Bakari cast her cloak aside, eyes locked on Kagato. Kagato replied with a simpering smile, his yellow-red eyes cold. In a flash of energy battling energy, Bakari and Kagato stood against each other, swords clashed. "I find it so very strange that you have no words for me." Kagato laughed, "However, that is the only difference between you and all the others that have sworn to strike me down." "Quick question." Bakari held her sword steady, "Were those other people using swords?" "Many of them, yes." Kagato replied, "As you can see, that made no difference." "Right, OK then." Bakari kicked her leg straight up, catching Kagato square on the jaw. He stumbled backwards, holding his freshly bruised chin. He spat a small spot of blood onto the floor, eyes alight with rage. "You don't follow the rules of combat." he snarled. "There're rules?" Bakari smirked, "I didn't know that." "You battle with your blade or your fists." Kagato sneered, "Not both." "I think rules are more to be thought of as guidelines." Bakari shrugged a bit, "Besides, why would a pirate follow rules? I live to break them." "If anything goes, then this is allowed." Kagato raised his hand to aim at Washu. A ball of energy erupted from his hand and headed at Washu with blinding speed. Bakari appeared before Washu and let the energy strike her. Kagato took the moment and slashed downwards through the cloud of smoke. "Washu, I'd leave if I were you." Bakari's voice said through the smoke, "This is going to be bad." The smoke cleared and revealed Bakari standing before Washu, sword up in a defensive stand. /Washu, Yume's here!/ Kiyone's voice crackled in the earpieces Washu had given Bakari and herself, /She's fine! Hungry and cranky, but fine!/ Washu smiled as she heard Yume shout angrily at the detective. "You've got what you came for." Bakari kicked Kagato in the stomach to drive him back, "Get back on the God's Arm and get down to Jurai." "Oh no you don't." Washu frowned, "We'll be taking the Yagami and Yukinojo down to Jurai. You need a way out of here just as much as we do." "Fine, just get moving!" Bakari gave Washu a gentle shove in the right direction. Washu nodded, and hurried off to rejoin Kiyone and Yume. Kagato sneered again and rushed forwards with a cry for battle. ---------- There was silence for a long while. Mihoshi kept her guard up, scanning the horizon for any further machines. After three minutes, and no new attacks, she let her arms rest and lowered her bazooka. A cheer went up from the soldiers and the civilians at the temple. Ryo-oh-ki flew overhead and transformed back to her cuddly form, diving into Mihoshi's awaiting arms. The detective whirled the cute little creature around, squealing with happiness. At the royal palace, the nobles and the pirates stood among the wreckage of hundreds upon hundreds of machines. All were fine, safe, and happy that Sasami was back with her family. Misaki wouldn't let the little princess go, tears sprouting from her eyes nonstop. Funaho also held Sasami close, a small fit of overjoyed laughter taking the empress over. Azusa kept his composure, simply patting his daughter on the head and smiling serenely. Ryoko, Ayeka, and Minagi watched the display with smiles. Ayeka suddenly wrapped her arms around Ryoko's neck and gave her a long kiss. Ryoko jumped in surprise, but returned the embrace happily. Minagi just shook her head and giggled a bit. "We've won!" Ayeka laughed when she ended the kiss, "We've won against Kagato!" "Not until we've destroyed the Souja with him on it." Azusa frowned, "With the machines defeated, our soldiers can take the fleet up to destroy him." "Bakari's on the Souja." Minagi said. "Perfect." Azusa snorted, "Two birds with one stone." "You misunderstand." Ryoko objected, "Bakari's fighting Kagato." "No doubt to steal his ship. We will act quickly, rest assured." "Father, Bakari's fighting Kagato to stop him." Sasami managed to choke out from her mother's tight hold. "Stop him from what?" Azusa raised a brow in question, "From destroying us before she has a chance?" "No, Father, Bakari is fighting to defeat Kagato and stop his evil ways." Ayeka tried to explain. Azusa gave his daughter a thoroughly confused look. Ayeka cast her eyes to the floor with a sigh, trying to think of a way to explain it to her father. "With all due respect, emperor, Bakari is fighting a duel to the death with Kagato to stop him." Minagi stepped forwards with a bow, "There's not much of a chance that Kagato could be kept in a prison. Bakari's doing this to protect us." "Am I to believe the word of a pirate? Though Bakari IS much worse than you, I can't very well believe that Bakari is doing something good, much less of her own free will." "Father, please wait until Bakari gets off the Souja." Ayeka pleaded with the emperor, "I'm positive that she can defeat Kagato." Azusa heaved a sigh, but gave a nod. ---------- Kagato took a shaking breath, his hand closed over the gaping wound in his chest. "This is impossible." he coughed, "How can you have defeated me?" "Well, first I punched you in the nose." Bakari quipped, "Then I cut off one of your hands. And then I finally got you in the chest. So, I give you about a minute and a half before you bleed to death." "Very well." Kagato grinned in his death, "Thanks to you, Jurai will be destroyed." "Pardon?" "The Souja is programmed to fire its main cannon on Jurai when I die." Kagato chuckled, "The blast is enough to destroy the planet." "You son of a bitch!" Bakari snapped. Kagato just sank to his knees with a smile. Bakari scowled and tapped the com-link on her neck to call Washu, "Washu, are you there?" /What is it? Have you beaten Kagato?/ "Yes, but there's one big fat problem." /What?/ "When Kagato dies, the ship's going to fire its main cannon on Jurai." /...Please, please, PLEASE tell me you're joking./ "No. Where would I find the controls to stop it?" /How long does he have?/ "A minute and a half at the most." /You can't teleport to somewhere you haven't been, right? Dammit, it would take you at least three minutes to get there, even if you ran through the walls!/ "Are you saying it's hopeless?" /...yes./ "Right, OK then. Oh, Washu, I'm sorry." /About what?/ "I'm unfortunately going to blow up the God's Arm." /NO! Don't you dare commit suicide!/ "Ah, about that. I'm just going to put the ship in front of the cannon. I'll try and get down to Jurai." Washu sighed over the com-link. /You owe me./ "I know." Bakari teleported out of the Souja and back into the God's Arm. After some forty-five seconds of fast maneuvering, Bakari got ready to teleport down to Jurai. A video screen appeared suddenly, showing the face of the generals of the Jurai fleet, Azaka and Kamidake. "Space pirate Bakari, you are hereby under arrest." Azaka pronounced, "Come quietly, or we will fire upon you." "Oh, no way!" Bakari cried, "You have to leave! The Souja's going to fire on Jurai! You have to get away from here before it hits my ship!" "Right." Kamidake rolled his eyes, "Activate the beam!" A shudder ran through the God's Arm and it began to move. "Stop!" Bakari shouted, "You don't know what you're doing!" A red digital readout showed how much time there was before the cannon fired. There were ten seconds remaining. Bakari's eyes widened in terror. The blast was large enough to destroy a planet, and was probably enough to kill her. And it would easily destroy most of the fleet. Ten, nine, eight, seven... "Stop!" She tried to teleport, but found the tractor beam kept her thoroughly stuck. Six, five, four, three... It was too late. The cannon would kill them all. Two, one, zero. The cannon fired. ---------- Sasami's eyes closed suddenly and she vanished from her mothers' arms. Time slowed as a shining ship appeared between the Souja and Jurai. Tsunami, first tree of Jurai, keeper of the ten Light Hawk Wings, appeared from nowhere. The Light Hawk Wings took the blast and dispersed it into nothing. Time had stopped, and Bakari was suddenly released from it. Tsunami appeared before her, smiling gently. She strode to her guardian and took her hands, still smiling. /You've done well, Bakari./ the goddess murmured, /Don't worry. Everything will turn out fine./ Time resumed, and Tsunami vanished. Bakari gave a weak smile, and the fleet began to take her down to Jurai. ---------- "Space pirate Bakari, you stand before this council accused of over five hundred counts of murder, grand theft spacecraft, multiple counts of larceny and theft of gold pieces, multiple counts of public drunkenness, and the kidnapping of the princess Sasami. How do you plead?" The high council of Jurai was closed to all civilians, and it was only through Sasami and Ayeka's pleading that Ryoko, Minagi, and Washu were present. Bakari stood before the council, gazing at the emperor and the empresses with no emotion. "How do you plead?" emperor Azusa asked again. "Guilty to all charges except for kidnapping princess Sasami." Bakari replied calmly. The council murmured amongst themselves softly, surprised at Bakari's plea. "You do realize that there is no possibility of a plea bargain here." Azusa said, "You will not get a lighter sentence if you plead guilty." "I know. But I'm guilty of all the charges except for kidnapping princess Sasami." Bakari answered easily. "The pirates Ryoko and Minagi rescued Sasami from your ship, the God's Arm. How did she get there?" "She asked me to take her along with me." The council drew a collective gasp at the statement. Azusa looked furious. "How dare you say that of my daughter?" he snarled. Bakari just gazed back without a reply. She didn't know how to explain it. No one in the council would believe her. "Father, I did ask her to take me along." Sasami spoke up. "You do not have a reason to stand up for this criminal." Azusa snapped in reply, "You barely have a reason to be here." He was silenced by a gentle hand on his arm from Funaho. "Perhaps we should hear Sasami's side of this." the empress murmured, "Sasami, can you tell us what happened from the time Bakari appeared in your room until now?" Sasami nodded and began to regale the council and her parents with the tale of what had happened. It took about seven minutes, and she left out the fact that she was now a very good pickpocket. There was silence in the room. Bakari had her head bowed in silence, not submission. "Pardon me, sirs and ladies, but I have something to say in Bakari's defense." Washu cleared her throat and stood from her chair. She summoned her holo-computer and typed in something. A video screen appeared so the council could see the video clip Washu had. "I recorded the part of the duel between Bakari and Kagato that I was present for, and I think that it might turn your heads just a bit." The video clip drew even more silence. No one could understand why Bakari had taken up the mission to defeat Kagato for the good of a universe that hated her so much. Even Kagato had seen the strangeness of it. However, the favor done for the universe was not enough to shake the sentence that would come. It took one last intervention from a goddess to shift the tide. The marks on Sasami's forehead once more turned to the circles, symbol of the goddess within her, and Tsunami appeared beside Bakari. The council was stupefied into silence at the sudden appearance of the goddess. /If I may, emperor Azusa, I would like to show all of you something that might make you understand a bit more about my guardian./ Tsunami gave a humble bow and a small smile. Azusa nodded dumbly, shocked at the fact that the goddess had bowed to him. Tsunami let only the council see the memories that she had shown the 'rescue' party see only about a day ago. The council stared at Bakari when the visions ended. Even Azusa, the emperor known for his stolid ways, gave the pirate a look of soft sympathy. He cleared his throat and Bakari looked up to receive the sentence. "This council finds the space pirate Bakari guilty of these offenses," Azusa murmured, raising a hand to stay the protests from the other women, "but we cannot find a reason to sentence her. All that we require is the promise that she will end her piracy and return what was taken from the royal palace." The women that had changed from enemies to allies looked to see what Bakari's expression was. "I swear upon my service to Tsunami that I will never again commit any criminal act." Bakari smirked slightly at the freedom she was receiving, "And furthermore, if the Jurai royal family ever has need of me, I will assist them." "Very well then." Azusa said gruffly to keep his reputation intact, "We clear you of all criminal offenses. You are free to go." ---------- The silence of the forest did wonders to calm the ex-pirate. Instincts, memory, and a sharp pain in her chest told Bakari that she stood where her love had been killed many thousands of years ago. The first royal palace had turned out to be in a strategically bad spot, and had been torn down and rebuilt where it stood currently. The forest had grown back, and wildlife gave its cries to the wilderness. "I'm sorry I've behaved like such a jerk." Bakari said softly to nothing, "You probably wouldn't have liked that." "No, I wouldn't have. But I forgive you." Bakari's head snapped up in shock at the voice. It had been millenniums since she had heard that voice in reality, and not in dreams. It had to be some kind of hallucination, something brought on by being at the place. Bakari turned about. A slender young woman stood behind her, smiling serenely. Long brown hair hung before sweet chocolate brown eyes. Bakari's eyes widened in shock. It was impossible. It was absolutely, positively impossible. The woman leapt forwards and wrapped her arms around Bakari in a tight, real hug. "I missed you so much." the woman sighed, taking a deep breath. "U-Useni?" Bakari stuttered. The woman nodded and gave Bakari a quick kiss. "How?" "Tsunami." Useni showed Bakari her palms, where a dark blue circle lay on either palm. Bakari stared in amazement before leaping into the air with a shout of joy. ---------- "You expect me to just GIVE you the God's Arm?" Washu frowned. Bakari nodded with a happy smile, someone standing behind her and wearing her cloak. Washu sighed and looked at Yume. The other scientist returned the look from her comfortable place of having her head in Washu's lap. "You promise you won't go get drunk?" "I don't need to try and forget." Bakari shook her head, still smiling from ear to ear, "In fact, I'm going to go make some new, happy memories." "Who's that, anyway?" Washu glanced at the person standing so close to Bakari. The person pulled the hood away to reveal someone Washu only knew through visions. Her jaw dropped as Useni smiled at her. "May we have the God's Arm, Little Washu?" Useni asked sweetly. Washu regained her composure and cupped her chin in thought. "If you don't get drunk on purpose," she closed her eyes and wagged her finger in a motherly fashion, "and if you promise to visit sometimes, then yes, you may have the God's Arm." Bakari jumped into the air with a gleeful cry. She and Useni bade Washu farewell until they meet again, and they teleported away. "Hey, who was that?" Ryoko called as she, Ayeka, Minagi, and Sasami walked up on the pathway. Ryoko and Minagi had volunteered to be Ayeka and Sasami's respective bodyguards in exchange for giving up piracy, and Washu and Yume were free to continue research in Jurai's finest labs. Ayeka and Sasami had gotten the idea to be diplomats and took on corruption within the system, and a little outside it. Ryoko and Minagi helped a great deal, and they did it legally now. "Just an old warrior, and her old flame." Washu smiled up at the sky. A shooting star gleamed in the dusk sky. A wish was made on that star. A wish for true love, and love everlasting. The wish was granted. --end--
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