The trip to Tenchi's wasn't that long, but it was also kind of-in my opinion-on the boring side; we were technically in the Tokyo suburbs, that meant more houses than panties vending machines. Not as many, but still. I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting everything to be so, normal. As I was trying to figure out why he would move away from a house full of women, after about a minute and a half of walking, I got my answer: the bickering. Ooohhhh the bickering. I thought they were going to tear his arms off, with the way they were pulling on them like that.
"Wow." I said out loud, to no one in particular. "I change my mind-I don't wanna be Tenchi anymore." "So you were still hoping you were up until this point?" Washu asked without looking back at me. "Some uh, things are better off un-said." "Meaning?" Kiyone had her arms crossed, and I couldn't tell at the time, but Ayeka and Ryoko were listening in, and watching from the corner of their eyes. "Well, it's kind of embarrassing but, when I heard Washu talking about what I must have been before, I got scared, alright? Real scared. So, when I heard about what a good guy this Tenchi was, I was just hoping, you know..."
"Wooow..." Sasami and Mihoshi said simultaneously and misty-eyed. "That's-" Tenchi started to say-but was interrupted by Kiyone. "There's no way that's the truth!" All eyes were on me again, so I just sighed and said to Kiyone "Saw right through that one, huh?" "I knew it!" "That's awful!" "Meow!" Man, even Ryo-Ohki didn't like that one. Luckily, I came up with a way out. "What's REALLY awful-is THAT!" While everybody was looking, I whispered to Tenchi "Which way's your house again?" He pointed, and I ran like the wind.
"Huh," Ryoko said, "I don't see what was so awful about-wha-?" "He sure is fast!" Mihoshi said, her hand over her eyes to help her see. "You think he realizes that he's running in the same direction we're walking? And to the same place?" Kiyone asked Washu. They watched, and after a few seconds of running, my shoulders slumped a bit. "Didn't think that one through, now did he?" Washu said with an overly happy smile and tone of voice. "But why ask me Kiyone?" "Hm?" "You seem to know more about him than the rest of us."
Her smile switched to a sneaky one. "Wh-huh?" "Oh, so you're saying that after spending all that time with him, you haven't picked up on anything? No personality quirks, odd habits?" "Miss Washu, those are bad things." Sasami chimed in sounding worried. Kiyone thought hard about what she should reveal at that point. "I should avoid using words like 'zealous', 'information warfare', and 'guerilla tactics' as talking points; they'd get the wrong idea. But there has to be something...!"{"Benedetto. Anthony Benedetto."} "That's it!"
"Well," Kiyone said after the anticipation came to a head with the others. "Well what? Well what?" Ryoko pestered. "He gave himself... a last name." Their eyes widened. "Did he remember it?" "I'm not sure Ayeka. All he did was look into my eyes, and say it." Even Tenchi's face blushed a little at that. "O-oh come on! I'm sure it's nothing special! We don't even know what that means, right?" There was a silence, which was broken by Tenchi. "Well, actually, I've seen it once." "Where did you see it?" Ayeka's voice was contained, but her eyes showed otherwise.
"At an Italian restaurant. It was used to describe the lasagna. It means-er, well..." He walked over to Kiyone, cupped his hand over her ear and whispered, "Blessed." {"I knew it. I'm dead. I'm dead, and this is heaven."} Kiyone's eyes widened a little, thinking back to that. "H-he, couldn't have meant- "Well Kiyone? What's it mean? C'moooooon!" "Ryoko, if it was something we were supposed to hear, I don't think Tenchi would have whispered it." Ryoko sighed, and they started walking again. "Is it really okay for them to describe lasagna like that though?" Kiyone whispered to Tenchi.
Surprisingly, he responded, "Well, you didn't try it." I was almost to Tenchi's-ball parking it-when I stopped to wait for the others. "...Did I go the right way? Maybe-wait. 'Masaki residence.' Sweet." Huh. Small ballpark. Not small enough it seemed; just down the street, I didn't see a very shady looking individual on his cell phone, sending a picture of yours' truly to some familiar faces. "Yeah! That's him! That's the guy who-uh, sucker punched me!" "That kid?" The guy in the car moved his sunglasses down to get a better look. "Looks kinda on the 'slow' side. He snuck up on you with-how many guys?"
"A-a-at least ten!" "..." "Well, maybe not ten-" "Just admit it! You screwed up!" "That doesn't matter! The point is, I think he's under the payroll of the Kois!" "Well, he did walk out of their building-with a bunch o' broads!" There was laughter on the other end; with the guy I backhanded earlier (the guy he's talking to on the phone, for those who haven't been keeping up) yelling "Hey shut up!" "Either way, he's alone now," He grabbed a sheathed katana from the middle of the blade "I'll just get 'em outta the way now, then-"
"Don't even try," the person sitting next to him looked young-but dangerous. "You won't beat him." "...Gah! I'm not about to disobey the boss's grandson." He put his sword down. "But you sayin' you can tell how tough someone is just by lookin' at 'em now?" "Of course not." He adjusted his seat back. "...I know the guy. For know, we have to back off and reassess the situation, come up with a new approach to this Koi non-sense, and then make our move." "Whatever you say." As they drove past me, I had the feeling I was being watched. When I looked at the car, I just so happened to look him right in the eyes.
"...!" "What's up?" "...It's nothing. Just take me home." He put his seat back even more, and thought "Why in the world would you side with the Koi's Ant? It goes against everything we fought for all those years ago. ...Not that I have the right to talk, but this was the only path left for me after that day. After Oneehime* was..." "Whoa." I said out loud to myself, "Sweet ride. Must've been candidly filming a 'hot guys of Tokyo' show of some kind. I feel kinda awesome!" "You honestly think that?" I recognized Washu's voice. "Why not?"
We all shared a good laugh, but as she walked by, she counted to herself. "Three, two, one." "I'm not really that conceded, I was just-" "I know." Then, I thought about her last question. "What makes you think I'm not qualified?" She burst out laughing. "I guess you didn't notice, huh?" "...Notice what?" "That there, were no cameras in that car." I could feel my eyes widen, even though I was fighting it. "Ooohhhh. Gotcha." I kept walking, but Washu was lost in thought. "But that sword he was carrying sure looked sharp. If he was involved in Ant and Kiyone's Koi situation, then it's become more dangerous than they realize."
Suddenly, I sensed tension as some of the girls and Tenchi could tell what she was thinking. I couldn't; I wasn't even awake for a full twenty-four hours, and hadn't picked up on anyone's "tells" yet. "A-anyway... Tenchi, you lived with the girls first right? What was that like? And how did you all meet?" Now the tension was enough to choke smoke itself (actual smoke, not the guy from Mortal Kombat mind you). "...w-w-what did, I say...? "I'm getting a feeling that I should drop this..." "Per-perhaps, that is for the best..." Ayeka said just sullenly to enough make the others sigh. "This will sound completely unbelievable, but-" "Wait a minute," I stopped them, holding my palms up in a stopping motion. "Let me try to piece it together with what I've been given. Washu I already know you're a super scientist." "I am not a super scientist! I'm the, super scientist!" As she went on laughing to herself, I continued. "Ayeka and Sasami." Ryo-Ohki jumped on top of Sasami's head with a meow and Ayeka smiled politely.
"...I'd say you two are some kind of royalty. Specifically princesses." Ayeka's eyes widened with a gasp, and Sasami clapped. "Wow! How'd you know?" "Howdidhe know?" Washu thought. "Is he that good at reading people?" "Three things;" I said answering Sasami. "Mannerisms, traditional politician quirks, and most importantly: Ryoko called Ayeka princess earlier." Washu almost fell over. "Or, there could be a more simple answer." Ryoko pointed to her face. "I did?" "'Ogre princess', if I'm not mistaken." "...I did?" Tenchi thought about my reasoning for a bit.
"Political quirks? Like what?" "Well, on the way here, I was opening one of her bags, and-" Ayeka jumped up waving her arms around "He found many fancy looking things! That's it!" "Why were you going through her bag?" Her eyes twitched. "Well, we made a bet, that if I found anyyYAH!" She tackled me, covering my mouth! "SSSSHHHH!" Everyone else was laughing-I could barely breathe, but hey, the mood was nice. "He already knows we're Galaxy Police officers, so that narrows it down even more." As Mihoshi nodded while sipping tea, Ryoko chimed in. "Not, so, fast, Kiyone."
The way she said that was what worried her. "He has no idea you guys are 'Galaxy' police. In fact, he doesn't even know you're not from this planet." She laughed teasingly, but Kiyone's eyes widened, and was genuinely shaken up. "Th-that's, right; If he finds out, he, he might..." Mihoshi was still trying to put that together, when Ryoko jumped a little. "Hey, c'mon Kiyone, I was just kidding." "But, isn't that true for all of us?" Mihoshi asked with more curiosity than worry. Ryoko thought about it for a second, then shot up angrily. "Oh crap! That's right!" But when she saw Ayeka trying to forcibly mute me-or as I say to this day, smother me-she took notice of the fact that she was practically mounting me.
"Wow Ayeka, right in front of Tenchi! How bold!" She froze, sat up, realized she was essentially straddling me, and lit up like a cherry. "Th-th-this is nothing! I was just trying to-" "GAAAAAAASP!" I could finally breathe. "Thank you... Ryoko... I was fading away..." As they started to argue again, I crawled outside on my stomach to regain my breath completely. "Phew... That's better..." "Would you have minded half as much if it were Kiyone?" I twitched, then looked to the direction of the voice-the pretty dang accurate voice, but still. "..." "I-it was just a joke! Really."
Tenchi held his palms up and sweat dropped, but I laughed, having enough air in my lungs to stand at that point. "You wouldn't be too far off, I'm not ashamed to admit that. But was it always like this back when you lived there?" He looked up to the sky, with a smile on his face. "It was. I thought I wouldn't miss it when I first moved for school and peace and quiet, but times like this, when we're all together again-" He was cut off by what sounded like an explosion. "I remember why I left." I laughed pretty hard at that one, but he continued.
"They're all good people don't get me wr-" "Trust me, I know. If they weren't, I wouldn't be here. I owe them my life, and I intend to use it to repay them anyway I can." Tenchi was a bit taken aback by that. "Whoa. And you really don't remember a thing?" "Nah man. Washu says she can bring some back, bit by bit, but for a full recovery, I have to regain it myself." "How do you go about doing that?" I laughed. "If I knew, I'd be doing it, that's for sure." We shared a hard laugh then, but after Tenchi sighed. "What the problem is man?" "Well, it's just that after everything we've been through; the girls and I can finally look back at those as good memories..."
I scratched the back of my head. "Jeez, what'd you guys do?" He sighed again. "Long story." "I've got time." "And, I don't think you'd believe it." "I've come to terms with mad scientists, spaceships, and Ryo-Ohki, I'm pretty sure I'm good." "...Good points. Well, it all started when-" "Tenchi! Hi!" Just then, walking from the direction of the setting sun was a girl, waving, calling Tenchi's name. Tenchi was beaming! "Sakuya? Sakuya! ...S-S-Sakuya?" For about five seconds! I blinked, not knowing what was going on, but I wasn't worried about it either. ...Yet.