To be a Princess, Epilogue

Updated 5/23/02

Pain, heartache and disbelief. All seem to go hand in hand and there seems to be no way around them for Ayeka Jurai, First Princess of Jurai and next in line to become Empress of the Jurai Empire. For hours she stood on the deck of Kinata's tree ship staring into the void where her friends used to be. Now all that remained were scattered pieces of the battleship Ryo-Ohki. Ayeka, Sasami and even Kinata could not believe what they had seen, and at first, she didn't want to believe it, but it had happened. She had only been able to watch from a distance as the Ryo-Ohki exploded with her friends. Now all she felt was pain, her eyes burned from the tears and her throat hurt.

While she and a few others mourned the loss, many more celebrated. Since the victory over the Pirate, the ships that had arrived from other planets and sectors had gone back to their planets, happy with themselves. Not a single loss was suffered, other than Ryoko, Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki. That loss was felt though by several that truly loved them.

With the sheer number of ships against them, Kinata knew it was inevitable, but to witness it and not be able to do a thing about it was worse. He had only known them for a short time like those under his command and even they felt sadness over the loss. Ryoko may not have been well liked by the crew, but had seen her crying over the deaths she had caused, which caused them to start thinking. They then had done some checking on their own and their findings shamed them all, as the truth was discovered that she was one day acting like a typical teenager at the academy, then the next day destroying systems with an emotionless expression. "How could she have change so fast?" some had asked. None could find a better explanation other than what Tenchi had told them, she was forced into it, controlled against her will.

As their captain and Princess stood looking at the emptiness, they heard Tsunami talking to Sasami. The sight of their goddess alone was enough to cause them concern, but to hear sadness from her that Tenchi and Ryoko were gone only cemented the fact to them that Ryoko was not what they had thought. One of the officers when he heard that something remained ordered a few recovery crews to bring that back, and any other evidence that they could find, but he made the order quietly as to not disturb his captain.

Over the next few hours several crews scoured the wreckage and were able to find a small egg and some bits of clothing. The egg they handed to the first officer while the bits of clothing they placed in a box. He approached Sasami slowly and kneeled before her. "Your highness. Our teams have recovered this, and it appears to be alive." He then held out the egg to her.

Tears were flooding her eyes as she realized what it was, once before she had held this egg, but that was a happier time; a time when they laughed at the thought of Tenchi and Ryoko together. Her hands were trembling as she took it and saying a quick thanks she ran to a room to cry. Tsunami had never felt such emotions from the girl. When Yosho disappeared, it was known that he was alive, just missing, but this was much worse.

She approached the princess and could see that Ayeka was still mouthing the names of her friends but her tears had choked off her voice. The absolute sadness was hard for even the goddess to bear. "Ayeka?" Her voice was still gone but her face held the expression of sadness and confusion. "I can no longer sense them anywhere in Jurai space…" she paused for a moment then closed her eyes to concentrate. "…And I cannot feel them on the Earth either. They are lost." Ayeka gave up her ability to hold back and she lunged at the goddess throwing her arms around her and crying uncontrollably.

Over time, Ayeka was able to get over her tears, but she would always remember the days she had with them both. In the days to follow, she received a message from Washu that told her that she had been watching from her lab with Nobuyuki and Katsuhito. "Ayeka," she said sadly, "I have some bad news, that only gets worse." Ayeka braced herself for what was to come, but it still was not enough of a warning. "Nobuyuki is gone. He was watching with us and when the ship…." Her voice cracked and she choked back tears. Ayeka could understand why Washu was so upset, to be the genius that she was and not be able to save them. "When we were watching he fainted… At least I thought he did."

"What do you mean?" She asked the recording.

"When Katsuhito checked him he had no pulse… the best I can tell is that he had a heart-attack." Ayeka was devastated again, more losses. She did not think she could handle any more. "Katsuhito will be having their funerals… all of theirs in one week." At that the message ended abruptly. The princess knew then that this reunion was not going to be a good one. Her sister over the next few days seemed to be doing ok, at least much better than Ayeka had thought she would be. Her sister though had a few things that Ayeka did not. A few days after the battle Ryo-Ohki hatched again and having the cabbit and Tsunami the younger princess was given a way to find comfort in her losses.

The Jurai cruiser arrived on Earth two days before the funeral and little was seen of Washu as she kept to herself in her lab. She only came out for a brief moment to say something to Sasami, and Ayeka, then she was gone again. Katsuhito had explained her behavior by saying, "she has lost now not only a husband and a child, but now two children and a son in law. Her only reasons for leaving the lab were gone."

"What's she going to do?"

"Possibly go back to the science academy, there no one will be interested in her personal life and she will be able to run all of her experiments without interruption." Ayeka's world was falling apart with each new bit of news that she got. She had lost Tenchi to Ryoko, and now she has lost them both. The death of his father and now the separation of Washu compounded her loss. Earlier in the Week Mihoshi had sent her a message saying that she was re-assigned to another sector and could not be there for the funerals, which caused the blonde to cry that much harder. More so than she had ever cried in the past. Her family was being separated and scattered, and to make things worse there was nothing that she could do about it. "There is one more thing you should know," he said quietly.

"What is it?" She could not look up at him, but she knew that he was going to give her more bad news.

"You should talk to my mother, she will need your support."

To say the least she didn't like how this was going. "What… what do you mean?"

"My mother knows that space trees loose their power when they take root, and the only thing that had been keeping Funaho, my tree, alive all these years has been the gems in Tenchi's sword."

"You mean Ryoko's gems?"

"Yes, the gems are gone, as is the sword and she is loosing power quickly." She finally looked up at him and he seemed much older than she remembered. His face was worn and wrinkled, and all of his features made him look hundreds of years older. It dawned on her what he was saying; he too was dying.

"No brother! You can't! We can take Funaho back to Jurai, she can get her power back, it hasn't been that long we can…"

He silenced her by taking one of her hands in his. His skin felt drier than before and they too mirrored his appearance. "No Ayeka. I have outlived my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law and now my grandson and his wife. I can't go on. I have talked to Funaho and after I get everything in order here she will stop supplying me with power."

"But… but brother… you'll die…. No one can survive with their power cut off, not… not when they've been connected for this long." As she spoke, she understood what he was saying. He too wanted to die.

"Ayeka." The female voice behind her forced her to look away from him. Tsunami stood there, she wore an expression of grief as well. "Let him go. You have a new life to live, for your friends."

"But how can I live without them!"

"You will, and you will have support." She motioned over to Kinata and Sasami who were quietly arranging things for the funeral. "Use this to grow stronger; you know what your future already holds."

She wanted to say her future held death, but Ayeka had already made a promise to her friends that she would make everyone change their attitudes. "I will. Tenchi, Ryoko… Nobuyuki…" she said looking up to the sky. "I will make them see that you are not what they think."

In the years to come, Ayeka and Kinata grew closer, first as friends then later as more despite her father's wishes. Numerous princes and dukes approached her as well as other members of noble blood seeking her hand. Some she even thought were cute, but when she learned of their feelings for Ryoko or how some were there in the battle she flatly rejected them.

She worked with anyone that would listen, which at first were just Kinata and his crew, but they surprised her in their abilities, and how much they had already found out when investigating Ryoko's past. With their help as well as Sasami with Tsunami's blessing, she was able to turn around what people thought of Ryoko. It was not easy, and it was slow going at first, but for her friends she would not give up. A few men on his ship happened to be writers who worked with her to create the story of her life and tragic end.

Ayeka was so successful in her attempts that the story of Tenchi and Ryoko became as popular to Jurains as Romeo and Juliet to Earthlings. Many were shocked and dismayed at how the pirate had been forced to kill, and while she destroyed and killed she was grieving over them, wishing to spare them of what she was doing. When the pirate found love the people were happy for her and wished that her happiness could continue, but they knew the end, and they knew it wouldn't last. When the end came, people were sad and ashamed to the point that they left the theaters and shows crying as the dreaded pirate died in a seemingly useless battle.

After time even those that had boasted about killing Ryoko were there on the anniversary of her death to morn someone that they never knew and never took the time to know, as it was easier to hate her than to try and understand her. Her father though had been against all of this from the beginning, but he never could stop the sentiment from growing and the hate in his heart finally one night caused his own demise. That day that Tenchi had shown up on his doorstep he had hated him, but he grudgingly respected him for standing up for what he thought was right. However, he never approved of his decision to marry Ryoko. At the time, he had pretended to accept it but in his heart, blackness clouded his judgement and his reign had suffered since then.

When Ayeka was made Empress, she took the throne without a husband and without a consort. One of the first things she did was choose her own suitor, Kinata. He had loved her in secret for many years and ten years after the death of their friends the two of them were married, on the same day to honor their departed friends.

The people of Jurai saw no problem in the marriage and by her marriage, this broke the long-standing rule of nobility marrying only nobility. This spurned a number of closet marriages to become common knowledge and accepted, when normally it would have been shunned. Even Mihoshi was able to attend the wedding though it took some convincing on Ayeka's part. It seems that Mihoshi had been given another assignment, one that put her in patrol of another sector about as far away from Earth and Jurai as possible. Out that far away the Galaxy Police had little influence and a small system had asked for Police Protection.

Through all of this Ryo-Ohki stayed with Sasami and learned the ways of the court and how to be a lady. She even learned how to speak properly so that one didn't have to have a mental link with her to understand what she wanted. Sasami thought always seemed to understand her. This was largely do to a gift Washu had given her at the funerals. She had given her a necklace that gave her the ability to mentally talk to Ryo-Ohki. Sasami was happy to be able to do this and hoped to learn more about Ryoko through Ryo-Ohki's memories, but she was sad to discover that Ryo-Ohki's memories were not in tact.

The memories that the cabbit had were scattered and broken. She remembered them all but some things were missing, most noticeably was the last battle, and then also very few if any of her dealings with Kagato. The little princess took this to mean that the damage she took both times had affected her memory, but Ryo-Ohki did not want to have certain memories back. Sasami did not push her to regain them and they only dealt with the ones she had.

Even through the pain and hardships that Ayeka went through with her sister, Sasami never told her one truth. That one thing had lifted Sasami's spirits from the day Tenchi and Ryoko, were lost was shown to her by Tsunami. Even when the other tree's felt Funaho's presence fade and with it Yosho's, Sasami remained strong. Everyone always thought it was due to Tsunami's strength in the child or possibly, her closeness to Ryo-Ohki, but the truth was much different. Sasami held a secret that even Ryo-Ohki did not know. That dreadful night, as Sasami lay in her bed, crying, Tsunami had appeared to her.

"Why couldn't you save them!" She screamed at the goddess.

"Because they didn't want me to."

"Why? Why not?" Sasami again clung to the goddess hoping for some comfort, and she could feel the child's need as well.

"Sasami, I am going to show you something, but you must promise to keep this a secret, as no one should know of this now." She nodded her head and in her mind she saw a vision, "This is the future you see," the goddess said. Slowly Sasami could make out something blue, like water. The image cleared slightly and what she saw was a pool, and a young girl. The girl was about half of Sasami's apparent age. But what was interesting about her was her cyan colored hair and soft brown eyes. They looked so familiar to her. Sasami gasped as the image pulled back to see the girl was laughing and playing in the water with her parents there as well, laughing and splashing.

The sight warmed her heart as she saw the proud parents, one with wild cyan hair and gold eyes, and the other having dark hair and brown eyes. She began to smile at the image and then in changed again, off to the side was a man video taping the whole event as the three played in the pool. This was not like the onsen that she remembered, but a swimming pool so all of them were wearing bathing suits. The mother was laughing and holding her daughter, the resemblance was unmistakable.

Over to the side of the pool was a raised section. Steam was rising from it so she guessed it to be a hot tub of sorts. Inside was a very mature looking redhead leaning against another man, one that she remembered vaguely from her own past. As soon as she spoke the image vanished, "Was… was that them?"

"My child, do you think that one I gave part of my power to could be lost so easily? And remember her powers come from another goddess."

"So they both had that kind of power?" Sasami began to smile as she remembered the images of joy and happiness. Though her sister was sad, the little princess could not remain sad as well.

"Yes. Do you think they could be killed so easily? Though they are lost to Jurai and Earth, they are not lost entirely."

Tsunami has never lied to her people and in this she has still not lied. Tenchi and Ryoko are lost to Jurai, though she never said that they were dead. Sasami knew that she would be reunited with them someday and on that day, she hope that her sister would understand why this was done. And though she knew that her people would never know or understand the full truth, she was happy in what she knew.