'Epiphany' v.1.2
ID # 1-1-05 (Arc 1, Chapter 1, Scene 5)
(Finished 1:07 PM PT 04-22-2003)
We were off. The four of us walked along the earthen road, out from the house, no real destination in mind. Mihoshi lead the way, happily looking out at the scenery, and I wondered why she didn't simply give in to some urge of hers and frolic amongst the flowers and grass. Mihoshi playing in a sea of daisies, wouldn't that be something to see? Yeah. azure eyes, and sun-kissed hair.
"Like a child." Washu muttered, her right hand in my left, as we walked side by side, Sasami holding onto my right. She has a point. sort of. "It doesn't look like she has any clue at all," Washu continued, looking sidelong at me, her viridian eyes giving teasing glimpses into her behind a curtain of rose.
Sasami and I just enjoyed the ambiance. The sky was the palest blue I have ever seen, and the only bank of clouds I saw partially obscured the sun. Not that that was a bad thing. Looking at Mihoshi walking ahead, I can't help but think. This is so her. But no. there has to be something else to that. girl? Woman? I don't even know her age. not that I'm stupid enough to ask.
"What?" I asked Washu, picking up my left hand, still clasped to her right. "Its beautiful out."
"Not that," Washu replied softly, "and you don't have to say it again and again either. Though it is true," she conceded.
"Hey!" Mihoshi called back, "There's Yukinojo." She went off the path and towards where Yukinojo had stopped, a spaceship turned into a plow.
We followed her, and we stopped just several meters before it. Washu simply clucked condescendingly as we approached. Sasami wondered at the scars gouged into the soil that Yukinojo carved.
Mihoshi came to a dead stop, seemingly in shock. "Wow," she said softly. "That was bad."
"Yeah," I told her. "I was worried when I saw you come in."
Mihoshi looked sad. Very, very sad. The way she seemed to droop, her arms slack at her sides, and her eyes clouded with. with what?
"How'd you manage to pull out?" I asked her next, "that was great." I meant it. It was something to see.
She looked at me and said. "I don't remember, training took over I think."
"That's ironic." Washu remarked with her caustic wit. She looked over the scene with an appraising eye and said, "Mihoshi," she sighed, "you are a piece of work," she concluded, shaking her head in a resigned fashion.
"I can't believe its not broken," Sasami added softly, releasing my hand and walking up towards the craft. Curiously, and as if she was exploring some ancient ruins, Sasami clambered up a platinum-white wing and started walking its span. She gave it a couple of test jumps, to our amusement, but the ship did not shift. Not enough mass, I think.
I gave Mihoshi a reassuring look, something to let her know that I didn't think badly of it. "Accidents happen," I told her. I shook Washu's hand softly to forestall a smart crack. I felt her sigh knowingly beside me.
"Yeah, Yukinojo's been with me for a long time," Mihoshi stated, patting the hull of her ship as if it was a pet. Well, I can sympathize. "It'll take more than just a crash landing to put him out of action."
Him? The ship is a 'him?' Well, Mihoshi is female, so I guess its only natural.
Washu and I walked up to Yukinojo. "It looks like the GP has improved its patrol ship designs since the last time I bothered to look at the readouts," Washu went on, and I felt myself feeling dumb. Great, I'm out of my league here. Then again, I always was, they just don't point it out.
"Oh," Mihoshi said, "when was that?"
Washu tilted her head, failing miserably on trying to put it on my shoulder. Well, yeah, she's taller than me by how much?
"I think a millennia, something like that," Washu stated casually, causing me to look a bit odd. "Wonder just how much they've gotten better," Washu said analytically.
A thousand years or something? I don't even think any of our swords are that old!
"The patrol ships," Mihoshi said thoughtfully, a professional, yet still bright expression coming to her face. "They've gotten better."
Washu continued to glance at the ship, and I felt a bit odd at her examining another 'male' with such intensity. "There are improvements, but they just don't fit," Washu concluded. She glanced at the hull, seeming to find interest in the sleek, aerodyne surfaces. "It's too small. A bit overgunned, and not enough room for cargo. So, does the GP shoot first and ask questions later these days?"
Overgunned? It has guns? I can't see any barrels or gunports. all I know is it looks cool. I can see the wings, the engines, but that's it.
Mihoshi looked a bit confused. "That's because Yukinojo is an assault ship," Mihoshi replied bubbly, causing Washu to falter against me. "He hunts and he kills," she said coolly, in that same happy tone, and the way she phrased it almost made my skin crawl. Mihoshi? "Yukinojo wasn't designed for long cruises or customs duty."
"So how come you use it," Sasami called down from above, sitting on the fore of Yukinojo's port wing, or fin, its something.
Mihoshi continued to stare at Yukinojo running her the back of her right hand against its dull surface. "I transferred in from the Assault division."
"Assault Division?" I asked her, confused. "Isn't the GP-"
"A bunch of bullies," Washu said crossly, earning her a peeved look from Mihoshi, not looking so much indignant as comical.
"I take it you've had trouble with the law out there," I pointed up, "before?" I ribbed her. The 'who me' look I got in return made me feel odd, sort of a faux pas.
Mihoshi coughed to get our attention. "The Assault Division is the 'heavy,' she said, emphasizing the word, "unit. We," she stuttered, "they are called in to perform assignments more in line with a military force as opposed to law enforcement. Sometimes planetary authorities," Mihoshi continued going into her own lecture, "need to augment their military operations against pirates and rebels, so we would be folded in with their units or make our own strikes."
I was intrigued. Intrigued and disturbed actually. While I found this interesting, coming from Mihoshi, I also found it distressing, as if there was another side of her that I was just beginning to see. I suppose our previous conversations never really had a chance to take this path of development before.
"So you were in it?" Sasami asked again, running along the edge precariously, and I was worried she'd slip and fall. Clad in her matching outfit with Mihoshi's, she looked so cute. She jumped off, and joined our group again. The confused look on her face must have mirrored mine.
"I was," Mihoshi replied, nodding lightly, as if she was somewhere else. "I transferred about a year ago."
"Oh, better pay?" I inquired. Okay, I'm already lost, but I have to go deeper in. But. Mihoshi's really got me worried though.
She looked hesitant, almost uncomfortable. I was surprised she didn't start to fidget. She gave me the look. The bubbly, all is well look. "Something like that," she replied.
"Whatever," Washu muttered, giving me a look as well. Yeah, so she thought something else was wrong too. To confirm it, she squeezed my hand lightly, but I think Mihoshi caught it. "I take it you can take Yukinojo out of this," she said.
Mihoshi nodded confidently. "Yeah, its not like I have to swim down to my ship now. If there's anything broken," she went on, "he'll fix it."
"Have to give it credit," Washu remarked. "It survived being piloted by you," she pointed out. Before I could sigh in exasperation, Washu surprised us all by giving a small, but sincere smile. "You know, I think even the GP has autopilots on their ships." Her voice was lecturing, but it held no edge, a slightly amused tone leaving a beautiful 'aftertaste,' exotic, but not unpleasant.
Mihoshi nodded, looking a bit sheepish, like I did. Oh look, her hand's behind her head too. "Yeah, but I don't trust it."
"Look Mihoshi," Washu began, and I was surprised to notice that she was trying not be sarcastic, wow. Don't think like that, that's being judgmental and harsh. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job," she paused, trying to find the proper words, "but it might," Washu said softly, "be better if you followed procedures for landing on a low-tech planet."
Low-tech? Wow, Washu is learning tact, I thought, amused. I'm amazed she didn't use backwards.
Mihoshi nodded, still with that smile on her face. "I guess. all right, I will," she agreed. Did I just see progress here? Honestly. no hostilities exchanged, well, no hostilities exchanged by Washu.
"Good," I joked. "I was afraid that sooner or later you might crash Yukinojo into our house one of these days." Not that it ever crossed my mind... even with all those close calls.
"Tenchi," Washu whispered to me, softly, but still carrying a bit of scolding in it. Oh shit. I am such an ass.
Mihoshi's face fell, and although her lapse lasted only for a blink of an eye. I could still see the hurt that flashed through her sapphire eyes. "Yeah," she sighed, "right." Suddenly, as soon as it had begun, she was chipper again, seemingly brighter too. That shouldn't happen. I don't know just how much I hurt her, but, it still had to be painful.
I felt myself rock into Washu as something hit me from the side, restrained, but it still sent me into her. I looked and saw Sasami, glaring at me, an impish look on her face, as if she was scolding me, but was doing it half-hearted.
"A change of topic would be nice about now," Washu told me sotto voce.
It was Sasami's turn to speak. She gave us a curious look, letting out a small sigh. "About my dream. right?"
Washu and I shared a look, and Mihoshi approached our trio. "Washu had one too, last night," I told Sasami. If anything, she looked even more worried, fear again returning to her somber scarlet eyes. Okay, why do I keep saying the wrong things? The light around us dimmed, I turned my head slightly, looking up at our source of illumination. One of the cloud banks had enshrouded the sun. I hate omens. I really, really do.
Mihoshi reclined on the grass, propping herself up on an elbow. I still felt bad at what I said to her, unintentional or not, but she didn't seem to show any negative emotions, just a bit or curiosity, mixed in with a slight sense of worry that I could feel from her. Besides that, nothing. Looking up at us, she patted the ground with her free right hand.
Well, the morning dew had already gone.
I sat cross-leggedly on the ground, while Washu tucked her legs in beneath her, and I briefly wondered at how her shimmering jade pajamas blended in. with her background the verdant mountain, looking with concern at Sasami, who sat down on my other side, leaning up against me. Washu was laid back, her arms behind her, as she used them as supports. It almost as if she grew out of the ground. A Dryad emerging from the Earth. a Goddess come down from Heaven.
A small part of me felt resentful that Aeka wasn't here for her sister. Should I feel that? Its not like Aeka knew or anything, plus. Sasami might as well be family to me now. A sister I've never had.
"What was it like," Mihoshi began, softly, talking to Sasami not like one would to a child, but still comforting. Did that make them peers?
"It was so strange," Sasami began softly, and I clumsily put an arm around her, and she pressed in against my left side. She didn't start sniffling or anything, but I could tell some of the fear was coming back. I felt so helpless. I didn't know how, but I tried to send over some reassurance to her, and she gave me a small smile, not one to show that she was trying to be brave, but one of thanks.
Smoothly, Washu went around us, and together, we flanked Sasami. She was there, looking helpless, unsure of what to do to help the little girl. I could tell she felt disappointed at herself, lost. So was I. Mihoshi went around us, behind Sasami, and clumsily, then confidently, she began to remove Sasami's coiffure, reducing it to its 'natural' state, no more of the cute side-tails that were her trademark. Sticking the hair-ties in her mouth, almost comically, Mihoshi pulled the mass up to her face, examining it, a dressmaker evaluating a lustrous bolt of Chinese silk, turquoise strands seemingly ethereal.
Mihoshi and Washu stared at me, and there was no doubt in the looks they gave me that we must tread carefully. We weren't interrogating Sasami, we were supposed to help her. Can't lose sight of that. They gave me another look, and Mihoshi spoke, to Washu. "What do you think," she mumbled through the hairclips, a bit garbled.
Washu shrugged and said, "Braid and error," she remarked, shrugging slightly, and she too, joined Mihoshi's hands as they went to work, styling Sasami's hair. The mad scientist and detective turned beauticians gave me a sly grin over Sasami's head.
Well, I am in the center of it all, so I should be the one to ask. But still! I feel so left out. Times like this, I wish I was a girl. Or at least, I knew how to style girls' hair.
Now, how do I go about asking her. I turned to look at Sasami, seemed to be soothed by Mihoshi and Washu's ministrations. Well, at least it helps.
"Do," I began slowly, knowing that it would hurt her to ask her to recall what she saw. "Is there anything you can remember?" Mihoshi gave me a sympathetic look, while Washu continued to concentrate on braiding Sasami's hair, her deft fingers seeming to weave on a turquoise loom. She looked at me sidelong, and she looked a bit disturbed.
Sasami took a small breath, still calm, but she fidgeted timidly with my the edge of my shirt. "It was not now." Her voice was still a bit down, but I couldn't detect any trembling in it.
Washu's eyes picked up, rose-colored eyebrows arching in a piqued expression of shallow understanding, and the need to remedy that condition.
All right, so it takes place in the future. what? "Do you know when," I continued, continuing to look down upon her, and I refused to let any pity show through. Its wrong, Sasami needs our support, our compassion, not our condolences.
Sasami continued to stare forward, as if looking past something else. "It was here," she paused, "Japan," she clarified. I could see Washu and Mihoshi taking in the information as they plaited and continued to braid Sasami's hair. Mihoshi's sapphire eyes were observant, while Washu's emerald pair was analytical. "Their clothes. they were old."
"Do you mean old as in worn out, or old as in it doesn't belong in this time." Washu finally joined us in our uncomfortable conversation.
"You mean the past?" Mihoshi followed up.
Sasami nodded slowly. "Yeah. it was in some old house, a big house, everyone wore kimono and hakama," she elaborated, and I felt bad at asking her to remember things she must have wanted to forget. "I saw Yosho-ni- chan," she exhaled, and I held her hand, enfolding it within my own, not squeezing, but still a solid grasp.
"Him? What happened with him?" I asked her gently, a bit unsettled by the mention of my ancestor.
"Nothing," she replied, a bit distant. "He was dead." The way she said it, as it simply was, as if she was describing some bland background item, disturbed me.
"And Tenchi?" Washu finally brought up. She looked concerned, not simply intrigued or cynically inquisitive as she usually did. She displayed none of her customary patronizing 'sensei' temperament nor the clinical detachment she usually gave us. "How is he connected with this?" She inquired, curiosity lacing her dusky voice, but it had a restrained edge to it. Washu was keeping herself from asking too much of the girl.
I too, was curious. Yosho was here for a long time. He'd my grandfather, after all. What she said could have been any time in several centuries, but I wasn't alive in any of them. and he only wears his Shinto garments, always had for as long as I could remember. I've come to associate gray, white, and blue with the man. That, and those awkward eyes. That floral tint that I always thought was some condition that he had. Well, that was when I thought he was still Japanese. well, mostly Terran at least. How do I fit in to all this? I looked at Sasami carefully, and she smiled shakily at me, as if she was shivering.
"He was fighting," she continued, losing her interest in the hem of my shirt. Her hands stopped their fidgeting, and her slim fingers went still. "Outside, in a large box of sand."
Washu looked at me briefly. "She meant a sand garden," I told her. The woman nodded lightly, finishing her work on Sasami's hair, leaving the rearranged mass for Mihoshi to tie off.
"There," Mihoshi said lightly, removing the hair bands from where it dangled from her lips slipping it into one of her large pockets. "And then," she continued, urging Sasami on. Mihoshi smiled, a light of realization reaching her eyes, an 'aha!' expression on her face, seeming to make her lightly bronzed skin shine against its light crown. "Here, take this Sasami," she remarked, reaching into another one of the pockets. This time, she extracted a ribbon, a crimson lock. It had some thickness to it, but still was slender, elegant, but not billowy. With one hand, she held the back of Sasami's hair in a bound choke, and skillfully, she weaved in the crimson ribbon.
Sasami looked a bit taken off guard. I expected a bow, and it did resembled on, but there was no telltale loops. There were trails. sort of. The ribbon seemed to intertwine with the strands, creating a helix pattern that ended, leaving no stray ends. well except for some playful ends.
"Oh." Sasami said, a bit thrown off. So was I. I expected Washu to be also, but she only smiled softly.
"A bit to familiar." Washu drawled, "but nice." She had an odd look, one that was veiled with suspicion. Something that she should not feel, especially towards Sasami. Then again, Sasami looked another bit more like Tsunami now.
Sasami then continued. "You were fighting with a man," she continued. "He was dressed the same way you were."
"Same colors?" I asked.
She nodded lightly. "I couldn't see." she hesitated, a bit uncomfortable. I tried to give her a reassuring look. I didn't want to push the girl more than I already was. "It was really dark, it was night there," she continued. "There was also a woman." she drawled.
"The same lady?" Mihoshi proposed. Sasami nodded, a glazed look beginning to appear in her eyes. The three of us; Washu, Mihoshi, and I, knew that we were digging in too far, that we might begin to hurt Sasami is we continued.
"Yes. she looked like her." Sasami's voice was getting clearer now, as she began to see more, but there was no denying the reluctance that she radiated, that Mihoshi seemed to reflect as well. Washu had simply gone numb, staring blankly. It was as if I was the only one still paying rapt attention. Well, attention balanced with care. "You killed him," Sasami said matter-of-factly. Oh.
"She killed me." I finished for her softly, moving my hand to her shoulder, wishing I could send more reassurance through that simple physical connection. I'm not very good at displaying my emotions. but I do care. Its just, how much can I afford to show them?
This is funny. Sasami predicts my death. in another time, and I'm thinking about hiding my own feelings, my own thoughts. My priorities arrange themselves, apparently.
Fear finally crept into her voice, bringing Mihoshi and Washu back to full awareness. "You didn't fight back," she told me, her voice gaining strength. I stared into her magenta eyes, and I was glad that I didn't see terror, nor desperation within such innocent mirrors of the soul. Instead, I saw dim confusion, and then a slight luster of illumination, followed by a small streak of accusation. "You let her kill you," Sasami voiced, as if questioning me, as to why, would the Tenchi in her dream, would not do anything.
"She stabbed him in the back?" Washu inquired, but Mihoshi shook her head next to the mad scientist.
"No, she was also chasing Tenchi," Mihoshi surmised, her features turning sharp, seeming more elfin, not to be confused with the harshness of aven.
Sasami's nod confirmed her statement. "You let her approach, Tenchi," Sasami said, questioning me instead, confusion and incomprehension pitching her voice. "She walked right up to you." Sasami looked even more confused. "Then you let her cut you down." She finished, and her statement drew equal confusion to us all.
"Why?" I asked. I wondered what. would make me do something like that.
"Its not even academic," Washu remarked. "She had influence over you," she said, as if reciting a fact, serving a lecture to us, to me. "This person," she pointed a finger at me, a slender one, more feminine than how it was when she looked to be an adolescent. Or a salty old midget, she seemed at times. "You knew her Tenchi."
Sasami looked at her, then nodded. "Yes, it seemed like you two were close," she murmured softly.
Mihoshi spoke up, "It makes sense." Ouch. Three for three, they thought.
"So its my fault?" I couldn't help but let out in a confused tone. Not an outraged one, or in a distraught way, but simply a soft, perplexed manner, as if talking to myself.
Sasami's turned to look off somewhere else, and I saw the profile of her face. I saw someone that seemed so young, looking so regal, all of it, without any effort at all. Simply being, that's all she did. I couldn't help but think of Sasami. She blinked her eyes, an enigmatic look obscuring her eyes, preventing me what little I could from her. "Yes. It was." The way she said it. It didn't feel like it was Sasami I was talking to anymore.
***
The way she stated it was as confusing as the message delivered. Her voice was not tinged with blame, but accusation was there. As to how I might be held accountable for how their perception of me acted in their dreams, I did not know. A prediction of what I would do in the future?
Before I could form anything resembling a thought-out response, her emblem flared, and she reached up, towards me, gazing into my eyes. Mihoshi looked confused, as Sasami's splayed fingers framed my face, her thumbs above my cheekbones, her other digits grasping me firmly, yet softly, not holding me in place, but I could not bring myself to move. I felt my own emblem react, a trio of triangles, resonating in tune with her twin circles, and then I knew.
"Tsunami," I breathed out, softly, taken by surprise, muddled, confused. Crimson eyes stared into mine, calming me, soothing me, and she closed the distance, her freckles growing darker as she got closer to my face. Suddenly, her face, freckles, dimples, eyes and all, became all that I could see. All of which I was aware.
"Come," she whispered softly, her voice light. There was no chime, no swirling about, nothing that altered my vision. All I knew was, when I blinked, I found myself staring back into those very same eyes, those very same dots, and yes, even the same freckles... in a much larger scale. I pulled back, her slender fingers slipping free from my face, their warmth leaving me.
I fell back, and landed, surprised, right on my ass. I opted to stay quiet. The less I opened my mouth, the fewer the chances I will say something stupid. All I knew was, I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Okayama actually.
I was on the Tsunami, wherever She hid Herself away from the rest of the universe.
She continued to look down upon me, clad in Her flowing white robes. Yes, she looked just as she did then, when I fought -survived- Kagato, and when Sasami revealed to us her symbiosis. Underneath that billowy robe that all but hid everything of Her, was crimson, azure, and lime. All so noble, and what little I knew of clothing was that it looked so Japanese. Yamato and Jurai shared common history asides from me and my clan?
I should have felt insecure in the presence of a Goddess. Especially one that had just plucked me from the Earth, to be Her audience, what purpose, I, for once, had some idea what for. I was still there, sitting on one of the stepping tones that was in Tsunami's pond, leading to Her tree, which She stood in front of, and I thought it funny, I was technically now aware of two of Her representations. Her humanoid form, Her tree form, and of course, the ship it controlled.
I stood up. What to say? I placed my hand behind my head, at a loss. "Erm, hi Tsunami," I remarked. At least I didn't make a comment about the weather. yet.
There was something different about how She stared at me. Before it was as if She was attending to me as if I was a child, the way I've seen servants do so to their charges, rather impersonal, but efficient. Granted I was ignorant then, and I still am, but now She seems to be regarding me in a different light. The eyes were the same shade as I remembered from before. In fact, everything about Her seemed identical, except for Her. I don't know. Something's just different.
"About what Sasami foresaw," Tsunami began, and I could not only hear Her melodious voice flowing into my ears, but also into my mind.
It was beautiful, but the message it delivered. Tsunami's momentary blinked when my expression fell. It must have fallen, granted I choose to believe that nothing in the future is solid, but, its Tsunami! I drew a breath, telling myself to stop from panicking. "Will it come true," I told Her, unable to keep a slight edge of discomfort from my voice.
She gave a slight nod, and I could almost feel my mood drop another notch. "To a degree, but-"
I nodded, thankful that my mind seemed to be working now. "It can be changed. to a degree," I followed, using her words. Is that a smile I see on her. Its not the Sasami smile, but yes, it is.
She approached me, and waited at the bank of the small island Her tree, Her self, whatever, and gave me a slight look.
Yes, this Tsunami was different. If people can change, then I suppose, Tsunami can as well. There was something else in Her eyes that I could see now. mischief, amusement. Sasami.
Noting how my stone was the first one from the tree, I bowed to Her in the Western fashion and held out my hand. She looked somewhat confused, and I noticed, this was the first time that I would be initiating contact between us. The other times my hands were just there, frozen, not knowing what to do. Still, Tsunami took it, a bit oddly, as if She was not familiar with the type of contact, my calloused left tenderly grasping her ethereal right.
Tsunami was here to tell me something. I gather She wouldn't bother unless I had hope, and last time. it was Her that gave me a second chance to succeed. Hope. I let that memory lift my spirits, and her hand in mine, I stepped back into the stepping stone behind me, and I leaned forward, keeping our extended arms slack.
How did a Goddess' touch feel? Heavenly would be a such a lame pun, but it fits. I felt a momentarily pang of shame. My hands, condition from years of chores and budo, grasping something which I assume Her followers, the Jurains or someone else, would define the pinnacle of their existence. The hand of God, the hand of a Goddess, is it the same thing? I'm a Zen Buddhist, not a Christian. As. celestial as it felt, it also felt familiar. I saw a slight look of confusion on Tsunami's face, mirroring my own. We've done this before? Oh. but Sasami has held my hand before.
"Sasami?" I asked. "Do you know this from her." I said softly, not really needing a response.
"Yes," Tsunami replied, stepping forward onto the stone that I had just vacated.
"So as she turns into You, You turn into Her," I murmured, partly to myself as we repeated the step-back, step-forward routine till both of us was on shore. A little portion of me wondered just what Washu and Mihoshi were doing. Was my body still there, will this exchange last but a second there, did I disappear? Then again, what happened to Sasami?
Tsunami nodded. "Yes."
I did one odd thing I've always wondered about. I looked down as Tsunami stepped forward. Yes, I caught a bit of flesh there. She had feet! I felt silly. I was threatened with death, which was somehow connected to Yosho's own demise, as well as being set in some exotic, rather, unknown time and place. "The dream Sasami had," I inquired. "What is about?"
"You're future," Tsunami responded, "and how it will be jeopardized by your past," She finished with that melodic out-of-body voice She had, but the words bounced right off me. Oh that made sense.
"What do you mean?" I asked Her. To my knowledge, before I had met any of the girls, I don't think I have ever done anything that would come back to haunt me. Well, that store might have had cameras. and of course, that girl.
"Do you believe in yourself?" Tsunami asked, countering my question with one of Her own. She approached me, and it seemed, since last time, She hasn't developed a sense of personal space. Some part of me could feel the millimeters of separation between us, and my nose could feel Hers, which had sidled up against it. If I wasn't so confused, I might have been tempted to steal a kiss.
Believe in myself? That sounds so clichéd. But, it was a serious question, I think. "I do," I replied. "Just how much, I don't know," I amended.
Somehow, I couldn't help but feel that I just lied. "You are, Tenchi," Tsunami told me, and She cocked Her head to the side slightly. A gesture of confusion? "You are denying it though, from yourself."
Well, how could I fight against that? Me psyching myself out, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I? I shrugged helplessly, earning another confused look. Mortals must seem so irrational to Her, but She does have Sasami to teach Her. Then again, with our makeshift- "Family," I said, looking up at Tsunami.
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
"We're a family," I told Her. A Goddess confused, and it wasn't by one of the universe's great mysteries, but rather, a random epiphany. "You're a part of it too," I told Her. Somehow, telling someone 'I live with Goddess' didn't seem so farfetched anymore. Granted, at times I felt as if I lived within some manga, or live-action anime.
"Family?" Tsunami asked. I knew She didn't ask what the definition was. I realized. Did beings like Tsunami have lives like ours? She must know what it is, but She may not know just how it was to be in one.
"That's right, Sasami," I told her, giving Her a wink.
She blinked accordingly, before nodding in realization, knowing what She had said before on that night. "Of course." she paused, "Tenchi-ni- chan," She added, and it was I that was thrown off. The more I learn, the more I am confused. I saw Her face flush softly, just a small blush, amplifying the triangular formation of freckles that She retained. Kawaii. Sadly, She also meant business. "You are aware of the past incident that occurred."
A glib remark was on the tip of my tongue: you mean the girls, or Octopus-head? "You sent us a warning then," I said, remembering that Sasami did guess that one. There had to be a connection. "The same person sent him, the Lady?" I asked Her, using Sasami's name for the female figure in her dreams.
I saw Tsunami nod, a small smile coming to Her features, complimenting the increased color She seemed to have on Her pale skin, a faint rose glow. "Correct, but," Tsunami held up a finger. "Her objective has changed."
"Her? Who is she?" I asked. I had a feeling that Tsunami was holding back on me. Then again, I can't really read people to begin with, but, aren't 'divine' or rather, powerful beings people too? I pushed my thoughts of metaphysics out of my head, I had to focus. "Why is this person after them?" I asked, a slight edge coming to my voice.
It felt natural, for that anger to appear. Of course, that person threatened my family. I knew that when I faced Kagato that I would do what ever I could to make sure they were safe, happy, secure. Anything that threatened that would be dealt with. Why do I feel wrath? Because they are in danger.
Tsunami simply nodded, a soft gesture that did not disturb Her turquoise locks, the same coiffure that Sasami now sported, well, it was Hers to begin with. Aeka and Sasami's appearance have always bothered me, how a gaijin, well uchujin actually, seems to be from my country's past eras. Then again, the Hojo Tokuso were still in power when they left Jurai, but how did that link Yamato to Jurai?
"Tokimi," Tsunami began, and in our close proximity, I could feel the air She breathed as She spoke. I immediately filed away that name. My adversary had a name I could put to it now. Well, I'm sure the girls might know something about this person. Tsunami continued, after pausing, maybe sensing the change in my mood. "She originally sought to." She paused, "acquire Washu," She said softly, and She locked Her crimson eyes to mine, if it was possible, She brought Her face closer to mine.
"She wanted to capture Washu?" I asked Tsunami. "But," I continued, something else coming to my mind. "Why did Zero try to kill me?" I knew the answer before the question had finished leaving my mouth.
"Because Tenchi," a lecturing voice said from the side, "they were smart." I turned to see Washu, approaching us, still clad in the lime pajamas with crimson crabs. "They would eliminate the threat to their plans before making the final move towards their objective," Washu held her hand to the base of her throat, "me."
So, I was now a legitimate target. Well, its not as if I never was when Kagato came. "Why would they be after you, Washu?" I knew I was out of my depth, but it would be stupid of me not to find out.
Washu shrugged, giving me befuddled look. "I don't know either," she replied. She looked crossly at Tsunami and I. Oh. No, not this again.
"How did you get here?" I asked her. I looked out to the side and saw the Earth.
Washu gave me a look. Somehow, her new features seemed to amplify it, that stare of frustration that she gave me. "You realize that I nearly had a panic attack when you and Sasami suddenly disappeared!" she burst out, an exasperated tone evident in her duskier voice. "Luckily," she pointed out, still giving me a somewhat dirty stare, "I was able to track you-"
"How?" I interrupted, stepping away from Tsunami and facing Washu, whereas before my head was turned towards her.
"I bugged you," she said quickly, trying to mesh it into one incoherent word.
"Excuse me?" I blurted out, surprised.
"I implanted a transmitter on you, Tenchi," Washu began in a factual tone, trying a new strategy. I was not amused. I only opted to bow my head down and to repress a sigh. Of course. I just hoped it wasn't a suppository. She coughed lightly, causing me to look at her again. "The point is Tenchi, Tokimi is after you," she thrust an accusing finger out at me, emphasizing her statement. There was no mirth in those emerald eyes, only harsh reality.
"Who is Tokimi?" I asked both Tsunami and Washu, angry at my ignorance, perfectly understandable as it was. I came from a country that did not so much reward intelligence as punished ignorance, and it is really haunting me now.
"A Goddess," Washu began, walking up close to us to form a small triangle with Tsunami and I as its other vertexes. She gave a slight smirk at Tsunami's slight blink.
"How did you-" Tsunami spoke.
"-I simply took the facts and created my own hypothesis," Washu clarified, going into a lecturing tone. "Tokimi has been mentioned in past Juraian," Washu emphasized, "records before. Also," Washu held up two fingers, "other references to this person have been as either an idea, or a cult of some sort. Even as Tsunami's antithesis." Washu uncurled a third finger. "Three: these records have been spread over millennia, and always shrouded with more rhetoric than fact!" Washu spat out. "Fourth," Washu pointed her now uncurled pinky at Tsunami, "you came along, and its obvious that you are somehow related to this person." Washu made a show of closing her fist. "Thus, it stands to reason that Tokimi is related to you somehow. Rival perhaps?" Washu inquired, and I knew that she didn't intend to hear any responses.
"No," Tsunami replied simply, and Washu graced her with a doubtful look, arms akimbo in her bunched-up silk sleeves, a crimson eyebrow arched. "I am." Tsunami paused, "affiliated with Tokimi, yet-"
I cut her off, reaching a conclusion of my own. "You aren't exactly the best of friends with Her are you?" I asked, repressing a groan. Something in my mind clicked. "But, She's not after you?"
Washu gave me an approving smile as Tsunami almost looked like She grew uncomfortable. The Goddess turned to me, seeming to disregard Washu. "No, Tokimi is not aware of my presence."
"But if Tokimi was," I continued, my voice speeding up as I jumped to the next logical waypoint, "then you would also be pursued?" I asked Her.
Tsunami gave a slow nod. "Only after She has acquired Washu."
I knew Tsunami to be an incredibly powerful being, after all, She had extricated me from the vacuum where Azaka and Kamidake somehow preserved me, and helped bring forth something within me. Something that only She knew about. Why though? I also remembered that somehow, Tsunami could not defend Herself against Kagato. If they are so powerful. "Why hasn't Tokimi captured Washu by now then?" I asked, "why did She have to send someone else in Her place?"
Washu nodded, joining in. "Another item I have been wondering about," she concurred, shaking her head. "Its not as if this Goddess has a personality complex that She delegates Her work to minions," Washu growled out in a furious tone, obviously referring to Clay.
Tsunami continued to disregard Washu, almost snubbing her. "Tenchi," She began, getting my attention, closing the distance between us again, as if somehow the close proximity would help convey Her message. Actually. it did. "Tokimi and I are possessed of much." Tsunami blinked, "power." Tsunami paused a minute for me to soak in the obvious, as Her nose was again sidled up against mine, and She said softly, not nearly a whisper, "Yet, we lack precision," Tsunami finished softly, and once again, all I could see was Her face; the triangles of freckles, the rose eyes seeming to draw me in, and two circles where right triangles should have been.
"You can't focus it?" I said softly, understanding, well thinking that I understood some of what She was saying. Is that why Tsunami didn't act. or was it because She wanted me to push myself on the Shoja?
Washu's soft chuckle interrupted me, and I noticed I could identify their presences. It wasn't the strange buzz that coursed through my body from Tsunami's near-physical contact, but their beings. Tsunami's felt as if it was enveloping me, bliss, and I felt that I could accept anything that She said as truth. But, Washu's was a fierce crimson, color? It was strong, and Washu was trying to break through the secure, warm, all- encompassing shell Tsunami seemed to be. "Correct, Tenchi," the scientist in her praised me, something in that tone keeping me from feeling confident. "I would assume that respectively, Tsunami and Tokimi would wield control over tremendous force, but the inability to properly direct it as they would require."
"Then how come Tsunami can take me aboard while Tokimi can't simply snatch me away." I wondered about that.
"Because," Washu replied, "Tokimi has much more power than Tsunami, and I wager that Tokimi is used to acting on a different level than Tsunami. It isn't a matter of apples to oranges, more like apricots to watermelons."
In a brief moment of stupidity, I burst out, "She's more powerful than Tsunami?"
Tsunami nodded, pulling away as She did so. "Yes, amongst the Goddesses, Tokimi is the one who wields the most power. However, She cannot focus them on such a small level. Proxies are then sent to carry out Her will"
I looked at Washu. "In other words, we're too small for Her to even deal with Herself?"
"You don't see me wallowing in self pity," she replied, amused. "The trick is, to defeat Her minions. Though she can keep throwing them at us till the end of time. "
"Somehow I think we'll lose," I told them both, resigned in my normal manner. "I take it we can't really beat Her, so what do we do? Find some way to force Her to back off?"
Washu waggled her finger at me. "Close, there is no conceivable way we can confront Tokimi and win decisively; it'd be hard to even define what the conditions for victory will be. However, Goddess or no, the Bitch can be satiated. Its simply a matter of finding out how. Is that right?" She looked towards Tsunami, a tiny predatory edge in her light smile. I felt a bit used, thinking that she may have used me to set up Tsunami to revealing anything she was hiding from us.
Tsunami blinked, almost as if She was off in Her own little world, oblivious to the small bits of hostility even I detected from Washu. "There is one way." Washu leaned in closer, as did I. "To give yourselves over to Her."
I slumped slightly, and I saw Washu's left brow twitch. "Of course," I said, with some resigned humor in my voice. "So we can't just hope for something else to distract Her so that She'll stop sending Her followers after us?" I asked rhetorically.
Washu perked up. "It's the only solution we do have, Tokimi doesn't exactly follow a timetable, does she." She had a sly smile on her face, mixed with a maniacal glitter in the viridian eyes. I originally thought that light, crystalline blue eyes were the color of madness in people, now I know it to be emerald. "I can," she began, "make a device that is capable of delivering enough energy in a precise position as well as instability to a wide," she gestured, "area."
I could hear the 'but' in her statement before she got to it. "Yet somehow it'd end up destroying a galaxy or two, right?"
"The universe actually," Washu replied, casually disappointed. "Keep in mind, Tokimi isn't on the same plane we are, so when," I frowned at her for that, "we do, if we do," she corrected herself, "it would have to be delivered into her dimension. The ripples of which would of course rip through a couple of dimensional barriers and tear a universe or two apart."
"In addition to causing several galaxies to implode totally and begin absorbing their neighbors," Tsunami interrupted patiently. "The universe would not be so much destroyed as recycled."
"Wait," I said, a thought just entering in my mind, "you've thought about it?"
Tsunami gave me a nod, and I felt like smashing my head repeatedly onto Her namesake tree. Well, I suppose it was logical, but such thinking pretty much had this world under the blanket of total nuclear annihilation because two damn nations and ways of governing just had to have their way.
"Even with the wings of the Light Hawk, I know I cannot defeat all that Tokimi might send against us," I told them up front. I may be able to hold them off for a long time, but then again, that is the issue: time. How long till She grows tired and gives us a break, or perchance another matter comes up entire and She is distracted by either a crisis or a shiny new toy to have."
"That's the second time you mentioned it," Washu told me. "It does make sense however, yet finding something that could divert the miniscule amount of attention She does have for us would be hard to find. Its not like She has a thing for jewelry or some other petty hobby."
"Are you able to render any advice or assistance to us now?" I asked Tsunami, turning back to enjoy the vista of the Earth from above, I tried to spot Japan, but couldn't. I saw the telltale prong of the Korean peninsula, but apparently the home islands were obscured by clouds. all except for a certain bit of green that I knew to be Okayama. Then again it could have been Kyushu for all the precision I had from up here.
"I cannot interfere," Sasami's future self told us. "For me to do so would only invoke more of Tokimi's attention." She looked at the two of us. "Needless to say, you will have to be Tenchi's power base."
"Excuse me," Washu chimed in, "its not as if you're setting him up to be the Emperor of Jurai are you?" Tsunami's constant stare didn't answer Washu's remark. "Since you can't help in a direct fashion, which is what we need you most for, we will have to rely on ourselves." Washu looked at me, as if measuring me somehow. "Tenchi, you know what this means."
I shrugged. "I've asked for your assistance before. This shouldn't be so different. I wonder though, if you girls weren't bickering, just how much would we able to accomplish?" I could have sworn I saw Tsunami grimace for a moment. "Washu seems to have the most resources." I trailed off.
"Does this mean you become my little guinea pig?" she remarked in a voice that tried to be cute.
I sniffed a little. "This makes it official," I told her. "Really though, I know you've wanted to see just how I'm attached to the wings and how I am able to use them."
"Have you been hiding something from me?" Washu asked, leaning in slightly.
"No," I replied honestly. "Its something that I'm afraid of; being the unknown. I've consciously pulled them out before, but of course, there were mitigating circumstances. My swordsmanship isn't exactly a shining example of budo; hell, I don't even have an official form!"
"Actually, it's the Terran adaptation of a rather flashy Jurain form," Washu told me. "The fundamentals were there. The Juraians evolved it from kinetic weapons; metals and nonmetals, polearms when they used energy-based melee weapon, polearm and sword essentially meshed and became one. All Yosho did was take a step back and adapt it to the local weaponry," Washu went on, seeming to be immersed in her lecture. "The Japanese developed a weapon early on and stuck with it for centuries, so Yosho had a reliable version. Hell, the Katana may only have been several centuries old, but it did have similar Tachi roots before."
"Which helps me how?" I brought up. I could tell she wanted to hit me then. Then again, I did shoot down her lecture.
"Why'd you bring up your swordsmanship?" Washu replied. "Offensively and defensively, the wings are all but infallible. However-"
"Its deploying them that's the problem," I finished for her, earning an approving nod. "Its worthless when they catch me off-guard, or when they attack any of you," I emphasized, "outside of my sphere of influence." A pun. ha-ha, it is to laugh.
"Correct. This is why you need us, me, actually, to help you. Come on, just how much help you think Aeka and Ryoko are going to be in this situation. They are liabilities," Washu clarified, "they pretty much have damsel-in-distress syndrome down pat."
I bowed my head at that. "Ouch, still, they do need to be in the plan, every little bit helps, plus they do have their own abilities."
"Combat-wise, Ryoko, and even Aeka are formidable. However, they were nothing against Kagato," she snarled his name. Her face grew serious, grim and showing no small amount of fear. "Unless I unlock something I built into my daughter," Washu said slowly, and I knew I would not ask her why not, "only you will be at the level any of who She chooses to send against you. You will have to rely on us as your support structure. You can only do so much alone. What's a well-trained army without guidance, a home, food, scouts, and spies. nothing."
"Sun-Tzu," I coughed.
"Common sense, actually," Washu told me. "You're still going to have to be the man of the household," she jibed, and I felt as if I wouldn't really mind. Though of course, I wish the circumstances were different. "Yet, on the bright side, you have us girls to help you out." I wondered if I was being patronized.
"I will observe and do what I can," Tsunami told the two of us. "However, Washu is correct, Tenchi, you will have to rely upon them as your structure. However, make sure you can function independent of them since Tokimi's own will try to isolate you from them."
I nodded. "As what happened in Sasami's vision," I thought out loud. "If you can Sasami," I told her softly, using Her other name, "is there anything that I can do to prepare."
Tsunami smile changed from the serene, benevolent, almost bubble- headed fashion she seemed to always have. It was Sasami's. one with a hint of sadness. Ignoring Washu, she reached out to grasp my shoulders and pulled me close. She touched her emblem unto mine and I heard her voice in my mind. "You have to let us go."
***
There was no sparkling that accompanied my return back to Earth, no flash, nothing. One moment I was aboard Tsunami, now I'm back with my feet in the grass. I did not have to look down to know that Sasami was in front of me, her small hands now on my forearms not my shoulders as Tsunami had. Wisely, I chose not to ask anymore. I could ask and ask, but if I couldn't even understand the fundamentals as to what they meant to me, it'd be pointless to simply sift through their own reasons half-assed.
I noticed that we had returned next to the Yukinojo, and I saw Mihoshi perched up on its upturned wing. Splotched with caked earth and dried mud, the ship still had dignity. As did its mistress, reclining against where the starboard wing met the fuselage, clasping her left knee to herself, leg bent, while her right was splayed forwards. Our eyes met, and I waved. "Did you miss us?" I joked.
"A little," she called back. "You were only gone for a couple of minutes, by the way, what did you do?" She stood, walking up to the fore of the wing's front, and looked down at us, hands touching her sides.
"Tsunami wanted to talk," I answered. I looked down at Sasami and back up at Mihoshi. I mouthed my next statement. "About the dream."
Mihoshi did not acknowledge what told her. Instead, she jumped down and walked up to us. "What do you want to do now, Sasami?" she asked our smallest member in the group.
"Home," she decided, taking my left hand in her left as she began to lead us home. "I don't want to miss my show," she clarified, and I laughed. I remember those days. never thought I'd stop watching morning anime.
My stomach growled low, and my two companions laughed. "Well, my appetite is for food, not for the view." With Sasami on my left, and Mihoshi at my right, we began to make the short trip back to the house. "I wonder what's taking Washu so long," I mused.
Mihoshi sighed, "Tenchi, you shouldn't go saying things like that," she told me softly.
"Why?" Oh, nevermind.
With impeccable timing, a portal opened up several meters above and to the left of us, and letting out a shriek, Washu plummeted to the field of grass. I winced as she impacted, cutting off her scream with a grunt as her wind was knocked out. The three of us just stared. When Washu picked herself up off the ground, several grass stains were on her, shaded streaks of viridian on her limbs and several darker stains on her dress. "Dammit Tenchi! Don't you know you're supposed to catch me." she grumbled, and I held up my occupied arms in reply. I smiled at her, why did I find her new makeup so cute? "That's not an excuse," she scolded me, taking up the vanguard position. "Ack, my dress!"
It was just something about that statement, and especially coming from someone like Washu that I found so amusing that I began to chuckle openly. At the wounded look she gave me, I shook my head. "Sorry, I just think you look well, beautiful." She was, stains and all. Something about her adult form, her true form in such simple, yet elegant attire. She didn't quite fill the lime sundress out, and the hollows and folds that were there fascinated me.
"You're not normal, you know that?" Washu remarked, and I was glad that she didn't take offense.
I saw a black and orange mass approaching us at high speed from the fields. It cried out with a trademark Mi-ya! "Wait, Ryo-ohki isn't orange," I thought out loud.
The inbound cabbit altered its flight path towards our party, and Washu walked up towards her, kneeling down on one knee, her arms opened out wide, ready to receive her daughter in a classic come-to-mama pose. I really should start carrying a camera. Washu, beyond her heart, about to gather up Ryo-Ohki into her arms.
It was a beautiful moment, and would have been just adorable had not Ryo-Ohki missed Washu's arms entirely, instead using her mother's coiffure as a trampoline of sorts to leap into Sasami's grasp, who had broken for me to welcome her playmate. Washu held that pose, the look on her face souring from frozen shock to a tremble as Mihoshi let out a gleeful laugh as Sasami hugged Ryo-Ohki to herself, a pilfered carrot in the cabbit's mouth.
I walked over to Washu and helped her up, giving her a sympathetic smile. I didn't know what to say. Instead I looked over at Ryo-Ohki, who somehow managed to strap a bundle of carrots to her back. No wonder I'm usually short a few.
I glanced up and saw something odd in the sky. Well, something odd about the fixture Washu had somehow installed; the floating onsen. The transparent dome was covered in wash, obvious that a lot of water was being tossed about. "What's going on over there?" I asked.
"Oh, Aeka and Ryoko are taking a morning soak," Mihoshi told us. Washu and I looked at each other and sighed. I winced sympathetically at the flustered scientist, tugging on her right hand gently with my left as I began to lead her back to the house.
"In the morning? Really! Those two have problems," Washu remarked, and I found it funny that she was embarrassed at her other daughter's antics. I chose to say nothing, not wanting to make an unwarranted wisecrack.
We reached the deck and hopped onto the polished oak boards. I watched them enter the house, and followed, thinking, that for now, all was right with the world.
End 'Epiphany'
We were off. The four of us walked along the earthen road, out from the house, no real destination in mind. Mihoshi lead the way, happily looking out at the scenery, and I wondered why she didn't simply give in to some urge of hers and frolic amongst the flowers and grass. Mihoshi playing in a sea of daisies, wouldn't that be something to see? Yeah. azure eyes, and sun-kissed hair.
"Like a child." Washu muttered, her right hand in my left, as we walked side by side, Sasami holding onto my right. She has a point. sort of. "It doesn't look like she has any clue at all," Washu continued, looking sidelong at me, her viridian eyes giving teasing glimpses into her behind a curtain of rose.
Sasami and I just enjoyed the ambiance. The sky was the palest blue I have ever seen, and the only bank of clouds I saw partially obscured the sun. Not that that was a bad thing. Looking at Mihoshi walking ahead, I can't help but think. This is so her. But no. there has to be something else to that. girl? Woman? I don't even know her age. not that I'm stupid enough to ask.
"What?" I asked Washu, picking up my left hand, still clasped to her right. "Its beautiful out."
"Not that," Washu replied softly, "and you don't have to say it again and again either. Though it is true," she conceded.
"Hey!" Mihoshi called back, "There's Yukinojo." She went off the path and towards where Yukinojo had stopped, a spaceship turned into a plow.
We followed her, and we stopped just several meters before it. Washu simply clucked condescendingly as we approached. Sasami wondered at the scars gouged into the soil that Yukinojo carved.
Mihoshi came to a dead stop, seemingly in shock. "Wow," she said softly. "That was bad."
"Yeah," I told her. "I was worried when I saw you come in."
Mihoshi looked sad. Very, very sad. The way she seemed to droop, her arms slack at her sides, and her eyes clouded with. with what?
"How'd you manage to pull out?" I asked her next, "that was great." I meant it. It was something to see.
She looked at me and said. "I don't remember, training took over I think."
"That's ironic." Washu remarked with her caustic wit. She looked over the scene with an appraising eye and said, "Mihoshi," she sighed, "you are a piece of work," she concluded, shaking her head in a resigned fashion.
"I can't believe its not broken," Sasami added softly, releasing my hand and walking up towards the craft. Curiously, and as if she was exploring some ancient ruins, Sasami clambered up a platinum-white wing and started walking its span. She gave it a couple of test jumps, to our amusement, but the ship did not shift. Not enough mass, I think.
I gave Mihoshi a reassuring look, something to let her know that I didn't think badly of it. "Accidents happen," I told her. I shook Washu's hand softly to forestall a smart crack. I felt her sigh knowingly beside me.
"Yeah, Yukinojo's been with me for a long time," Mihoshi stated, patting the hull of her ship as if it was a pet. Well, I can sympathize. "It'll take more than just a crash landing to put him out of action."
Him? The ship is a 'him?' Well, Mihoshi is female, so I guess its only natural.
Washu and I walked up to Yukinojo. "It looks like the GP has improved its patrol ship designs since the last time I bothered to look at the readouts," Washu went on, and I felt myself feeling dumb. Great, I'm out of my league here. Then again, I always was, they just don't point it out.
"Oh," Mihoshi said, "when was that?"
Washu tilted her head, failing miserably on trying to put it on my shoulder. Well, yeah, she's taller than me by how much?
"I think a millennia, something like that," Washu stated casually, causing me to look a bit odd. "Wonder just how much they've gotten better," Washu said analytically.
A thousand years or something? I don't even think any of our swords are that old!
"The patrol ships," Mihoshi said thoughtfully, a professional, yet still bright expression coming to her face. "They've gotten better."
Washu continued to glance at the ship, and I felt a bit odd at her examining another 'male' with such intensity. "There are improvements, but they just don't fit," Washu concluded. She glanced at the hull, seeming to find interest in the sleek, aerodyne surfaces. "It's too small. A bit overgunned, and not enough room for cargo. So, does the GP shoot first and ask questions later these days?"
Overgunned? It has guns? I can't see any barrels or gunports. all I know is it looks cool. I can see the wings, the engines, but that's it.
Mihoshi looked a bit confused. "That's because Yukinojo is an assault ship," Mihoshi replied bubbly, causing Washu to falter against me. "He hunts and he kills," she said coolly, in that same happy tone, and the way she phrased it almost made my skin crawl. Mihoshi? "Yukinojo wasn't designed for long cruises or customs duty."
"So how come you use it," Sasami called down from above, sitting on the fore of Yukinojo's port wing, or fin, its something.
Mihoshi continued to stare at Yukinojo running her the back of her right hand against its dull surface. "I transferred in from the Assault division."
"Assault Division?" I asked her, confused. "Isn't the GP-"
"A bunch of bullies," Washu said crossly, earning her a peeved look from Mihoshi, not looking so much indignant as comical.
"I take it you've had trouble with the law out there," I pointed up, "before?" I ribbed her. The 'who me' look I got in return made me feel odd, sort of a faux pas.
Mihoshi coughed to get our attention. "The Assault Division is the 'heavy,' she said, emphasizing the word, "unit. We," she stuttered, "they are called in to perform assignments more in line with a military force as opposed to law enforcement. Sometimes planetary authorities," Mihoshi continued going into her own lecture, "need to augment their military operations against pirates and rebels, so we would be folded in with their units or make our own strikes."
I was intrigued. Intrigued and disturbed actually. While I found this interesting, coming from Mihoshi, I also found it distressing, as if there was another side of her that I was just beginning to see. I suppose our previous conversations never really had a chance to take this path of development before.
"So you were in it?" Sasami asked again, running along the edge precariously, and I was worried she'd slip and fall. Clad in her matching outfit with Mihoshi's, she looked so cute. She jumped off, and joined our group again. The confused look on her face must have mirrored mine.
"I was," Mihoshi replied, nodding lightly, as if she was somewhere else. "I transferred about a year ago."
"Oh, better pay?" I inquired. Okay, I'm already lost, but I have to go deeper in. But. Mihoshi's really got me worried though.
She looked hesitant, almost uncomfortable. I was surprised she didn't start to fidget. She gave me the look. The bubbly, all is well look. "Something like that," she replied.
"Whatever," Washu muttered, giving me a look as well. Yeah, so she thought something else was wrong too. To confirm it, she squeezed my hand lightly, but I think Mihoshi caught it. "I take it you can take Yukinojo out of this," she said.
Mihoshi nodded confidently. "Yeah, its not like I have to swim down to my ship now. If there's anything broken," she went on, "he'll fix it."
"Have to give it credit," Washu remarked. "It survived being piloted by you," she pointed out. Before I could sigh in exasperation, Washu surprised us all by giving a small, but sincere smile. "You know, I think even the GP has autopilots on their ships." Her voice was lecturing, but it held no edge, a slightly amused tone leaving a beautiful 'aftertaste,' exotic, but not unpleasant.
Mihoshi nodded, looking a bit sheepish, like I did. Oh look, her hand's behind her head too. "Yeah, but I don't trust it."
"Look Mihoshi," Washu began, and I was surprised to notice that she was trying not be sarcastic, wow. Don't think like that, that's being judgmental and harsh. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job," she paused, trying to find the proper words, "but it might," Washu said softly, "be better if you followed procedures for landing on a low-tech planet."
Low-tech? Wow, Washu is learning tact, I thought, amused. I'm amazed she didn't use backwards.
Mihoshi nodded, still with that smile on her face. "I guess. all right, I will," she agreed. Did I just see progress here? Honestly. no hostilities exchanged, well, no hostilities exchanged by Washu.
"Good," I joked. "I was afraid that sooner or later you might crash Yukinojo into our house one of these days." Not that it ever crossed my mind... even with all those close calls.
"Tenchi," Washu whispered to me, softly, but still carrying a bit of scolding in it. Oh shit. I am such an ass.
Mihoshi's face fell, and although her lapse lasted only for a blink of an eye. I could still see the hurt that flashed through her sapphire eyes. "Yeah," she sighed, "right." Suddenly, as soon as it had begun, she was chipper again, seemingly brighter too. That shouldn't happen. I don't know just how much I hurt her, but, it still had to be painful.
I felt myself rock into Washu as something hit me from the side, restrained, but it still sent me into her. I looked and saw Sasami, glaring at me, an impish look on her face, as if she was scolding me, but was doing it half-hearted.
"A change of topic would be nice about now," Washu told me sotto voce.
It was Sasami's turn to speak. She gave us a curious look, letting out a small sigh. "About my dream. right?"
Washu and I shared a look, and Mihoshi approached our trio. "Washu had one too, last night," I told Sasami. If anything, she looked even more worried, fear again returning to her somber scarlet eyes. Okay, why do I keep saying the wrong things? The light around us dimmed, I turned my head slightly, looking up at our source of illumination. One of the cloud banks had enshrouded the sun. I hate omens. I really, really do.
Mihoshi reclined on the grass, propping herself up on an elbow. I still felt bad at what I said to her, unintentional or not, but she didn't seem to show any negative emotions, just a bit or curiosity, mixed in with a slight sense of worry that I could feel from her. Besides that, nothing. Looking up at us, she patted the ground with her free right hand.
Well, the morning dew had already gone.
I sat cross-leggedly on the ground, while Washu tucked her legs in beneath her, and I briefly wondered at how her shimmering jade pajamas blended in. with her background the verdant mountain, looking with concern at Sasami, who sat down on my other side, leaning up against me. Washu was laid back, her arms behind her, as she used them as supports. It almost as if she grew out of the ground. A Dryad emerging from the Earth. a Goddess come down from Heaven.
A small part of me felt resentful that Aeka wasn't here for her sister. Should I feel that? Its not like Aeka knew or anything, plus. Sasami might as well be family to me now. A sister I've never had.
"What was it like," Mihoshi began, softly, talking to Sasami not like one would to a child, but still comforting. Did that make them peers?
"It was so strange," Sasami began softly, and I clumsily put an arm around her, and she pressed in against my left side. She didn't start sniffling or anything, but I could tell some of the fear was coming back. I felt so helpless. I didn't know how, but I tried to send over some reassurance to her, and she gave me a small smile, not one to show that she was trying to be brave, but one of thanks.
Smoothly, Washu went around us, and together, we flanked Sasami. She was there, looking helpless, unsure of what to do to help the little girl. I could tell she felt disappointed at herself, lost. So was I. Mihoshi went around us, behind Sasami, and clumsily, then confidently, she began to remove Sasami's coiffure, reducing it to its 'natural' state, no more of the cute side-tails that were her trademark. Sticking the hair-ties in her mouth, almost comically, Mihoshi pulled the mass up to her face, examining it, a dressmaker evaluating a lustrous bolt of Chinese silk, turquoise strands seemingly ethereal.
Mihoshi and Washu stared at me, and there was no doubt in the looks they gave me that we must tread carefully. We weren't interrogating Sasami, we were supposed to help her. Can't lose sight of that. They gave me another look, and Mihoshi spoke, to Washu. "What do you think," she mumbled through the hairclips, a bit garbled.
Washu shrugged and said, "Braid and error," she remarked, shrugging slightly, and she too, joined Mihoshi's hands as they went to work, styling Sasami's hair. The mad scientist and detective turned beauticians gave me a sly grin over Sasami's head.
Well, I am in the center of it all, so I should be the one to ask. But still! I feel so left out. Times like this, I wish I was a girl. Or at least, I knew how to style girls' hair.
Now, how do I go about asking her. I turned to look at Sasami, seemed to be soothed by Mihoshi and Washu's ministrations. Well, at least it helps.
"Do," I began slowly, knowing that it would hurt her to ask her to recall what she saw. "Is there anything you can remember?" Mihoshi gave me a sympathetic look, while Washu continued to concentrate on braiding Sasami's hair, her deft fingers seeming to weave on a turquoise loom. She looked at me sidelong, and she looked a bit disturbed.
Sasami took a small breath, still calm, but she fidgeted timidly with my the edge of my shirt. "It was not now." Her voice was still a bit down, but I couldn't detect any trembling in it.
Washu's eyes picked up, rose-colored eyebrows arching in a piqued expression of shallow understanding, and the need to remedy that condition.
All right, so it takes place in the future. what? "Do you know when," I continued, continuing to look down upon her, and I refused to let any pity show through. Its wrong, Sasami needs our support, our compassion, not our condolences.
Sasami continued to stare forward, as if looking past something else. "It was here," she paused, "Japan," she clarified. I could see Washu and Mihoshi taking in the information as they plaited and continued to braid Sasami's hair. Mihoshi's sapphire eyes were observant, while Washu's emerald pair was analytical. "Their clothes. they were old."
"Do you mean old as in worn out, or old as in it doesn't belong in this time." Washu finally joined us in our uncomfortable conversation.
"You mean the past?" Mihoshi followed up.
Sasami nodded slowly. "Yeah. it was in some old house, a big house, everyone wore kimono and hakama," she elaborated, and I felt bad at asking her to remember things she must have wanted to forget. "I saw Yosho-ni- chan," she exhaled, and I held her hand, enfolding it within my own, not squeezing, but still a solid grasp.
"Him? What happened with him?" I asked her gently, a bit unsettled by the mention of my ancestor.
"Nothing," she replied, a bit distant. "He was dead." The way she said it, as it simply was, as if she was describing some bland background item, disturbed me.
"And Tenchi?" Washu finally brought up. She looked concerned, not simply intrigued or cynically inquisitive as she usually did. She displayed none of her customary patronizing 'sensei' temperament nor the clinical detachment she usually gave us. "How is he connected with this?" She inquired, curiosity lacing her dusky voice, but it had a restrained edge to it. Washu was keeping herself from asking too much of the girl.
I too, was curious. Yosho was here for a long time. He'd my grandfather, after all. What she said could have been any time in several centuries, but I wasn't alive in any of them. and he only wears his Shinto garments, always had for as long as I could remember. I've come to associate gray, white, and blue with the man. That, and those awkward eyes. That floral tint that I always thought was some condition that he had. Well, that was when I thought he was still Japanese. well, mostly Terran at least. How do I fit in to all this? I looked at Sasami carefully, and she smiled shakily at me, as if she was shivering.
"He was fighting," she continued, losing her interest in the hem of my shirt. Her hands stopped their fidgeting, and her slim fingers went still. "Outside, in a large box of sand."
Washu looked at me briefly. "She meant a sand garden," I told her. The woman nodded lightly, finishing her work on Sasami's hair, leaving the rearranged mass for Mihoshi to tie off.
"There," Mihoshi said lightly, removing the hair bands from where it dangled from her lips slipping it into one of her large pockets. "And then," she continued, urging Sasami on. Mihoshi smiled, a light of realization reaching her eyes, an 'aha!' expression on her face, seeming to make her lightly bronzed skin shine against its light crown. "Here, take this Sasami," she remarked, reaching into another one of the pockets. This time, she extracted a ribbon, a crimson lock. It had some thickness to it, but still was slender, elegant, but not billowy. With one hand, she held the back of Sasami's hair in a bound choke, and skillfully, she weaved in the crimson ribbon.
Sasami looked a bit taken off guard. I expected a bow, and it did resembled on, but there was no telltale loops. There were trails. sort of. The ribbon seemed to intertwine with the strands, creating a helix pattern that ended, leaving no stray ends. well except for some playful ends.
"Oh." Sasami said, a bit thrown off. So was I. I expected Washu to be also, but she only smiled softly.
"A bit to familiar." Washu drawled, "but nice." She had an odd look, one that was veiled with suspicion. Something that she should not feel, especially towards Sasami. Then again, Sasami looked another bit more like Tsunami now.
Sasami then continued. "You were fighting with a man," she continued. "He was dressed the same way you were."
"Same colors?" I asked.
She nodded lightly. "I couldn't see." she hesitated, a bit uncomfortable. I tried to give her a reassuring look. I didn't want to push the girl more than I already was. "It was really dark, it was night there," she continued. "There was also a woman." she drawled.
"The same lady?" Mihoshi proposed. Sasami nodded, a glazed look beginning to appear in her eyes. The three of us; Washu, Mihoshi, and I, knew that we were digging in too far, that we might begin to hurt Sasami is we continued.
"Yes. she looked like her." Sasami's voice was getting clearer now, as she began to see more, but there was no denying the reluctance that she radiated, that Mihoshi seemed to reflect as well. Washu had simply gone numb, staring blankly. It was as if I was the only one still paying rapt attention. Well, attention balanced with care. "You killed him," Sasami said matter-of-factly. Oh.
"She killed me." I finished for her softly, moving my hand to her shoulder, wishing I could send more reassurance through that simple physical connection. I'm not very good at displaying my emotions. but I do care. Its just, how much can I afford to show them?
This is funny. Sasami predicts my death. in another time, and I'm thinking about hiding my own feelings, my own thoughts. My priorities arrange themselves, apparently.
Fear finally crept into her voice, bringing Mihoshi and Washu back to full awareness. "You didn't fight back," she told me, her voice gaining strength. I stared into her magenta eyes, and I was glad that I didn't see terror, nor desperation within such innocent mirrors of the soul. Instead, I saw dim confusion, and then a slight luster of illumination, followed by a small streak of accusation. "You let her kill you," Sasami voiced, as if questioning me, as to why, would the Tenchi in her dream, would not do anything.
"She stabbed him in the back?" Washu inquired, but Mihoshi shook her head next to the mad scientist.
"No, she was also chasing Tenchi," Mihoshi surmised, her features turning sharp, seeming more elfin, not to be confused with the harshness of aven.
Sasami's nod confirmed her statement. "You let her approach, Tenchi," Sasami said, questioning me instead, confusion and incomprehension pitching her voice. "She walked right up to you." Sasami looked even more confused. "Then you let her cut you down." She finished, and her statement drew equal confusion to us all.
"Why?" I asked. I wondered what. would make me do something like that.
"Its not even academic," Washu remarked. "She had influence over you," she said, as if reciting a fact, serving a lecture to us, to me. "This person," she pointed a finger at me, a slender one, more feminine than how it was when she looked to be an adolescent. Or a salty old midget, she seemed at times. "You knew her Tenchi."
Sasami looked at her, then nodded. "Yes, it seemed like you two were close," she murmured softly.
Mihoshi spoke up, "It makes sense." Ouch. Three for three, they thought.
"So its my fault?" I couldn't help but let out in a confused tone. Not an outraged one, or in a distraught way, but simply a soft, perplexed manner, as if talking to myself.
Sasami's turned to look off somewhere else, and I saw the profile of her face. I saw someone that seemed so young, looking so regal, all of it, without any effort at all. Simply being, that's all she did. I couldn't help but think of Sasami. She blinked her eyes, an enigmatic look obscuring her eyes, preventing me what little I could from her. "Yes. It was." The way she said it. It didn't feel like it was Sasami I was talking to anymore.
***
The way she stated it was as confusing as the message delivered. Her voice was not tinged with blame, but accusation was there. As to how I might be held accountable for how their perception of me acted in their dreams, I did not know. A prediction of what I would do in the future?
Before I could form anything resembling a thought-out response, her emblem flared, and she reached up, towards me, gazing into my eyes. Mihoshi looked confused, as Sasami's splayed fingers framed my face, her thumbs above my cheekbones, her other digits grasping me firmly, yet softly, not holding me in place, but I could not bring myself to move. I felt my own emblem react, a trio of triangles, resonating in tune with her twin circles, and then I knew.
"Tsunami," I breathed out, softly, taken by surprise, muddled, confused. Crimson eyes stared into mine, calming me, soothing me, and she closed the distance, her freckles growing darker as she got closer to my face. Suddenly, her face, freckles, dimples, eyes and all, became all that I could see. All of which I was aware.
"Come," she whispered softly, her voice light. There was no chime, no swirling about, nothing that altered my vision. All I knew was, when I blinked, I found myself staring back into those very same eyes, those very same dots, and yes, even the same freckles... in a much larger scale. I pulled back, her slender fingers slipping free from my face, their warmth leaving me.
I fell back, and landed, surprised, right on my ass. I opted to stay quiet. The less I opened my mouth, the fewer the chances I will say something stupid. All I knew was, I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Okayama actually.
I was on the Tsunami, wherever She hid Herself away from the rest of the universe.
She continued to look down upon me, clad in Her flowing white robes. Yes, she looked just as she did then, when I fought -survived- Kagato, and when Sasami revealed to us her symbiosis. Underneath that billowy robe that all but hid everything of Her, was crimson, azure, and lime. All so noble, and what little I knew of clothing was that it looked so Japanese. Yamato and Jurai shared common history asides from me and my clan?
I should have felt insecure in the presence of a Goddess. Especially one that had just plucked me from the Earth, to be Her audience, what purpose, I, for once, had some idea what for. I was still there, sitting on one of the stepping tones that was in Tsunami's pond, leading to Her tree, which She stood in front of, and I thought it funny, I was technically now aware of two of Her representations. Her humanoid form, Her tree form, and of course, the ship it controlled.
I stood up. What to say? I placed my hand behind my head, at a loss. "Erm, hi Tsunami," I remarked. At least I didn't make a comment about the weather. yet.
There was something different about how She stared at me. Before it was as if She was attending to me as if I was a child, the way I've seen servants do so to their charges, rather impersonal, but efficient. Granted I was ignorant then, and I still am, but now She seems to be regarding me in a different light. The eyes were the same shade as I remembered from before. In fact, everything about Her seemed identical, except for Her. I don't know. Something's just different.
"About what Sasami foresaw," Tsunami began, and I could not only hear Her melodious voice flowing into my ears, but also into my mind.
It was beautiful, but the message it delivered. Tsunami's momentary blinked when my expression fell. It must have fallen, granted I choose to believe that nothing in the future is solid, but, its Tsunami! I drew a breath, telling myself to stop from panicking. "Will it come true," I told Her, unable to keep a slight edge of discomfort from my voice.
She gave a slight nod, and I could almost feel my mood drop another notch. "To a degree, but-"
I nodded, thankful that my mind seemed to be working now. "It can be changed. to a degree," I followed, using her words. Is that a smile I see on her. Its not the Sasami smile, but yes, it is.
She approached me, and waited at the bank of the small island Her tree, Her self, whatever, and gave me a slight look.
Yes, this Tsunami was different. If people can change, then I suppose, Tsunami can as well. There was something else in Her eyes that I could see now. mischief, amusement. Sasami.
Noting how my stone was the first one from the tree, I bowed to Her in the Western fashion and held out my hand. She looked somewhat confused, and I noticed, this was the first time that I would be initiating contact between us. The other times my hands were just there, frozen, not knowing what to do. Still, Tsunami took it, a bit oddly, as if She was not familiar with the type of contact, my calloused left tenderly grasping her ethereal right.
Tsunami was here to tell me something. I gather She wouldn't bother unless I had hope, and last time. it was Her that gave me a second chance to succeed. Hope. I let that memory lift my spirits, and her hand in mine, I stepped back into the stepping stone behind me, and I leaned forward, keeping our extended arms slack.
How did a Goddess' touch feel? Heavenly would be a such a lame pun, but it fits. I felt a momentarily pang of shame. My hands, condition from years of chores and budo, grasping something which I assume Her followers, the Jurains or someone else, would define the pinnacle of their existence. The hand of God, the hand of a Goddess, is it the same thing? I'm a Zen Buddhist, not a Christian. As. celestial as it felt, it also felt familiar. I saw a slight look of confusion on Tsunami's face, mirroring my own. We've done this before? Oh. but Sasami has held my hand before.
"Sasami?" I asked. "Do you know this from her." I said softly, not really needing a response.
"Yes," Tsunami replied, stepping forward onto the stone that I had just vacated.
"So as she turns into You, You turn into Her," I murmured, partly to myself as we repeated the step-back, step-forward routine till both of us was on shore. A little portion of me wondered just what Washu and Mihoshi were doing. Was my body still there, will this exchange last but a second there, did I disappear? Then again, what happened to Sasami?
Tsunami nodded. "Yes."
I did one odd thing I've always wondered about. I looked down as Tsunami stepped forward. Yes, I caught a bit of flesh there. She had feet! I felt silly. I was threatened with death, which was somehow connected to Yosho's own demise, as well as being set in some exotic, rather, unknown time and place. "The dream Sasami had," I inquired. "What is about?"
"You're future," Tsunami responded, "and how it will be jeopardized by your past," She finished with that melodic out-of-body voice She had, but the words bounced right off me. Oh that made sense.
"What do you mean?" I asked Her. To my knowledge, before I had met any of the girls, I don't think I have ever done anything that would come back to haunt me. Well, that store might have had cameras. and of course, that girl.
"Do you believe in yourself?" Tsunami asked, countering my question with one of Her own. She approached me, and it seemed, since last time, She hasn't developed a sense of personal space. Some part of me could feel the millimeters of separation between us, and my nose could feel Hers, which had sidled up against it. If I wasn't so confused, I might have been tempted to steal a kiss.
Believe in myself? That sounds so clichéd. But, it was a serious question, I think. "I do," I replied. "Just how much, I don't know," I amended.
Somehow, I couldn't help but feel that I just lied. "You are, Tenchi," Tsunami told me, and She cocked Her head to the side slightly. A gesture of confusion? "You are denying it though, from yourself."
Well, how could I fight against that? Me psyching myself out, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I? I shrugged helplessly, earning another confused look. Mortals must seem so irrational to Her, but She does have Sasami to teach Her. Then again, with our makeshift- "Family," I said, looking up at Tsunami.
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
"We're a family," I told Her. A Goddess confused, and it wasn't by one of the universe's great mysteries, but rather, a random epiphany. "You're a part of it too," I told Her. Somehow, telling someone 'I live with Goddess' didn't seem so farfetched anymore. Granted, at times I felt as if I lived within some manga, or live-action anime.
"Family?" Tsunami asked. I knew She didn't ask what the definition was. I realized. Did beings like Tsunami have lives like ours? She must know what it is, but She may not know just how it was to be in one.
"That's right, Sasami," I told her, giving Her a wink.
She blinked accordingly, before nodding in realization, knowing what She had said before on that night. "Of course." she paused, "Tenchi-ni- chan," She added, and it was I that was thrown off. The more I learn, the more I am confused. I saw Her face flush softly, just a small blush, amplifying the triangular formation of freckles that She retained. Kawaii. Sadly, She also meant business. "You are aware of the past incident that occurred."
A glib remark was on the tip of my tongue: you mean the girls, or Octopus-head? "You sent us a warning then," I said, remembering that Sasami did guess that one. There had to be a connection. "The same person sent him, the Lady?" I asked Her, using Sasami's name for the female figure in her dreams.
I saw Tsunami nod, a small smile coming to Her features, complimenting the increased color She seemed to have on Her pale skin, a faint rose glow. "Correct, but," Tsunami held up a finger. "Her objective has changed."
"Her? Who is she?" I asked. I had a feeling that Tsunami was holding back on me. Then again, I can't really read people to begin with, but, aren't 'divine' or rather, powerful beings people too? I pushed my thoughts of metaphysics out of my head, I had to focus. "Why is this person after them?" I asked, a slight edge coming to my voice.
It felt natural, for that anger to appear. Of course, that person threatened my family. I knew that when I faced Kagato that I would do what ever I could to make sure they were safe, happy, secure. Anything that threatened that would be dealt with. Why do I feel wrath? Because they are in danger.
Tsunami simply nodded, a soft gesture that did not disturb Her turquoise locks, the same coiffure that Sasami now sported, well, it was Hers to begin with. Aeka and Sasami's appearance have always bothered me, how a gaijin, well uchujin actually, seems to be from my country's past eras. Then again, the Hojo Tokuso were still in power when they left Jurai, but how did that link Yamato to Jurai?
"Tokimi," Tsunami began, and in our close proximity, I could feel the air She breathed as She spoke. I immediately filed away that name. My adversary had a name I could put to it now. Well, I'm sure the girls might know something about this person. Tsunami continued, after pausing, maybe sensing the change in my mood. "She originally sought to." She paused, "acquire Washu," She said softly, and She locked Her crimson eyes to mine, if it was possible, She brought Her face closer to mine.
"She wanted to capture Washu?" I asked Tsunami. "But," I continued, something else coming to my mind. "Why did Zero try to kill me?" I knew the answer before the question had finished leaving my mouth.
"Because Tenchi," a lecturing voice said from the side, "they were smart." I turned to see Washu, approaching us, still clad in the lime pajamas with crimson crabs. "They would eliminate the threat to their plans before making the final move towards their objective," Washu held her hand to the base of her throat, "me."
So, I was now a legitimate target. Well, its not as if I never was when Kagato came. "Why would they be after you, Washu?" I knew I was out of my depth, but it would be stupid of me not to find out.
Washu shrugged, giving me befuddled look. "I don't know either," she replied. She looked crossly at Tsunami and I. Oh. No, not this again.
"How did you get here?" I asked her. I looked out to the side and saw the Earth.
Washu gave me a look. Somehow, her new features seemed to amplify it, that stare of frustration that she gave me. "You realize that I nearly had a panic attack when you and Sasami suddenly disappeared!" she burst out, an exasperated tone evident in her duskier voice. "Luckily," she pointed out, still giving me a somewhat dirty stare, "I was able to track you-"
"How?" I interrupted, stepping away from Tsunami and facing Washu, whereas before my head was turned towards her.
"I bugged you," she said quickly, trying to mesh it into one incoherent word.
"Excuse me?" I blurted out, surprised.
"I implanted a transmitter on you, Tenchi," Washu began in a factual tone, trying a new strategy. I was not amused. I only opted to bow my head down and to repress a sigh. Of course. I just hoped it wasn't a suppository. She coughed lightly, causing me to look at her again. "The point is Tenchi, Tokimi is after you," she thrust an accusing finger out at me, emphasizing her statement. There was no mirth in those emerald eyes, only harsh reality.
"Who is Tokimi?" I asked both Tsunami and Washu, angry at my ignorance, perfectly understandable as it was. I came from a country that did not so much reward intelligence as punished ignorance, and it is really haunting me now.
"A Goddess," Washu began, walking up close to us to form a small triangle with Tsunami and I as its other vertexes. She gave a slight smirk at Tsunami's slight blink.
"How did you-" Tsunami spoke.
"-I simply took the facts and created my own hypothesis," Washu clarified, going into a lecturing tone. "Tokimi has been mentioned in past Juraian," Washu emphasized, "records before. Also," Washu held up two fingers, "other references to this person have been as either an idea, or a cult of some sort. Even as Tsunami's antithesis." Washu uncurled a third finger. "Three: these records have been spread over millennia, and always shrouded with more rhetoric than fact!" Washu spat out. "Fourth," Washu pointed her now uncurled pinky at Tsunami, "you came along, and its obvious that you are somehow related to this person." Washu made a show of closing her fist. "Thus, it stands to reason that Tokimi is related to you somehow. Rival perhaps?" Washu inquired, and I knew that she didn't intend to hear any responses.
"No," Tsunami replied simply, and Washu graced her with a doubtful look, arms akimbo in her bunched-up silk sleeves, a crimson eyebrow arched. "I am." Tsunami paused, "affiliated with Tokimi, yet-"
I cut her off, reaching a conclusion of my own. "You aren't exactly the best of friends with Her are you?" I asked, repressing a groan. Something in my mind clicked. "But, She's not after you?"
Washu gave me an approving smile as Tsunami almost looked like She grew uncomfortable. The Goddess turned to me, seeming to disregard Washu. "No, Tokimi is not aware of my presence."
"But if Tokimi was," I continued, my voice speeding up as I jumped to the next logical waypoint, "then you would also be pursued?" I asked Her.
Tsunami gave a slow nod. "Only after She has acquired Washu."
I knew Tsunami to be an incredibly powerful being, after all, She had extricated me from the vacuum where Azaka and Kamidake somehow preserved me, and helped bring forth something within me. Something that only She knew about. Why though? I also remembered that somehow, Tsunami could not defend Herself against Kagato. If they are so powerful. "Why hasn't Tokimi captured Washu by now then?" I asked, "why did She have to send someone else in Her place?"
Washu nodded, joining in. "Another item I have been wondering about," she concurred, shaking her head. "Its not as if this Goddess has a personality complex that She delegates Her work to minions," Washu growled out in a furious tone, obviously referring to Clay.
Tsunami continued to disregard Washu, almost snubbing her. "Tenchi," She began, getting my attention, closing the distance between us again, as if somehow the close proximity would help convey Her message. Actually. it did. "Tokimi and I are possessed of much." Tsunami blinked, "power." Tsunami paused a minute for me to soak in the obvious, as Her nose was again sidled up against mine, and She said softly, not nearly a whisper, "Yet, we lack precision," Tsunami finished softly, and once again, all I could see was Her face; the triangles of freckles, the rose eyes seeming to draw me in, and two circles where right triangles should have been.
"You can't focus it?" I said softly, understanding, well thinking that I understood some of what She was saying. Is that why Tsunami didn't act. or was it because She wanted me to push myself on the Shoja?
Washu's soft chuckle interrupted me, and I noticed I could identify their presences. It wasn't the strange buzz that coursed through my body from Tsunami's near-physical contact, but their beings. Tsunami's felt as if it was enveloping me, bliss, and I felt that I could accept anything that She said as truth. But, Washu's was a fierce crimson, color? It was strong, and Washu was trying to break through the secure, warm, all- encompassing shell Tsunami seemed to be. "Correct, Tenchi," the scientist in her praised me, something in that tone keeping me from feeling confident. "I would assume that respectively, Tsunami and Tokimi would wield control over tremendous force, but the inability to properly direct it as they would require."
"Then how come Tsunami can take me aboard while Tokimi can't simply snatch me away." I wondered about that.
"Because," Washu replied, "Tokimi has much more power than Tsunami, and I wager that Tokimi is used to acting on a different level than Tsunami. It isn't a matter of apples to oranges, more like apricots to watermelons."
In a brief moment of stupidity, I burst out, "She's more powerful than Tsunami?"
Tsunami nodded, pulling away as She did so. "Yes, amongst the Goddesses, Tokimi is the one who wields the most power. However, She cannot focus them on such a small level. Proxies are then sent to carry out Her will"
I looked at Washu. "In other words, we're too small for Her to even deal with Herself?"
"You don't see me wallowing in self pity," she replied, amused. "The trick is, to defeat Her minions. Though she can keep throwing them at us till the end of time. "
"Somehow I think we'll lose," I told them both, resigned in my normal manner. "I take it we can't really beat Her, so what do we do? Find some way to force Her to back off?"
Washu waggled her finger at me. "Close, there is no conceivable way we can confront Tokimi and win decisively; it'd be hard to even define what the conditions for victory will be. However, Goddess or no, the Bitch can be satiated. Its simply a matter of finding out how. Is that right?" She looked towards Tsunami, a tiny predatory edge in her light smile. I felt a bit used, thinking that she may have used me to set up Tsunami to revealing anything she was hiding from us.
Tsunami blinked, almost as if She was off in Her own little world, oblivious to the small bits of hostility even I detected from Washu. "There is one way." Washu leaned in closer, as did I. "To give yourselves over to Her."
I slumped slightly, and I saw Washu's left brow twitch. "Of course," I said, with some resigned humor in my voice. "So we can't just hope for something else to distract Her so that She'll stop sending Her followers after us?" I asked rhetorically.
Washu perked up. "It's the only solution we do have, Tokimi doesn't exactly follow a timetable, does she." She had a sly smile on her face, mixed with a maniacal glitter in the viridian eyes. I originally thought that light, crystalline blue eyes were the color of madness in people, now I know it to be emerald. "I can," she began, "make a device that is capable of delivering enough energy in a precise position as well as instability to a wide," she gestured, "area."
I could hear the 'but' in her statement before she got to it. "Yet somehow it'd end up destroying a galaxy or two, right?"
"The universe actually," Washu replied, casually disappointed. "Keep in mind, Tokimi isn't on the same plane we are, so when," I frowned at her for that, "we do, if we do," she corrected herself, "it would have to be delivered into her dimension. The ripples of which would of course rip through a couple of dimensional barriers and tear a universe or two apart."
"In addition to causing several galaxies to implode totally and begin absorbing their neighbors," Tsunami interrupted patiently. "The universe would not be so much destroyed as recycled."
"Wait," I said, a thought just entering in my mind, "you've thought about it?"
Tsunami gave me a nod, and I felt like smashing my head repeatedly onto Her namesake tree. Well, I suppose it was logical, but such thinking pretty much had this world under the blanket of total nuclear annihilation because two damn nations and ways of governing just had to have their way.
"Even with the wings of the Light Hawk, I know I cannot defeat all that Tokimi might send against us," I told them up front. I may be able to hold them off for a long time, but then again, that is the issue: time. How long till She grows tired and gives us a break, or perchance another matter comes up entire and She is distracted by either a crisis or a shiny new toy to have."
"That's the second time you mentioned it," Washu told me. "It does make sense however, yet finding something that could divert the miniscule amount of attention She does have for us would be hard to find. Its not like She has a thing for jewelry or some other petty hobby."
"Are you able to render any advice or assistance to us now?" I asked Tsunami, turning back to enjoy the vista of the Earth from above, I tried to spot Japan, but couldn't. I saw the telltale prong of the Korean peninsula, but apparently the home islands were obscured by clouds. all except for a certain bit of green that I knew to be Okayama. Then again it could have been Kyushu for all the precision I had from up here.
"I cannot interfere," Sasami's future self told us. "For me to do so would only invoke more of Tokimi's attention." She looked at the two of us. "Needless to say, you will have to be Tenchi's power base."
"Excuse me," Washu chimed in, "its not as if you're setting him up to be the Emperor of Jurai are you?" Tsunami's constant stare didn't answer Washu's remark. "Since you can't help in a direct fashion, which is what we need you most for, we will have to rely on ourselves." Washu looked at me, as if measuring me somehow. "Tenchi, you know what this means."
I shrugged. "I've asked for your assistance before. This shouldn't be so different. I wonder though, if you girls weren't bickering, just how much would we able to accomplish?" I could have sworn I saw Tsunami grimace for a moment. "Washu seems to have the most resources." I trailed off.
"Does this mean you become my little guinea pig?" she remarked in a voice that tried to be cute.
I sniffed a little. "This makes it official," I told her. "Really though, I know you've wanted to see just how I'm attached to the wings and how I am able to use them."
"Have you been hiding something from me?" Washu asked, leaning in slightly.
"No," I replied honestly. "Its something that I'm afraid of; being the unknown. I've consciously pulled them out before, but of course, there were mitigating circumstances. My swordsmanship isn't exactly a shining example of budo; hell, I don't even have an official form!"
"Actually, it's the Terran adaptation of a rather flashy Jurain form," Washu told me. "The fundamentals were there. The Juraians evolved it from kinetic weapons; metals and nonmetals, polearms when they used energy-based melee weapon, polearm and sword essentially meshed and became one. All Yosho did was take a step back and adapt it to the local weaponry," Washu went on, seeming to be immersed in her lecture. "The Japanese developed a weapon early on and stuck with it for centuries, so Yosho had a reliable version. Hell, the Katana may only have been several centuries old, but it did have similar Tachi roots before."
"Which helps me how?" I brought up. I could tell she wanted to hit me then. Then again, I did shoot down her lecture.
"Why'd you bring up your swordsmanship?" Washu replied. "Offensively and defensively, the wings are all but infallible. However-"
"Its deploying them that's the problem," I finished for her, earning an approving nod. "Its worthless when they catch me off-guard, or when they attack any of you," I emphasized, "outside of my sphere of influence." A pun. ha-ha, it is to laugh.
"Correct. This is why you need us, me, actually, to help you. Come on, just how much help you think Aeka and Ryoko are going to be in this situation. They are liabilities," Washu clarified, "they pretty much have damsel-in-distress syndrome down pat."
I bowed my head at that. "Ouch, still, they do need to be in the plan, every little bit helps, plus they do have their own abilities."
"Combat-wise, Ryoko, and even Aeka are formidable. However, they were nothing against Kagato," she snarled his name. Her face grew serious, grim and showing no small amount of fear. "Unless I unlock something I built into my daughter," Washu said slowly, and I knew I would not ask her why not, "only you will be at the level any of who She chooses to send against you. You will have to rely on us as your support structure. You can only do so much alone. What's a well-trained army without guidance, a home, food, scouts, and spies. nothing."
"Sun-Tzu," I coughed.
"Common sense, actually," Washu told me. "You're still going to have to be the man of the household," she jibed, and I felt as if I wouldn't really mind. Though of course, I wish the circumstances were different. "Yet, on the bright side, you have us girls to help you out." I wondered if I was being patronized.
"I will observe and do what I can," Tsunami told the two of us. "However, Washu is correct, Tenchi, you will have to rely upon them as your structure. However, make sure you can function independent of them since Tokimi's own will try to isolate you from them."
I nodded. "As what happened in Sasami's vision," I thought out loud. "If you can Sasami," I told her softly, using Her other name, "is there anything that I can do to prepare."
Tsunami smile changed from the serene, benevolent, almost bubble- headed fashion she seemed to always have. It was Sasami's. one with a hint of sadness. Ignoring Washu, she reached out to grasp my shoulders and pulled me close. She touched her emblem unto mine and I heard her voice in my mind. "You have to let us go."
***
There was no sparkling that accompanied my return back to Earth, no flash, nothing. One moment I was aboard Tsunami, now I'm back with my feet in the grass. I did not have to look down to know that Sasami was in front of me, her small hands now on my forearms not my shoulders as Tsunami had. Wisely, I chose not to ask anymore. I could ask and ask, but if I couldn't even understand the fundamentals as to what they meant to me, it'd be pointless to simply sift through their own reasons half-assed.
I noticed that we had returned next to the Yukinojo, and I saw Mihoshi perched up on its upturned wing. Splotched with caked earth and dried mud, the ship still had dignity. As did its mistress, reclining against where the starboard wing met the fuselage, clasping her left knee to herself, leg bent, while her right was splayed forwards. Our eyes met, and I waved. "Did you miss us?" I joked.
"A little," she called back. "You were only gone for a couple of minutes, by the way, what did you do?" She stood, walking up to the fore of the wing's front, and looked down at us, hands touching her sides.
"Tsunami wanted to talk," I answered. I looked down at Sasami and back up at Mihoshi. I mouthed my next statement. "About the dream."
Mihoshi did not acknowledge what told her. Instead, she jumped down and walked up to us. "What do you want to do now, Sasami?" she asked our smallest member in the group.
"Home," she decided, taking my left hand in her left as she began to lead us home. "I don't want to miss my show," she clarified, and I laughed. I remember those days. never thought I'd stop watching morning anime.
My stomach growled low, and my two companions laughed. "Well, my appetite is for food, not for the view." With Sasami on my left, and Mihoshi at my right, we began to make the short trip back to the house. "I wonder what's taking Washu so long," I mused.
Mihoshi sighed, "Tenchi, you shouldn't go saying things like that," she told me softly.
"Why?" Oh, nevermind.
With impeccable timing, a portal opened up several meters above and to the left of us, and letting out a shriek, Washu plummeted to the field of grass. I winced as she impacted, cutting off her scream with a grunt as her wind was knocked out. The three of us just stared. When Washu picked herself up off the ground, several grass stains were on her, shaded streaks of viridian on her limbs and several darker stains on her dress. "Dammit Tenchi! Don't you know you're supposed to catch me." she grumbled, and I held up my occupied arms in reply. I smiled at her, why did I find her new makeup so cute? "That's not an excuse," she scolded me, taking up the vanguard position. "Ack, my dress!"
It was just something about that statement, and especially coming from someone like Washu that I found so amusing that I began to chuckle openly. At the wounded look she gave me, I shook my head. "Sorry, I just think you look well, beautiful." She was, stains and all. Something about her adult form, her true form in such simple, yet elegant attire. She didn't quite fill the lime sundress out, and the hollows and folds that were there fascinated me.
"You're not normal, you know that?" Washu remarked, and I was glad that she didn't take offense.
I saw a black and orange mass approaching us at high speed from the fields. It cried out with a trademark Mi-ya! "Wait, Ryo-ohki isn't orange," I thought out loud.
The inbound cabbit altered its flight path towards our party, and Washu walked up towards her, kneeling down on one knee, her arms opened out wide, ready to receive her daughter in a classic come-to-mama pose. I really should start carrying a camera. Washu, beyond her heart, about to gather up Ryo-Ohki into her arms.
It was a beautiful moment, and would have been just adorable had not Ryo-Ohki missed Washu's arms entirely, instead using her mother's coiffure as a trampoline of sorts to leap into Sasami's grasp, who had broken for me to welcome her playmate. Washu held that pose, the look on her face souring from frozen shock to a tremble as Mihoshi let out a gleeful laugh as Sasami hugged Ryo-Ohki to herself, a pilfered carrot in the cabbit's mouth.
I walked over to Washu and helped her up, giving her a sympathetic smile. I didn't know what to say. Instead I looked over at Ryo-Ohki, who somehow managed to strap a bundle of carrots to her back. No wonder I'm usually short a few.
I glanced up and saw something odd in the sky. Well, something odd about the fixture Washu had somehow installed; the floating onsen. The transparent dome was covered in wash, obvious that a lot of water was being tossed about. "What's going on over there?" I asked.
"Oh, Aeka and Ryoko are taking a morning soak," Mihoshi told us. Washu and I looked at each other and sighed. I winced sympathetically at the flustered scientist, tugging on her right hand gently with my left as I began to lead her back to the house.
"In the morning? Really! Those two have problems," Washu remarked, and I found it funny that she was embarrassed at her other daughter's antics. I chose to say nothing, not wanting to make an unwarranted wisecrack.
We reached the deck and hopped onto the polished oak boards. I watched them enter the house, and followed, thinking, that for now, all was right with the world.
End 'Epiphany'
