Prologue: Reunion

	There was only one word to describe the bridge of Mihoshi's shuttle, the 
*Un-no-fubuki*: mess.
	Junk food of all types was strewn across the bridge, in some cases 
spilling out onto the controls. Assorted wrappers blew across the floor, 
where they mingled with empty cans. The owner was sitting sideways on the 
command chair, tears welling up in her big blue eyes as she looked at the 
woman who had just finished raking her over the coals.
	"Kiyone... " she said. "It's all my fault. I should have realized that 
there was a chance that you might survive your brave sacrifice. I should 
have made Lady Akane take us back and look for you. I should have known 
you were alive! We swore kin-oath..."
	"I can't think whatever possessed me to do so," Kiyone muttered.
	"What was that, Kiyone?"
	"I said, I can't imagine what makes you think so."
	Mihoshi sniffled and looked up."You really mean that?"
	"Oh, what the hell," her partner mumbled. "Sure!"
	Mihoshi smiled.
	Kiyone reached into her bag. "Here. When I got back to our station, they 
told me, 'Hello, I see you're back from the dead after three years; 
please take this on to your partner along with her rebuilt ship.'" She 
handed Mihoshi a box wrapped in a wildly batiked furoshiki.
	"A present for me?!" Mihoshi hastily unwrapped the box, opened it, threw 
wads of packing lather out on the floor to join the rest of the trash, 
and removed the contents.
	It was a mobile. Crystal figures hung on fine gold chains from a gold 
hoop, which itself hung from four heavier chains that came together in a 
hook. The crystal figures represented Emperor Azusa, Funaho-kouhi, 
Misaki-kouhi, Mihoshi's great-great-great-great-grandmother (the 
then-head of the Galaxy Police), President Yakage of the Galaxy Academy, 
and assorted rulers of various subsidizers of the Galaxy Police at the 
time the mobile was made. And from the center, there hung a carving of 
three figures back-to-back: Sasami or Ryohko could have identified them 
as grown Washuu, humanoid Tsunami, and Tokimi.
	"Ohhhh," Mihoshi said. "It's from Minagi. She sends me a birthday 
present every year. Isn't it pretty?"
	Kiyone was quietly freaking out. "Mihoshi," she said. "That's one of the 
treasures of the Stellar Alliance of Mayrenn. It's been missing ever 
since the space pirates Yuugi, Minagi, and Konoha raided the place a year 
and a half ago. There's an eighty-thousand credit reward for its return."

	"Really? Wasn't that nice of Minagi to send it to me, then?"
	Kiyone sighed. She took the treasure from Mihoshi and carefully packed 
it away again. "Since when have you been friends with a notorious space 
pirate?"
	"We're not friends, exactly. She sends me birthday presents, is all. 
She's done it ever since you sacrificed yourself to save us."
	"Funny -- she didn't mention anything of the sort to Inspector 
Tientsin."
	"Who's Inspector Tientsin?" Mihoshi asked.
	Kiyone sighed. "Inspector Tientsin Kenji? The guy whose kidnapping was 
responsible for my spending three years at the back end of the galaxy?"
	"Oh, him. How is he?"
	"He's doing fairly well. He keeps capturing Minagi. Then she keeps 
escaping, and he goes out and captures her again. He's about to make 
promotion again, and in the one sensible act of his career he got himself 
engaged to Sasami."
	"Engaged to Sasami-chan? She hasn't said anything about being engaged."
	"Not Princess Sasami. Sasami. You know, the one who used to be our 
gofer? She was taking the entrance exams to Galaxy Police when I left. I 
will admit that since they look a lot like each other and have the same 
name, it's a natural mistake."
	"Look like each other? Oh my goodness, you're right! They look like each 
other!"
	Kiyone stared at Mihoshi. "You only just noticed that? God, Mihoshi, 
sometimes I wonder...."

	The Galaxy Police district station was one of the oldest in that part of 
the galaxy and one of the smallest in all of it. It was known mainly for 
two things.
	Firstly, many years ago when it was new, the present Emperor of Jurai 
(before his ascension) had stopped off there in disguise with a girl he'd 
abducted and ordered the chief of the station to marry them. The harassed 
station chief had said 'Well, we're busy just now trying to capture an 
extradimensional being belonging to a Tokimi Somebody who kindly informed 
us of its escape. Help us capture this Kain thing, and I'll be glad to 
help you." 
	After a short but frantic chase, which culminated in Kain trying to eat 
the Earthwoman while she pounded on it with a gun (not knowing how to use 
it), the extradimensional creature was sealed in the station, and the 
couple got married and went to break the news to his people.
 	Secondly, it was the district station where Inspector Tientsin Kenji 
was stationed. His meteoric career had been followed with interest by the 
tabloids and the gossipier members of the Galaxy Police. Half-Jurai 
himself, he had been chosen by Lady Akane, princess of one of Jurai's 
supporting planets, as her fiancee. Then, when Lady Akane (who ran a 
quasi-legal business in "finding" stolen artwork; i.e., if the pirates 
couldn't unload it anywhere, she'd buy it for *just* over what they'd get 
if it was broken down and then return it to the owners for a stiff fee) 
had a falling-out with the space pirate Minagi, Minagi had kidnapped 
Inspector Tientsin and then promptly fallen in love with him.
	Lady Akane had just as promptly co-opted Officers Kuramitsu Mihoshi and 
Makibi Kiyone to follow Minagi. Aided by their gofer Sasami (name kanji: 
supple/field officer/beautiful) they had tracked down Minagi and 
Tientsin. Then Officer Kuramitsu had let Minagi go for some reason 
probably only intelligible to her, and the space pirate had repaid her 
trust by re-kidnapping Tientsin and heading for her employer's secret 
base.
	The four girls had followed, and discovered it to be the lair of the mad 
scientist Washiba, who planned to destroy the universe. When one 
princess, one space pirate, one inspector, one officer, and one gofer had 
returned, they told conflicting stories that only agreed on the point 
that Officer Makibi had perished in the line of duty. From the aftermath 
of that one, Minagi got a sentence which she promptly evaded, Lady Akane 
got a slap on the wrist, Sasami got a bonus, Mihoshi got a commendation, 
Kiyone was awarded a posthumous medal, and Tientsin got the continuing 
attention of the tabloids.
	His one sensible move since was to get himself engaged to Sasami, who at 
least picked him up when he was down. Now, he was in the process of 
capturing Minagi for the sixteenth time in three years, and hoping to God 
that nobody would come along just now.
	"Tientsin... " Minagi crooned, her arms around his neck. "Why are you 
still into that Galactipork stuff? Come away with me. There's nothing to 
tie you down out there. You'll be the master of your fate, the captain of 
your soul... we'll be king and queen of the universe out there, because 
nobody's pressing us down... and I can give you such a *nice* time..." 
She was breathing into his ear now, and Tientsin was sweating like crazy.

	"Minagi. May I remind you that I am now engaged to Sasami?"
	"Sasami? Sasami? Oh, *Sasami*. Well, that's no problem -- we can take 
her along to cook for us. I think there's room on the ship for a second 
bedroom."
	Inspector Tientsin gulped.

	In the depths of the district station, lights were quietly blinking, 
monitoring all sorts of things that the Galaxy Police dealt with. All 
except on one terminal, back in the corner. If the outpost had not 
automatically run short, sharp currents of air and mini-vacuum suction to 
take care of such things, it would no doubt have been draped with cobweb 
analogues and thickly covered with dust. The presence of three small, 
steadily glowing lights ensured that this terminal was still functioning 
correctly -- for the moment.
	In one of the three small subspaces a little outpost like this rated, 
something was stirring. Of course, it had been stirring for a long time, 
but this time something was different.
	Time passes oddly even in a subspace by itself. When you get to the 
hypospace network that connects them, the one thing you can be sure of is 
that nothing traveling through it will ever get there when you expect.
	The thing imprisoned in the subspace sensed an incredible burst of 
energy coming towards it -- energy similar enough to its own that it 
could *use* it. Long-dormant drives stirred within the thing.
	It reached for the energy, drinking it in. It didn't know, nor would it 
particularly have cared, that it was energy from the destruction of one 
of the galaxy's most powerful (or at least known as such) ships, the 
*Sohja*. It didn't want to know anything about what could have caused 
such a burst of energy; all it cared about was that it meant OUT.
	One of the lights on the terminal began to blink with a dull, beeping 
noise. A camera, unused for years but still in perfect working condition, 
moved into place to investigate. Assorted engine parts that controlled 
the subspace ground to a stop. The long-dark screen of the forgotten 
terminal came alive, displaying a message in Galactipolice Standard, 
which bears an odd resemblance to ancient Etruscan. The message was 
simple. In English it would be merely three words: KAIN LOCK OFF.
	The message flashed up to the main screens in the control rooms, of 
course. The operators looked up in shock. One of them hit the alert 
button, warning the entire station and all ships connected to its network 
(legally or not). Another forwarded a warning to the command center of 
the station. Deep within the outpost, the sealed entrance to the 
unimaginable *otherwhere* where the being was imprisoned tore open even 
wider, and began to draw stuff through into the subspace.
	In the command center, the head of Engineering gasped "What's going on 
here?!"
	"There's an anomaly in the subspace chamber," the head of Forensics 
answered. "Conventional spacetime is being drawn into the core block!"
	"Shochou, do you think it's -- " the engineer began.
	The district station chief stared at the chart of the explosions 
occurring within the outpost. "It must be Kain, " he said, voice laden 
with emotion. "Who else could do something so... *impossible*?"
	The forensics head looked up again. "Dimensional shield breached! 
Time-axis out of alignment!" she said sharply. "Spacetime has begun 
moving into the past!"
	"He mustn't get away!" the station chief cried.
	"Sir," the engineering head said, "the subspace anomaly is out of 
control. If it keeps growing at this rate it's going to tear the whole 
station to pieces!"
	"Oh, shiiiit... " the forensics head muttered to herself.

	Minagi was trying to remove Inspector Tientsin's uniform jacket and 
ignoring his attempts to fend her off when the control console of her 
ship began to make noises.
	"Damn it!" she said. "What is it *now*, Mi-oh-ki?" She stalked angrily 
over to the console, passing a framed printout of the newspic of all the 
survivors of the Washiba Incident, including Ryoh-oh-ki (name kanji: 
soul/king/spirit-air) in his customary position on Cadet Sasami's head.
	Space pirates, contrary to rumor, are actually very good at certain 
forms of math -- such as calculating getaway time. Minagi left the 
console at a dead run, scooping up the picture and Tientsin on the way. 
She made her way to the smaller of Mi-oh-ki's two lifepods and slammed 
her fist down on the "open" button.
	"What's going on?" Tientsin demanded. "What's with the tiny lifepod?"
	"The bigger one's broken!" Minagi snapped back. She tossed the picture 
in and shoved Tientsin in after it, hitting the door controls as soon as 
she did so.
	Tientsin activated the "window" and stared at Minagi, locking the door 
to his small prison. "Minagi, why?"
	"Something called Kain... " Minagi said, setting the direction and 
maximum velocity codes for the lifepod. "There!"
	"What about Kain?!" Tientsin demanded.
	"I love you... " Minagi said, hitting the "eject" button.
	"MIIINAAAGIIIIIIII!" Tientsin screamed as the pod blasted off into space 
with incredible force. He could see that Mi-oh-ki was going through its 
undocking procedures, and that the district station was beginning to 
buckle as a result of incredible pressure from the inside.

	The station chief stood at his post as the district station went through 
its dying throes. He screamed his people's spit-in-the-face-of-death cry 
even as an explosion reached the command center itself, tearing it to 
pieces. The district station shuddered and exploded in a ball of light 
which began to expand. Then just as suddenly, it began to contract, and 
then expanded again. From the ruins of the Galaxy Police district 
station, a great dark Thing with a white, even beautiful face streamed 
off in the direction from which the energy blast that freed it had come, 
driving itself along by pulling from the invisible lines of force 
stretching between the stars.
	The destruction of the outpost was witnessed by two ships: Tientsin in 
Mi-oh-ki's tiny pod and another ship that had just come in on its regular 
route. Painted on the side of the ship was
GALAXY POLICE
SPECIAL OPERATIONS

	Meanwhile, on board the second *Un-no-fubuki*, Mihoshi was eating again 
and Kiyone had turned her attention to plotting the maneuvers the ship 
would have to go through in order to put them down at the Masaki house. 
Even if Mihoshi's grandfather had had it specially rebuilt for his 
granddaughter, it was still a new ship, and doing anything like that with 
a new ship was always tricky -- for anyone who wasn't Mihoshi, of course. 
Kiyone still didn't want to trust to luck, even if her partner was a 
living antibody for Murphy's Law. 
	The communications began to produce electronic beeps. "Why, " Mihoshi 
said with annoyance, "does Headquarters always call when I'm eating?"
	"What's wrong?" Kiyone asked. "Did you forget to file a report again?"
	"Attention all units!" the 'radio' crackled. "Institute emergency 
procedures at once! Class A-1 Disaster Kain -- " It broke off.
	"Eh?" Kiyone said. She leaped over to Mihoshi's board, sweeping the 
snacks off it.
	"Kiyone -- " Mihoshi protested.
	"Come in please, Headquarters!" Kiyone interrupted her. "This is 
Detective First Class Kiyone, in the Taiyou system. Please repeat your 
last message. Over."
	There was no response.
	"Come in!" Kiyone repeated. "What happened? Please repeat your last 
transmission."
	Still no answer.
	Suddenly something large and not precisely *there* rushed past them. The 
*Un-no-fubuki* shook in its wake, causing both women to lose their 
footing.
	Kiyone picked herself up first, moaning. "What was that?" she asked the 
world in general.
	The whatever-it-was began to settle over Tokyo. People in the streets 
looked up, amazed at the diffracted light that was coming through it.
	"It's the Northern Lights!" somebody said.
	"They're beautiful," another person responded, "but I thought they 
couldn't be seen in Tokyo?"
	"It's probably pollution," a short-haired schoolgirl in a golden jacket 
and dark skirt said. "It's finally caught up with us."

	At the Masaki household, Tenchi was coming down the stairs wondering how 
Mihoshi and Kiyone were handling their reunion. Aeka's mother had taken 
the old *Un-no-fubuki* along with her to drop off at Galaxy Police 
Headquarters for an upgrade, but he hadn't expected Mihoshi's partner to 
be the one bringing it along.
	The night sky suddenly brightened.
	"Eh?" Tenchi said, puzzled. 
	"Ahhh... " he gasped in terror as his legs wavered under him, and for a 
moment his feet seemed to be fading out.
	"That," as Tenchi said later, "was the first indication I had that I was 
going to vanish."

Tenchi-Muyou!
Ryoh-oh-ki:
in Love


Part One
The Time-Space-and-the-Other Machine


	It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! The maid 
screamed. Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!

	Meanwhile, at the Masaki household, Tenchi and the girls were facing 
their worst challenge yet: home movies.

	"You're going to love these, " Masaki Nobuyuki proclaimed, staggering  
in under a load of videotapes, film reels, and a movie projector. He set 
them down with a thud.
	"Oh? What are they?" Ryohko asked, picking up a reel of film. She held 
it up to the light and phased the portion of her face containing her eyes 
through the metal and celluloid. "Oh, look!" she said. "It's a lot of 
little pictures of the time we had the water fight in the onsen and Aeka 
freaked when her towel fell off!"
	"Oh," Nobuyuki said. "Heh-heh... wrong reel." He took it from Ryohko and 
went to exchange it for another film reel.
	Aeka had been slowly turning purple during this. Now she exploded. "That 
-- that -- that *commoner* was taking films of me bathing!? How *dare* 
HE!"
	"What's the matter?" Ryohko asked. "Embarrassed now that someone knows 
you don't look like much with no clothes to cover you?"
	"Why -- Ryohko, you bristlehare! Just because I have a proper maidenly 
modesty -- which you wouldn't understand, being quite as wanton as a 
bristlehare, if not more so..."
	"Wanton? I'd rather be whatever that is than a tight-ass like you."
	"Oooooh..."
	"I wonder what's keeping Mihoshi," Tenchi said.
	"She and her partner have a lot to catch up on," Sasami pointed out. 
"Wasn't it nice of Mommy to take Mihoshi's old shuttle back for an 
upgrade?"
	"Uh... yes," Tenchi said, thinking of the box Kiyone had brought along 
for them, now stowed in the shed. The exterior was decorated with cute 
marmots and fluffcats, and apparently in deference to Earth sensibilities 
Misaki had added a yellow chick and the words 'piyo piyo' that could have 
been lifted directly from Otonashi-kanrinin's apron.
	As for the contents... whatever had possessed her to send a daisy chain 
through the mail? Not to mention...
	"Got it!" Nobuyuki announced, coming back with a videotape instead. 
"This is Tenchi's school play when he was eight."
	"Oh, what was it?" Aeka asked.
	"Attack of the Evil Space Princess from Planet Jiraki," Tenchi answered. 
"One of the teachers wrote it. I was one of the Clumsy Zucchinis."
	"This I gotta see," Ryohko said.
	So they did. They watched Tenchi's school play when he was nine, "The 
Lady With the Feather Robe." They watched his plays at ages ten, eleven, 
and twelve, "Super Pepsi and the Kid Go To Mars" (in which he reprised 
his role as a Clumsy Zucchini), "The Demon of the Rashoumon" (which Aeka 
loved), and "Threat of the Static Klingons," respectively. In between, 
they watched Tenchi at the zoo, Tenchi at the school picnic, a very 
abridged portion of "All the people that go in and out of Tokyo 
Disneyland in the morning," and some other ones that Nobuyuki proudly 
announced he had copied from film reel to videocassette, much as he had 
copied all his reel-to-reel audio tapes onto CD.
	After "Threat of the Static Klingons" was over and everyone had gotten 
their breath back, Washuu announced it was time for her chat room and 
left.
	Nobuyuki took one look at his watch, muttered "Shimatta!" and announced 
he had to hurry if he was going to catch the train back to Tokyo. He 
suggested that Tenchi set up the filmreels and start showing those, and 
hurried out to catch the last bus into town.
	While he was on the bus, he began reminiscing about the days when he had 
made the film reels that Tenchi would even now be showing. High school. 
The way Achika, whom he was later to marry, had smiled as she jumped down 
from this very bus in the afternoons. The way she giggled when he did 
something so simple as cough... and how he had blushed then! There had 
been a new teacher that year... funny, he couldn't remember anything 
about her. And two transfer students that had abruptly left after 
something; he distinctly remembered how the second of them had sauntered 
into the room with an arrogant step, as if to say that she was totally in 
control of her life, but he could remember nothing else about her or the 
other one. Perhaps his mind was overtired?
	Or, more likely, it was the fault of all that drinking, those horrible 
months after Achika had died. He'd been in the bars every spare hour and 
some of the ones that weren't. You don't find answers in the bottom of a 
sake cup, but he had found some measure of oblivion... until Achika's 
father had dragged him out by the pigtail and thrown him in the pond with 
the tree.
	"You shame your father!" Masaki Katsuhito had yelled as he knocked a 
blinking, wet, and dazed Nobuyuki back into the pool. "And your mother!" 
Another punch, as Nobuyuki'd stood up once more. "And your widowed 
auntie!" Kick, as Nobuyuki'd tried to charge his father-in-law. "And your 
sister!" High kick, spinning him around. "You shame Achika!" Backhand 
across the cheek. Nobuyuki had actually managed to land a punch somewhere 
on Katsuhito.
	"And, worst of all, you shame your son! Tenchi's losing his father as 
well as his mother, and from what I see of you it's just as well!"
	After that, they'd had a splendid little fight. Somehow or other 
Nobuyuki's brain had cleared out, and he'd done his level best to strike 
back at something physical that could be hit.
	Masaki-san had said afterwards, while rubbing a bruised cheekbone, "You 
have the raw talent... it's a shame you were never trained." Nobuyuki, 
one big bruise all over, had nodded and tried to pay attention to his 
son. What with that and the other diversions for his mind he'd found (of 
which all that could be said was that they were less obviously 
destructive to his own self and interfered much less with the attention 
he gave to Tenchi), it was no surprise that high school memories had 
faded so much.
	Then again, it might be that he had only bothered to keep the memories 
of Achika. Achika, walking along in the park, as autumn leaves fluttered 
in the wind and her black ponytail bounced...

	Achika, walking along in the park, as autumn leaves fluttered in the 
wind and her black ponytail bounced. Although technically 
black-and-white, the picture had a distinct yellowish cast.
	"8-millimeter film?" Sasami asked.
	"Yes, people used to use it a lot for taking home movies," Tenchi 
answered. Sasami continued to look interested, so he went on. 
	"My father always used to love fooling around with the latest gizmos. In 
fact, this is a film he shot quite a long time ago."
	"Oh," all three girls said.
	"Well," Tenchi said as the camera zoomed in on Achika and she laughingly 
tried to wave it away, "it was a pretty sneaky way to pick up my mother, 
you must admit."
	"You mean to say that that girl we've been watching is your mother?" 
Aeka asked.
	"Yes," Tenchi said.
	"She's only a kid," Ryohko said, comparing the film to her own memories.

	"Of course she is!" Tenchi yelled at her, irritated. "When Dad made this 
film, they were still in high school!"
	"Well, excu-u-use me."
	"She's so pretty... " Sasami said softly.
	"Well, you must remember, Sasami, that Achika-sama is descended from the 
Imperial House of Jurai," Aeka put in.
	"That's weird," Ryohko said. "I thought you said you were of Imperial 
Jurai Blood."
	"Yes? What about it?" Aeka snapped.
	"Well -- "
	Aeka moved the bowl of sembei-looking things out of the way as Ryohko 
tried to get one.
	"Hey!" Ryohko yelled. "Can't you take a joke? Give those back!"
	"They are too good to waste on the likes of you," Aeka answered.
	"Greedy pig," Ryohko muttered. "They're supposed to be for all of us."
	Meanwhile, Tenchi and Sasami were watching the movie.
	"She looks very gentle," Sasami volunteered.
	"She was," Tenchi said.
	Suddenly Achika's image, which had apparently been talking to the 
cameraman, fuzzed and vanished from the film.
	"Huh?" Tenchi said. The house began to shake and the film reels fell out 
of the player. 
	"What's going on here!" he yelped as his body began to dematerialize. He 
groaned as his half-dematerialized form began to shake and then was 
abruptly sucked up and away.
	It was just as abruptly stopped by a lattice of golden light that 
appeared in midair. Tenchi grunted as he, now solid again, struck the 
lattice firmly. He remained stuck to it, in an upside-down position.
	"You just went... *flying*," Ryohko said in puzzlement.
	"Tenchi-sama!" Aeka gasped, almost simultaneously.
	"Are you all right?" Sasami asked.
	"What in the world are you doing up there?" Ryohko asked curiously.
	"Well, here we go again," Washuu said as she entered the room. "It seems 
once again I've made it just in time. The problem lies in the past."
	The three girls gasped.
	"And here's some proof of it," she added, holding up a strip of film. 
"Take a look at this."
	The three girls looked at the filmstrip, which Washuu had retrieved from 
the reel lying on the floor. In it, Achika's image faded out from frame 
to frame.
	"Impossible... Tenchi's mother's disappeared!" Sasami said.
	"Yes," Aeka added, "here and here and here and here and even here!"
	"This tells you that the problem's in the past?" Sasami asked while Aeka 
was still pointing out instances of Achika's non-appearance.
	"Nope," Washuu said. "What told me is the recent wild jumps in the 
xchi-particle flow, the perturbations of Planck's Constant, 
Falmienzuteck's Theorem of Temporal Disturbance, integrals three, five, 
and seventeen of the Ford Prefect Usually Working Rules of About 
Everything... "
	"Stick to the 8-mm film," Ryohko broke in. "Washuu, what's going on?"
	Normally Washuu would have grimaced at her daughter's continued use of 
her name, but the situation was too serious for that.
	The three girls abruptly sucked in their breaths as the house began to 
crumble and sag into ruin.
	"It is as I feared," Washuu said, examining the tiny screen of a 
hand-held terminal the size of a rather large stopwatch slaved to her 
main computer. "Twenty-six years ago, according to these fluxes, 
something terrible happened to Tenchi-dono's mother. Something awful. The 
Masaki family died out then."
	"WHAT?" Tenchi said.
	"That means that in this world, Tenchi-dono has never been born."
	"But how come we're all still here?" Ryohko asked.
	"And the house hasn't moved?" Aeka added.
	"Only one thing is able to save you from Unbeing; the number one genius 
scientist in the universe, this Washuu who stands before you."
	Everyone had slightly disgusted we-walked-into-that-one looks on their 
faces.
	"I was running the time-space-and-the-other chat room from my subspace 
laboratory," Washuu said, "when I detected a temporal misalignment. 
Something has caused the timeline centering around the Masaki family to 
shift -- cutting it very fine, too. If we do nothing, it's not only 
Tenchi-dono's timeline that will change. Ours will, too."
	Everyone thought for a moment about what would have happened to them if 
Tenchi hadn't existed. It was *not* a comforting thought.
	"For now, " Washuu continued, "the shield I've put around Tenchi-dono is 
keeping him safe, and therefore all of you. But I can't maintain it 
forever, and when it runs out, he *will* disappear."
	"Then that means... " Aeka began.
	"Tenchi-niichan... " Sasami whispered.
	Tenchi produced a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a very 
tired groan.
	"You've gotta be kidding!" Ryohko yelled.
	"I only wish I was, Ryohko," Washuu answered.
	"Then tell me," Ryohko demanded, leaping across to glare down into 
Washuu's face. "What the HELL happened to Tenchi's mother?" 
	"I'm sorry, Ryohko," Washuu told her calmly, "but I've told you 
everything I know."
	"So you're saying there's nothing we can do. Is that it?"
	"Please, Washuu-sama..." Aeka whispered, hardly sure of what she was 
asking.
	"Washuu-neechan!" Sasami added.
	"Well, there is something you can do," Washuu began.
	"Tell us, Washuu-chan. What is it?" Tenchi begged.
	"Well, you'll begin by going back in time twenty-six years, and then the 
rest of the job is quite simple; make sure nothing happens to 
Tenchi-dono's mother."
	Aeka suddenly remembered something Washuu had said earlier. "What do you 
mean, 'cutting it rather fine'?" she asked.
	"Twenty-six years ago in *our* timeline, Tsunami swung by Earth and 
added about seventy wards to Earth's normal ones, setting them up around 
the Masaki bloodline and timeline. Whatever happened took place right 
before she'd have come by."
	"Oh. Of course Tsunami would have done that. How did you know she did 
so?"
	"She told me," Washuu answered with a 
why-do-people-bother-me-with-perfectly-obvious-questions look.
	"Why'd she put them up?" Tenchi asked from his upside-down position.
	"*She* didn't say... " Washuu said, a half-smile playing about her lips.


	Meanwhile, on board the *Un-no-fubuki*, Mihoshi had decided that she was 
too tired to join the others for home movies. It had been a busy day. 
After the aborted message had come through, Kiyone had spent *hours* 
trying to track down the source of the message (it had been routed 
through several somethings) and to get some response (nobody answered). 
Yukinojou, the *Un-no-fubuki*'s AI, had announced that one of the Chikyuu 
wards had slid out of its normal location and attached itself to the 
ship.
	"What's it doing there?" Kiyone had asked, irritated.
	Yukinojou had hooked itself into Mihoshi's cube (which Mihoshi had 
unearthed from the clutter) and then announced, "Protecting us from a 
temporal discontinuity."
 	Kiyone had gotten very excited about that, but Mihoshi hadn't 
understood what had her so on edge. The ship was fine, they were fine, 
there was no sign that that was about to change, and there were no 
criminals to arrest or children to protect, so what had her tail in a 
vise?
	Mihoshi finally gave up on trying to decide what Kiyone and Yukinojou 
were arguing about and set about the process of familiarizing herself 
with Chikyuujin (Terran) culture, via the next on a set of books that 
Tenchi's grandfather had recommended. They were very good books. There 
was a character like Tenchi-san, and one like Lady Aeka, and one like 
Ryohko, and one like Kiyone...
	Finally Kiyone had announced that they might as well go to bed. 
Mihoshi'd yawned, set *The Last Command* open face-down on the controls, 
and gone to change into her pajamas.

	Washuu went back into her lab and took a look at the status of the chat 
room. Washuu-chan dai'ichi (#1) had left in her absence, stating that 
"something had come up."
	"How rude of her," Washuu muttered. "She wouldn't even exist if it 
hadn't been for that meson-hadron cyclotron I hooked up separately for 
Ryohko."
	"Well, she is Ryohko's idea of what we're like," Washuu-chan dai'yon 
(#4) stated from her corner of the screen. "We seem to be having the same 
problem with a temporal misalignment in *this* universe."
	"Neither of the Terra-born universes seem to be having it -- " 
Washuu-chan dai'ni (#2) explained.
	"So I'm going to work with Washuu-chan dai'yon in a private channel, and 
my counterpart there will be available if you need to bounce ideas 
around, Washuu-chan Prime," Washuu-chan dai'san clarified.
	"My thoughts exactly, Washuu-chan," Washuu said.
	"As might be expected, Washuu-chan," the remaining three Washuus said 
before two of them winked out.
	The remaining (and only non-Washuu) member of Washuu-chan's Super 
Dimensional Chat Room coughed. "I have some experience with calibrating 
jumps in time and space," she said. "Not that you need my assistance, 
but... "
	"Every little bit is of use," Washuu told the lavender-haired girl. If 
nothing else, she could always help Washuu-chans #3 and #4.

	"Don't worry about money," Mihoshi yawned as she climbed into the futon 
(she'd managed to spill cola all over the instruction datahedron for the 
new modifications; as Kiyone had said, attempting to decipher how to 
extend the beds from the electronic gobbledygook on it, they really ought 
to make those things proof against weakish acid. Fortunately, the futon 
storage cabinet worked just the way it used to). "We can always get a 
part-time job tomorrow."
	"You'd better get to sleep," Kiyone told her, getting into her own 
futon. "We'll need an early start tomorrow." She looked over at her 
sworn-kin only to find that Mihoshi was already lost in slumberland.
	"Asleep already?" she questioned nobody in particular, moving one of 
Mihoshi's arms around to a more comfortable position and drawing the 
cover up. "At least that's one thing you've never had any trouble doing 
right." For a moment her conscience teased her with the memory of 
Mihoshi's personnel report "... prone to jumping to conclusions and 
acting before thinking, in an emergency this officer will do five wrong 
things that add up to the best possible outcome... " before subsiding in 
the face of Kiyone's long, LONG list of reasons why her partner was 
ruining her career.
	Kiyone lay down and put her arms behind her head, running over the 
events of the day. "I wonder what that emergency signal was all about," 
she said thoughtfully, as the *Un-no-fubuki* vibrated in response to 
something. "It was really weird."
	The vibration, as if a ship had been docking to the *Un-no-fubuki*, 
stopped.
	"Good evening," Ryohko said, walking through the wall of the cabin.
	Kiyone sat up, shocked. It was a very different thing to hear about 
things and to actually see them. "What is it?" she managed in a 
creditable imitation of reasonable speech.
	"It's time for you to leave," Ryohko said urbanely.
	Kiyone squawked.

	The six of them (seven, if you count Ryoh-oh-ki) were each strapped into 
a *thing* attached to a spoke of a horizontal wheel that resembled 
nothing so much as one of those rides at a fair where you step into the 
little cubicle, the wheel spins faster and tilts at the same time until 
you are at right-angles to an upright position, but the combination of 
centripetal force and inertia keeps you flattened against the back.  
Either that or a very large salad shooter. This one only had six spokes 
and large gaps between, as it revolved slowly around Washuu, seated at 
the terminal.
	"Everyone ready?" Washuu asked. "Using the chronometric regulator 
attached to the photon-proton synchrotron Mark Three, I'll send you 
twenty-six years into the past. Of course, I generally don't use this for 
intra-universe travel, but stick to my instructions and you'll be fine.
	"I'm still compiling the data on what happened to Tenchi-dono's mother," 
she continued (actually Washuu-chan dai'ni was doing it, but why confuse 
them?) "It is imperative that Tenchi-dono not attempt to contact his 
mother once you arrive. The chances of inducing a temporal paradox are 
too high. Ryohko, you cannot afford to enter your astral sphere of 
influence."
	"I didn't extend it as far as Katsuhito's house until Tenchi was 
fourteen!" Ryohko snapped. "I was storing power."
	"I knew that," Washuu said. "You cannot go to the shrine, though, or you 
*will* cause a temporal paradox. You have that shield I designed embedded 
in your replacement gem?"
	"YES," Ryohko said as she spun past. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"
	"Nothing ventured, nothing gained, ne?" Aeka answered.
	"I'm really sorry to put you through all this," Tenchi apologized as the 
synchrotron began to pick up speed.
	"That's fine, but why do we *all* have to get involved?" Kiyone added.
	Mihoshi, whose spoke was next, had already fallen asleep again.
	"I'm growing really dizzy..." Sasami mentioned.
	"That's enough," Washuu said. "You just make sure that you don't do 
anything wrong. Don't throw history off more than it already is. 
Remember, you have one week."
	"Yeah, yeah, we heard it the first time," Ryohko said. 
	"That goes double for you, Ryohko!" Washuu added.
	Her daughter made an akambe and stuck out her tongue.
	"Adding thiotimoline," Washuu said. "Acceleration beginning."
	"WHAT?" Aeka said, startled. Weren't they accelerating already?
	"You must be joking!" Tenchi seconded her.
	The synchrotron spun more quickly
	"Washuu, hold up!" Ryohko protested.
	"I'm going to be sick... " Sasami wailed.
	"Stop this, please!" Kiyone said, swallowing fiercely herself.
	"Here goes!" Washuu said gleefully, switching it into high gear.
	"AAAH!" everyone screamed as their internal organs started sending 
signals that they'd been left four meters behind. Blue lightning cascaded 
from the generators on the ceiling of that small corner of Washuu's lab. 
The machine spun faster, the lightning came down more thickly, and then 
there was a brief moment of blinding light... and following that, 
darkness.
	"Do you suppose they'll succeed?" Washuu-chan dai'ni said, the chat room 
being linked into the time-space-and-the-other controls.
	"It'd take a miracle," Washuu answered.
	Then both of them hastily explained the joke to the other member of the 
chat room.
	"And so," Tenchi said later, when Kiyone was recording his testimony to 
append to her report, "our journey back in time to save the future 
began."


Part Two
An Isseijin Edokko in Achika-hime's Court

	Autumn, the forty-fifth year of Shouwa (1970).
	The principal of the regional high school received a call from a woman 
looking for a position as a substitute teacher like a gift from the gods. 
Classroom 2-C's teacher was on unexpected maternity leave, and every 
other sub was at some other school.
	The high school's janitor was almost as grateful to have an applicant 
for the post of his assistant -- particularly since said applicant was a 
calm, collected young woman who reminded him of his daughter, now living 
with her husband in Matsuyama.
	That morning, Mihoshi was late to work (as was only to be expected). She 
bowed her head in genuine contrition as the principal scolded her -- 
contrition that would vanish from her mind a moment later.
	Kiyone, on the other hand, was early, and joined the janitor for a cup 
of tea.
	Achika and Nobuyuki waited separately in line. 
	Aeka and Ryohko sat in a small room by themselves, an uneasy peace 
between them. 	Aeka was carefully arranging how she'd explain all of this 
to her brother, and what order she'd make her points in. Ryohko, on the 
other hand, was running through all her memories of Achika. Achika, far 
too old for her years, with baby Tenchi in a carrier on her back. Achika 
in grade school, coming up to the cave's mouth to tell some of her 
favorite stories to "the Cave Dwellers." Achika at her graduation from 
middle school, looking around the cave as if searching for something... 
she hadn't come back to it for years. Achika taking Tenchi up to the 
cave, smiling as he looked at something she couldn't see; it had been 
Ryohko's astral projection, of course. Achika as a small child herself, 
being brought to see the cave by *her* mother, Sakuya. And Tenchi, 
sobbing as he tried to deal with the fact that his mother was dead; 
Ryohko had never wanted her astral body to have physical presence as much 
as she did then, wanting to hold the grieving child and murmur comforting 
words in his ear, if she'd known any.
	A knock on the door roused them from their respective musings. Aeka rose 
to her feet slowly and gracefully. It was Mihoshi, come to take them to 
class. Ryohko swung her feet off the table and jumped up.
	Class 2-C took their seats as Mihoshi entered with a smile. Aeka 
followed her, pausing for a moment, eyes modestly downcast, to allow the 
students to notice and appreciate her, before continuing to the center of 
the room. Nobuyuki, for one, drew in his breath.
	Then Ryohko sauntered into the room with an arrogant step, as if to say 
that she was totally in control of her life. The class reacted much as if 
they had received a mild electric shock. Something about her pose, or her 
hair, or her attitude seemed to scream "sukeban!"
	But the one who'd received the worst shock was Achika, and not for the 
same reasons as the others. Her mother had told her the Golden-eyed Lady 
was just a product of her vivid imagination. She'd said that Achika had 
just made up the Queen of the Cave Dwellers, Lady of the Spiky Hair who 
triumphed with glory over every foe, because she wanted someone to tell 
her favorite stories to, and that as she grew older the Golden-eyed Lady 
would disappear. On her graduation from middle school Achika had gone up 
to the cave and looked -- really *looked* -- and seen just what anyone 
might expect to see.
	And now the Golden-eyed Lady had walked in through the classroom door, 
in the guise of an ordinary high school student. As Achika stared, the 
Lady looked directly at her and grinned.

	Meanwhile, just outside the school grounds, Sasami, disguised in a black 
baseball cap, looked both ways. Satisfied that nobody was around, she 
beckoned to Tenchi, gesturing for him to come over and watch the window 
of classroom 2-C.
	"The wards are doing fine?" Tenchi asked.
	"Of course," Sasami said. "It's a really *weird* feeling, sensing how 
they all fit together."
	"I still don't understand how you do it," Tenchi said.
	"Washuu-neechan sort of introduced me before we left. I think I always 
knew they were there, but this is the first time I could interact with 
them. I can do almost as much with them as Tsunami could, but there are 
only a few I can pull out without having the whole thing come down crash. 
It's sort of like a house of taro."
	"A house of *which*?"
	"Um... cards. Anyway, Washuu-neechan said they were good work, almost as 
good as her own stuff, and it would be easier to maintain them if I used 
Tsunami's rather than Washuu-neechan controlling hers across the years."
	"I don't believe it. Washuu-chan admitting she's not perfect."
	"She just said it would take time we don't have to make ones she could 
control from there. And that the Thing from Gods-Know-Where will be able 
to come through the wards, but they'll buy us an extra day or so of 
time."
	"Four wards will buy us one day?"
	"Tenchi-niichan! Natsume is holding your timeline steady, so we'll only 
have to use Washuu's machine in emergencies. Amenouzume is covering the 
whole area and is therefore stretched pretty thin. And of the two 
covering your mother, Myshtar works best when it has *lots* of water to 
draw on, which is why it normally hangs around Funaho, while although 
Kusanagi is comparable in power to an nth-generation Koh-oh-yoku, one 
Koh-oh-yoku can't be *everywhere*."
	"Sorry... Wait a moment, Sasami-chan! Kusanagi?! *Amenouzume*?!!"
	"Tsunami named them back when," Sasami said, spreading her hands.
	Tenchi shook his head slowly, in the grip of an emotion indescribable by 
words. "Remind me to tell you the story of Amenouzume sometime."
	"What was she like?" Sasami asked.
	"Ryohko, maybe."

	Kiyone was mopping the floor outside the classroom. If there was one 
thing she was familiar with, it was *cleaning up*. For a moment she 
walked over to the door to listen.
	Inside the class, Mihoshi was teaching for all she was worth. "Today, 
class, we are going to look at "The Demon of the Rashoumon," fourth in 
the series of tales called the *Uji Shui Monogatari*. This is the story 
of a love triangle between a warrior, a demon, and a princess."
	"Ah, sensei?" Nobuyuki said, rising to his feet.
	"Yes? What is it?"
	"We, uh... we already did that story."
	"Ack!" Mihoshi squawked, dropping her notes and falling to her knees. 
"That's the only old Terran story I know! What'll I do?"
	"That idiot," Kiyone muttered.
	Inside the class, Mihoshi regained her feet. "Class, today we are going 
to look at a story called *Hoshi no Sensou*, which hasn't come out yet. 
This is the story of a love triangle between a princess, a warrior, and a 
smuggler. It also has lots of strange creatures and cool fight scenes.
	"See, these people are rebelling against the Evil Empire, trying to 
bring back the Old Republic. This is hard because the Evil Empire has 
just created the terrible Shiboshi, but some brave rebels have stolen a 
copy of its secret plans... "
	Kiyone shook her head, returning to her cleaning. "She *always* lands on 
her feet."

	At lunchtime (which had come during the lightsaber duel) the class broke 
up into groups, discussing sports, who was going out with whom, where the 
teacher had gotten that story from, which guy Leia-hime would end up 
with, what they were going to do in the handicrafts club that afternoon, 
and so forth. Aeka and Ryohko sat with each other, although each had 
received her share of offers to sit with one of the other groups.
	"Ne, Aeka," Ryohko began.
	"Now what is it?" Aeka asked.
	"Look over there," Ryohko said, gesturing at Nobuyuki. "That's Tenchi's 
old man. He and Tenchi look alike at this age, don't they?"
	"Well, then this is your great opportunity, ne?" Aeka said. "Otoosama is 
still available."
	For a moment, both of them pictured Masaki Nobuyuki, whose greatest 
hobby in life seemed to be making home hentai flicks.
	"Not that dirty old man that he becomes later in life," Ryohko said, 
disgusted. "I mean Tenchi's father that we see here *now*, back in the 
past." 
	"I have been giving our problem some thought," Aeka continued smoothly. 
"If Otoosama does not marry Okaasama, Tenchi-sama will never be born."
	Ryohko treated Aeka to a look composed of equal disgust and incredulity. 
"You only just figured that out?
	"And while we're at it, what's with this 'otoosama' and 'okaasama' 
stuff? Since when did they become your parents?"
	"Well," Aeka said softly, " I was hoping... when we got back... " A 
little smile played about her lips. Really, Ryohko just seemed to 
*invite* these...
	"What, you marry Tenchi? In your dreams, stupid," Ryohko said, springing 
to her feet and leaning on the desk.
	"What does it have to do with you? And who might you be to call me 
stupid, Ryohko?" Aeka copied Ryohko's position so that the two were 
glaring into each other's faces.
	"I'll call you whatever I feel like . Got that, stupid?"
	The sound of two sets of grinding teeth filled the air.
	At this point Aeka and Ryohko noticed that everyone in the classroom was 
staring at them. They quickly forced smiles and laughter.
	"Never mind," Aeka said in precisely the sweet 
will-the-floor-please-open-up-and-swallow-me-NOW tone of voice that Gilda 
Radner was soon to make famous on the other side of the Pacific.
	They laughed a little more as they sank back into their seats. Then they 
simultaneously shot a glare at the other and snorted, turning aside.
	Behind them, a pale-complected student suddenly crushed his milk carton 
in his hand. Ryohko turned to look at the chestnut-haired young man. She 
kept her eyes on him as he left the room. There was something... 
*familiar* about him.

	After lunch, it was gym class. Most of the girls were playing volleyball 
(which game the girls' gym uniform seems to have been designed for... for 
those who look good in it, that is) while a few, including Aeka and 
Ryohko, were standing on the sidelines.
	Although all the other girls were wearing uniforms consisting of a 
maroon leotard and white T shirt, neither Aeka or Ryohko had one. Aeka 
was wearing a winter uniform -- a maroon jumpsuit.
	"Well, at least it's different," Ryohko, in oversized white T shirt and 
heavily belted-in orange shorts, commiserated with her.
	"I did not know there would be a class like this," Aeka hissed back. 
"And at least I fit into one of Achika-sama's, unlike *someone* I know 
who had to borrow the coach's... "
	Automatically, Ryohko's eyes flicked to the aforementioned teacher, who 
was, in the truest Dave Barry sense of the word, a *guy*. She was just in 
time to see him shift from scratching his armpit to his groin (and really 
going at it, too).
	For a moment she froze, disgusted. Then, swiftly, she turned to Aeka.
	"Give me all your clothes!" Ryohko demanded.
	"Huh?" Aeka said intelligently.
	"Right now! Take them off!" Ryohko began to yank at Aeka's jumpsuit 
herself. Aeka screeched, and some of the other girls standing on the 
sidelines tried to interfere. The coach tried to order them to stop, but 
he might have ordered the tide to stop with more success.
	Meanwhile, the volleyball went bouncing out of bounds and over to the 
bushes. "Do those two ever stop?" Achika asked nobody in particular as 
she went trotting after the ball, which rolled until it came to a stop at 
a little girl's feet. Sasami had walked over to intercept it. She now 
picked it up and handed it to Achika.
	"Thank you," Achika said. "You're cute. What are you doing here, 
sweetie?" 
	"I'm waiting for Oneechan," Sasami told her.
	"Oh, I see."
	Tenchi, who was sitting over by a tree and staring at his mother with 
the eyes of a thirsty man who sees a lake in the middle of a desert, 
noticed her gaze roving towards him and quickly dove behind a bush. 
Achika looked at the noise and rustle for a second, but was distracted by 
one of her teammates, calling for her to come back.
	"Thanks again. See you!" she told Sasami as she hurried back to the 
game.
	"Bye-bye!" Sasami called after her.
	Tenchi poked his head out of the bushes. "Whew, that was close," he 
said.
	"I know. Washuu-neechan's going to be really angry," Sasami answered.
	"I know it was dangerous, but... this is going to sound really stupid... 
I *had* to see her again... "
	"I understand," Sasami said.
	And she did. It was her gift, understanding feelings.
	"Don't tell anyone about this, okay?" Tenchi asked.
	"I won't," Sasami promised.
	Tenchi and Sasami went back to watching Achika play volleyball. This 
Achika was not much like the images of his mother that Tenchi had carried 
in his heart... in those she was far thinner, and wore her shockingly 
grey hair in a very different style. But her wonderful eyes and smile 
were still the same. How could she have changed so much in just ten 
years?

	The priest at the Masaki Shrine also received some help that day.
	He had been sitting in the house at midday, catching up on certain 
annoying paperwork, when he heard the shoji slide aside and a quiet knock 
on its frame. "Oniisama?" a voice said.
	He whirled while still seated (no mean feat). Aeka, Crown Princess of 
Jurai, was standing in the doorway. 
	"I beg pardon for the intrusion," she said.
	His eyes widened slightly for a moment before he regained control of 
himself and prepared to divert her.
	Ryohko stuck her head through the shoji (*literally*). "We've come from 
the future and we need your help," she said.
	"Ryohhhhko.." Aeka said, teeth grinding as she bestowed the former space 
pirate with a look that would have disintegrated granite.
	"She has, at least, the virtue of being direct," Youshou said, still 
bemused (although few people could have told it from his face). "Why?"
	"Something's going to alter time by attacking your daughter," Aeka said. 
"I have the greatest distaste for something that dares to raise its hand 
to a member of Our family."
	Ryohko stepped fully through the shoji. "We'll be guarding Achika," she 
added. "If anything *tries* to mess with her... " She slammed her fist 
into her left palm as the words trailed off, the smile on her face 
showing more clearly than words just what would happen to that 
unfortunate anything.
	"So where do I come in?" Youshou asked.
	"We need someplace to stay," Ryohko said.
	"We have these," Aeka added, taking a packet from somewhere within her 
robes. Youshou opened it. Inside were excellently forged change-of-school 
forms and all other necessary papers to show that cousins Masaki Aeka and 
Ryohko were transfer students to the regional high school, presently 
staying at the house by the Masaki Shrine. 
	"Ah... make yourselves at home," Youshou said, an odd note in his voice.

	"Don't worry," Ryohko told him, misinterpreting the tone. "I'm not 
*that* mad at you any more and the princess bride here has quit chasing 
you."
	Aeka picked up the nearest object and threw it at Ryohko.

	Late that afternoon, Achika got off the bus at her stop. "School's so 
far away... " she mused. "It seems to take for *ever* to get home."
	It was a short walk from the bus stop to her house, near the Masaki 
Shrine. She slid the door open and called "I'm home!" as she slipped off 
her shoes.
	"I'm really hungry," she continued, loud enough for her father to hear 
her, "so I'll start dinner right a--"
	The words died in her mouth as she slid the shoji of the room open. 
Seated at the low table were her father and the two transfer students 
from the school, eating a snack and drinking tea.
	Both of the girls were lost in thought. Aeka was holding the memory of 
her second reunion with her brother around her in her heart. *This* one 
had gone far more like the dreams she had cherished in her seven hundred 
years of timeless sleep. 
	After he'd broken up the fight between Aeka and Ryohko, her oniisama had 
asked how many others there were.
	"Sasami-chan and Ryoh-oh-ki won't be coming to the house much," Aeka had 
said. "They have to take care of... Someone who *can't* come here -- "
	"Because it would cause a temporal paradox," Youshou'd finished.
	"Yes, precisely."
	"Mihoshi and her partner Kiyone are here also," Ryohko had chimed in. 
"They're with the Galaxy Police. Mihoshi's a brainless wonder, but she's 
a nice brainless wonder. I don't know much about Kiyone yet, Aeka's 
'mommy' only just dropped her off."
	"*Misaki*?.... No, don't tell me, I don't want to know," Youshou had 
answered. He'd turned to Aeka. "It's been a long time, and there are a 
lot of things I've wanted to say, but.... Little sister, I've missed 
you."
	*I've missed you.* It was the only thing Aeka'd really needed to hear 
from her oniisama for a long time.
	By contrast, Ryohko was indulging in one of her favorite fantasies. It 
involved a luxuriously appointed tent, a large Turkish divan, and Tenchi.

	"Oh!" both girls said as Achika entered.
	"You're... you are... " Achika stammered.
	"Hi," Ryohko told her.
	"I hope we're not putting you to any trouble," Aeka said.
	"Are you all right?" Katsuhito added.
	"Ah... yes," Achika said, seating herself at the table. "I'm fine... 
just surprised."
	"Well, I can understand that," her father answered. "Your school called 
today. May I introduce Aeka and Ryohko? I agreed to let them board here; 
they will be staying at our house for a while."
	"Both of them transferred in today. As a matter of fact, they're both in 
my class," Achika said.
	"It seems they live so far away from the school that it would be 
impracticable for them to commute every day, so they're staying with us."

	Aeka giggled nervously. "Thank you for letting us stay here."
	"Likewise," Ryohko added.
	"My pleasure," Achika said.
	"This is quite comfortable," Katsuhito said with a perfectly straight 
face. "My poor Achika has been alone far too much ever since her dear 
mother passed away." He took a drink of his tea.

	Shortly afterwards, Aeka and Ryohko were sitting in the kitchen while 
Achika made dinner.
	"Hey, is it ready yet?" Ryohko asked.
	"In just a bit," Achika answered.
	Aeka leapt to her feet. "You might help her instead of sitting around 
complaining."
	"You should talk. I don't see *you* doing any work," Ryohko shot back. 
Granted, letting a graduate of the Kotobuki-Tendou School of Cookery 
(such as Aeka) anywhere near food preparation denoted masochism of a high 
degree, but Aeka's remark had been perfectly uncalled for.
	"What right do you have to say such things to me?!" Aeka snapped. 
Really, who did Ryohko think she was -- the child of a goddess or 
something?
	"Please don't fight," Achika said, turning from her chopping for a 
moment.
	The imminent conflict was averted by a knock at the door. All three 
girls looked in the direction of the sound. Achika spoke for all of them 
when she asked, "Who is that?"
	The door slid open.
	"It's only me," Mihoshi smiled.
	Achika stepped out into the hall as Ryohko and Aeka poked their heads 
around the frame. "Mihoshi-sensei," she said.
	"I'm, uh, conducting a home visit," Mihoshi explained brightly.
	Aeka and Ryohko groaned.
	Outside in the bushes, Tenchi echoed them. "Home visit," he said. "Who 
does that at this hour?"
	"That idiot," Kiyone said from behind him, exasperated. "I told her to 
get into the house quietly and *not arouse suspicion*!"
	"Oh, good," Tenchi said, relieved, as Sasami gestured to them. "It looks 
like she managed to get into the house anyway."
	Inside the house, everyone sitting around the table chorused 
"Itadakimasu!" They then dug in, (Mihoshi and Ryohko eating the most). 
Compliments on the food floated around the table.
	Achika put her food down for a moment. "This is very strange," she 
mused, although whether she meant the meal or the guests or the whole 
situation even she could not have said.

	That evening, everyone met on the steps of the shrine.
	"Well, I must admit," Tenchi graciously admitted, sitting on top of the 
steps and toying with the bell cord, "that you all did a great job of 
getting into the house without arousing suspicion."
	"I suppose," Aeka said with a giggle, a few steps below, "although I 
think that this dab of perfume I borrowed from Washuu-sama might have had 
something to do with it."
	Ryohko, recumbent on the porch rail, chuckled. "Being sneaky comes 
naturally to you, ne, Aeka?"
	"Explain yourself, Ryohko! What do you mean by that?" Aeka snapped, 
leaping to her feet and leaning into Ryohko's face.
	"Ladies, ladies!" Mihoshi said, leaping to her feet from a cross-legged 
seated position, coming towards the two of them and waving her arms in a 
calm-down motion. "At least we've all arrived safely back here in 45 
Shouwa."
	"That's so," Kiyone said, staring out into the distance (every so often 
Mihoshi reminded one why she had been voted the cadet Most Likely To 
Succeed in GP Academy), "but how can we save Masaki-kun's mother when we 
don't even know what danger she faces?"
	In the background, Sasami gleefully chased Ryoh-oh-ki across the yard, 
laughing all the while. At least they were having fun, uncaring of the 
potential danger.
	Or maybe not. Sasami skidded to a stop at a point directly in front of 
Tenchi, about ten yards away. "Here it is!" she told Ryoh-oh-ki. She 
turned to the others. "I got a message from Washuu-neechan!" she 
announced.
	A very oddly shaped antenna extended from Sasami-chan's backpack as she 
lowered a pair of what almost, possibly, could not quite be sunglasses 
onto her nose. A blue line sparked across the middle before the picture 
came into full existence, as everyone else gathered around Sasami.

	In Washuu's subspace lab, Washuu-chan dai'ni was favoring their Prime 
and the sixth member of the interdimensional chat room with one of her 
favorite satirical songs.
	"... there's never a line in the Men's but there's *always* a Women's 
Room line," she caroled.
	At that moment, a signal prilled.
	"Drat the thing," Washuu muttered. "This compensator to slow down 
response time here so I talk to them in order has some really awkward 
delays. Remind me to fix it after this conversation, would you?"
	"Yes, Washuu-chan," the android member of the chat room said as Washuu 
slid the chat room screen to one side and activated the overhead 
time-tracker one.
	"Well, well, well, " Washuu said happily, looking at the assembled five 
people. Sasami was there since this screen would only work through her, 
and she had now confirmed the others. "I see you've all gotten there 
safely."
	"Of course," her daughter said. "Why not?"
	"Well, I must confess this time travel by fixing on one point in the 
time axis was more difficult than I thought," Washuu said cheerfully. The 
stupid machine had kept wanting to drop them in a parallel world, and she 
had had to impose on her lavender-haired friend to help hold the gateway 
steady (not to mention hold another gateway steady on her own for 
Washuu-chan dai'yon). "As a matter of fact, I wasn't one hundred percent 
sure you'd get there!" 
	Aeka was the first to react. "So you mean to say that if you had made 
even one tiny mistake, we could have been wandering around 
time-space-and-the-other forever?"
	"That would have been terrible!" Mihoshi chimed in.
	"Dammit, Washuu -- " Ryohko began.
	"Okay, okay," Washuu said, her gestures indicative of Apology mixed with 
Impatience for Minor Quibbles. "So I was only 99.9998 percent sure. I got 
you where you're supposed to be, didn't I? Certainties are boring."
	Everyone sighed. It was probably hopeless to try to convince Washuu that 
"May you live in interesting times" was a galaxy-wide-known *curse*.
	Tenchi pushed his way through the group until he was looking down at 
Sasami's face and Washuu. 
	"Washuu-chan," he said, "can you tell me exactly when and where my 
mother's going to... disappear?"
	"Not quite," Washuu said.
	The glasses-screens dissolved into static.


Part Three
Tenchi's Midday Garden

	The next morning, class had not yet begun when someone pushed the 
classroom door open. "Masaki!" the girl called. "Masaki, I brought your 
magazine back!'
	"Tanaka!" Achika had said, delighted, as she rose and began walking 
towards her friend. "I haven't seen you in ages! How's your cold doing?"
	"Well," the other girl replied, "I've had a sore throat for the last 
couple of days, but I've got a test coming up -- so what can I do?"
	At this point Achika passed Nobuyuki. He looked up for a moment, 
catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, and blushed. 
Achika-chan was -- was -- well, Achika-chan *was*!
	Achika giggled a little in the back of her throat and waved kindly at 
him.
	"Masaki, are you paying attention?" Tanaka demanded.
	"Yes, yes, I'm coming," Achika said, hastily joining her friend.
	"This magazine is really interesting, especially this picture of 
Goro-san," Tanaka said.
	"Which one?"
	As the two girls went on with their conversation (the topic switched to 
a feature article about somebody whose name she didn't quite catch) 
Ryohko kept a watchful eye on them, her head pillowed on her arms. 
Another figure was watching the two girls out of the corner of his eye as 
he leaned against the window. Ryohko shot a distrustful glance at the 
chestnut-haired man; there was something decidedly off about him, and at 
the same time something else she ought to recognize. If she had had fur 
like her imoutobun Ryoh-oh-ki, it would undoubtedly have been standing on 
end. It was something... something to do with Washuu. The scientist's 
voice from the past evening echoed through her head: "All I can say is 
that Achika-dono's point of disappearance is sometime within the next 
seven days."

	Outside, while a male gym class ran around the school, two other people 
were also remembering Washuu-san's words. 
	"... Kiyone! I've confirmed the disappearance of the Galaxy Police. 
Their last transmission mentioned a Class A-1 Disaster, 'Kain!'"
	Kiyone, who was sweeping leaves into a dustpan-on-a-stick, sighed and 
wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Kain." That name meant 
something. Something important. Why was she associating it with Inspector 
Tientsin and Cadet Sasami?
	"... Tenchi-dono, there's only enough shield energy for seven more days. 
Be careful."
	"Wakarimashita," Tenchi answered his own memories from his hiding place 
behind a bush. *Got it. I understand.* One way or another, it looked as 
if this whole mess would be resolved in seven days.

	Later, at lunchtime, Ryohko and Aeka slipped out to a storage shed. The 
other four members of the team (five counting Ryoh-oh-ki) were already 
there.
	"Oh, good, you made it," Tenchi said from his seat on a pile of, well, 
stuff. "Have you two noticed anything unusual?"
	"Hmm... " Ryohko mused, thinking.
	"Anything at all, however unimportant it might seem."
	"Huh?! I have something!" Mihoshi cried.
	"What?" everyone asked.
	"You know the fried tofu? It's usually the first thing to be sold out at 
lunchtime, but today there were one... two... three pieces left," Mihoshi 
said, counting on her fingers. "Don't you think that's strange?"
	Everyone sighed. 
	"Another day, another inane observation," Aeka remarked gloomily.
	"So tell me," Kiyone said, taking charge in a cool manner. "Are we all 
still operating on the assumption that something horrible is going to 
happen to Masaki-kun's mother?"
	Tenchi suddenly began to groan. "Uhhh... ahhh... auhhh..." Everyone 
raced to his side as he fell to the floor, asking if he was all right. 
Blue light formed about his body as he seemed to *fade* slightly somehow.

	"Tenchi!"
	"He's disappearing!"
	"I wonder if Achika-san's all right?"
	"Wait a moment," Kiyone said from the background. "If we're all here, 
then that means... "
	"Tenchi-sama's mother... " Aeka whispered.
	"This could be very bad," Ryohko commented sardonically. "All right. 
Sasami, you'd better stay here and look after Tenchi."
	"Uh-huh."
	"Hurry, everyone!" Kiyone said. "Let's split up and look for her!"
	Everyone split up and ran, eyes darting in all directions. If they had 
failed... if Achika were even now under attack by this mysterious 
whoever... it didn't bear thinking about.
	But they thought about it anyway, as Tenchi moaned in pain of a 
peculiarly indescribable variety. "Kaasan... " he got out, though whether 
a plea or a prayer it was impossible for Sasami to tell.
	Aeka pounded up the school steps and raced through the halls. 
"Achika-san!" she called frantically. ÒWhere did you go?"
	Ryohko flickered from one place to another on the school grounds, 
ranging from floating above the swimming pool to floating above the roof. 
"Oy! Achika!"
	Mihoshi threw open the door of the girls' restroom. "Achika-san?" The 
girls inside whirled, startled. "Sorry." She went on to look in the 
classroom, the library, the gym. "Achika-san! Are you in there?"
	"Answer me, please!" Kiyone called, running through the school one last 
time before returning to the shed. Ryohko and Aeka had just gotten there 
before her.
	"Oy! Did you find her?" Ryohko asked.
	"No," Kiyone answered. "How about you, Aeka-san?"
	"No, I couldn't find her either. Let's check on Tenchi-sama." They 
pushed the shed door open.
	"Everything seems to be under control," Ryohko stated, relieved.
	"At least for now... " Aeka clarified.
	Kiyone pushed the other half of the shed door open and saw that Tenchi 
was again head-down against a golden net, projected from the control box 
in Sasami's hands.
	"I'm really sorry for all the trouble," Tenchi apologized in the odd 
tone produced from someone who has been inverted for a period of time. 
	"Hey!" Sasami said as Ryoh-oh-ki darted from her former position near 
her hands and outside the shed.
	"Miyaa! Miyaa! Miyaa!"
	The three turned to look at Ryoh-oh-ki, sitting about a meter outside 
the door.
	"Ryoh-oh-ki?" Ryohko said. "What is it?" She sent out a questing tendril 
of thought to her imoutobun.
	"I wonder what's wrong?" Aeka added.
	The cabbit continued to miyaa.
	"Do you think she's trying to tell us something?" Aeka wondered as the 
furry creature began darting off in a manner highly reminiscent of Lassie 
leading the way to the injured whoever.
	The three women looked at each other. "Maybe it's Achika-san!" Kiyone 
surmised.
	Ryohko, who had found confirmation of Kiyone's theory, simply said 
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

	Kawai Nobuyuki was sitting on the hillside path at the campus boundary, 
in the shade of a tree, sketching. 
	"Nobuyuki-san!" Achika called from some distance along the path.
	"Uh... Achika-san," Nobuyuki said brilliantly, looking up. Why was it 
that in real life he could never match the suavity of his dream-self?
	"What a surprise. I thought you were on cleanup crew today," she 
continued. "What are you doing way up here?" She peered at his 
sketchbook. "What's that you're drawing?'
	"Uh... nothing. Nothing at all," he said hastily, scooting away from 
her.
	"Ohhhh... please? Show me, show me!" she said in a teasing tone of 
voice, reaching for the sketchbook. After a short scuffle she snatched it 
and began looking through its pages.
	"What is this?" she said, pausing at one picture.
	"It's a house," Nobuyuki said.
	"A house?" Achika asked, looking more closely.
	"You see," Nobuyuki explained, "I love... "
	"Ye-e-es?" Achika said, blushing a little.
	"I love..."
	Achika darted glances at Nobuyuki-san out of the corner of her eye. Was 
he... could he be...
	"I love architecture," Nobuyuki-san said, "and I'd really love to bulid 
a house like this someday."
	"Oh," Achika said, a faint hint of disappointment audible in her voice.
	"Is something wrong?" Nobuyuki-san asked her.
	Achika laughed for a moment at her own naivete. "Nothing at all, 
really."
	"May I have the book?" Nobuyuki asked, taking it back.
	Achika leaned over to point at the drawing. "You know, a window might be 
nice up here by the roof," she said. "It would let in more light and 
really brighten things up."
	"You mean -- " he said, dropping to the ground and hastily adding a 
window to the sketch where she had pointed " -- like this?"
	She squatted next to him, picked up the pencil, and modified the window 
slightly. "More like that."
	"He-ey," Nobuyuki said, looking at the result. "You sure have excellent 
taste, Achika-san."
	"Really? Do you think so?" she asked.
	"Yeah," he said.
	Achika looked at the house some more. "Listen, Nobuyuki-san," she said. 
"If you ever manage to build this house, promise that you'll invite me to 
come over and see it?"
	"Gah!" Nobuyuki said, dropping the sketchbook into his lap in shock.
	"Oh, come on. What's the matter now?" Achika teased, jabbing the eraser 
end of the pencil in his general direction.
	"No -- nothing at all," Nobuyuki said.
	"Have you decided what color it should be?"
	From behind the tree's trunk, the chestnut-haired man watched the two 
teenagers going through their courtship rituals. His head turned as he 
heard other voices.
	"Do you really think she went this way?"
	He ducked behind the tree as the person continued, "What would she be 
doing way out here?" accompanied by the cries of some animal. The sounds 
resembled those of a Rimfaxi kabitt'.
	Aeka, Ryohko, and Kiyone came around a twist in the path and stopped 
behind Ryoh-oh-ki. "Miyaa!" the cabbit said triumphantly, cocking her 
head at the scene in front of them.
	"Ah, there they are," Ryohko observed as she, Aeka, and Kiyone caught 
sight of the couple.
	"Really!" Aeka said, indignantly looking at Tenchi's parents-to-be. "Off 
in their own little world with no thought for the rest of us."
	"I think it's sweet," Kiyone said, noting that whatever words Nobuyuki 
and Achika were saying were far less important than the communion between 
the two. Aeka glared daggers at her, angry that the wind had been taken 
out of her sails. It *was* sweet... but did the policewoman deliberately 
have to contradict her?
	"Aw, they're just having fun," Ryohko said. She was a little surprised 
that they hadn't started petting yet. Surely they couldn't just *talk* 
all day...
	Could they?
	She'd have to try it on Tenchi sometime. 
	"Hn?" she said suddenly, turning her head. Had something moved, there by 
the trees?
	"What is it?" Aeka asked, worried.
	"Oh... nothing, I suppose," Ryohko answered, returning her eyes to the 
subject at hand. But she couldn't get rid of the feeling that someone -- 
or something -- was watching them.
	The golden-eyed stranger backed away silently. That had been close. Too 
damn close. But now he knew that it was no chance resemblance. The only 
question remaining was whether the three were from the present -- or the 
future.

	When they came back, Kiyone walked over to the bush near the playground 
and waited. After a moment during which they probably verified that she 
was alone, Tenchi and Sasami got up from behind it.
	"Kiyone-san? Did you find her?" Tenchi asked.
	"Yes, of course," Kiyone said. "SheÕs perfectly fine." She looked at the 
Juraian princess for a moment. ÒSasami-chan, why donÕt you take a short 
break? IÕll watch over Masaki-kun while you do."
	Sasami, who had been squirming for the past half-hour, nodded in relief. 
She shrugged out of the backpack, removed the emergency shield generator, 
and pointed out the necessary buttons to Kiyone.
	"Thank you," Kiyone said gravely.
	"Anoh... where is..." Sasami asked.
	"In that door, turn left, third door on your right," Kiyone told her.
	"Thanks!" Sasami said, taking off in a streak for the indicated door.
	Tenchi and Kiyone looked at each other uncertainly. Finally Tenchi sat 
on the ground, crosslegged, and gestured for Kiyone to copy him. She sat 
next to him, looking at the school and wondering how Mihoshi was doing. 
Ryoh-oh-ki, after a brief spurt of running around, settled into Tenchi's 
lap.
	"Masaki-kun," Kiyone finally began, "Mihoshi's told me a lot about you."

	"I shudder to think," Tenchi said lightly.
	"I *did* get the general impression that you rode lightning bolts, had 
live crocodiles for breakfast, could shoot starships out of the sky, and 
habitually carried at least four girls around everywhere you went as you 
rescued kittens from trees and practiced swordplay."
	"Sorry to disappoint you."
	They both laughed.
	"Mihoshi told us about you, too," Tenchi confided.
	"What did she say?" Kiyone asked resignedly.
	"That you were the best Galaxy Police officer ever, with the possible 
exception of her grandfather, and that you perished heroically saving the 
galaxy from a mad scientist."
	A flash of anger crossed Kiyone's face for a moment. "Mihoshi tripped 
and knocked me down a shaft leading to the station reactor core. I 
managed to stop myself and get out a service hatch, but my cube fell 
down. It apparently gave the reactor a case of the hiccups and the 
station blew. Fortunately the piece I was in survived intact and managed 
to generate its emergency containment field."
	Tenchi's eyes widened. "You must have been furious with her."
	"Ohhh yes. It's sort of hard to stay angry at her, though; have you 
noticed?"
	"Yeah," Tenchi said.
	There was silence for a moment.
	"How do you feel about having all of us around?" Kiyone asked, curious.
	"Well, it's had its ups and downs, of course -- " Tenchi's mouth twisted 
for a moment as he recalled some of the more spectacular of them -- "but 
on the whole, I like the feeling of being part of a large family. Dad's 
sisterÕs son is twelve years older than I am, which is a big gap when 
youÕre six; they didnÕt visit us much since then until just recently, and 
Mother died when I was really small... " his voice trailed off.
	"Do you like any of the girls in particular?" Kiyone asked.
	"Well, no... not really... "
	"How do you feel about them?" 
	"Uh, well..." Tenchi tried to put his thoughts in order. "Ryohko's very, 
uh, *present*. And very, uh, in your face. She's kind of hard to ignore; 
I know she doesn't react to things the way an adult would, or even 
someone in high school, but it's kind of unnerving. She usually means 
well, though, and when she gives her friendship it stays given.
	"Aeka's very elegant and, ah, very good-looking. She really has a 
terrible temper... short fuse, and then BANG! She's pretty traditional, 
and sometimes she can be very self-centered. It's not really her fault, 
though. She had a kind of hard time when she was younger. I think all she 
needs is to grow up a little more, same as Ryohko.
	"Sasami-chan's very capable, I guess. Maybe she does have a fondness for 
practical jokes, but if I could have indented for a little sister she's 
about what I would have picked.
	"Washuu-chan... when she first came she used to really freak me out, 
worse than Ryohko." Tenchi blushed in embarrassment about having let that 
slip. "Then later we had a talk -- sort of like the two of us are doing 
now -- and things pretty much straightened out after that. Not all at 
once, of course, but now we get along sort of as if she was my older 
cousin or a young aunt or something.
	"Mihoshi... well, of course you know Mihoshi much better than I do... 
she's well, nice to have around when you're depressed... very genki... I 
don't know! How did you two ever become partners, anyway?"
	Kiyone sighed. "It started when we were cadets. One of her grandfather's 
aides came to talk to me. She said that as I had such high marks, the 
Commander would take it as a personal favor if I would guide his 
granddaughter through the academy. And then, well, we became friends. We 
ended up swearing kin-oath, and so we became partners when we graduated. 
I know what you mean about families; frankly, I'm envious of hers! Mine's 
sort of split up, you understand."
	Tenchi nodded.
	"It would have been nice," Kiyone mused, "to have had a little brother."

	"It would have been nice," Tenchi mused himself, "to have had a big 
sister."
	"You certainly need one," Kiyone grinned, "to help fend off your horde 
of beautiful women!"
	Tenchi smiled back. "Glad to see you're not joining -- uh -- " He 
clapped his hands over his mouth, too late to try to take back a 
statement that could be construed as rude.
	Kiyone laughed. "You *definitely* need a big sister to help keep you 
from getting foot-in-mouth disease.'
	"Uh."
	"Mind if I substitute for one?"
	Tenchi blinked. "I'd be honored," he said finally.
	"Then it's settled, Tenchi-kun," Kiyone said, standing up and clapping 
him on the shoulder. 
	"It's settled... Kiyone-neesan," Tenchi said as Sasami came galumphing 
back to them.

	As soon as the three girls returned to the Masaki house, Ryohko took off 
-- to "go exploring," as she explained to Achika. Aeka merely nodded, as 
Ryohko had told her in the bus line that she wanted to go see how the 
countryside would change in twenty-six years and fly for a while. 
	Fortunately Ryohko remembered to stay on foot until after the two 
kinswomen disappeared into the house with cries of "Tadaima!"
	"Okaeri," Katsuhito answered from somewhere within the house as his 
daughter hurried into the kitchen to start dinner. His sister followed 
and sat at the table as Achika began pulling out the materials for that 
night's meal.
	Aeka looked at her curiously. This girl was her niece. Family 
relationships among the Jurai nobility were complex, and in most cases 
somewhat more distant than the corresponding Chikyuujin ones. 
Nevertheless, Achika-sama was of Imperial blood and in direct line to the 
throne. Moreover, not only was she Tenchi-sama's mother, making Aeka 
curious on that account, but there was the possibility that if Aeka's 
oniisama had chosen differently seven hundred years ago, this girl might 
have been Aeka's own daughter.
	She wondered what the girl was like.
	"What do you like to do in your spare time?" she asked.
	Achika giggled a little as she washed the vegetables. "Well... I like to 
read, I like to cook, I listen to some of the 'group sound' music 
albums... "
	"Do you miss not having a mother?" Aeka asked curiously, knowing the 
question was improperly phrased as soon as it was out of her mouth. She 
clapped one hand to her lips, giggling nervously. It was just that she 
couldn't imagine what it was like to grow up without a mother; she'd 
always had two, not to mention two Guardians and assorted nursemaids.
	Achika gave her a long, level gaze. Aeka blushed an even deeper red than 
she had already. Then the younger girl shook herself, a little.
	"I miss her," Achika said. "Not all the time, even though I was sure 
when she died that I'd never stop hurting. Everyday life gets in the way, 
and I can go for days -- sometimes, weeks -- without really being 
reminded of her. And then I'll see something, or hear something, or think 
something, and think, 'Mother would like that;' and it sort of -- well -- 
jerks. I can't remember her as well as I used to; scattered impressions, 
and I'll look at the pictures in the photograph album and be reminded. 
She wasn't that tall, and she was very direct when she wanted something, 
and she had dark hair and dark eyes, and she was the most wonderful woman 
in the world." She tilted her head, looking at the violet-haired girl. 
"What about your family?"
	"Ah. Well. Let's see: I have a father, two mothers -- "
	"TWO MOTHERS?"
	"One's a stepmother, ne?" Katsuhito prompted from the next room.
	"Oh, I'm sorry," Achika said. She had never met anyone whose parents 
were divorced before. To cover her embarrassment, she poured rice into 
the rice cooker.
	"... and I have a younger sister and an elder brother."
	"It must be nice having siblings. What are they like?"
	"Sasami-chan -- my little sister -- is a bit of a pest, but I wouldn't 
trade her for anyone. She takes my stuff without asking sometimes, and I 
get mad at her; she's a better cook than I am. She's friendly with just 
about anyone, she doesn't have much sense of responsibility -- no, that's 
not quite accurate -- "
	"And your elder brother?"
	Aeka choked. "Oniisama... when I was little, he went away and got 
married, so I'm not really sure... I remember that he was tall and 
handsome and, well, *impressive*... " A phrase she had heard somewhere 
jumped into her mind. "He was the kind of person you would cast as God if 
Charlton Heston-san were unavailable."
	Katsuhito began to make extremely odd sounds from the next room.
	"Are you all right, Father?" Achika asked, looking up from the pan she 
was preparing to fry tofu in.
	"Ye-he-hes..." The sounds were abruptly muffled, as if a cushion had 
been hastily put over Aeka's oniisama's mouth.
	"So how come you're here with Ryohko-san instead of with your parents?"
	"Uh... well... they got angry, and..."
	"Your parents started quarrelling again, and you were sent here to be 
out of the way?" Achika asked sympathetically.
	Her aunt nodded mendaciously, and there was another short silence.
	"What's your favorite class in 'school'?" Aeka finally asked. She really 
would have to do something nice for her sister one of these days; 
Sasami's shoujo manga were *very* informative for times like these!
	"Either home economics or science. I don't really like dissecting 
things, but the rest of biology was wonderful!" 
	"Anoh... " Aeka racked her brain for something else to ask. "What do you 
want to be when you grow up?" She sat back, smiling at having thought of 
such an informative question. Tenchi-sama's mother undoubtedly had a 
great future planned out already.
	"A bride."
	Aeka blinked. "That's IT?! That's all you want to do?"
	"Of course that's not all I want to *do*. I want to have children, and 
then, when I've had practice taking care of them, I want to open my home 
up to fit in children who don't have anyone to take care of them. I can 
see myself in maybe twenty years, with a husband who loves me, waist-deep 
in children. But that's not something you are, it's something you do, or 
something you have." Achika looked at the girl seated at the table. "Both 
you and your cousin are very ambitious, aren't you? You two'll be 
whatever you reach your hand out for. I want to *be* a bride."
	Aeka had nothing to say to that. Achika began to chop the vegetables.
	
	"Ara, ara," Washuu said, looking at her computer screens with an almost 
gleeful expression. "Well, then, let's see... Achika-dono is going to 
disappear in seven days, as a result of one or all of these apparently 
unrelated factors. If we can only define them, we might be able to narrow 
down the possibilities and accurately predict when she's going to 
vanish." She temporarily blanketed her connection to her chat room. 
	"Argh!" she yelled, throwing her visor to the floor. "I need more 
*time*... "
	It wasn't really time she needed. Not precisely. But this was more 
complicated than she had thought at first, and until she had more data or 
could somehow make a connection (which the computers were trying first... 
that's what they were *there* for) she was helpless.
	Washuu hated being helpless. Hated it with a passion. There were very 
few times in which she had been helpless in the past. The time when her 
baby had been taken from her; HER baby, whom she loved, whom she hadn't 
been allowed to keep. She had come, later, when she had prepared a place 
for the two of them to be safe, and seen her child call another woman 
mother in all sincerity. Ships she could have fought. Jailers she could 
have dealt with. That... she'd have been no better than a kidnapper 
herself.
	The time when her student had betrayed her -- imprisoned her, taken her 
research, transferred himself into the shell she had planned to be a 
son... taken her daughter. Ryohko, who would never have made any of 
Washuu's mistakes because her mother would have helped her to learn. 
Ryohko, who would never have left her unless it were of her daughter's 
own free will. Ryohko, whom she would have sheltered, nourished, 
cherished... and much as Washuu might spit "Kagato-me... konoyaroo" at 
the memory of the student who had claimed to be from Rimfax the Shadow -- 
even that, she had discovered during her long imprisonment in the 
Kage-Sohja, was a lie -- she knew in her innermost bones that it was 
partly her fault. She should have been more careful. She should have put 
in more safeguards. She should never have trusted Kagato so much; Ryohko 
was her DAUGHTER, dammit! She should have guarded her with her life! 
	The time when she had been set free and seen Ryohko again... and found 
that her daughter wanted nothing to do with her. And no matter what she 
said or did, it was always wrong. She hadn't anticipated what Ryoh-oh-ki 
would -- had -- become, but she had adapted to the idea of having another 
daughter in her house. She'd admit that she'd been confused by 
Tenchi-dono; had misinterpreted a far more complicated and uncertain tie 
as romantic attraction. There was something about him... familiar, or 
more precisely, that *should be* familiar... never matter that. She'd 
even admit that her fellow scientists Kiraiya nal'Tiamat and 
Falmienzuteck would have diagnosed her pursuit of Tenchi-dono as a 
subconscious attempt to get Ryohko's attention in one way if she couldn't 
have it in another... and, deep down inside her, she'd probably even 
admit that they were right.
	She'd do better the next time she saw Ryohko; at any rate, she'd try. 
She *would* do this thing, save Tenchi-dono, and by implication save 
Ryohko. Whether or not children were a blessing, to create them and then 
fail them was surely damnation. Even Tenchi-dono's father knew that. 
She'd failed twice already. She would not fail a third time.


Part Four
A Swiftly Tilting Galaxy

	"When? When do we leave?" Ryohko asked.
	"When? What are you talking about?" Achika asked, shocked. "We leave 
tomorrow, of course. Why do you think we divided up into groups?"
	"Eh?" both Ryohko and Aeka said as Achika left, carrying a tray. They 
exchanged glances that were at once both significant and hostile.
	Both of them were still remembering how, just before dinner, Ryohko had 
come back from her flight and smirked about how she had been seeing how 
Tenchi and the others had set up their campsite.
	Aeka had, of course, immediately taken offense, and the two had gone out 
into the front yard and started fighting.
	"Dinner!" Achika had called.
	Of course, neither of the two of them had paid attention.
	Achika had come out to the front door and repeated "Dinner!"
	Another of Ryohko's energy attacks had been splashed into Aeka's wards.
	Achika had run out between them, kicked both girls' feet out from under 
them before they had time to react, and said apologetically, "I'm very 
sorry, but it's time for dinner."
	The dumbfounded rivals had followed her in.

	In another house, not so very far away, downright close in global terms, 
Nobuyuki was sitting on the floor of his room beneath his Beatles poster, 
packing for the trip. He held a camera up to his eye for a moment, 
imagining taking a film of something so exciting, so breathtaking, that 
it would win him worldwide renown. Either that or make Achika-chan proud 
of him.
	Achika-chan... he had not yet dared call her by the intimate suffix, but 
she was already the subject of a thousand thousand dreams and fantasies 
of his. Wild images of rescuing her from a burning building -- of 
building her a great home that would set off her beauty like a jewel 
setting -- of winning whatever that famous prize for picture-taking was 
and laying it at her feet, like one of those European knights in books -- 
of Achika-chan, filled with gratitude and pleasure, yes, and love, 
winding her arms about his neck and raising her lips to his...
	He sighed, lost in a world of dreams that still somehow managed to stay 
on the family side of the ratings line.

	Twenty-six years into the future, Washuu was talking to the two members 
of her interdimensional chat room who were present and waiting for the 
timer to go off on her chronometric regulator.
	"..so would you believe," Washuu-chan dai'ni told the other two, "they 
*never paid me any more money* for the development of the Web?"
	"No!" the lavender-haired girl said, shocked.
	"So what did you do?" Washuu Prime asked, the corner of her mouth 
quirking up.
	"Well," the second of her doubles to be discovered began, "I put my 
inventor's genius to work on a stink bomb." An evil grin began to creep 
across her face. "I bought the makings of about an entire smorgasbord, 
and enough stuff to make twelve chirashi de luxes, dumped it all in one 
of those cheap cloth bags you could buy in the market then, went to work 
on my last day, put a chair on top of a table, climbed up, and *lifted 
one of the cardboard ceiling panels* ... "
	A matching grin was on Washuu's face as she listened to the dimunitive 
woman who might even be the greatest of her 'compatibles' detail her 
revenge.
	" ... stuck the bag in, replaced the panel, and left. I heard it took 
them *months* to figure out where the smell was coming from; they tore up 
the walls and the floor a couple of times, but nobody EVER thinks of the 
ceiling."
	"Most people tend not to expect things from above," the chat room's 
protegee observed calmly. "Part of why I was so devastating, before I was 
freed."
	"At least the team I was with in Japan paid well when they dissolved," 
Washuu-chan dai'ni continued. "I found myself at a loose end, so I 
decided to teach science for a while, maybe discover a genius being 
stifled by the Japanese school system. Hah. My brightest student's in 
third grade, and all that's stifling her is an overachiever mother and a 
broken home. Misao-chan doesn't need a teacher, she needs a practical 
psychologist and better parents. I can't be the second, and I've never 
been good enough with feelings to be the first."
	"Yeah, that's more of Tsunami's department," Washuu agreed.
	Her double looked at her curiously. "As for the second... what's it like 
to be a mother? Ryohko's enough of a headache as a student; I can't 
imagine what it would be like to have her as a daughter."
	Washuu looked at the two other members of her chat room seriously. 
"Hard. We expect children to be small versions of ourselves, and are 
surprised when they turn out to be their own people. You want to take all 
her burdens on yourself, and you know that that wouldn't be good for her 
-- she wouldn't even appreciate it! You try to do all the traditional 
mother-daughter things, and watch them tossed in your face. You catch 
yourself watching her when nobody's looking with a longing so intense you 
can barely breathe -- if only, just once, she'd turn and say, 'Mother, I 
love you.' 
	"And then you find that you crafted better than you knew when you made 
her companion -- what you thought to be a protector/defender/assistant is 
in effect a forever-younger sister. And as your daughter's sister, you 
have responsibilities to her, whether or not you choose to name her your 
daughter as well. Now and then, when everyone sensible and not-so is in 
bed asleep, I'll get up and read to Ryoh-oh-ki; mostly books about 
carrots." She smiled wryly. "I wish my relationship with my daughter went 
*half* as well as the one with you."
	The lavender-haired android looked at the other two women. "I'm just 
grateful," she said, "that you started talking with me while I'm in this 
stasis. I can't just shut down because then I'd need to be recharged to 
wake, and if you hadn't begun to speak with me I might have gone mad from 
boredom."
	"Remind me when this is over," Washuu said, "and I'll punch through a 
viewer to your modernized Ayel'chad Tsarrdh and pipe in to you what's 
happening with all your friends."
	"They call it El-Hazard now," the android corrected.
	"Whatever," Washuu said. "It's the place where I worked on one of my 
greatest pre-*Sohja* inventions. I even met one of your cheap 'clones'; 
they had her as protection for the conference. She was friendly with our 
gofer, Diane Vesper."
	"Diane Vesper?" Washuu-chan dai'ni said. "Wasn't that the one... "
	"Yes," Washuu said. "My opposite number encoded the activation and 
command codes for our biggest invention into her DNA once it turned out 
that they planned to turn it into a weapon, and detailed Ifrina-17 as her 
personal bodyguard. He did a pretty good job, actually," a craftsman's 
appreciation for a job well done in her voice, "looping the block of data 
recessively so that while it would reproduce itself like normal DNA, it 
would need to be doubled to activate the Divinely Punishing Dimensional 
Warping Beholder."
	The third member of the conversation stared. "Did you just say you were 
one of the scientists who invented *the Eye of God*?!" she near-yelped.
	"I believe that was what I was getting at, Ifritah," Washuu told her.
	The timer went off.

	On the hill above the valley where both the Masaki house and Nobuyuki's 
were located, Tenchi, Sasami, Mihoshi, and Kiyone had set up camp. Across 
the valley, Tenchi could see the roof of the Masaki-jinja as he hung up 
the newly washed clothes to dry. Although none of them could go too near 
that shrine, lest the present Ryohko notice them in her astral body, 
Tenchi liked to look at it. That had been, really, where the whole thing 
had started.
	Sasami tended to the dinner. She hadn't slept well the past night; she'd 
had one of *those* dreams again. That one scary lady, the one she knew in 
her dreams, had been talking at her and laughing. She'd said that genius 
was worth nothing unless you knew how to use it; really, did 'oneesama no 
baka' imagine that Sasami's father was the ONLY galactic ever to be 
charmed by a Chikyuujin woman, or even the first? Had she never wondered 
what recessive traits might lie in those Earth bloodlines that claimed 
descent from kami? Why, such a stupid person probably wouldn't even keep 
track of the children of her own blood!
	Sasami didn't like those dreams. In the dream, she had known who and 
what the scary lady was, and why it was so unfair of her to deliberately 
try to be mean; but she never remembered after she woke up. She had 
shoved the dream aside, and concentrated on the tasks of the day -- such 
as cooking dinner, which was always a pleasure.
	Kiyone was taking a hot bath in an upended oil drum while her partner 
checked something near the base of the improvised tub. "Ah," she sighed, 
luxuriating in the hot water, "gokuraku... "
	"What are we going to do?" Mihoshi asked.
	"Well, " Kiyone said, "for the time being all we can do is go along on 
the trip."
	"I'm scared," Mihoshi confessed, her woebegone face shining with 
anxiety. "What if I lose myself? There are so many people in Tokyo..."
	"Mihoshi," Kiyone said, reason mingled with faint exasperation, 
"officers of the Galaxy Police do not, as you put it, 'lose themselves' 
-- " Kiyone suddenly disappeared from the oil drum, as if she had been 
somehow *sucked* away.
	"Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked, rising and looking around. "Kiyone? Where did 
you go?" She peered into the depths of the makeshift tub. "Did you fall 
asleep?"
	It was so incredibly inconsiderate of Kiyone to vanish like that without 
telling Mihoshi where she was going!

	"YAAAHHHH!" Kiyone yelped as she fell through a dimensional hole to land 
flat on the floor of Washuu's subspace lab.
	"Oh dear," Washuu said, looking the naked police officer over. "Have I 
chosen a bad time to bring you back?"
	Kiyone looked up. "Washuu-san... " she breathed. Hastily, she scrambled 
into a squatting pose, hugging herself to try to conserve warmth. "The 
next time you bring me back," she said icily, "you might tell me 
beforehand."
	"I'm sorry," Washuu said, raising an arm. A large fluffy towel fell from 
nowhere onto Kiyone, who wrapped it around her dripping body. "There's 
something I want you to check for me."
	"Tell me what it is," Kiyone said, getting to her feet. "I can handle 
it."
	"When I analyzed the energy-signature from the point of Achika-dono's 
disappearance," Washuu told her, "I found a correlation. It matched that 
given off when a sector station and then the Galaxy Police headquarters 
vanished." Displays flickered on the screen.
	"So that means?" Kiyone asked.
	"It's quite simple," Washuu said. To the greatest genius scientist in 
the galaxy, perhaps. "The sector headquarters disappeared right after 
that last, 'Kain' transmission of yours. The Main HQ was then taken out 
in the new timeline just before Mihoshi's birth. There's a connection."
	"Hmm... " Kiyone said. "Can you access Yukinojou and the main database 
on the *Yagami*?"
	"Of *course*, " Washuu said. "I could call up the archives of the Galaxy 
Academy if I wanted to." 
	Argh! The Academy archives! How could the greatest genius scientist in 
the universe have missed such an *obvious* source?!
	Washuu's fingers danced over the keyboard, sending Yukinojou's files 
over to Washuu-chan dai'ni while she split the giant Academy Archives 
into two parts -- one for herself and another for Ifritah. 
	"Look at that!" two voices said in unison. Washuu-chan dai'ni sent what 
she'd discovered up to the main screen.
	"There we are," Washuu told Kiyone. "Look at that. Age, appearance, 
gender... completely blank." She checked the Academy entry for 
"description." One word: 'dark.' 
	"Wonderful," Washuu muttered. "How are you supposed to identify it?"
	Kiyone went on reading Yukinojou's file. "Number 5-7, class A. Reported 
escaped by: unknown person self-identified as 'Tokimi.' Universal Era 
20507. General energy type: NVO. Code name: Kain. Listed as general 
disaster. Destroyed thirteen uninhabited planets and 27, 500 spacecraft, 
mostly drones, before finally apprehended with assistance from anonymous 
Jurai citizen and the Youngling Funaho.
	"Confined in the Galaxy Police Subspace Network. Considered to have the 
power to destroy even large forces of Galaxy Police. Has been confined in 
the subspace chamber of District Station Q-5 for the past thousand 
galactistandard years."
	"Hmm," Washuu said, a note of something Kiyone couldn't quite place in 
her voice. The shorter woman had reacted once, at the mention of this 
"Tokimi" whomever. "Not an ordinary malefactor, is it? Kain's more on the 
order of a brand-new collaxar."
	"But even if he escaped the subspace room, how could he go back in time 
and interfere with events there?" Kiyone demanded.
	Washuu looked at Kiyone much the way she had looked at her students 
whenever they had reached halfway with their reasoning and were groping 
for the next hold. "Take it from me," she told the younger woman, "if 
this whatever could *escape* from subspace, affecting the past would be 
child's play.
	"But anyway," she continued, "when we take as a given that Kain is 
traveling to Earth and plans to interfere with Achika in some way, I can 
narrow it to an 87% probability that the disappearance will happen 
sometime between 25 November and 28 November, location -- *Kindler of 
Stars* -- "
	"Tokyo!" both women cried.

	"Do the Galaxy Academy archives have anything more to say?" Kiyone asked 
finally.
	"The two main reasons they include *this* is because your 'anonymous 
Jurai citizen' turned out to be Azusa himself -- of course he wasn't the 
emperor yet," Washuu told her, "and because catching Kain involved both 
his use of his Master Key and your guys' use of the dimensional cannon."
	"The WHAT?" Kiyone said. "That thing can take out a small galaxy!"
	"Yes, it was invented by some friends of mine," Washuu said. "We'd call 
them the Three Complainsters because just about everywhere we went, 
Danaan would say 'Too cold,' Falmienzuteck would add 'Too dry,' and 
Kiraiya would chime in with 'And too damn bright!'" A smile crept across 
her face at the memory.
	"Friends of yours... " Kiyone said. She blinked and shook her head. This 
was no time for reminiscing. "We don't have a Master Key *or* the 
dimensional cannon!"
	"You have ME," Washuu informed her, "not to mention Tenchi-dono, who can 
create three Koh-oh-yoku in a pinch, *and* Mihoshi."
	Kiyone did not look noticeably comforted. "I could have been partners 
with Mitsuki like she wanted," she muttered, "but ohhh no, I had to stick 
with my sworn-kin and be a laughingstock ever afterwards..."
	Washuu glared at her. "You did read your partner's report?"
	"Ye-es..."
	"Considering that *I* created the *Sohja*, Ryoh-oh-ki, a five-planet 
subspace lab, the photon-proton synchrotron, was an instrumental member 
of the cross-dimentional team that developed superweapons such as the Eye 
of God -- we amplified the Three Complainsters' invention to be more 
practical -- and invented numerous other items too many to list here, not 
to mention the shield I whipped up for Ryohko that performs the exact 
same hiding-from-Kagato-me function as Funaho-the-tree did with 
sixty-five roots -- mine is small enough to be embedded in one of my 
daughter's replacement gems -- "
	Kiyone hastily apologized. It was just, she explained, that she was 
scared.
	"The only people who *wouldn't* be scared in this case," Washuu told 
her, "are idiots, crazy, or high."
	Kiyone smiled weakly. Then she looked Washuu directly in the face.
	"The station... they're really all gone?"
	"Everyone who was there at the time."
	"Department Head Nobeyama will never be on our case again... we'll never 
eat at our special booth at T'Liha's Restaurant... never have Kolruu in 
Forensics complain about the mess we've brought in for him *this* time... 
"
	Washuu was silent, giving the dark-haired woman time to come to terms 
with her grief. 
	Finally Kiyone angrily wiped her face with the back of her hand. "We're 
going to get this 'Kain,'" she told Washuu-san. "We're going to 
*obliterate* the bastard."
	Washuu-san nodded. "Kiyone... " she said almost hesitantly.
	"What is it?"
	"Watch out for Ryohko, will you? She still thinks she's immortal."
	Kiyone looked at the greatest genius scientist in the universe. "Part of 
the oath I swore as a cop," she said, "was to protect the civilians and 
help the hopeless."
	Washuu-san's laughter rang in her ears as the time portal opened once 
again.


Part Five
Time-Space-and-the-Other Stranger

	"And so," Tenchi later put into Kiyone's report, "we all headed off for 
Tokyo on the school trip."
	The train sped up east to the capital city, laden with students and a 
few volunteer teachers in addition to its regular users. Towards the back 
end of one car, a small knot of very familiar people were gathered.
	"If Kain is going to attack, you'd think it'd have the decency not to do 
it during a school trip," Ryohko said irritably.
	"Your mother wasn't *certain* that it would happen in the next three 
days," Kiyone said patiently. "She just said that that was when it was 
most probable."
	Ryohko glared at Kiyone.  *What* mother?
	"I'm scared," Mihoshi said. "This Kain is powerful enough to have 
destroyed the entire Headquarters? I wish we were home!"
	"Mihoshi!" Aeka snapped. "What are you saying! You know we can't go home 
now! We have to protect Okaasama. It's our mission! If anything happens 
to her, Tenchi-sama will disappear, and we will too."
	"Aeka... " Tenchi said gratefully. Next to him, Sasami smiled from her 
seat at the window.
	"And since when did Achika become your mother?" Ryohko asked, hands 
behind her head. Tenchi smiled weakly. "Hmm?"
	Aeka glared at her. Ryohko smirked.
	"I know just what you're doing," she told the Jurai princess, suddenly 
aping demure manners for a moment. "'Oh, you look just like one of the 
family.' See!"
	Aeka began to nnying.
	Ryohko made assorted derogatory sounds.
	"Aeee! I cannot take this anymore!" Aeka yelled, pointing at Ryohko. "I 
have had about enough of your insuinations!"
	"Oh, the truth hurts, doesn't it?" Ryohko mocked, easily catching Aeka's 
stretching hands. "You think I didn't see you and Achika sneaking off 
yesterday to talk about things -- like what boys you both prefer?'
	"You know that's totally untrue!" Aeka said, shrinking in on herself for 
a moment before snatching Ryohko by the collar of her school uniform.
	"Want to fight?" Ryohko demanded, hands beginning to spark with energy.
	Tenchi jumped up from his seat and between the two of them. "Stop it!" 
He held Aeka back. 
	"Aeka, calm down!" he begged.
	Aeka was still ranting. "This time she's just gone too far! I'm going to 
teach her a lesson! Watch!"
	"*You* are?" Ryohko demanded.
	Electricity almost visibly flowed between the two girls' eyes. Tenchi 
was flung backwards into the seat by the sheer pent-up energies that were 
finally being loosed. Aeka began calling her shield and Ryohko her 
energy-sword, to the accompaniment of Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Sasami 
frantically demanding them to stop it, please!
	A globe of energy flared in the aisle.  Excess energy went into the car, 
with results not unlike those which would have been caused by it being 
struck by several small bolts of lightning -- which in fact was precisely 
what had happened. The train slowed to a stop, the one car smoking.

	Late that evening, the train *finally* pulled into Tokyo. 
	"We apologize for the delay caused by the activation of the automatic 
sprinkler system..." the PA was blathering as the Okayama party got off.
	"I'm so tired," Achika yawned, exiting behind Nobuyuki.
	"So am I.. but at least we got here."
	"Okay, senior class!" Mihoshi called, waving an arm wildly. "Are you all 
here? Follow me, please!"
	"So who's going to keep watch tonight?" a charred Ryohko asked her 
equally blackened rival.
	"Somehow," the princess' voice was dry, "I have the feeling that it will 
be us."

	The next morning, the students sleepily filed onto a red and white tour 
bus.
	Achika yawned, leaning back in the seat by the window. She had not had 
much sleep last night, and what she had had was plagued by strange 
dreams. There had been one with the Golden-eyed Lady wearing some sort of 
red-and-black outfit molded to her skin, holding a sword made out of 
light and flying through some large hall, face steadfast beyond 
determination. A dream of a little girl with blue hair, whom she could 
almost recognize, running frantically from something until she ran right 
off of a... cliff? Or had it been an explosion that sent her off? Achika 
couldn't remember... only how she'd stretched out her arms in a vain 
attempt to catch the little girl.
	And there was one of somebody saying to a man whom she knew to be 
Aeka-san's father (although she couldn't have told anyone HOW she knew; 
dreams are like that), "You've done it backwards; you're supposed to take 
the one you WANT as your number two, after you marry the one *arranged*." 
Was that true? Of course she'd *heard* of men who kept a number two and 
their children, but she hadn't thought that one of those would be as 
ojousama as Aeka-san... now why was she assuming that Aeka-san was the 
second woman's daughter?
	And finally they had all dissolved into a little boy with black hair and 
brown eyes, who looked a little like Nobuyuki-san; he'd been at the cave 
by the shrine, sobbing his heart out, barely able to choke out "Kaasan... 
kaasan's gone..." and she'd woken up with tears streaming down her face, 
heartsick from the child's sorrow.
	"Hello," Nobuyuki-san said, training an 8-mm film camera on her face as 
he walked down the bus aisle.
	"Nobuyuki-san... what are you doing with that thing?"
	"It'll make a great souvenir from our trip," he said, sliding into the 
seat next to her.
	"Isn't it too early in the day for this?" Ryohko groused quietly from 
behind them.
	"Yes, they do seem to be getting along well, don't they?" Aeka said, 
agreeing with the intent if not the words. She yawned; even 'spelling' 
Ryohko, she'd had nowhere near the amount of sleep due an imperial 
princess. Although the space pirate's idea of taking turns to watch had 
ensured that she'd at least had *some*... of course, she had no plans to 
admit that that oni woman could have a good idea once in a while.