Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! is copyright AIC/Pioneer Ltd. All respective characters are property of their original owners. All original characters and ideas are property of the author.
Fudan Tenchi Muyo!
Chapter 1: No Need for a Reunion
Okayama, the capital city of the Okayama Prefecture located in southern Japan was a large, sprawling metropolitan city full of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives. Surrounded by a lush and dense mountain region, the city was not one of the largest in the country, but still a large city in its own way.
Of course, Tenchi Masaki thought to himself sitting in class, it was nothing compared to some of the cities he had visited on other planets. Even the Royal Palace of Jurai would have dwarfed the city he called home. It had been three months since Tenchi Masaki had returned home from his journey across the stars to the de facto center of the universe where he had almost singlehandedly stopped a coup by a power-hungry despot. Back on Earth, things seemed to go much slower and were all so much simpler. Compared to being chased across the galaxy as an outlaw and battling Kagato, high school just wasn't the same anymore.
Like his grandfather had told him though, there was always and upside and comparing high school to his trek to Jurai did come with benefits. No longer did he care that he wasn't the most popular kid in school nor that the pretty or popular girls turned their noses up at the simple country boy who lived at his grandfather's shrine outside of town. Since returning home to Earth, Tenchi had found life quickly settled back into a routine. He had missed a whole semester of school but he was still planning on graduating soon. After schools, it was home again to tend to his chores and train with his grandfather. His grandfather had seemed more determined for Tenchi to continue to develop his ability since they had returned.
The bell for the end of the day rang and Tenchi gathered his things. Packing his bag, he followed the crowd of fellow students out of the building and headed to the bus station where he hopped on the bus that would take him out of the city and to his home at the Masaki shrine outside of town. The ride was about an hour and Tenchi passed the time as usual, reading through a book. When Washu had removed her lab from the Masaki house's broom closet, she had left him a parting gift of books she thought would help him in his education. Of course, they were all written by Washu and he wasn't to sure The Total Conversion of Matter would pass as credible in his science class, even if the study was years ahead of anything anyone had done on Earth.
As the bus rumbled along the country road, Tenchi tucked Washu's book back into his bag and looked out the window at the trees of the forest rushing along outside. It was fall, and the Masaki festival was coming up soon. Thinking back to the previous year's festival with Ayeka and Ryoko competing in booths, Washu's little house of horrors, and then Kiyone and Mihoshi's cotton-candy 'accident', this coming festival would seem rather dull.
The bus pulled to a stop and Tenchi got off. The bus stop was at the bottom of the path into the forest back to his house and the shrine. Up the mountain, the Masaki house was surrounded by the dense Japan forest and not easily visible from the road. That did lend itself to discretion, especially considering some of the house guests that the Masaki's had entertained over the past year.
"Tenchi!" a very feminine voice purred from the trees as Tenchi stopped in his tracks.
"Ryoko," Tenchi looked up to see his single returning houseguest lying on her stomach hanging over the edge of a tree branch staring down at him.
It had been a few weeks since Ryoko had surprised Tenchi late one afternoon. Tenchi hated to admit it because he knew it would goad her ego, but it was good having her back home. Grinning, Ryoko phased down to the ground and wrapped herself around Tenchi.
"Tenchi," she cooed in his ear, "I'm so glad you're home, I was so lonely all day."
"Ryoko," he smelled the familiar scent of sake on her breath, "Have you been drinking again?"
"Just a little," she giggled.
"You know, that's a bad habit," he tried to lecture her, but trying to get Ryoko to change something about her behavior was like trying to stop the rain from falling.
"I've got plenty more bad habits you should see," she whispered in his ear making his skin crawl somewhat.
"I don't even want to know," he shook his head.
Being one of the undeveloped worlds outside the rule of most of the galactic entities, Earth had relatively primitive devices for monitoring space. The technology that Earth had allowed for most space travel through the Sol system to be relatively easy, but it was still imperative for ships to take necessary precautions to avoid being detected by the Earth's population. Kiyone was very careful to follow set navigation patterns to avoid being detected by the Earth's devices.
"Well there it is," Kiyone pulled the view screen up to show the Earth, "Hard to believe we're back here, right Mihoshi?"
"Oh, I can't believe it!" Mihoshi squealed from the other chair on the Yagami's bridge, "I can't wait to go see Tenchi and Ryoko and Ayeka and Sasami and…"
"Mihoshi," Kiyone interrupted her, "Ayeka and Sasami stayed on Jurai, remember? Tenchi is the only one still on Earth."
"Well we can still go visit him," Mihoshi laughed.
"Sure, why not," Kiyone shrugged her shoulders, "I just hope we can get an apartment again."
The console in front of Kiyone started to flash, drawing her attention. Looking down, Kiyone noticed that their sensors were picking up another ship entering the Sol system. It seemed odd to Kiyone that another ship had entered into the system as, following Tenchi's success in putting down Kagato's coup attempt, the Sol system was designated as off-limits to all developed peoples. Pirates were known the frequent underdeveloped systems to hide from authorities, but could this be the case? Kiyone crossed her fingers hoping to avoid a fight. Even the Earth's sensors would be able to pick up a major fight between pirates and a ship the size of the Yagami.
"Unidentified space ship," Kiyone opened the hailing frequencies, "This is Galaxy Police patrol ship Yagami, identify yourself now."
"Yagami?" a familiar young face appeared on the open channel, "Kiyone! Mihoshi!"
"Sasami!" Mihoshi blurted out, seeing the princess on the view screen.
"Sasami?" Kiyone was surprised to see the younger princess.
"Sasami, who is it?" Ayeka appeared in the picture, "Oh, Detective Kiyone; Detective Mihoshi. How good to see you again."
"Lady Ayeka," Kiyone greeted her friend with a warm smile. "What a surprise to see you again. Especially here in the Sol system."
"Likewise," Ayeka replied, "May I ask what you are doing back here?"
"Official business," Kiyone explained, "We've been reassigned to this system. And you?"
"Well…you see," Ayeka looked away, trying to find the words.
"We're going to see Tenchi!" Sasami chimed in.
"Well," Kiyone turned to Mihoshi, who was beaming with excitement, "This is turning out to be quite a trip so far."
"I'm home!" Tenchi announced, opening the door and sliding his shoes off.
"Welcome home, Tenchi!" Nobuyuki called to him from the kitchen. Since they had come back to Earth, Tenchi's dad had converted Ayeka and Sasami's old room into a studio where he started working his architecture and design job from home, allowing himself to be around the house more often. It was nice having his dad around more often, and it helped to break up the monotony of the now empty Masaki house.
"I'm starving, Dad," Tenchi tossed his bag onto the couch as Ryoko appeared sitting on the back edge of it, "Is dinner almost ready."
"Almost," Nobuyuki grinned, "And even Ryoko helped to cook some. She's going to make you a great wife one day."
"She did?" Tenchi turned to see Ryoko grin and give him a playful wave.
Out of nowhere, the Masaki house started to shake violently. Tenchi fell backwards onto the couch while his dad grabbed hold of the wall to hold himself up. After a few seconds of violent shaking, everything stopped. Looking around, Tenchi noticed he had fallen exactly between Ryoko's legs.
"My, my, Tenchi," she cooed, "You're so direct."
Tenchi, embarrassed, shot up to his feet.
"Was that an earthquake?" Nobuyuki asked.
"Hardly," the trio turned a surprised glance at the broom closet doorway where a diminutive red-headed scientist stood with her arms crossed over her chest and a smug look on her face, "Just organizing my stuff. I can't believe you people put a broom closet where my lab used to be."
"Washu?" Tenchi was utterly surprised to see her, "What are you doing here?"
"I missed you all so much I thought I would come by for a visit!" she grinned, speaking in a high-pitched innocent voice.
"Really?" Nobuyuki asked.
"No, not really," she admitted, dropping her head, "A girl can't even perform experiments on genetics and cloning without being banned for life from the Galactic Science Academy….again."
"That's a bummer," Tenchi nodded in agreement.
"Well," Ryoko wrapped her arms around Tenchi, "As long as it doesn't interfere with our personal time together, I guess we can have one more houseguest."
"Ryoko," Tenchi moaned.
"Pull up a seat, Little Washu," Nobuyuki laughed from behind the counter, "Having you pretty girls here is never a bad thing in my opinion."
After dinner, Tenchi had set about to finish his studying for an upcoming exam in his class. For some reason though, he had found that school and studying all hours of the night had become just so boring. He was always diligent in his studies, spending extra time catching up with his classes after his trip to Jurai, but the work just seemed so tedious. The only class he seemed to put much effort into anymore was his poetry lessons where he had written fantastical poems about the girls and his journey to Jurai. Of course the teacher had praised his 'creativity' and 'imagination', but he knew she would never believe everything he wrote about was true.
Deciding he had enough studying for one evening, Tenchi closed his books and looked out the window of his bedroom. It was a clear evening and Tenchi decided to indulge himself a little. Pulling his shrine tunic on over his shirt and jeans, Tenchi popped the latch on the window and slid out onto the window ledge. Climbing up the roof was a piece of cake as Tenchi had been escaping up there ever since he was little kid. He'd lie on the roof of the house and stare up at the stars for hours; sometimes drifting off to sleep and making his dad crawl out onto the roof to find him in the mornings.
As Tenchi pulled himself onto the roof, he was greeted by Ryoko and Ryo-ohki lying there. The furry, brown cabbit rested on Ryoko's stomach as she scratched her half-pet, half-spaceship behind the ears.
"My, Tenchi, what a surprise," she smiled warmly at him.
"Care for some company?" he asked, sitting down beside her and leaning back to stare up at the stars.
"You're always welcome company," she smiled, sitting Ryo-ohki on the roof tile before rolling onto her side and placing her hand over his chest, "How did you ever find me up here?"
"You're always up here, remember?" he laughed.
"That's right," she laughed along with him, "Silly me."
"The stars, they seem so different once you've been among them," Tenchi changed the subject, feeling a little anxious at Ryoko's subtle advances.
"Oh?" Ryoko turned her head upwards to look at the night sky, "Yeah, I guess they do kind of lose their magic once you know what's out there. You know, Tenchi, of all the planets I've been on, none of them have the view of the stars that Earth has."
"Yeah," he smiled, "I guess we're special in our own primitive way."
Ryoko quietly laid her head on his chest and wrapped an arm around him. Normally, Tenchi wasn't comfortable with Ryoko's overt sexual nature and her way of putting herself out there. He had been mad at her for days following her little escapade into the cave where Washu had been imprisoned, but when she decided to show her softer, gentler side, it was a welcome change and very relaxing. He slowly slid his arm around her, rubbing her soft shoulder as she smiled to herself. Before long, the two of them were asleep underneath the starlight.
Mornings on Earth were always a golden radiance that Ayeka had found was not replicated anywhere else in the universe. She wasn't sure if sunrises on even Jurai were as beautiful. It was good to be back on Earth, she told herself as she and Sasami approached the Masaki house. They had just landed and decided to drop in on the Masaki family.
"I can't wait to see Tenchi," Sasami laughed, running up the path to the house and knocking on the doors.
"Sasami, you shouldn't bang on the door so loudly. It's rude," Ayeka chided her a little as she stepped up onto the porch.
She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was feeling very apprehensive about seeing Tenchi again. It had been over three months since she had watched him depart for Earth from the balcony of the Royal Palace of Jurai. Their parting was bittersweet as she was still broken up over his taking leave from the planet after she had begged him to stay. She hoped she was making the right choice coming back to Earth and seeing him again. Could she face him again after what had transpired between the two of them those months ago? Would he have any bad feelings towards her for the way she had acted? Sasami had tried to comfort her, telling her how Tenchi wasn't the kind of person who would be angry at anyone, but Ayeka still felt anxious as Sasami continued to knock on the door loudly.
Ayeka composed herself as the front door opened and both the princesses were surprised to see Washu, of all people, standing there.
"Ah, well if it isn't the two princesses of Jurai," she laughed, "What brings you to this neck of the galaxy?"
"Little Washu," Ayeka greeted the scientist. First Mihoshi and Kiyone and now Washu; their trip had certainly turned out to be an eventful one, "What a surprise."
"I'll say, I detected both your Jurain tree ship and the Yagami late last night," Washu led them into the house, "So where are the dynamic duo?"
"Mihoshi and Kiyone are trying to find a new apartment in town," Ayeka explained as she and Sasami slid their shoes off, "Kiyone said they had gotten their positions back here in the Sol system."
"Well, they should come by for dinner sometime," Washu laughed, "I guess that makes everyone then."
"Everyone?" Ayeka felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Ryo-ohki!" Sasami squealed as the cabbit bounded down the stairs.
"My, my, my," Ayeka looked up to see Ryoko hanging over the balcony of the stairs, "If it isn't the little princess."
"Ryoko," Ayeka gritted her teeth, "I wish I could say it was good to see you again."
"Likewise princess," Ryoko huffed to herself.
"Lady Ayeka?" Tenchi appeared from behind Ryoko.
Ayeka froze. It was harder than she had thought to see him. And that woman, Ryoko, how long had she been on the planet? Sasami bounded up the stairs and lunged at Tenchi, hugging him tight around the waist.
"Tenchi!" she squeezed him tight, "I've missed you so much!"
"I missed you girls too," he laughed, "Wow, I can't believe you two are here."
"Me neither," Ryoko huffed under her breath.
"Well, this is quite the little reunion," Washu laughed to herself, "All my favorite guinea pigs in one house again."
