Ametsuchi Muyo!



Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any of the characters. Please don't sue me -.-;;; Spoiler warning. These events take place after Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2; and therefore may contain spoilers.



Prologue

Oniisan Muyo!

Almost one year after the events in Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2...

Tenchi was now eighteen years old, and was getting ready to start college that autumn. After the event with Haruna, Tenchi began to grow closer to Ryoko. Aeka then decided it was time for her to go, but Tenchi still had feelings for her too. He had asked her to stay, and said that he still didn't know who he loved. That was six months ago

It was a warm summer afternoon, Kiyone and Mihoshi had left to go on patrol, Washu had locked herself in the lab, and everyone else was sitting down to another great lunch Sasami had prepared.

"Sasami-chan, this is delicious!" Katsuhito exclaimed as he downed some shrimp tempura. "Tenchi, have you decided what you are going to do after college?"

"Not yet Jii-chan." Tenchi looked down, "After all the adventures we've had, I didn't get time to study so I won't be able to go to a better university."

"The local college isn't that bad Tenchi," Nobuyuki chimed in, "but you really should figure out what you want to study. No matter where you go, if you apply yourself hard enough you will succeed."

Ryoko flung herself onto Tenchi. "Don't go away to college! You'll be gone most of the day! Run away with me! We can live in space together!"

Aeka pulled Ryoko off of Tenchi. "Tenchi is never, NEVER going anywhere with you!"

Ryoko smirked, "You just used a double negative." She flung herself back on Tenchi. "Ne, Tenchi! What do you say? Aeka gave us her blessing!" Tenchi began his normal fidgeting and tried to get out of Ryoko's hold.

"Hey you! You let go of him!" Aeka was furious.

"Why don't you just eat your food! It's getting cold!" Sasami was obviously agitated by the recent increase of fighting between the two girls. "I worked hard on this! The least you could do is eat it!"

"Gomen nasai..." Aeka and Ryoko said in unison, and began to eat.

Just after the room had calmed down, there was a knock at the door. "I wonder who that could be..." Tenchi looked at his father.

"I'll get it." Katsuhito put down his rice bowl and stood up.

When he opened the door, Katsuhito was stunned. At the door stood a rather well built man dressed in a kimono with a sword in his sash. "Tadaima," exclaimed the man at the door.

"Ame.... Ametsuchi!?" Katsuhito took a few steps back in shock, and yelled at his son. "He's back! Ametsuchi! He's back!"

Nobuyuki fell over as he scrambled for the door. "Masaka!" The stranger walked inside just as Nobuyuki made it to the door. "It's him! It's really him!" Nobuyuki grabbed the man in a hug. Katsuhito soon joined the embrace.

"You guys are making too much of a fuss over this." The man remarked "Tadaima; Jii-chan, Oyaji."

After about a minute or two of just standing there, Nobuyuki soon let go and smiled. "Let me introduce you to everyone!" He bounded into the other room. Bewildered, the stranger followed him.

In the other room, it was the normal scene of Aeka and Ryoko fighting with Tenchi stuck in the middle. That is, until Nobuyuki cleared his throat. Everyone looked up in confusion. "Everyone! I'd like you to meet Ametsuchi!" He gestured to the man standing next to him. "Ametsuchi, meet everyone! This is Aeka-chan, Ryoko-chan, and Sasami-chan." He pointed at each person while he said their name. "And of course, there is Tenchi."

Ametsuchi walked up to Tenchi and put out his hand. "Yoroshiku, otouto."

The women in the room jumped back twenty feet in surprise, "O... OTOUTO!?!?" Tenchi too was extremely surprised, but shook the man's hand.

Tenchi looked over at the two smiling old men standing in the hallway. "Jii-chan, what's going on?"

"Well, it's very simple. Ametsuchi here is your older brother." Tenchi froze.

"I do see a resemblance..." Aeka timidly remarked.

Ametsuchi looked over at Aeka and Ryoko who had now ventured closer to him. "Oh! Forgive my manners." He walked over to the princess and bowed. "It's a pleasure" Aeka, remembering her manners held out her hand, and Ametsuchi gave it a small peck.

"I am the first princess of the royal family of Jurai, Aeka."

Ametsuchi turned to Ryoko. Ryoko could see the family resemblance between Tenchi and Ametsuchi. Tenchi was shorter and less built, but the facial features were more or less the same, minus the scare he had under his left eye. Ametsuchi looked more weathered and had longer hair. He also had a look in his eye that she could not place. "Ryoko." she said as she shook his hand.

Tenchi's brother then turned to Sasami who had hidden herself behind Aeka. "Who do we have hear?" he said childishly.

"I'm Sasami. Aeka's my sister." She said rather timidly.

"Ooh... sou ka? Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Sasami-hime" Ametsuchi bowed. Sasami giggled at the remark and bowed herself.

Ametsuchi straightened himself and looked at his younger brother. "Well? Say something! It's been sixteen years since I left. The least you could do is say 'hi.'"

"Is he really my brother?" Tenchi still perplexed turned to his grandfather.

"BAKA! I already said he is!" Katsuhito turned to his son-in-law. "Grab the sake! This calls for a celebration."

"Matte, Oyaji!" Ametsuchi motioned for his dad to stop. "Where's kaasan? I want to see the look on her face!"

Nobuyuki looked over at his father-in-law, who just looked at the ground. "Son, you see..." He stopped. "Well, it's like this.... the winter after you left, your mother got very sick... and, well.." Nobuyuki was at a lost for words. "She died that winter."

Ametsuchi almost fell over. "Kaasan, is dead?...." He struggled to keep from crying. He headed toward the couch and fell onto the back side of it. "I can't believe it.... why?... was it because I left?"

Katsuhito walked over to his grandson and put his hand on his shoulder. "You had nothing to do with it. This is no time to be sad. You are finally back after sixteen years, and I am very happy." He motioned toward the table. "Come, sit down, we have much to talk about."

"You're right Jii-chan. I'll be okay." Ametsuchi looked up at his grandfather, showing a strength in his eyes. He pulled himself off of the coach and headed toward the table.

"Na, son, did you ever find what you were looking for?"

Ametsuchi put his sword on the floor and sat down at the table. "Found it, and lost it."

Chapter 1

Hajime Muyo!

Sixteen Years Ago…

"Where did Ametsuchi-kun run off to?" Achika looked over at Nobuyuki from the kitchen.

"Hmm… I thought I saw him heading toward the shrine not too long ago." was the reply.

"Geez… all that boy does is practice, day and night. I think you need to have a talk with him Nobuyuki."

"Tousan says it's good for his mind and soul." Nobuyuki could feel Achika's glare coming from the kitchen. "Err… I mean, I'll get right on it."

Achika giggled, "That's a bit more like it!"

"TSURIYA!!" A seven year-old Ametsuchi charged at his grandfather, sword in hand. After a few easy parries, Katsuhito knocked Ametsuchi's sword out of his hand.

"Your grip is way too loosen. Tighten it up, but don't get stiff." Katsuhito tossed the sword back at the younger one.

"Hai!" Ametsuchi was full of vigor and zest. He ran at his grandfather again, this time managing to make the old man block a few unexpected swings.

"Very good." Katsuhito stepped back, causing Ametsuchi to over-extend. With a quick hit to the back of the head, the kid fell like a stone.

"Ite!" Ametsuchi rubbed the back of his head. "Not so hard Jii-chan."

"You can't expect to be any good if you whine about a little bruise, but I guess now would be a good time to take a breather." The old man sat down on a fallen log, picking up a nearby lunch sack.

Ametsuchi sat next to him, "Jii-chan, what's the point of my training?"

"Well, mastery of the sword cultivates the mind and the soul."

"Sou ka…" Ametsuchi looked down at the rice ball he had grabbed from the lunch sack.

"Why do you ask?" Katsuhito was perplexed by the young one's question.

"Well, is that the point of my life?" Ametsuchi seemed troubled, "I mean, to train my mind and soul. Is that what it's all about? Isn't there more to life than just that?"

"Well, that's something that one must find on his own."

Ametsuchi looked very distant as he ate his lunch, too distant.

Present…

It has been one week since Ametsuchi came back home. He hadn't talked about what he has been doing the last sixteen years, but everyone seems to be getting along fine without that knowledge. It was a hotter day than normal, and everyone attended to their daily chores. Everyone that is, except for Ryoko.

"No no no!!! Boom! Hahaha!!" Ryoko was playing video games, again. "Yatta!!"

"Seriously, can't you find something else to do?" Aeka had poked her head in the room Ryoko was at. "Simpleton."

"Did you say something, Ojou-sama?" Ryoko didn't seem to care.

"Humph" Aeka left to go back to her vacuuming. "Lazy bum."

Sasami had just finished cleaning the kitchen and now was doing the laundry. Tenchi was out in the field, getting carrots for Ryo-ohki. Washu was, yet again, locked inside her lab.

Aeka turned off the vacuum. "Finally, done." She headed down the staircase and was greeted by Sasami.

"Onee-sama, I'm finished!"

"Great, well, I'm going to take a bath now." Aeka obviously needs a rest.

"I'll join you." Ryoko had fazed in right behind Aeka, now that the chores were down.

At that moment, Washu walked out of her lab, down the hallway, and into the bath. The other three were going to follow, but there was a knock at the door.

"Ah! Mihoshi-oneechan, Kiyone-oneechan!" Sasami was pleased to see her friends at the door. "Come on in, we are about to go take a bath."

"Oh, well we can't stay long…"

Kiyone was interrupted by Mihoshi. "That'd be great! We haven't been able to go to the public bath in like three days!"

"QUIET!!" Kiyone hit Mihoshi on the back of the head.

"Sorry Kiyone…"

Sasami laughed at the two partners.

Ametsuchi walked into the house after doing some chores at the shrine. Expecting a house full of loud women, he was surprised to find the house oddly quiet.

"Oh well," he said to no one in particular. "Maybe I'll take a bath and clean up for dinner."

He strolled over to the bathroom and turned on the water in the tub. "Crap, need to grab a towel." He turned off the water and walked out of the room.

He hadn't gone far down the hallway when the door opened behind him and heard Sasami's voice. "Oh, Ametsuchi-oniichan! Can you grab be a couple of towels?" Ametsuchi noticed an immensely huge bath house behind Sasami.

To say the least, Ametsuchi was a little surprised. "What the hell? Wasn't I just in there?" Regardless, he grabbed a few towels and knocked on the bathroom door. Sasami answered and grabbed the towels.

"Thank you!" She shut the door again.

"Right…" Ametsuchi was still confused. "Maybe I'll grab some food."

Just then, Tenchi walked in the house after working in the field and headed to the bathroom. "Ah, a bath sure would be nice."

Ametsuchi turned around as Tenchi walked past. "I wouldn't go in there."

"Huh?" Tenchi opened the door, and walked into a normal looking bathroom. "Whatever."

Ametsuchi just stared wide-mouthed at what just happened. "Maybe I'll just go for a swim in the lake…"

Ametsuchi stared across the lake. He was standing in a shady spot under some nice looking trees. It was a very relaxing spot, and the water wasn't too deep at that area either.

"Ah… such a nice spot." He thought. "I remember when Kaasan would let me swim here for hours upon hours. Such a long time ago…"

He took the sword out of his sash and propped it up on a nearby tree. Next, he took off his sash and outer garments, leaving just his under garment. Ametsuchi ran at the lake, jumped in the air and cannonballed in the water. He pulled his head out of the water and gasped for air. Ametsuchi was at home in the water. While he was away from his family, he stayed by a river and swam there many times.

"I wonder if I can swim across the lake." He thought out-loud. "Might as well try."

With that, he jumped up a bit out of the water and propelled himself forward through the water.

Nobuyuki climbed the steep stairway up to the front door. He was greeted by a running Sasami who almost plowed him over.

"Sasami-chan, were are you going?"

"I gotta go tell everyone that dinner is ready, have you seen Ametsuchi-oniichan?" she replied.

"Yeah, I saw him over by the lake taking a swim."

"Thank you!," and she ran down the staircase on her way to the lake.

Ametsuchi was out of breath, but he had swam from one side of the lake to other in a pretty quick time. "That was fun! Boy, I never knew how much I missed this place." He just lazily swam around for a while, basking in the early evening light.

"Ametsuchi-oniichan, dinner is ready!" He hadn't noticed Sasami who was now standing by the edge of the water.

"Ah! Sasami-chan. Thanks for telling me. Can you toss me that towel?" He pointed over by his sword.

She picked up the towel, but stared long and hard at the sword. "Why do you carry a sword?" she asked as she tossed Tenchi's brother the towel.

"That old thing?" he asked as he dried himself off with the towel. "I really don't know." He said we a chuckle.

"You don't know?! That's kinda weird. Don't you use it to fight people or anything?"

"Well," Ametsuchi scratched the side of his face, "that sword hasn't left the scabbard in four years. I keep it around for sentimental purposes."

"Wakanai…" She stared up at the slightly dried Ametsuchi.

"Well, it's hard to explain." Quick to change the subject he continued, "You better hurry and go back up to the house and eat dinner, I'll be along shortly."

"Okay!" She said as she dashed off.

Ametsuchi had sneaked in through an upper story window. He headed towards his room quietly, not to disturb the gang that was eating Sasami's great dinner. He crept silently through the dimly lit hallway, and into his room. Moving a bookshelf away from the wall, Ametsuchi touched a part of the wall that opened up a hole in the wall. He reached inside his kimono top and pulled out a picture, which he put inside the secret compartment.