Disclaimer:
I do not own Tenchi Muyo! or any of its characters. They belongs to Hitoshi Okuda, Naoko Hasegawa, Pioneer, Toei, and Funimation.
Summary:
Today is Mayuka Masaki's first day of high school, and her whole family has pitched in to make sure it's a good one. Rated PG just to be on the safe side. Roughly follows the 'Daughter of Darkness' movie timeline (which quite frankly, doesn't seem to fit any other Tenchi Continuity).
Summer had just started to end, gradually making way for autumn, but it was still hot as blazes out on most days, making the mountains and their cooling breeze a welcome place to live. During the winter, they would be covered in snow, and transportation would become more difficult, but for now it was just the ideal mix of hot and cool at the Masaki Shrine. Especially for anyone spending the morning out of doors.
The young girl in question had gotten up early to visit the shrine, ascending the many stone steps and passing by the torii gates to a small plot of land around the back of the shrine, on a small hillside. Here stood a line of small gravestones. The fallen members of the Masaki family. One already had incense lit in front of it, the one that read 'Achika Masaki.' Her grandmother, whom she'd never met. The one beside it was a little more roughshorn, almost ugly, but it cared for with the same tenderness as the young girl lit a stick of incense and set it in front of it to burn. It read 'Yuzuha.'
Her mother.
A cruder but more accurate term might have been simply 'DNA donor' but the young girl had been raised to try and forgive even those who'd done her and her family wrong. An easy lesson to learn when she'd gotten older and her many aunts had told her how half of them had tried to kill, capture, or harass the other half when they'd first met. So she'd made this little marker for her birth mother and tried to imagine that, deep down, for all the terrible things she'd done, she'd had some good in her.
Today she prayed for guidance, acceptance, and wisdom. Then she clapped her hands in front of her and rose to her feet. Things to do, after all.
"Mayuka! Come on, better get moving, you'll be late for school!"
Beaming brightly, the blue-haired girl spotted her father down the hill, at the top of the shrine's stairs, brushing away the gathered dirt and leaves. He was just about the only one who rose up in the morning even earlier than she did.
"Morning dad!"
"Morning Mayuka. Ready for your first day of high school?" Tenchi asked, leaning against his broom.
"Sure am! Any advice for me?" she asked.
"Just make sure you have fun, and don't be afraid to ask questions," he replied. "Oh, and no fighting anybody. Last thing we need is to get called to the principles office. Again."
"Oh sure, take all the fun out of everything. Thanks a bunch dad," she replied, lifting up on her tiptoes to reward him with a sweet peck on the cheek. He still flushed with embarrassment as Mayuka giggled and happily skipped down the stairs of the shrine.
Mayuka made her way to the house in record time, climbing up the stairs to her room and stuffing some books and study materials into her book bag, then heading down the hallway to the adjacent room where the Princesses resided. Sure enough, the elder sister, purple-haired Ayeka, was putting the finishing touches on her school uniform as Mayuka came skipping in the open door.
"Ah, Mayuka... I just finished. Here, go ahead and try it on," Ayeka said, handing the black garments to the blue-haired girl.
Mayuka wasted no time changing, prompting the purple-haired Princess to flee her room in embarassment. Mayuka smirked, still amused by her families antics. Sure, she understood nudity could be embarassing for some, but why did it have to be? Nothing was more natural and free than the human body.
Tugging the scarf and adjusting her skirt, Mayuka opened the doorway and called Ayeka back in, then struck a pose, one hand atop of her head, the other on her hip. "How do I look?"
"Absolutely beautiful," Ayeka said, her voice sounding just a bit strained. Was she... was she jealous?
Mayuka chose not to ask just in case she was right, it might aggravate her.
"Thanks for taking the time to fix it. I want to make a good impression," Mayuka said.
"I'm... sure you will," Ayeka replied. "Now best hurry, no sense standing there."
The blue-haired girl opened up her arms for a hug, and the purple-haired princess gently drew her in. Years of living as a virtual commoner on a backwater planet had helped her loosen up considerably, she only stiffened a little at the close physical contact. Naturally, Mayuka milked it for all it was worth, then skipped down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Her path was blocked, however, by a red-haired woman who stood almost a full foot shorter than Mayuka. Viviacious green eyes appraised her before breaking into a wide grin.
"You really pull off that sailor look, don't you Mayuka?" Washu asked teasingly.
Mayuka giggled, spinning on her heel and striking a sentai pose. "Sure do, but I'm sure you could do much better little Washu."
The mad scientist cackled at the obvious attempt at buttering her up. Mostly because it worked.
"Well, here's your mission control in case you need anything..." Washu said, tossing something into the air. Mayuka instinctively caught it looked like an ordinary pocket calculator. The sort students would all be bringing to class for the higher mathematics they were going to start studying. However, knowing Washu...
"This isn't going to self-destruct on me, is it?" Mayuka asked, eyeing the smaller woman warily.
"Nonononono of course not!" Washu declared. Then whispered more subtly, "Hopefully," before raising her voice back to normal levels. "It's just an ordinary pocket calculator. Though it does have a built-in tracking device, GPS, and cell capabilities in case you get lost and want to contact us for anything. Your school authorities will never find it unless you're obvious about it. Oh and I installed the game you like on it. The one with the hostile avians?"
"Thanks, you're the best Washu!" Mayuka gushed, slipping the device into her school bag. "You really are the greatest scientific genius ever."
"Oh stop, you're making me blush!"
Mayuka patted the diminutive scientist atop of her head and deftly twirled her way into the kitchen. Another blue-haired girl was there already, as Sasami prepared breakfast for the household and its inhabitants. And, it seems, had already laid out a small portion for Mayuka to take with her for her lunch.
"Thanks Sasami! You're the greatest!" Mayuka proclaimed as she grabbed up her food, stuffing it into her school bag, and made her way outside to where her bike was chained up. She'd gotten it as a gift last christmas from her father, and she loved to ride it almost any chance she got.
Crouched down by the bike were a pair of women, one darkly tanned and so blonde her hair was practically spun gold, the other much paler with cerulean strands. They had some tools laid out beside them and were tuning up the two-wheeled vehicle in preparation of her outing.
"Is everything set?" she asked, leaning over to inspect their work.
Kiyone took a moment to wipe her forehead with the back of her hand before replying. "Whew, sure is! This things built to last."
"You make sure to have fun today, alright Mayuka?" added Mihoshi.
Throwing a leg over the bike and planting her bag in the basket adorning the handlebars, the blue-haired girl nodded. "Sure thing. See you later!"
With a deft push on the pedals, she was off.
For a while, gravity was with her, as the hill sloped downwards from the Masaki residence towards the high school she'd be attending for the next four years. The occasional push to the pedals kept her in constant motion, as she let the air brush through her azure locks and rustle the cloth of her school uniform.
As she crested the last hill and began her descent down into the suburbs, a woman flitted through the air, angling between tree branches to coast alongside Mayuka. She wore her cyan locks in an impossibly spiky design and was dressed in an odd ensemble of an outfit that somehow she managed to pull off. A slender carrier was slung over her shoulder, suitable for holding a familiar weapon.
"Hey Mayuka, you forgot your sword, weren't you going to try out for kendo practice today?"
"Lessons don't start until Thursday," the blue-haired girl replied, not even bothering to watch where she was going as she wheeled over and around a turn in the road. "Today it's just orientation."
"Well, take it anyway. Never know what those high school boys will try to do to you. It'll protect you," Ryoko said, lobbing the case at Mayuka. Without missing a beat, she grabbed it out of the air with her free hand and slung it over her shoulder, keeping her balance perfectly on her bike.
"Didn't you meet dad in high school?" she asked sweetly.
Ryoko snorted. "Exactly my point!"
They both burst out laughing at that, as the cyan-haired lady wheeled in the air and took off in another direction, leaving Mayuka to finish her brief ride down the hill and into the city. In no time at all she'd crossed the suburbs and housing developments to the larger buildings of downtown. In less time than that, she was wheeling her way through the gates to school, passing by several of her new classmates on the way.
Hopping off her bike and securing it with the others, Mayuka shouldered her weapon, adjusted her uniform, and followed the general flow of student bodies to the auditorium for orientation.
She spotted Kaya and Imako, two of her fellow classmates from Middle School, and jogged over to join them, asking how their summers had been. Fair to middling, it turned out. Mayuka replied much the same, omitting the misadventures of travelling to a parallel dimension and battling with what may or may not have been an evil alternate doppleganger of herself. And then there had been that mess with the Juraian arranged marriage, but she hadn't left any permanent harm on the self-important princeling they'd sent after her.
Yes she had a very strange family, but she loved each and every one of them, whether she was related biologically or not. They'd all been there for her during her birth, and continued to guide her during her growing years.
Today was no exception. Everyone in her family had done wonders to help ensure today was going to go good, so she was determined to make sure it all went its absolute best. They all expected big things from her, and she had done nothing to indicate her destiny ran any other course. In virtually no time she'd be applying to Tokyo University. Or the Galaxy Police Academy. She hadn't decided yet.
But whatever she did, it was going to make her whole family proud.
Authors Notes:
Please review if enjoyed.
Mayuka Masaki is easily one of the most under-rated characters in the Tenchi franchise (although to be fair, there are a lot of them) so this story was made in tribute to her.
Special thanks for the cover art goes to Bokuman of Deviantart.