Cherry Blossom Girl

Cherry Blossom Girl

Chapter one: First Snow

The morning came in with an eerie silence that the little girl didn't like at all. The house, the forest, the sky, the trees, the lake; everything was completely silent, painted in wisps of white mist.

For some reason, the young princess was finding it hard to stay in bed. The un- easy feeling seemed to be crawling up underneath her and pressing on the back of her neck, breathing down into her face. So, she kicked off her covers, and tip-toed past her sleeping sister.

"I guess I'll make breakfast," the princess whispered to herself, slipping down the stairs.

Feeling alone and quite disturbed by the ominous lack of sound, the little angel face tried to be as quiet as she could, feeling as though any sound would wake some sort of invisible sleeping creature. Just as she was about to turn on the stove, she happened to take a glance out through the window, which was almost hidden by family pictures, flowers, spices, recipes, and other various objects. Out the window, to the little girl's amazement, was snow. That was the incredible silence that had been muffling the household.

Now, when I say snow, I mean SNOW. The window was completely blocked by it, except for the smallest hole in the middle. Through this, the girl could see a world of complete beauty. Sunlight glistened off the weighted down trees and the frozen over lake. Each object was incased in ice, frozen. This was the sleeping creature that the little girl knew she didn't wish to wake, the silent and peaceful serenity of the first snowfall. The girl sighed, taking in the beauty around her.

"I wish it could be like this all the time." The girl whispered. Which was followed by a loud crash.

"But at the same time, I really don't," the girl chuckled, finally pulling away from the magical scene and turning on the stove. This girl was Sasami, the crowned Princess of Jurai. This title she wasn't proud of; having power meant having to humble one's self, and that's exactly what Sasami planned to do.

"Come on Ayeka, am I too fast for you? Or is that big royal ass of yours making it hard to aim?" Ryoko cackled as she spun into the kitchen.

"Oh hi Ryoko, you're up early today!" Sasami said with a chime in her tone.

"Yeah, the cold woke me up," Ryoko growled. Sasami made a mental note to be extra careful around Ryoko; the cold always made her grumpier than usual.

"So, what 'cha makin' anyway, kid, I'm starving!" Ryoko asked, leaning over Sasami's shoulder to look into the pot.

"Nothing…yet! You'll see!" Sasami giggled, pushing her friend away with her hand.

"Aw, come on, Sasami, I'm so hungry!" Ryoko moaned dramatically, putting a hand to her forehead and falling to the ground.

"Ryoko, get off the floor, it's very bad manners," Sasami's sister, Ayeka, came into the room, holding her nose high and glancing down at Ryoko on the floor. "What else can you expect from space trash like a pirate…" Ayeka added under her breath. Instead of obeying, Ryoko rolled over on her stomach and used her powers to glide along the ground, making circles around Ayeka.

"Stop that!" Ayeka snipped, folding her arms.

Sasami shook her head. Always fighting she thought with a smile. She loved Ayeka very much, and Ryoko she'd come to know as a sister as well. Ryoko was over five thousand years old, but her attitude and appearance was that of a seventeen year old. Ayeka was no less that five hundred twelve, and took on the appearance of a young woman not a day over twenty. Sasami herself was two hundred four, but looked like an eight year old girl.

That was when Tenchi arrived, he came down the stairs, simple and kind the boy was, only seventeen. Ryoko and Ayeka were madly in love with him.

Ryoko immediately paused, her look going blank as she listened to his foot steps.

"Tenchi!" She squealed. She disappeared from the floor, and re-appeared with her arms around the boy, who looked rather uncomfortable.

"Good morning Tenchi!" She said happily. "You know what? I'm really very cold. I know a fun way to warm up…" Ryoko said, lowering her voice in a seductive manner and moving her lips to his ear.

"I think I'll pass, Ryoko," Tenchi said in a routine manner. Gently he took Ryoko's arms off of his body.

"Good morning, Lord Tenchi," Ayeka said, nodding to him and blushing in a flustered manner.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Ayeka," Tenchi said with a smile, nodding back.

Ryoko just scowled. "I'm cold," She repeated. With that, she disappeared.

Tenchi looked at the spot she'd been standing at for a moment, then brushed past Ayeka to the kitchen. Like a dog, she followed him, the poor thing.

That's when a cute little girl, at the apparent age of twelve (she was actually over 20,000 years old) emerged from a door under the stairs. She was truly adorable, long, wild red hair, sparkling green eyes. This is me, Little Washu, the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe!

"Good morning!" I said happily. "Huh, it snowed last night, did it," I commented, glancing at the window. It is my pleasure to be able to tell the first chapter of our story, as the first chapter really always is the most needed, for without a first chapter, there can be no last chapter! Ah ha ha ha, I'm so damn philosophical!

This story, I must warn you, is one of great pain, loss, violence, lies, and suffering. But in the midst of all these terrible things, there can also be found beauty, compassion, honesty, loyalty, and, of course, love.

At any rate, I came upon a usual morning scene; Sasami in the kitchen, Ayeka following Tenchi around like a servant, Mihoshi and Kiyone stumbling in the front door, and Ryoko with a pissed look, lying on a rafter that stretches across the ceiling.

"Hmm, let's see…" I murmur, tapping my chin with my finger. "What's missing here…" I could tell something was wrong, but I couldn't quite grasp it.

"Ryoko!" I shouted suddenly. She jumped about ten feet in the air and nearly fell off her perch, catching herself just in time with her flying powers.

"What the hell, Washu, you scared the shit out of me!" She shouted, still floating in mid air with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Some one is grumpy today…" I mumbled, "Sorry, I was wondering where Ryo-ohki was,"

"Huh… I dunno, I thought she slept in Sasami's room last night. Oy, Sasami!" Ryoko called. "You seen Ryo-ohki?"

"No, sorry Ryoko, I didn't," Sasami called, sliding onions off her chopping board and into the pot on the stove.

"That's odd. Oh well, she'll show up when she gets hungry," Ryoko sighed. Ryo-ohki was Ryoko's pet cabbit; part cat, part rabbit, and tripling as a spaceship.

"Hmm," This made me uneasy. Ryo-ohki and Sasami had gotten very close; The cute little fluff ball always rode around on Sasami's head, even when she was cooking.

Tenchi left the kitchen, Ayeka following close behind. "I'm going to go train with grandpa. I'll be back in time for lunch, Sasami," Tenchi said, making his way towards the door.

"Oh, don't you want breakfast Tenchi?" She called, "It's the most important meal of the day, you know!"

"I know, I think grandpa will give me breakfast. I'll see you all later!"

"See you later, Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka called. Ryoko snorted. Mihoshi and Kiyone waved, as I did.

Ryoko rolled off her rafter, disappearing in mid air and reappearing by the door. "Well, I think I'll go look for Ryo-ohki!" Ryoko said with a sigh. "Call me when breakfast is ready, Sasami, I'll be around," She phased through the door.

"Sorry, we're late, Sasami, we kind of got the bus driver angry 'cause we didn't have enough money since we spent it all on-" Mihoshi babbled.

"That's enough, Mihoshi!" Kiyone grabbed the poor clueless girl by the head, covering her mouth angrily.

"We have an early patrol today, we'll be leaving soon!" Kiyone called to Sasami. Kiyone and Mihoshi were partners as Galaxy Police officers, and they patrolled the Earth system. Kiyone was set on getting promotions, but unfortunately it was hard when she had Mihoshi as a partner, as the girl was a bit on the ditzy side.

"Alright everybody, time to eat!" Sasami called cheerfully. I made my way to the table, slightly uneasy about Ryo-ohki's disappearance.

What ever Ryoko was up to, it wasn't finding Ryo-ohki, because she missed breakfast.

After breakfast, as always, I went strait to my lab. It took me a while to figure out what I should do until lunch. Usually I had an invention or something to work on, but at the moment I was in those annoying stages in between finishing a project and making plans for a new one.

"Ah ha!" Finally, something interesting enough to occupy my valuable time with. I flicked up three levers on one of my keyboards. The huge screen above it obediently sprang to life, as it should. Sasami and Ayeka appeared, noiselessly washing dishes.

"Boring!" I hit the "next" key. Kiyone flashed to life, vacuuming the floor. Mihoshi dashed in the door, slid on her sock feet, and crashed into Kiyone, followed by pandemonium. Kiyone flew backwards, hit her back against the back wall, knocked over a flower pot with the vacuum she was still holding in her hand. It fell to the newly cleaned floor with a crash.

I snickered, but I'd seen things like this before between the two.

"Next!" Tenchi appeared on the screen, sparring with his grandfather.

My hand went to the next key, but something caught my eye, and my hand hovered above the glowing button. Ryoko sat in an oak tree (which looked dead when it was the midst of winter), not to close, not too far, the picture of happiness. I smiled, shaking my head at how such little things could make my pirate friend so happy. Ryoko was loveable that way.

She changed positions, stretching to her side so she could lie down. Ryo-ohki came into view, those cute little yellow eyes that mimicked Ryoko's peering out from behind her head. The cabbit climbed, a bit clumsily since she was still growing into her large paws, over the woman's shoulder to get a better view. The poor thing was trying hard to stay on her master's body, so her delicate feet wouldn't touch the snow.

I breathed I sigh of relief. I wasn't so sure why I had been so perturbed about the little pet's absence, but I felt better when she was around. It wasn't like her to go far from home; she was devoted to her pirate master… well, usually, unless she was eating a carrot.

Tenchi had taken a break, bowing to his grandfather and taking refuge from his exhaustion under the very tree Ryoko was alighted upon. The poor girl stiffened nervously and sat up. Just her luck, Tenchi looked upwards. He said something that made her blush, and I cursed myself for not having put audio in my lovely machine.

Recovering quickly, Ryoko jumped down from her niche in one lithe movement, and settled down beside Tenchi. He didn't look nervous at all. Ryoko smiled at him; he smile back. I'd seen them like this only a few times before, when I was doing a bit of…surveillance.

It was Tenchi's turn to be embarrassed, and I watched gleefully as a blush spread across his nose and cheeks. Ryoko laughed, and he smiled, the blush slowly dissipating from his face. I sighed, leaning back in my chair with a knowing smile. After all, I'm the greatest scientific genius in the universe. I should be allowed a knowing smile. I pressed the off button without looking up.

Several days after I dropped in on Ryoko and Tenchi's 'talking' thing, a mysterious note arrived on the Masaki's doorstep.

The day started perfectly normal, Ryoko was yelling at Ayeka, Ayeka was yelling at Ryoko, Tenchi was trying to calm them down and trying to evade getting hit with a flying object in the process.

"Girls, come on, it was just sake, nothing to get worried about!" Tenchi whined desperately, ducking as an energy blast from Ryoko soared past his head, narrowly missing him and Ayeka and exploding when it reached a pot of flowers behind him.

"I like sake!" Ryoko whined, folding her arms across her chest.

"Let's just forget about it, okay?" Tenchi pleaded.

"No way, Lord Tenchi I don't think you understand the situation at hand! Ryoko drank the last of the sake Sasami uses on special occasions!" Ayeka trilled.

"We can always buy some more," Tenchi reasoned.

"Yeah, Ayeka, we can always buy some more!" Ryoko cackled. Ayeka went red.

"Hey, you're not getting out of this yet," Tenchi warned.

"Yeah yeah," Ryoko giggled.

"How can you be laughing at a time like this, you space monster!" Ayeka exclaimed, jabbing her finger at the delighted Ryoko.

"You should try relaxing, Ayeka, maybe those wrinkles will go away!" Ryoko said, bursting into laughter. She obviously was getting a kick out of Ayeka's reactions.

"You're older than me!" Ayeka cried, incredulous.

"Ah, there lies the problem; I don't have wrinkles!" Ryoko broke into a fit of laughter all over again, clutching her sides as she watched Ayeka's face grow tight with frustration.

"I am so tired of you, space trash!" Ayeka cried.

"Really, Ayeka, come up with some new insults, please, you're boring me!"

Tenchi stepped in. "Enough, both of you, come on, let's eat," Tenchi said, taking them both by the hand and pulling them to the table. They both blushed, of course. I rolled my eyes at their foolishness, but I couldn't help cracking a grin.

Sasami was the last to sit. It never ceased to amaze me that she could sit down; she's usually doing is racing around, diligently cleaning, or cooking, or doing something else helpful.

The food was enchanting, as always. Sasami was a great cook, what ever she made.

"I think I'll go get the mail," Tenchi rose with a yawn, making his way to the door. The poor mailman had to climb up the side of a mountain to get to the Masaki's mailbox. Since the priest, Tenchi's grandfather Katsuhito, lived on the shrine even further up the mountain, his daughter, who'd past away many years ago, had decided to live near by. At any rate, it was almost painful to think of the poor guy jogging up all those flights of stone stairs, just to deliver mail to a house full of apparently mad women, with only two men to be found. That must have seemed quite awkward for the little guy, to.

The snow had melted soon after it'd come, but it was still freezing outside, with plenty of ice on the ground and the trees, and when Tenchi opened the door to come back inside, it sent in a gust of blistering air. Ryoko moaned, and sunk underneath the table.

"Be brave, Ryoko!" Kiyone chuckled.

Tenchi made his way back to the table with a single letter in his hands.

"Wow, we got a letter for once instead of bills!" Mihoshi said excitedly, leaning in to have a glance at the ivory envelope.

"Well, go on, open it up, Tenchi!" I encouraged, dropping my chopsticks to my plate.

Tenchi nodded, "I'll read it out loud," He said, sliding his thumb under the fold. His tan hand pulled out only a small square of white paper. It took him about three seconds to read, and I could see there was only about four or five words on it. Tenchi's usually tan face paled just a bit.

"Ryoko, it's for you," He said, handing her the card and biting his lip.

She read it over once, twice, then three times slowly. She was buying herself time to compose herself, I could tell by her expression, and she obviously knew who it was from.

"Well, Miss Ryoko, don't sit there gawking, what does it say?" Ayeka asked, wiping her mouth with a dainty hand.

"Heh," Ryoko said, letting out a nervous chuckle. "It sais 'I'm coming for your head, Ryoko,' Huh, seems as if some one has it in for me, doesn't it?" She said, running a hand down the back of her head. "Well, that isn't unusual," She said, immediately snapping back to normal. "What ever," She tossed it over her shoulder. Tenchi gave her a look, which I knew she saw, but Ryoko ignored it. She bent over her food, suddenly ravenous.

I sat back in my chair. By the way Ryoko reacted, I had a strong feeling she knew who'd sent the letter, and I knew she didn't like it at all. Who could have it in for Ryoko… I caught myself thinking. I chuckled to myself, earning several questioning glances from the table members. Who wouldn't have it in for Ryoko? There wasn't many planets she hadn't been to, robbing, assassinating someone for money, or something else of that nature.

I shivered at the thought of who'd be brave enough to face Ryoko one on one, without a gang to back them up, or a fleet of GP officers and their ships. Looking back, I see how foolish I was, and how forgetful.

Kiyone came to me later, after lunch was cleaned up and the chores were done.

"Hey Washu," She called, stepping cautiously into my lab. I was glad that my adoptive family had caught the drift to be guarded in or around my lab, and it never ceased to amuse me.

"Hello Kiyone," I called back. She didn't answer right away, which made me chuckle.

"To your left!" I called back.

"Oh, thanks," Kiyone said with small laugh.

"What brings you to my humble abode?" I asked, ceasing my furious typing and turning in my magnetically suspended chair to face her. I snapped, and another chair flew from the darkness and pulled up beside the detective.

"I was wondering if you had any clue who that creepy letter was from," She asked, watching my face carefully. I wasn't sure why she thought I would lie to her, but she did, which irritated me. We were friends, for the love of Tsunami, just because she was a detective didn't mean she had to interrogate me.

"If you stop cross-examining me, then maybe I'll respond," I said heatedly. It sounded worse than I thought it would.

"Sorry," She said, breaking into a tired smile, "I'm too used to being a detective, I guess,"

I nodded. "Well, I have a feeling Ryoko knows who it is," I said, "and it's probably only one person, since they said 'I'" I pondered, "and that makes them very bold,"

Kiyone took this in. "I agree, about the Ryoko knowing who it is part. I already asked Tenchi to ask her about it. I hope she doesn't blow up. You know how she gets when she's nervous," Kiyone pulled her long legs to her chest, resting her head on her knees.

"Mmm," I agreed, nodding my head a bit and mimicking her position.

"But could it really be only one of them? They're awfully brave to face Ryoko alone," Kiyone said with a yawn; she was tired from chores, most likely.

"You can never know for sure," I told her.

"Well, I'd better go help Mihoshi with the laundry. See you around, Washu!" Kiyone waved, sliding out of her chair.

"To the right," I reminded her as she left. I heard the closet door shut, and I leaned back in my chair.

Tenchi was back late from working in the fields, which of course upset Sasami a sizable amount, since he missed dinner.

"But I made his favorite!" The poor thing cried, folding her arms and giving Ayeka a hateful glare.

"Sasami, I'm sure Lord Katsuhito had his reasons to keep Tenchi later. Ryoko, I don't know why she wasn't here, but who cares anyway... Please come to bed!" She begged, kneeling to Sasami's level and trying to look her in the eye. The blue haired girl avoided her sister's gaze, tears welling up in her big pink eyes.

"Sasami, I'm sure he wanted with all his heart to eat with us," Ayeka assured her. "Let's go to bed,"

The younger princess let out a pitiful little sniffle, and nodded. The girls disappeared up the stairs.

I was watching the scene from the couch, my laptop in my hands. I chuckled at Sasami's adorable exigency for family time. I only wished the rest of us, including myself, could find pleasure in the littlest things, as Sasami and Ryoko somehow managed.

Finally, when he did come, he was followed by Ryoko. It'd been dark for a while now, and I chuckled as a fiendish thought entered my mind.

"What were you two doing out so late huh?" I cackled, retrieving a blush from Tenchi and a scowl from Ryoko (which confused me greatly). They both seemed in pissed off moods, so I decided to leave it be.

"Nothing, Washu," Tenchi yawned, rubbing his face into his wrist. Ryoko seemed to want to get out of that room as soon as possible.

A tense silence collapsed itself on the situation, with the exception of Kiyone turning the pages of her book, and Mihoshi giggling at something or other.

I examined the situation carefully; the uncomfortable look on Tenchi's face, Ryoko's eyes simmering. They avoided each other's eyes as they moved toward the stairs. It hit me, not exactly like a ton of bricks, but more like a hard poke in the back of my head.

Without turning around, I called, "So, what 'cha fight about?" I almost could feel their muscles tense behind me.

"Washu, please don't," Tenchi sighed.

"It's always better if you talk about it," I said, only partly sarcastic.

"Will you shut up?" Ryoko hissed crossly. I heard her phase out of the room behind me, and Tenchi head up the stairs. Something was hiding in this first snow, and I didn't like it. Not at all. Little did I know it would be hiding for a while.