Haunting Dreams, Sobering Reality: Chapter XI

By Takeda Kenji

Pain, all Tenchi could feel was desperate, debilitating pain. From the lowest reaches of his spine to the top of his scalp, all he could feel was agony. And yet when he opened his eyes, he saw the most beautiful sight he could possibly imagine: Misaki's eyes. He looked around expecting to see Tsunami with Misaki but he was surprisingly alone with Misaki who took Tenchi's hand and cupped it. The sea of affection in her eyes was endless as she regarded her hero. Tenchi, on the other hand, was trying to keep from Misaki how much pain he was in. He was failing miserably.

"Misaki, where am I?" he asked slowly, his mind a hazy fog.

"You're in a hospital, Tenchi. You've been in one for three days. You were hurt so badly," Misaki said, as her voice became thick with emotion. A few tears ran down her face which Tenchi brushed aside.

"It's okay, I'm here but where's Tsunami?"

"She's resting, Tenchi. She was by your side all the way; if it were not for her powers of healing you might have died. She passed out from the exertion of it all."

"That's the second time she's saved me."

"Yes. For which, we are most grateful."

"Yeah."

Another wave of pain shot through his body and he gasped, his eyes widened in agony as he struggled to breathe properly. He reached for Misaki's hand and looked into her eyes pleadingly. "Can you get a doctor?"

"Are you in a lot of pain?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Tenchi simply stared at her for a few seconds before hanging his head in exasperation. "...Yes, Misaki, I'm in excruciating pain. Please find a doctor."

Misaki nodded and got up and went to the door before stopping. "Tenchi?"

"Hai?"

"That was an incredibly nice thing you did…" she said, her face crumbling as she began to cry in earnest yet she had a brilliant smile on her face. Tenchi just looked at her. He was falling in love with her. Tsunami help him, Tenchi Masaki was falling for Misaki Masaki Jurai. And he had absolutely no idea why. All he could feel in the deepest pores of his skin was a sense of this being right. He had no other course of action. He was sure she knew. For a quiet moment, they shared a look before Misaki put both hands over her heart in a fond gesture before leaving to find a doctor. It was at this time that Tsunami found her way in. She looked absolutely exhausted.

"Tsu-chan..."

She smiled and placed her hands on his head. His body began to glow for a few seconds before the shimmering light faded. His condition began to improve and the pain became manageable.

"That should help with a bit of your discomfort."

"Discomfort? Nice. I feel like I've been on the rack."

"You had a lot of blood loss, a few broken bones, a badly bruised windpipe, and some very serious cuts to your body. You don't know how lucky you are to be alive..."

"Luck's got nothing to do with it, koishii..."

"He kisses her softly and she climbs into bed with him. It's much needed together time as it has been days since either one of them saw each other. Misaki enters in with a little plastic cup that has two pills in it."

"No doctor, but Washu-chan was kind enough -- I see you two found each other," Misaki said, an awkward silence filling the room. No one was quite sure what to say.

"That we did," Tenchi said, grasping at straws.

"Okaasama!" Tsunami cried with the little girl voice of Sasami's younger self.

"Sasami-chan...." Misaki said, immediately breaking into a smile as all worries were forgotten.

"Okaasama!" Tsunami said again with the same voice. Tenchi was very careful to keep a respectful smile on his face. He knew that Misaki liked him. He just wasn't sure she liked him enough not to give him hell for interrupting a mother-daughter moment.

"Sasami-chan!" Misaki squealed, as she climbed into bed on Tenchi's other side and the two hugged with Tenchi sandwiched in the middle.

"Yare yare, I guess it's my lot in life to be surrounded by young, pretty ladies..." Tenchi said, exaggerating mock concern.

Misaki stared at him for a moment, a blank expression on her face before she looked to Tsunami, "Oh, he's good..."

"You have no idea..."

"Apparently, I don't."

"Misaki, how are you doing with everything?" Tenchi asked, not wanting to break a festive mood but short of putting his foot in his mouth, he wanted to know how she was doing with the death of the people closest to her.

The mood evaporated as Misaki became more serious. "It's hard, Tenchi. It's really hard. I miss them...much more than I ever thought I could sometimes. There hasn't been much time. It was only days after they died before those bastards captured me."

Tenchi took her hands into his own and kissed them softly. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I couldn't have been there sooner."

"You were there. You all were. That's what counts."

Tenchi pulled her closer to him and bade Tsunami to come a bit closer. It felt like the right thing to do and he went with it, kissing Misaki gently. Her floodgates opened as she sobbed quietly, returning his kiss a thousand fold. Tenchi felt Tsunami grip onto him but he didn't sense her anger but rather Sasami's pain at losing her father and Mother Funaho. He gently stroked Misaki's face and deepened the kiss until after some time, she finally withdrew. Tenchi felt her cuddle into him and he simply held her as he felt that to be the best thing he could do.

"What would I do without you two?" He inquired lovingly. "I need to sleep. Tomorrow is tomorrow and then we'll have the difficult task of rebuilding our Divided House but until then...we sleep.

"Yes, my king..." Misaki whispered passionately against his lips before she finally allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep.

"Our king..." Tenchi felt Tsunami whisper against the nape of his neck.

And together, they slumbered in peace.

A/N: Very short post I know, but I have a headache. I'll make tomorrow a bigger post. This is just acting as an interlude between near death and life.