6: Contact
It's a weird feeling when a person realizes that they have no clue what to say. It's an even weirder feeling when they happen to be surrounded by other people who haven't the slightest idea what to say. And they're all stuttering and gaping at the same thing.
A thing such as a boy in his later teens - his left arm laid in a cast, his whole right leg braced in steel and pivoted at the knee.
A thing with a black eye. Or two.
A thing that looks like he got in a jousting match with a tree and lost. Badly.
A thing with a blatant gash running down the whole length of his right arm, and what might be described as a dent rendered in his right shoulder.
A thing that had just unknowingly dripped blood from one end of the Masaki's kitchen to the other, and who was now leaning against the open door across the dining area. None of the others had even heard or noticed when he slid the door open; they were too perplexed over the sudden appearance of BLOOD in the kitchen.
That was, until he spoke. His croaking words had pulled their attention away from that disconcerting sight and straight onto another: himself.
"What the-" Nobuyuke began to exclaim, but Ryoko was ahead of him.
"Hey, who are you?" She demanded of the boy. "And what makes you think you can just come in and start bleeding all over the place, anyways?" The pirate advanced on the boy, but Tenchi held her back.
"You're one to be talking, Ryoko." The bleeding teen shot back at her.
"You've made a great imposition on us, whoever you are, so why don't you just-" Ayeka cut her sentence short.
"W-What did you just say?" Tenchi, Ryoko and Ayeka asked simultaneously.
"Oh, nothing important." The boy replied, brushing off the question of names. "Y'know, I was hoping that a home like this one would have a bit more hospitality for someone in this... condition." He gestured to his numerous injuries.
An awkward moment passed as the various members of the Masaki home stared at their intruder and murmured back and forth to each other, trying to decide what to do about this development. The person in question just leaned against the sliding glass door and sighed.
Sasami, however, wasn't bothering to talk with the others. She soon left the group and approached the boy, much to the surprise of the rest of the house. He was taken aback when the young princess suddenly grabbed his good hand and pulled him over to the low table and made him sit there in her place. She then picked up the center bowl and rushed off to the kitchen to fill it again. The others parted and watched as she passed.
"Hmm. She doesn't seem to mind blood being there anymore." Ryoko noted.
"Still," Ayeka added, and she glared at the boy, drawing the gaze of everyone else to him as well. The boy blanched and grinned nervously at them.
"Uh, hi, ther-" his voice cracked and he coughed. "Hi there. Oh, and I didn't mean to... you know. On the kitchen."
Five faces still looked at him apprehensively. He stared back at the table.
"Aww, great. I've gotten everybody mad at me." He paused. "Now what?"
"Rest!" Sasami's voice carried from the kitchen. "You're hurt and you shouldn't be standing around," She continued, and then poked her head around the kitchen door. "So just sit there and rest until Washu can come and take a look at you!" She ducked back into the kitchen.
The boy chuckled and shook his head. "Trust Sasami to be the most level-headed of you all. Hah!"
"Yeah, well that still doesn't tell us how you know our names," Ryoko warned the boy.
"He does seem to know a lot about us," Nobuyuke agreed.
"Um, I just-"
"Just how much do you know about us, anyways?" Ayeka cut off the boy's apology.
"Ayeka, Ryoko! Don't be so hard on him," Tenchi chided. "There's got to be some reason for... hm?" He stopped when he noticed the stranger's finger pointed at him.
"Tenchi Masaki,"
"Uh, yes?"
"Age seventeen," Elliot continued. "You recently blew up your high school with a lot of help from-" His finger strayed to Ryoko, "Ryoko Hakubi, notorious space pirate of the past five thousand years under Kagato's-.
"Kagato's DEAD." Ryoko replied sternly.
"Well. It's good to know when I am." The boy replied with an oversized grin. "Anyways, you were recently released from Yosho's seal by Tenchi and have spent most of the time since then bickering with a certain crown princess of Jurai." His finger now pointed at an aghast Ayeka.
"Ayeka Masaki Jurai. Who is currently re-growing her spaceship, Ryo-oh."
Sasami returned from the kitchen with a cup of steaming tea.
"Ayeka, I don't understand it, what's going on?" Mihoshi whispered.
"And this," Elliot said, gladly accepting the cup, "Is her younger sister, Sasami. The only person in the house who can cook. Except possibly Tenchi's father," again his finger moved, now to "Nobuyuke."
There was a stunned silence as the strange boy took a drink.
"Well, now. That's what I call a good cup of t-"
"Heeeeeyyy!" His compliment was overridden by a certain blond.
"Oh, yes! That's right." Elliot joked, grinning again. "Mihoshi Kuramistu," He tilted his head and winked at the tall character. "First-class detective with the GP,"
"Yes, that's me!" Mihoshi added happily.
"...and the resident genius ditz in this house." The boy added through another drink of tea.
The silence continued, further agitating the boy.
"Oh, come on! As if there's nothing any of you have to say? Normally you guys can't stop!"
"Well then," Tenchi stepped forward and extended a hand to his visitor. "Welcome to the Masaki house!" They shook hands rather awkwardly.
"Yeah, and by the way, why DO you know so much about us?" Tenchi added more quietly, suspicious.
"What do you mean?" Elliot retorted. "I'm just an ordinary seventeen-year-old high school student like you, Tenchi!" the boy instantly burst out laughing. "Oh, MAN, that's a good one! I can't believ- OW! Oh, ooch- my... Arrrh, that hurts." Some blood began to drip onto the carpet and the boy clutched his gashed arm.
"Oh, not again!" Sasami complained. "Where's Washu?"
"Yeah, get the redhead in here," Elliot added. "I've got a score to settle with-"
Just then the door opposite of the table opened and Washu emerged. She had an unusually confused expression as she closed the door.
"I don't get it," Washu commented. "He was just there, Tenchi, and then- HEY!"
"Looking for me, Little Washu?" The stranger quipped and smirked.
"Hey! Ah- you're here!" She stuttered back.
Ryoko ws indignant. "What? Your telling me that this kid is what's had you cooped up so secretly for the past week?"
"Hush, Ryoko. And, Elliot- you're coming with me." Washu commanded and pulled the teen up from where he was sitting.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" The boy asked as Washu began dragging him back toward her massive laboratory.
"THAT'S WHAT WE'D LIKE TO KNOW!" Several voices shot back.
Washu stopped and turned to the stranger of the house. "Well, Elliot? Why not tell them how? I think they can take it."
An uncaring expression came to the boy's face as he addressed the locals. "Alright, then. I'm dreaming"
Washu smacked her forehead. "Aww, idiot!"
"And if I'm dreaming, I should be able to breathe even if my nose is plugged." He pinched his nose and jerked as he failed to draw breath. "Wait, I-"
With a thud, he hit the floor, unconscious.
At that point everyone's voice could be heard, commenting left and right as Washu hoisted the unconscious boy up under the arms and kicked open the door to her lab.
"Everybody, I'm- just... shut up, will you?"
They did.
"I don't know how long he's going to be out," She continued, "but for now you're going to have to wait for the answers to your questions, alright?"
Six heads nodded.
"Good!" And the scientist dragged Elliot through the door and slammed it behind her.
"I knew I should have strapped him to the operation table..." Washu grumbled as she returned to her console.
a/n: The reference to breathing when one's nose is plugged is legitimate. Lucid dreamers commonly use nose-pinching as a test to see if they are awake or not.
