Synopsis: A slightly dark tale about what the future can hold... 
(Tenchi TV continuity)

Disclaimer: All characters in this story are the creations of Masaki 
Kajishima (or, more properly, Kajishima Masaki), and copyrights of AIC 
and Pioneer.  I don't own jack-$h!£.  Except this fic (© 2001 by Master 
Kodama), which is for free distribution IN ITS COMPLETE AND UNALTERED 
FORM ONLY.  If you wish to post this fic or a portion of it on a website
or something, please let me know (contact me: master_kodama@yahoo.com).

Bitter, Sweet Dream
By Master Kodama (master_kodama@yahoo.com)

	Tenchi awoke, feeling decidedly odd.  Where was he...?  The last 
thing he could remember was walking down the shrine steps at a leisurely
pace, in no hurry to return to the unusual circus that was his house.  
There had been... some sort of a jolt, and now he was here staring up at
a white ceiling with an insistent pain on the right side of his head.
	Reaching up, Tenchi winced as he touched the spot gingerly.  What 
had happened?  There had been a... rushing sound before the jolt.  A 
sound that brought a certain someone to mind.
	"Are you awake now, my love?" a voice said as Aeka's face appeared
above him.  "Are you all right?"  He was a bit startled by her words: 
this "my love" business was certainly a new development, but if it made 
her happy... yet, how would Ryouko react?
	*Thinking of which...*
	"I'm fine, Aeka," Tenchi replied, smiling half-heartedly.  "Um... 
where's Ryouko?"  Had she finally outdone herself in her career of 
record-breaking flying tackles?
	Aeka looked puzzled, and he also noticed there was something else 
a bit different about her.  Disoriented and lying on his back, gazing up
into her nearly upside-down visage, he couldn't quite place it.
	"That heinous, criminal space pirate?  Don't worry about her right
now, just relax."  She continued to gaze at him worriedly.  "Are you 
absolutely sure you are quite alright?  That was quite a fall you took."
	"I guess it must have been," Tenchi muttered, wincing in advance 
as he reached up to carefully feel the bump on his head.  His hand 
stopped dead, and his expression froze into one of disbelief.
	His fingers fairly shook as he traced them downward, following the
long strands of hair that ran down the side of his face, past his right 
ear, past a clasp which held a portion of hair in place, and down beyond
his shoulder.  His eyes were slightly wide.  What... what was going on?
	Tenchi took a moment to look around the room, and then even longer
to gaze up at Aeka.  All of it was unfamiliar, even the woman who stood 
loyally beside him.  Yes, the _woman_.  She was no longer a girl, or a 
young lady.  No, indeed, still a lady, yet now a woman in full bloom, 
years more mature than the Aeka he knew.  She did not even look like a 
princess any more -- far from it.  She looked like a queen.
	"How... how long was I unconscious?" was all Tenchi managed to 
mumble, his eyes still wide.  *Years?*
	Aeka, the beautiful, queenly, stately Aeka, still looked a touch 
concerned.  "Only for a few minutes, my darling."
	*My darling...?  A few minutes?*
	Tenchi sat up, and put his forehead in his palm.  *What on Earth?*
	Aeka reached towards him slightly.  "Don't strain yourself," she 
advised.  "Perhaps you should lie down for a while longer...?"
	One of a pair of double doors opened with an unusual abruptness 
that was so meek and slow that its apparent suddenness could only be in 
the confused mind of the beholder.
	An unfamiliar person stepped halfway in, demurely.  "Is His 
Lordship feeling better now?" the young woman seemed to ask Aeka.
	Tenchi raised his head, and gave her a pained, confused, and 
almost angry look that made her fall back a step.  "'His Lordship'...?" 
Tenchi repeated.
	"I... I'm sorry, Your Majesty... Your Majesty, of course," the 
girl stammered, bowing low.  "You... you are well?"
	Tenchi looked around.  They three were the only occupants of the 
strange room.  "Who are you talking to?" he asked, sounding more 
irritable than he meant to.
	"To you, Your Highness..." she replied, bowing low again.
	For an instant that seemed far longer for all the thoughts that 
rushed through his head, Tenchi just sat there.  Then he got to his feet
and looked into the huge mirror that comprised the entire right wall of 
the room.  Before him stood a man he'd never seen, wearing his face, 
along with elegant Juraian robes.
	*I'm... I'm the Emperor of Jurai!*
	He sat down heavily on the bed, tearing his eyes away from the 
strange image in the mirror.  His breathing was heavy and ragged.
	"Tenchi-sama, you shouldn't stand up so fast!" Aeka admonished 
him, as though cheerfully reprimanding a silly or foolish child.  She 
quickly sat down next to him on the bed and put a supporting and 
comforting arm around his shoulders.  Despite his racing heart and mind,
and the sweat dripping from his face, Tenchi couldn't help but notice 
the tone she used was one he'd never heard before.  The affection, the 
sense of long-lasting and long-bonded closeness... only his mother had 
ever spoken to him like that.
	"Aeka..." he gasped in barely more than a whisper, "what's going 
on?  Where are we?  Where is everyone?  What happened?"
	He looked at her, into her soft, gentle eyes, and the loving 
concern there seemed boundless, as infinite and all encompassing as time
and space.  Cooing soothingly, she guided his head to rest on her bosom.
	"Don't worry, we're home, we're safe," she said softly, stroking 
his unfamiliarly long hair as though it were familiar to her.  "Don't 
get worked up.  Things have been rough on you recently, so just relax 
for a bit.  The galaxy can run itself for a while."
	For a time, Tenchi allowed himself to be comforted.  What had 
happened to him?  Who was he?  Who had he become?
	"Mommy?" a soft voice came from the door.
	Tenchi looked up and around, and where the anonymous woman had 
been now stood a small girl, with two very short little pig-tails of an 
almost lavender hue.  She couldn't be any older than three, and she 
gazed at the world through sparkling, dark violet eyes.
	Aeka smiled warmly, "Achika-chan...."
	Tenchi was thunderstruck.
	"Mommy...?" little Achika continued.  "Is Daddy all better now?"
	"I... I'm fine..." Tenchi answered for her, in barely more than a 
whisper.  Though his raging confusion was not banished, it seemed to 
calm its fury and settle into a form of pure amazement.  The pain in his
skull was forgotten.
	The little girl toddled up to his knee.  Lifting her arms up 
towards his face, little Achika said, "Up!"
	Gently, still in awe at this tiny little life, he lifted her on to
his awaiting knee.  Achika gave him a childishly sloppy kiss on the 
cheek.
	"Mommy says kisses makes it all better!" she proclaimed cheerily.
	Tenchi looked at Aeka, and she beamed a kind smile.  He couldn't 
help but give his own small smile in return.
	Little Achika leapt down from her father's knee, and made her way 
across the room, exploring the corner wardrobe as if the whole world 
were some new discovery and she wanted to be the first to know all about
it.
	"This is incredible..." Tenchi murmured, barely audible, as his 
gaze followed the small child around the room.
	"Hmm?" Aeka sounded questioningly, even though she wasn't really 
paying attention, as her smiling eyes also followed Achika's movements.
	Tenchi looked into the mirror, at the long haired man who sat 
there.  Was this all a dream?  And if it was, who's was it, his or 
Aeka's?  He had never really fancied himself as Emperor of Jurai.  In 
fact, he had more or less refused the post on at least one occasion.
	He reached up once again and put a finger to the sore spot on his 
scalp.  He winced.  No, definitely not a dream.  Not his dream, anyway.  
But it certainly couldn't be anyone else's dream, otherwise he wouldn't 
be conscious of it.  Or at least, that's how he perceived dreams to 
work.  Tenchi had never found himself caught up in someone else's dream 
before, nor had he ever heard of it happening.
	So then, if it wasn't his dream, and it wasn't someone else's, it 
must be... real.
	He looked at his reflection.  *I'm a changed man... but... where 
are Mihoshi and Kiyone?  Where's Sasami...?
	*Where's Ryouko?*
	"How many years..." he muttered.
	"What, my love?" Aeka asked, turning to him.
	Tenchi cleared his throat.  He hadn't meant to say that out loud. 
And her natural and casual use of "my love" still unnerved him.  "How 
many years... how many years has it been since... since we left?"
	"Since we left where, dear?" Aeka asked him, looking puzzled 
again.
	"Earth," he answered.  Vigor had returned to his voice along with 
his confidence.  If this was real, he would have to deal with it.  But 
if it wasn't real... there might be some fatal flaw that would tip him 
off, waking him up (if it was indeed a dream), or revealing the truth.  
Or at least the untruth.
	Aeka looked up, reminiscent, almost nostalgic.  "That's right... 
it was twenty years ago this day that you first revealed the secret of 
your heart to me, and we confessed our love for each other.  I don't 
know how I could have forgotten."
	He looked into her deep ruby eyes, and, though hers were full of 
only love greater than Tenchi's wildest imaginings, his were full of 
confusion, surprise, and even fear.  In savoring the moment, she was 
oblivious to his conflicting emotions.
	Tenchi's chest tightened.  He felt like his lungs would cease all 
function.  *Twenty years....*  Half his life had gone by, and he 
couldn't remember a single moment of it.
	But... could that be it?  Amnesia?  Was this the reality?  Had he 
simply lost all memory of the past twenty years of his life?
	As he gazed into her eyes, he felt himself sinking into those twin
rubies of pure affection, set in a face more beautiful than nearly any 
other under the stars.  *Could this really be it?  Could this be real?* 
Yes.  This was his reality.  All the rest had just been a dream.  A 
dream of the past.

	Tenchi awoke.  What a very strange and vivid dream!  He'd dreamed 
he had woken up twenty years in the future, and... no, that wasn't 
right.  He'd dreamed that he had lost his memory and been unable to 
remember the past twenty years of his life.  Yes, that was it.
	*What!?*
	The past twenty years...?  But he was only seventeen!  Tenchi 
quickly sat up and looked to the mirror-wall to his right.  Its mere 
presence told him enough.  Yet, he certainly didn't look thirty-seven.  
But nor did he look seventeen anymore.
	How he kept from panicking, Tenchi did not know.  Waking up in 
another time, another place... another life.  It was something wholly 
unfamiliar to him.
	Wait a moment... no it wasn't.  Could this be... could this be 
another one of Washu's crazy experiments or inventions gone wrong?  But,
if so... why this?  Why here?  Why now?  Why _him_?  Was he destined to 
be the victim of meta-scientific research?  The hub of intergalactic 
warfare?  The....
	Or was he destined to grow up, marry a princess, and become 
emperor of the most powerful interstellar nation in the known universe? 
Or, had that already happened.  No, that was not a question.  It was an 
answer: it had.  Tenchi laid back down and rested his throbbing head 
upon the  soft, comforting pillow.
	He thought about Aeka.  She had been so beautiful.  And their 
daughter... Achika... was just wonderful.  She was just a child, an 
ordinary little girl, but too look on her was pure wonder for him to 
behold.  To think that she was _his_ daughter... his and Aeka's.  It was
all so... phenomenal, so incredible.
	So incredibly unreal.  So unbelievable.  Was this his life?  If 
so, why didn't he recognize any of it?  And if not, why was he living 
it?
	What was this world?  What was this life?  Who's reflection was 
that in the mirror?  Who's clothes were these?  Who's wife?  Who's 
daughter?  Who's empire...?  Who's hair and face?  Who's dark brown 
eyes?  Who's lips, who's tongue?
	*Who's mind...?*
	Well, his mind, for certain, was his own.  But these other things?
He could not say.  Perhaps, it was not he who had woken up in the wrong 
life, but this life that had woken up with the wrong him?
	Now he was just thinking crazy.  *Keep that up and pretty soon my 
mind won't be my own... I'll lose it.  Then again, I guess I'm lucky I 
haven't lost it already.  Or maybe I have, and that's just my problem.*
	He decided that being able to contemplate the possibility that he 
might be crazy pointed too much toward sanity for it to remain a 
possibility.  But did memory loss count as insanity?  Well, not being 
able to remember things that may have happened was a lot less crazy than
remembering things that may not have happened.  If that made any sense.
	A stray thought came to Tenchi: *Where the hell is Ryouko in all 
of this?*  Marrying Aeka meant abandoning Ryoko, and if he'd already 
done that....
	Tenchi clenched his teeth.  The pain in his head did not help his 
confusion.
	But... maybe that was the answer, this lump on his head.  He felt 
the angry protrusion with a hand.
	*Well,* he thought, *what have I got to lose?  Either I'll wake 
up, or I won't.*
	Balling his hand into a fist, Tenchi slammed it down onto his 
injured head.  Pain burst through his cranium, and there was an nearly 
audible _snap_ inside his head.
	His ears rang.  His head rang.  He could hear the silence roaring 
all around him.  He gripped his head tightly and put it down between his
knees, trying to keep it from splitting apart and trying to drown out 
the deafening silence that threatened to burst it apart.
	It was coming from _inside_ as well, that silence.  The void that 
was the missing portion of his life seemed like a tangible thing, or 
almost an entity of its own, passive and... empty.  His confession of 
love to Aeka, their marriage... even the birth of his own daughter, all 
missing.  Yet they had happened, and here he was.
	He sat like this for a long time, the silence pushing inward and 
the gap in his life pushing out, until the whole world shook.
	Tenchi was on his feet in an instant.  Reaching out to his right 
without so much as a glance in that direction, he spoke a single word: 
"Kalai-a!" and the Tenchi-ken flew forth from the mirror without causing
a single ripple of distortion on the glassy surface.
	He gripped the powerful sword in his palm and dashed out of the 
room and down the corridor with amazing speed, following the sounds of 
explosions coming from the throne room.  What was this disturbance?
	*What the heck am I doing?*  Tenchi came to his senses.  How had 
he reacted so fast?  His instincts, his subconscious, knew exactly what 
he was doing, but he remained without a clue, completely in the dark.
	One thing was certain: he was no longer a wreck of pain and 
confusion.  The threat of imminent danger or disaster had given him 
direction and focus.
	Two figures emerged from an adjourning corridor and joined him in 
his mad dash.
	"Azaka, Kamidake!  What's going on?" he shouted to them, still 
acting on impulse.
	"Lord Tenchi!" the iron-gray haired warrior cried.  "We don't know
how it happened -- She's here!"
	For some reason, Tenchi didn't need to ask who "she" was.
	*Ryouko.*
	She was here, and that was bad news.  Why should it be bad?  That 
he didn't know, but what he did know was that Ryouko's arrival was a 
sure harbinger of tragedy.
	So, why did he feel a thrill at the thought?  Why was he secretly 
glad she was here, and why was he guilty and disgusted by this feeling? 
Why did he feel an illicit longing to see her?  His heart was racing 
with an anticipation that was more than that of imminent battle.  But 
why?
	Because he hadn't seen her in twenty years.  But... he had seen 
her just that morning before he'd gone up to the shrine.  In fact, she 
had floated up through the floor of his room, and followed him all the 
way down to the dining room, and fawned over him all during breakfast.  
She should be the last person he should want to see.
	Yet Tenchi reminded himself that that morning had indeed been 
twenty years ago.  He missed her.  Oh, how he missed her, knowing he 
should not.  And knowing this only made him miss her more.  He had never
missed her so much, not even when he had thought the carnival was over 
for good.  That had really been the only time he had ever missed her.  
It was nothing compared to now.
	Tenchi regrouped his mind, and focused his thoughts.  Now was not 
the time for that.  Even in his current state, he knew quite well that 
the explosions that rocked the Juraian Royal Palace spelled out serious 
trouble and grave danger.
	Even with this in mind, what Tenchi beheld when he entered the 
Royal Throne Room made him stop dead in his tracks as his breath caught 
in his throat.  The vaulted ceiling of the great chamber had collapsed 
in many places.  Beautifully crafted archways and columns were in ruins.
And in the middle of it, surrounded by a spreading pattern of dead 
bodies, floating above the carnage and destruction like an angry, 
veangeful star descended from the heavens, eyes ablaze with the 
unearthly fire of that celestial body, was Ryouko.
	Before he had time to think, let alone react, she charged Tenchi 
with an enraged scream that made his skin writhe.  Tenchi barely brought
the Tenchi-ken up in time to parry her attack, and he could feel the 
force of her anger as a powerful blast struck him and they both slid 
back twelve feet across the broken stone floor.
	"Ryouko!" Tenchi implored her.  "Why are you doing this!  This 
isn't you!  This isn't what you want!"
	The space pirate didn't seem to hear him.  Her eyes burned with 
determination as she pressed down harder with her energy sword.  "Where 
is she!" Ryouko snarled through clenched teeth.
	Tenchi knew she must be after Aeka.  He could feel her rage and 
jealousy as palpably as the energy that radiated off of her in waves of 
blinding heat.  "You don't want to do this, Ryouko!" he cried, praying 
that Azaka and Kamidake would come to his aid.  But they were nowhere to
be seen.  "Aeka isn't here!" he lied, hating it, hating himself, hating 
this world he had woken up into.  "Please, Ryouko...."
	"Aeka?" Ryouko growled, battering down upon the Tenchi-ken and 
knocking Tenchi back even further.  "I don't care about her!  You know 
who I'm talking about!"
	Ryouko struck out again, and electrical sparks flew everywhere as 
Tenchi stumbled back a few more paces.  "NOW WHERE IS SHE!"
	"Ryouko..." Tenchi begged with her, "please, don't do this.  I 
don't know who you mean."
	Ryouko charged in again and pressed against Tenchi's blade so hard
that their faces were nearly touching.  "You know exactly who I mean!"  
He could see the burning hatred in her eyes.  But it wasn't directed at 
him, not most of it.  Nor was it aimed at Aeka.
	"Daddy?  What's going on?" a timid, frightened voice said from off
to Tenchi's right, and in that instant things came together in his mind 
that made him realize that everything was far worse than he could have 
possibly imagined.
	Both combatants looked in that direction, as time moved with 
horrible, agonizing slowness.  Among the broken shards of floor, walls, 
and ceiling, the little girl with lavender hair stood with fear and 
sorrow in her innocent eyes.
	"Daddy -- what's happening?" little Achika said in the same 
terrified little voice.  "Daddy, I'm scared!"
	Ryouko's eyes shone.  She had sighted her prey.  With a cry that 
was so much worse and unearthly than the first that it defied all 
definition, she charged, and the little girl with the once bright 
smiling, curious, wonderful eyes that now widened in terror, wasn't even
able to scream.
	And Tenchi felt just as helpless as she did.  He could not save 
her, not in time, and he had never wished to do something more in his 
entire life.  The infinite, heart-crushing despair he felt was 
overwhelming.  In one solid, painful motion, cursing himself and the 
world, he threw the Tenchi-ken straight at Ryouko.
	He watched in tearful horror as the sword buried itself deep in 
her right shoulder, piercing her entire body.  He watched as she slowly 
turned in mid-charge, her eyes full of pain, all hatred gone and only 
the underlying hurt that had caused it showing threw.  He watched as she
whispered words too soft to hear, as she began to cry and her rapidly 
weakening body slammed full force into the wall.  Then he watched, tears
still in his eyes, as the entire building collapsed on top of them, 
burying his immeasurable sorrow under immeasurable tons of solid stone 
and unfeeling rock.

	Tenchi sat up in bed, sweating, his heart racing.  He was so 
relieved it was all he could do to just sit and breath.  Only a dream.  
It had all just been a dream.  But it had seemed so very real.
	A hand pushed him back down onto the pillow, and he complied by 
lying down again.
	"Don't sit up so fast," a voice said.  "You're injured."
	It was Ryouko's voice.  He looked up and saw her sitting on the 
edge of the bed.  But... she had been trying to kill him!
	Only a dream.  It had only been a dream.  He ordered himself to 
calm down, and slowly his heart and breathing rates started to return to
normal.
	Ryouko was gazing at him, looking very worried.  He was amazed at 
how kind her expression looked after how he had just seen her.  "Are you
feeling all right?" she asked.  "You don't look too well."
	Tenchi closed his eyes and shook his head.  "I'm fine," he assured
her; he had never felt better or more relieved.  "I'm... I just... I had
a very strange dream."
	"Oh, yeah?"
	"Yeah... I... I dreamed I was the Emperor of Jurai."
	Ryouko laughed out loud, surprising him.  "You?  Emperor of Jurai?
It's not like you were shot in the _head_!"
	"Shot?" Tenchi asked, wondering what she was talking about.
	"_She_ wasn't in it, was she?" Ryouko asked suspiciously.
	For a moment, Tenchi was afraid of whom "she" might refer too.  
"Who...?"
	Ryouko smiled.  "Never mind."  Tenchi realized she must have meant
Aeka.  He gave a mental sigh.  Of course.  She was just suspicious and 
jealous.  Nothing unusual.  Who else could she be talking about?  Surely
no one else....
	After a pause in which all she did was smile happily, Ryouko said,
"I shouldn't worry about you like that, Tenchi.  After all, that was 
years ago, right?"
	Years ago?  What was she talking about.
	"Twenty years..." he thought he heard her add under her breath, 
and Tenchi could have sworn his heart stopped for an instant.
	He must have imagined it.  He had to have.
	"Here," she said, standing up.  "I'll go get you something hot to 
drink."  She moved away.  That was when Tenchi noticed he was not in his
room.
	He sat up and looked around.  They were inside Ryo-ohki.  What was
going on here?
	Looking to his left, Tenchi saw two pictures on the wall-screen.  
They were wanted posters.  One of them was obviously Ryouko, but the 
other was unknown to him.  Beneath the portrait, were the words "Wanted 
for High Treason against the Royal Court of Jurai."  It was a young man,
grinning fiercely, with long bangs that hung down, nearly obscuring his 
eyes.  Those eyes... there was something familiar about them.  Around 
the left one, there was a triangular area of charcoal black, possibly 
tattooed on.
	After a moment of staring in puzzlement at the likeness of the 
young man, Tenchi realized where he had seen those eyes before.  His 
hand shaking, Tenchi reached up and traced a line along his face, from 
above the leftmost edge of his lips, up beside the bridge of his nose, 
running his finger at an angle down along his eyebrow ridge, and then 
past the left corner of his eye and back to the beginning.  There was 
nothing tangible for him to perceive, no protrusion or difference in 
texture.  But he knew that the black mark was there, and one of those 
very same dark brown eyes he saw in the picture before him was set in 
the middle of that dark pool.
	Reaching down along his side, Tenchi felt a bandage covering a 
wound where a blaster shot had grazed him.  But... how did he know that?
	"You look very convincing," Ryouko said as she came to where he 
sat on the edge of his bed and handed him a cup of dark, steamy liquid.
	"Wh... what?" he muttered, sipping the drink.  It was bitter and 
had very little redeeming flavor, but Tenchi had become accustomed to 
it.  Wait... how was that possible?  He had never tasted this stuff in 
his life!
	"In your wanted poster," Ryouko replied to his question.  "You 
look fearsome and dashing....  Mine always make me look... cheap or 
something.  See here, this looks like a wanted poster for a prostitute, 
not a space pirate!"  She said, pointing at her image.  "I wish they'd 
make a new one soon."
	"It's your hair," Tenchi responded.  The words had come as if 
unbidden to his lips.  "It looks messy."
	"My hair?" she questioned, looking at the picture quizzically and 
then back at him.  "What are you talking about?  I always have my hair 
like that!"
	In spite of himself, or so he thought, Tenchi smiled.  "I'm 
teasing you, Ryouko," and he was.  _He_ was actually teasing _her_... 
what was going on?  Wasn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?
	Ryouko laughed as she walked over and took the still half-full cup
away, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
	"Ouch -- hey, I wasn't finished with that!"  How was he acting so 
naturally in this totally unnatural environment?  He was slowly becoming
acclimated to it, just as he had somehow found himself getting used to 
the idea of being Emperor of Jurai.  He _should_ have been very 
disconcerted when he realized that there was only one bed on the ship, 
but somehow he wasn't.  Even though he consciously or subconsciously 
realized that everything was out of the ordinary, it didn't _feel_ that 
way.  Perhaps it was like one of those dreams, where you know what is 
going to happen, or realize you are only dreaming, but for some reason 
still seem to play along?  And maybe... maybe it _was_ one of those 
dreams.  Yes, he must still be dreaming.
	"You need to lie down and rest," Ryouko was saying as she set the 
cup down on a nearby crystal, which floated away.
	"Well I won't get any if you keep hitting me," Tenchi complained, 
chuckling and rubbing his unharmed shoulder.
	Ryouko just punched him in the other shoulder and pushed him back 
down on the bed.
	"I surrender," he said.  "I'll rest."
	"So..." Ryouko began.  She was still very close, and showed no 
signs of moving away from him.  "What else happened in this dream?"
	He looked into her smiling eyes.  How different they were from 
those he had seen in his dream.  And yet, how alike....
	"Well," he began, and she snuggled up closer to him.  "First I 
dreamed we were still back on earth...."
	"Mmm-hmm."
	"And then I dreamed I was the Emperor of Jurai, and then I... 
I...."  He looked over at Ryouko, smiling at him.  She slowly sank 
through the bed sheets.
	"And... what next?"
	"I..." he smiled, "I don't remember."  And he didn't.  But he 
didn't care.  He didn't care if this was real or not.  It didn't even 
cross his mind.  No, there was only one thing his mind focused on right 
now, and he didn't care what reality was, because this was his reality. 
This was everything that he could see, smell, hear, taste, and touch.  
That was all that was real.  And right now, that reality was Ryouko, and
nothing else.

	Once again, Tenchi awoke.  This time, he checked his surroundings 
before assuming he was really awake, and the first thing he noticed was 
Ryouko lying in the bed beside him.  Rolling over, he looked at her 
silent, slowly breathing form.  He smiled.  She looked so peaceful....
	*Wait, what the hell did I just do!*  The memory came back to him 
in all its colorful, wonderful, horrifying glory, and the realization of
why he was asleep in bed with Ryouko hit him.
	*But this isn't real!* he told himself.  But it had felt real.  It
had seemed very real to him.  But it couldn't be, it had to be all a 
dream.  A wonderful, horrifying dream.  A bitter, sweet dream.
	No matter how real it looked and felt, Tenchi told himself it 
couldn't be real; none of this could be.  But even if it was a dream, he
felt immense guilt.  In a way, it was even worse than if the whole thing
had been real.  How could he dream such a thing?  Not about Ryouko....
	Why?  Was it any different dreaming about Ryouko like that than it
was dreaming about someone else?  About Aeka....
	But he never had.  Not in his dream of being emperor.  Not in any 
dream.  Tenchi felt worse knowing that even some obscure part of his 
mind might single Ryouko out in that manner, allowing him to have that 
kind of a dream about her, as though it were _acceptable_ to have even 
subconscious sexual thoughts about her, with the exclusion of others.  
It was a horrible image to hold of someone, even if it was subconscious.
	Subconscious... that was it.  The flaw in his theory.  The very 
fact that he realized it, that he was aware at all, that he was 
conscious, defied any dream he had ever had.  He was certainly beyond 
the state of half-consciousness he had been in before, where his actions
were dictated by a nature and memories not his own.  Or rather, not yet.
	No, not ever.  This was just a dream.
	Yet, Tenchi knew, that remedied very little.
	And yet again... it had been so real.  _She_ had been so real.  
	*It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real!* Tenchi told 
himself over and over again.  He tried to hate himself.  He tried to 
make himself feel terrible for what he had dreamed, but it he couldn't 
get the vivid reality of it out of his mind.
	And there she was, lying right next to him, as real as she had 
been.  What they had done had been real, because _she_ was real.  He 
tried to tell himself she wasn't real.  *She's a figment of your 
imagination!* he screamed at himself.  *An aberration of your mind.*  
But the woman he looked on was no aberration.  She was beautiful, and 
she was so very real and full of life.  The sheets rose with every 
inhale, and the warmth of her breath tickled his chin with every exhale.
He reached out and touched her shoulder, and recalled the feel of her.  
She had been real.  She still was real.  But... this was all just a 
dream, he knew.  How could that be?
	Tenchi realized something, quite suddenly.  The reason he could 
not get her beauty and reality out of his mind.  He loved her.  Just 
like he had loved Aeka in that dream of his.  But... how had he felt 
about either of them in that other dream of his, that dream of life, the
one he swore was real?  He could not say.  His feelings had been 
ambivalent.  But they were not now.  Not in this now, or in the other 
now, as Emperor of Jurai.
	*How can it be... how can any of this be?*
	His mind drawing a universal blank, Tenchi rose, dressed, and 
stood staring out into space, his thoughts a void more empty than the 
vastness he gazed out into.  He must have stood and watched the stars 
for hours, before something caught his eye.  It was a bright speck of 
light, but one that didn't look or move like any star he had ever seen.
	Without even thinking about it, Tenchi reached out to Ryo-ohki 
with his mind and said. "Enhance."  The image of the object was enlarged
on the screen quickly -- once, twice, three times -- and Tenchi felt a 
growing sense of dread at what he saw displayed before him.
	Long, sleek, and with an artistic naturalness to it, the hull of 
the approaching Juraian battleship reflected the light of a nearby star.
The ship hailed them, and even before the face appeared on the large 
screen before him, Tenchi knew who it was.
	"Ryouko-san!!" Aeka boomed across the hailing channel.  "We have 
you sighted!  This is Jurai's flagship!  You stand no chance against us!
Surrender _IMMEDIATELY_!"
	She was full of anger and deep-seated hatred.  Hatred deep-seated 
in despair.  There was something about her almost bloodshot eyes that 
made her look as though she had been crying for twenty years.  Maybe she
had.  But now the tears were bottled up inside, twisted into bitterness,
just like the expression on her lips.
	Tenchi's dark tattooed face remained unreadable.
	"Te...Tenchi-sa... -sa...?" Aeka stammered, her mouth hanging 
open, when she saw him instead of Ryouko standing in apparent calm 
before her, his hands in his pockets, as though taking a casual call.
	Yet his face was grave.  And his voice, even grimmer.
	"Hello Aeka," he said.
	For a long time, Aeka said nothing, and only stared at him with a 
broken look of mixed fear and despair.
	"It's been a long time," Tenchi said.  "Too long."
	*Twenty years, and twenty minutes... it's all the same.  It feels 
like centuries.*
	Aeka's expression turned to one of unchecked rage.
	"You traitorous swine!" she shrieked at him.  Tenchi winced, but 
said nothing.  Aeka's expression darkened, her mouth twisted into an 
evil smile, and her eyes narrowed.  "I will destroy you both."
	"Aeka..." Tenchi said, his voice very quiet.  "Don't do this."
	"Silence!  You are under arrest in the name of the planet Jurai!"
	"You don't want to do this."
	"Disarm yourselves and come peaceably, or die!"
	"Aeka... stop."  She continued to yell and scream.  He could see 
the vision of his life with Aeka still before him as clear as if it were
happening even now.  "We loved each other...."  She didn't seem to hear 
him.  "We had a daughter...."  Aeka's shouted threats were steadily 
becoming more heated and less coherent.  There were tears in her eyes, 
but whether they were from rage or sorrow Tenchi could not tell.  Yet 
there was no doubt in his mind that she was full of both emotions, and 
that both emotions were essentially one and the same.  "Her name was 
Achika..." he finished.  Aeka was just crying at the top of her lungs.  
The screen switched off, leaving only the massive ship in sight.
	Sensing more than hearing something, Tenchi turned to see covers 
collapse onto an empty bed.  Knowing what had happened, Tenchi looked 
back to the Juraian flagship, and watched almost passively, his heart 
and mind in turmoil, as explosions erupted around it.
	He blinked back tears.  What could he do?  There was only one 
thing he could do.  Prevent disaster.  Stop both of them, either of 
them, from being killed.
	Concentrating, Tenchi was suddenly floating in space beside the 
gargantuan flagship.  Explosions rent space, cannons tore through the 
vacuum about him.  Surrounded by a tight globe of Juraian energy, Tenchi
charged in to Ryouko's aid.
	*Turn back, Ryouko, turn back!* he prayed as he knocked blasts of 
energy aside by the shear force of his will to protect her, to stop her 
from killing or being killed.
	He fought beside her with all the amazing power he never could 
have possessed or even imagined possessing.  But she did not turn back. 
While he strove to defended her against numerous attacks, she slipped 
through the defenses and into the ship.
	Tenchi's heart was burning ice.  His face was still blank, but he 
was crying inside.
	The Jurai-ships shields could not stop him.  Their power was the 
same as his, and they could not block him out.  He willed himself within
the ship, a feat which Ryouko could not accomplish.
	Ryouko stood facing away from him, out into the massive halls of 
the ship.  The beauty of its gardened interior was lost on her, and to 
Tenchi its aesthetic perfection were as bittersweet as this dream.  Or 
as it had been, before everything had begun to collapse, and now only 
bitterness remained.
	"Don't do this, Ryouko," he said, reiterating what he had said to
her as Emperor of Jurai, the same words he had just spoken to Aeka.  
"You don't want to do this."  His voice seemed to hold no energy, as 
though his spirit was exhausted, yet his conviction remained.
	She looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled with a look of
determination.  "Don't worry, Tenchi."  She clenched her right hand into
a fist, forming her red energy sword.  "This time I'll kill that little 
bitch once and for all.  She'll never bother us again."
	"Don't..." Tenchi murmured, but knew she would not, could not have
heard him no matter what volume or tone of voice he used.  Why was he 
even bothering?  This was only a dream.  He wanted to just wake up and 
leave this torment behind.
	But he couldn't.  There was no awakening from his nightmare.  It 
was all too real; too real to be a dream, and too unreal to be reality. 
Yet it was happening.  This was his reality, his here and now.  He had 
to prevent disaster.  He had to stop the destruction.  He had to put an 
end to all the hate.
	"Ryouko!  You have to stop this immediately," he implored her.
	She did not respond.  Tenchi followed her unwavering gaze to where
a figure stood beside a small tree.  It was Aeka.
	The woman Tenchi looked at was certainly Aeka, or had once been 
that very same princess.  Yet she was devoid of any princessly airs.  
All jewelry and fancy robes were absent; she was dressed for battle.  
The tight tunic, the leggings, and skirt slit up the side, were all 
designed with freedom of movement in mind, Tenchi knew.  And from behind
her, as she slowly walked towards them, her face a mask, her eyes grim, 
Aeka pulled forth the Tenchi-ken.
	How did she have that?  It was his grandfather's.  But surely the 
old man was dead.  Something flashed through Tenchi's mind, and he saw 
himself handing the powerful blade to Aeka as she cried.  He had given 
her that sword, to remember him by.  And now she would use it against 
him in the worst way possible: by using it against Ryouko.
	"AEKA!" Ryouko bellowed.  "I'll kill you!"
	Those words from her lips cut through Tenchi like a thousand 
knives.  He fell to his knees as though stunned.
	Ryouko gave a shout of rage and sent forth a blast that would have
cracked the hull of any but the best space-fighter.  Aeka shielded 
herself with the Tenchi-ken, clenching her teeth, her eyes still full of
hatred.  Ryouko held forth her palm and fired again.  Aeka was knocked 
back.
	"I'll make you suffer for everything you've done, princess!" 
Ryouko bellowed.
	"I've suffered enough from you!" Aeka shouted back.  "It's time 
for you to pay for the pain you've caused me!"  Tenchi felt like he 
couldn't breathe.
	"Oh, don't worry!" Ryouko countered.  "You won't suffer much 
longer!  I'll make sure you're dead, this time!"
	Aeka responded only by charging with a feral yell, and the two 
clashed in shower of sparks that lit a flame inside of Tenchi.  He had 
to stop them.
	Without knowing what he was doing, he charged into their midst, 
casting the two apart.  They were taken completely by surprise, the 
swiftness, determination, and power of his move overwhelming both of 
them.
	Taking Ryouko about the waste, Tenchi tried to hold her back, 
tried to pull her away from the fight.
	"What are you doing, Tenchi!?" she cried, "Let go!" and his arm 
was shoved aside.
	Ryouko suddenly seemed to explode with energy, and Tenchi was 
pushed back, covering his face for protection as she radiated power.  
When he pulled his arm away, her eyes were burning intensely.  Just like
they had been in that great, crumbling throne hall on Jurai.
	She rushed through the air towards a terror stricken Aeka, who 
looked nevertheless ready to counter.  Aeka lifted the Tenchi-ken as if 
prepared to hurl it full force at the opponent bearing down on her.
	Something almost seemed to snap inside Tenchi.  The determined 
flame their mutual animosity had sparked in him was gone, and he was 
almost calm again.  But he was filled with an insurmountable fear for 
the disaster that was about to occur.
	Once again, time seemed to move in slow motion.  Yet Tenchi did 
not.  He did not remain frozen in time as before.  With lightning speed,
he moved.
	And Ryouko's charge slid to a halt, and she stopped in mid-air.  
She stared in shock and disbelief at Tenchi, his face contorted in 
extreme pain and concentration, holding the blade of her sword with one 
black gloved hand.  A faint, dark wisp of smoke rose from his grip.  
Aeka stood close behind him in similar shock, as the strength of 
Ryouko's rush had pushed him so far they almost touched.
	Looking down at himself, Tenchi saw something that made the agony 
on his face fade to a calm smile.
	He had been aware that Aeka had thrown the Tenchi-ken directly at 
Ryouko as a desperate attempt to stop her mad charge.  The blue blade 
had buried itself in Tenchi's shoulder, piercing his entire body, and 
now protruded from his chest.
	*What irony,* he thought with a smile.  Well, at least he had 
prevented the disaster he feared.
	He did not have time to look at Aeka one last time.  He barely 
even had enough time to raise his gaze back up to Ryouko and whisper the
word, "Live..." before the light of life left his eyes and he collapsed.

	"Are you sure he'll be okay, Washu?"
	"Ssh!  Quiet, he's coming around."
	Tenchi's head swam.  Where was he?  Was he dead?  His head 
throbbed horribly.  Something was trying to pound its way out of his 
skull from the inside.  Everything was dark.  Why was everything so 
dark?
	Tenchi opened his eyes.
	Many faces -- Kiyone, Mihoshi, Washu... Aeka... Ryouko -- were all
about him.  He nearly died right there from surprise and relief.
	"Whe... where am I...?  What happened?" he mumbled, his speech 
sounding slurred to his pounding ears.
	A thousand voices spoke at once, all in a rush.
	"Oh, Tenchi, you're okay!"
	"Tenchi-sama!"
	"Tenchi!!"
	"Thank Kami-sama you're all right!"
	"See, what did I tell you?"
	"Agh, please!  Not so loud!" Tenchi begged, his voice sounding 
parched and very soft.
	"Oh, my head," he grumbled.  He tried to sit up, without succes, 
and put a hand up to keep his head from spinning off.  "Oh, my poor 
head...!  What happened?"
	"You were unconscious," Washu informed him.
	Tenchi just groaned, his hand still on his head.
	*Did anyone get the license plate of that space cruiser?*
	"Nasty spill," she continued, and he was vaguely aware of the 
sound of little fingers typing away at a translucent keyboard.  "And an 
even nastier concussion.  But I've been able to remedy any serious 
damage that might have been caused."
	Somewhere, in the back of his mind that was still full of the 
images of two very different and very frightening futures, Tenchi could 
recall something about the shrine steps, and tripping....
	His hand over his shut eyes, Tenchi spoke again, "Well is there 
anything you can do about this headache?  I feel like I just got 
totaled by an eighteen-wheeler."
	Someone sniffed mournfully, but Tenchi wasn't sure who.  He peeled
open one eye and blearily took in Aeka surreptitiously glaring at 
Ryouko.
	"Just a moment," Washu said.  She turned away from her computer 
for a moment, and Tenchi closed his eyes again.  He felt something 
lightly prick the side of his neck, and there was a minor tingle in the 
area. In a few minutes, the crippling pain had all but subsided.
	Tenchi opened his eyes.  Everyone was still standing around him 
with varying levels of concern on their faces, except for Washu who was 
smiling, with confidence in the effectiveness of her medicine.
	Tenchi cautiously sat up, and his head thankfully only managed a 
slow one-eighty, as opposed to the immeasurable spinning he was afraid 
of.
	"How are you feeling, Tenchi-sama?" Aeka asked him worriedly.
	"Much better," he said.  He turned to Washu, "Thank you very much,
Washu-chan... but I'm still not sure what happened."
	Tenchi noticed Aeka's gaze shift to Ryouko for an animosity-filled
moment, and Ryouko returned the glare.  But Tenchi noticed that the 
former space pirate's eyes were strained and reddened.  Could... could 
she have been...?
	Washu caught the glance as well, and sent her own glance in 
Tenchi's direction.  "I'll explain later," she said.
	Tenchi nodded.  He looked down into his lap.
	"Aeka... Ryouko...?" he said after a pause.
	Although he did not look up, he could sense their slight surprise 
and anxiety in their responses.
	"Ye-yes, Tenchi?"
	"What is it, Tenchi-sama?"
	For a while longer, Tenchi just sat on the lab table staring at 
his farm-work worn hands in his lap.  He tried to keep his heart rate 
calm as he went over what he had seen.  What had it been?  What had it 
meant?
	"No matter..." he began.  His mouth felt very dry.  He started 
again.  "No matter what happens, I want you both to remember that I care
about both of you very much." -- tears welled up in their eyes at this 
statement -- "No matter what happens, I'll still care about you... okay?
Please remember."
	"We'll remember"..."We'll remember," they answered, but sounded 
puzzled, if not a bit worried, by his words.
	"Please... promise me you'll remember."
	They looked at each other a moment, and then back at him, and both
said, "We promise."
	The tension in Tenchi's shoulders relaxed visibly, and though his 
head remained bowed he smiled with relief.
	"Thank you," he whispered, and lay back down.
	"Now," Washu broke in, "everyone out and let Tenchi get some rest!
Out, out!  Shoo!"
	After she had cleared her lab, Washu walked back to where Tenchi 
lay, eyes closed, breathing regularly.
	"Washu-chan," he said, startling her.  She had thought he had gone
back to sleep, and the pain killer she had given him should have already
knocked him out regardless.  "What's wrong with Ryouko?  Why did Aeka 
keep giving her those accusing looks?"
	After a moment, Washu answered him.  "You still don't remember 
what happened, do you?"
	Tenchi shook his head slightly.
	"Well... apparently Ryouko was looking for you after breakfast -- 
I'm not sure why -- and Aeka wouldn't tell her you had gone to work up 
at the shrine.  When she finally found you coming down the steps this 
afternoon, I suppose she just got a bit over-excited."
	Tenchi could remember.  He had been coming down the shrine steps, 
and Ryouko had come diving out of nowhere.  When he had tried to run to 
avoid her, he had tripped and fallen, and then... nothing.  Nothing save
that terrible dream.  Was that all it had been?  Delusions in his 
injured head?
	For awhile, Tenchi simply lay there, and Washu thought he had 
finally fallen asleep.  But then he opened his eyes.
	"Washu... I saw... I had a dream... several very vivid dreams.  I 
saw some things I will never be able to forget.  Not for as long as I 
live."
	*And maybe longer....*
	Washu sighed.  "I was afraid that might happen.  I tried to 
prevent it, but Juraians, and Earthlings even, have very unusual astral 
patterns, and it was difficult to be sure."
	"What... what do you mean?" Tenchi asked, frowning.
	"Let me explain," she said, sitting on the edge of the lab table 
that was serving as a patients' bed.  "In order to go in and reverse all
possible neurological damage, of which there was little, thankfully, I 
had to induce _both_ hemispheres of your brain to enter a sleep state.  
In other words, you were dreaming with your conscious mind.  Your whole 
being was immersed in the realm of your subconscious.  I tried to use 
methods that would inhibit any dangerous forms of 'lucid dreaming,' but 
I guess I was not completely successful."
	For another long while, Tenchi said nothing, frowning in 
concentration.  It had seemed so real.... "So are you saying that these 
images all stemmed from unconscious parts of my own mind...?  There is 
no reality in them?"
	"That's right," the little genius scientist affirmed.  "No 
substance at all.  Just the stuff that dreams are made of."
	Tenchi sighed, but he wasn't sure if it was from relief.  Knowing 
that these things were in his subconscious was a frightening prospect, 
but it was a lot better than not knowing, and far better than any of the
other alternatives.
	"Ryouko... blames herself?"  It was not exactly a question.
	"Yes," Washu replied.  "She cried for hours.  I've never seen her 
so upset before."
	Tenchi nodded.  He knew that he did not blame Ryouko.  No, he 
blamed himself, most definitely; it was his fault.  She never would have
done anything to hurt him.  He had only fallen because he had tried to 
run away from her.  Perhaps there was a lesson in that.  Maybe the time 
was coming for him to stop running away from everything and face his 
problems like a man.
	With all the terrible and wonderful things he had seen and felt, 
it was even more daunting than before.
	But there was one thing that these dreams had taught him, and he 
vowed not to forget it.  His future was what he made it.  Twenty years 
from now, his life would reflect everything he had done... and not 
done... in that time.  Two very real and very different futures, set 
side by side, had made him see that nothing was predestined in this, his
life.  And it was _his_; his to make of it what he would and what he 
could.  It was not already determined; he would have to determine it 
himself.  That still meant he could never know what was just around the 
corner.  But now, perhaps, he would be more prepared for it.  He was not
about to let his life turn out so bitter.  This was what he had learned 
from these visions.
	If that was all they had been....

The End.
Author's Notes: This story is indeed extremely strange.  You don't have 
to tell me, after all I did write it.  But on the other hand, if you do 
have any comments, please let me know.  I did some things that were 
very... well, unconventional, I guess, at least for me, the most obvious
ones being the spellings for Aeka and Ryouko (as opposed to "Ayeka" and 
"Ryoko" as per my OVA based series "Trials and Fears"), the use of 
Japanese suffixes (-san, -chan, etc.), and of course the overall oddness
of the fic.  You've probably realized by now that this is not really a 
tale about what darkness the future can hold, but what darkness the 
subconscious mind can hold.  Or is it...? ^_~  All I was really trying 
to do was write something very dramatic with an interpretive meaning 
and/or moral; what have YOU learned from Tenchi's visions? ;)  I suppose
the story came out a bit confusing, but hopefully enjoyable and not too 
incoherent.  Although this was originally supposed to be a stand alone 
fic in the TV universe, I'm already working on a semi-followup series.  
Silly me.
Please send me any suggestions, comments, complaints, and whatnot ^_^.
Comments and Concerns to: master_kodama@yahoo.com
or visit my website: "Anime Gods" at http://animegods.9ug.com