Chapter 1: Invitations
The sounds of the city are a truly
amazing thing, especially when you aren't used to them anymore. The sounds of thousands of people, of
vendors and customers haggling away, of the clanging din of traffic are all
wondrous after so many years of quiet country life.
At least
all the noise is normal, sighed Tenchi Masaki as he walked down a crowded
street. Out on his own, without any of
the girls, the brown-eyed first crown prince was just wandering aimlessly,
losing himself in the sights and sounds of city.
Tenchi
breathed deeply and exhaled slowly.
Maybe this was going to be a good day after all. The young man began walking with a purpose
through the streets. On the way to his
destination, he passed by a small shrine.
Looking in, Tenchi recognized it as an old family shrine. It was obvious that the shrine was taken
care of. Taking a closer look, Tenchi
noticed that it appeared as if the shrine and its grounds had been turned into
a home. Curious as to who would do such
a thing, Tenchi entered the grounds and headed to the front of the shrine.
Before the
brown haired boy could reach the doorway, the door slid open. Standing there was a short male with black
hair and a kind expression. He wore a
shirt that had the initials N.I.T.M.C. in a diagonal across the front. The young man grinned at Tenchi.
"Well I'll
be," the young man said with a chuckle.
He looked at Tenchi for another moment before shaking his head and
laughing.
Looking
over his shoulder, the black haired man said, "Looks like you were right,
Bell. He looks just like you
said." Tenchi just looked at the man in
puzzlement. Seeing the look on his
guests face, the shorter man stood up straight and walked out of the
doorway. He bowed his head slightly at
Tenchi.
"My name is
Keiichi Morisato." The man, Keiichi,
extended a hand. "My friends and I live
here. Nice to meet you."
The
thoroughly confused Tenchi just scratched the back of his head as he shook
hands with Keiichi. "My name is Tenchi
Masaki," he said sheepishly. "How'd you
know I was here?" he asked after the two finished shaking hands.
Keiichi
began sweating a little bit as he replied, "Oh, I don't know. How's a lucky guess sound?" Keiichi threw Tenchi a smile; Tenchi just
grinned a bit and stopped scratching his head.
"If you say
so," Tenchi said. "But how did this
'Bell' know I was here?" Tenchi asked
with a smile as he heard footsteps heading to the door.
"Keiichi,
aren't you going to invite him……Oh!"
Meanwhile,
Tenchi was staring, mouth slightly agape at what he was seeing. A young woman dressed in a simple tan and
white-stripped dress. She had a white
frilly apron over the dress and she had been rubbing her hands in a dishtowel
before she dropped the towel in surprise.
What caught Tenchi's attention was her absolutely massive ponytail of
caramel brown hair. She wore a single
large lock that fell in front of her right shoulder, but the rest was braided
down the center of her back.
Keiichi, meanwhile was just staring
at the woman he had called 'Bell' and the boy Tenchi. Suddenly, the single mark on the girl's forehead started to glow
with a warm blue light. Keiichi gulped,
since this meant that she was using some sort of power. Looking at the boy, he was shocked to see
three glowing triangles had appeared on his forehead.
"W…w…what's
going on?" Keiichi cried.
Just as
suddenly as the light show started, the marks on the two people vanished. The girls face was calm once more, but Tenchi
was holding his head and stumbling as if he were groggy. Tenchi looked up at the two people that
lived in the shrine.
Blinking
his eyes as he attempted to focus them, Tenchi said in a quavering voice, "Who are
you people?"
Keiichi
looked at the girl, who only nodded her head and smiled. As the girl walked in, she whispered in
something in the short man's ear.
Keiichi nodded his head and turned to Tenchi.
"Come on
inside, Tenchi. We'll all sit down,
have dinner, and talk." Seeing Tenchi's
hesitation, Keiichi smiled at Tenchi.
"Don't worry, we're not out to hurt you. Belldandy will explain everything once dinner is ready." Tenchi only nodded and walked up the
steps.
Keiichi stopped him at the
door. "Why don't you invite your
friends to come in with you, Tenchi."
When Tenchi looked at him quizzically, Keiichi shrugged his
shoulders. "Belldandy said that some
friends of yours were floating around.
I can't see them, but she said they were behind you.
Staring intently, Tenchi saw a
shimmering image of a girl with spiky hair.
She appeared to be holding a small bundle. Tenchi sighed in both recognition and resignation. Looks like Ryoko's checking up on me,
he thought with a grin. Sighing, he
turned toward the shimmering form.
"All right,
Ryoko, come on out," Tenchi shouted.
"You too, Mayuka…come to Daddy," Tenchi said with a smile on his face
and in his voice. He caught, out of the
corner of his eye, Keiichi's expression as the young man's jaw hit the floor
and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.
Tenchi just chuckled in embarrassment.
Raising his
right hand to the back of his head, the brown-eyed boy turned to face
Keiichi. He spoke to the shorter man,
saying, "Don't worry, it's a long story.
I'll tell you about it as soon as they get here.
---------------------------
Sitting at
the docks, rocking a sleeping Mayuka, Ryoko had been absent-mindedly checking
up on Tenchi in her astral body. She
gasped when she saw the display of power from the girl Belldandy, and then from
her beloved Tenchi. She was shocked
further when she heard the girl tell the short, black haired young man that
Tenchi had a few friends watching him.
She didn't think anyone could see her like this, except maybe
Tenchi. Ryoko's surprise redoubled
itself when Keiichi and Tenchi looked at her, and then Tenchi invited her to
come along. She was confused. Hadn't Tenchi gone to Nekomi to be alone for
a while?
Deciding
not to look a gift cabbit in the mouth, Ryoko, immediately re-inhabited her
body. Quickly gathering up Mayuka's
baby bag, Ryoko stood and looked around.
She almost left right then and there, but decided to tell at least
Sasami where she and Mayuka were going.
Acting as quickly as she could without waking the baby, Ryoko flew
toward the house. She stopped
momentarily when she saw Ayeka and Kiyone working in the garden. She almost called out to them, but then
decided that only she had been invited; there was no need to bring along a lot
of extra visitors.
Ryoko
resumed her flight and phased through the glass door in the living room,
heading immediately to the kitchen. She
noted that Mihoshi was asleep on he couch as she flew by.
As usual,
the younger princess of Jurai was standing in front of the sink preparing
something for the evening meal. Ryoko
touched down gently, being careful not to wake the baby. She coughed slightly to announce herself to
Sasami.
The blue
haired girl turned around slightly to see who was there and smiled when she saw
Ryoko. "What'cha doing, Ryoko?"
Ryoko
smiled fondly at her young friend. "Oh,
nothing much. I am taking Mayuka out
for a little bit, we're going to go meet some friends."
"Say high
to Belldandy and Urd for me, Ok?"
Sasami said as she turned back to her cooking. Ryoko just looked at her in shock.
"Sasami,
how did you know about her?"
Ryoko blurbed with disbelief.
"Oh, I've
known about her for a while, Ryoko."
Ryoko just
shook her head. "But how?"
Sasami
turned back to Ryoko so that their eyes met.
The two marks on her forehead changed and began to glow. The shimmering form of Tsunami appeared over
the blue haired princess.
"Sasami
knows them, because I know them Ryoko," Tsunami said, her voice kind. "You should go now. It's not polite to keep Tenchi waiting, is
it?" Ryoko nodded her head dumbly and
faded from view. Tsunami and Sasami
just began laughing as Tsunami faded and Sasami went back to her cooking.
----------------------------
Tenchi and
Keiichi were standing outside talking.
It turned out that Keiichi was about to start his last year of regular
college and move on to graduate school for engineering over at N.I.T. Tenchi, meanwhile, had come to Nekomi to
look at the N.I.T. campus for the architecture and spatial engineering. The two were just about to get into a heated
discussion about engineering when Ryoko and Mayuka phased into view. Neither of them had been too surprised,
though Keiichi did a double take when he saw the color of Mayuka's hair. He looked at Tenchi, then to Ryoko, and
finally to the baby. Keiichi just shook
his head in confusion
"Sorry I'm
late Tenchi, I wanted to tell Sasami where I was going with Mayuka."
Tenchi
nodded his head. "It's ok, Ryoko." Tenchi walked over and introduced Keiichi to
Ryoko.
"Ryoko,
this is Keiichi. Keiichi, this is my
good friend Ryoko." Keiichi raised an
eyebrow when he saw the look on Ryoko's face, and the fact that Tenchi was NOT
looking at Ryoko as he was talking.
Ryoko was looking at Tenchi the same way that Belldandy would look at
him. "And this is my daughter,
Mayuka." The little baby, awakened by
her father's voice, was giggling happily as Tenchi took her from Ryoko. He then proceeded to tickle her
stomach. Keiichi shook Ryoko's hand and
nodded with a smile at Mayuka.
Looking
directly at Ryoko, Keiichi asked, "So, uh, um, is the baby yours?" He saw the wistful look on Ryoko's face as
she shot a glance at Tenchi, whose face reddened just a bit as he smiled
sheepishly.
"No, the
baby's not mine, I just take care of her the most. Makes me feel useful at home," She said. Keiichi worried for a moment that he might
have upset her but he felt much better when he noticed she had a soft smile on
her face. "Maybe one day…"
Tenchi
looked up at Ryoko, the blush on his face darkening visibly. He smiled a bit and then cast his eyes
downward, concentrating on his baby. Maybe
one day……… His eyes got round as
saucers as he registered what he had been thinking.
Deciding to
move the moment along lest things become awkward, Keiichi said, "Well, let's
all get inside then. Belldandy's
probably got dinner done by now."
Ryoko's eyes lit up at the mention
of food and Tenchi inwardly groaned. He
hoped that her appetite didn't ruin these two people's impression of him. With a sigh, Tenchi placed a hand on Ryoko's
shoulder as the four of them walked into Keiichi's house.
Tenchi whispered
into Ryoko's ear. "We don't know these
people, so don't forget to compliment her, ok?
I know you can't taste it, but try and be polite to the cook, alright?"
"Ok Tenchi," Ryoko said with a
smile. She remembered a visit she had
paid to Washu's lab early in the morning and her smile widened a bit. Well, I had hoped to be at Tenchi's for
dinner, but that's ok. This should be
kinda private anyway…. Ryoko thought to herself.
Well,
I hope you liked the first installment of my newest series. I tried something without the angst in it
this time, so let me know what ye think, alright? Please, pretty please? Till next time,
-DREZ