9334 BC
The Void

      SHIVA sat in the void and looked out upon the universe.  He was not
pleased.  They have killed my faithful servant, my child in whom I was
proud, he thought.

      He watched three figures.  A man, a woman, and a...being.  They
would pay in blood.  Theirs and that of their descendants.  Already,
he was laying up suffering enough for the woman...but the man...now
that was another question.  

      SHIVA looked at his legions.  Only once a century could he release
one of his servants.  I must choose wisely...ah, yes.  THIS ONE.

9334 BC
Tridentis III, pleasure planet of the Juraiian empire.

      Emperor Ryalin I relaxed in the nice warm waters of the hot springs,
all the care of running his empire far away from him for the moment.
Thoughts of the madman he had recently executed for the second time were
far from his thoughts as he sat by his two wives and let the soft scent of
the waters fill his nostrils as the warmth of the spring soothed his
muscles. 

      He probably would have stayed there for a very long time, if he
hadn't heard people screaming.  His wives sprung to alert attention, as
did his nearby bodyguards.

      The sky began to rapidly darken, though it was mid-day.  The emperor
looked up and saw the Sun vanishing, like an eclipse.  He relaxed.
Nothing to worry about.  

      Far above, the crew of his wife's ship, the Celestine, were in a
panic, wishing the Emperor's ship, the Tsunami, wasn't in another system
with the Emperor's son, Crown Prince Ryalin, soon to be Ryalin II.  "Are
you sure that's what's happening?"  One of them asked the oldest of the
crew members.  

      "Whatever that cloud thing around the sun is...It's pushing the sun
towards going nova.  We have maybe 20 minutes if we're lucky..."

      They weren't.  They managed to get the Emperor up to the ship, just
in time for the creature around the sun to disengage and move on just
before the sun went nova, destroying the entire system.  The creature,
glutted on the hydrogen and helium it had ripped from the sun along with
vast amounts of electromagnetic energy moved on through space, a loose
cannon now.  Soon, there was nothing left of Tridentis III but ashes.  
The legend of the Sun-Eater had begun.

     And SHIVA danced.

***************************************************************************

Chapter 7:  Reunions.

***************************************************************************


      Celia sat quietly and nervously.  "This could be a trap."

      Macky sighed.  "Anything could be a trap."

      "Then why can't we get ahold of anyone?"

      "We got ahold of Linna."

      "She sounded funny on the phone."

      Macky walked over and shook Celia.  "Snap out of it!  This is our
grandmother!  We can't be paranoid about everyone!  I thought you were
getting over that, but I guess I was wrong."

      The doorbell rang.  Celia jumped.  Macky sighed.  "I'll answer the
door."  As headed for the door, he resolved to not buy Celia any more
coffee for a week.

      It was Linna.  "Hi, guys.  What was so urgent?  Not that I was doing
ANYTHING anyway.  Did we get a new job?"

      "Grandma's coming to see us and Celia's afraid she's going to turn
out to be Freddy Kruger or something."

      "It's best to be prepared."  Celia had pulled herself together.  "Go
suit up.  I'll signal you if it's necessary."

      "You think this could be another trap?"

      "I've already got one assassin after me."

      Linna nodded.  "You called the others?"

      "Yes, but they haven't called back. I'm starting to worry."

************************************************************************

     Priss said, "I'll be right back.  Have to answer this page."

     Ryu said, "We're not going anywhere.  There's a pay phone over
there."  He pointed and went back to his rock-skipping contest with his
dad.  So far, he was winning.  Tenchi looked a little aggravated but
didn't say anything.

     As soon as Priss was out of earshot, Tenchi said, "People change when
you're not looking, don't they?"  

     Ryu blinked.  "What are you talking about, dad?"

     Tenchi smiled faintly.  "I wish I got to spend more time with you two
like this.  I'm always so busy."  He sighed.  "I never feel like a very
good parent.  Part of me still thinks of you two as the two little kids
who used to steal each other's toys and then destroy your playroom
fighting over it."

     Manami blushed.  

     Ryu laughed.  "I'm surprised the repairs didn't bankrupt the empire."

     "You've both grown up so much.  And I see Manami must have been
spending more time with Ryoko than I had realized."  He glanced
meaningfully off in Priss' direction.

     Manami blushed more.  "She's been very kind to me."

     "You don't have to be ashamed of being her friend, Manami.  I think
dad's trying to say that he's glad you've made new friends.  And that
Priss reminds him of Mom."

     Tenchi nodded.  "They should join us soon.  I guess she hasn't
finished talking to Nene-chan yet..."

***************************************************************************

     Linna suited up, then lurked in one of the side rooms of the living
section of Celia's 'house', waiting for something interesting to happen.
She could over hear Celia and Macky arguing in the living room over
whether Celia was being paranoid.  

      Linna agreed.  Only Celia would want someone in armor hanging around
when her grandmother was coming to visit...although if her Grandmother
really was the Queen of Swords like Celia suspected, this might not be
such a bad idea.  I wish my grandparents were still around.  She sighed
and looked around the room she was in.  Her eyes lit upon a photo album.
I shouldn't pry, she thought.  This stopped her for about 20 seconds.

      The first picture was a classic multi-generational shot.  A tall,
thin woman with long black hair stood side by side in the background with
a tall, blond man, who looked close to ten years older than her.  Sitting
in a pair of chairs in front of them were a short woman with short black
hair in the same style as Celia wore now, holding a little girl in her
lap, probably Celia herself, and a man with dark brown hair, glasses, and
a moustache, who Linna recognized as Dr. Stingray.  The woman was clearly
pregnant.  There was a little label underneath, 'Stingray family awaits
release of the beta copy of the second generation of Stingrays,' in big
blocky letters, and in smaller script beneath it, 'Kimiko's 36th
Birthday'.  

     "I guess Kimiko must be Celia's mom."  Linna paged through more
pictures.  She could hear Celia and Macky through the walls and not just
over her comlink now.  She sighed.  Boredom was starting to look better
than this.  The pictures were interesting, though.  Hard to imagine Celia
as an innocent child, she thought, looking at a picture of Celia playing
horsey with her father and another one of her chasing Macky around the
house with a broom.  

      The doorbell rang.  Linna put the photo album down quietly.  Time to
do my job, she thought.

****************************************************************************

      Macky answered the door.  A woman stood before him with long dark
hair, shot through with streaks of grey.  He recognized her, though this
was the first time that he could remember that she hadn't been lying in 
bed in a coma.  A tall man stood near her.  His face was lined with age,
and his eyes were almost hidden behind his glasses.  His hair was totally
grey, but he still stood straight and looked healthy for his age.  The
woman stared at Macky for a moment.  "You've grown up so much...you were
just a little boy..."

      "Grandma?"

      She rushed forward and crushed him in a hug.  "My grandson..."  She
began to cry. 

      He blushed a little and hugged her back.  "Come on in.  Sis is
waiting for you."  He looked over at the man.  "And you're my
great-grandfather?"

      He nodded.  "Your father had my name...Katsuhito.  It is a pleasure
to meet you."

      Macky lead them into the living room.  Some soft classical music was
playing on the stereo, and Celia sat tensely in a large plush chair,
looking more like she was facing the rack than being a model for Lazy-Boy.
She looked up, saying nothing, her face impassive.

      Meylia finally let go of Macky and ran across the room to her,
sweeping Celia out of the chair and into her arms.  "I've missed you all
so much...You look just like your mother, Celia-chan."  

      For a moment, Celia panicked, and then the tears came.
"Grandmother..."

      "You don't have to say anything, dear."  For a long time, they
simply hugged each other and cried.

*****************************************************************************

     Emotions had cooled a bit at the Stingray household, and everyone had
sat down to talk.  Celia decided to get right to the main question on her
mind.  "Grandmother...are you the Queen of Swords?"

      Linna tensed in the other room.  Here's the critical moment...

      Meylia stood up from her chair and closed her eyes.  A circle of
glowing blue light formed around her left hand, then ran up her arm and
down her torso, other arm, and legs.  In its wake, her clothing
transformed into her battle garb.  A triparte blue tatoo formed upon her
brow and black wedges on her cheeks.  "Yes, I am."

      "I...how..."  Celia wasn't sure how to ask her grandmother what she
really wanted to know.

      Youshou spoke.  "You come from a long and noble line...which is not
of this Earth.  The blood of Jurai flows strongly in your grandmother's
veins...

       Macky said, "WHAT?"

       Linna blinked.  Either Celia's great grandfather is insane or
things are weirder than I had imagined.  Or both.

       Celia said nothing.  It was strange, and yet, short of her
grandmother being some sort of boomer possessing technology beyond that of
any she had seen...Could it possibly be true?

       "I know this must sound strange to you."  Youshou began.

       "You got that right!  This sounds like a bad science fiction
novel!"  Macky said, leaning forward.  

       "Am I not flesh and blood?   I am no machine,"  Meylia said.  "And
yet, I possess these powers.  Is that not proof enough?"

       Linna listened, her mind boggling.  Celia an ALIEN?  Well, part
alien...how can they breed with humans, though?  

       "Why...Why didn't Father ever tell us?"

       "Your father didn't know...I didn't know..until after my powers
awakened.  Our line has enemies, Celia-chan."  Meylia said, reverting to
normal.

       "I lived on earth for many years and only rarely ever revealed
where I really came from.  It all began with an attack by space
pirates..."

*****************************************************************************

     Linna's mind teetered on the edge as she listened to the entire story
over the comlink.  I've been working for an alien...She tried to pull
herself together.  Celia is my friend, alien or not.  She acts as human
as...

      Mihoshi...what if those stories she was telling about the 'Galaxy
Police' were really true?  What if she's an alien too?  How many of them
are there?  Linna tried not to panic.  What if Andrea...Linna shook her
head.  I'm getting paranoid.  I'll start thinking Priss was born on
another planet too if I'm not careful.  

       Out in the living room, Youshou finished by saying, "We think
someone in Genom knows about the house of Juraii and sent those boomers.
We can't think of any other reason they would have tried to kill Meylia,
unless maybe they thought her son had told her something important.  And
whoever knows about Jurai must have found out fairly recently that she was
connected to us or they would have tried to kill her sooner."

      Celia frowned.  "Someone tried to kill me recently as well.  He
seems to have been working for some two-bit company, but..."

       "Well, you'll be safe now.  We can protect you until we can teach
you how to use your powers."

       Macky laughed.  "We're not as defenseless as you might think."

       "Even the best security won't do much against combat boomers."

       Celia smiled.  "This will.  Saber-green, come out."

       Linna came out of the side room and posed casually in the doorway.

       Youshou nodded.  "Not bad.  You have the Knight Sabres on
retainer?"

       Celia laughed.  "You could say that..."

*****************************************************************************

     Priss said, "I gotta go knock some sense into a friend's head.  I'll
see you guys tomorrow."  Her pager went off.  She sighed.  "BACK to the
phone." She stomped off to the pay phone again.

     A few seconds later, Ryoko and Nene appeared.  Ryoko leapt over to
Tenchi.  "Hello, dear."

     Ryu laughed.  "I take it Mom decided to tell you everything."

     Nene walked over quietly to Ryu and touched his arm, then stared up
at his face.  He blinked.  "Is something wrong?"

     Nene stared quietly at Ryu's face, smiling faintly, but saying
nothing.  He smiled back nervously, wondering what was going on.  Finally,
she stepped forward and buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms
around him.  He hugged her tightly, wondering what exactly she and his
mother had talked about.  

     Meanwhile, Ryoko, Tenchi, and Manami were talking.  "I could hardly
believe it.  There used to be hundreds of those things up there!"

     Tenchi blinked.  "Hundreds of what things?"

     "Laser satellites.  And they were all aimed at the planet!  What kind
of crazy people point their weapons at themselves?"  Ryoko waved her arms
about.  "Even Mom isn't that much of a nut."  She looked around for a
moment, as if she expected her mother to show up and do something in
retaliation.  

     Tenchi nodded.  "That does sound dangerous."
   
     Manami frowned slightly.  "Wait...you said, WERE?"

     Ryoko laughed.  "Well, Sasami-chan, Nene-chan, and I decided this was
a bad thing so we got rid of all of them."

     "You what?"  Manami said.

     Nene giggled and let go of Ryu.  "Sasami-chan's going to return them
to their rightful owners."

     Tenchi sighed.  "Just put up a big flag, 'Hello, Aliens are here',
why don't you?"

     Ryoko frowned.  "One shot from those things and we'd all die in
seconds.  We couldn't risk them being aimed at us."

     Nene nodded.  "I've nearly been killed by those things.  They're
dangerous."

     Priss stomped back.  "Crazy woman needs to make up her mind...what
was that about laser satellites?"

     Priss saw Ryoko and Nene glance at each other, then at the others.
Ryu said, "Nene-chan got tired of them so she and Mom went and blew them
all up."

     Priss began to laugh.  "Seriously."

     "Oh, Priss, this is my Mom, Hakubi-Masaki Ryoko, Princess of Jurai."

     Ryoko blinked.  "Don't call me PRINCESS!!!"

     "Yes, your highness,"  Ryu said, grinning.  

     Ryoko teleported behind Ryu and noogied him.  "I said DON'T call me
that!"  She then remembered Priss was here.  "Ummm..."

     Priss laughed.  "I know everything, Princess Ryoko.  Don't worry, I
won't tell anyone."

     Ryoko frothed delicately.  "Don't call ME PRINCESS!!!!"  

     Nene laughed.  "Yes, your highness."

     Ryoko looked over at Tenchi.  "Help, they're picking on me!"

     Tenchi laughed faintly.  "Well, you are surrounded by royalty, dear."

     Ryoko frothed impotently, then spotted Priss.  "You're not royalty,
are you?"  She paused.  "Umm...do I know you?"

     Ryu laughed faintly.  "This is Princess Priscilla S. Asagiri,
Queen of Rock and Roll."

     Ryoko twitched faintly, then shrugged.  "Right.  Well, let's go
celebrate by getting royally drunk!"

     Priss laughed.  "Now that's a royal decree I can live with." 

***************************************************************************

      Aeka and Sasami sat quietly in the 'garden' section of Tsunami,
staring out at the Earth through a 'window'.  "Did you find the girl
you've been looking for, Sasami-chan?"  Aeka asked.

      Sasami nodded.  "I...hope I can do my duty well with her.  She has
had a hard life, and this will be an additional burden.  I pray it will
not break her."

      Aeka nodded.  "I'm sure this is all a shock for Celia too, and
Nene."  She paused.  "What do you think of Nene, sister?"

      "I like her.  She's got a good heart and she's smart, too.  I think
she'll be good for him."  Sasami smiled.  "We had a lot of fun with her
this evening."

       Aeka sat quietly for a little while.  "I never thought I'd see this
world again..."

       "Well, one day, they'll be ready for contact with Jurai, and then
we'll be able to visit more often."

      "Father is going to blow his top."

      "Father always blows his top.  It's just his way.  When he meets
Nene...THEN he'll really blow his top."

      Aeka sighed.  "I like her, but..."

      "Father will adjust.  He's much more reasonable than he acts."
Sasami smiled.  "Now whether she will surive meeting Wasyuu..."

      They both laughed.  

*****************************************************************************

      Ryu teleported into Nene's apartment.  Nene was pretty heavily
soused.  So was Ryu, but luckily being drunk didn't affect his ability to
teleport.  He laid Nene down in her bed.  "Go sleepie, dear."

      "Don' wanna."

      Ryu yawned.  "Gotta go sleepie too."

      "Don' leaf me.  Sweep wit me."  Nene flailed pathetically in Ryu's
direction and almost fell out of the bed.

      "We're drunker than a three day old glass of beer...can't sweep with
you when you're me...uh, you're drunk."

      "Meanie.  Don' wanna be alone."

      Ryu gave up, not having enough sense left in his head to deny her.
he clambered onto the bed and they soon passed out in each other's arms.

*****************************************************************************

     Linna floated through darkness.  She knew she was dreaming, since it
looked rather like deep space, but she wasn't explosively decompressing.
The earth looked like a big blue and brown bottlecap off to her left.  She
laughed to herself.  All this talk of aliens...I must be dreaming of being
in a spaceship.  

     Suddenly, Linna found herself standing on the deck of an Imperial
Star Destroyer, looking out the main viewscreen.  She was dressed in the
clothing of a ship captain.  She laughed loudly.  An ensign approached
her.  "Captain, Rebel forces approaching."

     It took effort to keep from laughing her head off at him. Hey, I'll
play along, she thought.  "What are they, ensign?"

     "It looks like...looks like...ummmm..."  The ensign laughed
nervously. "Let me put it on the viewscreen."

     The viewscreen flickered and the image of a giant rabbit with huge
fangs appeared.  It snarled.  Linna laughed so hard she woke up.

     Linna got up and went and got herself a glass of grape juice.  That
was cute, she thought.  I can hardly believe all this, though...It's all
so crazy...Nene and Celia and Macky--royalty...half my friends are
aliens...At least Priss and Andrea are normal.  It's enough to make you
feel a little inferior...stop whining, Linna thought.  

      There was a knock on the door.  Linna opend the door and a glowing
skull was floating in the hallway.  For a few seconds, she just stared,
then she screamed, dspite feeling like an idiot for screaming.  Her
apartment dissolved away around her and she was floating in space
again...with the glowing skull.  She shivered.  I guess I didn't wake up.

     The glowing skull grew a glowing skeleton, then shadows began to wrap
around the bones, becoming flesh.  "You...you are the one."

     "The one what?"  This was incredibly creepy, but fascinating at the
same time.  I wish I had my hardsuit, Linna thought.  Shadows wrapped
around her, and suddenly, she was wearing her hardsuit.  Parts of her
flesh were chilled by touching the metal.  She didn't wear very much to
bed, usually.  

      "That flimsy hunk of metal and ceramics will avail you nothing.  It
is nothing compared to the power of..."

     Linna cut him off.  "The force?  Going to ask me to come to the dark
side?  Claim you're my father?"

     The figure laughed, though its laughter was rather reminiscent of
hearing someone say cheerily, 'well, I think I'll begin by flaying your
arms.  Is that okay with you?'  "I find it unlikely that I would be your
father.  Who are you?"

     Linna was about to speak when she heard a voice from behind her.
"Don't tell him your name, girl."

     She blinked.  "Master Hiromi?"

     Linna knew it had to be a dream...Master Hiromi was living in Hong
Kong now.  Not that that really mattered...given we're in deep space, I'd
be dead if this wasn't a dream.  Still...  "Who are you?"

    "I asked first."  The figure, now fully fleshed, was a six-armed man
with a big red dot on his forehead.  He was dressed in an odd looking
robe, cut to fit a six armed man, and upon his brow was a silver tiara
with six gems set in it, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
His top right hand held a sword, his top left hand a shield.  The middle
hands held two flames, one white and one black.  The bottom left hand held
a horn and the right hand a scroll.  

     Something stirred dimly in Linna's memory.  I've seen this guy
somewhere before, she thought.  Maybe a museum or something.  He looks
like a hindu diety or something.  

      Hiromi frowned.  "Go away and leave her alone."

     The being turned and stared at Hiromi, suddenly changing sex to
female.  "You."

     Hiromi glared at the being.  "Me."

     Linna wondered if she somehow had put drugs in her dinner the
previous night.  This was tripped out.  "Master...what's going on?"

     She frowned and took Linna's hand.  The world rippled around them and
they were standing in Hiromi's dojo.  Linna shook her head.  "This is a
dream...right?"

     "Your body is asleep, yes.  That was...a being who believes he is
Shiva, god of destruction."

     "You mean, like as in Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva?  The triple aspected god
or something..."  Linna tried to remember her history classes in High
School.

     "Yes.  There are too many answers to your question that would only
obfuscate matters, but that will do.  Do not believe what he tells
you...He will say whatever is necessary to get what he wants.   And what
he wants is the destruction of this world and his enemies."

     "His enemies?"  What a screwed up dream, Linna thought...I don't
normally dream about rampaging gods.

     "Whoever they are...You must beware his temptations, Linna.  I don't
know why he has taken an interest in you, but it can't be anything good.
Remember what I taught you."

     Linna briefly wondered if Hiromi was going to turn into Obi-Wan
Kenobi.  For a second, she flickered and DID turn into Obi-Wan Kenobi,
then turned back to normal.  "STOP that!"  Hiromi barked.

    Linna winced and increasingly fell into her old patterns of behavior
with her master.  "Yes, Master."  

     "I wish I had had more time to teach you."

     You're the one who moved away, Linna thought.  

    "I know...I know.  I'm the one who moved away.  If I had known this
would happen, I would not have left.  Still, I will give you what I can."
Hiromi reached over and tapped Linna's forehead.  For a moment, the world
dissolved in a phantasmagoric spray of light.  the last thing Linna heard
was, "When you need me, I will come."

     She woke up in bed again.  No more late night snacking, she thought.
She turned over and went back to sleep.  This time her dreams were much
more normal, like the one with that hunky actor Otaki.  What a
blond dreamboat, she thought.

*****************************************************************************

     Priss woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache.
"Ugh...something went down wrong."  She heard cats squalling outside her
window and threw a shoe at it.  The cats shut up.  "Stupid sunlight...Why
can't the damn thing wait to come up when it's wanted."

       "The world was not made for our convenience,"  a woman's voice
replied.

      Priss rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.  "I hate it
when you do that, Celia."

      The woman laughed faintly.  "I have had many names, but Celia has
never been one of them."

      Priss looked up through bleary eyes.  "Who the fuck are you and why
are you in my house?"

      The woman was tall with long green-black hair and eyes that seemed
to flit between purple and dark red in color.  She wore a dark green
business suit and was sitting in one of Priss' few chairs.  "You may call
me Mei'ou Setsuna.  I have been waiting for you for a very long time."

      "I don't know you from Satan, whoever you are."  Priss watched the
woman warily and started to clamber out of bed.  Dim memories began to
surface from the previous day.  Priss could barely believe any of them,
especially with her head throbbing.  The cats squalled again outside and
she swore.

      "But I know you, child of the Moon Kingdom."

      Priss froze.  Either she's a whacko...or she knows something.  Or
we're both whacko.  Where'd I put that damn sword...Oh yeah.  She reached
under the pillow.

      "You won't be needing that.  I'm not here to cut you in half or rant
about how I'm going to kill you and your meddling dog, Toto, too."
Setsuna smiled.  

      Priss got the sword anyway, then said, "Then why the hell did you
barge in uninvited?"

      "Would you have invited me in if I had knocked?"

      "Hell no."

      "Well, then."  Setsuna got up and turned around. "Go ahead and get
dressed."

      Priss decided to go ahead and get dressed.  If the woman does try
something, at least I won't have to run around half-naked if we end up
outside.  "So whaddya want?"

      "I have come to set you on the path you must follow."

      "Uh huh.  You think you're my fairy godmother or something?"

      "I am the Guardian of Time.  My task is to create the correct
future.  To guide you is part of that task."

      Priss finished getting dressed.  "And what if I don't want to be
guided?"

      "Then the Earth will perish and you with it."

      "Look, Obi-Wan, I have other things to worry about than you, whoever
the hell you are.  I don't LIKE people who barge into my place uninvited,
threaten me, and try to push me around.  I've got other things to think
about and better things to do than to listen to you rant.  End of the
world my ass.  Now get out!"

      Setsuna shook her head quietly and headed to the door.  "You will
regret this.  The blood of your friends is on your hands."  She stepped
out the door.  "But then, you always do things the hard way, don't you?"

      Priss had had enough.  She stormed forward, sword in hand, though it
wasn't activated.  "GET THE FUCK OUT AND DON'T COME BACK!"

      Before she reached Setsuna, she had stepped out the door.  Priss
looked around, but the woman was gone.  Priss growled.  Damn headache.
Damn life.  Damn woman...I HATE hangovers...

      She looked at the sword.  My life just gets more screwed up every
day.

***********************************************************************

     Linna sprang out of bed, rested and happy.  I really had some screwed
up dreams.  She started making herself breakfast.  I'd better get a move
on, she thought.  I must have misset my alarm clock last night...oh wait,
my morning classes are cancelled while they're fixing that wiring fault.
She slowed down.  I can relax a little.  

     A flashing light caught her attention.  The answering machine had
messages for her.  She went over and hit the play button.  BEEP!  "Don't
forget what I told you last night, Linna.  It's very important."  It was
Master Hiromi.  Linna's knees quietly buckled and she fainted.

***********************************************************************


     Nene began to wake up.  Stupid headache.  There's something on my
chest...an arm.  She tried to remember last night.  Space Ship.  Laser
Satellites...Someone's in bed with me.  She shrieked instinctively, then
noticed it was Ryu, right about the same time as he woke up and teleported
half way across the room instinctively.  

     "Ahh, what's wrong?"

     Nene blinked.  "I...you..."

     "I seem to vaguely remember you inisisting I stay."  Ryu walked back
over to Nene and sat down next to her.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about
all this before, but..."

     Nen sat up and sighed.  "Well, we both had our reasons to keep
secrets."  She made a come hither gesture at Ryu, who came over and sat
down.  Leaning her head against his shoulder, she said, "How much...how
much longer are  you going to stay on Earth?"

     "Depends on how long I can keep the Emperor from calling me home.  At
least another year until I finish my degree.  Longer, I hope."  He paused
and took a deep breath.  "Nene...would you...come with me when I go?"

     Nene blushed.  "I...I can't answer that yet.  I don't know...my
friends need me, but...I don't want to be seperated from you either."

     He noded.  "I understand.  We both have responsibilities we can't
avoid.  Although who knows what Celia will do now...she may not be staying
here either."

     Nene nodded.  "Why do I have this vague feeling I'm forgetting
something?"

     Ryu thought for a moment.  "Do you work today?"

     Nene looked at the clock.  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
She sprung to her feet.  "Lt. Yamano is going to FLAY ME ALIVE!  I'm gonna
be late...."

     Ryu laughed.  "If you can get ready in five minutes...I can get you
to work on time."

     "How are you going to...oh..."  Nene laughed.  "So how do I learn to
do that?"

     Ryu laughed.  "I'll take you to see Grandma...Just remember...don't
EVER volunteer for anything when you are visiting her..."
     


John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu       
rhea@tass.org              http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net      http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/

New CS Lewis Quote :)
"This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn.  We must play.
but our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest
kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each
other seriously--no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.  And out
charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in
spite of which we love the sinner--no mere tolerance or indulgence which
parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment."
--The Weight of Glory