The Lesser Pain

        Washu yawned loudly. It was far too early in the morning for her
tastes. If there was one thing she resented about her immature physique, it
was its lack of physical endurance. She had worked until midnight for three
weeks straight, and the wear was beginning to show on her young face. If
Sasami hadn't made a habit of waking up to make sure Washu went to bed every
night, the diminutive scientist might not have slept at all in that time.
Washu had tried sealing her lab with every ward and barrier she could come
up with, but that damnable-damnable, yet fascinating-link with Tsunami made
it all too simple for Sasami to break them down and slip in uninvited.

        As she headed for the portal which connected her transdimensional
laboratory to the more mundane portions of the Masaki household, Washu
wondered vaguely why she'd abandoned her deeply ingrained habit of sleepin
in. She hated getting up at six in the morning, yet lately she had been
forcing herself to. It wasn't as if she had any really pressing matters to
attend to, just little things she could do at her leisure. There was no good
reason to be up at this ungodly hour. Yet for a reason Washu could not
fathom, something was gnawing at the back of her mind, some problem she felt
she should work on but could not quite bring her mind to grasp.

        Washu flung open the door, and a thick, dirty haze of smoke began
drifting in, followed by muffled screams, curses, and the sharp smell of
burning wood. It suddenly occurred to her how wise it had been to set up her
own place, separate from the rest of the house.

        A bolt of raw energy tore through the smoke in front of Washu, its
intended target somewhere down the hall. Washu scowled angrily and the bolt
stopped, inches from detonating. The signature was unmistakably Ryoko's,
meaning Aeka was more than likely the target. With a wave of her hand, Washu
snuffed the beam and mended the considerable damage inflicted on the Masaki
household. She shut the door with less than a thought. "That one seemed
serious.", she speculated to no one in particular, tapping her chin
thoughtfully. "Maybe the game's almost over." She grinned. "And I think I
know the victor."

        "I assume you are not referring to yourself, but you
little....creation.", said an unidentified voice behind her. It was a soft,
almost whispered woman's voice, but "soft" and "kind" are two very different
adjectives. The voice was cold, impersonal, analytical. It was the voice of
one who had voluntarily sacrificed all emotion.

        Washu whirled about and saw a pale woman with black eyes that were
deep purple where others' eyes were white. A crown of gold sat on her head
over her light brown hair. She was dressed in an ornate cloak thay
completely covered her body except for a more than generous amount of
cleavage and gave her the appearance of hovering when she walked towards
Washu, moving with ethereal grace. "And you are....?", Washu prompted,
arching an eyebrow.

        Lady Tokimi smirked. "You may have fooled your mortal friends and
even Tsunami with your amnesia act, but do not try your little games on me,
sister.", she ordered. "You are Washu, middle goddess of the Trilogy. Shed
that disguise that we may speak as sisters once more."

        Washu sighed reluctantly but obeyed, shifting into her adult form.
"You caught me.", she said peevishly. "So what do you want, Tokimi?"

        "I was monitoring....'the game', as you put it.", Tokimi said
matter-of-factly. "I have been watching this house with some interest, and I
have paid special attention to the contest between the Jurai Princess and
your child. So, you are sure Ryoko will win?"

        Washu snorted derisively. "Of course!", she snapped. "What advantage
could Aeka possibly have?"

        Tokimi raised her eyebrows. "For all your intellect, sister, your
methods of thinking are painfully slow.", she commented. Washu scowled,
opened her mouth, but Tokimi swept on. "You've missed the point entirely.
Perhaps I should clarify. Are you sure Ryoko wants to win?"

        Washu laughed. "This is absolute nonsense!", she proclaimed. "If
you're talking about the battle over Tenchi, of course Ryoko wants to win!"

        Tokimi gazed at her sister levelly. Occasionally, the eldest goddess
of the Trilogy wished she could see what made her younger siblings such
stupid fools, and she was having such a moment now. "How do you know?", she
asked.

        Washu crossed her arms over her chest and turned her chin up
proudly. "I sense every emotion she has. We're linked, remember?"

        "I remember. But I think you put more stock in that link than it
really deserves.", Tokimi remarked.

        "How so?", Washu asked, genuinely interested for the first time. If
Tokimi was challenging the accuracy of her work, Washu would take the
greatest pleasure in grinding her older sister's allegations into the dust.

        "When was the last time you used the link for anything more than
surface thoughts and feelings?", Tokimi inquired. "When the last time you
accessed Ryoko's subconscious, looked at what she really thought or felt?"

        Washu just barely suppressed a gasp. "Never....", she whispered.

        "Precisely.", Tokimi said. "You believe that since Ryoko is your
creation, you automatically known everything there is to know about her."
Washu grinned a wide, proud grin. "You couldn't be more wrong.", Tokimi
noted, wiping the grin off her sister's face. "It is never that simple with
sentient beings, even mortal ones. Never assume you know everything about a
sentient being, my sister. Even the lowest of them are complex."

        "So what are you saying?", Washu asked irritably. "I'm busy, and I'd
appreciate it if you'd cut to the chase."

        "It's quite simple.", Tokimi stated. "Tenchi muyo."

        "Tenchi muyo?", Washu echoed. "I'm afraid I don't follow, sis."

        "I'm saying that Ryoko is in love.", Tokimi replied patiently. "But
I don't think you know who she's in love with."

        Washu glared sharply at Tokimi. "Are you saying Ryoko doesn't love
Tenchi?", she sneered. "That's preposterous. I don't need to look into her
subconscious to know she loves Tenchi."

        Tokimi shook her head slowly. "You're far too certain, sister.
That's a weakness. Too much certainty locks you into a fixed pattern of
reality from which you can never break. It limits your capacity to learn by
preventing you from accepting something you took for truth as being actually
falsehood.", she lectured. "Since I'm tired of your inability to grasp this,
I will spell it out. Ryoko's 'love' for Tenchi is a complete contrivance, a
psychological defense. It's a state of denial which has fooled everyone,
even you, even her, into believing she loves Tenchi. But deep within, Ryoko
knows-albeit subconsciously-who she really wants."

        "Who?", Washu asked, too astounded by Tokimi's theory to challenge
it.

        Tokimi extended a hand from beneath her cloak, cupping her fingers.
A holographic image began to focus over her palm, and on its completion,
Washu gasped.

        "That's impossible!", Washu exclaimed.

        Tokimi smiled coldly, her eyes flashing with dark triumph. "That",
she stated, "is what I do."

        An image of Princess Aeka hovered over Tokimi's palm. "I don't
believe it!", Washu insisted. "Ryoko isn't....isn't....you know!"

        "She is. And what is more, the feeling is mutual.", Tokimi
announced. "They're far more alike than either would care to admit. It's
only a matter of time before they can no longer hold back their desire. It
may take quite a while, but Ryoko is a demigod and Aeka is Jurai. They have
time to spare."

        "You don't have any proof!", Washu gasped, clutching at her chest.
The room had been spinning about her since Tokimi had revealed Ryoko's true
love, but upon the revelation of Aeka's feelings, she had felt her lungs
start to fail. "There's no real evidence for this!"

        Tokimi's arctic smile widened, revealing a little streak of gleaming
ivory. Washu was truly frightened now. She could never recall a time when
her nearly emotionless sibling had smiled so much. "What sort of fool do you
think me", Tokimi began, a glimmer of evil amusement in her voice, "that I
wouldn't have proof to back up my arguments?"

        Washu slapped a hand to her forehead. "I should have known better.",
she groaned.

        Tokimi spread her arms, and a large sphere of red light appeared
above her. "Behold, my sister!", she cried, pointing her right forefinger at
the globe. An image formed within: the shrine of Kagato's ship Soja, at the
moment when Kagato had disrupted Ryoko's possession of one of the support
columns. The image was static at first, but at a gesture from Tokimi it
began to move, replaying the battle. Rubble from the shattered column fell
to the ground, and Aeka was unable to move, unable to save herself. But
Ryoko broke from her duel with Kagato and teleported Aeka to safety. The
replay stopped and the image faded. "Imagine, Ryoko risking her life to save
such a hated foe. If Ryoko had been acting at all in character, she would
have allowed Aeka to die. Indeed, she would've allowed her to die far
sooner: as you yourself said, Ryoko had been holding back that entire
battle. And why? To protect Aeka from harm.

        "But other elements of the Kagato incident are worth scrutiny as
well.", Tokimi continued. "Tenchi's death enraged both Ryoko and Aeka, and
with good reason. Without Tenchi, they had no way to justify their denial.
Their emotional barriers were torn down, and they had to find a way to
rebuild them. But as long as Tenchi was dead, they had no way of concealing
their true emotions, which explains quite clearly how they were able to
suddenly work together so well but not with Mihoshi, who was quickly
separated from them."

        Washu had always prided herself on having a swift, calculating mind,
but it seemd an eternity came and went before she could process Tokimi's
arguments. Once she did, however, Washu could only down one logical
conclusion: they were inerrably accurate. Ryoko and Aeka loved each other.
But still, the very concept seemed so wild, so utterly impossible that Washu
just couldn't being herself to believe it fully.

        "Aaah, but you must, my sister.", Tokimi chided. That shocked Washu
to her core, almost as deeply as the revelation her sister had brought.
Tokimi had scanned her thoughts? How was that possible?! "I realize that
this is a shock to you. Indeed, that was one of my main reasons for
revealing it to you. Would you like to see more evidence? Perhaps that would
ease your acceptance."

        "No more.", Washu rasped. "This is impossible. Don't try to prove
something impossible to me, Tokimi, it doesn't work."

        "Your protests are as weak as Ryoko's grip on heterosexuality.",
Tokimi countered. Washu choked on her breath, had her sister really just
tried to make a joke? "Mark me, Washu. Within the day I will have broken
both!"

        In less than an instant, Washu found herself whisked off by Tokimi's
power to the roof of the house. "We are invisible, inaudible, intangible,
and our energy signatrues are cloaked.", Tokimi informed Washu. "Just in
case you had any ideas about alterting your roommates to my presence. Now
look.", the goddess commanded, indicating the front yard. Aeka and Ryoko had
apparently been convinced to take it outside, but the violence hadn't calmed
itself in the least. Aeka wore her battlesuit and had the hilt of the sword
Tenchi gripped tightly in her right hand. Ryoko wore a combat suit as well
and had a beam sword in her fists. Both were glowering at each other with
such rage that Washu could see sparks leaping between their eyes. Closer to
the house, almost unnoticeable due to the scenery-chewing staredown between
the princess and the space pirate, stood Tenchi and the other tenants of the
Masaki household, wisely choosing to stay out of this conflict.

        "Doesn't look like love to me!", Washu observed with an odd sort of
gleeful skepticism.

        Tokimi cast an intimidating glower at Washu, managing to wipe the
smile off her sister's face for the third time that day. "It's called sexual
aggression, Washu.", she said sardonically. "Watch them. I don't think
they'll do much long range combat."

        Aeka activated the blade on the Master Key, and Ryoko shot a few
meters into the air, firing a spray of force bolts which were quickly
deflected by a series of swift parries from the First Princess of Jurai.
Washu's smug grin returned at Ryoko's use of her long-range powers, but was
gone in seconds as Aeka flew into the air, locking blades with her foe.
"Nani?!?!", Washu screamed. "She was wide open!! Why didn't Ryoko blast her
then?!!"

        "Because Ryoko's subconscious will not allow her to do anything
which might cause Aeka lasting harm.", Tokimi replied. "And neither will
Aeka's allow Ryoko to be hurt. She could've drawn enough energy through the
Master Key to kill Ryoko a single strike if she'd wanted to, but she chooses
the slow way, the way she knows must result in a tie."

        Washu was horrified. Ryoko was fighting extremely sloppily, passing
up opportunities that her beyond-human speed and reflexes could've easily
exploited. The middle goddess then began to notice something far more
disturbing: Aeka was straining less and less. At the opening of the battle,
when the two had first crossed blades, Aeka had been hard pressed to parry
Ryoko's blows. But as Washu looked on, the Jurai princess seemed to become
more and more effective. Aeka was nowhere near as skilled in sword combat as
Ryoko, which could only mean one thing.

        A shudder shook Washu as the absolute truth of Tokimi's claim
finally impressed itself on her mind. Ryoko was intentionally going easy on
Aeka to avoid injuring her seriously. She had lowered herself,
subconsciously or otherwise, to Aeka's level. "Ryoko....", Washu whispered.
"Why didn't you tell me?"

        "She can't." Tokimi smiled with satisfaction, watching the futile
duel rage on. "I have broken through your protests, sister.", Tokimi noted.
"Now but one task remains to me. Unless you have a compelling reason for
allowing them to waste their energy on this pointless battle."

        The Second Goddess swung her head from side to side slowly. "Do as
you will.", she muttered bitterly.

        Tokimi turned to the field of combat and pointed, red sparks dancing
over her fingers. Ryoko and Aeka canished in a crimson flash. A thin line of
red as tall as Tokimi slashed the air behind the goddess and
spread-actually, the line seemed to rotate somehow-into a circular portal.
"Come, sister.", the elder sister of the Trilogy said softly, but only a
fool would've taken it for anything but a direct order. Saying nothing
further, she turned about and glided into the gateway.

        Washu slouched in after her sibling, staring dejectedly at her feet.
This had promised to be such a good day, too. She might've been able to
figure out what had been preying on her mind for the past few days. "One of
your little pocket dimensions?" Tokimi's realm in the nether-regions of the
space-time continuum was crisscrossed by a network of mini-dimensions the
goddess herself had created, to aid her followers and for certain other
purposes as well.

        Tokimi nodded. "Indeed. This one is quite malleable and will serve
my purposes very well.", she explained. "Now stop sulking. You will not play
the child with me." As Washu put her attention to where Tokimi pointed, she
saw an image of a corridor appear before her, a plain gray stone hallway
surrounded by swirling mist. The rest of the dimension was perfect, unbroken
blackness, but Washu felt a strong sensation of eyes watching from that
void. She rubbed her arms involuntarily; her reasons for hiding from Tokimi
were hammering home harder then when she'd actually made the decision. "Now
watch, my sister, and learn." Ryoko appeared at one end.



        Ryoko was plucked out of the cold, impenetrable darkness and thrust
into a corridor of smooth, dark gray stone. Instantly she summoned a
beamsword into each hand, her mind racing. One minute she had been fighting
the Jurai bitch as usual, and then without the slightest of warnings
something had wrenched her into that void. She shuddered at the mere memory;
in comparison, this place was a relief from that cold abyss.

        She ran over the possibilities in her mind. Not many beings she was
familiar with had the power to do this, and an even smaller number would
ever actually have a motive for it. Only one would, actually. "Dammit,
Washu!", she swore under breath. "What are you up to this time?!" With the
greatest caution, the space pirate stalked down the corridor for what her
personal sense of time told her were hours, but time didn't have much
meaning in....wherever she was. The hallway twisted and turned too many
times for her to count, but never seemed to branch off as far she could see.

        As Ryoko walked, she began to contemplate what she was going to do
to Washu once she got out of this situation. But as she reached the verge of
deciding between trashing the lab herself or simply tossing Ryo-Ohki in
after a carrot, the corridor reached a dead end. Ryoko stamped her foot
irritably, sending cracks racing through the floor of the hall. "Washu!!",
she screamed, putting more venom into it than any curse she'd uttered in her
life. "Only you would subject me to something so pointless!!"

                 Washu sighed, cradling her head against a palm. "Really,
Tokimi, what is the point?", she asked in exasperation. "Why go to all of
this trouble just to piss Ryoko off."

        Tokimi smirked. "I enjoy it.", she said simply, but her smile was
gone in a flash after that. Washu arched an eyebrow; that smile was like
something Tokimi pulled out from somewhere and then just put away again when
she was done with it. "But you know very well there is a deeper purpose for
this."



        Ryoko, meanwhile, was busy carving a veritable spiderweb of cracks
in the stone wall, every hammering fist blow accompanied by a caustic oath
against Washu. And the one blow took her fist clean through the wall of what
she had supposed was solid stone, thrusting her in up to the shoulder. Ryoko
peer into the hold she had made, but not even her eyes could pick out
anything. Her ears, however, heard an extremely faint sound. Straining,
Ryoko could just barely make it out. "Tasuke te....", the voice groaned
weakly. The space pirate gasped. It was Aeka.

        Ryoko drew back, staring at the damaged wall uncertainly. What to do
in this situation? She tapped her chin thoughtfully. Aeka sounded weak,
hurt; she might die if left behind. Leaving the princess to her fate would
eliminate her biggest competition, but it would also probably make Tenchi
furious if he ever found out. Bringing her back, on the other hand, would
score her major points with Tenchi. And considering how weak she sounded,
she might die whatever happened. In that case, she could put on a
"distressed" act. Tenchi would take pity on her, and....She slapped a fist
against her palm in determination. "All right!", she said aloud. "Coming,
Princess!" Her beam swords flashed back into her hands, and she carved an X
through the "dead end" with them, shattering it into rubble with a swift
kick.

        The instant she entered, light flared through the room, blinding
Ryoko momentarily. When the spots faded, another gasp escaped her. Actually,
the sound she made was closer to a tortured groan. A huge stone cross stood
in the center of the room, and the First Princess of Jurai was hung from it,
eyes closed and head moving weakly. Fevered sweat slicked Aeka's body, shone
in her purple hair, which hung in complete disarray. The princess's robes
were nothing more than a few tatters, and her smooth skin was covered in so
many gashes Ryoko could not count them. The blood that stained her flesh was
mostly dried, but a fresh stream of crimson continued to flow from the
wounds on her wrists and ankles. Where the nails held her to the cross.

        As a space pirate, Ryoko was no stranger to violence. Death was an
integral part of her occupation. Bred as a warrior, she had always believed
there was no amount of carnage, no amount of gore, no battlefield atrocity,
that could affect her. She had always thought herself far too tough to let
bloodshed make her squeamish. But in that room, Ryoko found a sight she
simply could not face. She buried her head in her hands and fell to her
knees. "Oh, God, Aeka.... I'm sorry....", she moaned.



        "Damn you, Tokimi, what are you doing?!", Washu demanded for the
fifth time since the contents of the chamber had been unveiled. "You think
by torturing Ryoko you can get her to confess?!!" Energy crackled over the
Second Goddess's fingers, and her voice dropped to a hiss. "Put a stop to
it. Now."

        Tokimi's eyes flashed coldly, and Washu took an involuntary step
away. "I have only begun, I assure you.", she said, and if her eyes were
cold, her voice was arctic. "Now cease your ordinance, before I decide to
punish you like the child you pretend to be."



        "What's with you, Ryoko?"

        The space pirate was on her feet in a flashed, whirling to face the
new voice. "Tenchi?", she asked suspiciously. Had she ever felt suspicious
of Tenchi before? "What're you doing here?"

        Tenchi shrugged. "I saw you and Aeka disappear, then I was taken a
few moments later.", he explained. "I was thrown into this hallway, so I
turned on my battlesuit and followed the hall until I got here."

        "Well, the corridor is twisted enough for me not to have noticed
you, I guess.", Ryoko supposed. "But how could you've activated your suit
without me sensing it?"

        "Did you use a beam sword to cut the wall?", Tenchi asked. Ryoko
nodded. "Well, I didn't sense that. I think this place must dampen energy
signatures-"

        "It doesn't matter!", Ryoko cut him off, startled at the vehemence
in her own voice. "Aeka's dying, Tenchi! We need to get her out of here!"

        Tenchi gave the cross a passing glance and shrugged again. "There's
nothing we can do.", he decided, and turned around. "Let's go, Ryoko. We
need to find a way out of this place."

        Ryoko took an unsteady step forward, trying hard to ignore Aeka's
weak moans for help. "Yes, w-we should try and find a way-", she began. She
fell on her knees again, clutching at her head. "I can't.", she sobbed. "I
can't leave her behind!!"

        Tenchi sighed impatiently. "She's as good as dead, Ryoko.", he said
without so much as glancing over his shoulder, sounding annoyed. A
surprising emotion gripped Ryoko at that moment: pure, cold fury. One of his
best friends, who loved him more than her own life, was dying before his
eyes, and he was annoyed that Ryoko wanted to save her! "Now hurry up."

        Energy began to thrum through Ryoko's body as she raised her right
hand, clenching the fingers into a tight fist. The power within her focused,
like an ever-growing sphere of warmth around her hand. Electromagnetic fire
burned around her fingers, but an instant before the bolt was let fly at its
target, memories rose on their own accord within the mind of the demigod.
Tenchi as a small child, sobbing over the death of his mother, and she had
been unable to truly comfory him. All she could do was brush his hair with
her phantasmal fingers. Tenchi, even younger, camping out before her cave.
And as a baby, reaching towards her ghostly form that only an infant could
ever see. She had been with him his whole life, in the spirit and in the
flesh. The icy rage in her eyes melted, the energy around her hand flickered
and weakened. Tears poured from Ryoko's eyes. "No!", she wept. "Don't make
me remember!! He wants to....He'll leave her...."

        Tenchi sighed irritably. "Whatever.", he muttered. "See you later,
Ryoko. I'm going to get out of here. Feel free to join me when you've got
things sorted out."

        The ice in Ryoko's eyes hardened. "Damn you, Tenchi.", she
whispered. "DAMN YOU!!!!" The energy surged up through her again, raging
from her closed fist. The air itself seemed to crackle as that bolt, which
carried the force to raze a house, seared from Ryoko's hand and blasted
through the Juraian warrior. Tenchi didn't even have time to scream as he
was consumed, leaving less than ashes behind.



        "You....you forced her to.....", Washu whispered. The image of
Ryoko's blast still danced across her eyes, a purple streak on her vision.
She tried her best to accept what she had seen, found it impossible. It had
ben an illusion-Washu had known that from the start-but Ryoko couldn't have
known that the Tenchi she had killed was a fake. She truly believed Tenchi
to be dead.

        "I forced her to choose the lesser pain.", Tokimi declared. "Despite
her proclivity for denial, Ryoko has a strong mind. I was beginning to
suspect she'd leave Aeka just to maintain her charade."

        Washu's head whipped in Tokimi's direction. "You mean you didn't
know that this would work?!", she demanded.

        "Of course not.", Tokimi said, sounding slightly irritated, as
though the answer should've been obvious. "Did I not tell you? Certainty is
dangerous. In this case, my design was successful, but it could have
failed."

        "What would you have done then?", Washu inquired, blinking a few
times.

        "Formed a new plan.", Tokimi said simply. "Now watch. Let us see if
this comes to full fruition."



        Ryoko approached the stone cross slowly. With a gentleness
uncharacteristic of her, she brushed her fingers across each of the stakes
pinning Aeka, sending a minute pulse of energy through each to destroy it
without hurting the princess. Aeka's body fell limply into Ryoko's arms.
"R...Ryoko-san....", Aeka whispered through cracked lips.

        "Don't speak.", Ryoko said softly. "I'm getting us out of here.
Washu is going to pay for doing this to you."

        "Tenchi-sama....", Aeka moaned.

        Blinking back tears which stung tenaciously at her eyes, Ryoko said,
"He's dead, Aeka. I killed him. He was going to leave you here." She looked
away, expecting Aeka to scream, to curse her for the monster she was. She
had killed Aeka's one and only love. Her own love. But he wanted to leave
her!, she screamed inwardly. He would have let her die here....alone....

        "Ryoko-san, look at me.", Aeka ordered, still clinging to a sliver
of her aura of command. Ryoko obeyed and could not suppress a gasp at what
she saw: the First Princess's lips were curved into a smile. "You came for
me. You didn't leave me behind. Ryoko-san, you are more suited to be my
protector than Tenchi was." She cradled her head against Ryoko's breast.
"Take me from this place, Ryoko-sama."

        Ryoko nodded. "Let's go home.", she said wearily.



        Tokimi snapped her fingers, and the image pulsed briefly. Aeka's
body was bathed in a soft red glow.



        Ryoko watched with wide eyes as the inexplicable field of red
light-nothing like Washu's energy-shone around Aeka for a moment. When it
faded away, Aeka's wounds had faded too. Her tattered robe was whole, and
the haze of pain that had clouded her eyes vanished. "Aeka!", she gasped.
The First Princess's dinner-plate sized eyes darted all over her body,
peering at her arms, her torso over her shoulders. Finally, she looked back
to Ryoko.

        "Ryoko-sama, I'm....I'm....", Aeka stammered. She hugged herself
tighter to Ryoko, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't care. I don't
care how it happened. All that matters is that I'm all right." She eased
herself out of Ryoko's arms and began walking down the corridor, but midway
through her first step a thought struck her. Aeka snapped her fingers,
turning to face her savior. "I almost forgot, Ryoko-sama!", she exclaimed.
"I almost forgot your reward. A rescue so valiant certainly deserves one."

        At this point, any hero (or heroine, in this case) worthy of the
title would've insisted that a reward for their undertaking was completely
unnecessary, that they'd simply "done what they had to do". But Ryoko was no
heroine. "What kind of reward are we talking about, Aeka-hime?", she asked
slyly.

        Irritation flitted briefly across Aeka's face before it was replaced
with a crooked grin to match Ryoko's. "Why, this, of course.", she said
wryly, placing her hands on the pirate's shoulders and shoving her back to
the wall. Ryoko's mouth opened at just the right time to be utterly silenced
by Aeka's kiss. The princess pulled back after a long moment and whispered
in a sultry voice, "I know it's not the kind of reward you normally look
for, but-"

        Aeka's sentence was cut short as Ryoko regained her senses, drawing
Yosho's former fiancee tightly into her arms and giving her a kiss that sent
the princess's brain spinning. At almost the exact moment, a portal appeared
in the wall beside them, but the two wouldn't have noticed it for anything
short of an atomic blast heralding its arrival. And even that would've had a
slim chance of distracting them.



        Washu scowled darkly at Tokimi. "You weren't going to open the
portal until they kissed were you?!", she demanded. "You would've kept them
trapped until they gave in!!"

        "As I see it, I have done you a service.", Tokimi pointed out. "I
have cured your 'child' of one of her most profound weaknesses, as well as
largely eliminated the chaos that plagues your mortal residence." Tokimi
turned around and waved her hand dismissively at Washu. "My business with
you is concluded, sister. You may return home."

        "Yes, but...but...", Washu stuttered. "But why?!!"

        Tokimi looked over her shoulder, that cold smile quirking her lips.
"Didn't I explain it to your satisfaction earlier?", she asked.

        "You haven't explained ANYTHING!!!", Washu screamed, waving her arms
wildly.

        Tokimi chuckled, a soft sound compared to Washu's shriek. But that
tiny, near inaudible sound struck the Second Goddess absolutely speechless.
Tokimi never laughed! "Exactly.", she said, fading into the shadows.

        Washu slumped back and found herself in one of the chairs of her
lab. "I'm....back?", she asked herself, shaking her head rapidly. "What the
hell was that, anyway?" Something odd was definitely going on in her-the
scientist gave a start. "It's gone.", she whispered. Her voice rose to a
gleeful cry. "It's gone!!" The sensation of the problem she had to solve,
waiting in the back of her head, had vanished. Washu froze. "That was
it?!!", she demanded. "Hmmm. Well, maybe the link's worth a tad more than
Tokimi said after all...." She grinned, rubbing her hands together eagerly.
Of course, now there're a lot of new things for me to work on!! Maybe
they'll want children....now that would be an achievement!!! Washu
teleported to her computer and began making her plans.



        Aeka and Ryoko, meanwhile, stood before the portal, hands clasped.
"He's alive, you know.", Aeka said quietly. "Tenchi. I can feel his power on
the other side. What you killed must have been an illusion."

        "Illusion....", Ryoko echoed. "Aeka, I...."

        "Don't say it, Ryoko-sama.", Aeka said mournfully. "I know you love
him. I promise.... not to get in the way." She smiled a sad smile at Ryoko,
her eyes brimming with fresh tears. "I wish you happiness, Ryoko-sama."

        Ryoko smiled back, but hers was considerably less melancholy. She
folded her arms over her breast and shook her head slowly. "Well, well,
well. You really don't think much of me, do you, Aeka-hime?", she asked in a
dry voice. "Do you know that was exactly what I was going to say to you? I'm
telling you, Princess, when you and me get into denial, we hold on to the
bitter end." She grasped Aeka's shoulders. "What do I have to do to convince
you, rip your clothes off right here?! I want you, Aeka, not him! I love
you!"

        Aeka's jaws worked uselessly for a few moments, but she finally
managed to squeeze out, "Why don't you wait until we get home, Ryoko-sama?"

        A raucous laugh burst out of Ryoko. "I'll give it a shot, lover, but
you ask a great deal.", she declared, taking Aeka's hand. "Now come on, you
have to say it too."

        Aeka giggled girlishly, rubbing up against Ryoko's side. "I love
you, Ryoko-sama.", she said lightly. "You know, my father won't be happy
about this."

        "And I care because....?", Ryoko asked confidently. "Your father can
go screw Lady Tokimi for all I care."

        "You know what, Ryoko-sama?", Aeka asked as the two stepped through
the gate.

        "What?"

        "You took the words right out of my mouth.

        Conveniently, the portal sent them to Aeka's bedroom.

The End

A VoidStar Production, April 9 1998

Like a window reflecting time, I'm living on a planet of my own design