DISCLAIMER: Hi Pioneer and AIC it's me Erik Tuttle again! I've just dropped by 
to ask you to please not sue me for using all of the cool characters that you 
own which are portrayed in this work of fiction. Thanks a lot!

As for you readers I'm sorry to use "Christmas" so much in my big fics lately 
but it was kinnda unavoidable in this one! :) If you don’t know who Type O 
Negative is then you should check them out. All chapter titles in this fic were 
taken from the "October Rust" album. It also served as an inspiration of sorts. 
I thought that it would be fun to write a fic that went along in an order/ 
telling a story from a musical release each chapter having something to do with 
the coinciding song. Read on, have fun!

I’m releasing this beta to see if enough people like it to make me continue. I 
like this fic but it is becoming a challenge to write and I could spend my time 
with others so hit me back and tell me that you think.

http://www.geocities.com/raven_575/index1.html

Erik Tuttle
"October Rust" !Beta release!


>>1<<    "Bad Ground"


	1
	Hardness prevails everywhere
	There is a life to it in the shallow streets,
	 In the hallow gutter so deep like the true thoughts of us
	Is there a life in this crusted flat of dead ground?
	Where else can it be found?
	Everything can be flat
	Everything can be hard
	Everything can be dead
	Even the hearts of men	

	2
	Autumn leaves tricked from the branches of Earth in the summer time. 
October was a colorful month and it was a cold month. It was one month spent by 
a young woman wandering among the water colored canopy clutching tightly to the 
break in her warm coat, trying to keep all of the precious warmth inside. Her 
feet felt the packed dirt beneath them. Her boots cracked and broke it pressing 
it down, forcing it apart.  The trees watched her as she strode past reflecting 
on the events of the day or anything else that brought trouble to her door. She 
came here often, her clothes usually different but her expression was always the 
same. A sadness seemed permanently fixed to her face, always in thought she was 
and the trees knew what she was thinking. The murado haired woman told them 
without knowing, talking to herself in the quite night. Love was this girl's 
problem, a common one that binds us all. The word is one spoken often that never 
looses its flavor. This rare delicacy was the one the trees knew that this girl, 
this Ayeka, longed to indulge. Her body was right and her mind was set. She knew 
what she wanted but not how to get it. The desire watered her eyes from a deep 
can of salty tears, the thought moved her lips to a definite frown, the concept 
moved her whole soul in it's passion. Longing joined with the air as lust 
floated about. October was here, cold temperatures were here, and the unexpected 
came quickly as with the falling leaves.


>>2<<    "		"


	"Ayeka! Ayeka!" A young girl's voice stirred the room. Ayeka entered the 
dinning area of the Masaki household still gripping the edges of her winter 
coat. It was still cold outside and as far as Ayeka was concerned it was colder 
still on the inside of the two story house shared by her sister Sasami, the 
space pirate Ryoko, a police woman called Mihoshi, mad/legendary scientist 
Washu, and her self along with an "old man" known as Katsuhito (a.k.a. Ayeka's 
half brother Yosho), then came the masters of the house Tenchi, and his father 
Noboyuki Masaki. All of them were a tight and crammed bunch that had been 
through a lot together making them all the warmer still. Everyone smiled, happy 
to see Ayeka walk under the front archway. Everyone smiled that is except for 
Ayeka.
	"Sister where have you been!" Sasami ran to wrap her arms around Ayeka's 
waist. She was a cutie pie little Sasami was, blue hair was held by two bands 
near the back of her head forming long curving pigtails until it broke off into 
fine tips near the youth's feet. Her figure was small and fragile giving one the 
image of a baby dove while the childish face retained all of its sweet 
agelessness.
	"I was out on a walk Sasami," Ayeka forced a smile and hugged her sister. 
"I wanted to be alone for awhile."
	"I know how you like to do that Ayeka but the food was getting cold and I 
was starting to worry!"
	Ayeka broke the embrace. "Oh you shouldn't you know that I'll be fine 
because I can take care of myself. Besides I'm not all that hungry anyway. I 
believe that I shall go to my room now and perhaps take my meal later," Ayeka 
moved to the stairs. 
	"Ayeka wait! Please you need to eat!" Sasami pleaded.
	"Sasami I have already told you that I am not ready to eat now so please 
let us leave it at that." Sasami's sister began to climb the stairs leading to 
her bedroom.
	"But Ayeka we'll miss you!" Halfway up the stair Ayeka continued her 
assent without looking back. "Ayeka? Ayeka!?"
	"I wouldn't worry about her Sasami," Ryoko paused from harassing Tenchi 
long enough to speak. "Your sister is fine just give her, her privacy now."
	"Okay." The little girl returned to her spot at the table and looked at 
all the food spread across it. She held one chopstick in each hand and sighed.
	"You know Ryoko maybe we should be a little more concerned," Tenchi 
worried aloud. "Ayeka has been doing without us for awhile now and that's not 
healthy, and...." The voice lost it's direction as Ayeka cleared the last step 
up and began her walk down the long hall.


>>3<<    "Love You To Death"

	1
	Churning and writhing in its life the fire belched black smoke upwards, 
the shattered remains of the fuel it had consumed. The smoke was sucked upon, 
pulled out of the room by the force of the open window. This was Ayeka and 
Sasami's room. The room that the two sisters shared in the Masaki house was 
occupied by a single soul. Princess Ayeka first crown princess of planet Jurai 
knelt with both knees on the floor watching the small pages immolate as she fed 
them to the fire on the floor. She thought that perhaps the fire before her 
might symbolize the light that had gone astray in her eyes and that perhaps by 
brightening the flame with the pages before her she could finally let herself 
go. This thought fueled her emotions all the more as she tore the last page from 
the book and watched it drop into the doom below. All that was left of the torn 
volume now was the petite pink cover. 'My Diary' it read in ribbony gold letters 
pressed onto the front. The princess stood up and took a quick glance at the 
closet mirror against the far doors to her left. From up to down she looked long 
and hard at her near naked figure. When she had first entered the room she had 
stripped down to her one-piece undergarment and scattered the rest of her 
wardrobe all over across the ground. Next to her feet she saw her pink kimo 
lying in a crumbled mass. Ayeka kicked the robe aside and traced herself up in 
the mirror. Her legs came heavenward long and thin arranged in a perfectly 
sculpted shape giving way to her thin yet healthy mid section which curved up to 
form a shapely while somewhat controlled bosom. This all morphed flowingly past 
the shoulders, around the neck, over the face, right to the core of the crown 
Princess's deep purple hair falling downward to begin at the toes again. Ayeka 
watched her watching eyes as they moved in the reflection produced by the 
mirror. Her eyelids closed to cover and drape her wide pink orbs in darkness. 
Turning away from the mirror she opened them slowly to aim the last of her diary 
towards the flames. Letting it go the cover descended. Without wings to fly the 
final piece was gone, as good as dead. It landed and the flames jumped licking 
their lips at the sweet morsel. The shock pushed a torched piece of paper from 
out of the flames. Ayeka's eyes clouded at the words there as they were burnt to 
fine black ash.
	"Oh Tenchi," she looked away. "Am I good enough for you?"

	2
	The memories flowed out in the rapid, flooding likeness of summer run off. 
It had been just two days after the crash landing of Ayeka's spaceship Ryo-Oh 
during the time she had fortified herself inside the walls of her room. Stamping 
noises could be heard as the Earthling boy climbed the steps.
	"He's coming to see me," Ayeka thought holding herself in her arms next to 
the door. "But I don't want to see him. I want nothing to do with this miserable 
place. Besides he's probably coming up here to tell me that Sasami and I should 
leave soon so he can be alone with his monster woman. How revolting." The 
climbing had stopped and footsteps were now coming down the hall. Closer. Ayeka 
had wanted to scream. "Go away, don't bother me! I hate you and everyone in this 
horrible place!" But she hadn't. It was because the time did not belong to her 
long enough to make words.
	"Tenchi!" A voice halted the footsteps. "What are you doing? You're not 
going to see that princess are you?" Speaking with a rude tongue was, in Ayeka's 
opinion, what Ryoko did best. The purple haired noble sneered at the thought and 
image of the pirate that jumped into her head. Ryoko was headstrong and 
disgusting in Ayeka's opinion. The woman was a slut, incidentally a beautiful 
one at that although Ayeka would never admit it. Spiked, falling cyan hair was 
Ryoko's trademark that imitated the likeness of cartoon waves breaking at the 
beach that was her back.
	"I most certainly AM Ryoko," Ayeka had been right in her assumption the 
voice belonged to Tenchi, "and is their something wrong with that?" Ryoko was 
looking at the boy now with those bright Skittle yellow eyes, begging him not to 
go. 
	"Oh but Tenchi we should go play!" 
	"Ugh," the princess groaned as she both visualized and heard Ryoko take 
hold of Tenchi's head and pull it in-between her large breasts. 
	"Hey Ryoko!" The sound was a bit muffled but intelligible none the less. 
"Let me go!"
	"But?" She looked down on him, her height surpassing his own. 
	"I said let me go! I just want to check up on her she's hasn't come out of 
that room for two days now and I'm beginning to worry! She might be ill and I 
wouldn't blame her if she was after all that you put us through!"
	"Me?"
	"You are the one that brought all of us in for a crash landing Monday 
evening right?" Tenchi spoke in a snide tone and Ayeka felt Ryoko begin to sweat 
it.
	"Well...."
	"Now move please so I can go see Ayeka."
	Ryoko perked up quickly snagging Tenchi by his arm. "Oh Tenchi come with 
me!" Ayeka heard a phasing noise and realized that Ryoko had teleported Tenchi 
and herself out of the hall off to some other place.
	The princess relaxed against the wall and looked up a bit. "He was coming 
to see me because he was concerned." The words sounded strange but Ayeka knew 
that they were true. "He was worried about me. About me."

	3
	"Happy birthday Ayeka!" Tenchi sat with his legs crossed on top of Ayeka's 
bedroll. Ayeka was momentarily taken aback as she watched him get to his feet, 
the soft moonlight of the window painting the side of his body, and walk over to 
her, a small paper wrapped box in his hand.
	Walking in the room Ayeka stammered. "L- lord Tenchi. What are you doing 
here?"
	Tenchi moved over in front of her. "It's your birthday and I brought you a 
present."
	"Well yes it is but we already had a party down stairs and it was quite 
wonderful. Thank you for the perfume by the way. It really is nice."
	"I'm glad that you like it Ayeka but I have something else to give to you 
as well."
	"Something else?" The princess was nervous.
	"Here it is," he pushed the small box to her and she took it. "And this." 
	Ayeka looked up. The man before her had undergone a complete attitude 
change in a single second. Everything about him was relaxed, at ease. His face 
swooped in to consume hers and his lips. His lips. At first she gasped, but then 
a soft, "Mmmm," escaped from inside her. Desire's arrow had not missed its mark 
for her mouth-met square with his locking in wet embrace. Neck arcing backward 
Ayeka's body moved with the kiss rocking back in passion. It was held for a 
moment and then softly broken. Ayeka's life took a step back to look her in the 
eye. 
	"Goodnight Ayeka," he said and then disappeared shutting the door behind 
him. Leaving a candied smile to spread on Ayeka's face.

	4
	The smile had returned to royal lips along with the tears as Ayeka stood 
alone in the darkness letting the cold moon light caress her soft skin like a 
lover who knew every point of her body as every thought dashing overtop her 
brain. The fire was out but she did not know.
	"I'll do anything for you," were the words told softly to the moon 
pretending to be the man in all of Ayeka's fantasies.

	5
	Absence of sun is cool and crisp leaving the power of ice water to freeze 
		the tongue
	Ablaze in the sky flies the moons lupine call bringing those emotions 	
		beyond six feet up to the fore
	Time makes and screams the thought to stay,
	 Passing away all the tick tocks of the day
	To sit and to wait,
	 To avoid and never deal,
	 All aging away making change as nonexistent as nothing new
	Watch the night,
	 Heed its call,
	 Taste the winds,
	 Of this late fall

	6
	Reefs of hazel grace breaking surface on the sea of the eye
	Oddly rounded muscle man's call looking muscled not at all
	Hair of the raven's night,
	 Cut short not taking flight
	Husks circle boring and plain
	Hiding warm flesh strong where arranged
	Living body being on the porch steps
	True warrior feeling,
	 And having no regrets
	Nice boy shy boy
	Noble boy king's toy

	"Ayeka?"
	Try as it might to tear out of her chest Ayeka breathed softly and pushed 
her surprise back in. How he had frightened her. "Tenchi?"
	"Lady Ayeka what are you doing out here so late?" The love sat on the edge 
of the porch looking out to the lake. She hadn't seen him there nor had she 
expected him to be there. Still on it's perch high in the sky Luna rained down 
on the Earth over the forests, on the trees, and bouncing off the lake. Leaves 
frolicked and scampered about finding their own way across the cold chilly 
ground. Ayeka felt like one of those leaves. She was not finding her way though; 
rather an irresistible force tossed her about. She was trapped. 
	"Oh, uh, nothing just getting some air. Why are you out here Lord Tenchi?"
	"Clearing my mind, it certainly is a wonderful feeling."
	"It certainly is." The phrase brought images back to Ayeka, of a book. A 
burning book that had been her diary. She had been clearing her thoughts. Until 
now no reason as to why she had immolated the book had come to mind but that was 
it. Clearing her thoughts was nice.
	"It certainly is."
	"What?" She had missed what he had said.
	"You just said it was a nice night to be outside."
	"I did?"
	"Yes."
	"Oh so I did haha!" 
	"Are you feeling okay princess? You're not sick are you?"
	"No Lord Tenchi I am just fine. By the way where is Ryoko?" Ayeka had 
forgotten all about her friend who rarely made the time to dislodge herself from 
the earthling. 
	"She went to bed awhile ago. To much Sakae again I think."
	Ayeka giggled. "Yes she is that way isn't she?"
	"Yeah haha!"
	"Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka had interrupted his laughter.
	"Yes Ayeka?"
	"Will you go on a walk with me?"
	"A walk? At this hour?"
	"Yes."
	"Well I don't-."
	"Please Tenchi please!" She was before him shaking him violently. The gate 
needed to be broken, this was the time! "Let me in! Let me in!"
	"Ayeka!" Taking hold of her hands he ceased the shaking. "What's gotten 
into you?"
	"Please Tenchi please." Crumpling to his chest Ayeka sobbed. "Let me in, I 
AM good enough."
	"Ayeka?"
	"Tenchi."
	
	7
	Distant two forms approached along the golden leave road, bringing the 
life into their lungs. The forest path was wide and allowed for comfortable 
movement to it's destination, regardless of the large maples that dawned the 
sides making two straight walls not allowing a civilized man through. Perhaps 
truly the cleverest creatures were the small furry animals that made their way 
to and fro as they pleased. Who needed a path to travel? Not them and not Ayeka. 
She knew where she was going, what direction she was headed, and where she 
needed to be. All that was left to do now was to get off, break free from the 
path she had taken every single day before. The new route was not a blind one, 
she had light, he was right beside her and he held a torch.
	"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier," Ayeka's voice was soft and 
detached. "It was a most inappropriate gesture on my part."
	"Ayeka," Tenchi's face was painted by the torch he held. "What's this all 
about? You have been very detached lately and you know how I worry."
	"Yes I do," Ayeka was watching the leaves crumple below her feet. 
	"Well what is it? What's up?" She did not answer mearly holding herself 
tighter. "Ayeka I know something is wrong." The walking had ceased. Wide pink 
eyes looked up falling into a place of deep hazel.
The eyes then spoke. "Can we talk?" they said.


>>4<<    "Be My Druidess"


	1
	The flames started from that path and have derived on their own
	Fire brightens the place
	Pyro blaze showing space
	A small spot it is that leads to bigger things,
	 For who ever started out tall?
	Glen,
	 A small leaf covered clearing,
	 Fire in the center growing, growing, growing
	A dive of desire,
	 Ridding with fuel of hope
	Burning in the middle of trees, trees, trees
	So many tall trees,
	 All different colors, 
	 All different faces
	Joined as one,
	 Some riding down some bringing up
	Here is Ayeka
	Ayeka,
	 Good luck

	2
	Blocking out some of the night's chill the light switch was flicked on. 
Tenchi stepped back from the small fire he had lit taking a pad of earth next to 
Ayeka. This patch of clearing was small but it still had plenty of room to hold 
the two of them. Princess Ayeka sat on a thick fallen tree with hands resting on 
the top of her thighs and eyes peering into the depths of a new fire. Gold-
washed leaves sprinkled around, a sign of the snow to come. But there was no 
warning as to the hurricane that would journey with it.
	"You wanted to talk Ayeka," he spoke softly. "What's the matter? I need to 
know."
	The fire. "Let yourself go." My Dairy. "Let your past go." bye-bye. "The 
problem, Lord Tenchi, is you." They weren't mean words.
	"Me? What did I do?"
	Ayeka giggled feeling better. "I'm in love with you but you know that."
	"Well I."
	"Ryoko and I have fought for you at almost a year's length now. I don't 
believe that you really know how deep this battle goes. It is not a battle in 
the normal sense, Ryoko is my friend but what we desire is the same. It is a 
hard war we fight Tenchi and frankly I don't know what to do anymore." Her voice 
never broke its stride the tone never altered. It was a fragment of assembled 
words and sentences that had been running over and over and over all the time. 
There was no emotion, no hope, no hate, simply words. Words, words, words that 
shaped and created the world outside ourselves. Things happen, incidents occur 
because of such things, such small things that are paper pressed into our minds 
from birth. A person grows being taught how to shape and change there or anyone 
else's world strangely enough it is a force never exerted. 
	"Ayeka...." The words were not programmed. A natural response to the 
situation presented it was less than human. He was supposed to think isn't that 
what bade him apart from the beasts? "I know how you and Ryoko can be," words 
broken up a sign of improvisation. "And I know that you to seem to feel for me 
but, what is it Ayeka? As a third person what is it about Tenchi?" He always 
seemed to make sense in a pinch. 
	The breath fell into her vocal chord's restrains; there was a resulting 
gasp. "I, I don't know." She didn't actually. Why did this boy make more sense 
than the others did? What made him different? The princess had traveled the 
stars and seen many a fine group of places but what of the people? "I hadn't 
ever thought of this." They talked; hours were spent there in the clearing 
around the fire. Touching each other in ways never experienced before. Just 
talking and changing the world around them.


>>5<<    "Green Man"


	1
	Keeping the ground health was a very large task, one, which also required 
the utmost patience and physical fitness. "It's all part of your training," 
Katsuhito, Tenchi's grandfather had said. "I thought he was going to teach me 
how to fight not how to farm!" The frustration fueled him to strike blow after 
blow into the frozen soil, breaking it and keeping it fresh. Winter was fast in 
coming as November had already come and gone. The days went by fast and cold 
turning and twisting life around its corners. In mid change the season was cold 
but it was going to get all the colder still.

	2
	Two slices of bread, three cuts of meat, a spoon of mustard, and some 
lettuce. Was that it? The makings of a sandwich lay out before princess Ayeka 
resembling the dismembered pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. "Okay sis you've got 
everything in front of you. What next?" Sasami elevated herself with a stool and 
placed her hands on the counter before the lunch goods in front of her sister.
	"I start with the bread," said a confidant and hopeful Ayeka holding her 
hands together below her waist.
	"Well then start!" Griped Sasami. 
	"Oh yes!" Ayeka took the bread and set it in front of her. "Now the 
mustard." Using her right arm the princess took a spoonful of the yellow slime 
and splashed it down atop the bread. "Now it's time for the bologna," she 
reached for the sealed package.
	"No Ayeka you've got to spread the mustard around before you put the meat 
on." Sasami thanked herself silently for being here. Who knew if she wasn't 
there her sister could end up KILLING Tenchi and nobody wanted that.
	"Of course," Ayeka took the spoon and arranged the seasoning sauce in 
calculated strokes making the mustard look more like a paint and the bread it's 
canvas. 
	"You're doing great Ayeka! But you'll have to excuse me now I need to 
finish the cookies for the party tonight." Sasami jumped down and took up her 
stool.
	"Okay I'll be out of your way shortly," Ayeka fidgeted with the bologna 
package. 
	"Just call me if you have any questions I'll only be a few feet away!" The 
little mother figure moved over and set her stool next to the stove. Meanwhile 
the older princess stood with a straining cloud to her face. The lunchmeat 
packing was proving that it could put up quite a fight. Ayeka pulled and the 
package screamed in final terror sending bologna up and into the air. The eyes 
in Ayeka's head went wide but then she closed them and gave a sigh. 
	"Oh brother," she said aloud. "Now there's a giant mess everywhere," she 
thought to her self. There came from the darkness a soft plop, plop and Ayeka 
opened her eyes. Two pieces of meat had landed perfectly on the would be 
sandwich. The princess held out her hand and the third round morsel fell into 
her palm. She slapped it down, perfect. "Yes I did it! I did it! I did it!" 
Hopping around the kitchen Ayeka praised herself for such a job well done. 
Sasami just turned her head and smiled. Her sister wasn't a good for nothing 
after all. It would take some time but she had potential. 

	3
	Climbing up a ladder of sky the sun perched it self at the top to take a 
break and enjoy lunch. Tenchi Masaki Finished with the last row of earth for the 
hour and set his hoe down against a rock. The weather was cold out but he didn't 
feel it. His clothes and heat from his body kept him very insolated during the 
workday, to insulated sometimes, that met that it was time to cool of. Time for 
a rest and a little lunch. The youth sat down on the rock before him and took 
the bag off the ground at his feet. He unwrapped the top of the brown paper sack 
and looked inside. Today he was going to enjoy a hearty meal of rocks. "ROCKS!" 
Tenchi shoved his head into the bag. 
	"Oh man where did my lunch go!" He said aloud. Then he spotted it hiding 
in a corner, a small folded section of white paper. It was a curious puzzle and 
one he was defiantly going to investigate. Curiosity unwrapped the paper and 
held it before his prying eyes. It read:
	Ha! Ha! Ha! No lunch for you! :P
	At the bottom the note was signed by a cartoon face Tenchi thought looked 
a lot like Ayeka. "Ha, ha, ha. No lunch for you," he read aloud. "Hey what is 
this."
	"Lord Tenchi!" A voice called over the hills.
	"Huh?" Tenchi set the note down and looked up. He saw Ayeka coming up the 
path towards the field he was in wearing a warm coat and carrying a bag at her 
side. 
	"Lord Tenchi their you are!" She said and then broke into a run. Ayeka had 
nearly reached Tenchi's now standing figure when colliding with a stone her toe 
stubbed and she pitched forward. "Oh!" She fell down right into Tenchi's arms. 
Unexpected but perfect.
	"Ayeka! Are you all right?" The princess looked up relief covering her 
face.
	"Yes just fine," she said. The princess relaxed in his arms for a moment. 
"No not quite yet," the voice in her head spoke and she rose up. "I brought you 
lunch," the beaming girl said. 
	"Lunch?" Tenchi questioned. "Oh so you ARE the one responsible for the 
rocks! And here I thought that it was Ryoko," he smiled that was good.
	"Yes it was me, but here have some food! I made it my self!" Ayeka handed 
the boy who worked in the field her sack. 
	"You made it?" Tenchi asked.
	"Yes Sasami was busy with the food for your father's party so I went ahead 
and made you a lunch."
	That's right he had forgotten! "Oh we have that party tonight don't we?"
	"Yes, what was it again? A winter coming party?"
	Tenchi smiled and separated the folds of the sack. "Yup! It's a first snow 
winter party actually but it doesn't really matter. Every year before Christmas 
Dad invites a bunch of friends and people from work up here to the house just to 
get together," he smiled. "He'll have to remind all of them again where we live 
now after Ryoko moved for us."
	"I see, Tenchi?"
	The boy looked up from the sack. "What is it Ayeka?"
	"Well I was wondering, would you go to the party with me?" Ayeka blushed a 
bit turning her head slightly.
	"You mean as your date?"
	"I guess that's what you call it on this planet, yes."
	"Um, Ayeka you have to understand that well, er, this isn't really a 
formal type of thing you know? It's just an event that you go to."
	"Oh so your saying that you don't want to," Ayeka's voice lowered. "I 
see," the Juraian turned on her heals and began to walk off her body heavy from 
the weight of rejection as she prepared to make her way back to the house. The 
minute he had said those words Ayeka's body had grown more challenging to 
support as if heavy chains had been draped across her figure when in fact they 
had. Large steel chains of disappointed emotion pushed her body down. It even 
became a challenge to move a toe, connected to a foot that wanted to go home. 
Ayeka lifted the chains into her arms and began the walk.
	"Ayeka, Wait!" Tenchi ran after her. "Stop, please!" She did. He ran to 
stand before her. "If you really would like to go to the party as my date you 
can."
	"But you said no."
	"No I didn't. I just said it wasn't the type of gathering that one brings 
a date to but if that's what you want that's what you'll get!" He smiled.
	"Thank you," she said and began to go a second time.
	"Hey!" Her hands were held, the mittens captured in his large palms. 
"Cheer up Ayeka!" He smiled again and this time Ayeka saw it.
	"Mmmm," it was a happy sound. "Enjoy your lunch Tenchi."
	"I will. Oh Ayeka? When do you want me to pick you up?"
	The princess smiled, this was great! "The guests will begin to arrive 
around five thirty so lets make it six. Is that okay?"
	"Just fine and Ayeka," her head turned, "don't go to overboard on what to 
wear okay?"
	Giving a giggle she turned back towards her new home. It finally felt like 
a home now. "Of course," she said.

	4
	It all started off with one small ring that led to an avalanche of 
doorbell calls. Five thirty-six had brought with it the first guest as Nobiuki 
ran franticly around the house making sure the final preparations were all set. 
Sasami usually followed him bringing with her trays of freshly baked goodies to 
set up around the living area. From high up galaxy police detective first-class 
Mihoshi descended the stairs. She wore a simple pair of kaki dress pants 
accompanied by a small pink tank top that set off the rest of her body 
wonderfully. A shrubbery of blond hair crowned her head making her blue eyes 
seem like sea pools large and deep. Mihoshi's figure was one of a genuine Barbie 
doll, from breasts to toes she was it. One hundred percent beauty queen.
	"Oh it smells so good in here," she took a step down. "Sasami is such a 
wonderful little cook. But were is everybody?"
	"They'll all be here in a minute," the corner of the room spoke while 
Mihoshi's gaze turned to meet an old man. 
	"It's only you Katsuhito!" The detective giggled. "You startled me! Hey 
has anyone seen Ryoko?"
	"I have." It was Ryoko's turn to take a trip down the stairs. She wore her 
hair as always in spikes along with her white and blue kimo. 
	"Oh hi Ryoko!" The pirate gave the police officer a smile. "I was 
wondering where you were! But where's Washu?"
	"Ah she'll probably be late as always," Ryoko strode over to stand next to 
Mihoshi as the doorbell rang. 
	"Welcome friends," said Katsuhito pulling the entrance open for the 
guests. Not long after he had shut the door the bell rang again. "Welcome 
friends," he said. 

	5
	"Ayeka! Oh hurry up Ayeka it's six ten already!" The boy Tenchi paced 
outside of his date's door waiting for it to open. Nearly all of the guests had 
arrived and were begin to enjoy themselves down stairs. "Grrr, I hope they don't 
eat all the food," Tenchi mumbled. He scratched his head and took support from 
the wall. A simple gray T-shirt was covered by a simple blue over coat; Tenchi 
stuck his hands into the pockets of his black pants and sighed. Slip, the door 
opened beside Tenchi. "Hmm?" he asked it and Ayeka too a step out. Eighth 
Juraian eyes bulged from their sockets as they caught a glance of the glorious 
princes. It was unbelievable; Ayeka looked... normal, just not for her.
	All of the apparel that hid her nakedness was from planet earth. She had 
black dress pants covering her legs, like Tenchi, that took her true height and 
made it known. She looked a lot taller when she truly hadn't moved an inch. The 
shirt she wore was long-sleeved with pinstripes running down to her waist where 
the shirt tucked in and met with an unlatched vest black in it's color. "Sorry 
I'm so late," the princess struck a dramatic pose placing her hands on hips and 
rocking them to her right while her upper body moved left. Tenchi had never seen 
her like this before. What had happened?
	"Ayeka," he fell in love with her. That was it. The previous attraction 
that he had felt before had been taken and seeing her now as she looked it had 
been blow up, inflated, it was just the way she looked. He just felt so proud of 
her for looking the way she did-great-and for him to know that she wanted to be 
with him. With out knowing it Ayeka had made her move and his heart was locked. 
"Y- you look, wow," he stammered. "I've never seen you like this!"
	Ayeka dropped the pose and leaned back on her left leg looking at herself. 
It was a last minute decision really, I hope you like it."
	"I do but how? Where did you get it."
	"Well I learned how to use your computer so I ordered it off the... 
Internet? Is that what you call it?" 
	"Yes but no one can deliver that fast!"
	She smiled. "It was simple really. I just told them to give me their 
address and I would stop by. So they did and I flew out there." She was blushing 
now, very pleased that he was so completely focused on her. "I know that sort of 
defeats the purpose but I really didn't have another option now did I?"
	"It was a great idea." Another compliment! "The suit is wonderful!" It was 
inside him. So proud for her! This suit gave her a new air a power that made 
even Ryoko look small by comparison. She made him feel great! Ayeka could see it 
and her self-confidence buried all of her doubts deep inside. She smiled and 
leaned towards him. Now it wasn't time to loose too much control, she was still 
a princess and needed to behave accordingly, it was just too good though. 
	"I hope they don't eat all the food." Tenchi laughed at Ayeka's joke as he 
took her arm and lead her down stairs.

	6
	What a great evening and still only eight thirty! Ryoko Hakubi sat back 
and put her feet up on the coffee table. It was good to kick back if only for a 
minute though and enjoy a drink by herself even if it was in the middle of all 
this chaos. The hazel liquor swished in her glass and she touched it with her 
lips. Mmmm, it was good and warm to sending a trail of tingles down her, a 
European drink the whisky was sweet to, almost as good as Saeki she reflected, 
almost. Bringing the glass down beside her Ryoko draped the other arm over the 
back of the couch. This was so great why didn't they all do it more often? 
Rotating her head across the scene Ryoko could see each of her friends laughing 
and having a good time. Nobiuki moved from group to group of friends and 
associates telling jokes and sharing stories with all. Sasami and Ryo-Ohki moved 
from person to person as well showing off their magic tricks that brought smiles 
to the guest's faces. Mihoshi gossiped with tree men over by the stairs about 
this or that on the news as her covet of followers steadily increased. The space 
cop was a pretty one that's for sure. Ayeka was with Tenchi next to the buffet 
table sampling cheeses and small vegetables. The feeling inside of Ryoko was not 
chilled or warmed by this sight it just was. She didn't care if Ayeka was with 
Tenchi or not because Ayeka just wasn't the type to take advantage of such a 
situation. "That woman certainly stops me from taking it though doesn't she?" 
Ryoko laughed out loud at the joke she told silently in her head. Everything was 
all right and fine. Everything but one. Where was Washu? 

	7
	"6 days 13 hours and 10 minutes I could use a little something to eat," 
Little Washu let out a small yawn as she approached the dimensional door that 
led into the Masaki house. "I hope that this multicelled-bi-dimensional-nuclear-
radiotonic-fusionenhanced-powermanipulator will finally be the last piece of 
evidence I need to disprove Arondon's theory of superior mass production of low 
maintenance primitive power constraining structures as a logical conclusion to 
modern galactic energy demand supply." The genius stretched her arms out long in 
a v-shape then lowered them and grasped the handle of the door with her right. 
She twisted and stepped through. 
	THWAP! Washu stood in the middle of what appeared to be a social gathering 
the entrance to her lab stood on end as if it has just hit something. "What the 
hell?" She asked. "What is going on here?" A few people paused to look at her.
	"Ouch." The voice cam from behind the door. Poking her head out Washu 
leaned forward to take a peak. Tenchi was on the ground before her rubbing his 
head from the impact of the door. 
	"Hey Tenchi what's this all about?" Asked the scientist.

	8
	All the noise, it carried on and on like the dull eruption of a volcano, 
the searing white noise would not find it's way out of her brain. It was not 
that the gathering was overdone in volume but really she could feel it, her head 
hurt and the cool air felt good. The pulsating inside of her made it feel as if 
her heard had packed it's bags and moved up and into Ayeka's skull the dull 
throb echoed in the stillness of the cool fall night. A wind tickled the trees 
that gave a reply in their rustling. Ayeka sighed tonight was good. Being around 
people was much better for her that presiding over the same tedious chores day 
after day. Oh but such was life that same life that was burning quickly away 
like a fuse. The time would come, shortly she predicted, when it impossible to 
refuse the summons that bade her back to her home planet Jurai. She was a 
princess and she had a duty. The weight to run an empire was hers some day; she 
needed to be ready. How much longer would her father wait? It had been close to 
a year since his first and only visit, surely his tolerance would take a dive 
all too soon and he would truly insist on her immediate return. What would she 
do the? She would go that was an answer, the only one. "And then what of all my 
friends of they earth?" Her inner-self spoke but the pounding inside of her bore 
not an answer. Ryoko will have Tenchi and I will be left to the wealthiest 
suitor my Father can find and such is the life of a princess. The flames inside 
a dazzling blue are shrinking to embers. A flame with will soon die out and pass 
when I leave for outer space. Least I still have this time to treasure for the 
rest of my life and after I marry I will be able to return here. After I marry. 
I WILL NOT HAVE IT! But yes. Yes I will I can never put myself above others, 
that is the first rule we as nobility learn. I am there to save them. My life is 
the catalyst that changes theirs; I am the martyr crucified for them. Oh damn 
this infernal time! Cannot the pendulum of time alter its course if but this 
once? Gods be damned! What life is this! A tear ran from each of her eyes, 
curving in at the chin, meeting, and falling to feed the grass below.  I always 
though that things could be different for me some how. I tried so hard. 
	"Lady Ayeka?" The noble jumped at the sound beside her.
	"Lord Tenchi!" She dried her eyes. "What are you doing out here?"
	"I noticed you out here all alone and I wanted to make sure that you were 
all right? Are you?" He looked into her moistened eyes.
	"Yes just fine. It was growing a bit to loud inside so I can out here for 
a break and then I noticed the forest around here. It reminded me of Jurai."
	"Are you home sick?"
	"Perhaps a little."
	"Please don't be Ayeka," Tenchi stood beside her and took her hand. "All 
of us here love you very much and I know it must be hard."
	My hand! "Ah yes lord Tenchi. I know." They stood and watched the wind 
puppeteer the trees.

	9
	Her hand! "Hey no fair!" Ryoko sat up from the chair she was in to get a 
better look out of the front window. So Ayeka was after Tenchi after all eh? She 
was good, allot better than Ryoko had thought, but not good enough! A smile 
spread on her face while the mischievous thought matured in her brain. 
"Ahahaha!" The laughter out loud truly was joyous truly a thing to drink to. 
Ryoko tilted her mouth back and put half a glass of the liquor down her throat. 
The idea was great, wonderful, perfec-! No! It could not be! Never! NO! It was 
not her hand who had trapped his, rather, his had swallowed hers! And now! And 
now.... Both arms held there was no escape for Tenchi now. What had happened? 
Had there been rendezvous Ryoko had never been aware of? Letters passed secretly 
at dinner? Where there other beautiful kisses such as this exchanged before? On 
lips. On lips so happy. On lips. The glass in her hand was held now by a gaze 
and nothing more as it plummeted towards the floor. Crash the slow motion noise 
unheard in the excitement around. Like the scream of her soul the sound had 
gone, utterly and strangely foremost, unheard. The small pieces and clogged life 
flowed out of her now. Not like tears for there were none but rather in the 
small exhalation of breath walking out and away from her lungs. Ayeka would die! 
But no it was not her that held him rather him that held her. Calmness now 
departed, the joy emerged and she ran with it. Through the house, through the 
guests, and through the sliding glass door Ryoko took it all with her. Outside 
to the porch, to the lake. Leaping high with the help of her flying powers Ryoko 
went up and let herself fall. Down breaking through the frozen ice of the lake 
shattering the still water in it's long hibernation she sunk. Far below 
everything she began to let it out. It was funny, the pain was hilarious, and 
the irony was perfect! Bubbles of cold laughter rippled up and to the opening in 
the small watery surface searing the senses so much more than the frigid tomb 
that was all around. What a great time she was having! So much fun! So much fun! 
"Ahahahahahahahahahaha!" Blub, blub, blub, the laughter going unheard by the air 
above.

	10
	"Oh damn," Little Washu stood inside the warm confines of the glass window 
looking out onto the lake. 


>>6<<    "Red Water (Christmas Morning)"

	1
	Slamming steel traps, walls of thick chilling ice surrounded and closed 
in. Pretended laughter ran screaming with the fright to come. But it was not 
fright that came. Sheer utter terror is what floated amuck in the icy water. The 
same fear that shot the veins cold, the arteries cold, the blood ran cold. 
Darkness encompassing and swallowing light below into its shadowless belly. 
Invisible fingers took and guided the puppet along twirling the strings making 
her scream, and cry, and claw for the surface. Breath was lost and the lungs 
began to shrink and shrivel growing dead from the lack of precious nourishment 
that was so desperately fought for. But it was not air that these teeth long to 
taste. It was not air.

	2
	So the kiss had faded with time
	  It had been so easy just to forget about it
	Don't say a word please don't disturb
	Just watch and listen
	  Wait and fight
	Fight and cry some more
	  Wait, and watch, and listen, and die some more
	So time had faded with out the kiss
	So many months come and gone seemed like forever
	  But not
	Falling leaves turned to floating snow
	  Pretty soon the winter will go
	But with in but with out
Summer rage and summer drought
	A winter grin brings presents out
	  Brightening light makes strong doubt

	3
	Into her the fluid rushed again drowning her again. Bottles lined the 
floor they're empty glass blurring the lights beyond. Multiple colors made the 
Christmas tree in bloom, flowering from all angles. Presents lined the bottom 
around the base in their colorful wrapped packages. There was a couch off to one 
side of the tree on it's soft blue form sat a light which flicked less 
frequently with each passing moment in time. She looked at the tree as she 
leaned back taking another long pull from the bottle in her hand. The fluid went 
down harsh and she gave a soft smile as she reemerged from the breathless sea of 
wine. Searching for nothing inparticular Ryoko watched the trees light in her 
silent eyes. Her vision, clouded in a state of intoxication, blurred the lights 
bright colors making them seem as sprites resting on the tree's fragile needles. 
Fading to the past was the dreadful night that she had spent screaming in the 
frozen depths of the lake. Now two weeks gone the incident was of little concern 
things had moved on, and things as often as they do, had moved for the worst. If 
a thing was going to move it could only go one of two ways, Ryoko's mind told 
her and the bond between Ayeka and Tenchi had only been roped closer. Not good 
for her not good at all. The bottle came up again and rested in the air 
discharging the last of its contents into the maw below. Ryoko smiled that was 
the last of it. No more remained. She dropped the bottle down to the floor and 
listened to the hallow clunk. Resting on the couch for hours had only increased 
the flower of hopelessness inside of her. It was a childish plan. She had hoped 
that by some slim twist of fate Tenchi might find his way down here to the light 
of the tree perhaps to talk alone in the darkness to himself. When he came she 
would be waiting. But he came not his door did not budge in its solid vigil over 
the boy inside. 
	"What were you thinking," Ryoko asked herself. It was no question. She 
held her head in her hand. "Oh Ryoko you haven't lived that long. You are young 
and inexperienced. You don't know what the hell is going on.... Damn it I am 
not!" The fact never the less floated in her brain. Young pretending to be 
mature pretending to be a sly fox who could have anyone desired. The fox was a 
rabbit, snow white pretending to be Dawn Wan. She still wanted to wear flowery 
dresses and play games all day. She wanted to sit and make flower chains and 
color pictures with wax crayons. Why did I get this woman’s body its nor fair! I 
miss all of those things but I wouldn’t go back. I like who I am. Don't I? 
Yes... but... what am I? You are a criminal you have killed many families and 
destroyed their homes. No! It was Kagato! He MADE me do it! Then are you happy? 
What? Are you happy? Don't you realize that you have suffered all your life? 
Stop it you're drunk! You don't know what happiness is. Quit it! You don't know 
how to love. I SAID STOP! The sadness and depressing passion washed down and 
over as a rain of black needles. Puncturing the skin they took their roots and 
grew stemming off beneath the skin making removal impossible. Reality of the 
situation hovered beneath as a dark abyss that she was posed over suspended by 
the light sucking spines. All of this was unknown and unseen such a thing as 
this had never occurred before. If one had no recollection of it, no evidence of 
its existence then how is it that it should come to pass. These emotions these 
thoughts slammed on as battering rams deep inside the brain pounding new 
revelations, expanding old situations. A dire fit wrestled about in restrain. It 
was not possible! These doubts did not exist! Then how can they control me now? 
I will not believe I will not! Mastery over myself is mine alone I am the will 
that shapes the way of this world and I believe! None of this is the truth! I am 
only here because I want to be and now I refuse! To hell with this! To hell with 
it all! The world disappeared. 

	4
	Night time and everything was gone
	The feeling of the pit was gone
	Long, long gone like so many endless nights spent crying alone
	Cold
	It was cold
	Thousands of white eyes watched from a distance
	 Existence made souly out of will
	 The will of their creator
	She stumbled fourth, the creator
	 With feet in shoes that she had made
	 Body in robe she had designed
	 With life that she made existent
	No one was higher than she
	 No all was greater than her
	Not the eyes no one
	Bleeding fluid from a cut came because she had bade it
	It was her who said the blood shall be red
	 And it was she who had broken the bottle so hard against the wood floor
	 Then watching it dance on a sacred vein
	Herself fled from her now
	 All that she had created
	 Spawned a new home on freshly fallen show as she walked
	Making it's home was her doing
	 She wanted it there and that is where it went
	 Just like the feet that solemly shuffled through the snow. 
	 To a place a place she had created
	 To a place she had lived
	A mouth that would feed from her again
	 A cave dug deep in the woods
	 It would take her back
	 She would make it
	No
	She would not make it
	She did make it