Ep 11 Reunion

I finally decided to change this silly header. *snicker*

Anyway, everybody knows the copyright information so I'll just

forgo that. The story is approaching the end. I predict

another 5 chapters, give or take 2, and that'll be it. It's

been a lot of fun writing this little saga (which is

surprising, since I have a hard time writing a 6 page term

paper!) and I hope you've enjoyed reading it too. I MAY do a

second series or continuation of the story, or I may not end

this at all. It all depends. Send all hate mail / fan mail

to .

Notice! New Website is going up for the Tenchi fans! Come

check it out at .net and sign the Guestbook,

letting me know you were there. The fanfic will also be

posted there, as will it be on the TMFFA, AND on

.net.

The light of dawn began to grace the Imperial Palace of

Jurai, and flooded the surrounding area in soft, yellow

sunlight. Morning dewdrops coated nearly every leaf of

vegetation, the night insects silenced themselves for the

upcoming day, and people all over the palace slowly woke from

their evening of slumber. Shades were drawn, windows were

opened, and beds were made, as the morning slowly progressed.

It didn't happen quite so quickly, however, in Ryoko and

Tenchi's room.

Nearly an hour after the sun came up and laid its super

bright beam of light across their room, reflecting off of all

the dust in the air, they continued to snooze peacefully,

their arms wrapped around each other, with Ryoko's head on

Tenchi's chest, listening to his heartbeat. Their covers were

strewn about the bed, a testament to their night of ravenous

passion and pleasure, and also a testament to the reason for

their continued slumber.

Several Jurian birds landed outside of their window on a

nearby tree, and began to sing amongst themselves. Their

songs were considerably different from the typical chirping of

native Earth birds, and instead, were long, warbling calls of

a melodious nature.

Ryoko took in a deep breath and unconsciously stretched

herself out beside Tenchi, and slowly opened her golden,

kittenish eyes. She smiled and pulled herself a little closer

to her lover, happily to burn away every moment of time with

him, just laying there in bed with the sounds of nature just

outside their window. She listened to his soft, rhythmic

breathing, and she smiled with satisfaction, knowing that he

fell asleep filled with contented pleasure from the night

before.

"Mmmm Ryoko" Tenchi muttered softly, a smile forming

on his lips.

She looked up into his face with her own showing nothing

but love and devotion, and she realized that he was still

sleeping. Closing her eyes, she stifled the urge to crush him

in an embrace, and instead, decided to wait to see what else

he'd say in his dream.

Unfortunately, their peaceful repose was interrupted by

a light knocking on the door and Sasami's voice on the other

side of it.

"Are you guys awake yet?" she asked quietly, lightly

tapping on the door once more.

Ryoko phased into existence in front of the entrance, no

longer nude, but now clothed in her pink and blue dress. She

opened the door, revealing Sasami and a maid at the other

side. "Yeah, I'm awake, but Tenchi is still asleep. What's

going on, Sasami?" she asked, stepping outside and closing the

door behind her.

"Oh! I'm sorry. This is the time the maids go into all

the rooms and clean them. But you can have her come back

later if you want to sleep a little longer." Sasami looked up

at Ryoko with her pink eyes and smiled. The maid standing

behind her narrowed her emerald eyes slightly, but remained

silent. Oddly enough, her maids' uniform resembled Ryoko's

old maid uniform from so long ago.

It was always like Sasami to consider everyone's

feelings before she gave an order. "You won't have to do

that, Sasami. Just give us a couple minutes to get ourselves

ready and we'll vacate the premises," Ryoko said, patting the

little princess on the head and giving her a sly smile.

"Okay. Just leave the door open once you leave so

she'll know it's okay to go in there to clean. Oh, and

breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. I hope you're good

and hungry!" she said, excitedly. "If you think the meals I

prepare are huge, wait till you see what they'll have for us!"

Ryoko laughed. "Yes, your highness. We will join you

shortly. Same room as last night?"

"Yup," she giggled.

"Alright. See you in a few minutes," she said, re-

entering her room and closing the door behind her, turning

back toward the bed. Tenchi still dozed peacefully, oblivious

to the intrusion.

Floating up into the air, she hovered over to their bed

and she watched Tenchi for a few moments more, thinking he

looked so cute and cuddly, like a teddy bear, curled up under

the remaining blankets that managed to stay on the bed. She

smiled to herself and floated directly over top of him, only a

few inches above him. She stared into his face and smiled

contentedly, knowing that she never had to worry about losing

him to some other woman, and that he was her treasure, to be

joyously plundered whenever she felt like it.

Quietly letting out a blissful sigh, she bent down and

kissed Tenchi on the lips. "Time to wake up, lover," she

whispered into his ear.

Tenchi didn't move and his breathing remained unchanged.

She smiled broadly, since she was very proud of the fact

that she had worn him out the previous night. Undaunted, she

pressed her lips to his once more and held the kiss for a few

moments, until Tenchi's body slowly shifted positions and she

felt him try to take in a deep breath of air. Backing off a

moment and allowing him to finally breathe again, she watched

his eyes slowly open themselves and a large smile crease his

lips.

Without warning, Tenchi reached up and grabbed Ryoko,

pulling her down to him with a shriek of pleasant surprise, as

he kissed her passionately, letting out a soft moan of

unmistakable bliss. He backed off a moment later.

"Good morning, Ryoko." Tenchi smiled in satisfaction.

Ryoko giggled. "Hi, sleepyhead. Did you have a good

night's rest?"

Tenchi slowly nodded. "Yeah." He hugged Ryoko once

more and kissed her on the cheek. "What a night. What time

is it anyway?"

The space pirate smiled and returned his kisses. "It's

an hour past dawn. Sasami was just here, and she told me that

breakfast will be served shortly, plus the maids want to get

in here to clean the room."

His eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Well, I guess we

better get going then." He made an attempt to get up, but

Ryoko had lain down on top of him. Instead of getting up, she

continued to lie there, grinning, as he made another vain

attempt to sit up. Smiling up at her, he gave her another

kiss. "Can I get up now?"

"Oh, I don't know. We still have a few minutes to

spare, Tenchi," she whispered seductively, winking at him.

Tenchi smiled, but shook his head. "Come on, Ryoko.

I'm hungry, and I'm sure the maid is getting impatient.

Besides, we're going to be spending the whole day together."

He thought a moment. "Actually, our entire vacation will be

spent together."

Ryoko's face went to feigned hurt. "Aw, please,

Tenchi?" she whined. "Just a quickie before we go?"

Tenchi couldn't help but laugh. "Ryoko! You're being

spoiled. Let's go get some breakfast. Please? We'll have

all of tonight to do as we please."

"Oh, but that's so far away!" she pouted. She kissed

him once more.

Even though he wouldn't admit it, Ryoko's little pouting

act was starting to turn him on, but he decided it would be

better to wait until tonight. "Now Ryoko. Be reasonable,

okay? I'm sure you're hungry too."

"No, not really," she answered.

Tenchi chuckled quietly. "I guess I'll have to find

some other motivation," he said, bringing his arms up to her

sides. He began tickling her, under her arms and down her

sides as she yelped in glee and started laughing. "Coochie

coochie coo!" he said, intensifying the motions of his hands

and laughing along with her. She squirmed fitfully and

finally her will gave out as she floated up off of him,

putting some distance between his hands and her body as she

worked off the ticklish feeling and calmed down.

Seizing the moment, Tenchi quickly sat up and covered

his waist with the blanket. He reached down to the floor and

picked up his underclothes and speedily put them on, managing

to do it all under the covers. Standing up, he looked around

for his suitcase.

Ryoko floated down from her position above the bed and

wrapped her arms around Tenchi, nipping him in the neck and

kissing him in the same spot. "You big meanie," she cooed,

and then giggled. "I've never been tickled like that before."

Tenchi looked over his shoulder into her smiling face

and gave his own satisfied grin. "Where are our bags? I

don't see them."

"I think they're in the closet over there," she said,

pointing to a door on the far side of the room. "But I think

the maids already unpacked our stuff for us and put it into

the dresser."

"Oh! Okay. Well, that makes it nice." He made his way

over to the dresser with Ryoko still clinging to him as she

floated a few inches above the floor. Opening a couple of the

drawers, he found they were empty. "Hmmm guess not," he

said, scratching his head. Changing his focus over to the

closet, he opened the door to reveal a closetful of Jurian

robes, all his size, with a note attached to one of them.

"Please wear these clothes, prince. It would make us

very happy," Tenchi said, reading the note aloud. Ryoko

frowned at it.

"Why do you have to wear these silly robes? I brought

along most of the clothes we bought together at the mall a

couple weeks ago."

Tenchi shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But we

are on Jurai, so I guess we should go with the flow and wear

typical Jurian clothing, or we'd stick out of the crowd. I

don't think I'd like being stared at because of the clothing

I'm wearing."

"I guess you're right. But you'll probably be stared at

anyway, since you are the prince," she said, causing Tenchi to

cringe slightly. She reached into the closet and pulled out a

set of clothes. The primary color was beige, and it had many

extra features on it, in various colors. "I think this would

look nice on you, Tenchi."

"Okay, I'll wear that one," he replied, taking the

hanger out of Ryoko's hand. He carefully removed the garments

from the hanger and laid them out on the bed. Stopping

himself for a moment, he turned his head toward Ryoko. "Can

you let go of me now so I can get dressed?" he asked,

grinning. "It would be pretty hard for both of us to fit in

these robes."

Ryoko squeezed him tightly and kissed him on the cheek,

then released him and floated Indian style in the air.

A few short minutes later, Tenchi finished dressing, and

they both left their room to go to the breakfast table. Upon

entering the dining room, they could see everybody already

seated around the table, except Russ was absent. Everybody

turned their attention to Tenchi and Ryoko when they entered,

and a chorus of, "Good morning," and "Hello," were said. They

took the same two chairs they had the night before and sat

down. Asuza simply glared at the two, but managed a nod in

their direction.

"You guys look very well rested. I assume everything

went okay last night?" Misaki asked from her position at the

head of the table.

"Absolutely," Tenchi answered, sharing a knowing glance

back at Ryoko. Aeka looked at the two and did her best not to

be jealous. Not because she wasn't with Tenchi, but because

she didn't have a relationship at all.

"Well, that's good. You made it just in time. The

cooks are just about finished with our meal." Misaki turned

toward the kitchen door just as it opened, and a bunch of

servants entered carrying large trays, each crammed with

heaping plates of food. The smells that followed them were

unmistakably pleasant and mouthwatering, and caused nearly

everyone at the table to begin salivating in anticipation.

"Wait a minute. Where's Russ?" Aeka asked, noticing the

empty chair next to Azaka. She frowned. "Is he still

sleeping?"

"I don't know, Aeka. I knocked on his door but there

was no answer," Sasami told Aeka as a plate was set down in

front of her. "I didn't want to disturb him if he was

sleeping."

"Why don't you go see if he wants to join us?" Misaki

asked.

Aeka was already getting up from the table. "I was just

on my way to do that. I'll be back in a few moments. Don't

wait for me."

"Don't trouble yourself. I'll send a servant to go see

what's going on," Asuza told her, gesturing with his hand for

her to take her seat.

"I'd rather do it myself, if it's all the same to you,

father," Aeka responded indignantly.

His eyebrow arched ever so slightly. "Don't bother.

I'll send a servant. Sit down," he ordered.

"But father"

"Sit down!"

Her mouth hung open for a moment in stunned silence, but

she reluctantly complied. Misaki glared at her husband and

was about to object when Asuza ordered one of the servants to

go fetch Russ. Deciding not to pursue the issue any further,

Misaki turned her attention back to Aeka, who was now picking

at her food.

"Don't worry, honey. It really doesn't matter if you go

get him or one of the servants does. Either way, they'll

bring him here."

Aeka didn't answer, but continued to pick at the food

that was placed in front of her. Everybody else at the table

didn't say anything, but kept quiet and watched the tirade in

silence.

Several minutes later the servant returned and whispered

something in the Emperor's ear, causing him to frown a little

more than usual.

Aeka looked up from her meal. "Didn't she find him?"

Asuza shook his head. "No. He's not in his room. She

looked around a little for him but didn't find him. She

doesn't know where he went."

Fear gripped Aeka for just a moment, but she told

herself she was being silly, and that he didn't actually leave

the planet. However, as she continued eating, that feeling

continued to nag at the back of her consciousness. What

bugged her even more was the fact that she didn't even know

WHY he suddenly vanished. It was strange. She decided that

when they find him later, that she'd ask him about it. But if

she did that, wouldn't he get upset over it? Why should he

have to answer to anybody? It isn't like she's married to him

or something where he'd have to answer for everything that he

does.

Funaho and Misaki both noticed Aeka's fretfulness and

the fact that she probably has just lost her appetite. They

both watched her pick at her food and continually shift

positions in her chair. Asuza ignored her, but Sasami

watched, concerned for her sister. Finally, Misaki broke the

silence.

"Go find him, Aeka, if it'll make you feel better," she

ordered. Asuza glanced up and looked daggers at his daughter,

and then at Misaki.

Aeka jumped in surprise, and then hung her head in

shame. "I'm sorry, mother. I'm being rude and selfish." She

began to eat with much more gusto, but remained silent.

Breakfast passed without much conversation from anybody.

Once they were finished, they complimented the chefs and made

a hasty exit from the dining hall. Aeka caught sight of

Tenchi and Ryoko leaving the room and she decided to catch up

to them.

"So Ryoko, what would you like to do today? We've

basically got an open slate," Tenchi said, casually walking

next to her, his robes flowing freely behind him.

"I have no idea where to begin, actually. Is there

anywhere you'd like to see?" Ryoko asked, turning toward him

and stopping.

Tenchi stopped and remained thoughtful. "Well, you've

been to Jurai more than I have, and I don't have any idea what

to do or where to go. I was hoping you'd have some ideas."

Ryoko shook her head slowly. "No. But you've been to

Jurai as well. Are you sure there isn't anything you want to

see again?"

Tenchi shrugged his shoulders. He then chuckled.

"Well, let's go that way and see where it leads us," he

announced, pointing down one of the hallways.

"That goes to the Royal Library," Aeka said, finally

having caught up with them.

Ryoko and Tenchi both turned toward her and watched her

with concern.

Aeka let out a sigh. "Would you mind if I joined you?

I can show you around the palace if you would like. Sasami

and Ryo-Ohki went off with Mother, Grandfather and Nobuyuki

went off with Lady Funaho, Father went to the throne room,

Azaka and Kamidake went off somewhere, Kiyone and Mihoshi went

off together, and Washu went to the Science Academy for the

day. I'm stuck with nobody to do anything with, unless I want

to get tortured by Mother, which currently doesn't appeal to

me."

Ryoko and Tenchi both looked at each other and nodded

their heads. "Sure. We'd be happy to have you join us. Who

better to give us a tour than the Princess herself?" Ryoko

said, smiling in a pleasant way.

"Well, let's go to the library then. Maybe there will

be something there that would interest you," Aeka suggested.

"There is probably a million books there, if not more,

covering nearly every subject you could possibly think of."

"Sounds interesting. Would you please show us the way?"

Tenchi asked.

Aeka smiled and nodded her head. "It's right over

here," she said, gesturing with her hand and slowly making her

way over to the library. Tenchi and Ryoko both followed.

"Sorry about Russ not showing up for breakfast, Aeka.

If I knew where he went I would've told you," Tenchi said,

quietly.

Aeka tensed slightly, but she seemed to shake it off a

moment later. "It's okay. He probably got up early or

something and decided to tour the planet by himself or

something. That's what he's used to."

"Yeah, but still, he should've at least graced us with

is presence at the table for breakfast. It was awfully rude

of him," Ryoko responded. "I know I'd be upset if Tenchi

didn't show up at the table, and he'd be upset if I didn't

arrive."

Aeka shook her head. "But it's different for you two."

She sighed regretfully. "I'm burdening you with my troubles.

Come on, let's forget about that for now and try to enjoy

ourselves, okay? That would make me happy."

"Yeah. Okay, Aeka. I'm sorry," Tenchi said meekly,

putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring

squeeze. Ryoko felt a slight pang of jealousy, but she

brushed it off immediately. Instead, she nodded her head

toward Aeka and smiled.

They had reached the library and Tenchi pushed open the

doors, gesturing for the girls to enter first. Once they

entered, both Ryoko and Tenchi stood, flabbergasted, at the

sheer number of books. When Aeka had said there were probably

a million books, she was vastly understating the truth.

Bookshelves reached all the way to the ceiling, which were

nearly thirty feet high. Rows upon rows of ceiling high

bookshelves lined the floor, and every single shelf had no

room left to fit another book on it. The size of the room

dwarfed that of the dining hall, and several rows of tables

were placed throughout the room, surrounded by plain wood

chairs, several of which were occupied by some of the Science

Academy students. The sight was truly breathtaking.

"Oh my god," Tenchi stuttered out. Ryoko had a similar

reaction.

Aeka turned toward them and giggled softly. "This is

the second largest library on Jurai. It's actually pretty

small by some of the other ones I've seen."

Ryoko and Tenchi both facefaulted. "You've GOT to be

kidding us," they both said in unison.

Aeka shook her head and smiled. "Well, go find

yourselves something to read. I'm going to go over here to

the romance novels to browse. I'll join you at one of the

tables. It'll give us something to do for the next couple

hours or so."

"Okay, that sounds good," Ryoko said, floating up into

the air a few inches and grinning seductively. "Tenchi? What

are you going to look for?"

"I don't know. Where's the science fiction section? I

may find something entertaining there," Tenchi asked.

"It's over there, I think," she answered, pointing to an

aisle between two rows of bookshelves. "It has been a long

time since I've been here last."

"Thanks, Aeka. I'm sure I'll find something anyway," he

said quietly, making his way over to the shelves.

"What about you, Ryoko? Anything in particular you're

looking for?" Aeka asked politely.

The space pirate froze for a moment and blushed.

"Thanks, but I can find it myself. If I don't find what I'm

looking for, I'll find it in the card catalog," she said,

smiling.

"I could easily tell you were most of the books are. It

would be much faster," Aeka said, pressing the point.

"It's okay. Go find yourself a book to read. I'll be

fine," Ryoko insisted.

"Well, okay. If you need help, just ask me," Aeka

offered.

"Thanks." Ryoko floated away and phased through a wall

of books. Aeka shook her head, turning toward the romance

novels and began to hunt down one of her old favorites.

A few short minutes later, Tenchi sat down at a table

near one of the outside windows. He opened the book to the

prologue and started reading when Aeka joined him, sitting

down in an adjacent chair, a copy of Lone Eagle in her hand.

"What do you have there, Tenchi?" she asked, not quite

being able to see the cover of his book.

"Jurassic Park. It's strange though. What is Earth

based literature doing here on Jurai?" Tenchi looked

confused, but Aeka smiled.

"Even though most people don't know it, we do have

people that go to more primitive planets, and we collect tons

of literature. Washu has done wonders for us when it comes to

Earth text."

"Oh," he said, not quite buying into the explanation,

but he had no grounds to dismiss it either. "Well, what do

you have?"

"It's also an Earth novel, called the Lone Eagle. It's

a romance novel. I've read it once before and really enjoyed

it."

Tenchi chuckled softly. "Maybe you should've tried

Heart of a Warrior. It's a science fiction romance novel. I

heard it was pretty good."

Aeka thought a moment. "I haven't heard of that one.

What's it about?"

"I don't know. I've never read it myself. Honestly, I

don't care for romance novels. I enjoy science fiction,

fantasy, and some mystery novels too. However, I also have to

read these boring books that grandpa assigns me," he grumbled.

"I've seen those. There's some interesting stuff in

them," she said.

Ryoko teleported near Tenchi with a rather large, thick

book in her hand. "Hi," she greeted them, causing both of

them to flinch in surprise.

"Hi there. What did you get?" Aeka asked, leaning

forward a bit to catch a glimpse of the cover. Her eyes

widened in shock when she read the title.

Ryoko blushed slightly. "It's for me and Tenchi. I

thought it would be neat to try some new things out."

Tenchi also looked at the cover. "A thousand and one

ways to pleasure your man?" he said aloud.

Two of the science academy students that were quietly

studying nearby looked up in astonishment, and then started

snickering. Ryoko shot them both a glare that promised death

if they continued, and they silenced themselves quickly. She

took the chair next to Tenchi and sat down.

"Yes, that's the name. I think it would be kind of neat

to try some of these new positions," said Ryoko, matter of

factly.

Tenchi groaned to himself and put his head in his hands.

Aeka did the same.

"What's the big deal? Doing the same thing night after

night gets boring," Ryoko explained, confused by their

reactions.

They both groaned again and suddenly became very

interested in their books. Ryoko shrugged her shoulders and

started reading.

"Mom? I'm hungry. When's lunch?"

Misaki looked down at her daughter and smiled. "Lunch

will be served in a few short moments. We will go to the

dining hall. Everybody should be there already."

"Yes!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down on her feet.

Misaki laughed and pulled her close, giving her another bone

crushing hug. They both stood up from the couch in the Royal

Family's living quarters and made their way out into the

bustling hallway.

"I'm so happy you all came back to see us! It was such

a nice surprise!"

"Yes mother. You've told us that a million times

already," Sasami said, rolling her eyes. "I'm happy I came

home too. It's been a long time since we've seen each other

last. But what have you been doing this whole time? I've

talked about everything I've done, but you never told me

anything about what you've done for the past year." She

looked up into Misaki's amethyst eyes and grinned.

Turning thoughtful, she placed both her hands in front

of herself and casually folded them together. "Well, really,

there hasn't been a whole lot happening, except recently for

the Startica festival. It always gets busy here in the palace

during this time of year." Not finding her new posture

comfortable, she placed an arm around Sasami's shoulders as

they continued walking. "Auntie Funaho finally finished

remodeling the Great Hall here in the palace. It turned out

really nice."

She paused, suddenly at a loss for words. Everything

that she came up with that could potentially be discussed was

shot down, figuring that they'd be of no interest to a little

girl. The merging of another kingdom into Jurai was

dismissed, as was the arrest of a petty thief who managed to

break into the palace. However, one thought occurred to her

that Sasami would find interesting.

Sasami watched her mother as she warred with various

thoughts, and she hugged her, smiling the whole time. "It's

okay, mom. You can tell me anything you like."

Looking down and smiling at the thoughtfulness of her

daughter, she decided on something funny that happened

recently. "You should've seen your father about a month ago.

He did one of the craziest things to one particular group of

people that I never thought he'd do."

The little princess smiled. "What'd he do?"

"I shouldn't tell you, since it would embarrass your

father," Misaki teased.

Sasami's eyes sparkled and begged at the same time.

"Aww, please mom? What did father do that could be so

embarrassing?"

Misaki started chuckling softly as she recalled the

event in detail. "It was so silly. You know how we must

always behave regal and proper, right? Well, one night at the

dinner table, while your father had a mouthful of wine,

someone told a really funny joke, and he actually found it

funny. So funny, as a matter of fact, that he wound up

spitting his wine all over the table."

"Oh my gosh! Did he really?" Sasami giggled and tried

to picture the event in her mind.

"Yes, but that's not all. You see, our guests were

actually small children, but they were of royalty, just like

you. Everybody was more or less intoxicated, and things got a

little more interesting as the evening progressed. One of the

kids decided to start flicking little bits of food at your

father when he wasn't looking. Needless to say, after about

four tries of trying to catch the culprit, he flung a small

amount of food at three of the kids." Misaki started

laughing. "Unfortunately for him, they all fought back, and

we had a massive food fight on our hands. We pasted the

entire dining hall with what was left of our dinner. All

twenty of our guests got involved, and your father had a

blast, as did we." The empress took in a deep breath and

calmed down a bit. "I felt sorry for the cleaning ladies once

we had finished. The entire hall was a mess, and we were

too."

"Ohhh Mooooom! You got into a food fight? How

immature," Sasami retorted, giggling. "Of course, you're not

the only one who's been in a food fight."

"Sasami! What did you do?" Misaki asked sternly. "You

know better than that," she scolded, and then broke out

laughing.

"It was all Russ's doing. I played a little prank on

him to wake him up, and afterwards when we started eating, he

started flinging rice grains at me. Well, I couldn't let him

get away with that, so I returned the favor. Ryoko started

laughing at him, and he flung a few grains at her. She didn't

take too kindly to that and she pelted him with rice grains,

and I managed to nail him too. Then Tenchi started laughing

at us, so Ryoko, Russ, and myself all pelted him with rice."

"I see I'm going to have to have a little talk with my

disobedient daughter," said Misaki, looking down at the little

princess with an evil gleam in her eye.

"But I'm not done yet. Aeka got mad at us and called

all of us immature. She then dumped an entire bowl of rice

over Russ's head."

Misaki's eyes widened in shock. "My little Aeka did

that? Seriously?"

Sasami giggled. "Yes. Then everything just went crazy

from there. It was a lot of fun, even though it took a little

while to clean it all up. We hadn't seen Aeka smile like that

for a long time."

"What do you mean?" the empress asked, now concerned.

Giving her mother a worried look, she decided to tell

her the truth, but first, a promise. "Mom? Please don't

repeat any of this to Aeka, or lead on that you know about it,

okay?"

"Cross my heart. I won't say a word, Sasami." Misaki

stopped and pulled her daughter in front of her, looking her

directly in the eyes. "What's going on?"

"Aeka has been depressed for a long time almost a year.

Tenchi had gone missing for a very long time, and everybody

spent every waking moment searching for him. When Ryoko and

Aeka finally did find him, he couldn't remember them. But to

make a long story short, Tenchi was in a different dimension

that was adjacent to our own. So close, in fact, that it

partially overlapped ours," she described, sounding like

Washu. "However, Aeka realized that Tenchi really only

responded to Ryoko, and during the final moments of that

dimension's collapse, Aeka made the choice to give up Tenchi

to Ryoko, to save him."

Misaki gasped and looked into her daughters face in

total bewilderment. "Sasami I had no idea. What else

happened?" She knew there was a reason for Aeka's persistence

for getting Russ involved in a relationship with her!! Aeka

had given up the one she loved to save him. That's her

daughter! That was the most unselfish act that anybody has

ever done, and it was her daughter that did it. Her heart

swelled with pride, but also with heartbreak.

The little princess's face became downcast and sad.

"That's basically all that happened. Aeka stopped pursing

Tenchi after that incident. She gave him up to save him. I

can't imagine the pain she felt from a decision such as that."

Sasami sniffled, becoming sadder. "I feel so bad for Aeka,

because I know how much she loved Tenchi."

Wrapping her arms around her daughter, she gave her a

warm, caring hug. "I understand a little better now. Why

didn't you guys ever tell me about this?"

Allowing herself to be held, Sasami embraced her mother

in return. "We decided to not tell anybody about it. Aeka

doesn't want anybody feeling pity for her. She's so strong."

She buried her face in her mother's robes, doing her best to

keep from crying. All the people in the hallway did their

best not to draw attention to what was going on between the

two members of the Royal Family.

"But Aeka isn't depressed anymore, is she?" Misaki

asked, very concerned for Aeka.

Sasami leaned back a little and sniffled, and then dried

her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Not since Russ came to

live with us. She thinks he's a lot like Tenchi, but he's so

different too. He's not as serious, but he's just as caring

and compassionate as Tenchi. I think that's why she likes

him."

"That's what she says." Misaki's stomach croaked

loudly, as if demanding an audience with the dinner table.

"Oh my. Lets get something to eat," she said, smiling and

chuckling softly.

Sasami smiled and sniffled once more. "I'm hungry too.

What's going to be for lunch?" she asked, standing up and

taking her mother's hand as they continued their short trek to

the table.

"I'm not entirely sure. It's probably the usual stuff.

You know how your father is," she said, rolling her eyes.

"It's almost the same thing every day. I don't know why he

doesn't get tired of it!"

Giggling softly, Sasami and her mother both made it to

the dining hall a few short moments later. Several people

were already there, sitting in their usual seats. Kiyone and

Mihoshi were already there, as was Washu, Funaho, Yosho,

Nobuyuki, Azaka, Kamidake, and Asuza. Ryo-Ohki phased through

the kitchen door with a carrot in her mouth, being chased down

by one of the chefs. He grumbled quietly to himself and

returned to the kitchen upon Ryo-Ohki's escape.

"Hi honey," Misaki greeted Asuza, taking her seat. "How

did everything go today so far? You did get all the

assimilation requests finished, right?"

Asuza nodded his head once. "Yes, dear. Everything is

going smoothly today, for once. Not a single trouble spot.

Yet."

"Well, that's good to hear. Did anything else come up?"

"Not yet. I still have to finish off a loan request

from the Galaxy Police, and that should be it for a while,

unless something else comes in." He frowned slightly and

growled something incoherent.

"What did the Galaxy Police need a loan for?" Misaki

asked, confused. "I don't remember anything about it being on

the agenda for today."

"We need the money to help fund a new spynet hardware

device we're constructing. That's about all I can say about

it for now," Kiyone explained. "It will allow us to

infiltrate gangster hideouts from a different location by a

remote controlled device. It makes it a lot safer when we go

in to take prisoners."

"Yeah! And it would've sucked the Galaxy Police's

checkbook dry if" Mihoshi started to say when Kiyone got in

her face.

"You always say too much about financial difficulties!

Leave it be!"

"Sorry, Kiyone. I didn't mean anything. It's just that

we seem to be the best at talking about financial

difficulties!" Mihoshi said happily.

Kiyone groaned in disgust and shook her head. Misaki

giggled to herself and turned toward her sister. "What about

you, Funaho? What did you do today?"

"I showed Yosho around the Great Hall. He likes the way

it was redone," she said, looking over at her son and giving

him a hard stare.

"It's pink," Yosho said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes, it's pink! What's wrong with pink?" Funaho

glared at him.

"Nothing, mother. Nothing at all," he said nervously.

He looked across the table at Sasami who was giggling. He

began to perspire lightly.

"That's what I thought. You don't like all the hard

work I put into remodeling it, do you?" Funaho said, looking

down the table and frowning.

"No! I mean, yes! I mean I didn't say that," Yosho

said quickly. "It's just fine. As long as you're happy,

that's all that counts."

"But YOU don't like it, do you?" she answered, staring

into his eyes.

"Yes, I like it."

"I think you're just being polite," she answered,

turning her nose up at him.

Yosho looked quite perturbed as his son started quietly

snickering next to him. He glared at him, promising a good

thrashing if he kept it up. Nobuyuki did manage to stop

snickering, but he couldn't help but smile. It wasn't often

that he saw his father get bent out of shape and he had to

treasure the moment.

Ryoko, Tenchi, and Aeka all entered the room, all smiles

and quietly chattering amongst themselves. Misaki turned

toward the new arrivals and smiled, happy that Aeka seemed to

be having a good time.

"My little Aeka!" she greeted her daughter. "Where were

you? What did you three do today?"

"We went to the library and read a few books," Aeka

explained, pulling up her chair on Funaho's side of the table.

"We really didn't have anything to do, so we read the entire

time."

"What did you read?"

"I read that one novel that I love," she answered, a

blissful, faraway look on her face. "It's amazing how some of

those are based on true stories."

"I see. What about you, Tenchi? Did you find anything

interesting?" Misaki inquired.

"I read Jurassic Park. I saw the movie, but never read

the book. I think the book was better," he said. "It had

more detail."

"I've never read it or seen the movie," she said,

thoughtfully. "Well, what about you, Ryoko?"

All three of them suddenly tensed and their brows beaded

with sweat. Misaki noticed it and started laughing. "Let me

guess," she said, a knowing look on her face. "It's of a

personal nature."

Ryoko let out a sigh. "Yeah, sort of like that."

"It's okay," she responded with a sly smile and sharing

a glance with Funaho. Even though she didn't know the title,

and she'd never admit do doing so, she too had read most of

the literature that was similar to what Ryoko had read.

Funaho had read most of it as well, and they both had a pretty

good guess at what it was about.

Aeka looked around the table once again. "Don't tell me

Russ isn't going to show up for lunch either!"

Once again, the seat between Mihoshi and Azaka was

vacant. Aeka clenched her fists together and stared hard at

the empty chair, as if willing him to materialize in it.

"Don't worry, Aeka. He's probably just not hungry is

all," Ryoko said, trying to calm her down. "Remember what he

told us?"

"Yes, but every time we did get him to sit down to eat

something, he ate everything! We didn't even have any

leftovers for later if one of us got hungry," she fumed. "I

don't get it. Where could he be?"

Tenchi sat there quietly and contemplated the idea for a

moment. "You know, Aeka," he began. "I'm almost certain he's

off training somewhere, and he doesn't want to be disturbed.

I'll bet that's it."

Aeka and Ryoko both fell silent. "You know," Aeka

began. "I think you're right. It makes sense, anyway. He's

got to be off somewhere doing his thing."

"Doing what thing?" Misaki asked, curious.

"He trains every day. He has a very strenuous exercise

routine that he does on a daily basis. But frankly, I don't

know how he can get into any better shape than he is in

already! Half the clothes we tried to get him to wear

wouldn't fit over his arms!" Aeka frowned and mumbled to

herself, something about Russ being pigheaded and a barbarian.

Asuza ignored everything that had to do with Russ and he

turned his attention to Yosho, preparing to discuss his

absence from Jurai.

"What does he do to exercise? How long does he train?"

Misaki continued.

"He trains for almost every waking moment! He basically

takes a break to eat or use the bathroom, and then he goes at

it again," Aeka explained. "Washu made him a gravity enhancer

to give him a more effective workout. He does almost all the

normal exercise routine stuff under extreme gravity."

At that moment, the kitchen doors opened and the

servants entered with the food, in much the same manner as the

dinner from last night and the breakfast from this morning.

Once again, everybody smiled and waited with eager

anticipation for the upcoming meal.

Lunch passed without incident, and attendance from Russ.

And once again, everybody filed out of the dining hall

hastily, but this time eager to find other things to do.

Misaki caught up with Aeka and decided to spend a little bit

of time with her. Sasami and Ryo-Ohki tagged along as well.

Azaka and Kamidake went to the training room, Ryoko and Tenchi

left the palace to tour the outdoors, Yosho, Funaho, Asuza,

Nobuyuki, and Washu all went off together, and Kiyone and

Mihoshi took off on their own once again.

Time seemed to kick into overdrive and fly by, until it

was almost dinnertime. Aeka, her mother, and Sasami with Ryo-

Ohki all went shopping together, and they bought themselves a

huge mass of new clothes. Not so much as bought as was simply

took home, since the store owners refused to charge anybody

from the Royal Family, but nevertheless, it was a fun trip for

the four.

They got to talk about various things, mainly about the

life Aeka and Sasami were enjoying back on Earth. Aeka talked

about her improved friendship with the Space Pirate Ryoko,

about her flower garden outside the house, and about the

various things she did with her brother. She explained some

of the earth customs that were a bit different than the events

that occurred on Jurai, but she never mentioned the detail

that she had been depressed for so long.

One thing led to another until the subject about Russ

came up again. Aeka bristled at the fact that he missed two

meals already, and she had no idea where he went. However,

Misaki decided to help Aeka go find him, and the first place

she figured they should look is the training room. Azaka and

Kamidake should be there as well, and if Russ wasn't there,

they could at least all go to dinner together.

After dropping off their new stuff, the foursome made

their way to the royal training room, where Azaka and Kamidake

should've been training their warriors and noblemen in the

ways of combat. However, when they got there, they found the

person they were looking for.

Russ stood on one side of the mat, and Azaka stood on

the other, and they were both dressed for fighting. Azaka was

in his combat robes, and Russ was in his green karate gi,

poised for battle. The crowd around both individuals was very

large, but Misaki pressed her way to the front, followed by

Aeka, Sasami, and Ryo-Ohki. She could hear Azaka saying

something to Russ, and the room quieted down to listen.

"Are you ready to begin, Russ? I've been waiting for an

opportunity to spar with you," Azaka said, loosing up his

shoulders a bit and assuming a defensive stance.

"I'm ready when you are. Don't hold back," Russ

responded, taking up a new stance.

"I think you're misjudging how strong we really are," he

responded, drawing a soft "Oooh" from the audience. Russ just

smirked and indicated with his hand to bring it on. "Wait,

aren't you going to choose a weapon?"

"No. I fight mainly hand to hand. There isn't a weapon

strong enough for me to use. I keep breaking them," Russ

explained. "But feel free to use your staff."

Azaka looked at the blue orb on the end of his weapon

and decided to use the staff, despite the nagging feeling that

it would be unfair. "Are you sure? It may be a little

unfair."

"Hmmm unfair. You're right," he said, looking around

the room. He lifted his arm and pointed at Kamidake. "Go

join your partner. That will make it a little more fair."

Both Azaka and Kamidake looked at him, bewilderment and

surprise creasing their expressions. Russ maintained a poker

face and nodded his head. Misaki's eyes widened slightly,

wondering what he was really capable of. She figured that it

would be a very interesting match. Everybody sat down to

watch.

Kamidake hesitated, and didn't move from his position.

"What are you waiting for? Go join him. I'm serious," Russ

told him.

Both knights shrugged their shoulders and he moved next

to Azaka, doing a little warm up exercise to get himself ready

for the match. "Are you ready to begin now?" Azaka asked, his

anticipation getting the better of him.

Russ looked at both of them and scratched his head.

"Computer, give me three hundred times Earth normal gravity."

A soft beeping emanated from the device on his arm as a

crushing weight settled down on him over a span of ten

seconds. The floor beneath him bowed slightly and a bunch of

cracking noises came from under his feet. Nodding his head

from side to side, growing accustomed to the enhanced gravity,

he took up his original poise and nodded his head. "Now, I'm

ready."

Misaki's eyes grew larger. "What did he just do, Aeka?"

"That's the gravity enhancer I was telling you about.

He weighs three hundred times more than he really should right

now," she explained. "But I still think Azaka and Kamidake

are at a disadvantage. I hope he controls himself and doesn't

hurt them."

Now the empress looked at Aeka with horror. "What!?

How strong is he?" she said in an exasperated whisper.

"Far stronger than anybody I've ever seen in my life,"

she said, looking into her mother's eyes. "I've seen what he

is capable of, or at least according to him, a small taste of

it."

"How can anybody have that much energy and be able to

hide it all?" she said, amazed.

"I don't know, but he does it. The frightening thing is

he says that there are others who are more powerful than him."

"Wow. Well, it's looks like they're ready to begin.

Let's see what he can do," she said, watching in eager

anticipation.

"Whenever you're ready, you guys. Just say the word and

we'll begin," Russ said, not having moved an inch, staring

between the two knights.

"If you insist. We'll begin right now!" Kamidake

shouted, sprinting forward and swinging his staff around his

body. The instant he got in range, he swung his staff at

Russ's midsection, whistling through the air with incredible

force and speed of the strike, but it passed through him, as

if he were a ghost. He looked at Russ in surprise, and then

quickly tried backhanding him in the head, which also passed

right through. After making several vain attempts to kick,

punch, or hit him with the staff and freehand, he jumped back

a few paces and stared at his opponent.

Russ grinned in response. "You missed," he taunted.

"Oh my god, he's fast!" Kamidake said to himself. "He

wasn't fooling when he said we'd be at a disadvantage! And he

isn't even warmed up!" He steeled himself up a bit more,

sweat beading on his forehead and trickling down the back of

his neck in miniature rivers. Azaka had much the same

reaction. "You try him, Azaka," he said, turning around and

looking at his counterpart, then backing off a few more paces.

"You may be fast, but lets see you dodge this!" he

shouted, the blue orb on his staff glowing with radiant energy

as he charged up his power, the energy roaring around him in a

bluish white aura. He launched it at Russ when the blast was

ready, resembling the wave he used when he fought against

Ketta, the black knight, and it sailed toward him, forcing air

out of the way and sizzling with the incredible Jurai energy.

Russ simply placed a hand out in front of him and the

blast slammed into it with a thunderous explosion, then

dissipated. He returned his hand to his side and he smiled.

Azaka and Kamidake both looked at him with fear in their eyes

and hearts. What did they just get themselves into?

"Come on, guys. I'm not even warmed up yet. I promise

I won't seriously injure either of you," he informed them,

still having not moved from his original position.

Misaki couldn't help but stare at Russ with her jaw

hanging slightly open. However, she wasn't the only one that

had that same look on her face. Nearly everybody who saw what

just transpired was sweating profusely, even though they

hadn't done anything.

"That blast would've vaporized any normal man, but it

didn't even scorch Russ's hand! What is he made of anyway?"

Misaki asked herself, fretting slightly at the knight's

inability to do any damage to him whatsoever.

Misaki was well aware of her own abilities, and she

could easily take both Azaka and Kamidake if she wanted, but

she had never met anybody else who could do the same, and look

so cool and calm about it too. It was frightening. After

Azaka and Kamidake finished their sparring match, she'd step

up to the ring and give him a try as well. She wanted to find

out how well she measured up to him.

Aeka watched him quietly, a very slight smile creasing

her lips. It was strange to see him be so considerate in the

middle of a fight, even though it was only a sparring match.

He knew how much energy to use to keep from injuring others,

but most people she knew of would take great pride in causing

pain and suffering to others.

The little blue haired princess watched the short

scuffle in awe and wonder, curious as to how he could move so

fast. It was the neatest thing she's ever seen. It was like

watching a video game as a live performance. Several two

player fighting games came to mind, and she giggled to herself

at her ability to continually beat Azaka at his favorite one.

She turned her attention back to the trio as they began to

have a second go at it.

Azaka and Kamidake both stood side by side, facing what

seemed to be an invincible opponent, and they knew it would be

very difficult to defeat him. Most likely impossible, but

they weren't at full power and neither was he, so it was

anybody's guess as to who was the most powerful and skilled

warrior between the three. They both looked into Russ's eyes

and couldn't find a single weakness in his front. They turned

toward each other and nodded together, an unspoken attack

pattern agreed on between the two. Without warning, they

attacked.

Russ remained in his position and watched them both

streak toward him, both yelling their battlecry and swinging

their weapons around in a predictable pattern. As they both

reached him, they swung their staffs at two different targets.

Azaka aimed for Russ's head, and Kamidake went for his

midsection. The staffs howled through the air as they raced

toward their targets. But just before they made contact, they

stopped instantly with loud clangs. Both their faces went to

utter surprise as Russ had used his forearms to block each

swing. Both staffs remained in contact with each arm and

Russ's face was still a mask of concentration, his gaze

fixated in a single direction.

Quickly withdrawing the weapons, they quickly spun them

around their bodies and made a second attempt to strike him in

random positions. However, Russ's arms blocked each attempt.

What made it frustrating is that they never even saw his arms

move. They just appeared in their positions without so much

as a blur of motion.

Jumping back once more, Azaka and Kamidake went into a

hacking frenzy, trying to hit Russ somewhere on his body. The

speed they both exhibited was remarkable, but it was nowhere

near enough to break through Russ's impenetrable defenses.

The staffs swung through the air, whistling with extreme force

and power, but each time his arms blocked their offense

easily. To the crowd, the staffs were nothing but

unintelligible blurs of white mass swinging through the air.

Finally, after about two solid minutes of trying to hit

their opponent with the staffs, they jumped back a few feet

and glared at him.

"Aren't you even going to go on the offensive!? You've

done nothing but stand there!" Kamidake yelled, clearly

flustered.

"He's right. You've never even moved an inch! What's

the deal?" Azaka growled, annoyed and frustrated. "Don't you

think we can't handle ourselves?"

Russ sighed. "That's not it. Your moves are

predictable. You guys work in patterns."

"What!? What are you talking about?" Kamidake said,

still trying to catch his breath.

"I mean is you work in a pattern. You have a set number

of steps," he began to explain, bringing his hands up and

showing quotation marks when he said the word, 'steps.' "That

you guys follow. Once you begin one move, you follow it up

with another one. Now, against someone who doesn't know your

fighting style or technique, it could be very effective. But

what do you do against someone who knows exactly what you're

going to do on the very first swing? I put almost no effort

at all into blocking your shots because I knew exactly where

each one of them were going to end up!"

Azaka and Kamidake looked at each other in realization.

"You mean you knew exactly what we were going to do?" Azaka

asked.

"That's right. But now, you have absolutely no idea

what I'm going to do now, do you?" he said, pointing at the

two knights. "You don't, for two reasons. One. You haven't

seen me fight before. Two. When I do fight, I don't use

patterns. I fight with random blows, so even if you DID see

me fight before, I never do the same thing twice, unless I

find it effective against my opponent. But then I change it

again to something different." Russ took in a deep breath and

sighed. "I'll demonstrate. I'll go much slower than I would

normally go, so you can see how much more effective a random,

chaotic fighting style can be. The only thing I base myself

on is a rhythm."

An uncharacteristic silence fell over the audience as

they listened to his wisdom. Azaka and Kamidake also listened

to what he had to say, and they exchanged knowing glances.

"We can fight randomly too, Russ. We didn't know you knew our

style of fighting."

"I don't, but based on your first couple of attacks, I

figured it out in a hurry, since it is similar to another

style of fighting. Frankly, I found it quite simple. No

offense intended, though," he said quickly, noticing a couple

wrathful scowls from the audience and one from Kamidake.

"Our style of fighting has been one of the very best for

thousands of years. It's NOT a simple style, and it takes

many years of practice and patience to learn it," Kamidake

argued, mildly offended.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset, but you

just told me that this same pattern has been used for

thousands of years, right? Don't you think others have

learned that technique during that time period? Several

thousand years is a VERY long time."

Kamidake's aggressive posture wilted and he frowned

thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. But only the Jurians

know of this fighting style and technique. We don't train

outsiders."

"You don't have to. If someone survives a battle with

one of you, don't you think he's going to retain the knowledge

of his fight and then use it against you, or perhaps train

others in the same style of combat?" Russ questioned, pressing

his point.

"I understand what you mean, Russ. What do you suggest

we do?" Azaka asked, genuinely interested. Kamidake remained

a little more skeptical.

"I'd tell you randomness, but that isn't really a style

at all. About the only thing I could tell you to do is invent

new techniques. If you fight against someone, do not lose, or

he'll retain the knowledge of your battle and possibly return

to use it against you. If something like that does occur, you

invent a new technique to take its place. That's about as

close to random as you can get," Russ told them.

"Well, show us what you can do, Russ," Azaka challenged,

taking up a defensive posture.

"Okay. What about you, Kamidake? Two on one, or should

I just spar with Azaka here?" Russ asked, nodding his head

from side to side to work out a kink in his neck.

"I'll just observe and see what you two do." The red

knight walked off the mat and stood at the edge with his arms

folded over his chest, his staff resting on the floor and

being held up by one of his hands.

"Begin," Azaka ordered, tensing up his whole body in

preparation for a massive charge from Russ.

"Okay," came the answer.

Russ slowly began walking over to him, his face not

showing any emotion or any indication of what his intentions

were. It was the perfect poker face. His footsteps thumped

across the mat in a steady rhythm and the floorboards under

his feet cracked and snapped from the extreme weight.

Azaka's face was also contorted into concentration,

however, he couldn't figure out why Russ was taking his time

approaching him. It was very unusual to do something like

that. Perhaps he was going to charge when he got a few paces

closer. Perspiration drenched his robes from the stress of

waiting for a surprise lunge, which never came.

Finally standing directly in front of the blue knight,

Russ stared down into his eyes, almost as if trying to read

his thoughts. Then, without warning, Russ made his first

move, and attacked Azaka. Bringing his left leg up, he

snapped his foot toward Azaka's side, level with his ribs.

Speedily, he brought his arm in front of the blow and blocked

it, pain lancing through his arm from the force of the blow

and causing a small bruise. Russ withdrew his leg, raised it

higher, and snapped it forward again, aiming for the side of

Azaka's head.

He never saw it coming. The blow connected and Azaka

stumbled away, more from surprise and shock than from actual

pain. Staring at Russ, he quickly mounted his own offense and

charged his opponent, swinging his staff at Russ's midsection.

Russ quickly blocked it, grabbed the staff in his hand, and

buried his left fist into Azaka's stomach, forcing all the air

out of him and causing him to drop to one knee. Quickly

capitalizing on the situation, Russ brought his arm down in

one swift stroke toward the back of Azaka's neck.

Everybody gasped in horror as they expected to see a

deadly blow, but it never came. Russ stopped his hand just

above his neck, and then gently brought his hand down to rest

on his target.

"You're dead," he announced in triumph. "You should've

been able to block all of those blows. What happened?"

Azaka wheezed a few moments as he started to catch his

breath again. "You're too fast," he said simply. "There's no

way I can block shots that move that fast."

"You were moving faster when you two attacked me. I was

moving slower in comparison with what you're capable of," he

answered, frowning.

"He's right, Azaka. He was moving pretty slowly,"

Kamidake interjected from the side. "However, I never

expected him to pull blows like he did. I would've gone

flying as well."

"It was only three blows. Of course, if I pull those

three blows again, you'll know exactly how to block them, now

won't you?"

"Yes. I see your point." Azaka stood up, clutching his

stomach and rubbing his sore arm. "But you're not going to do

those same three moves again, are you?"

"It depends. I don't know. That's the key of random

fighting. You have no idea if I'm going to pull those same

three moves again or not. If I do it again and you block it,

chances are I won't do it again. But then again, I may throw

that combo in if I think you're not expecting it. I don't

even know what I'm going to do. It's all spur the moment type

stuff."

"Well, ready for a second go?" Azaka invited. "Just

spar. I'd like to see how I measure up."

"Use your full power, okay? I don't know if you guys

get enough challenges around here to use your power to the

extreme, but I'll be a sufficient opponent," Russ grinned. He

couldn't help but brag about his power from time to time.

Azaka looked at him, then smiled and nodded his head.

"Kamidake? Hold onto my staff for me, will you? I'm going

this one hand to hand."

"Are you sure?" Kamidake asked, concerned.

"Yeah." He tossed his staff to his friend and Kamidake

caught it easily. "Ready?" he asked, turning toward Russ

again.

"Yup. Let's go."

Elsewhere, Tenchi and Ryoko were casually walking

through the local city, stopping at nearly every store to

window shop. Tenchi didn't mind and contented himself with

just being beside Ryoko the whole time. He never realized how

beautiful she appeared and how in love with her he really was

until two weeks ago, when Russ arrived on Earth. Still not

being able to figure out why he made love that night, he

distracted himself when Ryoko stopped in front of a candy

store, and he lost his train of thought.

"Oooh, I haven't had that kind of candy in a long time!

Tenchi? Can we go inside?" Ryoko begged, tugging on his arm

and pointing to a box of a very weird looking candy. It was

covered in what looked like glitter and it resembled the shape

of gumdrops.

Tenchi smiled and nodded his head. "Okay. What is

that, anyway?"

Ryoko smiled and giggled like a little girl. "It's

really good. Come on! Let's get it. We can share it too."

"We're going to spoil our dinner, Ryoko," he said,

seriously. But he softened up again and took Ryoko's hand.

"But I guess one snack never hurt anybody."

Ryoko led him inside and made her way to one of the bulk

candy bins, where she grabbed a plastic bag and immediately

began filling it with the candy she wanted. A few moments

later, she finished and tied the bag closed, but barely. She

filled it to the point where you couldn't fill it anymore.

"Are you sure you have enough candy there, Ryoko?"

Tenchi asked, shaking his head in amusement.

"It's my favorite and I haven't had it in years. I need

to feed my craving." Ryoko handed Tenchi the bag and he took

at closer look at the contents.

"What does this stuff taste like?" he asked, scrunching

his nose. "It doesn't look all that appetizing. The sparkle

things look like glitter."

"That stuff is sugar," she explained while opening up

another bin and filling a second bag with a different candy.

"But don't worry, you'll like it."

"Ryoko! What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed, eyeing

the second bag. "I thought we were just getting one bag of

candy! And besides, you filled this thing up to almost

bursting."

"This is for later," she said, smiling seductively.

"We'll eat this when we go to bed tonight." She floated over

and put her arm around Tenchi, then whispered into his ear.

"This candy has a neat little effect on the people who eat it.

You'll see what it is, tonight." She blew into his ear

causing him to break out in goosebumps.

"Hey, come on. Don't do that here! People are

staring!" Tenchi hissed, pushing her off of him a little.

"Just act normally, okay?"

Her face looked like she was going to cry. Hanging her

head in shame, she quietly floated beside him, guilt all over

her visage. Tying up the last bag of candy, she silently

floated over to the counter and set the candy down.

Tenchi shook his head and wondered why she took

everything to extremes. He set down the bag of candy that he

was carrying and reached for his wallet under the mass of

robes. "I'm sorry, Ryoko. I didn't mean to hurt your

feelings. It's just that it embarrasses me. I'm not used to

that."

"I know, Tenchi. But I've always done what I want, and

flirting with you in public is fun and it makes me feel good.

I wish it didn't embarrass you like you say it does. I want

everybody to know how much I love you."

Now Tenchi felt guilty. Curling his arm around her

waist, he pulled her closer and kissed her on the cheek. "I

love you too, but doing that kind of thing in public isn't

very good. Holding hands and little kisses are fine, but

nothing more than that, okay?"

"Okay."

The young store clerk approached the counter with a

smile. "Good evening, sir. Is this all for today?" he asked,

lifting up the two bags and setting them down on a scale.

"Yes. How much will that be?" Tenchi asked, opening his

wallet and thumbing through the various bills.

"Let's see," he said, tallying up the price on the

register. He looked back at Tenchi and stared at him for a

moment. "Hey, aren't you Prince Tenchi?"

Closing his eyes and letting out a quiet groan, he shook

his head. "I'm just Tenchi. How much does that come to?"

The clerk looked at him in bewilderment. Here he was,

standing face to face with the crown prince of Jurai. It felt

to be such an honor just to be in his presence. The sound of

Tenchi clearing his throat snapped him out of his trance.

"I'm sorry, your highness. That was rude of me. Take

the candy with our compliments," he said, bowing humbly.

"Not again," he groaned. "I'll pay for the candy like

everybody else does. I'm not the prince of Jurai, okay?"

The young clerk trembled slightly. "I cannot, your

highness. Please, take the candy with our compliments, and

have a very pleasant evening." Everybody in the store stopped

and stared at Tenchi, in awe that they were in his company and

didn't even know it.

Tenchi was about to argue the point further when Ryoko

put a hand on his shoulder. "Just do as he says. They want

you to take the candy, so do it," she whispered, drawing a

glare from Tenchi. "Everybody sees you as the prince here.

But you're my treasure, and you're all mine." She kissed his

cheek and squeezed him tighter. "Come on, Tenchi. Let's

enjoy ourselves and the candy together, okay?"

Sighing in defeat, he bowed to the clerk. "Thank you

very much. I appreciate it." He picked up both bags of candy

and led Ryoko out of the store, with the clerk and everybody

else staring after him. "I guess I have to get used to that

here or something." He grinned sheepishly at the floating

space pirate next to him. "So, where do you want to go eat it

at?"

"I saw a bench outside of the palace in the garden. Why

don't we go over there?"

"Okay. I guess we can do that," he said, smiling at

her. "It's a nice day with warm weather and the scenery is

beautiful."

"WHAT scenery, Tenchi?" she said, floating closer to him

and taking his hand, winking at him.

"Oh, I don't know," he teased. "That tree over there

has a very nice figure."

Ryoko grabbed him in both arms and started crushing him.

"What did you say, Tenchi?" she whispered into his ear,

squeezing him even tighter.

"I said you're very beautiful, Ryoko!" he managed to

choke out. He took in a huge breath of air when Ryoko

released him.

"That's better." She hugged him much more gently and

kissed his cheek. Without warning, she teleported the both of

them to the garden bench, which thankfully wasn't occupied,

and let go of Tenchi.

Looking around with utter surprise and confusion, he

realized what just happened. "I wish you'd warn me before

doing that, okay?"

Ryoko appeared confused, but nodded her head. "Sure

Tenchi. But now," she said, sitting down and pulling the

prince down next to her. "Time to indulge this candy!"

"It sure has been a long time since we've been to Jurai.

It's amazing how much everything has remained the same,"

Kiyone said, making her way around a different area of the

city. She stopped in front of a store that sold various

Jurian clothing and checked out a black lace dress that was on

display in the window. It was made of silk and had plenty of

room in the cups, and did not have shoulder straps. It almost

shined like a well-polished spaceship.

"You said it, Kiyone. I remember most of these stores

down this street," Mihoshi said, who was walking slowly next

to her partner. She noticed Kiyone's gaze fixated on the

dress in the window. "That's a really pretty dress. Why

don't you get it for yourself?" Mihoshi smiled and pressed

her face to the window to drown out the reflection from the

nearby shops.

Kiyone sighed to herself and shook her head. "There's

no way I could afford this. I have more important things to

worry about, like paying the rent on our apartment." Her head

drooped slightly and the smile melted off of her lips.

"Come on, Kiyone. You deserve something nice after all

that you do. Don't worry so much about the money," she urged,

smiling even wider.

"I have to worry about the money because nobody else

does. And if we can't afford the payments on the apartment,

we'll lose it and they'll kick us out," Kiyone mumbled

unhappily.

Mihoshi's eyes sparkled. "Come on inside and let's take

a closer look at it," she giggled, pulling on her partner's

arm and nearly dragging her to the entrance. "Maybe they have

it on sale or something."

"Come on, Mihoshi! Even if it WAS on sale there is

still no way I could afford it. We're already in the red this

month." Kiyone began resisting Mihoshi's enthusiasm but she

had no real will in it. Finally allowing herself to be

dragged in, she sighed in defeat.

A well-dressed entrepreneur approached both Galaxy

Police officers almost immediately. "Good evening, ladies.

Is there anything I can do for you today?" he asked with a

smile and offering his hand.

Mihoshi immediately took his hand and shook. "I'm

Mihoshi and this is my partner, Kiyone. We were looking at

that black dress in the window. How much is it? Kiyone was

interested in it."

The man turned around and approached the display. "This

dress here?"

"Yes! That's the one!" she giggled happily.

"Let's see. The price on this dress is normally a

hundred, forty thousand yen, but we've got a half-off sale

today, so it's marked down to seventy thousand yen. A very

good buy," he added.

"See, Kiyone! It is on sale. Let's get it for you. We

can manage the money somehow."

Her partner shook her head. "Sorry, Mihoshi. Like I

said, we're already in the red this month and there is no way

I could afford that, even with it being on sale." She turned

toward the salesman. "I'm sorry to trouble you, sir."

He looked at both of them and thought of the names

again. Suddenly, it clicked. These two individuals were the

galaxy police officers that assisted the princess against the

imposter Yosho! He had heard about the many amazing things

that they all had done together and all the hardships they

endured. Wanting to meet them both for some time, he realized

that the wish had come true. Here they were, standing in

front of him.

Also, an announcement made by the empress of Jurai,

Funaho, made earlier today had entered his memory too. She

had ordered that everything be given to them, and the bill

sent to the emperor. However, do it all discretely. He

couldn't help but smile.

"Ladies? I've always wanted to meet you two. It gives

me great pleasure and honor to finally be able to do so." He

bowed humbly. "Kiyone? Do you want this dress?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we can't afford it," she answered,

hanging her head and looking away. Why did everything have to

revolve around MONEY?

"Oh, that's no problem," he announced, preparing to

remove the dress from the display. "We would be honored if

you would accept the dress with our appreciation, free of

charge."

Kiyone's jaw dropped straight through the floor as she

nearly fainted. Staring blankly at him, Mihoshi broke the

deafening silence.

"Yay! See? Everything worked out, just like I said!"

she giggled, clapping her hands together. "Yes, we'll take

the dress. Thank you very much, sir!"

"Mihoshi! We can't accept that! We'd get in serious

trouble with our superiors for accepting thanks for doing a

job!" Kiyone said, thinking of a few officers who had accepted

tokens of gratitude and who were demoted because of it.

Realizing he was about to lose a sale, he clerk

interrupted her. "It's not free. The empress ordered that

everything that you choose be billed to them. We're still

getting our money, so don't be concerned over it."

"That's just as bad!" Kiyone retorted.

"Come on," Mihoshi begged. "Treat yourself to something

nice and stop putting duty above all else. It's obvious that

Jurai is in debited to you and they want to repay it with

thanks."

"But the Galaxy Police regulations"

"Don't worry about them. I'm sure the empress would

explain it if they asked," Mihoshi interrupted sternly.

"We're getting this dress. End of story." She then smiled

and giggled.

Staring at her partner in shock, she couldn't think of a

comeback. It was so uncharacteristic of her to take charge of

ANYTHING! Watching the clerk remove the dress very carefully

and fold it up, she silently followed him to the counter, duty

screaming at her to refuse the offering. But strangely, she

finally decided to turn her nose up at duty and allow Jurai to

offer her a little token of thanks.

"Is there anything you'd like, ma'am?" he asked, turning

toward Mihoshi. "We have a very large variety of dresses that

would look very pretty on you."

"Oh, nothing for me, thanks," she answered cheerily.

"You forced me to get something. Seems only fair that

you get something too," Kiyone informed her. "Let's see what

they've got. You may find something you like."

"But I have no reason to get one. I've got plenty of

clothes"

"Shut up, Mihoshi," she growled. "Sir? Could you

recommend something for my partner here?"

"Hmmm," he said, approaching the two. He casually

walked in a full circle around her, admiring her figure and

her facial features, paying particular attention to her eye

color. "I think a dress similar to yours, but in a light blue

that matches her eyes would look the best. Except with maybe

more sparkle. Yeah, I think that would look good." He nodded

his head confidently. "Let me see if I have something in

stock. Come with me," he said, making his way deeper into the

store.

The two GP followed him to a rack that had various full-

length dresses and he browsed the selection. A few moments

later, he withdrew a dress that was a perfect match for

Mihoshi's eyes. It glittered and sparkled, as if it were

covered in thousands of tiny little mirrors. Mihoshi gasped

and carefully took the dress from his hands, pressing it to

herself and turning toward her partner.

"What do you think, Kiyone? Would I look good in this

dress?"

Kiyone smiled and nodded. "I think that would look

great on you. Go try it on. I want to see you in it."

"The dressing rooms are right over here, ma'am," the

salesman said, gesturing to an area nearby. "We also do

alterations while you wait. If something doesn't fit quite

right, we'll fix it so that it does. Why don't you go try

your dress on as well, ma'am?" he asked, looking at Kiyone.

"Okay," she said, smiling and blushing slightly. "I've

never worn anything like that before. I'm curious myself as

to how I'll look in it."

"I'll be right back. I left it on the counter."

He hurried off and returned a moment later with the

dress, and showed Kiyone to the dressing room. A few minutes

later, they exited the rooms at the same time and turned

toward each other, both of them admiring the other.

"Wow! Kiyone! You look so good!" Mihoshi squealed.

"What about me?"

Kiyone blushed and looked down to the floor shyly. "You

look great as well, Mihoshi. That dress really goes good with

your eyes."

They each turned toward a wall of full-length mirrors,

and began to admire themselves. Kiyone carefully tugged on a

few spots of the dress, trying different postures and feeling

the dress flow around her legs while Mihoshi smiled at

herself, then stood next to her partner, leaning against her

and seeing how they looked as a pair.

The clerk caught himself staring at the two of them, and

feeling a little flushed and turned on. "You look absolutely

fabulous! Those dresses almost seem to have been created just

for you two ladies. Even I'm very impressed with how well you

look in them."

They both turned toward him and continued to blush. He

approached Kiyone and circled her, pulling at certain points

on the dress and testing the overall fit. A moment later, he

gave the same treatment to Mihoshi.

"Well, I must say, they fit nearly perfectly. It is

very rare when that happens. But it's always convenient when

it does," he laughed. "Well, change back and we'll box those

up for you so you can take them home."

"Thanks again, sir," Kiyone said, re-entering the

dressing room. Mihoshi did the same and they emerged a few

moments later, dressed in their casual Japanese style

clothing. They followed the man to the counter and waited

patiently as he carefully folded each dress and placed them in

white crepe paper, then placed them both in large boxes,

sealing them with tape. He then smiled and handed the boxes

over with a humble bow.

"Thank you for allowing me the privilege to wait on you.

Enjoy the dresses and have a nice evening. You'll be the envy

of the palace with those dresses."

They each bowed back in return. "Thank you, sir. We

appreciate the trouble."

"No trouble at all," he said with a laugh. "I've always

wanted to meet you two and I am honored to have helped you

today."

Both girls smiled and bowed once more, then departed the

store.

"I still feel funny about taking a dress and not paying

for it, especially one that is as expensive as this one,"

Kiyone mussed.

"Stop your worrying. Galaxy Police won't even hear

about it. I'm sure a lot more people accept little tokens of

gratitude without them knowing all the time," Mihoshi said,

rolling her eyes. "Nothing to worry about, except the fact

dinner will be served in a little while."

"Oh my gosh! I lost track of the time while we were in

there! We should get going," said Kiyone, increasing her

speed and making her way to the palace. Mihoshi easily kept

pace beside her partner.

Azaka and Kamidake both stumbled off of the training

mat, battered and bruised, their egos deflated to almost non-

existence. Never, in their entire lives, have they been so

easily defeated by anyone not of the Royal Family. Misaki

walked next to them, also roughed up considerably, her own ego

tucked between her legs as she limped away with the two

knights. Russ remained on the mat, a slight grin creasing his

expression, his clothing slightly damp from perspiration from

the enhanced gravity and extreme exercise.

Most everybody in the room stared at him in awe, trying

to figure out how in the world he could've defeated not one,

not two, but all three of the competitors so easily. And they

were the strongest people they've ever seen. Several people

were sweating in fear while others just shook their heads in

utter amazement at the feats of enormous strength and speed

that the spiky haired one possessed. And he didn't even look

warmed up, AND he was under an enormous amount of gravity.

The floor was shattered in several places where Russ

jumped into the air and landed again while dodging leg sweeps.

Several people on the maintenance crew realized that they had

their work cut out for them this time. Fortunately, since

Russ threw no ki blasts and blocked all the ones that were

thrown at him, the amount of damage that was averted was

staggering.

While the trio walked off the stage to take a breather,

another man came up on the mat who was well built and

muscular, but was a tad shorter than Russ. He casually walked

up behind the Saiyan and smacked him on the back of his head.

Everybody gasped in horror, but the man continued smiling as

Russ rolled his eyes and grinned.

"That you, Tom?" he asked, not even turning around.

"Dammit, how do you know it's always me, huh?" he

laughed, walking around Russ and standing in front of him.

"You're the only one who whacks me on the back of the

head like that. Plus I can't detect you since you have no

ki."

"Maybe I should kick you in the crotch then. Then you

wouldn't know it was me," he said, snickering.

"And once I got back up, you'd cease to exist," Russ

warned, also grinning. "But anyway, what's up? How'd you

know I was here?"

"Duh. All you ever do is train, so I figured the first

place to look would be in a training room."

Aeka bristled slightly, even though it wasn't meant to

make fun of her for fretting all that time looking for him.

She looked at her mother who sat down next to her once again

and rubbed her sore arm.

"So, you want to train a little more? You can fight ME

now," Tom challenged, producing a weapon from under his shirt.

Russ laughed. "Here we go again." He turned toward a

man who was standing nearby. "Hey you there, sir. May I

borrow your staff?"

He looked at him incredulously and shakily nodded his

head. "Sure." Tossing the staff to Russ, he caught it easily

and swung it around a couple times.

"I wish I could form my own energy sword or staff.

Having to use these physical weapons suck," he complained to

himself.

Misaki overheard his complaint. She couldn't believe

that he couldn't form an energy sword out of his ki. A man,

who was capable of defeating everybody on the planet of Jurai,

couldn't master one of the simplest techniques of forming an

energy weapon. Smiling slightly in satisfaction that she

could teach him something that he didn't know pleased her

immensely. Before Russ left the planet, she made it a point

to teach him how to do just that.

Tom swung his weapon around a few times and smiled at

Russ. "Time for a little showboating."

Russ laughed and shook his head. "You and those

nunchucks. I swear, one of these days you're going to bust

yourself in the head or something stupid."

Swinging the weapon once more, Tom speedily began

whipping them all around his body at incredible speed, the

nunchucks whistling through the air. He began making karate

sound effects, causing Russ to start laughing even harder.

However, everybody else who was watching him fell silent,

quietly watching him perform with a weapon that they have

never seen before. The weapon flew all around his waist,

around his legs, over his shoulders and alternated from hand

to hand.

After about a minute of fast and furious showboating,

Tom held his weapon out in front of him, ready for combat.

Russ grinned. "You're better than I remember. But now,

it's my turn," he said, swing the staff a couple of times,

then began spinning it at an insane rate, as he speedily

whipped the staff through the air, making it appear only as a

blur to the audience. He spun it all around his body,

however, he kept himself silent, and the only sound in the

room was the staff soaring through the air.

He went for the same amount of time that Tom did and

held the staff in his hand, ready for combat. "I've got a

better idea. Do you remember the November song by Mythos?"

Tom nodded his head. "Yeah." He thought a moment more

then cringed. "Don't tell me you want to do that thing."

"Oh, quit complaining. Everybody who has seen it has

liked it. I don't understand why you don't like doing it."

Falling silent, he couldn't think of a suitable retort

and he folded his arms over his chest, frowning. Russ walked

off the mat to the corner he was originally training at,

picked up his stereo system, and returned to the padded area.

"I'm glad I brought this thing with me," he said,

setting it down on the edge away from the crowd. "Let's see

Mythos Mythos Ahhh, here it is." Selecting the song he was

looking for, he turned toward Tom. "Put those things away and

grab a staff, pinhead."

"Shut up. I'm going." Pointing to the guard who was

standing nearby, he politely asked for the staff, which the

man gave him. He thanked him then returned to the center of

the mat, where Russ was patiently waiting.

"You ready?" asked Russ, grinning widely.

Tom swung the staff a couple times and stood it on end.

"I hate this," he grumbled. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good." He quickly pressed play on the stereo and

turned the volume up quite loudly, but not uncomfortably loud,

and he took up his position.

The music began to play, fading in slowly, as Russ and

Tom began to rock back and forth to the rhythm.

"What's he doing?" Misaki asked, rubbing a bruise on her

leg.

"I have no idea. This is the first time I've seen

whatever it is he's about to do," Aeka answered. She watched

him in wonder, curious as to what he had in mind.

As the music continued to play, it went into full force

a few moments later. Both Russ and Tom moved at exactly the

same time, perfectly synchronized to the music's rhythm, as

they slowly spun the staffs and performed martial arts in slow

motion.

Aeka gasped. "It's a dance," she whispered in wonder.

Now that was something she has never seen anybody do before,

and definitely didn't expect Russ to have a talent for.

Contemplating the fact that she hadn't danced in years, it

brought back fond memories of the many dances in the ballroom

at the palace. She thought of the very first dance she had,

with a young prince of a neighboring star system. Neither of

them were any good at it, but it was fun. Everybody applauded

her valiant attempt at it.

Watching Russ perform his dance pleased her, and she

noticed that she had something else in common with him.

Imagining what could be her first dance with him, she sighed

in regret, knowing that he'd probably never want to do

something like that. However, she'd never know unless she

asked.

"Wow! I had no idea he could dance too," whispered

Sasami to her sister. "The music is really neat too. So calm

and peaceful."

Aeka nodded and continued to watch both Russ and Tom

perform the routine flawlessly, keeping in perfect time. The

music was calming and relaxing, but it went very well with the

dance. "Yeah. I like the music too."

Sasami giggled, noting the direction of Aeka's stare and

her partially open mouth. She turned toward her mother and

looked up at her eyes, which were also locked on Russ.

Giggling even harder, she poked her mom in the side. "What do

you think, mom? Isn't that neat?"

Misaki barely acknowledged her daughter, as she was

completely caught up in the dance. "Yes dear," she managed to

mutter out, never letting her eyes wander from the pair.

The song drew to a close, and they both ended by keeping

one knee on the mat with the staff laid on the floor, as they

both appeared to bow when the song ended.

Deathly silence greeted their ears as they both

cautiously looked up from their position, their foreheads

beading with perspiration. They both got to their feet and

looked at each other in confusion, as they both glanced around

the room at the many faces, most of which carried the same,

awestruck expression.

Standing up, Misaki flew over to Russ and grabbed him in

a bone-crushing hug. "That was BEAUTIFUL! Please teach me

that dance!" she begged.

Letting out a massive sigh of relief, he scratched

behind his head. "Uh I suppose I could do that. It

shouldn't take too long to write down the steps and show you

how to do it."

A woman from the audience piped up. "Would you mind

teaching those of us who would also like to learn that? I

think that would impress my husband a great deal."

Russ looked around the room at the many faces that

basically pleaded with him to instruct them. "I think I can

manage that. But I'm not sure if I have enough time. We only

arrived for the Startica festival and then we intended on

heading home, since some of the people who came with us have

things to do back on Earth."

"Hey Russ, I'll be taking off for a bit. I'm going to

tour the city for a while. I'll catch you later, alright?"

Tom said, retrieving his nunchucks and tossing the staff to

the guard.

Misaki turned toward him. "No. You're coming with us

to the dining room. Dinner will be served shortly, and I'd

like you to join us. I assume you're Russ's friend?"

"Yes ma'am. Who are you?"

"My name is Misaki, and I'm one of the empresses of

Jurai," she said flatly. "And I won't take no for an answer."

Tom's jaw dropped slightly, but he nodded his head.

"Okay. I don't have a problem with that. I ate a few hours

ago so I'm not all that hungry, though."

"So what. You can keep me company," Russ said,

grinning. "Introduce yourself to her, silly."

Tom smacked his head and approached her. "I'm sorry.

My name is Tom Franklin. It's a pleasure to meet you, your

highness." He bowed graciously and stood up straight.

Russ cleared his throat. "He's also the captain of the

starship that brought all of us here so quickly," he added.

Misaki's eyes lit up and she crushed him in one of her

famous hugs. "So YOU'RE the other man who made all of this

possible. Thank you so much for bringing my daughters home

for Startica! I really appreciate it."

"No trouble at all," he managed to choke out, turning

blue from lack of oxygen. She released him a few moments

later.

"Well, let's get to the dining hall. I'm starving,

especially after that workout! Azaka, Kamidake! You will

join us as well," she insisted.

"Yes ma'am," they answered in unison.

"Come on, Tom," Misaki ordered, gesturing for him to

follow her. "We're all going to the dining hall and are going

to eat dinner together."

Following the empress out of the training arena, Aeka,

Sasami, Ryo-Ohki, Russ, Azaka, Kamidake, and Tom formed a

group behind her and idly chatted the entire way to the hall.

The living quarters were on the way, so Russ quickly dropped

his stereo off in his room and rejoined the group, just as

they reached the dining room. Once again, everybody took

their usual seats, except Azaka and Kamidake sat side by side,

Russ and Tom sat opposite of them. All of them remained in

their training clothes, and neglected to take a shower once

they were finished sparring. Nobuyuki, Washu, Funaho, Asuza

and Yosho were already at the table.

Misaki sat down next to her husband who stared at her in

utter shock and surprise. Here was his wife, regal queen of

Jurai, and she looked like the barbarian sitting at the end of

the table! What on Jurai happened to her? He noticed the

appearance of the two knights as well, who also looked pretty

banged up.

"What happened to you?" Funaho asked, eyeing Asuza, and

curious herself.

"We had a little sparring match with Aeka's boyfriend.

He's really strong and fast," she explained, smiling.

Russ was in the process of taking a drink of water that

he poured for himself from one of the available pitchers, and

he nearly spat it all over the table when he heard Misaki say

that. He blushed furiously and tried to subdue his coughing,

but not being very successful. Tom just laughed and slapped

him on the back, which caused him to go into another violent

fit of coughing. Azaka and Kamidake both enjoyed his

embarrassment and surprise.

Asuza looked knives at Russ, who was just now

recovering. "Explain your actions! How dare you spar with my

wife!"

Misaki snapped her gaze at her husband and let out a

menacing snarl. "I can spar with whomever I want. I chose to

spar with him. End of story."

Asuza ignored her. "Well? I'm waiting!"

"What's the problem? We sparred. I didn't hurt her,

but only roughed her up a bit," Russ said coldly, matching the

emperor's glare.

"That's no excuse, scum! You do not spar with royalty!"

he shouted.

Russ's eyebrow twitched slightly at the insult and he

growled something to himself. "Then tell your wife that. I

was on the mat and she challenged me. What was I supposed to

do?"

"Refuse the challenge and walk away. Even the lowly

peasants understand that here," he shot back.

Misaki rose from her chair and got right in Asuza's

face, her gaze promising a very painful whipping for later if

he didn't stop his tirade. Funaho also rose from her chair

and uncharacteristically matched Misaki's motions.

"You will stop insulting him. He is our guest, and you

will treat him accordingly," Funaho said, keeping her voice

low and menacing.

Eyeing both of his wives and the disapproving stares

from everybody seated at the table, he let out an exasperated

sigh and folded his arms over his chest, sitting back in his

chair. Satisfied that they subdued him, Misaki and Funaho

both sat down and smiled, as if nothing had happened.

Tenchi, Ryoko, Kiyone, and Mihoshi all chose that moment

to join the group, and they took up their usual seats.

"Hi. Where did you two run off to?" Aeka asked, smiling

at the two and pretending to ignore her father's silent rage.

"We toured part of the city. There is a lot of neat

stuff here that is considerably different in comparison to

Earth," Tenchi told her. "It's such a wonderful planet."

"Yes. It has a different kind of beauty than what we

see on Earth." Aeka looked at the two of them a little more

closely and started giggling.

"What's so funny, Aeka?" Ryoko asked, confused.

"You two were eating something, weren't you? You both

have a ring of candy around your lips," Aeka told them,

giggling and shaking her head. "I hope you didn't spoil your

dinner appetite."

Both of them blushed slightly. "We're still hungry.

Don't worry about that. But I am confused about why nobody

will let me pay for anything," Tenchi mussed.

Misaki smiled. "That's because you're the prince of

Jurai, silly. We get the same treatment whenever we leave the

palace."

"But I'm not the prince! I'm just a"

Misaki interrupted him. "Nonsense. You are the true

prince of Jurai, and you proved it when you defeated Kagato.

Now, no more of that rubbish," she ordered, sternly.

Ryoko sighed and noted that she'd have to live with the

fact that he really is the prince. But still, him being of

royalty seemed so surreal. He didn't act regal or anything

of the sort. But that was why she loved him. He was so

simple and kind, and that's all that mattered to her.

At the other end of the table, Russ was conversing with

Tom, when their topic of discussion wandered onto anime. They

both had the same love for animated material, but strangely,

they both preferred dubbed versions in their native language

of English.

"Hey Russ, have you ever seen Saber Marionette J

before?" Tom asked, curious if that was something that Russ

HADN'T seen.

"Actually, no. What's it like?"

Tom nearly fell out of his chair. "Wow. An anime

you've never watched. Amazing."

Russ rolled his eyes. "Cut out the sarcasm and tell me

about it, butthead."

"Okay, okay. It's really cool. To explain it in a

nutshell, there is this kid who is one of six survivors of a

colony ship that had blown up in outer space. The drop ship

managed to make it down to the planet, but only the six

survived. All males too, with no way of getting any outside

help. They expanded their numbers by cloning and genetic

alteration," Tom explained, watching Russ's face become more

and more interested. "Later, they managed to expand their

numbers, but they still weren't able to create any women. In

place of them, they made these things called Marionettes, or

robotic women to do their bidding. But anyway, the kid

somehow managed to wake up three very special Marionettes with

something called Maiden Circuits, which gives them emotions.

Not only that, but the fight scenes are really neat. They

remind me of how you fight, meaning they do it really fast and

action packed. A little later in the story, an evil tyrant,

Faust, emerges and tries to start a war with Japoness, and it

winds up that Otaru and his girls have to go stop him. Oh

yeah, even though the girls are robotic, all three of them

fall in love with Otaru, and they fight for his affections a

lot."

Russ nodded his head. "This sounds really cool. Do you

have the DVDs on the ship or anything so I can watch it?"

"Unfortunately, we've only got the first two volumes. I

have been unable to get the third volume as of yet. The first

nine episodes are completely off the wall and funny, but the

next eight episodes, or the second volume, have a few

depressing and emotional scenes. It's really good. And the

soundtrack absolutely kicks ass," Tom said, watching his

friend's excitement grow.

"I have to see it. Once we're done with dinner, I'm

going to your ship to borrow the videos to watch them

tonight," Russ said, smiling.

"Oh, you won't have to do that," he said, producing two

DVD cases from a pocket in his jacket. "Here they are. The

girl on the front of volume one here is named Lime, and the

one on the second case here is named Cherry. You'll learn

about them and meet them in the first five episodes. There is

a third Marionette named Bloodberry, too." He lowered his

voice and leaned closer to Russ. "But frankly, if I had to

compare them to people we know, Lime would be a perfect

Mihoshi, Cherry would be a perfect combination of Aeka and

Sasami, and Bloodberry would make a perfect replica of Ryoko."

Russ raised his eyebrows considerably. "You're

kidding."

"No. I'm serious. It's almost as if those characters

were modeled after everybody in this room."

"Wait. How do you know what Aeka, Sasami, Ryoko, and

Mihoshi act like? You've only seen them for about 15 minutes

total onboard the ship!"

"Just because I'm not with you, doesn't mean I'm not

keeping an eye on you," Tom said, slyly.

Russ clenched his fists under the table. "You were

spying on us the whole time? Haven't you ever heard of

PRIVACY?" he hissed.

"Don't worry. There are cameras and stuff in the game

room, and that's where I noticed how everybody behaved. I

didn't look in on you when you were sleeping or anything. I'm

not that perverted," Tom said, suppressing a laugh.

Russ sighed. "Well, okay. I can't wait to see these

episodes. And I'm going to want the soundtrack too."

Tom produced a CD from his coat pocket and handed it

over. "Done and done," he said, grinning.

"Awesome. You come prepared for everything, don't you?"

"You bet. But we better put this conversation on hold.

Most everybody is staring at us."

Both Tom and Russ looked up from their discussion and

noticed that indeed, most everybody was watching them in

interest. Feeling their faces redden, they smiled sheepishly

and began to mind their own business.

"That sounds like a really neat anime. I want to see it

too," Misaki said, clasping her hands together and smiling.

"Me too," Sasami added. Ryo-Ohki meowed a couple times,

indicating that she wanted to see it too.

"Me three," Aeka said.

Tenchi, Ryoko, Azaka, Kamidake, Kiyone, Mihoshi, and

Nobuyuki all agreed as well.

"I had no idea you guys liked animated stuff," Tom said,

boldly joining in the conversation. "We've got many others if

you're interested. But that will have to wait for later,

because here comes dinner."

The kitchen door was held open by one of the servants as

many more filed through, each holding large trays piled high

with delicious food. Napkins were laid out over laps and the

sound of clattering silverware greeted everybody's ears as the

food was given out to everybody.

Tom stared at all the food, barely able to keep from

drooling. "Wow! All of this is prepared fresh? I haven't

had food like this in a long time. Everything we've eaten has

been replicated."

"It's all fresh. I guarantee you won't leave here

hungry," Russ said, grinning and trying to keep himself from

drooling as well.

"Alright. Let's dig in!" Tom announced, and beginning

to eat with gusto. "Mmmm! This stuff is AWESOME! I haven't

tasted food this good in a long time."

Funaho smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Eat as much as

you want," she invited.

"Thank you," he said, immediately shoving another piece

of fish into his mouth and washing it down with red wine.

Russ groaned. "You're going to get drunk. I can see it

already."

"Big deal. Everybody here, except for Sasami and you,

is drinking a little wine."

"Oh, shut up." Russ began eating at his usual pace,

which meant his dinner plate was scraped clean in ten seconds.

He let out a quiet, but very deep belch, and he did his best

to conceal it. Nevertheless, it was loud enough to raise

chuckles around the entire table.

"Yum," Russ said, rubbing his stomach. "I'm ready for

seconds!"

Now everybody laughed out loud, except for Asuza, who

ignored him completely. Everybody ate most of the food in

relative silence until Tom thought of something.

"Hey Russ?" he began

The Saiyan turned toward him with a mouthful of noodles.

"Hmmm?"

"I'm assuming you remember Era, the musical group?"

He nodded yes.

"Would you like to do a live performance of it here on

Jurai? You know, during the Startica festival? I think that

would be really cool. And a lot of people on the ship want to

do it too," Tom said.

"Really? I suppose we could do that. But where would

we do it? It's not like we can just throw a concert together

in five minutes. We'd have to practice and stuff. Besides, I

want to play the drums this time," Russ added, grinning.

"That's no problem. We just recently came out with a

portable holographic technology that will allow us to do

whatever we want. We can make a stage in a couple seconds and

all the instruments would be holographic, unless we made real

ones."

"Interesting. Well, what album would we do? The first

one or the second one?" Russ asked, taking another piece of

tofu and swallowing it whole.

"Most of the second and a couple from the first. The

more peppy tracks. The ones we both like the most."

"I don't know about this. I'll have to think about it.

When do you want to practice, and where would we practice?"

Everybody was listening to the two discuss their plans,

but Misaki and Funaho both became very interested. However,

it was Funaho who answered first.

"You could practice in our auditorium, and do the actual

concert there too, if you'd like," Funaho offered. "It's

really large and can seat a lot of people. How much were you

going to charge to let people in?"

Russ and Tom both facefaulted, then laughed. "We don't

charge for anything we do. We like to do these things because

we enjoy them, not to make money. Onboard the ship, there is

no money, and we have no use for it either," Tom explained,

causing the empress to look at them in mild shock.

"No money? Why?"

"As I said before, we don't need it. Our ship is self-

sustaining, but if we see something new that we'd like, we

simply trade technology for it."

A world without money seemed almost impossible, but it

also seemed like paradise if they managed to make it work.

Apparently, they had.

"Well, I'm interested to hear what you guys are going to

play. When shall you practice?"

"We could do it tonight. I had brought my portable

projector with me so we can begin soon after dinner. I'll

just have to contact my ship and tell the people to come down

here. No problem."

Funaho nodded. "Okay. Don't hesitate to ask us if you

need anything else."

"Thanks."

Dinner passed with small bits of conversation from

everybody, but no major roundtable discussions. Russ and Tom

continued to argue about anime, Azaka and Kamidake discussed

their sparring match against Russ, Kiyone and Mihoshi talked

about the two dresses they were given and how they were

looking forward to tomorrow, and other conversations floated

around the table.

Once dinner was finished, dessert was served. A

delicious frozen treat native to Jurai was handed out, and was

consumed almost as fast as the main course. It was sweet like

ice cream, but had a texture similar to cookie dough.

The sun had already disappeared from view, and the night

sounds began to play around the palace when everybody stood up

from the table and proceeded to go do some nightly activities.

However, everybody agreed that they should head to bed soon to

get an early start on the next day.

Startica promised a day filled with fun and joy, with

many enjoyable activities. Booths were being set up all along

the main roads, filled with games to play and merchandise and

prizes to win.

In outer space around Jurai, hundreds of Jurai vessels

converged on the planet almost all at once, doing their best

to find stationary orbital parking places so the crew could go

down to the planet and enjoy themselves. Galaxy Police

cruisers were everywhere directing traffic, doing their best

to assist the Jurians in their dilemma. It was a very busy

time for the GP, and some of them loathed the duty shifts they

pulled, since they knew how busy the space around Jurai got

during the Startica festival. Fortunately for Tom and his

crew, they allowed the Star Destroyer to remain in its

stationary orbit above the palace. Some Jurians didn't like

outsiders receiving such wonderful treatment, but they held

their tongues and decided to just enjoy themselves rather than

start a fight. Some vessels hadn't come home for nearly six

months.

Back on the planet, ground crews were busily organizing

parking places for the hundreds of expected shuttlecraft, and

other areas for people to transport to en masse. Galaxy

Police officers and shuttles were stationed on the planet just

for the Startica festival, to maintain the peace and make

certain everybody had a nice and safe time.

This year's turnout was expected to be the highest in

history, and most everybody was busily preparing for it.

Inside the palace, people were scurrying everywhere, preparing

the royal ballroom for a massive party. Extra cooks were

brought in to prepare the massive quantities of food that

would be consumed, and people were setting up hundreds of

tables and thousands of chairs to accommodate the masses.

Several Jurian bands were brought in to provide music.

However, even with the sheer number of people and the

excitement that saturated the air, the setting up for the

festival took only one evening. Every person who walked by

another in the hallway was met with a smile and a warm

greeting, since everyone was happy to celebrate Startica once

again. It was truly a festive time of year.

Russ took the DVDs and the soundtracks that he received

at dinner and returned to his room to view them. Sasami had

noticed him sneaking off on his own and decided to follow him,

unnoticed by everybody else, who were busily chatting amongst

each other and discussing the potential activities for the

next day.

Pushing open his door and walking inside, he closed the

door behind him and approached the huge TV. Noticing that

there wasn't a DVD player available, he silently groaned to

himself and walked over to the stereo system that he brought

with him.

Fortunately, this all-in-one system did everything. It

played music CDs, DVDs, video CDs, and just about every type

of disc media that existed on Earth, and also had video

outputs among other remarkable features. Grabbing some cables

that he kept in a compartment behind the system, he quickly

connected them to the TV, growing more excited by the minute.

He turned the TV on and his stereo system, then popped in the

first disc of the first volume of Saber Marionette J, and hit

the play button, just as there was a light knock on the door.

Quietly mumbling obscenities to himself for being

interrupted, he intended to allow the disc to go through its

previews while he opened the door. Revealing the little blue

haired princess on the other side, he raised his eyebrows in

surprise, but smiled warmly.

"Hi! What's up?" he said cheerily, kneeling down to her

height.

"I saw you sneaking off and I wanted to see what you

were doing," she said, honestly.

"I was going to watch the DVDs that Tom gave me at

dinner, and after that, listen to the soundtracks." Russ

returned to his feet. "You want to come in or something?"

"Yeah. I'd like to watch it too. Besides, I think

watching stuff with more than one person is more fun, don't

you?" she said, looking up at him in earnest.

Russ grinned and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah.

Okay, come on in. Let's see if I have some pop or junk food

in here so we can fully enjoy ourselves," he said, backing

away from the door and allowing Sasami to enter the room.

"I'll just send for a servant to bring us something.

Will that be okay?"

"Isn't there anything here in the room? What about that

little refrigerator over there?" he asked, walking over to the

cooler and opening the door. Cold air spewed from the box,

but once the fog cleared, it revealed nothing but a large

chunk of ice in the back. Frowning, he closed the door and

turned toward the princess. "Well, send for a servant, I

guess. The icebox is empty. I still find it odd to be waited

on. I'm used to getting everything myself."

Sasami giggled. "Just enjoy yourself and I'll take care

of the servant," she said, pressing a button on the wall. A

moment later, a woman's voice came over the intercom system.

"Hello. Can I get you anything?" she asked, politely.

"Yes. Can you bring some popcorn, tea, and just a

moment," she said, turning toward Russ. "What do you want?"

she hissed quietly.

"Oh uh um do you have anything like soda or pop

here?" he asked, finally.

"Yeah. What flavor?"

"Um, lemon-lime or something equivalent."

"Okay." She proceeded to finish the order and then cut

the comlink. "She'll be here in a few moments."

Suddenly noticing the silence from the TV, Russ turned

toward it and noticed that the screen was blank and the DVD

player was stopped. "Uh oh," he muttered, pressing play on

his system again. Hearing the disc spin up, he stepped back a

moment and watched it as it scanned the disc multiple times,

then stopped again.

"What's wrong? Doesn't it work?" Sasami asked, watching

him from a few feet away.

"I don't get it," he said, pulling the disc back out of

the stereo and examining the underside of it. "Well, there

aren't any scratches, so I don't understand what's going on."

He set the disc back into the system and pressed play again.

A few moments later, the copyright warnings came up on the TV

and Russ sighed in relief. "Let me guess," he mumbled,

pulling out the second disc and examining it. "Yup, I knew

it. These discs are the lousy ones encoded by a different

company hired by Bandai." He turned toward Sasami. "These

discs are picky about what player you put them in. Some work

just fine and some do what this thing does. But it's working

now so we shouldn't have any problems."

Grabbing the remote, Russ hit the menu button and the

system changed tracks to bring up the menu. A theme began to

play, which sounded really catchy to Russ and Sasami, and they

looked at each other with grins. Quickly grabbing a couple

chairs that were in the corner of the room, he placed them

both in the middle of the floor and invited Sasami to sit

down. He sat down a moment later.

"Alrighty. Let's see what we have here. Setup menu,"

he mumbled, fumbling with the remote as the screen changed.

"Japanese language. Alright." He frowned a moment. "Funny

how you Jurians all speak Japanese," he snickered.

"You know, I never really thought about that. Oh well,"

she giggled.

"Yeah. Okay, and PLAY!" he said, pressing the enter

button with flare and starting the program. Watching the

opening credits play, Russ noted the music and the visuals,

instantly liking what he saw and heard. Sasami also watched

the TV intently, almost not noticing when a knock on the door

came and the call of "Room Service!" on the other side of it.

Russ paused the video just as the credits were ending

and opened the door, allowing the servant in. He quickly set

up a stack table and allowed her to set everything down on top

of it, and then she left, leaving them to their animation.

"Now, if there are no more interruptions," he said,

glaring at the door, "Let's enjoy this!"

"Yay! The introduction was cool. Let's see how the

rest of it goes."

"Yeah," he answered, turning up the volume to the stereo

loud enough to hear it comfortably, and he set the remote down

on the table, grabbing a handful of popcorn and his drink,

sitting back in his chair to enjoy himself.

Several hours later, long after dusk, the palace began

to wind down and people began to head off to their rooms for a

night of insomnia and restless sleep, due to the excitement of

the Startica festival being just around the corner. The

Jurians were excited about exchanging gifts, which bared a

resemblance to Christmas on Earth. All the trees were

decorated in lights and ornaments, with lace and garland

draped over the branches. Anybody from Earth would've

expected it to BE Christmas.

However, not everybody was fully into the spirit. Back

in her room with the lights out, the little red haired

scientific genius continued to labor and toil over her phantom

computer, setting up analyses and calculating equations that

would've put Einstein to shame.

Swiftly entering the final variables with a few

keystrokes, she patiently waited for the computer to calculate

the answer, preparing to use the result for another set of

calculations that needed to be completed. However, the next

equation was expected to take the computer till morning to

work out, so she prepared herself for slumber, tossing her

science academy uniform onto the floor and slipping herself

into a nightgown that was provided.

Looking down at the fabric, she chuckled lightly as she

tried to remember the last time she had actually slept in a

bed, rather than falling asleep in mid-equation as she

tirelessly worked in her laboratory back home. She sat down

on the edge of the bed, staring out her window at the

thousands of tiny, multi-colored lights that lit up the trees.

It has been a very long time since she had made her return to

Jurai, except for the Kagato incident.

A quiet beeping caused her to lose her train of thought

as the computer had calculated the answer to her equation.

Tapping a few more keys in sequence, she set the computer to

begin its arduous task of determining and extrapolating ecto-

plasma chemical sequences. A moment later, she banished the

system back to subspace as she stood up and stretched, letting

her tense muscles relax themselves after being outdoors all

day. Not getting any exercise because of sitting in front of

the computer all day was starting to catch up to her. But it

was a beautiful day, thanks to the weather control system that

was in use.

Finally feeling sleep catch up to her, Washu tossed back

the covers to the double bed and slid herself between the

sheets, then pulled the comforter up to her neck. She let out

a soft sigh, staring at the ceiling, and then she rolled over

onto her side, drawing herself into a fetal position.

A single tear streamed down her face as she looked at

the second half of the bed, which had a set of pillows next to

her own. Stretching her arm out to it, she softly caressed

and padded the pillow, as if trying to tentatively feel

something that was there long ago, almost as if it were a

tangible thing.

Sniffling quietly and brushing the wetness away from her

face, she closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly, all alone

as she had been for the last twenty thousand years.

"Tenchiiiiii! Come on! I've been waiting all day for

this and now you don't want to?" Ryoko complained, pinning

Tenchi to the bed. "I even remembered the candy we were

supposed to eat tonight!"

Tenchi groaned to himself, reminding himself that he did

say that it would wait until nightfall, and it looked like

he'd have to live up to it. "I know, I know. I'm just a

little tired, that's all."

"Ooohhhh," she cooed, kissing him and drawing circles on

Tenchi's chest with her index finger. "Why are you always so

tired? Don't you feel well?"

"We've been busy all day. I, unlike you, have to walk

everywhere. It takes a lot of energy to do that, especially

with the distance we went today," he explained, then returning

her kiss. "It's fortunate that I'm in decent shape, or I'd be

out like a light right now."

Ryoko giggled, sliding her hand up and down his chest,

under his shirt, feeling his washboard stomach. "So you

will?"

Tenchi rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Yeah, I guess we

can. But I'd like to go to sleep soon. We're going to have

the same type of day tomorrow as we did today, but probably

more exhausting."

Ryoko crushed him in a joyous hug then teleported to the

dresser, where the bag of snack food sat. She retrieved the

bag and then teleported back to the bed, hovering a few inches

above the covers. Quickly undoing the twist tie, she tossed

it onto the floor and opened the bag, the aroma of chocolate

and something else rushing out of the bag.

Giggling to herself in anticipation, she fished out a

small chunk as Tenchi sat up, trying to get a closer look at

the contents through the illumination from the window.

"Open wide," Ryoko requested, holding the chocolate-like

snack food under Tenchi's nose. "This will get us in the

mood," she whispered.

The prince's eyes widened slightly as he opened his

mouth and allowed Ryoko to feed him the snack. Slowly mulling

the piece in his mouth, he quietly sucked on it for a few

moments, tasting the multitude of flavors coming from the

piece. It melted a few moments later and he swallowed it,

licking his lips afterwards.

"Mmmm. Tastes like chocolate, but with something

extra." He licked his lips once more as Ryoko fished out

another piece and held it out in front of him. Tenchi looked

at her skeptically for a moment, then opened his mouth once

more, taking the candy and eating it.

"Is it good?" she asked, taking a chunk and munching on

it.

He nodded his head. "Yeah. It does taste really good.

I haven't had chocolate this good before. It's so smooth and

flavorful." He stopped and thought a moment. "Hey, what did

you mean by this candy getting us in the mood?"

Ryoko grinned slyly as she floated down to the bed next

to him. "It also acts as an aphrodisiac," she giggled. "This

really turns me on and gives me a lot of energy."

Tenchi facefaulted.

Ryoko giggled as she ate another chunk of the stuff.

"Are you feeling it yet?"

Even though he was already feeling a little warmed up,

he figured he didn't need any help in that department.

However, he wasn't sure if it was the candies making him feel

that way or being in close proximity to the most beautiful

space pirate he had ever laid eyes on.

He shrugged his shoulders in response. "Beats me," he

said, kissing her with sticky lips. "Maybe we should find

out?"

Ryoko set the candy down on the nightstand and pushed

him down to the bed, preparing for another fun filled evening

with Tenchi as she began showering him with kisses and hugging

him close.

Several hours later, and long after Sasami had fallen

asleep, Russ had finished the first volume of Saber Marionette

J. Carefully removing the disc from his stereo and turning

off all the gizmos, he returned the disc to its case, and then

set it down on top of the TV.

It had been quite an endeavor to keep from laughing out

loud, since he didn't want to wake Sasami. She had fallen

asleep just after switching discs, so he carefully lifted her

out of the chair and lay her down on his bed, and carefully

tucked her in. She looked so cute that he didn't have the

heart to wake her so she could go to her own room. Ryo-Ohki

had entered his quarters a short while before Sasami dozed

off, looking for some company and wanting to be near her best

friend. But now both of them were peacefully sleeping on

Russ's bed, and he smiled, knowing that she tried her best to

stay awake, but couldn't do it because of a very active day.

Finding a spare futon in his closet, he laid it out on

the floor and got out some spare covers, preparing to go to

sleep for the night. Not feeling very tired since he was

still on a sugar high from the soda beverage that was served

to him, he quickly moved the table and chairs back to the

corner where he found them.

Checking to make sure everything for his room was in

order, he finally lay down on his bed, preparing for a night

of sleepless insomnia, thanks to the excitement factor mixed

with sugar.

He lay there for a few moments, and one thing kept

nagging him. It was too quiet. Tossing back his covers and

heading over to his duffel bag, he opened it and took out a

small desk fan. Quietly setting it down on the stack table,

he found a nearby outlet and plugged it in, then turned it on.

After a few moments, it spun up, generating the white-noise

sound that lulled him to sleep at night.

Sighing in satisfaction, he lay back down and closed his

eyes, doing his best to doze off so he would be well rested

for the next day.