Jurai no Nozomi: Snippet "Nozomi and Tsunami-no-Ki"
Nozomi encounters her past and her future in Tsunami's divine tree.

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For a while, Nozomi just walked between the trees, struggling against her emotions as she looked for somewhere peaceful and secluded that she could hide away. Ayeka's words still rang in her head, and as her temper cooled, she realised that she was ashamed of her display of anger as much as she was annoyed by the pomposity of the Crown Prince.

"But if he wasn't such a jerk, I wouldn't have threatened to fritz him and I wouldn't have actually hurt anyone. Just singed those too expensive, ugly curtains a bit." She muttered, kicking at the dirt as she did so. "I don't like this planet...I don't like all their rules and regulations! Mom always said that Jurai was full of rituals and structures and she was right. How can somewhere so wild and beautiful have so many rules?"

She paused, glancing around her at the many trees that thronged round her in almost a crescent shape. Each of them was rooted in a special, disk-like base and across the side of the base was carved a name. Curiously, Nozomi made her way up to the nearest, reading the characters carefully as she did so. Some of them she could make out, but others were older and tarnished, written in a language that she didn't completely understand.

At the furthest end of the forest was the tallest tree of all, its branches spreading over the tops of its companions and as she drew nearer to it, somehow Nozomi felt that this would be a safe place of respite. Curling herself up against the wrinkled wood, she leant back against the trunk, letting out a heavy sigh.

"At least trees don't judge you on who your parents are or are not." She said aloud. "Stupid, stuck up Shigure."

"You seem upset."

The voice was gentle and soft and at first Nozomi thought she had imagined it, for though she glanced around her, she could not see any sign of a speaker. Her brows knitted together in confusion, and from somewhere in the ether she heard a delicate peal of laughter.

"No. I'm behind you." The voice chided gently. "Turn around, and then you will see me."

Nozomi's frown deepened, and she shuffled around in the dirt, staring up at the tree in confusion and bewilderment.

"I don't see anything. Just a tree." She objected, craning her neck to see into the upper branches. "Who are you and where are you hiding? If this is a joke I'm not really in the mood to play games."

"I'm not playing a game with you, Nozomi-chan." The voice assured her. "Look more carefully. See beyond the wood - I am here, only you have to believe it to properly see me."

"How do you know my name?" Nozomi scrambled to her feet, wariness in her golden eyes.

"Because we are family, of course." Thin beams of light glittered and danced from the tree's branches in a mesmerising display of colour, and for the first time Nozomi thought she saw the outline of a woman deep within the dark brown wood of the trunk. She let out an exclamation, as the apparition became more clearly defined, holding up her ghostly hands in a gesture of peace.

"Don't be afraid." The woman spoke softly. "I mean you no harm."

"You said we were family." Nozomi eyed the tree suspiciously, keeping her distance. "How so? How can I be related to a tree?"

"The trees of Jurai are many things. Spaceships. Sentient beings. Sources of wisdom and knowledge. Witnesses to the history of our world." The woman said gently. "And I am more than even those things. The trees that surround you are my children and, in some cases, their children also. But you probably know me better through my true self. My name is Tsunami, but you probably know me better as Sasami."

"Sasami?" Nozomi stared, the wind taken from her sails as for the first time she saw the resemblance between her father's cousin and the spectral form before her. "But...how? I thought Tsunami was Jurai's God!"

"Sasami and I are two parts of the same spirit. She is the guardian of Jurai, you already know that." Tsunami smiled. "Don't look so confused. Things work differently on your world. Jurai is a sentient planet in several ways. The Earth is not."

"I see." Nozomi sighed, sinking back down onto the grass and gazing up at the tree-figure thoughtfully. "So that's how you know who I am. Because Sasami-hime told you."

"No, I knew your name before you were even born." Tsunami looked amused. "Will you tell me what bothers you? Perhaps I can help - or at the very least, advise."

"I don't know." Nozomi admitted. "It's all been so sudden and it's just crazy. I always wanted to come here - Father told me about it and I wanted to see it for myself, but Mother always had reservations about this planet and I can understand why now I've been here. The landscape is beautiful, Tsunami-sama. But the people..."

"I presume by people you're talking of my nephew, Shigure?" Tsunami asked. Nozomi nodded her head.

"Him especially." She groaned. "What would you do? I'm sixteen. I'm dragged across the galaxy under false pretences and then I'm told that the Empress of Jurai wants me to marry her son. And of course, when I meet her son, I find out that not only is he an arrogant clot whose battle skills are pathetic, he's also one of the worst snobs I've ever met. He said some bad things about my mother, Tsunami, and things about me too. Only noone should knock my mother. He doesn't know her. He just judges her on what she's been and that's not fair."

"You love your mother very much, don't you?" Tsunami's eyes flickered contemplatively. Nozomi looked surprised.

"I love both my parents." She agreed. "Why wouldn't I?"

"No reason at all." Tsunami smiled. "I'm just glad to see you with the chance to know both of them, that's all. So often children and parents are seperated. I'm glad that your bonds with both yours are strong."

"Me too." A smile touched Nozomi's lips, but it was soon replaced by a frown. "Although they did trick me into coming here, so I guess I'm a bit mad at them still about all of that."

"Really, Sasami gave them no choice, and I gave her none either." Tsunami admitted. "We both knew you had to come here. In one way or another, Nozomi, your future is connected to Jurai. I'm not sure how, yet  -that's a path of your own choosing. But it seems right that you should be here at last. That you should see it for yourself, after so many years away. You do know, after all, that you were born on this world?"

"I was?" Nozomi looked startled. "No, I didn't know that. I thought I was born on the Earth - although it's something Mother never talks about. Father either. I guess I never questioned it. Mom is so uncomfortable here that I can't imagine she'd want to travel so far at such an important time."

"She had little choice." Tsunami said with a shrug. "Her biology is alien to the Earth and it's developing technologies. It would have put her life in considerable danger had she not come...she realised it as well as Tenchi-sama. Ryoko-san's blood may not be pure Juraian, but her genetic structure is more like ours than any other planet's. It was the safest place to be if both you and she were to survive. After all, we always knew you would be born with magic, and that can cause complications in itself."

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't. It makes it hard, on the Earth, to keep it hidden so much." Nozomi admitted. "I mean, people there know my Mother is a settler. They've accepted her, pretty much, because they know she's been there a long time and she's not putting the planet in danger. But a lot of Earth people are sensitive about magic and things like that. It doesn't fit into their orderly society, so I don't use it when people can see me. I tell them that I take after my father - that I didn't inherit any of Mother's powers and they believe me - and they don't know that Father has magic, because he hardly ever has to use it. I'd never have fitted in at school if I hadn't told them something."

"So you can't be yourself on the Earth, then?" Tsunami asked lightly. Nozomi looked startled.

"I hadn't thought of it that way." She owned. "But am I being myself here any more than I am there? I'm expected to act like a Princess when I've never been raised as one. I'm just an ordinary sixteen year old girl, Tsunami. Sure, I have powers, but I've learnt to hide them away most of the time. And I like my freedom. To choose. And not to make friends based on what kind of family they come from."

"Then I will be blunt with you." Tsunami said gently. "You're as intelligent as your father and as spirited as your mother, and both of those things are good. But eventually we all have to stop and realise that we have a part to play...whatever that part may be. We cannot always choose the path we'd like. Sometimes we have to choose one we don't like, to benefit others around us."

"Why do you want me to marry Shigure so much?" Nozomi asked earnestly. "I mean, really. I don't get it. He's got lots of suitors - he's bragged to me of that himself. Why me? I don't understand."

"Aside from the fact you're the best blood match, it's really on account of your magical ability." Tsunami told her. "You have the Jurai Power and so does he, but he hasn't learnt to wake it yet, and you've been trained to use your magic since you were a girl. I would not have expected less from Ryoko and even though you probably don't think of your unique brand of magic as Juraian, there are elements of it that stir inside of you. I know you can bring a blade to your father's sword, and that in itself is a great gift. To be Emperor, Shigure needs to wake his Jurai power. But failing that - and he is Ayeka's only heir - the planet is left with two choices. Either crown you in his stead, or marry you off together, as co-rulers."

"Crown me...?" Nozomi blinked. "You mean I'm essentially his competition for the throne? If he doesn't find his magical ability, I could be Queen instead of him being King?"

"Yes, and that's a dangerous state of affairs." Tsunami looked troubled. "There are people still on the council who wanted your father as Emperor, and he refused it. But they still consider his line to have a truer claim to the throne than Ayeka-onechan, simply because Tenchi-sama is descended directly from Azusa. It could cause a schism in government, if this matter was to be left unresolved. A union between you and Shigure would halt all possibilities of revolt. That was the idea of bringing you to Jurai. You see, you might not have known all of this until just recently...but the Holy Council of Jurai have known it since you were born and since the seers proclaimed that you would be born with Jurai's power."

"I'm starting to understand." Nozomi sighed. "I'm a political pawn."

"You're much too dear to too many people for that." Tsunami shook her head, her expression reproachful. "Shall I tell you a story, Nozomi-chan? Perhaps you will understand better, when you know more."

"All right. I'm in no hurry." Nozomi shrugged, settling herself more comfortably among the bindweed and ferns that grew around Tsunami's roots. "Tell me."

"You know that your mother and father were responsible for securing the safety of this world, some twenty years into the past?" Tsunami asked. Nozomi nodded.

"Yes. I've heard that story often." She agreed. "They defeated Kagato - my grandfather - and helped you to recover Jurai from his dark power."

"Did they ever tell you that they didn't fight this battle on their own?" Tsunami asked softly. Nozomi looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"There was another girl who came to help them defeat Kagato." Tsunami spoke gently. "She was young, as you are, but she was dedicated and determined...she had fight and spirit and she was one of the bravest souls ever to set forth on a mission in my name. I was proud of her, Nozomi - I loved her more dearly than I could have loved a daughter...although that might seem strange to you. She sacrificed everything that she had to save this planet - and to allow the world that you now walk in to exist at all. Had she not played her part, Jurai would be dead now. Space debris, with all it's families long gone and an evil force roaming the universe, looking for his next victims. She knew that, by giving her life for Jurai, she could save the lives of many, many more. Ryoko and Tenchi fought Kagato, it's true. They defeated him and eradicated his threat from my world. But she was the one who gave her life raising him from his hiding place. She had courage, Nozomi. And so I put my faith in her. It was not misplaced."

"Wow." Nozomi pursed her lips. "I didn't know that. Mother never mentioned anything, and neither did Father. I kinda didn't press the issue, because of Kagato being my grandfather and all that - it's a sensitive family subject sometimes, and I don't like to bring it up. But I never knew there was someone else with them. Someone who made the ultimate sacrifice...to save people she'd never even meet?"

"Some people have that strength." Tsunami said softly. "Your mother and father are two such people. That's one of the things which makes their union so strong. I believe Ayeka-onechan is another, as Jurai has not had such a brave Empress for many a generation."

She paused, eying the girl carefully.

"Do you want to know the name of the girl, Nozomi-chan?" she asked playfully. "I think it will interest you."

"But if she died before I was born, I wouldn't ever have met her." Nozomi frowned. "Her name wouldn't mean anything to me even if you did tell me."

"I think that you'll find the opposite is true." Tsunami shook her head.

"All right. Tell me." Nozomi shrugged. "What was her name, then?"

Tsunami paused for a moment, then,

"Nozomi Masaki Jurai." She said softly.

Nozomi's eyes widened in shock, and she shook her head slowly.

"But that's not...I mean...Tsunami, you're teasing me! That's my name!" She exclaimed. "You're making this up! The reason Mom and Dad never mentioned her to me is because she didn't exist, did she?"

"As true as my tree stands before you, Nozomi Masaki Jurai did exist and now exists again." Tsunami nodded her head. "Yes, that girl was you, my child. A different you, perhaps...but you all the same. And it's somewhat prophetic that I should meet you at this time - in this particular year. Because it was this year from which I sent you back there originally - my last hope for the planet of Jurai. It was me who gave you that name, Nozomi-chan. Your parents remembered it when you came to be born, but they chose it because it was already yours...and I chose it because you were indeed my hope."

Nozomi's face drained of all colour.

"You can't be serious." She whispered. "How could I have done those things? And died, even! I'm still here. Kagato was destroyed. And I have no memory of anything like that! Tsunami, you're wrong. It wasn't me at all! I never..."

"Time was different then." Tsunami held up her hand. "Your actions changed the timeline to the one in which we now live. Instead of darkness and death, Nozomi, Jurai is full of life and spirit."

"If all that is true, why don't I remember it?"

"Because it didn't happen to you. It happened to the Nozomi on the other timeline, and the timeline was changed." Tsunami's eyes twinkled with amusement at her confusion.

"This makes no sense." Nozomi groaned. "It's not possible! You can't travel in time...can you?"

"I can send any soul back through my tree descendants to another time and place, but to do so takes much of my energy." Tsunami replied. "You went to a time before you were born, helped to save it and therefore made this future a possibility. It was never guaranteed that you would be born into this world. But I tend to think that your very appearance in their lives made both Ryoko and Tenchi consider the possibility like they never had before. And here you are again, within my reach. Only this time I have more to offer you than certain death and erasure from existance. This time I can offer you stability, family and hope, Nozomi. Always hope."

Nozomi was silent for a moment, digesting this. Then she raised tearful eyes to her companion.

"But I'm not her." She whispered. "That girl - even if you're right and she was another me, I don't have her determination or her conviction. I couldn't go into something knowing I would die. I couldn't sacrifice everything for people I don't know and wouldn't ever meet. I'm not that brave...I'm not that determined. And Tsunami, I'm not that old. I'm only sixteen - I'm not ready for all these big choices. Whatever that Nozomi did, it doesn't mean I can think like she did or even match up to her in anyone's eyes. I'm only Nozomi Masaki. Not Nozomi Masaki Jurai. I shouldn't have that name because I don't feel like a Princess here. I feel like an outsider and I just want to go home."