The great starship propelled itself through the vast vacuum of space.
Its ominous form resembled a torso, or odd plated armor, breastplate and
shoulder plates, floating detachedly through space. Its silhouette in any 
sky
meant death and destruction.

	No one in the entirety of the universe knew this better than the ship's
occupants. One reveled in this power, drinking in its sweet, brief ecstasy, 
but
as of yet unsatisfied with the meager taste he had been offered. There was 
an
ocean of it waiting somewhere within the ever-expanding bounds of space
and he was going to find it, capture it, study it, and make it his own.

	The other of this ship... The other was sheltered. The outside world
was a mystery, as were the beings that inhabited it. There were a few things
she understood quite perfectly, contrary to the belief of her shipmate, 
things
such as, oh, death, chaos, and destruction. These were the norm in her life;
she knew nothing else.

	There were also the *emotions*. Things life fear, desperation,
despair, helplessness, loneliness, hopelessness, and then there were the 
others,
thrill, excitement, anticipation. Things like these that wrecked havoc 
within
her, sometimes causing her hand to slip in an act of disobedience or to make
her laugh long and loud. Then there was the man, the other on board, the one
that told her what to do.

	She didn't understand him. Sometimes he was kind. Sometimes he
was angry. Sometimes he didn't take any notice of her at all. Sometimes he
gave her a gift. Sometimes he beat her. Sometimes he neglected her
altogether. She... felt... different things for him, even though he told her
emotions were for weaklings--and she wasn't a weakling.

	She was afraid of him, she knew. She was also grateful towards him
or sometimes hateful. But above all she was bound to him. What he wanted
she did. Or else.

	Tonight had been "or else." When he had sent her down to the
surface to do his bidding, she had spared the life of a young man--against
*his* order. In turn, he had beaten her until she didn't know the difference
between one pain and another; they all rolled together into one blinding 
wave.
She now lay where he had left her, on the walkway in his favorite room. His
deft, talented fingers wove a morbid song about her, either nursing her back
to health or lulling her into oblivion.

	She hated it his organ playing.

	She blinked and her vision cleared a bit; it seemed that moisture had
been building up in her eyes and had been clouding her sight. The liquid
trailed past her temple and into her hair.

	From somewhere within her, she found the strength to shape the
words, "I wish I was dead."

	Something heard her small plea.

				******

"A Wish Granted"

Story and concept by Ngan Nguyen

Based on the series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki copyrighted by Pioneer and a
whole bunch of other people other than me.

				******

	Jurai burned, as if an angry god had sent a rain of fire upon the
surface. Amid the turmoil, a valiant man, armed with a glowing sword, raced
out to pursue the being that threatened his home, his life, and the lives of 
the
ones he loved.

	Unnoticed behind him, chased a lovely young woman, calling his
name.

				******

	The crown prince of Jurai, Yosho, stared at the abomination before
him. So many lives lost because of this... of this... this monster! Was 
there
no justice in this world that so many were to be ripped away by one,
insignificant creature? Some part of him untouched by the prejudices that 
had
haunted him throughout his entire life surged with righteous fury on the 
part
of his countrymen and the sting of his own suffering bit deeply into his 
spirit.

	Something not entirely within stirred him to act. But he was decided.

	He, Yosho, would deliver justice. Yes, he, Yosho, would end this!

	Tenchi hummed with renewed life in his hands, thrumming in
correspondence to his own newfound purpose, burning bright like a ray of
hope for a new generation. Its blue blade streaked through the air
condemningly towards its malevolent prey as sure as any executioner's axe.

	For Jurai!

				******

	Within confinement, a mother wept silently for her lost child, the
child she had not been able to be there for, yet another child taken away 
from
her. What was it all for? What was it all for?

				******

	The odd-looking, but cute creature was very loyal. Where its
mistress went so would it. Death wasn't so scary knowing that someone was
waiting for you.

				******

	There could only be one victor at the end of the battle between
Prince Yosho and the demon Ryoko and with its finale, order was returned to
the universe. The horror that had struck so many planets and touched so many
people, indiscriminate as to species and sex, faded away into history, then
legend, and finally branched into the uncertain veins of myth. As after all
tragedies, the survivors moved on with their lives, perhaps none the wiser 
for
the experience. Inexorably, time passed...

				******

	Though wood in construction, the spaceship Ryu-oh had no trouble
at all drifting inconspicuously through space. Its sensors fervently swept
across the emptiness of the locations it passed, searching, searching. On
board, searching just as much in spirit as the ship, was a very special 
cargo,
two lives suspended in beauty and motion that would resume on the day their
self-appointed task ended.

	One of which was Sasami, a Princess of Jurai. Bonded with the tree
of the beginning as she was, Sasami was no ordinary girl. In her timeless
sleep, she dreamed.

	In her dream, there was a dove. It was a very beautiful dove and this
dove was very free, flying gaily through crystal blue skies all the livelong
day. While the dove flew its course, the sky grew dark, and from the sky
reached down a pair of hands, encasing the bird between its palms. The dove
struggled so the hands broke its wings. For good measure, the wings were
clipped. The dove was put in a cage for safekeeping and with time it healed,
but it was miserable and longed always to fly again in the blue skies.

	Inexplicably, the dove shed tears of grief and longing until at some
time it was left alone. Its prison door was open, as was the window the cage
was placed near. Seeing the sky beyond, the dove eagerly escaped its cage
and perched on the windowsill. So excited it was, it forgot all its pain and
suffering and spread its wings. It leapt, intending with all of its being to 
fly
away, and instead plummeted to the earth below where there was kept a
beautiful garden.

	It died.

	The body decomposed and nourished the earth. Where it had lain a
thorny weed grew. It choked the flowers in the garden until not one flower
grew anymore. Then it too died.

	Sasami saw all this, but she had no idea what it meant. Nor could she
have discussed it with anyone stuck as she was in suspended animation until
the end of her quest.

	A quest that unbeknownst to her or her companion would not have
an end.

				******

	Wearily, the old priest of the wayward shrine laid down the brush he
had been writing with. Staring back at him was a half-completed saying he
had been formulating, but had only noticed now that it had no real meaning 
at
all. When had he tired of writing these things?

	The writing itself he never truly tired of; his calligraphy was
flawless. His strokes were like well placed sword strokes, concise and
elegant. When was the last time he had picked up a real sword? It seemed all
he dallied in now was child's play.

	Then again, his grandson, Masaki Tenchi, was a child compared to
him. This hot summer day found Tenchi--whom he had suggested to be
named almost ironically after the great sword he had once yielded--sweeping
the shrine grounds. Why the priest bothered to teach the boy swordplay was
beyond him. Actually, that wasn't true at all. It was for Achika, the old 
man
told himself. Achika had just kept pestering him and pestering him until he
had granted her wish. How could he say no to his daughter?

	"Grandfather!"

	"What is it, Tenchi?" he called out to his grandson.

	"Mom's finished cooking lunch!" Tenchi called back.

	"Coming," he answered and made to stand, but stopped himself.
Sighing he turned and looked out his window into the sky. His eyes searched
futilely for the star he knew to be up there, the star unseen by the light 
of day.
His eyes searched for the place where he had left behind a world of
possibilities.

				******

	The Galaxy Police was a well-respected authority and thus it was
easily understandable about the misgivings of the officials of this fine
institute about First Class Detective Kuramitsu Mihoshi. These men and
women grumbled quietly behind the Marshall's back, agonizing together
about all the trouble the young, once promising woman was making for all of
them. There was only disgrace now where there was once brilliance! She still
performed miraculously good deeds, certainly, but at a great cost to all of
them, financially and reputably.  Something had to be done before any real
damage could be done.

	A plot was hatched, a fate decided.

	What harm was it to send the child after a needle in a haystack? No
harm done if you never find the needle.

				******

	Time stopped for no one...

				******

	First Class Detective Kuramitsu Mihoshi was on the case! Still. As
she had been for the past one hundred years, scouring the universe for a 
sign
of the feared and legendary Kagato.  Countless leads followed; countless 
dead
ends found. She had discovered that on the backwater worlds, there truly
were horrors that took place. Mihoshi herself had almost been a victim of
cannibalism. But it was all in the name of duty, so Mihoshi put all of this
behind her and moved onto the next clue, the next lead, the next eyewitness.

	She didn't smile as much as she used to. She didn't laugh as much
anymore either.

	In fact, she'd made quite a name for herself in the shadier circles of
the universe, utilizing those contacts and any other to farther her search 
any
way she could. The universe could rest peacefully with Mihoshi on the job;
she would bring Kagato to justice as soon as she could figure out who was
sleeping next to her this morning.

				******

	Emperor Azusa of the great Juraian Empire believed he had an
abundance of patience. However, he was not a blind man. He knew when
things became fruitless and were to be abandoned and this was one such time.
His son had been missing for eight hundred years now, his daughters almost
equally as long, having run off after Yosho. It was time, he admitted, to
acknowledge that his son was most probably dead. He had, like Ayeka and
Sasami, Funaho and Misaki, hoped Yosho had survived. Now, it had just
been too long and he had to ensure that the royal line of Jurai continued.

	When a few hundred years had passed after Yosho's disappearance,
Azusa had taken precautions in the event that Yosho would never return. Part
of that included seeking a fiancée for Ayeka. That man was Seiryo, a fine
young man, whose marriage to Azusa's daughter would ensure the favor of
one of Azusa's most impassioned opposers.

	Yes, Azusa reasoned, it was time. There was absolutely no sense in
waiting any longer. He ignored the protests of his wives. He ignored the
outcries of the council. What he did now he did for no one but himself.

	He was calling his children home.

	The message that came for them left Kamidake and Azaka in no
small state of surprise. Nonetheless, they weren't willing to disobey their
liege. And so, Ryu-oh's course was adjusted until it once again pointed
towards the beginning.

				******

	Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai, opened her eyes hopefully. But what
she saw was not her guardians, was not a view on Ryu-oh's bridge, was not
her brother, was not her betrothed, but the face of her mother smiling 
warmly
at her.

	Her mother embraced her. Ayeka wept bitterly.

				******

	A curse on his head, a curse put there by Ryoko! To outlive not only
his wife, not only Achika and her husband, but Tenchi as well, seeing his
children grow up into fine young men and women! It was too much! The
worst thing of was that he knew he could not remain there any longer; not
only was he too old, far too old, but he no longer felt any love for the 
place. It
no longer brought him peace of mind.

	Instead he had grown restless. Many times he had stripped off his
disguise and stared at the young man in the mirror that looked back at him.
Not a day older he looked. Not a damn day. Was there no end? He had a
sudden longing to see Jurai one more time, having seen this planet inside 
out
now, carrying the damn Tenchi-ken from which the gems that had belonged
to the demon winked at him. The gems he had taken as a sort of trophy. The
same gems that provided Funaho with power, the power that kept him alive
and young!

	How ironic!

	Humans lived such short lives. He couldn't stand to see another
generation of his line grow old and pass away before his eyes while he
remained ever the same. What a curse his was, a curse of youth and 
longevity,
one that he couldn't even enjoy. He had left Jurai to be rid of these things 
and
they had followed him despite all his efforts.

	Without any roots--oh, that Funaho had taken root was more the
irony--he wandered the face of this backwater planet, the planet he had come
so much to love... and now the place he would come to hate so very much.

				******

	There was no end in sight...

				******

	Imagine that, Jurai had fallen under the might of another. The
Emperor was dead, as were his two wives. Princess Sasami had fled,
managing somehow to escape with her life. Princess Ayeka was not as lucky
and had been taken hostage by the invader. The tree nursery had been
thoroughly ransacked by the Ayeka's kidnapper and in a fit of rage he had
destroyed it all. He hadn't found what he was looking for.

	Kagato was a powerful man in his own right. The Souja was also
formidable, a mighty ship like none other. Together, they did what they had
failed to do the first time and this time around the ramifications of his 
actions
would forever scar the planet.

	Yet, Kagato still failed regardless of having toppled, without so
much as a blink of an eye, one of the greatest empires of the universe. 
After
all, Kagato still didn't have Tsunami, the Juraian tree that held all the 
power
he could ever dream of. No matter. Ayeka would provide the answers, the key
to all his searching and researching. In fact, he was finding Ayeka to be a
very powerful reminder of his late Ryoko, lost to him so long ago.

	He was sure the princess would love the new song he composed.

	And with each blow he dealt her, Ayeka only laughed in her
shattered mind, succumbing to depression, conceding her sanity. All life had
offered her had ended in pain and suffering and destruction. What use was
there crying about it now?

				******

	Trapped within the Souja, the petite scientist wept for the princess of
Jurai, prematurely mourning the loss of yet another child.

				******

	"Jurai has been attacked by Kagato today," the television blared in
the bar. A stunned hush fell on the crowd; even those too drunk to realize 
the
import of the news stopped speaking and turned to pay attention. Kuramitsu
Mihoshi looked up from the hand of cards she had been playing. Staring at
the screen, she watched the footage of the Souja being pursued by Galaxy
Police ships and said ships being blown into oblivion.

	At first it was a twitch at the one corner of her lip. Then she smiled.
The smile widened into a grin. At last she laughed outright drawing the 
stares
and attention to her.

	All Mihoshi could think about was her resignation sitting on her
grandfather's desk at the Galaxy Police Headquarters.

				******

	Far removed from the ailing planet, Tenchi-ken blazed into life for
the first time in nearly a millennium.

	Justice. Justice! JUSTICE!

	Grant me Justice!

	The blade of energy ripped through bark and wood, searing away sap
on touch. When the deed was done and the tree felled, Yosho wept with
relief, adding his tears to the small lake around him.

	Finally... finally...

	In the hilt of Tenchi-ken, the gems glowed in the sunlight.

				******

	Tsunami wept for all her children. Jurai was suffering. The nation
that was once so great had fallen in a matter of moments. The council
members had become power hungry rather than compassionate. The nations
that had existed beneath Azusa's reign had seceded and turned their backs on
the once high and mighty Jurai. They had disliked being bullied into Azusa's
empire and this was their payback. And Ayeka... Tsunami had no heart to
inform her other self of Ayeka's state.

	Sasami wept for her home and for her family aboard the grand ship
Tsunami. She had lost all she had left in one fell swoop. Now there was
nothing, not even something to return to--no throne to claim, even if she
wanted to ascend it to help the people. They would not accept her now.

	"Where did it go wrong?" Sasami asked Tsunami.

	"I don't know," she told the child. "I don't know."

	After all, no one remembers the wicked. They are as unimportant as
the butterfly that beats its wings.

				******

			     end a wish granted

				******


Notes:
	That was really morbid. A few explanations are in order, I believe.
	First and foremost, Tenchi Muyo! is a series that, of course, stars
	Tenchi Masaki. But, really, is Tenchi the focal point of everything?
	If you go back far enough it comes to a point where Tenchi really
	has nothing to do with anything--everyone was around much sooner
	than Tenchi was. Much of this story ended up focusing on Jurai,
	actually. In its original writing, I didn't include Washu, Ryo-ohki, or
	Mihoshi. Going back I realized that they would be in existence
	around the times mentioned as well as affected by all these events,
	so I wrote them in.

RYOKO:		The OVA hinges on Ryoko. If Ryoko didn't attack Jurai,
		what would've been Yosho's excuse to leave? Sasami
		wouldn't be Tsunami. Tenchi wouldn't have had an urge to
		go into the cave, never gaining the Tenchi-ken (master
		key), awakening Ryoko who would awaken Ryo-ohki and
		send Ayeka's scanners crazy, taking her out of suspended
		animation. Mihoshi wouldn't have tried to land on Earth,
		thus she wouldn't have freed Washu and then Ayeka and
		Ryoko would probably have been killed by Kagato's hand
		(not that any of this could have happened without Ryoko in
		the first place). And so on and so on...

YOSHO:		You've really got to wonder about this guy. I mean, he runs
		away from Jurai, does God knows what for 700 years, most
		probably settles down with a few women, has a few
		children, somewhere along the way he has Achika and from
		Achika comes Tenchi. But, really, 700 years on Earth, and
		settling down at a shrine where he writes sayings that waste
		five seconds of your time. Oi, I really felt I needed to
		spruce him up a bit. The fact that he spared Ryoko in the
		OVA kind of turned me off to Yosho; he was *too* noble.
		So he found a little hard luck this time around. At least I
		didn't totally disregard him from the story.

AYEKA:		I respect Ayeka, I really do, although I'm more inclined
		towards liking Ryoko. She has many good characteristics
		about her, but at the beginning of the show, remember
		OVA, Ayeka has very flimsy anchors in her life. I always
		did wonder what it would be like for her to just lose them
		altogether, without meeting Tenchi as an almost substitute
		(although I do believe she grows to have genuine feelings
		for him in the series).

SASAMI:		A quick note here, because Ryoko *did* attack Jurai in this
		story, Tsunami would have had to bond with Sasami to
		keep her from dying. Her dream is symbolic in a few ways.
		I'll let the daring interpret that dream in any way they want
		--feel free to fire off some ideas at me.

AZUSA:		Do I really believe he would give up on his son? Depends.
		He sent out Ayeka and Sasami to look for Yosho. Not
		exactly the best search party to send out. I'll let you draw
		your inferences. Seiryo (or however you spell his name) is
		the pink-haired man Azusa had chosen as Ayeka's fiancée
		at the end of the OVA.


Completed February 2, 2002

Ngan Nguyen
tiger1621@hotmail.com
www.dragonsfolly.com