"What brings you out here Sakuya? You weren't supposed to be here until Thursday." "Today's Thursday, silly. We're supposed to work on our homework together tonight." She giggled. "You forgot, didn't you?" As I watched as Tenchi squirmed, and wondered what the big deal was. But after about a minute of it, I decided to cut in, and give him a break. "Sakuya right? Hi, I'm Anthony Benedetto, Tenchi's friend." She almost jumped, having not even noticed me until that point. "Oh! Hello Anthony. How do you know Tenchi?" "Through some mutual friends." I said that normally enough, but inside I was laughing hysterically!

A bead of sweat formed on the back of Tenchi's head at that; he wasn't sure to be impressed at how quickly I came up with that, or upset at how easily I dismissed everything that transpired up until that point. "Cool. I'm Sakuya Kumashiro, Tenchi's girlfriend." I stopped for a minute to process that. "...oh." She blinked. "Oh?" "Oh, as in, 'Oh! I just remembered something inside! Tenchi, I'll create a diversion-I mean, head inside real quick." Tenchi's voice said. "Oh, ok." But his eyes screamed "THANK YOU!" I walked in to find not much had changed-except Ryoko and Ayeka were fighting far enough away from everyone for them to finally enjoy a nice dinner.

Which honestly surprised me. "Oh hi." I sat down with everyone, and Sasami offered me some rice, which I graciously accepted. "So when did things calm down?" "About when you and Tenchi snuck out." Nothing gets past Washu. "I snuck out the door, where did he-" "Window." "Ah." "But still, I can't help but think you're taking all of this way too lightly." Washu had her chin in her palm. I shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?" There was a pause, but Washu added "Not good enough." to which I sighed. "Look, it's not that don't know all this is unusual-even I managed to piece that together. Thing is, it just doesn't matter to me, I guess."

I looked around the room, not aware of how serene my smile was. "I like you guys." Even my face turned red at that one. "I-I'm, I'm gonna go check on Tenchi!" As I ran out the door again, Washu squealed and clapped her hands really fast. "He's adorable!" Even Ayeka and Ryoko stopped and looked toward her. "He's like the child I never had!" "MA!" Ryoko yelled "What about me?" But she was off in her own little world. "Well Ryoko," Ayeka said putting her hand on Ryoko's arm "since you have a younger brother now, you can confide in me for advice on being an older sibling." She hissed at her.

"Still though," Mihoshi said thinking aloud "he doesn't know the whole truth, but even with what he knows now, he just accepts it with a smile." She looked to Kiyone, who was still processing Mihoshi's last sentence. "Anthony really is something, huh Kiyone?" "Hm? Wha-? Oh, right, yeah..." Sasami giggled, covering her mouth. "You were already thinking that, weren't you Kiyone?" She blushed while Ryo-Ohki jumped on her lap smiling and meowing. "Huh? Wh-why would you think that, S-Sasami?" "Because you've been staring at the door ever since he left." "I was just, um... checking to see if the door was closed, is all."

She looked around the room, assessing the situation to see just how embarrassing it all was. Luckily, Mihoshi was too slow to pick up on where the conversation was going, and Ryoko and Washu were still going over whether or not Ryoko would be having a brother anytime soon. Ayeka on the other hand... "So Sasami, you've noticed it too?" "I'm gonna see what's keeping Tenchi. Be right back!" Kiyone jumped up from the table. Then noticed she jumped up from the table. "E-excuse me..." As she made her way to the door, Ayeka and Sasami giggled to each other, while Mihoshi looked to Ryo-ohki, puzzled. All she did was meow a few times. "...I don't get it..."

I opened the door to find Sakuya leaving, waving behind at Tenchi, who looked legitimately happy. "So…" I said scratching the back of my head. "Could that have gotten as bad as I'm imagining?" "Worse…" Tenchi sighed. "I haven't told any of the girls yet, and you've met Sakuya, she's just so, so-" "Normal?" "Well, yeah, that's the best way to put it." I put my hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "This may sound bad coming from someone in my position, but that's rough." Tenchi thought about that, and decided to shift topics-for a couple of reasons.

"So, about your position," I could sense he was feeling awkward asking, but he genuinely wanted to know, so I widened my eyes and pointed to myself with a "Who, me?" motion. "Any new developments? Like, have you remembered anything yet?" "Jeez guy, it hasn't even been a whole day yet. These things take time man." I looked away, shrugging, but I couldn't keep a straight face once he started apologizing. "I'm just messin' with ya. I don't remember anything yet, but with someone like Washu helping along the way, it shouldn't take too long. Did you know she has some kind of, secret lab in your house?"

"You've been in there?" I was surprised at his surprise. "Uh, yeah. Why?" "It's just, you seem so nonchalant about it. Normal-" "Again with this? Really?" I was getting legitimately irritated from that remark. Despite the flabbergasted expression on Tenchi's face, I felt like I needed to get this off my chest. "W-w-well, I was just-" It was around this time, that Kiyone made it to the the other side of the front door. "Maybe if I can convince Tenchi to come back in, it'll draw some of the heat off me-as terrifying as that-sounds?" She could hear me venting to Tenchi, and decided to listen in-for Tenchi's sake. "I'm not so weak as to completely bug out in a situation like this. Sure, I'm scared-hell; I'm terrified! Who am I? What am I doing in Japan? Is there someone out there right now who's in tears about me right now, or do I not even have anyone-or even a home to go back to?"

Just for a moment, I let myself look up to the few stars shining through the twilight and bright city lights, as night slowly settled in. "I can't let myself think like that, to just keep asking questions while doing nothing for the answers. Nothing ever got accomplished like that. If not for myself, but for those around me I have to stay strong, and just put one foot forward at a time. Although…" I leaned my back against the door with an empty smile. "…Putting it all in perspective like this, it does seem kinda daunting. …ish." I slid down until I was sitting, stretched out my legs and let my arms go limp. "I… I don't have anything. Or anyone really. That fact that good, decent people like the girls found me, I can only chalk up to a miracle."

Tenchi sat next to me, and looked up too. "So it basically boils down to: you feel like you're being a moocher, is that it?" "…" I sniffled, he laughed. "Don't worry about that. The girls tell me you're a good person, and they want to help you. And if ANYONE can, it'd be them. Plus, they really do seem to enjoy your company." My eyes started to shine a bit-which Tenchi noticed. "They… really do?" "Y-yeah."

"…I'm glad. Just like with this whole Koi fiasco, I just want to be useful to people, ya know? Especially Kiyone." Tenchi was honestly surprised. "W-why Kiyone?" "Because, I just get this sorta, vibe from her. I can't explain it, but just seeing her smile…" Just thinking about it made me smile softly, but warmly. "It means everything to me." I didn't know it at the time, but Kiyone had her back against the door, looking upward in almost the same position I was.

There was a silence. I'm guessing Tenchi was somewhere between "moved", and "Gee, he doesn't know how awkward this is for me." But I sighed. "And after what happened earlier-" "The elevator?" I turned, legitimately surprised he knew about that. "Washu." "Ah." "Well, I don't really know all that much about that kinda thing, but…" Tenchi stood up. "I hope everything works out." I smiled, put my hand on his shoulder and said "Thanks man. You're really a good dude." Tenchi was getting ready to go back inside, when I added, "Man, imagine if it were you in my place!" He turned blue-ish.

"…I apologize." "No, I-it's alright. Let's head back in." Kiyone was laughing at my joke/nightmare scenario when she walked away from the door. As she walked, she thought to her self "He used the word 'dude' in conversation just now. … Not sure how I should feel about that." So Kiyone rejoined everyone in the living room as Mrs. Koi was just getting off the phone with her husband. "It's fine Seji-kun, trust me. These nice young people even gave me a place to sleep, and we're out of 'their' territory, so just try to relax some. It's not good to be so stressed at our age, or for Hukurou."

"Ah, you always know what's best Zu-Zu. I'll call you in the morning. Love you, good night." Mr. Koi hung up the phone, and gave a long, heavy sigh. "Tell me gikei*," Mr. Yamahara was sitting across from him, face half illuminated by the moon, "is everything moving as scheduled?" "Yes, Zu-Zu has arrived at Tenchi Masaki's residence safely." "There was no… Interference?" "No…" Mr. Koi took off his glasses and buried his face in his palms. "…there was not." His glasses gleamed as a cloud moved. "She should no longer be in danger." Mr. Yamahara's sinister grin was now fully visible. "Nor can she interfere, gikei."

*gikei=brother in law, according to Google