Prologue: Vision

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo!, its characters and settings, © Hitoshi Okuda, AIC / Pioneer LDC, and Viz Communications, Inc.

Introduction: This Fanfic is based upon the timeline set forth by the Tenchi OAV series, and takes place after the final episode thereof. Some minor things are borrowed from Magical Project S.

"Tenchi-niichan!"

There was no answer from the black void surrounding her.

"Tenchi-niichaaaaan!" the girl called again, more desperately.

Running frantically, she called out his name, wanting help desperately.

"Tenchi-nii-" the sound died in her throat as she screamed.

"I can't breathe… help me!" the words more mouthed than spoken as she fell to her knees, gasping for air.

The hovering image of a woman appeared before her. The woman was beautiful, her face marked with colorful paints and her eyes very large. She had pale skin, and when she looked at the young girl, she laughed, mocking her.

"What a pitiful excuse for a Jurai princess," she sneered. "I'm surprised the great MOKU chose you."

The girl fought weakly against the pain. She could feel her lungs burn, her head throb with each passing moment without the precious oxygen she needed to live. The desperation in her mind was beyond reason; her heart pounding beyond its limit, she collapsed to the ground and spoke his name in silence. All the while, the woman laughed on as the girl's life force drained from her body.

Sasami woke up in her futon. Not giving a second thought, ignoring her sister sleeping contentedly in the futon next to her, she sat up and reached for the door while simultaneously wiping the tears from her eyes and, opening the door, ran down the hall to the place she knew she would feel truly safe.

Tenchi was flying. His arms spread out, he reached for the horizon as he effortlessly soared through the air. The sky was blue as far as the eyes could see. In the distance, he could see two parallel purple rings, reaching towards the ground.

"This must be Jurai." he thought, noting the streams of light.

Looking down, he confirmed this by an image of a huge forest. Just as the sky above, the forest stretched in all directions as far as the boy could see. Tenchi was about to look elsewhere, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something interesting.

Ahead of him, the forest seemed to clear, forming a circle around two trees in its center. The two trees were different than the others in several respects. One tree was large and very old. By the raw power it seemed to emanate, the tree could very well be the epitome of it's kind. The second, by contrast, was small, very thin and an infant by comparison. By the way their roots intertwined, the trees seemed inseparable in an almost spiritual sense. Tenchi got the impression for a moment that perhaps, just perhaps, they were so entwined that one could not live without the other.

As Tenchi approached the pair of trees to examine closer what he saw, the trees began to change. Almost imperceptibly at first, the older tree's leaves began to brown, and then fall from their branches. A moment later, all the leaves were gone from its branches. As each leaf of the older fell, the smaller tree swayed slightly, its small limbs shaking violently as if in pain from the older tree's ordeal. The great tree, once its foliage had fallen, began to whither and gnarl at a rapid pace.

Before long, the branches began to fall off at their base, landing with great impact in the grass. Then, Tenchi saw one of the largest limbs directly above the young tree snap, and with a great crash, the branch came plunging down on top of the small tree, crushing it beneath the immense weight. The smaller tree, as young as it was, died with the old.

The larger tree, now shed of it's limbs, was nothing but a barren trunk. The life gone, there was nothing left in the clearing but a barren stump, and the debris it left behind. Tenchi felt a great sadness wash over him. He didn't know why, but there was reason for great despair at the demise of these trees.

Lingering there for a moment, he heard something. Behind him, there was a gentle gust of wind. Soon the noise became louder, and then it was all around him. Looking down at the sound, he watched as the entire forest began to turn dark shades of crimson and brown, and leaves fell from their limbs, which then in turn fell. CRASH, TAP, RUSTLE. The whole forest was dying, creating louder and louder raps on the ground as their broken limbs fell to the ground. Tenchi grasped his head in terror of the event, the sound became louder, louder…

"Tenchi-niichan!?" came a cry from the door.

In a cold sweat, Tenchi looked over to the door. In his nearly fevered state, he could make out a small figure near the door.

"Tenchi-niichan?" she called again, sobbing. There was a loud rapping sound on the door as the person outside tried frantically to get in.

"Sasami!" he replied, recognizing her. She opened the door and rushed in.

She was still crying weakly as she ran up to and hugged him.

"Tenchi-niichan, can I spend the night with you?" she asked him, almost choking on a sob as she did so. Her grip on him was tight. So tight as to be slightly painful for the boy. Something had very badly shaken her, he could tell.

"Did you have a scary dream again?" he asked, holding her close as she held her death-grip on him.

The little princess merely nodded her head against his chest.

"Alright, I'll let you sleep here." he said, trying to seem calm for her.

"Thank you." was all she said.

He lay down on his side, and the little girl snuggled up in front of him. He looked down at her as she put her arms around him, seemingly afraid of him leaving her. Reassuringly, he put his arm around the top of her small body and held her firmly. Sensing this, she relaxed a little, and slowly, contentedly, began to sleep.

Tenchi stayed up for a long time after that. Despite his calm exterior, he was actually quite shaken. The dream had been very real to him. It had been more real than any dream he could remember in his entire life.

Sasami had had a dream that upset her too. She was a very strong girl, Tenchi knew, but she seemed like a little flower now, small and vulnerable. Suddenly he had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. The last time Sasami had come to his room late at night, she was crying as she had just now, but somehow she seemed much more urgent this time. There was something very wrong, he realized.

Looking down at her again, he saw the girl almost asleep. He noted how pretty she was, sleeping there. She was so small, so content just to be with him. He looked at her carefully, tracing her outline. Her hair was put up for sleep, the traditional ponytails of Jurai protected for the night. He remarked how long they were. They seemed so much longer than Aeka's tails, but that just could be because of the way they stuck up in the air rather than the straight down style Aeka's took on. Frankly, he thought, they were more like pigtails than ponytails in Sasami's case.

Her body itself was covered in her yellow nightie, covered in carrots. He smiled, they were so cute on her he couldn't help the action. As he watched, he noticed her shiver once.

'She must be cold' he thought. Indeed, the night had gotten colder than since he went to bed. 'I guess I should grab a blanket.'

Reaching above the floor at his head, he opened a small wall panel, which was the cover for a small cubby where the blankets were stored. He pulled out the top one, and then closed the cover. Then, careful not to disturb the girl as he had been during the whole motion, he placed the cover over her as well as himself. She stirred slightly, then relaxed again.

He smiled. She was so sweet lying there. He wished for a moment that she were a bit older, like Aeka and Ryoko. She was so much easier to get along with than the other two. If only she were a little older…

Tenchi abruptly stopped his line of thinking. What was he thinking? He should not be thinking this way, he realized. Whatever happened, Sasami was eight years old, and right now a very scared girl that had come to him because she trusted him. He felt dirty for thinking about her as anything a little sister.

Looking down at her again, he berated the thought some more. Besides, if she were the age of the other two, then he'd have yet another suitor. Yeah, that was all he needed! He almost laughed at his foolishness… almost.

Looking down at her he sighed and-once again disturbed-finally lay down to go to sleep. His sleep resumed, but Tenchi did not rest that night.

To be continued.

Nall-Ohki, (Tyson Roberts)
nall@goldengate.net

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007