Tenchi Muyo is the property of Pioneer
and AIC. I've no intention of using this to
garner profits of any kind or type, so unless
you like to take a poor man's computer away
from him, please don't sue me!? Please?
All other characters, depictions, places,
and theories that have been put into place are
my own creation and have no relevance to Tenchi
Muyo in any way except in the ways I've
explained. These are my own thoughts and
imagination, and any relation to other stories
that are not my own are accidental. Honest.
My e-mail is kerrigan2001@attbi.com for
any and all feedback. Please, PLEASE SEND
FEEDBACK OF ANY KIND!!! Thank you! ^-^
Author's notes: I've been attempting to
figure out how to keep the action that I've
been starting up in Chapter 3. I hope that I
have succeeded. ^_^ Also, a small quote for the
intellectual...
"Always do the right thing - this will gratify
some and astonish the rest."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenchi Muyo: The Web of Life
Chapter 4: Insights and Promises (Rev.5.0)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now, this looks familiar..." Ashe
choked out, his breathing becoming more labored
as he analyzed the current situation. Ryoko
never moved or blinked from her current
position, her nose about three inches from
Ashe's nose.
"What in the galaxy are you talking
about, Ryoko? Explain what about myself?" Ashe
spoke, though the words sounded more akin to a
hoarse whisper rather than a question. Ryoko
bunched up her nose in anger, and pushed
herself back to arm's length, never letting up
on the pressure put on Ashe's chest. The
pirate summoned up an energy dagger and eyed it
carefully, then brought a pair of slotted eyes
back onto Ashe.
"Six seconds." Ryoko stated, remaining as
unmoving as a statue. Everyone in the room
went wide-eyed in surprise, although Ayeka gave
the pirate a look of patient annoyance.
"Please stop this, Ryoko! He was with us
in the living room the entire time, and he
wasn't doing anything! Why are you even doing
something like this?" Mihoshi pleaded, her
eyes red from almost crying about the incident
with Sasami earlier in the day.
"I just get done fighting some woman that
nearly kills Tenchi, knocks Ayeka out cold, and
Pork Chop here walks in after all of that
like it's a Sunday stroll. What do YOU think?"
Ryoko spat, not one portion of her body moving
from where she stood. Ayeka shook her head
slowly, and took a step toward Ryoko from her
position at Tenchi's side.
"While I do understand the idea that
you are entertaining, I cannot allow you
to outright kill someone without solid proof,
Ryoko. He WAS in the living room along with
Washu, Mihoshi and Sasami when I arrived,
Ryoko. He does have a solid alibi, and if he
is responsible for what happened today," Ayeka
said to Ryoko, and railed the wanderer with a
flash-frozen stare, "Then we shall deal with it
accordingly; but ONLY when it has been proven
that he is at fault." Ayeka spoke quietly.
Ryoko gave the princess a sidelong glance
for several seconds, and then planted her gaze
back on the wanderer. Ashe's face had begun to
turn a reddish purple, due to being unable to
draw breath since Ryoko had pinned him to the
wall. Reluctantly, the pirate released the
wanderer's body from her grasp, as the whole
family watched Ashe gasp for a full breath for
the first time in several minutes. He looked
at Ayeka and Ryoko for a second, and smiled
faintly.
"Goodnight." Ashe blurted aloud, and
promptly passed out, almost as an afterthought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later on in the evening, Nobuyuki Masaki
finally arrived at home; his seat at the table
was set and prepared for him, and the family
waited for his arrival to begin eating. After
taking off his tan business coat and seating
himself down to eat, he began listening to the
various things that have happened while he was
gone at work that day. His happy and calm
demeanor transformed, however, when he had the
events that had taken place at the cave
revealed to him.
"And you say that this thing wasn't
intending on killing Tenchi, Washu?" Nobuyuki
exclaimed, a look of anger and surprise
anchored to his face. The girl scientist
nodded in the affirmative, and finished chewing
her bite of sushi. She had changed out of her
scientist's smock, and put on a more relaxed
set of clothes. Sitting across from the
scientist was Tenchi; having woken up several
hours earlier with a nice-sized headache, he
had changed into his normal set of clothes.
Ryoko and Ayeka had changed into their usual
set of evening clothes to get out of the
dirtied ones that they wore earlier in the day
as well. Ryoko huffed at the scientist's
words, and gave her a cynical eye before
turning her attention back toward Tenchi; the
young Masaki had a head bandage placed on his
forehead, and he was getting loads of attention
from both Ayeka and Ryoko, though most of the
time the two were arguing over what the other
girl should be doing to help Tenchi rather than
actually helping him out. Mihoshi was talking
with Sasami about what they were going to watch
on television after dinner was finished, and
Katsuhito was quietly eating his meal without
contributing to the conversations that rounded
the table; meanwhile, Washu was finishing up
some of the research she had started earlier in
the day through the use of her holo pad.
"Yup; though my hypothesis is rather
speculative, here's what I think is the story.
After checking Tenchi out for damages, it SEEMS
that all she had wanted to do was simply get a
response out of the poor boy in terms of
fighting capabilities. When Ryoko dropped in,
so to speak," Washu remarked, never taking her
eyes of the holo-pad that floated in front of
her, "she was forced to change her tactics on
whom she would be getting information about.
So, whatever is behind all of this knows about
the majority of Ryoko's and Ayeka's strengths
and weaknesses, but not Tenchi's."
"Uh, Washu, um, you think maybe that
girl, or someone who sent her, knows about
Tenchi's powers?" Mihoshi asked. The other
girls stopped their chatter and looked at the
scientist. Washu tapped a finger to her chin,
and looked at Mihoshi.
"It's quite possible. However, I can't
say 'yes' or 'no' with any kind of certainty.
Though it would explain why Tenchi was the main
reason for the attack; unfortunately, I don't
know if it was his ability to use the Jurai
Power, the Light Hawk Wings, or both that was
in question. Still, nonetheless, it seems that
whatever the reasons are going to be," Washu
stated, and stuffed another piece of sushi into
her mouth, "we're on the brink of something big
and it looks like we're going to be involved."
Nobuyuki took a glance around the table, and
scanned the living room. As the family
continued to eat, Nobuyuki scratched his head
for a moment.
"Uh, where's Ashe?" The elder Masaki
asked. Sasami's smiles had disappeared, and
the young princess began to pout. Ryoko and
Ayeka both gave the younger princess a half-
worried, half-sorry gaze as they waited for her
to speak to Nobuyuki.
"Ryoko and Ayeka thought he might be
responsible for that girl showing up and
hurting Tenchi. Ashe didn't want to start a
fight, so he went outside on the dock; he's
been there all afternoon." Sasami said,
sticking her tongue out at both Ryoko and Ayeka
after she finished explaining. The elder
Masaki looked at Tenchi for his reaction to the
statement. The boy quickly finished chewing
the bite of food still in his mouth and looked
earnestly at his father.
"I told him that he could stay in the
house if he wanted, but Ashe said that he
didn't want to cause any more problems with the
family than what was already here. He decided
that he'd simply sleep outside on the patio,
using the hammock that Washu gave him." Tenchi
explained, pointing out past the window toward
the hammock that was hung at the far corner of
the patio. Ashe sat in the hammock, happily
eating away at some of the sushi that Sasami
provided him earlier before the elder Masaki
had arrived home. As the family finished their
meal, Nobuyuki smiled at Sasami and nodded to
the rest of the family.
"As always, Sasami, you've made an
excellent meal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm
going to talk with Ashe." The elder Masaki
stated, and briskly made his way toward the
door out toward the patio and Ashe. Ashe
remained in the hammock, looking out from under
the patio toward the stars above the Masaki
home. As the elder Masaki approached, the
wanderer pulled his gaze away from the starlit
skies, and brought his attention to the man
before him.
"Oh hello, Mr. Masaki; I didn't see you
standing there. I apologize for whatever
problems I must've caused by being here." He
glanced into the house, to see the girls either
staring or pointing out the window in
Nobuyuki's direction. The wanderer sighed, and
looked back toward Nobuyuki; the elder Masaki
furrowed his brow and leaned against his house
on one shoulder, and looked out toward the lake
that lapped its minute waves against the pier
to his home. Giving himself a moment, Nobuyuki
gave the wanderer a sidelong glance; Ashe
looked at the elder Masaki with worrisome eyes.
"You look as if you think I'm about to
kill you." Nobuyuki remarked coolly, raising an
eyebrow at the wanderer. Ashe gulped audibly,
and shuffled in his hammock.
"I really am sorry for what happened
today. If you want to have me fix the house
up, I can understand. I'll have to ask Priest
Katsuhito to give me some supplies, but I'll do
it." Ashe said quietly.
"Don't worry about the house; cracked
walls and beams are a welcome sight, compared
to some of the things that have happened to
this place. Besides, Washu already mended the
wall and repaired any unseen damage that
might've been there; one of the benefits of
having a genius around the house." Nobuyuki
remarked, chuckling at the comment. Ashe
nodded in agreement, though his eyes weren't
poised on the elder Masaki; they were instead
focused on the shimmering point of light that
drifted in a direct and downward descent from
the night sky. The sliver of light began to
get larger, and its form more defined, as it
came closer to the horizon. Nobuyuki cocked
his head to one side, and followed the
wanderer's gaze out over the lake as the object
became more visible.
"Ayeka got another message from home. I
wonder what it's about." Nobuyuki remarked, as
the two men watch the drone slow its course
toward the household. Its faceplate resembled
the outer shell of Ayeka's guardians, Azaka and
Kamidake, though the sensor eyepiece and
wording on it denoted its purpose as messenger.
The lower portion and back of the unit had
hundreds of different vines and planks of
various sizes and colors protruding from
beneath the faceplate; those were providing the
drone with sensor ability, maneuverability, and
self-defense. As the drone floated patiently
at the edge of the dock, Ayeka and the rest of
the family slowly emerged from the house and
approached the floating unit. The princess
knelt down on both knees in front of the drone,
and brushed aside several locks of her purple
hair. The headband that nestled itself on
Ayeka's head began to pulse with a fierce blue,
to which the eyepiece on the messenger unit
pulsed in response. The faceplate opened
itself up, to reveal a rather small wooden
plate with intricate and ancient symbols
encircling the outer edge of the plate. As the
elder princess's headband continued to pulse,
the symbols began to emit a deep blue in a
rhythmic response, giving the impression of a
heartbeat given light. It wasn't long before a
blue-tinted image of a middle-aged man stood on
the plate; his deep violet hair and beard
neatly combed and tied down. His robes and
style of dress easily identified the man as the
Emperor of Jurai, and as the man began to
speak, everyone began to crowd around the elder
princess.
"Ayeka, Sasami; my daughters, I have sent
this messenger drone to bring news that you
will find most joyous. As Emperor Azusa the
First, I am pleased to announce that the tree
ship Gen-Sao will be bonded to a new pilot.
This auspicious event will be taking place at
the end of this galactic week." The image said,
as Ayeka leaned closer to watch the recorded
message play out. She cast a sidelong glance
at Ryoko as the pirate attempted to smuggle
herself closer to the messenger drone, and the
displayed image of Ayeka's father as it
continued to talk.
"Ryoko, would you mind? This is a very
important, and very PRIVATE, message. I would
like to view this without interruption, if you
please?" Ayeka mouthed toward her rival, as
Ryoko sat back on her heels. The pirate rolled
her eyes towards Ayeka as the princess grumbled
something about lack of privacy.
"Yeah, whatever; it's not like I have
been talking over it, you know." Ryoko
muttered, when both she and Ayeka were pushed
aside as a widely grinning Sasami squeezed in
between the two girls to listen in on more of
the message. All of the girls quieted down to
listen in as the image continued to play itself
out.
"As tradition has always stated, all
members of the royal family are to be present
at the time of a tree ship bonding, so this
messenger drone will remain behind to assist
you all in preparations to come to Jurai." The
two princesses of Jurai gasped audibly, and
began to chatter noisily about what they were
going to do when they got back home. Tenchi,
who had stood behind both Ayeka and Sasami,
scratched his head and gazed at the drone in
wonder. Mihoshi stood up quickly and threw on
a wide grin over her face.
"You're going on a field trip! This is
going to be great!" She exclaimed, and started
to jump in place while clutching her hands
against her face. Suddenly the space officer
stopped jumping around and thought heavily for
a moment. "Oh yeah, um, Ayeka? Is it okay
that I go along, too? I've never been to a
Jurai celebration and I'd love to go to one."
"Well, the message has not specified that
guests were unwelcome, so I don't see why not."
Ayeka said, Washu, who had been drinking in
every word of the message that was being played
out, took a free moment to give a raised
eyebrow to the space officer. That didn't last
long however, when a familiar female voice hued
with a twinge of replication made its face
known. All eyes turned toward the messenger
drone, as a feminine figure stood in front of
Azusa. Her bright blue hair was pulled back
into a large, well decorated pony tail that
traveled down to the small of her back; her
outfit was likewise decorated using several
different shades of purples and blues. Ayeka
took a moment to look back at the messenger
drone, and let out a deep and painful sounding
sigh.
"Mother," the elder princess breathed.
"Sasami-chan! Ayeka-chan! I'm looking
forward to seeing you and all of your friends
at the ceremony, and I'll have your best
dresses ready and waiting for you in your old
rooms. It'll be so great to have you back home
for a little while. I miss you both so much!"
Ayeka's right eye twitched as she continued
watching her mother keep her father at bay, as
though he seemed to be struggling to get to the
recorder of the message. Another figure
stepped into the sight of the group that had
gathered to watch the message play out; her
hair had the look of silk, and her deep blue
and purple robes more than simply marked her as
one of Azusa's wives; her elegance poured out
around her as she stood in the display plate,
and even the crickets around the Masaki home
seemed to quiet down as she began to speak.
Katsuhito perked his ears as the beautiful
woman began to speak.
"This part of the message is for Tenchi,
Yosho, and Nobuyuki. As you are all related,
through blood or marriage, to the royal family
of Jurai we would be honored to have you stand
with us as the ceremony takes place. And
Yosho," she said quietly, and Katsuhito locked
his gaze on the image of his mother, "if you do
not come, I will take steps to ensure that you
arrive for the ceremony. Understood?"
Katsuhito took an audible gulp of air, and
twisted the ball of one of his feet into the
pier on which he stood. Washu cackled at the
whole scene and beamed a toothy grin at the
priest as the group witnessed the image of the
two women and Azusa fade away into nothingness.
"There's nothing like getting dragged to
a party, eh, Katsuhito? Hahahahahahaha!" Washu
cackled again as the Shinto priest eyed the
child scientist from the corner of his eye.
"You understand, of course, if I don't
find the humor in that statement." Katsuhito
muttered aloud, which kept Washu from cackling
any further.
"Oh, nyaa to you, too. It's only fair,
considering the comment I remember a certain
priest made concerning a mop and bucket?"
Washu said, making sour faces at Katsuhito as
they parted aside to let the rest of the family
walk down the pier back toward the house.
Katsuhito brightened his face for a brief
moment with a faint half smile, and looked back
at the messenger drone.
"In that respect, then, I guess we're
even. Nonetheless, I must prepare for my
departure; if you all will excuse me."
Katsuhito spoke, and bowed briefly. Washu
returned the bow, and watched the priest amble
his way back toward the steps up toward his
shrine. Tenchi stopped at the door to the
house and looked at Ashe and his own father;
the two hadn't moved anywhere closer to the
rest of the family as the drone displayed the
message. Nobuyuki gave the young Masaki a
questioning look.
"So, what was this message about,
Tenchi?" Nobuyuki inquired, to which his son
half smiled in return.
"We're going to visit Jurai, dad. We're
leaving as soon as we can, and you've been
invited as well. You think you can get out of
work for a 'family emergency'?" Tenchi asked.
His father put a stern face on for several
seconds, and then smiled his usual goofy smile.
"I got a good week's worth of vacation
coming to me, so why not? Besides, I bet Jurai
has some beautiful women that are dying to have
a healthy, good-looking man pay loads of
attention to them." Tenchi rolled his eyes at
his father, and quickly walked inside, moaning
something about hoping that hentai tendencies
weren't genetic. Nobuyuki chuckled to himself,
and turned back to Ashe.
"Well, wanderer, it seems that we're
going some place far away. Anything I should
be afraid of while I'm on Jurai?" The elder
Masaki asked, and the wanderer looked out over
the lake.
"Just one thing to mention, Mr. Masaki."
The wanderer spoke matter-of-factly.
"Oh, and what's that?"
"Never tell a Juraian woman that you want
to test the acidity of their tree pot with your
moss stick; and if you wonder what will
happen," Ashe spoke, shuddering as if
remembering something that wasn't too pleasing.
"Let me guess; you get thrown from a tree
ship." Nobuyuki blurted out; Ashe gave the
elder Masaki a surprised look.
"You wish! That's the best thing that
can happen!" Huge sweat drops began to appear
on Nobuyuki's forehead, and the elder Masaki
began back stepping toward the entrance to the
household.
"Uhhh... Well, thanks for the warning,
Ashe. I'll keep that in mind while I'm there."
With that, the next-to-final member of the
Masaki clan entered the house for the evening.
As Ashe situated himself on the hammock, and
closed his eyes to prepare for yet another
night's worth of sleep, Washu stopped her
approach to the household entrance to look at
the wanderer.
"Why did you choose to come outside,
Ashe? It's going to be very chilly tonight,
and I'm sure that I can..." Ashe opened one of
his eyes to look at the child scientist.
"Don't," Ashe muttered; Washu looked at
the wanderer, a sincere look of wonder gracing
her visage.
"And why not? I don't know anybody who
deserves to sleep outside in the cold air.
Well, excluding two certain individual men that
are thankfully not anywhere nears this planet,
at any rate."
"I'm thankful that I even have a place to
lie down and sleep for a night, let alone a
place that hasn't lusted for my blood outright
as soon as I land there. I'll take what I can
get,' Ashe whispered, and paused for a second,
'considering that I'm not a true guest of this
house as you are. And I'm not going to risk
your welcome to extend my own." With that,
Ashe closed his open eye to go to sleep. Washu
looked at the wanderer with a puzzled look, and
smiled faintly. She opened the door, and stood
halfway in the door for several minutes,
staring at the wanderer the entire time.
"Sleep well, Ashe, and pleasant dreams."
The child scientist whispered, and closed the
door to the Masaki household. Several minutes
passed with blissful silence, which was broken
by Ashe's half conscious ramblings about peach
cobbler and tree leaf pudding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mornings at the Masaki household usually
aren't very interesting. Of course, this only
applies toward the people who actually live
there. For a person ill-equipped to deal with
the hustle, bustle, and occasional brawl that
occurs there, it would seem more like a TV talk
show gone horribly wrong. And unfortunately
for Ashe, not only is he ill-equipped, he's
also the target of many a practical joke; this
particular morning was no exception. Ashe was
'volunteered' to valet the family's luggage,
and most of the day was spent loading cargo
into the Ryu-Oh for transporting to Jurai
under the everlasting and critical gaze of
Ryoko and Ayeka. However the space pirate
wasn't paying attention to the wanderer at one
point and, from where Ryoko stood, for good
reason.
"Ayeka, I'd like to ask you just one
simple question." Ryoko stated as she looked
out over the cargo area. The newly finished
Ryu-Oh had already been sent through several
test runs around the solar system and was
finally ready for the big flight. Ayeka strode
up to Ryoko's side and looked out over the
cargo area in which they stood.
"And what question would that be, Ryoko?"
Ayeka asked, furrowing her brow in mild
confusion. The pirate threw her hands out to
emphasize on the abnormally large pyramid of
luggage that was stacked in the middle of the
cargo area.
"Do you want to pack up the rest of the
house, or can we leave now?" Ryoko blurted
out, eyeing the princess with teeth-grinding
annoyance. Without even glancing back at
Ryoko, the elder princess walked up to the
stack of luggage and began to quietly inspect
various boxes and briefcases. Stopping at one
particular box, she rapped on the side of the
box firmly. The results were immediate; the
whole pyramid tumbled down in no dramatic
fashion. After the dust and debris settled the
two young ladies saw, at the opposite end of
the cargo area, Ashe staring at the pile with
the most desperate of gazes, his arms and hands
overflowing with luggage. Ayeka brought
herself upright, and tilted her head toward the
wanderer as he walked toward the now decimated
pile of luggage.
"Oh my, it seems that the luggage wasn't
stable enough to remain upright. I do hope
that you will be able to keep an accident like
this from happening in the future, if you would
be so kind." Ayeka spoke, though never making
any eye contact with Ashe. The wanderer gave
out a heavy sigh, and began to redo the luggage
as best he could. The elder princess made her
way through an archway that would lead her
toward the bridge portion of the Ryu-Oh, with
Ryoko hot on her heels. As they stepped
through the archway, the pirate gave Ayeka a
raised eyebrow.
"For a second, I thought you didn't have
it in you." Ryoko whispered to the elder
princess, and Ayeka closed her eyes as they
exited the cargo area.
"It may be true that he did not deserve
it," the elder princess spoke, and an almost
nonexistent smile crossed her lips, "But it was
therapeutic, I'll say that much." Ryoko's
laughter could be heard echoing through the
cargo area as the two left, leaving the rather
distraught wanderer to deal with the now
devastated pile of luggage.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that
those two just want me gone." Ashe thought
aloud, and then stopped for a moment to rethink
what he had just said. "Wait, scratch that;
they want me disemboweled and cremated."
Wiping the sweat off of his brow, the wanderer
was half finished with restacking the pile of
luggage when a familiar blond haired girl
ambled her way into the cargo area. Realizing
who had come in, Ashe waved briefly at Mihoshi
as she walked up to the half-finished pile of
luggage.
"Hello, Mihoshi. Did you need something
from in the cargo area," the wanderer asked,
and gave the space officer a half-eyed stare,
"Or did Ryoko and Ayeka send you?" Mihoshi
scratched her head and looked at the pile of
luggage, then at Ashe.
"Oh, hello, Ashe; I'm just looking for
something is all. Now where did I put it?"
Mihoshi wondered aloud, and began to paw at the
various boxes and briefcases that were in the
half finished stack of luggage that the
wanderer had done so far.
"Was it in here? Or was it in there? I
thought I put it in hereā¦" Mihoshi mused as she
kept opening and tearing into the various boxes
she brought onboard. Ashe made several sounds
of protest which, unfortunately for the
wanderer, went completely unheard as Mihoshi
searched for her missing object. Ashe covered
his eyes with his hands at one point when a
purple satin bra floated through his line of
sight. After several more minutes of
searching, an excited and happy gasp of breath
prompted Ashe to uncover his eyes; the wanderer
fought to contain an unbridled scream of pure
horror as he bore witness to a Mihoshi
encounter. Mihoshi clutched the fused checkers
pieces that she had been scouring for, when the
space officer had become aware of the situation
she had created; the majority of the cargo area
was now littered with Mihoshi's clothes and
personal effects, and several of her
undergarments lay in a small pile in front of
Ashe, who tried his best to keep from spouting
a serious nosebleed.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry about this
mess, Ashe! Here, let me clean this up for
you." Mihoshi blurted out and, grabbing one of
the empty boxes in one hand and a pile of
clothes in another, promptly fell into the
remaining stack of relatively untouched cargo.
Ashe plopped down on the floor of the cargo
area and put his head into his hands as he
watched the space officer, however flippantly
and haphazardly, repacked all of her things
into her boxes and restacked the pile of cargo.
Mihoshi waved to the wanderer as she left the
cargo area, coveted object in tow and boxes
stacked in a random, half-thought about order.
"I'm really sorry about the mess, but I
hope that you'll be on the bridge for dinner
time tonight! See you there!" The officer
beamed, and disappeared from sight. Ashe, who
had been awestruck by the entire scene that had
played out before him, slowly brought himself
upright and shook his head in utter disbelief.
"Just when life becomes something
tolerable, I come across a girl that wants me
dead, another who makes my life difficult
intentionally, and now I find one that makes it
difficult completely by accident! Is it
possible that my life can get any worse?" Ashe
mused to himself, and turned to exit the cargo
area; by the time he picked himself up off of
the ground, Ashe realized that he had ran
straight into a metallic sphere the size of a
compact car. Washu sat atop the sphere and
stopped typing in some information to give a
broad smile to the wanderer as he stood up.
"Hello, Ashe! You've just been enlisted
to assist me with a couple of things! How does
that sound?" Washu exclaimed, never taking her
eyes off of the wanderer. Ashe gave the child
scientist a level eyed stare, and brushed
himself off.
"Does it have anything to do with
luggage?" Ashe breathed, and started to walk
around the rather large orb as it hovered in
place. A tentacle shot out of the orb in front
of the wanderer, effectively barring his way
out, and Washu gave another toothy smile.
"Nope, more like a test of reflexes." She
chirped, and Ashe gave her an almost desperate
gaze.
"Oh, hell," was the last thing that Ashe
said before eight more tentacles sprouted out
from the orb and shot out at the wanderer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deep in space, the Ryu-Oh made its way
through the ether, back toward its home world.
On board, the clan of people that had been
invited to a very special occasion was asleep;
however, there was heard a sound that was very
much unlike the usual sounds that one would
hear on a tree ship such as this. It was these
odd sounds that had awoken the space pirate
Ryoko out of a sound sleep. If anybody knew
the pirate, they knew that waking Ryoko was not
something one did intentionally.
Ryoko sat up straight out of her bed, her
ears twitching, as if listening for a far away
sound. Her eyebrows closed in on her nose as
she homed in on the source of the noise. She
bunched up her lips as she thought of who could
be awake at this time of night. She climbed
out of her bed and, after putting on an
oversized long sleeved t-shirt and jeans,
teleported to the bedsides of the various
people onboard the ship. Tenchi and his father
were fast asleep in his sleeping quarters, as
were Katsuhito and Mihoshi in their respective
quarters. Ashe was mumbling something about
peach cobbler in the cargo area, and Washu was
nowhere to be found onboard the ship as usual.
Ryoko stopped for a moment, and listened more
intently. Her ears perked up as she realized
the location of the noise.
"Strange. Who would be on the bridge
right now?" Ryoko thought aloud, and
teleported herself onto the bridge of the Ryu-
Oh. Moving stealthily around the more heavily
shaded areas of the bridge, Ryoko slatted her
eyes as realization hit her as to who was
making the noise that was heard. Sitting
directly in front of the space tree that
piloted the Ryu-Oh, and sobbing in a way that
almost couldn't be heard, was Sasami. She was
still in her carrot pajamas, and her eyes were
red from crying. As Ryoko watched, her
expression softened and her lower lip twitched
from sympathy.
"Psst." Ryoko whispered, and Sasami
whirled around from her spot to see spiky cyan
hair and a pair of golden-yellow eyes peek out
from behind the space tree that she sat under.
"Mind if I drop in?" Sasami rubbed her eyes as
she tried to make out who it was.
"R-Ryoko?" Sasami whispered back, and
blinked twice. The former pirate pulled
herself out from behind the tree slowly, and
walked up to Sasami.
"Yup, it's me. What're you doing out
here right now? You should be asleep, since
tomorrow is going to be the big day for you and
your sister, what with the coming back home for
that celebration and all." Ryoko remarked
casually, trying to hide the concern that
poured out of her words. Sasami turned and
looked back out over the main portion of the
bridge, then back at Ryoko as the pirate sat
down cross-legged beside the younger princess.
"I know. But I had some bad dreams, and
I didn't want to wake up Ayeka and.. and..
well.." Sasami said, her eyes seeming to well
up with tears for yet another round of crying.
Ryoko sat there for a minute, looking at the
ground in deep thought while the princess cried
aloud. This time, however, the younger
princess didn't cry for long; feeling a firm
grip on her shoulder, Sasami turned to see
Ryoko holding her fast.
"I got a secret for you, but you got to
promise not to tell anybody about it. Not even
your sister, ESPECIALLY your sister, okay?"
Ryoko whispered to Sasami. The younger
princess cocked her head to listen to Ryoko,
her bad dreams taking a back burner to hearing
a secret from Ryoko.
"What is it?"
"I get bad dreams too, and sometimes when
nobody's awake to hear it, I go out on the pier
and cry." Sasami's eyes shot open wide at the
concept of Ryoko crying about something other
than Tenchi. Ryoko saw the response she got
out of Sasami, and nodded her head to confirm
it.
"Usually it's about the stuff I did
before I met Tenchi and all of the rest of you.
It was bad." Ryoko whispered and shuddered so
faintly that one would have to have been
holding her, or been held by her, to feel it.
"It was really bad. But do you know what keeps
me from crying for hours and hours now?"
Sasami shook her head no to answer Ryoko's
question.
"It's the fact that I have a family now.
And that if I try hard enough, if I can keep my
family safe from bad things and bad people,
then all of the bad things that I had to go
through aren't so bad after all. Does that
make any sense?" Ryoko said quietly, her
question seemingly being posed to herself more
than anybody. Sasami looked at Ryoko, and gave
the pirate a faint smile.
"Yup." Sasami whispered back, and gave
the former pirate a bear hug in response.
Ryoko nearly jumped back, surprised by the
whole scene that had played out in front of
her. The younger princess gave her one quick,
final hug and scrambled up to go back into her
room. Stopping at one spot at the opposite end
of the bridge, Sasami waved at Ryoko.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Ryoko?"
Sasami said, waving at the pirate from her spot
on the bridge. Ryoko gave Sasami a huge
thumbs-up signal, and smiled at the younger
princess as she made her way back to her
bedroom. Putting herself into a kneeling
position, Ryoko stared out over the bridge, and
past the view port that was open, into the
darker depths of space and beyond. Ryoko
sighed, a mixture of relief and worry oozing
through, and closed her eyes while a single
tear slipped past her defenses as she sat.
End of Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and AIC. I've no intention of using this to
garner profits of any kind or type, so unless
you like to take a poor man's computer away
from him, please don't sue me!? Please?
All other characters, depictions, places,
and theories that have been put into place are
my own creation and have no relevance to Tenchi
Muyo in any way except in the ways I've
explained. These are my own thoughts and
imagination, and any relation to other stories
that are not my own are accidental. Honest.
My e-mail is kerrigan2001@attbi.com for
any and all feedback. Please, PLEASE SEND
FEEDBACK OF ANY KIND!!! Thank you! ^-^
Author's notes: I've been attempting to
figure out how to keep the action that I've
been starting up in Chapter 3. I hope that I
have succeeded. ^_^ Also, a small quote for the
intellectual...
"Always do the right thing - this will gratify
some and astonish the rest."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenchi Muyo: The Web of Life
Chapter 4: Insights and Promises (Rev.5.0)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now, this looks familiar..." Ashe
choked out, his breathing becoming more labored
as he analyzed the current situation. Ryoko
never moved or blinked from her current
position, her nose about three inches from
Ashe's nose.
"What in the galaxy are you talking
about, Ryoko? Explain what about myself?" Ashe
spoke, though the words sounded more akin to a
hoarse whisper rather than a question. Ryoko
bunched up her nose in anger, and pushed
herself back to arm's length, never letting up
on the pressure put on Ashe's chest. The
pirate summoned up an energy dagger and eyed it
carefully, then brought a pair of slotted eyes
back onto Ashe.
"Six seconds." Ryoko stated, remaining as
unmoving as a statue. Everyone in the room
went wide-eyed in surprise, although Ayeka gave
the pirate a look of patient annoyance.
"Please stop this, Ryoko! He was with us
in the living room the entire time, and he
wasn't doing anything! Why are you even doing
something like this?" Mihoshi pleaded, her
eyes red from almost crying about the incident
with Sasami earlier in the day.
"I just get done fighting some woman that
nearly kills Tenchi, knocks Ayeka out cold, and
Pork Chop here walks in after all of that
like it's a Sunday stroll. What do YOU think?"
Ryoko spat, not one portion of her body moving
from where she stood. Ayeka shook her head
slowly, and took a step toward Ryoko from her
position at Tenchi's side.
"While I do understand the idea that
you are entertaining, I cannot allow you
to outright kill someone without solid proof,
Ryoko. He WAS in the living room along with
Washu, Mihoshi and Sasami when I arrived,
Ryoko. He does have a solid alibi, and if he
is responsible for what happened today," Ayeka
said to Ryoko, and railed the wanderer with a
flash-frozen stare, "Then we shall deal with it
accordingly; but ONLY when it has been proven
that he is at fault." Ayeka spoke quietly.
Ryoko gave the princess a sidelong glance
for several seconds, and then planted her gaze
back on the wanderer. Ashe's face had begun to
turn a reddish purple, due to being unable to
draw breath since Ryoko had pinned him to the
wall. Reluctantly, the pirate released the
wanderer's body from her grasp, as the whole
family watched Ashe gasp for a full breath for
the first time in several minutes. He looked
at Ayeka and Ryoko for a second, and smiled
faintly.
"Goodnight." Ashe blurted aloud, and
promptly passed out, almost as an afterthought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later on in the evening, Nobuyuki Masaki
finally arrived at home; his seat at the table
was set and prepared for him, and the family
waited for his arrival to begin eating. After
taking off his tan business coat and seating
himself down to eat, he began listening to the
various things that have happened while he was
gone at work that day. His happy and calm
demeanor transformed, however, when he had the
events that had taken place at the cave
revealed to him.
"And you say that this thing wasn't
intending on killing Tenchi, Washu?" Nobuyuki
exclaimed, a look of anger and surprise
anchored to his face. The girl scientist
nodded in the affirmative, and finished chewing
her bite of sushi. She had changed out of her
scientist's smock, and put on a more relaxed
set of clothes. Sitting across from the
scientist was Tenchi; having woken up several
hours earlier with a nice-sized headache, he
had changed into his normal set of clothes.
Ryoko and Ayeka had changed into their usual
set of evening clothes to get out of the
dirtied ones that they wore earlier in the day
as well. Ryoko huffed at the scientist's
words, and gave her a cynical eye before
turning her attention back toward Tenchi; the
young Masaki had a head bandage placed on his
forehead, and he was getting loads of attention
from both Ayeka and Ryoko, though most of the
time the two were arguing over what the other
girl should be doing to help Tenchi rather than
actually helping him out. Mihoshi was talking
with Sasami about what they were going to watch
on television after dinner was finished, and
Katsuhito was quietly eating his meal without
contributing to the conversations that rounded
the table; meanwhile, Washu was finishing up
some of the research she had started earlier in
the day through the use of her holo pad.
"Yup; though my hypothesis is rather
speculative, here's what I think is the story.
After checking Tenchi out for damages, it SEEMS
that all she had wanted to do was simply get a
response out of the poor boy in terms of
fighting capabilities. When Ryoko dropped in,
so to speak," Washu remarked, never taking her
eyes of the holo-pad that floated in front of
her, "she was forced to change her tactics on
whom she would be getting information about.
So, whatever is behind all of this knows about
the majority of Ryoko's and Ayeka's strengths
and weaknesses, but not Tenchi's."
"Uh, Washu, um, you think maybe that
girl, or someone who sent her, knows about
Tenchi's powers?" Mihoshi asked. The other
girls stopped their chatter and looked at the
scientist. Washu tapped a finger to her chin,
and looked at Mihoshi.
"It's quite possible. However, I can't
say 'yes' or 'no' with any kind of certainty.
Though it would explain why Tenchi was the main
reason for the attack; unfortunately, I don't
know if it was his ability to use the Jurai
Power, the Light Hawk Wings, or both that was
in question. Still, nonetheless, it seems that
whatever the reasons are going to be," Washu
stated, and stuffed another piece of sushi into
her mouth, "we're on the brink of something big
and it looks like we're going to be involved."
Nobuyuki took a glance around the table, and
scanned the living room. As the family
continued to eat, Nobuyuki scratched his head
for a moment.
"Uh, where's Ashe?" The elder Masaki
asked. Sasami's smiles had disappeared, and
the young princess began to pout. Ryoko and
Ayeka both gave the younger princess a half-
worried, half-sorry gaze as they waited for her
to speak to Nobuyuki.
"Ryoko and Ayeka thought he might be
responsible for that girl showing up and
hurting Tenchi. Ashe didn't want to start a
fight, so he went outside on the dock; he's
been there all afternoon." Sasami said,
sticking her tongue out at both Ryoko and Ayeka
after she finished explaining. The elder
Masaki looked at Tenchi for his reaction to the
statement. The boy quickly finished chewing
the bite of food still in his mouth and looked
earnestly at his father.
"I told him that he could stay in the
house if he wanted, but Ashe said that he
didn't want to cause any more problems with the
family than what was already here. He decided
that he'd simply sleep outside on the patio,
using the hammock that Washu gave him." Tenchi
explained, pointing out past the window toward
the hammock that was hung at the far corner of
the patio. Ashe sat in the hammock, happily
eating away at some of the sushi that Sasami
provided him earlier before the elder Masaki
had arrived home. As the family finished their
meal, Nobuyuki smiled at Sasami and nodded to
the rest of the family.
"As always, Sasami, you've made an
excellent meal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm
going to talk with Ashe." The elder Masaki
stated, and briskly made his way toward the
door out toward the patio and Ashe. Ashe
remained in the hammock, looking out from under
the patio toward the stars above the Masaki
home. As the elder Masaki approached, the
wanderer pulled his gaze away from the starlit
skies, and brought his attention to the man
before him.
"Oh hello, Mr. Masaki; I didn't see you
standing there. I apologize for whatever
problems I must've caused by being here." He
glanced into the house, to see the girls either
staring or pointing out the window in
Nobuyuki's direction. The wanderer sighed, and
looked back toward Nobuyuki; the elder Masaki
furrowed his brow and leaned against his house
on one shoulder, and looked out toward the lake
that lapped its minute waves against the pier
to his home. Giving himself a moment, Nobuyuki
gave the wanderer a sidelong glance; Ashe
looked at the elder Masaki with worrisome eyes.
"You look as if you think I'm about to
kill you." Nobuyuki remarked coolly, raising an
eyebrow at the wanderer. Ashe gulped audibly,
and shuffled in his hammock.
"I really am sorry for what happened
today. If you want to have me fix the house
up, I can understand. I'll have to ask Priest
Katsuhito to give me some supplies, but I'll do
it." Ashe said quietly.
"Don't worry about the house; cracked
walls and beams are a welcome sight, compared
to some of the things that have happened to
this place. Besides, Washu already mended the
wall and repaired any unseen damage that
might've been there; one of the benefits of
having a genius around the house." Nobuyuki
remarked, chuckling at the comment. Ashe
nodded in agreement, though his eyes weren't
poised on the elder Masaki; they were instead
focused on the shimmering point of light that
drifted in a direct and downward descent from
the night sky. The sliver of light began to
get larger, and its form more defined, as it
came closer to the horizon. Nobuyuki cocked
his head to one side, and followed the
wanderer's gaze out over the lake as the object
became more visible.
"Ayeka got another message from home. I
wonder what it's about." Nobuyuki remarked, as
the two men watch the drone slow its course
toward the household. Its faceplate resembled
the outer shell of Ayeka's guardians, Azaka and
Kamidake, though the sensor eyepiece and
wording on it denoted its purpose as messenger.
The lower portion and back of the unit had
hundreds of different vines and planks of
various sizes and colors protruding from
beneath the faceplate; those were providing the
drone with sensor ability, maneuverability, and
self-defense. As the drone floated patiently
at the edge of the dock, Ayeka and the rest of
the family slowly emerged from the house and
approached the floating unit. The princess
knelt down on both knees in front of the drone,
and brushed aside several locks of her purple
hair. The headband that nestled itself on
Ayeka's head began to pulse with a fierce blue,
to which the eyepiece on the messenger unit
pulsed in response. The faceplate opened
itself up, to reveal a rather small wooden
plate with intricate and ancient symbols
encircling the outer edge of the plate. As the
elder princess's headband continued to pulse,
the symbols began to emit a deep blue in a
rhythmic response, giving the impression of a
heartbeat given light. It wasn't long before a
blue-tinted image of a middle-aged man stood on
the plate; his deep violet hair and beard
neatly combed and tied down. His robes and
style of dress easily identified the man as the
Emperor of Jurai, and as the man began to
speak, everyone began to crowd around the elder
princess.
"Ayeka, Sasami; my daughters, I have sent
this messenger drone to bring news that you
will find most joyous. As Emperor Azusa the
First, I am pleased to announce that the tree
ship Gen-Sao will be bonded to a new pilot.
This auspicious event will be taking place at
the end of this galactic week." The image said,
as Ayeka leaned closer to watch the recorded
message play out. She cast a sidelong glance
at Ryoko as the pirate attempted to smuggle
herself closer to the messenger drone, and the
displayed image of Ayeka's father as it
continued to talk.
"Ryoko, would you mind? This is a very
important, and very PRIVATE, message. I would
like to view this without interruption, if you
please?" Ayeka mouthed toward her rival, as
Ryoko sat back on her heels. The pirate rolled
her eyes towards Ayeka as the princess grumbled
something about lack of privacy.
"Yeah, whatever; it's not like I have
been talking over it, you know." Ryoko
muttered, when both she and Ayeka were pushed
aside as a widely grinning Sasami squeezed in
between the two girls to listen in on more of
the message. All of the girls quieted down to
listen in as the image continued to play itself
out.
"As tradition has always stated, all
members of the royal family are to be present
at the time of a tree ship bonding, so this
messenger drone will remain behind to assist
you all in preparations to come to Jurai." The
two princesses of Jurai gasped audibly, and
began to chatter noisily about what they were
going to do when they got back home. Tenchi,
who had stood behind both Ayeka and Sasami,
scratched his head and gazed at the drone in
wonder. Mihoshi stood up quickly and threw on
a wide grin over her face.
"You're going on a field trip! This is
going to be great!" She exclaimed, and started
to jump in place while clutching her hands
against her face. Suddenly the space officer
stopped jumping around and thought heavily for
a moment. "Oh yeah, um, Ayeka? Is it okay
that I go along, too? I've never been to a
Jurai celebration and I'd love to go to one."
"Well, the message has not specified that
guests were unwelcome, so I don't see why not."
Ayeka said, Washu, who had been drinking in
every word of the message that was being played
out, took a free moment to give a raised
eyebrow to the space officer. That didn't last
long however, when a familiar female voice hued
with a twinge of replication made its face
known. All eyes turned toward the messenger
drone, as a feminine figure stood in front of
Azusa. Her bright blue hair was pulled back
into a large, well decorated pony tail that
traveled down to the small of her back; her
outfit was likewise decorated using several
different shades of purples and blues. Ayeka
took a moment to look back at the messenger
drone, and let out a deep and painful sounding
sigh.
"Mother," the elder princess breathed.
"Sasami-chan! Ayeka-chan! I'm looking
forward to seeing you and all of your friends
at the ceremony, and I'll have your best
dresses ready and waiting for you in your old
rooms. It'll be so great to have you back home
for a little while. I miss you both so much!"
Ayeka's right eye twitched as she continued
watching her mother keep her father at bay, as
though he seemed to be struggling to get to the
recorder of the message. Another figure
stepped into the sight of the group that had
gathered to watch the message play out; her
hair had the look of silk, and her deep blue
and purple robes more than simply marked her as
one of Azusa's wives; her elegance poured out
around her as she stood in the display plate,
and even the crickets around the Masaki home
seemed to quiet down as she began to speak.
Katsuhito perked his ears as the beautiful
woman began to speak.
"This part of the message is for Tenchi,
Yosho, and Nobuyuki. As you are all related,
through blood or marriage, to the royal family
of Jurai we would be honored to have you stand
with us as the ceremony takes place. And
Yosho," she said quietly, and Katsuhito locked
his gaze on the image of his mother, "if you do
not come, I will take steps to ensure that you
arrive for the ceremony. Understood?"
Katsuhito took an audible gulp of air, and
twisted the ball of one of his feet into the
pier on which he stood. Washu cackled at the
whole scene and beamed a toothy grin at the
priest as the group witnessed the image of the
two women and Azusa fade away into nothingness.
"There's nothing like getting dragged to
a party, eh, Katsuhito? Hahahahahahaha!" Washu
cackled again as the Shinto priest eyed the
child scientist from the corner of his eye.
"You understand, of course, if I don't
find the humor in that statement." Katsuhito
muttered aloud, which kept Washu from cackling
any further.
"Oh, nyaa to you, too. It's only fair,
considering the comment I remember a certain
priest made concerning a mop and bucket?"
Washu said, making sour faces at Katsuhito as
they parted aside to let the rest of the family
walk down the pier back toward the house.
Katsuhito brightened his face for a brief
moment with a faint half smile, and looked back
at the messenger drone.
"In that respect, then, I guess we're
even. Nonetheless, I must prepare for my
departure; if you all will excuse me."
Katsuhito spoke, and bowed briefly. Washu
returned the bow, and watched the priest amble
his way back toward the steps up toward his
shrine. Tenchi stopped at the door to the
house and looked at Ashe and his own father;
the two hadn't moved anywhere closer to the
rest of the family as the drone displayed the
message. Nobuyuki gave the young Masaki a
questioning look.
"So, what was this message about,
Tenchi?" Nobuyuki inquired, to which his son
half smiled in return.
"We're going to visit Jurai, dad. We're
leaving as soon as we can, and you've been
invited as well. You think you can get out of
work for a 'family emergency'?" Tenchi asked.
His father put a stern face on for several
seconds, and then smiled his usual goofy smile.
"I got a good week's worth of vacation
coming to me, so why not? Besides, I bet Jurai
has some beautiful women that are dying to have
a healthy, good-looking man pay loads of
attention to them." Tenchi rolled his eyes at
his father, and quickly walked inside, moaning
something about hoping that hentai tendencies
weren't genetic. Nobuyuki chuckled to himself,
and turned back to Ashe.
"Well, wanderer, it seems that we're
going some place far away. Anything I should
be afraid of while I'm on Jurai?" The elder
Masaki asked, and the wanderer looked out over
the lake.
"Just one thing to mention, Mr. Masaki."
The wanderer spoke matter-of-factly.
"Oh, and what's that?"
"Never tell a Juraian woman that you want
to test the acidity of their tree pot with your
moss stick; and if you wonder what will
happen," Ashe spoke, shuddering as if
remembering something that wasn't too pleasing.
"Let me guess; you get thrown from a tree
ship." Nobuyuki blurted out; Ashe gave the
elder Masaki a surprised look.
"You wish! That's the best thing that
can happen!" Huge sweat drops began to appear
on Nobuyuki's forehead, and the elder Masaki
began back stepping toward the entrance to the
household.
"Uhhh... Well, thanks for the warning,
Ashe. I'll keep that in mind while I'm there."
With that, the next-to-final member of the
Masaki clan entered the house for the evening.
As Ashe situated himself on the hammock, and
closed his eyes to prepare for yet another
night's worth of sleep, Washu stopped her
approach to the household entrance to look at
the wanderer.
"Why did you choose to come outside,
Ashe? It's going to be very chilly tonight,
and I'm sure that I can..." Ashe opened one of
his eyes to look at the child scientist.
"Don't," Ashe muttered; Washu looked at
the wanderer, a sincere look of wonder gracing
her visage.
"And why not? I don't know anybody who
deserves to sleep outside in the cold air.
Well, excluding two certain individual men that
are thankfully not anywhere nears this planet,
at any rate."
"I'm thankful that I even have a place to
lie down and sleep for a night, let alone a
place that hasn't lusted for my blood outright
as soon as I land there. I'll take what I can
get,' Ashe whispered, and paused for a second,
'considering that I'm not a true guest of this
house as you are. And I'm not going to risk
your welcome to extend my own." With that,
Ashe closed his open eye to go to sleep. Washu
looked at the wanderer with a puzzled look, and
smiled faintly. She opened the door, and stood
halfway in the door for several minutes,
staring at the wanderer the entire time.
"Sleep well, Ashe, and pleasant dreams."
The child scientist whispered, and closed the
door to the Masaki household. Several minutes
passed with blissful silence, which was broken
by Ashe's half conscious ramblings about peach
cobbler and tree leaf pudding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mornings at the Masaki household usually
aren't very interesting. Of course, this only
applies toward the people who actually live
there. For a person ill-equipped to deal with
the hustle, bustle, and occasional brawl that
occurs there, it would seem more like a TV talk
show gone horribly wrong. And unfortunately
for Ashe, not only is he ill-equipped, he's
also the target of many a practical joke; this
particular morning was no exception. Ashe was
'volunteered' to valet the family's luggage,
and most of the day was spent loading cargo
into the Ryu-Oh for transporting to Jurai
under the everlasting and critical gaze of
Ryoko and Ayeka. However the space pirate
wasn't paying attention to the wanderer at one
point and, from where Ryoko stood, for good
reason.
"Ayeka, I'd like to ask you just one
simple question." Ryoko stated as she looked
out over the cargo area. The newly finished
Ryu-Oh had already been sent through several
test runs around the solar system and was
finally ready for the big flight. Ayeka strode
up to Ryoko's side and looked out over the
cargo area in which they stood.
"And what question would that be, Ryoko?"
Ayeka asked, furrowing her brow in mild
confusion. The pirate threw her hands out to
emphasize on the abnormally large pyramid of
luggage that was stacked in the middle of the
cargo area.
"Do you want to pack up the rest of the
house, or can we leave now?" Ryoko blurted
out, eyeing the princess with teeth-grinding
annoyance. Without even glancing back at
Ryoko, the elder princess walked up to the
stack of luggage and began to quietly inspect
various boxes and briefcases. Stopping at one
particular box, she rapped on the side of the
box firmly. The results were immediate; the
whole pyramid tumbled down in no dramatic
fashion. After the dust and debris settled the
two young ladies saw, at the opposite end of
the cargo area, Ashe staring at the pile with
the most desperate of gazes, his arms and hands
overflowing with luggage. Ayeka brought
herself upright, and tilted her head toward the
wanderer as he walked toward the now decimated
pile of luggage.
"Oh my, it seems that the luggage wasn't
stable enough to remain upright. I do hope
that you will be able to keep an accident like
this from happening in the future, if you would
be so kind." Ayeka spoke, though never making
any eye contact with Ashe. The wanderer gave
out a heavy sigh, and began to redo the luggage
as best he could. The elder princess made her
way through an archway that would lead her
toward the bridge portion of the Ryu-Oh, with
Ryoko hot on her heels. As they stepped
through the archway, the pirate gave Ayeka a
raised eyebrow.
"For a second, I thought you didn't have
it in you." Ryoko whispered to the elder
princess, and Ayeka closed her eyes as they
exited the cargo area.
"It may be true that he did not deserve
it," the elder princess spoke, and an almost
nonexistent smile crossed her lips, "But it was
therapeutic, I'll say that much." Ryoko's
laughter could be heard echoing through the
cargo area as the two left, leaving the rather
distraught wanderer to deal with the now
devastated pile of luggage.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that
those two just want me gone." Ashe thought
aloud, and then stopped for a moment to rethink
what he had just said. "Wait, scratch that;
they want me disemboweled and cremated."
Wiping the sweat off of his brow, the wanderer
was half finished with restacking the pile of
luggage when a familiar blond haired girl
ambled her way into the cargo area. Realizing
who had come in, Ashe waved briefly at Mihoshi
as she walked up to the half-finished pile of
luggage.
"Hello, Mihoshi. Did you need something
from in the cargo area," the wanderer asked,
and gave the space officer a half-eyed stare,
"Or did Ryoko and Ayeka send you?" Mihoshi
scratched her head and looked at the pile of
luggage, then at Ashe.
"Oh, hello, Ashe; I'm just looking for
something is all. Now where did I put it?"
Mihoshi wondered aloud, and began to paw at the
various boxes and briefcases that were in the
half finished stack of luggage that the
wanderer had done so far.
"Was it in here? Or was it in there? I
thought I put it in hereā¦" Mihoshi mused as she
kept opening and tearing into the various boxes
she brought onboard. Ashe made several sounds
of protest which, unfortunately for the
wanderer, went completely unheard as Mihoshi
searched for her missing object. Ashe covered
his eyes with his hands at one point when a
purple satin bra floated through his line of
sight. After several more minutes of
searching, an excited and happy gasp of breath
prompted Ashe to uncover his eyes; the wanderer
fought to contain an unbridled scream of pure
horror as he bore witness to a Mihoshi
encounter. Mihoshi clutched the fused checkers
pieces that she had been scouring for, when the
space officer had become aware of the situation
she had created; the majority of the cargo area
was now littered with Mihoshi's clothes and
personal effects, and several of her
undergarments lay in a small pile in front of
Ashe, who tried his best to keep from spouting
a serious nosebleed.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry about this
mess, Ashe! Here, let me clean this up for
you." Mihoshi blurted out and, grabbing one of
the empty boxes in one hand and a pile of
clothes in another, promptly fell into the
remaining stack of relatively untouched cargo.
Ashe plopped down on the floor of the cargo
area and put his head into his hands as he
watched the space officer, however flippantly
and haphazardly, repacked all of her things
into her boxes and restacked the pile of cargo.
Mihoshi waved to the wanderer as she left the
cargo area, coveted object in tow and boxes
stacked in a random, half-thought about order.
"I'm really sorry about the mess, but I
hope that you'll be on the bridge for dinner
time tonight! See you there!" The officer
beamed, and disappeared from sight. Ashe, who
had been awestruck by the entire scene that had
played out before him, slowly brought himself
upright and shook his head in utter disbelief.
"Just when life becomes something
tolerable, I come across a girl that wants me
dead, another who makes my life difficult
intentionally, and now I find one that makes it
difficult completely by accident! Is it
possible that my life can get any worse?" Ashe
mused to himself, and turned to exit the cargo
area; by the time he picked himself up off of
the ground, Ashe realized that he had ran
straight into a metallic sphere the size of a
compact car. Washu sat atop the sphere and
stopped typing in some information to give a
broad smile to the wanderer as he stood up.
"Hello, Ashe! You've just been enlisted
to assist me with a couple of things! How does
that sound?" Washu exclaimed, never taking her
eyes off of the wanderer. Ashe gave the child
scientist a level eyed stare, and brushed
himself off.
"Does it have anything to do with
luggage?" Ashe breathed, and started to walk
around the rather large orb as it hovered in
place. A tentacle shot out of the orb in front
of the wanderer, effectively barring his way
out, and Washu gave another toothy smile.
"Nope, more like a test of reflexes." She
chirped, and Ashe gave her an almost desperate
gaze.
"Oh, hell," was the last thing that Ashe
said before eight more tentacles sprouted out
from the orb and shot out at the wanderer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deep in space, the Ryu-Oh made its way
through the ether, back toward its home world.
On board, the clan of people that had been
invited to a very special occasion was asleep;
however, there was heard a sound that was very
much unlike the usual sounds that one would
hear on a tree ship such as this. It was these
odd sounds that had awoken the space pirate
Ryoko out of a sound sleep. If anybody knew
the pirate, they knew that waking Ryoko was not
something one did intentionally.
Ryoko sat up straight out of her bed, her
ears twitching, as if listening for a far away
sound. Her eyebrows closed in on her nose as
she homed in on the source of the noise. She
bunched up her lips as she thought of who could
be awake at this time of night. She climbed
out of her bed and, after putting on an
oversized long sleeved t-shirt and jeans,
teleported to the bedsides of the various
people onboard the ship. Tenchi and his father
were fast asleep in his sleeping quarters, as
were Katsuhito and Mihoshi in their respective
quarters. Ashe was mumbling something about
peach cobbler in the cargo area, and Washu was
nowhere to be found onboard the ship as usual.
Ryoko stopped for a moment, and listened more
intently. Her ears perked up as she realized
the location of the noise.
"Strange. Who would be on the bridge
right now?" Ryoko thought aloud, and
teleported herself onto the bridge of the Ryu-
Oh. Moving stealthily around the more heavily
shaded areas of the bridge, Ryoko slatted her
eyes as realization hit her as to who was
making the noise that was heard. Sitting
directly in front of the space tree that
piloted the Ryu-Oh, and sobbing in a way that
almost couldn't be heard, was Sasami. She was
still in her carrot pajamas, and her eyes were
red from crying. As Ryoko watched, her
expression softened and her lower lip twitched
from sympathy.
"Psst." Ryoko whispered, and Sasami
whirled around from her spot to see spiky cyan
hair and a pair of golden-yellow eyes peek out
from behind the space tree that she sat under.
"Mind if I drop in?" Sasami rubbed her eyes as
she tried to make out who it was.
"R-Ryoko?" Sasami whispered back, and
blinked twice. The former pirate pulled
herself out from behind the tree slowly, and
walked up to Sasami.
"Yup, it's me. What're you doing out
here right now? You should be asleep, since
tomorrow is going to be the big day for you and
your sister, what with the coming back home for
that celebration and all." Ryoko remarked
casually, trying to hide the concern that
poured out of her words. Sasami turned and
looked back out over the main portion of the
bridge, then back at Ryoko as the pirate sat
down cross-legged beside the younger princess.
"I know. But I had some bad dreams, and
I didn't want to wake up Ayeka and.. and..
well.." Sasami said, her eyes seeming to well
up with tears for yet another round of crying.
Ryoko sat there for a minute, looking at the
ground in deep thought while the princess cried
aloud. This time, however, the younger
princess didn't cry for long; feeling a firm
grip on her shoulder, Sasami turned to see
Ryoko holding her fast.
"I got a secret for you, but you got to
promise not to tell anybody about it. Not even
your sister, ESPECIALLY your sister, okay?"
Ryoko whispered to Sasami. The younger
princess cocked her head to listen to Ryoko,
her bad dreams taking a back burner to hearing
a secret from Ryoko.
"What is it?"
"I get bad dreams too, and sometimes when
nobody's awake to hear it, I go out on the pier
and cry." Sasami's eyes shot open wide at the
concept of Ryoko crying about something other
than Tenchi. Ryoko saw the response she got
out of Sasami, and nodded her head to confirm
it.
"Usually it's about the stuff I did
before I met Tenchi and all of the rest of you.
It was bad." Ryoko whispered and shuddered so
faintly that one would have to have been
holding her, or been held by her, to feel it.
"It was really bad. But do you know what keeps
me from crying for hours and hours now?"
Sasami shook her head no to answer Ryoko's
question.
"It's the fact that I have a family now.
And that if I try hard enough, if I can keep my
family safe from bad things and bad people,
then all of the bad things that I had to go
through aren't so bad after all. Does that
make any sense?" Ryoko said quietly, her
question seemingly being posed to herself more
than anybody. Sasami looked at Ryoko, and gave
the pirate a faint smile.
"Yup." Sasami whispered back, and gave
the former pirate a bear hug in response.
Ryoko nearly jumped back, surprised by the
whole scene that had played out in front of
her. The younger princess gave her one quick,
final hug and scrambled up to go back into her
room. Stopping at one spot at the opposite end
of the bridge, Sasami waved at Ryoko.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Ryoko?"
Sasami said, waving at the pirate from her spot
on the bridge. Ryoko gave Sasami a huge
thumbs-up signal, and smiled at the younger
princess as she made her way back to her
bedroom. Putting herself into a kneeling
position, Ryoko stared out over the bridge, and
past the view port that was open, into the
darker depths of space and beyond. Ryoko
sighed, a mixture of relief and worry oozing
through, and closed her eyes while a single
tear slipped past her defenses as she sat.
End of Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
