Tenchi Goes to Nerima
Standard disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I'm not making any money on this story.
Chapter four:
Kuno's eyes opened and at the sight of Akane he exclaimed, "My fierce tigress! You have escaped the clutches of that vile sorcerer, Ranma Saotome, and come to me.
Akane seemed to be at a loss for words for a bit and then she said, "I thought I might join the kendo club. Would that be all right with you?"
"Of course my love. Anything for you," he replied.
"I'll join if you stop attacking Tenchi Masaki. It really isn't good for the team for you to be fighting against each other."
"But he has been using treachery and deceit against me." Kuno told her. "How else could a peasant such as he have beaten a noble warrior of my consummate skill?"
"I've talked with him and found him to be an honorable man, not one who uses treachery or deceit," Akane said dramatically. "As captain of the Kendo club it is your duty to make amends with him so that we may be victorious in the next tournament. Please set your quarrel aside. A samurai warrior such as yourself must forsake his own ambition for the good of his comrades and for the sake of their noble mission. Is that not so?"
"She's laying it on a bit thick, isn't she?" Tenchi asked Ranma quietly as Akane continued to talk with Kuno.
"Whatever works," Ranma replied.
"It looks like he's agreed to leave me alone, but what will happen if he sees you here?" Tenchi inquired.
"He'll probably come at me with his boken," Ranma said.
"Maybe you should get out of sight until the meeting is over then, or change forms," Tenchi told him.
"Okay," Ranma said and doused himself with a handy bucket of water.
When Kuno stood up and saw Ranma, he rushed forward to embrace "her" with a cry of "pig-tailed girl!" and was promptly punched in the face.
"Does that happen a lot?" Tenchi asked.
"Yes," was the answer he got from everyone who was conscious.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
After the meeting, Tenchi thanked Akane again for her help and headed home. After eating a quick supper and doing his homework, he went through the door that would take him to Okayama.
Ryoko again launched herself at Tenchi but this time he was ready and grabbed HER in a tight hug, to everyone's surprise. "I missed you and everyone else, of course," he said and laughed as he looked at her blushing face.
After that, he had to give everyone else hugs as well.
"We've already eaten," Sasami told him, "but I can fix something for you really fast."
"That's alright, Sasami-chan," he told the little girl. "I've already eaten myself. Besides, I just came to spend some time with all of you and I can't do that if you're stuck in the kitchen cooking."
Sasami looked disappointed at first but then she smiled and said, "Okay."
Soon everyone was seated in the living room and Tenchi told the girls about his experiences in Nerima.
When he started to tell them about the shape-changing curses some people had, Ryoko said, "Those cursed springs sound like something Washu would have cooked up for laughs."
"Not guilty!" Washu exclaimed. "It just so happens that about twelve thousand years ago, that idiot, Dr. Clay, was trying to come up with a process that would allow people to change forms for espionage purposes. I won't bore you with the technical details, but he managed to develop a fluid that enabled someone to assume the identity of another person who had come in contact with it. The results were far from satisfactory. The facts that the change was unstable and could be triggered or deactivated by contact with water of various temperatures, that a person didn't always completely transform into the target and that sometimes the target's personality took over, caused it to be declared a failure. In Ranma's case, the transformation was largely confined to physical, sexual characteristics and he retained his original personality and sexual orientation. According to the official records, the stuff was disposed of by being sent into a star. Obviously something went wrong and the tank containing the fluid wound up crashing on this planet in the area now known as China. The tank must have developed a leak that resulted in the contamination of some springs in that area... Zero worked out much better until Ryoko's feelings for Tenchi overrode her loyalty to Dr. Clay."
"Does that mean that the process can be reversed and the people cured?" Tenchi asked excitedly.
"It would be a piece of cake for me to undo all the curses and deactivate the springs," Washu declared.
Tenchi thought he knew the answer but he asked anyway, "Will you do it?"
"No," she replied.
"Why not?" Aeka asked.
"Anyone stupid enough to go there and fall into one of those springs, despite all the warnings, deserves what he gets," Washu told them as if she was speaking to young children. "And there's another reason."
"What other reason?" Tenchi asked.
"It's funny," Washu replied with a mischievous grin.
"WASHU!" everyone else shouted.
"Look," Washu replied, "those curses aren't really hurting the victims and sometimes they can help them."
"How does changing into a girl help Ranma?" Tenchi inquired.
"Before he was cursed," Washu told him, "he was an arrogant jerk who considered all girls to be weak, stupid and useless. Now, as the saying goes, 'the shoe's on the other foot.' Now he has to deal with being the victim of those same misogynistic attitudes himself and he's learning that being a girl doesn't make a person weak, stupid or useless. Eventually, the curse won't even matter to him anymore."
"How do you know all that about Ranma? And what about the other cursed people?" Tenchi asked.
"I've been doing research too, you know, and listening in on conversations. Ranma happens to be a favorite topic. And if people really wanted to be cured, they could always go to China and use either the spring of drowned young girl or man to negate the effects ," Washu replied.
"Mousse and Shampoo are from that area to begin with," Tenchi said. "Why haven't they used the springs to cure themselves?"
"I have no idea. Maybe you should ask them," Washu replied.
Eventually the conversation turned to other matters and Tenchi asked Sasami how things were going at her school.
"Great, Tenchi-niichan!" she exclaimed. "I've made a lot of friends and I enjoy my classes, especially cooking. I've been learning some new recipes and techniques. We even made bread one time."
"Doesn't it take a lot more time to make bread than you have in one class?"Tenchi asked her.
"First we mixed the dough and let it rise. Then we puched the dough down at lunch time and let it rise again. Then we baked it the next day. The teacher told us that some people have machines that they put all the ingredients in, and the machine does all the work and even bakes the bread. It's no fun to cook that way. I like to make things myself. Would you come for supper tomorrow and try some of my new dishes? Please."
"Of course Sasami-chan. I plan to stay for the whole weekend," he told her. "Dad and Rea-san will be coming for a visit as well on Saturday."
"That's nice. They were here for such a short time when they came to take you to Nerima. I'd really like to get to know Rea-san better." Aeka said.
"Looking for pointers on how to catch a man?" Ryoko asked.
Tenchi smiled as another argument broke out between Aeka and Ryoko. It was good to be home.
All to soon, it was time for Tenchi to return to Nerima but he promised that he would be back as quickly as possible the next day.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Friday morning passed without Kuno attacking Tenchi, which disappointed many in his class who were looking forward to the show. All of their teachers, including Washu, seemed to enjoy handing out extra homework assignments for the weekend. Then after clean up, it was time for the kendo club meeting.
When Tenchi arrived, the other members, including Akane, were already there. Kuno came up to him and said, "My fair Juliet, Akane, has requested that I refrain from punishing you for your impertinence. Therefore, I will spare you from further retribution for your misdeeds."
Tenchi bowed and said, "Thanks, I..."
"Silence knave," Kuno said angrily. "I have not finished." And he continued talking for another twenty minutes.
When the meeting was finally over and Tenchi was on his way home, Ranma ran up to him and asked, "How did things go at the meeting today?"
"I'm beginning to wish that I had just kept knocking Kuno out," Tenchi replied. "He's the most conceited and long winded person I've ever met. Most of the meeting was taken up with his speeches.
"I'm not surprised," Ranma said. "Kuno doesn't need a sword; he could bore you to death."
Tenchi smiled and said, "If attacking your opponent with boring speeches was allowed, we'd win the tournament easily."
Ranma started to laugh, but he was suddenly flattened by a bicycle landing on his head.
"Ranma go on date with Shampoo?" the Chinese girl riding the bike asked with a dazzling smile.
"Excuse me," Tenchi, who had been momentarily startled, said to her, "but it would be best if you got your bike off of him first."
"Oh," she said and peddled her bike across Ranma's back. "Ranma go on date now?"
"NO!" he said angrily as he got slowly to his feet. "I'm not going on any date with you. Now leave me alone!"
Just then, it started to rain heavily and both Ranma and Shampoo were transformed. Ranma immediately turned and ran, but before Shampoo could take off after him, Tenchi picked her up and said, "It would best if you changed back into a girl before you go after him again." Then he gathered Shampoo's clothing and bike and put them under the awning of a restaurant. "It would also be better if you didn't run him or anyone else over with your bike again. I'll get you some hot water so that you can change back."
Tenchi went inside the restaurant and quickly returned with a tablecloth and a kettle of hot water. He placed the cloth over Shampoo's back and then poured the water over her head. Once Shampoo was changed back and had put her clothes on, Tenchi said, "It looks like it will keep raining for a while. You should stay here until it stops." Then he bowed to the speechless girl, returned the tablecloth and kettle to the restaurant and left.
Tenchi had only gone a short distance when Ranma came running up to him again. "That stupid Shampoo really drives me crazy," he said. "She's always running me over with that bike of hers and expecting me to go on dates with her. She's almost as bad as Kuno's crazy sister, Kodachi."
"I guess you've really got your hands full with her and the other girls," Tenchi said and laughed.
"It's not funny! You don't know what it's like to have to deal with crazy, violent girls all the time," Ranma retorted.
Tenchi laughed harder and then said, "I'm sorry but what you said reminded me of something else."
"What?" Ranma asked in an irritated tone of voice.
"It's something personal that I can't discuss," Tenchi replied smiling. "The rain stopped. Are you going to change back now?"
Ranma looked around and said, "We're near Uchan's place. I can always get hot water there. Come on, I'll introduce you. You might even get some free food."
"Thanks, but I can't. I promised that I'd get home as soon as possible. I'll see you on Monday at school, okay?" Tenchi replied and continued on his way.
000000000000000000000000000000000000
When he got home, Tenchi quickly grabbed a bag he had ready and went through the doors that would take him to Okayama. Dinner wasn't quite ready yet, so he sat on a couch sandwiched between Aeka and Ryoko and told them about his day. When he got to the part about Shampoo hitting Ranma with her bike, Aeka looked shocked and said, "How rude!"
"Well, it certainly didn't encourage Ranma to go out with her," Tenchi replied. "The more time I spend there, the less sense Nerima makes. I've been told so many bizarre stories that I found impossible to believe, and then I'd see the proof.
"Like what?" Ryoko asked.
"Well, I was told that there's a demon in the area that possesses people and makes them play nasty tricks on others. I didn't believe it, but then I saw this grinning ball with horns and stick-like arms and legs flying about and being chased by a strange looking man. It was the demon," Tenchi told her.
"That doesn't sound like much of a demon," Ryoko replied. "I'm a much better demon than that."
"Well, that demon looked like something a six year old would have made out of clay and string," Tenchi told her.
Soon after, Sasami called everyone to dinner. She had prepared several dishes with the help of Noike and Mihoshi. "Tonight we're having Chinese food. I made egg drop soup, cucumber salad, rolled egg pancakes with pork, and rice," Sasami told them. "Then we're having almond cookies for dessert. There's plenty, so eat a lot." As usual the meal was excellent and everyone exclaimed, "That was a feast!"
The following morning, Tenchi got up early and headed to the fields. He was pleasantly surprised to find that they had been well tended in his absence and that all he had to do was a little weeding.
It was about two hours before lunchtime that Nobuyuki and Rea arrived. Everyone, including Yosho, gathered in the living room where the recently married couple stood and faced them. "We have an important announcement to make," Nobuyuki told them. "Rea and I are going to have a baby."
The party started almost immediately. The only ones who didn't wind up unconscious were Sasami, Rea, Washu and Tenchi, who remained sober despite Ryoko's efforts to get him drunk.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Back in Nerima, after his morning workout with his father, Ranma headed for the Cat Cafe and waited for Shampoo to start her deliveries before going inside. Once there, he went straight up to the wizened Cologne and said, "I need you to tell me how to beat someone who's super fast."
Cologne looked at him as she stood on a table and said, "I heard about what happened at your school and there may be something I can do to help. What do you know about the boy who defeated you?"
"He's fast and he does kendo," Ranma replied.
Cologne hit Ranma on his head with her staff and shouted, "Fool! Everyone in your school knows that. You talked to him, didn't you? What did he tell you?" she asked.
"Ah...He talked about doing farm work and stuff, Ranma told her. "He also said that he was trained in jujutsu and the use of weapons."
"And what did you tell him," she inquired.
"I told him about my fights with Herb, Ryouga and others," he replied.
"So, you told him about your most potent attacks and learned almost nothing in return," Cologne stated. "You really are an idiot sometimes."
Before Ranma could think of a reply, Mousse came in, in human form, and without his glasses. "Shampoo! You're back already," he cried. Then he rushed forward and tried to hug Ranma.
Cologne quickly used her staff to send Mousse back to the kitchen and shouted, "Put you glasses on!" Then she sent Ranma flying out the door.
Ranma picked himself up while muttering curses. Then he hurried towards Tenchi's house. Once he got to the gate, he rang the bell and waited. After a few minutes he decided to hop over the wall and go to the front door. He hadn't taken two steps when an anvil fell from the sky and made a hole in the ground right in front of him. Before the shock even registered, it was followed by a bowling ball, dishes, and a bushel of very ripe tomatoes which spattered all over him. Then a large octopus fell on him and wrapped it's tentacles around him. By the time he finished prying it off of himself, he was covered in ink. Ranma was trying to wipe it from his eyes when he heard a horrible sound; the mewing of cats, LOTS of cats. Ranma immediately turned away from the sound and ran right into the front gate. He scrambled over it and took off at breakneck speed. Meanwhile, far away in her lab, Washu laughed her head off.
Akane was doing errands for her sister, Kasumi, when she saw Ranma stumbling towards her with a dazed expression on his face. She grabbed him and asked, "What happened to you? You look like you lost a fight with Pantyhose Taro."
"Octopus. Cats. Too many cats," he mumbled.
Not being able to get any more from him than that, Akane took Ranma home and explained how she found him to his parents, her father Soun and her sisters Nabiki and Kasumi.
Genma took his son upstairs to clean him up and when they returned he said, "I still couldn't get anything out of him but 'octopus' and 'cats.'"
Kasumi brought Ranma some tea and said, "Maybe this will help settle him down."
Once the boy had finished his tea, Akane asked, "Can you tell us what happened to you?"
He took a long shuddering breath and said, "I went to Tenchi Masaki's house and when I didn't get an answer at the gate, I jumped over the wall. An anvil fell from the sky and nearly flattened me. Then other stuff just fell from the sky including an octopus. Then I heard cats and ran."
"What do you mean, 'fell from the sky?'" Nabiki demanded.
"Just what I said," he responded. "They came straight down out of a clear sky."
"I've heard of things like fish falling from the sky," Akane said. "It's believed that waterspouts are sometimes responsible. But an anvil is too heavy for that, isn't it?"
"Maybe those things fell from an airplane," Kasumi suggested.
"Someone like Ryouga could have thrown an anvil high enough so that it seemed to fall straight down," Soun Tendo suggested.
"Why were you at Tenchi Masaki's house?" Nabiki asked.
"I wanted to find out about his fighting techniques," he replied.
"I've been doing a little checking up on him," Nabiki said in a casual voice. Then she gave Ranma a look that said, "It'll cost you to find out."
Later that evening Ranma and Akane went to Nabiki's room to find out what she had learned about Tenchi. "What did you find out, and what will it cost me?" Ranma asked right away.
"I want you to pose for some pictures," Nabiki told him.
"All right, but I'm not going to wear any stupid lingerie," he insisted.
"That's all right," Nabiki told him. "The hottest sellers are pictures of you wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts anyway."
Akane gave out an exasperated sigh and said, "Now that that's taken care of, what did you learn?"
"Do you remember hearing about the destruction of the Great Seto Bridge A year and a half ago?" Nabiki asked.
Akane said, "Yes. I remember hearing that it was destroyed by a meteor," while Ranma, who had been in China at the time, looked blank.
"That same night, Kurashiki West High School where Tenchi Masaki was a student was destroyed in a fire that the authorities attributed to a gas explosion. Also on that night, Tenchi's house was destroyed in an explosion that left nothing but the foundation behind. That same explosion shattered windows for a quarter mile radius. There were also reports of strange lights in the sky. Only a few days later, a house that looked very similar to Tenchi's destroyed house was found to have been built on the shore of a nearby lake on land owned by Tenchi's family," Nabiki told them.
"Alright, there was a series of events that may or may not have been related," Akane said. "What else did you learn?"
"I learned that Tenchi's father, who recently remarried after being widowed for many years, is a well known architect whose firm is currently working on several prestigious building projects here in Tokyo, and that his family has a lot of money and property in Okayama," Nabiki told her.
"None of that has anything to do with fighting!" Ranma said in an angry voice. "The deal's off."
"You agreed to pose for pictures in exchange for the information I had. I told you what I found out, so you still owe me," Nabiki insisted. "I'll be very annoyed if you back out of our agreement. You know what happens when I get annoyed."
Ranma knew but he continued to complain as Nabiki made arrangements for the photo shoot.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
It was Sunday morning in Okayama. Tenchi had finished his morning training and was having tea with his grandfather before starting his shrine duties.
"Tell me about your experiences in Okayama," Yosho said to him.
"I'm not having any trouble with my classes, but things are a lot stranger in Nerima than what I've heard about on the news. But you knew that already, didn't you?" Tenchi responded.
Yosho took a sip of tea and said, "Perhaps."
"Please stop treating me like a little kid, Grandpa," Tenchi said. "You knew what Nerima was like before you bought the house I'm living in there and enrolled me in Furinkan High."
"How did you find out that I own the house?" his grandfather asked.
"I checked the records via the internet, of course," the boy replied.
Yosho sighed deeply and said, "You really are growing up, I see. You're also beginning to use that brain of yours for things other than school work."
"I've been doing that for a long time. You just didn't notice it. As the saying goes, 'The most valuable lessons are learned outside of the classroom,'" Tenchi replied. "Aren't those the kinds of lessons that you wanted me to learn in Nerima?"
"I'm sorry Tenchi. I should have noticed that you're not a child any more. I've gotten so used to controlling and manipulating things, thinking that I knew what was best for everyone, that I didn't see just how much you've grown," the older man said softly. "So, man to man, what is your assessment of some of the people you've encountered?"
"Most of my classmates are the same as the students I went to school with here. In fact one of them, Hiro Watanabi, reminds me of Amagasaki, a lot," Tenchi told him. "Tatewaki Kuno is a very good fighter even if he is crazy. He tends to be predictable but his perceptions are so warped that he might do something unexpected. Ranma Saotome is also a very good fighter. He reacts very fast and is quick to take advantage of any oportunity. My classmates told me that he hates to lose and often uses underhanded methods to win. If he thinks he might lose a fight, he runs away to try and think up a strategy to beat his opponent before fighting him again. If he did that in competition, it would be considered a forfeit. Of course, a lot of the people he's fought have used some very nasty tactics as well. I was told that Kuno's sister, Kodachi Kuno, a martial arts gymnast, even tries to injure her opponents before competitions. Ranma's fiancee, Akane Tendo, is a very good fighter as well and she's very nice, but she loses her temper too easily. Akane's sister, Nabiki, has a very bad reputation. I don't like to judge people based on hearsay, but some of my classmates told me that she'd sell her own sister for a hundred yen. Others said that she'd demand a lot more." Tenchi thought about some of the stories he'd been told about "the ice queen" for a bit and then he continued, "She's so eager to make money that she doesn't consider the consequences of her actions. She'll probably have a very hard time getting a job, once she graduates, because of it."
"Is there anyone in Nerima that you think could cause you trouble?" Yosho asked.
"Of those I've met, I'd say that Nabiki Tendo is the most likely to cause trouble. Ranma Saotome is probably trying to come up with a way to beat me in a fight, but I'm not really worried about that. Of those I haven't met, Principal Kuno is the most likely to be a problem, just because he's so crazy and has an obsession with cutting students' hair. A woman named Cologne who owns a restaurant called Cat Cafe might cause me some problems. But you probably know more about her than I do. So, what do you think?" Tenchi finished.
"I agree with most of your observations," Yosho told him, "But you failed to consider certain interactions."
"I suppose that Nabiki might try to help Ranma against me if she thought there was a way to make money from it," Tenchi said thoughtfully. "Cologne might try to help Ranma in order to get him to marry her great-granddaughter, Shampoo. Anything else?"
"Not really," his grandfather replied. "But alliances could develop and change very quickly depending on the circumstances."
"That's true," Tenchi agreed. "Hiro and another classmate of mine named Atsushi Honda told me a story about how Ranma and my English teacher, Hinako-sensei tried to beat up Principal Kuno once. He got Nabiki Tendo, a strange, little, old man named Happosai and his own son to defend himself. Nabiki took the ten thousand yen she had been paid and ran off. Happosai was booted out of sight by Ranma. Then Kuno, who was fighting in a deluded attempt to get Hinako-sensei to go on a date with him, was blasted by one of her energy attacks. Then she used another technique to drain his energy. It really was funny, the way they told it." Tenchi told his grandfather how the fight turned out and then he told him a few more stories about Nerima. Then he finished his tea before beginning his chores.
After he finished sweeping the grounds and replaced some missing and damaged roof tiles, Tenchi had a quick lunch and worked on the last of his homework. After that, he joined Aeka, Ryoko and Mihoshi as they watched a new soap opera before supper. The story really didn't interest him since it involved a very strange alien society and their obsession with various forms of status and the means they used to acquire and increase it. There were parts of the story that the girls thought were very funny that he didn't understand at all, but he enjoyed talking with them during the commercials.
Supper was a feast with many of Tenchi's favorite foods. During a pause in the conversation, Yosho said to him, "Since you find your schoolwork so easy, you might have time to come and spar with me a few mornings a week. I need to keep in practice as well. I have to be ready to teach my new great-grandchild."
Tenchi said, "Alright. I'm sure you have many more techniques and moves to show me that might come in handy."
Yosho grinned and said, "I've learned quite a few tricks over the last seven hundred years; you won't learn all of them overnight."
"You know," Washu interupted, "it really would be a good idea if you practiced teleporting as well Tenchi. You never know when it could come in handy, and you won't have to climb all the steps to the practice area."
"Climbing all those stairs is part of my warm-up routine," Tenchi told her. "But I would like to learn how to teleport when and where I want. I don't want to unexpectedly find myself in close proximity to the sun."
"Come to my lab after supper then," Washu told him. "You too, Ryoko."
When they finished eating, Tenchi and all the girls went through the door to Washu's lab and found themselves standing on a large, sunny plain that stretched to the horizon in all directions. There were a few large trees and rock outcroppings scattered about. Washu pointed at a nearby tree and said, "Examine this tree closely and memorize exactly how it looks from where you're standing now. Then go over to those rocks there, concentrate on the image in your mind, and picture yourself standing where you are now. When you have that clearly in your mind, imagine yourself jumping back here."
Tenchi looked directly at the tree and tried to memorize exactly how it looked including the way the branches spread out, the texture of the bark, and the color of the leaves. He tried to avoid letting his gaze drift elsewhere and when he was sure he had the image firmly in his mind, he walked to the rocks while focusing on the image of the tree. Then he imagined himself back where he had been and tried to jump without moving. He started to fade out but got excited and lost his concentration. He tried to remain calm and focus on what he wanted. Then he faded out and reappeared exactly where he had been standing before the tree.
The girls started cheering and hugging him while he rubbed his temples. "That gave me a bit of a headache," he told Washu after a minute.
"It will get easier with practice," she assured him. "That really went quite well for your first effort. Pretty soon you'll be able to do it as easily as Ryoko does."
Tenchi looked at Ryoko and asked her, "How far can you teleport?"
"I don't really know," she replied. "I've always been able to get where I wanted to be."
"What if I'm trying to teleport somewhere and there's something right where I'm materializing?" Tenchi asked next.
"With sufficient practice, you'll be able to tell if something's in the way and adjust your position. That's why you need to take things slow and learn how things feel so you can even pull yourself back if necessary. It's best to start with familiar surroundings like your bedroom until you're more comfortable with the process. You probably noticed that Ryoko doesn't appear all of a sudden. At first, she's out of phase with her surroundings. She can even remain invisible after she solidifies." Washu said. "Try teleporting a few more times now."
Tenchi did as instructed and each time it was a little easier. Then Ryoko asked, "Why did you want me here?"
"I wanted you here in case Tenchi needed a demonstration," Washu said. "It also might have helped if you described what it's like when you teleport. So, just for comparison, what does it feel like when you teleport?"
Ryoko thought for a bit and said slowly, "I guess it feels like my mind is going somewhere and my body just follows."
"I always knew you were out of your mind," Aeka said laughing. "This proves it."
Tenchi grabbed Ryoko's hand, squeezed it a bit and said, "That's sort of like it felt for me too. Let's go back to the house now and watch TV."
As they were heading for the door, Ryoko whispered to Tenchi, "I am going to get back at her for that."
"I know, but try to keep the damage to a minimum," he replied just as quietly.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Tenchi was up the next morning even before Sasami. He grabbed some leftovers for a quick breakfast and headed for the practice area where his grandfather was already waiting. They went through several katas and sparred for a bit.
Tenchi was being pushed back by his grandfather while he blocked a series of strikes towards his midsection with his boken. Suddenly Yosho changed his angle of attack and swung his boken at Tenchi's head. Instead of trying to block the strike, Tenchi dropped to the ground a swung his body around with one leg extended in an attempt knock his grandfather off his feet. Instead, Yosho leaped out of the way as Tenchi quickly got back on his feet and went on the offensive himself. Neither managed to hit the other as they continued back and forth across the practice area.
After practice, Tenchi returned to the house and gathered his things before returning to Nerima. Then he washed up quickly and went downstairs.
Rea was just coming out of the kitchen with a plate of food and said, "I heard you in the bath and decided to fix you some breakfast."
"Thank you Rea-san, but I already ate. I'll take it with me for lunch though," he told her. "I don't want to be late for school."
"Nonsense!" Rea exclaimed. "You have plenty of time to sit have a little more food before you have to go." Then she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the table. "Sit down and eat."
"Alright, alright," Tenchi said and sat down. "Good morning Dad," he said to his father who was busy eating while looking at some papers.
"Good morning son," Nobuyuki replied with a smile. "Never argue with Rea. You won't win."
Tenchi silently agreed and found that he had worked up a bit of an appetite after all.
00000000000000000000000000000000000
Back in Okayama, Mihoshi wandered into the kitchen and found Sasami sitting on a stool and looking very unhappy. "What's wrong Sasami-chan?" she asked.
"I fixed a nice lunch for Tenchi-niichan but he left without it," the little girl said sadly.
"That's too bad," Mihoshi told her. Then she smiled brightly and said, "Maybe I could take it to him."
"Oh! Would you?" Sasami exclaimed excitedly, "Thanks Mihoshi-oneechan. But he might have left for school already. Do you think you can find it?"
"Just leave it to me," Mihoshi said confidently. Then she took the box with Tenchi's lunch and headed for Washu's lab. She wandered around for a bit opening doors and calling for Washu to help her. Eventually she found a door that led to a small room with a few boxes in it. She looked around some more and found Tenchi's bedroom. She smiled when she saw a large picture of their family on the wall. "This must be the right place," she thought. "It should be easy to find Tenchi-san now."
Once she got outside, she looked around for someone to ask directions from and not seeing anybody, she took off in a random direction. Soon she spotted a young man looking about who was wearing rough clothing and had a checked bandana on his head. "Excuse me," she said as she approached him, "could you tell me how to get to Furinkan High School? I'm lost." When the young man just stood there with with a confused look on his face, Mihoshi assumed he didn't know and continued looking for someone to give her directions. Little did she know that the first person she asked was one of the few beings on the planet who had a worse sense of direction than herself, Ryouga Hibiki.
Soon she spotted a boy of about Tenchi's age wearing a school uniform. She rushed up to him and asked, "Can you tell me how to get to Furinkan High School? I'm lost."
The boy with his mouth hanging open pointed to his left and when Mihoshi turned to look, she spotted the sign for Furinkan High. "Oh," she said. "Thank you so much." She then bowed, hurried through the gate and spotted Tenchi with a group of other students.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
During the time that Mihoshi had been trying to find the door that led to Tenchi's home in Nerima and get to his school, he had made his way to Furinkan High. As soon as he got through the gate, Tenchi was confronted by Ranma, in girl form, who said, "I went to your house Saturday and when I jumped over the wall because no one came to the gate, a bunch of stuff fell from the sky and nearly killed me. What's the big idea?"
Tenchi silently screamed, "Washu!" while trying to come up with a plausible explanation. Then he decided that the best defense was a good offense and demanded, "What were you doing, going onto private property without permission? You should have realized that no one was home and left."
Before Ranma could say anything else, there was an excited shout of "TENCHI!" and everyone turned to see an incredibly, beautiful, blue-eyed blond whose attire, consisting of a pink tank top and khaki pants, did little to conceal her magnificent figure. She rushed forward and stumbled, falling into Tenchi's outstretched arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "I'm so glad I found you. Tenchi-san."
"Mihoshi-san? What are you doing here?" Tenchi asked as he took Mihoshi's arms from around his neck and steadied her on her feet while his fellow students stood there with their mouths hanging open.
"Oh, you see, you forgot your lunch and I wanted to bring it to you, but I got lost and had to find someone to give me directons, and when I did find someone I was here and then I saw you, so here's your lunch," she said as she handed him the box.
"Thank you Mihoshi-san, but you didn't have to go to so much trouble. I could have gotten something here," Tenchi told her.
"It was the least I could do considering everything that you've done for me," Mihoshi replied with a smile.
Before she could say anything else, another beautiful woman with short greenish hair and gray eyes, and wearing a white shirt and blue jeans came up and grabbed her by the arm. "Mihoshi!" she exclaimed in an angry voice. "You should know better than to bother Tenchi-sama when he's at school. You could cause him all kinds of trouble."
Trouble came in the form of Tenchi's diminutive English teacher, Hinako-sensei, looking rather comical as she ate a large chocolate icecream cone, who came running up and demanded, "What's going on here? Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Mihoshi opened up her mouth to speak but before she could utter a word, Noike clamped a hand over her mouth and said, "I'm sorry for the disturbance. This is Mihoshi Kuramitsu, a friend of Tenchi Masaki's and I'm Noike Kamiki, his fiancee. We'll be going now. Bye Tenchi-sama." and with that she hurried Mihoshi off the school grounds with her hand still firmly clamped over the blond's mouth.
In the stunned silence that followed, you could have heard a jaw hitting the ground. Tenchi sighed heavily and proceeded to walk into the building with slumped shoulders. When he got to his room and sat in his chair, he looked up and said, "Why me?" Then he dropped his head onto his desk and waited for the inevitable.
000000000000000000000000000000000000
Author's notes: There's usually a bucket of cold water handy when Ranma wants to change into a girl. If you want to read a really funny story about a crazy security system, read "The All-New Tenchi Muyo" Vol. I, "Alien Nation."
I think I'm starting to get the feel of how to do this story. Every once in a while, something silly, stupid, or zany has to happen. A lot of really stupid things happen in Nerima.