Ki-ohki

Written by Adrian Tymes

[Legal disclaimer:

This story is based on characters created by Hiroki Hayashi, Masaki
Kajishima, AIC, and Pioneer.  Permission is granted to freely distribute
this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who
distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored.
In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.

Copyright (c) 1998, all rights reserved, et cetera.]

******

Sasami stared at her reflection on the bridge of Ryo-ohki, and reflected
on her decision.  She disliked going over Kiyone's head like this, but the
detective's actions were hurting herself and her partner.  Mihoshi had
told her to ask Kiyone, and Kiyone had just brushed her off when she asked
why.

It was not the most important of matters.  She just disliked all the
stress that the detectives were picking up from their multiple "secondary"
jobs.  As far as she could tell, the only reason they needed those jobs
was to pay the rent on their apartment, and their food bills, and other
things that would all be taken care of if they just moved back in with
Tenchi and company.  Mihoshi had lived there at first, and it had only
been at Kiyone's insistence that they left.  In addition, if...no, when...
another spaceship came to visit either the Juraian princesses or Ryoko,
the Galaxy Police representatives would be on hand immediately in case
things got out of control again.  Not to mention, Mihoshi would be present
to help Sasami keep Ayeka and Ryoko from fighting all the time.

And yet, Kiyone just seemed to ignore all of that when Sasami explained it
to her.  True, she had been keeping an eye on Mihoshi at the time, but
surely, her partner could not have taken all of her attention, could it?

Sasami had to do something.

She asked Ryoko if she could borrow Ryo-ohki to play over by Mars.  Ryoko
had been hesitant, as she could only communicate with Ryo-ohki at
planetary distances...from opposite sides of the Earth and its Moon, for
instance.  However, she eventually agreed.  Sasami wondered whether Ryoko
would ever be able to trust almost anyone implicitly the way Sasami did,
but at least Ryoko trusted her.  She knew what Ryo-ohki meant to Ryoko,
too: the cabbit was her only lifelong friend, and either one would gladly
give their lives for one another.  In fact, Ryo-ohki had done just that
many times, according to various reports, but each time, Ryoko waited
around until her dying ship gave birth to a new Ryo-ohki, repelling any
and all threats to her vulnerable friend until the old Ryo-ohki was dead
and the new Ryo-ohki was capable of defending herself.

Even so, Ryo-ohki was one of only two ships that Sasami had immediate
access to, and the Yagami was definitely not appropriate for her current
task.

"Miya!"

Sasami looked up from her reverie, to see a display of Earth's inner solar
system.  The current position of Ryo-ohki was marked, along with a series
of four circles centered on Earth.  Ryo-ohki was just about to cross the
outermost circle.

Sasami blinked.  "What's this?"

Labels appeared on the circles, along with a label for the entire picture:
"Known Communication Interception Ranges".  Three of the circles were
tightly centered on Earth; from inside to out, these were labeled,
"Earth Native (including Masakis)", "Ayeka/Azaka/Kamidake/Mihoshi/Kiyone",
and "Ryoko".  Much further out was the circle that Ryo-ohki had been asked
to alert Sasami about: "Yagami".

Sasami sighed.  These were not the actual communications ranges, but
rather the ranges beyond which Ryo-ohki could safely send a transmission
without being detected if, as she usually did, Ryo-ohki took steps to mask
her transmission from all but the intended recipients.  "Wait...what about
Washu?"

The display zoomed out rapidly, until the entire Milky Way galaxy was but
a faint speck in the middle.  A ring at the very edge of the display was
labeled, "Washu (extremely conservative estimate)".

"Right.  Let's just hope she's not listening at the moment.  Ryo-ohki,
access the subspace communication relay network, identification code Jurai
Sasami M G P S 4 2, and place a call to the Royal Palace on Jurai."

******

In her long life, Ryoko had seen many unexpected things.  The terminally
depressed residents of Eridani Delta, who had heard of her reputation and
begged her to destroy them the minute she entered their system.  The
Galaxy Police, interstellar enforcers of a code of law that, in her
opinion, almost no living person could hope to fully comprehend, and which
was thus practically arbitrary, although she did understand its underlying
pretense of justice.  A rogue planet traveling through hyperspace,
hopping from supernovas to normal stars, harvesting their fuel until the
stars exploded, and warping away before the new novas could touch them.
Giant shell planets, where the material of a solar system had been
reshaped to form one huge sphere around a central star, and thus were
almost undetectable until one almost crashed into it.

Every time, she merely went along with the flow of the universe.  She
casually granted death when it was asked of her.  The Galaxy Police were
merely another set of enemies.  She followed the rogue planet as it left
and stole its fuel, stranding it and its occupants.  The shell planets
relied on their undetectability for security, so plundering them was easy
once you found them.

Ryoko was completely at a loss as to what to do about what she now saw.

Tenchi lay in bed, as peaceful as he always was when she had seen him wake
up before.  Sasami was snuggled against him, desperately clinging to him
as if her life depended on it.  Neither one seemed awake, and they
definitely had not reacted to her floating through Tenchi's door.  Ryoko
had seen her sleep with him before, and so far, Sasami was no threat to
Ryoko's plans for Tenchi.

But then, so far, Sasami and Tenchi had not been kissing in their sleep.

Ryoko pondered this.  She allowed the princess to find comfort in Tenchi's
arms, so long as it was only shelter from her fears that Sasami sought.
It did not help that Ryoko had just been dreaming about Sasami seducing
Tenchi; with her mind still trying to forget that dream, she naturally
leapt to the conclusion that this kiss was but a prelude to Sasami's real
intent.

Slowly, an idea came to her.  As silently as she came in, Ryoko drifted
back out, then down the hall to Ayeka's room.

Ayeka had just woken from one of her better dreams, one in which she
applied a different torture to each one of Ryoko's atoms.  The collective
pleas for mercy and shrieks of pain from her rival's pieces delighted her
no end, but with consciousness came two disapproving parts of her mind.
One minor nuisance chided her with the fact that atoms could neither cry
nor feel pain, while another part ground her satisfaction into dust with a
shredder labeled "Tenchi's Disapproval".

So, she was not in the best of moods when Ryoko phased through her door,
with a grin that suggested the worst.  Ayeka had long feared that, if she
got desperate enough, Ryoko would take it upon herself to rape Tenchi in
order to get pregnant, and then force Tenchi to marry her according to his
native planet's traditions.

"Die," Ayeka whispered.

"My, aren't we in a good mood this morning?" Ryoko retorted.  "We can play
later, Ayeka.  There's something you've got to see first."

"You, leaving this planet and my Tenchi alone forever?  Yes, I would much
enjoy witnessing that event."

"C'mon, Ayeka.  For once, this has nothing to do with me.  Sasami's in
Tenchi's bed."

Ayeka looked to her sister's empty bed.  "Sasami occasionally requests his
comfort to help rid her of her nightmares.  It would appear that this
occurred again last night."  Ayeka wished that she could use the same ploy
to spend a night with him, but she knew that everyone, especially Tenchi,
would see through that plot in an instant.  "I will respect Tenchi's
discretion and privacy in this matter.  I suggest you do the same."

"It wasn't her nightmares he was comforting, Princess."  Ryoko latched on
to Ayeka's arm and dragged her out of bed.  "Come on, before they wake
up."

"Ryoko, I must protest.  Just because you wish to stand guard over him
like a vulture does not mean that I share your desire."

Ryoko had just pulled Ayeka out of her room when Sasami walked out of
Tenchi's room, fully dressed and with mirth in her eyes.  "Good morning,
Ryoko.  Good morning, Ayeka."

Ryoko scowled.  "What were you doing in there?"

"Sleeping with Tenchi, what else?"  Sasami giggled.

"So, you admit it."

Ayeka grabbed the back of the neck of Ryoko's outfit.  "My sister admits
to what I have already told you happened.  I see no reason to get upset
about the matter.  Were you looking to have him soothe your nightmares,
too?  Perhaps, if you told me, I could take care of it, while we let
Tenchi rest."

Ryoko turned her scowl on Ayeka.  "If I had any nightmares, telling them
to you would just ensure that they actually happen someday, probably
soon."

"I'm going to make breakfast," Sasami announced, before skipping off
downstairs to do just that.

Before Ryoko and Ayeka could work up enough anger to fight, Tenchi stepped
out of his room.  "Morning, you two."

"Good morning, Tenchi," they chorused.

Ayeka nudged Ryoko.  "Someone has registered dissatisfaction with the way
you are handling Sasami."

Ryoko winced.  "'Handling' ain't the word I'd use for it."

Ayeka looked sideways at Ryoko for a second, then continued, "Could you
please inform her that whatever happens between you and Sasami is your
own business, and not the concern of certain low-lifes who have nothing
better to do than harass innocent people?"

Tenchi smiled.  "Ryoko, please don't get jealous of Sasami.  She's just a
girl.  Besides, would you rather have her upset and crying while she's
making breakfast?"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Ryoko protested.  "You know what
happened last night."

"Yeah.  Sasami asked if she could sleep with me, and I said sure."

"What else?"

"Well, I had this really weird dream about..."  Tenchi blushed furiously.
"...nothing, really.  Other than that, not much."

"Tenchi..."

The object of Ryoko's ire smiled again, and headed downstairs.  "Sasami
said she'd have something for me to eat in a minute.  It's probably ready
by now, and I don't want to keep her waiting."

Ryoko took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

Ayeka raised an eyebrow.  "Miss Ryoko, perhaps I have misunderstood.
What, exactly, are you insinuating this time?"

Ryoko told her.

******

Mihoshi strained her ears to listen to the noise.  It was faint, but
definite.  Sighing, she fished a few metal discs of money out of her
pocket and handed them to her partner.  "You win."

Kiyone blinked as she watched a bus roll away from the stop closest to the
Masaki shrine.  "Huh?"

"Our bet.  You know, that Ayeka and Ryoko would be fighting by the time we
got here.  Well, here we are, and I just heard Ayeka screaming."

Kiyone shook her head, and held up a hand to refuse Mihoshi's coins.
"Don't worry about it.  Tenchi told me yesterday that it's almost like an
alarm clock, on occasion."

Mihoshi blinked.  "Why would he use them as an alarm clock?  I'm sure
there's much more pleasant things to wake up to."

Kiyone smiled.  "Like you?"

"Huh?  What do I have to do with this?"

"Mihoshi..." Kiyone sighed.  "Look, I know you like him.  At least try to
pick up on it when I feed you lines to catch him, ok?"

"Feed...me...lines?"  Mihoshi frowned.  "How can I eat abstract
mathematical figures?  Even if I could, I bet they wouldn't taste very
good.  Lines don't have enough mass to have any flavor.  Why are you
trying to chop down that tree with your head?"

Kiyone stopped banging her forehead against the bark, and let it simply
rest where it landed.  "Never mind.  Look, let's just get Tenchi and
Washu, and get out of here.  The faster we're in and out, the less chance
Ryo-ohki will find out."

"Find out about what?  Oh, you mean the cab-"

Kiyone clamped her hand over Mihoshi's mouth just long enough to stop her.
"Don't.  Say.  It."

"Why not?  I mean, it's hard to make certain sentences without saying
'it', since 'it' is used to mean all kinds of things, and..."

"Why do I bother?"

******

Although Kiyone's concerns were valid, one object of her worry was not
present.  At that moment, Ryo-ohki was, in fact, demonstrating the reason
for Kiyone's silence on the topic.

The cabbit had detected this event the previous night, while delivering
Sasami's message.  After dropping the princess off back home, Ryo-ohki
checked her mental link and was relieved to find that Ryoko was already
asleep.  Due primarily to that link, almost no issue ever caused Ryoko and
Ryo-ohki to disagree about anything for more than a few minutes.  Either
Ryo-ohki, acting as the pirate's conscience, would convince Ryoko of her
point of view, or Ryoko, knowing intimately the hidden strengths and
weaknesses of Ryo-ohki's point of view, would weave a thread of reason,
desire, and pure willpower around the cabbit's concerns - a thread which,
on occasion, involved chemical intoxication of the cabbit to grease the
thread's path.

This issue was different.  Here, Ryo-ohki was the stubbornly determined
one, while Ryoko was the voice of logic.  Most times, it came down to
Ryo-ohki's will against Ryoko's, and every time, Ryoko would dominate long
enough for the event to pass.  Ryo-ohki had made it very clear that,
someday, she would attend one of these events.  Had Ryoko known, she would
have stayed up all night and the entire following week with her cabbit,
but unconscious as she was, the pirate could do nothing to stop Ryo-ohki
from heading into trouble.

******

Like many ancient royal families, betrayal among family members was not
unknown to the House Jurai.  Many stories had been told about siblings
fighting for the crown, or of cousins unsatisfied with the high
appointments they had been given in compensation for not being the chosen
line of royal descendants.  What, to most people, were petty disagreements
inevitably flared into full scale war on occasion, simply due to the
loyalty of the Juraian people to the whims of their monarchs, as well as
the personal power levels of Juraian royalty.

Many ballads and poems had also been written about classical duels fought
for love amongst the subjects of Jurai.  Even the lowliest, least powerful
Juraian was capable of fighting with power and resources that could not
otherwise be tapped if something near and dear to them were threatened.
In the millennia ahead, once the civilizations of Earth came into contact
with Jurai, it would be common among literary scholars to note that the
closest Juraian equivalent of Romeo and Juliet ended not with the two
lovers stabbing themselves one at a time while thinking the other was
already dead, but rather with them piloting a tree ship into a star to end
their lives together and strike back at those who would keep them apart.

Thus, the weight of history was behind Ayeka as she psyched herself up to
take revenge for her sister's betrayal.  "All this time," she fumed.
"Acting sweet and innocent, and not ONCE telling me she loved Tenchi, so I
could order her to go home before things went this far."

"I think that might be why she didn't tell you."  Ryoko slowly backed away
from the impressive number of floating logs that were appearing around
Ayeka.  "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"The shrine.  The shrine will be an acceptable battlefield.  It is a holy
place, suitable for a princess's death.  I doubt she is powerful enough to
defeat me, but it does not matter.  Either way..."

"What about Tenchi?"

Ayeka froze.  The one element that kept Ryoko from harm, the single
consideration that had stopped Ayeka from flaying the pirate to death, now
smashed into her fury like a meteor into a plate glass window.  She knew
that Tenchi would find out about her actions sooner or later if she did
this, and when he did...

"Hey, Tenchi," Washu called from below.  "Hurry up and finish.  Our ride's
here."

Ayeka's train of thought derailed as a taunt suggested itself.  She leaned
over the second story balcony's railing to address the redhead below.
"'Our' ride, Washu?  Is the most brilliant scientific genius in the
universe going to school with Tenchi?  If so, I hope you are attaining
passing grades."

Washu rewarded Ayeka with a momentary look of pure venom before
remembering to smile.  "Did you forget, Ayeka?  Kiyone and Mihoshi
volunteered to take us on a trip to the asteroid belt.  Tenchi's had few
chances to see his own solar system up close, aside from this planet, and
he's using this to do a science project for school.  He asked me to come
along to help, and I've got some research of my own to do, too.  We'll be
back tomorrow night."

"I was not informed of this.  Hold on a moment, and I shall pack what I
need."

"Uh-uh, Ayeka.  It's just Kiyone, Mihoshi, Tenchi, and myself.  You don't
have any business out there at the moment, and we'd have to take Ryoko if
we took you.  We're still not sure whether the Yagami's hull integrity is
sufficient to withstand your fights, and while it would be an interesting
experiment, the Galaxy Police is not currently willing to donate that
vessel to the cause of science, especially while the four of us are aboard
and in outer space."  Washu's smile turned evil, and drifted towards the
space pirate.  "Although, if you REALLY want to tag along, why don't you
talk Ryoko into escorting us on Ryo-ohki?"

Confusion appeared on Ryoko's face, gradually giving way to dawning
comprehension.

Tenchi stepped out into the living room.  "Ok, Washu, let's go.  Hey,
Ryoko, Ayeka!  I'll see you tomorrow!"  He continued to and through the
front door; Ayeka almost thought his pace picked up a bit, as if he were
relieved to be away.

Ryoko snarled.  "What.  Did.  You.  Do.  To.  Ryo-ohki?"

Washu backstepped towards the door.  "Nothing.  She did this by herself."

Ayeka blinked as Ryoko's energy projectiles began to form.  "What is going
on?"

"Last night, I tracked Ryo-ohki heading for what I'll be researching.
She's probably still..."  Washu stepped through the doorway.  "...at the
cabbit swarm."

Ayeka bolted down the stairs and through the door, just behind Ryoko.  She
came out just to see Ryoko lunge at the fading light that accompanied
teleportation by the Yagami.

******

"Miya!"

Ryo-ohki smiled, but shook her head to decline the offer.

"Miya?  Miya..."

She blushed at the compliment, but still shook her head.  Even if she had
been in the mood for it, that particular position might have been beyond
her capabilities, regardless of what her would-be mate said.

Although there was no air on the particular asteroid, that did not matter
to beings who could turn into various machines.  Every single cabbit had
an internal communicator, with which they spoke through the vacuum.

If not for the fortuitous positioning of a small cloud of smaller
asteroids which obscured this event, the first oddity that some astronomer
on Earth would have seen would be the small horde of spaceships that had
transported those cabbits who could not bridge the space between stars by
themselves.  The second would have been an obviously discolored, almost
organic looking blob where one of the larger asteroids known to Earth was
supposed to have been.  After training a higher resolution telescope on
the area, that blob would have turned out to be a mass of cabbits, a
psychedelic mixture of every color of the rainbow and beyond.  Although
the exact number of cabbits could not be estimated, the total volume of
cabbits could be seen to expand over a few days.

And then this same astronomer would have seen fireworks as representatives
of the rest of the galaxy, starting with the Yagami, arrived and began to
fight.

But, thanks to a few cabbits' efforts to assist with the Juraian
quarantine of Earth, all that this astronomer saw was a bunch of smaller
asteroids that had mysteriously been knocked from their orbits.  As it
was, this event provided the astronomer with a wildly inaccurate thesis
for his doctorate, which would be approved, filed, and never seen again by
another living being until the last copies were deleted by a computer
virus exactly twelve thousand, five hundred and forty-two years later.
Once this fact came to light, it would be used by the next three revisions
of the Encyclopedia Galactica as part of the entry on "inconsequential".

The cabbit swarm itself, though, was hardly inconsequential to the cabbits
who were participating in it.  This included one pirate's companion, who
was beginning to wonder if what she sought was truly here.

******

Kiyone dashed for her seat as soon as she materialized on the Yagami's
bridge.  "Did you say what I think you just said?"  Once seated, she
thanked her personal deity that, last night, she had remembered what had
happened every time in the past that Tenchi had been in space, and
realized how a similar problem could crop up on this trip.  She had set
the Yagami's computers to plot the optimal hyperspace course to the cabbit
swarm, then add a button to her control console to engage that course.

"If you think I said that Ryo-ohki's already at the cabbit swarm, then
yes," Washu replied.

Kiyone pushed the button.

Mihoshi never said a word as the Yagami entered hyperspace, dazzled by
the brilliant shade of cyan that poured in through the Yagami's view port.
Kiyone powered up the Yagami's sensors for immediate use upon return to
normal space.  Noticing this, Washu escorted Tenchi, who had been
entranced like Mihoshi, off the bridge.

Tenchi blinked a few times.  Washu's hair seemed to shift from black to
red as the closing bridge door shut off the unusually bright cyan, which
had been overpowering the Yagami's internal lights.  Tenchi had seen
hyperspace glow pink before; in his current mental state, it was a
struggle just to recognize that this new color was also generated by
hyperspace.

Washu smiled.  "Certain wavelengths of light can have abnormal effects on
many races' neural functions.  I think you just found one of them."

Shaking his head to clear the last of the cobwebs, Tenchi responded, "Why
are we going through hyperspace?  I thought Kiyone said that that cost too
much fuel for something this short, so we'd be staying in real space for
the entire trip."

"Tenchi...what did we tell you about cabbit swarms?"

"Well..."  Tenchi sat against the wall, and closed his eyes in
concentration.  "You said that you created cabbits to be companions."

"Not all cabbits.  I just made the first one.  Many other scientists
copied my work."  Washu smiled, then shrugged.  "What's that Earth saying,
'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?  Once I told everyone how
to do it, it turns out that I was easy to flatter."

Biting back a comment about how true that was, Tenchi continued, "Every
once in a while, cabbits from all over will gather themselves at one spot
to breed.  No one, not even the cabbits, can predict when and where this
will be more than a week in advance; the time and place is determined by a
random sequence encoded into a part of their genes which can not change
without killing the cabbit.  Some cabbits these days ignore the call, and
mate when and where they want, but a lot of them still come.  It takes
less than a day for new cabbits to come out, and cabbits can form a mental
bond with any person they want, but only with one person at a time.  Since
these bonds last until one of the bonded pair dies, and dying cabbits can
make a new version of themselves to bond with whoever they were bonded
with, these cabbit swarms attract anyone who wants a lifelong companion.
The only reason these events are not crazier than they are is that word
does not spread that fast, so those who come are either able to travel
halfway across the galaxy on a few days' notice, or happen to live close
to where the swarm occurs."

Washu grinned.  "Not bad, but you left out a few elements.  Cabbits are
only guaranteed to produce young once.  Their mating process takes so much
energy that, sometimes, it damages the cabbits so they can't do it again
later.  Since the organs involved are the same ones that clone the cabbit
upon death, most bonded cabbits, for instance Ryo-ohki, are prevented by
their other side, for instance Ryoko, from participating, unless the
non-cabbit thinks that they will probably die before their cabbit would
regenerate anyway.  That's why we kept this a secret from Ryoko and
Sasami.  Either one might have had trouble deliberately keeping this a
secret from Ryo-ohki, especially Ryoko since she'd just have to think
about it to spoil the secret.  If Ryo-ohki does mate, Ryoko would doubt
Ryo-ohki's ability to regenerate until it was tested...and, if Ryo-ohki
had lost it, the test would kill her.  Trust me, you do NOT want to be in
the same solar system, or any near by, as Ryoko if and when she loses
Ryo-ohki forever."

"Why?  What would she do?"

"Blow up planets, suns, and other celestial bodies in a blind rage," Washu
replied, as if discussing the weather.  "Then she'd try to kill herself.
As tough as she is, she might get even more destructive just to make sure
she does not survive."

Tenchi gulped.

"Now you see why we want to get Ryo-ohki out of there as soon as possible.
We thought you'd be interested in this swarm, maybe even get you a cabbit
of your own.  Ayeka did not want one, nor did she want Sasami to have a
'constant reminder of that creature', and as I said, we couldn't ask
Sasami herself.  It looks like Ayeka forgot, but I hope she remembers
soon enough to prevent Ryoko from doing something she, or we, would
regret."

******

At that moment, the arguably single most powerful being in the system
shot curses into the sky, feeling utterly helpless.

"Ryoko, please.  Such language!"  Ayeka folded her arms.  "I know how you
feel..."

Ryoko grabbed Ayeka's throat.  "You do not.  If someone kidnapped Sasami,
that would be a walk in the park compared to..."

"Ryoko!  Ayeka!  Breakfast's ready," Sasami called from inside.

Ayeka's mood cooled.  "Speaking of whom, I believe I must have some words
with her.  While I would normally balk at the prospect of involving you in
her discipline, I believe it may be appropriate to make an exception in
this case.  If you wish to join me, of course."

Ayeka immediately began planning words that would only go between herself,
Sasami, and Ryoko.  Words that were totally unsuited for men to hear, and
probably also for any other females.  Even Ryoko would have been excluded,
had Ayeka's conscience not forced her to admit that this concerned her,
too.

It was fortunate that she only spent a few minutes planning, as the
presence of Nobuyuki and Katsuhito at the table caused her plans to go out
the window.

"So, I see Tenchi has already left."  Nobuyuki was tempted to ask what the
screaming had been about, but Katsuhito had long since advised him to stay
out of Ryoko's and Ayeka's fights.  He figured it had something to do with
his son's departure.

"Yes, just now," Sasami replied.

"Don't worry, girls, I'm sure he'll be back, safe and sound.  With Washu
helping him, this science project alone might qualify him for a top
university."

"Now, now, Nobuyuki," Katsuhito chided.  "I'm sure that our universities
must seem awfully primitive compared to what these three are used to."

Nobuyuki had lived for a long time with Katsuhito, and thus had had an
opportunity to notice the subtle variations in his voice and posture when
certain stresses were applied.  For instance, the sudden firmness of his
voice when he was desperately trying to veer a conversation away from
disaster, as he appeared to be doing now.  Prompted by that observation,
Nobuyuki noticed that neither Ryoko nor Ayeka had touched their food, and
both were staring daggers at Sasami.

Deciding to tempt fate, he commented, "Hey, don't worry, girls.  Three
beautiful women up there, but I'm sure his heart won't be swayed...unless
Kiyone was serious about wanting to date him..."

Katsuhito, after making sure no one was looking at him, winced.

Sasami's eyes grew wide.

Both Ryoko and Ayeka appeared not to have noticed Nobuyuki's jest.

After an uncomfortable silence descended on the table, Ayeka said,
"Sister, there are certain courtesies that princesses are expected to
extend to one another.  One of them is, usually, the right to fair combat,
whether in affairs of the world or affairs of the heart.  I would be
terribly disappointed to find that you have denied your rivals the chance
to learn that they are rivals at all.  I might even have to send you home,
in order to stem such dishonorable conduct.  I do not wish anything to
come between us, dear sister, but please do not interfere with what you
know I seek."

Nobuyuki scratched his head, trying to make sense of Ayeka's outburst.

"What she means," Ryoko continued, "is, 'Don't make love to Tenchi.
Please.'"

With all that he had seen in his many years, it had been difficult to
budge Katsuhito's personal weirdness scale even before his grandson's
misadventures.  So far, this was just another day.  Nobuyuki was another
matter, but Katsuhito knew it would be best to address his son-in-law
in private, after breakfast.

******

Upon hearing the familiar sound of hyperspace engines preparing to shut
down, Washu ushered Tenchi back onto the Yagami's bridge just as the ship
exited hyperspace.

"Wow...pretty."  Mihoshi had not yet budged from the spot where she had
materialized back in Earth orbit.

Kiyone furiously typed away on her console.  "Finding Ryo-ohki's going to
be like finding one drop of water in an ocean."

Tenchi took in the scene.  Washu had shown him a hologram of the asteroid
that had been selected for the cabbit swarm this time, and so far, that
was still all he had seen of it.  The asteroid was covered with cabbits,
apparently several layers deep.  He knew sound could not be transmitted
through space, but his imagination insisted on replaying Ryo-ohki's miya
in stereo many times over, in a continuous loop.  If he defocused his eyes
a bit, it almost looked like a rainbow struggling to form itself and kick
out the non-rainbow colors, but having very little success in either.

"Now, Mihoshi, remember.  Tenchi may pick up a cabbit, as may Washu, but
we may not," Kiyone warned.

Mihoshi sighed.  "I know, I know.  'Investigate, but do not bond,' they
said.  'Bonding significantly changes people, so by the rules, we would
have to re-evaluate you as officers if you do bond with a cabbit.  Given
your records, we'd probably be forced to fire you.'"  She smiled.  "Don't
worry.  You're way better than a cabbit any day, Kiyone."

******

Ryo-ohki noticed the Grand Carrot's entrance with delight.

Not that it was a real carrot, just that she thought it looked like one
when she first saw it.  She knew, now, that it was actually a spaceship,
and not to be eaten, but she still called it the Grand Carrot in her
mind.  It was the chariot of one of the cheeriest people Ryo-ohki had ever
seen, but more importantly, it also carried one of the few people in the
universe that Ryoko actually respected.  Ryoko had heard of this person
before meeting her, and had figured that she was one of the few people who
could possibly arrest her...until she was given her current partner.  For
a short time, the Grand Carrot had been her ship only.  If she had been
given a cabbit instead of a ship and a partner, that cabbit's activities
under her direction would probably have made it Ryo-ohki's equal by now,
just like Ken-ohki was.

Why the ship was called the Yagami, Ryo-ohki had never figured out.

Looking back on the cabbit swarm, Ryo-ohki decided that she did not want
what this orgy offered.  She had doubted it before, but now she was sure:
she would only deign to mate with one cabbit, and Ken-ohki was not here.

Giving a final, almost apologetic miya, Ryo-ohki leapt away from the
asteroid, not even bothering to transform.  Her momentum took her towards
the Grand Carrot, as did a hitchhiker who latched on to her tail at the
last moment.

******

Several light years away, Ken-ohki's other half, Nagi, was having the same
struggle as Ryoko and Ryo-ohki had had many times before.  Ken-ohki would
not win this round, either, despite the fact that Ken-ohki was sure
Ryo-ohki would be at this cabbit swarm, given its proximity to her
current base.

******

"Umm, Kiyone?"

Kiyone sighed in frustration.  "Yes, Mihoshi?"

"I think you can stop scanning now."

"Now?  Sure.  I've only checked a few thousand out of what's got to be
millions of cabbits, and..."

"And Ryo-ohki's headed right for us," Washu interrupted.

Kiyone looked up.  They had stopped with the Yagami's nose merely ten
meters short of the cabbit swarm's closest point, in order to be able to
scan individual cabbits.  Sure enough, Ryo-ohki was quickly crossing that
distance.  Having seen Ryo-ohki's abilities before, nobody was surprised
to see her phase through the cockpit window.

Kiyone frowned.  "Do you know what Ryoko must be going through right now?
You didn't tell her you'd be here."

"Miya..."

"Mew..."

All four humanoids paused.  Ryo-ohki had never mewed before.

A tiny pink and purple cabbit wiggled out from under Ryo-ohki's left ear.
"Mew."

"Aww, how cute.  It must be a newborn."  Mihoshi stepped back.  "Well,
Tenchi, do you want to see if this cabbit will take you?"

Tenchi stared at the cabbit.  "How?"

"Just walk up to it, gently.  It'll scan your mind, and if it likes what
it sees, it'll do all the rest."

"Ok..."

"MEW!"  The cabbit leapt on to Kiyone, who immediately smiled and hugged
it.

"Hiii there," Kiyone cooed.

Tenchi paused in mid-step.  "Didn't she say you two aren't supposed to do
that?" he whispered to Mihoshi.

Mihoshi blankly stared at her partner.

Washu summoned her computer and began typing.

"Ryoko calls hers Ryo-ohki, so I'll call you Ki-ohki."  Kiyone began
petting Ki-ohki, which consisted of running two fingers down Ki-ohki's
side.

"Uhh, Kiyone?"  Tenchi stepped up.  "Didn't you say..."

"DETECTIVE KIYONE!  THIS IS GALAXY POLICE HEADQUARTERS!  REPORT
IMMEDIATELY!"

Kiyone nearly fell out of her seat when the unfamiliar voice blared out,
but quickly regained her composure and stabbed a blinking button on her
console.  "Detective First Class Kiyone speaking."

A video image of another GP officer slowly formed.  "Detective Kiyone,
I am sure there is a perfectly good reason for you to get the Juraians
riled up.  I look forward to your relaying said reason to us.  However, in
the future, we would greatly appreciate it if you would kindly let us in
on these kinds of things BEFORE we start receiving formal letters of
complaint from the Juraian Emperor himself!"

"Sir?"

"Apparently, you offended one of his daughters enough that they saw fit to
whine to their daddy.  Are you telling me you did not know about this?"

"No, sir, I did not.  However, if I might guess, I'd say that Ayeka's
just trying to get us to arrest Ryoko again.  As I explained before..."

"Who's Ayeka?  The protest came from Princess Sasami."

Only Ryo-ohki and Washu did not pause in disbelief.

"I recognize you and Mihoshi, but the ID system's drawing a blank on the
other two in your cockpit.  Care to introduce them?"

"These?  Oh, they're..."  Possibilities raced through Kiyone's mind, most
involving negative consequences if HQ learned that she had allowed the
mad scientist Washu on board.  "...guests.  From Earth."

"You know about the Juraian quarantine," the officer growled.

"Yes I do.  'Earth has been declared a primitive system under the
protection of the Juraian Empire.  No Earth native is to be removed, nor
are non-Earth-natives allowed within the section of their solar system
surrounded by their inner asteroid belt without explicit permission from
Jurai.'  Since Earth does have its own space flight capabilities, I
figured it couldn't hurt to take a couple of them to the asteroid belt."

"You know very well they meant removal from the planet, Kiyone, and that
removal by their own means is exempted.  But, we'll let this slide, for
now."

"Umm...right.  Could we see a copy of the complaint letter, please?"

"Certainly.  I'm sending it right...WHAT IS THAT?"  The GP officer
pointed.

"Sir?  Oh!  This is Ki-ohki."  Kiyone smiled in spite of herself.

Ki-ohki perched on Kiyone's shoulder and saluted.  "Mew!"

"Detective Kiyone.  You were warned about this.  As of right now, you are
officially put on probation and relieved of duty pending a review.
Detective Mihoshi?"

"Detective First Class Mihoshi here, sir!"

"Do you have one of...those, too?"

"No, sir!"

"Then you are placed in command of the Yagami for now."

"Yes, sir!"

"Continue with your mission.  Place Kiyone under arrest if she becomes a
threat to the mission."

"Yes, sir!"  Mihoshi would have kept smiling even if she had been ordered
to destroy all known life.

"That is all."  The image disappeared as communication closed.

Kiyone slumped in her chair.  "My career is over.  All my dreams, ruined.
I have no one but myself to blame."  She looked at the cabbit on her
shoulder.  "And all I got in exchange was you."

"Mew."

Kiyone brightened up immediately.  "Yes, it was worth it.  Come on, let's
see if you like carrots."  She walked off the bridge, followed closely by
a happily miyaing Ryo-ohki.

Washu's eyebrows were raised.  "Impressive.  That's the fastest
assimilation I've ever seen.  Ki-ohki fully bonded with Kiyone within five
seconds of scanning her."

Tenchi blinked.  "Are all bondings like that?"

"Similar, although this was more extreme than most.  Either Kiyone was
really starved for true companionship, or that cabbit is unusual."  She
spared a glance at Mihoshi.  "I'd bet on the former, but I'd better scan
Ki-ohki anyway."  She moved to follow Kiyone, muttering, "I wonder what
kinds of tests she'll let me run?"

******

Ayeka silently fumed as she washed the dishes.  Despite her sister's
willingness to help as if nothing had happened, Ayeka had brushed Sasami
off.

She had wanted to believe that Sasami did not do it.  Perhaps Ryoko had
been lying.  However, when she gave voice to that opinion, Ryoko dragged
her into Washu's lab, and keyed up an image of the scene she had seen,
with Ryoko looking in just to prove she had seen it.  Ayeka politely
declined Ryoko's offer to back up the image in time, to see if Sasami and
Tenchi had done anything more than just kiss.  At the least, the ease with
which Ryoko had done this suggested that she had used Washu's observation
equipment in this manner before.  Ayeka had accepted that Washu would be
spying on her, mainly because there was little Ayeka could do to stop it,
but the knowledge that Ryoko might pry in on her most intimate moments
with Tenchi without being there, or even do so a significant time after
the event if she did not know about it when it happened, was distinctly
unsettling.

An idea called to her as she saw Ryoko head for the bathroom.  Two could
play at using Washu's equipment against each other...

Ayeka waited for the door to close.  "Oh, Nobuyuki?"

Nobuyuki had, fortunately, not yet left for work.  "Yes?"

"Could you do me a favor?  As you know, Washu set up our bath so that,
when the door is opened by a female, the women's bath appears, but when
the door is opened by a male, the men's bath appears.  Thus, I can not
open the way to the men's bath.  Could you open the door for me?"

"Certainly."  Nobuyuki walked over and complied with Ayeka's wish, sliding
one of the two doors behind the other.

Ayeka walked up, and pondered the situation.  "Actually, could you open
both doors?  Line them up in the middle."

"Ok..."  Nobuyuki did so, leaving the men's bath visible on both sides of
the sliding wood and paper doors.

"Thank you."  She promptly spun-kick both doors twice, demolishing them.

"Hey!"

"I wished to remove the women's bath.  It is in its own dimension, and
that door was the only way in or out.  With the door gone, the women's
bath is also gone.  I shall put up a new door, or maybe some curtains,
that are not linked to the old bath while you are gone."

Nobuyuki frowned.  If there was one part of his own house he had thought
he was in charge of, it was architecture.  That was, after all, his
profession.  But, first Washu, and now Ayeka had taken it upon themselves
to remodel his home without asking him.  At this rate, Sasami would
rearrange part of the nearby forest to be a playground, and Ryoko would...
no, he did not even want to THINK about what she would do, after both she
and Ayeka had described some of her former hideouts.  The ones inside
giant living beings brought especially distasteful images to his mind.
Even so, his son loved them all, and he would gladly have suffered much
more for Tenchi's happiness.  Sighing, he replied, "Ok.  I'll bet Sasami
will be disappointed, though."

"Why?"

"She just told me she was going to take a bath."  Nobuyuki smiled.  "I'll
bet she was not feeling clean."  He frowned again, then muttered,
"Although I wonder if she even knows how to seduce him..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's so young."

Ayeka frowned in confusion for a few seconds, then opened her eyes in
realization.  "Oh!  I think I see your problem."  She crossed her arms,
assuming a regal pose.  "How old do you think I am?"

"Eh?  Err, it's not polite to ask a lady's age."

"Go on, guess.  And please, be honest.  If you're thinking what I think
you're thinking, you will guess low."

"Ok...forty?"

She raised an eyebrow.  "I look like a forty year old human?"

"You said I'd guess low, so I tried to guess high."

"You failed.  Like most of the sentient races you have seen so far,
Juraians have vastly extended life spans compared to humans.  I am older
than the oldest currently living human being.  Sasami herself is older
than you are.  She has had more than enough time to learn the mechanics of
love, even if she had no use for that knowledge until now."

Nobuyuki's eyes widened.  "Exactly how old are you?"

Ayeka smiled.  "Did you not just say it is not polite to ask a lady's
age?"

Nobuyuki shook his head and headed off for work.

Ayeka admired her handiwork, and debated whether to boast to Sasami about
it.

Then she remembered where Nobuyuki had said she was.

Ayeka tore around the house and the surrounding forest for the next two
hours looking for Sasami.

******

Tenchi leaned into the cargo bay's doorway, not believing his own eyes.

Empty boxes lay strewn around the bay.  Many circles of small leaves, a
few with dabs of orange still attached, testified to the former contents
of those boxes, presumably brought to help lure Ryo-ohki away.  On the
floor, Ki-ohki and Ryo-ohki fought over the last carrot.  Ki-ohki appeared
to be winning, if only because Ryo-ohki kept attempting to remove the
smaller cabbit while Ki-ohki dodged and concentrated on actually eating
the carrot.

"Kiyone..."

"Hi, Tenchi!"  Kiyone smiled and waved from her perch on a box.

"You're in a good mood."

"Of course I am.  Ki-ohki's winning."

"Uh, I don't mean to sound harsh, but shouldn't you get a medical checkup?
I mean, with what you've gone through, you should be depressed..."

"Don't worry.  Washu already asked that, and I understand why.  She's
already checked me, and she said I'm ok."

Tenchi smiled.  "Oh, good.  So, now that you're not a detective, what are
you going to do?"

"Well, I'm still a detective at the moment, and I'll try to stay one.  The
Galaxy Police has been my life.  If I'm kicked out, though..."  She
shrugged.  "Maybe I'll be a scout, explore the galaxy.  Maybe I'll become
a bounty hunter.  Something where it's just me and Ki-ohki."

"Wow, you're that attached to...him?  her?...already?"  Tenchi sat on a
box next to Kiyone.  "What's it like?"

Kiyone blushed.  "Cabbits can be a him or a her, whichever they want.  I
think Ki-ohki'll be a him.  And..."  She stared off into space, palm to
her chin and finger to her smiling lips in thought.  "...I'm not sure I
can put it in words.  It's, well...have you ever talked to yourself in
your head, but it sounds like it's not yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, start with that.  But I know it's really not me, it's Ki-ohki.  They
can't speak verbally, but they're telepathic with whoever they bond with.
Everything he feels, I can feel, if we want.  Same goes for vice versa.
The best part, though, is it's like all he wants is for me to be happy.
Have you ever been loved, Tenchi?  Not worshipped, like Ayeka does, but
really, truly loved?"

Tenchi blinked.  He had asked himself that same question about Ryoko's
feelings, and so far, had yet to come up with a satisfactory answer.
"I...don't know."

"I have, now.  Any doubts I have, he gets rid of them.  Any reason I have
for feeling down, he dispels.  You know why I'm not miserable over the
fact that I might lose my career?  He reminded me: even if I do, I'm rid
of Mihoshi forever!  No way would she leave the Galaxy Police just to
track me down."

"I wouldn't be so sure..."

"Even if she did, what possible excuse could she have to hang around me if
I don't have partners, other than Ki-ohki?  I can just leave!  Oh, Tenchi,
I'm almost hoping I get thrown out."

Tenchi blinked.  "And you're sure Washu said you're alright?"

"Yes, I'm sure.  I could get used to this.  If this is what Ryo-ohki does
for Ryoko, I can see why they're so protective of each other."

Washu stepped in to the cargo bay.  "This is what cabbits were designed to
be, Kiyone.  They're the ultimate companions: fiercely loyal, telepathic,
supportive to the point of unconditional love and designed to invoke the
same response."

Tenchi looked at Washu.  "So, what's the catch?"

"Tennnchiii," Washu pouted.  "You think I would design something like this
with a CATCH?  Keep 'em away from cabbit swarms, and they'll always
regenerate if dead, so they'll outlive you even if you can't protect them.
You get used to their love over time; Kiyone might be able to feel sad
again a couple months from now, but she'll always be happier, on the
average, then she was.  Call those catches if you want; they're certainly
just about the only downsides anyone's ever found.  Well, except for
certain selfish individuals who hate the second voice of reason that
cabbits tend to provide, but there's ways around that.  Ryoko could tell
you most of them, I'd bet."

Tenchi smiled.  "Don't take this the wrong way, Kiyone, but now that I've
seen this in person, I'd rather think about it for a while before getting
a cabbit.  Probably until after this swarm's passed, actually."

Kiyone's smile faded by the tiniest perceptible amount.  "Scared?"

"Err...yeah, actually."

Her smile returned to full strength.  "Ki-ohki thought you were."

Washu typed away on her computer.  "Hmm...interesting.  Most of those who
bond with cabbits identify with them eventually.  Given how fast you
synched up with Ki-ohki, I thought you'd be taking credit for Ki-ohki's
suggestions by now."  Seeing a disapproving look from Kiyone, Washu
continued, "They don't mind.  Ask Ki-ohki.  Ask Ryoko, if you can convince
yourself she'd tell the truth about this, at least."

******

"The door's been closed for a while," Sasami commented.

Ryoko looked over.  As usual to prevent spatial conflicts, the door to the
pocket dimension they now occupied temporarily disappeared when opened by
a male, just like Tenchi had reported it disappeared from the men's bath
when opened by a female.  There were two door panels, and while it was
unusual for both of them to be open at any one time, it was not unheard
of.  "They're probably moving something.  Maybe Nobuyuki forgot to close
the door again?"

Sasami wandered over, and slowly lowered herself into the bath.  "I...I'm
sorry, Ryoko."

Ryoko looked at Sasami, curious.  "For what?"

"I don't want to...you know...with Tenchi.  I didn't even want to kiss
him, we just woke up like that.  You must've seen us, and thought..."

"Don't worry about it.  I wouldn't mind if you do."

"Really?!?"

Ryoko thought Sasami sounded a bit too eager, so she continued, "It's
Ayeka you'll have to apologize to.  Actually, I'm kind of disappointed."

Sasami deflated.  "Oh."

Ryoko smiled.  "I'd hoped you'd have the guts to actually try it someday.
You like him, and he likes you."

"Well...I don't know.  I mean, that would really hurt Ayeka, 'cause I know
she wants him to herself.  She was even jealous of Kiyone at first, until
she knew Kiyone wasn't interested in him."

"And you're not hurting her now?  You should have told us back at
breakfast, when I accused you, not just stayed silent."

Sasami scowled.  "This is different.  When I heard that tone in her voice,
and knew she was accusing me just as much as you were...I just wanted her
to really think about what would happen if someone else did get him.
She's so selfish, sometimes, and it's not good for her.  Just like
Kiyone."

Ryoko blinked.  "Kiyone?  What'd she do?"

"Oh, she's spending so much effort keeping up her apartment, when it would
be so much easier for her to live with us.  I asked my dad to ask her boss
to ask her to move back in with us."

Ryoko sighed.  "Sasami, don't you think there's a very good reason she
doesn't live here?"

"I thought there must be, but I couldn't figure it out.  She wouldn't tell
me when I asked her, either.  So, I guess I was wrong.  Maybe there is no
reason, and she's just being difficult."

"Oh, no, there's a reason, alright.  Me."

"You?"

"Me.  And I'm actually a bunch of good reasons.  One: if her bosses call,
and I just happen to be in the background, they'll know I'm here and
wonder why she hasn't arrested me yet.  Two: she knows she can't arrest
me...we've proven that many times...but she knows she'll try again if
she's here, possibly even in her sleep.  Neither of us want that.  Three:
this keeps Mihoshi away from Tenchi, and thus keeps my weapons and your
sister's logs away from Mihoshi's throat.  Ayeka and I can fight each
other and live every time.  Mihoshi's luck would shield her, but her luck
can't hold out forever.  Eventually, it would fail, and one of us would
actually kill her.  As much as Kiyone hates Mihoshi, she does not want to
see that happen.  Hey, even I don't want to see that happen, though I
can't speak for your sister."

"Ayeka wouldn't kill Mihoshi."

"She kept herself in line while Mihoshi was here, but I could see the
stress getting to her.  Does she have infinite patience?  That's not been
my experience with her.  Four: as far as we know, as of right now there is
a grand total of two fully functional starships based on Earth.  Ryo-ohki,
and the Yagami.  Your treeships won't count until they've fully recovered,
and that could take years.  Keeping the pilots for those two in separate
locations most of the time, even just a bus ride apart, helps a lot if
some maniac decides to try to conquer Earth.  Anyone out there who knows
about one of us might take out one or the other, then bring in a few
high-tech skiffs to decimate Earth's military.  Either Ryo-ohki or the
Yagami alone could take out a force like that, or at least hold them off
long enough to summon assistance from Jurai...which they would be obliged
to give, since they did put Earth under their protection.  Five: I respect
her."

"What?"

"I respect her.  That's more of a reason that she can live elsewhere than
why she does.  If I thought she was standard-issue Galaxy Police slime,
there's no way I'd let her out of my sight.  What she might do to the
people of Earth aside...and, honestly, Tenchi's the only one I really care
about...I would not put it past her to make a move on Tenchi just to spite
me.  But, I've heard about Kiyone.  She was headed for the top, until she
got Mihoshi.  Tough break, but hey, it's hers to deal with.  Still, even
before I met her, I knew she was honorable, smart, and tough, in that
order.  If I had to, I could trust her with my life.  I can't say the same
about most other Galaxy Police that I've met.  For all I know, those
qualities, and the other officers' jealousy of them, are why she was stuck
with Mihoshi: to intentionally derail her.  She's almost as good as that
bounty hunter, Nagi."

"Oh."  Sasami studied her reflection in the pool's surface.  "I'll have to
apologize to her, too, then."

"Nah.  I'm sure they're used to far more spurious complaints at the Galaxy
Police.  They might not even tell her; just shred the letter as it comes
in and ignore it.  Besides, what are they going to do?  Fire her because
of where she's living?"

******

Kiyone slowly re-read the letter from Jurai in utter disbelief.  "THIS is
why they'd fire me?  Because of where I LIVE?"

Mihoshi read the letter over Kiyone's shoulder.  "Well, there's that, and
Ki-ohki, and Tenchi and Washu, and that's just what's happened today.
Don't forget, they know Ryoko was seen around here, and that you failed to
catch her at least once."

Kiyone sighed as she passed the letter over to Tenchi.  "Come on.  Ryoko's
only one of the most powerful space pirates in the galaxy.  I am hardly
the only officer who tried and failed.  As I recall, you tried for her
before I even heard of this system."

"Well, yeah, I guess.  But..."

"Never mind, Mihoshi.  Aren't you supposed to be looking for raiders?  I
mean, cabbit swarms attract a swarm of people, and it is the duty of the
Galactic Police to perform crowd control."

"Oh, I've set the autopilot to alert me when people start getting here.
Aside from the cabbits, we're all alone at the moment."

Kiyone looked at Ki-ohki, who had settled in for a nap in her arms.  "I'll
never be alone again."  Ki-ohki had grown in the past several hours, and
was now merely half the size of Ryo-ohki.

Tenchi passed the letter to Washu.  "I wonder what Sasami will say when we
come back with a second cabbit."

Washu glanced over the letter, then put the datapad displaying it back
into its slot.  "She'll be happy, but not as much as Kiyone.  Like I said,
cabbits were made to be loved, and Sasami's got plenty of love to go
around.  That's why Ryo-ohki reacts so positively to her, even though
Ryo-ohki is bonded to Ryoko.  In fact, I'd say that if it weren't for
Ryo-ohki, Ryoko would not be nearly so nice to Sasami.  She'd probably use
the princess as just another tool to strike at Ayeka."

"Come on," Tenchi pleaded.  "I've seen the look in her eyes.  She likes
Sasami."

"WHO likes Sasami?  Don't be so quick to answer that.  There's more than a
little blending of identities where cabbit bonds are concerned.  Mark my
words, Kiyone's going to be a different person from now on.  She's still
Kiyone, of course, with all her skills and memories, but there will be at
least a little change in her personality.  Same thing applies to Ryoko and
Ryo-ohki.  Ryo-ohki likes Sasami, Ryoko likes Sasami.  Ryoko hates Ayeka,
Ryo-ohki does not go out of her way to help Ayeka like she does Sasami.
Ryoko loves Tenchi..."  Washu glanced at Tenchi's body.  "Well, carrots
aren't the ONLY reason Ryo-ohki likes to watch Tenchi work in the carrot
patch."

"Miya!"  Ryo-ohki appeared to be blushing.

Mihoshi sighed.  "Too bad Ryoko's not around to tell us what you're
saying.  Hey, Washu, if you designed cabbits, why didn't you let them talk
to everyone?"

"Personalized companions.  I had to make sure they'd never give away your
secrets, even if you did find a way to break a bond with one."

"Miya..."

"No offense, Ryo-ohki.  You don't want to imagine the type of person who'd
deliberately break a cabbit bond.  I had to.  Trust me, and this is JUST
hypothetical, but if Ryoko was that type of person, you'd betray her in a
heartbeat if you could."

"MIYA!" Ryo-ohki snarled angrily.

"I said IF.  You and I both know she's not, and that's why you won't
betray her.  You don't have any reason to."

"Miya."  Ryo-ohki settled down again.

"So, Washu," Mihoshi queried, "if you designed cabbits, why are there so
many varieties?  Ryo-ohki's a spaceship, but there's cabbits that turn
into mecha, some turn into people...I've even heard of some that can't
transform that well, but can speak like you and I can."

Washu shrugged.  "Might as well ask why they aren't all one color.  It's
genetics.  It was a struggle just to make certain parts of the cabbit
genome unchanging; I had to allow something to vary.  And, don't forget, I
only made the first one; all the others were either made by someone else,
or are the offspring of two other cabbits.  Transformative powers, colors,
and a few other things were left as variables.  Speaking of which..."
Washu typed on her computer.  "Ah, good, the analysis is done.  Kiyone,
your cabbit..."  She paled.

"What?"  Kiyone looked up, then sat ramrod straight when she saw Washu.
"Tell me!"

"Your cabbit," Washu whispered, "is defective.  I'm sorry."

Kiyone frowned.  "Defective?  What do you mean, Ki-ohki is defective?"

Washu sighed.  "He can't regenerate.  Once he's gone, that's it.  And,
he's aging.  I was wondering why he was so small; usually, cabbits are
full-grown when they hatch."

"How long does he have?"

"I don't know.  Cabbits, as a rule, don't grow up.  They hatch, and that's
it.  He might only have two hundred years."

Tenchi had to stifle a laugh.  "Two hundred years?  That's..."

All four females, even Ryo-ohki, looked at him strangely.

"...oh, right, far less than your lifetimes..."

"Tenchi," Washu muttered just loud enough for him to hear, "if you're ever
going to gain perspective in this universe, always remember who you're
speaking to when you're not speaking to yourself.  Trust me, I know."
She raised her voice back to its normal level.  "With his cellular matrix
changing over time, I'm not sure that he can transform at all."  Washu was
about to comment about replacing Ki-ohki before the bond grew too deep,
but knew before she could say it that it was already too late.  Kiyone
would never voluntarily reject Ki-ohki now, even if it meant she would
inevitably become suicidal when Ki-ohki died.  The only way to stop that
would be to dispose of Ki-ohki within the next month, and even Washu did
not have the heart to do that to Kiyone.

Kiyone smirked.  "We'll just have to see, won't we?  I'll have him for as
long as he lives, in any case.  So, any good news?"

Washu shook her head.  "The only good news is that that's all the bad
news."

"Well, at least that's something.  Washu...thanks.  For being honest.  A
lot of my friends would have been tempted to hide the truth about
something like this, but it's better to know."

"Sure.  No problem."  Washu forced a slight smile to her face, but her
eyes refused to cooperate.  "Science doesn't run well on lies, and neither
do I."

Kiyone still felt happy, despite the somber silence that descended on the
group.

******

Sasami lay on the dry perch of the room, bored out of her mind.  "How long
has it been?"

Ryoko glanced at a wall clock, noting that ten hours had now passed with
no sign of relief.  "I don't know," she lied.  A small part of her mind
was beginning to get antsy at the lack of contact from Ryo-ohki, but she
quickly calmed that part down.  With the door gone, Ryo-ohki could not use
it to enter, and neither Ryoko or Ryo-ohki were capable of communicating
or teleporting to or from this particular pocket dimension.  Apparently,
Washu had anticipated a possible visit from a male equivalent of Ryoko,
and wanted to make sure that if any such being did come by, he would be
just as unable to intrude on the women's bath as Nobuyuki was.

Sasami was about to speak again, when she suddenly winced.  Ryoko had just
puzzled out that she was concentrating on something when Sasami's stomach
growled.  "Sorry.  I've been trying to keep it down."  She tried to sit up
to shift her stomach's fluids, but found herself too weak to do so.

Ryoko considered this.  "You hungry?"

"Yes, but I'll manage."

Ryoko smiled.  Although the pirate had no need to eat, being able to tap
the same energies that powered her weapons to keep her running forever if
need be, she could still do so, if only so she could relate to other
people.  One of her lesser-used powers, in fact, was designed specifically
to accommodate this situation.  "Why manage?  I'll feed you."

Sasami weakly turned her head towards Ryoko.  "You don't have food.  I'd
have smelled it by now."

Ryoko bared her right breast, and presented it to Sasami.  "Here."

"What?"

"Suck on it."

Sasami scowled.  "Ryoko..."

"You don't want to starve, do you?  Suck on it."

Reluctantly, Sasami placed her lips on Ryoko's nipple, and sucked.  To her
surprise, warm, nourishing milk came forth.

Ryoko smiled.  "This is only the third time I've done this, and both of
the others were just tests."

Sasami guzzled the fluid.  "Tell me when," she said while catching her
breath.  "I don't think I can stop on my own."

"Take as much as you want.  This is a small part of why I was made a
woman.  But, let's keep this just between you and me, ok?  I don't want
Ayeka, or anyone, getting any ideas about turning me into a milk machine."

When Sasami drank her fill, she pushed Ryoko away.  With energy spreading
through her arteries, Sasami sat up.  "What *is* that?"

"Energy, mostly.  The same stuff I fire at Ayeka all the time.  Some of it
gets turned into matter - specifically, milk - to carry the rest of the
energy.  Its only purpose in that form is to keep those I choose to feed
going."

Sasami stood up, and had to restrain herself from doing cartwheels to burn
the excess energy she now felt.  "It worked."

"Glad to hear it."

"Hey, Ryoko, wanna play?"  Sasami giggled.

"Sure, what game?"

Sasami grabbed Ryoko, and dove Ryoko-first into the bath.  "Splash tag!"

By the time Sasami's energy was back to normal, the two females had
knocked fully half of the bath's water onto the surrounding floor.

******

"Hey, Kiyone?"

Kiyone looked up from one of the cockpit's control consoles.  "Yes,
Tenchi?"

"How long is this cabbit swarm supposed to last?  Weren't we only
supposed to be out here for two days?"

"They're predicting six days, maximum, and they're bringing in three
shifts.  We've got the first one."  She yawned.  "Looks like we've got the
easy one.  It's hard to tell when people will start showing up, but so
far, we're all clear."

"And, aren't you supposed to not be working?"

"Do you see Mihoshi objecting?  She's in charge."

"She's asleep."

"Again?"

"Actually, Washu and I were getting tired, and wondering where we were
supposed to sleep."

Kiyone blinked, then looked at the ship's clock.  As per standard
procedure, it was coordinated with their base's...in this case, their
apartment's...clock.  "Midnight already?  I guess I'd better turn in,
too."  She tapped the intercom.  "Kiyone to Washu."

"The cutest scientific genius in the universe, at your service."

After checking to make sure that the communication was an audio-only
link, Kiyone rolled her eyes.  "I hope you don't mind, but you'll have to
sleep in our holding cell.  We've only got two bedrooms: one for Mihoshi,
and one for me."

"No problem.  You know that your cell can't hold me if I want to escape."

"I know.  That's why I'm putting you in there."

"What about Tenchi?"

Kiyone smiled.  "He's mine.  Good night."  She closed the link before
Washu could object.

Tenchi backed towards the bridge's door.  "Uhh...Kiyone?"

"Don't worry.  I just meant you'll be sharing my room."

"Well, I...that is..."

"Technically, you're free to sleep wherever, but please hear me out.
Either Washu or Mihoshi might, possibly, seek you out while you sleep.  If
either of them do get their hands on you, that may make things more
difficult with Ryoko and Ayeka when we get back."

"Yeah, but...aside from Ki-ohki, I'm the only male on board..."

"Do the math, Tenchi.  Including the one in the cell, we have three beds
and four bodies, not counting the cabbits.  Someone's going to have to
share."

"Don't you usually share with Mihoshi?"

Kiyone's face became pained.  "Tenchi...for a long time, I thought that
Mihoshi was gone.  You know I look forward to the day when I no longer
have to work with her."

"Are you sure?"

Having asked herself that question before, Kiyone again found herself
uncertain, but proceeded as if the answer could only be, "yes".  "Can't
you tell?  One thing I always look forward to on these missions is
sleeping away from her.  In my dreams, at least, I can pretend she's gone,
and I don't have her in my face to dispel them the moment I wake up.
Please, don't ask me to give that up.  Not now."

"Well, ok..."

"Don't worry, Tenchi.  The bed's big enough that we can just sleep on
opposite ends with plenty of room between us."

That was their intent, and their position when they went to sleep.  Eight
hours later, Washu was only partly surprised to find that Kiyone and
Tenchi had rolled over in their sleep and were now kissing each other,
with both cabbits curled up at the foot of their bed.  Smiling to herself,
and quietly taking a couple pictures to record this event, she left the
two to wake up in each others' arms undisturbed.

******

Ryoko woke from a dream of a safari, one on which she and Tenchi were
acting as guides for Sasami to track down and eradicate the wild beast
Ayeka, which had left a path of destruction through the cities it had
terrorized, taking countless lives in the process.

Glancing at the wall clock, she realized that a full day had passed since
the door disappeared.  Surely, they would be missed by now, and surely
someone would have thought to check the women's bath.  Maybe there was
something wrong with the door...but, if there was, there was nothing she
could do about it.

Part of her mind noticed that Sasami was taking unusually large breaths in
her sleep.  Subtle curiosity slowly grew into major concern, like a single
ember sparking a bonfire.

Her first thought was to check the air.  Although her sense of smell had
adapted to the room's contents over time, it was simple enough for her to
reset to compare to normal air and...

Ryoko's eyes bulged at the staleness of the air.  How Sasami was getting
enough oxygen from it to breathe at all was a miracle.  Their game had
been a mistake; although Sasami had had energy to burn, it had also
increased her oxygen consumption rate, and had probably done so all night
long, as her sleeping body adjusted to rest slower than if she had been
awake.

Ryoko quickly cycled through her list of powers, growing increasingly
frustrated that she had nothing as simple as an air freshener.  She had
as little need for air as she did for food, but if the door did not come
back, she was going to watch Sasami suffocate, and there was nothing she
could do about it.

Even worse, Ryo-ohki was nowhere to be found.  She had spent time away
from her cabbit before, but the pair had always at least touched each
others' minds once a day.

"C'mon, Ryoko," she muttered to herself.  "Don't panic.  Sasami needs you.
Ryo-ohki is still out there.  She'll be worried, but she IS safe.
Concentrate on saving Sasami..."

For the second time in twenty four hours, the most powerful individual in
Earth's solar system, and the pocket dimensions attached to it, cursed her
lack of power.

******

Ryo-ohki stirred in her sleep, slowly rising from dreams of Ryoko.  Her
stubbornness, and fear of acknowledging the hurt she knew she had caused
Ryoko, had kept the cabbit from returning.  However, like Ryoko, Ryo-ohki
was both unused to and disturbed by a prolonged lack of communication with
her partner.

Silently, she leapt off of Kiyone's bed, noting with amusement and concern
the detective's position relative to Tenchi.  She padded over to the
exterior wall, then phased through it like a ghost.  After transforming
soundlessly in the vacuum of space, Ryo-ohki set off to find Ryoko.

******

Kiyone's dream was her standard nightmare.

Desperate, she fled down the alleys of a city that was a blend of her
home, the Yagami, Tokyo, and every other place she had spent a significant
amount of time.  Her battlesuit had been shattered long ago; a chunk of
its right arm was still attached, but dangled uselessly at her side.
Kiyone gripped her blaster with both hands, fear guiding her from one
passage to the next as she looked everywhere for her tormentor.

"Hi!"  Mihoshi hugged her from the front while she was looking back.

"Gah!"  Kiyone tried to leap back, but Mihoshi's grip was too tight.

"Don't run off like that, Kiyone.  It's almost like you're trying to lose
me.  But now that I've found you, I'm never letting go."

Kiyone tried to pull Mihoshi off, only to find that the blonde's words
were literal: her arms' flesh had melted through their uniforms, and glued
itself to Kiyone's skin.

"And now, I can hang around you forever.  You'll never be rid of me."
Mihoshi's smile turned demonic.  "I can ruin your life, chase away your
friends, send your career into a black hole..."  Mihoshi began whispering.
"And you won't do a thing about it."

"No more.  Please, no more..."

"But, Kiyooone," Mihoshi cooed sarcastically, "you're my friend.  My very
best friend in the whole universe.  You'd do anything for me."

"BACK OFF!"  A purple sword came out of nowhere, precisely slicing Mihoshi
off of Kiyone, then shredding the blonde into dust.

Kiyone looked up at the wielder of this sword, but found no one holding
it.  "Wha...who are you?" she finally asked the sword.

"Who do you think?"  The sword blurred, then turned into a familiar
cabbit, hovering at Kiyone's eye level.

"Ki-ohki!?  What are you doing here?  How are you speaking?"

"This is your dream, silly.  Well, nightmare, really.  I don't want you to
be scared."

"Is this...are you really Ki-ohki, or just my imagination?"

"Well, I say I'm Ki-ohki, and Ki-ohki will remember doing this once you
wake up, but this IS your dream.  You decide what is real."

"Err...ok, I guess you're real."

"So, is this what Mihoshi usually is to you?"

Kiyone grimaced.  "And worse."

Ki-ohki shrugged.  "I'll take care of her."

An image of Mihoshi formed.  Ki-ohki pulled a cabbit sized blaster out of
nowhere, aimed, and...

"NO!"  Kiyone threw herself between Ki-ohki and Mihoshi's image.  "YOU
CAN'T!"

Ki-ohki let the blaster return to the nothingness from which it came.
"Why?"

"Because...because she IS my friend..."

Ki-ohki frowned.  "Friends do not ruin friends over and over again.  Not
like she does."

"But...I..."

Ki-ohki walked to Kiyone on the invisible floor he had been sitting on,
then opened a panel over her heart.

Kiyone shrugged this detail off.  It was a dream, after all.  She looked
into Ki-ohki's eyes, and saw what he saw reflected in them.

"Hmm..."  Ki-ohki studied Kiyone's heart, then spied a worm with a
familiar blonde hairdo and uniform stuck in the muscle.  "I see."  Ki-ohki
chomped down on the Mihoshi worm, and pulled.

Kiyone gasped, and tried to clutch her hands to her heart to stop Ki-ohki,
only to feel something in the way...

******

Tenchi was having the same dream as last night.

In it, only one woman had entered his life: one with the nobility and
quiet passion of Ayeka, the cheerfulness of both Mihoshi and Sasami, the
genius of Washu, and the powers and, most importantly, unconditional love
for him of Ryoko.  This woman was his soul mate, either identical or
complimentary to him in every important aspect.  He did not have to choose
one or another - his dream lover was all of them, all in one.

She came to him, they embraced, they kissed...

...and the sudden sensation as they kissed was different than last night.
It was like she was trying to suck his tongue out, and while the hug last
night had been tight but as small as Sasami's hands, this was more
substantial...

...and he realized he was kissing Kiyone, and she seemed to be kissing
back.  Not only that, but she was hugging him very tightly.

Tenchi extracted himself from Kiyone as he quickly woke up.

Kiyone, feeling someone push her as she woke, sprung to her feet, looking
for her attacker.  Her rapid change in position sent Tenchi falling out of
bed, and flung the bed's sheets back over Ki-ohki.  As the sudden burst of
adrenaline cleared her system, and she realized what had happened, Kiyone
blushed.  "Sorry..."

Tenchi stood up, and waved his hand.  "Don't worry about it.  Were you..."

After a few seconds, Kiyone responded, "What?"

He decided that he did not want to know at that moment if she had
consciously kissed him, and in any event, Kiyone's further actions would
give him a better answer than asking her would provide.  "Err...umm...
never mind."

Just then, Mihoshi opened the door.  "Hey, you two, time to wake up..."
Recognizing the battle stance Kiyone was still in, and Tenchi's and
Kiyone's mutual state of undress, Mihoshi continued, "Bedroom boxing?  I
didn't know you were in to that, Kiyone."

Before either of Mihoshi's intended audience could respond, Ki-ohki
hissed, phased through the sheets, and launched himself at Mihoshi, claws
bared.

Kiyone realized what was happening just in time.  "Ki-ohki!  STOP!"

Mihoshi tried to sidestep Ki-ohki's flying leap, accidentally pushing the
door closing button just in time to have Ki-ohki slam into the door.  "Ok,
ok, I'll leave you to it," she called through the door.  "Just tell me who
wins, ok?"

"MIHOSHI!" both humanoids yelled.

After waiting a minute to make sure Mihoshi was clear, Kiyone frowned.
"Ki-ohki, do NOT kill her, ok?"

"Mew..."

"Ki-ohki..."

"MEW!"

Tenchi glanced from cabbit to detective and back.  He could tell there was
some kind of mental struggle going on, but he was entirely shut out of it.
Surely, Ki-ohki had not actually attempted to kill Mihoshi just then...

Or had he?

Not wanting to think about that possibility, Tenchi grabbed his clothes,
and set off for the bathroom in a hurry.

******

Ryoko pondered her situation.  If the door did not reappear within the
next few hours, Sasami would die, so it would be merciful to just kill her
now.  On the other hand, if help was coming soon, she had to keep Sasami
alive until then.

She pondered why this was so.  Killing Ayeka's sister would displease
Ayeka, and even Tenchi could not blame her for giving Sasami a quick death
if the only other option was a slow, lonely death.  What hold did this
girl have over her, that she would give anything to pull her through?  She
was not Tenchi.  In fact, she was a rival for Tenchi.

But Tenchi cared about her, so Ryoko did as well.  It was almost as if
Ryoko was Tenchi's cabbit.

Was that how much she loved Tenchi?  That she would give her very life,
just to save someone Tenchi liked?

Yes.  Heart and soul, she belonged to Tenchi, and she loved it.  He was
what gave her existence meaning, and she would go through far worse for
his love.  Even if that love was ultimately bestowed on someone else, so
long as she got the merest fraction of it.

Her thoughts strayed into daydreams of the future.  Empress Sasami of
Jurai, with her husband Tenchi, and her chief retainer Ryoko.  Over time,
Ryoko could see political pressures making Tenchi the official Emperor,
so he could marry Ryoko as well without appearing to dishonor the throne.
That, or she would marry Sasami...no, she liked Sasami because of Tenchi,
but it was only Tenchi that she loved.

Just as much as Ryo-ohki.

There was never any question of choosing Ryo-ohki or Tenchi.  Ryo-ohki had
been her companion for millennia.  They were two parts of the same being,
almost.  If Tenchi took one in, he took both.  If, for some unimaginable
reason, he rejected either one, he rejected both.  Choosing between
Ryo-ohki and Tenchi made as much sense as choosing between herself and
Tenchi.  She would have both, and neither would be worse off for it.

Ryo-ohki.  The one who should be here, now, to look out for Sasami.  The
one who would know what to do.  The one who had always been there, but now
she was not, and Ryoko was all alone except for Sasami, and she didn't
count since she was unconscious most of the time, and oh Ryo-ohki where
can you be, please be alive, please...

"Ryoko?"

Sasami's weak call snapped Ryoko back to reality.  She leaned over, and
let the princess take a few more drops of her life-sustaining liquid.  Not
too much, but just enough to quell her hunger and let her go back to
sleep.  Another stomach full would cause Sasami to use up the rest of the
oxygen in an involuntary frenzy of action, and then she would be awake
when she died.  Even if this was to be a slow death, at least Sasami would
be asleep when it arrived.

******

"Hey, there, handsome," Washu beamed as she stepped into the Yagami's
small kitchen.  "I never knew you had it in you!"

"What?"  Tenchi looked up from where he was preparing everyone's
breakfast.

Washu summoned her computer, and displayed the pictures she had taken.

"Uhh...I don't suppose I could ask you not to tell Ryoko and Ayeka?"

"You know Ryo-ohki's going to tell Ryoko the instant we get back.  Once
she knows, Ayeka won't be far behind.  But, if it helps, I won't be the
one to tell Ayeka, ok?"

"Thanks."  Tenchi sighed.  "I just wonder who Ryoko's going to kill first,
her or me?"

"Don't be such a pessimist, Tenchi."

Noting Washu's enthusiasm, Tenchi queried, "Did you get a cabbit, too?"

Two small caricatures of Washu appeared on her shoulders.  "She doesn't
need one."  "She's got us."

"Right."

The caricatures disappeared, back to where they had come from.  Tenchi
had never figured out where they stayed.  He had seen them on Washu even
when she was naked, so they could not be in her clothes.  Living around
Washu had taught him a bit about what to look for when seeing openings to
pocket dimensions, and those signs did not appear.  His best guess was
that they lived in her hair, and perhaps it was only to provide them with
a home that Washu kept her hair so long, but Tenchi felt too embarrassed
to voice that particular suspicion to Washu.

"So, how's your research going?"

"Hmm?  Oh, the science project.  I think I've got everything I'll need."

Washu tried to keep her exasperation from showing when Tenchi pulled out
a sheaf of papers.  Honestly, even humans had computers available to them.
She could see why Tenchi insisted on keeping his work separate from the
Yagami's data systems; it would be hard enough for him to explain where he
got the data to analyze an asteroid's chemical composition, without also
having to worry about the Yagami automatically adding in data from sensors
he was deliberately avoiding because he knew there was no Earth
equivalent.  But, even so, limiting oneself to using less than the
technology one has available for its own sake - in this case, using paper
rather than a portable Earth computer - was sheer folly, in Washu's
opinion.

Still, this project, and the methods he could claim to have used without
giving away the Yagami's existence, were so far beyond Earth's technology
that Washu knew there would be only two possible reactions from Tenchi's
evaluators: major accolades for original thinking, or utter rejection for
deviation from the norm.  Seeing which one Tenchi received, and why that
one instead of the other, was one of Washu's own research projects.

******

"Oh, Kiyone, you looked so cute!"

Kiyone paused in her work, trying to remember what incident Mihoshi was
referring to.  This did not take long.  "You should have at least
knocked."

"Washu took some pictures."

"Both of you saw...?  Never mind.  And before you ask, Mihoshi, no, I'm
not interested in getting copies.  I'd rather forget this morning, thank
you very much."

Miraculously, a full minute of silence ensued, ending just as Kiyone stood
up to get some breakfast.

Mihoshi, still standing, leaned over to her console.  "Umm, Kiyone?"

Kiyone sighed in frustration.  "Yes, Mihoshi?"

"We're not alone."

"I noticed that, Mihoshi.  Besides Tenchi and Washu, we've also got what's
got to be several million cabbits in the immediate area.  Thank goodness
nobody else has gotten here yet..."

Laser fire slicing through the Yagami's cockpit silenced Kiyone.

******

A hyperspace portal formed out of nowhere, quickly disgorging a sleek
raider ship.  Its crew had been distributing misinformation about the
cabbit swarm, placing its start two days after the actual start.  That the
Galaxy Police knew when it really started was solely due to the fact that
they had allowed cabbits, just like any other sentient beings, to serve as
officers.  Knowing this, the pirates had planned to take out the minimal
Galaxy Police presence, then pretend to be Galaxy Police themselves, just
long enough to set up the coming crowds for a massive holdup.

The plan had been for the raider to fire two concentrated shots, one
through each of the Yagami's cockpit's seats, killing the officers on duty
instantly.  According to standard GP schedules, both officers should have
been ready for action at that moment.

Mihoshi and Kiyone were very lucky that, with the presence of three other
beings having disrupted their schedules, they were not in their seats at
that moment.

The raiders knew of Mihoshi's and Kiyone's less than stellar record, and
that the officers could ill afford to take a cabbit on board.  Thus, the
cabbits back on the asteroid should not have seen the raiders' attack on
the Galaxy Police as an attack on one of their own, and should not have
reacted accordingly.  Certainly, the armada of pirates that followed the
initial raider should not also have been recognized as further enemies,
and thus should have been perfectly safe.

Murphy's Law started a brief war.

******

Kiyone stood very still.  She was in the middle of rising from her chair
to head to the kitchen when the raiders fired.  The laser beams, designed
to punch through meters of reinforced energy-dispersing battleship-grade
armor, had thrown off tremendous amounts of energy just from contact with
the cockpit's air.  Her eyes stung from the flash of light that had
skewered Mihoshi's seat, while her back almost felt burnt from the heat of
the beam that had been meant for her.  Fortunately, there was no permanent
damage, but at the moment, Kiyone's mind was stuck contemplating just how
narrowly she had escaped death, and how thorough that death would have
been.

At the edge of her consciousness, Kiyone felt Ki-ohki sense her pain and
calmly analyze the situation, before reporting what would have been
obvious to her had surprise not put her intellect on pause: the Yagami was
under attack.

Immediately after reaching that conclusion, Ki-ohki bounded through the
Yagami's hull, and willed himself into shape for battle.  It was a simple
action, as far as he was concerned: his body was designed to transform by
itself, with a single conscious command.  Sample memories were encoded
into each cabbit's brain; nothing specific, but an instinct that made the
first transformation feel just as smooth and familiar as the thousandth,
and even the billionth.  He felt something slightly wrong as he shifted,
but decided to ignore it for now.

Kiyone came to her senses in a crystalline room.  She had seen this exact
layout on Ryo-ohki's bridge, but here, all of the crystals were colored
purple.

"Ki-ohki?" she hesitantly asked.

Her ears heard only a mew, but her mind heard an affirmative, status
reports, and more, all in the language of thought.  Cautiously, she opened
her senses to Ki-ohki...

Once, during training at the Galaxy Police Academy, she had had a chance
to test a prototype direct neural control device, which was wired to a
small shuttle.  The shuttle became her entire world.  She felt every
slight pressure on its hull, and used that data to move it through
aerobatics that the shuttle's designers swore were impossible for the
craft, even after seeing it do them.  As it hurtled over an ocean at Mach
20, the adrenaline rush gave her more pleasure than any lover ever had.
When it accidentally sped out of range of the device's communication
systems, depriving her of input from the shuttle's sensors, Kiyone slipped
into a brief coma before the techs could remove her from the prototype.

Her link with Ki-ohki was similar, but far more.  In addition to the raw
physical sensations, Ki-ohki's analyses of the data felt like part of
Kiyone's thoughts, seamlessly integrating themselves to advise her plans.
Ki-ohki's weapons were mere extensions of Kiyone's will; lashing out with
them felt more like attacking with a fist than with a gun.  All of the
cabbit's communicators were at Kiyone's disposal just as readily as her
own voice.  Both ship and pilot operated as one.

Kiyone barely felt Ki-ohki grow stabilizer crystals around her.  The
living purple matrix quickly worked its way under her uniform and spread
across most of her flesh, reacting almost at the speed of thought to
cushion Kiyone against Ki-ohki's violent maneuvers.  Only Kiyone's face
was left open, to allow her to hear, see, and breathe.  Of those, Kiyone
only chose to do the last, and only unconsciously.  She paid no attention
to what her eyes and ears told her for the moment, after finding Ki-ohki's
equivalents to be far more interesting and useful.

******

Ryoko fought desperately to contain her panic.

Sasami was dying.

No Ryo-ohki.

She was trapped, and effectively powerless.  Even when she had been
brainwashed, those who used her were interested in her power.  Never in
her life had she been so utterly helpless as she was now, and it scared
her.

"Ryoko..."

Ryoko automatically moved to feed Sasami again.

"Good...bye..."

As flustered as she was, it took Ryoko a minute to figure out this
disruption, and what was wrong just afterwards, but it hit her soon
enough.

Sasami was no longer breathing.

Ryoko snapped.  With nothing to keep her at this particular point in the
dimension any longer, she phased through the bath's walls.  They were
thick, designed to withstand Ryoko's and Ayeka's fights, but not
impenetrable.

When she reached the outside, she screamed.  All her panic, all her fears,
and all her frustration went into one animal yell that would have unnerved
anyone who heard it, had there been any other inhabitants of this
dimension.  Even that was not enough for Ryoko, though, so she split into
two, both bodies yelling with the same intensity.

And stopping as one, with identical looks of confusion on their faces.

"Did you just..."

"...hear that?"

Sound had gone from one body to the other.  And that could not happen
without some kind of air to carry the sound.

Both Ryokos sniffed.  There was, indeed, air, and it was breathable.  The
little maniac must have put an atmosphere around the bath in case it was
ever breached!

Joyous, but determined, the Ryokos fused into one and began drilling a
hole in the cube that held the bath.  Whatever Washu had made it out of,
it was tough to damage from the inside, but surprisingly easy to punch
through from outside.

Before long, Ryoko broke through into the bath, and quickly carried
Sasami out.  She would have just phased through the wall, but she was
unsure whether Sasami could survive phasing in her current condition.  Had
she taken a breath outside, the air would not have phased with her;
Ryoko's lungs would only contain the useless, oxygen-depleted air that
Sasami could not breathe when Ryoko reached her.

Once outside, though, it was a different story.  Ryoko began to force air
into Sasami's lungs.

Breathe in.

...I can't believe I didn't try this sooner...

Liplock.

...Of course there would be air out there!  The bathroom ain't a
spaceship...

Breathe out.

...If Sasami dies, Ayeka, you're next as soon as I get out of here...

Unlock.

...Damn it, Ryo-ohki, where ARE you?  Sasami could use your strength right
now...

Breathe in.

...Wherever you are, please be safe, Ryo-ohki.  With Sasami and Tenchi, I
might be able to stand losing you...

Liplock.

...Not that I'd EVER want to test that theory, mind you....

Breathe out.

...I'd be a wreck, unable to do anything, but I might just be able to
survive...

Unlock.

...Or, at least, keep me from killing myself; my body would live while my
mind did not...

Breathe in.

...Now that I think about it, I wonder if that's what happened to
Mihoshi...

Liplock.

...Surely, she could not have gotten into the Galaxy Police like she is...

Breathe out.

...Come on, Sasami, respond.  Please, respond!  Don't you DARE be dead...

Unlock.

Sasami coughed.

Ryoko relaxed as she felt Sasami resume breathing.  She did not know how
much air was out here, but it was certainly many times that of the amount
inside.  Perhaps, if no one came in a week, she and Sasami could start
exploring their new home.  Unless this pocket dimension had boundaries,
someone else might have used another part of it, maybe even Washu herself.
It might take years, or even millennia, of searching to find such a spot,
but as far as Ryoko knew, that could have been her only option.

She knew it meant abandoning all hope of seeing Tenchi and Ryo-ohki again,
at least in the near future.  Her only hope of sanity would be to put her
mind to sleep, and be to Sasami what Ryo-ohki had been to Ryoko:
transportation, a vastly more powerful protector, and an advisor, but
relying on the less powerful one for a direction and purpose in life.
Ryoko knew that this would change her, probably forever, by the time they
found another exit.  Only her doubts kept her from starting immediately,
instead forcing her to think for a while first.

As it turned out, waiting a few more hours saved her several thousand
years.

******

Ki-ohki dodged to the side, letting a pirate's volley slip by, then
returned fire with a pinpoint accuracy that few ships could match.

Kiyone giggled to herself.  The similarity between her current battle, and
most of her combat training for the Galaxy Police, had been given her a
slight scare when she first realized it, but now her training turned this
battle into a simple exercise.  Ponderous enemies, with crews that tried
to get their ships to react as they wanted, versus living vengeance
currently embodied by transformed cabbits, which merely did what they
wanted.  This was very much like fighting the primitive training robots
back at the Academy, and the same rules applied: take advantage of
superior reaction speed, keep moving to avoid their fire, and take the
time to line up shots when they can not hit you.

Only barely cognizant of how she had boarded Ki-ohki, Kiyone wondered if
she would return to the Yagami by airlock, or by...

"Who says you're going back?"

Kiyone blinked, awareness returning to her own body as Ki-ohki disengaged
himself from her enough to present a second identity.

"You wish to be rid of Mihoshi.  Now is our chance!"  To Kiyone, Ki-ohki's
mental voice sounded very much like his mews, reshaped to form
understandable words.

"But..."

"She has destroyed your life just by living with you, and I will...I CAN
not allow that to continue.  The Galaxy Police will understand, and your
years with them will serve you well wherever we go.  You would do well as
a bounty hunter.  You could be the best, without Mihoshi."

"But...who will take care of her?"

"Should we care?"  The ice in Ki-ohki's voice startled Kiyone.  "We're
leaving her forever.  All that matters is us.  Even if we did care, she's
got Tenchi and his friends.  She'll have more than enough people to look
after her.  We need not care about her."

A flicker of anger registered in Kiyone.  "I care about her!  Even if I do
want to kill her sometimes..."

"Do you WANT to keep letting her hold you back?"

"Yes...no...I..."  Kiyone blinked back tears.  "I don't want to abandon
her."

Ki-ohki's crystals grew towards Kiyone's tear ducts, to absorb her tears.
"She'll be fine.  So will we, away from her."  Disconnected from Kiyone,
Ki-ohki felt another twinge in his transformed shape, and decided to
resolve the departure before whatever his problem was could stop him from
freeing her.  "Say goodbye, then we're out of here."  He opened a channel
to the Yagami.

As the link opened, Kiyone let herself fall to Ki-ohki's persistence.  She
would be rid of Mihoshi, now, and she had Ki-ohki to thank for it.

******

Mihoshi was still in shock when Tenchi and Washu ran into the bridge.

"Wha..."  Tenchi fell into a similar state upon seeing the fireworks.

"Kiyone's out there, in it."  Mihoshi pointed to a cluster of cabbit
starships.  "There."

After quickly making sure that the Yagami's self-sealing hull had repaired
the hull punctures, Washu leapt into the pilot's seat and keyed in a
visual magnification of the spot Mihoshi had indicated, then began
scanning a purple starship in the cluster.  "Well, well, well.  Looks like
Ki-ohki could transform, after all.  Let me guess, he leapt out, changed,
and beamed Kiyone straight from here?"

"Uh-huh."

Tenchi regained his composure.  "What are we sitting around here for?
Let's help them out."

"They're so close together, we'd run the risk of hitting them if we did.
Besides..."  Washu chuckled.  "They don't need any help.  Look."

Washu dismissed the magnification, just in time to see the last pirate
ship disintegrate under a hail of fire.  Several missiles sprouted from
the ship at the last second, and the cabbits dispersed to hunt these
missiles down.

Mihoshi finally snapped out of her reverie. "Yay!  We won!"  She stepped
up to the co-pilot's seat, and carefully settled in around the hole in it.

"Incoming message from Ki-ohki."

An image of Kiyone appeared on the cockpit's main screen.  Only her face
was visible, and it was shrouded in a crystal mask.  "Hello, my friends.
I guess this is goodbye."

"Goodbye?"  Mihoshi blinked.  "What are you talking about?"

"I have finally found my destiny.  I do not know how long I have been
searching for this, but Ki-ohki is...part of me, now, and I am part of
him.  I will never leave his side.  What we do, we will have to do
outside of the Galaxy Police."

"You're leaving?"

"Yes.  Please, do not cry, Mihoshi.  I will miss you, but my...our destiny
is among the stars, not on Earth.  Please, pass along my farewells, and my
resignation, to the rest of the Galaxy Police."

"But...I thought the Galaxy Police was your life, Kiyone," Tenchi
protested.

Kiyone smiled.  "It was.  But no more."  Her gaze shifted to the
scientist.  "Washu..."

Washu held up a hand.  "Hold it."

"No goodbyes?"

"You've got an incoming missile.  And there's something wrong with
Ki-ohki."

"Ki-oh..."

The image vanished, just before Kiyone reappeared on the Yagami's bridge.

Washu sighed.  "Ki-ohki couldn't hold his transformation.  Bad timing,
too."  Noticing the new arrival, she added, "At least he got Kiyone
clear."

Kiyone pushed her face against the screen, which showed the final
surviving missile heading straight for a floating pink and purple cabbit.
"KI-OHKI!!!!"  She collapsed just after the missile exploded.

"Really bad timing."

******

Ryo-ohki grew increasingly alarmed as she approached Tenchi's house.  This
was where Ryoko would be; this, or at least nearby.  But Ryo-ohki could
not sense her other half anywhere on the planet, not even asleep.

The only way that should be possible was if Ryoko was not here, or dead.
And Ryoko had no effective means or reason to leave...

The residents of Tokyo would see what looked like a shooting star over
the Masaki shrine that morning, but Ryo-ohki did not care.  She
transformed just before hitting the ground, then ran into the house,
remembering to phase just before she would have left a cabbit-shaped hole
in one of the thinner walls.

Ayeka had not slept a wink in the past thirty hours.  She knew, now, that
Sasami could only be in the pocket dimension with Ryoko.  Everything she
had tried to re-open the connection had failed.  Putting the doors back,
then sliding them, had had no results, even after she repaired them
exactly to the way they were before she destroyed them.  She had sought
assistance in Washu's lab, but when she opened the door, only a storage
closet presented itself; later, she would have to ask Mihoshi how to get
in to Washu's lab when Washu was not around.  Ayeka wracked her brain for
other ideas, but none that worked came to mind.  She had even tried
putting up the curtain she had promised, in case whatever governed the
portal had listened to her words when she broke the door, but that had no
effect either.  Even Azaka and Kamidake could offer no assistance.

So, Ayeka was extremely sensitive to the sound of a cabbit bounding down
the hallway.  "Ryo-ohki?" Ayeka called.  "Oh, good-"

Ryo-ohki almost knocked Ayeka over as she ran past the princess,
determined to do a visual search so she could at least find Ryoko's body
and know...

"She's not here."

Ryo-ohki screeched to a halt.

"Your mistress is trapped in the women's bath with Sasami.  The portal to
that location is gone, possibly forever.  Get Washu; she should have a
solution."

"Miya?  Miya!"  Ryo-ohki leapt up, phasing through the first and second
floor ceilings, then transformed and went back the way she came.

Ayeka looked out the window at the rapidly receding Ryo-ohki.  "And
hurry," she added, despite knowing that Ryo-ohki was already well out of
hearing range.

******

Washu shook her head as she walked on to the Yagami's bridge.

Tenchi looked up.  "Well?"

"He's dead, Tenchi."

"Can't you revive him?"

"I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker!"  Washu handed the box containing
Ki-ohki's body to Mihoshi.  "He saved Kiyone's life.  He helped save all
our lives.  But he gave his life to do it."

Mihoshi resisted the urge to open the box, knowing she would not like what
she saw.  "What about Kiyone?  Is she going to..."  She could not bring
herself to finish the question.

"Psychic feedback.  Kiyone was linked with his mind right up to the end.
The shock of his death knocked her out.  In these cases, there's a chance
that the linked mind will kill itself immediately, but if it doesn't, a
coma is the worst that ever happens.  She'll make a full recovery, and
with the stimulants I've given her, she should be awake and able to work
within an hour."

Tenchi and Mihoshi gave stereo sighs of relief.

"Just tell me one thing."

"What?"

"Why are we ignoring that ship's hails?"

Tenchi looked where Washu was pointing, to a space-black ship silhouetted
against an asteroid.  "Err...it's hailing us?"

"Yeah.  Right here."  Washu pointed to a flashing indicator on Tenchi's
consoles.

"I didn't know what that was.  Mihoshi?"

Mihoshi looked up from the box.  "Hmm?  Know what what was?"  Mihoshi
looked at her console.  "There's a ship hailing us!"

Tenchi and Washu exchanged a look as Mihoshi acknowledged the
communication.  Two Galaxy Police officers appeared on screen.

"Finally!  We've been calling you for an hour.  Were your communications
damaged in the battle?"

"Something like that," Tenchi answered.

"Who are you?  Where's Kiyone?"

"She was...ah...injured in the fight."

"I see.  We don't have many medical supplies..."

"Save them," Washu interrupted.  "We'll take care of Kiyone, and our only
other casualty...it's too late for him."

"I...see.  We were supposed to take second shift, but hurried to get here
when we heard about the pirates.  Looks like we were too late.  If you
want, though, we could cover the rest of your shift."

"That would be appreciated."  Washu leaned over Tenchi to type on his
console.  "Setting a course for home."

Mihoshi brightened up.  "Hey, as long as you're here, could we do Kiyone's
review?"

"Eh?" Tenchi articulated.

Mihoshi pulled up a data file on Kiyone.  "I mean, a review board's three
or more officers of equal or higher rank, right?  Are you both Detective
First Class or above?"

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"Well, then, let's do it.  I hereby call this review of Detective First
Class Kiyone into session."

The two officers exchanged a look, then examined the data that Mihoshi
transmitted.  "Review?  KIYONE?  What'd she do?"  "Hmm...aside from the
cabbit, it looks like she's just been ticking off Jurai, letting Ryoko
escape on their planet and all."  "Great.  Let's make this short and
sweet.  You.  Earth people.  Have you had opportunity to witness Kiyone's
performance?"

"Yes," Tenchi replied.

"In your opinion, and given your knowledge of Galaxy Police regulations,
has she been a satisfactory representative to Earth?"

"Umm...yeah, I guess."

"Good enough.  Mihoshi, as Kiyone's partner, is it your opinion that
Kiyone is fit for duty?"

"Well, she's unconscious at the moment, and I don't think she can..."

"Just answer the question, yes or no: in general, do you think Kiyone is
fit for duty?"

"Yes.  Absolutely."

The officers smiled.  "Good enough for me.  I say we approve her."  "Me,
too.  Mihoshi?"

"Yes?"

"Then it's unanimous.  Kiyone has been reviewed, and found suitable for
work as a Galaxy Police officer."  One of the officers typed away.
"Judgment entered...probation revoked...done."

Tenchi blinked.  "That's it?"

One of the officers chuckled.  "We stick up for each other out here.  The
higher ups back home might have a fit, but Kiyone's one of the best.  It'd
be a shame to lose her just because Her Juraian Snobbiness...what's her
name...anyway, just because someone on Jurai doesn't like her.  They
wanted a review, they got one.  They want to lodge another complaint,
they'll get the same thing.  Good day."  The communication panels closed.

"Well...that was...short," Tenchi observed.

"Don't knock it," Washu commented.  "I was actually expecting something
like this.  Kiyone has a reputation as a model officer, and you'd be
surprised how loyal the Galaxy Police are to each other."  After tapping a
few more buttons, she continued, "Course laid in.  We'll be home in two
hours."

Without warning, Ryo-ohki erupted from hyperspace, latched a tractor beam
on to the Yagami, and pulled it back in to hyperspace.

"...or maybe sooner."

******

Washu had barely stepped out of the Yagami's teleporter beam when Ayeka
grabbed her.  "Washu, come quickly!  The entrance to the women's bath has
been disabled, and Sasami's in there!"

Washu calmly brushed off Ayeka's frantic grip.  "The women's bath?  Hold
on."  She summoned her computer and set to work.

A few seconds later, a portal opened to the room in question.  One second
after that, Ryoko barreled out with Sasami in her arms.

Noticing the slight, unhealthy blue tinge to Sasami's skin, Washu typed on
her computer to summon a wand, then waved the wand over Sasami.  "Hmm..."
She stowed the wand, and read her computer's analysis.  "She's showing
signs of severe oxygen depravation, to the point of minor brain damage.
Don't worry, though: there'll be no lasting effects once I fix her."  She
picked up Sasami and set off inside the house.

"Tell me you didn't lock us in there to die," Ryoko snarled.

Ayeka said nothing, and avoided Ryoko's gaze.

"You did.  You nearly killed your own sister, you little BITCH!  And to
think, she was going to APOLOGIZE to you."  Ryoko brought her hand up to
slap Ayeka, then thought better of it.  "You're not worthy of her, Ayeka.
How you qualify as noble, I'll never know."  She spat on the ground in
front of Ayeka, then stalked away.

Tenchi, having asked Kiyone to beam him to a side entrance in case either
Ayeka or Ryoko had a problem with Washu, was wondering why his bathroom
now had a curtain in front of it when he noticed Ryoko float in.
Apparently, there had been a problem.  Tenchi wrote it off to Washu's
departure.

Before he could ask Ryoko how things had been, Ryo-ohki bounded up, and
in to Ryoko's arms.  They looked into each others' eyes, and Tenchi knew
Ryoko was getting the trip's details from Ryo-ohki.

Eventually, Ryoko looked up.  "I'd love to ask you how things went,
Tenchi, but there's something I've got to do while I can."

"Eh?"

"Pay my respects."  With that, Ryoko floated upwards through the ceiling.
Shortly thereafter, a brief shadow told Tenchi that Ryo-ohki had
transformed, then left the atmosphere.

******

Kiyone slowly, silently keyed in the launch sequence on the Yagami's
bridge, just inside the orbit of Mercury.  She had insisted on being alone
for Ki-ohki's funeral.  No one else had shared her brief, but intimate,
connection with that cabbit, and the detective had insisted that no one
else could share her sorrow.  She had beamed her passengers back to Earth
from far beyond orbit, but close enough that she could send them all to
the Masaki home.

She was not surprised when Ryoko and Ryo-ohki phased through the door
behind her.  "Come to gloat?" she spat.

"Nothing of the sort.  I heard that one of those furballs got inside your
head, and wanted to see it myself, that's all," she lied.

Kiyone whirled on Ryoko, but her tear-streaked face prevented her from
communicating the level of anger she wanted.  "GET OUT!"

"Kiyone..."

"GET OUT!  Get out of my ship, get out of my hair, GET OUT OF MY LIFE!
Just GO AWAY!"  She launched herself at the pirate, intending to pummel
her back through the Yagami's skin...

...only to find herself in Ryoko's comforting embrace.  "Shh.  It's
alright, Kiyone.  Let it out."

The absurdity of the situation was too much for her.  She broke down
crying on the spot.

Ryoko smiled, alternately holding and patting Kiyone, and nodded to her
companion as she began the true reason for her visit.

"You...don't know...how I feel..." Kiyone choked out between sobs.

"Yes, I do."  Ryoko sighed.  "Yes, I do.  I feel it whenever Ryo-ohki and
I separate.  I felt it just now, when I almost lost her for good..."

"But..."

"I know.  The only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that I'll
get her back.  But it still hurts, Kiyone.  Ki-ohki wasn't even around you
for two days, so you'll pull through.  If I lost Ryo-ohki forever...I'd
die.  Maybe not on the outside.  Maybe fate would keep my body intact
until the universe goes.  But, inside, I'd be dead on the spot."

Kiyone just kept sobbing into Ryoko's shoulder, as Ryo-ohki padded up to
Kiyone's console and launched the casket with the cabbit's cousin's
remains.  Ryoko silently watched Ki-ohki plunge into the sun, then
signaled Ryo-ohki to take the Yagami home.

And, inside, Kiyone did not die.