Chapter 13
--Failure of plans--
In space, there is no noise; it's a universal constant. But if there was then the warships of unimaginable size and power that glided through the inky blackness of space effortlessly would elicit a gasp of awe and surprise.
Their sleek bodies made of intricately carved wood gave them a restless nature as they moved with ease unchallenged through space.
They formed a triangle with the warship Burakku-Doragon, one of the most powerful ships in the whole Juraian fleet, at its point. These were Jurai's top warships and it was rumored that combined they could level a galaxy.
After the gasp of awe and surprise, one would then ask the question of 'why are they on the move?' the answer would of course be given quickly as something much more impressive and powerful was spotted in the center. It was a ship, built upon the same design as the warships, only triple in size and in power. This ship alone was capable of leveling an armada and that was just its warning shot.
But, it was not a warship; it was designed purely for pleasure and for comfort on an extended intersystem trip.
Seeing these ships, sensing the raw power that they had at their disposal, let the whole of the universe know that the Royal family of Jurai was on the move.
Chijiro looked around his room, he was very impressed, more impressed than he had been before hand. He had thought that a ship with so much power would not have the space for a room as comfortable as this. He had a private bedchamber, a bath, even a sitting room with a bar.
None of the rooms were exactly small either. His ceiling was at least eleven feet high and the room itself seemed to have all the comforts of home, if one's home was a nice palace. It even had a luxurious thick carpet.
He smiled and shook his head, turning as the door to his quarters opened and his companion and knight entered. The knight placed his hand to his chest and bowed his head in the traditional Juraian salute. ""Lord Chijiro, everything is accounted for and in perfect operation.""
The young lord nodded and moved towards the bar silently, he grabbed a bottle pouring himself a drink as he spoke to his friend. ""Tell me Baiko did that young man Geikan ever stop by to see you?""
Baiko nodded. ""Yes. He is an adept knight right now, assigned to this very ship.""
Chijiro sat the bottle down and looked up at his friend raising his eyebrow ever so slightly. Baiko sensed the question in his lord's actions and answered it for him. ""If my sister is with him then I want him to be able to provide a future...he has the raw talent and passion to be a knight.""
Chijiro smirked sipping his drink. ""Does Geikan know that you know of him and your sister?""
Baiko shook his head and gave a ghost of a smile. Chijiro was about to say something when there was a soft knock on the door. Both men turned to look at it, Chijiro smiled when he heard the voice of his love Princess Aekea. ""Lord Chijiro are you here?"" The speakers used to amplify a visitor's voice when they were outside was not flattering however, it gave her voice a soft whining hiss.
Chijiro left the bar, his drink forgotten on the counter. Baiko was on his lord's heels, just in case it was a trick. Chijiro opened the door and smiled brightly at the lovely woman before him. She was dressed in her traditional kimono, and lovely as ever. She smiled back, getting to be at ease with the young lord.
Baiko immediately bowed seeing her and she dismissed him with a glance, just as any good royalty was taught to.
Chijiro looked over to him and spoke softly. ""Would you mind leaving us alone Baiko?""
The knight placed his hand to his chest and bowed his head ""As you wish.""
Aekea stepped out of the way allowing him to pass through the door. As the door closed, the young silver haired lord
turned and started towards the bar. ""This is a pleasant surprise Princess Aekea.""
She frowned ever so slightly as she followed behind him. ""Please, if we are to be married you should call me Aekea.""
Chijiro stepped around the bar and flashed a charming smile at her. ""I think that if we were going to be married I should be able to call you my love.""
She nodded a little as she settled onto a chair in the sitting room demurely. She kept her eyes on him however, a small smile on her face.
""Would you care for something to drink?"" he asked as he poured himself a drink of crystal clear liquor. He cast a glance at her and she shook her head as she answered. ""No, thank you.""
He nodded and picked up his drink walking over to join her on the couch. ""So, what brings you by to give me this honor?""
She looked around and then at him once more. ""It is about Earth.""
The young lord nodded and smiled as he sipped his drink. She took this as a sign to continue and did so. ""My time there, it was the best time of my life.""
""Understandable."" Was his only comment, he took another sip of his drink and set it before him.
She took a deep breath and continued. ""Earth is home to me, even more so than Jurai. And I cannot live in this ship when we arrive. I must be in a proper house, the house that I have grown to love, with those that I both love and hate.""
He nodded again. ""I understand, you must do as you feel you should.""
She looked at him oddly and sighed looking away. ""The problem is I can not bear to stay there by myself. I came to see if you would...share my room...my bed with me."" She said the last part so low, that it was almost inaudible.
Once she had said it she held her breath. If Ryoko could have heard her she would have never heard the end of it. Little miss proper inviting a man to sleep in the same room with her, let alone the same bed, was just unheard of.
""It sounded like you asked me to stay in the same bed with you."" His voice sounded confused, but so far he was not objecting.
She nodded ever so slightly as she spoke in a small voice. ""I did...I would invite my mother to share my room, but her current condition would only depress me. Besides I believe she is planning on staying in Sasami's room the entire time.""
He shook his head and stood. ""But why do you need someone to stay with you?""
She bit her lip and then stood as well continuing to make her case. ""Because of the attempts on mine and my family's life, I have begun to fear the dark. I need someone to stay with me, even in the one place that I should feel the safest. I need someone to hold me at night so that I can feel safe, so that I can feel what it's like to be loved.""
She immediately went quiet, her face paling considerable. She could see it in his face that he was stunned. They stood there quietly for several minutes and then finally he spoke. ""No. It's not proper.""
She took a step towards him. ""You said you loved me.""
""I do.""
""Then why not? I know it's not proper, but I'm asking you to comfort me."" She sounded hurt and accusing. Her mind was confused, why if he loved her was he refusing?
""Because I can not hold you at night and not try to kiss you. I don't think I could keep myself from it for long."" His answer sounded apologetic.
She harrumphed and pushed past him. ""Fine!"" Let him stay here, if she had learned anything from Ryoko and Tenchi it was that the proper thing was not always the best.
He hurried after her as she strode purposely out of the room, heading towards the door. ""Is it really that important to you?"" he asked his voice sound thoughtful.
She spun, the door opening behind her; she nodded her eyes looking hurt at his rejection. He sighed and bowed his head stopping just a few feet away from her. ""Then I will.""
She nodded gracing him with a small smile; her fear of being alone on Earth near those two had gripped her heart, along with the fear of another attempt on her life. She turned and left, she knew he would kiss her when they slept on Earth, all she had to figure out now is if she wanted him to or not.
The question was moot though, since she had told the truth, she needed him to comfort her. She was terrified of the dark, even more so than after the burning of Jurai seven hundred years ago. She shivered slightly as she glided down the empty corridor; if she were really honest with herself she would find that she didn't want to leave Chijiro's room.
Sometimes being a princess meant you couldn't do what you wanted.
***
The ship was large, so much so that a knight could pass without any notice. This was what had allowed Baiko unrestricted access to Queen Masaki's room. He had visited with the other knights, especially with her own private group, so when he turned up again after being asked to leave his lord and princess Aekea; they were more than willing to allow him to place a gift from Chijiro in the queen's room unbothered.
He looked around the room; it was much larger than the others he had been in so far. The living room was at least twice the size of Chijiro's. The Queen's ceilings were twelve feet or more high. He walked into her bedroom and stopped. A large four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room; with its powder blue bed curtains pulled back it was obvious that it could hold three people easily.
He walked past the dark wood desks and tables, making a circle around the room and then approached the bed. He knelt down and lifted the covers, setting a black box down beside him. He carefully slid the box under the bed, once it was in position right in the center of the bed; he slid a small panel on the front of it out of the way and tapped in a few keys.
There was a beep and then he let the covers fall back into place as he stood. Brushing his uniform down smoothing it out, he turned and left her room. He paused just outside the door and looked down one empty hallway and then the other, he nodded to himself and turned left heading for the elevator heading for the galley.
Geikan blinked watching as his own personal mentor left the Queens room looking suspicious. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head; he had just stepped out into the hallway and then stepped back out of view when he saw him. He shook his head and continued on with his assignment.
***
Geikan pulled nervously at his uniform, looking around, missing the five other novices. He and his partner Mekian, adept and ready to graduate to full fledged knight, had been assigned to check the lower sections of the ship. He looked around the narrow corridor on the engine / atmospheric system section of the ship. Lord Chijiro had sent orders that he wanted the ship checked over and it was the reasoning behind it that was playing on the young adept knight's mind.
Baiko had showed up shortly after the orders had been issued and organized them, there were only five, so this meant that two took the middle decks, one went with Baiko and checked the rooms and the last set was to explore the lower decks where the engines and atmospheric processing systems were housed.
This explained how Geikan got assigned to Mekian, Baiko seemed to be teaming the young adept up with a well-seasoned knight when he could.
He paused, a low beeping sound catching his attention. He looked around realizing that Mekian had moved on, he looked around, unable to see anyone he taped his access code into the number pad next to the door and stepped inside.
The room was dark and rather musty, his eyes adjusted to the light and he found that he was in the main atmospheric recycling unit. He frowned, the beeping drawing him in further. He moved lightly, as far as he knew it should not be beeping. He moved around and stopped in front of the two large air pipes, in-between the crack he saw a small red display.
With nervous hands he reached in then stopped, he stepped back. If this was a bomb then he couldn't risk touching it. He backed away and turned to type in his code into the numerical pad, but it was rejected. He hurriedly typed it again but received the same response.
He gulped and grabbed his communicator and slid the cover up. He felt himself go cold, as all he heard was a hissing static. He yelled into it, but he knew he was not getting through. There was too much interference from the electronics and machinery for it to work.
He closed the cover and put it back in his belt and began to pace, he had to figure something out. This ship was depending on him. He stopped and looked at the LCD display and sighed with a little relief, he had about twelve hours left to figure something out.
***
Laurynas sighed and looked up at the large medical ship, he was tired of its sterile walls but it was much better than the house. Mihoshi was driving everyone, including Taliesin, crazy as she tried to find out if anyone knew where Ukyo was. He had been missing for most of the day actually.
Laurynas blinked, watching the air shimmer a foot in front of him, he reached up and rubbed his eyes and looked again. Tenchi and Ryoko had appeared out of nowhere, being new to the household he was not used to them teleporting like that. He shook his head and started towards them.
Ryoko spotted him approaching and gave a small frown, which caused the young man to slow down his pace. Tenchi finally turned, realizing that Ryoko was looking at something. He sighed and started towards the young physician, Ryoko was next to him holding his hand the entire way.
Laurynas bowed his head and spoke quickly when they were close enough. "Lord Tenchi..." The young lord cut him off.
"Can we do this another time?"
Laurynas looked up at him and blinked. "I had reserved the medical computer and the biorhythmic scanner for today, but yes of course."
Tenchi decided that if Laurynas had gone to the trouble of reserving equipment for him, then he shouldn't have the young intern waste it. Tenchi nodded at Laurynas and turned to look at Ryoko. "Listen, this won't take that long, why don't you go onto the house. I'll head right to my room as soon as I'm done. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes should it?" The young lord turned his attention to Laurynas at that last part of the statement.
"No, it should take maybe five, ten at the tops."
Ryoko's frowned deepened a little, but she nodded and kissed the young lords cheek. "Alright, just remember..." she gave Tenchi a small sexy smile. "I am going to have you today." She laughed in a mockingly evil way and then rose up starting to fly towards the house.
Both men watched as she disappeared through a wall, Laurynas wondered what sort of genetic coding allowed her to phase through a solid wall. He was then shaken out of his thoughts by the young lord who spoke.
"Let's get this over with."
Laurynas nodded and tapped on his small data pad, they were engulfed in a blue beam and teleported onboard the ship, directly to the medical bay. Tenchi looked around and then back towards Laurynas, smiling slightly.
"You know, after Washu's physicals, this won't be so bad."
Laurynas nodded some, his back to the young lord. When he turned back around he was holding a larger data pad. He motioned the young prince to a wall. Tenchi watched as he tapped in his code and the wall opened and a gyroscope-like device slid out, there was a set of bio-energetic conduit sensors built into the handholds, designed to measure the strength and energy of the patient.
Laurynas spoke, not looking up from his data pad. "Please remove your shirt and climb into the Orbotron." Tenchi shook his head taking a step back.
"Oh no, the last time I did that for someone they kept me in it for three days."
Laurynas looked at him and sighed. "Please my Lord, I promise it won't take that long." The young prince glared at him and then undid his shirt and folded it; he laid it on a nearby table and then carefully put his feet into the stirrups, which shrunk to hold them in place. He reached up grabbing the handgrips and squeezed causing the dial to spin until it reached its max reading.
The young doctor walked over to the stand-alone keypad and tapped in the code causing it to spin slowly, he scribbled on his pad walking around the young lord. The machine sped up, the room becoming a blur to Tenchi.
"While you're spinning, we'll test your energy and draw some of your blood soon." Laurynas explained, not paying not to much attention.
***
Ukyo lifted his head, his eyes half closed. He was breathing heavily, his uniform torn and stained with his own blood. Ten daggers. He had managed to dodge five; the other five however were a different story. One of his legs was sporting a deep cut; the rest had managed to slice through his clothes and skin to stab into the tree.
Chuugi was chuckling. He stood slowly and clapped. "My, my, you are a very well trained knight. Why, if you were to live I'd bet you'd be as good as Iwa." He started circling the handcuffed knight slowly, like a predator. When he reappeared from behind the tree Ukyo was cuffed to he held two energy swords, both hissing with a dark purple energy.
"Well, I'm going to warm up. Wouldn't be proper to kill such a skilled knight without a proper warm up." The shadow chuckled and took about three strides away and started to twirl them, he moved in a small area, yet he made them sing. He flipped, jumped, twirled and sliced the air, his blades going faster, and faster, till at last, Ukyo couldn't even see them.
Chuugi stopped suddenly, landing on the balls of his feet and turned looking into the forest. Ukyo strained, confused, and then he heard it too. Somebody was calling his name; they were making a lot of noise as well. It didn't take the bruised and bloodied knight long to realize that it was Mihoshi.
When he noticed that Chuugi was distracted, he laced his fingers over the branch and looked up then back to the shadow. He readied himself and jumped up, the branch breaking under his weight. He landed on the balls of his feet with a wince and made a shuffling run towards Chuugi.
The shadow had begun to turn at the sound of the tree branch snapping. His eyes went wide and he muttered. "This is going to hurt." He started to lift one of his arms to block the swing but the branch connected with the side of his head.
He spun once from the force, one of his blades spinning free from his hand to land with a soft clatter to the ground.
Dazed, he tried to slice with his remaining blade as he came around, but Ukyo ducked and swung again driving the make shift club into his opponent's rib. There was a dull crack as other sword fell from Chuugi's hand. The blade dying as it did, Ukyo did not waste any time, shifting his grip and striking upwards.
He lifted the shadow up off the ground as the club struck his chin. Ukyo stumbled forward stopping himself by bracing himself against the ground. The Shadow landed with a thud, sending a small amount of dust and leaves up with a puff.
Ukyo leaned on the branch and looked down at him; he coughed and shook his head. "Katsuhito would tell you 'Never take your eyes of your target.' Lord Tenchi would tell you. 'Never turn your back on a wounded man.' I myself would have to tell you Baseball is a handy training game."
He finally let the club go, working his cuffed wrists free. He staggered over to the fallen Shadow and patted him down. Finding the key, he undid the locks and then dropped them to the ground along with the key and picked up one of the dropped swords. He concentrated, playing with the handle until he found the proper grip and ignited the purple blade. He smiled and took off through the forest the best he could, headed for Mihoshi's voice.
Apparently he wasn't that far from Mihoshi or the shrine stairs, because he cleared the forest and found himself face to face with the blonde Galaxy police officer within a matter of minutes. He was panting pretty hard, her eyes were wide and she gasped. She started to embrace him, but he shook his head.
"No time love...Go find Tenchi, Tralu and others are planning on killing Ryoko."
Mihoshi gasped then went serious. "Right!" She turned to start off and then paused looking back at him. "Wait! What about you?"
He waved a hand. "I'm going to find her; do you know where she is?" Mihoshi nodded and pointed in the general direction of where Ryoko went off to look for him in.
"She's out over there looking for you."
He nodded and started towards it and then stopped, he turned back and ran back to Mihoshi grabbing her around the waist. He kissed her quickly on the lips and smiled. "Thanks for the good luck." He turned and ran off into the forest, leaving a confused and stunned Mihoshi. She smiled then turned, running down the stairs intent on finding Tenchi and telling him the news that Ukyo had given her.
***
Tenchi sighed, pulling on his shirt. Laurynas was busy on the other side of the room checking the readouts from the machine, while running his blood sample through a tumbler. It had taken about ten minutes and another five before Tenchi could get the room to stop spinning. According to Laurynas the young prince had taken it to its limit, most people would pass out from the speed it had been moving, or at least that was what he was told.
He turned hearing the door to the room open and found himself looking at an older gentleman. Tenchi took in the priestly like blue and white robes and the distinguished looking man. "Elder Tralu!"
Tenchi turned and looked at the young doctor and then back to the older gentleman. The man walked into the room, looking at the equipment, his hands held behind his back calmly. He stopped and looked down at the young prince. "Prince Tenchi, I assume."
Tenchi nodded and sighed to himself. "Yes. And you are?"
The man smiled every so slightly. "I am Second Elder of the Juraian Holy Council, Tralu" He said it with an air of pride and arrogance. Tenchi raised an eyebrow as Aekea had mentioned them once. However, the name held no special meaning to the young man.
"Oh. Well, nice to meet you. I was just on my way back to my house." Tenchi said politely, wanting to be done with them and get to Ryoko.
The older gentleman frowned and shook his head. "I'll escort you, we need to talk anyway." he seemed to be trying to act grandfatherly towards the young prince. Tenchi shrugged and nodded at Laurynas who nodded back. Without a second glance at the man he turned and started out of the room, if this elder wanted to talk with him let him keep up.
They walked in silence for several minutes down the rather deserted hallway. Tenchi took in the finely designed details of the ship, noting the command screens, he wasn't sure why, but he felt that he would probably need to know about them sometime in the future.
He was shaken out of his thoughts when the Elder spoke. "Tenchi, the Council has been discussing you and this...Ryoko...." he made a sound that was reserved for something very distasteful. Tenchi rounded on Tralu in less than a second.
"What business is it of yours if I'm in love with her?"
The Elder looked at him nonplussed, quite used to dealing with dangerous royals by now. "It's our business since it is forbidden for a future emperor to marry one that is less that satisfactory."
Tenchi clenched his fist, his jaw tightening. "I am leaving now." his voice was very clam and collected. The elder shook his head and continued to press the argument with the young prince who was barely keeping a tight check on his temper.
"I suggest that you drop this subject." Was Tenchi's comment as Tralu continued talking about Ryoko, insisting what was proper and what wasn't. Basically, Tralu was telling Tenchi he couldn't marry Ryoko and Tenchi was trying to keep from ripping the gentleman's head off.
Finally Tralu raised his hand and spoke as if his word was the final say. "You cannot argue with me. You cannot and will not marry Ryoko. The Holy Council has reached its decision and its decision is final." The elder turned and started off; Tenchi started towards him but was engulfed in a beam of blue energy and was deposited outside of the ship.
Looking around he grabbed a rock and hurled it at the ship, a small dent appearing from where it had struck. It was obvious: Prince Tenchi was not a happy camper.
***
Mihoshi, huffing and puffing, busted through the door to the house. She stood there, breathing heavily and then cupping her hands she yelled, "TENCHI!" When she received no response she began to run through the first floor looking in all the rooms. She continued to shout out his name trying to find him.
She turned to run out of the living room and found herself face to face with Washu, Kiyone, and Taliesin. She blinked, sweating and panting. "Where's Tenchi?"
Kiyone blinked, sounding confused. "Tenchi? I thought you were looking for Ukyo."
Mihoshi shook her head violently. "No, I mean I was...I mean..." she paused and took a breath before continuing. "Ukyo told me that Tralu and some others were planning on killing Ryoko!"
By the time Mihoshi had finished her sentence, Washu's hands were flying over her keyboard, running a scan to find Tenchi. Kiyone turned around to find that Taliesin was already heading out of the house, finding a knight to get Tenchi. Mihoshi's yelling was quickly becoming a screeching sound.
Washu muttered something about waking the dead as Kiyone quickly moved to her partner's side to try and calm her down. "Mihoshi, it'll be alright." Her partner shook her head violently, her blond hair flying as she did.
"No, Ukyo told me to find Tenchi and tell him. I have to tell Tenchi." she was insistent about it, so much that Kiyone couldn't get a word in edge wise.
The three women turned at the sound of Tenchi's voice. "I don't care how important it is. I want to talk with Tralu." They heard a male knight's voice, firm but apologetic.
The young prince came into the room, looking decidedly angry. Washu started to speak when Mihoshi broke in before her. "Tralu and someone else are going to try and kill Ryoko!" She literally ran to him, keeping the others out of the loop.
If Tenchi had been angry before, he was enraged now. "He What? Where is she?" His eyes were focused on Mihoshi, ignoring everyone else, a very strange event.
The normally ditzy blond started towards the door with Tenchi on her heels. "She's in the forest looking for Ukyo, he'd been missing all day and she was helping me...he ran off after her once he told me what was going on." Their voices disappeared out the door leaving Washu, Mihoshi, and Taliesin looking at each other confusedly.
***
Ukyo was moving quickly through the forest. His leg was throbbing, as was the rest of his body but he didn't care. All that mattered was finding Ryoko. He would not let Tenchi down again and nothing was going to stop him. Besides, he had a score to settle with Suzume.
He shook his head and forced himself to focus. He gripped his blade tighter as he ran amidst the trees. He concentrated hard; trying to put the training he had received from his early knight days and from Katsuhito to use, but it wasn't doing much good; he was too worried about Ryoko's safety.
He found a boulder speeding towards him quickly. He made the leap, his foot planting itself onto the rock launching himself up into the trees. He landed on a tree branch and winced slightly, but didn't stop as he started to race through the tree branches. He was beginning to fear that he wasn't going to find them when his senses finally picked up a hint of them. They were to the east and quickly moved towards them, dropping to the ground eventually. With any luck he could reach them soon.
Unfortunately it wasn't quick enough, he felt the earth tremble from a blast and he redoubled his efforts. He reached them after another five minutes of all out running; he came to a screeching halt as he saw the two shadows circling her.
She held two orange energy swords in each hand and an evil, almost demonic smile, was on her face. Her eyes were bright with battle as she watched Iwa throw a handful of small metallic balls up. They soared into the air and then crackled with energy as they disappeared from sight.
Iwa and Suzume attacked at the same time, but Ryoko batted both of their attacks away like child's play and faded out so they crashed into each other. She reappeared behind them and laughed. "Come on, I need to relieve some anger, you can do better than that."
The two shadows turned and charged; so far nobody had noticed Ukyo. He smiled watching Ryoko bat their attacks away like nothing, apparently the dampeners weren't that good. Still he grabbed a rock and held it tightly, ready to hurl it and join the fray.
Ryoko was in mid-duck when she saw him, she gave him a smile and continued to fight, the two shadows seeming to try even harder, which seemed to have the effect of making her have more fun. Ukyo took careful aim and hurled the rock at Suzume, as he expected the shadow abandoned his attack on Ryoko and turned to find himself face to face with Ukyo.
Suzume held his sword out in front of him, watching as Ukyo held his blade out parallel to the ground in front of himself as well with both hands. Iwa and Ryoko were moving off into the forest, leaving the two semi-isolated. There was a moment of total silence as the two stared across from each other, then they charged at the same time.
They clashed with a shower of sparks as their blades clashed. They spun without stopping and lunged, Ukyo aiming his blade at Suzume's stomach. The Shadow turned his sword counter clockwise, pinning Ukyo's sword to the ground and then sliced upwards at the young knight's head.
Ukyo deactivated his weapon and leapt upwards, landing on a tree branch as his opponent followed him. The Shadow landed with grace and rushed towards him on the narrow branch. Ukyo reactivated his weapon and blocked the slashes and lunges. Both men proceeded to trade a seemingly endless series of slashes, thrusts, and parries high above the ground in the tree branches.
***
As the two knights clashed, Ryoko and Iwa were in their own pitched battle. Their small part of the forest was alive with the sounds of curses and clashing of energy weapons. The air was buzzing and alive with the power of a three section staff and Ryoko's orange energy sword.
It took Ryoko only a few minutes to realize that a three section staff was more difficult to fight than normal, it could block a strike and respond faster any sword. She'd block a slash at her head only to find that the other end was coming towards her legs or stomach.
Iwa used them expertly; one minute it would act like a whip, the next a bo staff, then another like twin swords. The four-inch caps were attached to the handle of the staff by a thick vine like that from Jurai's prison security system.
The shadow spun them and then rushed forward; she snapped her head forward sending a spray of hair needles towards him, immediately followed by launching herself forward her blades at the ready. She smashed into him like a freight train, his weapon having been distracted by the needles.
He stumbled back and spun his weapon. Forestalling Ryoko's follow up attack, his nose was bleeding. He charged her again, his weapon spinning in front of him. Ryoko attacked with a flurry, only to find each of her strikes were blocked by sections of the staff. As she lunged, the shadow twisted his body, his hands finding the four inch wooden caps on each energy blade and jerked his top hand upwards, his bottom snapping in catching her sword between the main staff and the bottom energy blade in a V like shape.
Ryoko let the sword dissipate and jerked her head forward head butting him. He stumbled back, his nose broken now. He immediately began to spin his weapon again grim-faced. Ryoko grinned and began to hurl energy blasts at him; he blocked what he could and dodged the rest, the forest around him getting laid to waste.
Growling, she formed her energy sword and launched herself forward. She slashed at his head and lower body only to find them blocked by each piece of the staff. He gave her a smile and with a sudden burst of strength knocked her blades away and spun, going low for a leg sweep.
Ryoko flipped backwards and landed in a crouch looking at her prey, which is how she though of him, and growled, her swords held to either side of her body, ready for the next attack.
***
Tenchi's mind was blank except for one thought: Ryoko. He was huffing and puffing. He and Mihoshi had been a pretty good ways in when they each felt the first explosion. They looked at each other and shifted directions heading towards it; he knew that a few knights were hot on his heels, as protection.
Mihoshi skidded to a halt and Tenchi crashed into her, there was another set of explosions. They had moved away from the first set, they shared a look and without another word separated, Tenchi heading towards the last explosions, Mihoshi heading towards the first.
Tenchi pushed himself even harder, his blood pounding in his ears. He would kill whoever it was and then he would kill Tralu, he might even kill the whole damn council. He felt the knights hot on his heels; he even caught sight of the knights in his peripheral vision, but didn't pay them any attention. They were probably sent after him by Washu or because he was the first crowned prince of Jurai.
***
Ukyo's breathing was labored; Suzume was fast, very fast. The fight had moved from ground to tree, and then from branch to branch. Right now they were perched upon a branch at least ten feet above the ground. One slip and it was over. Ukyo ducked a slash and stabbed only have it blocked by the other blade. He quickly disengaged the blade and rolled backwards on the tree branch.
He stood up quickly, reengaging his blade. He barely had time to think before he had to react to Suzume's attack. With a shower of sparks the two knights crossed their blades, trying to push the other away. Finally the stand off was broken as the shadow managed to shove Ukyo back, the young knight regained his balance and charged again as he thrust for his enemy's chest even as Suzume did the same.
The blades parried each other in the process and Ukyo ducked the back slash at his head, he spun on the branch leg sweeping. The shadow jumped upwards and stabbed down with his blade, but only stabbed into the rough back since Ukyo had managed to move back.
Without waiting Ukyo charged once more, the shadow removed his blade from the branch and disengaged one of the blades charging as well. They each parried the others attacks and applied pressure forcing them to move in a counter clockwise circle, when the blades completed the circle they were less than an inch apart. They both lunged at the same time; there was a sudden dulling of sound in both fighters' ears.
The branch finally gave way with a loud snapping noise plummeting both towards the ground. Suzume fell limply to the ground, his sword leaving his hand without an attempt to keep it. Ukyo on the other hand flipped himself his hand and arm holding his stomach; he landed on the balls of his feet and then fell forward sprawling out on the ground.
Suzume's cold and dead body landed with a thud only a few feet away from him. There was total silence to Ukyo as he lay there breathing heavily, he forced himself up onto a hand and looked towards the edge of the forest. Mihoshi was there, running towards him, yelling something, but that was lost as his mind went blank. At least he had helped Lady Ryoko.
***
Ryoko ducked as the three section staff swung over her head, she rose and brought her twin swords up to block the sudden back slash. There was a crackling of energy as the staffed pushed her blades away and came back from the opposite direction. Ryoko bent backwards and leapt upwards performing a flip again.
She landed and lunged forward with her sword only to have it captured in a sudden twisting motion that formed a V. Iwa's face had not changed at all as they fought, and that infuriated her. She let her blade dissipate and flew backwards landing again and formed another. "Alright now damn it. This is getting annoying." She muttered to herself as she launched into another attack.
This time she preformed a back slash, only to have the two ends of the staff block it she twisted and forming another blade lunged at Iwa's stomach. He dropped one of the ends and blocked the lunge at his stomach, there was a moment of silence and then Iwa drove the elbow in front of him forward towards Ryoko's face.
Ryoko teleported at the last minute and reappeared high overhead and dropped sword first. Iwa looked up and spun his blade up wrapping it around her sword and then twisted his other, managing to score a hit on her back and driving her into the ground. He jumped backwards and landed, taking a ready stance and waited for her.
The ground trembled and exploded upwards as Ryoko shot from the ground, a series of curses that would make anyone blush, falling from her lips. She disappeared and reappeared as twins. With a battle roar they both launched themselves downwards in an attack. Iwa blinked; there was a quick flurry of attacks and counter attacks and soon Iwa found himself exhausted.
The two Ryokos backed off smiling as he stood there swaying, panting and bleeding. He said a silent curse on those dampeners; they did not seem to be doing any good. The two Ryokos merged back into one and attacked, Iwa swung his weapon out and wrapped it around her arm and twisted doing an arm drag. Ryoko faded out an inch from the ground and reappeared behind him and planted a kick to the small of his back.
Iwa stumbled forward letting out a yell; he turned but found himself facing a lunging sword. He twisted forming the V again catching her blade. She growled and formed another blade and slashed at his head, but had it blocked by the free end of the staff. She growled and snapped her head forward, hair needles flying into his face. He dropped his weapon his hands grabbing at his face.
Ryoko brought her hands together and formed an energy sword and thrust it forward driving it through his throat. She stepped back, letting the sword go as he slumped to the ground dead. She shook her head growling, glad that her mother had warned her; he and the other one might have actually done some damage to her.
She turned an energy sword in hand at the rustling of leaves; she blinked standing up straight her sword dissipating as she watched Tenchi running towards her. He looked both pissed and relieved, and for the first time since she had been free and with him, Tenchi Masaki glomped onto her.
***
Chijiro stared out the window of the ship at the stars and infinite void of space. He sighed ever so slightly; he was on an observation deck, three decks above his room. His handsome face held a thoughtful expression, his posture relaxed. If anyone had asked him what he was thinking about he would have told them nothing.
This was as far from the truth as Jurai was from Earth, he was actually thinking about Queen Misaki, his future bride Princess Aekea, and several other things. He spotted a small world that resembled earth, or at least how Aekea had described it, green and blue, beautiful.
He had wondered why Aekea would feel so strongly about Earth, but he doubted he'd ever be able to understand. Maybe it was because Earth sung to her the same as Jurai as did to him. All he knew was he loved her, even more than he loved Jurai, and that alone was the reason he left Jurai.
He sighed and watched the planet disappear slowly from view. A trick of how fast they were moving, things appeared to be moving slowly even though they were traveling at just under light speed. He forgot the technical name for the effect, but it didn't really matter.
He shook his head, losing himself in thought. He suspected that secretly Aekea wanted to go back to Earth to see Tenchi. This alone bothered him, he knew he might have a place in her heart, but Tenchi was her first love and held a larger place. He probably always would.
He frowned ever so slightly, maybe he was wrong. He hoped he was, because he really didn't want to be substitute for the princess' first love. First true love, he amended to himself, she had loved Yosho as well. He silently wondered what had become of the young lord.
He to remembered the infamous attack of Ryoko on Jurai; he had trembled and cried at her feet, his nanny having been killed before him without a second thought by that demon. He tensed up ever so slightly banishing the images from that day, they would do him no good, she was to marry Prince Tenchi, and she was to be royalty. Still he did not know how long he could keep quiet about his feelings when he was in her presence.
He turned, pulling himself away from his thoughts at the sound of approaching footsteps. He saw his knight Baiko approaching, his face rather grave. The knight stopped a few feet in front of him and bowed, speaking as he did. ""Lord Chijiro, adept Geikan is missing. He has been for the last ten hours.""
Chijiro raised an eyebrow. ""How do you know?"" The trip to Earth was a little over twenty-four hours, in Juraian time, forty-eight in Earth time, since they were traveling so fast. Either way, the young man had been missing for a good long while.
The knight stood up straight. ""I was checking up on him my lord; he was partnered with adept Mekian.""
Chijiro went thoughtful for a moment and then sighed. ""When did Mekian noticed he was missing?""
""Shortly after he reached Deck seventy nine. He knows he was with him until Deck fifty five."" There was obvious distaste in Bakio's voice.
The young lord let a look of disappointment cross his face; he turned looking back out the window. ""Search decks between Fifty five and Seventy nine. And demote adept Mekian down several levels for not being aware of his surroundings.""
He watched the reflection of Bakio bow and turn on his heel in smart military fashion, striding off to do as he had been commanded. Chijiro sighed and focused on the furthest star he could, silently he prayed. 'Tsunami's will be done.'
***
In the ten hours that Geikan had spent in the Atmospheric System room, he had thought of exactly one hundred and nineteen plans, all of which were unachievable. He sighed from his spot where he had slumped down seven hours ago, all that he was thinking about how he let down Lord Chijiro, Bakio, and most importantly to him Asile.
He had really let her down. When he had met with Baiko and been allowed to become an adept knight, those knights that served their lords closest, he immediately went and banged on the door to her building until she came out. She had kissed and hugged him, even cried because she was so happy.
He had kissed her and told her that this meant he could move out from living with his dad. She had been so excited for him, and then he had, impulsively he knew, asked her to marry him. They had set the date and everything. Now he was going to make her a widow before he even married her.
He sighed and took his communicator out and threw it across the room. As he stood up, a sudden determination began to burn in his eyes. He walked to an atmospheric control panel and using his fingers, he pried at the lock. He had a plan now; it was a desperate plan, but he didn't care. He was going to make Alise and the others proud of him, even if it killed him.
He stared at the control panel, concentrating hard. It was all like gibberish to him, it was all labeled in technical terms, and he didn't want to start pushing buttons without knowing what he was pushing. He tensed up and started pushing and turning dials; he could hear the system changing, chinking, and sputtering.
He shivered slightly, and realized he'd turned the temperature down. He checked what readouts his could make sense of, yes; he had turned the temperature down in the upper decks. Then suddenly the system stopped and returned to normal. He let out a frustrated groan and started over; they would have to eventually come and check out what was wrong
He glanced at the clock, he could see the LCD display, and he just hoped they came in the next hour and fifty-eight minutes.
***
Aekea Jurai, first crowned princess of Jurai and one of the most powerful women in the universe, was decidedly unhappy. This was not a good thing, as the many repairs to the Masaki residence could attest to. She narrowed her eyes staring at Chijiro, who was understandably perplexed as to why she was upset.
""I do not care what the excuse is."" She said in a rather controlled voice. ""Your knight entered my mother's chambers.""
The young lord paced across his room towards his bar. ""If he went into her room, he must have had a good reason.""
He turned hearing her stomp up to him and frowned. ""There is no good reason for going into my Mother's room.""
The young lord stared back at her, locking eyes with her. ""What did he do while he was in there?"" He couldn't believe that Bakio would do something like this, when he returned he would have to deal with him.
""We're not sure, we only have cameras outside in the hallways and other rooms. The Royal Family's rooms are off limits and private."" She sounded terse when she said that, as if in her opinion this should not be happening, none of it.
""I'll talk to him..." the young lord began, but was cut off by Aekea. ""No! He must be punished.""
Chijiro shook his head moving in and towering over her. ""I will not punish him until I know why he did it!"" Aekea looked up at him, unaffected by his position. ""He will be punished!""
""NO!""
""YES!""
""NO!""
""YES!""
The argument, growing more heated by the minute, had the effect of pulling them towards each other even closer till their faces were inches part.
""NO!""
""YES!""
""NO!""
""YES!""
Then much to Aekea and Chijiro's surprise they kissed. Chijiro's arms slid around her waist and held her tightly, while Aekea's slender arms slid around his neck. Eyes closed, they continued to kiss for several long minutes, lost in the taste and feel of the other's bodies.
When they finally broke it Aekea's cheeks were flushed, and Chijiro looked very surprised but happy. They stood there holding each other in the silence; the only sound was their breathing. Their faces still inches part, Chijiro leaned back in for a kiss, as did Aekea; at the last minute she turned her and extracted herself from him.
She was torn; her heart wanted so much to kiss him again, but she couldn't. She turned her back on him and looked down, she felt Chijiro close in. She quickly spoke. ""I...I must go now...""
The young lord watched in confusion as princess Aekea fled the room, in the most graceful style she could. He lifted his hand up touching his lips with his fingertips. He smiled slowly; everything was completely wiped from his mind, the heat of the kiss still searing his lips.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alighthawk: That's alright, it just isn't a chapter without your review. I'm glad that this was worth your undivided attention and was enjoyable. I hope this one was worth something.
Yes, he is. honestly I was a lil nervous about writing a katana coming into play. (But way more nervous about this chapters fight scenes, I mean how many three section staffs do you see in a fight?)
Well, at least the council's treacherous group. Once their done we still have the mysterious first group that started everything. (This was planned, so I could put everyone on Jurai for a lil bit of fun and for the climatic battle that's coming. Where in the beginning of the middle part of the fic ya know.)
Don't worry about Ukyo, after all he's only taken a ten foot drop and had a sword through his stomach; Feel bad for the council. It will not be long till Aekea and clan arrive, so you won't have to wait to long. Nope, you didn't. I'm a lil disappointed. Thanks, I just thought it fit since were getting into the heart of the story. Thanks, I hate non-titled chapters, so annoying.
Kryo2000: Yup, you did! Thank you, I really appreciate your opinion. If you say I pulled off something great then I must have.
I'm glad the fight scene at the school went nicely (well my story is going to have a lot of action here in a bit.) I hope that this sates some of your curiosity. (I also hope that Ryoko was a great a fighter her that she is in yours.)
Serenity Blossom: Thank you very much!!!
carlin robertson: Sorry about missing you last time, I didn't get the notice until it was to late. Your welcome for the email, and I will try to keep up the good work.
AN:
Well, this had a lot of action didn't it? I tried, hopefully it worked out good. I want to thank my new beta David S. for his help, (before he disappeared but I understand it's personal problems) hopefully with his help this was a great chapter.
This chapter was mostly action, but the next won't be. I also think this story will be classic for nothing else but the fact that I have written the only three section staff fight scene (As far as I know) in the Tenchi Fandom.
I want to wish you all happy holidays and I'll see you sometime after new years.
Sincerely,
Georsama
A Nekoshipper