Knucks awoke the next morning to a duet of birds, whistling their sweet song. A ray of sunshine lit up his vision as he attempted to open his eyes. With a groan, he stretched the morning dreariness away. Except, with a glance at the clock, he realized that it was one o clock. He was scarcely surprised as he hadn't slept in a real bed for over a year and his body definitely yearned for it. He just lay there, pondering last nights events. Tenchi and him had gotten to know each other a little more. He had asked him of the history of him and the girls, and asked which one he was currently with. Surprisingly, he just blushed and explained that he was with none. I couldn't believe that he lived in a house full of women and had not even dated a single one! Tenchi got a break as a girl Knucks hadn't seen before walked, or tripped rather, towards us. She was a good 5'9 or 5'10, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the most innocent look on her face that he had no choice but to laugh when she tripped over her own feet. Tenchi had introduced her as Mihoshi, obviously trying to suppress a fit of laughter himself. Another new girl walked up and yelled at Mihoshi for wrecking an experiment or something. This one was only about 5'0 or so, long red hair, big green eyes and a scientific look to her. She had introduced herself as " The greatest scientific genius in the universe!!" Tenchi just called her Washu. The most surprising fact was that not a single one of them were from this planet. They all came from different corners of the universe, just like him.
He shook away the memory as he remembered the reason that he was here. This Grampa had to be the master. Knucks hopped up and started to stretch for the duel that was to commence. He had enjoyed his stay here, a lot in fact. It pained him when he thought of leaving, but why would they want him to stay? After the duel, he was going to be on his own again with nothing and nobody to keep him company but the town drunk.
He opened his door and walked to the stair only to stop dead in his tracks as he heard his name mentioned in the living room below.
" Knucks is really not that bad a guy Ayeka. You didn't even talk to him. Give him a chance." Knucks heard Tenchi's voice and was curious at to where this conversation was going.
" Well luckily, he will be leaving after he has his little duel with your grandfather."
" Come on Ayeka! I saw you giving him the eye all last night. You've got the hots for him but you're to afraid to say it!" Knucks couldn't help but blush at that comment. He peeked around the corner and saw that Ayeka was doing the same, from anger of embarrassment.
" Ryoko! You improper, devilish, evil, demon women you!" Ayeka had blown her stack. She was going off on Ryoko as Ryoko just floated in front of her looking bored.
" You ain't to bad yourself princess. Quit whining!" Knucks was keeping his laughter to a minimum, if he could.
" No fighting you two or there will be no lunch!" Little Sasami obviously had some power being the gourmet cook of the house. He had her dinner last night and couldn't get enough of it. He had stolen half of Tenchi's while he was talking to Ayeka. Another reason he loved this place.
He had heard enough to get his laugh for the week so he walked down the stairs to get the duel over with. He was no longer excited, instead he was nervous. Until of course he looked up at the girls fighting over a small cookie.
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After bidding his good mornings, and good byes, he followed Tenchi to the sword master. While on the seemingly endless staircase to a shrine, Knucks took time to marvel at the beauty of the surrounding trees. There were trees on either side of the stair case, tall looking trees with vibrant, fall like, colors that made him feel at peace. The wind ruffled a few fallen leaves as blew them into a mini-tornado, a swirl of vibrant colors twisting and flying through air only to settle back down or blown away to some distant land. He was snapped away from the colors as he saw him. The sword master was an old fellow with a pony tail and glasses. Not very intimidating, yet there was an unmistakable aura of power around him. This made Knucks nervous again. Tenchi whispered something to him before the master approached Knucks. He looked him over and then asked , " You want a duel yet you have no sword." Knucks froze as he remembered that his sword had been cut in two by Ryoko.
" Yes, I guess that does complicate thing." Knucks would've rather walked up to him smelling like beer than not having his sword.
" I'm sorry then because we cannot duel. I would like to ask you though, are you serious about sword fighting?"
Knucks answered immediately, " Yes I am. I have done it for most of my life. My mother sent me to train with the best sword fighters in the universe for 8 years."
" Well in that case, why don't you stay here and train with Tenchi and I. Tenchi could use a sparring partner. What do you think?" Knucks could hardly contain his excitement at this proposal. He would be training with a sword master and get to stay here.
" Sounds like a plan to me. If Tenchi doesn't mind me staying here."
" Nope I don't mind. If anything, it will give the girls another person to pick on." Tenchi and Knucks chuckled over this.
" It's settled then. Everyday after breakfast, come up here. My training is not easy, in fact its grueling." He could've said that it required a sex change and Knucks still would've accepted.
" I'm not afraid of hard work."
" Good. See you both tomorrow."
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Knucks and Tenchi had went through the rest of the day not even mentioning the training. Tenchi had gone down to the fields to work while Knucks decided that it was time to get to know some of the girls. He figured that he would start with Ayeka since him and her haven't even talked to each other since he came here. He might've had a hard time finding any of the other girls but Ayeka was very noticeable since she was screaming at the top of her lungs at Ryoko. Tenchi had warned very strongly about getting in-between them when they were feuding. Since he valued his health, he decided to watch and listen from a far for now. The fight probably would've raged on for a long time if it hadn't been for little Sasami hitting both fighters in the head with a frying pan. That stopped them just long enough so Knucks could get Ayeka's attention, " Hey miss Ayeka! Do you mind if I talk to you?"
" I am in the middle of something right now! Please let me put that demon in her place first! Now then Ryoko, where were we-" she looked up to see that Ryoko had disappeared from their fight and was now hovering next to Knucks.
" You don't really wanna talk to that lame, spoiled brat do you? I'm much more interesting than her." Knucks couldn't tell if she was trying to get under Ayeka's skin or if she really wanted to talk to him.
" Fair enough. Let's take a walk." Knucks saw Ryoko stick her tongue out at Ayeka and heard Ayeka calling Ryoko a coward. While Knucks thought it would end there, he couldn't help but chuckle as a rock hit Ryoko in the back of the head.
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Once they were away from Ayeka's fury, Ryoko asked the first questions. The simple stuff like where he was from and what he was doing here. She seemed surprise that he was not of this world. Then she asked the kicker question: what about your family? This brought back painful memories of his father dying while he was only 5, his mother at 14 and most recently his sister a few months after his mother. All killed by the same maniac, the very reason he was out here, to hunt him down and kill him. He told Ryoko this and she seemed really surprised. He looked into her eyes and saw something like pity or sorrow. He decided it was his turn for twenty questions, " What about you. Family, friends, any of the above?" He figured that she gave him that look because she had plenty of both while he had none.
" No family and the gang back there are my only friends. See I was created by Washu. Then I was captured by this whack job named Kagato who basically brainwashed me and used me to kill billions of people and do his dirty work for him." This made Knucks' jaw drop. He thought he had it bad and she had it good, but it was really the opposite. She had gone through a lot more than him and she still had the kindness to feel sorry for him. He gave her a look that resembled both envy and understanding.
" What's that look all about?" she asked in a calm tone, for her. He was going to answer her when she suddenly laughed out loud. " Don't tell me you have a crush on me already."
This made Knucks trip over his own feet, " No! I was just ,er, I mean I was." He took a second to get his blushing under control and said, " I'm just wondering how you made it through all of that."
Ryoko just smiled and said, " Not as hard as it sounded. I don't see how you got past losing your entire family."
" Not as hard as it sounded." He looked over at Ryoko and smiled, " I was more concentrated on getting the guy who did than morning them." They walked on in a comfortable silence, stealing glances and smiles at each other every now and then. He was more focused on his surroundings, the beautiful day was still here, not a cloud in the endless blue of the sky. He thought he should ask another question but couldn't think of any so he decided to tell her why he hadn't left yet, " Tenchi's grandpa has invited me to stay here and train with him."
Ryoko looked over at him with that statement, " Are you going to?"
" Yeah I decided to earlier today. I figured that I could help to even out the odds a little bit so the men won't be so over matched."
Ryoko chuckled and added, " That's cool. Now I don't have to do anything around the house." Knucks chuckled back. The wind picked up and so did the leaves. Knucks watched as her spiky hair whipped around in the wind. Her green dress and pink vest tried its best to imitate. She really was gorgeous.
She noticed his hair waving in the wind also, his short blonde hair. His clothes also blew in the wind, he wore a white tank top and a black sweat pants. He really was pretty cute. They locked eyes there in the windy paradise. Knucks could do nothing but stare at her tiger like eyes. He was snapped away from their "more than friendly" gaze by the sound of someone groaning on the path ahead. She must of heard it too as she flew ahead to see who it was. As it turns out, Tenchi had been coming back from the fields when his basket broke, releasing a lot of carrots onto the dirt path. Out of nowhere, a brown cat or maybe a rabbit, started to eat the carrots, oblivious to the dirt that covered them.
" What on Earth is that thing!?" Knucks asked and stared at it.
" That thing is a cabbit and its name is Ryoh-oki." Knucks nodded and the little cabbit looked up at him and happily meowed.
" Let me guess, a cat and a rabbit equals a cabbit right?"
" Yep, your smarter than you look." Ryoko winked at Knucks and then helped Tenchi to his feet. Knucks grabbed his tools and the broken basket and they all headed back towards the house.
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Knucks had gone through the remainder of the day talking with Sasami, shortly with Mihoshi and tried to talk to Washu but she had scared him away when she tried to experiment on him. He found that he liked just about everybody he talked to, Ayeka excluded because she didn't wanna talk. The night just dragged on until dinner time. Knucks couldn't wait to eat some more of Sasami's wonderful cooking. He opened his bedroom door to the smell of spices and, what smelled like, a very delicious vegetable soup. He could only imagine the main dish for this evening, but he could imagine that it would be a culinary delight.
He was so wrapped up in the smell of the hallway that he didn't notice the bathroom door opening right in front of his face until it was on his face. He staggered backwards and leaned against the wall as he had been knock for a loop. He didn't even know who opened the door.
" What the-, Oh crap! I'm sorry Knucks. I didn't know you were walking by." Knucks recognized Ryoko's voice and saw her on one knee checking him for injury.
" No, it was my fault. I was to busy trying to guess what Sasami had made for dinner. I should've kept my eyes open." Knucks could see a smile sneaking on Ryoko's face. " What's so funny?"
" She was almost laughing now, " Nothing it's just that I can't believe that someone could be as clumsy as Mihoshi." They both had a pretty good laugh about that. Ryoko helped him to his feet, Knucks noted how warm how warm her hand was. They walked together down stairs to the dinner table. Either by accident or coincidence, they ended up sitting next to each other. Dinner dragged on just as last nights had, arguing and frying pans abound.
After dinner, Knucks decided to go outside and admire the stars for a little bit. It seems he wasn't the only one with that idea as Sasami and Ryoko were out near the lake. He took his time walking down to their position while he admired the starry night. Hundreds and hundreds of bright bulbs in the sky, each representing a different planet, a different constellation, a different beacon of light in the endless black sea that is space. Then of course, the biggest light bulb in the sky, the moon. The big sponge-like moon that, on this night, was a crescent; The smile of a black Jack-o-lantern that changes and moves with the night.
He let them know of his presence, " What are you two doin' out here?
Ryoko looked up and was delighted to see Knucks, " Nothing but staring. What are you doin out here? Spying on us or have you fallen for Sasami now?"
Knucks once again blushed at her comment, " Neither. Just thought I would admire the stars and stuff."
Sasami spoke up now, " So you don't think I'm cute?" she giggled and Knucks noticed that she actually wanted an answer.
" No, you are cute for a little girl, but you're a little young for me." They all chuckled at that.
" How old are you anyways?" Ryoko asked this question.
" I'll be 18 next week. Why?" He thought of at least ten things he could've added onto that statement but he didn't with the presence of Sasami.
She got up from the rock she was sitting on and said, " Not legal on this planet. Not yet," in a playful tone. She told Sasami that it was time for bed and walked by me. I turned around just in time to see her wink at me over her shoulder. Knucks was now pretty sure that she was just playing with his emotions. Used or not, he still had a fuzzy feeling in his heart. He had more important things to think about, like how he was going to prepare for training tomorrow, but his mind lingered on the beautiful night.
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In Space:
The darkness of space and the shadow of the planets sheltered the Soja from the scanners of even Washu. On board this weapon loaded warship was a man of great power. He waited for his readings to come through. He smiled as he read the screen, Ryoko and the gems of power had been found. At last, he could set his plan into motion.
He shook away the memory as he remembered the reason that he was here. This Grampa had to be the master. Knucks hopped up and started to stretch for the duel that was to commence. He had enjoyed his stay here, a lot in fact. It pained him when he thought of leaving, but why would they want him to stay? After the duel, he was going to be on his own again with nothing and nobody to keep him company but the town drunk.
He opened his door and walked to the stair only to stop dead in his tracks as he heard his name mentioned in the living room below.
" Knucks is really not that bad a guy Ayeka. You didn't even talk to him. Give him a chance." Knucks heard Tenchi's voice and was curious at to where this conversation was going.
" Well luckily, he will be leaving after he has his little duel with your grandfather."
" Come on Ayeka! I saw you giving him the eye all last night. You've got the hots for him but you're to afraid to say it!" Knucks couldn't help but blush at that comment. He peeked around the corner and saw that Ayeka was doing the same, from anger of embarrassment.
" Ryoko! You improper, devilish, evil, demon women you!" Ayeka had blown her stack. She was going off on Ryoko as Ryoko just floated in front of her looking bored.
" You ain't to bad yourself princess. Quit whining!" Knucks was keeping his laughter to a minimum, if he could.
" No fighting you two or there will be no lunch!" Little Sasami obviously had some power being the gourmet cook of the house. He had her dinner last night and couldn't get enough of it. He had stolen half of Tenchi's while he was talking to Ayeka. Another reason he loved this place.
He had heard enough to get his laugh for the week so he walked down the stairs to get the duel over with. He was no longer excited, instead he was nervous. Until of course he looked up at the girls fighting over a small cookie.
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After bidding his good mornings, and good byes, he followed Tenchi to the sword master. While on the seemingly endless staircase to a shrine, Knucks took time to marvel at the beauty of the surrounding trees. There were trees on either side of the stair case, tall looking trees with vibrant, fall like, colors that made him feel at peace. The wind ruffled a few fallen leaves as blew them into a mini-tornado, a swirl of vibrant colors twisting and flying through air only to settle back down or blown away to some distant land. He was snapped away from the colors as he saw him. The sword master was an old fellow with a pony tail and glasses. Not very intimidating, yet there was an unmistakable aura of power around him. This made Knucks nervous again. Tenchi whispered something to him before the master approached Knucks. He looked him over and then asked , " You want a duel yet you have no sword." Knucks froze as he remembered that his sword had been cut in two by Ryoko.
" Yes, I guess that does complicate thing." Knucks would've rather walked up to him smelling like beer than not having his sword.
" I'm sorry then because we cannot duel. I would like to ask you though, are you serious about sword fighting?"
Knucks answered immediately, " Yes I am. I have done it for most of my life. My mother sent me to train with the best sword fighters in the universe for 8 years."
" Well in that case, why don't you stay here and train with Tenchi and I. Tenchi could use a sparring partner. What do you think?" Knucks could hardly contain his excitement at this proposal. He would be training with a sword master and get to stay here.
" Sounds like a plan to me. If Tenchi doesn't mind me staying here."
" Nope I don't mind. If anything, it will give the girls another person to pick on." Tenchi and Knucks chuckled over this.
" It's settled then. Everyday after breakfast, come up here. My training is not easy, in fact its grueling." He could've said that it required a sex change and Knucks still would've accepted.
" I'm not afraid of hard work."
" Good. See you both tomorrow."
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Knucks and Tenchi had went through the rest of the day not even mentioning the training. Tenchi had gone down to the fields to work while Knucks decided that it was time to get to know some of the girls. He figured that he would start with Ayeka since him and her haven't even talked to each other since he came here. He might've had a hard time finding any of the other girls but Ayeka was very noticeable since she was screaming at the top of her lungs at Ryoko. Tenchi had warned very strongly about getting in-between them when they were feuding. Since he valued his health, he decided to watch and listen from a far for now. The fight probably would've raged on for a long time if it hadn't been for little Sasami hitting both fighters in the head with a frying pan. That stopped them just long enough so Knucks could get Ayeka's attention, " Hey miss Ayeka! Do you mind if I talk to you?"
" I am in the middle of something right now! Please let me put that demon in her place first! Now then Ryoko, where were we-" she looked up to see that Ryoko had disappeared from their fight and was now hovering next to Knucks.
" You don't really wanna talk to that lame, spoiled brat do you? I'm much more interesting than her." Knucks couldn't tell if she was trying to get under Ayeka's skin or if she really wanted to talk to him.
" Fair enough. Let's take a walk." Knucks saw Ryoko stick her tongue out at Ayeka and heard Ayeka calling Ryoko a coward. While Knucks thought it would end there, he couldn't help but chuckle as a rock hit Ryoko in the back of the head.
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Once they were away from Ayeka's fury, Ryoko asked the first questions. The simple stuff like where he was from and what he was doing here. She seemed surprise that he was not of this world. Then she asked the kicker question: what about your family? This brought back painful memories of his father dying while he was only 5, his mother at 14 and most recently his sister a few months after his mother. All killed by the same maniac, the very reason he was out here, to hunt him down and kill him. He told Ryoko this and she seemed really surprised. He looked into her eyes and saw something like pity or sorrow. He decided it was his turn for twenty questions, " What about you. Family, friends, any of the above?" He figured that she gave him that look because she had plenty of both while he had none.
" No family and the gang back there are my only friends. See I was created by Washu. Then I was captured by this whack job named Kagato who basically brainwashed me and used me to kill billions of people and do his dirty work for him." This made Knucks' jaw drop. He thought he had it bad and she had it good, but it was really the opposite. She had gone through a lot more than him and she still had the kindness to feel sorry for him. He gave her a look that resembled both envy and understanding.
" What's that look all about?" she asked in a calm tone, for her. He was going to answer her when she suddenly laughed out loud. " Don't tell me you have a crush on me already."
This made Knucks trip over his own feet, " No! I was just ,er, I mean I was." He took a second to get his blushing under control and said, " I'm just wondering how you made it through all of that."
Ryoko just smiled and said, " Not as hard as it sounded. I don't see how you got past losing your entire family."
" Not as hard as it sounded." He looked over at Ryoko and smiled, " I was more concentrated on getting the guy who did than morning them." They walked on in a comfortable silence, stealing glances and smiles at each other every now and then. He was more focused on his surroundings, the beautiful day was still here, not a cloud in the endless blue of the sky. He thought he should ask another question but couldn't think of any so he decided to tell her why he hadn't left yet, " Tenchi's grandpa has invited me to stay here and train with him."
Ryoko looked over at him with that statement, " Are you going to?"
" Yeah I decided to earlier today. I figured that I could help to even out the odds a little bit so the men won't be so over matched."
Ryoko chuckled and added, " That's cool. Now I don't have to do anything around the house." Knucks chuckled back. The wind picked up and so did the leaves. Knucks watched as her spiky hair whipped around in the wind. Her green dress and pink vest tried its best to imitate. She really was gorgeous.
She noticed his hair waving in the wind also, his short blonde hair. His clothes also blew in the wind, he wore a white tank top and a black sweat pants. He really was pretty cute. They locked eyes there in the windy paradise. Knucks could do nothing but stare at her tiger like eyes. He was snapped away from their "more than friendly" gaze by the sound of someone groaning on the path ahead. She must of heard it too as she flew ahead to see who it was. As it turns out, Tenchi had been coming back from the fields when his basket broke, releasing a lot of carrots onto the dirt path. Out of nowhere, a brown cat or maybe a rabbit, started to eat the carrots, oblivious to the dirt that covered them.
" What on Earth is that thing!?" Knucks asked and stared at it.
" That thing is a cabbit and its name is Ryoh-oki." Knucks nodded and the little cabbit looked up at him and happily meowed.
" Let me guess, a cat and a rabbit equals a cabbit right?"
" Yep, your smarter than you look." Ryoko winked at Knucks and then helped Tenchi to his feet. Knucks grabbed his tools and the broken basket and they all headed back towards the house.
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Knucks had gone through the remainder of the day talking with Sasami, shortly with Mihoshi and tried to talk to Washu but she had scared him away when she tried to experiment on him. He found that he liked just about everybody he talked to, Ayeka excluded because she didn't wanna talk. The night just dragged on until dinner time. Knucks couldn't wait to eat some more of Sasami's wonderful cooking. He opened his bedroom door to the smell of spices and, what smelled like, a very delicious vegetable soup. He could only imagine the main dish for this evening, but he could imagine that it would be a culinary delight.
He was so wrapped up in the smell of the hallway that he didn't notice the bathroom door opening right in front of his face until it was on his face. He staggered backwards and leaned against the wall as he had been knock for a loop. He didn't even know who opened the door.
" What the-, Oh crap! I'm sorry Knucks. I didn't know you were walking by." Knucks recognized Ryoko's voice and saw her on one knee checking him for injury.
" No, it was my fault. I was to busy trying to guess what Sasami had made for dinner. I should've kept my eyes open." Knucks could see a smile sneaking on Ryoko's face. " What's so funny?"
" She was almost laughing now, " Nothing it's just that I can't believe that someone could be as clumsy as Mihoshi." They both had a pretty good laugh about that. Ryoko helped him to his feet, Knucks noted how warm how warm her hand was. They walked together down stairs to the dinner table. Either by accident or coincidence, they ended up sitting next to each other. Dinner dragged on just as last nights had, arguing and frying pans abound.
After dinner, Knucks decided to go outside and admire the stars for a little bit. It seems he wasn't the only one with that idea as Sasami and Ryoko were out near the lake. He took his time walking down to their position while he admired the starry night. Hundreds and hundreds of bright bulbs in the sky, each representing a different planet, a different constellation, a different beacon of light in the endless black sea that is space. Then of course, the biggest light bulb in the sky, the moon. The big sponge-like moon that, on this night, was a crescent; The smile of a black Jack-o-lantern that changes and moves with the night.
He let them know of his presence, " What are you two doin' out here?
Ryoko looked up and was delighted to see Knucks, " Nothing but staring. What are you doin out here? Spying on us or have you fallen for Sasami now?"
Knucks once again blushed at her comment, " Neither. Just thought I would admire the stars and stuff."
Sasami spoke up now, " So you don't think I'm cute?" she giggled and Knucks noticed that she actually wanted an answer.
" No, you are cute for a little girl, but you're a little young for me." They all chuckled at that.
" How old are you anyways?" Ryoko asked this question.
" I'll be 18 next week. Why?" He thought of at least ten things he could've added onto that statement but he didn't with the presence of Sasami.
She got up from the rock she was sitting on and said, " Not legal on this planet. Not yet," in a playful tone. She told Sasami that it was time for bed and walked by me. I turned around just in time to see her wink at me over her shoulder. Knucks was now pretty sure that she was just playing with his emotions. Used or not, he still had a fuzzy feeling in his heart. He had more important things to think about, like how he was going to prepare for training tomorrow, but his mind lingered on the beautiful night.
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In Space:
The darkness of space and the shadow of the planets sheltered the Soja from the scanners of even Washu. On board this weapon loaded warship was a man of great power. He waited for his readings to come through. He smiled as he read the screen, Ryoko and the gems of power had been found. At last, he could set his plan into motion.