Yeah, I know I'm late with it this week, but I'm running WAY behind
schedual.
----
What Might Have Been Chapter Eight: The Price of a Soul
Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written with the consent of
Pioneer/AIC. I do NOT own the characters, with the exception of Kei.
Please do not sue me.
Comments, criticism, flames, and death threats may be sent to
Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com.
!!WARNING!! This is NOT mainline Tenchi. It is an alternate universe,
and the characters at times will be VERY ooc, compared to those in the
series. Please remember that the versions in this story line had very
different experiences.
*****
Achika caught herself looking around for the miasma, and mentally
sighed. It wouldn't attack until Ayeka and Ryoko came together, she
reminded herself, and they wouldn't come together until they reached the
flower field. They were all in position, and as ready as they could be.
Still, she couldn't help but wonder where Ryoko was. Nobuyuki, Ayeka and
Sasami still hadn't seen her. She just hoped that she wouldn't cut it too
closely. Sighing again, she glanced down as little Ayeka tugged on the hem
of her dress.
"Governess, why do you walk beside me, instead of behind me, as other
servants do?" she asked. Achika winced inwardly, knowing that she should
have been paying more attention to where she was. After a moment, she
replied.
"Because, Princess Ayeka, I prefer to think of those in my charge as
friends, rather than Masters or Mistresses. It is more enjoyable to spend
time with them, then," she said. Ayeka's brow furrowed as she thought
about that.
"But� I am of the nobility, and you are only of the common people,"
she said, frowning in curiosity. Achika felt her eyebrow twitch.
"True. Does that mean we can not be friends?" she asked, with a
slight smile. Ayeka quickly shook her head, and Achika smiled wider.
"Perhaps it is easier if you think of it this way. The nobility is made up
of people, and the commoners are made of people. Both are people," she
said. Ayeka frowned.
"So� You are saying that they are the same?" she asked. "But, if that
is true, then why do we consider them separate?" she countered. Achika
smiled again, racing for an answer.
"Because, sometimes, some people like to think that they are better
than others. It's very rare that it is true, but sadly, it happens. They
believe that, because they were born to a certain family, or a certain
line, they are more special than somebody not born to that line or family,"
she said, before smiling. "But there's a secret that you should remember,
and I'll only tell you if you promise to never forget," she said. Ayeka
brightened, and Achika grinned. Just like Tenchi; he never could resist a
secret.
"I promise, Governess," she said.
"Alright. Remember very well, no matter who they're born to, all
children are special, especially to their mothers," she said. For a
moment, Ayeka turned that particular idea over, while they continued to
walk. Then suddenly, a bright smile blossomed on her little face - Achika
was taken aback by how much like Sasami's freckle-faced smile Ayeka's was
at this age.
"Governess, what is your name?" she asked. Achika blinked, but
cautiously answered.
"My name is Achika," she said. Ayeka smiled again.
"Then you must call me Ayeka, and I will call you Achika, since we are
friends, yes?" she said. Achika blinked, and then smiled.
"As you wish, Ayeka," she replied. Ayeka giggled softly, slipping her
tiny hand into Achika's. She breathed a short sigh of relief. That was
pretty much how things had gone since she'd been slipped into the position
of Governess. She'd do something that a real governess wouldn't have done,
Ayeka would question her about it, and she would race to find an acceptable
answer. So far, she'd always managed to come up with something to satisfy
her, but she truly feared a big slip before they stopped the miasma.
Something like that would be disastrous, possibly altering the timeline
even further. Then again, just being here was altering the timeline, she
reminded herself. Or was it? She sighed.
Suddenly a thought occurred to her, and she blinked, surprised that
she hadn't thought of it before now. "Ayeka, may I ask a question?" she
said. Ayeka nodded.
"Certainly, Achika," she said. Achika smiled.
"Have you ever met a little girl about your age with golden eyes?" she
asked. It was a long-shot, she knew, but still worth asking. Not
surprisingly though, Ayeka shook her head.
"Not that I remember, no, but one of my nannies had golden eyes. I
remember her because she was one of my favorites, except one day Father
came and made her leave. I remember Mother was very upset as well. She
liked her a lot too." she said. Sighing inwardly, she briefly wondered why
the nanny had been sent away. Probably caught with her hand in the royal
jewelry box. "She was really very pretty," continued Ayeka, "especially
with her silver hair. But her tummy started getting bigger just before
Father sent her away." Achika stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face in
surprise.
"What young kids notice that adults never do. Hand in the royal
jewelry box indeed," she muttered, as she regained her balance. Ayeka was
giggling.
"Are you ok, Achika?" she asked. Achika smiled at her briefly.
"Fine, just fine," she assured her. Ayeka giggled again, and again
Achika thought of how much like Sasami she was at this age.
"You should not be so clumsy, if you are to set an example for me,"
she said. Achika laughed weakly.
"No, I suppose that I shouldn't," she said. Inwardly, she wondered
what twist of fate had thrown that curveball at them. Abruptly she
grinned, remembering all the fights Ryoko and Ayeka had gotten into while
they'd stayed with her and her father. She remembered wondering once or
twice if they were sisters, to fight so often but still be so close. "More
than I knew," she said aloud. "More than either of them knew, that's for
sure."
"More than who knew, Achika?" asked Ayeka. Achika grinned.
"Some friends I was just thinking of. Sisters," she replied, before
laughing. Ayeka smiled.
"Will you tell me about them?" she asked. Achika grinned.
"Sure. One, you see, was a lady, from an old and very powerful
family. The other was a space pirate, known the galaxy over�"
As his cybernetic arm beeped, Operative A glanced up at the screen.
Although his arm could have fed the information directly into his mind,
he'd found that most people seemed a bit more comfortable around him when
he actually read it off the screen. He found that the reconstruction had
been completed; nodding, he brought of the repaired records. "Search for
any communications from Ranger-class cruiser Yagami," he ordered the
computer. Almost immediately, it brought up the single transmission, which
had been routed to� Operative A blinked in surprise, as he opened his
comlink, and said, "Operative A to Commander Nagi." He paused a moment,
but no reply came through. Frowning, he repeated the call, but still,
there was no answer. "Computer, is Section Commander Nagi's comlink down?"
"Section Commander Nagi shut down her comlink at 1934 hours."
Frowning, he leaned back in the chair a moment to think all this through
logically. Nagi had been contacted by Kiyone and Mihoshi. Nagi had tried
to dissuade him from investigating the Ayeka and Sasami disappearance.
Kiyone and Mihoshi's files had been accessed by the Guardians of Jurai.
Kiyone and Mihoshi had been reluctant to answer questions. Immediately
after trying to talk to them, Nagi had had him assigned to a case that
likely would have taken him off station, had Kiyone and Mihoshi not been
here to question first. Nagi had been surprised and unhappy that he'd been
given this case, which officially required he question Kiyone and Mihoshi�
"Computer, access academy files on Kiyone Makibi and Mihoshi
Kuramitsu. Cross-match classes that they took with classes that Section
Commander Nagi taught," he said, and again, a single reference appeared on
the screen. Both had trained under Nagi for covert operations. His frown
deepened. That still wasn't proof, but� "Computer, initiate a full
lockout of the Yagami's computer systems, and locate Officers Nagi, Kiyone
and Mihoshi."
"Lock-out of Yagami confirmation code?"
"Delta Gamma Delta Alpha."
"Identity confirmation code?"
"Operative A, ID confirmation code, 'I'll huff, and I'll puff, and
I'll blow your house down.'"
"Identity confirmed, lock-out confirmed. Officers Nagi, Kiyone and
Mihoshi are all in the subspace room," said the computer after a moment.
He nodded, unhooking his arm from the main computer.
"On my way, alert the station commander."
Kiyone was frowning at the lock to Kain's particular prison in the
subspace net, as she quickly opened up her satchel. Removing the box, she
began to pull out wires and connections. Nagi squatted beside her.
"Well?"
"They must have upgraded the locking mechanism, this isn't the same as
what Washu showed me. I can still hook it all up, but I'll need a moment
to find all the new placement points. There shouldn't be any trouble - all
I'm really worried about are the last six wires," she said.
"Why the last six?" asked Nagi. Kiyone looked at her.
"They have to be placed in a specific sequence, and in under a
minute," she said.
"Or?"
"Or the power connection to the main lock gets cut by the security
system, and Kain gets out," said Kiyone dryly. Nagi nodded.
"Remind me not to interrupt you," she replied. Kiyone nodded.
"Mihoshi and I will cover the door. Hustle, by now Trakal has probably
reconstructed the logs, and is on his way here," she finished, before
moving back over to the blast door. Kiyone frowned again, before removing
the cover plate, and starting to hook the wires in one by one. On the box,
multi-colored lights began to flash on and off in sequence, confirming that
the wires were in at the right places. After a few minutes, a timer
appeared, flashing 60 seconds. Now she paused, and studied the lock again
for a moment. If she messed up now� Kiyone took a deep breath.
Slipping in the first wire started out the timer. Frowning in
concentration, she added the second, third, and then the fourth. She was
just picking up the fifth, when Kiyone's Law finally kicked into effect.
There was a shout from the doorway.
"Freeze. Drop your weapons, raise your hands, and move away from the
device," growled the fox-faced officer - Trakal, Nagi had called him.
Kiyone glanced at the time. Forty-five seconds.
"Stand down, Operative A," ordered Nagi. He glanced at her.
"Section Commander Nagi, until your role in this conspiracy has been
determined, I regret to inform you that I can not follow your orders. I
repeat, drop your weapons, and move away from the device," he repeated.
Kiyone risked looking at him.
"Look, if I don't make these last two connections in the next thirty
seconds, Kain will escape and we're all going to die," she told him.
Trakal frowned at her.
"That device has not been cleared through Control. You are under
arrest for conspiracy, mutiny, and kidnapping. Main security has been
alerted and is on its way," he replied. Kiyone frowned, as she glanced
back at the timer. Ten seconds left.
"Screw it," she muttered, as she scooped up the sixth connection; in
her puerperal vision, she registered him raising his hand. Ignoring him,
she jammed the fifth connection in, and was just starting to push the last
one in as he fired. She jumped in anticipation of being hit.
The startled sound of pain that she heard as the connection slid home
wasn't her own; the timer stopped flashing at five. She turned, and
blinked at what she saw. Nagi was standing with her blaster aimed at
Trakal's forehead. Trakal was staring at Nagi in surprise from below a
hole that had partly obliterated his skull. He blinked, and slowly started
to turn toward her. Recentering her blaster, she icily fired three more
times, blowing a hole through his heart and then blasting off the
cybernetic arm. With a final groan, he toppled and then lay still.
Slowly, Kiyone's eyes swept to the right, where Trakal had been
aiming, and saw Mihoshi. The blonde was standing with her back to Kiyone,
but even as her gaze settled on her, she began to turn. Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw Nagi's eyes widen in abruptly. Mihoshi completed her
turn, and gave Kiyone her usual wide, goofy, slightly absent smile.
"Did I do good, Kiyone?" she asked, before she stumbled, leaned
heavily against the wall beside her, and slowly slid down until she was
sitting on the floor. Though she tried to fight it, Kiyone's gaze slowly
moved down from Mihoshi's face, to where a dark stain was spreading out
from between her breasts. With a snapping sensation, time started moving
again, and Kiyone scrambled over to her, the box forgotten for the moment.
"Mihoshi? Come on, stick with us here!" she said, lightly slapping
her partner's cheeks.. Mihoshi grinned at her drowsily.
"I'm kinda tired, Kiyone. Can I take a nap now?" she asked, as her
eyes started to slide shut. Kiyone shook her lightly.
"No Mihoshi, you have to stay awake, it's very important. Do you hear
me? You have to stay awake!" she told her, as Nagi knelt beside them.
Gently, she peeled away Mihoshi's tunic, and then winced as she lightly
probed the wound with her fingertips. Kiyone winced too, as Mihoshi
whimpered in pain. The hole wasn't very big; roughly a quarter-inch wide,
and nestled just above and to the right of square between her breasts. She
didn't need Nagi's slight head shake to know the truth.
"If the bullet didn't pierce her heart, it hit the aorta. It's just a
matter of time," she said softly. Kiyone nodded numbly.
"So� tired," mumbled Mihoshi. "Can I please go� to sleep, Kiyone?"
Kiyone looked at her, with a sort of painful horror slowly spreading
through her. If she told Mihoshi to stay awake, she'd try, right up until
her body finally just gave out� Nagi looked at her quietly, and slowly,
sadly, Kiyone nodded.
"Yeah, Mihoshi. You did really good. You can sleep now," she said at
last. Mihoshi smiled widely at her, as her eyes fluttered shut.
"Good� night, Kiyone. See you� in the morning," she sighed. Then her
head slumped forward, and she was still. Kiyone squeezed her eyes shut, as
her grip on Mihoshi's shoulder involuntarily tightened.
"Mihoshi� Why did you do that, you stupid girl?" she asked softly.
Nagi put a hand on Kiyone's shoulder.
"Because she was your partner. You were more important to her than
anything else, even her own life," she told her quietly. "Look� as much as
I'd like to say that we have the time, the shots fired had to have set off
the alarms, on the off chance that he really hadn't called Security. Do
you need to do anything else with that box? Otherwise, we gotta leave,
right now." Kiyone slowly nodded, and turned before she opened her eyes.
Making herself let go of Mihoshi, she turned to the box, and keyed in the
final sequence. Beeping, it floated up and nestled itself into the locking
mechanism, and then vanished.
"There," she said slowly. "Washu said it can't be found, now - the
box is slightly out of phase." Nagi nodded, and gave her a light pull
toward the exit. Kiyone paused, looking at Mihoshi's still form a moment
longer. Nagi gave her another, stronger pull.
"Come on, Kiyone," she said, gently but firmly. "Don't make her death
a moot point, you can sob later. We'll need to escape on the Yagami," she
said. Kiyone let herself be pulled along, moving mechanically as Nagi
directed her. Why did she feel so� alone, suddenly. Hadn't she wanted to
be rid of Mihoshi? She'd been a pest, had required more attention than the
sector that they'd been assigned to. But Nagi had already given her the
answer to her questions.
Mihoshi had been her partner, nothing less, and much more. And now sh
e was dead, killed by a bullet that had been meant for Kiyone. If she
hadn't inserted those last two wires, they'd all be dead and gone, but that
didn't change the fact that Trakal had been aiming for her, and Mihoshi had
jumped between them to give her time to make that last connection.
"Come on Kiyone, let's get this bucket going!" ordered Nagi. Kiyone
blinked, and realized that they'd arrived at the Yagami. She forced
herself to put her pains aside, and focus.
"Right� Looks like Trakal activated the computer lock," she said,
after a moment.
"Damn. I can work through it, but -" started Nagi, and then broke off
as Kiyone shook her head, grinning slightly.
"Don't bother. That box wasn't Washu's only trick. "Yagami, activate
master override, passcode, 'Washu is the greatest genius in the entire
universe,'" she said. Nagi gave her a wry smirk, as the control panels
unlocked and the ship's engines began to power up.
"At this point, I'm rather inclined to agree. Let's get moving."
"Sir, patrol ship Yagami has overridden the computer lock-out, and is
uncoupling from the station. Should we scramble fighters to pursue?"
shouted one deck officer through the chaos that was Control. Ragit looked
up at the monitors briefly. Had Nagi been planning on causing all this? he
wondered briefly.
"No. Return station to normal status, and do not pursue," he said
quietly, his voice slicing through the noise. There would be repercussions
for this, he knew. A top detective and Operative A both dead, and the
Subspace Room breached, even if nothing had been released.
"But Sir!"
"It wouldn't be any use. Commander Nagi knows more ways to lose a
pursuer than any ten smugglers, and even if they did manage to stay with
her, with the armament on Yagami, she'd have no trouble taking them down.
I won't waste time, or lives on it. We've already lost one life today;
that's one too many," he said.
"Yes, Sir," the officer replied after a moment. Ragit nodded, as
alarms and alerts began to shut down. He'd been surprised, when Nagi had
told him the truth, only hours before, after he'd given Trakal the
assignment that she'd all but begged him to give. That had struck him off
guard; Nagi never begged, not for anything. At first, he'd almost called
Security, but� There had been something in her eyes that had made him
pause.
They'd been friends a long time, Nagi and him; almost since he'd first
joined the academy, and bumped into the then apprentice hunter on his way
to one of his classes. It had been him that had offered her the position
of Section Commander of Special Criminal Retrieval, after she'd lost
Ken-Ohki. She'd lost more than just her spaceship and partner, though�
Nagi had lost a strange sort of invincibility that she'd always had as a
bounty hunter.
But that flicker had been there, when she'd told him what Kiyone had
told her. If it had of been anybody else, he'd never have believed what
she'd said, or did as she asked. But he knew her, and knew that she
wouldn't have helped them if she hadn't have believed. Even then, he might
not have agreed to put his own career on the line, except that he'd seen
that flicker, deep in her eyes.
"Good luck, old friend. I hope that we'll meet again," he murmured as
the Yagami vanished off the scopes, before turning back to the deck
officer. "I'd like you to take care of something personally."
"Yes, sir?"
"See to it that Operative A's remains are placed in a stasis box
marked 'Dysfunctional,' and shipped back to R&D, along with my
recommendations that the project be terminated immediately," he ordered.
The deck officer nodded.
"Yes, Sir. May I ask, Sir, what it is you'll be doing?" he asked.
Ragit sighed.
"Three things, actually. Writing up my official report on what
occurred. Terminating Nagi and Kiyone's contracts. And arranging a
funeral for Detective First Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu."
Nagi looked over at Kiyone, as the Yagami sped away from the Galaxy
Police headquarters. The younger woman was staring blankly out of the view
port, so she reached over and keyed in the ship's internal dampening field.
Until they could get far enough away to remove their PDT's, it would
prevent anybody from tracking them. Ragit had promised her that he would
cancel out any pursuits, but still, better safe than sorry.
They flew in silence for an hour, Nagi quietly piloting the ship while
Kiyone continued to stare off into nothing. She knew what Kiyone was going
through, all too well, unfortunately. Every once in awhile she still got a
remembered throb of pain from Ken-Ohki's death, which had been nearly
fifteen years ago, now. Finally, though, she spoke up. "Hey, are you
going to be alright?" Kiyone blinked a couple of times, and then looked at
her as if surprised to see her there.
"Huh? Oh, Nagi," she said after a moment, and then paused. "Yeah, I
was just thinking," she said quietly. Nagi glanced over at her.
"About?" she prompted.
"When I first met Mihoshi. She tripped over something or other, and
ended up knocking me down too. Our data books went flying, and in the
confusion I accidentally picked up one of hers. When I found out, I went
to return it to her, and she invited me in for awhile." She paused,
shaking her head. "By the time that I finally went back to my quarters, it
was almost time for my first class, but I was so tired that I slept right
through it."
"So why did you stay so long?" asked Nagi.
"I'm not sure, even now. I guess that it was because, in a way, she
kinda seemed lonely. A lot like me. Neither of us had any friends. She
had a reputation for being a klutz, and I was too quiet for most. Mihoshi
kinda latched onto me, after that," said Kiyone quietly.
"It's surprising how you can get so used to having somebody around
that you take them for granted, even if you think you'd be far better off
without them, isn't it?" mused Nagi, as she produced a small locket, and
handed it to Kiyone. She gave her a curious look as she opened it.
Inside, Nagi knew, was a picture of a man a few years younger than Kiyone.
"My older brother, when he was seventeen. Oh, I hated him. He teased me,
pulled my hair, called me names, got me in trouble. You name it, he
probably did it. Never anything to really hurt me, but you get the idea."
"Where is he now?" asked Kiyone. Nagi smiled sadly.
"Buried, along with my parents and sister. Know how he died?
Carrying me through the plasma fire that gutted our house. He went back in
to try to rescue our sister - she was the youngest," she said. Kiyone
blinked, as she slowly handed the locket back to her. For a moment, Nagi
looked at the picture closely. "Like I said, it's surprising how you can
take a person for granted. I thought that I hated my brother, and that he
hated me. Turned out that I was wrong on both counts." She paused,
looking at Kiyone.
"I also wasn't expecting to feel as alone as I did, without him around
to keep me on my toes. It was a bit different than how I missed my
parents, or my sister. After all, I'd known that someday, I'd be moving on
past my parents. But somewhere along the line, I'd gotten the idea in my
head that he'd always be around to bother me. Funny thing is, after
awhile, two or three months after the house burned down and I moved in with
my grandparents, I started noticing little movements out of the corner of
my eye, or feeling light tugs on my hair. You understand what I'm saying?"
she finished quietly. Kiyone frowned at her a moment.
"He was still with you� and Mihoshi is still with me," she said. Nagi
nodded.
"That's the general idea. There are plenty of cultures that believe
the dead hear us when we think of them. I never really put much stock in
organized religion myself, but even so, I still find myself thinking about
my family at least once a week." Then she smiled just slightly. "Besides,
I just thought of something."
"What's that?" asked Kiyone. Nagi smirked.
"Well, Mihoshi is still around to pester you - in the other timeline,"
she pointed out. Kiyone blinked.
"I suppose that she is, isn't she?" she said, after a moment. "And
probably driving me out of my mind, or at least, my double out of hers."
Slowly, she nodded, and then smiled slightly. "Right. Ok, pass control
over to me, and I'll set a course for Earth." After a moment, she added,
"Thanks, Nagi." Nagi grinned slightly, as Kiyone started entering in the
course.
"So, tell me something. Have you ever considered being a bounty
hunter?"
----
The Platinum Dragon
"'When the devil finished, Johnny said, 'Well you're pretty good old son!
But sit down in that chair right there and let me show you how it's done!'"
Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo - http://dragonsanime.com