Chapter 14

Somewhere, far from the Masaki shrine, from Japan, from the Earth, even from the Milky Way galaxy, lies a great chamber, which is at once a unique location, yet spans multiple dimensions. Here, a gigantic face of a white bearded man with a large oval-shaped red jewel on his forehead phased into view, his passive expression not reflecting the concern apparent as the being spoke, "So it has happened again."

Suddenly, an entity, in the form of a beautiful woman, with multi-colored eyes and light brown hair appeared, dwarfing both the man and the chamber. Aware of her arrival, the man acknowledged her presence.

"My Lady, we believe that there has been another incident of Light Hawk Wing activity associated with the previously noted individual from Clay's dimension. The duration was too brief as to enable us to view it directly, but its location was in close proximity to the that same subject." The scene, familiar to them, of Tenchi escaping the singularity with Aeka and Mihoshi, through the use of his Light Hawk Wings, once again played before them.

"By all indications, the number of Light Hawk Wings remained at three," her servant informed her. "There may have been an instance of matter conversion during this event, but we could not confirm this."

"This boy begins to interest me more and more," the lady admitted. "Focus your probes upon the area. Notify me immediately of any additional occurrences." The great entity smiled and said, as if thinking aloud, "I wonder what my sisters have found."

Yes, thought another man, standing, beneath the entity in the shadows, arms folded, with a trace of a smile on his lips. What have they found indeed? He too viewed the scene, as they did, with growing curiosity; intrigued by the young man, although not quite sure of his own intentions toward him.

Troubled by the thoughts she saw in the man's mind, the great lady spoke directly to him, "Do not forget what you have been told. You will not touch him. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Lady Tokimi," he replied. "I understand."

But the curious smile never left his lips.


Tenchi was walking back home at a leisurely pace. Now that he knew Ryoko was alright, he began to feel the cold, especially in his legs. He looked down, noticing that, although he had thought enough to grab his coat, he was still in his pajamas. This caused a small chuckle. Putting that aside he began to think now on how he ended up walking through the snow in his pajamas:

He had been sound asleep when he was awakened by incredibly strong emotions he immediately realized were coming from Ryoko. The first was danger; something had happened that she obviously hadn't expected and felt threatened. That emotion had been strong enough, but what followed had swept over him like as wave, sending what felt like ice shards into his heart; fear... and not just any fear, but the unmistakable fear of imminent death. That had caused Tenchi to react without a second thought, made him rocket from the house, heading to where he felt she was. He had to fight the sense the panic that began to well up inside him as he ran.

Half way there he had felt another strong emotion from her, much to his relief. This feeling, however, wasn't fear, wasn't a threat or surprise; he had felt from her a sense of awe. The feeling stayed with her, for a moment or two, and then gradually faded away, after which he had received no more strong feelings. He soon found her, smiling and embracing Aeka, much to Tenchi's delight.

I guess it must have worked, Tenchi thought, now headed back towards the house. She must have convinced Aeka not to leave. He smiled knowing that they wouldn't be losing the princesses. His thoughts, though, then turned somber; But I know I almost lost her today. His brows were furrowed in a frown, as he considered what could have easily happened. The thought of life without Ryoko... He envisioned her gone, and all that was left for him would be emptiness and sorrow. He shook his head, denying that possibility.

Dad was right. I can't... I won't waste any more time, he promised himself.

"I know what I have to do," he declared aloud, with a look of determination. Then his expression changed to a smile. "And I know exactly where I'll do it."

He changed direction and quickened his pace as he now had to make two detours before going home. He also needed to take care of a few things at home before Ryoko got back, the first of which would actually be getting dressed. He was able to reach his destinations and returned to the house, entering the front door with less than 5 minutes to spare before Ryoko and Aeka came into view.


As the two women walked up to the front of the house, they continued talking about Aeka's impending visit to Jurai.

"I bet you can't wait to have them pamper you from head to toe again, Ryoko chided, with a smirk. "You had to practically rough it here," she scoffed.

"Oh please," Aeka responded dismissively, at first, but then she confessed, "To be honest, I do not know exactly how I will feel about that. I have taken care of both my personal needs as well as helping Sasami with hers while we have been here, so much, that I am not sure what is normal for us anymore. I wonder how I will fit in while I am there." She turned to look at her companion. "Living here has changed me, hopefully for the better."

"It has, trust me," her friend replied. Then a wry smile appeared. "You've gone from a 'Perfectly Prissy Princess' to a 'Not-So-Perfect, Not-Nearly-As-Prissy Princess.' And for you that's quite an improvement."

Aeka looked at her with a raised eyebrow and an accompanying smirk and crossed arms. "Demon woman." was her only response.

Ryoko had also crossed her arms. "Spoiled brat," was her reply.

They viewed each other for a moment, and then simultaneously laughed.

As their laughter abated, Ryoko's expression became more serious. "Aeka, I need to ask you for a favor; a big one."

The sudden change in the pirate's's demeanor noted attention. "What would you ask of me?"

"I'd like to keep what happened here today a secret, with as few people knowing about it as possible." By 'it' Ryoko was obviously referring to her ability to produce Light Hawk Wings. "Tenchi has to know and Washu already does. The only other person who needs to know is probably Yosho."

"Yosho?" Aeka was a little surprised at this. "You want to tell Yosho?"

Ryoko nodded. "He might be able to help me get a handle on all this. I know he's been trying to help Tenchi control his powers; he might be able to do the same with me. Besides, Yosho and I have an… understanding." She smiled with her last comment and then became serious once again. "But other than them we tell no one, especially NOT MIHOSHI!"

Aeka understood Ryoko's trepidation at the possibility of their Galactic Police officer housemate discovering the truth. After the incident involving Kagato, Mihoshi had submitted a report detailing her life on earth, all the information she had gathered, as well as everything she had personally witnessed up to that point. She sent it to her immediate superior, who also being an agent for Jurai, had forwarded it to their Holy Council. After combing excessively through the confusing prose coming from the mind of one Mihoshi Kuramitsu, the information they discovered within was staggering as well as politically galaxy shaking: Crown Prince Yosho was alive on Earth and had a direct heir who could manifest Light Hawk Wings, a power once thought only available to the Royal Treeships of Jurai; Ryoko, the infamous space pirate who had single-handedly humbled the Jurian fleet, who had been subsequently imprisoned by Yosho and recently freed by his heir, was now a member of their household; Ryo-Ohki, Ryoko's powerful space battleship, a sentient creature that could transform into a rather adorable cat/rabbit creature, was also there; The eminent scientist Washu Hakubi, the mother/creator of both Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki, had been found imprisoned on Kagato's ship and was also now living at the Masaki residence; The two missing princesses of Jurai, along with their respective Royal Treeships in close proximity, also resided in the same house; And the younger of the two princesses, Princess Sasami, had merged with the Jurian goddess Tsunami.

The concentration of military might contained in that one home was unmatched and therefore frightening to all who knew of it. It had even prompted the visit earlier that year by the King and Queens of Jurai, to evaluate the situation.

All this from one report turned in by a Galaxy Police officer stationed in the back-end of nowhere.

To these thoughts running through the princess' head, Ryoko added, "If they find out about today, we'll be lucky if all they do is park a bunch of GP cruisers and Jurian Treeships in permanent orbit above our heads. That's the best we could hope for. They don't like me very much, and because of what I did on Jurai, well, I don't really blame them for feeling that way."

"Surely Mihoshi also reported that you were being controlled by Kagato," Aeka argued.

"I don't doubt it, but fear makes people throw good sense right out the window. People act with their gut, no matter how cultured and sophisticated they are. And a lot of them probably still hate me, and this'll just feed their natural paranoia." She paused for a moment, saying, "Things could get real ugly here, for us and for this planet."

She looked Aeka in her amethyst colored eyes, her amber ones filled with emotion. "I know if I left then all this wouldn't happen, but I'll never leave his side, Aeka, not while I'm still alive. I'm here for good. This is my home, this is where I belong." Then she looked around with a wry smile. "I'd really prefer if this planet didn't end up a burnt out cinder. I'm sure most people on this rock would agree with me on that one."

"I am sure they would," replied Aeka with her own wry smile. "And I agree with you too. I will tell no one, not even Sasami, although something tells me that Tsunami probably already knows as well."

"Good," Ryoko replied accepting the princess' word as more solid than stone. "We should go in. Sasami's probably getting close to finishing breakfast. All this talking and me almost getting disintegrated has me starving."

Aeka smiled at her friend's ability to change the subject at a moment's notice. "Perhaps Sasami could use my help in the kitchen," she said as they entered through the front door and she began to remove her cold weather clothing.

"Sounds like a great idea," Ryoko agreed, but then with a wary look and raised eyebrow, asked, "You're not planning of actually cooking anything, are you?"

To this, the princess frowned, a bit perturbed, "You have no room to talk." She turned and started to leave the hallway.

Unable to resist, Ryoko said, "You know I won." Her mischievous smile was back in full force.

Aeka didn't see it though; she briefly stopped, letting out a calming breath. "All I know is that you are hopeless," she said and continued down the hallway.

"No argument there," the pirate called out after her. She then phased out heading for Tenchi's room.

Aeka walked to the kitchen stopping at the room's entrance. She saw Sasami facing away from her, cooking at the stove, apparently unaware of her presence.

"Ryoko just told me that she was very hungry this morning,"she said to her sister, causing Sasami to momentarily freeze at her words. She continued, "Knowing how much that woman can eat I wanted to see if you could use my help to insure everyone else has enough food, especially Lord Tenchi." Not without some effort she added, "With them now dating, he will need all the strength he can muster to deal with her constant pestering."

Sasami set down the spoon she was holding and turned to look at her sister. "You're okay with them…" she asked hesitantly, "being together?" she finished.

"Yes. I've accepted it for what it is." To admit that took a great deal of self discipline. The elder princess, holding a gentle smile, gave a slight sigh, then said, "It will be fine."

Her bright blue eyes fixed on her sister, the younger princess asked, "Then we don't have to leave?"

Aeka shook her head. "No. We do not have to leave," she promised.

Hearing that, Sasami went to her sister, embracing her, her arms reaching around Aeka's waist.

The elder sister looked down to the younger, holding her. "I am so sorry, Sasami," she apologized. "I acted horribly to everyone, but to you especially." She pulled away and knelt down to look at her little sister's face. "You said you were ashamed of me, and you were right to feel that way; I too am ashamed of my behavior. It seems you were the adult in this and I was the spoiled little girl."

Sasami though pleased, had a curious look on her face. "What made you change your mind?" she asked.

Aeka smirked and grudgingly said, "Ryoko." She saw Sasami's look of disbelief. "It is true. In her own blunt and very obnoxious way she forced me to see things how they are, instead of the way I wanted them to be. I could not have done it without her." She admitted, and then quickly added with a serious look, "Do not tell her I said that."

Sasami smiled brightly, but then smelling the cooking breakfast, said, "Oh, the food!" She quickly moved back to the stove and after checking the pan's content's reported, "It's okay." She picked up her spoon and stirred the pan.

Aeka stood back up. Quickly looking back at her sister, Sasami asked, "Do you still want to help me with breakfast?" She turned back to the stove.

"Yes, I do." Then she showed a slightly disgusted face. "Ryoko thinks I should not cook anything."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," her sister offered without thinking; then realizing what she had just said, turned to behold a mortified Aeka staring at her. "I mean… maybe I could show you a few things. Okay Aeka?" she asked biting her lip.

Her older sister closed her eyes, and took in a huge calming breath, letting it out slowly. She opened her eyes and the smile returned as she responded, "That would be nice."

Sasami offered her an apron.


When Ryoko teleported to Tenchi's room she found him sitting on the bed, staring down at his hands, with a serious look on his face.

Trying to lighten the moment, she quipped, "Aw, I was hoping to catch you while you were changing, or at least still in your paja…" She was cut off when Tenchi jumped up and took her in his arms with a fierce hug. Shocked by his intensity, at first, she quickly realized that he somehow knew of her very recent brush with death. She hugged him back, placing her head on his shoulder, discovering just how much she had unknowingly needed this. The tension in her body started to lessen, and they both began to relax. In a few minutes, she was calm enough to pull back and look him in the face.

"I'm okay, Tenchi," she said trying to reassure him.

"I know," he replied with a softness in his voice. "But you almost weren't."

"How did you know?" she asked. "I didn't call out to you; there wasn't time," she admitted.

"I sensed you, felt what you felt. It was powerful, almost overwhelming; strong enough to wake me out of a deep sleep." He looked into her eyes, and placed his hand on her cheek. "I felt your fear… your fear of dying. I don't want to ever feel that again." He kissed her, needing the physical connection with her that she was more than willing to give.

"Please don't ever put yourself in that position again." he begged as he pulled away from the kiss. "I don't want to ever know what it's like to lose you." He smiled at her, his eyes filled with hers. "I know you're a warrior, that you don't like backing down when there's a fight. I understand that and would never expect or want you to change in that way. All I ask is that you fight when you have to, and don't when you don't. Can you promise me that, Ryoko?"

She looked back at him, glassy eyed and not trusting her voice, simply nodded. They stood there holding one another. When Ryoko had regained enough control, she said, "That fear you felt, it wasn't that I was afraid to die. It was because if I died… I'd lose you." She blinked, holding back tears. Then she looked at him sternly.

"Tenchi, I want you to promise me that too… and before you give me that 'who me' look, I'm talking to the person who went up against both Kagato AND a Black Hole."

She held her serious expression. "You are very brave, my Tenchi; you will be the first one try to rescue a damsel in distress. I ought to know 'cuz I was that damsel… twice." She grinned at him causing him to do the same. "I know you. You'd do that for any of us here because that's who you are. So you make that same promise to me." She grabbed the collar of his shirt in feigned anger as well as showing the appropriate intimidating expression. "You got that mister?"

Smiling, Tenchi threw his hands up in mock surrender. "I promise, I promise!" he said quickly.

"Good," she said. "I didn't want to have to get rough with you." Then 'that grin' appeared. "At least, not right now," she teased.

He smirked back at her innuendo. He then pulled out of the embrace, taking her by the hand, and led her over to the edge of the bed, where he sat, guiding her down next to him.

"Okay. Now that that's out of the way, tell me everything that happened."

"It's probably best I start from the beginning," Ryoko informed him. Then she went into story mode: "Washu woke me up and told me that Aeka had left the house, so I went out looking for her. I finally found her in that shack near the shrine. You know, the one where you flirted with her with your shirt off?"

Tenchi's eyes went a bit wide and his face reddened, but before he could say anything in his defense, she continued with the story, oblivious to his reaction.

"I was trying to make her mad so I said stuff and then ported with her to your training ground where I dropped her in the snow…"

She went on, hardly taking a breath, retelling the events almost blow by blow until… "So when I opened my eyes, sorta wondering why I wasn't dead, I saw them." She smiled as she gave a dramatic pause, waiting for him to ask.

He obliged. "What did you see?"

Smiling triumphantly at her story's climatic moment, she said, "Light Hawk Wings. Three of 'em," emphasized by her holding up three fingers, "right there in front of me."

Tenchi's was astounded. Wide-eyed he asked, "You mean to tell me that…"

"Yep," she interrupted. "My ass was saved by Light Hawk Wings that I created with these." She held up her wrists proudly displaying her gems. "I know they came from the gems because these were glowing brighter than I've ever seen them glow before."

"Wow," he replied, trying to wrap his mind around that, looking at the gems in her wrists and the one in her neck. "That's amazing."

"I'll say. Sure surprised the hell out of me." She paused, considering it. "You know, that never happened to me before, when I had all three gems. Not even once."

"That was over 700 years ago," Tenchi responded. "Maybe they couldn't form before because you weren't strong enough yet. You did tell me you felt stronger wearing your gems now than you did back then." He then offered, "Perhaps the Light Hawk Wings wouldn't form then because you were being controlled. I know that sounds kinda strange but if they're anything like mine, they'd seem to have a mind of their own. Mine have only come out when I needed them. Sounds like yours work the same way."

"Well, they definitely showed up at the right time," Ryoko declared. "I also think their appearance was the last little push Aeka needed to change her mind. When she saw them all the fight just went out of her."

"So after that you both talked it out?" Tenchi asked.

"Yeah," she said. "It all went pretty smoothly from there on." She frowned. "Washu was right after all... damn it," she grumbled, shaking her head. "I hate that. She's already got an ego as big as planet. This is only gonna make it worse."

Tenchi chuckled.

Dismissing Washu's ego with a wave of her hand, she added, "Oh and one other thing. We agreed to keep the news of this a secret from anyone except for you and Yosho. I'm sure Washu knows about it, and is already thinking of a way to get me into her lab."

"Something else we need to talk to her about. Maybe we should start a list," he said half joking.

Ryoko scoffed. "Anyway the important thing is for Mihoshi to never find out," she said adamantly,

Tenchi agreed. "Yeah, I think that would probably be for the best."

They sat there, quiet for a moment. Finally Tenchi asked, "So how is Aeka?

Ryoko smiled. "I think she'll be fine. As a matter of fact, when I came up here she was on her way to talk to Sasami. I'm sure they've worked things out by now."

"That's really good to hear," Tenchi said smiling at Ryoko's confirmation that the household was to remain intact.

"Oh, Aeka is going to use that ride back to Jurai, but only for a visit," she informed him. "She thinks that Sasami will want to stay here and we thought that's probably for the best because of her father."

Tenchi nodded his agreement.

At that point, her story finished, Ryoko yawned. "Man, I could use a nap. Almost dying takes a lot out of a girl."

"Go ahead," Tenchi encouraged. "I'll wake you when it's time for breakfast."

She laid down on the bed, stretching out and then looked up at him, and with an exaggerated, sad face and batting eyes, asked, "Hold me?"

He chuckled and laid beside her. She snuggled into him and in hardly any time at all, she was sound asleep.