====================
Flowering Potential.
====================
C&C can be sent to cobalt@elhazard.net Flames will be ignored with
extreme prejudice.
Disclaimer: I do not own the series depicted within, but go buy it anyway.
Conventions:
~ ~ are used for thoughts and Telepathic communication.
This series is archived at http://www.lum.co.uk/cobalt/
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Chapter 15
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Tenchi stirred as the sun rose.
~ Better get up and do the fields... ~ She thought before she realised she didn't need to.
The Queens were leaving this morning, so all the chores were cancelled.
~ That means a lie in. ~ It had been so long since she had been able to do that.
After a few minutes of trying to get back to sleep she realised that she couldn't lie in
anymore. It was immensely disappointing.
~ Great, I have to get up. ~ All sorts of scenarios rolled through her head, none of them
very appealing to her.
She sighed and sat up.
"Why can't anything go right for me?" She muttered quietly.
***
The sun was rising as Sasami awoke feeling so happy and content the one might wonder
why she wasn't drifting away with the clouds. Then reality set in and she did a full body
blush of such intensity that the air rippled. Then she remembered glumly that her mother and
aunt were leaving today, and she came down to earth with a bump.
~ Nice wake up. ~ She thought sourly.
She sat up and stretched, then gently moved Ryo-Ohki and left her bed to get ready.
***
Tenchi came downstairs to the sound of pans rattling in the kitchen. She'd made an attempt
to clean herself up and wore ordinary clothes; no one was going to talk her into anything else,
no matter what they said.
"Morning Tenchi." Sasami said cheerfully.
"Morning Sasami." Tenchi knew the cheerfulness was an act. Sasami didn't want her
mother to go back.
She knew they would have to, but she didn't have to like it. She could go back with them,
but Tenchi needed her. Who else would be able to sort out all the problems that were likely
to arise?
"Why aren't you all dressed up?" Sasami wanted to know.
"I'd rather they remember me as an ordinary person, not as some over dressed half woman
thank you."
Sasami really hated it when Tenchi went into these bouts of self-loathing.
"Cheer up Tenchi. That black and gold dress would be perfect."
Tenchi just rolled her eyes.
"What's for breakfast?" She asked, changing the subject.
***
The wondrous aroma of breakfast wafted through the house, causing all manner of mouths
to water. Sasami was working miracles with the food, no doubt as a way of ignoring the pain
of her mother and aunt leaving.
The smell was driving Ryoko mad. She liked to sleep in, but the delicious perfume of
breakfast would not allow her. It reached into her brain, flipped all the switches and danced
electric footsteps across her synapses. It was worse than the time Washu had made her an
alarm clock. That simply put a couple million volts through her and caused her to fall from
her usual sleeping place in the support beams to the floor. No, that was not as bad as this. It
was far more insidious.
~ ARGH! That girl is torturing me! ~
~ Washu: Don't shout so loud. ~ The tired voice yawned in Ryoko's mind.
Feeling vengeful, Ryoko projected the smell directly at Washu's mind.
~ Ryoko: How do you like it 'Mom'? ~ She sneered.
~ Washu: OK, OK. I get the point. She's overdoing it I think. ~
~ Ryoko: You think? ~
~ Washu: You should be more respectful. Her mother is leaving today. ~
~ Ryoko: Yeah. ~ She projected a bit downcast. None of them liked to see Sasami upset.
***
The smell drifted upstairs and wormed its way through cracks, assaulting the nostrils of all
that it reached.
"Mmm..." Misaki groaned as she began to awaken, stretching languidly under her Sister's
arms.
Funaho had the advantage of being able to wake up instantly.
"Hum? Oh Sasami... She's going to make a fine wife." The black-hared queen smiled.
"Wake up Sister. Your daughter is cooking up a treat."
"Wha...?" Misaki asked as she opened up her eyes. Funaho decided that she needed a
quicker way to wake up, and gave her Sister a shockingly powerful kiss.
"Mumph!" The blue-hared Sister queen exclaimed in shock, now fully awake.
Funaho broke the kiss. "Awake now?"
"What was that for?" Misaki demanded.
"Smell."
"Eh? Oh... That's lovely. I wonder where she picked up the recipe, and if I can have a
copy?"
"If you ask her nicely." Funaho teased.
***
Kiyone bolted from asleep to awake, ready for anything. She got the smell of Sasami's
cooking instead.
~ Great. I'm going to get sooo hungry before I eat. ~
Sighing, she turned to her ditz of a partner. She had slept since before dinner and hadn't
showed any signs of waking up. Kiyone doubted she'd remember what happened, but part of
her missed that look she had seen. Ah well...
Mihoshi shifted slightly, mumbling in her native tongue.
~ One of these days I'm going to learn that language. ~ The emerald-hared detective
thought. ~ Best not to wake her though. ~
With that thought, Kiyone got up.
***
Ayeka was still fast asleep, the aroma filling the house not affecting her in the slightest.
A small orb beside her glowing a deep blue changed to a bright blue and emitted a series of
chimes. It was this that woke the purple-hared princess up.
She sat up, stretched modestly and hid the yawn. The practice was so ingrained into her that
it was automatic, but it had take much control to establish. Only then did she allow herself to
be distracted by the smell.
~ Smells delicious. ~ She thought. ~ She must be terribly upset about them leaving again.
Especially after them staying for a few days this time. ~
With that sobering thought hanging in her head, she got up and started to get ready.
***
The first thing that greeted Minagi as she teleported in was the intoxicating aroma of
Sasami's cooking. The second was that Tenchi was finishing setting the table.
She looked up as she felt the power surge of the pirate's appearance.
"Hi Minagi. Sleep well?" She asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"I needed it. Breakfast will still be about ten minutes if you're wondering."
The rumble from their stomachs told them what they thought about that.
"I'd have thought you'd be wearing something more impressive." Minagi noted.
"Not you too." Tenchi groaned.
"Come on Tenchi." Ryoko said as she descended. "Knock us out."
"No." Tenchi told them.
"Please?" Ryoko and Minagi said at the same time, trying to be as endearing and as cute as
possible. This was definitely not a good sign.
"No." If anything, Tenchi's voice had dropped below freezing.
"Ooh..." On a scale of one to ten, the sigh of disappointment registered a 12.3. It sounded
to Tenchi like they had been practising. She couldn't help but feel pleased at the glum
expressions on the faces of the pirate sisters that their ploy hadn't worked.
~ At least with the Queens gone things will calm down a bit. ~ Tenchi thought.
***
Kiyone was quickly going over the night's data when she noticed something.
"Um, Washu?" She called.
The redhead popped out of one of her subspace portals.
"Yes?"
"What's this alarm mean?" Kiyone asked, pointing to an indicator at the side of the screen.
Washu looked. "It means something of mine is low on power. But since most of the
equipment in here can run for a month on backup power we'd better find out what it is."
She pulled a device suspiciously close to a tricorder out of somewhere.
"Now let's see..." She wandered off, Kiyone trailing along.
"Where exactly are we headed?" The emerald-hared detective asked.
"Looks like my junk room." Washu's voice was puzzled.
A few minutes later they were standing in front of one of the mountain sized piles of
equipment.
"Here it is." Washu said as she pulled a device from the mess, surprisingly without setting
off a junk-slide.
"What is it?" Kiyone asked, looking at the rectangular box in the scientist's hands.
"Well, it was supposed to be a personnel-mounted, hyperspace flux field inducer. It
uses...used a space-time distortion..."
"Yes, yes, yes." Kiyone quickly cut off the lecture. "But what does it...did it do?"
"Personal Hyperspace drive cum teleporter. Couldn't get the field strength high enough,
even using an eleven-dimension continuum twist. Couldn't teleport you across the room, let
alone a galaxy."
"So it works by bending reality?"
"You could say that, yes."
Kiyone noticed something. "Hey," She said as she pulled it off the device, "this looks like
one of Mihoshi's." She held up a blond strand of hair.
"Hum..." Washu pondered. Then it hit her. "This must have been turned on when the
bubblehead crashed out a week ago."
"Must have been the day Ryo-Ohki started talking..." Kiyone trailed off as a thought hit
her. "Maybe I've been hanging out with you too much, but I'm getting a bad feeling about
this. Wasn't that the day before Tenchi's change? I mean, Mihoshi and a reality bending
device?"
Washu caught on.
"No." She sighed. "Tenchi would have been well out of range, not to mention protected by
the force field I set up around her...his..."
"...Whatever..." Kiyone supplied.
"... Room. Plus the fact we're in a completely different dimension." Washu shook her
head in dismay. "Would have solved all those problems too. Still, it's another research path
to follow."
***
~ This is getting real old now. ~ Tenchi thought sourly.
She had just fought off the Queens attempts to get her into something 'more suitable', as
they'd put it.
~ Let's see... Sasami, Ryoko and Minagi, Ayeka, Mihoshi (Now that was weird), and now
Funaho and Misaki. You know, standing up for myself around this lot isn't as hard as I
thought. I could get used to doing this. ~ She thought. ~ I probably will have too. ~ She
added glumly.
Two new downcast expressions joined those already at the table.
"Yeah. We know." Is all Ryoko had to say.
The door to the lab opened and Washu came out, closely followed by Kiyone.
"Morning." The faces at the table did not perturb the two new arrivals; they'd worked it out
for themselves last night. Kiyone was probably the only one pleased by the entire situation.
Tenchi needed some backbone. She was quite sure the Queens would agree, once they
figured it out that is.
Tenchi walked off to the kitchen to help bring the food out.
~ It's about time Tenchi started standing up for herself. ~ Kiyone thought, looking at
Funaho. ~ I'm surprised she doesn't realise it. ~
Funaho suddenly looked up, directly at her. The puzzled look in her eyes was enough to tell
Kiyone the Queen had heard her. But how?
~ OK. Let's try again. ~
~ Kiyone: If you can hear me your majesty, blink twice. ~
Funaho did so, the puzzled look still there.
~ Kiyone: Oh boy. ~ She sighed.
Funaho directed a wry smile of agreement at her in response.
***
Breakfast went well, except for the dark looks conveyed upon Tenchi. Not that she wasn't
expecting them to. Still, she thought it best to get out of the way and headed to the kitchen to
wash up. She wanted Sasami to spend time with her mother before she left.
Washu had returned to her lab, to be followed by Kiyone and Funaho. Ayeka had headed to
the shrine to fetch her brother leaving Ryoko to scheme by herself. Minagi had done the
eminently sensible thing and dragged Mihoshi off the house library. This gave the princess
and her mother the privacy they needed. Well, as long as you didn't mind Ryo-Ohki hanging
around.
"It's OK dear." Misaki soothed her daughter.
"I like having you around mom. Why can't you stay longer?"
Misaki sighed. She herself didn't think it would be possible for her to do it, nor would
anybody else who knew her but she did. She sighed despondently.
"Sasami," She said gently, "Your father doesn't like Tenchi. At all. For what reason
neither I nor your Aunt Funaho can work out, and he won't tell us. We have been keeping
him from doing something that, in our opinion, would be stupid to suicidal. We had to sneak
away during the Annual review, and be back before him. You know how powerful Tenchi is
now. And you know Tenchi's current condition. We would love to stay longer but..."
Sasami sniffed. "It's because Tenchi won't be his weapon."
"What do you mean Sasami?"
"Well, one day I was up at the shrine when I heard Yosho talking to someone. He said that
he believed the reason he wanted him and Ayeka to marry was to get more Jurai power. He
really didn't like the idea. And he said he was surprised that Father disliked Tenchi so much
before he worked out that it was because he couldn't use Tenchi as a weapon. I don't know
what it means, but that's what Yosho thinks mom."
Misaki hugged her daughter; mind reeling from the information Sasami had so innocently
provided.
~ Sis has to know this. Azusa can't go on this way. Why couldn't I have seen this? ~ She
thought.
***
The two resident scientists were putting the finishing touches to the information for Funaho.
Funaho herself was carefully prodding Kiyone to raise the subject they both knew about.
Unfortunately she wasn't getting anywhere, so she took it upon herself.
"Washu. I think we may have a problem."
Washu turned from the console she was working on.
"Really?" She asked.
Kiyone sighed.
~ Kiyone: Really. ~
Washu's eyes widened in astonishment, making sure that Funaho knew that she'd heard
Kiyone's mindspeak.
"Kiyone?"
~ Kiyone: Yes. It's me. ~ The voice sounded downcast and resigned.
~ Washu: How? I mean, how did you become telepathic? ~
It struck Kiyone that there was a strange lack of curiosity that she was expecting. It was
more like shock.
"I don't know Washu. All I knew was I was thinking something while I was looking at
Lady Funaho, then she looked up at me with a strange expression on her face that told me she
had heard me."
Washu sat back. "OK. First thing, with a little concentration you can keep the channel
open."
"Meaning?" Funaho asked.
~ Washu: Meaning that you can communicate the same way. ~
Funaho's brow furrowed slightly.
~ Funaho: Like this? ~
Washu smiled. ~ Washu: Yes. ~
"I thought you were only linked to Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki?" Funaho asked.
"I can project if I have to." Washu replied. "Second thing, it's easy to receive but hard to
project. Don't ask me why, it's been a research project of mine for millennia."
"Right." Kiyone muttered.
"Any reason why Kiyone is starting now Washu?" Funaho asked.
"At a guess, and it is only a guess mind you, Kiyone's dive into the Ultra Energy Matter
gave her some new powers. Given that she spent some time in a temporal distortion, it's
taken some time for her body to adapt to it."
"It seems strange that this is happening at this time." Funaho pointed out.
"Don't I know it." Washu grumbled. "It's happening too fast for me to study properly."
"It could be Tenchi causing it." Kiyone pointed out. "Her development is accelerating.
Maybe we're getting caught up in the wake, as it were."
"Nice idea." Washu acknowledged. "Needs looking into. But not right now. We've got
this data to upload."
***
The opponent fell to pieces; shattered by the wave of force directed at it. The combatant felt
a little pride at the accomplishment. Not destroying the now pile of rubble at her feet, but the
control of the force wave attack that she had created. Something didn't feel right though and
she snapped her head round.
There was still one target left, and it was aiming straight at her.
She didn't notice the acceleration as she took off towards the target at a speed not meant for
an unprotected individual; she simply took two steps, then leapt and spun out of the way of
the power blast launched at her.
She landed short of the target, but she had pulled her sword down in a powerful diagonal
swipe. The atomically sharp plasma wave rocketed out at many times the speed of light,
passing through air, target and far wall before anyone besides the combatant and the sensors
could see it. The far wall slid slightly on the cut in it before the auto-repair systems kicked in
and stopped. The slight echoing 'thunk' proved too much for the target as it slid apart.
The combatant rose from the finishing position of her strike and dispelled her sword before
wiping away the light sheen of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
~ Phew. That feels better. No wonder Ryoko gets so involved. ~
There was a brief smattering of applause from behind her. She turned to see Funaho
standing at the door.
"Very good Tenchi. I can see how you were able to defeat my sister."
Tenchi groaned.
"I thought you would still be with Washu and Kiyone." Tenchi said.
"Most of it had already been done. I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"Uh huh." The response from Tenchi was guarded.
The Queen sighed and looked at her darkly.
"Look Tenchi, there is no way of getting around it." There was no light tone that Tenchi
had come to expect; no calm measured voice that seemed to be a part of her. She was all
business, and she wasn't in a good mood.
"Getting around what?"
Funaho stalked into the room. A part of Tenchi screamed that she was in big trouble;
Funaho never stalked anywhere. Except when chasing Misaki or Azusa possibly.
"The fact that you are a member of the Royal family." The Jet black-hared woman stopped
in front of her and poked her in the chest. "You have responsibilities. Even Sasami knows
this."
"Well I didn't have the advantage of growing up in a palace, did I? I'm not suitable for that
responsibility; something you can't seem to realise."
Funaho snapped and slapped Tenchi across the face.
Tenchi brought her face back round to look Funaho in the eyes.
"Feel better?" She asked, ignoring the pain.
To Funaho's immense surprise, she growled in anger. How dare this impudent little brat
mock the scared duty they all had? How dare she?
"No. It's you that does not realise. You can't escape the duties you have. I'll pound it into
you if I have to."
Tenchi eloquently raised an eyebrow.
"Is that a threat? Or an observation?" She asked, further enraging Funaho.
Tenchi wondered what the hell she was doing. Why it felt so right to piss Funaho off like
this.
"What's the matter?" She prodded. "The supreme spymaster of the mighty Juraian Empire
beaten by a mere nothing like me? Tut, tut, tut." She shook her head sadly at this last.
The fire in Funaho's eyes increased a hundred-fold.
~ Why the-! How dare-! ~ For the first time in over a thousand years, words failed the
First Queen of Jurai. Letting out her rage she fired at the source of her frustration.
Tenchi felt the surge and dived out of the way of the anger-enhanced blast, noting the flash
as she did so. Rolling to her feet she saw Funaho in an outfit she knew well. She had
changed from her robes into her Jurai Battle armour. The armour looked a lot like Ayeka's,
except it had a deep purple hue to the whole thing and a strange symbol or crest over the left
breast and on the right shoulder. The crest looked like a lightening bolt over a tree and star-
studded sky.
~ The symbol of Juraian intelligence? ~ Tenchi wondered briefly.
Funaho didn't wait until Tenchi was ready but charged straight away. Tenchi barely
avoided the strike, and managed to block the follow-through kick before counter-striking.
Funaho blocked and redoubled her assault. A brief flurry of strikes, blocks and counter-
strikes followed before the whip crack of a power bolt blasted Tenchi away.
~ She's good. ~ Tenchi thought through the pain. She'd taken the blast at point blank
range without any shielding, when it should have ripped right through her; a testament to her
new power. ~ Of course, for someone trained by Misaki that's no surprise. ~
Tenchi had to be careful here. She had enough power to obliterate a decent sized planet, so
could easily vaporise Funaho with a thought. She didn't really want to do that.
Funaho charged and leapt into a flying kick.
~ Bad move. ~ Tenchi noted as she sent a force wave towards her.
Funaho managed to land safely from the attack, only to receive a lightening fast roundhouse
kick that, had she not gone with it, would have broken a few ribs. Even with the armour
there. As it was she was thrown three metres back, impacting against the wall with enough
force to knock the breath out of her.
Tenchi knew she could end it there, and did. Funaho found her arms stapled to the wall by
Lighthawk wings. She could feel the power tormenting her, holding her helpless.
Tenchi walked slowly towards the struggling Queen, a dark look on her face.
***
Misaki was getting a dark feeling, something she hadn't felt for a while.
"Sis is taking a long time." She muttered to herself.
Unbeknownst to her, Sasami was getting the same feeling. Only hers involved Tenchi as
well.
"I'm just going to see how your Aunt is getting along." Misaki announced as she stood up.
"Won't be long."
Sasami watched as her mother disappeared into the lab. She waited a few minutes before
the feeling got worse.
~ Sasami: Tsunami! ~ She cried. ~ What's happening? ~
There was no response.
~ Sasami: TSUNAMI! ~ She tried again. All she felt was a whimper of horror.
~ That's it. ~ She thought angrily and put herself in a trance.
***
Misaki had found Washu and Kiyone without any trouble.
"Where's my Sister Washu?" She asked, looking around.
"Oh she went to see Tenchi in the practice room." Washu replied. "Head back the way you
came and take the second right. It's the one with the blast doors."
Misaki headed off to the room, moving faster and faster as the feeling got worse.
~ Here it is- ~ She was cut off when she saw Funaho slam against the wall hard, and be
fixed there by Lighthawk wings. That was all she needed to see.
***
Tenchi walked slowly towards the struggling Queen, a dark look on her face.
She looked into the Queen's eyes as she stood before her, and ducked the attack from
behind.
Misaki's energy blade flashed past Funaho's face, but she didn't notice as she was focused
on something else.
Funaho brought her knee up into Tenchi's face, braking her concentration and causing the
wings to vanish. She swung a tremendous right hook at her captor.
Tenchi caught the punch and backhanded Funaho away, then quickly dodged the thrust from
Misaki; grabbing the wrist and twisting painfully before bringing both feet up and smashing
them into Misaki's chest, using her as a springboard and triggering her armour.
Misaki took the heavy blow, rolled and came up in a flash. Literally, as she activated her
own armour. It didn't help she was mad as well. Her armour was much like Funaho's, but a
deep blue in colour and a different crest. It was a shield with the Tree and Stars of Jurai
embossed on it.
Tenchi landed with Lighthawk sword formed, ready for anything.
As one, the Queens and Tenchi charged. Tenchi sent a plasma wave ahead of her.
Funaho saw this and leapt, pulling her Sister with her and sending a power bolt at Tenchi.
Tenchi had sent a force wave at where she had anticipated the Queens would be and the two
attacks cancelled each other out in a bright flash, but instead of the Queens landing on Tenchi
she wasn't there.
Misaki pushed Funaho to one side while she went the other, milliseconds before Tenchi
dropped from above. The blue-hared Queen kept down as Funaho launched a trio of blasts at
Tenchi, who flipped out of the way each time.
Misaki came in low, to find her blade met by Tenchi's reversed one who then hit back with
an open palm strike that knocked Misaki reeling. Funaho caught Tenchi with a reverse
roundhouse to the face doing the same to her.
Tenchi's eyes cleared to see the two Sister Queens pull off some sort of gestalt blast right at
her.
The explosion of impact echoed around the room as the Queens relaxed to ready states, eyes
boring into the smoke to find any trace of Tenchi. They did not have to wait long as the glow
of three Lighthawk wings emerged.
To say Tenchi was a bit pissed would be an understatement of the grossest sort.
~ So they want to play rough do they? ~ Her mind growled.
The moment Tenchi saw the gestalt blast she switched to defence, and now Tenchi gave up
any pretence of holding back.
The Queens watched in awe as Tenchi held her arms outstretched and pulled the Wings
through her, changing her armour.
Tenchi's new Lighthawk Armour was of the same colour scheme as before, but was form
fitting. Every curve and line was accentuated beyond imaging, the chest open to show an
insane and quite possibly illegal amount of cleavage. But every line held an armour plate,
every opening laced with chain mail. Tenchi formed her sword and stood ready,
outstandingly beautiful and unbelievably deadly.
"OK ladies," She purred, every word coming from her rich lips an almost irresistible
invitation, "Let's dance."
***
Sasami flew through the darkness following the glowing, golden thread that linked her with
Tsunami. She found her other self looking at the pool in front of her in horror. She gasped
when she saw what so shocked the tree.
Tenchi, her mother and her aunt. Locked in combat.
"Tsunami do something!" She cried. "Stop them!"
"I don't know how!" Tsunami wailed. "I'm afraid I'll hurt them too much!"
Sasami gaped, looking between her beloved soul mate and the scene several times before
she saw Tenchi power up and change. She made up her mind.
"If you won't, I will." The little princess said resolutely. She reached through herself
towards the power she would someday be in full command of.
"No." Tsunami said, wrapping her arms around her younger self. "WE do it like this."
***
Tenchi knocked Funaho to the floor and drove her sword towards her. The black-hared
Queen barely got out of the way as Misaki came in at Tenchi's open flank. The stunning kick
knocked Tenchi far enough for Funaho to get beside her Sister.
All three waited for the next attack, ready for anything.
Except Tsunami, battle ready and with a glowing sword in each hand. Her battle armour
was of the same general design as Queens', but it had a golden leaf pattern over the leaf-
green clothes. There were five leaf-like markings on each side of her face that seemed to
grow from and around her neck. Only Tenchi noticed the markings on her forehead.
"Stay out of this." She growled.
"No." The Queens noted Tsunami's voice was slightly choral. "This ends now. Funaho,
Tenchi. Apologise and halt this nonsense."
Tenchi let her sword go, but did not let herself drop out of Lighthawk Armour mode.
Funaho glared at her opponent.
"NOW." The energy blades in Tsunami's hands glowed brightly and formed into
Lighthawk Wing swords. "Funaho first. You started it."
Misaki glanced at her Sister to see the rage there. A rage she hadn't seen since their battles
for Azusa. And it was directed at Tenchi.
~ You're not going to make this mistake if I can help it. ~ She thought.
She put herself in front of her Sister and formed her sword, leaving Tsunami free to deal
with Tenchi.
"Do it Sister." Misaki advised. "Sasami gave me a reason for why Tenchi is so unpopular
with our husband, and you got an example of it first hand."
Funaho looked into her Sister's eyes, and saw the look that promised extreme pain. She
frowned.
"OK..." She dragged it out. "I'm sorry for hitting you." She didn't sound very.
Tsunami glared at Tenchi.
"And I'm sorry for pissing you off." There was the same tone in her voice.
Tsunami and Misaki let their weapons drop.
"I like your new armour." Tsunami teased, eyeing it hungrily.
Funaho took a closer look, and her expression softened. Misaki's turned ravenous.
"Oh great." Tenchi grumbled.
"Now Funaho, Tenchi. Kiss and make up." Tsunami told them.
A particularly unenthusiastic Tenchi drifted towards the armour-clad Queen who was doing
the same.
"You. Me. We will talk. Later." Tenchi warned the azure-hared goddess.
She stopped in front of Funaho.
"Looks like you get an excuse." Tenchi told her.
Funaho smiled wryly.
"I certainly didn't expect it like this." She replied honestly.
The serious expression returned to Tsunami's face.
Funaho got the point. At least she could get a little revenge here...
The Queen pulled Tenchi in for a deep kiss, but the moment their lips met a fire like a nova
roared through Funaho's body; igniting every centre of her body.
Tenchi for her part was damn near fainting anyway. It felt so intense, she could taste the
power within the Queen; smell her sent; feel the heat coming through the armour.
Funaho managed to peel herself away and tried to hide the fire raging through her veins.
Tenchi shot her a dark look.
"Thank you for the assistance Sister." She told Misaki.
"Yeah. If you hadn't jumped in we wouldn't be in this mess." Tenchi complained. "The
fight was over before you tried to take me from behind."
"Well I'm sorry." Misaki said as she came close and kissed Tenchi herself.
~ Not again! ~ Tenchi groaned.
The same nova-heat fire roared though Misaki's body like it did her Sister.
"Wow. Now that's a kiss." She breathed as she came away.
Tenchi felt Tsunami vanish.
~ Great. Leave me in the lurch, why don't you. I'm gonna get you for this. ~
Misaki and Funaho took a more critical look at Tenchi.
"Beautiful yet practical, eh Sis?" Misaki asked.
"I must admit you look very...appealing." Funaho said carefully.
Tenchi began wondering why she hadn't returned to her normal mode when she had
relaxed.
"Like I really care about such things." Tenchi told them.
Misaki sighed in despair.
"Can't you, for a couple of hours, at least try to be a woman?"
"The moment I do that, everyone else will want me to continue. 'You've done it before'
They'll say. No thanks." Tenchi finally dropped out of Lighthawk Armour mode. She
quickly deactivated her normal battle armour.
"Aren't you finished?" She asked the Queens. "Or are you going to get in some heavy
practice?"
The answering flash greeted her.
"Thanks for the practice. I see I need to work on a few things." Tenchi carefully stressed
the sentence.
"No problem." Misaki understood instantly.
"You can thank me later for setting the sensors in here to turn off a minute after I destroyed
the last target." Tenchi said as she began walking towards the exit.
The Queens watched her until she left.
"At least she's picked up basic politics." Funaho grumbled.
"OK Sister," Misaki growled, "Spill it. What the hell was that about?"
***
Tsunami reappeared in her personal dimension without a moment to spare. She collapsed to
her knees in near-exhaustion.
~ Here we go... ~ She thought to herself as she began to glow.
Quickly the glow became blinding before vanishing to reveal two tired figures.
"Tenchi's going to be very upset." Sasami said quietly.
"Don't I know it." Tsunami grumbled. "And things were just settling down between us.
Why can't anything go right for us?" The elder version of Sasami wailed that last.
"I feel really sleepy Tsunami. How can I fall asleep while asleep? Is that possible?"
Sasami yawned.
Tsunami put her arm around her younger self.
"I sorry for putting you under such stress." Tsunami apologised. "That was very tiring for
one as young as you." ~ Both physically and spiritually. ~ She added to herself.
"It stopped them fighting. That's all that mattered." The pride of accomplishment was clear
in Sasami's voice. "But why?"
Tsunami moved to cradle her younger self on her lap.
"Dear Sasami, you care so much for them all don't you?"
"Of course I do! They're my family!"
The azure-hared goddess smiled warmly and enveloped the young princess in a loving (Or
should that be lovers) embrace.
"Hold on to that." She said fiercely. "That's the sort of woman we want to become."
***
Tokimi watched the replay of the events that had just transpired.
~ Remarkable control. ~ She thought to herself. Tenchi could have easily destroyed them
if she so wished. Yet she had not done so, and had taken the opportunity to improve herself.
The deep feelings she ignored had flared when Tenchi had transformed, digging deeper into
the core of Tokimi's being.
The goddess' eyes narrowed when Tsunami had appeared. Actually appeared! How had
she done that? This bore greater investigation.
Which wasn't going well. While the knowledge D3 had discovered was useful in its way,
there was much she wanted more on. She had an idea as to the origin of Tenchi's power, yet
she had no idea on how it could be accomplished. She realised she was focusing more on this
than on her other projects. It didn't seem to worry her as much as it should.
***
Tenchi was far away from the house for the moment. She needed to think a bit. Sat on a
rock on the far side of the valley she gazed blankly into the sky, not really paying any
attention to her surroundings. What she was paying attention to was the growing feeling of
longing. For her to be him again. For the old life to come back.
She let her mind drift, and it came back with thought of her guests and companions. How
much she really cared for them. How much they annoyed her at times. How much she, deep
down, would have liked to do those things the Queens had offered. How much her thought
ranged over the women while she had still been male. How much stronger those thoughts
had seemed to become now she was female. She worried about that. Was her body taking
over? Was it just confusion? She didn't know, but she knew it didn't feel right. But it felt
right as well, to some part of her. That sense of rightness almost overcame the sense of
wrongness all those times.
Tenchi realised with a start that the feeling of wrongness only survived because she had
added her will to it. Had she not... She didn't want to think about it really but she forced
herself.
What would have happened? She wasn't naive enough to believe she wouldn't have
enjoyed it. She probably would have. At least some of it. But what then? Would she have
felt guilty? Probably. Would she have wanted to do it again? And with whom that time?
Ayeka? Ryoko? Both? Would she have gone for Tsunami, since they could touch? What
would that have done to Sasami? What about the others?
Tenchi was getting uncomfortably warm just thinking about it, yet she pressed on. What
would it have done to her? What about the Queens? What would they have done?
The questions built up, what ifs and might have beens flashed through her mind, warming
her even further. She was curious, though she denied it as much as probable. How could she
not be? These sorts of things fascinated lots of beings, for lots of reasons.
~ Might as well see if they need any help packing. ~
***
Funaho was halfway through the packing when she felt someone at the door.
"Need a hand?" Tenchi's quiet voice asked.
Turning she saw Tenchi leaning in the doorway with that thoughtful, slightly far away look
the First Queen found intolerably attractive on the young woman. She knew Misaki preferred
the slightly shocked look on Tenchi, which made Funaho wonder what anyone saw in
another.
She smiled more warmly than she would have earlier.
"Thank you, yes."
Tenchi silently walked in, and tried not to wince as a loud crash came from downstairs.
"Is she always like that?" Funaho asked.
"Before Kiyone arrived she was worse. Remember her 'landing' during the duel? That was
about average."
Funaho chuckled and shook her head sadly.
They didn't talk for a while as Tenchi helped the Queen pack.
"Is something the matter Tenchi?" Funaho finally asked.
"Hum? Oh. Nothing."
Funaho put her bundle down.
"Tenchi. I'd like to think we know each other well enough to be comfortable with sharing
our problems." She paused and considered that statement. "Well, most of them." She
amended, thinking about this morning. "What's wrong?"
Tenchi looked at her. Really looked. Then turned her gaze back to her packing. As if she
was...? What?
Funaho studied Tenchi intently, trying to solve this problem.
~ She looks... Embarrassed? ~ She thought to herself. ~ Why? ~
"What is it Tenchi? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."
"It's nothing." Tenchi muttered as she returned to work.
Funaho moved next to her and put her hand on Tenchi's shoulder. She noted the slight
flinch at contact.
"It is something Tenchi. If you're worried about this morning..."
Tenchi shrugged off the hand, as well as the question. She finished the package.
"There. That should do." Tenchi stood up. Funaho followed quickly.
Tenchi made to leave, but Funaho grabbed her wrist and pulled the young woman into her
embrace.
"What is it Tenchi?" She asked gently.
Tenchi refused to look at her, but the Queen felt it. She felt the way Tenchi's body
responded to the embrace.
"I see." She smiled. "You are confused, wondering about how you feel." She sighed and
smoothly pulled the two of them to sit on the bed.
"It was difficult for me to come to terms with the first time." She told the woman in her
arms. "It was shortly after Azusa married Misaki. I had already been married to him for a
good two years. Misaki's marriage had followed after the three months of negotiations that
had started when I officially announced their engagement."
Tenchi looked up at her in shock. As if to say, you? She stayed silent however.
Funaho laughed at that. "Oh yes. When Azusa was courting us both, we acted much like
Ayeka and Ryoko. Worse in some cases. My Sister had been his long time fianc'e before he
visited Earth and met me. She was not best pleased when she saw us together." Funaho
chuckled again at the memory.
***
Misaki was walking back to their room when she heard Funaho talking. Slowing she
recognised the story.
"...She was not best pleased when she saw us together."
When Funaho chuckled, Misaki did the same. No she had not been best pleased. In fact she
had acted with an anger she had seen in Tenchi earlier.
"I got the impression from Misaki that their honeymoon was well spent, though they never
discussed it." Misaki blushed at that.
~ Oh yes. ~ She thought. ~ That was fun. ~
"However, Azusa became very busy. Going away on long trips, heavy meetings and such. I
got lonely, as did Misaki. One night, while he was away on business, I returned to my room
to find Misaki waiting for me."
Misaki remembered the night very well.
"But you see Tenchi," Misaki hid the gasp as she found out who her Sister was talking to.
"My Sister had realised our dilemma, but not how I would take it. It was something She
found perfectly normal, Jurai's birth ratio being roughly three and a half females to every
male. Most men had two wives. That I could understand. What I couldn't understand at the
time was the relationships many women had between each other, as they simply didn't exist
in my previous experience. It puzzled her no end as I didn't respond to her advances like she
expected."
~ Yes. That confused me no end. ~ Misaki recalled. ~ I really should have spent some
more time finding out about you. ~
"Once she figured it out she became a bit worried about hurting me. We were much closer
than we once were. She is much like Sasami in that respect, not wanting to hurt her family."
~ Oh? Only a bit worried? ~ Misaki thought wryly, her Sister's knack for understatement
coming though again. In fact she had very nearly pulled her hair out.
"Misaki can be as gentle as a snowflake or as hard as a diamond. She was very gentle with
me. Of course she drugged my tea so I wouldn't run away in disgust first."
Misaki could almost see the wry smile on her Sister's lips.
"I didn't know what to think at first. The idea was so...upsetting...that at first I couldn't
bring myself to believe it. Yet... Yet my body understood what was happening. It took a
while, but my Sisters gentle ministrations broke down that resistance. I even tried to respond
in kind."
Funaho broke off in thought. Misaki didn't blame her, as the memories caused her to feel
warm. She couldn't stand it any more and snuck a peek round the doorframe.
Tenchi had her back to the door and was being held gently by her Sister. The short hared
young woman was also looking away from the Queen holding her. Funaho smiled as she saw
Misaki and used her eyes to tell her to come in.
"All the time I could feel the love coming from my Sister, and I tried my hardest to return it.
I suppose you could call that OUR honeymoon. After that we kept each other company when
Azusa couldn't. And even when he could as well." Funaho giggled. "I'm quite sure he
enjoyed it as much as we did." She sighed in regret. "But that doesn't solve your problem
does it? We all know you are still male underneath. But you are responding to those
impulses as a woman. That's confusing you, disgusting you that you feel this way while you
are a woman..."
Misaki's face lit up in understanding. ~ Oh is that it? ~
"... And you are scared. Because you don't know how to deal with it. Because your
control is slipping after being so successful for so long. You are no doubt thinking very
healthy male thoughts about the girls."
~ And, in your state, a few unhealthy ones. ~ The Queens thought.
"And then there are the feelings your current form is adding to the mix. Those feelings are
very intense for a young woman. I should know. Especially for you, as you are not only
male in mind meaning that you don't know how to cope, and as your power is no doubt
magnifying them."
Misaki barely heard the muttered response.
"Why me?" Tenchi groaned in despair. "I would have been better off not thinking about
it."
Misaki shook her head in resigned amusement.
"It would have just come up later." Funaho told her. "Then you would have to face it
without help."
"I... I think I should leave now." Tenchi said.
"That is not wise at the moment." Funaho replied, looking at her Sister.
Misaki got the message and joined the pair on the bed.
"You were listening?" Tenchi asked, a bit shocked.
"Yes I was." Misaki said kindly. "Funaho is right. It would not be wise for you to leave
with your emotions so messed up." She took a deep breath. "How do you feel about the
girls?" She asked seriously.
"What?" Tenchi was downright freaked at this.
"Answer the question Tenchi."
"..." Was all the answer she got.
"I think we can delay our departure an hour or two." Funaho observed.
"I wouldn't want you to do that." Tenchi croaked.
"Well, until we get an answer..."
"I don't know!" Tenchi snapped. "How am I supposed to know? Annoying? Yes.
Beautiful? Definitely. Would I miss them if they left? Yes. A lot. I would give my life for
them if I had to. They're my family now." She finally turned to look at the Queens. "Happy
now?" She asked coldly.
Both Queens just looked at her for a minute. Just looked. Nothing else. The seconds ticked
by in silence.
Misaki slowly smiled. A brilliant, warm smile.
"Was that so hard?" She asked.
"Yes." Tenchi replied. "It was."
Tenchi wasn't exactly sure what had happened when she found herself crushed under
Misaki, held tightly and being kissed so hard she felt afraid that she'd loose some teeth.
A muffled "Mumph!" emerged when she tried to speak, but it only allowed Misaki to make
the kiss deeper. She tried to struggle, to get loose somehow; yet it didn't work. All the
squirming did was to prod the blue-hared terror on, and make her feel the same warm feeling
she had been trying to escape. This distracted her, and made her unable to concentrate. Not
that the lack of oxygen helped much in this regard.
The kiss broke, Tenchi gasping for breath.
Misaki sighed happily, shifting herself and Tenchi into a sitting position. The near vice-like
grip lessened to a more comfortable hug.
"So, now we have that out of the way, how are you feeling Tenchi?" Funaho asked.
"Like I've just wrestled with a bear." Tenchi groaned.
Misaki looked disappointed, but Funaho chuckled.
"Azusa says the same thing. My Sister is rather enthusiastic about such things." The black-
hared Queen paused. "Not that you would have minded." She finished with a sly smile.
That brightened Misaki's expression.
"Can we finish packing now?" Tenchi asked.
"Not 'till my Sister's had her turn." Misaki told her, turning Tenchi to face her fate.
***
Getting the packages onto the Queens' ships wasn't very hard. All the household had to do
was organise the packages into piles dependent on whose ship they were going to. Then the
ships' transporters would deal with it. It was the sorting that was taking the time.
~ Why can't this be done in one go? ~ Tenchi thought to herself, trying to decide between
two identical, or near identical, packages. ~ It would be so much easier. ~
The remaining loose packages disappeared, then reappeared in the two piles.
~ Oh. ~ Tenchi thought, realising what she had done to the accompaniment of the
extremely puzzled looks of the rest. Her slightly sheepish look told them what had done this.
"Oops?" She ventured when those looks turned on her.
"I wish you wouldn't do that." Washu shook her head sadly. "Developing new abilities
spontaneously can be hard on people."
"Hey it's not my fault. And it isn't a new one either."
"Oh?" Ryoko asked. "Then how did you pull this off then?"
"Simple. I sensed which package resonated with which sorted pile, then teleported them."
The Queens looked at each other and sighed, each sending a mental command to their
respective ship.
The piles glowed a bright blue before dissolving.
"Do you think you can stay for lunch?" Tenchi asked them.
"There's no problem with staying a couple more hours." Funaho replied, noting the
expectant expression on Sasami's face turned into a smile when she said that. Yes, a few
more hours wouldn't hurt.
***
Yosho stood at the top of the stairs, watching the goodbyes. He and his mother had settled
most of their differences this visit, so he had no real need to go down. Besides, if she wanted
him she'd get Tenchi to fetch him. The Queens visit had been...instructive, if not quite as
peaceful as he had expected. Tenchi had the right to make her own decisions, and her own
mistakes, though he wondered if some of the mistakes would need correcting. Ah well,
plenty of time for that later.
He watched the ships appear, watched the Queens leave and watched the ships disappear
into Hyperspace on their way back to Jurai. There was always the hope that things would
quiet down again now, but somehow he doubted that.
Yes, it was going to be interesting.
Flowering Potential.
====================
C&C can be sent to cobalt@elhazard.net Flames will be ignored with
extreme prejudice.
Disclaimer: I do not own the series depicted within, but go buy it anyway.
Conventions:
~ ~ are used for thoughts and Telepathic communication.
This series is archived at http://www.lum.co.uk/cobalt/
##########
Chapter 15
##########
Tenchi stirred as the sun rose.
~ Better get up and do the fields... ~ She thought before she realised she didn't need to.
The Queens were leaving this morning, so all the chores were cancelled.
~ That means a lie in. ~ It had been so long since she had been able to do that.
After a few minutes of trying to get back to sleep she realised that she couldn't lie in
anymore. It was immensely disappointing.
~ Great, I have to get up. ~ All sorts of scenarios rolled through her head, none of them
very appealing to her.
She sighed and sat up.
"Why can't anything go right for me?" She muttered quietly.
***
The sun was rising as Sasami awoke feeling so happy and content the one might wonder
why she wasn't drifting away with the clouds. Then reality set in and she did a full body
blush of such intensity that the air rippled. Then she remembered glumly that her mother and
aunt were leaving today, and she came down to earth with a bump.
~ Nice wake up. ~ She thought sourly.
She sat up and stretched, then gently moved Ryo-Ohki and left her bed to get ready.
***
Tenchi came downstairs to the sound of pans rattling in the kitchen. She'd made an attempt
to clean herself up and wore ordinary clothes; no one was going to talk her into anything else,
no matter what they said.
"Morning Tenchi." Sasami said cheerfully.
"Morning Sasami." Tenchi knew the cheerfulness was an act. Sasami didn't want her
mother to go back.
She knew they would have to, but she didn't have to like it. She could go back with them,
but Tenchi needed her. Who else would be able to sort out all the problems that were likely
to arise?
"Why aren't you all dressed up?" Sasami wanted to know.
"I'd rather they remember me as an ordinary person, not as some over dressed half woman
thank you."
Sasami really hated it when Tenchi went into these bouts of self-loathing.
"Cheer up Tenchi. That black and gold dress would be perfect."
Tenchi just rolled her eyes.
"What's for breakfast?" She asked, changing the subject.
***
The wondrous aroma of breakfast wafted through the house, causing all manner of mouths
to water. Sasami was working miracles with the food, no doubt as a way of ignoring the pain
of her mother and aunt leaving.
The smell was driving Ryoko mad. She liked to sleep in, but the delicious perfume of
breakfast would not allow her. It reached into her brain, flipped all the switches and danced
electric footsteps across her synapses. It was worse than the time Washu had made her an
alarm clock. That simply put a couple million volts through her and caused her to fall from
her usual sleeping place in the support beams to the floor. No, that was not as bad as this. It
was far more insidious.
~ ARGH! That girl is torturing me! ~
~ Washu: Don't shout so loud. ~ The tired voice yawned in Ryoko's mind.
Feeling vengeful, Ryoko projected the smell directly at Washu's mind.
~ Ryoko: How do you like it 'Mom'? ~ She sneered.
~ Washu: OK, OK. I get the point. She's overdoing it I think. ~
~ Ryoko: You think? ~
~ Washu: You should be more respectful. Her mother is leaving today. ~
~ Ryoko: Yeah. ~ She projected a bit downcast. None of them liked to see Sasami upset.
***
The smell drifted upstairs and wormed its way through cracks, assaulting the nostrils of all
that it reached.
"Mmm..." Misaki groaned as she began to awaken, stretching languidly under her Sister's
arms.
Funaho had the advantage of being able to wake up instantly.
"Hum? Oh Sasami... She's going to make a fine wife." The black-hared queen smiled.
"Wake up Sister. Your daughter is cooking up a treat."
"Wha...?" Misaki asked as she opened up her eyes. Funaho decided that she needed a
quicker way to wake up, and gave her Sister a shockingly powerful kiss.
"Mumph!" The blue-hared Sister queen exclaimed in shock, now fully awake.
Funaho broke the kiss. "Awake now?"
"What was that for?" Misaki demanded.
"Smell."
"Eh? Oh... That's lovely. I wonder where she picked up the recipe, and if I can have a
copy?"
"If you ask her nicely." Funaho teased.
***
Kiyone bolted from asleep to awake, ready for anything. She got the smell of Sasami's
cooking instead.
~ Great. I'm going to get sooo hungry before I eat. ~
Sighing, she turned to her ditz of a partner. She had slept since before dinner and hadn't
showed any signs of waking up. Kiyone doubted she'd remember what happened, but part of
her missed that look she had seen. Ah well...
Mihoshi shifted slightly, mumbling in her native tongue.
~ One of these days I'm going to learn that language. ~ The emerald-hared detective
thought. ~ Best not to wake her though. ~
With that thought, Kiyone got up.
***
Ayeka was still fast asleep, the aroma filling the house not affecting her in the slightest.
A small orb beside her glowing a deep blue changed to a bright blue and emitted a series of
chimes. It was this that woke the purple-hared princess up.
She sat up, stretched modestly and hid the yawn. The practice was so ingrained into her that
it was automatic, but it had take much control to establish. Only then did she allow herself to
be distracted by the smell.
~ Smells delicious. ~ She thought. ~ She must be terribly upset about them leaving again.
Especially after them staying for a few days this time. ~
With that sobering thought hanging in her head, she got up and started to get ready.
***
The first thing that greeted Minagi as she teleported in was the intoxicating aroma of
Sasami's cooking. The second was that Tenchi was finishing setting the table.
She looked up as she felt the power surge of the pirate's appearance.
"Hi Minagi. Sleep well?" She asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"I needed it. Breakfast will still be about ten minutes if you're wondering."
The rumble from their stomachs told them what they thought about that.
"I'd have thought you'd be wearing something more impressive." Minagi noted.
"Not you too." Tenchi groaned.
"Come on Tenchi." Ryoko said as she descended. "Knock us out."
"No." Tenchi told them.
"Please?" Ryoko and Minagi said at the same time, trying to be as endearing and as cute as
possible. This was definitely not a good sign.
"No." If anything, Tenchi's voice had dropped below freezing.
"Ooh..." On a scale of one to ten, the sigh of disappointment registered a 12.3. It sounded
to Tenchi like they had been practising. She couldn't help but feel pleased at the glum
expressions on the faces of the pirate sisters that their ploy hadn't worked.
~ At least with the Queens gone things will calm down a bit. ~ Tenchi thought.
***
Kiyone was quickly going over the night's data when she noticed something.
"Um, Washu?" She called.
The redhead popped out of one of her subspace portals.
"Yes?"
"What's this alarm mean?" Kiyone asked, pointing to an indicator at the side of the screen.
Washu looked. "It means something of mine is low on power. But since most of the
equipment in here can run for a month on backup power we'd better find out what it is."
She pulled a device suspiciously close to a tricorder out of somewhere.
"Now let's see..." She wandered off, Kiyone trailing along.
"Where exactly are we headed?" The emerald-hared detective asked.
"Looks like my junk room." Washu's voice was puzzled.
A few minutes later they were standing in front of one of the mountain sized piles of
equipment.
"Here it is." Washu said as she pulled a device from the mess, surprisingly without setting
off a junk-slide.
"What is it?" Kiyone asked, looking at the rectangular box in the scientist's hands.
"Well, it was supposed to be a personnel-mounted, hyperspace flux field inducer. It
uses...used a space-time distortion..."
"Yes, yes, yes." Kiyone quickly cut off the lecture. "But what does it...did it do?"
"Personal Hyperspace drive cum teleporter. Couldn't get the field strength high enough,
even using an eleven-dimension continuum twist. Couldn't teleport you across the room, let
alone a galaxy."
"So it works by bending reality?"
"You could say that, yes."
Kiyone noticed something. "Hey," She said as she pulled it off the device, "this looks like
one of Mihoshi's." She held up a blond strand of hair.
"Hum..." Washu pondered. Then it hit her. "This must have been turned on when the
bubblehead crashed out a week ago."
"Must have been the day Ryo-Ohki started talking..." Kiyone trailed off as a thought hit
her. "Maybe I've been hanging out with you too much, but I'm getting a bad feeling about
this. Wasn't that the day before Tenchi's change? I mean, Mihoshi and a reality bending
device?"
Washu caught on.
"No." She sighed. "Tenchi would have been well out of range, not to mention protected by
the force field I set up around her...his..."
"...Whatever..." Kiyone supplied.
"... Room. Plus the fact we're in a completely different dimension." Washu shook her
head in dismay. "Would have solved all those problems too. Still, it's another research path
to follow."
***
~ This is getting real old now. ~ Tenchi thought sourly.
She had just fought off the Queens attempts to get her into something 'more suitable', as
they'd put it.
~ Let's see... Sasami, Ryoko and Minagi, Ayeka, Mihoshi (Now that was weird), and now
Funaho and Misaki. You know, standing up for myself around this lot isn't as hard as I
thought. I could get used to doing this. ~ She thought. ~ I probably will have too. ~ She
added glumly.
Two new downcast expressions joined those already at the table.
"Yeah. We know." Is all Ryoko had to say.
The door to the lab opened and Washu came out, closely followed by Kiyone.
"Morning." The faces at the table did not perturb the two new arrivals; they'd worked it out
for themselves last night. Kiyone was probably the only one pleased by the entire situation.
Tenchi needed some backbone. She was quite sure the Queens would agree, once they
figured it out that is.
Tenchi walked off to the kitchen to help bring the food out.
~ It's about time Tenchi started standing up for herself. ~ Kiyone thought, looking at
Funaho. ~ I'm surprised she doesn't realise it. ~
Funaho suddenly looked up, directly at her. The puzzled look in her eyes was enough to tell
Kiyone the Queen had heard her. But how?
~ OK. Let's try again. ~
~ Kiyone: If you can hear me your majesty, blink twice. ~
Funaho did so, the puzzled look still there.
~ Kiyone: Oh boy. ~ She sighed.
Funaho directed a wry smile of agreement at her in response.
***
Breakfast went well, except for the dark looks conveyed upon Tenchi. Not that she wasn't
expecting them to. Still, she thought it best to get out of the way and headed to the kitchen to
wash up. She wanted Sasami to spend time with her mother before she left.
Washu had returned to her lab, to be followed by Kiyone and Funaho. Ayeka had headed to
the shrine to fetch her brother leaving Ryoko to scheme by herself. Minagi had done the
eminently sensible thing and dragged Mihoshi off the house library. This gave the princess
and her mother the privacy they needed. Well, as long as you didn't mind Ryo-Ohki hanging
around.
"It's OK dear." Misaki soothed her daughter.
"I like having you around mom. Why can't you stay longer?"
Misaki sighed. She herself didn't think it would be possible for her to do it, nor would
anybody else who knew her but she did. She sighed despondently.
"Sasami," She said gently, "Your father doesn't like Tenchi. At all. For what reason
neither I nor your Aunt Funaho can work out, and he won't tell us. We have been keeping
him from doing something that, in our opinion, would be stupid to suicidal. We had to sneak
away during the Annual review, and be back before him. You know how powerful Tenchi is
now. And you know Tenchi's current condition. We would love to stay longer but..."
Sasami sniffed. "It's because Tenchi won't be his weapon."
"What do you mean Sasami?"
"Well, one day I was up at the shrine when I heard Yosho talking to someone. He said that
he believed the reason he wanted him and Ayeka to marry was to get more Jurai power. He
really didn't like the idea. And he said he was surprised that Father disliked Tenchi so much
before he worked out that it was because he couldn't use Tenchi as a weapon. I don't know
what it means, but that's what Yosho thinks mom."
Misaki hugged her daughter; mind reeling from the information Sasami had so innocently
provided.
~ Sis has to know this. Azusa can't go on this way. Why couldn't I have seen this? ~ She
thought.
***
The two resident scientists were putting the finishing touches to the information for Funaho.
Funaho herself was carefully prodding Kiyone to raise the subject they both knew about.
Unfortunately she wasn't getting anywhere, so she took it upon herself.
"Washu. I think we may have a problem."
Washu turned from the console she was working on.
"Really?" She asked.
Kiyone sighed.
~ Kiyone: Really. ~
Washu's eyes widened in astonishment, making sure that Funaho knew that she'd heard
Kiyone's mindspeak.
"Kiyone?"
~ Kiyone: Yes. It's me. ~ The voice sounded downcast and resigned.
~ Washu: How? I mean, how did you become telepathic? ~
It struck Kiyone that there was a strange lack of curiosity that she was expecting. It was
more like shock.
"I don't know Washu. All I knew was I was thinking something while I was looking at
Lady Funaho, then she looked up at me with a strange expression on her face that told me she
had heard me."
Washu sat back. "OK. First thing, with a little concentration you can keep the channel
open."
"Meaning?" Funaho asked.
~ Washu: Meaning that you can communicate the same way. ~
Funaho's brow furrowed slightly.
~ Funaho: Like this? ~
Washu smiled. ~ Washu: Yes. ~
"I thought you were only linked to Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki?" Funaho asked.
"I can project if I have to." Washu replied. "Second thing, it's easy to receive but hard to
project. Don't ask me why, it's been a research project of mine for millennia."
"Right." Kiyone muttered.
"Any reason why Kiyone is starting now Washu?" Funaho asked.
"At a guess, and it is only a guess mind you, Kiyone's dive into the Ultra Energy Matter
gave her some new powers. Given that she spent some time in a temporal distortion, it's
taken some time for her body to adapt to it."
"It seems strange that this is happening at this time." Funaho pointed out.
"Don't I know it." Washu grumbled. "It's happening too fast for me to study properly."
"It could be Tenchi causing it." Kiyone pointed out. "Her development is accelerating.
Maybe we're getting caught up in the wake, as it were."
"Nice idea." Washu acknowledged. "Needs looking into. But not right now. We've got
this data to upload."
***
The opponent fell to pieces; shattered by the wave of force directed at it. The combatant felt
a little pride at the accomplishment. Not destroying the now pile of rubble at her feet, but the
control of the force wave attack that she had created. Something didn't feel right though and
she snapped her head round.
There was still one target left, and it was aiming straight at her.
She didn't notice the acceleration as she took off towards the target at a speed not meant for
an unprotected individual; she simply took two steps, then leapt and spun out of the way of
the power blast launched at her.
She landed short of the target, but she had pulled her sword down in a powerful diagonal
swipe. The atomically sharp plasma wave rocketed out at many times the speed of light,
passing through air, target and far wall before anyone besides the combatant and the sensors
could see it. The far wall slid slightly on the cut in it before the auto-repair systems kicked in
and stopped. The slight echoing 'thunk' proved too much for the target as it slid apart.
The combatant rose from the finishing position of her strike and dispelled her sword before
wiping away the light sheen of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
~ Phew. That feels better. No wonder Ryoko gets so involved. ~
There was a brief smattering of applause from behind her. She turned to see Funaho
standing at the door.
"Very good Tenchi. I can see how you were able to defeat my sister."
Tenchi groaned.
"I thought you would still be with Washu and Kiyone." Tenchi said.
"Most of it had already been done. I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"Uh huh." The response from Tenchi was guarded.
The Queen sighed and looked at her darkly.
"Look Tenchi, there is no way of getting around it." There was no light tone that Tenchi
had come to expect; no calm measured voice that seemed to be a part of her. She was all
business, and she wasn't in a good mood.
"Getting around what?"
Funaho stalked into the room. A part of Tenchi screamed that she was in big trouble;
Funaho never stalked anywhere. Except when chasing Misaki or Azusa possibly.
"The fact that you are a member of the Royal family." The Jet black-hared woman stopped
in front of her and poked her in the chest. "You have responsibilities. Even Sasami knows
this."
"Well I didn't have the advantage of growing up in a palace, did I? I'm not suitable for that
responsibility; something you can't seem to realise."
Funaho snapped and slapped Tenchi across the face.
Tenchi brought her face back round to look Funaho in the eyes.
"Feel better?" She asked, ignoring the pain.
To Funaho's immense surprise, she growled in anger. How dare this impudent little brat
mock the scared duty they all had? How dare she?
"No. It's you that does not realise. You can't escape the duties you have. I'll pound it into
you if I have to."
Tenchi eloquently raised an eyebrow.
"Is that a threat? Or an observation?" She asked, further enraging Funaho.
Tenchi wondered what the hell she was doing. Why it felt so right to piss Funaho off like
this.
"What's the matter?" She prodded. "The supreme spymaster of the mighty Juraian Empire
beaten by a mere nothing like me? Tut, tut, tut." She shook her head sadly at this last.
The fire in Funaho's eyes increased a hundred-fold.
~ Why the-! How dare-! ~ For the first time in over a thousand years, words failed the
First Queen of Jurai. Letting out her rage she fired at the source of her frustration.
Tenchi felt the surge and dived out of the way of the anger-enhanced blast, noting the flash
as she did so. Rolling to her feet she saw Funaho in an outfit she knew well. She had
changed from her robes into her Jurai Battle armour. The armour looked a lot like Ayeka's,
except it had a deep purple hue to the whole thing and a strange symbol or crest over the left
breast and on the right shoulder. The crest looked like a lightening bolt over a tree and star-
studded sky.
~ The symbol of Juraian intelligence? ~ Tenchi wondered briefly.
Funaho didn't wait until Tenchi was ready but charged straight away. Tenchi barely
avoided the strike, and managed to block the follow-through kick before counter-striking.
Funaho blocked and redoubled her assault. A brief flurry of strikes, blocks and counter-
strikes followed before the whip crack of a power bolt blasted Tenchi away.
~ She's good. ~ Tenchi thought through the pain. She'd taken the blast at point blank
range without any shielding, when it should have ripped right through her; a testament to her
new power. ~ Of course, for someone trained by Misaki that's no surprise. ~
Tenchi had to be careful here. She had enough power to obliterate a decent sized planet, so
could easily vaporise Funaho with a thought. She didn't really want to do that.
Funaho charged and leapt into a flying kick.
~ Bad move. ~ Tenchi noted as she sent a force wave towards her.
Funaho managed to land safely from the attack, only to receive a lightening fast roundhouse
kick that, had she not gone with it, would have broken a few ribs. Even with the armour
there. As it was she was thrown three metres back, impacting against the wall with enough
force to knock the breath out of her.
Tenchi knew she could end it there, and did. Funaho found her arms stapled to the wall by
Lighthawk wings. She could feel the power tormenting her, holding her helpless.
Tenchi walked slowly towards the struggling Queen, a dark look on her face.
***
Misaki was getting a dark feeling, something she hadn't felt for a while.
"Sis is taking a long time." She muttered to herself.
Unbeknownst to her, Sasami was getting the same feeling. Only hers involved Tenchi as
well.
"I'm just going to see how your Aunt is getting along." Misaki announced as she stood up.
"Won't be long."
Sasami watched as her mother disappeared into the lab. She waited a few minutes before
the feeling got worse.
~ Sasami: Tsunami! ~ She cried. ~ What's happening? ~
There was no response.
~ Sasami: TSUNAMI! ~ She tried again. All she felt was a whimper of horror.
~ That's it. ~ She thought angrily and put herself in a trance.
***
Misaki had found Washu and Kiyone without any trouble.
"Where's my Sister Washu?" She asked, looking around.
"Oh she went to see Tenchi in the practice room." Washu replied. "Head back the way you
came and take the second right. It's the one with the blast doors."
Misaki headed off to the room, moving faster and faster as the feeling got worse.
~ Here it is- ~ She was cut off when she saw Funaho slam against the wall hard, and be
fixed there by Lighthawk wings. That was all she needed to see.
***
Tenchi walked slowly towards the struggling Queen, a dark look on her face.
She looked into the Queen's eyes as she stood before her, and ducked the attack from
behind.
Misaki's energy blade flashed past Funaho's face, but she didn't notice as she was focused
on something else.
Funaho brought her knee up into Tenchi's face, braking her concentration and causing the
wings to vanish. She swung a tremendous right hook at her captor.
Tenchi caught the punch and backhanded Funaho away, then quickly dodged the thrust from
Misaki; grabbing the wrist and twisting painfully before bringing both feet up and smashing
them into Misaki's chest, using her as a springboard and triggering her armour.
Misaki took the heavy blow, rolled and came up in a flash. Literally, as she activated her
own armour. It didn't help she was mad as well. Her armour was much like Funaho's, but a
deep blue in colour and a different crest. It was a shield with the Tree and Stars of Jurai
embossed on it.
Tenchi landed with Lighthawk sword formed, ready for anything.
As one, the Queens and Tenchi charged. Tenchi sent a plasma wave ahead of her.
Funaho saw this and leapt, pulling her Sister with her and sending a power bolt at Tenchi.
Tenchi had sent a force wave at where she had anticipated the Queens would be and the two
attacks cancelled each other out in a bright flash, but instead of the Queens landing on Tenchi
she wasn't there.
Misaki pushed Funaho to one side while she went the other, milliseconds before Tenchi
dropped from above. The blue-hared Queen kept down as Funaho launched a trio of blasts at
Tenchi, who flipped out of the way each time.
Misaki came in low, to find her blade met by Tenchi's reversed one who then hit back with
an open palm strike that knocked Misaki reeling. Funaho caught Tenchi with a reverse
roundhouse to the face doing the same to her.
Tenchi's eyes cleared to see the two Sister Queens pull off some sort of gestalt blast right at
her.
The explosion of impact echoed around the room as the Queens relaxed to ready states, eyes
boring into the smoke to find any trace of Tenchi. They did not have to wait long as the glow
of three Lighthawk wings emerged.
To say Tenchi was a bit pissed would be an understatement of the grossest sort.
~ So they want to play rough do they? ~ Her mind growled.
The moment Tenchi saw the gestalt blast she switched to defence, and now Tenchi gave up
any pretence of holding back.
The Queens watched in awe as Tenchi held her arms outstretched and pulled the Wings
through her, changing her armour.
Tenchi's new Lighthawk Armour was of the same colour scheme as before, but was form
fitting. Every curve and line was accentuated beyond imaging, the chest open to show an
insane and quite possibly illegal amount of cleavage. But every line held an armour plate,
every opening laced with chain mail. Tenchi formed her sword and stood ready,
outstandingly beautiful and unbelievably deadly.
"OK ladies," She purred, every word coming from her rich lips an almost irresistible
invitation, "Let's dance."
***
Sasami flew through the darkness following the glowing, golden thread that linked her with
Tsunami. She found her other self looking at the pool in front of her in horror. She gasped
when she saw what so shocked the tree.
Tenchi, her mother and her aunt. Locked in combat.
"Tsunami do something!" She cried. "Stop them!"
"I don't know how!" Tsunami wailed. "I'm afraid I'll hurt them too much!"
Sasami gaped, looking between her beloved soul mate and the scene several times before
she saw Tenchi power up and change. She made up her mind.
"If you won't, I will." The little princess said resolutely. She reached through herself
towards the power she would someday be in full command of.
"No." Tsunami said, wrapping her arms around her younger self. "WE do it like this."
***
Tenchi knocked Funaho to the floor and drove her sword towards her. The black-hared
Queen barely got out of the way as Misaki came in at Tenchi's open flank. The stunning kick
knocked Tenchi far enough for Funaho to get beside her Sister.
All three waited for the next attack, ready for anything.
Except Tsunami, battle ready and with a glowing sword in each hand. Her battle armour
was of the same general design as Queens', but it had a golden leaf pattern over the leaf-
green clothes. There were five leaf-like markings on each side of her face that seemed to
grow from and around her neck. Only Tenchi noticed the markings on her forehead.
"Stay out of this." She growled.
"No." The Queens noted Tsunami's voice was slightly choral. "This ends now. Funaho,
Tenchi. Apologise and halt this nonsense."
Tenchi let her sword go, but did not let herself drop out of Lighthawk Armour mode.
Funaho glared at her opponent.
"NOW." The energy blades in Tsunami's hands glowed brightly and formed into
Lighthawk Wing swords. "Funaho first. You started it."
Misaki glanced at her Sister to see the rage there. A rage she hadn't seen since their battles
for Azusa. And it was directed at Tenchi.
~ You're not going to make this mistake if I can help it. ~ She thought.
She put herself in front of her Sister and formed her sword, leaving Tsunami free to deal
with Tenchi.
"Do it Sister." Misaki advised. "Sasami gave me a reason for why Tenchi is so unpopular
with our husband, and you got an example of it first hand."
Funaho looked into her Sister's eyes, and saw the look that promised extreme pain. She
frowned.
"OK..." She dragged it out. "I'm sorry for hitting you." She didn't sound very.
Tsunami glared at Tenchi.
"And I'm sorry for pissing you off." There was the same tone in her voice.
Tsunami and Misaki let their weapons drop.
"I like your new armour." Tsunami teased, eyeing it hungrily.
Funaho took a closer look, and her expression softened. Misaki's turned ravenous.
"Oh great." Tenchi grumbled.
"Now Funaho, Tenchi. Kiss and make up." Tsunami told them.
A particularly unenthusiastic Tenchi drifted towards the armour-clad Queen who was doing
the same.
"You. Me. We will talk. Later." Tenchi warned the azure-hared goddess.
She stopped in front of Funaho.
"Looks like you get an excuse." Tenchi told her.
Funaho smiled wryly.
"I certainly didn't expect it like this." She replied honestly.
The serious expression returned to Tsunami's face.
Funaho got the point. At least she could get a little revenge here...
The Queen pulled Tenchi in for a deep kiss, but the moment their lips met a fire like a nova
roared through Funaho's body; igniting every centre of her body.
Tenchi for her part was damn near fainting anyway. It felt so intense, she could taste the
power within the Queen; smell her sent; feel the heat coming through the armour.
Funaho managed to peel herself away and tried to hide the fire raging through her veins.
Tenchi shot her a dark look.
"Thank you for the assistance Sister." She told Misaki.
"Yeah. If you hadn't jumped in we wouldn't be in this mess." Tenchi complained. "The
fight was over before you tried to take me from behind."
"Well I'm sorry." Misaki said as she came close and kissed Tenchi herself.
~ Not again! ~ Tenchi groaned.
The same nova-heat fire roared though Misaki's body like it did her Sister.
"Wow. Now that's a kiss." She breathed as she came away.
Tenchi felt Tsunami vanish.
~ Great. Leave me in the lurch, why don't you. I'm gonna get you for this. ~
Misaki and Funaho took a more critical look at Tenchi.
"Beautiful yet practical, eh Sis?" Misaki asked.
"I must admit you look very...appealing." Funaho said carefully.
Tenchi began wondering why she hadn't returned to her normal mode when she had
relaxed.
"Like I really care about such things." Tenchi told them.
Misaki sighed in despair.
"Can't you, for a couple of hours, at least try to be a woman?"
"The moment I do that, everyone else will want me to continue. 'You've done it before'
They'll say. No thanks." Tenchi finally dropped out of Lighthawk Armour mode. She
quickly deactivated her normal battle armour.
"Aren't you finished?" She asked the Queens. "Or are you going to get in some heavy
practice?"
The answering flash greeted her.
"Thanks for the practice. I see I need to work on a few things." Tenchi carefully stressed
the sentence.
"No problem." Misaki understood instantly.
"You can thank me later for setting the sensors in here to turn off a minute after I destroyed
the last target." Tenchi said as she began walking towards the exit.
The Queens watched her until she left.
"At least she's picked up basic politics." Funaho grumbled.
"OK Sister," Misaki growled, "Spill it. What the hell was that about?"
***
Tsunami reappeared in her personal dimension without a moment to spare. She collapsed to
her knees in near-exhaustion.
~ Here we go... ~ She thought to herself as she began to glow.
Quickly the glow became blinding before vanishing to reveal two tired figures.
"Tenchi's going to be very upset." Sasami said quietly.
"Don't I know it." Tsunami grumbled. "And things were just settling down between us.
Why can't anything go right for us?" The elder version of Sasami wailed that last.
"I feel really sleepy Tsunami. How can I fall asleep while asleep? Is that possible?"
Sasami yawned.
Tsunami put her arm around her younger self.
"I sorry for putting you under such stress." Tsunami apologised. "That was very tiring for
one as young as you." ~ Both physically and spiritually. ~ She added to herself.
"It stopped them fighting. That's all that mattered." The pride of accomplishment was clear
in Sasami's voice. "But why?"
Tsunami moved to cradle her younger self on her lap.
"Dear Sasami, you care so much for them all don't you?"
"Of course I do! They're my family!"
The azure-hared goddess smiled warmly and enveloped the young princess in a loving (Or
should that be lovers) embrace.
"Hold on to that." She said fiercely. "That's the sort of woman we want to become."
***
Tokimi watched the replay of the events that had just transpired.
~ Remarkable control. ~ She thought to herself. Tenchi could have easily destroyed them
if she so wished. Yet she had not done so, and had taken the opportunity to improve herself.
The deep feelings she ignored had flared when Tenchi had transformed, digging deeper into
the core of Tokimi's being.
The goddess' eyes narrowed when Tsunami had appeared. Actually appeared! How had
she done that? This bore greater investigation.
Which wasn't going well. While the knowledge D3 had discovered was useful in its way,
there was much she wanted more on. She had an idea as to the origin of Tenchi's power, yet
she had no idea on how it could be accomplished. She realised she was focusing more on this
than on her other projects. It didn't seem to worry her as much as it should.
***
Tenchi was far away from the house for the moment. She needed to think a bit. Sat on a
rock on the far side of the valley she gazed blankly into the sky, not really paying any
attention to her surroundings. What she was paying attention to was the growing feeling of
longing. For her to be him again. For the old life to come back.
She let her mind drift, and it came back with thought of her guests and companions. How
much she really cared for them. How much they annoyed her at times. How much she, deep
down, would have liked to do those things the Queens had offered. How much her thought
ranged over the women while she had still been male. How much stronger those thoughts
had seemed to become now she was female. She worried about that. Was her body taking
over? Was it just confusion? She didn't know, but she knew it didn't feel right. But it felt
right as well, to some part of her. That sense of rightness almost overcame the sense of
wrongness all those times.
Tenchi realised with a start that the feeling of wrongness only survived because she had
added her will to it. Had she not... She didn't want to think about it really but she forced
herself.
What would have happened? She wasn't naive enough to believe she wouldn't have
enjoyed it. She probably would have. At least some of it. But what then? Would she have
felt guilty? Probably. Would she have wanted to do it again? And with whom that time?
Ayeka? Ryoko? Both? Would she have gone for Tsunami, since they could touch? What
would that have done to Sasami? What about the others?
Tenchi was getting uncomfortably warm just thinking about it, yet she pressed on. What
would it have done to her? What about the Queens? What would they have done?
The questions built up, what ifs and might have beens flashed through her mind, warming
her even further. She was curious, though she denied it as much as probable. How could she
not be? These sorts of things fascinated lots of beings, for lots of reasons.
~ Might as well see if they need any help packing. ~
***
Funaho was halfway through the packing when she felt someone at the door.
"Need a hand?" Tenchi's quiet voice asked.
Turning she saw Tenchi leaning in the doorway with that thoughtful, slightly far away look
the First Queen found intolerably attractive on the young woman. She knew Misaki preferred
the slightly shocked look on Tenchi, which made Funaho wonder what anyone saw in
another.
She smiled more warmly than she would have earlier.
"Thank you, yes."
Tenchi silently walked in, and tried not to wince as a loud crash came from downstairs.
"Is she always like that?" Funaho asked.
"Before Kiyone arrived she was worse. Remember her 'landing' during the duel? That was
about average."
Funaho chuckled and shook her head sadly.
They didn't talk for a while as Tenchi helped the Queen pack.
"Is something the matter Tenchi?" Funaho finally asked.
"Hum? Oh. Nothing."
Funaho put her bundle down.
"Tenchi. I'd like to think we know each other well enough to be comfortable with sharing
our problems." She paused and considered that statement. "Well, most of them." She
amended, thinking about this morning. "What's wrong?"
Tenchi looked at her. Really looked. Then turned her gaze back to her packing. As if she
was...? What?
Funaho studied Tenchi intently, trying to solve this problem.
~ She looks... Embarrassed? ~ She thought to herself. ~ Why? ~
"What is it Tenchi? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."
"It's nothing." Tenchi muttered as she returned to work.
Funaho moved next to her and put her hand on Tenchi's shoulder. She noted the slight
flinch at contact.
"It is something Tenchi. If you're worried about this morning..."
Tenchi shrugged off the hand, as well as the question. She finished the package.
"There. That should do." Tenchi stood up. Funaho followed quickly.
Tenchi made to leave, but Funaho grabbed her wrist and pulled the young woman into her
embrace.
"What is it Tenchi?" She asked gently.
Tenchi refused to look at her, but the Queen felt it. She felt the way Tenchi's body
responded to the embrace.
"I see." She smiled. "You are confused, wondering about how you feel." She sighed and
smoothly pulled the two of them to sit on the bed.
"It was difficult for me to come to terms with the first time." She told the woman in her
arms. "It was shortly after Azusa married Misaki. I had already been married to him for a
good two years. Misaki's marriage had followed after the three months of negotiations that
had started when I officially announced their engagement."
Tenchi looked up at her in shock. As if to say, you? She stayed silent however.
Funaho laughed at that. "Oh yes. When Azusa was courting us both, we acted much like
Ayeka and Ryoko. Worse in some cases. My Sister had been his long time fianc'e before he
visited Earth and met me. She was not best pleased when she saw us together." Funaho
chuckled again at the memory.
***
Misaki was walking back to their room when she heard Funaho talking. Slowing she
recognised the story.
"...She was not best pleased when she saw us together."
When Funaho chuckled, Misaki did the same. No she had not been best pleased. In fact she
had acted with an anger she had seen in Tenchi earlier.
"I got the impression from Misaki that their honeymoon was well spent, though they never
discussed it." Misaki blushed at that.
~ Oh yes. ~ She thought. ~ That was fun. ~
"However, Azusa became very busy. Going away on long trips, heavy meetings and such. I
got lonely, as did Misaki. One night, while he was away on business, I returned to my room
to find Misaki waiting for me."
Misaki remembered the night very well.
"But you see Tenchi," Misaki hid the gasp as she found out who her Sister was talking to.
"My Sister had realised our dilemma, but not how I would take it. It was something She
found perfectly normal, Jurai's birth ratio being roughly three and a half females to every
male. Most men had two wives. That I could understand. What I couldn't understand at the
time was the relationships many women had between each other, as they simply didn't exist
in my previous experience. It puzzled her no end as I didn't respond to her advances like she
expected."
~ Yes. That confused me no end. ~ Misaki recalled. ~ I really should have spent some
more time finding out about you. ~
"Once she figured it out she became a bit worried about hurting me. We were much closer
than we once were. She is much like Sasami in that respect, not wanting to hurt her family."
~ Oh? Only a bit worried? ~ Misaki thought wryly, her Sister's knack for understatement
coming though again. In fact she had very nearly pulled her hair out.
"Misaki can be as gentle as a snowflake or as hard as a diamond. She was very gentle with
me. Of course she drugged my tea so I wouldn't run away in disgust first."
Misaki could almost see the wry smile on her Sister's lips.
"I didn't know what to think at first. The idea was so...upsetting...that at first I couldn't
bring myself to believe it. Yet... Yet my body understood what was happening. It took a
while, but my Sisters gentle ministrations broke down that resistance. I even tried to respond
in kind."
Funaho broke off in thought. Misaki didn't blame her, as the memories caused her to feel
warm. She couldn't stand it any more and snuck a peek round the doorframe.
Tenchi had her back to the door and was being held gently by her Sister. The short hared
young woman was also looking away from the Queen holding her. Funaho smiled as she saw
Misaki and used her eyes to tell her to come in.
"All the time I could feel the love coming from my Sister, and I tried my hardest to return it.
I suppose you could call that OUR honeymoon. After that we kept each other company when
Azusa couldn't. And even when he could as well." Funaho giggled. "I'm quite sure he
enjoyed it as much as we did." She sighed in regret. "But that doesn't solve your problem
does it? We all know you are still male underneath. But you are responding to those
impulses as a woman. That's confusing you, disgusting you that you feel this way while you
are a woman..."
Misaki's face lit up in understanding. ~ Oh is that it? ~
"... And you are scared. Because you don't know how to deal with it. Because your
control is slipping after being so successful for so long. You are no doubt thinking very
healthy male thoughts about the girls."
~ And, in your state, a few unhealthy ones. ~ The Queens thought.
"And then there are the feelings your current form is adding to the mix. Those feelings are
very intense for a young woman. I should know. Especially for you, as you are not only
male in mind meaning that you don't know how to cope, and as your power is no doubt
magnifying them."
Misaki barely heard the muttered response.
"Why me?" Tenchi groaned in despair. "I would have been better off not thinking about
it."
Misaki shook her head in resigned amusement.
"It would have just come up later." Funaho told her. "Then you would have to face it
without help."
"I... I think I should leave now." Tenchi said.
"That is not wise at the moment." Funaho replied, looking at her Sister.
Misaki got the message and joined the pair on the bed.
"You were listening?" Tenchi asked, a bit shocked.
"Yes I was." Misaki said kindly. "Funaho is right. It would not be wise for you to leave
with your emotions so messed up." She took a deep breath. "How do you feel about the
girls?" She asked seriously.
"What?" Tenchi was downright freaked at this.
"Answer the question Tenchi."
"..." Was all the answer she got.
"I think we can delay our departure an hour or two." Funaho observed.
"I wouldn't want you to do that." Tenchi croaked.
"Well, until we get an answer..."
"I don't know!" Tenchi snapped. "How am I supposed to know? Annoying? Yes.
Beautiful? Definitely. Would I miss them if they left? Yes. A lot. I would give my life for
them if I had to. They're my family now." She finally turned to look at the Queens. "Happy
now?" She asked coldly.
Both Queens just looked at her for a minute. Just looked. Nothing else. The seconds ticked
by in silence.
Misaki slowly smiled. A brilliant, warm smile.
"Was that so hard?" She asked.
"Yes." Tenchi replied. "It was."
Tenchi wasn't exactly sure what had happened when she found herself crushed under
Misaki, held tightly and being kissed so hard she felt afraid that she'd loose some teeth.
A muffled "Mumph!" emerged when she tried to speak, but it only allowed Misaki to make
the kiss deeper. She tried to struggle, to get loose somehow; yet it didn't work. All the
squirming did was to prod the blue-hared terror on, and make her feel the same warm feeling
she had been trying to escape. This distracted her, and made her unable to concentrate. Not
that the lack of oxygen helped much in this regard.
The kiss broke, Tenchi gasping for breath.
Misaki sighed happily, shifting herself and Tenchi into a sitting position. The near vice-like
grip lessened to a more comfortable hug.
"So, now we have that out of the way, how are you feeling Tenchi?" Funaho asked.
"Like I've just wrestled with a bear." Tenchi groaned.
Misaki looked disappointed, but Funaho chuckled.
"Azusa says the same thing. My Sister is rather enthusiastic about such things." The black-
hared Queen paused. "Not that you would have minded." She finished with a sly smile.
That brightened Misaki's expression.
"Can we finish packing now?" Tenchi asked.
"Not 'till my Sister's had her turn." Misaki told her, turning Tenchi to face her fate.
***
Getting the packages onto the Queens' ships wasn't very hard. All the household had to do
was organise the packages into piles dependent on whose ship they were going to. Then the
ships' transporters would deal with it. It was the sorting that was taking the time.
~ Why can't this be done in one go? ~ Tenchi thought to herself, trying to decide between
two identical, or near identical, packages. ~ It would be so much easier. ~
The remaining loose packages disappeared, then reappeared in the two piles.
~ Oh. ~ Tenchi thought, realising what she had done to the accompaniment of the
extremely puzzled looks of the rest. Her slightly sheepish look told them what had done this.
"Oops?" She ventured when those looks turned on her.
"I wish you wouldn't do that." Washu shook her head sadly. "Developing new abilities
spontaneously can be hard on people."
"Hey it's not my fault. And it isn't a new one either."
"Oh?" Ryoko asked. "Then how did you pull this off then?"
"Simple. I sensed which package resonated with which sorted pile, then teleported them."
The Queens looked at each other and sighed, each sending a mental command to their
respective ship.
The piles glowed a bright blue before dissolving.
"Do you think you can stay for lunch?" Tenchi asked them.
"There's no problem with staying a couple more hours." Funaho replied, noting the
expectant expression on Sasami's face turned into a smile when she said that. Yes, a few
more hours wouldn't hurt.
***
Yosho stood at the top of the stairs, watching the goodbyes. He and his mother had settled
most of their differences this visit, so he had no real need to go down. Besides, if she wanted
him she'd get Tenchi to fetch him. The Queens visit had been...instructive, if not quite as
peaceful as he had expected. Tenchi had the right to make her own decisions, and her own
mistakes, though he wondered if some of the mistakes would need correcting. Ah well,
plenty of time for that later.
He watched the ships appear, watched the Queens leave and watched the ships disappear
into Hyperspace on their way back to Jurai. There was always the hope that things would
quiet down again now, but somehow he doubted that.
Yes, it was going to be interesting.