A Mummy for all seasons...
"Tenchi Muyo!" and characters were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Masaki Kajishima, and is the property of AIC/Nippon Television, Geneon Entertainment and FUNimation Entertainment.
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A Mummy for all seasons...
By Daferge...
( Ch.07... Needle in the Desert... )
( In the Eastern central Egyptian Desert... )
Clicking off her cell phone, Tennyo watched Tenchi continue to set up a grid of poles, run tests and then move the poles again...
She remembered how, as soon as he could walk, he'd started to follow their mother and father around their digs, like a little shadow...
Watching every thing they did...
As a little girl, watching that toddler, she'd began to wondered why it was he did it, soon she was also involved...
She became their mother's little assistant and Tenchi became their father's...
Until the accident...
In an instant their world had been turned upside down...
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In her mind she could still see that small research building, ablaze and feel the horror of being just a small, helpless teenage girl...
Then out of the smoke and fire had came Tenchi, with Mihoshi on his small back...
Her head on his shoulder, her arms around him, tight...
He'd managed to pull her out, all by himself, a seven year-old boy...
Tennyo had rushed to him, catching him just as his last ounce of strength vanished...
His hands, parts of his clothes, his hair had caught fire and burned...
Mihoshi had burns over almost 50 percent of her body, a gash on her forehead, her blonde hair burnt and red from her blood...
They had to carefully pry her arms from around Tenchi, he'd told her to hang on and she had...
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Every one had been amazed that such a small boy had manage to drag the tall, teenage girl so far...
But Tennyo and the rest of the Masaki family wasn't...
When Tenchi put his mind to something, nothing got in his way...
Ether they both got out or nether of them would, it was as simple as that...
Against all odds, Mihoshi had pulled through, perhaps all those days that Tenchi sat next to her bed reading to her and holding her hand, had helped...
For most of a year...
But the Mihoshi who awoke, wasn't as bright as before, she was shy and less open, but no one cared, she was alive...
Of the day of the accident, all she knew was that Tenchi had saved her life, that was all that mattered...
He was her knight in shining armour...
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Aunt Washu Hakubi had showed up shortly after the accident and with their grandfather's permission, taken charge of the Masaki house hold...
She gave Nobuyuki a long, quiet talking to, getting him ( for the children ) to set his grief aside and return to work...
Then she had Tennyo and Tenchi take over the daily household chores...
Their grief was still there, but they were atleast back in the real world and living again...
Thou she helped the girls when ever she could, it was Tenchi she was concerned the most about...
He had no memory of the events of that day...
None at all...
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When Washu had moved in, she had turned the basement into her own private Laboratory, because the University could no longer afford her on their insurance coverage...
BUT, she had to promise Nobuyuki that she would stay away from any chemical experiments like the one that burned the Science Building to the ground...
She had then taken Tenchi under her wing and had him help her with her experiments...
She called him, her little guinea pig...
Their grandfather was never worried, he knew Tenchi was like the son Washu had never had...
She was also the one who had managed to convinced Nobuyuki that he should file papers for Mihoshi's guardianship...
This was something the whole family had been behind...
Mihoshi had spent most of her life growing up with Tennyo and Tenchi...
As she had no living relatives, it only seem right that she became...
Mihoshi Masaki...
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( Back in the present... )
And so, here Tennyo was, in the middle of the desert, with her little brother at her side, following in their parents footsteps...
Heading off into the unknown, hunting for the unseen, all for the oddest of reasons...
Some would say they were looking for a needle in a hay stack...
She looked over at Tenchi...
Well, we found that needle!...
She smiled...
She wouldn't have it any other way...
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( the Valley of the Kings... )
Around noon, Nobuyuki was interrupted as one of the native workers had made his way down into the tomb they were working in this day...
Nobuyuki knew it had to be important, as many of the locals were still reluctant to enter the tombs...
Quickly he handed Nobuyuki something and hurried back out side...
Unfolding it he recognized the handwriting of the Valley guard...
Under the lamp light he read the short note...
Smiling, he handed it to Mihoshi who also read it...
It took a moment for her to understand, but soon she was bouncing up and down, giggling...
When Hawass's people read it, they didn't understand...
CALL FROM CAIRO...
THEY FOUND IT...
H...
Nobuyuki smiled, he'd have to explain to the others later...
But right now he had to calm Mihoshi down, so they could finish...
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( In the Eastern central Egyptian Desert... )
Tennyo had gone back to her National Geographic articles, sitting in the jeep...
Waiting had always been the hardest part for her...
Tenchi had his survey to pass the time, all she could do as sit there and read...
She now wished she'd tossed some more publications into the back...
Every thing was in Professor Hawass's hands now...
They couldn't do any thing until he got here...
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She'd just finished reading the letter section, when she noticed that Tenchi had stopped and wasn't moving...
She got out of the jeep and was about to head over to him, when he turned and pointed to the north...
Tennyo turned and searched the direction Tenchi was pointing...
At first, she saw nothing, but then she could see a small dot, getting closer and closer...
She heard the noise, before she could make it out...
But soon she could see an old, large helicopter headed in their their general direction...
She almost missed it as Tenchi retrieved a smoke flare for the jeep, ignited it and tossed it a safe distance from the jeep...
The chopper did a slight turn and was headed straight for them...
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The wheels of the chopper had barely touched the sand, than a figure jumped out and headed towards Tennyo and Tenchi...
Even with a scarf covering his face, they recognized professor Hawass...
Before they could react, he quickly hugged each of them, mumbling his thanks...
Removing the scarf, he was all smiles...
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As Tenchi showed Hawass the scans, Tennyo watched a small group of workers unloading supplies from the chopper...
Once unloaded, the chopper lifted off and headed back to the north...
The workers began setting up some tents, away from the area Tenchi had marked out...
Tennyo joined Tenchi and Hawass as they walked over to the marked off area...
For the first time Tennyo noticed how Tenchi had done his marking...
Using small flags, he'd marked out a rectangular area about 3 feet wide by 8 feet long...
Her jaw dropped as she saw that Tenchi had taken some black tape and made a big X right in the center of the rectangle...
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Hawass smiled and laughed...
" Let me guess... X marks the spot?... "
Tenchi just smiled back...
Tennyo shook her head, she should have kept an eye on him...
The middle of the desert, what trouble could he get into...
Obviously plenty...
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Hawass caught the attention of his head assistant, who'd been giving the worker's orders...
Coming over, he nodded to Tennyo and Tenchi...
So these were Masaki's children!
" Yes, sir?... "
Hawass smiled and pointed behind him...
" It seems we've found the spot... "
The assistant looked past Hawass and saw the X...
He looked at a smiling Tenchi and shook his head...
OH, yes...
These were Masaki's alright...
Hawass saw his assistant's expression and smiled...
" When the chopper gets back with the rest of the workers and supplies, be ready to start digging... There's something about 8 feet down about that size... "
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The assistant looked at the outline again and caught what Hawass was implying, but not saying...
He'd been Hawass's assistant long enought to read between the lines...
If that it was what they suspected, it was going to start some very important heads to spinning...
One way or another, this was going to be a very interesting day...
Smiling, he headed off to get things organized...
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( Masaki research house... )
Nobuyuki had decided to called an early day and had headed back to the house...
After getting the message, he'd tried to concentrate on the project, but his mind was miles to the north...
He had stopped at the Valley's entrance to thank the guard for passing on the message...
When they got to the house, a messenger was waiting with a large package containing a portable radio, batteries and a note from Hawass...
The note said they were to have the radio set up and on, as he would contact them as soon as they had any word...
The Valley area had very unreliable cell phone reception...
It was always difficult to get permission to put up cellphone towers in any historical area, the Valley was no different...
And Nobuyuki hadn't been able to afford a land line ( regular Telephone lines )...
While Mihoshi fixed something to eat, Nobuyuki watched the two assistants set up the radio set...
When they finished, one of the assistants told them they now had at least 72 hours ( 3 days ) before the batteries got too low...
As they ate, all eyes were on the radio...
It was now a waiting game...
To be continued...
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Main Cast:
Nobuyuki as Egyptology Professor Nobuyuki Masaki (51)
Tennyo as Egyptology Professor Tennyo Masaki - his daughter (25)
Mihoshi as Mihoshi Masaki - Nobuyuki's assistant - adopted daughter (23)
Tenchi as Tenchi Masaki - his visiting son (17)
Washu as Professor Washu Hakubi - (Aunt) - California Institute of technology (45)
Ryoko as Professor Ryoko Hakubi - (cousin) Minoan/Mycenaean Archaeology (23)
Katsuhito as Katsuhito Masaki Jurai - ( Tenchi's ) Grandfather (65)
Airi as Airi Masaki Jurai - ( Tenchi's ) Grandmother (62)
Azusa as Azusa Masaki Jurai - Great-Grandfather (Katsuhito's father) (90)
Funaho as Funaho Masaki Jurai - Great-Grandmother (Katsuhito's mother) (85)
Sasami as Sasami Masaki Jurai - Grandaunt ( Katsuhito's little sister ) (10)
Zahi Hawass -Secretary General of the EHCA(Egyptian Higher Council of Antiqities)(61)