Eternafall

Chapter 1: I can kiss, but how do I do the Ecchi?

It was a slightly chilly day in February. To be more precise, it was Valentine's Day, a pretty big deal for girls across Japan. Especially so in the Masaki household, although it was a day that the hero of this story would rather skip, for all the stress it caused him.

Tenchi Masaki gingerly stepped out of his bedroom, hoping to sneakily grab his tools and run to the field before the girls he lived with jumped him. It was early, so he was about seventy percent sure Ryoko would still be asleep, likely recovering from her chronic hangovers. Ayeka was a bit more of a mystery, but even a princess of Jurai wasn't going to wake up at six in the morning. Or so he had thought.

As he slowly crept down the stairs and turned the corner, a surprising yet familiar head of aqua-blue twintails bumped into him.

"Ah, Tenchi! Good morning!" Sasami's warm smile greeted him as he regained his composure.

"Sasami, morning! Sorry about that…"

"Don't worry about it. Why are you leaving so early?" A cute yet curious look forced Tenchi to give in and confess. Sasami was a sweet girl after all, it wasn't like she was going to cause a scene.

"Well… It's Valentine's Day, and I thought it'd be a good idea to avoid the usual chaos by sneaking out." A pained grimace flittered across Tenchi's face. Sasami nodded, accompanied by a pitied look.

"I understand. I can buy you a little extra time when they do wake up." The little princess giggled, tilting her head. "You'll need a big head start."

"I'll owe you one, thanks Sasami!" Smiling in thanks, he turned to leave, but a hand grabbed the back of his shirt. Looking around in surprise, he noticed that she was blushing slightly.

"W-what is it?" He noticed that the young girl had started to fidget slightly.

"W-well, I know Valentine's Day can be a bit annoying to you but…" The hand she had behind her back was drawn out, along with a small decorated gift. "I wanted to give you this."

With a trembling hand, she handed the box over. It was decorated in the same shade of blue as Sasami's hair, but with a small, pink ribbon tying it together.

"T-they're Valentine's chocolates. I made them… myself." She finished shyly, looking away from her embarrassment. Her shy demeanour and sincerity caused Tenchi's heart to flutter. On the one hand, he was happy beyond belief that he'd received chocolates, and in a way that caused him no physical or mental stress. But on the other hand, another set of emotions was beginning to worry him.

Sasami was the youngest female of the household, putting aside Jurai trees and the cryogenics that had the young princess sleeping in her spaceship for seven hundred years. Although she had been living at the Masaki household for a number of years now, physically she was still around twelve years old. With this in mind, he wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Thank you Sasami… I…" He stuttered his response, his brain stalling.

"I know you have the other girls here to think about. And I know I'm still young, but I care about you just as much as the others do. Don't forget about me, okay Tenchi?" With a smile, she ran back to the kitchen, giggling.

Looking back at the box, Tenchi found himself smiling too. A lot had happened since everyone had arrived on Earth, and Sasami wasn't the same little princess she was when she had arrived. Without a doubt, things would change in the future too. Not just for Sasami, but for everyone.

"I gave them to him, now what?"

In the kitchen, Sasami pulled out a small book. It was a journal of sorts, filled with information gleaned from various different shojo manga. She had made sure it wasn't any of Tenchi's father's expired romance novels, so she was sure she was on the right track.

"Give him the chocolates, and be honest about how you feel." She read aloud. "Sincerity is important, and you want him to see your true character." She grimaced slightly. "My true character…"

Essentially, she had put about ninety percent of herself into her efforts earlier. The remaining ten percent was a whirlpool of emotions that she herself didn't quite understand yet.

"But if I had to think about it simply… I need to show myself in a way that'll get Tenchi to treat me more like an adult!" Lately, she had noticed that compared to the other girls, she was still being treated like a little sister. She wasn't completely against it, it was a nice feeling. But she didn't want to be the little sister figure forever.

"How about… a kiss?" She had pondered the idea for all but a nanosecond, after which she began twirling around the kitchen in a giddy daze, giggling madly.

"A kiss!? How can I kiss him!? He probably thinks I'm too young for something I probably know more than he does about… Not to mention, Ryoko and big sis will probably kill me." She sighed as she turned back to her journal.

"Ryoko's always doing those shameless things to try and get his attention. Like rubbing his face into her boobs." She peered down at her still-developing chest. "We've still got a long way to go before we can use such a weapon." She sighed despondently.

"Unless…" She flicked through the pages in her journal. A particular passage caught her eye under the sexual attributes category.

Not all men go in for those with well-endowed bosoms. There are those with interests that lay with smaller breasts. There is also the fabled technique known to increase breast size, from simply having the partner massage them on a regular basis. Whether or not there is truth to the technique has yet to be decided by the scientific community.

Eyes wide, she shut the journal forcefully. She looked back at her chest.

"Tenchi might be the type who's into the smaller ones. He always looks annoyed when Ryoko forces her boobs in his face, and she has a decent amount of material to work with. Maybe I'm in with a shot! And if not, he could try massaging them to his size…" The logical part of her brain finally caught up with her, bringing with it a fresh torrent of embarrassment.

"How on Earth am I going to ask him to do that!? Not only would it look bad on him, but he'd probably be way too embarrassed. He's not exactly noted for his abilities in love, having his own personal harem aside." Mulling her ideas over in her mind, a spark of inspiration suddenly shot through her mind.

"What if I tried that…?" She whispered.

After a hard day working in the fields, Tenchi was drenched in sweat. Throughout the day, he'd been inevitably bombarded by Valentine gifts from all of the other girls, and had a collection of chocolate stacked by his empty bento box that would make most Japanese High School boys want all kinds of death for him.
He half-smiled, half-winced at the collection. They had all tasted really good, even Ryoko's had improved considerably since the previous year. Probably because the alcoholic volume was now only a single percent of the whole thing. But as usual, Sasami's had been the best by far. A hidden layer of strawberry and raspberry has been at the centre, which dissolved into his tongue as he bit into them. It had been heavenly.

Picking up the empty boxes, he made his way back home, fully intending on taking a dip inside the floating hot springs parked outside the house.

After a smooth trip home, he entered the hot spring and undressed. The familiar smell of minerals and steam hung in the air, he couldn't wait to get in. Every muscle screamed for the relaxing warmth of the water.

A few minutes later, he was in, soaking in the blessed waters. He sighed contentedly, stretching out his muscles.

"That's so good…" He moaned happily. If he could enjoy this small corner of paradise for more than ten minutes without having an unwelcome intruder, that'd be awesome.

But the fates were not smiling on him. Within minutes, he heard the door being opened and closed rapidly, and the sound of someone running behind him. Rolling his eyes, he turned around.

"Ryoko? Is that you? Come on, I've told you a million times not to bother me in here!" There was no-one near the doorway. Either his guest was Ryo-Ohki, a dangerous intruder, or it was one of the other girls.

But it couldn't have been Ryo-Ohki. The cabbit didn't know how to use doors in her animal form, and he didn't think her humanoid form was sneaky enough to be able to hide from him effectively.

Which left either an enemy, or the girls. And considering what day it still was, the line between them was starting to look very blurry.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He moved around cautiously. He didn't have his sword with him, so if it was an enemy, he was basically screwed. If it was any of the girls other than Sasami, he was pretty much screwed again, albeit with different context. And Sasami wouldn't just wander into the hot springs if she thought he'd be inside, right?

A sudden splash suddenly freaked him out. He had been facing the entrance, but the noise echoed from one of the higher platforms.

"Who's there!?" He yelled as he tried jumping up a level. A figure was trying to make a run for it, but slipped and fell down one of the waterfall streams back into the bottom level of the waters. For a split second, he could've sworn he saw a flash of blue hair on a relatively small, childlike figure.

"No way…" He whispered.

Once he had made his way down, he noticed the figure had knocked herself out, and was currently laying under the water.

"Crap!" Rushing in, he pulled the girl back to the surface. And his most unlikely choice was confirmed. His intruder was Sasami.

A moan escaped from the young princess's lips. Her head was lying on something warm and comfortable, but also slightly wet. Opening her eyes, she saw the roof of the hot springs. Her head was a little on the blurry side, but as she slowly slid back into reality, her memories began to hit her like a tsunami.

"Oh no…!" She had been lying on Tenchi's lap. "What happened?"

"Are you okay, Sasami?" The sound of Tenchi's voice echoed around her brain, colliding with embarrassing thoughts.

"You were out for a couple minutes. How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm okay…" She was clad in her towel and not much else. Her plan had been to sneak in and prepare herself before Tenchi had got home. When it all backfired, she had panicked and now she had no idea what to do.

Sitting up faster than the eye could see, she tried to move to stand up, but a sudden head rush ensured she made it to a kneeling position and stayed there. She had to move now, but her body wasn't making things easy.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Tenchi's worried voice came from behind her. She felt his hands gently grab her shoulders, elevating an already skyrocketing pulse.

"I-I'm fine!" She wasn't fine at all. She felt as though her face was radiating temperatures that would give the sun an inferiority complex, yet shaking as though it was just her and her towel trapped in the Arctic Circle.

"Hold on…" One of the hands on her shoulder moved up to her forehead. "Let's see if you have a fever or something."

After another five seconds of internal meltdown, Tenchi removed his hand. "I should've known. Soaking in the baths isn't going to let me check your temperature properly. We'll have to try this way."

Sasami had read enough manga to know where this was going. Her whole body was frozen, her thoughts fighting for control. Some of the more coherent ones went something like, "This is it! Take this chance, god knows when the next time is going to be!" Whilst the considerably louder thoughts were telling her to run, or were screaming so loud it was hard to discern anything else. Her eyes seemed to be lagging information to her brain, because before she even realized, Tenchi's forehead was touching her own, with everything else mere inches away.

That time seemed eternal. And whilst her brain had all but shut down, her heart was still pounding, pumping her emotions to the one thought that seemed to have not frozen.

"I want to kiss him."

If anybody had been looking in on the situation, they might have questioned why the green mark on Sasami's forehead was pulsing happily. It was a soft and gentle light, not like times of emergency in the past. But then, those same onlookers would probably be more preoccupied by the sight of the young princess of Jurai gently kissing the young Masaki prince.

Tenchi looked as though he had swallowed a bag of peeled lemons. His heart leaped out of his throat, causing him to jump away from the young princess, electrified.

"S-Sa-Sasami!? W-what are-". He stopped blabbering when he noticed that she had passed out, a happy smile accompanying her embarrassment-filled dreams.

"ohmygodohmygodohmy- What the hell did I do!?" It had been around ten minutes since she had awoken. The first two minutes had been giggles and dazed confessions to an imaginary Tenchi. For the rest of that time, her brain had kicked in, and now she was too scared to go downstairs, in fear of what the others would say if they had known what had occurred in the baths. But what was even scarier was Tenchi, or rather, his reaction.

Would he be angry? Scared of her? Confused? "He'll definitely be confused." She muttered out loud. "But if the others don't know, if might be okay…" Her thoughts paused when she heard a familiar space pirate's voice scream up the stairs.

"SHE DID WHAT!?" Ryoko was pissed. Ryoko screamed like that at her worst enemies, she was a dead girl! Rushed footsteps and a huge commotion on the stairs and Sasami was about ready to pass out again, hopefully to avoid the storm that was inevitably getting ready to kick her door down.

Seconds later, the maniacal space pirate phased into her room, the normal phasing sound tinged with electrical angry energy.

"Sasami!" Futon covers were indignantly thrown across the room as the crazed pirate began terrifying the poor girl. Screams were heard all over the house as Sasami emptied her lungs as loud as she could, hoping Tenchi or anybody sane would rescue her.

Ryoko jumped away as though she'd dropped a kitten, looking utterly terrified. Her usual angry demeanour Sasami had been expecting wasn't there.

"Sasami… It's Ryoko, remember? Tenchi told us you had a fever, that got us all worried since you're the only one who can cook and you pretty much hold this place together and, and…" She looked like she was about to cry. Sasami was utterly lost.

"Ryoko! We told you to let her rest, not give the girl a heart attack!" Tenchi came running in, his expression changing from anger to shock in a heartbeat as he witnessed the strange transformation that had overcome Ryoko. "Um… what?"

With a cry, Ryoko teleported out of the room, sobbing. Tenchi and Sasami stared at her vanishing point, before slowly facing each other.

"Yeah, she was really worried about you." He laughed nervously. With her fried nerves beginning to calm down, she too began to giggle.

"I-It's okay, she just surprised me is all." Thoughts of not being murdered by a housemate beginning to calm her down, her other pressing worries came back to haunt her.

"Tenchi, I'm sorry." Her eyes went to stare at her hands. She had caused trouble for Tenchi and the others. She hadn't meant any of it, but her wishes seemed to cause chaos.

"You've got nothing you need to be sorry for, Sasami. It's been a long day, and a lot of crazy things happened." He smiled, kneeling next to her. "I just want to make sure you're okay, and if you need to talk, just let me know."

He didn't seem to realize the magic powers of words like that. She already knew he was just being kind, that he would be the same for any of the girls in his life. But when it was just the two of them, and they were alone, she honestly felt like the happiest girl in the world.

"Thank you…" Her face was red again. She was glad her room was dark, although if she got anymore embarrassed, she'd begin to glow. "You're not going to ask?"

"About that kiss?" His unusual bluntness shocked her a little, so she simply nodded. She was almost dreading the answer.

"Well, you did tell me you cared for me just as much as the other girls this morning, I'm going to take a wild guess it has something to do with that." His gentle smile shone through again. "I didn't forget, not once these past 18 hours." He grinned cheekily. "I care for you too Sasami. I realize I have to make a decision someday, but I'm not going to leave you behind." Caught in a sudden embrace, Sasami suddenly found herself in between his arms, her head lying on his chest.

"Thank you Sasami. I don't know how to explain it well, but… Knowing how much you care, makes me happier than you probably realize. Thank you…"

And somewhere in the back of her head, her sweet side nuzzled into Tenchi's chest deeper, into the highest peak of bliss.
Her devilish side began rubbing her hands together, grinning evilly. "And with that, the beginning of this crazy tale has begun. We'll have to come up with more plans to make sure this guy looks at us, and only us!"

"Isn't that right, Angel?"

The angel Sasami nodded her head slowly, grinning. "Sure, plans, 'kay. But five more minutes, please…"

"Don't hog him!"