Interlude - Chapter I
Here's my first "published" shot at fan fic writing so I hope you guys aren't too grossed out by it. Anyway, if you're reading this, then you're probably here to read the story anyway, right? Well, as you know, I don't own any of these characters except for the ones I made up. So read and review and tell me what you thought. Thanks.
Chapter I: The Beginning of the End
Tenchi Masaki looked around himself, reveling in the warmth of the sun flying high over his head. He wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow and looked back down at the tilled earth. His carrots stood proud in the bright afternoon, lined up in rows like soldiers ready to charge headlong into battle.
He lifted his hoe high into the air and brought it back down, striking the dirt and splitting it into soft chunks. Repeating this several times, he moved down the row. At the end, he stopped and marveled at his handiwork. This was the garden that he had made by himself. It fed his family and kept him busy during the day. Well, busy enough to keep his grandfather away.
It wasn't that he didn't like his grandpa, only that he didn't like all the work that his grandpa gave him to do. Sweeping the walkway of the temple, washing it, practicing his sword techniques; sometimes it was just a little hard to take. He was glad he had this little "project" to occupy his time.
"Ryoko, you leave Lord Tenchi alone!" came Princess Ayeka's high pitched voice, echoing off the walls of the nearby mountain.
"Stuff it, Ayeka! Tenchi and I are destined to be together!" was Ryoko's reply.
Tenchi chuckled. After four years of hearing the two fight over him, he still found it amusing, though a little irritating. He couldn't believe that it had already been four years since Ayeka, her little sister Sasami, Ryoko the space pirate, Kiyone and Mihoshi the Galaxy Police officers and Washuu the "mad" scientist had shown up at his home.
Over the course of those years, many things had happened. After Tenchi had released Ryoko from her prison near the temple, a whole lot of crazy things happened. Sasami and Ayeka - both princesses of the planet Jurai - crash-landed in the lake outside of house, and from there, events led Tenchi to Jurai itself to battle with his grandpa Yosho's arch enemy, Kagato. An immense battle it was, with Tenchi emerging as the victor.
Since then, the house had, for the better part, settled into a peaceful rhythm. Ayeka and Ryoko still fought like crazy over Tenchi's love. Sasami, though she looked eighteen, was now a grown up three thousand and eleven, and she still cooked all the meals. Washuu still holed herself up in her lab performing wacky experiments and everyone did what they always did. Tenchi liked his "family." They may be weird, but he loved each and every one of them. And one, he thought, maybe a little too much.
Tenchi shook the thought from his head and collected his tools. He took them to the shed near his house and put them in their proper places, wiping his forehead once more. He strode out of the shed and headed for the house when he was flanked by Yosho.
"Good afternoon, Tenchi," he said, a grin stretched across his face.
Tenchi nervously laughed. "H-hi grandpa. Can I help you with anything?"
"Not really, Tenchi," he began, "but you could help yourself with something."
Tenchi knew this was coming sooner or later today, might as well be sooner. "What might that be?" he asked, his nervousness showing through.
"Now Tenchi, you know better than to skip your lessons."
Tenchi's head dropped to his chest and his shoulders slumped. "Yes, grandpa."
The practice had been terrific; Tenchi was as good as ever in his technique and easily conquered the obstacles set forth by his grandpa. But now he was exhausted and he had to struggle a little to breathe.
As he walked into the house, the smell of Sasami's delectable meal was hardly enough to lure him from his path. His feet carried him past his room and straight into the modified bathroom.
The clothes seemed to fall from his body and he dragged himself into the warm water. His body was coated with a layer of film made up of sweat and dirt that clung to his muscular teenage body.
He plopped down and leaned back, resting his head against the edge of the immense "tub." Tenchi crawled around in the water until he found a sponge and soap. He quickly washed himself, rinsed, and then leaned his head up against the edge. He watched the wisps of steam slowly rise upward, causing his eyelids to slide slowly south. In a few seconds, he was fast asleep, breathing lightly and dreaming heavily.
"Tenchi?" called the heavenly voice from the darkness. "Tenchi? Help me, Tenchi... please..."
Tenchi's eyes shot open. It took him a moment to realize where he was. When his eyes had focused, he noticed the tiny voice calling from the bathroom door.
"Tenchi?" It was Sasami. "Tenchi, are you all right?"
He groaned as he got up. "I fell asleep in the tub," he said, grasping the back of his head.
"Ooh, Tenchi, are you okay?" she called back.
"I think so."
Tenchi mustered up the strength to stand and put his legs to work. As he slowly rose, his knees began to wobble. He slipped backwards into the water with a splash and a yelp, smacking his head sickly against the edge of the bath.
"Oh no! Tenchi!" Sasami cried. She ran into the cavernous steam-filled room and dove into the water.
"Tenchi!" she cried frantically as she searched through dark pool. She stuck her head under the water and looked around. There, in front of her, was Tenchi, floating and looking to be close to death.
With all of her might, Sasami heaved him onto the side and looked at his still figure. She realized that no one would be able to get to Tenchi in time and she didn't know how to perform CPR.
"I'm sorry, Tenchi," she said.
A single tear fell from her eye, opening the floodgate as more tears gushed out. Her face had become reddened and her cries echoed throughout the room. It was then that she realized how much she loved Tenchi. Not just as a brother, but as something more. She longed to be held in his arms, to have his hands in her hair, his lips on hers...
She wept with new grief and pounded furiously upon his chest. All of a sudden, she felt a tremor run through his chest. A split-second later, Tenchi had retched the water from his lungs and was coughing into the air. Tears of joy now flooded Sasami's senses and she hugged him.
"Oh Tenchi! I thought you were dead!" she cried, holding him close.
After a few more coughs, Tenchi said, "I-I'm a-all right now. Thank you Sasami. You saved my life."
She smiled up at him and Tenchi wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you," he said.
"Oh Tenchi, just hold me, please?" she asked.
He didn't say anything. He just took her in his arms and held her to him, her head rising and falling along with his breathing. Tenchi brought his hand to her head and began softly stroking her hair.
It was so long, so straight, so perfect. It ran the length of her body in two bouncy ponytails, stopping just before her feet. Being from Jurai, her hair was blue, and not a normal earth color. The smell of the vanilla shampoo she used invaded his nostrils and he took in a big breath. He loved the feel of the silky locks between his fingers.
Sasami felt happy as she laid there, feeling Tenchi's body heat warming her cheeks. She loved him more than anything else, except maybe Ryo-ohki, her pet. She marveled at this new feeling of holiness. She never wanted to move, but knew that she would soon have to.
Tenchi looked up at the ceiling that was so alien to him. It's not that he hadn't seen this same ceiling for the past year, but that this wasn't the ceiling to his bathroom. This bathroom wasn't even part of the house. Washuu had put a portal in the doorway that led to another dimension - which appeared to Tenchi to be the "bathroom" dimension.
A sudden chill drove up his spine. It was getting colder in this steamy room, and he didn't know why. Suddenly, he remembered that he was totally and utterly naked.
Hoping that Sasami hadn't seen him, he sat up. "Uh, Sasami?" he asked.
She lifted her head and looked into his eyes and asked, "What is it, Tenchi?"
"Sasami... uh... let's play a game."
Sasami's eyes lit up. "Okay!" she exclaimed.
"I want you to sit here, close your eyes, and count to thirty. Okay?"
"Okay!"
"And no peeking!" he said as he stood up.
Sasami covered her eyes with her hands and began counting. "One... two..."
Tenchi ran as softly as he could to the doorway. He poked his head into the hallway and searched for any signs of life. When he found none, he quickly crept to the closet and pulled out two fresh towels. He wrapped one around his waist and proceeded back into the bathroom.
"Thirty!" Sasami cried out and pulled her hands away from her face. She saw Tenchi standing there holding out a towel. Disappointed, she took the towel from him.
Tenchi saw the look on her face and apologized. "Why don't we play a game after dinner?"
As she nodded excitedly, Tenchi walked over, took the towel, and draped it over her shoulders. He planted a kiss on her forehead, said that he'd see her at dinner, and went to his room.
After stripping off her clothes, Sasami happily bounced to her room and changed for dinner.
Tenchi lay on his bed, pondering the past fifteen minutes. He could still feel the redness in his cheeks and tried his best to cool down. He was overly grateful that Sasami had come looking for him when she did, otherwise he'd still be bobbing in the water, lifeless as a paperweight. Holding her was more than he could ever have asked for, and now he owed her double.
She was so sweet to him; cooking him dinner every night, washing his clothes. She was the nicest person he had ever known. He knew he cared for her, but he wasn't sure just how much. She was the closest he ever had to a sister, and maybe that was the extent of his love for her...
"Tenchi!" came Yosho's voice from downstairs. "Tenchi, dinner's ready!"
Tenchi sat up in his bed and looked at the clock. He had fallen asleep for the last half hour. "Yes, grandpa," he called down.
He sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes, then swung his legs over the edge of his bed. Then there came a knocking on his door. He wondered who it could be.
"Lord Tenchi?"
He instantly recognized the voice. "Yes, Ayeka?" he asked, not really wanting to talk to her at the moment.
"Lord Tenchi, I was wondering how you were feeling. Sasami told me what happened in the bath this afternoon. Are you all right?" she said.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed a little rest."
"That's good. Be sure to hurry down; Sasami's cooking something special tonight."
And with that, she left. Tenchi stood up, dressed, and hurried downstairs. He was welcomed with the sweet smell of Sasami's commendable cooking.
"Mmmm, that smells delicious," he thought aloud.
He slipped into the kitchen to see Sasami busily stirring, whipping, and chopping. She was throwing vegetables into a steaming pot before she turned and was aware of Tenchi's presence.
"Hi, Tenchi!" she began, "Do you think you could give me a hand with these things?"
"No problem," he said, smiling.
He picked up a pot and carried it through the door and set it on the table. Then he returned, grabbed a plate full of steaming vegetables, and placed it next to the pot. He was finished so hastily that Sasami didn't carry anything. Dinner was laid out the table and when everyone was seated, the feast began.
Sasami had cooked up several whole turkeys; each basted and roasted to perfection. Beside that there sat her superior miso soup, already calling out to the stomachs of every diner in the room. There was steamed carrots, shrimp and vegetable tempura, rice, sushi, yams, sweet potatoes, steak, noodles; enough to feed even the hungriest of Mihoshis.
Time seemed to slow for a moment as eyes met across the table. Then the moment exploded into a frenzy of clenching and grabbing, pulling and pushing, as they all took a portion of the meal prepared for them. They stacked their plates high. Some had four layers going. As Tenchi poured himself some soup, he glanced over at Sasami.
She just stood there and stared in awe at the chaos that had ensued. When the dust settled, there wasn't an empty mouth in the house, save for Tenchi, Sasami, and Ryo-ohki, who was at the minute trying to steal a carrot. Tenchi grabbed a carrot from his plate and gave it to Ryo-ohki prior to walking over to Sasami.
"Hey, aren't you going to eat?" he asked her.
She replied, "Yeah, as soon as everyone's finished taking their share."
Tenchi smiled and shook his head. He reached over the table and gathered a few things on to a plate and handed it to Sasami.
"Here," he said, "is this enough for you to eat?"
"Yes," she said. "Thank you, Tenchi."
After planting a kiss on his cheek, she found her seat at the table and sat down.
Dinner went by as usual. Ryoko and Ayeka still fought over Tenchi, Kiyone still yelled at Mihoshi, and Yosho and Tenchi's father talked and laughed as Sasami played with Ryo-ohki. Tenchi had finished his dinner and after washing his dish went out for a walk.
He breathed in a morsel of the sweet night air and began walking towards the mountain. He always found the night peaceful and welcoming, if a bit cold. Treading the grass, he looked up at the stars. They twinkled brightly against the blue-black background; some were blue, others white, still others red, and there were some that were all the colors in-between. They stood alone, oblivious to the dangers that the universe held.
He walked on and decided to go to the Great Tree which in actuality was his grandfather's spaceship that had crash landed there a thousand years ago. When Tenchi found out, it wasn't hard to adjudge the fact that Yosho was from Jurai, or that he was a Juraian prince, or that he was Ayeka's half-brother. It was a little hard to believe that Tenchi was also a Juraian prince who had inherited Yosho's sword and Jurai's Royal Family's greatest powers: the spaceship Tsunami and the Lighthawk wings, and was expected to one day marry a Juraian princess and take the throne, to rule over everyone under Jurai's influence.
But this inheritance had been accompanied by many dangers that threatened not only Tenchi, but all the other persons living in the household. There were many beings in the universe that wanted the secret to the Lighthawk wings, a secret that none so far had been able to discover, even the "great" Washuu. Tenchi had to admit that the Lighthawk wings had saved his life on more than one occasion and had appeared out of nowhere; almost as if he willed it to come forth and save him and everyone he loved from a certain doomed fate at the hands of a maniacal tyrant that flew to Earth in search of the wings. He had somehow always come out on top - which he was grateful for - and he never felt like that task was easy, while sometimes he felt like it was hopeless, like there was no way he could defeat his opponent.
Tenchi found a spot on the grass on the western bank of the moat that surrounded the tree and sat down, pleased to find that the grass was dry. Many a time had he sat down only to rise a second later with a wet seat.
He laid back and lay his head on the soft grass, glad that he had separated himself from the madness within the confines of his domicile. Sometimes, well, actually most times, he found it too boisterous to stay in the house and listen to all of the yelling and the fighting. He felt bad for Sasami.
Sasami was the quietest person in the house; she hardly made a peep except for the times she was cooking or playing video games. It seemed to Tenchi that that was all she did. He couldn't recall her doing anything else at all.
He suddenly sat up. Something didn't feel right. The air around him tingled with electricity and he felt strange, like someone was looking directly at him.
There came an extremely loud whistling sound followed by a boom. Tenchi looked up at the sky to find a colossal fire ball headed straight in his direction. Anger flooded his features and he ran as fast as he could, pumping his legs to the point of expenditure, knowing well that he had to get away from that spot as soon as possible. Then something flashed in his mind.
The tree. He had to save it.
"Son of a bitch," he said under his breath.
Turning around, Tenchi ran back to the spot where he had sat not a minute earlier.
He took out the sword his grandfather had bequeathed to him and focused his energy on it, causing a blue beam about three-and-a-half feet long to emerge from the hilt. He looked up at the blazing rock and stood in his stance; legs apart, sword in right hand, arms at his sides. He then realized that he would melt if the asteroid got too close to him. That left him only one choice.
Tenchi put his right foot back to steady himself and then, with all of his might, he launched the sword at the gigantic projectile. It flew a straight path that seemed to take forever before plunging itself deep within the heart of the thing. But still it tumbled on.
"Dammit!" was all Tenchi could yell.
The only thing he could do now was wait silently as this thing broke through the clouds and shot through the sky at an inconceivable rate. He knew that there was no way he could have called for aid from the others in time. There was nothing more for him to do except face this evil as best as he knew how.
Within a few seconds the air rose considerably in temperature and beads of sweat began forming on Tenchi's forehead. His hair stood on end in the torturous anticipation of their meeting.
At long last, the celestial body bore down on his senses. The atmosphere seemed to melt around him and the heat was manifesting itself as unbearable pain inside him.
It was just feet from him now. The surface looked like an active lava flow; molten rock spewed from every orifice leaving a trail of glowing innards miles long.
Tenchi clenched his fists; tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn't die like this, he just couldn't. He still hadn't told her how he felt. She needed to know, but it was now too late.
He cleared his mind for a brief second and gathered all the energy he had left. He didn't know what he had left to do, but he had to do something. His mind went blank and every thought, every worry left him. He lost all sense of control. The energy he had been storing was suddenly released upon the world in a blinding flash of light. Then darkness overcame him.