Bored, a Mihoshi/Tenchi romance story. This is a little alternate reality dealie taking place during the TV Series/Universe episodes when they're all on board the Yagami and on the run from the police, etc. By Sofa. (sofa4001@hotmail.com)
Mad props goes out to my bestest friend Nik (http://www.weeklyvisitor.com)!! who got me back into writing. So if you don't like this, blame her. Or actually, don't blame Nicki, blame yourselves.
Blah blah, I don't own the characters, etc. Don't sue, you know the drill. If somehow, in some freakish way I make money off of this, you guys can have it, okay? Yeesh.
Bored
by Sofa
"Bored. Bored, bored, bored," Mihoshi complained to no one in particular. Her shift at the bridge of the Yagami was over for the day, and there was nothing to do. She and Kiyone had decided to separate the duties of watching the ship in half so that they could actually get some rest and sleep every now and then. And now Mihoshi had a few hours of free time left before her schedule called for her to go to sleep.
And she was so bored! She was sitting on her bed in her room. She looked around and her eyes rested on the television. 'Maybe I can find someone who'll play some video games with me,' she thought. 'Hmmm, Aeka, Ryoko, and Washu don't really seem to like me all that much... so, not them... and Sasami always beats me whenever we play... and Kiyone's busy... so that leaves... Tenchi!' "He's probably not busy, at least I hope!" she said aloud.
"I'm SO bored!" Tenchi said as he stretched out on the couch. All the chores were done. He didn't have that many since they were out in space now, and although he didn't mind that, he found himself getting very bored when they were done. "Oh well," he said, resigned. "At least I get a rare opportunity to relax..." Tenchi shut his eyes. He heard a loud thud and some scuffling outside, then silence. "Probably Ryoko and Aeka..."
"Ow..." Mihoshi rubbed her head where it had bumped the wall. Mihoshi got up off the deck and turned the corner into the hold where Tenchi's house was. She entered the house and saw Tenchi lying on the couch. 'Dang, I hope he's not asleep.' "Tenchi..." she whispered.
Tenchi, surprised by a voice other than Ryoko disturbing him, opened his eyes and found himself looking at Mihoshi's face, although upside down. "Mihoshi?"
"Hi!" She smiled at him. "My shift is over, and I have a few hours before I had to go to sleep, and I was wondering if you wanted to play some video games with me."
"Video games?" Tenchi said, unsure. "I dunno, I'm not very good."
"Don't worry, neither am I."
"Um, well, okay, sure, I guess," Tenchi accepted.
"Great! Let's go to my room!" Mihoshi chirped.
"Um... okay...." Tenchi managed to say as he got up off the couch and looked at Mihoshi's smiling face right side up.
Mihoshi led the way down the many corridors to her room. "Have you ever been in my room before, Tenchi?" Mihoshi asked.
"No, actually, I haven't..." Tenchi turned beet red.
"Oh! That's okay. It's kind of a mess, though!"
"Haha, don't worry about it. I'm sure I can handle it." Tenchi assured her.
"Oh, I don't know... if you've never seen my room, you don't know what you're getting into!" Mihoshi warned him as they arrived at the door to her room. The door slid open, and Tenchi could see that she was right... the room was an absolute mess. "Here, I've cleared a path over here," Mihoshi said, urging Tenchi to follow her.
Tenchi walked past piles of clothes, toys, electronic gadgets he had no idea what they were, and what looked like a half-eaten plate of curry. Finally Mihoshi stopped at her bed and sat down on it. "I can't find any of my chairs, so this will have to do! Haha!" Tenchi simply stared at her nervously.
"Oh, come on... I know you're shy, but you can at least SIT on my bed!" She then smiled at him.
Tenchi put his hand on his forehead and laughed. "Haha, sorry. I just..." Mihoshi cut him off by grabbing his other arm and forcefully pulling him down into a sitting position next to her.
"I'm SO sorry, Tenchi, but it had to be done! I couldn't have you standing there all day apologizing!"
"Haha, sorry-" Tenchi was cut off again.
"Nope, sorry, no more apologizing!"
There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute or two, which was broken when Tenchi asked, "Um, okay. Well, shall we play some video games then...?"
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Haha!" Mihoshi smiled brightly. "What do you want to play? I've got a bunch of games, but I can only find 'Ultra Lucky Ultimate Love Battle Fight 4', 'Blow Stuff Up', and 'Big Long Role Playing Game'."
"Um, how about the fighting one?" Tenchi asked.
"Okay! I like this one! It's got such cool characters!" Mihoshi said happily as she started up the video game system.
The title screen came up, and Mihoshi selected the 2 Player mode. Mihoshi wasted no time in picking the cutest characters available. Tenchi, meanwhile, was dumbstruck at the large selection of characters. "Who should I pick?" He asked Mihoshi.
"OH! Pick her! She's got a cute kitty that follows her! And him! He's SO COOL!" Tenchi did what she said, and promptly lost.
"Haha, I told you I wasn't that good."
"You'll get better! It always takes a while!" She told him.
About an hour later, Tenchi and Mihoshi were evenly matched, and having lots of fun, but the game was getting kind of boring. "Hey, why don't we play something else?" Mihoshi suggested.
"Sure. Hey, why don't I watch you play that RPG game?"
"Oh, okay! It's a really neat game! You'll like it!"
Mihoshi tried to explain the plot of the game so far as she started it up. Of what he could understand of it, Tenchi thought it sounded interesting. "Oh, and the main character is caught in a horrible love triangle/quadrangle! It's so sad!" Mihoshi continued to explain.
"Oh. Neat." 'Why does that sound familiar?' Tenchi asked himself.
Tenchi lied down on his stomach and watched as Mihoshi played the RPG. He found the plot to be pretty interesting, and actually did find the love shape with the characters to be rather sad. Mihoshi actually started crying at one point. Tenchi gazed at her, as the tears welling up in her eyes. He wanted to place his hand on her face and wipe them away, but something was stopping him. Truth be told, he didn't know what that thing was? 'Am I too afraid? Too shy? My usual excuse?' Tenchi asked himself. 'Wait, why do I want to wipe her tears in the first place? She's my friend, of course! I shouldn't second-guess myself so much!'
And, so, Tenchi reached up with his hand and wiped the tears that were running down Mihoshi's cheek away. Mihoshi looked down at him, shocked, to say the least. Of all the things she expected Tenchi to do, that was not one of them. On the outside, Mihoshi was still crying, but on the inside she was happier than she had been for the longest time. 'Does Tenchi like me? Of course he does, he's my friend! But... does he LIKE me? I don't know... with Tenchi, it's so hard to tell! He could just be showing a moment of friendship...' Suddenly, as soon as these thoughts reached her brain, her mood changed from being very happy to very sad. She started to cry harder now. Tenchi looked at her with concern.
Tenchi had never seen Mihoshi cry this bad before. Sure, he'd seen her cry loudly and dramatically, but he had (correctly) assumed that she did it half-heartedly, in a bid to get attention. He thought it was one of her cutest aspects. But, this time it was different. She seemed to be crying from a much deeper place, and it worried him. "Mihoshi, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
Mihoshi had not cried this badly for a long time. And she was doing it right in front of Tenchi! Thoughts raced through her head. 'Why am I doing this? I don't feel that strongly about him... do I? I know I like him, but... do I like him bad enough to break down crying?' "Mihoshi, are you alright?" Tenchi asked again. 'Should I tell him? What should I tell him? He won't stop asking unless I say something...' "I'm okay. I just need to lie down, I think. Maybe we should watch TV..." Mihoshi lied, as turned the video game off and fell back onto the bed. She didn't feel okay at all. In fact, she kind of felt sick to her stomach. And very confused.
"Are you sure you're okay? You had me worried!" He said as he looked at her. Tenchi had never known Mihoshi to be anything but happy and at ease, but now she looked uncomfortable. "Should I go?" He asked.
'Maybe he should... I don't feel right talking to him now. But then I'd feel bad for kicking him out. I don't want him to think I don't like him, especially after...' Mihoshi thought back to what had started her crying in the first place. "No, you can stay! Here, lay down! My favorite show's about to start!" Mihoshi indicated the spot next to her on the bed. Tenchi of course, immediately blushed and froze in place. "Oh come on!" she said, as she grabbed his arm again.
They lay there and watched TV for quite a while, watching all of Mihoshi's favorite shows. She hadn't seen any of them for so long, and was happy to watch them again. Tenchi, meanwhile, was having fun, because the shows were very funny, whether the humor was intentional or not. However, it began to get late, and Tenchi was going to suggest he leave after this next show was over. He was getting pretty tired, anyway.
"Wow, that was a great episode of 'Goofy Movies', wasn't it, Tenchi? Tenchi?" Mihoshi looked over to Tenchi. He was asleep. 'Come to think of it, I'm pretty tired, too. I'd better wake him up, so he can go home, though. Just gimme a minute to rest my eyes...' she thought, as she turned the TV off.
Tenchi woke up with the strangest feeling of disorientation. "Uh, where am I?" He asked aloud. Suddenly he became aware of faint snoring next to him. "Huh?" Tenchi tried to turn himself over to see who was next to him, but found that he couldn't because there was currently a pair of arms around him! 'Okay, what's going on?' Tenchi thought. 'I remember watching TV with Mihoshi and... I fell asleep! Why didn't she wake me up? Oh well. I can't just wake her up and tell her to let me go, she might take it the wrong way. And anyway, this feels kind of nice, just being here with her. She's so nice. I really... like... her... Uh oh... am I falling for her? No, I can't be. Can I? We just spent a day together!' Tenchi continued to think about this until he fell back asleep.
THE NEXT MORNING
Kiyone pushed the door chime again. "Every morning. It never fails." She sighed. "WAKE UP, MIHOSHI!" She yelled at the door. Finally Kiyone got tired of trying to wake Mihoshi up from outside the door, (a lost cause) and pushed the override code. She walked in, and carefully walked through Mihoshi's path to her bed to wake her up, when something struck her as odd. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say Mihoshi has her arms around Tenchi. Nah, that can't be right.' Kiyone continued to carefully make her way to Mihoshi's bed, and her jaw dropped when she came to the realization that it was indeed Tenchi sleeping in Mihoshi's arms! Kiyone nearly fell over, and steadied herself at the last minute, right before she would have landed in some half-eaten curry.
Kiyone carefully made her way to Mihoshi's side of the bed, and gently pushed her shoulder. "Mihoshi. Wake up. You're late for your shift." Kiyone hesitated to yell, in fear of waking up Tenchi.
Mihoshi opened her eyes and looked at Kiyone. "Oh, good morning, Kiyone!" Mihoshi said cheerily. (and loudly)
"SHHHH!" Kiyone hissed as she covered Mihoshi's mouth.
Mihoshi removed Kiyone's hand and whispered, "Why do I have to be so quiet?"
Kiyone smacked herself in the head, and then pointed to Tenchi. "A little matter having to do with the man you currently have your arms around."
Mihoshi followed where Kiyone's finger was pointing, to Tenchi, then stifled a squeal. 'Oh no! I forgot to wake up Tenchi! And I was hugging him in my sleep! OH NO! What Kiyone must be thinking!' "Kiyone, it's not what you think. We both fell asleep watching TV..."
Kiyone sighed. "You don't have to explain to me. I believe you. What I'd be worried about would be explaining Tenchi's absence when Ryoko or Aeka go to his room to wake him up later this morning."
"Oh no!" Mihoshi said. "What will I do?"
"Well, first, get yourself cleaned up and ready for duty. I'll take care of Tenchi."
"Okay. Thank you! I hope everything works out." Mihoshi said sadly.
"Me too..." Kiyone said quietly. Although she would never admit it, she was good friends with Mihoshi, and was very concerned for her well being, especially this morning, when two other individuals could be slightly less concerned when they find out where Tenchi spent the night. Kiyone looked at her watch. 05:30 hours. Plenty of time. No one would be awake yet. She grunted as she stuck her shoulder under Tenchi and heaved him up. 'This'll be a piece of cake' she hoped, more than thought, as she began to lift Tenchi back to his own room.
Kiyone quickly and quietly made her way to Tenchi's house and his room, with Tenchi on her shoulder. "Haha, easier than I thought." She said, as she laid Tenchi down on his bed. She looked at her watch. 05:45 hours. 'Hopefully no one woke up...' Kiyone thought to herself as she walked to the door. And straight into Aeka.
"Miss Kiyone? What are you doing here?" Aeka inquired.
"Oh. Um, when I came in, I saw that Tenchi fell asleep on the couch last night, so I decided I should carry him back to his room." Kiyone lied. 'Wow, I hope she buys THAT'
"Oh? Well, that was very nice of you, Miss Kiyone. Others in this house should have the same consideration you do."
"Oh, thanks. Just doing my job, I guess." 'Whew.'
Kiyone turned to walk away and back to her room as Aeka gave her a strange look.
"Oh, I can't believe that happened!" Mihoshi said. She was on the bridge of the Yagami, finally starting her shift. 'Still, it wasn't too bad. It was kinda cute! And... oh... but would it work out between us? Wow, I'm moving too quickly!' Mihoshi's thoughts were jumbled as she struggled to sort out her feelings. She knew she liked Tenchi. She knew she had a crush on him. But did Tenchi feel the same way? Or was Tenchi just being a good friend? And there was the little problem of the other two girls who have their minds set on Tenchi. "Oh, I don't know what to do!" Mihoshi wailed.
Meanwhile, similar thoughts were running through Tenchi's head as he ate his breakfast. As best as he could figure, he had a crush on Mihoshi. What he didn't know was whether Mihoshi felt the same way about him. 'Of all the girls to fall for, you fall for one that you aren't sure if she likes you or not.' Tenchi sighed as he ate his cereal.
"Are you alright Lord Tenchi?" Aeka asked, concerned.
"Yeah, you're not your usual self!" Ryoko said, as she gulped her food into her maw.
"Oh, I'm fine. I just think I didn't get enough sleep. That's all." Tenchi lied. If there was anything Tenchi was going to lie to them about, this was it. There was no way he'd tell them he had a crush on Mihoshi. 'Maybe I should talk to Sasami... nah, she might blurt it to Aeka.' He thought.
"And so, I think I have a HUGE crush on Tenchi, Sasami!" Mihoshi said, near tears. "But I don't know if he feels the same about me!"
Sasami looked at Mihoshi and squealed. "Oh, WOW! You like Tenchi?! That's so neat! I've always thought you two would be great together!"
"Really? You think so? But I don't know if he likes me or not, though..."
"I'm sure he does. Besides, I'll ask him!" Sasami said, trying to cheer Mihoshi up.
"You would?! Oh, that would be great! Thank you, Sasami!" Mihoshi said, instantly feeling better.
"You bet! I'll try and get him away and ask him then! You'll see! It'll work out great!" Sasami said as she left the bridge.
"I hope he feels the same about me..." Mihoshi said sadly.
It was getting late into Mihoshi's shift, and Sasami still hadn't been able to pull Tenchi away from Aeka and Ryoko. They had been around him almost the entire day, following him and sort of helping with his chores. Eventually Sasami had to leave to make lunch, and decided to try again later.
Once she had finished lunch, she called everyone to the dinner table to eat. Everyone came, except for Tenchi. "Where's Tenchi?" Sasami asked Aeka.
"He's still sweeping the living room, Sasami," Aeka said. "He should be done in a few minutes."
"Oh, I'll go get him, then. I want to ask him what he wants for dinner." Sasami said. 'Now's my chance!' She thought.
She left the kitchen and came into the living room and saw Tenchi busily sweeping. "Tenchi..." She started.
"I'm almost done, Sasami." He said.
"No, it's not that. I wanted to ask you something."
"Oh, what is it, Sasami?" He asked.
"Well, I just wanted to know which girls you liked. Because I've always thought that you and Mihoshi would be great together!" 'OH NO! I should have been more subtle!' Sasami thought, but she had already said it.
Tenchi suddenly turned beet red and began to shake. "Well.... um... I..."
"Do you like Mihoshi?" Sasami asked.
"W.. well... actually... I... think I do... I think I have a bad crush on her..." Tenchi managed to say.
"You do!? This is great! Okay, you go eat, I've got something I've got to do! I'll be back later!" Sasami said quickly, and ran off.
"What was that about?" Tenchi said to no one.
Sasami was halfway to the bridge when she remembered that she forgot to start dinner! "OH NO! Oh, telling Mihoshi will have to wait until later! I've got to start on dinner! Or we won't have anything but instant ramen!" Sasami ran back to Tenchi's kitchen, as fast as she could.
"Sasami hasn't come back yet..." Mihoshi said sadly. "Maybe Tenchi doesn't feel the same about me... Maybe Sasami just didn't want to tell me..." Mihoshi then began to cry her eyes out.
"Hey, Mihoshi, what's wrong?!" Kiyone said as she walked onto the bridge. "You never cry like that unless it's serious!"
"Oh, hi, Kiyone..." Mihoshi managed between sobs. She then saluted. "Nothing to report. The only thing that happened was that I had to adjust course slightly to account for an asteroid field."
"That's fine, but what's wrong, Mihoshi? You can tell me. I've been your friend forever."
"Well..."
Mihoshi then told Kiyone everything that had happened.
Tenchi couldn't stand it anymore. He had to tell Mihoshi the feelings he had for her, or else they would only get worse. He was sitting in a chair in his living room. 'I've got to tell her how I feel about her. Even if she doesn't feel the same about me. I won't feel good unless I tell her.' Tenchi then got up, and set off for Mihoshi's room. 'Her shift should be just getting over.'
Kiyone gave Mihoshi the only advice she could think of. "Why don't you just talk to Tenchi yourself? You won't feel good about it unless you talk to him yourself. Even if he doesn't have the same feelings for you, you'll know for sure, and be able to get over it faster."
"Thank you, Kiyone. You've always been my best friend! Okay, I'll go change and then I'll find Tenchi!" Mihoshi then ran to her quarters.
Just as Mihoshi got to her quarters, she saw Tenchi walking up to them as well. She walked over to him, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Mihoshi, I..." Tenchi started.
"Tenchi, I..." Mihoshi sobbed.
"Mihoshi, I don't want to take things too fast, but, I think that I have a crush on you. I know that it was just... well, um..."
"Tenchi, I have a crush on you, too. And it's really bad. All I thought about all day was how I wanted to spend time with you. And maybe this is going to fast, but right now, all I know is that I would like to be with you."
"I feel exactly the same about you Mihoshi..." Tenchi replied.
They just stood there staring into each other's eyes for a moment, when Mihoshi got tired of waiting for Tenchi, and kissed him on the mouth. They kissed for a few moments, until Mihoshi let him go, and said, "C'mon in. I found one of my video games in the bathroom under my towel this morning! You'll like it!" Mihoshi said, as she opened the door. Tenchi followed her in.
Mad props goes out to my bestest friend Nik (http://www.weeklyvisitor.com)!! who got me back into writing. So if you don't like this, blame her. Or actually, don't blame Nicki, blame yourselves.
Blah blah, I don't own the characters, etc. Don't sue, you know the drill. If somehow, in some freakish way I make money off of this, you guys can have it, okay? Yeesh.
Bored
by Sofa
"Bored. Bored, bored, bored," Mihoshi complained to no one in particular. Her shift at the bridge of the Yagami was over for the day, and there was nothing to do. She and Kiyone had decided to separate the duties of watching the ship in half so that they could actually get some rest and sleep every now and then. And now Mihoshi had a few hours of free time left before her schedule called for her to go to sleep.
And she was so bored! She was sitting on her bed in her room. She looked around and her eyes rested on the television. 'Maybe I can find someone who'll play some video games with me,' she thought. 'Hmmm, Aeka, Ryoko, and Washu don't really seem to like me all that much... so, not them... and Sasami always beats me whenever we play... and Kiyone's busy... so that leaves... Tenchi!' "He's probably not busy, at least I hope!" she said aloud.
"I'm SO bored!" Tenchi said as he stretched out on the couch. All the chores were done. He didn't have that many since they were out in space now, and although he didn't mind that, he found himself getting very bored when they were done. "Oh well," he said, resigned. "At least I get a rare opportunity to relax..." Tenchi shut his eyes. He heard a loud thud and some scuffling outside, then silence. "Probably Ryoko and Aeka..."
"Ow..." Mihoshi rubbed her head where it had bumped the wall. Mihoshi got up off the deck and turned the corner into the hold where Tenchi's house was. She entered the house and saw Tenchi lying on the couch. 'Dang, I hope he's not asleep.' "Tenchi..." she whispered.
Tenchi, surprised by a voice other than Ryoko disturbing him, opened his eyes and found himself looking at Mihoshi's face, although upside down. "Mihoshi?"
"Hi!" She smiled at him. "My shift is over, and I have a few hours before I had to go to sleep, and I was wondering if you wanted to play some video games with me."
"Video games?" Tenchi said, unsure. "I dunno, I'm not very good."
"Don't worry, neither am I."
"Um, well, okay, sure, I guess," Tenchi accepted.
"Great! Let's go to my room!" Mihoshi chirped.
"Um... okay...." Tenchi managed to say as he got up off the couch and looked at Mihoshi's smiling face right side up.
Mihoshi led the way down the many corridors to her room. "Have you ever been in my room before, Tenchi?" Mihoshi asked.
"No, actually, I haven't..." Tenchi turned beet red.
"Oh! That's okay. It's kind of a mess, though!"
"Haha, don't worry about it. I'm sure I can handle it." Tenchi assured her.
"Oh, I don't know... if you've never seen my room, you don't know what you're getting into!" Mihoshi warned him as they arrived at the door to her room. The door slid open, and Tenchi could see that she was right... the room was an absolute mess. "Here, I've cleared a path over here," Mihoshi said, urging Tenchi to follow her.
Tenchi walked past piles of clothes, toys, electronic gadgets he had no idea what they were, and what looked like a half-eaten plate of curry. Finally Mihoshi stopped at her bed and sat down on it. "I can't find any of my chairs, so this will have to do! Haha!" Tenchi simply stared at her nervously.
"Oh, come on... I know you're shy, but you can at least SIT on my bed!" She then smiled at him.
Tenchi put his hand on his forehead and laughed. "Haha, sorry. I just..." Mihoshi cut him off by grabbing his other arm and forcefully pulling him down into a sitting position next to her.
"I'm SO sorry, Tenchi, but it had to be done! I couldn't have you standing there all day apologizing!"
"Haha, sorry-" Tenchi was cut off again.
"Nope, sorry, no more apologizing!"
There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute or two, which was broken when Tenchi asked, "Um, okay. Well, shall we play some video games then...?"
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Haha!" Mihoshi smiled brightly. "What do you want to play? I've got a bunch of games, but I can only find 'Ultra Lucky Ultimate Love Battle Fight 4', 'Blow Stuff Up', and 'Big Long Role Playing Game'."
"Um, how about the fighting one?" Tenchi asked.
"Okay! I like this one! It's got such cool characters!" Mihoshi said happily as she started up the video game system.
The title screen came up, and Mihoshi selected the 2 Player mode. Mihoshi wasted no time in picking the cutest characters available. Tenchi, meanwhile, was dumbstruck at the large selection of characters. "Who should I pick?" He asked Mihoshi.
"OH! Pick her! She's got a cute kitty that follows her! And him! He's SO COOL!" Tenchi did what she said, and promptly lost.
"Haha, I told you I wasn't that good."
"You'll get better! It always takes a while!" She told him.
About an hour later, Tenchi and Mihoshi were evenly matched, and having lots of fun, but the game was getting kind of boring. "Hey, why don't we play something else?" Mihoshi suggested.
"Sure. Hey, why don't I watch you play that RPG game?"
"Oh, okay! It's a really neat game! You'll like it!"
Mihoshi tried to explain the plot of the game so far as she started it up. Of what he could understand of it, Tenchi thought it sounded interesting. "Oh, and the main character is caught in a horrible love triangle/quadrangle! It's so sad!" Mihoshi continued to explain.
"Oh. Neat." 'Why does that sound familiar?' Tenchi asked himself.
Tenchi lied down on his stomach and watched as Mihoshi played the RPG. He found the plot to be pretty interesting, and actually did find the love shape with the characters to be rather sad. Mihoshi actually started crying at one point. Tenchi gazed at her, as the tears welling up in her eyes. He wanted to place his hand on her face and wipe them away, but something was stopping him. Truth be told, he didn't know what that thing was? 'Am I too afraid? Too shy? My usual excuse?' Tenchi asked himself. 'Wait, why do I want to wipe her tears in the first place? She's my friend, of course! I shouldn't second-guess myself so much!'
And, so, Tenchi reached up with his hand and wiped the tears that were running down Mihoshi's cheek away. Mihoshi looked down at him, shocked, to say the least. Of all the things she expected Tenchi to do, that was not one of them. On the outside, Mihoshi was still crying, but on the inside she was happier than she had been for the longest time. 'Does Tenchi like me? Of course he does, he's my friend! But... does he LIKE me? I don't know... with Tenchi, it's so hard to tell! He could just be showing a moment of friendship...' Suddenly, as soon as these thoughts reached her brain, her mood changed from being very happy to very sad. She started to cry harder now. Tenchi looked at her with concern.
Tenchi had never seen Mihoshi cry this bad before. Sure, he'd seen her cry loudly and dramatically, but he had (correctly) assumed that she did it half-heartedly, in a bid to get attention. He thought it was one of her cutest aspects. But, this time it was different. She seemed to be crying from a much deeper place, and it worried him. "Mihoshi, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
Mihoshi had not cried this badly for a long time. And she was doing it right in front of Tenchi! Thoughts raced through her head. 'Why am I doing this? I don't feel that strongly about him... do I? I know I like him, but... do I like him bad enough to break down crying?' "Mihoshi, are you alright?" Tenchi asked again. 'Should I tell him? What should I tell him? He won't stop asking unless I say something...' "I'm okay. I just need to lie down, I think. Maybe we should watch TV..." Mihoshi lied, as turned the video game off and fell back onto the bed. She didn't feel okay at all. In fact, she kind of felt sick to her stomach. And very confused.
"Are you sure you're okay? You had me worried!" He said as he looked at her. Tenchi had never known Mihoshi to be anything but happy and at ease, but now she looked uncomfortable. "Should I go?" He asked.
'Maybe he should... I don't feel right talking to him now. But then I'd feel bad for kicking him out. I don't want him to think I don't like him, especially after...' Mihoshi thought back to what had started her crying in the first place. "No, you can stay! Here, lay down! My favorite show's about to start!" Mihoshi indicated the spot next to her on the bed. Tenchi of course, immediately blushed and froze in place. "Oh come on!" she said, as she grabbed his arm again.
They lay there and watched TV for quite a while, watching all of Mihoshi's favorite shows. She hadn't seen any of them for so long, and was happy to watch them again. Tenchi, meanwhile, was having fun, because the shows were very funny, whether the humor was intentional or not. However, it began to get late, and Tenchi was going to suggest he leave after this next show was over. He was getting pretty tired, anyway.
"Wow, that was a great episode of 'Goofy Movies', wasn't it, Tenchi? Tenchi?" Mihoshi looked over to Tenchi. He was asleep. 'Come to think of it, I'm pretty tired, too. I'd better wake him up, so he can go home, though. Just gimme a minute to rest my eyes...' she thought, as she turned the TV off.
Tenchi woke up with the strangest feeling of disorientation. "Uh, where am I?" He asked aloud. Suddenly he became aware of faint snoring next to him. "Huh?" Tenchi tried to turn himself over to see who was next to him, but found that he couldn't because there was currently a pair of arms around him! 'Okay, what's going on?' Tenchi thought. 'I remember watching TV with Mihoshi and... I fell asleep! Why didn't she wake me up? Oh well. I can't just wake her up and tell her to let me go, she might take it the wrong way. And anyway, this feels kind of nice, just being here with her. She's so nice. I really... like... her... Uh oh... am I falling for her? No, I can't be. Can I? We just spent a day together!' Tenchi continued to think about this until he fell back asleep.
THE NEXT MORNING
Kiyone pushed the door chime again. "Every morning. It never fails." She sighed. "WAKE UP, MIHOSHI!" She yelled at the door. Finally Kiyone got tired of trying to wake Mihoshi up from outside the door, (a lost cause) and pushed the override code. She walked in, and carefully walked through Mihoshi's path to her bed to wake her up, when something struck her as odd. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say Mihoshi has her arms around Tenchi. Nah, that can't be right.' Kiyone continued to carefully make her way to Mihoshi's bed, and her jaw dropped when she came to the realization that it was indeed Tenchi sleeping in Mihoshi's arms! Kiyone nearly fell over, and steadied herself at the last minute, right before she would have landed in some half-eaten curry.
Kiyone carefully made her way to Mihoshi's side of the bed, and gently pushed her shoulder. "Mihoshi. Wake up. You're late for your shift." Kiyone hesitated to yell, in fear of waking up Tenchi.
Mihoshi opened her eyes and looked at Kiyone. "Oh, good morning, Kiyone!" Mihoshi said cheerily. (and loudly)
"SHHHH!" Kiyone hissed as she covered Mihoshi's mouth.
Mihoshi removed Kiyone's hand and whispered, "Why do I have to be so quiet?"
Kiyone smacked herself in the head, and then pointed to Tenchi. "A little matter having to do with the man you currently have your arms around."
Mihoshi followed where Kiyone's finger was pointing, to Tenchi, then stifled a squeal. 'Oh no! I forgot to wake up Tenchi! And I was hugging him in my sleep! OH NO! What Kiyone must be thinking!' "Kiyone, it's not what you think. We both fell asleep watching TV..."
Kiyone sighed. "You don't have to explain to me. I believe you. What I'd be worried about would be explaining Tenchi's absence when Ryoko or Aeka go to his room to wake him up later this morning."
"Oh no!" Mihoshi said. "What will I do?"
"Well, first, get yourself cleaned up and ready for duty. I'll take care of Tenchi."
"Okay. Thank you! I hope everything works out." Mihoshi said sadly.
"Me too..." Kiyone said quietly. Although she would never admit it, she was good friends with Mihoshi, and was very concerned for her well being, especially this morning, when two other individuals could be slightly less concerned when they find out where Tenchi spent the night. Kiyone looked at her watch. 05:30 hours. Plenty of time. No one would be awake yet. She grunted as she stuck her shoulder under Tenchi and heaved him up. 'This'll be a piece of cake' she hoped, more than thought, as she began to lift Tenchi back to his own room.
Kiyone quickly and quietly made her way to Tenchi's house and his room, with Tenchi on her shoulder. "Haha, easier than I thought." She said, as she laid Tenchi down on his bed. She looked at her watch. 05:45 hours. 'Hopefully no one woke up...' Kiyone thought to herself as she walked to the door. And straight into Aeka.
"Miss Kiyone? What are you doing here?" Aeka inquired.
"Oh. Um, when I came in, I saw that Tenchi fell asleep on the couch last night, so I decided I should carry him back to his room." Kiyone lied. 'Wow, I hope she buys THAT'
"Oh? Well, that was very nice of you, Miss Kiyone. Others in this house should have the same consideration you do."
"Oh, thanks. Just doing my job, I guess." 'Whew.'
Kiyone turned to walk away and back to her room as Aeka gave her a strange look.
"Oh, I can't believe that happened!" Mihoshi said. She was on the bridge of the Yagami, finally starting her shift. 'Still, it wasn't too bad. It was kinda cute! And... oh... but would it work out between us? Wow, I'm moving too quickly!' Mihoshi's thoughts were jumbled as she struggled to sort out her feelings. She knew she liked Tenchi. She knew she had a crush on him. But did Tenchi feel the same way? Or was Tenchi just being a good friend? And there was the little problem of the other two girls who have their minds set on Tenchi. "Oh, I don't know what to do!" Mihoshi wailed.
Meanwhile, similar thoughts were running through Tenchi's head as he ate his breakfast. As best as he could figure, he had a crush on Mihoshi. What he didn't know was whether Mihoshi felt the same way about him. 'Of all the girls to fall for, you fall for one that you aren't sure if she likes you or not.' Tenchi sighed as he ate his cereal.
"Are you alright Lord Tenchi?" Aeka asked, concerned.
"Yeah, you're not your usual self!" Ryoko said, as she gulped her food into her maw.
"Oh, I'm fine. I just think I didn't get enough sleep. That's all." Tenchi lied. If there was anything Tenchi was going to lie to them about, this was it. There was no way he'd tell them he had a crush on Mihoshi. 'Maybe I should talk to Sasami... nah, she might blurt it to Aeka.' He thought.
"And so, I think I have a HUGE crush on Tenchi, Sasami!" Mihoshi said, near tears. "But I don't know if he feels the same about me!"
Sasami looked at Mihoshi and squealed. "Oh, WOW! You like Tenchi?! That's so neat! I've always thought you two would be great together!"
"Really? You think so? But I don't know if he likes me or not, though..."
"I'm sure he does. Besides, I'll ask him!" Sasami said, trying to cheer Mihoshi up.
"You would?! Oh, that would be great! Thank you, Sasami!" Mihoshi said, instantly feeling better.
"You bet! I'll try and get him away and ask him then! You'll see! It'll work out great!" Sasami said as she left the bridge.
"I hope he feels the same about me..." Mihoshi said sadly.
It was getting late into Mihoshi's shift, and Sasami still hadn't been able to pull Tenchi away from Aeka and Ryoko. They had been around him almost the entire day, following him and sort of helping with his chores. Eventually Sasami had to leave to make lunch, and decided to try again later.
Once she had finished lunch, she called everyone to the dinner table to eat. Everyone came, except for Tenchi. "Where's Tenchi?" Sasami asked Aeka.
"He's still sweeping the living room, Sasami," Aeka said. "He should be done in a few minutes."
"Oh, I'll go get him, then. I want to ask him what he wants for dinner." Sasami said. 'Now's my chance!' She thought.
She left the kitchen and came into the living room and saw Tenchi busily sweeping. "Tenchi..." She started.
"I'm almost done, Sasami." He said.
"No, it's not that. I wanted to ask you something."
"Oh, what is it, Sasami?" He asked.
"Well, I just wanted to know which girls you liked. Because I've always thought that you and Mihoshi would be great together!" 'OH NO! I should have been more subtle!' Sasami thought, but she had already said it.
Tenchi suddenly turned beet red and began to shake. "Well.... um... I..."
"Do you like Mihoshi?" Sasami asked.
"W.. well... actually... I... think I do... I think I have a bad crush on her..." Tenchi managed to say.
"You do!? This is great! Okay, you go eat, I've got something I've got to do! I'll be back later!" Sasami said quickly, and ran off.
"What was that about?" Tenchi said to no one.
Sasami was halfway to the bridge when she remembered that she forgot to start dinner! "OH NO! Oh, telling Mihoshi will have to wait until later! I've got to start on dinner! Or we won't have anything but instant ramen!" Sasami ran back to Tenchi's kitchen, as fast as she could.
"Sasami hasn't come back yet..." Mihoshi said sadly. "Maybe Tenchi doesn't feel the same about me... Maybe Sasami just didn't want to tell me..." Mihoshi then began to cry her eyes out.
"Hey, Mihoshi, what's wrong?!" Kiyone said as she walked onto the bridge. "You never cry like that unless it's serious!"
"Oh, hi, Kiyone..." Mihoshi managed between sobs. She then saluted. "Nothing to report. The only thing that happened was that I had to adjust course slightly to account for an asteroid field."
"That's fine, but what's wrong, Mihoshi? You can tell me. I've been your friend forever."
"Well..."
Mihoshi then told Kiyone everything that had happened.
Tenchi couldn't stand it anymore. He had to tell Mihoshi the feelings he had for her, or else they would only get worse. He was sitting in a chair in his living room. 'I've got to tell her how I feel about her. Even if she doesn't feel the same about me. I won't feel good unless I tell her.' Tenchi then got up, and set off for Mihoshi's room. 'Her shift should be just getting over.'
Kiyone gave Mihoshi the only advice she could think of. "Why don't you just talk to Tenchi yourself? You won't feel good about it unless you talk to him yourself. Even if he doesn't have the same feelings for you, you'll know for sure, and be able to get over it faster."
"Thank you, Kiyone. You've always been my best friend! Okay, I'll go change and then I'll find Tenchi!" Mihoshi then ran to her quarters.
Just as Mihoshi got to her quarters, she saw Tenchi walking up to them as well. She walked over to him, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Mihoshi, I..." Tenchi started.
"Tenchi, I..." Mihoshi sobbed.
"Mihoshi, I don't want to take things too fast, but, I think that I have a crush on you. I know that it was just... well, um..."
"Tenchi, I have a crush on you, too. And it's really bad. All I thought about all day was how I wanted to spend time with you. And maybe this is going to fast, but right now, all I know is that I would like to be with you."
"I feel exactly the same about you Mihoshi..." Tenchi replied.
They just stood there staring into each other's eyes for a moment, when Mihoshi got tired of waiting for Tenchi, and kissed him on the mouth. They kissed for a few moments, until Mihoshi let him go, and said, "C'mon in. I found one of my video games in the bathroom under my towel this morning! You'll like it!" Mihoshi said, as she opened the door. Tenchi followed her in.
