"Ayeka, have you seen Tenchi?" Ryoko asked. "I haven't seen him since this morning, and he said he wanted me to go shopping with him."
"I can't see why he would want to spend time with a monster woman like you." Ayeka responded haughtily.
Ryoko clenched her fist feeling the energy surge within her before closing her eyes and forcing herself to calm down. "I know you don't like me, Ayeka." Ryoko said. "But it is not your place to tell me who I can and can not associate with. If you are not willing to tell me what I wish to know, I will find someone else who will. Now, will you tell me where Tenchi is or must I find someone who will?"
"Oh, I know where Lord Tenchi is, not that I would ever share that information with the likes of you." Ayeka smirked. "Doesn't it gall you, that I have what you want? Maybe if you beg me I'll tell you. Of course someone as crass as you only knows violence, so what do you say, demon woman? Would you like to try beating it out of me?"
Ryoko roared incoherently as an energy orb coalesced in her hand. As she drew back to hurl it at Ayeka, Sasami skidded across the floor sliding to a stop between them. "Ryoko, stop! This isn't what Tenchi would want."
Ryoko paused. "How do you know what he wants?"
"Because anyone with eyes in their head can see that he's taken an interest in you because you've started to change for the better while he was gone." Ryoko stopped in thought as the orb vanished. "Tenchi is down at the shrine. Please, don't lose what you've worked so hard for, Ryoko. This just isn't worth it."
Ryoko nodded gratefully and phased through the nearest wall.
"Sasami! How could you side with that- that- that monster woman?"
The youngest princess of Jurai glared at her sister. "She wasn't the monster I saw in this room."
Tenchi stood in the quiet of the shrine holding a battered leather card case. "It's been a long time, Sakura chan." He said quietly, setting the case before a lit candle and clapping as he bowed reverently, tears filling his eyes.
Tenchi?" Ryoko whispered, letting her hand fall softly on his shoulder.
"It's all my fault!" Tenchi sobbed throwing himself into the former space pirate's arms.
"Shush." Ryoko cooed, rocking her distraught friend in her arms. "I'm here for you. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
"I'm sorry, Ryoko. I didn't mean to lose it like that. These cards... they belonged to a good friend of mine."
"Tell me about him." Ryoko asked pulling Tenchi down to kneel on the shrine floor.
"Her actually." Tenchi said. "Her name was Kinomoto Sakura, the youngest of the group. She was 12 when this all started and we all adopted her as a little sister, even the transformers. From the beginning she was an accomplished sorceress wielding the power of her mysterious Sakura cards."
"And she died." Ryoko said quietly.
"Yes." Tenchi said miserably. "And no."
"You're confusing me." Ryoko said. "Is she dead or not?"
"The body of Kinomoto Sakura is no more, but her mind, magic and soul live on in a new Cybertonian body called Light Gate." Tenchi explained. "It's a sore spot, because she's not human anymore, but she's not a Cybertonian either. She doesn't really belong... and it's all my fault."
"What do you mean Tenchi? I want to help you but you're going to have to open up to me." Ryoko pleaded squeezing Tenchi's hands. "Tell me what happened."
Tenchi leaned into Ryoko's side with a sigh. "It all started in our 15th year, shortly after Sakura's 26th birthday..."
The glowing blue light stretched as the fabric of space time was ripped open and nine travelers tumbled out.
"Rikku? Kenshiro?" Nabiki called, looking frantically for her children and breathing a sigh of relief as the six year old red head emerged from behind a bush with her two year old brother toddling along beside her.
"This place doesn't look too high tech, guys." Ranma said to the group's Cybertonian members. "You might wanna change before we spook the locals."
"Me Grimlock not as dumb as you look, Ranma." The Dinobot commander commented playfully, shifting to his human form.
"There was a time when you meant that." Blake said straightening his clothes.
"Times change, man. you know that." Grant said, unaware of the prying eyes that watched them eagerly.
"That one." A raspy voice grated, indicating one of the travelers. "We take him tonight. For the will of the Master."
"For the will of the Master." The other robed figures chorused.
Meanwhile in the clearing, Sakura reached up to touch the ankh shaped choker at her throat as a card flew from her hip case to her hand. "I'm going up to do some reconnaissance. There's a reason we were dropped here, and the sooner we started the better I'll fee."
"All right, Sakura chan. Just be careful. I don't want you getting shot down again." Ranma
"Neither do I. It hurts." Sakura said, clearing her thoughts as the accessory floated free and a seal of light erupted at her feet.
"Talisman forged from the strength of my heart,
Now the magic within, your power impart. RELEASE!"
"Pretty angel!" Kenshiro squealed clapping his hands as a storm of feathers erupted around the sorceress, transforming her traveling clothes into billowing black pants, a pale gray shirt, and a flowing black cloak. The Sakura key took on it's new shape as a five foot long ebony staff, topped with a larger version of the silver ankh from her choker.
"Fly, pretty angel?" Ken said, motioning to be picked up.
"Is it..." She asked, looking to Ranma and Nabiki.
"We couldn't have him in safer wings." Ranma said with a smile as Nabiki grabbed tightly onto his arm. She trusted the others explicitly, but the thought of someone else with her children still made her a little edgy, and she had to bite back a torrent of well intentioned "advice" as the sorceress scooped the blue haired boy into her arms.
"Got a good grip?" Sakura asked as the little boy nodded. "Then hang on tight." With those words Sakura tossed the card in her hand in the air and struck it with her wand. "Fly card, release!" She cried.
A moment later Ken giggled happily as a couple of strong flaps carried the pair high above the treetops.
"Trees!" Ken laughed pointing.
"Yes, Ken. there's lots of trees." Sakura agreed, slowly rotating to take in the view. The massive forest extended to both the north and south endlessly, while the smoke from a village could be seen rising from the east. Turning to the west, Sakura could see a bleak and foreboding gray mountain jutting up out of the earth like a broken dagger. She stared at the austere, blighted summit for interminable moments before Ken tugged on her shirt, breaking her reverie.
"Don't like it." He muttered burying his face in the sorceress bosom. "Want down."
"Yeah," Sakura agreed, shaken by some unseen malevolence. "Let's go." She said, sparing a final glance at the mountain before drifting back to the ground.
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(Posted Sun, 15 May 2005 23:03)
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