"Heart and Soul" a Tenchi Muyo!/El Hazard/Forgotten Realms crossover (semi-NSFW)

[Zigra]

Forward note: This story takes place shortly after the second version of "No Greater Love"


For the first time in years, Tsunami felt uncertain. Only a few hours had passed since Sasami had accepted everybody's proposal, and it felt incomplete. No matter how much Tsunami reassured Sasami that the woman of her dreams would someday appear and be with her, she knew Sasami would continue to have that hole in her heart without that woman. Perhaps Tsunami understood this because she felt the same way.

And it wasn't just that one missing woman. There were others. Misao's unfortunate passing left Sasami yearning for the day she would be born again. Tsunami knew she would never see Narual again, not even with her universe-shaping powers. And then Tsunami's thoughts turned to one whom she was uncertain about. One whom she managed to hide the existence of from even Sasami, because Tsunami wasn't sure she would ever get to see this individual again.

"I'm glad you've kept me in your thoughts all this time." said a voice from behind her.

There are few things that can truly leave a near-omniscient being dumbstruck. For Tsunami, this was one of those occasions. The source of the voice had not only read her thoughts, but had somehow come aboard her ship-form undetected. Yet Tsunami was at ease, for she knew this voice well. She turned to see the figure standing before her, and sure enough it was a girl she knew from long ago. The human form she took now looked exactly the same as it did all those millennia ago, save for her dark blue hair was now a rainbow of different colors.

"Oh, Sesha!" Tsunami cried out with joy as she ran to embrace the newcomer.

When Tsunami and the newcomer embrace, they shared a kiss that for Tsunami seemed to last a blissful eternity.

"Or, would you prefer to be called Jazirian now?" Tsunami continued on after the kiss with a bit of a chuckled as she held the woman in her arms.

"I don't mind being called, either." the newcomer replied with a warm smile, "After all, Sesha and Jazirian are one and the same now, and indeed we are both now part of the greater Cosmic Serpent. And as I understand it, the same will be true for you with another girl."

"I suppose I can't hide anything from you, now, can I?" Tsunami said.

"Indeed. As a matter of fact, I came here because of Sasami." Sesha explained.

"Ah, well, of course. I imagine you would like to get to know her as an individual before we completely merged."

"Yes, there is that. But, there is more that I wish to accomplish with her."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Come, let's walk a bit while I explain."

The two of them transported to the beach along Thalassa, Tsunami's inner ocean. They walked hand in hand as Sesha told Tsunami her plans.

"You see, I would like Sasami to meet, and begin bonding with Ifurita. I would like this to happen now."

Tsunami stopped for a moment. Sesha could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

"I.....don't know if that would be possible." Tsunami began to explain, "You know that Ifurita cannot awaken yet. Makoto needs to be the one to awaken her in the future. If she wakes up now, the whole timeline could disrupted in ways that I'm not sure I even want to think about."

"I can understand your concerns, my love. But, I can assure you, if we do this right, everything will turn out as it should."

"But I don't understand. Why do you want Sasami and Ifurita to bond this early?" Tsunami asked.

"The simple explanation is that I wish for Sasami and Ifurita to get to know each other while Sasami is still an individual. I think Sasami deserves that much. She needs to fall in love with Ifurita on her own terms, not just through you."

Tsunami paused for a moment to ponder this before Sesha went on.

"A grander explanation is that a true bond between them will be vital for the future of your universe. You may not have seen it yet, but the union between Sasami and Ifurita will produce the very being that you and your sisters have sought for so long. This being will bring a new hope to the future of this universe and many others. However, the one thing you have to understand is that this future will only happen if the being is born in a union between two individuals who truly love each other. If that vital element is missing, everything shall fall apart."

"As enigmatic as that may sound, I think I understand what you speak of." Tsunami replied, "So, how do we begin this?"


                                                              * * *



'She's so beautiful....'

Sasami lie awake in her bed, watching her sleeping mother. Since childhood she had secretly admired her mother from afar, and those feelings had grown stronger during her teen years. It seemed surreal to Sasami that now she was really going to get married to Misaki and be together with her forever.

And Misaki wasn't the only one. Sasami had gained a whole group of people that she had come to love, and she was getting married to most of them. Her first male crush, Tenchi is among them.

But, other thoughts raced through her mind as well. While it was true that Misaki was Sasami's first crush out of all the people she knew in person, there was another being whom Sasami loved for at least as long. The mysterious woman of her dreams. A striking beauty with ghostly pale skin, baby blue hair and blue eyes to match. Possibly the most beautiful woman Sasami had ever known besides Tsunami and Misaki, with an angelic aura of compassion and gentleness to match Tsunami's.

But it was all a dream. Or that's how it seemed to Sasami. She had never actually met this mystery beauty. All she had was Tsunami's assurance that the woman was real and that Sasami would get to meet her someday to assure her that it was more than just a dream.

"And indeed you will meet her soon."

The sound of Tsunami's voice didn't shock Sasami in the least. She was use to Tsunami speaking to her in her mind. However, what Tsunami had just told her intrigued her.

"Wha....what do you mean I'll see her soon?" Sasami asked her Goddess counterpart, "How soon?"

"Well, would you like to see her now?" Tsunami replied.

Sasami was silent with shock, but Tsunami knew what her answer was.

Soon, the room around Sasami began to fade out and be replaced by a different view. Obviously, Tsunami had teleported her somewhere. She found herself in some sort of lit up chamber. She turned around to see Tsunami and another woman standing behind her, and apparently they were both the source of the chamber's light.

The woman next to Tsunami was very striking. She had a delicate beauty to match Tsunami's, with unusual rainbow-colored hair that that went down the length of her back. After all the things Sasami has seen over the years, this woman flicking out a snake-like forked tongue didn't unnerve her in the least. Was was unusual is that Sasami felt she knew this woman from somewhere.

"Sasami, allow me to introduce you to Sesha, one of my first wives." Tsunami said.

"You can call me Sesha, or Jazirian, whichever you would like." the woman chimed in.

"Jazirian?" Sasami asked in sudden surprise. "You mean....?"
"Yes....." the woman said before something began to happen with her.

The woman's form then changed from human-like into a large plumed snake with wings, blue scales, and rainbow-colored feathers.

"......I am the Goddess of the Couatl, aspect of the Cosmic Serpent which Herself is mother of the Sarrukh."

Sasami had always known of the Snake Goddess of the Sarrukh and their Couatl spiritual teachers, but she had never met the being in person before. The revelation that this deity was a wife of Tsunami finally made Sasami understand why she was so affiliated with the Sarrukh to the point of letting a nation of them dwell inside her ship-form.

"I'm pleased to meet you at last." Sasami replied pleasantly with a bow. "But, I have a feeling you didn't bring me here just to introduce yourself."
"Yes, that's right." Tsunami began to explain, "You see, we are in an underground chamber that is beneath the newly built Shininome High School. We brought you here to.....meet someone."

"Ah? You mean...?" Sasami asked, with building excitement in her voice.

"Yes, her." Tsunami answered. "Now, if you will come with me....."

Tsunami grasped Sasami's hand, and led her to the center of the chamber. On the floor of the chamber's heart was a circle with an eye-like symbol inside it. Sasami also noticed a large cylinder-like object on the far side of the chamber's wall. The two of them then stepped inside the circle.

Before Sasami knew what happened, the room lit up with a light grander than the light being given off by the two goddesses. Beams of light shot up from the circle in the floor below her, and it seemed like the whole room was charged with energy. Sasami was too caught up in the sight of all this to notice that two of the beams of light briefly took the shape of hands and stroked her cheeks

Then, when this light show began to die down, the cylinder on the far wall opened, revealing a figure inside. The figure wore a strange outfit of that was black on the outside, and had a form-fitting blue outfit beneath it. The figure's head was turned downward, but with the long baby blue hair Sasami knew who it was before the figure raised her head to reveal her beautiful pale face.

The woman of Sasami's dreams.

The woman slowly walked out of her stasis cylinder and approached Sasami. Upon reaching her, the woman collapsed in Sasami's arms, looking up at her.

"Tsunami?" the woman asked Sasami weakly.

Tsunami herself then put her hand on the woman's shoulders, causing the woman to look up in her direction.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ifurita." Tsunami greeted her warmly.

Ifurita smiled, and then fainted in Sasami's arms.

                                                         * * *



"She should wake up shortly due to the energy I've given her." Ifurita heard a voice say, a voice that she knew all too well.

Ifurita's eyes opened, and she saw the face of a girl with delicate features, pink eyes, and sky-blue hair looking over her with wonderment.

"Tsunami? Is it really you?" Ifurita asked the girl, tears swelling in her eyes.

Before Sasami could do anything, Ifurita reached up from the bed she was on and put her arms around the Sasami.

"I.....I'm not...." Sasami tried to say, more than a little flustered as she felt Ifurita's bosom pressing against her.

"I"m here, Ifurita." said a voice coming from beside them.

Ifurita looked to the side and saw a woman who was nearly identical, albeit a bit older looking, to the girl she was embracing. Ifurita realized that the woman standing off to the side must be the actual Tsunami.

"Then you must be...." Ifurita said to the girl she had her arms around before something interrupted her.

"OH, SHE'S SO ADORABLE!!!!!" came a voice from the nearby doorway.

Before anybody knew what was happening, another woman ran into the room and put her arms around both Ifurita and Sasami. Ifurita only had about a moment to take in that this woman looked a lot like both Tsunami and Sasami before she felt the tight squeeze of the woman's arms. Ifurita was suddenly reminded of Alielle back on El Hazard.

"So this is the woman my Little Sasami has dreamed about all her life!" Misaki said excitedly, not loosening her grip one bit. "She's more beautiful than I ever imagined!"

"Mommy, please don't hug Ifurita so hard! I don't think she's use to it!" Sasami gasped.

"Oh, I guess you're right, Sasami." Misaki said, relaxing her grip a bit, but not actually letting go.

"Since we've gotten acquainted," Tsunami chimed in, "why don't we all have a seat in the living room so Ifurita can tell us more about herself?"

                                                              * * *

When the four of them got to the living room, Ifurita caught sight of another familiar face, one she never expected to see again.

"Sesha!" Ifurita said excitedly, "What are you doing here? I thought you had to stay behind on Toril."

"I'm still there, in a way." Sesha explained. "Since my joining with the Couatl Mother, I can be here and there at once. I am not truly bound to the limits of time and space as you know them."
"She can be a bit of a mystery, even to me." Tsunami whispered to Ifurita with a bit of a chuckle.

They all each sat down in one of the couches. Sasami and Ifurita sat down at the same couch, giving Sasami some butterflies in her stomach. When Ifurita sat down, Sasami (who could barely take her eyes off the newcomer entranced as she was by her beauty) noticed that Ifurita seemed to rather....enjoy....when her bottom touched the couch.

"So, where do we begin?" Sasami asked aloud, still nervous as ever.

Ifurita glanced at Tsunami, who nodded to her with a smile. Ifurita then moved closer to Sasami, placed her hands on the blue-haired girl's cheeks, and pressed her own forehead to her's. The marks on Sasami's forehead began to glow,  and before Sasami could say anything the world around them seemed to unravel and take on new shape. They found themselves in a room with furniture and architecture that was unlike any Sasami was familiar with.
"Where are we?" Sasami asked.

"We are inside my memories." Ifurita explained. "You obviously have the same power to join with my soul that Tsunami and Makoto have."

"Makoto?" Sasami asked her.

"You will know about him soon enough." Ifurita said.

Sasami then noticed two a figure standing in the room. A woman who looked a lot like Ifurita, but different enough for Sasami to know that it wasn't her. The woman held a child in her arms. The child looked even more familiar. Without even having to openly ask Ifurita, Sasami somehow gained the knowledge that she was looking at Ifurita's childhood, and that the woman little Ifurita was her mother, a woman named Sylia Stingray.

Then Sasami was hit with a very unpleasant sensation. Again, without even openly asking Ifurita what was going on, Sasami could somehow sense that what was about to unfold was a painful memory for Ifurita.

Images raced before Sasami of Sylia trying to hide little Ifurita away from somebody, a group of people storming into the building, and, despite Sylia's efforts, the people finding both her and Ifurita and taking them away from each other. Even though these images sped through Sasami's mind quickly, she understood them all concretely, as if Ifurita's memories were being downloaded into her own.

The memories Sasami saw next were even worse. After being taken from her mother, the people who took Ifuirta began performing ghastly experiments on her. Ifurita had some sort of divine gift where she could learn anything and could gain any new power just by observing it. The ones who took her wanted to harness this power for some sort of holy war that was sweeping their world, the world of El Hazard.

Eventually, the scientists that worked on Ifurita found a way to control her via mechanical implants that kept her mind and thoughts bound to an item called the Power Key Staff. These implants also worked to deplete Ifurita of her energy in a short amount of time, and the only way she could regain her energy was through the Staff, which kept her bound to it even more.

Then came the worst of it. With her memories sealed, and with her mind fully under control with the staff, Ifurita was used as a living weapon. With her power, countless cities were destroyed, and entire nations were wiped off the face of El Hazard. The Demon God, she came to be known as. And there were other Demon Gods like her, children with divine powers who were taken and turned into weapons for the sake of this war. But Ifurita was the mightiest of them all, and she destroyed all the other Demon Gods who challenged her. Sasami could feel Ifurita's pain over these memories, and it was excruciating.

But then, it was over suddenly. The nation that so remorselessly turned an innocent girl into a superweapon decided to throw her away like yesterday's trash. They were developing a new weapon, called the Eye of God, and they decided Ifurita was no longer needed. So, they locked her away in a chamber to sleep for several millennia while the outside civilization destroyed itself with their new weapon.

However, that was far from the end. 10,000 years later, Ifurita would again be awoken by yet another madman who wished to use her as a weapon. Katsuhiko Jinnai was his name. An alien from another world, Jinnai wanted to rule the new civilizations that had cropped up in El Hazard since the ancient civilization Ifurita once knew had destroyed itself. Using an army of cyborg insects called the Bugrom (another creation of the same civilization that turned Ifurita into a weapon), he was already on the verge of bringing El Hazard to it's knees. And Ifurita was to be his ultimate weapon. Like her ancient masters, Jinnai used Ifurita to cause unspeakable destruction, and it seemed like the cycle of her life would start again.

However, there was one thing Jinnai hadn't counted on. Makoto. Makoto Mizuhara, another native of the world Jinnai originated from, and Jinnai's proclaimed nemesis. Jinnai had commanded Ifurita to kill his sworn enemy, and she almost did. But something unforeseen had happened. At first, Makoto tried to reason with Ifurita, acting as if he somehow knew her, though she did not recognize him.

And then, he touched her Power Key Staff. Ifurita's mind was flooded with images of her past, and Sasami understood in that moment that Makoto had found a way to touch Ifurita's mind and soul, much as she was doing now. Makoto had also awakened Ifurita's buried emotions, and for the first time since she was turned into a Demon God, Ifurita was having thoughts outside her master's commands.

There would be more meeting with Makoto. Jinnai would command Ifurita to kill him, and each time Makoto would touch her soul once more, leaving her unable to bring herself to harm him. Until, at last, Makoto discovered the program that kept Ifurita bound to the Staff, and was able to switch it off. She was free. For the first time since her childhood she was actually free.

After helping Makoto and his friends escape the Bugrom fortress, Ifurita was brought to the castle of Princess Rune Venus, leader of Roshtaria, the primary nation resisting Jinnai. Ifurita, now seen as heroic by some, and still mistrusted by others, was allowed to rest.

After Makoto let her sleep, Ifurita detected another presence in the room. Hiding under her bed was a girl named Alielle. Realizing that this girl meant no harm, Ifurita decided to talk to her, wanting to get to know the people whom Makoto made friends with. Ifurita learned that this Alielle girl was attracted to other women instead of men, though Ifurita didn't know much about love or attraction one way or the other. Ifurita just knew that something about this girl made her heart race.

After getting to know each other, Alielle boldly stole a kiss from Ifurita, something the Demon God had never experienced before. Ifurita, feeling her heart race even faster, did not resist. Alielle removed her clothes, and Ifurita used her powers to make her own clothes temporarily disappear. Ifurita caught sight of Makoto standing in the doorway. The boy smiled at her before leaving Ifurita and Alielle alone.

"This was where I experienced love for the first time." Ifurita explained to Sasami, who was blushing quite profusely at the sight of Ifurita and Alielle making love (as well as the discovery Alielle made that Ifurita's nice butt was essentially a big G-spot).

While the Demon God got to spend a little more time with her lover afterwards, Alielle had to leave. Princess Fatora, Alielle's girlfriend, was searching for her, and would not be happy if she found out Alielle was with another woman without letting her join in. Alielle said her goodbyes, and then Ifurita never saw her again after that.

With Ifurita no longer under his control, Jinnai and his Bugrom soldiers began to lose the war. Eventually, Jinnai's Bugrom army was mostly decimated by the reactivated Eye of God. However, they were not the only players in the war. A race of shadow people called The Phantom Tribe rigged the Eye of God to go out of control, and it seemed like it would devastate El Hazard once more.

But, hope was not lost. After killing the leader of the Phantom Tribe, Ifurita explained to Makoto that the only way to stop the Eye was to de-activate it from the inside. However, the power of the Eye would send Ifurita away to another dimension. She and Makoto then realized how it was that Makoto came to know her. The Eye of God would send Ifurita to Makoto's homeworld, Earth, in the distant past. And then someday Makoto would find her, and she would be the one to send him to El Hazard.

And so it was that Ifurita and Makoto touched souls once more, and Makoto shared all of his happiest memories with her. Then, she dropped herself into the Eye, managed to shut it off, and as she predicted the Eye teleported her away from El Hazard to meet her destiny.

At that point, Sasami felt she knew the whole story. But, what she still didn't understand was how Ifurita came to know about her and Tsunami, and how this Makoto boy was connected to it all.

"You will understand soon." Ifurita said, "My story is only just beginning....."

                                                            * * *




Like a scene change in a movie, all the El Hazard imagery vanished away, and was replaced by something new. Sasami now saw from Ifurita's eyes. In this memory, Ifurita awoke to find herself strapped to a stone object. An altar, Sasami quickly realized.

The memory showed, Ifurita looking around her to see she was surrounded by bizarre creatures unlike any she had seen in El Hazard. The best way to describe them were these snake-human hybrids, but many of them were radically different from each other. Some had snake bodies with human heads and vice versa, some had a mostly human appearance but with snakes for arms, and other odd variations. The one that stood over her was mostly snake-like, but with a vaguely humanoid upper torso and arms. It held a dagger in it's hands, apparently prepared to stab it into her. She was too weak from her trans-dimensional journey to fight back.

Then, the snake people were interrupted. A creature resembling a green humanoid lizard barged into the room, apparently having killed several of the snake people in the process. Even though it could not make facial expressions, she got the sense that the snake person who was about to kill her was shocked at the sight. And then the lizard person took on a bright blue aura, and it's appearance began to change. Before Ifurita lost consciousness, she saw the lizard transform into an angelic human-like beauty that was oddly familiar, and saw a struggle ensuing before everything went black.

The memory then found Ifurita waking up, feeling strangely rejuvenated. Ifurita saw a great beauty standing above her, and viewing this, Sasami immediately recognized her own face, or, rather, Tsunami's face. However, what came next was an even greater shock for Sasami. Upon seeing Tsunami, Sasami's mind was flooded with the memories that Makoto gave Ifurita, and one thing stood out for both Sasami and the memory-Ifurita- the woman, Tsunami, was identical to Makoto's mother whom Makoto knew as Sasami.

Before Sasami could take in the revelation, she observed Ifurita try to explain to Tsunami who she was and that she knows Tsunami's son, but Tsunami knew nothing of what she spoke of. Tsunami revealed herself as a Goddess who created a particular multiverse, and was investigating a rip in that multiverse that led to another multiverse that was alien to her. She now knew that this rip was due to the Eye of God sending Ifurita here, at which point Ifurita realized she didn't get sent to Earth like she believed she would.

Sasami watched as Tsunami explained to Ifurita that they were on a strange world called Abeir-Toril. Present-Ifurita told Sasami that this strange world was like fantasy story world, with wizards, dragons, elves and whatnot. Tsunami then told memory-Ifurita that following her to this world was rather serendipitous, as there were events unfolding that might hold answers to a puzzle that she and her two sisters were trying to solve. There were a number of reptilian races on this world who were warring with each other. These races were the creation and/or descendants of a progenitor reptilian race called the Sarrukh, and these races sought to overcome one another in an effort to essentially be the heirs of the Sarrukh legacy. But, what was of great interest to Tsunami was that each of these races worshiped a different reptilian deity, and each one of these deities had a fragment of what Tsunami believed was a higher being that she and her sisters were searching for.

Listening to all this, memory-Ifurita wasn't sure how she would fit into this matter. However, she did know that the mother of the boy she grew to love was standing before her now. And she also knew that Makoto loved his mother dearly, perhaps in ways that his society on Earth might not approve of, and that Ifurita owed it to Makoto to see to it that he was both born through Sasami/Tsunami, and would be reunited with her someday.

Working on a hunch, Ifurita then reached out and touched Tsunami's hand. Tsunami's forehead began to glow with strange symbols, and then Ifurita saw what she had expected. From Makoto's memories, she deduced that his power came not from his crossing to El Hazard, but rather he inherited them from his mother. She was right. Her mind now touched Tsunami's, and Ifurita shared everything she knew about Tsunami and her future.

It was all overwhelming for Tsunami. The knowledge that she would someday merge with a human girl, the knowledge that she, a being who saw herself as far above lower mortals, would someday fall in love with some of those mortals. But, most of all, Tsunami was shocked by the revelation that she would bear children someday, and that one of those children had a bond and connection with the woman before her. The Goddess realized that this woman was too important to let slip away, and they would now have to get through this mission together.

And stick together they would. Ifurita found herself caught up in Tsunami's quest to piece together all the "fragments" of a higher being that were embodied in the reptilian gods of Toril, and in the process they found themselves in the middle of a war between the races that worshiped those gods. There were the demonic Yuan-ti, the race of snake/human hybrids that Ifurita had first seen, who worshiped the evil god Merrshaulk. There were the Lizardfolk, a race of savages who worshiped the amoral deity Semuanya. There were the snake-like Nagas, who worshiped the goddess Shekinester who embodied multiple alignments. And then there were the Couatl, a race of benign feathered serpents who worshiped the compassionate goddess Jazirian. There was also the neutral brontosaurus deity Ubtao, who was worshiped by a nation of humans, yet had some connection to the other reptilian deities.

Tsunami came to learn that each of these deities was a "fragment" of a greater deity called the Cosmic Serpent who was worshiped by the primordial Sarrukh, a race of which all the said reptile races either descended from, or were created by (in particular, the Couatl were apparently Sarrukh that were transformed through a blessing by Jazirian). When the Sarrukh fell into decline and were replaced by these descendant races, the Cosmic Serpent itself began to split into multiple deities, each one worshiped by a different descendant race. It was Tsunami's goal, for reasons Ifurita had trouble fathoming, to merge these gods back together and resurrect the original Cosmic Serpent.

Together Tsunami and Ifurita began exploring Toril to gather clues of how to achieve Tsunami's goal. They explored the dinosaur-infested jungle land of Chult, the nation of Mulhorand (which resembled ancient Egypt back on Earth, and whose people even worshiped the Egyptian gods), and the Yuan-ti ruled city of Hlondeth. In the latter, they made a discovery that would change the course of the mission. Held in that city's main temple was a young girl named Sesha. While she took the form of a human, she was something more. Sesha was a hybrid of a Couatl and one of the original Sarrukh. Furthermore, she was said to be an incarnation of Jazirian herself, and the Yuan-ti wanted to sacrifice her to Merrshaulk so that dark god could consume Jazirian's power.

Guessing that Sesha was the key to her goals, Tsunami rescued her. With her power no longer chained, Sesha called down the other Couatl to challenge the Yuan-ti to put an end to their evil once and for all. This was the beginning of a conflict between all the Sarrukh's descendant races. Furthermore, the gods of these races decided to no longer hide behind the scenes and decided to challenge one another directly. Exactly as Tsunami had planned. With all the Cosmic Serpent fragments together, Tsunami used her power to bind them all. Despite resistance from Merrshaulk, these gods finally merged. The Cosmic Serpent was reborn.

In addition to the rebirth of the Serpent, the original Sarrukh, most of whom had been in hibernation across the far corners of Toril, had reawakened. With their deity resurrected, the Sarrukh felt that there would be a new beginning for them. However, they found that their world was now populated by numerous races such as humans (who were cave-dwelling primitives when the Sarrukh ruled the world), elves, and many more.

The Cosmic Serpent, through it's avatar Sesha, instructed the Sarrukh not to interfere with these new races. So, while many of them decided to try and co-exist and become leaders for the remaining descendant races,, others felt that their time on Toril was over, and they should build a new home elsewhere. Enter Tsunami. Tsunami revealed that an aspect of her being contained a pocket dimension that had enough space to take up a whole planet. As a favor to Sesha, she offered to allow this space within her to be the new home for the Sarrukh. They gladly accepted and made their new home along with a number of Couatl.

But, that was not the end. Through this whole ordeal, Tsunami and Ifurita had grown closer. Ifurita began to see more and more of Makoto through the blue-haired goddess, and understood why he was the good person he was. Tsunami began to understand why her future son loved Ifurita so much.

Through their bonding, more of Ifurita's memories resurfaced. She remembered her mother and her brief life before turning into a weapon. But, another memory given to her by Makoto surfaced as well. Ifurita learned that Tsunami loved her, and Makoto knew of this love. The moment he first met Ifurita in that chamber, he knew that she was his mother's long lost love. That all along was the reason why Makoto fought so hard to give Ifurita her freedom and awaken her hidden feelings. Not only did he love her himself, but he wanted her to be with his mother once more as well. This was why he didn't interfere when Ifurita made love to Alielle, as he had feelings for Alielle as well and wanted her to join his mother's family too.

With this revelation, Ifurita and Tsunami at last confessed their mutual love. They were married by Sesha at a newly formed temple of the Cosmic Serpent in Hlondeth, and they spent a night together. When the morning came, they realized that they both had to return to Tsunami's universe, where Ifurita would have to go into stasis until the day she met Makoto. They wished Sesha (whom they also were beginning to form feelings for) goodbye before they left Toril behind. When they arrived on Earth, Tsunami constructed a chamber for Ifurita to sleep in. They gave each other one last kiss before the chamber closed, and Ifurita's world went dark......

                                                               * * *



Sasami snapped back to attention, as if awakening from a dream. Her mind was back in the real world. Ifurita's smiling face was the first thing she saw before her. Sasami couldn't help her overwhelming emotions, and she embraced the former Demon God.

"We'll leave you two alone for a little bit." Sesha said as she smiled and motioned for Tsunami and Misaki to exit the room with her.

Sasami didn't know how long she continued to hold Ifurita. She just knew that she didn't want to let her dream girl go. She now understood why Ifurita dominated her dreams and emotions. The time Tsunami spent with her was among the Goddess' happiest memories, and Sasami was seeing Tsunami's memories of that time. However, Sasami had grown to love this dream woman in her own right, and now touching her own soul with Ifurita's had only made this love grow.

"You've been through so much." Sasami finally said, "I don't know what to say."

"You have been through a lot as well, Sasami. Perhaps just as much as I have."

Throughout the bonding of their minds, Sasami was aware of something. While she was seeing into Ifurita's memories, she had some awarness that Ifurita was seeing into her memories as well, despite still knowing what it was Sasami was seeing and still communicating with her about it. Ifurita saw everything. She saw Sasami's earliest childhood memories. She saw the event of her near death and her merging with Tsunami. She saw how Sasami grew a crush on her own mother. She saw Sasami leave Jurai for Earth to follow her sister. And she saw Sasami's meeting with Tenchi, the man Ifurita recognized as Makoto's future father, and how Sasami came to live with him and be a part of his family.

"I understand why Makoto is the wonderful person he is." Ifurita explained, "He really does have the best of both you and Tenchi in him."

With that final thought, Sasami realized something that brought her spirits down.

"You.....have to go, don't you?" Sasami asked, not being able to hide the sadness in her voice.

Ifurita realized what she meant. In order for the timeline to pan out exactly as it did in Makoto's memories, Ifurita would have to go back into stasis.

Without saying anything, Ifurita looked into Sasami's eyes, and then kissed her lips. Then she gently whispered into the girl's ears.

"I may have to go soon, but I want to be spend this night with you."

Sasami quivered as she took in the meaning of Ifurita's words.

"I.....I don't know. I've never done anything like that before." Sasami said with her heart racing once more. "An...and...we've only just gotten to know one another."

"Our very souls have been joined." Ifurita explained, "We know each other better than most people get to know one another after many years. And, I also know that Makoto will love you very much, and I cannot help but love the woman he loves."

Ifurita stood, and guided the nervous Juraian to stand with her. Never letting go of Sasami's hand, Ifurita brought her back to the same bedroom she had earlier been allowed to rest in.

As they sat on the bed, Ifurita used her ability to make her clothes vanish. Once again, Sasami was struck by the beauty of the woman before her. Everything about her was perfect, her beautiful face, beautiful baby-blue hair with blue eyes to match, her alabaster skin, her full breasts, and although Ifurita was blocking view of it by sitting down, Sasami knew this woman had the nicest posterior of any woman she had ever known.

Ifurita then embraced the princess, and laid her down on the bed before they joined their lips again. As Ifurita was about to remove Sasami's top, they were surprised at the sound of somebody bursting into the room.

"Hold on there!" Misaki cried out, "Nobody is going to be taking my Little Sasami's virginity without me joining in!"

Misaki and Tsunami both entered the room. After getting welcome smiles from both Ifurita and Sasami, they joined the two of them in the bed. Sasami's one night with Ifurita before the former Demon God returned to sleep would be one of the most memorable nights of Sasami's immortal life.

                                                              * * *

As the years went by, Ifurita would dream of the ones she loved in her sleep. Until the day she had waited for had finally arrived, and Makoto brought her back into the waking world. As she always knew she would, she sent the boy she loved to El Hazard to fulfill his destiny.

The morning came, and Ifurita still found herself waiting. Would Makoto make it home before the last of her energy ran out? Would she ever see him or Sasami again?

Just when the doubt began to take over her mind, she saw a white light off in the distance. As she held her breath in anticipation, the light took shape. Makoto! The boy stood there with a warm smile reminiscent of his mother, with Ifurita's Power Key Staff in his hand.

The former Demon God rushed to meet the boy, tears swelling in her eyes. As she joined her hands with his and was about to embrace him, she got a surprise. Out from behind Makoto stepped Alielle, carrying a bundle in her arms. Ifurita recognized her own face in the child Alielle held, only with a dark purple hair color to match Alielle's.

"Mommy?" the child asked a shocked Ifurita.

"And that's not the only surprise I have for you." Makoto said.

Another woman stepped out from behind Makoto. She looked very much like Ifurita, and Ifurita recognized her immediately.

"Momma...." Ifurita said in a near whisper.

Without a word, Ifurita embraced her mother, and Makoto, Alielle, and Alielle and Ifurita's daughter joined in for a group hug.

Off in the distance, Sasami, who had long ago made the final merger with Tsunami, and Sesha watched the scene, both with a smile. Ifurita and Makoto were home, and the family Sasami knew she would have was finally together.


                                                          END

[Gaston]

I liked the part with Ifurita and Sasami, but I don't care that much about the snakes since I don't know them.

[Zigra]

Revised the ending a bit.

[Yogomonoya]

From the point of view, where can we find them?