In this chapter, we get a glimpse of the fates that have befallen the rest of the Masaki household...
Disclaimer: I do not own Tenchi or any of its characters, nor do I own Sailor Pluto...
As Always, Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Thanks!
No Need For Kiyone and Mihoshi: Chapter 4
"Trista?" Kiyone asked. "I just want to go home now... I don't know if I can take anymore of this." She said with a plea in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Kiyone." Trista replied. "But you made a choice and you must see the consequences of that choice..." Trista told her with regret and sadness.
"Now the ripple expands outward, detective. It is time to see what has happened to everyone else in the Masaki home." Trista said as the orb glowed once more.
They reappeared in the living room of the Masaki home. At first glance, it all seemed normal to Kiyone. The house was still there and looked as it always had. But after a minute, Kiyone realized that something had changed. The energy and feel of this place had changed. Then she heard as Nobuyuki called his son from the kitchen.
"Tenchi! Dinner is almost ready. Go get your grandpa from the shrine, okay?"
"Sure thing, dad." Tenchi said mildly, but to Kiyone there seemed to be a wrong note in the young man's voice. She followed as Tenchi put on his shoes and stepped outside. For a moment, Tenchi paused looking absently up at the sky and the stars, as if searching for something.
Wait a minute. Kiyone thought. Why is Nobuyuki fixing dinner? Where is Sasami...? Come to think about it, I don't see or hear Ryoko, Ayeka, Ryo-Ohki, or Washu either... Trista interupted her thoughts as she too watched Tenchi.
"Poor boy." Trista said. "He knows something is missing from his heart but he doesn't even know what it is."
"But where is everybody?" Kiyone asked. Ryoko... Ayeka... Sasami...?"
"They never came here detective." Trista told her. "Remember Kiyone: It was Mihoshi who first chased Ryoko to Earth and caused her to crash. In this timeline, Mihoshi was never assigned to this area. Ryoko had little problem evading the officer who did draw the pursuit...
"That also means that Ayeka never stopped to respond to a distress call from this world, because no one ever made such a call...
"Sasami; therefore, never came here to find her sister...
"And Washu; of course, is still sealed inside the demon cave because the others aren't here to let her out." Trista then turned to face Kiyone directly. "But this is the house as it looked six months ago..." Once more the orb glowed and Kiyone was confronted with a scene that would have been a nightmare if she didn't recognize it as an all too terrible reality.
The Masaki house was gone. In its place was a collapsing old structure, overrun with weeds and vines. Kiyone remembered this all too well...
Trista nodded, echoing Kiyone's thoughts. "Now you see that in this world, Tenchi no longer exists because when the criminal Kain escaped, you and the others weren't here to go back in time and save Achika."
"Once in the past, Kain continued on his rampage of destruction. He was eventually stopped, but only at an enormous cost in lives."
Tenchi gone? And how many others for my own selfishness? Kiyone asked herself bitterly.
She knew that she wouldn't like what she learned, but she had to know... But then, where are Ryoko, Ayeka, and Sasami?"
Trista sighed. "Well, having never come to Earth and lived with the rest of you and falling in love with Tenchi, Ryoko has never reformed. She is still plundering her way across the galaxy and Nagi is still hunting her. One day they will meet and one of them will die... Unless; of course, Mihoshi gets there first." Trista said darkly.
Kiyone's eyes widened at the implication. The thought that sweet, gentle Mihoshi would kill someone who should become one of her closest friends...
Sinking further into despair, Kiyone was compelled to ask. "And Ayeka and Sasami?" She voiced, her heart begging for some hope in this terrible new reality.
Trista knew what Kiyone was thinking, but knew she could offer no comfort to her. "We must go to Jurai for that." And the orb glowed once more.
Kiyone recognized the gigantic chamber they arrived in as being the throne room of Jurai's Royal Palace. On one of two huge thrones sat a distant looking Ayeka. "Ayeka is the Queen of Jurai now?" She asked.
"Yes..." Trista said sadly. "Although she would rather be a barmaid now than to sit on that throne." Trista directed her attention to the door behind the thrones as the Emperor of Jurai entered.
"All Hail Emperor Yosho!" The cry sounded throughout the chamber.
"Kagato!" Kiyone spat as she recognized the renegade member of the House of Jurai who after a long ago defeat by the real Yosho, had returned claiming to be Yosho after spending decades studying and refining the dark facets of Jurai's power.
"Yes." Trista said softly. "There was no one to stop him when he returned...
"Ayeka was already on Jurai then, so there was no need to bring her back, but Kagato chose to marry her instead of executing her, in order to further strengthen his claim on the throne.
"At first, Ayeka was as taken as anyone by the return of the legendary Yosho. Soon; however, she found how ruthless and merciless he was and began to suspect that somehow he was a fake...But she dares never speak of this because Kagato keeps one thing more dear to her than anything else held over her to guarantee Ayeka's behavior...
Kiyone's voice was a whisper as she spoke but a single word. "Sasami..."
To Be Continued: