent years with, and loved more then anyone else
in the galaxy, had gotten into terrible fight with her mother, whom she
respected more then anyone, and insulted both Yosho and Tenchi, two
people she loved deeply. She couldn't quite believe it Ayeka could do
that, especially since she'd always seemed to love Yosho, even after she met Tenchi. Ayeka had seemed like a different person since Tenchi broke up with her. She just didn't know what to do. She barely noticed when the song stopped, and replaced with the slower patterns of normal speech. It wasn't
until the fifth time he said it that Sasami seemed to hear it.
" Really?" She asked the tree. The tree responded affirmative
with a few harmonic tones. " Thank you very much." She bowed politely, eyes still shining with tears, and rushed down to the landing bay, where a certain space pirate and her cabbit/space ship were about to dock.
Right as she arrived, Lady Funaho, and Mihoshi (Who had given Lady Funaho a lift to the Eternity in Yukinojo) were greeting Tenchi, Ryoko, Ryo-oh-ki, Yosho, Washu, and two people Sasami knew vaguely as Tenchi's friends from school, while Captain Sakuma surveyed the new arrivals from the back of the room. She ran up and threw her hands around Tenchi's waste.
" Tenchi Tenchi Tenchi! I've missed you so much Tenchi!" She cried out.
" Hello Sasami. I've really missed you too!" He said, patting her head. She smiled, then composed herself as a Jurai princess should, and let go, but stayed close to him and held his hand. Funaho smiled at her daughter in a re-assuring way.
" Thank you for coming, Lord Tenchi. I think we're going to need every person we can get to settle this." Lady Funaho said. Sasami could tell she seemed a bit drained.
" Lord Tenchi, Lady Funaho has told me all about you. I'm
honored to have Lord Yosho's descendent aboard my ship." Captain Sakuma said, with a curt bow, and a suspicious glance towards Ryoko. Yosho, for his part, stood towards the back and was glad he wasn't recognized.
" Who are your guests?"
" This is my grandfather Katsuhito, Little Washu, the greatest
scientific genius in the universe," He said. Washu grinned broadly
and giggled at Kai's disbelieving look. He motioned towards Ryoko, and noticed the captains suspicion. " This is Ryoko. She's not a pirate anymore. And these two..." He leaned over and threw an arm around Daisuke. Hiroshi was
over hitting on Mihoshi again. " These are my friends from Earth.
They said they wanted to come along to represent... what was it?"
Tenchi said, grinning cynically at his friend.
" Earth's interest." Daisuke said. " We're here to make sure
the people of Earth have a voice! Freedom eternal! No taxation
without representation! Viva la revoloution!" He said comically. Then he whipped out the camera and started snapping away. Kai blinked as the flash blinded him for a few moments, but he was more amused then angry when he realize what the camera was. " This is so cool."
" We've got a meeting room on the fifth deck. If you'll follow
me." Kai said, and motioned forward.
" After you." Ryoko said.
" I insisit." Kai said, motioning out the door. Ryoko flashed
a predatory smile at the captain, and walked through the door, and everyone followed, Tenchi with Sasami Sasami. As Tenchi walked out, Sasami let go of Tenchi's hand and looked over her shoulder. She'd seen Ayeka enter the room from a different door, apparently having been informed of Tenchi's arrival, while Tenchi and Daisuke were talking. She hadn't done anything, just
listened. Now, she met Sasami's gaze full on. She didn't really seem
angry, but her eyes were filled with pain. Sasami tried to mouth an
apology, though she didn't really know for what, but Ayeka just turned
and left. The only thing Sasami could do was run after Tenchi and her
mother.
Ayeka felt her heart sink. Since they had been children, after Yosho left and later, when she believed Yosho died, after Tench's betrayal, no matter what, Sasami had always been there at her side. When she had chosen to go off into space, searching for Yosho, Sasami had not hesitated to join her, even though it meant leaving their parents. Even if she had teased Sasami when they were younger, she had always loved her.
But now, as she walked slowly out of the landing bay, she could barely move. Sasami had abandoned her. For Tenchi. She supposed she shouldn't have been all that surprised. She was just a young girl after all. She needed her friends, and she didn't yet understand all that was going on. And though Tenchi had hurt her, Sasami had never felt betrayed. Perhaps she might have if she understood what Tenchi with Ryoko would mean, but then again she never seemed to understand exactly how dangerous Ryoko was. She smiled briefly at Sasami's innocence, but that only hurt her more.
A helpful crew member stopped to try and aid her, but she pushed him away, and tried to run, run anywhere that no one would see her. She knew she was going to cry, feel it as it welled up in her throat. She nearly retched as a sense of Déjà vu came over her. First Tenchi, now Sasami. Would it ever end?
Jurains loved nature and just because it was a military vessel, designers saw no need to make them go without, building actual gardens with holographic imagery depicting vast skylines. It was not the best place to be alone, but being Jurain, it was the place Ayeka felt most comfortable. A Jurain fetal position, perhaps. It was the only comfort her tortured heart could conceive of. That last, most primitive instinct we find comfort in when we have been abandoned by those we most care for. Or perhaps, when we abandon them without realizing it. (Writers note: Author not held liable for lethal doses of melodrama.)
The meeting room they were led too was pretty spacious, and shaped
in a half circle, much like a smaller version of an old Greek theater. In a dramatic change of theme, this no room had any wood in it all, or plants. It was gleaming metal. It could seat about fifty people, since the Eternity had the capability to lead a fleet, this was a very important feature, but with the few they had everyone was able to sit in the front row, except for Lady Funaho and Captain Sakuma, who took seats at the display, and Sasami, who quietly took a seat at the back of the room. Funaho had wanted her to sit next to her, but she seemed disturbed by something
" Before we start, Captain Sakuma, would you please have your
people find Ayeka, and escort her here. Whatever we decide, we're
going to need her to inform the Earth of it." Queen Funaho said.
Captain Sakuma nodded and spoke a few words into a com.
" What are we going to do?" Tenchi was the first to voice what
they were all thinking.
" I suppose the only thing we can." Yosho said. " We must
tell the world what really happened. It is the only thing that we can
do that might help restore some trust in Jurai."
" Just so I know," Hiroshi said " does Jurai actually have the
right to come in and take us over? They don't, do they?"
" Afraid so." Washu answered. " At least as far as the rest
of the galaxy goes, Jurai has the prior claim." She said, then
muttered, " Plus no one really wants to argue with the most powerful
empire in the galaxy over a tiny little speck of dust like Earth."
" What!" Daisuke said. " So even if they leave, Jurai can just come back anytime and absorb the Earth into it?"
" Well, Yes." Funaho said flatly. " That's probably what's
going to end up happening anyway. It won't happen for at least fifty
years, so no need to start a resistance movement right away." She said,
with a gently sarcastic smile. Daisuke blushed a little.
" So Ayeka's actions truly were without backing from the royal family?" Captain Sakuma asked, near hopless.
" I regret that it is so." Funaho replied.
" Damn." Kai sighed, in a severe breach of etiquette.
" I wouldn't worry about it, Captain." Yosho said. He hadn't
been doing much since they had begun, merely attempting to add to his
list of Zen/wise/ generally wise sayings (OAV 13, I think). " You probably should have suspected something when a tearful Jurai princess showed up on your
doorstep, but legally you did what you should have done. You won't be jailed for following orders."
" I feel so much better." He said saracasticly. " I'm such an
idiot for not seeing this sooner."
" Come now, Sarcasm doesn't become a captain of a mighty Jurain ship."
" Your right, I guess." Kai agreed, then frowned. " May I ask how you know so much about Jurai?" Yosho flinched, but as always his mom came to the rescue.
" We're not going to hold you responsible, but we may need to
use your ship for what we have to do." Lady Funaho said.
" Whatever you need, your highness, I will do." He said.
" And stop calling me your highness, Funaho is fine. I try not to stand on formalilty, especially at times like this." Kai nodded.
" So what are we going to do about Earth?" Tenchi asked.
" I see no reason we shouldn't go back to the UN and have Ayeka
speak there." Funaho said. " They won't be happy, but I don't think
theres much else we can do."
" What about after?" Hiroshi said, and Daisuke nodded next to
him. " Are you just going to leave, or are you going to stay a
little?"
" It depends on what the world wants." Funaho said. " If they
want us to stay and advise we will, if not we'll go until Earth is
ready to travel to other planets. Then we'll have to, since Earth is a
part of Jurai, and we'd be held responsible if they did anything too
bad. Does the Earth delegation have a problem with this?" She kidded.
" So no forced mating then? Damn." He said, snapping his
fingers in a show of disappointment, and Tenchi groaned at his friend's
poor joke.
" Oh, I'm sure we could arrange something like that." She
replied, and he blushed at the same moment a beep sounded. Captain
Sakuma reached and picked up his com unit.
" You have a call from the king, Queen Funaho." He said. Queen
Funaho nodded.
" About time. Is there somewhere I can talk to him?" She
asked.
" Certainly." He motioned for one of the guards. He told her which way to go, and she left. Things quickly got louder without Queen Funaho's maternal, calming presence. Mihoshi, who until this point had been kept busy playing
with a rubics cube, courtesy of Washu to get her out of the way, she quickly grew bored with it looked for something else to play with. Hiroshi and Daisuke got restless and started wandering around the room, pushing buttons
wherever they found them. Washu was trying to distract Sasami from her
depression by telling her about renassaince art, while creating a warp hole to bring Michealangelo's statue of David as an example. Tenchi waited patiently, while Yosho got into the lotus.
" Hey Ryoko, can I play with your hair?" Mihoshi asked. Ryoko
scowled and shook her head no. " I think it would look pretty in a
braid." Ryoko poked Mihoshi's chest.
" What's this?" She said, and when Mihoshi looked down.
" What do you think this does?" Hiroshi said. Daisuke
shrugged. " Let's find out." He pushed the button and the front wall, which had been blank was replaced by a picture of a nice looking, ringed planet.
" Stop that." Kai ordered. The two flinched and then moved to
another console.
" Owww. That hurt Ryoko. Your mean."
" Hey, I AM a space pirate."
" What about this button?"
" Looks important. I'll give you a thousand yen to push it."
" Deal." And the room plunged into darkness.
" Huh?" Tenchi said.
" That was the light switch!" Kai shouted. " Push the one
above it."
" Which one? I can't find it." Daisuke replied. " This one?
No, not it. I need some light." And there was. At that moment, the
door slid open as Funaho entered. She didn't even flinch as she entered the pitch dark room, just fluidly and seriously walked into the room, flipped the light switch and walked down to the table. Her stern look was more then enough to tell everyone in the room something was wrong. Hiroshi and Daisuke knew enough to return to their seats.
" What's happened?" Tenchi asked.
" Just about the worst thing possible." She sighed. " Azusa has decided to side with Ayeka in this matter. He thinks Earth should be brought into the Jurain empire. We're to follow Ayeka's orders in this." She nearly growled. The room broke out in surprise and outrage.
" What the heck?" Hiroshi said.
" What? Why?" Tenchi said.
" Officially, he thinks Ayeka has done the right thing, but I know him too well. He thinks he's being sneaky and hoping to drive a wedge between you and Ayeka. He's giving her more room to alienate you." She said, and Tenchi
stared, dumbfoundedly.
" Can't we do something? What about the Jurain supreme council?
Can't they do something." He said. Yosho answered with a head shake.
" The supreme council can not over rule the king. They exist solely because one man can not properly govern an entire star empire alone. They derive their power from the royal family." He said. " I never thought he could do this."
For a moment there was silence. No one quite knew what was coming next with Ayeka acting so unpredictably. No one could guess what was coming next. There was only one person most people could turn too. Lady Funaho was quick to
take responsibility.
" Captain Sakuma, you should go and tell your crew what's going on. If you Ayeka gives any orders, I'd appreciate it if you could try and be creative when following the orders to try and stall until I can talk to Azusa. Unfortunately, he decided, right after I talked to him, to call an emergency cabinet session and will not be available for a few days. Tenchi, would you go talk to Ayeka. Maybe you can reach her, or at least find out what's she going to do. And remember what I said about growing fond." Kai and Tenchi nodded. Her words hadn't occurred to him since Ayeka came back. " Ryoko, maybe you should leave for now. She may decide to try and arrest you again."
" Let her try." Ryoko boasted, until she noticed Tenchi giving
her an annoyed look. Not wanting to lose whatever trust she'd rebuilt,
she changed her mind. " But I guess it'll cause less trouble. I'll be
in Okayama if anybody needs me. Ryo-oh-ki you stay here." The cabbit
miya'd and she disappeared.
" And what do we do?" Daisuke asked.
" Wait until we know more." Funaho replied thoughtfully. " If
you went back now and told everyone what's going on, obviously they wouldn't be happy about it. There would of course be resistance on Earth, hoping to force Ayeka to leave. If Ayeka isn't too sure about what she's doing, that could influence her to stop, but if she's determined, people could die. I'm sure Captain Sakuma could put you up for a few days."
" Erm, thanks, I suppose." Hiroshi replied hesitantly.
" At least we get to stay and find more gizmos to mess with." Daisuke said, trying to be upbeat.
" In the meantime, I need to talk to Azusa, and Misaki to.
Maybe if he's dealing with the both of us, he'll rescind his order." She said, as she stood up. " Washu, if you would please keep an eye on Earth, and tell me if you think anything is about to happen." The tiny genius nodded. " Now, if you'll excuse me." She left, muttering silent curses towards her husband.
It hadn't been hard for Tenchi to find Ayeka. On a small ship, rumors about an irate, sulking princess threatening hideous death upon anyone foolish enough to disturb her spread quickly. Tenchi saw her sitting on a small bench amid many brigtly colored flowers. He was very glad she didn't see him. He took several deep breaths, uncomfortably aware that to the best of his knowledge, Ayeka still held Tenchi-ken. ' It's now or never I guess.' He took a few steps towards her until he walked straight into a forcefield with a loud 'Oof'. Ayeka's head whipped around in startlement, then as their eyes met, she regarded him coldly.
" Tenchi, of all the people I do not want want to see, you are at the very top of the list." She said, slowly and methodically, then returned her gaze to the stars. " Go away."
" I can't Ayeka. Things have changed. Your father has ordered the
captain to follow your orders. He's agreeing with you." He said, then immediately regretted it. If Ayeka didn't know her orders had to be followed then...
" I know. Azaka and Kamidake have been in contact with Koyasu, and they informed me." She said, without looking at him. " If your just playing messenger boy for Funaho, you can leave now."
" Theres more you need to know Ayeka. Would you mind lowering the force field?" He asked. Ayeka seemed to ignore him, but the field lowered. Tenchi slowly walked over and sat next to Ayeka, who still wouldn't look at him.
" What will you do about Earth?" He asked.
" I think it should be obvious. I'll start integrating technology and legal code of Jurai into Earth. Those that prove helpful will be given limited autonomy. Those that don't shall be destroyed." She said coldly.
" You can't mean that. People won't accept you." He argued. " There'll be war!" Ayeka threw him an uncaring glance.
" And who do you think will win?" She asked rhetorically. Feeling he was getting no where, Tenchi tried switching tactics.
" You know, Lady Funaho thinks your father is doing this to come between you and me."
" Then my mother has a keen grasp of the obvious." She muttered, to Tenchi's surprise. " Did you honestly think I didn't know? My father couldn't care less about what happens to this planet. I could blow it up for all he cares, but he does care about Misaki and Funaho. In many ways they're closer to each other then to father, and Misaki will almost always side with Funaho. Though they'd never openly break with him, they could certainly make his life a living hell for a very long time. The only reason he'd defy her wishes for the daughter he's barely seen or heard from in 700 years is to do something he feels protects Jurai. And he made the right decision in trying to keep us apart because I can see by the look on your face that absolutely none of this so much as occurred to you which is solid proof of why you'd never have fit in on Jurai." She said. " If something as simple as this is past your sense of politics, the convoluted schemes of Jurain nobles would cause your head to implode." Tenchi gritted his teeth, but let the insult slide. He didn't need to get into an argument right before he told her...
" It never happened." He simply said. Ayeka looked at him curiously for a moment.
" What are you talking about?" She said. Tenchi struggled to find the words. He knew she wasn't going to take it well. Then again, who'd take something like this well?
" What you saw wasn't real Ryoko and I never..." He tried to continue but Ayeka interrupted him, with fury in her eyes.
" How dare you, Tenchi! Do you take me for a idiot! How can you deny it?" She demanded. It distantly occurred to Tenchi that Ayeka got ugly when she was angry. He sighed.
" I thought you'd say that. Or rather," He said, slipping a hand into his pocket to remove a small item. " Washu did. She gave me this before I came. It's a portable holograph making... thing. You can give it verbal commands to make a hologram. It's what Ryoko used to trick you." He said. For a brief moment Ayeka's eye's flickered as she wondered whether to believe him. Tenchi wouldn't give her the chance to decide he was lying. He pushed a button, and Ayeka was shocked to see herself standing before them both.
" I realize it might be hard to accept. But it's the truth." She saw herself say. " Tenchi has never had intercourse with Ryoko, and felt betrayed when he found out." Then the hologram flickered out of existence. Leaving Ayeka, pale beyond words, staring at empty space.
" I made this just a few minutes ago." Tenchi said calmly. Ayeka didn't reply or even look at him. " Here. Take it." He said handing it over to Ayeka. Ayeka seemed to believe him, evidenced by the fact that her hand trembled, and she refused to meet his eyes. " when you're ready, I'd like to talk to you again." Ayeka waited until just after Tenchi left to break down.
It was a tribute to Ayeka's self control that all she did was squeeze the holo-projector into a shattered ball. And then throw the ball to the ground. And then stomp on it until it was dust. To be fair, most people would have done much, much more.
The room was warm, and comfortable, but to Ayeka it now seemed like a
cold, dark dungeon. She didn't quite know how to what to think now. Yesterday, she was so certain about everything. Tenchi was evil, and the Earth needed her guidance to achieve peace. Perhaps some would die in the initial instability, unable to accept her superiority, but that was acceptable. History was filled with examples such as that. She hadn't thought Queen Funaho would have gone along with it anyway, until she saw the glorious results of what she'd accomplished.
Now though, if it was all true... Ayeka sat on the edge of her
bed staring out the window. Earth seemed so peaceful, but she knew
that wasn't true. She really had deeply affected the people of it.
'Was it worth it?' She wondered. She couldn't answer her own question. She needed to know the question first. Did she do it because she wanted to help people, or to get even with Tenchi? Or both? She buried her face in the
pillow, though not letting herself cry in anger or pain. There was a gentle knock on the door. Ayeka ignored it, hoping they'd go away and leave her be.
" Ayeka. Ayeka!" Sasami shouted from the other side. " Come on, sis. Open up!" She said. " Please. I just wanna talk." Ayeka sighed into the pillow. She wanted to be alone right, now but she knew she shouldn't be alone, and at least it was Sasami, if anyone. Sasami peered in cautiously.
" Ayeka? Please don't be mad at me." She said, peering into the dark room. Ayeka chuckled quietly into the pillow, then looked up at Sasami.
" I'm not mad at you Sasami." She sighed. " Come here, Sasami." She didn't need to ask twice. Sasami bounded onto the bed, and sat next to Ayeka.
" I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you, but I just wanted to see Tenchi and Ryo-oh-ki and Mihoshi and Washu." She said, cuddling with Ayeka.
" I know, Sasami. I'm sorry, I know this must have been hard on you." She said, lightly stroking Sasami's hair. Sasami seemed to struggle with something.
" Tenchi said that what you saw that night wasn't real. Just a trick." She said. Ayeka choked up a little.
" I know that too. Tenchi told me." Ayeka said.
" So you don't want to take over Earth anymore? And we can go back to Okayama?" Sasami said.
" I... don't know, Sasami. After what's happened, it may be for the best if I continue, or else there could be anarchy. It could still be for the best. Earth could benefit a lot from Jurai. As for going back to Okayama..." She said, longing in her voice. " I'm sure Tenchi would let you go back, but I don't know if he wants to see me anytime soon." Sasami looked up, surprised.
" Of course Tenchi would like to see you again. You should go to him and apologize." She said. Ayeka shook her head mournfully.
" I tried to do something terrible, Sasami. I know that now." She said. " I don't think Tenchi can forgive what I tried to do."
" Of course he will! I'll go tell him you want to apologize." She jumped off the bed, and ran out the door.
" Sasami wait!" But she was already out the door. " I didn't want it to come to this. Not yet." She sighed, out of frustration and despair. She wanted to believe that Sasami was right, and Tenchi would forgive her. Another part of her was afraid Tenchi would reject her. She didn't want to have to face him. " What am I going to do?" She asked herself. She clutched her face in her hands. " What should I say to him?"
" I find 'I'm sorry' usually works pretty well." Said a familiar voice. Ayeka looked up, shocked.
" Ryoko?" She said, to shocked to even feel angry for a minute. Just a minute though.
" Trust me, I've piss'd off Tenchi enough times, I should know." She said, without the undertone of condesencion and mirth she usually had.
" Tenchi told me not to come, but I've never been too good at doing what I was told."
" If you came to gloat, just leave. I'm not in the mood." She glared at the cyan-haired woman, who simply shook her head.
" I'm in no position to gloat. It's not like I didn't get Tenchi pretty mad when he found out what I did, so don't think Tenchi's suddenly making protestations of love to me. No," She said simply, sitting down in a nearby chair, and looking away from Ayeka. " I came to apologize." Ayeka stared unabashedly open mouthed at Ryoko.
" What, you? Apologize? You never apologized for anything in your life!" She fumed. Ryoko scowled at her.
" I've apologized for a lot of things, like... What I apologized for isn't important. You're not making this a whole lot easier, you know." She barked back. Ayeka was about to make a retort when Ryoko cut her off.
" Look princess, the last thing either of us needs is to have Sasami bring Tenchi here and see us pummeling each other to a bloody mess, so I'm just going to say what I have to say." She said, with great difficulty. " Ayeka, I'm sorry. I went to far, all right. I let myself get carried away." They stared at each other for a moment. " So are you going to accept my apology or what?"
Ayeka seemed to think on it, and frowned a moment later. But she said
" All right, Ryoko." She said quietly. " But don't think this changes anything between us though. I still think you're an awful pirate who should be locked up." Ryoko just smiled, as though she had been complimented.
" Very well, and I still think you're a spoiled brat princess." She stood up and casually yawned. " I'll just get out of your hair. Nice color by the way. Looks better on Sasami though. I wouldn't worry about Tenchi. You could have blown up the Earth, and I still think he would have forgiven you. He's great like that." She started to float off.
" Ryoko, would you do me a favor?" Ryoko halted in mid-air. She shrugged.
" What do you need?" Ayeka grabbed an item off a nearby table and tossed it to Ryoko. " Would you give that to Tenchi for me?" Ryoko reached for it.
" Sure Ay... GYAAAAAAAAH" She screamed, as Tenchi-ken hit the floor with a clatter. (Editors note: Remember OAV2? She can't touch it) She growled at Ayeka, who just smirked.
" We're even now." She said. She was about to snap back at her, but restrained herself.
" All right." She struggled to say. " We're even."
Minutes later, Sasami appeared. Tenchi had said that if there was anything she needed to say, he'd be in the gardens. Ayeka procrastinated for about half an hour, working with her hair, trying to look perfect until Sasami finally grew frustrated, and dragged her out of the room. Neither she nor Tenchi spoke about what was said, though everyone suspected it had involved a lot of crying and pleading, but almost immedialy afterwards, she went to the bridge, and announced to the entire Earth that there had been a 'misperception' regarding the 'specifics' of her orders (Tenchi didn't say anything, allowing her a little bit of pride). Earth was angry but, still to confused about having an alien empire invade, then apoligize a day later to say anything about it. That would probably change in the future, but for a while afterwards things were quiet.
=====Several days later, Masaki residence, Earth=====
'It almost feels like old times.' Tenchi thought to himself with a wry smile. The entire group had gotten together for the first time in a days, even Ayeka. Ayeka, and Sasami, as well as Lady Funaho had stayed aboard the Eternity. Mihoshi and Ryoko had been enjoying they're new found fame, both becoming instant celebrities, especially Ryoko. Mihoshi had been contacted by the Galaxy police, and had been re-assigned as they're representative to Earth. Tenchi suspected they'd been praying for something like this to happen back at HQ, because it got her out of danger, and let them assign a new, more reliable officer to Earth. Things had been so great on Earth. Since she had begun giving interviews, she had sent more then a few interviewers into fits trying to get sensible answers out of her.
Ryoko had been somewhat vague about what she was doing, but she had shown up several times to give him expensive gifts and said simply that she was being paid by the Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) to study with them. Tenchi suspected there was no "with" but didn't say anything. Sasami had been staying with Ayeka. Ayeka had been 'pouting', according the Funaho.
Sasami had first asked him to do this, supposedly because she missed everyone, but Tenchi suspected that it was, at least in part, to cheep up Ayeka. To tell the truth, Tenchi had been kind of hoping for the same thing. Even when he forgave Ayeka, everyone still hadn't been in the same room since before Ayeka left. So he'd helped Sasami organize a little party.
It had been a extraordinarily dull for a party, especially a party Ryoko was at. Tenchi sat at the head of the table, with Ayeka to his left and Ryoko to his right. Both were being very polite to him, especially Ayeka. Washu and Mihoshi were next to Ayeka and Ryoko, and Sasami sat at the other end from Tenchi. Lady Funaho and Yosho sat on the couch, discussing Jurai and foreign affairs. Hiroshi and Daisuke had begged to come when they learned about it, but Tenchi flatly said he wanted this to be private.
" Mmmm. This Saysoh is really good." Mihoshi chirped. Saysoh
was a Jurian delicacy, and it was fortunate that the Eternity's cook
had a supply.
" But it's not as good as anything Sasami makes." Tenchi
replied, causing the young princess to blush. Captain Sakuma had nearly had a fit when he learned Sasami was going to be cooking, and had not relented until they had agreed to use the ships chef. Funaho watched them with grim amusement. She was still a little upset about what Ayeka had said to her.
" Tenchi seems to be very forgiving." Funaho quietly said to
Yosho, who was sitting next to her and very uncomfortable.
" He probably gets it from his grandmother. I can't possible
think of who on our side he could have gotten it from." He replied,
and Funaho gave a light chuckle.
" Your father has his moments of forgiveness. You just haven't been on Jurai during them." Meanwhile, Tenchi was enjoying the near godlike power he had over Ayeka and Ryoko.
" Could someone pass me noodles?" He asked, grinning inwardly,
and immediately Ayeka and Ryoko lunged across the table towards the egg noodles. Ayeka was just a little bit faster, or had been thinking about what Tenchi might need, and got to it first.
" Lord Tenchi.' She offered. Tenchi calmly took what he wanted, though not really needed, and Ayeka put the noodles back.
" Thank you Miss Ayeka." Tenchi said. If a person were keeping
score, which both Ayeka and Ryoko certainly were, then this would have
been the third 'Thank You' for Ayeka, but Ryoko still had four.
" Spoiled princess." Ryoko muttered.
" Cat eyed beast." Ayeka muttered louder. The pair's eyes
locked and they both began to emit an almost animal like growl.
" Girls, no fighting at the table." Tenchi calmly reminded them.
" Yes, Lord Tenchi." They both quickly replied. Ryoko had
begun calling Tenchi 'Lord Tenchi' to try and score brownie points.
' Enjoy this now, Tenchi', he thought. He knew this wouldn't last. In
fact, they'd both been getting bolder by the minute. Neither would
have dared insult the other in his presence a half hour ago when the
meal began. At least it wouldn't be happening all the time.
" So when are you leaving for that ship?" Mihoshi asked, oblivious to the fact that Ayeka DID NOT like being reminded of that particular fact.
" I do not see why I should be leaving." Ayeka replied, eyeing Mihoshi
angrily.
" But didn't Funaho-mom say you had to leave to that ship dad's
coming in?" Sasami said.
" Indeed." Funaho said, pretending to be helpful. " When the Jurain ambassadorial ship arrives, which it should very soon now, you will have to take your place as ambassador to Earth."
" Mother, I still don't see why I have live on this ship. Certainly we could arrange for something, a little closer to here to be built." Ayeka said desperatly.
" You just wanna be near Tenchi." Ryoko goaded with a smirk.
" Certainly not." Ayeka defended. " I just... like this area. I have grown fond of it."
" Will I be able to stay here with Tenchi?" Sasami asked.
" Certainly." Funaho replied.
" But mother..." Ayeka started, but Funaho broke her off with a
wave of her hand.
" You decided to make contact with Earth, so you must stay in contact with them." She said deliberately. " And it would be unfair to Japan to make them build a facility or make them the center of attention when we have an easy solution. It would seem like we were biased towards Japan if we did that. The Jurain ambassadorial ship your father is bringing has more the adequate facilities for all your needs. And we will be able to use it immediately, without having to build something."
" Your mother has a very good point." Tenchi agreed. " You don't want the world to think you're unfairly favoring Japan, do you?" Ayeka nearly cried when Tenchi took her mother's side, but that wasn't the worst part.
" Don't worry princess, I'll take good care of Tenchi." Ryoko
purred. Ayeka stared coldly at her, until Tenchi cleared his throat
and get her attention. Dejected, she sat with her head hanging low and sighed. She knew she couldn't win the argument. She wondered if Tenchi had invited her simply to drive her insane with these mixed signals. An hour later without (major) incident, Tenchi and crew had gathered outside, waiting patiently for the King of Jurai.
Tenchi didn't quite know how to respond to the king, after what happened between him and Ayeka. He certainly wasn't going to be happy to have had his plan destroyed by Tenchi again. His fingers lightly grasped Tenchi-ken, which Ayeka had given back to him.
At that moment, the tell tale hum of a Jurain teleporter sounded, and two figures appeared amidst the swirling cherry blossoms. King Azusa and Queen Misaki stood at the edge of the dock. Azusa's eyes immediately fell on Tenchi. They exchanged strong glances, Tenchi standing firm and showing he could not be bullied. Tenchi even felt a little thrill, knowing he had fought the plans of the most powerful man in the galaxy, and came out victorious.
" Oh Sasami!" Queen Masaki cried, and threw her arms around her
youngest. " I've missed you so much." She picked her up and held her
tightly, showering her with kisses.
" Funaho my love, it is so good to see you again." He said warmly.
" Azusa." Funaho coldly acknowledged. She received Misaki far more warmly. Masaki embraced Funaho almost as tightly as she had Sasami.
" Sister, you've been gone to long." She said.
" Well Tenchi, it seems you have been fairing well." Azusa said through gritted teeth. Tenchi bowed, and thanked him.
" As they would say on Earth, 'That's Tenchi two, Azusa zero." Funaho breathed in her husbands ear.
" I wouldn't know what your talking about." He said.
" Oh, my daughter Ayeka." Masaki said, and to everyone's surprise, just nodded her acknowledgement.
" Oh mommy!" Ayeka said, as she had said every other she'd seen her. Ayeka didn't have to be prompted, even though her mother was acting oddly. Masaki looked at Ayeka as if she had never seen her before.
" Ayeka," She said simply. " aren't you a little old to be calling me mommy?" She asked. Face fault, all but Funaho and Yosho. As everyone stood back up and stared in disbelief. Funaho leaned over and whispered in Ayeka's
ear.
" Now that you have responsibility, she sees you as a grown woman, and no longer her little girl." Ayeka sighed as at least one thing went her way.
" You should probably go up to the ship now and start getting settled. You should get started early." Misaki said, and Ayeka suddenly saw that perhaps this wasn't quite so good. Funaho nodded in agreement. Reluctantly, she headed outside, where she would contact the ship. She stopped at the door and turned to Tenchi.
" If you need anything Tenchi, call me."
" Oh I'm sure I'll be able to give him everything he needs," saying her
words deliciously. Tenchi frowned at her. " Have fun Princess." Patting Tenchi on the stomach, then went slightly lower, causing Tenchi to smile awkwardly. She said, smiling triumphantly. Ayeka groaned inwardly, at Ryoko's success. She felt like the entire night was simply an excrutiating form of torture. Tenchi seemed to be happy with Ryoko, and almost seemed to delight in showing her. Dejected, she turned towards the pier to contact the ship, nearly fighting back tears.
" If it's no big deal, I don't really think the party needs to end right now.." Tenchi said, silently enjoying Ryoko's facefault, and to a lesser extent, King Azusa grinding his teeth. Ayeka froze in place, and turned to look at Tenchi with wide eyes. She shook her surprise away and nodded quickly.
" Certainly. I don't see why not." She said, tossing a question glance at queen Funaho. It would be her say so if she could stay. Even Azusa wouldn't dare contradict her in this, Ayeka felt. The queen stood silently for a moment, taking her time. She nervously twirled a strand of her long aqua hair.
" I don't see why Ayeka can't stay a little longer." She finally said, smiling faintly. " What do you think Misaki." Sasami eagerly hugged her mother.
" Can she mom? I'd really like that." The little girl exclaimed.
" Perhaps it can wait just a bit longer." Misaki said, gently rubbing Sasami's head. Ayeka breathed a sigh of relief, quietly praised Tsunami (wondering if maybe she had had something to do with this) and began walking back inside.
" And to think I wondered if Tenchi would have problems on Jurai."
Funaho whispered to Azusa, as they entered . " If the way he plays Ryoko and Ayeka is any indication, he should have no trouble fighting Jurai politicians."
" I suppose you have a point." He said grimly.
The picture falls back to an exterior of the house, everyone goes inside, and begins to pull back. Eventually, it reveals the author standing on a hill, facing the camera, hands folded in front of him, in a very Rod Serling/Twilight Zone-esque manner.
" As a young girl discovered in a long ago movie, and Princess Ayeka of Jurai discovered today, there is simply no place like home. She discovered another truth as well. What makes a home? Is it a place? A building? A welcome mat saying 'Home Sweet Home'? No, a home is where our family is. As Princess Ayeka discovered today, family need not always be people to whom we are related to by blood, though they surely qualify. Family are simply people we love, and who love us in return. Friends and loved ones, whom shall never betray us, even if we might betray them. That, though we may burn down some bridges, there will always be people to help us ford our way back across. We need but to ask them. A brilliant insight into the nature of man and life, or simply a cheap way for an author to try and make his worrk seem more important? We may never know. Thank you, and join us next time in... the Tenchi Zone."
Note: Weird enough ending, but I always get my cameos :).
Perhaps I will make this Twilight Zone esque a way to explain my final
ideas in at the end. Well, it took me long enough, but I finally
finished it. I feel this was much better then my previous chapters, which
even I realize had some serious flaws. I plan on starting a new one sometime, look for it in the X-over section of TMFFA or simply the Tenchi one on Fanfiction.net. I've decided on the Ah! My goddess crossover as my next story. Thank you for reading my work, and feel free to email me at confuciousays@hotmail.com. As an interesting side note, I decided to leave my original monologue in. I makes less sense, but that's because I made some major revisions to this. I like the new one better of course.
" You can never go home again. It seems a simple enough statement. But as Princess Ayeka of Jurai discovered today, a true one. That does not mean, however, that one can not still build their own house, a new one, sometimes a similar one, with the timbers of burnt bridges, or that paths will always diverge from our loved ones, never to cross again. Life is a twisting thing, as mixed as the metaphor I just used. No matter how much we might wish it other wise, as we grow up, our lives change. Sometimes in great ways, sometimes in small ones, but the differences always exist. A brillant philosophical statement, or simply a cheap way for an author to try and make his work seem more important then it really is? We may never know. Thank you, and join us next time in... ' The Tenchi zone.'"