No need for dragonballs Episode 5power

by Russ

the fourth chapter in this tenchi/DrangonBallZ crossover

Episode 4-Power



if your still reading this then thats great because at first i thought
this story would suck anyways send hate/fan mail to:scottm@hot.rr.com
all rights reserved blah blah blah



Sleeping peacefully after a hard day's worth of work, Kiyone
and Mihoshi lay on their futons, engrossed in a deep slumber. The sun
was poking it's way through their window and it lay across their
bedspread, but stayed away from their faces, almost as if it knew
enough to let them sleep. Mihoshi shifted to a more comfortable
position, the only noises made were a soft moan and the sound of fabric
rubbing against fabric. Kiyone drew in a deep breath and stirred
slightly, but then drifted back to sleep a second later.
The sun, which was shining brightly, began to grow dark, as
the wind outside of their window increased in velocity. Mihoshi turned
over again, pulling the blanket over her head to drown out the noise
from the wind. A few moments later, a pair of loud, primal screams
roared into their ears, as they both sat bolt upright in their beds and
immediately looked outside their window.
"What is going on here?! Why is the sky so funny looking?
Who screamed?" Kiyone threw back her covers as she ran to the
window. Mihoshi stretched and yawned, totally unconcerned at what
was going on around her, until the house began shaking. Her eyes went
wide as she also shot out of bed and grabbed onto Kiyone's waist.
"Waaahh! Kiyone! What's happening here? I'm scared!"
Mihoshi squeezed even harder, causing Kiyone to start making
croaking noises. "Kiyone?" She looked up at her face, which was
turning blue, and then let go. Kiyone collapsed to the floor, taking in
deep breaths from being crushed.
"It's an earthquake or a tornado, you idiot! We've got to get
out of here!" Kiyone bolted for the door followed closely behind by
Mihoshi. They ran down the stairs and outside the back door and into
the yard. Stopping and staring at the two bright green lights over the
lake, they noticed everybody sitting on the ground, staring at the same
thing. They quickly ran over to find out what the heck was going on.
Mihoshi watched in awe, as they ran over. "Oh wow, look at
the pretty green lights!" She giggled. "I wonder what they're doing
here though?"
"What is going on here?" Kiyone shouted over the roar of the
wind and the rumbling of the ground, which subsided a few moments
later. A second after that, both green lights vanished, and were
replaced with a massive shockwave in between the two, nearly blowing
everybody over onto their backs.
The original Russ jumped behind everybody, his own ki
exploding around him as he yelled at the top of his voice, and put up a
huge ki dome over everybody's head, shielding the house as well. He
remained standing with is fists and teeth clenched, as he concentrated
on keeping the shield up. A second later, a white light engulfed him as
his karate gi changed from green to blue. Azaka and Kamadake
cautiously lowered their own forcefield.
"Hey! Can you hear me? What the heck is going on here?!"
Kiyone shouted at the very top of her voice. Aeka, Ryoko, and Tenchi
all turned toward her and waved her over. "Would someone PLEASE
tell me what is going on?"
"Russ is giving us a demonstration of what's to be expected to
happen when Zorpheus arrives," Tenchi shouted. "Remember from last
night?"
Kiyone thought a moment, and nodded her head. "Who is
fighting? Russ is standing right over there!" She shouted, pointing a
finger at the original Russ, who was continuing to concentrate, holding
the shield up.
"Russ split himself into three parts! Two of them are up there
fighting, and I guess the original is the one standing over there!" A
moment later, an intense shockwave caused the ground to shudder,
despite the shield.
Everybody turned back toward the battle, but they couldn't see
anything except the many shockwaves that were exploding in the air.
An instant later, both combatants became visible, and then vanished
again, resulting in another shockwave.
"Hey Russ! What's going on? We can't see anything!"
Tenchi yelled over the loudness of the sonic booms.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said, through clenched teeth.
Continuing to concentrate, he made his way over to the group and knelt
down, his green ki still burning around him. "Relax a moment." Russ
placed his hands on Tenchi and Ryoko's shoulders, causing them both
to cringe slightly, as a white shimmering glow engulfed his hands, and
a moment later, the glow made it's way to their heads.
"Whoa, what the…" Tenchi stuttered, as the dual Russ' started
to become visible. At first, they were only green streaks, slamming
into each other at an incredible pace, but within a few seconds, both of
their bodies became completely visible.
Everybody else turned to look at Ryoko and Tenchi, watching
them as their eyes and heads darted all over the place, as they could
now plainly see what was going on. Russ stood up and moved over to
Katsuhito and Nobuyuki and did the same thing, and then moved over
to Aeka and Sasami, and then over to Kiyone and Mihoshi, and finally
he made his way to Washu, and once again performed the same
technique. He moved over to Azaka and Kamadake. "Can you see
them?"
"No. They're moving too fast," said Kamadake.
"Well, let's see if this works on you. It's harmless, so even if
it doesn't work you won't be damaged or injured." Russ placed his
hands on the two logs and once again the while glow emanated from
his hands, and transferred itself inside the wooden guardians. "Can you
see them now?"
"Yes! Oh my, are they fast," said Azaka.
Russ looked over at Ryo-Ohki, who was sitting on top of
Sasami's head. "Can you see them, Ryo-Ohki?"
She meowed a response and shook her head.
"Okay, let's try this then." He placed his hand on her head,
lightly petting her as the white glow transferred itself to her mind.
Immediately she started meowing like crazy and watching the action
unfold. He laughed and then backed off some ways and resumed his
stance, concentrating solely on keeping the shield up.
"Incredible. Look at them go! Man, are they fast!" Tenchi
shouted over the shockwaves, from his seat on the ground, has his eyes
followed the battle.
Both Russ' stopped for a moment, and one of them engulfed
himself in a bright white flash, and his green gi became orange, so now
everybody could tell them apart. Almost as instantly, the orange Russ
raced at the one in green and tried to slam his fist into the other's gut,
but it was blocked, resulting in another massive shockwave, rumbling
the ground as if a bomb went off nearby. The one in green retaliated by
swinging his foot at the other's head, narrowly missing as the orange
one ducked, then brought his own leg up to kick the one in green in the
side, but was blocked. The one in green grabbed the orange Russ' leg
and hurled him into the ground, but he managed to stop himself about a
foot above the ground and zanzokened away, just as the green Russ
tried to slam his arm into the other's chest. The green Russ spun
around in time to see a blue energy ball being hurled at him from
above, and he punted the energy ball away, causing it to sail into outer
space and explode.
Seeing an opportunity, the orange Russ raced at the one in
green, slamming him in the face with his foot and sending him crashing
into the lake, creating a huge splash that went nearly a hundred feet in
the air. Charging up energy in his hands, he let loose a hailstorm of
energy balls into the water, causing many more small explosions that
churned the water as if in a hurricane. A second later a huge, blue
energy ball rocketed out of the water, heading straight for the orange
Russ. He quickly blurred away and rematerialized a few feet away, just
as the blast sailed through his former position. Barely having time to
think of an attack, another ball of energy was heading straight for him,
forcing him to zanzoken away to another spot. Now, expecting another
energy ball, he braced himself for the blast, which never came. The
green Russ phased into existence behind the orange one, and tried to
slam his fists into his back, but narrowly missed, as his opponent spun
around with his foot outstretched, trying to kick him in the chest. The
green one blocked it and grabbed his foot, ready to throw him into the
ground, but the orange one spun around, using his captured foot as a
pivot, and brought his other leg up, successfully smashing his leg into
the green one's head. He recovered quickly and began a barrage of
punches and kicks, which were blocked or dodged.
Getting irritated, both Russ' landed on the ground and raced at
each other, locking both their hands together in a test of strength. Their
green ki exploded around them, as one tried to overpower the other.
The ground shaking grew even more intense, as a crater started to form
under both of their feet. Their grunting and yelling could just barely be
heard over the roar of their ki and the earthquake they were causing.
The orange Russ lost patience and slammed his foot into the green's
stomach, forcing him to break the hold and jump back.
The dual Russ' zanzokened away, reappearing back in the air,
where a flurry of punches and kicks ensued. Both tried to make an
offense, but every attack was countered with an identical attack from
his counterpart. Fists and feet slammed into each other, causing more
shockwaves. The green Russ zanzokened a dozen feet away and hurled
a blue energy ball at his opponent, who swatted it away easily, but the
distraction worked. The green Russ zanzokened behind the orange one
and slammed him on top of his head with both his hands, causing him
to fall like a screaming bomb and slam into the ground, making a small
crater. He quickly got back up and shot back into the air with a green
vapor trail following him, both fists out in front, trying to slam them
into the other's stomach. The green Russ shot off higher into the air,
also leaving a green vapor trail, as the one in orange caught up. Both
Russ' slammed into each other multiple times at a mind-blowing rate,
creating many sonic explosions. They both turned around and raced
back down toward the Earth, as they both blurred out of vision,
reappearing across the yard, where another flurry of punches and kicks
ensued. They both zanzokened out of sight, but this time they
reappeared about five feet in front of everybody, just outside the shield
perimeter, where they continued to exchange punches. They landed on
the ground, continuing to try to break though the other's defense. The
orange one finally connected a punch on his opponents jaw, sending
him flying through a tree over two hundred feet away. The tree trunk
shattered under the force of the blow, and fell over.

"Good god, they're going to destroy each other!" Tenchi
shouted over the noise, looking over at everyone. Nobody seemed to
notice Tenchi's outburst, as they were all transfixed on the battle.
Ryoko leaned over to Tenchi. "I'm sure glad he's on our side!
There's no way I could compete with something like this," she shouted.
"He's the fastest person I've ever seen. He could have really hurt us
when he was sparring with us earlier!"
"You're not kidding," he responded. Looking behind him at
the original Russ, his concern increased a little as he saw the sadistic
grin on the blue Russ' face, even though he was still concentrating on
holding the shield to keep the shockwaves at bay.
"Hey Washu! Can you explain what's going on? How is this
even possible?" Ryoko yelled over to her mother.
"I have no idea! This is the first time I've ever documented
something like this," she shouted back. "Their power level has neither
increased or decreased during the duration of this battle. I wonder if
he's capable of even MORE power," she yelled, looking back at Russ.
Her phantom computer materialized in front of her as she typed in a
frenzy, documenting everything she was watching.
The Russ in blue grinned at the comment, knowing full well
that he could easily blow away what they're currently observing. Just
doing a Kaioken Attack at level two would double his power and speed.
And going Super Saiyan would increase it by at least a factor of fifty,
but it required a lot of energy to transform, so he didn't do it often. Not
only that, but the violent emotions a Super Saiyan experiences also
deterred him from going to that mode.
Katsuhito continued to watch intently, observing his moves
and his attack style. Never before seeing this style of fighting, it was
quite a learning experience. Several of Russ' moves that he watched he
figured he'd remember, and try them out during a sparring match with
Tenchi. Even though Tenchi was no match for him, it was good
practice. Even better, he wanted to learn Russ' technique and style of
fighting in its entirety, just in case his current style, even though super
secret and rare, failed him. However, he knew he couldn't reveal his
own style of fighting, unless Russ learned it from that little sparring
match earlier.
"I should've brought my camera out here to record this,"
Nobuyuki said to Katsuhito. "This is great action stuff!"
"Sorry, but a camera wouldn't be able to pick up their
movements," Russ shouted from behind, just barely hearing his
comment. "I had to enhance your own senses just so you could see
them!" Nobuyuki looked disappointed, but that quickly melted away as
both Russ' materialized a couple dozen feet away, exchanging fists and
kicks.
Aeka continued to watch with mixed emotions. This wasn't
the guy she sat with last night. This one was bloodthirsty and
extremely violent. She felt frightened of this side of Russ, as they
continued to battle out in front, and the one behind her watched with
amusement.
*What am I getting myself into? I had no idea he was like
THIS! Did I make a mistake in trusting him? What if he turned against
me in a fit of rage? I could never defend myself against him, and
neither can anybody else here… not even Ryoko!* Continuing to
watch the battle unfold, Aeka thought about him a little more. *He did
say that he was here to defend the Earth, so his motives are good. And
he was very nice to me last night, and he never tried to take advantage
of me either. Maybe his heart is in the right place, but why is he so
violent? And why is he enjoying this? It's barbaric!* She wrung her
hands in front of her. *Should I really give him a chance? So far, he
hasn't done anything wrong, and he's been helpful and very nice to
everybody, even that monster woman.* She glared over at Ryoko who
was intently watching the battle, huddled next to Tenchi. *At least that
fight is over with.*

The orange Russ zanzokened to the ground and brought his
hands out in front of him, charging an energy beam. "Big Bang
Attaaaaaaack!!!" He screamed at the top of his voice, as a monstrous
yellow beam roared out of his hands, streaking it's way toward the
Russ in green. The force of the beam blew all the dust out from under
him, resulting in a huge windstorm and another shockwave, just from
the launching of the beam.
The green Russ saw it coming, and prepared a counterattack.
As the beam reached him, he slammed his fist into it, altering its course
directly for the Misaki home. Everybody except for Katsuhito
screamed in horror, as the beam neared the house's position.
The Russ in blue saw it change course and start its descent.
Realizing that he wasn't generating enough energy to keep a forcefield
of that size intact, he had to power up even more. "Kaioken Attack
times TWO!" he screamed, as his ki turned from green to red, and
burned with an intense fury, as his power shot through the roof.
Washu's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when the
scouter beeped and started recalculating his new power level.
Russ realized that it probably still wasn't enough to stop a
blast of that size. "TIMES THREE!" he screamed, as his ki and energy
expanded even further and higher, and he braced for the impact.
Washu and Katsuhito almost immediately started suffering an intense
headache as his power skyrocketed, and the scouter recalculated his
new level again. The Big Bang Attack slammed into the shield,
cracking with overwhelming energy and causing a minor tremor. It
then exploded, doing no damage at all to the house and the surrounding
area.
The two Russ' stopped their fighting and floated back down to
the ground in front of everybody, as the Russ in blue disengaged the
Kaioken and returned his ki level to normal, and his ki changed back
from red to green. The splitting headache both Katsuhito and Washu
had immediately subsided.
Washu rubbed her temples and checked the scouter. "I… I
don't believe it. This has to be a mistake. It calculated your energy
level at fourteen million, one hundred thousand! How is that
POSSIBLE? How much more energy are you hiding?" She yelled,
even though it was now quiet, since the battle ceased.
"I told you, the four million, seven hundred thousand was my
base power level. I can go much higher than that using special
techniques," Russ said, looking insulted.
"HOW much higher?"
"A lot higher than what I'm leading on here. I can't say for
certain, and I'm not going to try powering up to my maximum. Not
only that, but that scouter cannot measure a level as high as mine."
"Wow. And you need to get stronger than what you are
already?" She asked, eyeing him. "That's absurd! You're the
strongest person I've ever seen, in both real life and documented
history!"
Russ chuckled. "Thanks, but I'm no where near the strength
of some of the other Saiyan warriors that have lived. Their history
documents were few and far between, so it's no wonder you don't
know about it." Remembering what went on a moment before, he
glared at his two counterparts. "Try to be more careful with those ki
attacks. I was fortunate to see it coming and had enough time to
counter that."
Both Russ' nodded toward the one in blue, and faced each
other again, then blurred out of sight to continue their battle.
"One other thing you guys," the Russ in blue began. "Do not
try to sense a power level like mine when I'm charged up that high.
Just try to block it out. That headache can get much worse than what
you experienced, depending on how high I go." He rubbed his chin.
"If you guys had a higher ki level for yourselves, there wouldn't be a
problem." Russ turned toward Washu. "That scouter has a limit of
twenty million. After that, it usually either shuts down, or explodes
from overload, but I don't need to go that high today."
*So he can go up to at least twenty million now. Amazing.
I'm going to have to see if I can get this scouter to calculate an
estimated level for him, or build a machine that can do that.* Washu
grinned evilly a moment and then glanced at Russ.
Washu and Katsuhito nodded, then turned their attention back
to the orange and green clothed Russ' as they prepared to go into round
two, their green ki burning intensely around each of them when they
both rocketed off into the air. As they both reached the apex of their
ascent, the green Russ zanzokened to a lower position and started firing
hundreds of small yellow energy balls, all of which were screaming
like fireworks to his opponent. Just before they reached their target, the
orange Russ blurred out of sight and rematerialized about fifty feet
away, as the energy blasts sailed through his former position and went
up in a crescendo of miniature explosions. The green Russ quickly
changed his target and continued firing, as the orange one raced off,
dodging all the blasts that came too close to him. He quickly changed
direction, making a beeline back for the green Russ, charging his own
ki blast and launching it quickly, as the many smaller blasts from the
green one bounced harmlessly off the much larger energy blast.
Realizing it was going to slam into the ground and cause all
kinds of damage, the blue Russ quickly blurred in between the green
Russ and the energy blast, and gave it a roundhouse that sent it out of
Earth's orbit.
"I told you guys to be more careful!!!" He snarled at both his
counterparts. Almost as instantly, he got another idea to make things
more interesting. Slamming his foot into the green one's chest, sending
him crashing into the ground, the blue Russ sped off to the orange one
and started his own flurry of punches and kicks. A moment later the
green Russ materialized next to both of them, and attacked the Russ in
blue. It quickly became a double team, as both the green and orange
Russ attacked him, as he speedily dodged, blocked and parried all their
blows.
Everybody on the ground continued to watch in bewilderment
as now all three Russ' were now in a frenzy, trying to land a blow on
each other at a rapid pace. The orange one finally succeeded and
planted a foot in his stomach, sending him to the ground. The blue one
landed on his feet as he blocked another attack by the green one as he
sailed past and landed behind him. Landing in front of him, the orange
one took up a defensive stance as the one behind him prepared to
attack. The Russ in blue placed both his hands toward his opponents
and let lose a large energy beam from his hands, slamming into both
participants, knocking them back hundreds of feet. A moment of
silence ensued, as he stood idly and smirked, and glanced back at
everybody, watching their faces smiling at their reactions. He
zanzokened behind everybody and put up the ki shield once more, and
told his two counterparts telepathically to put on one giant, grand
finale.

The orange and green Russ' appeared in the sky, hundreds of
feet apart, as they both began charging their signature energy attack.
Both participants placed their hands outstretched in front of them,
palms facing outward, as a yellow energy ball formed out in front,
crackling with blue lightning bolts, that was surrounding the yellow
sphere, which was continuing to grow in size.
"This is it! Hold on to your sanity!" Russ shouted from
behind everyone. Both energy balls were now nearly six feet in
diameter, and still growing. The crackling of the blue lightning bolts
continued to grow more intense, as the size of the ball finally started
touching both hands.
Finally, the ball was finished charging, as it was now ten feet
in diameter. "BUSTER… CANNON… FIRE!!!!" They screamed in
unison. Massive, yellow energy beams roared out of the balls,
surrounded in blue lightning, and slammed into each other in between
both participants, making one of the largest shockwaves ever seen.
Some trees were uprooted and flung away like toothpicks, but the
ground remained intact. The floating onsen was tossed around a little,
but fortunately, it was a very stable structure. The roar of both beams
was deafening, as everybody shielded their faces, even though the
forcefield protected them. The force of the shockwave slammed into
the shield, causing a large tremor in the ground and the air, and then the
only thing remained were hurricane forced winds and the roar of the
beams.
The two heads of the beams were in the middle of both the
orange and green Russ', as they began a massive test of strength and
will. Both continued to scream and apply pressure, but neither wavered
nor gave any ground to the other. Unconsciously, they both began to
apply even more power to the beams, causing them to grow even larger
and more intense, but keeping their own ki level steady.
Nobody could see the two Russ' anymore, since they were
both hidden behind the energy ball that the beams were coming from.
It was so bright that it was difficult to even look at, but everybody
shielded their eyes and watched, waiting to see what was going to
happen and who was going to win.
The head between both beams finally had gotten so big from
the buildup of energy, that it started growing unstable, and lost its
round shape. Both Russ' saw it at the last moment, but it was too late.
The mass of energy between the two detonated, and went up like a
hydrogen bomb, engulfing both participants in the explosion.
The Russ on the ground moved his shield as quickly as he
could. "Kaioken Attack Times THREE," he screamed, and attempted
to contain the blast, but some of the energy leaked out of it, but not
enough to cause any damage. The two doppelgangers inside the shield
were consumed, as the explosion finally died down and faded away,
leaving nothing but a ball of smoke. Russ wiped the back of his head
with his hand, lowered the forcefield, and disengaged the Kaioken, as
the sky and wind returned to normal, and all the shaking of the ground
subsided.

The sun was shining and the birds were once again chirping,
even though it looked like a hurricane had hit the place, but for the
most part, the area was undamaged. The ball of smoke blew away, but
incredibly, both the green and orange Russ' were floating in mid-air,
totally unscathed, aside from scuffed clothes. They landed on the
ground in front of the blue one, bowed, and merged with the original.
Russ turned toward everybody and bowed, acknowledging the stunned
look on everybody and grinning.
"So… what did you think?"
Silence answered him as they all continued to stare, unable to
speak or say anything from the shock. Russ just grinned even wider,
knowing he wowed them good.
Katsuhito was the first to recover from the display, and he
smiled, walked over, and put his hand on Russ' shoulder. "That was
absolutely amazing. I'm certainly glad you're on our side."
Russ smiled and bowed again. "Thank you. I'm glad you
enjoyed the show."
"Well, I need to get back to the shrine now. I'll see you later."
Katsuhito turned and slowly walked back toward the steps, grinning the
whole time.
"Well, what about the rest of you? Impressed?"
Most everybody nodded, and then smiled, as they began to
idly chatter with each other, and with Russ. Aeka stood up and walked
over to him, concerned about something. "You looked like you were
enjoying that. Were you?"
Russ was taken aback, but he then faced the ground, unable to
meet her gaze. "I'm a Saiyan. I have the blood of a warrior race
flowing through me. The only time I'm really, truly happy, is when
I'm fighting, or preparing for a fight." He realized that what he had
done was in total contrast as to the side he allowed Aeka to see
yesterday. "Yes, I did enjoy that. I enjoy fighting the most. It was the
original reason my race existed. To fight." He gazed into Aeka's
amethyst eyes, not knowing what else to say that would make much of
a difference. "I'm sorry, Aeka. But this is a side of me that exists, and
cannot be ignored."
In total bewilderment to Russ, she smiled and nodded her
head. "I'm glad you were honest. I've never met a Saiyan before you."
"In reality, it isn't often that I actually DO fight. Most of the
time the side you see of me is what I've been this whole time, being
nice, friendly, and calm. I would never do anything to hurt any of you.
All of you have been so nice to me and didn't care about my
appearance, or my race, or why I really came. And when I did tell you
why I came, it still didn't matter, and you continued to show me
kindness. That's something that I'll always hold dear to me." Russ
smiled and nodded his head. "Anyway, I worked up quite a sweat, so
I'm going to go take a bath and cool off for a while. It's super hot out
here."
Everybody nodded in agreement as they all stood up to go
back inside.
"I'll fix us some lemonade to cool off with," offered Sasami.
"It'll only take a few minutes."
"That sounds good Sasami! Let's go." Tenchi and company
went inside the house, leaving Russ in the middle of the field.

"Whew, man it's hot. Feels like a hundred degrees with this
humidity." He looked up at the onsen and decided against going in.
"I'll just jump in the lake and cool off for a while." He leapt into the
air a good twenty feet, and dove into the water, cannonball style,
creating a huge splash. Coming up for air a moment later, he shook the
water out of his hair, took in some deep breaths, and disappeared
beneath the surface of the water again.
Russ caught sight of a large fish swimming by, and deciding
to test his reflexes, he shot off after it, chasing it all over the lake
bottom. Using his ki to propel him even faster, he caught up with the
doomed fish and grabbed its tail, then brought it to the lake surface,
breaking through the surface to get another breath of air. He let the fish
go and let it swim away, watching it until it got out of sight.
Feeling more relaxed, he began floating on his back,
concentrating on nothing at all except for the sound of the water
lapping up against his ears and the coolness of the water. He continued
to relax for another ten minutes, then jumped out of the water, soaking
wet. Powering up slightly, he snapped his ki around him, drying him
and his blue gi almost instantly, and feeling the heat rush back to his
skin from the hot and humid summer air.
A few moments later, he got an idea and teleported to his
spacepod, opened it up and reached inside, producing a large stereo
boom box, and a handful of CD's. Teleporting back to the house, he
flew up to his window and landed inside, placing his stereo on the desk
and the stack of CD's next to it. "Oh man, it's even hotter up here than
it is outside," he grumbled to himself. He picked up his stereo and the
CD's again and flew back outside, closing the screen behind him, and
made his way over to the shrine. He spied a large cliff overlooking the
lake and made his way over there, and landed under a tree, sitting down
and resting the stereo and CD's next to him, as he took in the view over
the bluff. He sighed peacefully and rested his back against the tree, and
he picked out the first CD he wanted to play, put it in the player, and
picked out the first song he wanted to hear.
Cranking up the volume, the music began with what sounded
like some sort of Indian chant with a drumbeat, and then a full
orchestra kicked in.
A young girl began singing:

[In Japanese]
"The dark night sky above,
Exists to expose our hearts as,
They call out to each other,
When the two of us are apart."

The orchestra increased to an apex, and the girl continued to
sing, as Russ closed his eyes and allowed his imagination to take him
away. He thought back to the original animation he heard the theme
from, Record of Lodoss War - Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, and the
name of the song, Kiseki No Umi. He increased the volume of the
stereo a little more, listening to the fullness of her voice and the power
of the orchestra, as he took in a deep breath, and mentally replayed the
introduction to the show in his mind, seeing the dragons soaring across
the screen, and the main characters, as they sat on the horse and
charged through the field.

Inside the house, everybody sat in the living room, drinking a
tall, ice-cold glass of lemonade. Tenchi and Ryoko sat together on the
love seat. Ryoko continued to flirt with Tenchi, as she slid her hand up
to his crotch, causing him to turn blue in the face, but he managed a
grin in Ryoko's direction, which only caused her to flirt even more.
Nobuyuki continued to watch the two out of the corner of his eye, not
wanting to look directly at them since he knew what Tenchi's reaction
was going to be. Ryoko leaned over to Tenchi and whispered
something in his ear, making Tenchi redden. She continued to whisper
naughty things as Tenchi continued to blush even harder, and
eventually a little trickle of blood started to stream out of his nose. She
giggled and slid herself closer to him. "And don't think I won't,
either," she whispered seductively. Tenchi just shook his head as he
tried to force himself to calm down.
"Come on, Ryoko," he hissed. "Please don't do this in front
of everybody. It's embarrassing!"
"I know, that's why I do it," she said, giggling, and staring
lustfully into Tenchi's eyes.
Kiyone and Mihoshi sat on the couch, next to Nobuyuki, since
they didn't feel tired anymore, and didn't have to go back to work for a
couple days, unless there was an emergency. Kiyone thought about
how much of a burden they were to the house, and had been debating
on moving out, to live on their own. Of course, Mihoshi probably
wouldn't like the idea, but Kiyone felt that she didn't do enough to
deserve to stay at the house, living and eating for free. She was the
responsible one, and she did not want to mooch off of anybody any
longer. Deciding on bringing it up later to Mihoshi, she steeled a
glance at Tenchi and Ryoko, and blushed when she saw Ryoko's look
of lust as she continued to flirt with Tenchi.
Aeka looked around, choosing to ignore what was transpiring
on the loveseat, and realized Russ was absent. "Where's Russ at? He
got out of the lake a short while ago and then vanished."
"I don't know. He's probably outside somewhere," answered
Sasami. Ryo-Ohki meowed an agreement, as she was now perched on
Sasami's shoulder.
Aeka frowned slightly. "Oh, okay. I'm going to go take this
glass of lemonade to him. I'm sure he's really hot from that massive
fight he put on for us outside."
Nobuyuki rose from the couch and reached into his pocket,
drawing out his car keys. "I'm going to be going shopping for a while.
I saw something that caught my interest, and it would give me an
opportunity to get myself into a hobby. I'll be back in a while. See
everybody later, and keep cool." He walked out the kitchen door and
then turned around. "Oh yeah, thanks for the lemonade, Sasami. That
was great."
She smiled. "You're welcome father. I'll make more later."
He nodded and left the living room.
Aeka filled up two glasses of lemonade and tossed in some
ice, and also left the house. She made her way over to the stairway
leading up to the shrine, and proceeded to make her way to Tenchi's
training area.
About half way up the stairway, she could hear some music
coming from a little higher up the hill. Curious about what she was
listening to, she made her way over to the bluff, and listened for a few
moments, as she saw Russ sitting under the tree with the stereo next to
him. The music was very soothing and unusual, as she watched him.
*Wow. He went from a rampaging barbarian to one of the calmest
people I've ever seen. And he has good taste in music too.* She
quietly crept over to where Russ was sitting, when he opened his eyes
and looked directly at her, and smiled.
She returned his smile, as Russ turned down the volume of the
stereo. "I've brought you some lemonade," she said, as she handed
over the glass, which was dripping with condensation.
"Thank you very much," he said, then took a drink. "Ahhh.
This is great! I didn't think lemonade could taste this good."
"Sasami made it."
"Oh? I'll have to thank her," he said, and rested his head back
against the tree, as the music continued to its finale.
"Why didn't you come inside after you got out of the lake?"
Russ looked uneasily over at Aeka. "I'm not much for groups.
I'm more of a loner," he said, as he looked away. "I've been alone for
a long time. Zorpheus and I used to hang around together when we
were partners and allies, but that ended some time ago. And before I
met him, I never really had any friends, so I was alone then, too."
Russ slid over a little as Aeka sat down next to him and leaned
back against the tree. She was still clothed in the karate gi that he had
given her earlier. They both sat in silence, taking in the peaceful
serenity of the land, and the comforting rhythm of the music, until it
finished and quieted down, allowing the ambient noises of the forest
and the light breeze overtake their ears.
"That was very pretty. I had no idea you liked music like
that."
Russ reopened his eyes and looked over at Aeka. "Most
people assume the kinds of music they like by their appearance. I do
that. When I saw you, I imagined a few tunes that I figured would suit
you almost perfectly." Russ grinned. "You probably thought I was
more into heavy metal or techno, or something like that. Well, if you
did, you're partially correct. I love a large variety of music." He
reached over to the stereo and selected another song from the hundreds
of titles on his CD. "Listen to this one," he said as the stereo began
playing, the sound of a guitar strumming some chords, and a male
singer began, as a bunch of electronic instruments and loud music
began thumping through the speakers.

[In English]
"I wanna take you on a roller coaster,

I wanna tell you that I'm feeling closer,
I wanna push it right over the line,
I wanna push it right over the line,
The line…
The line…"

Aeka cringed a moment, then listened at the many
instruments, the vocals, and the fast rhythm of the song. Surprisingly,
it was rather catchy, as Russ' foot moved with the beat. Russ turned up
the volume of the stereo a bit more and smiled, as he continued to
watch Aeka's expression. About three minutes later, the song ended,
and Russ hit the stop button on the player.
"What was that? I couldn't understand any of the lyrics."
Aeka looked a little confused.
"That song was by Lunatic Calm, and the name of the song is
Leave You Far Behind, and it came from an American movie, called
The Matrix. It's a great techno song. That movie contained a lot of
action and martial arts. It was really cool. If I can find a copy of it
somewhere, I'll show it to you, but I don't think you'd be interested in
something like that."
Aeka shook her head. "Probably not. But anyway, what else
do you have on that CD?"
Russ laughed. "I've got hundreds of songs. Any particular
genre you'd like to hear?"
"Well, that first song you were playing. Could you play
another one from that album?"
"Yeah, I've got a few more titles from that on here. Let's see.
Ahhh, how about this one," he said, has he selected another song.
The song began playing, sounding like a waltz. A piano and
several other instruments began playing as well, as a young woman
began to sing.

[In Japanese]
"The way that you embrace me from behind,
The words of your land you softly whisper to me,
Romantic in a way that almost tears at my heart,
I am your prisoner.

Lo sono prigionera,
Tonight you have gently bound me up in your arms, my
love…"

They both listened to the waltz as it continued, both of their
minds drifting in imagination. Aeka imagined an endless field on Jurai,
the wind blowing softly as thousands of flower petals drifted past, as
she stood with her arms outstretched, smiling, and twirling slowly,
caught up in the beauty of the planet. Russ replayed the introduction to
the animation in his mind, remembering the dragon that perched itself
on top of that large hill, with its wings spread wide.
Four minutes later, the song wound down and ended, as Aeka
opened her eyes and smiled. "That was really nice too. What was that
called?"
"That was Eternity, from Record of Lodoss War, an animation
I used to really enjoy. The other song you heard was from Chronicles,
a TV spin-off from that series."
Aeka nodded, and drank the rest of her lemonade and Russ
followed suit, finishing off his lemonade in a few gulps. He cringed a
bit from the tartness, but it was good… very good. He wiped his
forehead with the back of his hand and sighed. Reaching over to the
stereo once more, he selected Days of Summer by Yanni, and hit the
play button, turning down the volume so it was just loud enough to hear
without actually having to pay attention to it.
"It's really nice here. So calm, peaceful, and quiet. Nothing
like the city I used to live in," Russ said, looking over at Aeka. "Could
you tell me about your planet? I've never been there before."
Aeka thought a few moments and closed her eyes. "It is a
very beautiful place," she began. "It has many of the same things you
can find here on Earth, just different varieties. We have some of the
most beautiful flowers you've ever seen, in many colors, such as reds,
blues, greens, and violets, and other colors as well." She sighed a
moment as she thought back to her planet, bringing up old memories of
the many things she had seen and done. "One of the things that I used
to love doing, is walking through our garden maze. Sasami loved it
too. It was very large, but it was very beautiful. The bushes were
always so neat and trimmed, and they were always lush and green. In
the middle of that maze, we had a large fountain, where I used to sit
and dangle my feet in the cool water. I used to spend hours walking
through that maze, shirking my duties as the First Princess, just so I
could be alone. The buildings were always artistically crafted, and all
of them were made from the wood of Jurai's trees. A lot of the
buildings were actually made inside trees as well. Inside the Royal
Palace, there was a huge area, inside a hollowed out part of the place,
where our Royal Spaceship Trees were grown. It was really nice, and I
used to like to spend time in there as well, conversing with the trees."
Russ sighed. "I've been to many planets, but Jurai sounds like
a wonderful place. Are there any holidays there?"
"Oh yes. As a matter of fact, the Startica festival of Jurai will
be starting in about two weeks. It always has lots of things to do, and
they shoot off fireworks, and there are many shops to buy or do things
at. It's similar to the fairs that exist here. It lasts for several days."
Russ sat, thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think it would be
possible for us to go to the Startica festival? I'd love to see it."
Aeka looked up and smiled sweetly. "It would take us a long
while to get there. I don't think Tenchi and his family could spare that
kind of time." She hung her head slightly as her expression changed to
sadness. "I do miss my planet and its people too. I'd love to go home
for a visit and see everybody again."
"How far away is Jurai from here?" Russ smacked his head.
"Never mind. I wouldn't expect you to know. Let's go to my ship.
That can tell us exactly how far away it is." Russ stood up and turned
toward Aeka, and offered his hand. She smiled and accepted his hand,
and he carefully helped her to her feet. "Would you like to walk, fly, or
teleport?" Aeka looked a little confused, and she didn't answer. Russ
noticed it and snickered to himself. "Well, if you don't mind, we'll fly
to my pod. It's a little ways from here, and we'd get there a little faster,
and get a real nice aerial view of the place. Plus, it'll be your first
flying lesson," Russ said, and smiled, thanking his memory for storing
that.
"Okay. This sounds exciting," she said, as she stepped closer
to Russ.
"You can do this quite easily, actually. You already have the
necessary power to fly, but you just need to learn how to control it to
do that. Close your eyes and think about your forcefield," he said, as
she shut her eyes, a small smile still evident on her lips. "Okay, good.
Now, think about how you form your forcefield, and how you
command it to appear and disappear at will."
She thought hard, nodded her head, and mumbled a yes.
"Think about how you call your power to bring up your
forcefield. You command your energy to form into a shield." She
nodded her head slightly, continuing to concentrate. "You can do the
same thing, but you can force your power to levitate you into the air, as
you can force your power into a shield. You just change the command,
or how you want to manipulate it. You can will yourself into the air, as
you can will your forcefield into existence. You can will it to do many,
many other things as well."
A light breeze began blowing, ruffling her gi and her hair, as
Russ watched her concentrate. Her determination was amazing. Russ
had only seen one other person who had the same determination and
concentration that she was displaying. Zorpheus. His power,
determination, and will to win had brought him out on top of many
battles that were fought, when they were allies, like the first time he
went Super Saiyan.

"You two Saiyans are dead. Your entire race is the scum of
the universe, and I'm here to remedy that, which Frieza failed to do.
Prepare yourselves," said Quadel, a Tenma-jin, standing some fifty feet
away, the orange dust and dirt blowing about, distorting his figure. He
was tall, just over seven feet, towering over both Zorpheus and Russ as
if they were children, however, both Russ and Zorpheus were pretty tall
themselves. Quadel's eyes were blue, but plain, and his blonde hair
flowed behind him in a long mane, nearly two feet in length. His royal
blue robes swirled around him, and his Saiyan-like armor was black,
instead of the typical white with yellow, and his boots and gloves were
black.
They were in the middle of nowhere, nothing but rocks and
dust for miles, the perfect place for a fitting end to someone's life. The
air was thick with dust, making it difficult to breathe and see, and the
oxygen was very thin, making it one of the most hostile environments
to do battle in. To make matters worse, the air had a tinge of methane
gas, making the whole place smell like rotten eggs. Rocks and giant
boulders littered the ground, and the sky was orange, clouded by the
enormous amount of dust. There were two suns in the sky, providing
plenty of light, even though the dust. The temperature was remarkably
pleasant, and even more so with the stiff wind that was blowing. Both
Russ and Zorpheus took in their surroundings, and then turned their
attention to their opponent.
"I see we have another one who labels people, just by their
race," Zorpheus sneered. "What are we about to get into a fight over
anyway? We didn't do anything."
"Shut up," Quadel growled, his complexion seething with
hatred. "All you Saiyans are the same. You come, acting all nice and
crap, and then you stab that person in the back. You're all sneaky,
lying, cheating, low down, disgusting bastards." He balled up both his
fists in rage. "All of you think you're innocent. All you ever want to
do is fight and hurt people for your own selfish ambitions. Even Frieza
knew that, which is why he hired your race into service. You were a
valuable asset to him, until you tried to kill him, forcing him to destroy
your home world."
Russ and Zorpheus looked at each other and shrugged.
"Okay, that's all true, but what did WE do?" Russ scratched his head.
"You are a Saiyan. That's your only fault."
"Oh, that's it? There's GOT to be more to it than that,"
Zorpheus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I told you to shut up."
"Why are we wasting our time with this idiot? I'd rather go
back to that planet we were just at and pick up those babes!" Zorpheus
almost started drooling as his mind went back to that topless bar.
Russ rolled his eyes and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Would you please pay attention? That guy standing over there wants
to KILL us, okay? Besides, those places are disgusting. The only girl
I'd want to see naked is the one I fall in love with."
"Oh, where's your sense of adventure! You're never going to
get anywhere if you don't LOOK!"
"Good grief. And you wonder why you get kicked in the
crotch so often."
"That's why I keep an industrial strength jock strap down
there now," Zorpheus said, snickering. Russ turned a few shades of
pink and recovered a moment later, then shook his head.
"SHUT UP YOU TWO," Quadel screamed, his face contorted
with rage and hatred. His ki exploded around him in a brilliant purple
flash as the ground gave way and cratered under him, kicking up tons
of dust and rocks and sandblasting both Zorpheus and Russ as they put
their hands up over their faces.
"Wow, this guy has some strength, but we should be able to
tear him apart, no problem." Stepping back a few feet, Zorpheus' ki
roared to life around him in a blue explosion, causing a hailstorm of
rocks to shoot away from him as the ground began to crumble and
shake. Russ screamed, more from irritation than pain, from being
sandblasted on two sides now. Zorpheus started laughing at Russ'
predicament, until his ki exploded around him in a green flash. Russ
glared at him a moment, then grinned.
"Time to go to work. You want to go first, Zorpheus?"
"Uh, okay. No problem. I won't even break a sweat."
"You're getting overconfident again, Butthead. Just pay
attention to what you're doing this time."
"Put a sock in it, Beavis. I'll be fine," he said, now walking
over to Quadel, who was about finished powering up. Russ realized
what was said a second later, and started laughing. *Beavis and
Butthead. Oh brother. That wasn't even on purpose!* He laughed
even harder, and after recovering, he started concentrating on the task
at hand.
Zorpheus and Quadel stood directly in front of each other,
each sizing the other up. Their blue and purple ki's were nearly
touching, as their gaze bore into each other's eyes, daring each other to
make the first move. Standing off to the side, his green gi glowing
around him, Russ watched, and waited.
"What's your name, anyway? I'd like to know who's ass I'm
about to mop the ground with," Zorpheus said, his lips turning into an
amused smirk.
"My name is Quadel, and your name doesn't matter. Get
ready to be trounced, and to pay for the sin of destroying my home."
Both Russ and Zorpheus stopped a moment, and then realized
this was all about revenge. "Okay, so now we know this is about
revenge. WE didn't destroy your planet, okay? We're not like that."
"You're all alike. Prepare to die," Quadel snarled.
Slowly, Zorpheus tossed his cape to the side, exposing the hilt
to a sword that was sheathed on a belt around his waist. Quadel began
laughing, as he removed his own cape and tossed it into the air, letting
the wind carry it away. Thinking Zorpheus was distracted, he speedily
balled up his fist and hurled it straight into Zorpheus' face, but he hit
nothing but air. Zorpheus tilted his head to the side just enough to
allow him to miss him completely. Taunting him, Zorpheus grinned
widely and snickered as he took a few steps back and unsheathed his
sword.
The sword was very unusual. The blade didn't shine like
steel, but rather, looked heavily oxidized and old. It was fairly thick,
but it wasn't extremely wide. Shining bronze, the hilt and handle were
fairly large, with a violet jewel placed in the center that glowed, almost
as if it had power of its own. Nearly four feet long, Zorpheus brought
the sword out in front of him, holding it like a samurai warrior. Russ
snickered in the background, always getting a kick out of his stance
with that sword.
"I still say your Schwartz isn't big enough! Get a six or seven
foot long sword and you'll be all set!"
"Shut up, Russ! I use what I'm good with," he yelled back,
never taking his eyes off of Quadel. "Besides, having a Schwartz that
big isn't agile enough!"
"Whatever," Russ sighed, taking in a deep breath, and then
coughing. "This place smells like someone farted! I bet it was that guy
over there," he shouted, pointing at Quadel, who was now quaking and
turning purple with rage.
Quadel fired a blue energy ball at Russ, catching him off
guard and sending him flying through a boulder, causing it to shatter
into a million pieces.
Seizing the opportunity, Zorpheus lunged at Quadel, slamming
his knee into his gut, causing him to double over and fall to the ground.
Zorpheus stared at him for a moment. "One shot and he's down? What
a pushover." Zorpheus stood over Quadel's hunched form, grinning,
until his arm shot up into Zorpheus' face, sending him high into the sky
and causing him to drop his sword. Quadel stood up as if nothing had
happened, all the redness gone from his face.
Zorpheus stopped in mid-air, still recovering from the surprise
attack. His surprise now replaced with anger, he shot back down to his
opponent, stopping about an inch above the ground, then setting down
gently, as his red eyes burned into Quadel.
"Lucky punch," Zorpheus growled, rubbing his jaw. "I won't
be as careless next time."
"Carelessness has nothing to do with it. You suck as a fighter.
You should've seen that coming."
"Excuse me?" Zorpheus questioned, as he began a flurry of
punches and kicks, all of which were dodged, effortlessly.
"You're too slow. The only pushover here is you. Allow me
to demonstrate," he said, as he caught one of Zorpheus' fists, and
planted his foot in his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Recovering
quickly, Zorpheus swept his foot at Quadel's feet, but he jumped over it
and slammed his fist into Zorpheus' head, knocking him back a few
paces.
Zorpheus was stunned for a moment, but he overcame it
quickly. "Okay, enough screwing with you. Allow me to show you
what I'm really made of," he said, as he tensed his whole body. The
ground began to rumble and break apart, as the rocks and boulders
lifted off the ground and shot into the air, and the dust swirled around
Zorpheus. Russ finally reappeared next to another nearby boulder,
rubbing his head.
"Kaioken Attack… TIMES TEN," he screamed, has the
ground shattered under his feet in a massive shockwave, and his ki
faded from blue to red. Quadel's eyes nearly bulged out of his head,
but he maintained his composure, doing his best to keep his emotions
hidden behind his poker face. Once Zorpheus was ready, he put on one
of his most sadistic grins, and lunged at Quadel, smashing his foot into
his face, sending his opponent hurtling though a pair of massive
boulders and creating a very long and deep trench when he hit the
ground.
Disengaging the Kaioken, Zorpheus' power returned to
normal and his ki returned to blue. "Ahhh, that always gives me a
rush! Whooooo!!!"
"Yeah, but he's not dead yet. He probably has something that
can enhance his ki as well. Possibly a transformation or two like
Frieza."
Almost as if on cue, Quadel zanzokened in front of Zorpheus,
seething with intense anger as the veins in his arms and head began
protruding. "Very impressive. But I know something just like it," he
said, as he tensed up even more, and his purple ki began burning
around him like a raging inferno. Keeping his gaze locked with
Zorpheus', he began powering up to a higher level. The earthquake
worsened as the ground continued to break apart and shatter, and
Quadel's primal scream drowned out almost all other sound.
Russ watched with minor concern, knowing he could still
effortlessly defeat him if he transformed into a Super Saiyan.
However, Zorpheus was still unable to achieve that transformation,
since he lacked a motivating factor. Thinking that this may be a great
opportunity, he would try to fake getting his butt kicked, and hope that
it was enough to push him over the edge. If it didn't work, he could
easily dispatch Quadel with as much as a flick of the wrist. This guy
may be big, but that only made him a bigger target. Russ rubbed his
hands together and grinned.
"Hey Zorpheus," he shouted over the roar of the earthquake
and fiery ki that burned around Quadel.
Zorpheus turned. "What! I'm busy here," he shouted back.
"Let me take a crack at this guy. I'm bored!"
He turned completely around and stared at Russ. "What's
your problem?! I can handle this guy, no sweat!"
"Maybe, maybe not. He's still not at his maximum and he's
real close to yours! Just let me take care of it, okay?" Russ shouted
back.
Zorpheus furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, knock yourself out for all I care." He moved over to his sword,
picked it up and swung it around, and then sheathed it.
"Oh, thank you so much! You're too kind," Russ said, his
voice filled with friendly sarcasm, as he walked toward Quadel, who
was still charging his ki. "Are you still powering up? Hurry it along
man! We're the younger generation! We're impatient! Let's get this
show on the road you slow-poke!"
"You're the impatient one, Russ," Zorpheus sneered from
behind, and Russ grinned at his comments.
Quadel ignored him, as he continued to push his power even
higher. As Russ stood there sensing his level, he realized that even a
Kaioken at level twenty wasn't going to work. He needed to go Super
Saiyan, but he also needed to make it believable that he was getting his
butt kicked. Just as he was about to transform himself, Quadel
finished, his ki radiating around him in an inferno, as his hair fluttered
under the force of his ki. Looking into Russ' eyes, Quadel grinned, and
began to laugh as he drew himself up to his full height. Zorpheus
looked unconcerned, but he knew at that moment he couldn't win
against a force like that.
"Impressive. It's now my turn to power up. Don't freak out
too much," Russ said, also grinning. He took a few steps back, and let
loose a loud howl, as his ki changed from green to gold, his hair from
black to gold, and his eyes from black to green. All of his muscles
doubled in size as he grew a few inches, and his ki went through the
roof as his mind was swept over with violent emotions and images. In
a matter of seconds, he stood, fully transformed, with his golden ki
pulsating around him in golden flames. Quadel looked only mildly
impressed.
"A Super Saiyan. How quaint. Let's see what you can do,"
said Quadel, as he took up a fighting stance. Russ followed suit and
prepared himself for combat, as they stood about ten feet apart from
each other.
In a flash, Quadel slammed his foot into Russ' chest, catching
him totally by surprise with his speed, and then allowed himself to slam
through a boulder before stopping himself. Russ was uninjured, but he
made it seem that he was. Breathing hard and moaning as if in pain,
Russ charged Quadel again, and began a flurry of punches and kicks,
all of which were countered with an identical blow. Russ shot off into
the air as Quadel followed closely behind, but then Quadel zanzokened
just above Russ and slammed both his fists into his back, causing him
to cry out in mock pain, as he careened down to the ground, where his
impact made a huge crater. Not giving any time to let him get back up,
Quadel charged an energy beam and fired it at Russ, where it impacted
and created a huge explosion, kicking up tons of dust and rocks and
obscuring everybody's vision.
Russ saw the beam coming with time to spare, so he lowered
his ki when the beam impacted, causing some major injuries. He
realized he needed to get some real injuries of Zorpheus was to believe
what was going on.
As the dust settled, Zorpheus got a good look at Russ, who
now was bleeding from several places, and he was kneeling on the
ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood. He became nervous, as he
knew if Russ couldn't beat him, he couldn't either.
"Hey Russ! What's wrong? You should be able to mop the
floor with this guy," he said, his voice full of concern.
*Great, it's working* "I'm having a hell of a time here! I
can't breathe very well and I'm out of air! I'm seriously messed up
here, man," he shouted over, as he stumbled to his feet. In an instant,
he was face down in the dirt again, as Quadel floated behind him with
his foot outstretched. A huge smirk creased the features of his face.
Russ groaned and tried to get back up, however at that instant
Quadel once again planted a foot in Russ' back and then stood on it,
causing him to squirm and cry out in pain. He looked over at Zorpheus
and grinned, and once again slammed his foot into Russ' spine.
Zorpheus quickly powered up and raced over to Russ' aid, but
Quadel saw it coming, and while standing on Russ' back, he spun
around and gave Zorpheus a roundhouse, sending him away and
slamming him through another pile of boulders. Undaunted, Zorpheus
dragged himself back to his feet, his nose and lips bleeding, as he once
again charged at his enemy and starting a punching frenzy. Quadel
easily dodged and parried all his blows, as he started laughing.
While continuing to dodge the blows Zorpheus was doing,
Quadel took his free hand and aimed it at Russ, and began firing yellow
ki blasts into his back, further crippling him and causing him to scream
out in pain and agony. Quadel, laughing the whole time, charged up
his ki very rapidly and caused a giant explosion, which further injured
Russ and blew Zorpheus away like he was a rag doll.
*What the hell is wrong with me! Russ always saves my ass
whenever I'm in a bind, but now he's down and out of it! He always
saves my rear. But now what? Should I just stand here and die? I
can't beat him like this.* Zorpheus landed several dozen feet away and
the only sound in his ears was Quadel's laugh and Russ' scream of
pain. *That's it. I'll beat him, or I'll die trying! NO MORE will Russ
have to save me. I'll save him and myself for once! I'm a Saiyan! I'm
a WARRIOR! Not some pansy that makes excuses as to why I can't
fight! I can DO this!*
He slowly dragged himself back to his feet, sheer
determination and prowess overriding his better judgment, as he
powered up the Kaioken attack to level twenty, the highest he could go.
His body screamed in protest and wrenched him down with intense
pain, but Zorpheus ignored it as he once again charged Quadel, who
was continuing to bombard Russ with ki blasts. Moving faster than he
ever moved before, Zorpheus slammed his fist into Quadel's jaw,
sending him sprawling and causing him to slam into another pile of
boulders a couple hundred feet away. Zorpheus stood over Russ'
broken and bloody body, as Russ had barely any ki left, and he was no
longer a Super Saiyan.
Russ slowly rolled onto his back and looked into Zorpheus'
eyes. "I… can't go on," he coughed out, as his mouth spilled over with
blood. "Do you feel the power ready to snap inside of you? Use it.
Embrace it. Call it… out… and…" he sputtered, as he fell
unconscious.
Zorpheus looked at Russ' broken and near lifeless body, as he
felt the power within him rise up like a blazing sun inside of him. His
rage was unequaled, and he felt his sanity snap, as a new power
exploded inside of him. Clenching his fists and growling as he allowed
the pain and anguish of Russ' defeat cloud his mind, the sky turned
dark and the horizon glowed, as the ground under his feet gave way to
an incredible force. Quadel blurred into sight about twenty feet away,
and Zorpheus locked his gaze on him, as his hair stood on end and
flashed gold for a moment. Yellow lightning streaked through the sky
and slammed into the ground just behind him, as he began to embrace
the full, raging power inside of him. The ground continued to rumble
and break apart, as his hair flashed gold once more.
Quadel began laughing. "Oh, look. Another Super Saiyan
who can't finish his transformation. What a pushover."
After a long minute, Zorpheus felt the power surge through
every cell in his body, and he released a primal howl, as his
transformation became complete, his hair and ki gold, and his eyes
green. Extremely violent emotions flooded his mind, as his ki pulsed
around him, and he finally embraced his awesome new power.
Russ, who had faked that he nearly died, grinned slightly, as
he relaxed in his crater. Zorpheus slowly walked over toward Quadel,
who was still grinning. About a foot away from his face, Zorpheus
stopped and looked into Quadel's eyes, hate and rage burning in them,
as he slammed his fist into Quadel's chest, causing him to throw up a
mouthful of blood, and making him to collapse to the ground.
"You're dead," Zorpheus said, his voice nothing but cold ice.
He reached down to Quadel, who was gagging and coughing, and
picked him up by the throat, and began to squeeze slowly, a mixture of
torture, pain, and a slow, agonizing death being his intention. Quadel
struggled and grabbed Zorpheus' arm, but it was like grabbing onto a
piece of hardened steel that was cold and unforgiving. Zorpheus
slowly continued to squeeze, as Quadel began choking, but that didn't
faze him in the least, as he squeezed even more. He felt the organs in
Quadel's neck begin to buckle and get crushed under his hand, but he
didn't stop. A moment later, Quadel's neck snapped, killing him
instantly, but that wasn't good enough. Zorpheus continued to squeeze,
as Quadel's neck became smaller and smaller, and finally what was left
of his neck turned into a red, organic matter when all of his organs and
bones in his neck were crushed into paste. His head fell off his
shoulders, his body crumpled to the ground, and what was left of his
neck oozed out of Zorpheus' fingers.
Russ picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off
a little, examining the many cuts and abrasions he had over his body,
and his green gi was torn to shreds. Walking over to Zorpheus, who
continued to stare into nothingness, he stopped himself, and hoped
Zorpheus wouldn't go totally insane and try to tear him apart too, but
his worry was unneeded, as Zorpheus let out a huge sigh, and allowed
himself to return to normal. He turned and facefaulted when he saw
Russ standing about five feet away, smiling and giving him the thumbs
up.
Zorpheus clenched his fists. "You're just FINE?"
"Yup," he nodded. I figured it was about time for you to get
that motivating factor to turn you into a Super Saiyan."
"I… see," he said, looking at the ground in front of him. "I
thought you were really dead."
Russ chuckled. "I deserve an award for that performance," he
said, now laughing. "I'm glad it worked."
Now smiling, Zorpheus patted Russ on the back. "Thanks
man. You're the greatest. But you're still an asshole for making me
worry like that."
Russ exploded laughing and slapped Zorpheus on the back.
"You did it, not me. But anyway, congratulations! Now, the only
thing left is for you to control it. What you did to Quadel," he said,
looking at the mess, "was really nasty."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, now getting a real good
look at what he did. "Well, what do you say we go back to that titty bar
and go pick up those girls?"
It was now Russ' turn to facefault, but he recovered quickly
and grinned. "Okay, but I'm not looking or touching. You can do
whatever you want."
"YES! Uh, I mean, okay, let's go," he said, smiling from ear
to ear. Russ just shook his head as they lifted off the ground and flew
to their spacepods, a green and blue vapor trail following them both.

Aeka continued concentrating, but unknown to her, she now
hovered about six inches off the ground. Russ continued to look on, a
wide grin on his lips, as he walked over and stopped just in front of her.
"Okay, now, continue concentrating, and don't open your eyes
just yet."
"Mmmm hmmm," she moaned out, just barely audible.
"Don't open your eyes, but you're actually about six inches
off the ground right now. Keep concentrating."
Her facial expression changed slightly, but she did as she was
told, and she continued to hover just above the ground. "Excellent.
Now, slowly open your eyes and look directly at me. Do not look
down, because you're most likely to break your concentration when
you do."
Slowly, she opened her amethyst eyes, and focused them on
Russ, as she was now about the same height as he was. Russ nodded
and smiled, and gave her the thumbs up.
"Awesome. You're doing great! Now, slowly let yourself
back down." Aeka descended slowly to the ground, where she landed
softly. She opened her eyes widely as she clasped her hands in front of
her. "I don't believe it," Russ said, letting his arms dangle at his sides.
"I figured it would take you a couple days, and here you learn it in less
than five…"
"Oh Russ," she cried, throwing her arms around him and
hugging him. "Thank you so much! That's something I've always
wanted to learn but could never figure out! Thank you, thank you,
thank you," she said. A moment later she realized she was hugging
him, and she quickly released him as they both blushed a deep scarlet.
"You're very welcome," he said, scratching the back of his
head. "I'm glad you learned it so quickly. But now, you need to learn
to control it a little more, and learn how to move while in the air.
Levitating is nice, but not going anywhere when you do is not." Russ
walked over to the cliff and lifted himself into the air, then hovered
over the edge. "Come on out here. I'll catch you if something goes
wrong."
Aeka hesitated, but she closed her eyes and concentrated, and
lifted herself off the ground, almost effortlessly. Reopening her eyes,
she pushed herself forward, slowly, as she stopped in front of Russ,
also hovering over the edge of the bluff.
"Excellent. Now, just stay here a moment," Russ said, as he
floated back over to the tree and picked up both glasses of lemonade,
his stereo, and his stack of CDs. He shoved most of the CD's into his
pockets. "Now, follow me. We'll go to my spacepod, but first, we'll
make a pass by the house. Is that okay?"
She nodded, and Russ began to slowly move away, and Aeka
followed. Incredibly, she kept up with him, almost as if she wasn't
trying. He increased his speed a little more and leveled himself off for
straight flight, and Aeka did the same. Russ continued to watch her
carefully, as her clothes ruffled in the breeze and her hair flapped
lightly, as she smiled and giggled at her achievement. A few moments
later, they were at the house and Russ lowered himself to the ground in
front of the sliding glass door, and could now see everybody still sitting
in the living room. Aeka landed lightly beside him and continued to
smile, as everybody inside stared at both of them in disbelief.
Sasami ran out the door and grabbed her sister in a big hug,
giggling the whole time and watching her with awe. "Aeka!!! You
FLEW! How did you do it?"
She smiled. "Russ told me how. It's actually pretty easy. It's
a wonderful feeling and sensation to be able to fly like that. It's no
wonder Ryoko does it so often."
Sasami looked at Russ, who contented himself with a shy grin.
"Can you teach me to fly?"
"That's up to your sister, if she'll let you do what is necessary
to learn how to fly. I may be able to teach you the technique, but I
don't sense enough ki from you to be able to achieve that feat." Russ
looked up at Aeka, and smiled. "What do you think?"
"I don't know. She's still very young, and I don't want her
getting hurt."
"I understand that. But there won't be any sparring or
anything like that involved in her training. Just some exercise to raise
her ki level. The stronger she is, the more ki she'll gain and control."
Sasami looked disappointed. "Please? Come on, Aeka! Let
him train me to fly!"
"I'm afraid not, Sasami."
"Fine, then it's instant ramen for you tonight," she said,
looking at the ground.
"Sasami! That's not fair. I'm only looking out for your well
being."
"That's nice and all, but I want to learn how to fly, and the
reasons you gave me don't seem very good. I want to learn! If I don't
like it, I'll stop."
Aeka looked into her little sisters pink eyes and sighed in
defeat. "Okay, have it your way."
"YAY!" She ran over and gave Russ a hug around his waist.
"Did you hear that? You can train me to fly!"
"I heard," he said, scratching the back of his head and
withering under Aeka's glare. He then mustered a smile. "Well, why
don't we go inside now? I'm frying out here."
Sasami spied the large stereo Russ was carrying. "What's that
for?"
"It's just my stereo that I listen to. I won't play it loudly in the
house or anything. I'm going to haul this up to my room and I'll be
back in a few moments."
"Wait, what kind of music do you have there?"
"I have a lot of stuff. These CD's have hundreds of songs on
them. Got to love advances in technology," he said, grinning.
"Do you think I could listen to some of them later?"
"Sure, I don't have a problem with that. You'll need this
stereo to read the discs though. They're in something called MP3
format, but the players only recently started coming out, and they can't
be read in normal stereo systems."
Aeka continued to look back and forth between Sasami and
Russ, keeping quiet the whole time, until Russ began walking toward
the door, in which she followed behind him, and Sasami trailed her.
Russ lifted off the floor and floated up to the upstairs hallway, nodding
an acknowledgement to the chorus of hello's that came from everybody
who was seated. Aeka came inside and sat down on the couch, where
Nobuyuki was sitting, which had a vacant seat next to it for Russ when
he came back down.
"So, the princess can fly now, can she?" Ryoko said, grinning
from her seat, which was now almost on top of Tenchi. He grinned, but
he was also blushing lightly.
"Yes. Russ showed me how. It's a neat sensation."
"Yes it is. That's why I fly practically everywhere I go."
Russ floated down from the landing and disappeared into the
kitchen, where he filled both glasses with water and set them down in
the sink, and then floated back into the living room where he touched
down on the floor behind the couch, letting his hands rest on the back,
behind Aeka.
"Oh, before I forget. That was great lemonade, Sasami. Very
delicious," Russ said, patting the little princess on her head as she
smiled and giggled.
"You're welcome."
Washu stood up from her seat and walked over to her lab door.
"Russ, I finished your gravity enhancer. Come on over here and try it
out."
"Wow, already? That was sure fast."
"It was nothing for the greatest scientific genius in the
universe," she said, re-inflating her ego.
"Excuse me, everyone. I'll be back in a little bit." He stopped
when he saw the look of horror on Aeka. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no… nothing at all. You go on ahead," she said, her face
betraying her voice.
Russ continued to watch her, and then stepped closer. "I think
you're fibbing. What's bothering you? Come out and say it. It's best
to be open and honest with your feelings."
Aeka stared at him in shock and shook her head. "I said it's
nothing. Just go on."
"We'll talk about it later then," he said, making his way over
to the lab door where Washu was waiting, an evil gleam in her eye.
Everybody else stared at Aeka, who was now shifting uncomfortably
from her seat in the couch.

Russ followed Washu into the closet and shut the door behind
him, and a moment later, they both emerged in her lab.
"That's pretty cool how you created your lab in a different
dimension. I know a few people who do the same thing."
Washu turned, stunned. "How did you know this was a
different dimension?"
"I'm not an ignorant barbarian, as you may think from what I
was doing earlier. I'm actually fairly intelligent. One of my favorite
subjects was science. I never could stand chemistry though," he said,
laughing. "But Zorpheus was the one who was more interested in
science than I was. I was more into music."
"That's very interesting," she said, walking over the platform
as another door appeared out of subspace. "Follow me. Your gravity
enhancer is in here," she said, opening up the second door.
"Okay."
Passing through the second door, they wound up in another
area surrounded in computer units and other various contraptions. Russ
immediately remembered this room as the one he ended up in after the
first time he entered Washu's lab and was restrained. She walked over
to a console and lifted up a small device that had a band attached to
both ends. She held it up and brought it over.
"This is it. You simply attach it to your arm or wherever, and
tell it how much gravity you want. You say something like, 'I want
fifty times Earth's normal gravity,' and it'll activate itself, thus giving
you the added gravity."
Russ took the device in his hand, and wrapped it around his
arm. "Thank you, Little Washu. This'll be a big help. Let's see if it
works," he said, and took a step back. "I want fifty times Earth's
normal gravity."
The little machine beeped while Russ gradually began to feel
heavier, as the gravity around him increased. Within ten seconds, he
was at his requested level. Stretching out a bit and becoming
accustomed to the gravity, he looked back at Washu and smiled.
"This is great. How high can it go?"
"Up to two thousand times normal Earth gravity."
"Excellent. I really appreciate this. Is there anything I can do
to repay you?"
She turned thoughtful for a moment. "Would you allow me to
examine you? I'd love to get some data on your physiology."
Russ' brow beaded with sweat for a moment, and he then
sighed. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"
She snickered lightly as that evil gleam in her eye returned.
"Just take your clothes off except for your underwear. I'm going to use
that mechanical globe again to perform most of the scans."
Groaning, Russ removed both his shirts, exposing his
extremely muscular form, and he then removed his boots and his pants,
folding his clothes neatly in a pile on the floor. He returned the gravity
machine to normal and removed it, and then he stood up straight and
looked at Washu, who's eyes were super wide and her face was as red
as the crab that hung over her lab door.
"Uh, Little Washu?"
She snapped out of her trance and continued to blush lightly.
"Oh, sorry about that," she said as she hit a button on one of her
consoles. A moment later the globe appeared behind Russ and lifted
him off the floor with its arms, and a headpiece filled with wires and
blinking lights plunked itself over Russ' head. Washu's phantom
computer materialized in front of her as she typed in some commands,
watching the screens flash dozens of graphs and statistics.
"So, what do I do now?"
"Just relax a few minutes. This won't take too long," she said,
as she moved to another computer that was hooked up to the globe.
"Let's see… organic pattern, astro pattern, psycho-layer pattern,
overdimension, parallel pattern, hentai pattern… " The graph was flat.
"Ahem… hentai pattern…" The graph still was flat. "Rats. I get the
same readings with you as I do with Tenchi."
Russ turned blue for a moment as she cackled evilly from her
position behind the computer. The screen cast an eerie glow onto her
features, making her appear even more devilish. She walked over to
Russ and smiled.
"Would you mind if I took a sperm sample?"
If Russ were in a position to facefault, he would have. "YES,
I'D MIND," he growled. "The most I'm going to let you get away with
is a blood sample."
Washu's disappointment became apparent as she once again
produced a syringe and an alcohol pad from her pocket. She rubbed
down Russ' arm as he tensed himself, waiting for that painful prick
from the needle. He closed his eyes and waited… and waited… and
waited…
"All done."
Russ' eyes shot open as Washu held up a vile of blood.
Breathing again, he allowed himself to relax as he heaved a huge sigh
of relief, and the lights on the headpiece began blinking again.
"You're right, that didn't hurt at all. All the other needles I've
ever gotten stung like crazy."
Washu chuckled. "I've got magic fingers," she said, as she
gave Russ a hug. "Thank you for the scans. That will provide me with
some very valuable data."
"You're welcome. If you're interested in another piece of
technology that I'd like to have constructed, I may… now I only MAY,
I won't say that I will… give you that sperm sample."
Washu fell to the floor from total shock. "Wow, really?! I get
to put together a new invention and get a sperm sample as
PAYMENT?! How can I say no?" She was so overjoyed with
happiness that she nearly tripped over her computer. She recovered
quickly as her eyes sparkled. "You're the best, Russ. It's too bad Aeka
as already claimed you to be hers or you'd be mine in a heartbeat."
Russ blushed. "Thank you, Little Washu. I've never been
sought after by anybody before. It's… a different feeling than I've ever
had before. As I told Aeka earlier, I've been alone for most of my life,
except for the times I spent with Zorpheus, fighting evil wherever it
reared its ugly head. But truthfully, I've really never been truly lonely.
I've always had my training to keep my mind occupied."
Washu sighed. "The same goes for me, except I had science
instead of training. I've been alone for over twenty thousand years,"
she said, quietly, as Russ nearly said something he shouldn't have,
about her age, from surprise. "I had a husband and a child once, but
they were taken away from me. I've never seen them since that
dreadful day," she said, trying to hide her sorrow.
"Do you remember their names?"
She shook her head. "I've only got fuzzy memories of them
now. I wish I could remember them more clearly."
Russ squirmed against the restraints. Washu noticed, and
released him, as he landed lightly on his feet. "Nobody knows about
this yet, but I can read minds and memories from others. I can pick out
specific events, or entire memories. Faces, loved ones, memories you
thought you never had or had forgotten about. However, if you have
twenty thousand years of memories… That's a lot of data for me to
sort through, and a lot of faces. But, if you think about your child and
husband, and remember them as best as you can, I think I can find
exactly what you're looking for. All you have to do is ask, and I'll try
my best, to make your wish come true," he said, as he began to get
dressed.
Washu looked at him, a tear rolling from her green eyes as she
sniffled softly. "No," she said, shaking her head. "What's past is
past."
Russ noticed her downcast face and placed a comforting hand
on her shoulder. "If you ever change your mind, don't ever hesitate to
ask me. I'll be there for you, as a friend, or as your lab rat too," he
said, chuckling and smiling. Washu looked up and also smiled,
sniffling away her sorrows. "If you ask, I'll even try to help you find
them once again, so you can see your child, and see how he or she has
been growing up."
"Thank you, Russ. That's the nicest offer I've had in a long,
long time," she said, smiling, and drying her eyes on her sleeve. She
turned and gave him another hug, and Russ returned it warmly. "That
feels so good. Thank you."
"Anytime."
"Well, anyway, what is this other invention you want me to
put together?"
"It's a regeneration capsule, or a healing pod. It's kind of like
a large contraption, where you put someone inside of it, and it fills up
with synthetic DNA of whatever subject you're putting into it, and it
can heal physical wounds very quickly."
"Really? It's a medical chamber?"
"Yeah, of sorts. It's a precaution for me, and for anybody else
here who needs healing quickly, or for taking care of major
emergencies," Russ explained. "When I battle with Zorpheus… we're
both going to be really messed up when we're done. Honestly, it's
probably going to be me. He's a slightly better fighter than I am, and
I'm just a bit stronger and faster than he is. We both basically cancel
each other out, but I'm pessimistic, so that's why I say that."
"If you say so. Just bring me the plans and I'll put it together
for you, okay?"
"Sure. I need to head over to my spacepod anyway to figure
out how far away Jurai is from here."
"What for?"
"I need to figure out how long it would take to get from here
to there, in Earth Standard time."
Washu shook her head. "I can tell you that right here," she
said, once again bringing up her phantom computer. She quickly hit a
few keys and a map from Jurai to Earth appeared on the screen.
"WOW, Jurai is really far off. How long would it take for a
ship to get from here to there? Uh… one of your ships, I mean. Maybe
Kiyone and Mihoshi's shuttle, or a space taxi or something?"
"It would probably take a week to ten days to get from here to
there. Ryo-Ohki would take about a week."
Russ scratched his head. "Well, I suppose I could call one of
my good buddies to come and give us a lift. His ship could make it
from here to there in half a day."
"Huh? That's impossible. No ship is that fast."
Russ chuckled. "My buddy's is. It's big too. I'll go give him
a call and see if he can spare a couple days to give us a ride to and from
Jurai."
"What else has been invented that I don't know about," she
pouted. "I guess seven hundred years imprisonment as made
technology advance on me quite a bit."
"Well anyway, I guess I better let you get back to your
experiments. I'm sure Aeka is about to explode from anxiety from
waiting."
"You aren't kidding. Thanks for your help. All your help,"
she said, smiling.
"Like I said, anytime."
Russ turned and started to leave the lab, then turned around.
"Would you like to go to the Startica festival with us, if we do go?
Everybody deserves a vacation sometime," he said, his eyes pleading.
"Yes, I'd love to. I haven't been to Jurai in a long time."
"Great. If all goes well, we'll be leaving in a week and five
days. I hope that's plenty of time to plan for your vacation."
"Plenty. Thanks for the offer."
Russ turned and left the lab, as Washu returned to the part of
her lab where she was on top of her platform, surrounded by many trees
and other plant life, where she began to analyze the scans she took of
him, smiling the whole while. She hasn't felt this good and giddy in a
long time.

Aeka was wringing her hands and was about to lose all her
patience when the lab door reopened and Russ stepped out. He smiled
at Aeka, who jumped up from her seat and briskly walked over.
"Are you okay? There doesn't seem to be anything wrong
with you," she said, examining him.
"No, no, I'm just fine. Would you like to go to my spacepod
now? I need to give one of my friends a call and see if he can give us a
lift to Jurai. His spaceship is incredibly fast, and can get us to Jurai in
about a half a day, or around twelve hours."
"Really? That's it?"
"That's all," Russ said, grinning. "Do you think everybody
could go in that case?"
"I don't see why not."
"Hey, what are you two talking about? Go where?" Ryoko
asked from the couch. Tenchi had just about passed out from all the
torment and flirting Ryoko was doing to him.
"Would everybody like to go to the Startica festival on Jurai?
That begins in about two weeks."
Sasami jumped up from her seat on the couch. "Really!? I'd
love to go! We can visit Azaka and Kamadake again, and I can see all
my old friends and stuff!"
Russ' expression shifted to confusion. "I thought Azaka and
Kamadake were those two logs you guys have?"
"They are, but there are human ones too. They're currently on
Jurai, serving the emperor."
"Oh." Russ turned and made his way over to the door. "Well,
I got to go contact my friend to see if he can spare a few days to give us
a lift. His ship is huge, so there will be plenty of room for everybody.
Should I go talk to him or forget about the whole idea?"
Everybody looked at each other and nodded.
"Sure."
"Why not?"
"Okay, I'm game."
"We could use a vacation."
"Okay then, it's settled. You want to come along Aeka and
fly around a little more?"
She nodded and followed him outside. Sasami also ran out the
door and latched onto Russ' waist.
"Can I go too?"
"Sure," he said as he knelt down. "Grab on. We're not going
far."
Russ and Aeka both lifted off the ground, with Sasami
hanging on Russ' neck, giggling away. Ryo-Ohki ran out the door and
started meowing at the top of her voice, as she leapt into the air and
transformed herself into a spaceship.
"Holy sh… uh, holy smokes," he corrected himself. "That's
pretty cool. She'd actually be able to fit into my buddy's ship's
docking bay. This is great," he said, as he leveled out his flight and
soared over the treetops, making his way to his spacepod, with Aeka
following closely behind, smiling and just enjoying the feeling of
freedom. "We can have her take us up to my friend's ship when he
arrives."
Sasami giggled as she hung on tightly, looking down at the
trees and back at Aeka, who also smiled and chuckled lightly. Ryo-
Ohki flew just behind them, her massive bulk shading them from the
sun. It was a short flight, as Russ had landed his spacepod nearby. He
descended to a small clearing, which had a small, white ball near the
middle of it. Ryo-Ohki transformed back into a cabbit and landed on
the ground at the same time Russ and Aeka did. Sasami let go of Russ
and landed on the ground before he had a chance to kneel and let her
off.
Sasami saw the gleaming white metal of the pod and ran over.
"Wow! So this is your spaceship?"
"Yup. That's what I travel around in."
"That thing is pretty small," Aeka said, walking up beside
Sasami and Russ. Opening up a control panel, he keyed in a few
commands, and with a loud hiss, the door swung open, revealing a
mass of controls and a pilot's seat.
"Well, in reality, I don't need anything bigger. I always travel
alone. Zorpheus and I had our own spaceships so we took those
separately. We didn't have anything bigger at the time so we had to
use these things," he explained, while sitting himself down inside the
pod. He keyed a few commands.
"Hailing," his computer responded in its nasal, feminine voice.
"Please wait." Russ lightly drummed the seat's armrest as he hoped
he'd catch the captain while he was awake and on the bridge. "Picking
up an acknowledgement… channel open."
"Hello, Dominoes Pizza. Can I take your order?" came a gruff
voice from the comm. system.
"Yeah! I'll have a large thick crust with double cheese, ham,
pepperoni, onions, and bacon," Russ said, trying to keep from cracking
up. Sasami and Aeka looked at each other in complete confusion.
"Okay, your total comes to… ugh… this calculator sucks,"
said the voice, as he began laughing like crazy. "RUSS! How have
you been doing, buddy! Long time no see!"
"TOM! Whazzzaaaap?" Russ roared over the comm. system,
laughing the whole time.
"Ugh, don't you ever get tired of doing that?" he said, still
chuckling. "What's up? How are things?"
"Well, they're pretty good, all things considered. How are
things on your end?"
"Boring as hell. Save me, man. Give me something to do,
dude," Tom said, almost begging.
Russ facefaulted and smiled. "Hey, do you think you can
make a trip to planet Earth and give me and some friends a ride to and
from Jurai? The Startica festival will be starting over there and we'd
like to go, but we don't want to spend a week traveling to get there. I
thought of you because of your ultra cool ship and I also wanted to
show it off to everybody," he said, snickering.
"Give me a break. It's my ship and you show it off. Bleah.
Well, when does the Startica festival start, exactly?"
"About two weeks from today. I'd like you to get here a
couple days early so we can get there with plenty of time to spare, and
do a little sight seeing."
"Hmmm, yeah. I can do that. I'll be there at noon, three days
before Startica begins. That way we can spend a day traveling there,
two days sight-seeing and do some catching up, and then the festival
will begin. Sound good?"
"Make it two days before. The people I'm with don't have a
huge amount of time to spare."
"Well, okay. Suit yourself. Do you need me to send down a
shuttle or a transport?"
"No, we've actually got one here. She's really cute."
Silence came over the comm. system. "Did you say, 'She's
really cute?'"
Russ laughed. "Yeah. Don't worry, because you'll see her
when you pick us up. When you do arrive, keep your ship cloaked.
The Earthlings here still aren't a spacefaring race."
"Okay, no problem. I'll just decloak and jam their radars or
whatever until you get onboard, and then we'll go. Is that okay?"
"Perfect. And by the way…"
"Yes?"
"Don't flirt with any of the girls that I'm bringing with me,
okay? They'll rip you a new one if you do," Russ said, a hint of
sarcasm in his voice, but sounding completely serious.
"Aw, come on man! Don't you think you're asking too
much?"
"I'm serious. I won't be the one to save your rear when one of
them shoves a ki sword up your butt."
"Uh, okay. Hey, I'll see you then! Good to hear from you,
and it'll be great to see you again!"
"Okay! Talk at you in a week and five days! Catch you
later!"
"See ya," Tom said, and then static crackled through the
comm.
"Alrighty! That went well. We got ourselves a ride to Jurai,"
Russ said, a huge smile on his face. Aeka and Sasami continued to
stare at him as if he sprouted a third arm. "Uh, is something wrong?"
"What was that language you were speaking?"
"Japanese, of course," he said, scratching his chin. "Oh, I get
it. We're old buddies and we have our own… unique way of
communicating with each other. It's all well and fun."
"I see," said Aeka, as she blushed slightly.
"Well, shall we be heading back?"
"Yeah. Sasami, have you started lunch yet?"
Sasami looked at her sister in horror. "Oh no! I forgot all
about it! I guess I could fix up some cold cuts or something," she said,
looking distressed.
"Ahem. I can help you if you want, Sasami."
"Oh, could you? That would be a great help!"
"Sure. Let's go, before everybody wonders if we ran away or
something."
Ryo-Ohki bounded on top of Sasami's head and meowed an
objection.
"I'm sorry, I didn't actually mean that. Oh, never mind. Let's
go. Climb on, Sasami," Russ said, as he knelt down and allowed the
little princess to grab onto his neck. He hefted her onto his back, and
before lifting off, he sealed his pod again, taking care to make sure it
was locked up tight, and then he lifted off into the air, with Aeka right
beside him.
"You're really getting the hang of this, Aeka!" Sasami said
through her giggles. She just smiled and continued to fly along with
Russ. Ryo-Ohki had jumped off of Sasami's head and landed on Russ'
mass of hair, as she meowed her contentment.
"That's a bad place, Ryo-Ohki. Remember, I'm allergic to
you and I don't want to start sneezing too badly."
She meowed a couple times in disappointment, and then sat
down on Russ' back, snuggling against Sasami's head, causing her to
giggle even more from being tickled by Ryo-Ohki's whiskers.
A short minute passed, and they landed at the Misaki home,
just as Nobuyuki pulled up in the van. Russ knelt down and let Sasami
off, and stood back up, watching Nobuyuki shut off the van and hop
out.
"Where'd he go?"
"I have no idea. He said he was going shopping for
something," Aeka responded.
"I wonder if he bought anything?" Russ said, as he made his
way over to the van.
"Ahhh, perfect timing. I could use a pair of strong hands
here," Nobuyuki said, as he opened up the rear of the van. Russ,
Sasami, and Aeka all gasped at the sight of the new addition to the
household.
"Oh wow, that's awesome," Russ said. "I can't wait to play
it.""Where on earth are we going to put something like that?"
Aeka asked, as she checked out the new addition to the household.
She touched the gleaming white keys and the many buttons all
over the console, admiring the craftsmanship of the organ.
"Well, I figured we'd put it in the living room, kiddy-
cornered by the glass door, by the stairs. There's an outlet over
there, and it's really a good spot for it," he answered. "I just need
someone to help me carry it in."
"I'll be glad to help," Russ said, reaching into the van,
lifting an end of the organ as if it were a piece of foil, and pulling it
part way out. "Anyway, who's the musician here?"
"Well, it's something I've always wanted to get into, and
I thought of possibly getting Tenchi involved in playing music as
well. I got a great deal on this thing, which is why I bought it.
I've been saving up for one for a long time."
"How much did you pay for it?" Aeka said, still staring at
the instrument.
Nobuyuki laughed nervously. "I paid five hundred eighty
five thousand yen for this thing," he said, eliciting a facefault from
everybody within earshot, except for Russ. "I got it seventy five
percent off the normal price because it's an older model, and it was
returned for some reason. Aside from the scuff marks, its in
perfect shape!"
Aeka furrowed her eyebrows together and started hard at
Nobuyuki. "You paid that much money… for THIS?" she said,
her arms trembling. "We always thought you were broke! How
dare you keep this kind of secret from us!"
Glancing over at her, Russ got a little angry. "Hey, it's
his money, and he can do as he pleases with it. He said he was
saving for this for a long time, and he finally got a great deal on
one," he said, causing Aeka to soften up slightly. "It's none of our
business what he does with his money. He earned it, and he can
spend it as he pleases." Russ turned completely toward Aeka, still
holding the end of the organ. "He does pay for all the expenses
here, so we've got no room to talk, okay?"
Aeka and Sasami looked taken aback, and then she hung
her head. "I'm sorry, Nobuyuki. I didn't mean anything. I'm just
surprised you spent that much money on this."
Nobuyuki looked back and forth between Russ' glare and
Aeka's shame. Slowly walking to Aeka, he put his arm around her
shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I can see why you're concerned,
but I've had this money set aside for a long time, and we don't
have any financial difficulties, and I don't see any in the future."
He squeezed her shoulder and looked into her downcast face.
"Please don't fret over it. And besides, it cost way less than I had
anticipated, so I still have a lot of money left over."
Noticing her melancholy appearance, Russ started feeling
bad as well. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but it
drives me crazy when other people tell others what to do with their
money or how to spend it." Russ lifted the entire organ off the
van's floor and held it awkwardly from the backside, trying to
balance it somewhere in the middle of his hand while supporting
the top part of it with his other hand. Several cracking noises came
from the wood, but it held together just fine. "Well, let's get this
thing inside. Oh, Sasami?"
"Yes?" She looked up from admiring all the buttons and
the keys on the console.
"Could you get the bench and help us carry that in?"
"Sure thing, and then I'll start on lunch," she said,
smiling.
"Great. Thank you. Nobuyuki?"
"I've got the foot pedals. Just carry that inside and set it
down where I told you," he said, releasing Aeka, who was now in a
slightly better mood, as she watched Russ play a balancing act with
the oversized organ. She giggled softly, as he nearly lost his
balance with the thing, and then moved over to him and helped
steady it.
"Thanks, but I've got it," Russ said quietly, as he
continued to walk toward the living room.
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind at all," she said, as
Sasami, Ryo-Ohki, and Nobuyuki followed, carrying the foot
pedals and the bench.

The living room was deserted, except for Ryoko, who was
attempting to fall asleep in her usual place on the beam, despite the
scorching heat up near the ceiling. Tenchi had left to go work at
the field and gather more carrots, and Washu remained in her lab.
Kiyone and Mihoshi had gone into the onsen to soak and talk about
moving out, and once again live on their own.
Aeka slid open the door, and Russ carefully maneuvered
himself through it, trying to fit him and the organ through, and
trying to keep from banging the thing into the door. Ryoko sat up
and looked down, puzzled at what was coming inside. She silently
slid off the beam and onto the floor, and watched Russ and Aeka
carry the organ over to the designated corner, and set it down.
Nobuyuki and Sasami came inside, and set down their items. Russ
lifted up the foot pedals and connected them to the organ, then
placed the bench in its place in front. Sasami smiled and bowed,
and hurried off into the kitchen. Russ reached behind the organ,
grabbing the cord, and plugged it in.
The organ itself was very large. Having nearly eighty
pushbuttons, two keyboards, the foot pedals, and even piano foot
pedals, it was one of the most awesome organs Russ had ever seen.
Everybody looked it over up and down, admiring the gleaming
white keys and the glossy black keys, the LCD screen in the
middle of the console, and the cherry oak rack that held the sheet
music. Off to the left side, there was another console, labeled
'MIDI Computer,' and that had a floppy drive mounted right inside
the cabinet. There were dozens of sections for the pushbuttons.
Rhythms, instruments, drum sets, and many other features that told
Russ that Nobuyuki should've spent well over two million yen for
this thing. He wiped off his brow and did his best to contain his
excitement, since music was one of the things that brought him
joy, aside from fighting. Having played the organ in the past, and
was really good at it, this was a perfect opportunity to show off
another trait that was unusual for a Saiyan to have. Drawing on his
knowledge of personal computers and his knowledge for music, he
knew that this organ was the next best thing to a one man band,
complete with drums, guitars, and many, many other instruments
to choose from. This was a good opportunity for him to compose a
few pieces that were swimming around in his mind.
Russ turned toward Nobuyuki. "Think you can play
something for us? Give this thing a test drive?"
Nobuyuki smiled and scratched the back of his head, but
he sat down, cracking his knuckles, and then turned the organ on.
Dozens of little red lights flashed to life on the console, and the
LCD screen displayed which instrument was selected for each
keyboard, including the foot pedals. It was currently selected for
Piano for both keyboards, and nothing for the foot pedals, except
for the ones that were designated piano playing. "Is there anything
in particular you'd like to hear?"
"I don't know, just play something you're comfortable
with," Russ said, as he took a seat on the couch. Ryoko, Aeka, and
Ryo-Ohki all joined him.
Nobuyuki began to play 'Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,'
and doing a really poor job of it. Everybody within earshot heard
the noise, and all started to perspire, but Nobuyuki was even more
stressed out, as they could see his shirt becoming damp. A few
minutes later, he finished, and everybody applauded politely, even
though the music he played was a disaster.
"I'm a little out of practice," Nobuyuki said, laughing
nervously. "Can any of you play?"
Russ stood up and made his way over to the organ, as
Nobuyuki slid off the bench. "I'm okay at it. What would you like
to hear? Any requests?"
"No, nothing in particular. Play whatever you feel like."
"You sure? Aeka? Anything you'd like to hear?"
She shook her head and smiled. "Play anything you
want."
Russ thought a moment, and began to press the keys
rapidly, playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Everybody in
earshot stopped and froze in surprise, and then made their way
over beside Russ, as they watched his hands fly over the top
keyboard, transfixed at the music he was creating.
Sasami came out of the kitchen and stared with her mouth
agape, which quickly became a smile as she moved over next to
Russ, watching him play.
Aeka's eyes widened as her hand went over her mouth
when she gasped, and she slowly stood up from her seat and stood
next to Sasami in awe, as she watched Russ' hands skillfully and
swiftly fly over the keys, producing an amazingly beautiful song.
Even Ryoko watched, amazed that a clunky instrument
could produce such amazing sound. She watched as Russ moved
with the music, his upper body swinging from side to side, and his
gaze was a mask of concentration, as his hands struck the keys,
gently but swiftly.
A few minutes later, he finished, taking a deep sigh, as a
big round of applause erupted behind him, causing him to jump
slightly and blush. He stood up and bowed, a huge smile creasing
his face and giving him small dimples.
Nobuyuki came up to him and slapped him on the back.
"Well, at least someone can take advantage of this thing. I'm glad
it was money well spent."
"I thought you said you were decent, Russ. I think you're
better than you're leading on," Aeka had said, smiling up at him.
"Nice thing about this organ is it can play all the
instruments to a song. I can create songs on here that have a full
orchestra behind it, if I wanted to. However, it requires me to
replay the song a lot of times, once for each instrument. I can do
more than one at once, but it's difficult. The fewer instruments,
the easier it is, but the more plain it sounds. I'll be happy to
demonstrate," he said, as he looked over the organ. "Say, you
didn't happen to get any floppy disks, did you? You can actually
save the music you play onto one and play it back later."
Nobuyuki reached into his pocket and produced a box of
ten disks, and handed them over to Russ.
"Ahhh, excellent." Russ looked around the room. "You
wouldn't happen to have a pair of headphones too, would you? It
sounds really weird when I start a song, but once I finish it, I'll
play it back for you." Russ took a seat on the bench again.
"Sure," Nobuyuki said, walking over to the TV stand and
producing a pair of earmuff style headphones from one of the
enclosures. "Are these good enough?"
"Oh yeah. Those are perfect," he said, accepting the
headphones and plugging them in. He touched a few of the keys,
confirming that the sound only played from the headphones.
"Well, I'll do a quick song, and then I'll play it back once I'm
finished. Sound good?"
"Okay, just let us know when you're done!"
"It'll be a few hours, so if you have something important
to do, go ahead and do it."
Sasami returned to the kitchen with Ryo-Ohki perched on
top of her head, as Ryoko and Aeka returned to their seats on the
couch, flipping on the TV and turning it to a soap opera. Russ
cringed when he saw what they put on, and quickly turned away
and put on the headphones to drown out the sappy rubbish they
were watching. Nobuyuki made his way up the stairs to his room,
where he was planning on watching a little TV, deciding to relax
for his one, solitary day off.
Turning his attention back to the organ, Russ cleared out
all the memory banks on the midi computer, deciding if there was
anything there it wasn't worth listening to. Selecting his first
instrument and rhythm, he hit the record button on the computer,
and began to play.
Aeka and Ryoko both turned toward Russ, hearing the
soft clunking of the keys, as he pressed them in time with the
rhythm he had selected. Grabbing the remote, Ryoko turned up the
volume to the TV a little more, while they both watched one of
their favorite programs.

Over two hours after Russ began playing, he finished the
song, and took in a deep breath, wiping the sweat off his brow.
Sasami had brought him a cold glass of ice water, and sat it down
on a small table that she placed next to him, nearly an hour ago.
She also invited him for lunch, but Russ never noticed her,
devoting his full concentration to the creation of the music. He
removed the headphones, which more or less peeled themselves off
of his ears.
It must've been a hundred degrees inside the house, and
Russ felt even more uncomfortable from concentrating so hard,
however, he felt that it was worth it. Looking around the room, he
totally forgot that Sasami had prepared lunch. He noticed that
Sasami was no longer in the kitchen, but was outside playing with
Ryo-Ohki. Aeka was lying on the couch, silently watching Russ,
as he turned his gaze toward her and smiled.
"I'm done," he said. "Would you like to hear it?"
Aeka slowly sat up and nodded.
"Okay. Here we go. Keep your fingers crossed. I played
every instrument except for the piano. I'll do that now and record
it, as it's playing," he said, as he hit the play and record buttons on
the computer. He adjusted the volume to a medium level, waited a
few moments, and then the song began.
The sound of thunder rumbled through the sound system,
and Russ used some weird effect on it, in a steady rhythm. Sounds
of raindrops also were discernable. A moment later, a light bass
instrument came though the speakers, vibrating the floor slightly,
along with another electronic instrument. Russ then began playing
the piano portion and making it echo, in perfect time with the
rhythm he had set up on his own. As the song progressed, more
and more instruments joined in the piece.
Aeka sat and listened, in total amazement at what he had
done. A slow smile spread across her lips, as she sat back on the
couch, listening to the music increase in tempo and then go into
full force. Nobuyuki came down the stairs, Sasami came inside,
Ryoko and Tenchi both came out of the kitchen, Kiyone and
Mihoshi followed Nobuyuki, and Washu happened to come out of
her lab. All of them walked into the living room at once and
stopped, almost as if drawn in by the sound of music, as Russ
continued to play the piano portion of the song.
About seven minutes later, he faded the song out and
stopped the midi computer from recording, letting out a deep
breath, as a roar of applause erupted behind him. He whirled
around and saw everybody standing there, clapping his or her
hands. Everybody smiled, and continued applauding, as Russ
blushed a deep scarlet, in complete embarrassment.
Russ finally slid off the bench and stood up, waving his
hands around. "Oh, stop it. I'm not that good. He then bowed. "I
take it you guys enjoyed that?"
"I'm glad I got that organ now. I'm so happy that
someone here can use it to its full potential," Nobuyuki said, as he
slapped Russ on the back.
"Thanks," he replied, shyly. "The name of that song was
called Children, and it was originally composed and done by
Robert Miles. That was the Dreamland version. He was one of
my favorite New Age Jazz musicians," he explained, and thought a
moment. "As a matter of fact, I think he was the reason I bought
my first music CD."
"Wow, I never knew you had musical talent like that,"
Aeka said, from the couch. "You keep showing us some really
extraordinary stuff. I would not have ever known you could play
an instrument like that."
"Yeah. Although it did take me," Russ looked at the
clock, "over two hours to input that song into the organ, I am
pleased with the final result. The music came out almost flawless.
This organ is a very useful tool for creating and playing music."
Russ reached behind him and ejected the floppy disk. "I saved that
song onto this disk, so you can play it back whenever you like," he
said, as he applied a label to the disk and set it down.
"Wow, that was great," Sasami said, standing next to
Aeka, with Ryo-Ohki, still on top of her head. "Can you play
anything you want on that organ?"
"More or less," he said, smiling. "You know of anything
that you'd like to hear?"
"No, not really. I wish I did, though."
"Hmmm, I know. I'll do a little something tonight, just
for you," he said, causing Sasami's face to light up like the sun.
"Really?"
Nodding, Russ made his way over to her and patted her
on the shoulder. "Of course. I thought of a song and rhythm as
soon as I saw you. I'll let you know what I'll call it, tomorrow,
after it's done." He looked around the room, and decided he would
do a theme for just about everybody, just for the fun of it.
Washu walked up to him and handed him a little device.
It was the gravity enhancer he forgot to take with him after he
undressed during his examination. "You forgot this," she said.
"Whoops, seems I did. Thanks," he said, accepting it and
wrapping it around his left arm.
"Did you get those plans you were telling me about?"
Russ slapped his head. "Aw geez, I forgot that too," he
growled, and after that, laughed. "Be right back," he said, placing
two fingers to his forehead and vanishing. About ten seconds later
he reappeared in the same spot, holding a data pad. "This is it," he
said, surrendering the pad over to Washu, who studied it for a few
moments.
"This is a pretty complex piece of technology. This ought
to be a lot of fun to build. I wonder if I could make it have more
uses than just a regeneration tank."
"Just as long as it can still heal someone, you can do
whatever you please with it."
"Hmmm," she said, disappearing back into her lab.
Turning back to everybody, he smiled. "Well, I'm glad
you enjoyed that, but now I have to get to training. I've been
slacking off for the last day. I'll be right outside, so if you need
me for something, I'll be right over there," he said, pointing to the
lake's shoreline, near a bunch of trees.
"We'll come get you when it's dinner time," Tenchi said.
Russ nodded, and afterward went outside.
Tenchi turned back toward his father. "Why did you get
this organ?"
"It's something I always wanted to get involved in, and I
hoped you'd take an interest in it, too," Nobuyuki responded.
"I don't know. I really don't have the time to do anything
like this, having to take care of the field and the many other
responsibilities I have around the house."
"It's not something that needs to be done right away. If
you feel like it, give it a try and learn something new."
"I'll think about it," Tenchi said, turning toward the door.
Ryoko grabbed him in a hug from behind.
"Where are you going?" she asked, pitifully.
"I have to go clean the shrine, and possibly practice with
Grandpa. You know how it is."
Ryoko's expression saddened a little, as she followed him
outside. Aeka just watched the couple, the pain from seeing them
together still not fully healed or gone away.

It's been nearly six months since the incident with
Haruna. Tenchi thought he had chosen Ryoko, however, he never
knew that it was actually Aeka who had given up the chase, to save
him. "I want you to go to him. Don't you see? You're the only
one who can reach him!" Aeka had said to Ryoko, as the dream
world was collapsing. Those words continued to echo in her mind,
even though it has long since been over with. It still pained her,
remembering that traumatic episode, and being without Tenchi for
the six months that Haruna kept him captive. The price to save
him had been too high, and she knew it, but it was necessary, all
the same.
What if it was different? What if the incident with
Haruna had never occurred? What then? Aeka thought about it a
little more, and drew up an old conclusion. He would've never
chosen, and Ryoko and herself would continue to fight over him,
as they had from the first day they met him. Was that better than
what was happening now?
Aeka stood up and walked over to the organ, sitting down
on the bench, and looking at the keys that Russ had tapped and
played for over two hours today, still lost in thought.
No, what happened with Haruna was for the best. It
showed which one of them was willing to go the entire way for
Tenchi. And she knew who could reach Tenchi first.
She turned her attention outside, and watched Russ near
the edge of the lake, doing pushups.
And what about him? Could he show her love? Or would
this be another mistake, as it had been with Tenchi? Was Tenchi a
mistake? No… no. Tenchi could not even be considered a
mistake. Tenchi had been the best thing that had ever happened to
her. He was the first person to treat her as a woman, and not a
princess, and he didn't care how many ships she had, how many
planets were under her empire, or how much money she had, or
even a throne. None of that mattered to him, and he saw through
all of that, to see the sweet, innocent girl that landed in front of his
house, so long ago. It seemed so long ago, anyway. But now, here
was another man, her age, which had the same aspirations as
Tenchi. He too, didn't care about a throne, or her power, or
anything like that, and he liked her as a person, and that is
something she had longed for. He too, was treating her as a
normal person, and not a princess. He didn't bow down to kiss her
feet, as most other men would have if they knew of her title.
However, truthfully, he DID know of her title and where she was
from. It was mentioned last night. But that didn't matter to him
either.
Russ also seemed to be kind of sad, in a lonely kind of
way. She felt it as he told her the many stories from the night
before, and he always alluded to the fact that he had done most of
them alone. He kept his feelings behind a mask of happiness, and
she had a hunch that he was lonely, and needed someone. But
why didn't he ever have a companion? Was it because of his race?
She wouldn't know, because this was the very first time she has
ever seen, or even heard of a Saiyan. Watching the fight earlier
today was totally astounding, but frightening too. Maybe that was
why he was shunned and rejected wherever he went. But she
could draw conclusions the whole day, and may never come up
with the real reason he was alone. She was alone, too. Hopefully
one day he, or even she, would decide to change all that.
Standing up from the bench and stretching, she decided to
go make herself busy, and water the flower garden. Stepping
outside, she picked up the hose and turned on the water, and began
spraying the flowers on the side of the house, in plain sight of the
lake, and Russ. He still had his face pointed toward the grass,
continuing to do his pushups, but from what she could see, he was
having a really hard time with them, and he appeared to be out of
breath. Releasing the trigger for the sprayer on the hose and
silencing the water, she could faintly hear Russ grunting under
some tremendous strain, as he rose and fell with each thrust.
Aeka watched him silently, forgetting that she was
supposed to be watering the flowers. Snapping out of her
daydream, she shook her head and resumed spraying the plants,
giving them a much-needed drink of water, especially on such a
scorcher of a day. However, her mind continued to wander,
considering the possibilities of a life with another man. It was still
much, much too early to tell if he held any kind of romantic
attraction to her. However, the chance of falling in love with
another man was not very high, especially after having her love
turned down more than once. She didn't know if her heart could
handle another rejection, and that was frightening to even consider.
The puddle under her feet started flooding around her
combat boots, beading on the leather but keeping her feet dry.
Finally noticing the growing puddle, she sighed, then moved onto
another part of the flower patch, and decided that, only time would
tell, if her heart could stand one more chance at true love.

"Is there something you want to talk about, Ryoko?"
Tenchi asked, while walking up the stairway to the shrine, with the
space pirate floating beside him.
She looked back at him, a calm and peaceful aura about
her. "No, not really. I just like looking at you. You're still as
handsome as the day I met you," she said, eliciting a blush from
Tenchi.
"You're very beautiful too, Ryoko," he said, glancing
over at her and smiling. "But anyway, is there something you want
to talk about? You usually don't just follow me out here without a
reason."
"So I need a reason to be with the man I've fallen in love
with?" she said, playfully, as she floated over behind him,
wrapping her arms around his body and squeezing him tightly,
placing her chin over his shoulder.
Tenchi chuckled. "Of course not. I just thought you
wanted to talk or something. Unless you want to help me clean the
shrine," he said, grinning. But to his surprise, she nodded.
"Sure, I'll help you," she said, continuing to hang on him.
"It'll give me something to do, and give me another reason to be
close to you."
Smiling and blushing, Tenchi took her arm and caressed
it, then pulled her along side him and gave her a tight hug. "That's
very sweet of you," he said, as she returned his affection. He gave
her a light kiss on the cheek. As he was pulling back, Ryoko
grabbed him in a crushing embrace; giving him one of the most
awesome, soul-probing kisses she ever mustered. She moaned
softly, sounding almost like a kittens purr. They held that embrace
for nearly a minute, and then she backed off, allowing Tenchi to
come up for air. He stared back at her, dumbfounded, as she
giggled alongside him. "Wow," was all he managed to say, which
made her giggle harder.
"Are you sure you have to clean the shrine NOW? Can't
you do it a little later and instead spend some time with me? Let's
go do something fun."
"Sorry, Ryoko. But I have to clean the shrine or Grandpa
will be quite angry with me. I've missed practice once already last
week, and I already know I'm going to get it for that." Tenchi
watched as her happy expression melted away, becoming sad,
while she watched the steps in front of her, not meeting Tenchi's
gaze. "It won't take too long. Then we can go do whatever you
want. Is that okay? If you help me, I can get it done twice as fast,
which means even more free time."
Her expression changed to an amused smirk. "Always
trying to con me into doing chores around the house, aren't you,"
she snickered, poking him in the ribs. Gazing wistfully at the blue
sky, she sighed. "Remember what I told you a long time ago?"
"You've told me a lot of things, Ryoko. You'll have to be
a little more specific."
"You don't remember, do you? I was floating alongside
you, except you were on your way to school."
Tenchi thought a few moments, as the memory came back
to him. "You had said, 'Oh Tenchi, isn't it so nice? It's like a
carnival every day. Oh, I wish these days could go on just like this
forever and ever,'" he said, also lost in thought. "Yeah, I
remember it like it was yesterday. Why do you ask?"
"Because I want this to last forever," she said, gazing into
his eyes. "I don't ever want this to end."
Tenchi gazed back into her golden, feral eyes. "What is it
you're not telling me, Ryoko?"
Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his chest once
again. "Do you ever… think about Aeka?"
He looked at her with mild surprise. "Only as a good
friend. She's one of the best friends I've ever had. You are too,
and a whole lot more," he said, returning her hug.
"She's depressed, Tenchi. She tries to hide it, but I can
tell. She's still upset, considering that she'll never know your
affections like I do. I feel bad, and a little guilty, for her. Doesn't
that sound strange, especially coming from me, her worst enemy?"
Tenchi shook his head. "Not at all. We've all lived
together for over a year, and you two have become friends. Even
though it was a rocky start, considering both your pasts, you both
have emerged triumphantly, and left that past behind," he said,
starting back up the shrine steps. "But yes, I have sort of noticed
that Aeka has been sad a lot more. I wish I could do something to
help, but I don't know what I can do."
"Me neither. Would you actually believe that I was
considering SHARING you with her? She's hurting," she said,
sadness in her voice. "I know I would've gone insane if she
hadn't… uh… if you hadn't chosen me over her. You're this
pirate's most valuable treasure. You're the universe to me, and I
can't imagine life without you," she said, tears welling up in her
eyes.
The tears started trickling down her face, as Tenchi tried
to brush them away with his thumb, taking her face in his hands.
He then smiled. "This is why I love you so much. You care for
others, much more than you yourself realize. Deep down, under
that pirate's exterior, lays one of the kindest hearts I've ever seen,"
he said, pulling her close, and allowing her head to rest against his
chest. He slowly ran his fingers through her wild mane of cyan,
kitten-soft hair and lightly patted her back, stopping his ascent up
the stairs again, as she quietly sobbed into his chest.
"Seeing Aeka so unhappy is making me unhappy too. I
can't imagine what I'd do if I couldn't have you," she said, quietly,
as the tears continued to trickle down her cheeks onto Tenchi's
kimono. "And I know Aeka must feel what I would've felt, and I
don't wish that on anybody. Not even her."

Ever since Tenchi had met Aeka, there had always been a
tinge of sadness about her. From the very first day he met her,
when she arrived to rescue Mihoshi, her unhappiness had surfaced
a couple of times. Even when Grandpa had suggested that he take
Aeka around the shrine and the surrounding area, she seemed
distracted, and almost unwilling, but Grandpa insisted that she take
advantage of her unexpected day off, and that she forget about her
duties as the First Crown Princess, just for one day.
He remembered taking her to the small pond to see the
massive tree, and to see the surrounding mountains, which were
filled with the colors of fall. And then, when they were leaving the
tree, she slipped and fell, ever so delicately into Tenchi's arms.
She slowly stood back up, and they looked into each other's eyes,
with just a hint of attraction between them. Of course, being as
shy as they both were, they turned away, blushing fiercely, and
making up silly excuses.
"I have never felt like this, in my life," she said to herself.
Afterward, he offered to take her up to a much higher spot, near
the top of the hill where the shrine was located, which overlooked
the valley and gave quite a view. That was when she started to cry,
but she said it was nothing, and that it was the most perfect day off
she had ever had. And the more he thought about it, the more he
realized, that on that day, she was actually falling in love with him.
And now, that possibility of love was taken away, from the only
man that she had ever fallen in love with, all on her own.

Tenchi sighed and continued to hold Ryoko, as she finally
stopped whimpering into his kimono. He gently released her and
allowed her to float beside him. "Do you feel a little better now,
Ryoko?"
"A little. Damn my conscience. We have to do
something to make her happy again, or it's going to drive me
crazy," she said, now smiling, as she sniffled.
"Well, what would you suggest?"
"How about a present or something? From both of us?"
"I suppose that could work. But material possessions
aren't important to Aeka," he said, lost in thought. "What if we
talk to Russ, and have him come along with us when we go get that
present? I'm sure she'd feel a bit better if it came from him, rather
than the both of us."
"Oooh, you mean, play matchmaker?" Ryoko grinned. "I
have noticed Aeka has been spending a little bit of time with him,
but really, I think it's too early to get those two involved in a
relationship. I mean he only arrived yesterday, and she's not one
to move things along quickly, and Russ doesn't strike me as one
who would either."
"I suppose. But anyway, we can still get her a gift. But
what would she like?"
Ryoko and Tenchi both looked at each other, and then
shrugged their shoulders.
"You've got me. She's never expressed an interest in
anything here on this planet. She keeps to herself quite a bit,
except for when she was pursuing you, my Tenchi," she said.
"Why don't we go into the mall a little later and shop around?
There's got to be something that she'd like."
"I think she'd like the thoughtfulness behind the gift,
rather than the gift itself," Tenchi responded. "But it's got to be
something she'd like."
"I know! We could ask Sasami! We can have her come
with us too, when we go," Ryoko said, excitedly. "She knows her
sister better than anybody."
"Great idea, Ryoko! We'll ask her as soon as I finish
cleaning the shrine and practicing with Grandpa, then we'll all go
to the mall, together. We'll take Aeka with us as well. Maybe she
just needs to get out of the house a little bit more, too." Tenchi
smiled at her, and took her hand. "Let's get busy and then we can
go."
Ryoko sighed to herself and smiled. This was the reason
she fell in love with Tenchi. He was always kind hearted, and had
always strived to never hurt anybody, willfully or accidentally.
Ever since that first day she crash-landed near the Masaki's home
and was found by Tenchi, she almost immediately began to fall in
love. Here was a farmer's boy, who didn't care where she was
from, or why she crashed. She was passed out from a hangover
when he found her, then gave her some water, and asked if she was
all right. Nobody had ever said those words, and was happy to see
that she was uninjured. She remembered gazing up into his
smiling face as she came to, and felt surprisingly happy. Even
though she had lied to him and told him that she was actually the
damsel in distress, and that Mihoshi was the space pirate, he still
accepted her into his home and took care of her, along with
everybody else whom crash-landed at his place, and even
threatened his life.
He even risked his own life to save her, when a notorious
criminal, Kagato, had captured her and took her aboard his ship,
the Soja. It didn't matter that she was a space pirate, or those past
deeds. He nearly died for her, and only survived due to Tsunami,
who found him and reconstructed his body, after Kagato nearly
destroyed Ryo-Ohki.
Pushing those unpleasant memories behind her, she
continued to float alongside the man she fell in love with, as they
made their way to the shrine. "I'll be happy to help you clean the
shrine, Tenchi. In fact, if I clean the whole shrine, and you
practice with your Grandfather, it shouldn't take long at all, and
then we can go whenever both of us finish. How does that sound?"
Smiling, Tenchi shook his head. "You don't have to do
that if you don't want to."
"But I want to, Tenchi. Because it's you, and you asked
me to help you, right?"
"I guess so," he said, grinning sheepishly. "Thanks a lot.
We'll be able to leave a lot sooner in that case. Secondly, the mall
is air conditioned, which is awesome, and we're both going to be
dying in this heat." They reached the top of the steps, where
Katsuhito was standing on the porch of the shrine office, just out of
the sunlight.
"Hey Grandpa, I'm here for practice," Tenchi called out
to him. Katsuhito nodded then produced two bokken from behind
his back. Ryoko floated over to the far end of the porch where a
broom was propped up against the wall, and she began sweeping
the walkway.
Katsuhito took notice and allowed his surprise to crease
his expression. "Since when does Ryoko do any work around
here? You wouldn't happen to know anything about this now,
would you, Tenchi?"
He laughed and grinned. "Whatever do you mean,
Grandpa?"
Katsuhito just shook his head and led Tenchi to the
training area, for a short practice. "I'll never understand your
relationship with her, Tenchi."
"I had asked her to help clean the shrine while I practice.
We both plan on going to the mall later on today."
"Oh? How come?" Katsuhito handed him one of the
bokken.
"Well, Ryoko and I both noticed that Aeka seems to be
depressed lately. We were all going to go to the mall, and Ryoko
and I are going to get her a present, which will hopefully cheer her
up a little."
"So you've finally noticed it?"
"What do you mean, finally? I knew it was going to be
hard on her once a choice was made, but she has done quite a feat,
hiding her depression from me," Tenchi said, looking at the
wooden sword in his hand. "I'm just not sure what I should get
her. And I don't want her to know it's because I saw her
depressed, either."
"Hmmm… You've got yourself quite a predicament
there."
"Yeah, I know. It's hard on me, too, knowing that she
still has feelings for me. It's probably torture for her to see me
with Ryoko all the time."
They arrived at the training area, and moved to their
respective positions. Bowing to each other, they swung their
wooden swords around, warming up a bit before they began
sparring.
"I've noticed Aeka seems to be taking a liking to Russ,"
Katsuhito said, who was now ready to begin the match.
"Me too. However, I think she's afraid of being rejected
again. And I have no idea how Russ feels about her."
"It's too soon to tell if he would have any feelings for her.
Right now, it's only a friendship. It's up to either one of them to
progress it any further than that. Don't pressure either of them to
do that, or they may get angry with you."
Tenchi took up a defensive stance, also ready to begin. "I
understand. I remember how it felt when Ryoko wanted to move
things along so quickly. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.
Plus, with Aeka there, whenever Ryoko tried to pursue me, it
usually wound up with apocalyptic results."
"Yeah, the house was nearly leveled a couple of times
from those two, wasn't it?" he said, smiling. He swung the bokken
and prepared to attack. "Are you ready, Tenchi?"
"Yes," he said, matching Katsuhito's move.
They both stood apart, each staring into the other's eyes,
waiting for one of them to lose patience or break his concentration.
In his typical tactic, Katsuhito glanced at something over
Tenchi's shoulder. "Oh, hi Aeka, what are you doing here?"
"Aeka?" Tenchi said, starting to turn around, and then
instantly realized his mistake… again… and parried the blow from
his grandfather, resulting in a loud crack of wood against wood.
"You still fall for that same old trick, don't you, Tenchi?
Even Russ didn't fall for it, and instead almost nailed me, since I
wasn't expecting it," he said, leaping back and swinging the
bokken in a wide arc, directly for Tenchi's leg.
He leapt over it and swung his own bokken down in a
wide arc, trying to nail his grandfather in the shoulder, which was
sidestepped. Katsuhito thrust his own bokken right for Tenchi's
chest, which he swiftly parried, as their two swords locked against
each other, and they began a quick test of strength. Tenchi
trembled under his grandfathers amazing power. They quickly
broke their stance and leapt back a few feet, taking up defensive
postures.
"Well, I see you're learning," Katsuhito smirked, once
again charging Tenchi, swinging his bokken in a random cycle,
making jabs and swinging at various parts of Tenchi's body.
"Have you decided on what you're going to get Aeka for a gift?"
Swiftly dodging and parrying all the blows, Tenchi saw
an opening and started his own offense, swinging his own bokken
in a standard pattern, which was easily avoided. "No, I haven't a
clue as to what to get her. I was hoping Sasami would help us
out," he said, now beginning to pant and breathe a little harder, and
his eyes stung from the salty water from his perspiration.
"She would know what Aeka would like. But, what
would you like to get her? It would mean more if you were the
one to decide on what to get," he said, restarting his own offense,
his bokken connecting with Tenchi's as they locked in another test
of strength.
"I suppose you're right, but at least she could give us an
idea," he said, grunting under the pressure. "But I've never been
good at picking out gifts. What could I possibly get a girl who
hasn't wanted anything except to be with me?" Tenchi leapt back
a few feet and held his bokken ready.
Katsuhito stopped his offense, and lowered his bokken
down to his side. Seizing an opportunity, Tenchi sprung at his
grandfather, thrusting his sword toward his head, but Katsuhito
casually nodded to the side, then brought his own bokken up in
between Tenchi's legs, stopping less than an inch away from his
crotch. Tenchi turned blue for a moment, slowly backing off.
"I have no idea what gift to suggest for you to get her.
That's something that you have to decide for yourself. Just make
sure she'll be happy with it, and won't dredge up old feelings," he
said, tapping his sword in his hand and sitting down on his usual
boulder, which thankfully was shaded from the scorching sun.
"Oh, and Tenchi?"
"Yes?" He hopped on the small wood stakes in the
ground to practice balance.
"Be careful about when an enemy appears to lower his
defenses. He may be trying to trick you. It isn't over until it's
over," he said, snickering.
"I'll keep that in mind, Grandpa," he said, leaping from
stake to stake, repeatedly hitting a chunk of wood into the air with
his sword. "I wonder what Russ is going to get her, if he decides
to go with us."
"You plan on inviting him along, too?"
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I?"
Laughing to himself, Katsuhito thought a moment. "I
don't know. Just something odd about him, is all." He looked at
Tenchi with a grin. "You going to try to get Aeka in a relationship
with him?"
"No, not really," he said quickly. "Mainly just to invite
him along. It'd be a good chance to get to know him a little
better."
"Ahhh, I see. How are you going to get there?"
"I was hoping dad was going to drive us or something,"
he said, smacking the hunk of wood back into the air, skillfully
keeping his balance on the stakes. "I haven't really thought too
much about it."
"Well, I'll leave that up to you to sort out," he said,
looking into the sky, which was littered with small, white clouds.
"Looks like we may get some rain tomorrow."
"I hope so. This heat is crazy." Tenchi swatted the block
into the air again, and quickly wiped his brow off with the back of
his hand.
"Yes, it is hot, but a samurai must show no weakness.
You may be required to fight whether you're comfortable or not,
sick or well, hot or cold, and even in places where you never
thought of fighting before." Katsuhito wiped his own brow with
the sleeve of his own kimono. "Well, practice for another ten
minutes, then you can go home. I don't want you getting sick out
here."
"Thanks, Grandpa. The mall will be nice and cool, since
it's air conditioned," he said, catching the wood block in his left
hand and hopping off the stakes. "It'll be wonderful to cool off for
a while."
Walking up the path to the shrine, Katsuhito grinned, as
Tenchi continued his routine exercises.

Making his way out of the training area, Tenchi spotted
Ryoko, who was just finishing sweeping the walkways. Her hair
wasn't its usual, spiky appearance, but more matted to her head
from the scorching heat. She stopped and stretched toward the
sky, then turned around, noticing Tenchi walking toward her. She
put the broom down and floated over to him.
"Hi, Tenchi. I'm done," she moaned, giving him a hug.
"I'm burning up out here."
"You and me both. Let's go get ourselves cleaned up and
then we'll go to the mall. Is that okay?"
"Yes, of course! I must look my best for my Tenchi," she
giggled.
He walked over to the broom and put it in its place on the
porch. "Grandpa, we're going now. We'll be back later," he
called through the office door. Turning around and taking Ryoko
by the hand, he led her back to the house.

Having just finished watering the flowers, Aeka was in
the process of winding up the hose on the reel. She finished,
turned around, and saw Tenchi coming toward her, trailed by
Ryoko. They were both smiling, but weren't looking at each other
for once, but instead were looking directly at her. She straightened
herself and smoothed out her gi, and met them at the edge of the
garden.
"Hi Aeka. Ryoko and I are going to go to the mall.
Would you like to come? We're going to invite everybody, if they
want to go."
Hiding her surprise, she nodded. "Sure, I'd like to go.
It'll give me a chance to shop around, and see if there is anything
new I'd like."
"Great! Glad to hear it," Ryoko said, with a big grin. She
landed on the ground and stood next to Tenchi, but didn't touch.
"We're going to go take a quick bath and clean ourselves up a
little. Care to join us for that too?"
"I guess so. It is really hot out here," she said, not
sounding very convincing.
"Okay, we'll meet you in the onsen."
"I'll just go take a quick shower in the house. You girls
go on ahead," Tenchi mentioned. "We'll all meet in the house. I'll
see if dad can give us all a lift or something."
"Alright. Let's see if Russ wants to go too." Ryoko
began making her way over to him, who was now rapidly kicking
in the air. His foot was nothing but a blur and his face was
contorted with strain. "He sure does know how to exercise.
Wow."
Aeka nodded, following, with Tenchi just behind her.
"He did a lot of pushups and sit-ups. He just started doing that
about fifteen minutes ago," she said, watching him. Almost at that
same moment, Russ changed over to his other foot and began
kicking in the air, his foot nothing but a blur. His back was now to
them, and didn't see them approach.
"Hey Russ!" Tenchi said, loudly enough so he could hear
over the noise of the wind, which sounded very similar to a fan.
Russ stopped, and turned toward them, breathing heavily
and sweating profusely. "Yeah? What's up?"
"Geez, are you okay? You're really sweating a lot,"
Ryoko said, looking concerned.
"Yeah," he said, between deep breaths. "I just have the
gravity enhancer up to five hundred times Earth's normal gravity."
Tenchi, Aeka, and Ryoko all facefaulted, then recovered.
"Did you say, five hundred times normal gravity?" Tenchi looked
exasperated.
Nodding, Russ pointed toward the little machine on his
arm. "Washu made this for me. It's great for intense training. I
normally weigh about two hundred, twenty two pounds, or exactly
a hundred kilograms. With this machine set at five hundred g's, I
weigh a hundred, eleven thousand pounds, or fifty thousand
kilograms."
Everybody facefaulted again, then recovered. "That's
impossible! Anybody should be crushed under that much gravity!"
Tenchi shouted.
Russ grinned and shook his head, and jumped into the air
about two feet, then landed on the ground. His impacts made his
feet sink into the ground about six inches, which resulted in a
chorus of gasps from the three. "Trust me, I weigh as much as I
said." He grinned, as he stepped out of the holes. "I want normal
earth gravity."
The machine beeped, as the tremendous weight that was
bearing down on Russ was lifted in a few seconds. He stretched,
becoming used to the gravity again. "Ahhh, that was a great
workout. I'll have to continue it later," he said, as the threesome
continued to stare at him. "Err, is something wrong? I've been
saying that a lot lately, haven't I?"
Snapping out of their bewilderment, they shook their
heads. "No, everything is just fine. We just came over here to ask
if you wanted to go to the mall with us. We're all going, and we
wanted to know if you wanted to come along."
Russ curled his upper lip as his face showed disgust.
"Shopping? In a mall? Oh boy…"
"Come on, Russ. It won't be too bad. All of us are going,
and it'll be nice and cool inside the place, since it's air-
conditioned. Are you sure you don't want to go?" Aeka pleaded.
Sighing in defeat, he nodded his head. "Okay, I'll go just
this once. Normally, I hate shopping, unless I'm going to an
electronics store," he said, grinning. "I love technology. At least,
earth based technology. Washu's lab is too crazy for me." He
started laughing.
"Great," Aeka said, now smiling widely. "We're all
going to get ourselves cleaned up, so we'll meet you inside the
house in about five or ten minutes. Is that okay?"
"Whatever," he said, not sounding enthusiastic at all, but
managing a small grin.
Aeka turned toward Ryoko. "You know, it would be nice
if we had a bath inside the house, instead of having to come all the
way out here to this onsen."
"You know, you're right. I hate walking through the rain
and other inclement weather. Washu could set us up, couldn't
she?"
Aeka nodded. "Of course. For the greatest scientific
genius in the universe, it should be no trouble at all," she
snickered.
Russ and Tenchi both looked back and forth between the
two girls while they conversed, as they made their way toward the
house to get a fresh change of clothes.
Heading inside the house, Tenchi spotted Sasami playing
off near the shrine steps with Ryo-Ohki. "I'll go ask Sasami if she
wants to come along with us," he said.
"Okay, see you in about ten minutes in that case," Ryoko
said, not turning around. She floated up to Tenchi's room and
disappeared through the door, and Aeka went to her own room.
Russ started to go inside, but Tenchi tugged on his gi and motioned
Russ to follow him outside, discretely. Nodding, he steeled a look
back inside the house, and then went back outside with Tenchi.
"What's up?"
"Ryoko and myself are going to buy Aeka a small
present," he said, jumping right to the point. "She seems to be
depressed lately, and we wanted to get her something special, to let
her know we still care about her."
"I see. And why did I need to know this?" he asked
politely.
"Well, we want to keep it secret from her. We're going to
give it to her later today. It's just a little sympathy present. Would
you mind, once we get to the mall, accompanying Aeka, while
Ryoko and myself go and get her gift, and maybe something for us
too?"
"Sure, not a problem. I kind of figured that was going to
be the plan anyway," he said, grinning. "But it's fine with me."
He turned thoughtful for a moment. "I have noticed she seems sad.
Maybe I should get her something too. I'll be with her, so
whatever she picks out I'll buy. But, there is a small problem. I
don't have any Japanese currency."
"Don't worry about it. I'll give you some money to buy
just about anything she may want."
"If you say so," Russ said, snickering. "Most women
love the same things, which are usually all outrageously priced."
He started laughing.
Tenchi just started at him. "Well, she's not like that. She
really doesn't have any wants or desires."
"Doesn't matter. But I'll see about getting her something
nice."
"Okay. Good enough. I'm going to go ask Sasami,
Washu, Kiyone, and Mihoshi if they'd like to go."
"Right," he announced, nodding his head. "I'll go take a
fast shower and put on some normal clothes. Who is taking us?"
"I hope dad will. He has today off, so it shouldn't be too
bad."
"Alright. See you in ten minutes."
"Good. Now remember the plan," Tenchi said, holding
up his index finger. "Don't tell her about our present, or it will
ruin the surprise."
"Yeah, yeah. I know the routine," he laughed, and then
walked up the stairs to his room.

Ten minutes later, everybody, even Washu, piled into the
van with Nobuyuki at the wheel. Russ was now dressed in a light
blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans shorts that went down to his knees.
His muscles were so large that the shirt was being stretched around
the sleeves. Everybody else dressed in his or her normal, everyday
clothes. Aeka in her blue, green and purple kimono that she loved
to wear, Sasami in her pink and green one, Washu in her standard
science academy uniform, Ryoko in her blue and yellow kimono
that had a tail, and Tenchi, now wearing cargo shorts and a tank
top.
Ryo-Ohki wanted to come along, and put up a fit when
she found out pets weren't allowed in the mall. She transformed
into her childlike human form, and continued to protest.
"Oh, I guess you can come," Sasami giggled. "Just make
sure you stay that way while we're in the mall or we may get
thrown out."
Ryo-Ohki meowed an affirmative and hopped onto
Sasami's lap. She was wearing her pink dress with that cute carrot
logo on the front.
Two seconds after they all piled into the van, Kiyone's
wristband started beeping.
"Oh great! This just figures. We have an emergency!
Let's go, Mihoshi!" Kiyone re-opened the door and jumped out.
"Oh no!" Mihoshi whined, being pulled out of the van by
Kiyone. "Why does this always happen to us?"
"I know it's annoying, but we've got a job to do!"
Kiyone turned back toward the van. "Sorry guys, but we have to
go. Have fun for us while you're there, okay?"
"Sorry you guys. You can come with us the next time we
go," Tenchi offered.
The two Galaxy Police officers ran behind the house, and
a moment later, their shuttle roared out of the backyard and into
the atmosphere.

The ride to the mall was short and uneventful, but
uncomfortable even with the van's air conditioning system.
Nobuyuki dropped everyone off and said he'd return in two hours.
Everybody walked inside and made their way through the eatery,
which was right inside the entrance to the place. They all breathed
a sigh of relief when they felt the rush of nice, cool, seventy-four
degree air come in contact with their skin.
"Okay," Tenchi began, standing near a fountain. "We'll
go our own separate ways. Ryoko and I are going to go shop
around, and the rest of you can divide up as you please. We'll
meet back here in two hours for dad to pick us all up."
Everybody nodded, except for Russ, who frowned. He
turned toward Aeka. "Well, would you mind if I accompanied
you? Tenchi and Ryoko want to go off on their own, and I'll go
with you," he said, and then turned his attention to Washu, Sasami
and Ryo-Ohki. "What about you three? You're welcome to tag
along with one of our little groups or go off on your own."
"Actually, Sasami?" Tenchi said, shifting uneasily. "Now
that I think about it, would you mind coming along with us?"
"Sure, I don't mind," said the little blue haired princess,
smiling the whole time. "Where are we going first?"
"We'll think of something. What about you, Washu?" he
asked.
"I think I'm going to tag along with Russ and Aeka. Who
knows, I may split off and go off on my own too. But for now,"
she said, latching onto Russ, "I'm going with him!"
Aeka's bitter streak skyrocketed and she was about to
protest, when Washu released him. "Okay then, have fun! See
you guys in a couple hours," Tenchi said, and made his way over
to the escalator, tailed by Ryoko, Sasami and the spaceship.
"Well, where would you like to go first? Is there anything
that had interested you?" Russ asked both Washu and Aeka. "I'm
just here because you talked me into going."
They all stood and looked at each other for a few
moments, and then Russ shrugged his shoulders. "Well, let's just
browse. What's that, over there?" he said, making his way over to
the first store, which was filled with leather jackets and other
leather accessories. He stopped in front of the window, checking
out a full-length leather coat. Aeka and Washu were behind him,
admiring him rather than the jacket he was looking at.
Sensing something odd, he turned around and looked at
the two girls, who both had the same, mischievous smile on their
faces. He began to perspire slightly, then snickered. "I'm going
inside. There may be something in there that's nice."
The two girls followed him inside, as he stopped by the
coat rack. Checking out the full-length, black leather coat, he
pulled it off the hanger and held it up, as it made little squeaky
noises. He put his arms in the sleeves and slid the coat on, draping
it over his muscular form. "I feel like someone out of The
Matrix," he snickered, while he admired himself in a mirror that
was nearby. "All I need now are…" he spied exactly what he was
looking for, in the perfect style, "sunglasses." He put them on his
nose and put his arms to his sides, and did his best impression of
Morpheus.
Washu and Aeka both looked at him, and were very
impressed.
"I think that coat and sunglasses look good on you," Aeka
giggled, walking over to him and checking him out.
"I agree," Washu added. "It actually suits you, with your
black hair."
"You think so?" he said, smiling. "I don't know. Let's
get out of here or I may wind up buying something." He laughed,
and put the coat and sunglasses back where he found them.
Turning around, Aeka grabbed him by the arm.
"Do you want that coat?" Aeka asked.
Russ shook his head. "No. I was never really into
leather. I just wanted to check it out. Besides, fifty five thousand
yen for a coat is a little insane, if you ask me. Besides, it's the
middle of summer."
"Well, if you say so," she said, sounding a little
disappointed. Russ gestured for the ladies to exit the store, which
they accepted graciously. Russ followed behind them.
After they left the leather store, they checked out the store
next to it. It was filled, wall-to-wall with movies and DVD's.
Russ rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked at the two women.
"You want to go in here? I wonder if there are any new anime that
I'd be interested in."
Aeka had already begun to make her way into the store,
heading over to the drama section. Washu headed over to the
nature and science area, and Russ made his way to the anime
section. Browsing the many DVD videos that were available, he
set his eyes on several anime that he enjoyed. Nearly everything
was here, too. Vision of Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss War OVA,
Record of Lodoss War – Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, all the
Gundam series and movies, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ninja
Scroll, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, Blue
Submarine Number 6, and even Outlaw Star.
"Wow, awesome. They still have all of this stuff.
However, it's a bit more expensive than it used to be. Darn
inflation," he grumbled to himself. He looked up and over the
shelves, and saw Aeka, who had a couple tapes in her hand. He
moved his way over to her and looked over her shoulder, trying to
get a better look of the covers.
"What do you have there?" he asked, startling her
slightly.
She looked up from browsing the hundreds of tapes. "I
was just checking out some movies that I haven't seen yet, that are
supposed to be really good." She handed him the tapes. One of
them was Titanic, which Russ resisted the temptation to shudder at,
and the other tape was Terms of Endearment, which he had never
seen. "I was also looking at this one," she said, pointing at another
tape, with the label, Gone With the Wind.
Russ resisted the urge to make croaking and gagging
noises at her picks for movies. "Would you like to get these
movies?" he asked, instead.
"Well, I was going to get these two, but I don't know
about this third one here."
"Get it. What's to lose?"
She looked at him incredulously, and then smiled. "Yeah,
you're right," she announced, picking up the tape.
"Anything else you may want?"
"I think this is enough for now. What about you? Did
you see anything you wanted?"
"Not really. I heard there were two good movies
produced while I was off-planet. One of them was called Titan
A.E, or Titan - After Earth, which was produced a few years ago,
and another one was called Blue Planet, which was only recently
produced. They're both computer animated movies, and they look
really cool."
"Well, why don't you get them?"
"Nah. I'd probably be the only one to watch them."
"Why should that stop you?" she asked, looking at him
with a hint of confusion.
"Who cares? Where is Washu? I wonder if she picked
out anything," he said, avoiding the question. Aeka continued to
look at him, trying to figure out why he wouldn't just buy the
movies.
"Aw, come on. Just get them, if it'll give you something
to do for a rainy day," she begged.
"I guess. I'm a little thrifty though. I don't spend money
unless I need to."
"Give me a break," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll buy
the videos if you don't. What were those titles again?"
"Oh no you don't. You aren't buying me anything," he
retorted, sternly. "I'll get them some other time, like for Christmas
or something."
Not used to being refused, she challenged him a little
more. "No. We'll get them now. I want to see them," she
declared, glaring at him. She put down two of the tapes she was
going to buy.
He stared back at her, furrowing his own eyebrows
together. "I can be as stubborn as you, Aeka. No," he growled, as
he turned around to go find Washu. She grabbed his arm and spun
him back around, producing a look of total shock on Russ' face.
"What are you doing?" he snarled. "I told you I don't
want the movies. Sheesh."
"I told you that I wanted to see them. You said they were
Titan A.E. and Blue Planet?"
Russ continued to glare at her and didn't say anything.
"Fine, I'll go look for them," she snapped, turning on her
heel and making her way to the animated section of the store. Russ
continued to watch her in total surprise and bewilderment, then
shook his head, and picked up the two tapes Aeka had left behind.
He then moved over to the science area, in search of Washu.

In another part of the mall, Ryoko, Tenchi, Sasami, and
Ryo-Ohki were browsing through a clothing store, checking out
sweaters, t-shirts, shorts, pants, and other various clothes. Ryoko
was playing dress-up with Tenchi, making him put on dozens of
different clothing combinations, trying to decide what looked best
on him. Sasami was doing almost the same thing with Ryo-Ohki,
except they traded off after each set of clothes.
Ryoko was having a lot of fun, dressing up Tenchi in a lot
of different styles and colors. After about the twelfth combination,
he started complaining since Ryoko wasn't dressing up herself.
"No, I'm not putting on these clothes! I'm getting tired of
this. It was fun the first couple of times but now it's annoying," he
complained. "Why don't you try on some of this stuff?"
"Because it's more fun to dress you up, silly," she
giggled, as she handed him yet another handful of clothes. This
particular combo had blue jeans shorts and a lighter blue t-shirt.
"Come on, just try this last pair on and then I'll stop, okay?" she
begged.
Tenchi sighed in defeat. "Oh, alright. But this is the last
pair!" He made his way into the changing room for the thirteenth
time and began dressing.
Ryoko checked on Sasami, who had now dressed Ryo-
Ohki in a fluorescent yellow-green dress that went down to her
knees. Like with most of her other dresses, this had a logo of a
large, orange carrot on the front. Surprisingly, it really brought out
the yellow in her eyes and she meowed in approval. Giggling,
Sasami handed her a straw hat that she put on the cabbit's head and
stepped back.
"I like this," she said, smiling. "Lets get this for you,
okay?"
Ryo-Ohki meowed an enthusiastic approval and smiled.
"Hey Sasami?" Ryoko said, walking over to the little
princess.
She turned. "What is it, Ryoko?"
"Do you think your sister would like anything in here?"
Sasami looked a little confused by the question, but she
brightened up and smiled. "Well, not really. She wears kimonos
most of the time, and she never really cared for earth clothes."
"Oh, I see. Well, if we find a store that has something in
it that she would like, would you tell us?"
"Sure, but why?"
"Tenchi and myself want to get Aeka a present, to cheer
her up. She seems to be a lot sadder than usual, and we want to get
her something special."
"So you noticed it too, huh?" she mumbled, her face
turning downcast a little, but immediately bouncing back to her
cutest smile. "Sure! I'll be happy to show you the things she
would like!"
"Okay, but keep it a secret from her. It's going to be a
surprise."
"You can count on me!" She thought a moment. "This is
the reason you wanted me to come long with you guys, isn't it?"
She winked, and turned her attention back to Ryo-Ohki. At that
moment, Tenchi came out of the dressing room, dressed in the
clothes Ryoko had given him.
Tenchi slowly turned around, showing off the style.
"Well? What do you think of this set?"
Giggling, she grabbed him in another hug. "You've
looked good in everything I've put you in. I don't think it matters
what style of clothes you wear," she whispered into his ear.
"Stop that. You're going to spoil me," he snickered.
Ryoko became serious for a moment. "I asked Sasami
what Aeka would like. She's going to help us out, and keep it a
secret."
"Well, at least we'll get an idea of the things she'd have
an interest in." Tenchi turned to go back into the dressing room.
"Ready to get out of here and go on to the next store?"
"Yeah, okay." Ryoko held up a pile of clothes. "I'm
getting you all of these, and the clothes you have on."
"Ryoko! I don't need all that stuff! I've got plenty at
home and I don't have the closet space."
"Yeah right," she giggled. "You had plenty of room even
after I put all my clothes in it."
Groaning, he returned to the dressing room to put his own
clothes back on. Ryoko put the pile of shorts, shirts, and
underclothes into a carryall basket and moved back to Sasami,
watching her with interest.
"We're getting ready to leave the store here, Sasami, so
get everything you want together," Ryoko informed her.
"Okay." She turned toward the spaceship. "Come on,
Ryo-Ohki." She followed Sasami back to the dressing room as
Tenchi emerged with his clothes on.
"Do you know how much these things cost, Ryoko?"
"It doesn't really matter to me, Tenchi," she whispered
seductively. "Nothing is too expensive for my love."
"It does matter. I didn't bring a huge amount of money
with me."
"Who said anything about paying for them?"
Tenchi looked back at her in utter horror. "What?!
You're not stealing these things!"
"Aw, come on, Tenchi! It'll be fun! And remember, I am
a space pirate. I need the practice," she begged, grinning from ear
to ear, with her soft, golden, kitten like eyes gazing into Tenchi.
"NO!"
"But, Tenchiiiiii!"
"I said, NO!"
Ryoko looked about ready to cry and she hung her head,
placed the basket of clothes on a shelf, and started to slowly walk
away. Once again, Tenchi's conscience pricked at him for being
mean to her.
"Oh, okay, Ryoko." She immediately brightened back up
and nearly tackled him. "But we're not stealing them. I'll just buy
the things, okay?"
"Oh, you're no fun, Tenchi." She made little cooing
noises as she continued to hug him. Sasami and Ryo-Ohki came
up behind them, unnoticed.
"Are you two finished and ready to go?" she asked,
startling both of them, but only embarrassing Tenchi.
"Yeah," they both said at the same time.
They carried all the clothes up to the cash register and
paid for them, which put quite a dent in Tenchi's wallet, but he still
had enough for a nice gift for Aeka. Leaving the store, they slowly
began walking down the mall corridor, checking out the interiors
of most of the stores and searching for something that would peak
Aeka's interest.
Coming to a jewelry store, Sasami stopped and pointed.
"Aeka loves jewelry. And so do I." She grinned, and stepped
inside.
Ryoko, Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki all followed the little
princess, admiring the precious metals and stones through the glass
cases. An older gentleman approached the four.
"Can I help you with anything today?" he asked, politely.
"Not at the moment. We're just looking," Tenchi
answered.
"Okay. Let me know if you see anything you like," he
said, walking back toward the counter and turning around. He
continued to watch them as they slowly made their way around the
store.
"Well, what would you recommend, Sasami?" Ryoko
asked.
"Just about anything in here, actually," she replied,
pushing her face near one of the showcases that were filled with
various pendants and lockets.
Tenchi looked over her shoulder, also giving everything
in the case a good look over. A few moments later, one item
caught his eye. "Hey, what do you think of that?" he questioned,
pointing toward a small pendant, designed as a bird, and had an
amethyst stone for an eye.
The three girls looked over at what he was pointing at,
and all of them smiled and nodded.
"That's really pretty," Ryoko stated, putting her arm
around Tenchi's waist. "Doesn't that bird have a special meaning
behind it?"
"That bird is actually a phoenix," said the gentleman, who
had overheard them. He made his way over to the case and opened
it up, removing the pendant and allowing Tenchi to get a closer
look at it. "It is a mythical bird that supposedly had lived in Egypt
for over five hundred years, and later it consumed itself by fire,
and was later reborn from those ashes," he explained. "It can be
interpreted as a symbol of immortality. It also means a thing of
unsurpassed excellence or beauty, or a paragon."
Tenchi, Ryoko, Sasami and Ryo-Ohki all looked at each
other, realizing the same thing at the same time. It's the ideal item
to get for her. Ryo-Ohki meowed an encouragement, tugging on
Tenchi's shirt.
"I think it's perfect!" Sasami beamed. "It has all the
necessary meanings behind it."
"I don't know," Ryoko began. "The thing about the
unsurpassed beauty part of it, anyway." She grinned at Tenchi,
pulling him a little closer.
"It is very pretty," he said, fingering the pendant. "Do
you really think she'd like this?"
"Yes! She'd be so surprised to get that from you,
Tenchi," Sasami declared.
"Actually, both Ryoko and myself are giving her the gift."
He turned toward the clerk. "We'll take this."
The salesman smiled. "Nice choice. It's fourteen karat
gold with diamond cuts. The stone is an amethyst, and it weighs in
at a little less than four grams," he said, as Tenchi handed over the
pendant. "Would you like to take a look at our fine selection of
chains to go with it?" he inquired, gesturing to a glass case a few
feet further into the store.
"Yeah, okay," he said, as all four of them moved over to
the showcase. They all admired the gleaming gold, silver, and a
couple platinum necklaces, in different cuts and lengths.
"Well, Sasami? Recommendation?" Ryoko said, placing
her hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know. They're all so pretty," she said, still
peering into the case. "She does like things that sparkle though."
The spaceship meowed an agreement.
"I guess we could get one of those," Tenchi said, pointing
toward a rope chain. "That looks like it has a lot of sparkle and
dazzle to it."
"Yeah, but it also looks kind of plain," she mumbled.
"I don't have a fortune to spend either, Sasami. But I
think she'll like it."
"Yeah, you're right. She's really going to love that
pendant too. The gem is real close to Aeka's eye color."
"What do you think, Ryoko?" Tenchi said, nudging her
gently.
"I think it's wonderful," she responded, smiling. "It'll
really make her happy, and me too."
Tenchi was about to wave the salesman over, but he was
already on his way. "See anything you like?"
"Yes, we want that one, right there," he answered,
pointing to the chain in question.
"Okay. That one is also solid fourteen karat gold, and is
diamond cut. It's eighteen inches long, and weighs about six
grams," he said, opening up the case and withdrawing the gold
necklace. "Will that be all for today?"
Tenchi nodded. "I don't think I could afford anything
else." He smiled meekly.
"Well, you came at a good day. The two items you
picked out were on sale," the clerk said, moving over to the cash
register. He entered the two items into the computer and slid the
pendant onto the chain, and then put them both in a small,
rectangular box. "Your total comes to twenty thousand, twenty
nine yen."
Nearly having a heart attack from the cost, his forehead
beaded with perspiration. "This stuff is more expensive than I
thought. And it's on sale too?"
"Yeah. Fifty percent off the marked prices."
"Well, better get it now before the price goes up again,"
he said while fishing out his wallet. He handed over the money
and accepted the box. He gave a small bow, and the clerk did as
well. The four turned and left the store, re-entering the chaos of
the mall.
"She'll really be happy with that gift, Tenchi," Sasami
reassured him.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I think she'll like it
too. It just cost a lot more than I was expecting. Mall prices are
always too high though."
"You could've been like me and stolen it, Tenchi," Ryoko
cooed, poking him in the ribs. Tenchi laughed and took her by the
hand.
"No, I couldn't do that. I don't like getting into trouble."
"You don't get into trouble if you don't get caught,
Tenchi," she giggled. "I should know that better than anyone."
"And how could I have gotten away with this with the
guy standing right there in front of us almost the whole time?"
Ryoko stopped and thought a moment. "Yeah, you're
right. Oh well." Her stomach croaked lightly. "Oh boy, I guess
I'm getting hungry."
"Well, we could get a light snack if you want. It is almost
dinner time, and dad should be here in a little while to pick us up."
"A light snack will do just fine," Ryoko answered. She
looked around and sniffed the air, catching a hint of pastries
wafting through the mall. "Mmmm," she moaned softly.
"Cinnamon rolls."
She started walking toward the scent as the other three
followed closely behind. Eventually they all came to a rather large
bakery, which had dozens upon dozens of various pastries laid out
on display. Chocolate-chip cookies were in the glass cases along
with jelly filled doughnuts, cinnamon buns, baked pretzels, even
loaves of freshly baked bread.
"Wow! Yum!" Ryoko walked up to the counter, trying
to decide what she wanted. Ryo-Ohki came up next to her and
pointed at something, meowing.
"What do you want?" she glanced down at her spaceship
and then to what she was pointing at. "Carrot cake? I don't think
you'll like that."
Ryo-Ohki stubbornly insisted that she wanted it.
"I'll get it for you," Sasami said, coming up from behind.
"I think I want to try some of that too."
Tenchi then came up to the case and browsed for
something that would tide him over for a little while, but not spoil
his dinner. "Hmmm… I think I'm going to have… that," he said,
pointing to a small box that was filled with various flavors of
doughnut holes.
A clerk took all their orders and handed them their
pastries, and the foursome took a seat at one of the nearby tables.
Ryoko got cinnamon sticky buns, Ryo-Ohki and Sasami both got
carrot cake, and Tenchi had his doughnut holes.
"Be right back," Tenchi got back up from his seat. "Do
any of you want something to drink? Pastries always dry me out if
I don't have something to wash them down with."
"What do they have?" Sasami asked.
"They've got pop, water, juice, probably coffee, and tea."
"I'll have orange juice," Sasami asked. "Please?"
"I want some tea, Tenchi." Ryoko smiled up at him.
"Well, okay. What about you, Ryo-Ohki? Do you want
pop?"
She shook her head.
"Tea?"
She shook her head again.
"Water?"
She meowed disappointment and shook her head yet
again.
"Juice?"
She nodded and meowed.
"Well, what flavor? They've got Orange…"
She shook her head.
"I think she wants carrot juice," Sasami said. Ryo-Ohki
nodded enthusiastically.
"They don't have carrot juice, unfortunately. Sorry, Ryo-
Ohki. Do you have a second choice? How about just plain old
water?"
The spaceship's expression became downcast, but she
nodded and meowed an affirmative.
"Okay, I'll get you water. I'll give you some carrots once
we get home, okay?"
She immediately brightened back up and smiled, then
began eating her cake.
Tenchi smiled and went to the counter, got the drinks,
then returned. Ryoko smiled at him, as she licked off the frosting
on her fingers, ignoring the napkins that were on the table.
Suddenly she came up with a naughty idea, as she took another
bite of her bun, making sure to get more frosting on her fingers.
Then, after her index finger was sufficiently coated, she looked
over at Tenchi, and let out a sultry, "Mmmm…" as she noisily
sucked on her finger.
Tenchi glanced over at her, noticing what she was doing,
but trying to keep himself under control.
"Ryoko," he whispered. "Don't do that here! Not in
front of Sasami!" he begged.
Her eyes smiled as she continued to taunt and tease him.
A little bit of frosting stuck just under her lower lip, and she deftly
let her pink tongue slide out, cleaning off the frosting, once again
letting out a long and seductive, "Mmmm…"
Tenchi found himself unable to look away, as Sasami and
Ryo-Ohki started whispering to each other, giggling half the time.
Ryoko once again lifted her cinnamon bun to her lips and
took another bite, getting more frosting on her face. She chewed
slowly, and then swallowed, loudly enough to let Tenchi hear it.
His head beaded with perspiration, despite the cool air. Once
again Ryoko allowed her tongue to circle her lips, licking off the
frosting that coated them, as her eyes continued to watch him,
promising, pleading.
"I'm going to tell Aeka you're being perverted in front of
me, Ryoko," Sasami giggled.
Suddenly remembering Sasami was sitting there with her,
Ryoko blushed fiercely and so did Tenchi. "Okay, okay, you win,"
she sighed, smiling, never letting her gaze leave Tenchi's face. He
breathed a sigh of relief.

Everybody finished his or her snacks a few minutes later,
and Tenchi checked the time. "Well, we might as well head back
to the fountain. Time sure flew while we were here."
"Boy, you weren't kidding!" Sasami looked at a clock
that was on the wall. "It's past dinner time. I bet Father and
Grandfather are starving."
"I wouldn't worry about it. Dad can cook, even though
he's not a gourmet chef like you, Sasami," he said, smiling, and
causing her to blush lightly. Everybody got up from the table and
discarded their litter into a trashcan and walked back out into the
mall, trying to avoid the growing crowd of people. It was a few
minutes before five o'clock, and people were getting off of work
and flocking to the mall to shop and cool off. Ryoko sprinted
forward a few steps and latched onto Tenchi's arm, and Sasami
took Tenchi's other hand. Ryo-Ohki meowed a protest and latched
onto Sasami.
"Ahhh, to be surrounded with two beautiful ladies,"
Tenchi said, drawing Ryoko a little closer and squeezing Sasami's
hand. "This is bliss." He looked at both girls and they at him, then
all four of them started laughing.
"Tenchi, you're being spoiled," Ryoko teased, as she
walked along side him. "Maybe I should walk with Ryo-Ohki
instead."
Chuckling, Tenchi shook his head. "Maybe it's you who
is being teased, Ryoko. Maybe I should walk between Sasami and
Ryo-Ohki."
Ryoko grinned, in such a fashion to show the tips of her
fangs. "You're going to force me to humble you again, Tenchi,"
she said, seductively, as she started making little cooing noises and
giggling while she nudged up against him.
"Okay, okay, you made your point," he chuckled.
They made their way to the fountain they originally split
up at, and took a seat on a nearby bench to wait for Russ, Aeka,
and Washu. They didn't wait long, though. Aeka was walking
next to Russ, both of them eyeballing each other here and there,
and Washu walked on the other side of him. All three of them had
a bag of goodies in their hand.
"So," Tenchi said, as they made their way to the bench.
"You guys find everything you wanted?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Russ answered. "These girls are
torture. Do you have any idea how many different pairs of clothes
they made me put on? I lost count!" Both Tenchi and Russ started
laughing.
"Well, at least I'm not the only victim of dress-up today,"
Tenchi laughed. "Ryoko loves doing that to me whenever we go
to the mall."
"Aeka here has good taste in clothes, but man, she's
picky! I tried on FIVE different clothing combinations before she
settled on one that she liked."
"I just wanted you to look good," she snapped, glaring at
him. "There's no reason for you to look like a barbarian in
public."
"I am not a barbarian! I'm just as civilized as you are,"
he said, sticking out his tongue and giving her a raspberry. Her
face went to surprise, and then she glared at him, balling up both
her fists and growling at him.
"Well you should have better taste in clothes!"
"My tastes are none of your business, Miss Prissy Pants,"
he shot back. "I didn't see you trying on anything."
"I have enough clothes, thank you," she retorted. "You
just came in with a little duffel bag and nothing else!"
"So what! I don't need fifty million shirts and shorts. As
long as I've got enough to rotate them out to the washing machine
I'm fine. I don't care about clothes. Sheesh. Lighten up."
"No! You need some variety, rather than just wearing
your karate gi in different colors. I liked what I picked out for
you."
"I don't care! I like my clothes, and I didn't need any
others, especially the ones you picked out!"
"Fine! Live like a big, dumb barbarian!"
"Oh, shut up! I told you my preferences are my own!
You can wear a toga for all I care!"
Everybody perspired as they watched the two bicker back
and forth.
"So, Washu," Tenchi said discretely, trying to stay out of
the verbal war between Russ and Aeka. "Have they been doing
this the whole time?"
"Not really. Whenever they disagree it usually winds up
like this. Aeka isn't used to being refused something, or disagreed
with." She continued to watch them, as Russ kept on making
teasing gestures. "I think it's rather cute." She started giggling.
Tenchi shook his head and grinned. "Well, we got Aeka
something really nice. But anyway, did Russ get her anything?"
"I think so. He was looking at a few movies that he
wanted to see, but he wasn't going to get them. Aeka noticed it
and she tried convincing him to get the movies, which he refused,
and then she went and bought them instead of the tapes that she
picked out. Without her knowing, Russ bought the two tapes she
was looking at originally. It's rather sweet of him, even though
he's currently acting like a six year old," she whispered, still
keeping an eye on both of them. Fortunately they weren't shouting
at each other or flinging energy balls around.
"Do the world a favor and put a sock in it, you bitch!"
Russ snarled at Aeka.
"What?! How dare you speak to me like that, you
ruffian!" she returned.
Ryoko resisted the urge to explode laughing, as she
remembered the arguments she used to have with Aeka. They
were a lot of fun, and she also got the feeling that Aeka enjoyed
them too. It was a wonderful way to let off steam in a non-violent
way, however, between herself and Aeka, it usually turned into a
brawl. But so far, he seemed to be keeping better control over
himself in comparison to the way she used to behave. However, it
was still amusing to watch and remember. Like the time she had
tied up Tenchi and pulled him into Washu's cave, then tried to
seduce him for the first time which didn't work, because of Aeka.
The fight that ensued was a lot of fun, and after it, Washu was
released from her prison, who joined the family. Ahhh, those were
the times.
Sasami was about to interrupt the two, but Ryoko stopped
her. "Just let them fight. Aeka needs this. It's been such a long
time since she's been able to vent her frustrations," Ryoko
whispered to the little princess.
She reluctantly nodded and continued to watch them, with
perspiration beading on her forehead.
"Don't you tell me what I should do, you jerk!" Aeka
nearly shouted.
"So what gives you the right to do that to me?!" he yelled,
matching Aeka's fury and volume.
A large spark arced between their eyes.
"I think it's time to make our exit. Dad should be here
any minute," Tenchi said to Washu, Ryoko, Sasami, and Ryo-
Ohki. He turned his attention back to Russ and Aeka, who looked
about ready to murder each other. "Hey guys, it's time to go. Can
you do this later?"
Both Russ and Aeka ignored him and continued to stare
each other down, seething with rage. Suddenly, Russ straightened
up, and once again stuck out his tongue, giving Aeka yet another
raspberry. "I've had enough of this for now. It's time to go. After
you, Little Prissy Princess," he smirked, continuing his taunting.
She turned her nose up at him, letting out a "Humph!" and
making her way toward the door, just as Nobuyuki's van pulled up
to the entrance.
"Perfect timing! Let's go, everybody," Tenchi
announced, as he made his way outside into the sweltering heat
again. "Ugh. I hope it cools off a lot tonight. This heat sucks."
"You got that right, Tenchi," Ryoko said, as she held onto
his arm, letting him guide her out of the mall and into the van.
Russ got in first, followed by Aeka, who rode shotgun, Ryoko,
Sasami, Ryo-Ohki, and then Tenchi.
"So, did you kids have a good time?" Nobuyuki asked as
he pulled away from the door.
"Yeah. We got everything we came for," Tenchi said,
patting the bags he carried with him.
"That's good. Anyway, your grandfather and myself
already ate, so you guys can either make your own dinner, or I can
quickly take you guys to a fast food joint so you guys can grab
something to eat there."
"Just take us home. No fast food place can match
Sasami's cooking," Ryoko declared, while grinning toward her.
"Okay, home it is then!" Nobuyuki turned on the stereo
and set it to an oldies station, causing Russ to cringe.
"Oh great, one of the only genres of music I never cared
for," he quietly grumbled to himself, but not quietly enough. Aeka
shot him a look and he returned it with a glare of his own, then
they both looked out the windows. "Little Prissy Princess," he
thought to himself, and then snickered.

Fortunately for them, the trip home was uneventful, aside
from the occasional glare between Russ and Aeka. Nobuyuki
made good time getting home, even though it was now rush hour.
He pulled into the driveway about twenty minutes after leaving the
mall, and shut off the van. Everybody piled out, and went into the
house to put their bags into their rooms and hang up the clothes
they had bought. Russ pulled Aeka's two tapes out of his bag and
took them downstairs, and set them on top of the TV, then went
outside.
Washu was going to return to her lab, and she told
everybody that she didn't want to be disturbed.
Aeka pulled out the two videos she had bought for Russ,
and tossed them onto her bed, glaring at them. Sasami walked into
the room a moment later.
"What's wrong, Aeka?" she said, concerned.
"Oooh, that Russ. He's so thick headed! Did you hear
those names he was calling me!? I'm the First Princess of Jurai! I
deserve more respect than that!" She started shaking with anger
again.
"Well, you were insulting him too, you know," she said,
smiling.
"Yeah, well, he started it," she said, but her resolve and
anger almost melted completely away, and she sighed. "That did
feel good though. I haven't fought like that in a long time. I
almost missed it." She was now smiling, and she patted her sister
on the head. "Well, what did you get, Sasami?"
She held up a couple of new dresses. "I got these, and I
also got some shorts, and t-shirts. I got Ryo-Ohki a couple of new
dresses too."
"That's nice, Sasami," she responded, looking at the
various items she produced out of the many bags.
"What about you, Aeka? Did you get anything?"
She slight frown creased her expression. "I got these two
videos for Russ, and this one for me," she said, holding up the
tapes.
Sasami took a closer look at both videos. "Are those
animated? They look really neat!"
"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have gotten them, not after the
way he treated me."
"You keep forgetting that you were doing it too, Aeka,"
she frowned. "Well, go put those on the TV or something and I'll
make us dinner.
"Okay, I'll help you with that. I'm hungry too," she said
as her stomach rumbled lightly. "Oh my." She blushed, then left
the room and went downstairs, and Sasami followed. As she
approached the TV, she saw a couple videos already sitting on top
of it. Taking a closer look, she realized it was the two movies she
was looking at originally. She became surprised, and she looked
around the room, but nobody was in it, so then she looked outside
and saw Russ near the lake, as his ki exploded around him in a
green fireball. She watched him with interest, as he brought both
his hands out in front of him. Suddenly, he began firing ki blasts
into the air at a very high rate of speed, alternating from hand to
hand, and then quickly using both hands at the same time. A
moment later, he threw a couple of yellow discs into the air and
started firing more ki balls after it, resembling a machine gun.
"Barbarian," she said to herself, and then started giggling as she
watched him train.

Tenchi and Ryoko both went to their room, and emptied
their bags onto the bed. Tenchi had a much larger pile than Ryoko
did, as he made his way over to the closet to get a mass of hangers.
"You sure made me get enough stuff, Ryoko. I think I
went a little overboard," he said, looking flustered.
She giggled and hugged him. "It all looks good on you,
Tenchi. At least I'm not as bad as Aeka when it comes to what
style you wear."
Tenchi kissed her on the cheek. "Yeah, that's true. Poor
Russ," he said, making both of them start laughing. "What was the
deal with him, anyway? He was fighting with her like you used
to."
"I know. It's been so long since we've had a fight, that I
think she missed it. We really didn't have anything to fight over
anymore, except when she pesters me about doing house chores. I
think she needed that."
"You think so?" he asked, thoughtfully. "Well, as long as
they don't blow up the house like you two nearly did on several
occasions, I guess it's alright."
"Tenchiiiiii! I can blow up the house even without her,"
she grinned wickedly, as she pushed Tenchi onto the bed, kissing
him.
"Whoa," he yelled, then started laughing. "Come on
Ryoko! Let's put this stuff away," he said in between laughs and
kisses. She giggled and continued kissing him, as her tail swished
back and forth in excitement. "Ryoko! Come on now, I'm going
to get mad," he tried to say though his laughing. He made an
attempt to sit up but she pushed him back down, making little
cooing noises.
"I…" she kissed him. "Don't…" she kissed him again.
"Care…" she purred, as she continued kissing him. Tenchi
wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, giving her one
of his own crushing embraces.
"Now Ryoko, we have to put this stuff away, and Sasami
is making dinner," he said, as she continued to grope and paw at
him.
"So what," she moaned sensually, while she continued
kissing him. "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Well, I am. Come on, Ryoko," he begged.
She stopped and lifted herself up with her hands on either
side of Tenchi's head, her face tinged with hurt. "Don't you like
that?"
"I didn't mean it that way," he said, quickly. "But we
have other things to do, okay?"
"Wouldn't you rather do this, instead?" she said, her
voice pleading.
Tenchi grinned. "I've never done it before. But we have
other things to do first."
"I've never done it either," she said, causing Tenchi to
widen his eyes in total bewilderment. "What, you think I used to
sleep around?" Her expression became even more hurt.
He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I should've known
better."
"When you're an A1 class criminal, you don't get
attached to anybody. Not even for a one-night fling. Besides, I
was never interested in guys until I met you, Tenchi. Being a
criminal was fulfilling enough."
He smiled, and then pulled her down, kissing her. "I'm
sorry, Ryoko. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm just a little
timid." He frowned and thought a moment. "Really timid about
this kind of thing. It's all new to me."
"I'll have to fix that," she smiled, getting up off of him,
and hauling him up to a sitting position.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's get this stuff put away
and go get some dinner," he said, as his room started flashing with
colored light. Both he and Ryoko looked toward the window in
shock. "What the heck was that?"
They both ran to the window and watched Russ rapidly
shoot hundreds of various colored ki balls and discs into space.
"What is he doing?" Ryoko asked.
"He's probably training again. It's amazing how he can
do that."
"Well don't forget," she said, poking him, "that I can do
that too." His room filled with orange light has her sword flashed
into existence. She waved it around casually, and then let it vanish
as suddenly as it appeared.
Almost at that same moment, Russ stopped firing ki balls.
He held out his hand, as a small, green ball of energy formed in his
palm, and he squeezed. The ball quickly deformed and exploded,
shrouding him in a cloud of smoke. He tried again five more
times, and all five attempts to form a sword of his own blew up in
his face. He stomped his foot in frustration and restarted firing ki
blasts into the atmosphere, as Ryoko and Tenchi watched from
their bedroom window.
Ryoko giggled. "I guess he still can't form a sword."
"I can't either. I have to use Sword Tenchi in order for
me to use an energy sword, unless I call upon the lighthawk sword.
I wonder how the lighthawk wings would stand up against him?"
"Who knows? I'd rather not have to find out," Ryoko
said, worry in her voice.
"Yeah, but what about that Zorpheus guy he told us
about? From what Russ says about him, he is as strong as he is.
What happens if Zorpheus defeats him? None of us can beat either
of them right now. I want to be able to protect you guys from
whatever wants to bring harm to us."
Ryoko looked into his eyes and seeing nothing but
serenity. "Tenchi, that's so sweet. My own treasure defending his
captor," she said, kidding him on the cheek. "But it should be the
other way around. The pirate is supposed to defend her treasure."
"No, I would never have it that way," he said, looking her
in the eyes.
"Tenchi, listen to me. You're the single most important
thing to me. If something should ever happen to you, I'd die,
because I'd have nothing left to live for."
Tenchi's eyes went wide in shock. "Ryoko, don't talk
like that. It's morbid," he said, pulling her close and sitting back
down on the bed. "You are the single, most important thing to
me."
"But it's different for me, Tenchi. You are the only thing
I've got, and you're the only person who ever truly cared about
me. Likewise, if something were to happen to me, you'd be the
only one who would care. You're my life, Tenchi," she said,
almost on the brink of tears. "You're everything to me. The rest
of the universe could cease to exist, but as long as I have you, I
could live with it. I'd destroy everything, just to be with you. And
I'd follow you into death, as well. I could never bear the thought
of losing you."
Tenchi hugged her tightly. "Ryoko… I'm not just the
only person who would care. Everybody here would miss you in
his or her own way." He hugged her tightly. "I don't think you'll
ever lose me, or will it ever come to that. I'll make sure of it, and
Russ would, too. As you know, good always triumphs over evil."
Ryoko looked up at him and smirked, as a tear fell from
her eye. "So you think." She kissed him. "Remember that I was
the evil space pirate for a long time, and nobody stopped me."
"Oh? And what am I? Chopped liver?" He started
chuckling.
She thought a moment. "You're right. You are the only
one to ever stop me." She hugged and kissed him again, and he
did the same.
"Come on, Ryoko," he whispered into her hear, his voice
almost inaudible. "Lets get this stuff put away and go get some
dinner."
She nodded and got up off the bed, as they both sorted out
their clothes and put everything away, until the house started
shaking. "Now what is Russ doing," Ryoko said, irritated. She
went to the window and looked outside, but he was just standing
there, looking up into the sky. Tenchi looked up in the same
direction he was, and saw something coming out of the
atmosphere.
"I think Kiyone and Mihoshi are home," Tenchi said. He
quickly hung up the rest of the stuff and left the room, and Ryoko
followed. They both went outside and joined Russ, as a large
vessel neared the house. Aeka poked her head out of the kitchen,
catching a glimpse of Ryoko and Tenchi as they ran outside. A
few moments later, a large, red ship landed in their backyard.
Kiyone and Mihoshi both exited the ship and walked
over. "Hi guys! We got a new ship!" Kiyone said, gesturing to the
massive hulk sitting behind her. "It's a newer Yagami class vessel.
It's a lot better and more comfortable than that dinky patrol shuttle
we were forced to use."
"Congratulations! It looks really nice," Tenchi said,
walking over to Kiyone.
"Yeah! Galaxy Police headquarters had handed these
things out to just about everybody, but we were one of the last to
get one," Mihoshi pouted. "You'd think they'd give them to
everybody at once."
"Yeah, it would've been nice to have one of these things
when they started producing them, but oh well. We have one now
and we shouldn't complain." She turned back toward everybody.
"Well, anyway, what about dinner? I'm starving!"
"Yeah, me too. All we have on board are these cardboard
ration bars because we can't afford…" Mihoshi had a hand over
her mouth.
"Shut up, Mihoshi!" Kiyone looked at everybody and let
out a nervous laugh. "What about that dinner?" she asked again.
"Sasami should be just about finished with it. Let's go
see," Russ said, making his way back to the house. Everybody
followed suit and went inside. Sasami was putting the last of the
dishes on the table.
"Oh, you're all just in time for dinner!" Sasami beamed as
they all took a seat. "I hope everybody's hungry! I know I sure
am!"
"Yum!" Russ was almost drooling over himself. Aeka
giggled lightly, noticing him. "All this stuff looks so good! But I
better wait until all of you are done eating, and then I'll eat the
leftovers."
"Nonsense. You sit there and eat with us," Aeka told
him, pulling him down to a seat next to her.
He quietly growled to himself and sat down. "Being
ordered around by a woman! What's next?!?!" he thought to
himself. "Whatever." He said, aloud, picking up a plate and filling
it with food.

Dinner had past without incident, except for Ryoko's
subtle flirting with Tenchi, and the occasional glare between Russ
and Aeka. Once the table was cleared off, everybody went off to
do various evening activities. Kiyone and Mihoshi went back to
their ship to set it up the way they wanted it. Russ sat down at the
organ, plugged in the headphones once again, and began to create
the little theme he promised Sasami, randomly hitting a few keys,
until something sparked his imagination. He hit the record button
on the computer and began playing. Sasami and Ryo-Ohki sat in
front of the TV, playing a video game. Aeka had gone off for a
walk in the forest, with the sun setting in the distance, and the
temperature dropping steadily, but slowly. Many large clouds
lingered in the sky. Ryoko and Tenchi went to their room and
retrieved the present for Aeka, and noticed that she was walking
off toward the forest. They quickly left the house and caught up
with her.
"Aeka! Hold on a minute," Tenchi called, as he jogged
over to her, with Ryoko floating by his side. "Wait up!"
Aeka slowed down her pace and allowed them to catch
up. "Yes Tenchi? What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked,
looking worried. She stopped and faced them.
He shook his head. "No, nothing is wrong. At least, not
at the house." He produced a small box from behind his back.
"Aeka, Ryoko and myself noticed you seem to be a little depressed
lately, so we bought you a little gift, from both of us, in hopes that
it would make you feel a little better."
Tenchi thought about his words and how much he wished
they could've expressed the true depth of the feelings that he had,
and how much he valued their friendship. He wished he could've
presented his words and the gift with much more grace, but he was
never really good at doing this sort of thing. He watched Aeka's
expression go from worry to mild shock, and he grinned in
response. Ryoko also smiled.
"This is for you, Aeka, from both Tenchi and myself. I
hope you like it," Ryoko said, as Tenchi handed over the box.
"You shouldn't have," she whispered, accepting the box
as graciously as she could. She gave a small bow, and Tenchi and
Ryoko did too. She removed the box top, revealing the glittering
gold necklace, and the shiny amethyst stone on the pendant. She
gasped, placing a hand over her mouth as she did, and a few tears
started streaming down her face. "It's… beautiful," she said,
choking back a sob.
"This isn't quite the reaction we were hoping for," Ryoko
whispered to Tenchi, but Aeka overheard it.
"No, no… it's wonderful," she said, lifting the gold out of
the box and letting it hang from her hand, watching the small bird
swing back and forth, catching the dim sunlight and glittering with
radiance. She admired the jewelry for a few moments, and then
put it back inside the box, sliding it into her kimono. She grabbed
Tenchi in a crushing hug, sobbing quietly on his shoulder. "Thank
you, Tenchi," she cried, squeezing him a little tighter, and then
letting him go. She looked up at Ryoko, moved over to her, and
gave her a hug too. "Thank you too, Ryoko. You guys mean so
much to me."
"You're welcome, Aeka," Ryoko said, holding the
princess in a firm grasp. "It's the least we could do, to let you
know we still care very much about you and your feelings."
"Aeka, we did it because we still care about you and love
you. We don't want to see you depressed anymore, so we had to
try to make you happy again."
Aeka sniffled and let go of Ryoko, and took a step back,
pulling out the necklace again and looking at it.
"The bird is a phoenix," Tenchi explained. "It means a
sign of unsurpassed beauty. We thought it would be the perfect
gift and meaning to give to you."
Aeka looked up, stunned at both Tenchi and Ryoko, and
her tears began anew. She grabbed Tenchi in another hug, nearly
crushing the life out of him. He returned her embrace, and gave
her a little kiss on the cheek. "We will always love you, Aeka.
You're the greatest friend I've ever had."
Ryoko swallowed a lump in her throat. "That goes for me
too, Aeka," she said, quietly.
Aeka had never felt so moved by people, in her entire life.
Before she had crash-landed on Earth, she had attended many
marriage meetings, trying to find a suitable husband, besides
Yosho, that would strengthen her home. It was not her place to
choose a husband out of her own feelings, because it was
considered very selfish. The men she had met at those meetings
had always presented her with gifts, ranging anywhere from the
galaxy's finest silk to the most extravagant jewels that could be
found. However, all of those meetings seemed so… false.
Everything was carefully planned out, as if they were following a
script, and not their hearts.
The simple gold necklace that Ryoko and Tenchi
presented to her was nothing in comparison with the priceless
jewelry she was presented with during those marriage meetings,
but the meaning behind the gift was worth more to her than all the
gold and jewels in the entire universe. She continued to clench the
small bird in her hand, with the shining amethyst gem that matched
her eyes perfectly, and she really cherished the meaning behind all
of it. It was a feeling that words cannot describe, and it was the
most beautiful, wonderful, most fulfilling emotion she has ever
felt.
Her tears began once more, slowly trickling down her
face. "Thank you, Tenchi, and Ryoko, for the gift. What you have
given me is almost worth more than anything I've ever gotten
before, and I'll treasure it, always."
"It didn't cost that much," Tenchi said, holding her and
gently scratching her back.
"No," she sniffled. "The meaning behind it all is the most
valuable gift you have given me. I… don't know how to repay
you."
"We didn't give this to you expecting to be repaid. We
gave it to you because… because we care about you, and we
wanted to let you know that we still care about you. All we want is
your continued friendship, and nothing more," Tenchi told her,
giving her a reassuring squeeze, then letting her go.
She let out a heavy sigh, and dried her eyes with the
sleeve of her kimono, then smiled. She held up the chain once
more, looking at the glittering amethyst as it caught the remaining
rays of sunlight before the sun disappeared behind the shrine.

"Hey Sasami?"
"What is it, Russ?" she asked, moving next to him.
He looked over at the karaoke machine. "Do you like to
sing?"
She smiled. "Yeah, just about everybody here does.
Ryoko, Aeka, Washu, Kiyone, Mihoshi, and myself all have sang
songs before. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I finished your theme, but it's kind of short. I was
just curious if you'd like to sing something. I have another piece
floating around in my head, and I wanted to know if you would
sing it."
Her eyes went wide as she gasped, and gave one of the
cutest smiles Russ had ever seen. "Yes! I'd love to!"
Smiling, Russ patted her on the head. "I'll write up the
lyrics tonight, and I should have the song ready by tomorrow."
"I can't wait!" She bounced lightly on her heels as Ryo-
Ohki meowed her enthusiasm on top of her head.
Russ chuckled. "Ryo-Ohki, you're so cute," he said,
scratching around her long, floppy ears. "I'm surprised I haven't
sneezed that much around here. I wonder if I'm finally able to
cope with my allergies." He tried breathing through his nose, but
snorted. "Well, at least I'm not sneezing."
Sasami giggled. "Can I hear my song now?"
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that. I saved it to this
disk here, so you can play it back whenever you want. But
anyway, I hope you like this. I haven't really decided what to call
it. 'Happy Sasami', 'Sasami Kawaii', and 'Cute Sasami' all seem
to fit this. But anyway, here it is." He pulled the plug to the
headphones, hit the play and record buttons on the computer,
turned up the volume, while the sound of drums started playing
through the speakers, along with other various instruments. The
song progressed, and Russ began playing the main instruments.
He used a xylophone on the lower keyboard, and some other
instrument on the upper keyboard while he played along with the
rhythm, keeping perfect time.
Tenchi, Ryoko, and Aeka were just outside the door, out
of sight, as they all sat on the porch. They all heard the music
coming from the living room, and stopped talking to listen. As the
song progressed, Tenchi thought about the very first time he met
Sasami, when she arrived to pick up her sister. He was looking up
toward the sky, and noticed a white vapor trail forming behind
what he originally thought to be a jet, until it started darting all
over the place, making circular patterns. Backing up from the
shock, he tripped over a tree root and fell over, and then heard
someone giggling at him from behind. He rolled over and looked
up, and that was the very first time he saw Sasami. He snickered
to himself, remembering how silly he must've looked.
Russ finished the song about a minute and a half later,
faded the music out, and hit the stop button on the MIDI computer.
He turned toward the little princess. "So, does it get the Sasami
seal of approval?" he asked, smiling.
She nodded. "Thank you! That was so nice of you to do
that for me."
"It's your own personal theme. You can play it back
whenever you want. Just pop the disk into the organ and load up
the song, and hit the play button. The whole song is complete, so I
don't have to sit here and play any extra instruments. But now,
I'm going to work on another song, and this one will probably take
me a lot longer to complete than the one I just did. It will have a
lot more instruments, and it will be kind of like a rock song. I
think you'll like it."
Sasami gave him a little hug. "I'm sure I will. And I get
to sing along with this song?"
Russ nodded, and Sasami clasped her hands together in
excitement. Ryo-Ohki started meowing like crazy, then jumped
off of Sasami's head onto the bench, next to Russ. She looked up
at him and started meowing even more.
"What do you want, Ryo-Ohki?"
She meowed a few more times and nodded her head
toward the organ.
Russ watched her, perspiration forming on his brow. "Do
you want to play the organ?"
She shook her head and meowed a few more times,
nudging him then nodding toward the organ again.
"I think she wants you to make her a theme too," Sasami
said, reading the cabbit's thoughts almost as if she were
telepathically connected with it, as Ryoko was. Ryo-Ohki meowed
an agreement and nodded her head.
"So you want a theme as well, eh? Well, I guess I can do
that for you, you cute little thing," he chuckled, scratching on top
of her head. He sighed. "Well, I'm going to do this new song,
starting right now. I've actually got it all planned out in my mind,
and all I've got to do is put it into the organ," he said, excitedly.
He plugged the headphones back in. "I'll be doing this for a while,
Sasami, so don't disturb me. Actually, even if you did, I probably
wouldn't notice!" Laughing, he put the headphones back on,
changed the instruments, hit the record button on the computer,
and silently began playing.
Ryo-Ohki jumped off the bench and resumed her perch on
top of Sasami's head, as she went outside, trying to escape some of
the heat from inside the house. She stopped as soon as she exited
the door, seeing Aeka, Tenchi, and Ryoko, all sitting on the porch,
quietly conversing with each other.
"What are all of you doing out here? It's getting dark,
and it looks like it's going to rain," she said, pointing to the many
clouds that were now blanketing the darkening sky. Walking over
to the group, she noticed that Aeka's cheeks were stained with
tears. "What happened, Aeka?"
She looked up at her younger sister. "Nothing, Sasami.
They just gave me the most perfect gift I could have ever gotten
from anybody."
Letting out a huge sigh of relief, she smiled. "So you
liked the pretty necklace that Ryoko and Tenchi picked out for
you?"
"Yes." She held it up by the chain for Sasami to see.
Looking at it for a long minute, she lowered her hand and smiled at
her two very best and closest friends.
"Aren't you going to put it on, Aeka? It would be rude
not to."
"Oh my gosh, I never even thought of it. I've just been
admiring it this whole time," she giggled, then unfastened the
chain and redid it behind her neck, and allowing it to drape over
her kimono. She thought a moment, and then put it under her
clothing.
"Why did you do that?" Tenchi asked.
"Now, it's closest to my heart, as you two are," she told
them. "I'll never take it off. Never."
"That's so sweet, sis," Sasami said, giving Aeka a hug,
then Tenchi, and then Ryoko. "I'm so glad everybody is happy
again."
"Me too, Sasami," Aeka responded, smiling warmly.
"I'm so glad to have friends like I do here."
"I second that," Ryoko added.
"I agree as well," Tenchi said.
"And I agree with you guys!" Sasami giggled. A few
moments of silence passed. "So, now what do we do?"
"We could watch one of the movies I bought today,"
Aeka suggested.
"Good idea! What did you get, Aeka?" Ryoko asked, her
tail twitching lightly.
"I got 'Gone With the Wind', a movie called 'Titanic',
and another movie, that I just forgot the name to," she laughed. "I
bought Russ a couple movies too. One of them is called 'Blue
Planet', which looks like an action movie, and the other one is
called 'Titan A.E.', which looks like an action or adventure
movie."
"That's a lot of choices. What do you girls want to see?"
Tenchi said, looking back and forth between Aeka and Ryoko.
"I think I want to see Titan A.E. It sounds cool," Ryoko
suggested.
"I was thinking about Titanic, myself," Aeka added.
"Blue Planet sounds really neat," Tenchi recommended.
All three of them looked at each other in surprise and
laughed, then looked at Sasami. "You pick one of the three movies
we want to see," Aeka demanded. "I don't care which one."
"Why don't you play Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Sasami
asked.
Again, the three looked surprised, but obliged. All three
of them balled up their fist, and shook it three times. Aeka got
paper, both Ryoko and Tenchi got scissors.
"You're out, Aeka!" Sasami giggled and Aeka frowned.
"Now for the tiebreaker!"
Tenchi and Ryoko stared each other down as they balled
up their fists again, and shook them three times. They both picked
scissors again. Raising an eyebrow, Tenchi balled up his fist
again, and Ryoko did the same. They shook their fists three times,
and this time Ryoko picked paper, and Tenchi picked rock.
"Yay! We're going to see Titan A.E.! I'll go make some
popcorn!" Sasami ran inside the house, leaving Ryoko grinning
from ear to ear at Tenchi and Aeka.
"Well, you win. It should be a good movie though, from
what I hear," Tenchi stated, looking over at Ryoko. "Shall we go
inside?"
"Of course. We can't see it sitting out here," Ryoko
grinned, the sarcasm tainting her usually sweet voice.
"Ha, ha. Glad to see your normal sense of humor has
returned," Aeka snickered. Ryoko continued to grin while she
stood up. Aeka and Tenchi both got to their feet, and they all went
into the house together, and sat down at the couch. A few minutes
later, Sasami walked in, carrying a large bowl of buttered popcorn.
Aeka looked over at Russ, while he continued to play his
latest piece. "What's he doing now?"
"Russ is making another song that I can sing to," Sasami
smiled. "He said it was like a rock song, whatever that is."
"Oh? Well, we'll all have to hear it when he finishes. I
wonder if he'd be able to play something that I've got."
Ryoko and Tenchi both looked at her. "What do you
mean, Princess?" Ryoko asked.
"Well, it's not really a song. Just lyrics. It doesn't even
have a title. I had written it a while ago, but never made any music
to go with it."
"Give it to Russ. I'm sure he could come up with
something. So far, he's done some pretty amazing stuff," Tenchi
suggested, gesturing to him, who had his back turned, and was
rocking back and forth in rhythm to the music. The thumping of
the keys was rather noisy, and they could faintly hear the
instruments coming through the headphones.
"He sure plays that loud," Ryoko mentioned. "I can
actually hear it."
"Me too. Oh well. Sasami? Would you do the honors
and start the movie, please?" Tenchi asked, smiling.
"Sure thing!" She got up off the couch and went to the
TV, pulling the cellophane wrapping off of the tape, and putting it
in the VCR. She turned the TV on and picked up the remote, then
returned to her seat on the couch. A few moments later, the
opening previews came up on the screen, which Sasami fast-
forwarded over. She hit the play button when the previews ended
and the movie began. Turning up the sound a little more,
drowning out the thumping of the keys on the organ. She slid up
next to her sister and leaned against her, munching a few kernels of
popcorn, as the opening credits came up on the screen and the
music began to play.

A little over an hour and a half later, the ending credits to
the movie began scrolling up the TV. Tenchi, Ryoko, Aeka, and
Sasami all stood up and stretched, giving their bodies some much-
needed movement. For the whole movie, they watch with
unwavering interest, really engrossed in the action. Russ had
stolen a couple glances over at them when he was switching
instruments, but they were all watching the screen intently. Even
Aeka, who wasn't into anything much except for soaps and chick
flicks, watched it, hardly ever allowing her eyes to wander.
"Wow! That was an excellent movie!" Tenchi exclaimed.
"I really enjoyed that."
"Yeah, I did too, even though it wasn't my style of
movie," Aeka stated. "He has better taste in movies than I
thought."
"That was really neat. It reminded me of outer space and
the many battles I had fought with patrol craft and police officers,"
Ryoko said, eliciting a stare from Tenchi and Aeka. Sasami just
giggled. "What… It's what I used to do. But anyway, that was a
good movie. They had an interesting way of animating that."
"Yeah, I agree. That whole movie, except for the
characters, was animated entirely using computers. I bet Washu
would like this movie and the Blue Planet movie that we got."
"Maybe, maybe not." Aeka looked at the clock on the
wall. "Well, I'm tired. I'm going to turn in for the night. Thank
you for the wonderful gift, you two," she said, giving Tenchi a
hug, and bowing to Ryoko. "See you in the morning."
"I'm going to turn in too," said the little princess. Ryo-
Ohki meowed an agreement and yawned. "See everybody in the
morning."
"Good night, Sasami, Aeka. Have a good night's sleep."
"I'm sure we will, Tenchi." She smiled as she floated up
the stairs, exercising her new ability to fly. She lightly landed on
the floor and looked down, seeing Ryoko's grin and showing one
of her own. She disappeared into the hallway, on her way to the
bedroom. Sasami followed a moment later.
"Well, Ryoko. We sure had a busy day, didn't we?"
"Yeah. It all worked out perfectly. You're so sweet and
kind, Tenchi," she said, grabbing him in a kiss.
"Thanks," he said, after she let him go. "You are too.
Well, anyway, are you ready for bed?"
"Yeah, let's turn in a little early tonight," she said, a little
evil twinkle in her eye and grinning, showing the tips of her fangs.
Her tail twitching increased as well. Tenchi noticed it and a little
sweat beaded on his head.
"Ryoko… I hope you're not thinking what I think you're
thinking."
"And what would that be, Tenchi dear?" she said, taking
his arm and kissing him on the cheek.
He shook his head. "Never mind. Let's just go to bed."
They walked upstairs to their bedroom, and went inside. Tenchi
undressed himself, except for his boxer shorts, and slid into the
bed, making sure to turn out the light. Ryoko shed all her clothes,
and floated over him, phasing through the sheets like a phantom,
pressing herself close to him. She wrapped her arms around him
and squeezed, feeling the warmth of his body against hers, and
then started kissing him on his face, slowly working her way down
his neck.
"What are you doing, Ryoko?" he said, not objecting, but
more out of curiosity.
"It's early to go to SLEEP, Tenchi," she purred
seductively, kissing him on the lips.
He broke out in a cold sweat, looking over at her feline
eyes, which were filled with hungry lust, as she continued to kiss
him.
"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Ryoko. We're
not married or anything."
"Not yet, Tenchi. But it's inevitable."
"But still…"
"Shhh, stop objecting. I've waited for over a year… a
year and a half, to have you Tenchi, all to myself. I can't stand to
wait any more." She whispered into his ear.
He fell silent, and contemplated the idea. He had the
desire as well; since he had the most beautiful woman he had ever
laid eyes on, in bed next to him. Here was a woman who loved
him, and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. She was
willing to die for him, and to die with him. Her love for him was
downright obsessive and almost scary, but it was one of the most
comforting feelings he had ever felt.
Resolving his conflict, he looked at Ryoko, who looked
back at him with her golden, kitten eyes, pleading, and he smiled,
kissing her on the lips and pulling her close. He ran his fingers
through her soft, cyan hair and caressed her face, looking into her
eyes with acceptance.
"Oooh, Tenchi," she moaned, kissing him once again, and
squeezing him tightly. "Prepare to be plundered," she whispered.
"You're all mine, tonight." She kissed his cheek. "And if you try
to run away," she said, balling up her fist in front of his face,
baring her fangs, "you're going to get it."
"I'm all yours, Ryoko. Always, and forever," he
whispered.
They both lost something that night, besides a good
night's sleep, and gained a whole lot more.

Aeka lay on her futon, feeling tired, but not able to fall
asleep just yet. She reflected on the events that day, and how it
turned out so well. Even her argument with Russ felt good.
Feeling that he probably didn't mean anything that he said to her,
made her feel even better. She reached up to her neck and fingered
the gold phoenix that hung on the chain, sighed, and smiled. It was
the absolute perfect gift anyone has ever given her. The meaning
behind it was a landslide of emotion, and all of it was positive and
good. She thought about both Tenchi and Ryoko and them being
together, but now, it didn't seem so bad. They both still cared for
her, deeply, and they showed that to her today.
"Aeka? Are you still awake?" Sasami whispered.
"Yeah," she quietly answered. "What is it?"
"How do you feel, right now?"
"I feel…" she thought a moment to describe how she
really felt. "Wonderful. I feel so happy and fulfilled right now. I
feel really, really good."
A soft sigh was heard from Sasami's futon. "I'm so glad
everything worked out so well today."
"Yeah, you and me both, Sasami. Even fighting with that
big, dumb barbarian called Russ was fun. I haven't done that in a
very long time. It felt really good to release those pent up
frustrations."
Sasami giggled. "You two were acting like a couple of
kids my age, today. It was really funny to watch, but I was
worried too. I'm glad you two didn't start blowing up the mall or
anything."
"Sasami!" Aeka sat up and glared at her sister. "I would
do no such thing."
"Oh yes you would." She giggled even harder.
"Remember that time when we went to go visit Kiyone and
Mihoshi at their first apartment? You and Ryoko got into a fight
and nearly blew the place apart."
"Uhhh… That was a long time ago, Sasami. I've matured
since then." She lay back down, staring up at the ceiling, her face
flushed hot from embarrassment.
"Okay." Silence ensued for a few minutes. "Aeka?"
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me a bedtime story?"
"Yeah, I can do that for you." She thought a few
moments, and then settled on one of her old favorites.
Sasami fell asleep before she finished the story, but she
finished it anyway. She turned over in her bed, now lying on her
side, touching the pendant once more before drifting off to sleep
herself.

Mihoshi and Kiyone both came into the house through the
sliding glass door. The only illumination that was provided was by
the organ lamp that Russ had turned on, as he continued to work on
the music he was composing. They were both tired out from
working on their new patrol craft, but it had been worth it. All the
controls were now configured to something Kiyone found very
efficient, and Mihoshi was very happy to have a large TV in the
crew quarters. They both checked over the entire ship and made
certain that everything was in perfect, working order. The shields,
weapons, propulsion system, and all essential systems were
checked, and came out in perfect shape.
"Oh man, I'm beat. I'm glad we have tomorrow off too,"
Kiyone groaned as she trudged her way up the stairs to her room.
"I don't know why you're so tired, Kiyone!"
She turned and glared at her partner. "If you did
something besides sleep the entire time, I wouldn't be as tired and
you would be ready for bed! We could've been done in half the
time if you moved your lazy butt!"
"Shhh! You'll wake everyone up!" Mihoshi hissed.
Kiyone's stern resolve melted away into drowsiness.
"I'm going to bed. I'm beat."
"Yeah, I guess I should go to bed too." Mihoshi followed
her partner into the bedroom and plopped herself down on her
futon, not bothering to turn on a light. She quickly undressed and
slid under the covers.
"Tomorrow, we should look for another apartment to
move into. I'm tired of being a burden to the Masaki home,"
Kiyone muttered, as she slid under the sheets.
"I don't think we're that big of a burden. We're really not
here all that much."
"But still… The thought of living off of someone drives
me crazy. I feel like a teenager rather than a grown woman out on
her own."
"That's silly, Kiyone. They offered to take us into their
home."
"But it's not like me to take advantage of it for so long!"
She yawned, stretching out and getting settled in. "Oh, we'll argue
about this in the morning. I'm too tired right now."
"Okay. Good night, Kiyone."
"See you in the morning, Mihoshi."
Both Galaxy Police officers fell asleep only a few minutes
later.

Russ had just finished creating the music for his new
song. He stood up and stretched as his back, neck, and shoulders
popped from being still for so long. Groaning softly, he sat down
at the organ again, and played back the music once more, making
sure it was flawless. Hitting a few keys, he saved his work onto a
floppy disk, and turned off the organ and the lamp. Quietly
floating up to his bedroom, he slid open the door and turned on the
light, squinting from the sudden brightness. He sat down at the
desk and pulled out a sheet of paper that was in one of the drawers,
and a pencil, then began to write the lyrics that would go with his
song. He would present them to Sasami tomorrow morning for her
to learn and memorize.
"Tomorrow is going to be a fun day," he thought to
himself. That is, until a rumble of thunder came in from the
outside.
"Oh great. Rain. Oh well. At least it'll cool things off a
bit," he muttered to himself as he got up and opened his window,
letting the cooler air into his room. "I need a fan or something.
It's too quiet in this house. I'll have to go to my ship tomorrow
and get mine." He returned to the desk and sat down, humming
the song to himself has he continued writing the lyrics down on the
paper.
After a half hour, he dozed off, bonking his head on the
desk and rousing him back out of slumber. He looked at the paper
in front of him, and smiled, since he was now finished. He stood
up and turned out the light to the room, discarded all of his clothes
onto the floor except for his briefs, and plopped onto the bed,
falling asleep almost instantly, as the sound of the soothing rain
from the outside lulled him into a deep slumber.

Washu was in her lab, drawing up the plans for the new
bathroom Aeka had asked for. After they had left the video store,
she asked her if she'd make a bathroom inside the house, just for
the girls. Aeka had said that it was inconvenient to walk outside to
the onsen, just to take a bath. It was really inconvenient when it
rained, because as soon as you got out of the place, you had to run
back into the house, getting soaked the whole time. Washu had
agreed, and set to work.
After a few hours planning, she had finished, and fell
asleep just as she finished inputting the plans into her computer.
Several cushions automatically appeared under her, catching her
before she hit the floor, and allowed her a peaceful night's
slumber. She fell asleep with a smile on her lips, dreaming of
pleasant memories long ago, but not forgotten.