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: "Achika-dono's point of disappearance is sometime within the next seven days." Outside, while the girls had a volleyball rematch and a male gym class ran around the school, two other people were also remembering Washuu-san's words. "... and, Kiyone, I've confirmed the disappearance of the Galaxy Police Headquarters. Their last transmission mentioned a '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? Ryohko jumped up and slammed the volleyball into Aeka's face. "One down!" she cheered. This 'team' thing was kinda... fun, actually. She was in a crowd of people, and they weren't running away or trying to arrest or kill her. It was all just people working together for something that wasn't life, death, or Tenchi. "Ryohko..." Aeka snarled. "Come and get me!" Ryohko teased. Aeka picked herself up and proceeded to do just that. In the bushes, Sasami fell over, still laughing. Tenchi had snickered a bit himself before he'd quickly sobered at a recollection. "... Tenchi-dono, the shield energy lasts 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 six members of the team (seven 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 noodle bread? 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. "Sasami, we leave Tenchi to your care." "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 might you be?" 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-kun!" Achika called from some distance along the path. "Uh... Achika-chan," 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 build 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." "What?" 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. "Mm... 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. "Ne, ne" 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. "Myaa!" 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 Arai Yumi and some of the other rock 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 bean curd 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 quarreling 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 mother." 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 marry and bear 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 mother." 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.