Tenchi Muyo is the property of Pioneer and AIC.
I've no intention of using this to garner profits of any
kind or type, so unless you like to take a poor man's
computer away from him, please don't sue me!? Please?

All other characters, depictions, places, and
theories that have been put into place are my own creation
and have no relevance to Tenchi Muyo in any way except in
the ways I've explained. These are my own thoughts and
imagination, and any relation to other stories that are not
my own are accidental. Honest.

My e-mail is kai_kerrigan@attbi.com for any and all
feedback. Please, PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK OF ANY KIND!!!
Thank you! ^-^

Author's notes: This is the longest that I've been
able to keep on a storyline in my entire writing career. I
hope I can hold steam! By the way, thank you everybody who
does like my story and I appreciate all the feedback you
give! And if you haven't sent in any, send it in, dang it!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenchi Muyo: The Web of Life
Chapter 5: Welcome to Jurai! (rev 3.0)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tenchi awoke as he normally would; scared that he
might find a space pirate floating within inches of his
face. Slipping out from underneath the blankets that he
slept under, the young Masaki made what seemed like the
perfect escape from his room. However, Tenchi never
stopped long enough to realize that Ryoko wasn't hovering
above his bed this particular morning. Slinking down the
steps toward the dining area of the house, Tenchi saw
through the living room windows to witness the trees
beginning to bud with new leaves and the neighbor's flower
garden blooming in their entire splendor. As he finished
his silent descent, the young Masaki attempted to see where
everybody would be at; Sasami and Mihoshi were watching
television, Ayeka, Ryoko, and Washu were sitting at the
table waiting for breakfast to be finished.

"Good morning, everybody! What's on the menu for
this morning, Sasami?" Tenchi asked, looking rather
confused that Sasami was in the living room watching
television instead of making breakfast as she normally did.
The younger princess looked at Tenchi as he walked up to
the couch and smiled.

"Oh, Achika said she'd make breakfast this morning!
She's in the kitchen!" Sasami said, smiling her usual
chipper smile, and went back to watching the television.
Tenchi stared at the little princess, incredulous.

"Very funny, Sasami. I'll go see what you're
cooking." Tenchi casually remarked, and waved to the three
girls at the breakfast table. Ryoko and Ayeka had pouting
faces, while Washu was currently working on something with
her holo pad.

"You three are acting odd this morning; what gives?"
Tenchi asked, slowing down his stride as he passed by the
space pirate. Ryoko tilted her head back to look at the
young Masaki and smiled.

"Hiya, Teeenchiii. We're just waiting for breakfast
is all. Well, that and..." Ryoko trailed off, realizing
that Ayeka was giving her a glower the likes of which she
had not seen in a very long time.

"And?" Ayeka took her gaze off of Ryoko, and gave
Tenchi a beaming smile.

"It's alright, Lord Tenchi. We were asked to wait
in here while you went into the kitchen. It was very
important, we were told." Ayeka explained. Tenchi
scratched his head in slight confusion; Washu looked up
from her holo-pad and smiled at Tenchi.

"Don't worry, they won't bother you. I've been
assigned as guard; they can't get past me!" Washu said,
and cackled such a loud cackle that every person in the
room winced visibly in response.

"Yeah well, thanks, Washu. I really don't think I
have to worry about being alone in..." Tenchi trailed off,
complete shock flash-freezing the young Masaki right in the
doorway as he attempted to walk through it.

Staring back at him with a smile that could stop a
raging bull was the perfect visage of his mother; her black
hair pulled back into a pony tail that hung to the small of
her back, and the sky blue and light purple kimono she wore
on special days looked the prettiest Tenchi had ever seen
it. Kissing his wife tenderly on the cheek, Nobuyuki
grabbed his newspaper and coffee and headed into the
kitchen. As soon as the elder Masaki closed the door to
the kitchen, Achika turned and smiled back at Tenchi. As
Achika witnessed the look of complete confusion on her
son's face, she chuckled softly.

"You always look that way when you think too much.
You did it when you were younger, and I'm contented to see
that hasn't changed.' She spoke, tilting her head as Tenchi
opened his mouth to say something, yet stopped himself.
Tenchi's face went through some major contortions,
completely in awe and fear of what was happening to him.

"This isn't real. This just isn't real; it can't be
real at all!" Tenchi whispered, eyes locked on his mother,
as his body seemed to rebel against the insane desire to
run screaming out of the kitchen. His knees began to
tremble and falter of their own accord, and he began to
fall. Achika scrambled from the place she stood to catch
her son from behind, and gently lowered the young Masaki
down to a kneeling position. Tenchi shook his head several
times as he sat on the kitchen floor, trying to shake out
of his head the concept that his mother was in the same
room with him and alive to boot.

"Are you alright, Tenchi?" Achika whispered
quietly, placing her hands on Tenchi's shoulders. Tenchi
jumped in place, though he didn't move far, and began to
turn his head to see if the person behind him was actually
his mother. Sure enough, Achika smiled warmly back at her
son.

"What is going on here? You're not here, you're...
you're not here! I know you're not! This kind of thing
isn't funny at all! Why am I here?" Tenchi blurted out,
trying his best attempt to stand; however his body still
seemed adamant about resisting his desire to move or leave
this place.

"It's because there's something that needs to be
said. You need to hear this, and there is a force in the
universe that thinks you should, too." Achika spoke, her
voice as calming as the sunsets that Tenchi witnessed from
his family shrine during the summer months he and his
family spent there.

"What could I possibly need to hear, that would make
me dream of something that I can't have? It's like asking
me to take a stroll through hell!" Tenchi nearly yelled,
never looking at his mother as he spoke. Achika tightened
her grip on Tenchi's shoulders as he spoke, her sadness and
fear echoed in the hold.

"It's because you haven't let go. That you will
need to let go when the time comes or many people,
including Ryoko and Ayeka and all of the others, will be
lost to you." Achika spoke, the words coming out in a half-
whispered tone.

"What do you mean, Mom? This doesn't make any
sense! Let go of what?" Tenchi questioned, utter
confusion burning through his eyes and his words. Achika
opened her eyes and stood up slowly, smoothing out her
kimono as she did so. She walked around slowly to face her
son, and held out a hand to Tenchi. The young Masaki took
her hand, and stood up slowly, still in awe as to what this
was supposed to entail. As Tenchi drew himself up to his
full height, his mother cupped her son's face in her hands,
and kissed his forehead in unrequited and unconditional
love. Three triangular shapes appeared where Achika kissed
Tenchi, and shone brightly with a sky blue, then faded in
as a more pronounced and darker azure.

"My sweet little miracle; I wish I could tell you so
much more, but I cannot. All I can tell you,' Achika said
quietly, a single tear streaming down her face as she
rubbed her son's cheek with one of her thumbs, 'Is that I
am proud of you, and what you have accomplished. You are
everything that I hoped that you would become, that you've
earned everything that you have, and so much more. You
deserve all of the happiness that God can ever give you,
and let NO ONE try to take that away."

Tenchi walked into the arms of his mother, and gave
her what felt like the first true hug he had ever given her
since she had passed away from his life. Tenchi closed his
eyes tightly, and several tears slipped out from his
eyelids as he held his mother for what seemed like an
eternity.

"Thank you, Mom." Tenchi whispered. Opening his
eyes Tenchi saw not the dining area of the Masaki home, but
the sleeping quarters on board the Ryu-Oh, and did not see
the loving face of his mother but rather the large pillow
that he slept with the night before. He sighed heavily and
put the pillow back underneath his head and lay in the bed,
looking skyward, as he thought about the meaning behind the
dreams.

************************************

Silence permeated the meditation chamber; eerie,
powerful silence. Five translucent blue feather-shaped
objects hovered in tightly spaced intervals and provided
the only light in the whole room. It gave barely enough
illumination to the white haired young man hovering several
feet in the air, cross legged, in the center of the
ethereal display. Circling in a slow and measured pace,
the objects pulsed and flared with a power that seemed
infinite; five individual triangles phased in and out on
the young man's face in a sympathetic rhythm. As the young
man continued his meditation, a singular doorway appeared
at the far end of the chamber; the young man turned in
place to look at a tall hooded figure standing in the
doorway. One purple eye peered out from the young man as
he sought to identify exactly who would be interrupting his
daily meditation.

"I assume, Ersatzu, that you have an excellent
reason for requesting an audience with me?" The young man
spoke, never moving from his position. The hooded figure
pulled the hood up and over its head to reveal an elderly
man; his bald head was circled by wild, wiry hair that
seemed to reach out on its own. The old man's forehead
held an oval gem, which gave off a deep and foreboding
crimson as the old man sneered at the young man.

"You have been requested to have an audience with
the Lady, Z." The old man stated quietly, though the echo
that reverberated through the meditation chamber spoke of
the power he held in volumes.

"I have a name, D-3. I use yours; at least show
respect enough to use my own." The young man stated; both
of his eyes were open, furious and flaring a luminescent
purple. D-3 took a step back in response to the young
man's statement.

"As you wish, Zane; however, my willingness to even
bother with conversation with you, a mere mortal…" D-3
stated, though the lecture he was about to start never had
a chance to actually happen. Zane dropped to the ground,
feet first, as two of the five objects broke away from the
rest and screamed toward D-3. One liquefied and
transformed into an extremely long energy band, and wrapped
the old man's torso in a vise-like squeeze; the other
stopped within centimeters of the old man's throat. The
young man gave himself a half smile, and caressed his hand
against one of the three objects that remained hovering
nearest to him.

"The Light Hawk Wings. They are said to be the aura
of God, manifest. There is nothing that these cannot do;
create, transform,' Zane's eyes narrowed as the wing that
had been hovering dangerously near D-3's throat crept ever
closer, 'even destroy. I wonder; could they harm a self-
centered bigot demigod... such as yourself?" Zane wondered
aloud, almost flippant with his mood. If D-3 was able to
sweat, it would be pooling down the demigod's face at this
point.

"Desist," A feminine voice boomed throughout the
room; Zane bore into D-3's face with slotted eyes and
dismissed the five wings, although hesitating when it came
to the two that kept D-3 bound and in check. Even after he
was released, the demigod stared right back at Zane though
no longer with the sneer that graced his visage several
minutes earlier. The two men watched as the environment
faded from the meditation chamber on Zane's ship into an
absolutely huge audience chamber; several different
platforms on various levels hovered or hung in the area.
The two men found themselves on the largest of these
platforms and turned to kneel as they witnessed a huge
female being phase into the audience chamber in front of
the platform. Her body dress was covered in a darkened
rainbow of purples, reds, and blacks; her belt and cape
were affixed to bands of metal that floated several inches
away from her body. A purple cornea surrounded a sky blue
iris in the eyes of the woman, and it was these same eyes
that the woman narrowed as she looked down upon the two men
that knelt down before her.

"What is thy wish, my Lady Tokimi?" Zane half-
whispered, never bringing his eyes up to face the woman.

"Not once have I encouraged dissention among those
in my employ, and I will not begin now," Tokimi spoke, her
voice echoing throughout the chamber. The demigod gave a
sidelong glance toward Zane for but a moment, until purple
lightning coursed throughout D-3's very being. The screams
that could be heard echoed through the chamber for what
seemed like eternity. "And this applies toward my herald as
well as my champion. Do not provoke Zane again, D-3, or
you will suffer much worse than a jolt to your pride." The
goddess's eyes shifted her sight from the tortured demigod;
the lightning quickly subsided, and D-3 began gasping for
breath. Zane simply kept his eyes down, gazing intently at
the platform as he waited for his lady to speak; he knew
that anything else would provoke a response out of Tokimi
that would not be in anyone's best interest. He did not
wait long for something to be said.

"D-3, now that you have been given a proper
punishment, you have other more pressing matters to concern
yourself with; go now and take care of them." Tokimi said
quietly. D-3 quickly phased out of the audience chamber
and left the goddess and her champion alone. Zane pulled
his gaze away from the platform he stood upon and looked up
at his lady.

"You have called me for something, milady?" Zane
inquired, straightening himself out as his body became
encapsulated by black and purple fog; his meditation outfit
was replaced with intimidating purple battle armor; a black
cloak adorned Zane's shoulders, and was connected to the
armor at his collarbones while a navy blue shawl covered
his nose and mouth. The shawl draped itself over each of
Zane's shoulders and fell back toward the ground with a
length that rivaled the cloak. Satisfied that he was in
the proper attire suited for a champion of Tokimi, Zane
patiently awaited his lady to speak.

"You have done very well in your service to me,
Zane; your skill and prowess have brought us far in our
mission. However, there have been many who wish to stop me
from achieving this; you have been charged with ensuring
that my goal is achieved.' Tokimi explained, as her body
seemed to grow smaller and more material. The now much
smaller Tokimi stood in front of Zane, and put her index
finger on his forehead in an almost loving fashion; five
triangular shapes began to shine a luminescent violet on
Zane's face. 'You have not once failed in the duties that
I have charged you with, nor the personal obligations that
you have set yourself out to do. However, this charge I
give you is one that may be too much for you to face on
your own. This will mean that simply entrusting your
artificial with some of the required duties will not be
sufficient; D-3 will be required if your mission is to
succeed." Silence permeated the audience chamber as Tokimi
waited for her words to set in.

"You are to go and pass judgment over the Jurai."
Tokimi stated finally; Zane's eyes furrowed as he analyzed
his new mission.

"The Jurai were not yet to be judged, milady, until
well past the next century. May I know of the reasons that
you have for this change of plan?" Zane asked. Tokimi
jutted out her chin at hearing Zane's words, and took the
finger that touched lightly on the dark champion's forehead
to trace along his brow, down his cheek and finally came to
rest just underneath Zane's chin. Lifting up forcefully,
Tokimi brought the dark champion up to the tips of his toes
as she looked him over, an almost sensual gleam to her
eyes.

"No, you may not. However, I will ask you a
question of my own; what gives you the thought that
insolence of your caliber will keep me from casting your
wretched carcass into oblivion?" Zane looked over his own
shawl covered face at the goddess that held him.

"I apologize, milady; I simply wished to know why
I was expected to deal with such a powerful opponent so
soon. They do have Lady Tsunami as their guardian, and you
have said that Lady Washu is undecided as to whom she will
side with." Zane spoke, however much his voice cracked due
to the odd angle that his head was poised. Tokimi smiled
an eerily sweet smile and released her hold on Zane; the
dark champion, immediately after landing on his feet,
grasped his neck and began to work out the impressively
large kink that had developed.

"You still have yet to answer my question, Zane.
And do not fear,' Tokimi spoke, the eerie smile never
leaving her face, 'I will hold on your punishment if I
believe what you have to say is truthful." Zane averted
his eyes for a moment, and then turned to look the dark
goddess fully.

"I do so because you need me as much as I need you,
milady. I am the only other being in the universe gifted
with the power of the Light Hawk Wings, and I am the only
one capable of carrying out your mission to success." Zane
said aloud, his words clear and precise. Tokimi gazed at
the dark champion through slotted eyes, and tilted her head
to one side to look out over the audience chamber.

"Her Chosen will be on Jurai when you arrive; make
sure that you bring him no harm. However, your mission is
paramount to his safety; if his decisions bring him into
harm's way, then it was his choice to do so.' Tokimi spoke,
putting her arms behind her back and thrusting her chest
forward as she continued speaking, 'The Maiden of Storms
and the Maiden of Calms will be preceding him; their safety
is of importance only if it will keep the Chosen out of our
way and unwary of our purpose. Waste neither time nor
energy with them otherwise. Is that clear?" Tokimi turned
to face Zane after speaking.

"Like crystal, milady. The judgment of Jurai is at
hand, and the bell of justice will toll for all of them."
Zane spoke as he was phased out of the audience chamber
back into the meditation chamber on his ship. As he walked
out of the meditation chamber toward the bridge, Zane gave
a half smile to himself.

"Very soon, Chosen one; very soon we shall see if
you are whom you are meant to be."

************************************

Ayeka yawned audibly as she stretched her waking
muscles, looking out over the balcony to her gazebo styled
bedroom. Her eyes drifted slowly out over the small meadow
that made up the living quarters on the Ryu-Oh; she settled
her eyes on the living quarters that Tenchi and his father
resided in.

"I wonder exactly what Tenchi is doing right now?"
Ayeka whispered to herself as she made her way to her
dressing room; quickly deciding on a lavender kimono
trimmed with red cuffs and threading, the elder princess
made her way over to Tenchi's assigned living quarters.
Nobuyuki greeted her at the entryway, waving in his usual
goofy manner.

"Good morning, Miss Ayeka! Are you looking for
Tenchi?" The elder Masaki asked, putting on his glasses in
order to see Ayeka with better clarity. The elder princess
gave a deep nod in the affirmative, and smiled at Nobuyuki.

"Why yes, I was hoping to talk with Lord Tenchi
about some of our customs and traditions; do you know if he
would be available at the moment?" Ayeka asked. Nobuyuki
bunched up his lips in thought, and looked to the side for
a moment.

"Come to think of it, I think Tenchi's on the
bridge. Something about seeing Jurai for the first
time..." Ayeka's eyes grew wide as the words sunk in, and
the elder princess bolted away from Nobuyuki and the living
quarters to head toward the bridge as fast as possible. As
soon as the transporter had finished bringing Ayeka to the
bridge, she gasped in a combination of surprise and relief;
in the middle of the bridge, sitting cross-legged and
staring up at the huge view screen was Tenchi. The elder
princess followed his gaze up toward the view screen and
saw exactly what kept his attention so much; a third of the
planet was now in view at this point, hovering in the
center of the view screen like a shining green and blue orb
dangling on a celestial piece of twine.

"Is this Jurai?" Tenchi whispered aloud, the wonder
and awe cutting through in his voice with the utmost of
clarity.

"Yes, it is." Ayeka said aloud; Tenchi nearly jumped
out of his skin at hearing a voice other than his own on
the bridge. He spun around to look at Ayeka, who had
traversed the length of the bridge to stand beside the
young Masaki.

"Uh... It's very beautiful. It kind of reminds me
of Earth, in a way."

"Well, there are similarities between the two
worlds, that much is certain.' Ayeka said aloud, sitting
down finally on Tenchi's left as they sat and watched as
Ryu-Oh began orbit around Jurai. Several peaceful minutes
passed without either of them making an attempt for
conversation; Ayeka was the one to finally break the
silence.

"By the way, Lord Tenchi, I thought that you might
have wanted something to remember Earth by while you
visited Jurai." Ayeka said, and pulled out a small
perfectly square piece of tree bark from within a small
pouch on her kimono. Tenchi gave the small piece a
wondering look, and turned it over in his hand. Carved, in
perfect kanji, was Ayeka's name; the individual symbols
were painted in with a sky blue and highlighted with
lavender purple. After Tenchi had given the gift a good
once-over, he looked back straight into Ayeka's eyes with a
thankful smile.

"Thank you so much, Ayeka. Now that I have this, I
won't be so homesick." Tenchi looked back at the wood
piece, while Ayeka began to blush a seriously deep red.

"It was my pleasure, Lord Tenchi." Ayeka said
calmly, and then looked out toward the view screen as the
two continued to watch the sun emerge from behind Jurai.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deeper within the ship, a single person sat cross
legged in the cargo bay aboard the Ryu-Oh. His ash grey
denim jeans and dress shirt were offset by the emerald green
and crimson red buttons that held the fabric together in the
usual places. The wanderer slowly and patiently perused
through the pages of a fairly large and ancient book, its
size nearly rivaling that of the lap that it was placed in.
On Ashe's face, a set of emerald green thin-rimmed glasses
accentuated his face as he read further into the book.
Leaning back, Ashe relaxed himself against the trunk of the
tree he sat under and bunched his lips in understanding.

"So that's what causes the refocusing of molecular
data into a semispherical array; now that makes sense, but
why not a complete sphere?" He said, and went back to
reading the book's later pages. As the wanderer tread
further into his studies, totally engrossed with the words
that played themselves out on its pages, two child-like
figures crept into the room. Silently, the slightly taller
of the two giggled faintly, and then motioned for the other
to follow. The wanderer perked an ear, and glanced quickly
toward one of the entryways into the cargo area. Seeing no
one in the doorway Ashe continued with his reading,
oblivious to the two shadowed forms that quickly crept their
way across the more heavily shaded portion of the cargo
area, closing the distance to Ashe's location. The rustle
of leaves caught the wanderer's full attention, forcing Ashe
to look around. Book in hand and on his knees, the wanderer
turned to face the source of the noise as it seemed to
emanate from behind the tree he sat under.

"Hello? What do you want? If it's about the luggage,
I'll unload it when we're there. Just give me a minute to
finish this book, I won't take long." When silence was the
only reply given, Ashe furrowed his brow in a questioning
look. He stood up quietly, and took several steps forward
to look around. When Ashe turned to look behind the tree, a
figure fell out from one of the lower branches in front of
the wanderer; her face was covered in fur, and the oversized
pink bow that hung around her neck nearly covered her face
as the figure hung upside down in front of Ashe.

"MIYAAA MIYAAA MIYAYAAYAA!" squeaked Ryo-Ohki,
sticking her tongue out at the wanderer to capitalize on the
surprise factor.

"Ack!" Ashe blurted out, stumbling back several steps
and tripped over an exposed root. Falling backward, the
wanderer raised an eyebrow to look at Ryo-Ohki as she was
being suspended by a rope; following the rope over a branch
and downward further, he spotted Sasami giggling
uncontrollably as she witnessed the success of yet another
scare attack. "What the... Ryo-Ohki???"

"Is me!" Ryo Ohki chirped, waving her arms wildly at
hearing her name. Slowly being lowered down to the ground
the young cabbit-girl undid the knot holding the rope around
her waist, bounded over to Ashe and tugged on his pants.
Crouching down Ashe stared at Ryo-Ohki in complete amazement
and surprise while Sasami hopped over to the two, laughing
almost to the point of gasping for breath.

"Hahahahahaha! Your eyes were… hehehehehe… bugging
out!" Sasami blurted out between gasps for breath and bouts
of uncontrollable laughter. Ashe took an index finger and
lightly touched Ryo-Ohki's nose; the cabbit girl giggled and
rubbed her nose in response.

"I didn't know that Ryo-Ohki was able to change shape!
Wow, that's really something." Ashe said aloud, plopping
down in front of the girls as they continued to laugh at
Ashe's response from earlier; he snickered playfully as the
two girls kept rolling on the floor laughing. "You two seem
to think you're a laugh riot, don't you?" Sasami and Ryo-
Ohki stopped laughing for a moment, and the two flashed a
devilishly cute grin.

"Yup," the two girls said. Ashe sighed in a gruff
tone.

"Figures." The wanderer said quietly, then turned his
head to look at Tenchi, Ayeka, Ryoko, and the others as they
entered the cargo area.

"You two were told not to bother or interrupt Ashe
under any circumstances while he is aboard the ship; we do
not want anything to happen to anyone while we prepare to
land on Jurai." Ayeka said pointedly, giving the impression
that 'anyone' meant anybody other than Ashe. Sasami gave
her elder sister an angry look, and stuck her tongue out at
Ayeka.

"He's one of the good guys, Ayeka, so stop acting like
he's the one who hurt Tenchi. And besides, Ashe volunteered
to tell me and Ryo-Ohki a story before we land on Jurai!"
Sasami chirped.

"Yeah, a story!" Ryo-Ohki piped up, which invited a
chuckle from both Mihoshi and Washu.

"It seems that you have two young ladies looking to
hear a good story, Ashe," Washu said, giving the wanderer a
mockingly serious smirk, "So I'd suggest you find a good one
really quick." Ashe gave the crowd a pleading gaze, hoping
that one of them would somehow pull him out of this
predicament. When all he got was the hum of ship engines,
the wanderer sighed and plopped himself down on floor of the
cargo area.

"Alright then, I'll tell a story. Well, I do have one
story that my father told me when I was a little boy; will
that work for you two?" When the two girls nodded happily,
Ashe rubbed his chin and began his story.

"A long time ago, on a far away world, there lived a
spider; he was a grand spider, with the ability to weave
some of the most dazzling webs that anyone ever saw. And
this spider, he lived in the Everlasting Forest with all of
his other animal friends; the deer, the fish, the hawk, the
bear and the snake. And every day, the spider would sit
with his friends and listen to all of the things that his
friends would do during the day. He would laugh, and he
would cry right along with his other friends as they
listened to the stories as each animal took their turn to
tell their own stories about what happened during the day.
But, when the spider took his turn, he felt that he had done
nothing special to talk about that day." Ashe said aloud.

"Oh, that's sad, why not?" Sasami asked, keenly
interested in the story now; even the rest of the group sat
down to listen to Ashe tell his story as well. The only one
still standing was Ryoko, who leaned against the cargo area
entrance.

"Well, it's because the spider was so small, and that
his friends felt if the spider tried anything like what the
bear or the deer was able to do that he'd get hurt, so he
was asked never to do those things. The spider, although
unhappy with his place in life, just weaved his webs and
listened to his friends' stories every day as he always
did."

"I bet he wanted to do stuff like the other animals,
too." Tenchi said, putting his chin in his hand as he kept
listening to the story.

"Oh yes, the spider wanted to jump in the fields like
the deer, or run upstream against the powerful currents like
the bear. Or even like the hawk, who flew high above the
trees and saw the entirety of the forest in an eye blink; he
wanted to do all of those things, but because he was a meek
little spider he knew he couldn't do those things. So he
was willing to accept where his role was, and decided to do
what all spiders knew how to do; the spider created a huge
and grand web, depicting the lives of all of his friends and
allies in his life.'

"One day, through simply old age, the spider died. As
the spider went in front of God, the spider asked if he
could be given the chance to have one more day; the spider
wanted one last chance to do what he wasn't able to do
before. God agreed."

"And so the spider was granted one more day of life.
And as the hours passed by, the spider still had no clue as
to what he should do. Then, through a stroke of enlightened
understanding, the spider made his choice; he finished the
great web he had started on so long ago. When the last
remaining threads of the day disappeared, just as the spider
finished his greatest creation, the spider left this world
to go forward into the next."

"That's a rather sad story, Ashe. Why is the purpose
of telling a story with an unhappy ending?" Ayeka
questioned, a tone of disapproval floating along with her
voice. Ashe took a moment to glance at the elder princess.

"There's a reason for why the spider had chosen to do
what he had done; this isn't the ending to the story, mind
you. Now the spider had told no one about his pact with
God, but his friends felt badly about not letting their
friend go along with his dreams. They went to the spider's
home and found him dead on the great web he had spent so
long in creating. The sheer beauty and detail of the web
brought tears and sadness and happiness to the eyes of the
friends of the spider, and they wept for a long time. And
ever since that day, that spider web was always taken very
good care of and all the animals paid homage to their friend
on that very day every year afterward. Now,' asked Ashe,
'What could be the moral of that story?" Tenchi scratched
his head for a moment, and stood up.

"I'd say that each person is important in their own
way, regardless of size or stature." Tenchi said, clear and
precise with his choice of words; Ayeka nodded in agreement
with Tenchi's interpretation.

"Well, there's one I like. Are there any other
takers?" Ashe queried to the rest of the group.

"You don't realize what you've got until it's gone?"
Mihoshi said aloud, almost as if expecting no one to hear
her. Ashe tapped his chin, and nodded his agreement with
her choice.

"That's a darn good one, too. How about you, Ryoko?
You got an idea about what the story is supposed to teach?"
Ashe asked the pirate; Ryoko simply gave the wanderer a
sidelong smirk.

"I'm not the resident wise man; that's Katsuhito's
job. So instead of pulling this whole 'Lemme get your point
of view on such-and-such,' why don't you tell us what your
impression of that story was, Ashe?" Ryoko spoke, putting a
hardened gaze on the wanderer. Ashe shuffled in his seat,
and sat up to answer.

"What I thought was the moral? Okay, I believe it's
this; sometimes, it's not what you take with you that'll
make life worth living. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's
what you leave behind." Ryoko and the rest of the family
gave the wanderer half confused stares; Washu and Katsuhito
both nodded as they took in Ashe's words. Not long
afterward, Ayeka looked upward and toward the front of the
ship.

"The Ryu-Oh has docked itself into the Great Nursery,
Princess." Azaka's mechanized voice announced over the
cargo area.

"Excellent. I must go and prepare; Sasami, come now,
we must make ourselves ready for Father. Tenchi, if you
will excuse us, please?" Ayeka said, slowly pulling herself
upright as she turned toward the cargo bay entrance. Sasami
hopped up and trailed behind the elder princess as the two
exited the cargo bay; she turned to face Ashe and the rest
of the family before disappearing completely.

"Not a problem, Ayeka. I'll see you at the
transporter." Tenchi said, taking his own opportunity to
get up off of the floor of the cargo area. Waving at
everyone, the young Masaki left to prepare for his first
true visit to another world.