Chapter Two

"Are you quite sure that you're all right, Sasami-hime?"

Sasami raised her gaze to Kamidake's anxious one, taking a tentative sip of the warm, soothing drink as she did so. She nodded her head, setting the mug down on her unit and offering him a faint smile.

"Yes. Thank you, Kamidake-san. I feel better...it was a bad dream."

"Sasami, your scream was heard all across the Royal Tree." Ayeka sat down on the end of her sister's bed, tying the loose threads of her dressing gown more tightly around her waist as she did so. "We thought the whole palace might be under attack. What's the matter? Your sleep hasn't been disturbed like this since Tenchi and Ryoko returned to the Earth. Not since Kagato was defeated and life on Jurai returned to normal."

"Is life on Jurai ever normal any more?" Sasami sighed, shuffling across the bed so that she could lean up against her elder sister, and Ayeka slid a comforting arm around her junior's shoulders, hugging her tightly. "It's all been so peaceful recently, but I suppose it wasn't going to last forever."

"Kamidake, I think you can go now." Ayeka glanced at the knight with a solemn smile. "Sasami-chan and I obviously need to talk. Thank you for alerting me to her distress so promptly, and for ensuring she was safe...I didn't know Father still had you posted outside her chamber at night, but I'm grateful that you were here this evening."

"It isn't Lord Haru's direct order, but Lady Sasami has been through a lot in recent weeks." Kamidake got to his feet, bowing his head in the younger princess's direction. "And I am sworn to assist the both of you honoured Princesses in any way that I can."

He offered Sasami a smile, and Sasami returned it shyly. Then the knight made his more formal bow to Ayeka, withdrawing from the chamber and shutting the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Ayeka let out a heavy sigh.

"Has this something to do with Tsunami?" She asked softly. Sasami bit her lip, nodding her head.

"Yes." She agreed reluctantly. "Ayeka-onechan, I thought this was all over with now. Tsunami promised me that I would always be in control and that I would be dominant over her when the time came for us to fully bond. But tonight she was putting pictures in my head again - messages that I don't understand. Something is worrying her and I can't make it out. It doesn't make any sense."

"Tell me what happened." Ayeka suggested. "It's late and everyone else is sleeping, so noone will disturb us. Kamidake is the only guard on duty in this sector of the palace, and he has too much honour to listen at the door to what we say."

"Kamidake is kind to me." Sasami reflected absently. "I'm glad he was there tonight, Ayeka. It was silly, but I was so scared..."

She shivered, pulling her blanket more tightly around her. "It wasn't a scary dream, even. It wasn't that at all. The dream was...almost nice. It was what Tsunami said afterwards that frightened me."

"Start at the beginning." Ayeka suggested. "We have plenty of time and I won't leave you until I know you're all right."

"What about Takeru-san? Won't he wonder where you are?" Sasami asked curiously. Ayeka's cheeks pinkened.

"That's my concern, not yours." She chided gently. "And besides, I gave you my word that I would always be here if you needed me. So here I am...and you do know you can trust me, don't you, Sasami-chan?"

"Yes." Sasami nodded her head. "More than anyone, Ayeka-onechan. I'm glad it was you Kamidake woke. I wouldn't want to talk to anyone else about this - not yet. Not till I know what it all means."

She reached up to rub her temples, sighing. "The dream was strange. It was a different world...not Jurai and not the Earth. Not anywhere like I've seen in all our travels. I don't know what world it was, but it seemed very...old, somehow. Like I was seeing something that happened a long time in the past."

"I see." Ayeka pursed her lips. "And you're sure it was more than just a random dream? That Tsunami sent you the message?"

"Yes. Quite sure." Sasami agreed. "She told me so, after I woke up. Ayeka, there was a man there - an older man, with greying hair and a long beard. They called him Priest, but he seemed to be more...more like a God among people. Like he was important in a way beyond just carrying out rituals. I can't explain it - but it was like he and the world were connected."

"Like you are with Tsunami?" Ayeka settled herself more comfortably on Sasami's covers.

"Perhaps." Sasami agreed cautiously. "But I don't know. Maybe not exactly the same."

"And what did this man do?"

"Not much." Sasami looked confused. "He blessed a baby. And he had two girls with him. One was younger than me, Ayeka, and the other about my age - or maybe a little older. The younger one seemed sweet and gentle and devoted to her father. She was really cute."

"And the other?"

"She..." Sasami faltered, shaking her head. "There was something about her that bothered me, but I don't know what it was. Something in her eyes that was familiar. But I didn't recognise her, exactly. She was dressed in all these odd robes and her hair was hidden under this strange braiding - like it was symbolic of something. The man called her his blood daughter and his heir...but she didn't seem to want to be either one. She didn't seem to want to be a part of the picture at all."

"And did Tsunami tell you why she showed you all of this?" Ayeka questioned. "I can see why it confused you. It doesn't make much sense to me either."

"When I woke up, she drew me to the mirror pool and showed me other pictures." Sasami said pensively. "The little girl - the sweet, gentle one - she was grown up. And the world that I'd dreamed about was being swallowed up by storms and volcanoes and all kinds of awful things. People were all dying, Ayeka, and she was there - watching and angry and totally different from how she was in my dream. Tsunami called her Tokimi, and she said that she was 'coming'. That I should beware."

She dropped her gaze, glancing down at her small hands. "Tsunami didn't tell me exactly why or what happened, but from what she did say, I think this Tokimi person seeks Tsunami. And then..."

She faltered, swallowing hard.

"Then Tsunami made me see pictures of Tenchi and this woman was there, trying to take him. I don't know why or how, but it was like she was pulling him into her snare...somehow. She meant him harm...there was so much anger and hate and it just made me feel all cold and scared. That's why I screamed."

"Tenchi." Ayeka looked troubled. "Do you think he's really in danger?"

"I think Tsunami always tells me the truth, even if she doesn't always do it clearly." Sasami sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "Tokimi isn't from Jurai, but this is connected to Jurai somehow. It must be, because otherwise Tsunami wouldn't be able to reach out and touch it. And the book...the book the older girl had in my dream was inscribed in ancient Jurai lettering. It's hard to explain, but even though I could understand them when I was dreaming, I knew they weren't speaking in common galactic tongue or even in the old language of Jurai. It was something else...something completely alien to me."

"This whole thing is very perplexing." Ayeka pursed her lips, and Sasami could tell she was mulling the problem over. "And concerning, if your fears for Tenchi are justified."

"I feel like we should go to him. To the Earth." Sasami admitted. "Ayeka, do you think there's any way we can?"

Ayeka sighed, shaking her head.

"Unless you can tell me more, or we can find more out from some other source, I doubt Uncle or Father would sanction either of us to leave at such short notice." She said softly. "I'm needed here much more now my official role is no longer in doubt and then there's Takeru to consider. And you...you know how Father feels about you travelling around space. He hasn't completely adjusted to your kinship to Tsunami or your use of her ship...I doubt he'd give you permission to go."

"I know." Sasami looked troubled. "But something is going to happen, Ayeka...I just know that it is. And I want to be able to help Tenchi. I can't help thinking that it's my fault he's in trouble."

"Your fault?" Ayeka looked startled. "How could it be your fault?"

"I don't know." Sasami admitted. "But it has something to do with Tsunami and this Tokimi woman. About that I have no doubt."

------

"Well, there's not much use crying over spilt milk."

Washu sat back in her seat, regarding her pacing daughter with a thoughtful look. "What's done is done, Ryoko. You did what you had to do...I didn't think regret was a normal part of your make-up."

"It isn't." Ryoko sighed, dropping down onto an empty seat and crossing her legs in front of her. "But Washu, I didn't even think about what I was doing. I attacked a Galaxy Police officer and I used my magic in front of not only Tenchi's friends but everyone else in the club. No matter what happens now, I've put up a barrier between us. He so wants this normal life on Earth and I just don't fit that mould."

She groaned, a look of melancholy flickering in her amber eyes.

"I just don't like it. I wish I could take it back."

"Well, you can't." Washu said unsympathetically. "Look. You said yourself that your intervention saved a lot of people in that fire. Whether you revealed yourself or not is not the issue. Tenchi's not going to pass judgement on you because you put their lives and his ahead of your own disguise."

She stretched out an arm, reaching for the bowl of snacks that sat on the table beside her chair.

"What's more concerning - and what you should be paying more attention to, instead of whining and moaning about your boyfriend, is what this guy Seiryo Tennan wants with Tenchi in the first place."

"That's Galaxy Police business, I guess." Ryoko shrugged her shoulders. "And now I've breached my parole, I guess every squad in the universe will be paying a visit to the planet Earth in the hopes of picking me up. Maybe I should take Ryo Ohki and leave here completely...at least then Tenchi would be safe."

"Do you really think so?" Washu raised an eyebrow. "Stir yourself from your self-pity for a moment, you silly girl, and look at this in a rational way. You said this man came from nowhere and demanded Tenchi, yes?"

"Yes." Ryoko bristled at the tone in her companion's voice. "But Washu..."

"Why, then, if you left, would Tenchi be safe?" Washu cut across her protestations with a shrug. "Logic, that's what your brain needs. Think about it. You might be convinced every space cop in the universe is out to get you, but in this instance, it wasn't you this Tennan man came seeking. It was Tenchi. You helped prevent him from succeeding...but if you were there or if you weren't, it probably wouldn't affect whether the man tried again."

"I...I guess you have a point." Ryoko acknowledged. "Okay. So he's looking for Tenchi and I got in his way. So...what?"

"So why is any member of the Galaxy Police looking for an ordinary college kid like Tenchi?" Washu asked, popping the cracker in her mouth. Ryoko's brows knitted together.

"Tenchi isn't an ordinary college kid." She objected. "He's a Prince of Jurai."

"Exactly." Washu swallowed her mouthful, nodding her head. "And as such, do you think that Galaxy Police officials are likely to show up randomly in order to grab him? Considering that he's hailed as a hero twice over on Jurai and held in huge esteem by Azusa and his Council? Do you really think that Headquarters would sanction any attempt like the one you described? Even if they did suspect Tenchi of some grave crime, they'd be risking the wrath of Jurai itself to just arbitrarily go in and rip him away from his home without warning. The Galaxy Police aren't strong enough to face down the power Jurai has at its disposal. They'd have to get dispensation from Azusa to even venture into Tenchi's vicinity. And the fact that Tennan gave no indication of any such dispensation suggests to me that Jurai have not been involved."

She spread her hands.

"Which makes it more than likely that the Galaxy Police aren't, either."

"But..." Confusion flooded Ryoko's expression at this. "He was dressed in Galaxy Police uniform, and his ship reminded me of Yagami or Yukinoyjo, before Mihoshi crashed it into the lake outside. And he had other officers with him...he acted just like a pompous, arrogant jerk - exactly like I'd expect a Galaxy Police officer to act, in fact!"

"Well, suit yourself." Washu shrugged. "It sounds to me like an elaborate hoax."

She scooped up the bowl of snacks, holding it out to her companion.

"Rice cracker?"

"Washu, stop being so casual!" Ryoko exclaimed, bringing her arm across in frustration and knocking the bowl of crackers to the floor. "This is a major deal crisis!"

"You really need to control your temper more." Washu said levelly. "I hope you'll pick that up."

"Forget the damn crackers for a moment, will you?" Ryoko looked exasperated. "I'm trying to work out what the hell is going on!"

"Tell me again how this Tennan guy left the scene." Washu put her hands behind her head, sitting back and regarding her daughter expectantly. "Describe it to me...in as much detail as you can."

"Not much to describe." Ryoko shrugged. "He just vanished. Disappeared...like if he'd teleported. But it wasn't just him...it was his ship, and his officers as well. They just...vanished."

"In the middle of his battle with you?"

"Yes, when the fire started to get out of control." Ryoko agreed. "I figured he'd played coward and run."

"Or, more likely, his reason for being on the Earth had been achieved." Washu suggested. Ryoko shook her head.

"No...you haven't been listening. He came for Tenchi, and Tenchi was safe with me after Seiryo Tennan was gone."

"Unless that wasn't the real reason he was there, either." Washu suggested. "You have to think more deviously, my dear. Why go to all that trouble and leave without your prize? Seems unlikely. No. I think whatever Tennan-san came to do on the Earth tonight, he accomplished. And as soon as he did so, he withdrew...however he managed to do so. He probably didn't anticipate fighting you - but in the end, it didn't interfere in his final objective."

"I see." Ryoko looked sombre. "So you're saying it was all one giant diversion? That he wasn't after Tenchi at all but he came down and yelled out his name to create chaos while something else was going on?"

"Exactly." Washu nodded her head.

"But what?"

"Now that I can't tell you." Washu shrugged. "I wasn't there, and there's not enough information in what you've told me to make any kind of hypothesis. But I would be surprised if it had nothing to do with the anomalies I've picked up lately...and even, maybe, the theft of files from my laboratory."

"I'm officially confused." Ryoko grimaced. "But if this guy isn't working within Galaxy Police guidelines, Washu, does that mean my parole is still intact?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but I suspect so." Washu said thoughtfully. "Impersonating an officer of the Galaxy Police is a crime in itself, after all."

"I suppose it is." Ryoko acknowledged. She sighed. "Well, that's one less thing to bother about, anyhow."

"Does Tenchi know where you are, by the way?" Washu asked. Ryoko shrugged.

"Sure. I told him I was going home." She agreed.

"But which home is home?" Washu asked. "You were in Osaka. Are you sure he knows you meant the mountains? Because otherwise he's going to be worried about you...and..."

"Osaka isn't home, and it may never be." Ryoko said heavily. "Not after last night. But I guess you're right. I was just upset...I didn't think. This is my safe haven, Washu...you know that. I figured it would have been obvious where I'd go."

"Tenchi's a man. They're not always as astute to female thinking as they'd like us to think." Washu said succinctly. "I think you should call him. Or even better - teleport yourself there...just so he knows that you're all right."

"But what if there are people all over Osaka looking for me?" Ryoko demanded. Washu rolled her eyes heavenwards.

"Ryoko, pull yourself together." She snapped. "You spent a long, long time evading people who were looking for you. At least prove you have some spine left in you and stop being such a baby!"

Ryoko sent her mother a mutinous look at this, hurt flickering in her amber eyes.

"Fine." She said flatly. "I'll go back to Osaka. But you could be nicer in the way you put things, you know, Washu."

With that she was gone, and Washu sighed, bending to pick up the scattered crackers, scooping them up into a neat pile and returning them to their bowl, setting it to one side.

"Sometimes I despair of her." She muttered. "But this business leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. First all of that data being taken from my lab. Then these atmospheric anomalies which I can't quite figure out, but which were also present over the Science Academy when Dr Clay made his extraordinary escape from Tribunal justice. And now this man...Tennan, did Ryoko say? I'm sure I know that name from somewhere, but I'll be damned if I know where."

She sighed, hovering her fingers in front of her as she willed her laptop to take form, typing the name slowly into her database as she searched for any reference. A coat of arms flashed up onto the screen, followed by the name written in ornate Juraian lettering, and she frowned, skimming over the information.

"As I thought...an old family of Jurai." She murmured. "One of the oldest, in fact...old enough that I remember the name after so many thousands of years. But what can this Seiryo want with the Earth? Who is he?"

She pressed another series of buttons, her brow knitting together in confusion as her computer let out a warning beep, an 'Access Denied' warning flitting across the screen.

"Now I know there's something sinister going on." She muttered. "Something connecting the Tennan family with Clay and the anomalies, and something that's preventing me from accessing any files on Juraian nobility and their connections and links. I must try another tack. I must try...something else."

She cleared the screen, entering a new set of digits and frowning as pictures and information flickered up on the screen.

"Tennan." She murmured. "How interesting...Seiji Tennan was the victim of a violent space murder just a few days ago. I wonder what relationship he has to our mysterious Seiryo, and what the connection is?"

She squinted, scrolling down the screen as she digested more of the news article. As she reached the bottom, she let out an exclamation.

"Bingo." she muttered. "Agent Seiryo Tennan of the Galaxy Police...Seiji Tennan's son. This is tied up with Jurai somehow, I'm sure of it...but how and why, I'm not yet sure. I need more information...and for that I need to speak to someone who's a bit closer to the action than I am. I need to know as much as I can about Seiryo Tennan...and I need to know why he'd be launching random attacks on planet Earth. It seems he is associated with the Galaxy Police after all - but I'd be very much surprised if he was operating within his legal jurisdiction. I think I'll keep this piece of information a secret for the time being. Ryoko is already unstable enough without me adding fuel to her paranoia about being locked away."

She dispersed her computer, getting to her feet and padding across the living room to the doorway, heading up the stairs to the small room Ryoko called home. Ryo Ohki was sleeping peacefully on the end of her mistress's bed, and gently Washu ruffled her fur, alerting the creature at once to the fact she wasn't alone. The cabbit opened sleepy, confused eyes, sending a questioning look towards the scientist. Washu frowned, scooping the animal up and meeting her gaze head on.

"Ryo Ohki, I'm going to trust you with something, because I need a favour from you and I don't know who else to ask." She said softly. "But this is something you mustn't share with Ryoko. Do you understand? At the moment she's too emotional and volatile to take it in, and we have to be very careful."

Ryo Ohki let out a mew, pawing at her companion's hands, and Washu smiled, nodding her head.

"All right. We understand one another." She said gently, placing a finger to the ruby gem that adorned Ryo Ohki's brow. The stone glowed for a second, then faded back to dull red and Ryo Ohki opened her eyes wide, staring at Washu as if seeing her for the first time. Washu laughed.

"Yes. That's right." She agreed. "Now you know, don't you?"

Ryo Ohki licked Washu's fingers, rubbing up against them with a purr, and Washu's heart caught in her throat.

"Oh, you silly creature, you'll make me soppy." She scolded. "This isn't the time! Right now I need you to do something else for me. Can you do that, do you think? Without transforming, can you send out a signal across space?"

Ryo Ohki nodded her head, flicking her ears as she regarded her companion solemnly. Washu looked pleased.

"Good." She said quietly, placing the cabbit back down on the covers with a gentle pat of her head. "Then I want you to send a signal to Yagami. I need to speak to Kiyone and Mihoshi as soon as I possibly can. If something is going on with the Galaxy Police, Kiyone's bound to know something about it - or she'll be able to find it out. And I can't go to Jurai - not yet. Not till I know who the Tennans are associated with and how deeply involved that planet is in whatever has been going on on planet Earth."

She looked troubled.

"Because the Tennans have already led one invading party across the universe." She added sadly. "And I need to know they're not doing the same thing again before I reach out to Ayeka and Sasami...just in case history is repeating itself once more."