Chapter 13

"I don't know what to do, Tsunami."

Sasami settled herself on the bank of the winding stream, reaching an idle hand down to touch the running water as she did so. Her own face stared back at her, drawn and troubled, but as she watched, the image flickered and changed into one much older, and she sighed, shaking her head.

"You know without me even telling you, don't you?" She asked. "You know what Uncle said and that Father is cross with me for raising my voice to my Emperor. But I can't settle down and forget about this. You put these thoughts into my head...but now they trouble me constantly. What can I do? I can't leave here on my own. You know that I'd only get in the worst trouble of my life if I ran away again, and Ayeka won't even help me this time. I feel so helpless. I'm just a kid."

"You're as much a child as you want to be, Sasami-chan." Tsunami's voice seemed to echo from the water, but Sasami knew it was only in her mind. She sighed, stretching out on her stomach on the grass and resting her chin in her hands.

"Not to them I'm not." She said sadly. "Tsunami, what would you have me do?"

"The Emperor fears what he doesn't understand." Tsunami's expression became grave. "And he is more troubled by this than you think, Sasami. He knows more of Tokimi than he has told you - but he doesn't believe she can still exist."

"We both know she does, though." Sasami groaned. "And she's going to hurt Tenchi if we don't do something."

"She is getting closer. I sense her force growing nearer to Tenchi-sama all of the time." Tsunami responded.

"Will she kill him?"

"If she can, yes." Tsunami inclined her head. "She believes he is me - my vessel among men...and seeks to destroy me at all costs."

"Then it's me she wants, not Tenchi." Sasami frowned. "Tsunami, if she had me, would she leave Tenchi alone?"

"That's not a sacrifice Jurai could let you make."

"But you're strong enough to defeat her, right?"

"I could be, if you and I were one." Tsunami nodded. "But you aren't ready for that, and I promised you that you wouldn't assimilate with me while you still had doubts about doing it. All that would achieve would be to create the you you saw in Nozomi's future world...the one trapped beneath my magic and my hopes for my planet. There is no solution in self-sacrifice."

"But if I'm supposed to help protect the people of Jurai...Tenchi's one of them. At least he is to me." Sasami sighed, rubbing her temples. "And I want to help, Tsunami. I just don't know how I can."

"Tenchi-sama is not alone." Tsunami reminded her.

"Washu?" Sasami looked startled. "Is that who you mean? But what can she do, Tsunami? Even if she is who you suggested she was in my dream, she doesn't have the magic that Tokimi has. You said yourself that Tokimi's the one bonded to the planet. Not Washu. How can she protect Tenchi any more than Ryoko or any of the others?"

"I don't believe she can - not without help." Tsunami admitted. "But she knows her enemy better than anyone else. Sasami, you must persevere with the Emperor, and if that fails, then you and I must take things into our own hands. Somehow, we must intervene in this. Tenchi-sama is more to me than just a friend. He has my blessing - he is one of my most trusted. I will not forsake him when he has never forsaken me."

"Me either." Sasami said determinedly. "And if we have to go on our own, Tsunami, Kamidake will come with us. I know he will - he told me that he knew I was you for a while, he just didn't know it for sure until recently. I think he understands better than some of my own family do...what it means to be tied to you so closely."

"Of course he does." A slight smile touched Tsunami's lips. "He slept in my care for many centuries, swearing his soul and existance to my service to be woken at a time when I needed him the most. He and Azaka both are also blessed by me. I trusted in them once, through the magic of the Royal House and their trees. Now I must do it more directly, and they are always there to answer my call, as ever they were."

She looked mischievous.

"I chose Azaka and Kamidake because I knew that they would prove friends and supporters for you, when you were finally brought into this world." She said softly. "I did not know if you would have mother or father to raise you, or if the world you would be born to would understand the gifts and pressures that you would come to inherit as you grew. But I knew I could count on Azaka and Kamidake to be there to guide you, if you didn't have anyone else to whom you could turn. Azaka as a father...and Kamidake as a brother."

Sasami's cheeks pinkened, and she shook her head.

"No, Tsunami. I'm not so young as that." She murmured. "Not as a brother."

Tsunami smiled.

"Then you need no explanation from me." She said lightly. "Either way, Kagato's usurpation and Tenchi's arrival on Jurai meant that their first loyalty was to him. But I always knew Ten-sama was not destined to rule Jurai. I would never give an Emperor the power of the Light Hawk Wings, knowing how easily too much power corrupts. And when he had gone...I knew it would be to you that they would go."

She hesitated for a while, then,

"Did I choose wisely, Sasami-chan?"

"You know that you did." Sasami looked pensive. "And it's good to know that they at least understand."

"If you were to call them to arms in my name, they would obey you over all others - even over the Emperor himself." Tsunami whispered. "Their loyalty is to Tsunami before any Jurai-born prince."

"I'd rather not do that." Sasami said apprehensively. "Overthrow my Uncle's orders? I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Nor do I want you to." Tsunami shook her head. "But if you do not manage to change his mind, Sasami-chan, you will have to disobey him. I hope you will at least sway Ayeka - but I can only speak directly to you. I rely on you to do all my other communicating for me...and have to hope that they listen."

"I'll do my best to keep working on them. All of them." Sasami promised. "And I'll talk to Azaka and Kamidake as well, Tsunami-onechan. I'll try my best - maybe if they're also on my side, Uncle Azusa will realise that something has to be done. After all, if Tokimi really seeks Tsunami, sooner or later she'll realise she's made a mistake. And when she does..."

"When she does, Jurai will have to be ready for her." Tsunami nodded her head. "I have faith in you, my little sister. Take my words once more to your Emperor...for Jurai's sake, I pray this time he heeds them well."

---------

"What do you mean, you've lost contact with her?"

Tokimi's eyes flared with a strange, angry fire as she glared down at her hapless servant, energy glowing from her fingers as she surveyed him. Clay took a nervous step backwards, biting down on his lip as he registered his mistress's rage.

"I...I just can't get a signal, Tokimi-sama." He babbled. "The last contact I had with her, she told me she was going to break into Washu's laboratory and steal genetic material from there - material taken from that boy - the one who you so desperately seek. Since then I have been unable to reach her - no matter how hard I try."

"Washu." Tokimi's eyes narrowed until they were little more than slits. "I should have known. Wherever she is, there's always complication in my path!"

"Perhaps you should eliminate her, Tokimi-sama - once and for all." Clay suggested. "If she's such a hindrance to your plans. Washu is an old scientist now - half mad and careless in her work. And she's no match for your ladyship's power or influence. Why not snuff her out of existance completely?"

"No...no." Tokimi frowned. "I can't kill Washu, any more than she can kill me. You are a fool, Clay - putting your faith so much in science. Washu and I both operate and exist beyond your perameters - don't you realise that?"

As he stared at her blankly, she let out a humourless laugh that chilled him right to the bone.

"All those years working in her shadow, and you never sensed it?" She asked softly. "Washu is more than you'll ever fully comprehend. True, her power is less than my own. But to destroy her..."

"Your ladyship is capable of subjugating anyone she chooses." Clay looked confused. "Why not Washu?"

"Silence, you idiot." Tokimi raised her hand, and Clay fell backwards as if slapped by an invisible force. "I need to think. Washu is not your average mad scientist - she's not like you. Did you never bother to know your enemy when at the Academy, Dr Clay?"

"I hated her. I didn't waste time knowing her. She was always trying to be better than me and claiming I was stealing her work when she couldn't find the right way to work things out." Clay's lip curled in distaste. "She was primitive and raw when I first met her, and not much has changed in all the time we worked together. No, Tokimi-sama. I didn't care to know her better. She was there - that was enough of a motive for me to hate her. And when they sent her away, I thought that at last I would get to work out of her shadow. At last she was no longer there to bother me!"

"But she's still out there, just like your pathetic droid." Tokimi said, her tone dangerously low. "I should have known better than to put my faith in technology and scientists. Even the most basic of tasks fall apart when left in your hands, Clay. All I asked you to do was infiltrate Masaki's life and obtain genetic samples, so I could find Tsunami's weakness before moving in for the kill. First your droid delivers inadequate material, and now you've lost her altogether! I know Washu is involved in this - I can sense it."

She fell silent for a moment, contemplating. Then she raised her head, glancing at him thoughtfully.

"You will go to the Earth and rectify this before it spirals out of control." She said softly. "I have put my faith too long in your creations and I won't do it any more. Go to the Earth and destroy the soulless one before she can reveal anything of our plan to Washu. She is a nusiance and I won't have her trying to get in my way."

"To the Earth?" Clay stared. "To destroy Zero?"

"That is what I said."

"But..."

"But nothing." Tokimi shook her head. "Your droid has become a liability to me and I will not tolerate failure. I have toyed with you too long - played along with your games and hoped that eventually they would pay off. Well, my patience has run out. Her time is over. Destroy her, and return here to me."

Her eyes narrowed again.

"Do not fail me, Clay." She added softly. "Or it will be you who is next."

Clay gulped, swallowing hard at the implication of her words. He nodded.

"Yes, Lady Tokimi. I understand." He said hurriedly. "I'll go to the Earth and I'll terminate Zero, just as you require."

"Good." Tokimi flexed her fingers. "And be careful about it, Clay. Washu is a dangerous enemy for you, even if she can't harm me so easily. It would be a nusiance indeed if she was to catch you in her territory."

"Tokimi-sama, why can't you kill Professor Washu?" Clay asked earnestly. "If she's in your way - what's to stop you?"

"That lies in a world that died before you were even born." Tokimi said darkly. "Washu's life force and mine...they stem from the same root. What powers her heart and speeds my magic is the same element, Clay. The Heart of Kihaku - the world which gave me life, and whose death I will avenge when I finally get my hands on Tsunami. To face Washu would be a complication that I do not need. She is one of them now - a traitor to her people, like so many others. But she is still tied to the world which gives me my strength. To destroy her, I would have to turn on my world. And I will never do that, Clay. Kihaku deserves vengeance. Not further destruction at the hands of it's most loyal guardian."

Clay stared.

"Washu...is from Kihaku too?" He whispered. "But how? Kihaku died centuries ago...milennia!"

A slow smile touched Tokimi's lips.

"There are many things your experiments won't tell you, scientist." She said frankly. "You would do better not wasting your time puzzling over them. Just know that I will have my revenge on her - traitor that she is - but it will have to wait. Right now...Tenchi Masaki is my priority. Enough timewasting. Kihaku demands blood...and Tsunami's blood will be spilt!"

She drew her hands together, and the shimmering screen materialised on the furthest wall of the complex, bringing Seiryo into sharp focus.

"Agent Tennan, heed me well." She said softly, as Seiryo stopped in what he was doing, a startled look in his teal eyes. "The time has come. I have had enough of waiting. Amass your forces and prepare for my final word. It's time to take Tenchi Masaki into my custody."