Disclaimer: All characters owned, distributed, and used by Pioneer. I own no part of it. I'm just fiddling. ==-==-== The Secret Love Brian Burke Tenchii@hotmail.com http://members.xoom.com/Tenchiii/Homepage.htm ==-==-== She has been floating in this area of space for some time now. Though time means nothing to her, neither does the limiting properties of space. Curious, she continues to search this particular wreckage. The damage is, of course, extreme. Not a single passageway exists anymore. Everything here is debris. Metal cables. Mangled panels. Occasional glass. Broken marble. Nothing that would suggest structure. Still, she searches for that which she seeks. Patience for her is nearly unlimited. Yet, she cannot wait to find that which she desires. ==-==-== On the familiar planet not too far from the search party of one, an all too familiar situation pans out. As a result, the Masaki family has seeked cover. All but one. "Stop this!" he shouts, attempting to stop their efforts. Although, despite what he says, the feuding continues. "I will not allow you to terrorize Lord Tenchi anymore!" one shouts. "You and what army?" the other returns. "The Juraian fleet?" "If need be," Ayeka answers. "Wouldn't that look good," Ryoko adds. "Not only would you get Tenchi, but you'd have to live with the fact that you cheated!" Taken aback by this statement, "fine! I do not need the military to take care of the likes of you!" "That's it!" Tenchi shouts. "Stop this right now!" "Lord-" "-Tenchi?" "I will not allow you to continually fight in the house. You're constantly destroying things. If you want to duke it out, go outside!" Turning his back, he emphasizes the point. "But, Tenchi, I-" Ryoko starts. "No buts," he says soundly. "I'm going to talk with Sasami. Why don't you two work out your differences away from the house?" Storming off, he heads for the kitchen. "You've really done it this time," Ryoko states, partially glancing at Ayeka. "Me? How dare you make such an accusation!" she retorts. Crossing her arms, "I was not the one hording over Tenchi like some two bit sleaze." Crackling amber energy, "sleaze, huh? That is one insult I will not forgive." ==-==-== In the adjoining room, the object of their desire sits groaning over the violence. "Nothing I say gets through..." Sitting near him with a cup of tea, "don't worry, Tenchi," the little girl says. "They'll get over it." "That would be nice..." he sighs. "But, it won't happen unless I do something about it." Sipping his own cup of tea, "Sometimes I wish you were older, Sasami. You're the only one in this menagerie that truly understands." Sasami unexpectedly kisses him full on the lips. With a fire that could evaporate ice, but with a taste as sweet as freshly baked cookies, she surprises him to no end. ==-==-== Floating motionlessly, Tsunami concludes her search of the wreckage as she finds exactly what she was looking for. Smiling wide, she seems very pleased to find what she needed. Tsunami extends her hand, which glows momentarily from the power emenating from it. It soon grows, and separates from her hand. As Tsunami floats off to the side, it continues its development. she thinks to herself, As she watches the display, the area of space lights up with a certain brilliance. The light then flows towards the energy sphere, combining with it. ==-==-== Pulling back, "Sasami?! What was..." "That was a traditional Juraian reward for such a nice compliment," Sasami explains. "You should see what you get for personally saving a life!" Blushing a bit, "and here I thought I knew everything about Jurai." Sasami simply smiles. "There's a lot you don't know." "Well, I saved Ayeka a couple of times, now. But, she never..." Sighing, "that's because she believed she was in control of the situation. So, naturally, she didn't say anything about it." "I haven't heard Ayeka or Ryoko fighting in the past few minutes. Maybe they left." "That would be nice," Sasami adds. Standing up, "I better go talk to them. It's time to end this maddness." Sasami simply watches as her friend walks out of the kitchen. she thinks to herself. Smiling, ==-==-== Outside the house, and a long ways away from it, the galaxy's two biggest trouble makers sit at the Funaho tree, each on a separate bulging root. While their backs are to each other, they are far from ignoring each other. "So, Princess, what do we do? Tenchi looked like he was on the verge of kicking us out." "As I stated, it was you who started the fight. If you hadn't-" "Stuff it, Ayeka," Ryoko jumps. "Neither of us is going to get Tenchi this way. If we continue to fight, he'll ignore us both." "Then what would happen?" Ayeka asks. "Well, I've seen Sasami growing to like him." Sighing, "betrayed by my own sister." "We won't let that happen!" Ryoko states. "If only he would follow my father's example," Ayeka sighs. "Then, there would be no fighting." "You mean, marry both of us? "That means we'd be stuck with each other forever! I don't think I could deal with that!" "Neither could I. I could never be involved in a marriage with YOU. The thought of living with you for thousands of years drives me crazy." After a short pause for thought, "so, how do we get him?" Ryoko asks. ==-==-== In the darkness of space, a very different scene plays out. The collected energy finishes its assembly. Save for the flares of energy, the ball is motionless. The assembler of such a thing cracks her fingers, (a habit she picked up from her other self), loosening the appendages. Finally, she puts her hands to the three foot wide ball of energy. As she does so, another hand of energy emerges from the ball and lands atop hers lovingly. Slowly, it caresses her appendage, cherishing her soft skin. In response, Tsunami places her free hand on the new one, putting it into a sandwich of hands. she promises. ==-==-== Back on our world, (but not our country), Tenchi walks carefully into the woods surrounding his house. Careful as to avoid certain doom by the feuding pair, but careful as to not overlook them in his search. Continuing his search, he is joined by Ryo-Ohki. "Meow!" she greets, walking alongside him. Picking her up, the cabbit meows in surprise. Quickly, she moves to his shoulder, perching herself next to his head. With a couple rubs of her face against his cheek, she shows her appreciation for the act of kindness. Walking on, ==-==-== As Sasami sits in the living room, the book in front of her continues to become less and less interesting. It's not that the content of the material isn't good, it's the fact that her mind is wandering to other matters. Rubbing her lips with her fingers, she still recalls the sensation they recently received. A bold move on her part, with a viable reason. Still, being her first kiss, it seems to hold a special meaning for her. She sets the book down on the table and sits back into the couch. She knows how she feels, and nothing can change that. For people on Earth, this type of thing would be considered bad. However, being from Jurai, her situation is different. After all, how old was Ayeka when she fell in love with Yosho, her older half brother? As thoughts run through her head of this matter, she wonders if there's a way to fix this little problem. ==-==-== Not too far away from Earth, Tsunami and her little project continue. Separating, reluctantly, from the sphere of golden energy, she readies to finish this. Holding her hands forward, a faint light emits from them, and hits the energy. After a moment, the energy stops, and the ball is once again left alone. However, after a second of non-results, a change starts to occur. The energy shrinks, shapes, and overall becomes more human-like. Arms raise themselves from the ball, dragging energy from it in short streamers. On the end of the arms, balls bubble out, and open to form hands. Legs dive out the bottom of the sphere, and soon stretch and bend, as if testing themselves. Like the arms, feet form on the end, dividing into toes at the ends. Shortly later, a head jumps out the top of the energy. Though featureless, it soon rectifies that by dropping its 'jaw' down, whereupon a mouth forms. Starting out as nothing more than a dent on the face, it quickly deepens, hollowing out the necessary areas. A nose pokes through the mask of featurelessness. Ears pop out the side of his head, and the energy recedes near them to shape his eyes. Through the transformation, the individual parts send the excess energy to the torso, where the body of a man continues to form. The work completed, the energy cracks and breaks, and eventually shatters off the body. Standing in space, the form waves his hand over his body, creating some simple clothing. he thinks to himself. After watching the exciting display, Tsunami floats over to the man, inspecting his body. she thinks to herself, admiring his golden hair. The man puts his hand to her face, he says to her. she returns. he replies. Running his hands through his hair, he finds it unusually short. he says. Smirking, Looking about, she responds. Light encircles them both, and they disappear in a flash of similarly bright light. ==-==-== On Earth, Tenchi prepares to face his problem. Stopping in the woods, he can hear the pair of arguers on the other side of the shrubbery. "They never stop," he sighs. "Meow..." Walking into view of the pair, "Ayeka? Ryoko? I have something to say," he starts, immediately causing them to turn towards him. "I'm sorry for what I said at the house. I'm just getting tired of the fighting." "We understand, Tenchi," Ryoko responds. Ayeka stands, "there is one way to stop the fighting," she says. "The option has already been given to you." "You mean a Juraian marriage?" "Yes," she responds. "The choice is yours, of course." Tenchi considers this for a moment. "The only problem I see is that you'd constantly fight." Ryoko stands as well. "We fought only to get you, Tenchi. If you do this, the fighting will end. It's perfect!" As the pair move towards Tenchi, he wonders if he's being suckered into something. ==-==-== In a place of privacy, Tsunami and her friend reminice about the past. However, for the one, the past is not easy to recall. "What happened?" he asks. "Where have I been the past few thousand years?" "It started five thousand years ago, Rikul. We were together, as you know, and your abilities started to evolve a bit. After awhile, you left me in search of more power. You left so fast, I couldn't even stop you. The power corrupted you so badly that you changed your name. Over time, you forgot your old one. And me." "I forgot about you? How could someone be that bad?" "Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Your newly acquired power also changed your body. Your hair turned starch white, your eyes were yellow, and even your voice was twisted. Later, you came in search of me once more. I allowed you to catch me with ease. I did it so that I could free you." "You would take that risk, wouldn't you?" Smiling, "yes. I would. However, your death was not by my hand. A descendant of Jurai was able to use the Light Hawk Wings. He defeated you. With ease, actually. I think you were trying to lose, so as to be released." "I don't remember, though," he says. "It's not important," Tsunami says soothingly. She places her hand to his face, caressing it gently. "We are together again, and that's all I care about right now." "When that Juraian defeated me, it must've purified me somehow. The nightmare is over..." "Yes," Tsunami responds. "Now, let us begin our dream." She kisses him on the lips, silencing any further concerns. End One!