Forever Masaki
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: *looks around suspiciously* I have to admit that the characters with the exception of my own aren't mine and never will be. *yelling* THERE, YA HAPPY NOW?
Well, well, well. 17 reviews later and this story is still going strong. I wonder how things will change after the next few chapters? Or the next book for that matter? (hee hee hee, bwahahahaha)
My sincere thanks to all of those who have reviewed so far! I'm in an extremely good mood the week before midterms because of you guys! And a happy author makes for better stories.
On with the story!
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FM: Graces of a Bounty Hunter
"Well, the explosions seem to be coming from farther and farther away," Mihoshi observed, pushed up against one of the neon green crystals in the cave center. "Maybe it's safe to go outside and look for the others?"
"Don't bet your life on it Mihoshi." Kiyone blurted out from beneath her breath, her chin on her chest in exhaustion. Then in forethought, continued, "Actually, go ahead, bet."
"Please," Sasami looked up from her own slumber, huddled against her sister. "Go back to sleep all of you." She preferred not to think of where her friends and family were, just in case they couldn't escape those white fires showering down from the alien ship.
"I can't now!" Kiyone grumbled, slowly stretching and rising to her feet, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I'm, *yawn* awake."
"Really, I can tell from that bright, conscious attitude you have there, Miss Kiyone." Aeka spoke up, herself stretching and thereby displacing Sasami.
"Aeka!"
"Now Sasami, we owe it to the others as friends and," she cleared her throat, "Relatives to go out there and search for them."
"I can hardly hear any blasts Aeka," Mihoshi informed the First Princess. "Maybe it is safe enough to leave the cave."
"Fine, but before you do, I have one little favor to ask of you,"
All turned in surprise to find the cutest little genius this side of Ursa Minor, or any constellation for that matter, still decked out in her ceremonial gown, standing in the cave entrance.
"Washu it's you!" Sasami got up with a start and ran to hug her friend. "We were so worried about what happened to you all."
"Uh huh, so I can tell." Washu commented looking at all of the girls' tired appearances.
"Oh Miss Washu!" Aeka came up beside her. "Are Lord Tenchi and Ryoko with you?"
"Afraid not Princess," the genius actually sounded regretful, "But I do have some interesting news for you all."
* * *
No sound dared to echo off the cave interior. All the girls sat around in a circle, heads bowed in pondersome thoughts. What Washu had just told them.it changed everything.
Aeka sat back in astonishment. "A different dimension?"
"Yep. And a created one at that."
Sasami drew her knees up to her chest. "But how could Nagi have met them then?"
"Simple," the genius smiled in satisfaction. She drew a circle in the air with a twirling finger. "EVIL obviously saw her coming from a dimensional porthole. Then they just flipped the switch and it carried them from their dimension to ours."
"Obviously." Sarcastically, Kiyone nudged her partner in the ribs.
"Yes it is obvious." Washu replied with a glare of annoyance.
Mihoshi leaned into the scientist's line of view. "So you're trying to tell us that if EVIL's ship was attacked, they would go down?"
"No. From their porthole, and, what must be some implant that allows them to literally jump from dimension to dimension, they are connected to this world. Meaning that if they fired at an oncoming ship it would miss-"
"Oh,"
"However, if they fired it into the porthole, or physically fought and the switch was thrown, they would make an impact."
"So," Aeka put both palms face up and weighed the options. "If the switch was destroyed, they would be locked in their own creation."
"Or they would be locked out of it." Sasami ventured a scenario.
Washu's finger went up. "But the porthole would still work. Destroy the porthole, and all they can do is fight hand to hand . . . I wish I knew what type of implant we're dealing with . . . "
"Well we don't have any idea," Kiyone rose to her feet and walked over to the center chamber's entrance.
Mihoshi, concerned about her partner's sudden rise from the conversation, got up to follow her.
"So in order to beat EVIL," Kiyone turned about face and walked back to stand on the outside of the circle. "We destroy the pool and the switch."
"Locking them in or locking them out," Sasami continued on with her theory.
"And from there, we kick ass." The teal tresses of the GP officer swayed as she slammed her fist in her palm.
"Right."
All were silent, the realness of their situation becoming apparent minute by minute, their useful plan becoming dismal and worthless. Finally, Sasami, the innocent, spoke up.
"How are we going to get there?"
Heads to the ceiling, Washu was the only one to shrug and stand up. "Find Ryo-ohki of course."
"Where could she be?"
"I don't know Sasami." Her older sister wrapped consoling arms about the little princess. "But she would have followed Ryoko to where ever the others ran off to."
"I don't hear any blasts, maybe we should go look for the others?"
Purple, blue, teal, and magenta heads turned in the direction of the blonde, a spaced out expression on her tanned face.
"You know Mihoshi," Kiyone started, waiting for the others to rise and head out into the sunshine and whatever remained of the forest, "For once you have a good idea."
* * *
"We were so worried about you girls!" Nobuyuki cried as he ran to embrace the lot of them. Standing back he could see the new, confident expression plastered on each face. "Do you have a plan?" he asked knowingly.
"Of course we do!" Washu chirped, a fist shooting into the air. "We just need to know where Ryo-ohki is."
"Well," Calm as always, Yosho lifted an arm and pointed to the sky.
"She's in the clouds?"
Kiyone sighed. "No bubble-brain she's in space."
"With Lord Tenchi and Ryoko I assume." Aeka bent her head.
Nobuyuki's eyes lit up with hope. "Yes, how did you know?"
"She didn't, but after knowing those two for years, we wouldn't have expected anything less." Kiyone answered for the First Princess, whose emotions were beginning to build.
Suddenly, an almost familiar cry could be heard from above. Heads looked up to see a light gray ship stream through the blue sky. Hovering purposefully over the Shrine, it continued, getting larger every time it descended, until it was resting ever so lightly on the ground aside the battered and smoldering hill. Cell I had disappeared by now, so this new ship was able to come down fully. As it set itself low, the compressed air was forced from beneath it, spraying the newly reunited family with a jet of air. As the jet, and subsequent vapor cloud dissipated, there stood Nagi, hood drawn, with Ken-ohki on her shoulder.
* * *
"And you want me," Nagi stood up abruptly, pointing to herself, "To go up there and warn my sworn enemy, Ryoko, and her man that the only way to come out victorious is to flip a switch and destroy a dimensional porthole?"
"In so many words, yes." Washu nodded in agreement.
"Would I have to take all of you along with me?"
Kiyone leaned back on the grass where they were all sitting, including the men. "If you want to help Nagi, it's all up to you.unless."
The bounty hunter took one look at that cat grin on the GP officer's face and lifted her brow. "Unless what officer."
Just as the words were forming, Mihoshi jumped in and with vigor filled in the gap with, "Unless you let us borrow Ken-ohki."
"MIHOSHI!!!!"
"That's quite alright," Nagi held up a hand to silence poor Kiyone's whine for credit. "It doesn't matter which officer answered my question. My answer still stands as a firm no."
"No?" Sasami asked, those pink eyes glistening with renewed tears. "Really Nagi?"
The woman in question did a double take at the little princess, then rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Cry all you want little girl. Ryoko would understand."
"How could she understand?" Aeka looked up violently, shaking loose the tears that had clung close to her cheeks. "Why do you say such things Nagi?"
"Only because I know Ryoko better than anyone of you here. She would understand why I have to let things do as Fate wills them to." Holding up a finger to silence yet another royal outburst, she continued on, "Don't get me wrong Princess, she is a friend, but only a friend to need when the time calls for it."
"Doesn't this call for it?!"
Nagi drew back from Aeka's words and went deep within her mind. She had been thinking about the whole chase and how it was beginning to wear on her. True, she was the bounty hunter that one did not mess with. Still, seeing that pirate live a life that she herself had long since given up made Nagi think twice about . . . well . . . the hunt . . . Ryoko was living a life that one dreamt of. And though she was prideful, Nagi wasn't about to take that away - at least she could, but she wouldn't be the one responsible.
"Enough!" the hooded woman cried out as her mind collapsed in an unidentifiable pile around her. She stood facing the emotional first Princess. "You are right. It does call for it."
"You'll do it then?" Careful to let all her worries and hopes slide into that one question, Sasami began to smile.
"Only because of one thing." Turning back and sensing the others rise to follow, Nagi began to walk to Ken-ohki, still in his ship form. "Ryoko is my prey." She snarled to no one in particular with an air of possessiveness. No one else shall get the chance to hunt her."
* * *
Yosho looked up at the sound of the silver ship brush against the trees and ascend into the heavens. How he envied it.
The old Shinto priest shook his head and took a deep breath. Crossing his legs in meditation, he relaxed and sat completely still. Back straight and eyelids almost shut, he took yet another breath, let the air fill his lungs, expand, deflate with poisonous carbon dioxide, than inflate once again. Such a viscous cycle patience is, he thought solemnly, waiting for her face to illuminate the dark chamber - very much as it had done in life.
A stray wind wrapped itself around his shirt and tugged it in the direction of the doorway. With only slight resistance, he kept his position until the wind coalesced into the form of a supple young woman, cloaked only by a tunic of heavenly white. Ebony hair rumbled with Cornelia blossoms braided into the thick strands, his first love breathed once again.
In her eyes, the aged face of Yosho was nonexistent. To Haruna, he was caring and sweet Yosho, those dark eyes that teared not hidden by wide brims of bifocal glasses. Arms wrapped around his neck, lying in his lap, she rested her head on his chest, like so many times before.
"Haruna, it is not my time yet."
Her brown eyes blinked up at him, the mulberry lips quivering in angst. "Why?"
"Well, for one thing, he still has to finish training my son." Achika spoke up from her stance to the left of her father. Her arms were crossed over her favorite kimono, definitely not pleased with the other woman's whines and demands.
Reaching up and prying the ghostly arms loose, Yosho stood, prepared to deal with the next apparition that was beginning to phase in. Itsuki smiled at her husband and came to embrace her daughter.
"Achika, go to Nobuyuki now. I have to deal with Father myself." She whispered in her daughter's ear.
Achika motioned to Haruna with her head and with a nod from her mother, bowed in respect to Yosho and disappeared.
Blossoms falling with each step from her rival, Haruna stood up, not in total disrespect, but also not directly in it either.
"Dearest," Itsuki started her plead, her eyes soft with hope. "You can not leave yet, though she desires it."
The Juraian smirked and leaned on her love's shoulder. "I've known Yosho longer than you, he'll do as he wishes."
"Keep that in mind Haruna," Lord Katsuhito reminded her with a wag from his finger, only to have her glare redirected towards him.
"Please, I mean no disrespect. My spirit," a hand came to Haruna's breast, "may have been quieted with dear Yosho's apology, and it might have been calmed by my first visit, but that certainly doesn't mean that I don't feel the need to have him with me any less."
Narrowing her eyes, Itsuki cleared her throat. After a long period of silence, she spoke, "I love him also."
Yosho stood yet again torn between his first and second loves. Looking down, he spread his hands apart, one towards each woman. "Haruna, Itsuki, I wish to remain here, instructing Tenchi for the battles that he will have to fight so that he can carry on the Juraian ways to his own children." He looked up fiercely. "But not before."
Haruna, appearing as if she was caught in mid sentence, raised a hand but dropped it. "Very well Yosho. If that is what you wish." With that she phased out in a gust of wind that burst through the door.
Lord Katsuhito watched her leave, then turned back to Itsuki. "As for these visits, I don't think I can manage one more. It's too hard my wife."
"I know."
"I loved you as much as Haruna, Dearest please believe me."
Head hung, Itsuki looked up and set her transparent palm against his cheek. "I will be waiting."
Putting his hand over it, imagining what solid, real flesh would feel like, Lord Katsuhito maintained eye contact. "You all will be waiting."
With an affirming nod, Itsuki faded out from the dark room, leaving a confused, aggravated old man to his thoughts and meditations.
* * *
"Achika!" Nobuyuki shouted with a start as he came down the steps into the living room. His wife, flowing Juraian robes, gathered hair streaming out on invisible winds, and face like alabaster. All glowing...a painful reminder that she was only entity, not reality.
"Nobuyuki," She acknowledged, floating to his side at the foot of the stairs. "I must talk with you."
"It's been two years, why haven't I seen you since?"
They started to walk, falling back into a groove of life that had long since been abandoned. "Never mind that Love,"
"Oh."
"It's about Tenchi and Ryoko."
Mr. Masaki beamed. "Ah yes, they do make a fine couple, don't they?"
Achika smiled and joined the parental beam. "Yes. Today was an absolute disaster though."
"Like the day I fell for you." He held open the sliding door in a gentlemanly fashion, face high in expectation. It soon fell when she passed right through it, not noticing his effort.
She chuckled softly as her memory flooded with images of a sprightly pair of high schoolers, one holding a camera as the leaves of Fall fell all around them. He taped the other as she walked, suddenly catching him in the act and turning with a blush on her cheeks. "My, we were a pair."
He chuckled too, but the sounds soon dimmed and went out like a wisp of smoke. "I do miss you my darling." Nobuyuki spoke quietly; kicking rocks and twigs out of the way in frustration. "I was never that good at showing my feelings before."
His wife stopped and caught his eye with a look of sheer abhorrence. "No! You did, Nobuyuki, you did." Lowering her eyes, she tugged at her kimono anxiously. "I know you love me and still desperately do. But you've done wonders for our son,"
"I did the best, considering the circumstances."
"I'm only sorry that our life together was over before it truly began. You have no idea how much I wanted to comfort you on that winter day." she looked off into the distance and he could feel her slip her hand into his. "I truly love you."
"This family is blessed by that kind of 'forever' love." Her husband whispered, bringing her to face him.
Her face reflected his by way of their emotions. "Or cursed with it." She choked through tears. He reached a hand to feel the illusion, but as a reflection as he touched the cheek; Achika vanished like a ripple on the lake.
* * *
Meanwhile, still trapped by his own reality, Tenchi looked over to his fiancée, sitting cross-legged in serious thought.
"I never thought that I would see that ship again." She muttered aloud, after a long silence.
"What do you mean?"
Standing, Ryoko smiled and shook her head. "Oh, that," taking a good long look up to the white arc above them, she growled. "I am a Space Pirate after all. And I was young and impetuous, looking for anything to hoard or pillage."
"Huh?"
"Well.I sorta looted it?" she tried in effort to explain. "It was just sitting unattended."
Tenchi rubbed his face in sweaty palms.
Ryoko, sensing his emotions swing wildly from adoration to disgust, came down to kneel at his side, putting on her sweetest disposition. "Tenchi, it was a long time ago, and no one was hurt."
"Are you sure it was abandoned?"
Her golden eyes sought through the memories with darting, anxious motions. Finally she answered, "Yes."
He leaned back and could feel her rest against his shoulder, completely worn out, as he was, from the events of what should've been the happiest day in their lives.
"I can't believe this is how we spend the evening of our wedding day." His right arm pulled her snug against him. "Sitting, and waiting for our impending doom."
"HEY!!!"
Both looked up at the sound of Washu, her nasal, child-like voice echoing through Ryo-ohki's viewing windows, to behold the little genius, still clad in her lavender Kimono and sky blue sash. Tenchi glanced down to see his beloved wince with regret. The look soon vanished and was replaced with that wild battle grin.
"So," Ryoko started, disengaging herself from the twenty-year-old's protective embrace. "Finally figured out where we were, huh?"
"Not exactly." Washu stepped aside to reveal the hooded figure of the bounty hunter and sworn enemy of the Space Pirate.
Catching her breath in surprise and recovering, Ryoko set a hand on her hip and questioned, "Nagi, just what are you doing here?" In a sarcastic tone.
"I could ask you the very same thing Ryoko."
"Me?" she pointed to herself and laughed. "Protecting my life, as always. You?"
"Doing the very same thing."
"Only to take it later." Fierce bitterness took over her words as she spat them out
"Hey, can we just get on with it?" Came the genius from off-screen.
Through the shadow due to her hood, Ryoko could only guess that Nagi's sigh was accompanied by an equally exasperating eye-roll. "Fine."
The visage of Washu appeared once again, this time very serious instead of cheeky.
"Listen up you two. I have some incredible, scientific news for you. -"
Her sentence was interrupted by a groan from Ryoko, to which Washu shot a look of contempt in the Space Pirate's direction.
"While the red ship attacked the Shrine, I was in my lab, doing some research on it. It was found abandoned by a Galaxy Police officer, but showed high signs of life. Inside the ship itself, he described a converter or tuner of sorts and low and behold, I had a more sophisticated version of such a machine sitting in my lab. It's a dimension tuner."
Tenchi, who now was aside his fiancée and holding her closely, felt his throat go dry and panic begin to seep in. This wasn't the average; run of the mill assassin they were dealing with here.
"Anyway, there is absolutely no way that a regular dimension could be controlled by such a mundane tool. So, the only way such a unstable mechanism could be harnessed and controlled would be to create it of your own accord." She stopped suddenly in her explanation, her green eyes shimmering with pride in her own accomplishment. "It isn't that big of a deal you know. The whole idea of dimension creation was pioneered by myself in my early career as a scientific genius."
Letting the whole ego thing slide, and breathing out a low whistle of disbelief, Ryoko straightened her posture to the point of torture, then looked up to the screen for help. "This guy can control dimensions and yet he wants to kill me?"
"Apparently."
"Why?" Escaped from her protector's mouth. "What would Ryoko's death possibly provide for him?"
"EVIL has some reason. Throughout my exhausted research I can't come up with any answer as of yet."
"Well you better sit your little ass right in front of the laptop and figure it out Washu!" Ryoko screamed, forgetting about how brave and courageous her façade and true self had grown to be. "Meanwhile-"
"Don't yell at me!" Washu commanded, interrupting Ryoko once again. "I am incapable of stopping him. That's up to you two. We'll drop by and pick you up; I've set up an interstellar doorway from within Ken-ohki that will lead you directly to the ship's control consul."
"No need for that, Washu." Tenchi told her, suddenly remembering his fiancée's story. "Ryoko's already been there."
"Fine, if you have your own way in I can't persuade you further. We'll meet you on the ARC." Washu huffed. "Once there, we have to destroy two machines. One is the tuner itself, the other is the pool from where they surveyed both of you and our entire family."
"Surveyed?" Ryoko squeaked, visions of her private, intimate nights with Tenchi being exploited throughout the galaxy emerging from that damnable imagination of hers.
"It's only a guess, but due to just how much they knew about you in order to drag Nagi into all of this . . . it would be my only guess. I'll explain later when we're in the ship and our objectives are closer at hand."
"Fine." Through searing golden eyes Ryoko pulled Tenchi's arms closer about her body and with a farewell wave, both were gone in a shimmer of distorted light.
* * *
"Alright Nagi, you can go now!" Mihoshi called cheerily from the interstellar doorway hovering above Ken-ohki's main crystal control panel.
Footsteps could be heard from within the dark universal hallway until Kiyone stood next to her partner. "Mihoshi!!! Accept our deepest apologies Nagi, but Washu definitely does not want you to leave."
To her surprise, the bounty hunter nodded her head and smiled. "I'm happy to stay here and act as a safe house if battle becomes too fierce." She nodded over to the gray cabbit meowing to a control crystal. "Ryo-ohki refuses to leave Ken-ohki, even in his current state," turning back she almost seemed sincere. "It would be best if we stay where we are. I'm here to protect my bounty after all."
The teal tresses of the galaxy police officer swayed uneasily as Kiyone took in this swell of emotions coming from who was once thought to be a mortal enemy to the Masaki family. Finally she thanked Nagi and, turning back to the porthole, vanished in the dark, wavering hallway that linked a battlefield to safety.
Nagi stood as the door itself vanished to where ever it had manifested itself from. It was strange to think that the hunter had helped the prey.
My, she was losing her touch.
Well, she definitely hadn't lost it - it was more like it had become softer. Oh god, that sounded even worse.
"Ken-ohki, settle down for awhile. We'll be here until Ryoko comes away safely."
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Alrighty then, it looks like our crew are finally going to get to the bottom of this EVIL society. And what is going on with Nagi? Is she really getting that soft, or is she sensing something else?
Tell me what ya think (about the story, how well I'm keeping the characters in character or adversely what a horrid job I'm doing keeping them in character, and/or thoughts about what will happen in a REVIEW please and I'll be happy to put up more of the story!
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: *looks around suspiciously* I have to admit that the characters with the exception of my own aren't mine and never will be. *yelling* THERE, YA HAPPY NOW?
Well, well, well. 17 reviews later and this story is still going strong. I wonder how things will change after the next few chapters? Or the next book for that matter? (hee hee hee, bwahahahaha)
My sincere thanks to all of those who have reviewed so far! I'm in an extremely good mood the week before midterms because of you guys! And a happy author makes for better stories.
On with the story!
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FM: Graces of a Bounty Hunter
"Well, the explosions seem to be coming from farther and farther away," Mihoshi observed, pushed up against one of the neon green crystals in the cave center. "Maybe it's safe to go outside and look for the others?"
"Don't bet your life on it Mihoshi." Kiyone blurted out from beneath her breath, her chin on her chest in exhaustion. Then in forethought, continued, "Actually, go ahead, bet."
"Please," Sasami looked up from her own slumber, huddled against her sister. "Go back to sleep all of you." She preferred not to think of where her friends and family were, just in case they couldn't escape those white fires showering down from the alien ship.
"I can't now!" Kiyone grumbled, slowly stretching and rising to her feet, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I'm, *yawn* awake."
"Really, I can tell from that bright, conscious attitude you have there, Miss Kiyone." Aeka spoke up, herself stretching and thereby displacing Sasami.
"Aeka!"
"Now Sasami, we owe it to the others as friends and," she cleared her throat, "Relatives to go out there and search for them."
"I can hardly hear any blasts Aeka," Mihoshi informed the First Princess. "Maybe it is safe enough to leave the cave."
"Fine, but before you do, I have one little favor to ask of you,"
All turned in surprise to find the cutest little genius this side of Ursa Minor, or any constellation for that matter, still decked out in her ceremonial gown, standing in the cave entrance.
"Washu it's you!" Sasami got up with a start and ran to hug her friend. "We were so worried about what happened to you all."
"Uh huh, so I can tell." Washu commented looking at all of the girls' tired appearances.
"Oh Miss Washu!" Aeka came up beside her. "Are Lord Tenchi and Ryoko with you?"
"Afraid not Princess," the genius actually sounded regretful, "But I do have some interesting news for you all."
* * *
No sound dared to echo off the cave interior. All the girls sat around in a circle, heads bowed in pondersome thoughts. What Washu had just told them.it changed everything.
Aeka sat back in astonishment. "A different dimension?"
"Yep. And a created one at that."
Sasami drew her knees up to her chest. "But how could Nagi have met them then?"
"Simple," the genius smiled in satisfaction. She drew a circle in the air with a twirling finger. "EVIL obviously saw her coming from a dimensional porthole. Then they just flipped the switch and it carried them from their dimension to ours."
"Obviously." Sarcastically, Kiyone nudged her partner in the ribs.
"Yes it is obvious." Washu replied with a glare of annoyance.
Mihoshi leaned into the scientist's line of view. "So you're trying to tell us that if EVIL's ship was attacked, they would go down?"
"No. From their porthole, and, what must be some implant that allows them to literally jump from dimension to dimension, they are connected to this world. Meaning that if they fired at an oncoming ship it would miss-"
"Oh,"
"However, if they fired it into the porthole, or physically fought and the switch was thrown, they would make an impact."
"So," Aeka put both palms face up and weighed the options. "If the switch was destroyed, they would be locked in their own creation."
"Or they would be locked out of it." Sasami ventured a scenario.
Washu's finger went up. "But the porthole would still work. Destroy the porthole, and all they can do is fight hand to hand . . . I wish I knew what type of implant we're dealing with . . . "
"Well we don't have any idea," Kiyone rose to her feet and walked over to the center chamber's entrance.
Mihoshi, concerned about her partner's sudden rise from the conversation, got up to follow her.
"So in order to beat EVIL," Kiyone turned about face and walked back to stand on the outside of the circle. "We destroy the pool and the switch."
"Locking them in or locking them out," Sasami continued on with her theory.
"And from there, we kick ass." The teal tresses of the GP officer swayed as she slammed her fist in her palm.
"Right."
All were silent, the realness of their situation becoming apparent minute by minute, their useful plan becoming dismal and worthless. Finally, Sasami, the innocent, spoke up.
"How are we going to get there?"
Heads to the ceiling, Washu was the only one to shrug and stand up. "Find Ryo-ohki of course."
"Where could she be?"
"I don't know Sasami." Her older sister wrapped consoling arms about the little princess. "But she would have followed Ryoko to where ever the others ran off to."
"I don't hear any blasts, maybe we should go look for the others?"
Purple, blue, teal, and magenta heads turned in the direction of the blonde, a spaced out expression on her tanned face.
"You know Mihoshi," Kiyone started, waiting for the others to rise and head out into the sunshine and whatever remained of the forest, "For once you have a good idea."
* * *
"We were so worried about you girls!" Nobuyuki cried as he ran to embrace the lot of them. Standing back he could see the new, confident expression plastered on each face. "Do you have a plan?" he asked knowingly.
"Of course we do!" Washu chirped, a fist shooting into the air. "We just need to know where Ryo-ohki is."
"Well," Calm as always, Yosho lifted an arm and pointed to the sky.
"She's in the clouds?"
Kiyone sighed. "No bubble-brain she's in space."
"With Lord Tenchi and Ryoko I assume." Aeka bent her head.
Nobuyuki's eyes lit up with hope. "Yes, how did you know?"
"She didn't, but after knowing those two for years, we wouldn't have expected anything less." Kiyone answered for the First Princess, whose emotions were beginning to build.
Suddenly, an almost familiar cry could be heard from above. Heads looked up to see a light gray ship stream through the blue sky. Hovering purposefully over the Shrine, it continued, getting larger every time it descended, until it was resting ever so lightly on the ground aside the battered and smoldering hill. Cell I had disappeared by now, so this new ship was able to come down fully. As it set itself low, the compressed air was forced from beneath it, spraying the newly reunited family with a jet of air. As the jet, and subsequent vapor cloud dissipated, there stood Nagi, hood drawn, with Ken-ohki on her shoulder.
* * *
"And you want me," Nagi stood up abruptly, pointing to herself, "To go up there and warn my sworn enemy, Ryoko, and her man that the only way to come out victorious is to flip a switch and destroy a dimensional porthole?"
"In so many words, yes." Washu nodded in agreement.
"Would I have to take all of you along with me?"
Kiyone leaned back on the grass where they were all sitting, including the men. "If you want to help Nagi, it's all up to you.unless."
The bounty hunter took one look at that cat grin on the GP officer's face and lifted her brow. "Unless what officer."
Just as the words were forming, Mihoshi jumped in and with vigor filled in the gap with, "Unless you let us borrow Ken-ohki."
"MIHOSHI!!!!"
"That's quite alright," Nagi held up a hand to silence poor Kiyone's whine for credit. "It doesn't matter which officer answered my question. My answer still stands as a firm no."
"No?" Sasami asked, those pink eyes glistening with renewed tears. "Really Nagi?"
The woman in question did a double take at the little princess, then rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Cry all you want little girl. Ryoko would understand."
"How could she understand?" Aeka looked up violently, shaking loose the tears that had clung close to her cheeks. "Why do you say such things Nagi?"
"Only because I know Ryoko better than anyone of you here. She would understand why I have to let things do as Fate wills them to." Holding up a finger to silence yet another royal outburst, she continued on, "Don't get me wrong Princess, she is a friend, but only a friend to need when the time calls for it."
"Doesn't this call for it?!"
Nagi drew back from Aeka's words and went deep within her mind. She had been thinking about the whole chase and how it was beginning to wear on her. True, she was the bounty hunter that one did not mess with. Still, seeing that pirate live a life that she herself had long since given up made Nagi think twice about . . . well . . . the hunt . . . Ryoko was living a life that one dreamt of. And though she was prideful, Nagi wasn't about to take that away - at least she could, but she wouldn't be the one responsible.
"Enough!" the hooded woman cried out as her mind collapsed in an unidentifiable pile around her. She stood facing the emotional first Princess. "You are right. It does call for it."
"You'll do it then?" Careful to let all her worries and hopes slide into that one question, Sasami began to smile.
"Only because of one thing." Turning back and sensing the others rise to follow, Nagi began to walk to Ken-ohki, still in his ship form. "Ryoko is my prey." She snarled to no one in particular with an air of possessiveness. No one else shall get the chance to hunt her."
* * *
Yosho looked up at the sound of the silver ship brush against the trees and ascend into the heavens. How he envied it.
The old Shinto priest shook his head and took a deep breath. Crossing his legs in meditation, he relaxed and sat completely still. Back straight and eyelids almost shut, he took yet another breath, let the air fill his lungs, expand, deflate with poisonous carbon dioxide, than inflate once again. Such a viscous cycle patience is, he thought solemnly, waiting for her face to illuminate the dark chamber - very much as it had done in life.
A stray wind wrapped itself around his shirt and tugged it in the direction of the doorway. With only slight resistance, he kept his position until the wind coalesced into the form of a supple young woman, cloaked only by a tunic of heavenly white. Ebony hair rumbled with Cornelia blossoms braided into the thick strands, his first love breathed once again.
In her eyes, the aged face of Yosho was nonexistent. To Haruna, he was caring and sweet Yosho, those dark eyes that teared not hidden by wide brims of bifocal glasses. Arms wrapped around his neck, lying in his lap, she rested her head on his chest, like so many times before.
"Haruna, it is not my time yet."
Her brown eyes blinked up at him, the mulberry lips quivering in angst. "Why?"
"Well, for one thing, he still has to finish training my son." Achika spoke up from her stance to the left of her father. Her arms were crossed over her favorite kimono, definitely not pleased with the other woman's whines and demands.
Reaching up and prying the ghostly arms loose, Yosho stood, prepared to deal with the next apparition that was beginning to phase in. Itsuki smiled at her husband and came to embrace her daughter.
"Achika, go to Nobuyuki now. I have to deal with Father myself." She whispered in her daughter's ear.
Achika motioned to Haruna with her head and with a nod from her mother, bowed in respect to Yosho and disappeared.
Blossoms falling with each step from her rival, Haruna stood up, not in total disrespect, but also not directly in it either.
"Dearest," Itsuki started her plead, her eyes soft with hope. "You can not leave yet, though she desires it."
The Juraian smirked and leaned on her love's shoulder. "I've known Yosho longer than you, he'll do as he wishes."
"Keep that in mind Haruna," Lord Katsuhito reminded her with a wag from his finger, only to have her glare redirected towards him.
"Please, I mean no disrespect. My spirit," a hand came to Haruna's breast, "may have been quieted with dear Yosho's apology, and it might have been calmed by my first visit, but that certainly doesn't mean that I don't feel the need to have him with me any less."
Narrowing her eyes, Itsuki cleared her throat. After a long period of silence, she spoke, "I love him also."
Yosho stood yet again torn between his first and second loves. Looking down, he spread his hands apart, one towards each woman. "Haruna, Itsuki, I wish to remain here, instructing Tenchi for the battles that he will have to fight so that he can carry on the Juraian ways to his own children." He looked up fiercely. "But not before."
Haruna, appearing as if she was caught in mid sentence, raised a hand but dropped it. "Very well Yosho. If that is what you wish." With that she phased out in a gust of wind that burst through the door.
Lord Katsuhito watched her leave, then turned back to Itsuki. "As for these visits, I don't think I can manage one more. It's too hard my wife."
"I know."
"I loved you as much as Haruna, Dearest please believe me."
Head hung, Itsuki looked up and set her transparent palm against his cheek. "I will be waiting."
Putting his hand over it, imagining what solid, real flesh would feel like, Lord Katsuhito maintained eye contact. "You all will be waiting."
With an affirming nod, Itsuki faded out from the dark room, leaving a confused, aggravated old man to his thoughts and meditations.
* * *
"Achika!" Nobuyuki shouted with a start as he came down the steps into the living room. His wife, flowing Juraian robes, gathered hair streaming out on invisible winds, and face like alabaster. All glowing...a painful reminder that she was only entity, not reality.
"Nobuyuki," She acknowledged, floating to his side at the foot of the stairs. "I must talk with you."
"It's been two years, why haven't I seen you since?"
They started to walk, falling back into a groove of life that had long since been abandoned. "Never mind that Love,"
"Oh."
"It's about Tenchi and Ryoko."
Mr. Masaki beamed. "Ah yes, they do make a fine couple, don't they?"
Achika smiled and joined the parental beam. "Yes. Today was an absolute disaster though."
"Like the day I fell for you." He held open the sliding door in a gentlemanly fashion, face high in expectation. It soon fell when she passed right through it, not noticing his effort.
She chuckled softly as her memory flooded with images of a sprightly pair of high schoolers, one holding a camera as the leaves of Fall fell all around them. He taped the other as she walked, suddenly catching him in the act and turning with a blush on her cheeks. "My, we were a pair."
He chuckled too, but the sounds soon dimmed and went out like a wisp of smoke. "I do miss you my darling." Nobuyuki spoke quietly; kicking rocks and twigs out of the way in frustration. "I was never that good at showing my feelings before."
His wife stopped and caught his eye with a look of sheer abhorrence. "No! You did, Nobuyuki, you did." Lowering her eyes, she tugged at her kimono anxiously. "I know you love me and still desperately do. But you've done wonders for our son,"
"I did the best, considering the circumstances."
"I'm only sorry that our life together was over before it truly began. You have no idea how much I wanted to comfort you on that winter day." she looked off into the distance and he could feel her slip her hand into his. "I truly love you."
"This family is blessed by that kind of 'forever' love." Her husband whispered, bringing her to face him.
Her face reflected his by way of their emotions. "Or cursed with it." She choked through tears. He reached a hand to feel the illusion, but as a reflection as he touched the cheek; Achika vanished like a ripple on the lake.
* * *
Meanwhile, still trapped by his own reality, Tenchi looked over to his fiancée, sitting cross-legged in serious thought.
"I never thought that I would see that ship again." She muttered aloud, after a long silence.
"What do you mean?"
Standing, Ryoko smiled and shook her head. "Oh, that," taking a good long look up to the white arc above them, she growled. "I am a Space Pirate after all. And I was young and impetuous, looking for anything to hoard or pillage."
"Huh?"
"Well.I sorta looted it?" she tried in effort to explain. "It was just sitting unattended."
Tenchi rubbed his face in sweaty palms.
Ryoko, sensing his emotions swing wildly from adoration to disgust, came down to kneel at his side, putting on her sweetest disposition. "Tenchi, it was a long time ago, and no one was hurt."
"Are you sure it was abandoned?"
Her golden eyes sought through the memories with darting, anxious motions. Finally she answered, "Yes."
He leaned back and could feel her rest against his shoulder, completely worn out, as he was, from the events of what should've been the happiest day in their lives.
"I can't believe this is how we spend the evening of our wedding day." His right arm pulled her snug against him. "Sitting, and waiting for our impending doom."
"HEY!!!"
Both looked up at the sound of Washu, her nasal, child-like voice echoing through Ryo-ohki's viewing windows, to behold the little genius, still clad in her lavender Kimono and sky blue sash. Tenchi glanced down to see his beloved wince with regret. The look soon vanished and was replaced with that wild battle grin.
"So," Ryoko started, disengaging herself from the twenty-year-old's protective embrace. "Finally figured out where we were, huh?"
"Not exactly." Washu stepped aside to reveal the hooded figure of the bounty hunter and sworn enemy of the Space Pirate.
Catching her breath in surprise and recovering, Ryoko set a hand on her hip and questioned, "Nagi, just what are you doing here?" In a sarcastic tone.
"I could ask you the very same thing Ryoko."
"Me?" she pointed to herself and laughed. "Protecting my life, as always. You?"
"Doing the very same thing."
"Only to take it later." Fierce bitterness took over her words as she spat them out
"Hey, can we just get on with it?" Came the genius from off-screen.
Through the shadow due to her hood, Ryoko could only guess that Nagi's sigh was accompanied by an equally exasperating eye-roll. "Fine."
The visage of Washu appeared once again, this time very serious instead of cheeky.
"Listen up you two. I have some incredible, scientific news for you. -"
Her sentence was interrupted by a groan from Ryoko, to which Washu shot a look of contempt in the Space Pirate's direction.
"While the red ship attacked the Shrine, I was in my lab, doing some research on it. It was found abandoned by a Galaxy Police officer, but showed high signs of life. Inside the ship itself, he described a converter or tuner of sorts and low and behold, I had a more sophisticated version of such a machine sitting in my lab. It's a dimension tuner."
Tenchi, who now was aside his fiancée and holding her closely, felt his throat go dry and panic begin to seep in. This wasn't the average; run of the mill assassin they were dealing with here.
"Anyway, there is absolutely no way that a regular dimension could be controlled by such a mundane tool. So, the only way such a unstable mechanism could be harnessed and controlled would be to create it of your own accord." She stopped suddenly in her explanation, her green eyes shimmering with pride in her own accomplishment. "It isn't that big of a deal you know. The whole idea of dimension creation was pioneered by myself in my early career as a scientific genius."
Letting the whole ego thing slide, and breathing out a low whistle of disbelief, Ryoko straightened her posture to the point of torture, then looked up to the screen for help. "This guy can control dimensions and yet he wants to kill me?"
"Apparently."
"Why?" Escaped from her protector's mouth. "What would Ryoko's death possibly provide for him?"
"EVIL has some reason. Throughout my exhausted research I can't come up with any answer as of yet."
"Well you better sit your little ass right in front of the laptop and figure it out Washu!" Ryoko screamed, forgetting about how brave and courageous her façade and true self had grown to be. "Meanwhile-"
"Don't yell at me!" Washu commanded, interrupting Ryoko once again. "I am incapable of stopping him. That's up to you two. We'll drop by and pick you up; I've set up an interstellar doorway from within Ken-ohki that will lead you directly to the ship's control consul."
"No need for that, Washu." Tenchi told her, suddenly remembering his fiancée's story. "Ryoko's already been there."
"Fine, if you have your own way in I can't persuade you further. We'll meet you on the ARC." Washu huffed. "Once there, we have to destroy two machines. One is the tuner itself, the other is the pool from where they surveyed both of you and our entire family."
"Surveyed?" Ryoko squeaked, visions of her private, intimate nights with Tenchi being exploited throughout the galaxy emerging from that damnable imagination of hers.
"It's only a guess, but due to just how much they knew about you in order to drag Nagi into all of this . . . it would be my only guess. I'll explain later when we're in the ship and our objectives are closer at hand."
"Fine." Through searing golden eyes Ryoko pulled Tenchi's arms closer about her body and with a farewell wave, both were gone in a shimmer of distorted light.
* * *
"Alright Nagi, you can go now!" Mihoshi called cheerily from the interstellar doorway hovering above Ken-ohki's main crystal control panel.
Footsteps could be heard from within the dark universal hallway until Kiyone stood next to her partner. "Mihoshi!!! Accept our deepest apologies Nagi, but Washu definitely does not want you to leave."
To her surprise, the bounty hunter nodded her head and smiled. "I'm happy to stay here and act as a safe house if battle becomes too fierce." She nodded over to the gray cabbit meowing to a control crystal. "Ryo-ohki refuses to leave Ken-ohki, even in his current state," turning back she almost seemed sincere. "It would be best if we stay where we are. I'm here to protect my bounty after all."
The teal tresses of the galaxy police officer swayed uneasily as Kiyone took in this swell of emotions coming from who was once thought to be a mortal enemy to the Masaki family. Finally she thanked Nagi and, turning back to the porthole, vanished in the dark, wavering hallway that linked a battlefield to safety.
Nagi stood as the door itself vanished to where ever it had manifested itself from. It was strange to think that the hunter had helped the prey.
My, she was losing her touch.
Well, she definitely hadn't lost it - it was more like it had become softer. Oh god, that sounded even worse.
"Ken-ohki, settle down for awhile. We'll be here until Ryoko comes away safely."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Alrighty then, it looks like our crew are finally going to get to the bottom of this EVIL society. And what is going on with Nagi? Is she really getting that soft, or is she sensing something else?
Tell me what ya think (about the story, how well I'm keeping the characters in character or adversely what a horrid job I'm doing keeping them in character, and/or thoughts about what will happen in a REVIEW please and I'll be happy to put up more of the story!
As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!