THREE PRINCESSES...
Author: Daferge
Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! is copyright AIC/Pioneer Ltd.
All respective characters are property of their original owners. All original characters and ideas are property of the author.
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Chapter 13... Hard Times on Colony 0315...
( Masaki Shrine...)
Katsuhito Masaki, the local Shinto priest, paused in reading his local paper and tilted his head slightly...
As a smile came to his face, he put down his paper, picked up his warm cup of tea and moved over to the open door of his office...
Stepping out on the bamboo steps, he looked upward, just in time to see a portion of the sky above the shrine begin to distort and deform...
As he watched, the center of the area darkened and began to take on a very familiar shape...
As the shape finished forming, the sky around it began to calm and the distorted area vanished...
Leaving behind a huge crystal object floated there, just above the shrine's courtyard...
Ryo-ohki was back...
Katsuhito smile and put his tea cup away as a number of figures began to appear in the open area before him...
It seem that Tenchi and the girls were home...
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( Else where on the planet... )
A male in a white Lab coat had been staring at the oddly shaped crystal sitting on the table before him...
For a while now he had been watching as it had changed from a low pulsating glow to a very bright steady glow...
THEN...
The glow stopped suddenly and it once again looked like just another ordinary crystal...
The male continued to observe the crystal for a while longer before returning it to a special section on a shelf...
About a month ago, some one just happen to notice the crystal's strange reaction...
A special set-up had been created to let them know whenever it happened again, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and to record any data...
It had glowed to various degrees on a handful of times, but this had been the brightest it had ever gotten in some time...
Several members of the team were trying to see if there were any known events that might match up with the times the crystal glowed...
Such as Sun-spots or earthquakes...
Thus far, there was nothing...
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( Jurai Academy Shuttle Dock... )
Returning, after their first weekend off campus, cadets Haruko Natan, Mayu Rygen and Kiichi Tanaka entered the quiet welcome area, to discover a welcome committee...
A young female with green hair stood to one side, her arms crossed, a frown on her face...
Slightly behind her, a male, in the uniform of the Royal Juraian Guard stood leaning against one of the many drink machines, a slight smile on his face...
Kii locked eyes with his friend, Lord Byran and raised an eyebrow...
Lord Byran eyed his companion, Chairwoman Airi Magma Masaki and shook his head ever so slightly...
It seem that he was just pulling escort duty today...
Kii looked back at Lady Airi and as their eyes met, he noticed a smile slowly beginning to form on her lips...
This can't be good!...
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( Near the Masaki Shrine...)
As Katsuhito watched, five figures had appeared in the shrine courtyard and then a small Ryo-ohki had appearing and been picked up by Washu...
Although Washu had suggested that she return alone, after some discussion it was decided that it was best if they ALL return...
So as Tenchi's grandfather approached, Washu and he made eye contact and exchanged a silent nod...
With that, Washu, carrying a very sleepy Ryo-ohki, had headed to the steps leading down to the house and then her lab...
With Washu gone, Tenchi had presenting himself to his grandfather and proceeded to exchange the usual greetings as he had done most of his life...
However, it had become custom, for Ayeka, Mihoshi and Ryoko to also exchanged greetings with their, now, grandfather-in-law/brother-in-law...
Thou they all wanted to get down to the house, all three also wanted to spend some time alone with Tenchi, now that Washu wasn't around, looking over their shoulders...
And no matter how much Tenchi wanted to see his daughter, Mayuka, he also knew that he now had other responsibilites...
His responsibilities as Crown Prince to a huge Interstellar Empire was nothing compared to his responsibilities as the Husband to these three very special females...
So, before descending the stairs, the four of them spent some time walking in the woods surrounding the shrine, enjoying the peace and quiet, but mostly just enjoying each others company...
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It wasn't surprising that they happen to found themselves at the gravestone of Tenchi's mother...
With every thing going on, it had been a while since Tenchi had been able to make it up to the small quiet site, that overlooked the lake and house...
The girls stood quietly, off to one side as Tenchi knelt and offered a quiet prayer...
As he stood, each of Tenchi's wives came over, knelt, placed flowers that they'd picked and offered a small prayer...
Ryoko was the only one who had seen her, in her ghost form, when the young mother had carried the tiny baby boy past the entrance to her cave on her way to the shrine to see her father...
It had been the bright smile of that small child, looking right at her, that had begun to melt the cold loneliness within Ryoko's heart...
It was when she had first began to discover what love truely was...
Wiping a tear from her eye, she joined Tenchi and took his arm...
Ayeka and Mihoshi paid their quiet respects to their husband's mother and their mother-in-law...
After rejoining Tenchi, they then slowly descended the steps to the house where Sasami and Nagi were waiting for them...
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After more greetings, the four then made their way into washu's Lab...
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( Jurai Royal Palace... )
Queen Funaho Masaki Jurai stood on the edge of one of the countless small grass parks around the palace...
As had become her habit, she tried to come down to this one as often as possible to watch these small children play...
Watching the small ones play was the high point of her usually very busy day...
Today she had discovered that the children had gotten an elegantly dressed Juraian Lord on the ground and were tickling him...
In a rather high pitched voice, he was begging them to stop...
A tall, muscular female with short blue hair stood over to the side, her eyes closed, a smile on her lips, shaking her head...
Funaho was about to to inquire as to who the young lord might be, was until she noticed his hair, his PINK hair...
With a smile she turned to the young lady...
" Lady Kyo... How are you adjusting to being called Lady Tennan?... "
. . . . . . . . . .
Startled, the young lady opened her eyes and turned to find herself in the presence of the first Queen of Jurai...
Making a slight bow, she turned back to study the figures on the ground...
" Being called Lady Tennan is so strange at times... "
She smiled as Lord Seiryo Tennan tried to wiggle out from under almost a dozen giggling kids, males and females...
Funaho smiled as she watch the helpless male...
" Ever miss being a Captain?... "
The young lady couldn't help sighing before replying...
" Being Captain Komachi?... Some times... Being a space pirate?... Not as much... "
She smiled and shook her head as Seiyo managed to turn his head and caught her eye, his eyes pleading for help...
" Besides... Lady Tennan has a much better chance of seeing GP officer Ryoko Balta Yamada than Captain Kyo Kamachi, space pirate... "
For a long time, Kyo had been one of Ryoko's very few true and closest friend within the Deluna pirate Guild...
Funaho couldn't help smiling as Kyo smiled at her husband and shook her head...
Seiyo sighed as he resigned himself to his fate...
But inside he smiled...
If he had his hands full with just his one wife, that Earthling, Seina Yamada, must be a near wreck with his eight wives...
He couldn't help chuckling...
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( Galaxy Police Headquarters... )
Captain Seina Yamada let out a sigh of relief as he exited the Grand Marshal's inner office...
It had taken almost an entire hour to make his report about the recent engagement in the Badlands and to answer all of the Marshal's questions...
The Marshal's Aide smiled and nodded as Seina passed his desk...
As he exited through the outer door, he found himself joined by two very attractive young females, also dressed in regulation GP uniforms...
On one side, was the blonde Detective first class Amane Kaunaq Yamada and on the other side, was the dark haired Detective first class Ryoko Balta Yamada...
They had been sent by Seina's first officer, Detective first class Kiriko Masaki Yamada, who wanted to make sure that Seina got safely back to his ship, the Kamidake II...
Even after all this time in the Galaxy Police, Seina still tended to get lost when moving around the GP Headquarters...
Therefore he didn't happen to notice that detectives Amane and Ryoko were proceeding to escort him on a rather round-about route back to the Kamidake II...
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So, it wasn't by chance that they found themselves passing through one of the main Halls, with hundreds of GP officers and others standing around talking...
As the three proceeded across the hall, the crowd tended to part before them...
With two of the most desirable female officers in the Galaxy Police on his arms, Seina wasn't even aware of all the looks he was getting...
With the beautiful blonde super model, Amane Kaunaq on one arm and the fabulous ex-space pirate, Ryoko Balta on the other...
There wasn't a male GP officers there that didn't wish they were in Seina's place...
However, Amane and Ryoko were so proud of Seina that they'd taken this round about route just so they could show him off...
To the whole Galaxy they were shouting...
" THIS IS THE MAN OF MY DREAMS... THE ONLY MAN FOR ME... SEINA YAMADA, MY HUSBAND... "
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From an over head balcony, the Grand Marshal watched as his three young officers made their way through the crowd below...
It wasn't hard to guess why Amane and Ryoko were taking Seina by such an odd route...
In all the years he'd known officer Kaunaq, it had only been recently that he'd actually seen a real smile on her lips, not the usual fake one...
But it wasn't hard to imagine, for it was only recently had he seen the same type of smile on his granddaughter's face...
He shook his head...
All because of two young boys from a small backwater planet, that few had even heard of and even fewer cared any thing about...
But he was beginning to see a new Golden Era for the galaxy...
And it promised to be a very interesting one, at that...
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( Washu's Lab... )
Tenchi and the girls were very carefully when they made their way into Washu's lab...
Even after the wedding she had continued to ambush Tenchi, if he happen to come in alone, to keep him on his toes...
They found her, studying some data, humming an odd tune while rocking a sleeping little Mayuka on her shoulder...
Washu had her back to them, but she didn't need to turn around to know that some one was there or to know who it was...
She could feel the power that Tenchi and the others radiated...
It seem that some one else had sensed them also, for she could feel Mayuka beginning to stir...
As Tenchi approached, the only thing he saw was his blue haired daughter, resting her head on Washu's shoulder...
As she opened her eyes, he looked deep into her beautiful amber eyes and smiled...
They ALL smiled as they felt a wave of joy sweep over them...
But it was only Tenchi who heard the soft quiet voice...
PAPA!
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( Some where in Tokyo... )
An elderly oriental male, with white hair and a black suit, sat behind a large ancient desk studying a number of scrolls...
He looked up as a figure, dressed in a black robe, entered the room and went down on one knee, their head bowed...
" Niitakayama Nobore... "
After a moment, the older male gestured with his hand and the robed figure rose, backing slowly out of the room, his head still bowed...
Elbows on the desk, the elder rested his jaw on his interlocked fingers, his face without any emotion...
" Climb Mount Niitaka!... "
A figure dressed from head to toe in black, with only a slit for their eyes, slipped quietly from the shadows and went down on one knee...
The seated male didn't turn or make any note that they were even there...
. . . . . . . . . .
Finally he spoke in a very low voice...
" ALL is prepared?... "
The figure didn't move...
" Hai!... "
The elderly figure sighed, his instincts told him that they shouldn't have agreed to this arrangement, but honor now demanded that it be done...
With a nod of his head, the figure in black moved backwards and disappeared back into the shadows...
Being the head of the clan had many duties, still, sending his only blood kin off on what might be a very dangerous mission did not sit well with him...
But HONOR had to be up-held above blood...
Still, something deep within told him that changes were coming, he just wasn't able to say if they were going to be GOOD or BAD...
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( The Masaki Kitchen... )
Nagi stood to the side, out of Sasami's way as she rushed about to get all the things she'd need for the special welcome home Dinner for tonight...
By not calling ahead, the return of Tenchi and the others had taken them all by surprise...
As it was, they hadn't find out until Ken-Ohki let Nagi know that Ryo-Ohki had appeared above the shrine...
Almost at the same time, Mayuka had awaken and started making noises...
It had not been lone after that Washu and a tired Ryo-Ohki had appeared...
Mayuka had quickly quieted down when Washu picked her up and began rocking her...
Smiling, she had told Sasami and Nagi that Tenchi and the others would be down from the shrine after a while...
Then, with Ryo-ohki asleep on one shoulder and Mayuka on the other, Washu had gone down to the lab with her...
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When Tenchi and the others showed up, Sasami had greeted them more as if they'd been gone for a month instead of only for a week or so...
Sasami had even asked if they had learned any thing new, however Tenchi and the others just smiled...
It was Ayeka who spoke up...
" Yes... But Washu has asked that we please not discuss it with any one until she has finished collecting all her data... "
Sasami tilted her head slightly and started to ask some thing...
It was Tenchi who stepped in, raising his hand to get her attention...
" We'd only just begun our research when we received a message to help Seina and Lady Seto get rid of some Raiders... Then we needed to rush home for some reason... But, as soon as Washu is ready, we'll be heading back... "
From past experience Nagi knew that there was a lot more to it than that, but it must be very important if even Ryoko had agreed to not to discuss it...
As for Sasami, she wasn't sure what Tenchi had meant, but she wasn't worried, she had some one she could ask...
Tsunami...
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( Washu's Lab... )
The four of them soon found themselves sitting in desks that Washu had provided...
Ayeka and Ryoko had desks on each side of Tenchi's, while Mihoshi was right behind him, watching his back...
As always...
A very happy Mayuka was snuggled up on her papa's shoulder, her eyes closed, a big smile on her face...
PROFESSOR Washu, in her long black robes, stepped up to the podium, arranged her notes and looked around...
" It has come to my attention that recently there has been a bit of interest shown in the Masaki shrine and it's surrounding area... "
She NOW had their attention...
" Some one tried to get access, using the Internet, to over head views of the area from as low as possible... "
Though there was some concern in their eyes, but they also knew better than to interrupt Washu...
" But that's not the only problem... I have also detected signs of what appears to be an unauthorized off-world base on the major landmass to the fat East of us, across the large body of water called the Pacific... "
There was dead silence...
But what really made them nervous was the wicked smile that came to Washu's lips...
" SO!... Here's what I suggest... "
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( Jurai Academy... )
Cadet Kiichi Tanaka stood at attention before the only desk in the room...
Behind the desk, Chairwoman Airi Magma Masaki sat, studying the handful of papers...
Cadets Haruko Natan and Mayu Rygen stood over to one side with Kii's friend, Lord Byran and none of them were smiling...
" So!.. How was you're first leave?... "
Kii managed not to groan...
" Enjoyable... Except for an unfortunate incident... "
Airi had studied ALL the reports of the attempted assassination...
In great detail...
" Yes, I can see... Too bad none of your attackers survived the attempt... We might have gotten some useful information out of them... "
Kii's head dropped...
. . . . . . . . . .
Airi suppressed a smile...
" However, it seems that the medical report on your attackers clearly states that the cause of death was from poison and not due to any damage from the fight... "
She could see the relief on the girl's faces, as well as on Kii's...
" We have every reason to believe that you were the target... And assassination has not been ruled out... If so, any of the others could have been targeted had they gotten in the way... "
Kii looked up, there was a worried look in his eyes, Aiei continued...
" Due to recent data and events, this has been discussed at the highest level and we have all agreed that, not only you, but your sister, Lady Kiyone might be targeted... "
As Kii started to respond, Airi held up a hand...
" Lady Kiyone has been reassigned to a special mission, where she should not only be safe, but can continue with her normal work... With any luck, we believe she won't even know that she was targeted... "
Airi smiled as she noticed one of Kii's eyebrows go up...
" Highest level?... We?... "
Airi's eye's glowed, Kii was getting better and managing to catch those subtle hints...
" Myself, the Emperor and both Queens... "
. . . . . . . . . .
( Later on Colony 0315... )
At the sound of a special bell, a young male in a long white Lab coat had rushed into the special chamber...
As he'd expected, the unusual crystal was beginning to glow, again...
However, instead of the just glowing, it brightened until it was too bright to even look at and then it suddenly went out...
Leaving the male to adjust his eyes back to the normal light level in the room...
However, as his eyes began to adjust, he became aware that he wasn't alone any more...
It seem that standing off to one side was a young female, in a very strange uniform, smiling at him...
A VERYattractive female with blonde hair and a deep tan...
As his eye's adjusted more, he soon noted that there was a second female in the room, also in the same type of uniform...
This Female was as tall and attractive as the first, but had a great deal of red hair...
However, it was the device that she had in her hand that caused his jaw to suddenly drop...
Unless he was badly mistaken, it looked an awful lot like one of those Starfleet Tricorders that he use to see on that old science fiction TV series...
. . . . . . . . . .
" And you are?... "
The blonde's voice brought him back to the present...
" Ahhh... Stevens... John Stevens... "
The blonde had a pad out and seem to be jotting down notes...
" Mister Stevens... Are you aware that you are in possession of stolen property?... "
Not only was his mouth open, but his eyes began to widen...
" AAhhh... "
The blonde tilted her head to one side before replying...
" Was that, by any chance, a confession?... "
He could only stare...
" I... I... I... I... "
He didn't see the red head, off to the side, bite her lip to keep from laughing...
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How every, any reply he might have had was interrupted when the lab door opened and several more people in Lab coats entered, being escorted in by yet another female in uniform, this one with light colored, spikey hair...
She had what looked a lot like a small cat curled up on her shoulder...
The three new comers joined the first male in the center of the room...
Making some notations on her pad, the blonde looked up, smiling...
" Is this all of them?... "
The light haired female managed not to smile, but just nodded her head...
The blonde turned to the four males in the middle of the room...
" Ah, yes... "
She looked at the notepad...
" According to Article 723.659, paragraph DA96.6... "
She paused for a moment...
" Or is it Article DA96.6, paragraph 723.659?... "
Pausing, she turned her head when she heard the red headed female stomp her foot...
The light haired female, behind the males, now had her hand to her mouth...
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" Any way... I must inform you, that you are in possession of stolen property and therefore breaking the law... "
All four males were staring at her...
" However... As I am quite sure that you were unaware that these items were stolen, we will just take possession of them and return them to their rightful owners... "
She turned to the red header female...
" Wa... Er... Officer, would you please recover the stolen items... "
The four males just stood there watching as the red head began to walk down the long row of shelves and examined the items on them...
As she came to the unusual crystal, she stopped and smiled...
As everyone watched, it began to glow as she reached for it and picked it up...
After examining the glowing crystal, she waved her other hand and a small black hole appeared in mid air...
Putting the crystal in the hole, she waved her hand again and the hole disappeared...
There was a thump as one of the males fainted...
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For the next half hour, the red head examined a large number of items, but of the hundreds of thousands of different objects, she only acquired a couple dozen and put them into her special storage area...
Finally, she walked back to the three males who were still standing...
With a serious expression on her face, she held up a small round object, about 2 inches in diameter, for them to see...
" Have you any idea what this is?... "
When none of the males replied, she continued...
" It's a Tigus Anti-core fission bomb... "
There was still no response...
" If this were to explode, every thing within 2.6 light years of this point would be disintegrated... "
The red head opened another small black hole and tossed the small object in...
Yet another of the young males fainted...
. . . . . . . . . .
It was the blonde who broke the silence...
" Is that every thing?... "
The red head nodded...
They both looked at the third female, who sighed, lifted the small animal off her shoulder and tossed it into the air...
They all watched as the small creature began to change and disappeared thought the ceiling of the room...
" MEOW!... "
A short time later, all three of the females suddenly disappeared...
After several minutes, one of the males turned to the other one...
" What do we do now?... "
The older male shook his head...
" If you think I'm going to tell the higher ups that three very attractive females in strange uniforms just walking into Area 51, the highest security base in the world and then left with a number of our valuable study objects... You're out of you mind... "
The other male didn't reply, he just nodded his head...
They were going to have to make a list of the missing items and do some creative data up dating...
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( Later in Washu's Lab... )
Ryoko was examining some of the items that Washu had brought back, she smiled as she juggled the small "bomb"...
" So, most of this is stuff that some how managed to survive the Soja's destruction?... "
Washu just nodded her head
" So... What is this... I thought the Tigus people were a very primitive, non-tech level race... "
Washu reached over and took it away from her, shaking her head...
" Some times you can be just as bad as Mihoshi... Of course it wasn't made by the Tigus... "
Ryoko smiled and reached for her new toy...
" I made it... "
Ryoko's hand froze, as did her smile...
Without looking at her daughter, Washu continued...
" I couldn't very well say it was MY Anti-core fission bomb, now could I?... "
She didn't expect a reply as she stored the device...
" So... How did it feel to be wearing a GP uniform?... "
When she didn't get a reply, Washu turned, to find her lab empty...
She couldn't help smiling...
To be continued...
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Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...