Tenchi Universe

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Disclaimer: This episode of Tenchi Universe is of my own creation as well as the character Hayato. I do not own any portion of Tenchi Muyo. "Tenchi Muyo!" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1992-2003 AIC Inc. and Pioneer LDC. All rights reserved

Note: This episode takes place shortly after the events of Tenchi Universe, Tenchi Muyo in Love and Tenchi Forever.

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The More Things Change...

Episode 3:

No Need for Explanations!

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Fade in: Masaki Residence, late Sunday night. Everyone is staring at Hayato, who just moments before, saved everyone from the falling ceiling. His eyes, which were glowing a bright green when he saved everyone, are now returning back to its normal color, only a faint brightness can be seen. The green aura that surrounded his body is also disappearing. He looks around at everybody, all of whom are too shocked for words.

A rumbling of footsteps coming down the stairs diverts everyone's attention. The two Knights, Azaka and Kamidake, are running down the stairs. They apparently heard all of the noise from the ceiling falling and came down to see what was happening.

Azaka is the first to speak up. "What happened?"

"Is everyone all right?" Kamidake adds.

Nobody speaks. The two Knights look around the entire room to all the shocked faces, and finally to Hayato, whose face bares an expression of extreme seriousness.

Azaka takes a step forward to the middle of the room. "Why is nobody talking?"

Kamidake walks up and joins his fellow knight. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Still there was no response from anyone. Hayato finally breaks the silence. "Nothing happened, just a small accident, that's all. Nobody was hurt so there is no need for worrying. Now, if you all will excuse me." Hayato turned and started to walk to the front door.

Ayeka suddenly broke out of her 'trance' and stepped forward and began to talk in her most regal and commanding voice. "Now just you wait a minute Hayato! You have a lot of explaining to do!"

Hayato stops in his tracks and turned around. He was slightly smiling. "Yes Princess, I guess I do have some explaining to do."

Ayeka was about to say something, but stopped, a shocked expression once again appearing on her face. "How...how did you know that I am a Princess?"

An odd smile now forms on Hayato's face. "I know a lot of things about you, and, well, everyone else here." He stops for a moment to look around the room, the smile now getting wider. "A space pirate and her cabbit spaceship, two Galaxy Police Officers, the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe, two Princesses of the Planet Jurai, two legendary Knights of Jurai, my grandfather the former Jurai warrior Yosho, and my dear cousin, the crown Prince of Jurai! I am quite honored to be in the presence of such a group of people!"

Now Azaka and Kamidake joined everyone else with their identical shocked expressions. Sasami steps forward. "Please Hayato, tells us how you know about us and how you generated that power."

Ryo-Ohki jumps on top of the little princess' head and looks at Hayato with her pleading eyes. "Meow?"

"Yes," Katsuhito begins, "your power resembles that of Jurai's, but I could sense a difference."

"And you are not related to your Grandfather through blood so it is impossible for you to have Jurai's power," Ayeka adds.

Hayato chuckles merrily. "Ah, oh well. I guess you all would have found out my secret eventually, so I guess it's time to explain everything. Please sit because this isn't a short story."

Everyone did as he said and sat down. Hayato took a deep breath. "A little over a year ago, when I was still in high school, my History teacher wanted to take us out on one last fun trip before we graduated, so he decided to take us to some old ruins that were on the outskirts of our town. The ruins were from an old tribe that lived there hundreds of years ago, their name escapes me for the moment." He stops for a moment when Ryo-Ohki jumps off of Sasami's head and climbs up his leg to his shoulder.

He pats the cabbit a couple of times before starting again. "Anyway, while the teacher was talking to the class, I ventured away from the group to do some exploring. While I was walking around, I felt the earth move beneath me, and the next thing I knew, I was falling down a deep chasm."

Ayeka gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, my!"

"Oh no!" Sasami says, her eyes full of concern. "Were you hurt?"

"Yeah I was. The fall knocked me out, and when I came to, I felt an extreme pain coming from my right arm. I looked at it and knew instantly that it was broken. It was all twisted in the wrong direction."

Everyone cringes as he said the last part. He takes the brief moment to catch his breath.

"After that, I decided to play it safe and to look for a way out. After about ten minutes of looking, I found myself in an enormous room. There were all kinds of decorations and paintings adorning the walls and different kinds of pottery on the floor. It looked like it was a place of worship or something. Anyway, the paintings, and decorations and pottery were interesting, but my full attention was diverted to the middle of the room, where on a small podium stood."

He pauses and reaches into his bulky traveling bag and pull out a crystal orb. It is small, measuring only about a foot in diameter, polished very finely, and is quite beautiful. A grin spreads across his face, ".this."

Tenchi takes a step towards his cousin. "Wh...what is that thing?"

"This orb is what gave me my powers that you just saw, as well as a few others."

Washu runs up and grabs the orb, examining it closely. "Interesting. Do you know how this thing gave you all of those powers?

At those words, Hayato's eyes begin to glow green again. What shocks everyone is that the orb in Washu's hands begins to glow too. The genius nearly drops it in surprise. At first the orb seems to be flickering, but then everybody realizes that it is actually pulsing, almost like a beating heart.

Hayato begin to chuckle again. "I don't know about that but as I walked closer to the orb, it began to pulse like it is now. I don't know how, but my broken arm felt less and less painful with each step I took towards the orb. I felt compelled to get as close to the orb as possible, and before I knew it, I was standing merely inches from it."

Everyone is holding their breaths awaiting to hear the next part of the story. Mihoshi is literally bouncing from one foot to the other in anticipation. "So what'd you do?"

"Well I placed my left hand on the orb, and then suddenly, I was consumed with a dazzling light. My body felt like it was being pumped full of energy, I could feel my broken arm magically becoming fixed. Suddenly I felt my feet leave the ground, and then...darkness."

Mihoshi stares blankly at Hayato. "Darkness?"

"Yes, I blacked out again. When I awoke, I had somehow gotten back to my home and I was lying in my bed. The orb was still in my hand. Over the next few weeks, I had discovered that I had some special powers. I could move things with my mind, like you all just saw. That also means that I can make myself fly! It is such a wonderful feeling!"

Ryoko flies up a few feet in the air and floats over next to him. "Ah, you'll get used to it."

Ryo-Ohki hops off of Hayato's shoulder and onto her mistresses.' "Meow!"

Everyone starts to laugh. Washu walks up to Hayato and examines him slightly. "Hmm, you can also read other people's minds too, can't you?"

Hayato scratches the back of his head. "Um, yeah. That's how I found out about everybody. But wait!" he adds as everyone except for Washu backs away from him a couple of steps, all looking apprehensive. "All I looked at in your minds was who you all actually were, that's all! I swear! A person's mind is theirs and shouldn't be messed with."

Everyone sighs and sits back down at the table. Hayato, however, was still standing. "When Tenchi introduced all of you to me, I felt that he wasn't telling me the entire truth about everybody, so I dug in a bit to find out what he was hiding."

"Wow!" Sasami squeals, now looking very excited, "that must be really neat! I'd love to be able to read people's minds!

Ryoko looks over at Tenchi and puts her arm around him. "Yeah, you could tell how someone really feels about you!" she says lustfully at him.

The prince instantly tenses up. "Hey, Ryoko!"

Ayeka reaches over and grabs Ryoko's ear and pulls her away from Tenchi. "Ow!" the pirate screams. "Hey, why'd you do that for?"

"Well isn't that obvious?" Ayeka huffs. "Tenchi would never like a filthy, deceiving pirate like you. He likes women who are beautiful and regal. Right Lord Tenchi?" she adds as she wraps her arm around Tenchi's.

He begins to pull back, looking very flustered. "Hey, now both of you cut it out!"

Hayato suddenly jumps up, making everyone gasp.

"What's wrong?" the little princess asks.

"Oh nothing. I just remembered that Miss Kiyone and I were about to go out for a walk before the ceiling began to fall."

Kiyone begins to blush. Mihoshi starts to giggle. "Oh my, he's right! I guess we all forgot after all of the excitement!"

Hayato reaches down and takes Kiyone's hand and pulls her up. He looks around to everyone. "Well, I guess we will be going out now."

"Have a great time!" Sasami exclaims.

Ryo-Ohki mews happily on top of Ryoko's shoulder. The pirate looks between the two of them with an amused look on her face. "Don't go for too long of a walk, you'll probably need your strength for later!" An evil grin spreads across her mouth as she watches Hayato and Kiyone start to turn a deep shade of red.

"Ryoko, leave those two alone! You're embarrassing them!" Although Ayeka is seemingly protesting to Ryoko's comments and behavior, Tenchi can't help but notice the small smirk on the side of her face.

"Well Princess," Ryoko starts as she teleports next to her, "that's the point."

Hayato takes a deep breath and regains his composure. "Well, see you later everyone!" He begins to lead Kiyone towards the front door.

The GP officer turns around and quickly waves at the group. "Yeah, later."

They both walk out the door. Ayeka smiles as she watches them. "They make a cute couple."

Washu stands up, the orb still grasped firmly in her hands. "Yeah, let's just hope that everything goes smoothly for them tonight." She looks down at the orb. "I think I'll go in my lab and run a couple of tests on this thing. Goodnight everyone!"

"Goodnight," everyone replies as the little genius walks into her lab.

Azaka proudly stands up and looks over to Sasami. "Well now Princess, since I am already down here, I would like to challenge you!"

The young princess rolls her eyes. "You want to play that game again!?"

"Yes! I will not quit until I finally defeat you! And I have been practicing all the time, I will not lose to you again!"

Kamidake leans in towards Sasami and whispers, "I think you had better accept his challenge Princess, he can be very stubborn."

A sigh bubble escapes Sasami's mouth. "Oh well, I guess I accept your challenge."

Azaka literally jumps with joy. "Yes! Thank you Princess! I promise you that this will be our best fight yet!"

Azaka runs upstairs, Sasami and Kamidake following slowly behind him. Tenchi looks at the table where the plates and bowls from dinner are still residing. "Hey, let's all clean the table for Sasami!"

Ayeka beams at 'her' prince. "Oh yes, that would be a nice gesture for the wonderful dinner."

Nobuyuki scratches the back of his head and looks upstairs. "And I don't think that she will be down anytime soon. Azaka looked pretty determined to win."

Soon everybody is busy bringing all the dishes into the kitchen and cleaning them. Ryoko, deciding to not do any work, teleports up to the roof. Ayeka looks at Ryoko leaving with disgust. "I swear that woman will never lift a finger around the house to help."

"Oh well," Mihoshi says in her cheerful voice, "you know how Ryoko is."

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Ryoko is laying down relaxing on the roof. Suddenly she sits up, another evil grin spreads across her lips. She teleports into the kitchen right next to Tenchi, who is cleaning dishes. Tenchi looks over to her. "Ah, Ryoko. Did you decide to help?"

The pirate's grin widens. "Not exactly."

Tenchi starts to look nervous. He turns around and starts to walk away, but Ryoko grabs him around his neck and starts to draw little circles on Tenchi's chest with her finger. She leans in close and whispers lustfully in his ear, "Tenchi? I thought that you said that we were going to go out for a walk."

"You know I don't remember saying that."

Ryoko begins to pout. "Oh Tenchi, you are so stubborn! Why don't you want to go out for a walk with me?"

"Because," a stern voice begins behind them, "Lord Tenchi would never want to be with you Ryoko!" Ryoko and Tenchi turn around to see Ayeka watching them crossly. "Face it pirate, he's just not your type!"

Ryoko doesn't respond, but does begin to smile at Ayeka.

The princess narrows her eyes. "What are you smiling at?"

"Ah now Ayeka, if you had just come in here a couple of seconds earlier, you would have heard Tenchi declare his love for me!"

"WHAT!?" Ayeka and Tenchi shout in unison.

Ryoko learns her head back and starts to laugh. "Well it's too bad that you lost Princess, but we both knew that this day would be coming sooner or later. Now if you excuse us, Tenchi and I would like some private time with each other!" Ryoko flies up in the air with Tenchi still in her arms and starts to teleport away.

Ayeka's last glimpse of Tenchi and Ryoko before they disappear is Tenchi trying to struggle against Ryoko, but she is too strong for him. Then suddenly, they are gone, leaving an extremely angry Ayeka in the kitchen. "Tenchi!? Tenchi!? Ooh Ryoko! I am going to get you for this!"

Fade out.

To be continued...

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Author's notes: The origin of Hayato's powers was originally a dream I had once. I thought that it would be nice to add into my stories. What will become of Tenchi now that Ryoko "took" him out on a walk?

As usual, send any responses and comments to: lighthawkdemon@yahoo.com

Next episode: No Need for Second Dates!