Chapter 14 - "Ladies and gentleman: Jurai!"
"Tenchi." Katsuhito's voice came clear across the field. Tenchi put down the tool he was using and straightened as his grandfather drew near.
"Yes, Grandpa?"
"Tenchi, should you be doing this?" Katsuhito asked. "Washu said you would start to get tired quickly and that you should be careful of your health."
Tenchi shrugged. "I don't know, Grandpa. She also has a sad look on her face when she sees me. I don't think she has much hope. Besides, I'm bored doing nothing all day."
Katsuhito nodded. "Can you stop for a while?"
Tenchi nodded. "Sure."
Katsuhito grunted and walked away. Tenchi caught up and together they went up to the shrine. They settled at the table and Katsuhito set a glass of iced tea in front of both of them.
"Thank you, Grandpa," Tenchi said, raising his glass and drinking deeply.
"Tenchi," Katsuhito said after Tenchi had set the glass back down. "I am proud of the way you are behaving with this burden on your shoulders."
Tenchi shrugged. "There's nothing I can do. Either I'll be cured or I won't. Worrying won't help. Besides, as many times as I've faced things that could have killed me... Well, you just stop worrying after a while." He looked at Katsuhito helplessly, not quite able to say what was on his mind.
Katsuhito nodded. "You have learned well what you have been taught."
"Thank you for teaching me, Grandpa."
"It wasn't just me," he smiled. "Everyone in this house has taught you something." Tenchi nodded. "Now, what are you doing with these girls?"
Tenchi sighed. "If you mean why was I with them; well, it's complicated."
"Matters of the heart always are," Katsuhito said. "Especially when they are confused with matters of the trousers."
Tenchi smiled, a little uncomfortably. "Well, Mihoshi fell on me and then she sort of insisted - not that I fought her. Ayeka just wanted to be near me the other night and I woke up next to her and things just sort of happened. Ryoko," Tenchi paused for a moment. "I thought that I would... Um... This is hard to put into words..."
Katsuhito nodded. "You thought you would give Ryoko what she has wanted for all these years."
"Yes."
"But what she wants is your love, Tenchi."
"I know that, Grandpa. But the way things are, I gave her all I have time to give her."
"Listen to me carefully," Katushito said. "You have many friends and while Washu knows many things, she does not know everything. Do not give up hope and do not stop thinking about your future."
Tenchi nodded. "Thank you, Grandpa." He stood, going to the door.
"Tenchi!" Katsuhito called to him as he began to close the door.
"Yes, Grandpa?" Tenchi asked, pausing.
"Stay away from Washu," Katsuhito said with a small smile. "She's mine."
"Grandpa!" Tenchi said, surprised.
Katsuhito laughed and waved Tenchi on his way. Tenchi closed the door and was gone.
"...and I realized that since the entire Jurai royal family was the target of the attack - even if it only affected Tenchi, that the attack on Ayeka might be related," Mihoshi explained.
Ryoko nodded.
"So, if we keep following the lead you had, it might take us back to the same people."
"Fleer," Ryoko said.
"That's all you have?" Mihoshi asked.
"That's what I got," she confirmed. "But it's a good start. If he's the kind of guy who gets jobs like an attack on Ryu-Oh, then he can be tracked down."
Mihoshi nodded. "I think we should take Ryo-Ohki. What do you think?"
"Yeah," Ryoko agreed. "And I know a good place to start looking."
They stopped in Washu's lab. She was perched on her pillow working on her terminal. "Washu?" Mihoshi said as they entered.
"Oh, there you are," she said, getting down. She walked over to them and opened a subspace pocket, reached in and pulled out a small box-shaped device. On the front was a single large button.
"When you get to Jurai, find me a convenient closet, put this on the door and push the button."
"That's it?" Ryoko asked.
"Yep, that's it. That way I can move the door to the lab."
"Ah, okay. Got you," Mihoshi said. "No problem, Washu. You can count on us."
"We won't be staying on Jurai," Ryoko said.
Washu nodded. "Another lead?"
"An old one, actually," Ryoko replied. "The attack on Ayeka."
Understanding lit Washu's face. "Right. Since it looks like it was a Juraian responsible for both, and both were attacks on the royal family, it's a good bet that some of the same people were involved. Good detective work."
"Tell Mihoshi. She figured it out," Ryoko said.
Washu smiled, turning to Mihoshi she said, "Good work, Detective Kuramitsu."
"Thank you Professor Hakubi," Mihoshi said, returning the smile.
"Well," Washu said, smiling at them both. "That's all I needed. Thanks for carrying that for me."
"Oh, no problem, Washu. Bye!" Mihoshi said. She turned to leave and noticed that Ryoko hadn't moved. "You coming, Ryoko?"
"Mihoshi, could you give me a minute with Washu?"
"Oh, sure Ryoko! Take your time." And she left, closing the door behind her.
"Washu... Mom," Ryoko began.
"Hmm..." Washu interrupted. "You're calling me 'mom', which you only do when you're upset or you want a favor."
"Uh, both," Ryoko said.
"Ah! Then it's about Tenchi," Washu said, Ryoko nodded. "And Sasami," Washu finished. Ryoko nodded again, looking miserable.
Washu sighed. "Ryoko, honey, I'm not sure there's anything I can do."
"Just..." Ryoko hesitated. "Just don't let Tenchi forget about me while he's with Sasami. She's in love with him, Washu; and that damn Tsunami is, too. I just know she's going to be trying to take him from me."
Washu looked sad. "Sweetheart," she said. "I'll do what I can. But maybe it's, well, not..."
Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, Washu?"
Washu sighed again. "There's no good way to say this, Ryoko. But you and Ayeka have been fighting over Tenchi for years, doing everything you could to freeze the other out and win Tenchi for yourselves. Yet, in all that time neither of you has gotten anywhere.
"Ayeka stopped chasing Tenchi over a year ago and things between you and Tenchi have stayed pretty much the same. Now, Sasami is chasing Tenchi and... I'm sorry, Ryoko, but she seems to be succeeding. Maybe it's just not meant-"
"Don't say it, Washu," Ryoko said lowly. "It's not true. I won't let it be true. Tenchi is the only one for me. All I have to do is prove that I'm the only one for him. All you need to do is to keep Sasami from taking advantage of my being gone. Just remind Tenchi is all. It'll work. It has to work." When she was done, her expression was earnest, almost desperate.
Washu nodded. "All right, Ryoko. I'll try."
"Thank you, Washu!" Ryoko said. "I'll see you." She turned and left.
Washu watched her go, her expression unhappy. "Oh, my Little Ryoko. What have I done? What will happen to you if Tenchi can't be cured?" She sighed, looking at her hands. "What if he can be cured and you're not the one?" Washu shook her head and sat back on her pillow and resumed working; her typing beginning slowly and then picking up as she focused on her work.
Tenchi woke up. He noticed the shadows slanting along the wall and, glancing at the clock, he realized it was late afternoon. 'I slept longer than I wanted to,' he thought. He had laid down for a nap after lunch, intending to rest for just a few minutes before heading back out into the fields, and had slept for several hours. Lately, he'd been more and more tired. So had everyone else; he was feeling the effects of the nano poison and the others were short on sleep from worrying about him.
He heard a small sound and realized that Sasami was asleep in a chair next to his bed. She had been sitting with him while he slept and had dozed off. Tenchi watched her for a few moments; noticing the dark circles under her eyes and that her face wasn't as rosy as normal.
'Poor Sasami.'
He watched her for a few more moments, thoughts chasing each other through his head; then a single thought rose clear: 'She's so beautiful.' Tenchi's heart jumped just looking at her. 'What is this?' he wondered. 'What am I feeling?'
He thought about the things everyone had been telling him. He thought about what Ayeka had said: that his fears had hurt the women in his life far more than his decisions every could. He hadn't been lying to Ayeka when he'd told her he'd felt helpless to make any sort of decision; but now he wondered if his indecision was really because his feelings for them were equal.
Or was it something else? 'Was I ever really in love with any of them?' he wondered.
Mihoshi had been right that he'd never felt more than fond of her. He knew that; he had known it almost immediately. And Washu was... Well, she was Washu. Her attempts to get his attention and his 'samples' had been annoying, flattering and frightening at the same time. No, there was no deep love there.
Ayeka? He respected and admired her greatly; but despite her best efforts there had never truly been a spark between them. It had all been wishful thinking on her part.
Ryoko... Ryoko... It seemed like he'd spent every waking moment since she'd found him on the roof of his school asking her to leave him alone and behave herself. But still, he'd half expected to find himself in love with her eventually; she was beautiful and made no secret that she'd do anything for him. He'd waited for it to happen and even thought once or twice that it had; that he was in love with her. But now he realized that he wasn't; that he never had been.
And Sasami?
Tenchi looked at her, her breathing slow and her face slack and he felt his heart swell again and he knew that there was nobody he'd rather see when he first woke up. Tenchi felt a cold shock shoot from the roots of his hair to his feet. 'So, this is how it feels,' he thought, surprised and happy. He smiled.
He reached out and took her hand and she stirred, then lifted her head and opened her eyes. "Hi, Tenchi," she said quietly.
"Hi, Sasami."
"How do you feel?" she asked.
Tenchi shrugged. "Okay, I guess," he replied.
Sasami smiled. "Do you want anything?"
"I think I want to get up." Tenchi smiled in return.
Sasami nodded. "Okay. I need to get started on dinner."
"I'll help you. Since I missed my afternoon in the fields, I might as well make myself useful."
"Okay!" Sasami said, beaming.
Tenchi smiled as well and swung his feet to the floor, surprised at how tired he still felt. 'You're not going to say a word, Tenchi,' he resolved. 'Or change anything yet.' With this illness hanging over his head, he just couldn't. It was better to leave things as they were for now than to be honest and make everything so much worse.
Washu was hard at work on the glasses Mihoshi had brought back from Tsimech's lab. She'd analyzed the strain of the nano-poison and determined that it was different; it remained for her to determine how it was different and what that difference meant.
A harsh buzzing tone erupted and a red light began blinking. "WAAH!" Surprised, Washu nearly fell from her pillow. "Hey, terrific!" she said when she'd recovered.
In a moment, she'd gone into the house and summoned everyone and told them to gather their things and meet her in the living room. A short time later, Ayeka, Sasami and Tenchi had their bags and were in the living room facing Washu's door.
"Okay, everybody's here," Washu said. "Let's all climb aboard the Washu Express. Next stop, Jurai!" Washu opened the door to her lab and ushered them inside.
"Uh, what about dad and grandpa?" Tenchi asked.
"Oh! I left them a note Tenchi," Sasami said.
"Thanks, Sasami."
Once they were inside, Washu directed them to some couches set in one area of her lab. "Please be seated," she said. "The show is about to start!"
Washu sat on her pillow and summoned her terminal. She cracked her knuckles and began keying. After a few moments, she turned to the group and said, "Before they left, I gave Mihoshi and Ryoko a small device to take to Jurai."
The group felt a powerful hum in the lab; too low to hear but more than strong enough to feel.
"With the activation of that device, which provides highly accurate coordinates to my temporo-spatial displacement generator, I am now able to do this!"
With a flourish, Washu touched the keyboard a final time and, a moment later, the lab door reappeared with a soft chime.
Washu skipped over to the door and stood next to it with her hand on the knob saying, "Ladies and gentleman: Jurai!" She yanked open the door, revealing a man sitting on the toilet reading a magazine. He looked up in shock and screamed; Washu slammed the door shut. "Heh heh. Whoops."
"Wasn't that Mr. Iwakuni, the mailman?" Sasami asked.
"Ahem," Washu said, working with her terminal. After a moment, there was a flash of light under the door and a tone. Washu walked over to the door, opened it a little and peeked in. With a smile, she stepped back, cleared her throat and said, "Ladies and gentleman: Jurai!"
When she threw open the door, they were looking at the common area of the suite they'd been in during their stay. Funaho, and Misaki were standing in front of the door.
"Hello, everyone!" Funaho said.
"Washu!" Misaki cried, moving toward Washu with her arms thrown open.
"No time for that, Misaki!" Washu yelled, deftly grabbing her hand and hauling her bodily into the lab. In seconds Misaki was up against the scanner and Washu was saying, "Now, don't move or it'll throw my readings off!"
"But... But..." Misaki said, clearly upset. "I didn't get a chance to say hello to my girls."
"They'll still be there in a few minutes. Now hold still!" Washu was keying furiously into her terminal and scanning arms were sprouting from all sides, hemming Misaki in with their busy movements.
"Hi mom!" Ayeka and Sasami said in chorus, waving and smiling.
"Waah!" Misaki burst into tears.
"It seems," Funaho said, "that my sister's affection may have finally met its match in Washu's concentration."
"Don't be flip, Little Funaho", Washu said over her shoulder and Misaki's tears. "You're next!"
Funaho bowed slightly, smiling. "All right," she said, "but do I really have to take my clothes off?"
"Oh! Damn that Mihoshi!" Washu muttered.
"Where are we going, Ryoko?" Mihoshi asked as they watched Jurai recede in Ryo-Ohki's displays.
"Lossemiye," Ryoko said. "Got that, Ryo-Ohki?"
"Miya!" she answered, shifting her course.
"There's someone there that will know where this guy Fleer is. He knows pretty much everyone who does this sort of work."
"Will he talk to us?"
Ryoko nodded. "He owes me," she said.
Mihoshi nodded. "What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"The whole 'space pirate' thing," Mihoshi said.
Ryoko was silent for a few moments; the she said, "Worse than I can possibly describe."
"You seemed pretty upset on Jurai," Mihoshi said.
"Sometimes it's like a nightmare; something that was a bad dream and now I'm awake and it's all over, fading. Other times, it's like it was just yesterday."
Ryoko favored Mihoshi with a wan smile. "On Jurai it was like yesterday."
Mihoshi nodded. "If you were Kagato's puppet, then how do you know anybody on Lossemiye?"
"He didn't always take direct control. Sometimes he'd send me off to do things - mostly find information - on my own while he was doing something else."
"Why does this person owe you a favor?"
Ryoko frowned, her voice setting into a hard monotone. "He knew something that Kagato wanted to know. He wouldn't tell me, I'm not sure why; but he said he'd die first. Normally, I'd have just taken him back to Kagato and he would have gotten the information... And killed him getting it. But...
"I was holding him by the throat and I had my sword and I was about to have Ryo-Ohki take us aboard when... When a child ran in, his daughter. She was so little. She grabbed me around the legs and cried, begged me not to take him away. I looked down into her eyes and I couldn't... I just couldn't."
Ryoko's eyes grew distant and her mouth became a tight line, her mind replaying the scene...
She had him by the throat, holding him off the ground. He held her wrist in both hands, struggling to get air and to ease the pressure on his windpipe. Her sword blazed in her hand, drawn back threateningly; her gems glowed with power.
"Fine," she said. "You won't talk to me, you can talk to Kagato. I guarantee you that you won't be coming back here."
"NO!" There was a high-pitched shriek from another room. A child dashed through a doorway and ran toward them. Her expression was frantic and tears flowed down her face. "Daddy!" she cried. She ran up to Ryoko and threw her arms around her legs. "Please don't take my daddy! Please!"
Ryoko was about to kick the child away and call Ryo-Ohki to bring them aboard when she looked down and saw looking up at her a little girl with a wild mane of pale blue hair and honey-colored eyes. "Please!" she said. "Don't!"
Ryoko suddenly felt detached from the scene, as if instead of being there she was watching it on a video screen. There was a buzzing in her ears and her vision contracted until the only thing she could see was the girl's eyes.
And then, for a long time, she knew nothing.
Ryoko shook her head, her eyes clearing and continued. "I collapsed on his floor and I didn't move for a while. When I got up, I told him not to worry and I left. I told Kagato I couldn't find him. Kagato knew I was lying about something, and he punished me, but I never did tell him the truth. Luckily he was too busy to check for himself; he was getting ready to send me to Jurai."
"Oh, Ryoko," Mihoshi sniffed, "that's awful. I'm so sorry."
Ryoko shrugged and tried to smile. "It was a long time ago," she said, "and I'm not the same person now. I never really was that person. And now, I have all of you."
Mihoshi put a hand on Ryoko's shoulder and squeezed. "That's right," she said. "You have all of us."
Ryoko favored Mihoshi with a small smile.
"Now," Mihoshi said. "Do you want to talk about Tenchi?"
Ryoko glared at her for a moment, then said, "I was trying to avoid thinking about it. Besides, what is there to talk about?"
"I don't know, Ryoko. It just seemed like something that might be bothering you, so I thought I'd ask."
Ryoko sighed. "I'm upset about you being with Tenchi, okay?"
"Is that all?" Mihoshi asked.
"All?" Ryoko said with an incredulous tone. "Isn't that enough?"
"I don't understand, Ryoko," Mihoshi said, her expression innocent.
Ryoko, knowing that Mihoshi honestly didn't understand, sighed again. "It's... It's jealousy and envy and... Possessiveness, I guess. The idea of Tenchi making love with you - and Ayeka - bothers me."
"Well, he's not in love with me."
Ryoko grunted. "He has a funny way of showing it."
"Making love isn't being in love, Ryoko. Loving someone, and making love with someone, doesn't always mean that you're in love with them. Tenchi loves me, and I love him, but we're not in love with each other."
"You were. Besides, if you're not in love, then why make love? I don't get it."
"Oh, Ryoko," Mihoshi said. "Even if I was in love with Tenchi once, I'm not any more. He just doesn't have it in him to fall in love with me. But, why make love? Why not, I guess. It's not like you can run out of love or wear something out making it."
Ryoko grunted lowly, looking unconvinced.
"Ryoko," Mihoshi said patiently. "Even if Ayeka or I wanted Tenchi, we wouldn't get him. He's not interested in spending his life with either of us. You have no reason to be jealous."
Ryoko shrugged. "I'm not really worried about you two."
"Sasami?" Mihoshi asked.
Ryoko nodded, looking very unhappy.
"Well," Washu said, addressing the group, "I'm officially stumped. Except for Tenchi you're all as healthy as horses."
"Horses?" Misaki asked.
"An earth animal," Funaho told her. "They're used for riding and labor."
"So, that's a good thing?" Misaki asked. Funaho nodded. "Oh, good!" Misaki said with a smile.
"Are they healthy like Mihoshi and you? Or are they healthy like Sasami and me?" Ayeka asked.
"That is an excellent good question, Miss Ayeka," Washu said with a smile. "And the answer is that they're healthy like you and Sasami. The poison simply stopped working for no reason that I can see."
"What's next, Washu?" Funaho asked.
"Well, the theory is that this happened at the banquet. Since the king also shows traces of the poison, that seems to bear out. That was the only time he ate with the rest of us. So, my next step will be a detailed analysis of everyone who attended the banquet. Is that possible?"
Funaho nodded. "Yes, but not without raising suspicion."
"Scaring off whoever did this," Washu finished for her. "How about an excuse?"
"How about a problem with the food at the banquet?" Sasami suggested.
Washu shook her head. "A little too close to the truth."
"It would be easier if they didn't have to go into your lab. Is that possible?" Funaho asked.
Washu crossed her arms and put one index finger along her jaw. "Well," she said, "I guess I could rig up a portable unit. However, it would only be able to record the data, not analyze it. That would have to be done later in my lab."
"How long will the scan take, Washu?" Ayeka asked.
"If I recalibrate and optimize for scan speed and increase the density of the scanning heads, only a second or two, I guess," Washu said.
"I have it, then," Ayeka said. "Let us call everyone at the banquet together for a group picture in the banquet hall. We will set your equipment up in the door to the room and scan them all as they walk in."
"Well, it's pretty cheesy, but it might work..." Washu replied.
"Simple solutions are sometimes the best," Funaho said.
"Humph, maybe," Washu grumped. "But they're no damn fun. But, if that's the way you want to do it! You roll them in and I'll look them over."
Fleer had proven very difficult to track down. They might never have found him if it hadn't been for the stark terror that Ryoko caused in the chain of contacts that lead to him. As she found when she first started tracking Fleer down, the years she'd spent trapped in the cave had only made her more fearsome in people's minds.
"I don't like it that everyone's afraid of me," Ryoko said. "People use me to scare their kids; I'm nothing but a monster."
"I know, it's awful," Mihoshi replied. "But you have to admit that it's getting us where we need to be. You can straighten it all out after we find Fleer."
Ryoko nodded.
Eventually, they arrived at a quiet world surprisingly close to Jurai. They set down at the spaceport and soon were pulling up in front of a nondescript house at the edge of town. Beyond the town, behind the house, grassy prairie stretched as far as the eye could see.
A man sat on the front porch of the house and watched the three arrive. Mihoshi and Ryoko, carrying Ryo-Ohki, stepped up onto the porch. The man sat silently, watching them.
"Mr. Fleer?" Mihoshi said.
The man sighed heavily. "I wondered when you'd get here. Are you Jurai security or Galaxy Police?"
"I'm First Class Detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Galaxy Police," Mihoshi said, showing her identification. "My partner is Ryoko Hakubi."
Fleer's eyes widened slightly. "The Ryoko?" he asked.
Ryoko nodded.
Fleer nodded in response. "I'll assume you're not here to kill me, Ryoko. The GP doesn't work that way."
"Oh, I certainly wouldn't mind killing you, after what you tried to do to my friend. But this is Mihoshi's show," Ryoko replied.
Fleer nodded, eyeing Ryoko warily. "What are the charges?" he asked Mihoshi.
"I'm not here to arrest you, Mr. Fleer; just to question you," Mihoshi said.
Fleer looked surprised, then suspicious. "Question me about what?"
"About your involvement in the attack on the Jurai Space Tree Ryu- Oh," Mihoshi replied.
"But you're not here to arrest me?" Fleer asked.
"No. I'm investigating another matter we believe is connected."
Fleer grunted. "Ask your questions, then." Mihoshi pulled out her control cube and set it to record. "Hold it!" Fleer said, holding up a hand.
Mihoshi and Ryoko looked at him.
"I know the normal speech when you turn that thing on is that anything I say can be used against me. I'm not speaking on the record."
"Mr. Fleer..." Mihoshi said, soothingly.
Fleer shook his head. "No. I've lost enough already on this deal. All I have left in the universe is this house and my freedom. I'm not going to risk those."
Mihoshi nodded and put the control cube away. "Mr. Fleer, we think the person who hired you to attack Ryu-Oh is behind another attack on the Jurai royal family. We need to know who hired you."
"I can tell you, but that's not who you're looking for."
Mihoshi and Ryoko blinked at Fleer. "He's not?" Mihoshi asked.
Fleer shook his head. "No. And he's dead anyway."
"I don't understand," Mihoshi said.
"The one who hired me is dead, but he was working for someone else; I don't know who."
"You have no idea who your contact was working for?"
"That's what I said," Fleer growled. "If I did know, he'd be dead too."
"Why is that?," Mihoshi asked.
Fleer sighed. "My contact was my brother and he turned up murdered on Jurai. If you find out who hired him, you let me know."
"What was your brother's name?" Mihoshi asked.
"Unwalla," Fleer replied. "Stavros Unwalla."
Mihoshi nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Fleer. I'm sorry about your loss. And if I were you I'd start packing my things. Jurai security is very interested in your activities; sooner or later they'll be here, too. And they're not going to leave after asking a few questions."
Mihoshi, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki left Fleer sitting on his porch, returned to the spaceport and left for Jurai.
"Tenchi." Katsuhito's voice came clear across the field. Tenchi put down the tool he was using and straightened as his grandfather drew near.
"Yes, Grandpa?"
"Tenchi, should you be doing this?" Katsuhito asked. "Washu said you would start to get tired quickly and that you should be careful of your health."
Tenchi shrugged. "I don't know, Grandpa. She also has a sad look on her face when she sees me. I don't think she has much hope. Besides, I'm bored doing nothing all day."
Katsuhito nodded. "Can you stop for a while?"
Tenchi nodded. "Sure."
Katsuhito grunted and walked away. Tenchi caught up and together they went up to the shrine. They settled at the table and Katsuhito set a glass of iced tea in front of both of them.
"Thank you, Grandpa," Tenchi said, raising his glass and drinking deeply.
"Tenchi," Katsuhito said after Tenchi had set the glass back down. "I am proud of the way you are behaving with this burden on your shoulders."
Tenchi shrugged. "There's nothing I can do. Either I'll be cured or I won't. Worrying won't help. Besides, as many times as I've faced things that could have killed me... Well, you just stop worrying after a while." He looked at Katsuhito helplessly, not quite able to say what was on his mind.
Katsuhito nodded. "You have learned well what you have been taught."
"Thank you for teaching me, Grandpa."
"It wasn't just me," he smiled. "Everyone in this house has taught you something." Tenchi nodded. "Now, what are you doing with these girls?"
Tenchi sighed. "If you mean why was I with them; well, it's complicated."
"Matters of the heart always are," Katsuhito said. "Especially when they are confused with matters of the trousers."
Tenchi smiled, a little uncomfortably. "Well, Mihoshi fell on me and then she sort of insisted - not that I fought her. Ayeka just wanted to be near me the other night and I woke up next to her and things just sort of happened. Ryoko," Tenchi paused for a moment. "I thought that I would... Um... This is hard to put into words..."
Katsuhito nodded. "You thought you would give Ryoko what she has wanted for all these years."
"Yes."
"But what she wants is your love, Tenchi."
"I know that, Grandpa. But the way things are, I gave her all I have time to give her."
"Listen to me carefully," Katushito said. "You have many friends and while Washu knows many things, she does not know everything. Do not give up hope and do not stop thinking about your future."
Tenchi nodded. "Thank you, Grandpa." He stood, going to the door.
"Tenchi!" Katsuhito called to him as he began to close the door.
"Yes, Grandpa?" Tenchi asked, pausing.
"Stay away from Washu," Katsuhito said with a small smile. "She's mine."
"Grandpa!" Tenchi said, surprised.
Katsuhito laughed and waved Tenchi on his way. Tenchi closed the door and was gone.
"...and I realized that since the entire Jurai royal family was the target of the attack - even if it only affected Tenchi, that the attack on Ayeka might be related," Mihoshi explained.
Ryoko nodded.
"So, if we keep following the lead you had, it might take us back to the same people."
"Fleer," Ryoko said.
"That's all you have?" Mihoshi asked.
"That's what I got," she confirmed. "But it's a good start. If he's the kind of guy who gets jobs like an attack on Ryu-Oh, then he can be tracked down."
Mihoshi nodded. "I think we should take Ryo-Ohki. What do you think?"
"Yeah," Ryoko agreed. "And I know a good place to start looking."
They stopped in Washu's lab. She was perched on her pillow working on her terminal. "Washu?" Mihoshi said as they entered.
"Oh, there you are," she said, getting down. She walked over to them and opened a subspace pocket, reached in and pulled out a small box-shaped device. On the front was a single large button.
"When you get to Jurai, find me a convenient closet, put this on the door and push the button."
"That's it?" Ryoko asked.
"Yep, that's it. That way I can move the door to the lab."
"Ah, okay. Got you," Mihoshi said. "No problem, Washu. You can count on us."
"We won't be staying on Jurai," Ryoko said.
Washu nodded. "Another lead?"
"An old one, actually," Ryoko replied. "The attack on Ayeka."
Understanding lit Washu's face. "Right. Since it looks like it was a Juraian responsible for both, and both were attacks on the royal family, it's a good bet that some of the same people were involved. Good detective work."
"Tell Mihoshi. She figured it out," Ryoko said.
Washu smiled, turning to Mihoshi she said, "Good work, Detective Kuramitsu."
"Thank you Professor Hakubi," Mihoshi said, returning the smile.
"Well," Washu said, smiling at them both. "That's all I needed. Thanks for carrying that for me."
"Oh, no problem, Washu. Bye!" Mihoshi said. She turned to leave and noticed that Ryoko hadn't moved. "You coming, Ryoko?"
"Mihoshi, could you give me a minute with Washu?"
"Oh, sure Ryoko! Take your time." And she left, closing the door behind her.
"Washu... Mom," Ryoko began.
"Hmm..." Washu interrupted. "You're calling me 'mom', which you only do when you're upset or you want a favor."
"Uh, both," Ryoko said.
"Ah! Then it's about Tenchi," Washu said, Ryoko nodded. "And Sasami," Washu finished. Ryoko nodded again, looking miserable.
Washu sighed. "Ryoko, honey, I'm not sure there's anything I can do."
"Just..." Ryoko hesitated. "Just don't let Tenchi forget about me while he's with Sasami. She's in love with him, Washu; and that damn Tsunami is, too. I just know she's going to be trying to take him from me."
Washu looked sad. "Sweetheart," she said. "I'll do what I can. But maybe it's, well, not..."
Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, Washu?"
Washu sighed again. "There's no good way to say this, Ryoko. But you and Ayeka have been fighting over Tenchi for years, doing everything you could to freeze the other out and win Tenchi for yourselves. Yet, in all that time neither of you has gotten anywhere.
"Ayeka stopped chasing Tenchi over a year ago and things between you and Tenchi have stayed pretty much the same. Now, Sasami is chasing Tenchi and... I'm sorry, Ryoko, but she seems to be succeeding. Maybe it's just not meant-"
"Don't say it, Washu," Ryoko said lowly. "It's not true. I won't let it be true. Tenchi is the only one for me. All I have to do is prove that I'm the only one for him. All you need to do is to keep Sasami from taking advantage of my being gone. Just remind Tenchi is all. It'll work. It has to work." When she was done, her expression was earnest, almost desperate.
Washu nodded. "All right, Ryoko. I'll try."
"Thank you, Washu!" Ryoko said. "I'll see you." She turned and left.
Washu watched her go, her expression unhappy. "Oh, my Little Ryoko. What have I done? What will happen to you if Tenchi can't be cured?" She sighed, looking at her hands. "What if he can be cured and you're not the one?" Washu shook her head and sat back on her pillow and resumed working; her typing beginning slowly and then picking up as she focused on her work.
Tenchi woke up. He noticed the shadows slanting along the wall and, glancing at the clock, he realized it was late afternoon. 'I slept longer than I wanted to,' he thought. He had laid down for a nap after lunch, intending to rest for just a few minutes before heading back out into the fields, and had slept for several hours. Lately, he'd been more and more tired. So had everyone else; he was feeling the effects of the nano poison and the others were short on sleep from worrying about him.
He heard a small sound and realized that Sasami was asleep in a chair next to his bed. She had been sitting with him while he slept and had dozed off. Tenchi watched her for a few moments; noticing the dark circles under her eyes and that her face wasn't as rosy as normal.
'Poor Sasami.'
He watched her for a few more moments, thoughts chasing each other through his head; then a single thought rose clear: 'She's so beautiful.' Tenchi's heart jumped just looking at her. 'What is this?' he wondered. 'What am I feeling?'
He thought about the things everyone had been telling him. He thought about what Ayeka had said: that his fears had hurt the women in his life far more than his decisions every could. He hadn't been lying to Ayeka when he'd told her he'd felt helpless to make any sort of decision; but now he wondered if his indecision was really because his feelings for them were equal.
Or was it something else? 'Was I ever really in love with any of them?' he wondered.
Mihoshi had been right that he'd never felt more than fond of her. He knew that; he had known it almost immediately. And Washu was... Well, she was Washu. Her attempts to get his attention and his 'samples' had been annoying, flattering and frightening at the same time. No, there was no deep love there.
Ayeka? He respected and admired her greatly; but despite her best efforts there had never truly been a spark between them. It had all been wishful thinking on her part.
Ryoko... Ryoko... It seemed like he'd spent every waking moment since she'd found him on the roof of his school asking her to leave him alone and behave herself. But still, he'd half expected to find himself in love with her eventually; she was beautiful and made no secret that she'd do anything for him. He'd waited for it to happen and even thought once or twice that it had; that he was in love with her. But now he realized that he wasn't; that he never had been.
And Sasami?
Tenchi looked at her, her breathing slow and her face slack and he felt his heart swell again and he knew that there was nobody he'd rather see when he first woke up. Tenchi felt a cold shock shoot from the roots of his hair to his feet. 'So, this is how it feels,' he thought, surprised and happy. He smiled.
He reached out and took her hand and she stirred, then lifted her head and opened her eyes. "Hi, Tenchi," she said quietly.
"Hi, Sasami."
"How do you feel?" she asked.
Tenchi shrugged. "Okay, I guess," he replied.
Sasami smiled. "Do you want anything?"
"I think I want to get up." Tenchi smiled in return.
Sasami nodded. "Okay. I need to get started on dinner."
"I'll help you. Since I missed my afternoon in the fields, I might as well make myself useful."
"Okay!" Sasami said, beaming.
Tenchi smiled as well and swung his feet to the floor, surprised at how tired he still felt. 'You're not going to say a word, Tenchi,' he resolved. 'Or change anything yet.' With this illness hanging over his head, he just couldn't. It was better to leave things as they were for now than to be honest and make everything so much worse.
Washu was hard at work on the glasses Mihoshi had brought back from Tsimech's lab. She'd analyzed the strain of the nano-poison and determined that it was different; it remained for her to determine how it was different and what that difference meant.
A harsh buzzing tone erupted and a red light began blinking. "WAAH!" Surprised, Washu nearly fell from her pillow. "Hey, terrific!" she said when she'd recovered.
In a moment, she'd gone into the house and summoned everyone and told them to gather their things and meet her in the living room. A short time later, Ayeka, Sasami and Tenchi had their bags and were in the living room facing Washu's door.
"Okay, everybody's here," Washu said. "Let's all climb aboard the Washu Express. Next stop, Jurai!" Washu opened the door to her lab and ushered them inside.
"Uh, what about dad and grandpa?" Tenchi asked.
"Oh! I left them a note Tenchi," Sasami said.
"Thanks, Sasami."
Once they were inside, Washu directed them to some couches set in one area of her lab. "Please be seated," she said. "The show is about to start!"
Washu sat on her pillow and summoned her terminal. She cracked her knuckles and began keying. After a few moments, she turned to the group and said, "Before they left, I gave Mihoshi and Ryoko a small device to take to Jurai."
The group felt a powerful hum in the lab; too low to hear but more than strong enough to feel.
"With the activation of that device, which provides highly accurate coordinates to my temporo-spatial displacement generator, I am now able to do this!"
With a flourish, Washu touched the keyboard a final time and, a moment later, the lab door reappeared with a soft chime.
Washu skipped over to the door and stood next to it with her hand on the knob saying, "Ladies and gentleman: Jurai!" She yanked open the door, revealing a man sitting on the toilet reading a magazine. He looked up in shock and screamed; Washu slammed the door shut. "Heh heh. Whoops."
"Wasn't that Mr. Iwakuni, the mailman?" Sasami asked.
"Ahem," Washu said, working with her terminal. After a moment, there was a flash of light under the door and a tone. Washu walked over to the door, opened it a little and peeked in. With a smile, she stepped back, cleared her throat and said, "Ladies and gentleman: Jurai!"
When she threw open the door, they were looking at the common area of the suite they'd been in during their stay. Funaho, and Misaki were standing in front of the door.
"Hello, everyone!" Funaho said.
"Washu!" Misaki cried, moving toward Washu with her arms thrown open.
"No time for that, Misaki!" Washu yelled, deftly grabbing her hand and hauling her bodily into the lab. In seconds Misaki was up against the scanner and Washu was saying, "Now, don't move or it'll throw my readings off!"
"But... But..." Misaki said, clearly upset. "I didn't get a chance to say hello to my girls."
"They'll still be there in a few minutes. Now hold still!" Washu was keying furiously into her terminal and scanning arms were sprouting from all sides, hemming Misaki in with their busy movements.
"Hi mom!" Ayeka and Sasami said in chorus, waving and smiling.
"Waah!" Misaki burst into tears.
"It seems," Funaho said, "that my sister's affection may have finally met its match in Washu's concentration."
"Don't be flip, Little Funaho", Washu said over her shoulder and Misaki's tears. "You're next!"
Funaho bowed slightly, smiling. "All right," she said, "but do I really have to take my clothes off?"
"Oh! Damn that Mihoshi!" Washu muttered.
"Where are we going, Ryoko?" Mihoshi asked as they watched Jurai recede in Ryo-Ohki's displays.
"Lossemiye," Ryoko said. "Got that, Ryo-Ohki?"
"Miya!" she answered, shifting her course.
"There's someone there that will know where this guy Fleer is. He knows pretty much everyone who does this sort of work."
"Will he talk to us?"
Ryoko nodded. "He owes me," she said.
Mihoshi nodded. "What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"The whole 'space pirate' thing," Mihoshi said.
Ryoko was silent for a few moments; the she said, "Worse than I can possibly describe."
"You seemed pretty upset on Jurai," Mihoshi said.
"Sometimes it's like a nightmare; something that was a bad dream and now I'm awake and it's all over, fading. Other times, it's like it was just yesterday."
Ryoko favored Mihoshi with a wan smile. "On Jurai it was like yesterday."
Mihoshi nodded. "If you were Kagato's puppet, then how do you know anybody on Lossemiye?"
"He didn't always take direct control. Sometimes he'd send me off to do things - mostly find information - on my own while he was doing something else."
"Why does this person owe you a favor?"
Ryoko frowned, her voice setting into a hard monotone. "He knew something that Kagato wanted to know. He wouldn't tell me, I'm not sure why; but he said he'd die first. Normally, I'd have just taken him back to Kagato and he would have gotten the information... And killed him getting it. But...
"I was holding him by the throat and I had my sword and I was about to have Ryo-Ohki take us aboard when... When a child ran in, his daughter. She was so little. She grabbed me around the legs and cried, begged me not to take him away. I looked down into her eyes and I couldn't... I just couldn't."
Ryoko's eyes grew distant and her mouth became a tight line, her mind replaying the scene...
She had him by the throat, holding him off the ground. He held her wrist in both hands, struggling to get air and to ease the pressure on his windpipe. Her sword blazed in her hand, drawn back threateningly; her gems glowed with power.
"Fine," she said. "You won't talk to me, you can talk to Kagato. I guarantee you that you won't be coming back here."
"NO!" There was a high-pitched shriek from another room. A child dashed through a doorway and ran toward them. Her expression was frantic and tears flowed down her face. "Daddy!" she cried. She ran up to Ryoko and threw her arms around her legs. "Please don't take my daddy! Please!"
Ryoko was about to kick the child away and call Ryo-Ohki to bring them aboard when she looked down and saw looking up at her a little girl with a wild mane of pale blue hair and honey-colored eyes. "Please!" she said. "Don't!"
Ryoko suddenly felt detached from the scene, as if instead of being there she was watching it on a video screen. There was a buzzing in her ears and her vision contracted until the only thing she could see was the girl's eyes.
And then, for a long time, she knew nothing.
Ryoko shook her head, her eyes clearing and continued. "I collapsed on his floor and I didn't move for a while. When I got up, I told him not to worry and I left. I told Kagato I couldn't find him. Kagato knew I was lying about something, and he punished me, but I never did tell him the truth. Luckily he was too busy to check for himself; he was getting ready to send me to Jurai."
"Oh, Ryoko," Mihoshi sniffed, "that's awful. I'm so sorry."
Ryoko shrugged and tried to smile. "It was a long time ago," she said, "and I'm not the same person now. I never really was that person. And now, I have all of you."
Mihoshi put a hand on Ryoko's shoulder and squeezed. "That's right," she said. "You have all of us."
Ryoko favored Mihoshi with a small smile.
"Now," Mihoshi said. "Do you want to talk about Tenchi?"
Ryoko glared at her for a moment, then said, "I was trying to avoid thinking about it. Besides, what is there to talk about?"
"I don't know, Ryoko. It just seemed like something that might be bothering you, so I thought I'd ask."
Ryoko sighed. "I'm upset about you being with Tenchi, okay?"
"Is that all?" Mihoshi asked.
"All?" Ryoko said with an incredulous tone. "Isn't that enough?"
"I don't understand, Ryoko," Mihoshi said, her expression innocent.
Ryoko, knowing that Mihoshi honestly didn't understand, sighed again. "It's... It's jealousy and envy and... Possessiveness, I guess. The idea of Tenchi making love with you - and Ayeka - bothers me."
"Well, he's not in love with me."
Ryoko grunted. "He has a funny way of showing it."
"Making love isn't being in love, Ryoko. Loving someone, and making love with someone, doesn't always mean that you're in love with them. Tenchi loves me, and I love him, but we're not in love with each other."
"You were. Besides, if you're not in love, then why make love? I don't get it."
"Oh, Ryoko," Mihoshi said. "Even if I was in love with Tenchi once, I'm not any more. He just doesn't have it in him to fall in love with me. But, why make love? Why not, I guess. It's not like you can run out of love or wear something out making it."
Ryoko grunted lowly, looking unconvinced.
"Ryoko," Mihoshi said patiently. "Even if Ayeka or I wanted Tenchi, we wouldn't get him. He's not interested in spending his life with either of us. You have no reason to be jealous."
Ryoko shrugged. "I'm not really worried about you two."
"Sasami?" Mihoshi asked.
Ryoko nodded, looking very unhappy.
"Well," Washu said, addressing the group, "I'm officially stumped. Except for Tenchi you're all as healthy as horses."
"Horses?" Misaki asked.
"An earth animal," Funaho told her. "They're used for riding and labor."
"So, that's a good thing?" Misaki asked. Funaho nodded. "Oh, good!" Misaki said with a smile.
"Are they healthy like Mihoshi and you? Or are they healthy like Sasami and me?" Ayeka asked.
"That is an excellent good question, Miss Ayeka," Washu said with a smile. "And the answer is that they're healthy like you and Sasami. The poison simply stopped working for no reason that I can see."
"What's next, Washu?" Funaho asked.
"Well, the theory is that this happened at the banquet. Since the king also shows traces of the poison, that seems to bear out. That was the only time he ate with the rest of us. So, my next step will be a detailed analysis of everyone who attended the banquet. Is that possible?"
Funaho nodded. "Yes, but not without raising suspicion."
"Scaring off whoever did this," Washu finished for her. "How about an excuse?"
"How about a problem with the food at the banquet?" Sasami suggested.
Washu shook her head. "A little too close to the truth."
"It would be easier if they didn't have to go into your lab. Is that possible?" Funaho asked.
Washu crossed her arms and put one index finger along her jaw. "Well," she said, "I guess I could rig up a portable unit. However, it would only be able to record the data, not analyze it. That would have to be done later in my lab."
"How long will the scan take, Washu?" Ayeka asked.
"If I recalibrate and optimize for scan speed and increase the density of the scanning heads, only a second or two, I guess," Washu said.
"I have it, then," Ayeka said. "Let us call everyone at the banquet together for a group picture in the banquet hall. We will set your equipment up in the door to the room and scan them all as they walk in."
"Well, it's pretty cheesy, but it might work..." Washu replied.
"Simple solutions are sometimes the best," Funaho said.
"Humph, maybe," Washu grumped. "But they're no damn fun. But, if that's the way you want to do it! You roll them in and I'll look them over."
Fleer had proven very difficult to track down. They might never have found him if it hadn't been for the stark terror that Ryoko caused in the chain of contacts that lead to him. As she found when she first started tracking Fleer down, the years she'd spent trapped in the cave had only made her more fearsome in people's minds.
"I don't like it that everyone's afraid of me," Ryoko said. "People use me to scare their kids; I'm nothing but a monster."
"I know, it's awful," Mihoshi replied. "But you have to admit that it's getting us where we need to be. You can straighten it all out after we find Fleer."
Ryoko nodded.
Eventually, they arrived at a quiet world surprisingly close to Jurai. They set down at the spaceport and soon were pulling up in front of a nondescript house at the edge of town. Beyond the town, behind the house, grassy prairie stretched as far as the eye could see.
A man sat on the front porch of the house and watched the three arrive. Mihoshi and Ryoko, carrying Ryo-Ohki, stepped up onto the porch. The man sat silently, watching them.
"Mr. Fleer?" Mihoshi said.
The man sighed heavily. "I wondered when you'd get here. Are you Jurai security or Galaxy Police?"
"I'm First Class Detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Galaxy Police," Mihoshi said, showing her identification. "My partner is Ryoko Hakubi."
Fleer's eyes widened slightly. "The Ryoko?" he asked.
Ryoko nodded.
Fleer nodded in response. "I'll assume you're not here to kill me, Ryoko. The GP doesn't work that way."
"Oh, I certainly wouldn't mind killing you, after what you tried to do to my friend. But this is Mihoshi's show," Ryoko replied.
Fleer nodded, eyeing Ryoko warily. "What are the charges?" he asked Mihoshi.
"I'm not here to arrest you, Mr. Fleer; just to question you," Mihoshi said.
Fleer looked surprised, then suspicious. "Question me about what?"
"About your involvement in the attack on the Jurai Space Tree Ryu- Oh," Mihoshi replied.
"But you're not here to arrest me?" Fleer asked.
"No. I'm investigating another matter we believe is connected."
Fleer grunted. "Ask your questions, then." Mihoshi pulled out her control cube and set it to record. "Hold it!" Fleer said, holding up a hand.
Mihoshi and Ryoko looked at him.
"I know the normal speech when you turn that thing on is that anything I say can be used against me. I'm not speaking on the record."
"Mr. Fleer..." Mihoshi said, soothingly.
Fleer shook his head. "No. I've lost enough already on this deal. All I have left in the universe is this house and my freedom. I'm not going to risk those."
Mihoshi nodded and put the control cube away. "Mr. Fleer, we think the person who hired you to attack Ryu-Oh is behind another attack on the Jurai royal family. We need to know who hired you."
"I can tell you, but that's not who you're looking for."
Mihoshi and Ryoko blinked at Fleer. "He's not?" Mihoshi asked.
Fleer shook his head. "No. And he's dead anyway."
"I don't understand," Mihoshi said.
"The one who hired me is dead, but he was working for someone else; I don't know who."
"You have no idea who your contact was working for?"
"That's what I said," Fleer growled. "If I did know, he'd be dead too."
"Why is that?," Mihoshi asked.
Fleer sighed. "My contact was my brother and he turned up murdered on Jurai. If you find out who hired him, you let me know."
"What was your brother's name?" Mihoshi asked.
"Unwalla," Fleer replied. "Stavros Unwalla."
Mihoshi nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Fleer. I'm sorry about your loss. And if I were you I'd start packing my things. Jurai security is very interested in your activities; sooner or later they'll be here, too. And they're not going to leave after asking a few questions."
Mihoshi, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki left Fleer sitting on his porch, returned to the spaceport and left for Jurai.