A rustle and then a bump to his shoulder woke Tenchi from his sleep. His eyes sprung open, and he turned slowly to face what he knew he was going to see...
"Ryoko!"
"Good morning Tenchi!"
(GLOMP)
"Hey, cut that out!"
"You didn't complain last night, Tenchi."
(GLOMP)
"That was last night, and that was before going to bed, and that was most certainly without you in my bed!"
"You think I don't know that? Why do you think I'm in your bed now?"
(GLOMP)
"Ryoko, stop it!"
"Make me."
(GLOMP)
Tenchi rolled off the side of his bed opposite Ryoko to escape from the constant string of kisses. He mustered as much anger as he could, which amounted to almost nothing, and tried to glare at Ryoko.
"I told you not to do that, didn't I?"
"Yes."
Ryoko batted her eyes at Tenchi, and puckered her lips to blow him more kisses.
"And?"
"And I ignored you."
"Ryoko..."
"I gave it some consideration, Tenchi. That's what you wanted isn't it, for me to think about my actions first? Well, I did, and I decided it was worth it."
"Ryoko..."
"Admit it Tenchi, you were enjoying it."
"Wh-what? Of course I wasn't. I didn't want you to do that."
"Then why didn't you scramble out of bed the second you realized I was there?"
"I, well, er..."
Ryoko just smiled, and started crawling across the bed towards him. She was wearing a large t-shirt, Tenchi had finally managed to get her to put something on last night. He hadn't realized how sexy he would find it for her to be wearing something like that, but he had done everything in his power not to let her know, that would have been even worse.
(KNOCK, KNOCK)
"Tenchi? It's time for breakfast."
Tenchi breathed a sigh of relief as Ryoko swore. Then suddenly Ryoko was right in front of him, having phased herself over. She planted a kiss on his mouth, and he relented and returned the kiss, earning himself a squeeze on his butt.
"Bye Tenchi. Don't forget about me."
Ryoko phased herself over to the door, morphed her clothes back to her comfortable cat-tail dress, and opened the door to let Mihoshi in.
And then she paused in amazement. She'd had no idea what Mihoshi was going to wear, and seeing it didn't make her feel any better. With a grimace she glanced back at Tenchi, then she flew off towards the house. Tenchi just stared.
She had on her habitual pink and khakis, but they weren't quite the same pink and khakis that she normally wore. The khaki shorts were just that... short. The pink top was low cut and didn't quite reach the top of her shorts, showing off her flat stomach. She looked like she was ready for the beach, and Tenchi couldn't help wondering what kind of bathing suit would be hiding under those clothes.
"Hi Tenchi. Breakfast is ready. Umm, Tenchi? Did you hear me? Breakfast is ready."
Mihoshi approached Tenchi as he stared silently, his eyes bulging as her top bounced. She stopped right in front of him, and leaned her face in close to his, causing his eyes to bulge even more as her shirt fell away from her body.
"TENCHI!!!! BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"
Tenchi fell over backwards from the force of Mihoshi's yell right in front of him. He clapped his hands to his ears as they started ringing, and glanced up at Mihoshi. Then he immediately wished he hadn't, she was leaning over him with a worried expression, giving him an even better look down her shirt, this time it being obvious that she was, in fact, wearing a pink bikini underneath. Once again, he felt the now-familiar sensation of blood trickling from his nose.
"ARE YOU ALL RIGHT TENCHI?"
Tenchi grimaced as Mihoshi again yelled near his face, causing his ears to ring even harder. "Yes, Mihoshi, I'm all right, and I can hear you just fine. You don't need to yell."
"Oh good, I got worried when you wouldn't answer me. Does your nose itch? You seem to be rubbing it or holding it or something. You're not catching a cold are you? It's been so nice out lately that would be strange. In fact I was hoping to do some sunbathing today, it looks so nice outside."
Tenchi struggled back to his feet, finding his balance a little hard to find with his ears ringing so much.
"I'm sure you'll have a nice day for sunbathing, Mihoshi. If you'll excuse me a minute, I'll go clean up a touch, then we can go to breakfast."
Tenchi headed for the bathroom, and proceeded to wash and brush and all the usual things one did to get ready in the morning. When he was done, he stepped back out to find Mihoshi looking at a small pad of paper.
"Mihoshi, where'd you find that sketchbook? It's been missing ever since I moved over here. I thought I'd looked everywhere for it."
"Oh, well you see, I was really just going to sit down on the couch and take a nap, I'm still so tired. But when I did, I bumped my head against that lamp. And then, before I knew it I was hanging onto the lamp to keep it from falling, but my feet slipped the cushion off of the couch and I fell down. After I put the lamp back, I was about to put the cushion back in place, too, when I noticed your sketchbook. I glanced through it, some of these are really pretty. I like the one of your dad's house from the dock, and the one of the shrine steps from a distance was good, too. Oh and that hillside with all the trees, that was really neat..."
"Thanks Mihoshi, I appreciate that. I don't think anyone's ever seen them before, I've always been afraid to show them to anyone."
"Oh, you're welcome Tenchi. And you shouldn't be afraid to show them to anyone, they're really good. Do you only do buildings and nature scenes, or do you do people, too? I saw this great portrait of a lady once, she had this kind of smile on her face, but she wasn't quite smiling either, and she was wearing this red dress. Oh but I guess you're just sketching with pencils, you aren't using colors are you? Too bad, it'd be really neat if you could. Say... could you do a sketch of me sometime?"
Tenchi held his chuckles inside. Following some of Mihoshi's speeches was challenging, but she was so good-natured you still enjoyed talking to her.
"I've never done a sketch of a person before, Mihoshi. I don't think I'd be very good at it."
"Pllleeeaaasssseee?"
"I really don't think that's a good idea Mihoshi. I usually do stuff which has a lot of straight lines in it. I don't think you'd look right if I drew you with straight lines, you're a little too curvy. Ah..."
Tenchi hoped that Mihoshi missed the somewhat obvious connotation which could be applied to his last statement. He hadn't meant it that way of course, but...
"Please, Tenchi, pretty please? With sugar on top?"
Tenchi raised his hands in surrender. "All right, I give up. I'll try and draw a sketch of you Mihoshi. It'll probably take me a while to do it though."
"Oh goody. Thanks Tenchi."
Mihoshi grabbed Tenchi into a hug, which he accepted gracefully. It was better than getting tackled by her like usual. Mihoshi's hugs were almost as powerful as Misaki's or Sasami's though, and soon his ribs started to ache.
"Isn't it time we headed over for breakfast? They're probably all waiting on us by now." Tenchi disentangled himself from Mihoshi carefully, he mostly had bare skin to work with, and didn't want to misplace his hands.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Let's go, I'm starving."
Mihoshi grabbed his hand and quickly started dragging him out the door. After a few stumbles, Tenchi finally caught his balance and fell into stride beside her, enjoying the sensation of her warm hand in his.
--
"He's up to something, Misaki. My information didn't say what, just that he was gone, and that Baron Rugoya and Earl Warufan were accompanying him. Those two don't make sense to me, they don't run in the same circles. Rugoya's a toady, while Warufan never shows his face if he can help it. What would our fool husband want with the two of them?"
Funaho and Misaki had just looked at their most recent correspondence from Jurai, and the usual trivialities had suddenly disappeared, replaced with the fact that their husband had gone missing, not letting anyone know where he was going. Funaho wasn't surprised by this, but she wanted to know what he was up to. Misaki's concerns were a little different.
"I imagine he probably didn't bring any guardians with him, either. He's such an arrogant ass sometimes, thinking he's beyond anyone's reach. If he had any idea how hard I have to work to keep him safe, he'd be begging for forgiveness."
"I'm just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's coming here, would you? We did kind of hint that he ought to try and correspond with the kids again. He's probably going to do it in person. Why's he bringing those two along, though? I hate it when he does this. I think it's time to add someone to my staff from his servants again. I knew it was a bad idea to let him have his privacy."
"Mmm, hmm, I think I need to add a new bodyguard to his retinue, too. Perhaps you could suggest someone..."
"Ahh, yes, I think I could. Just let me check with my advisers, I'm sure we can come up with a suitable candidate. Someone who just might work for both of us..."
The two queens smiled at each other, and with that problem solved, left their room to head for breakfast. Sasami had announced it was ready almost five minutes ago, it wasn't a good idea to keep her waiting.
--
Everyone but Tenchi and Mihoshi and the two queens were already seated at the table, and Ryoko was regaling everyone with her stories of the previous night with Tenchi. Nobuyuki, who'd made a surprise appearance was beaming, and Ayeka was scowling as might be expected. Washu, Sasami, and Kiyone all had frowns on their faces, too, an indication that Ryoko was laying it on thick.
"I'm telling you, by the end of the night he was fabulous. Now it took a lot of repetition, but you ladies are gonna be thanking me. You're all in for a treat. Just remember who did all the work, don't you ever accuse me of not pulling my weight again." Ryoko's face was lit up with her amusement, and the looks she was receiving just made it even more fun for her.
"Enough Ryoko! I'm sure we all look forward to enjoying a kiss from Lord Tenchi, but whether it is good or not will not be thanks to you. We are all quite capable of getting the kiss we want from him with a little patience and effort." Ayeka's demeanor had broken and she gave Ryoko a look that indicated pain and suffering were in her future.
"That's the spirit, Ayeka! Don't let Tenchi get away until he gets it right. It'll be good for him, a little suffering on the road to love. You girls give him hell, make him kiss you over and over again, as long as it takes!" Nobuyuki received nothing but cool glances from everyone for that statement, but he didn't even notice, he was so happy to hear Tenchi had finally given one of the girls a good kiss.
Ryoko pressed on with her story, ignoring the interruption. "Wait, wait, that was just after we got back to his house. Now let me tell you what happened in the bedroom..."
"I think that will do Ryoko."
Everyone's eyes snapped to the stairs where Funaho's voice had come from as she and Misaki made their way down.
"But I just wanted to let everyone know..."
"I said that was enough, Ryoko. What you and Tenchi may or may not have done in his bedroom is nobody's business but yours. I don't think Tenchi would appreciate you telling stories behind his back, now would he?"
"Well, I suppose not." Ryoko's glee fell from her face, she hadn't even gotten to lead everyone on for a while, Funaho had broken her fun.
"Good. New rule, ladies. No talking about what happens in the bedroom with Tenchi. I personally don't believe anything happened, but I don't need to listen to any of you spreading rumors just to upset everyone else. All right?"
"But I..." Ryoko spluttered, then came up short when she caught the look in Misaki's eyes.
"You disagree, Ryoko?"
Ryoko answered meekly, "Ah, no, I guess not."
Everyone else just nodded their head, except Nobuyuki who now looked disappointed. He still hadn't managed to even get a peek into Tenchi's house, whatever Washu had done was working perfectly to keep him away. He'd hoped Ryoko might reveal something that had happened in the bedroom.
"Good. Where is Tenchi, any way? Shouldn't he and Mihoshi be here by now?" Misaki looked a questioning gaze around the room.
Kiyone answered, "It's Mihoshi, remember? They're probably lost in the hills by now."
"That's hardly nice, Kiyone; though I do see your point." Misaki sat down with a small smile for Kiyone. "Should we send out a rescue party, or give them a few more minutes?"
"We wait!" Sasami eyed everyone sternly, making sure they all understood.
"Well, then... Since we're waiting, perhaps you'd like to fill us in on what you did to Ryo-Ohki?" Washu looked directly at Ryoko, catching her gaze with a look of pending malice.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to Ryo-Ohki." Ryoko tore her eyes away from Washu to look at Ryo-Ohki, who was sitting on the floor next to Sasami. But as soon as Ryoko looked at her, Ryo-Ohki turned her face away, with her chin in the air.
"What's up, furball?"
With a lack of response, Ryoko tried accessing her link to Ryo-Ohki, but encountered only static. Ryo-Ohki was doing something to shut her out that way too.
"Obviously you did something, you good-for-nothing. Ryo-Ohki doesn't normally act this way."
"I don't know, 'MOM', she won't talk to me."
"Well, then, I think we can safely assume Ryo-Ohki is mad at you for something, and considering how you were acting yesterday, it probably has to do with Tenchi. You ignored her, didn't you?"
"I don't know, I treated her the same yesterday as I always do."
"Of course you did, that's why she's mad at you." The sarcasm was thick in Washu's voice. "I suppose I'll have to find out what you messed up from Ryo-Ohki myself, and then we'll deal with the problem. Can you visit my lab after breakfast, Ryo-Ohki?"
Ryo-Ohki "miya"-ed her approval for Washu, and then Mihoshi and Tenchi finally arrived. Mihoshi's outfit got a small buzz of interest, most notably from Nobuyuki.
"Well, what took the two of you so long to arrive? You weren't doing anything we shouldn't know about, were you?" Nobuyuki was looking at Tenchi when he said this, but it was Mihoshi who answered.
"No, I certainly don't think so. I was just looking at Tenchi's sketchbook while he cleaned up and then we talked a bit. That's hardly something we would keep a secret, is it? Stuff you keep secret is like the time Kiyone got drunk after we broke up a smuggling racket, and then she started walking through the streets..."
"Shut up Mihoshi! Grrr..."
"What, oh right, I'm supposed to keep that secret aren't I? Silly me. So any way, we weren't doing anything we'd need to keep secret. What could Tenchi and I do alone in his house that we'd need to keep secret?"
Noticing that Mihoshi was missing the smiles of amusement on everyone's face, Misaki got up to whisper in Mihoshi's ear, "sex".
"Ohhhh....." Mihoshi's face turned bright red, but she continued, "No, Tenchi didn't ask me to do that, so no we didn't. Maybe he will tonight, though."
"Go for it son, I know you can..." Nobuyuki broke off as Tenchi passed out and fell to the ground.
"Here we go again." Washu got up, reached into subspace to grab a hypo, and proceeded to shoot it into Tenchi's neck. He came to as she returned to her place.
"Unngghh! Geez, again? All right, dad, knock it off. Mihoshi, you can ignore them, they're just teasing us."
"They are? That's not very nice." Mihoshi turned an angry glare on everyone, which promptly started a round of chuckling from the table.
"It was meant in a nice way, Mihoshi, not to make you feel bad. They're all still your friends." Misaki settled herself back in her seat.
"Can we please just eat breakfast?" Sasami was tapping her utensils in impatience now, breakfast had been done for a long time and was probably cold by now.
"Yes, let's eat." Tenchi added a glare for everyone before sitting down between Mihoshi and Funaho.
Everyone ate quietly from there, only the normal chitchat filling the silence between noises of eating. Yosho and Nobuyuki were the first to leave, as would be expected.
"I'll see you later, Tenchi," Yosho called as he left the house.
"Time to go. I've got lots to do today." Nobuyuki rose to his feet but smiled at Mihoshi before turning to leave. "You don't necessarily have to wait for my son to ask Mihoshi, you could do the asking." Then he also left the house.
"When will he quit it? He'll never grow up, and he's over twice my age." Tenchi scowled after his father as he walked out the door. When he turned back to the table, he encountered Mihoshi's gaze with bright, wide, considering eyes. "Ahh..."
"You know, Tenchi, about what your father said..."
Tenchi looked into those big, blue, beautiful, pleading eyes, and felt his resolve starting to crumble.
"Forget it blondie! Tenchi's not ready yet, he's already said so. Right, Tenchi?"
Ryoko was first, but quickly eight pairs of female eyes (plus one pair of female cabbit eyes) were looking at Tenchi very intently, causing him to squirm. His hand moved to it's instinctual spot at the back of his head to begin rubbing nervously.
Tenchi took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "Look-it's-time-to-get-to-the-fields-I'll-see-all-of-you-later-okay?" Then he bolted for the door.
"My, he does run fast sometimes, doesn't he? No wonder you ladies can't manage to corner him." Funaho was chuckling at the quick disappearance of Tenchi, and its effect on the ladies. Most were not taking it well.
"That boy's gonna have to make a move some day. And I don't mean running for the door. Well, Ryo-Ohki, coming?" Washu headed for her lab, followed by Ryo-Ohki hopping after her.
"Why would he run away like that, Kiyone? All I was going to do was ask him if he wanted to have dinner with me tonight?"
Mihoshi turned her glistening eyes on Kiyone, who sighed, and then answered, "Mihoshi, I think Tenchi was expecting you to ask something else."
Noticing the blank stare on Mihoshi's face, Misaki again leaned in close to whisper "sex" in her ear.
"Ohhhhh... I see now. But he's already said that he wasn't going to do that with any of us, so why would I ask him?"
"But, after Nobuyuki... then you... ah forget it. Let's just get ready for patrol, okay Mihoshi?" Kiyone threw up her hands, and started gathering plates from the table.
"Oh, I was thinking that maybe today I'd just stay here and do some sunbathing, Kiyone. It's my day with Tenchi, I don't really want to spend it in space. Besides, it's such a nice day. Come on, you should work on your tan a little bit too, you know, you're pretty pale."
"Mihoshi! Grrr..."
"Well, you are you know."
"I may be, Mihoshi, but we can't take time off from patrolling for something as pointless as that."
"But, Kiyone... When was the last time we actually had to do something on patrol? We can take a day off, it'd be good for you. You need to relax more often. Yukinojo will let us know if anything comes up."
"I..." Kiyone stopped what she was about to say and thought about what Mihoshi had said. Maybe she did need to relax, she hadn't taken the time off which she was certainly entitled to after that operation against Luigi Rudolpho. Now was a perfect opportunity, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with no real work to do. "I don't have a bathing suit, Mihoshi," she finished.
"Oh, well, I could probably let you have one of mine. Oh, but it probably wouldn't fit, would it?" That earned a scowl from Kiyone as she crossed her arms over her chest, which Mihoshi never even noticed. "Hmmmmm... I know, we can go shopping this morning while Tenchi's working, and then we can suntan this afternoon. How about it?"
"Okay Mihoshi, I guess so. Aren't you worried about Tenchi seeing me on your day, though?"
"What? Oh that silly rule. No I don't mind. We're friends, I know you wouldn't try and take advantage of it."
"You two heard that, right?" Kiyone looked at the queens, who each nodded. "All right, then I guess we go shopping."
"Yay, this is gonna be so much fun."
Kiyone rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, just like the last time. I don't think so. This time, I'm not trying on everything in the store, okay? Short and simple, that's it."
"But Kiyone..."
"No buts Mihoshi, that's all. Otherwise we don't go shopping." Kiyone gave Mihoshi her best stern look. She could see the turmoil working away inside Mihoshi. But there was no way she was going through a shopping experience like that with Mihoshi again...
Mihoshi finally relented, "Okay, Kiyone. You only try on what you want to. But it's gotta be cute." She perked up again, smiling at Kiyone. "Ready to go? We've got to hurry if we want to catch the best rays today."
Kiyone sighed again, but she felt better knowing she had her rule in place about the shopping. Then she noticed the looks she was getting from the rest. Ryoko had on her expected scowl, but it was Ayeka and Sasami who really surprised Kiyone. Ayeka was toying with the sleeve of her kimono, looking like a kid who was about to do something to get into trouble. Sasami looked disappointed for some reason.
"Ah, perhaps, ah, might I accompany you and Kiyone, Mihoshi? I, er, think I would like to do a little sunbathing myself, if you would not object. I, ah, well, I would like to even out the lines on my skin." Ayeka lifted the sleeve of her kimono to show how her hands were darker than her arms. She didn't want to allow her beautiful skin to become so flawed.
"Oh, that'd be really fun. Of course you can come Ayeka. You know, I can think of a few different suits I think would look really good on you, Ayeka. Hopefully we can find something like that, but we can always try on others..."
"Um, Mihoshi, I ah, well, I believe I would like to do as Miss Kiyone, and only try on a few that I think I would like."
"Huh? Oh, well, I guess if that's what you really want."
"Thank you, Mihoshi." Ayeka gave her own sigh of relief, which was short-lived.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Ayeka?" Misaki was giving Ayeka a hard glare, which caused Ayeka to jump back in fright.
"Ah, mother, ah, well, you're really here for Sasami, not me. I've already had my official training, I passed barely if you remember, so really, this is just some extra practice for me, not really required. I think that perhaps taking a break would be good for me..."
"You think so, do you? A break would be good for you? After all the time you spent pretending you didn't know how to fight, and now that you do, you think you can just take a break whenever you want to?"
"Well, ah, that is, yes?" Ayeka swallowed hard, and waited for the explosion with her eyes closed. After a few moments, she peeked out through one eye to see her mother smiling at her instead of the bulging-eyes-of-impending-doom she had been expecting.
"Of course you can, dear. You're old enough to make your own decisions." Misaki then leaned in close and whispered, "Just don't make a habit of crossing your mother." Leaning back again, the smile returned to her face. "Have fun."
"I'm going, too!" Sasami finally shouted her way into the conversation. The look this earned her from her mother, however, brought everyone's good mood to a halt.
"You, young lady, are in training. And you're certainly not going to skip practice to laze about getting a suntan in some skimpy piece of clothing. I'll not hear of it, not another..." Misaki stopped, as Funaho pulled the sleeve of her kimono and leaned in close.
"Tomorrow is her day, Misaki," she whispered. "You've decided she's old enough to attempt some kind of relationship with Tenchi. Is it going to matter if she skips a day?"
"But, this is her training. This is too important," Misaki whispered back.
"Oh, come on. It's a single day. Not only that, but between Yosho and Tenchi, and probably Ryoko and Kiyone too, they'll be able to keep her in practice long after we leave. We are going to have to go back eventually, you know. She'll be fine, let her have her fun. You can always make her suffer for it in practice again later."
"Hmmm, you may be right."
"Okay then," Misaki announced in a full voice again, addressing Sasami. "Your Aunt Funaho has convinced me that letting you join the others for the day will be all right. You'll of course be making up for it in future practices, but for today, you can spend it with the girls."
"Thanks, mommy! Thanks, Auntie Funaho!" Sasami threw herself into a hug encompassing the two queens, squeezing for all she was worth.
"Well, isn't this just cozy. You ladies have fun today, I'll keep an eye on Tenchi. Honestly, why you all think you need a swimsuit, any way. If you're gonna get a tan, you might as well get a tan everywhere. Me, I prefer the natural look. I look pretty good in a suit, but I look better out of it." Ryoko smiled evilly for effect, directing most of her gaze at Ayeka. "Some of you might not be able to say that, you're a little... lacking."
Ayeka heated up and was about to retort, but was beaten to the task by Mihoshi. "Lacking? If you don't have a suit, you'd be the one lacking, wouldn't you? You really don't make sense some times, Ryoko."
Kiyone pulled Mihoshi aside, to explain what Ryoko had meant as everyone broke up to go get their things together for the shopping trip. Only the two queens and Ryoko remained. Misaki placed herself in front of Ryoko with her hands on her hips, causing Ryoko to back up a step.
"I'll expect you to keep your distance from Tenchi, even with everyone else gone, Ryoko. That rule stands, regardless of whether Mihoshi is present or not. Do we understand each other?"
"Of course, I would never do anything to break the rules. I'm insulted you would think that of me. Don't worry your pretty little head, everything will be just fine."
"See that it is." Misaki turned away with a sniff, and Ryoko noticed the frown on Funaho's face as she turned to accompany Misaki. Obviously she suspected Ryoko was up to something. Ryoko had learned to deal with that, however. Everyone always suspected her of being up to something, and she usually got away with it regardless.
--
"Okay, Ryo-Ohki, I'm going to hook you up to this again. We've done this before, you know it won't hurt you. Good."
Washu attached the interface unit to Ryo-Ohki's head, and turned it on. Immediately the signal started transmitting to her monitor.
"Hmm, okay, let's go back to yesterday, okay Ryo-Ohki? I assume that's when whatever happened to cause you to get mad at Ryoko took place. Good, hmmm, working in the fields nothing there, let's keep going... Okay, now you're with Tenchi, and he's picking flowers. Not seeing it yet, keep going. Okay, Ryoko shows up and you run and hide. Fine. Keep going. Wait, the flowers are on the ground, and Tenchi and Ryoko aren't anywhere around. Okay, any more? So you wandered around a bit, then you climbed up by the shrine. Hmmm, someone was watching the grounds, I wonder what that is, probably nothing, but I'll amp up my sensors a bit, and maybe have Ayeka warn the guardians. All right, that was it, huh? So I assume it must have been the flowers, huh?"
"Miya," Ryo-Ohki agreed.
"So, show me what it was about the flowers that upset you so much. Okay, you got Tenchi to pick them, and he was going to give them to Ryoko? Okay, then Ryoko did something to cause Tenchi to drop them? Wait, you think she just laughed when he offered her the flowers so he dumped them on the ground? Hmmm, I know my daughter is callous, and flowers might not be her thing, but I doubt she would've laughed at Tenchi over that. No, my guess is she grabbed him and he dropped the flowers by accident. What do you think?"
"Mreowr?"
"No, no, you have to think it, I can't communicate with you the same as Ryoko. Think it so I can see it on the monitor."
Ryo-Ohki concentrated, and a visual image of Ryoko with an evil-looking face whisking Tenchi away, and the flowers dropping to the ground appeared.
"Hmmm, so even though she might not have done it on purpose, you're still mad at her? Why is that?"
Ryo-Ohki concentrated again causing a new image to form on the monitor. This time Ryoko had a sweet, innocent face with a smile for Tenchi, and Ryo-Ohki hopping along beside the two of them as they walked hand in hand.
"Ah, I see. So you were trying to help out Ryoko by getting Tenchi to give her flowers, then? If she'd gotten the flowers from him, you'd have all been happy together, is that it? And because she screwed up so that he didn't give them to her, you're mad at her? Well, it's all starting to make sense. Now the question is, what do we do about it?"
Washu disconnected her monitor, materialized a thinking cap into place on Ryo-Ohki's head, and sat down on the lab chair which was always available in her lab.
"All right, I've got it. First off, I have to say I'm a little miffed that you chose to help Ryoko over me." Ryo-Ohki's face turned a little red through her fur. "But seeing as you're connected to her and not me, I guess I can understand that, even if I did create you. Now then, since you're siding with Ryoko against me, I'm not going to give you any suggestions for how to help her get Tenchi. But I am going to give you a suggestion. Don't come up with any plans on your own, let Ryoko know what you're doing. She's gonna screw them up, otherwise, you know how she is. I'll tell Ryoko what you were trying to do, and hopefully she'll be smart enough to come and apologize to you. If she does that, will you quit ignoring her again?"
Nodding, Ryo-Ohki gave her "Miya" of approval.
"Good, then. Let's go find out what kind of trouble those ladies have gotten themselves into without us around to keep them straight, all right?"
"Mi-ya!"
--
"I am never going shopping with you again! Ever! Grrr..."
Kiyone stalked back to the house, ignoring the crying Mihoshi as she did so. She wished she'd known better than to go shopping with Mihoshi again. It had been as bad as a few days ago, store after store, suit after suit. Of course Sasami had been no help, just like before. Kiyone suspected she had been helping Mihoshi out just for the fun of it. She did seem to like playing pranks on people. Fortunately Ayeka had been there for at least one other voice of sanity. Until that last store any way.
"Kiyone? Wait, Kiyone? Waaahhhh!"
"It's all right Mihoshi, she's just a little mad right now." Sasami did her best to comfort Mihoshi, feeling a little guilty now that she'd pushed Kiyone so hard while they were shopping. Inevitably it was Mihoshi feeling the brunt of Kiyone's anger, instead of Sasami herself when she'd instigated much of the activity which so irritated Kiyone.
Ayeka hurried to catch up to Kiyone, seeing that Sasami was going to have her hands full with Mihoshi for a bit. "Ah, Miss Kiyone? Could I speak with you for a moment?"
Kiyone paused, surprised to be being addressed by Ayeka. From what she could recall, the two of them had barely spoken much at all since Kiyone had arrived on the Earth. Unable to drop her anger entirely, she turned to Ayeka with a glare and a harsh "What?"
Ayeka started from the angry response she received from Kiyone, and she felt a little of her own anger rising. It was not right for Kiyone to address her in that manner, she had not been the one egging Kiyone on to try on suit after suit when she so clearly did not want to. But reasoning that she should have put in a hand to restrain Sasami somewhat, she accepted it gracefully as always.
"I'm sure Miss Mihoshi had no intentions of making you so unhappy. She is quite obviously desperate for your friendship. Perhaps your anger towards Mihoshi is a little misplaced in this case?"
Kiyone took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down so she didn't speak so harshly to Ayeka when she clearly was not at fault. "I know she doesn't do it intentionally, Ayeka, I just get so frustrated sometimes. She just never seems to catch on to how different I am from her. Shopping is not something I grew up with a taste for. We never had enough money for me to do any, and I didn't have time for it even if I'd actually had any money. I was always helping out around my parents' shop. In a sense, I ought to enjoy it now that I actually have the opportunity, but it feels like such a waste of time. Unfortunately, Mihoshi rarely takes time into consideration, she moves at her own pace."
Ayeka nodded at the accurate description. She had a few other things to say on the matter, though, things she wasn't really comfortable with. "I can understand your position, but again, perhaps your anger is a bit misplaced in this case. Did you happen to notice who was pulling most of the suits which Mihoshi was having you try on?"
Kiyone thought back to the shopping for a moment, and realized that she had been correct in suspecting it was Sasami as much as Mihoshi who had been putting her through all that. She'd been the one handing armfuls of swimsuits to Mihoshi, who then made Kiyone try them on. It was interesting that Ayeka was pointing this out. Kiyone had never detected any real fondness between the two women, Ayeka seemed to get as exasperated by Mihoshi as Kiyone herself did. You would expect her to defend her sister and blame Mihoshi.
"I'm not sure I follow what you're getting at, Ayeka? Are you suggesting I should be blaming your sister?"
Ayeka sighed, she didn't like doing this, but it was probably time for Sasami to start growing up. She was so mature so much of the time, not to mention her apparent physical age, that you forgot how old she really was.
"Unfortunately, I am. I'm afraid Mihoshi forgot all about your promise due to the excitement she felt from my sister's prompting. And Sasami should have known better, she knew you didn't want to try on all of that. I'm not sure that she did it intentionally, she appears to enjoy shopping as much as Mihoshi. Unlike Mihoshi, she usually shows a good amount of common sense. I will speak to her if you prefer, but I thought if perhaps you were the one to tell her it might hold a little more weight. Her mother and I have been scolding Sasami for most of her life, and it usually has little effect. I hate to ask this of you, but I think it would be to Sasami's eventual benefit. She needs to grow up with everything that is coming in her life. Especially if she's truly going to try a relationship with Tenchi in the future." Ayeka gritted her teeth momentarily. "She needs to be able to act with more maturity than she probably has yet, and her impending merger with Tsunami is possibly going to be very trying. She acts without much thought to the consequences frequently, and I am hoping you might help me point that out to her."
Kiyone had listened in amazement to this speech. Ayeka really was hoping she would help her in scolding Sasami. The notion of anyone having to scold the super-sweet Sasami was strange enough in itself. That she would expect Kiyone to be the one to help was extremely surprising.
"Well, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Normally that's what mothers are for, and failing that, family." Kiyone looked at Ayeka, seeing the discomfort in her eyes also. "But I can understand your point, taking advice from your mother is tough, it's probably even worse from a sister. I'll give it a shot, I guess, but I hope I'm not ruining a friendship with Sasami."
"I doubt it will get that extreme. Sasami is a very reasonable girl, she is just young. But you're right, I shouldn't be asking this of you. Perhaps it would be best if we did it together." Ayeka looked back at her sister who seemed to have been successful getting Mihoshi's crying stopped. Kiyone followed her gaze, and realized she might owe Mihoshi an apology as well. She and Ayeka turned to nod at each other, and then walked together back to the other two ladies.
Sasami noticed their approach first. She saw a look of determination on Ayeka's and Kiyone's faces and felt some butterflies forming in her stomach. She somehow suspected what was coming was going to be directed at herself, not Mihoshi.
"Mihoshi, can Ayeka and I have a moment with Sasami?" Seeing the confused and fearful look in Mihoshi's eyes, she continued, "I'm sorry Mihoshi, I'm not mad at you any more. We just need to speak with Sasami for a minute. Okay?"
"O-okay."
Ayeka pulled Sasami to the side a bit, but before either she or Kiyone could say anything, Sasami burst out "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry, Kiyone. I was just having so much fun, and it seemed so funny at the time watching you get redder and redder. I should have known better. I'm so sorry!"
Sasami threw herself at Kiyone, wrapping her in a hug which quickly had Kiyone gasping for breath. Even Mihoshi couldn't squeeze her that hard, and she had a bone-cracking grip.
Ayeka chuckled momentarily seeing the tough police officer trapped in Sasami's embrace, unable to get away. Then she stepped in to break it up. "Gentle, Sasami," she chided.
Sasami relaxed and Kiyone quickly sucked in air as the purple faded from her face. With her own face lowered, Sasami said, "I'm sorry Ayeka, I know you're disappointed in me. I'll try and behave better from now on."
Ayeka had to fight to keep a stern look on her face, it was so difficult to be angry with Sasami. "Well, I see you've learned your lesson this time. Miss Kiyone is a nice person, and your prank made her angry so that she yelled at Mihoshi. I think you have one apology left to go, Sasami."
Sasami looked up with glistening eyes and glanced over to where Mihoshi was nervously pacing with a distraught face. "Yeah, you're right, big sister. Mihoshi didn't deserve this, I'll go apologize now."
"We all will." Kiyone smiled at Sasami for encouragement.
The three of them walked back to Mihoshi, who was now wringing her hands with tears standing in her eyes. As they approached she started hopping back and forth, from one foot to the other.
"Mihoshi? I'm really sorry I got you into trouble with Kiyone. I shouldn't have pushed you to bug her so much with all those suits. I thought it was funny at the time, but it really wasn't. I shouldn't have done it. I'm really, really sorry." Sasami hung her head in shame waiting to hear what Mihoshi had to say.
"Oh, that's okay Sasami. I forgive you." Sasami looked up at Mihoshi, both had tears glistening in their eyes.
Kiyone and Ayeka were standing on either side of the two. A glance at both of them, and then at each other, and they jumped back as far as they could. They got out of the way just in time to avoid being caught in the hug as Mihoshi and Sasami crashed together.
Kiyone shuddered, witnessing the near-violence with which the two women embraced each other. She shared a smile with Ayeka, then approached the two carefully, and laid a hand on each woman's shoulder. "I'm sorry, too, Mihoshi. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. I'm just not used to shopping like that, I need to learn to relax a little more. I'll go shopping with you again some time, just maybe not with you and Sasami looking for clothes, okay?"
Mihoshi and Sasami broke their embrace, and turned to look at Kiyone with those tears still glistening in their eyes.
"Thank you, Kiyone," the two said in unison.
Kiyone turned and fled for the house, yelling "You're welcome" back over her shoulder as she did so. She'd seen the monster hug coming from the two of them, and didn't know if her ribs could take it. Discretion had won out, and she'd escaped, leaving the two staring after her in confusion.
Ayeka quietly approached the two, and said "Well, it's good to see this is settled." Ayeka bent and picked up the bags full of swimsuits which had been dropped during all the activity, and started for the house. "We should probably get back, it will soon be lunch time, I suspect. I think we can all help you if you'd like, Sasami."
"Oh, lunch, I almost forgot. Let's hurry up!" Sasami started running for the house, as well, leaving Mihoshi and Ayeka following behind.
"Thank you, Ayeka. That was really nice what you did back there, for all of us."
Ayeka barely contained her surprise. You never knew what Mihoshi was going to pick up on and what she wouldn't.
"You're welcome, Mihoshi."
--
Tenchi arrived at the house after briefly cleaning up at his own. Everyone was seated for lunch already, Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki seemed to have made up as Ryo-Ohki was sitting between her and Sasami hopefully watching the carrot sitting on the table in front of her. Tenchi found his place between Mihoshi and Misaki and sat down as everyone started eating.
A quiet meal passed as Tenchi steeled himself to make an apology. "Ladies. All I can say is 'I'm sorry' to all of you, and especially to you Mihoshi for running away when you were talking to me. It wasn't very polite."
Everyone's eyes turned to regard Mihoshi, awaiting her response.
"Well... it wasn't very nice of you to run away like that. But I understand now why you did it. And I like you too much to stay mad at you any way. So, it's okay Tenchi, I forgive you."
With his cheeks now bright red, Tenchi answered, "Thanks, Mihoshi."
Everyone relaxed with that, and smiles broke out on most faces. "I knew we shouldn't have left it to Mihoshi," Ryoko whispered to Kiyone. Kiyone just answered with a nod and a roll of her eyes.
"Since you're not going to run away now, though, I'm gonna ask you what I wanted to this morning." Mihoshi looked intently at Tenchi, causing him to squirm.
"Uh, Mihoshi, I don't think that's a good idea, not in front of everyone, and besides I've already told you I can't do that yet."
"Not that, silly. What I wanted to ask you was whether you and I could have dinner together tonight? Of course what you were thinking I was going to ask would be fun, too. I don't understand why you say you can't though. Unless you've got some kind of problem we don't know about. You don't have any kind of problem with your..."
"NO I DON'T!!!" Tenchi had somehow gotten even redder in the face.
"Well, then, it really seems strange that you would say you can't. I mean, really, you ought to say something like 'I choose not to', then we wouldn't misunderstand you. It's so much clearer that way. Is that what you really meant?"
Holding his head in his hands, Tenchi just answered, "Yes."
"There, now, see. You said you choose not to, that's all cleared up. Now none of us will misunderstand and think you have a problem with your..."
"Mihoshi!" Misaki was holding her hands over Sasami's ears, looking angrily at Mihoshi. Everyone else was just snickering, including Sasami. Except Tenchi, who slumped into his arms on the table.
"What?" Mihoshi colored briefly with a glance at Sasami. "Oh. Well any way, Tenchi?
"Huh? What?"
"I'm still waiting."
"Waiting?"
"Honestly, you're so dense." Eyes rolled all around the table and people struggled to contain their laughter at this statement from Mihoshi. "Will you have dinner with me tonight?"
"Ohhh. Right, you did ask me that. Um, yeah, I'd like that, I guess. Is that okay, Sasami, can we get ours made so that we can take it back to my place?"
Sasami's brow wrinkled in what might be taken for a frown, a look not often seen on her face. Then the smile popped back into place. "You betcha, Tenchi!"
"Thanks Sasami."
"Hey, wait a minute. How come you didn't make dinner for Tenchi and me?" shouted Ryoko.
(THUMP)
As the 20 pound bag of rice dropped on Ryoko's head, Washu answered with a shake of her head, "Obviously because you weren't smart enough to ask her to. Sometimes I wonder if I don't need to send you to remedial school. I think you missed out on some education along the way."
"Thanks, mom. I'm glad you're sticking up for your own daughter." Ryoko threw the bag to ground, brushing stray grains of rice out of her hair.
"Well, quite frankly, I'm a little upset that I didn't think of that, either. What I could have done with all that extra time alone with Tenchi..." Washu batted her eyes at Tenchi and blew him a kiss.
"It's nice to know you can't think of everything." Ryoko muttered quietly.
(THUMP)
"Honestly, why do you even bother? You know I can tell what you're saying by monitoring my link to you. Someone needed to spank you when you were a child."
Amused chuckles escaped from most of those present, causing Ryoko's frown to deepen into a scowl. She threw the second bag down again, then raised her chin and crossed her arms, glaring at Washu, who just ignored her.
"Well, it's about time I headed home to wash and change for my studies this afternoon. You girls, uh, have fun, okay?" Tenchi walked to the door, making his exit.
"Ouch!" Mihoshi jumped in the air, and turned to face Funaho who had just poked her. "Lady Funaho, that wasn't nice."
"If you don't hurry you won't catch up to him, Mihoshi." Funaho glanced at the doorway where Tenchi was disappearing.
"Oh, right, thanks!" Mihoshi dashed out, only knocking over one plant in the process.
"Why did you help her out, Aunt Funaho?" asked Ayeka.
"All of you girls are taking advantage of her sweet nature to intrude on her day, and you're upset with me for nudging Mihoshi to an extra few minutes with Tenchi? Really, Ayeka, that's quite petty." Funaho rarely scolded Ayeka, letting Misaki discipline her own daughters, but she felt this case was warranted. She saw the agreeing nod from Misaki and was glad to know her sister queen agreed with her.
"Hey, hey, what's this talk about taking advantage of Mihoshi?" Washu perked up with interest at some unexpected news.
"Well, ahh..." Kiyone started, but couldn't finish.
"You see, we're, ahh..." Ayeka also stammered.
"Oh for crying out loud! They're all suntanning with Mihoshi this afternoon. They went shopping for swimsuits this morning and everything." Ryoko's obvious amusement at what they were doing was readily apparent to all, earning frowns from Kiyone and Ayeka.
"Suntanning, huh? I haven't laid around a beach in, oh, maybe six thousand years. Hmmm, sounds interesting. I had a lot of data to input this afternoon, but I can probably postpone it til after dinner tonight. Count me in! Just let me see if I can't flash-grow some palm trees down by the lake and we're all set."
"Little Washu? Perhaps growing palm trees here isn't such a good idea. I don't believe they're native to the area. It might draw some unwanted attention?" Funaho had immediately seen the flaw in Washu's plan, and hoped to avoid any problems.
"Ah, don't worry about it, I'll get rid of them when we're done. Hmm, I have some really nice white sand stored away somewhere, too. You can never have too much silicon available. I'll just dump all that on the shore..." Washu started walking back to her lab, running through all the things that needed to be done to get the lake shore ready for an afternoon of good sunbathing.
"So, I guess we might as well all go change, then? Where'd the suits end up, Ayeka?" Kiyone started glancing around looking for them.
"I placed them over by the door, Kiyone. Just a moment, I'll go get them." Ayeka walked over to pick them up, handing a bag to Sasami and Kiyone, and keeping one for herself.
"Hah! Losers. Afraid to go with the natural look, huh?" Ryoko chuckled at everyone, again earning frowns, though Sasami's cheeks colored with embarrassment, as well.
"I think we'll have to rule against that, Ryoko. Unless Mihoshi does so, you will not be allowed to do that as it is her day." Misaki gave Ryoko a meaningful look, then turned to the stairs. "You girls run along, Funaho and I will be down shortly."
"What??!!" Kiyone, Ryoko, Ayeka, and Sasami all blurted in unison.
"We'll be joining you at this beach that Washu puts together of course. With all of you ladies in skimpy clothing, the situation will need to be monitored of course, in case Tenchi should wander by. We can't have anyone breaking the rules, now, can we? Ahh, I haven't lounged by a beach in many years, myself, have you Funaho?"
"No, I imagine it's the same for me as it was for you. What, sixty or seventy years now, that little resort on, oh what planet was that? The one with the funny-looking fish and the waiters with bad accents."
"Yes, that was it wasn't it?"
Misaki and Funaho disappeared up the stairs, leaving behind the four dumbstruck ladies and one amazed cabbit.
--
As he approached the house, Tenchi paused at the amazing sight before him. Where there was usually a bare lake shore between the two houses, now there was a white sandy beach and some palm trees. And a whole bunch of barely-dressed women.
Tenchi enjoyed himself watching for a bit before anyone noticed him. Not surprisingly, Ryoko had the most daring suit on, a dark blue bikini with no straps that barely covered anything. Mihoshi's wasn't too far behind, the pink bikini only having the thin shoulder straps that really didn't cover any more. Interestingly, Washu, back in her young woman form, was also in a bikini, though the red suit was a touch less daring than the other two. Only a touch.
Ayeka, Kiyone, and Sasami all had on single-piece suits which covered a lot more skin, though not enough to make Tenchi comfortable. And the two queens were there, also wearing suits which left Tenchi's face flushed, really seeing them for the two beautiful women they were for the first time.
Perhaps the worst thing of all, though, was Ryo-Ohki. She was in her adult form, sitting and playing in the wet sand, apparently building something. Someone had loaned her a pair of shorts and a tank top, and with those on she looked even more like a sexy woman than he remembered, an idea he shuddered to even think about.
Tenchi pried his eyes away from the sight before him, and looked for a way to get around them and back to his house without being noticed. He started turning to try and go around the backs of the houses, when Ryo-Ohki spotted him.
"Miya, miya! Miya, mi-ya!" Ryo-Ohki lurched to her feet, and then promptly fell down again.
"Oh, Ryo-Ohki!" Sasami hurried over to assist Ryo-Ohki, while everyone finally noticed Tenchi's presence. They all sat up from wherever they had been laying and waved to Tenchi. Mihoshi, however jumped up and excitedly bounded over to him. Watching her, Tenchi almost felt like she was moving in slow motion. The sight of Mihoshi bouncing in a tiny pink bikini as she ran across the sand was too much, and Tenchi knew the blood was about to start leaking from his nose. He'd expected that, though, and his hand was pinching his nose before anything came out.
"Hiya, Tenchi, welcome back. It's been wonderful, it was so warm and sunny today. Too bad you couldn't have joined us, we could have had lots of fun today. Everyone was here, and we all have new bathing suits. Well, except for Ryoko and Washu, I think they just created theirs or something. Well, and the queens must have brought their own along, I didn't know they had any cause they didn't go shopping with us but they had some, so they must have brought them, right? Oh, and I guess Ryo-Ohki doesn't have a suit, but I let her borrow some of my clothes. I don't know why it really matters, she's covered with fur after all, but Ayeka and Ryoko were most insistent that she had to wear something. Come on, you should go change into a suit and come join us. Oh, you're holding your nose again, are you sure you're not getting a cold? Maybe we ought to take you into the house and give you some medicine."
"Erm, ngo, zhat's okay, I'm vine." Tenchi's cheeks brightened as he lowered his head in embarrassment.
"Was that Mantrovian? That sounded like Mantrovian. How did you learn to speak Mantrovian living here..."
Risking his nose momentarily, Tenchi let go and repeated, "No, that's okay, I'm fine. Just an itch, I think."
"Oh, well, okay. Come on then, let's go get you into a suit so you can come play with us."
Mihoshi grabbed him tightly by the arm, causing it to rub against her in ways Tenchi didn't want to think about, and she started dragging him back to his house. He didn't resist, but he was hoping to get himself under a bit of control before they got back.
When they arrived, he quickly dug through his clothes til he found his swimsuit, and then started to pull his shirt off when he realized Mihoshi was standing there watching. "Uh, Mihoshi?"
"Yes, Tenchi?"
"Ah, well, I need to change."
"Uh, huh."
"I, that is, you're watching."
"Oh! Sorry!"
Tenchi watched her leave, her cheeks bright red with apparent embarrassment, then he closed the door. After quickly changing, he emerged to find her staring at his door, and then at him. He stepped over, and said, "Shall we go?"
"Oh! Sorry!"
Tenchi gave her a puzzled look as the two walked back outside and back to the new beach. They arrived to find everyone again relaxing in the sun, even Ryo-Ohki who appeared to have fallen asleep.
Bottles of sunscreen and moisturizer were dropped here and there, and everyone's towel was arranged neatly. Washu was laying on a floating rest of some kind with a keyboard hovering below her, typing away at something or other Tenchi knew he wouldn't comprehend, but still catching the sunshine. The two queens had chosen a shady spot underneath one of the palm trees, not caring to actually tan, but preferring to just enjoy the warm weather.
"Hey, Tenchi!" Sasami waved excitedly, causing some movements Tenchi quickly turned his eyes from.
"Hi Sasami. It looks like you ladies had a relaxing day?"
"Sure did, Tenchi," answered Sasami. "How come you're back so early? You usually don't get back til supper time."
"Well, grandpa let me go early today cause things went really well. I guess now we know why none of you showed up."
"It's good to hear your education is going well, Tenchi. I still say I could teach you a lot of things much more interesting than that, but at least you're doing well. Some day maybe you'll come to your senses, and I'll start teaching you about chemistry." That earned a round of groans from everyone. Washu winked at Tenchi, causing him to blush, as he again tried to find someplace to look besides directly at any of the ladies present.
"But, didn't you already learn chemistry in school, Tenchi?" Mihoshi asked.
"I'm talking about a little more specialized form of chemistry Mihoshi, exothermic reactions in particular."
That caused a frown to appear on Mihoshi's face, but she quickly moved on. "Okay, then, whatever you say. I think it's great that you're following your grandfather's example, Tenchi. Come on, I've got plenty of room on my towel, you can catch some sun next to me."
Tenchi blushed furiously, then answered, "Er, actually, I think I might go swimming."
"Oh, well, if you want to."
Catching the disappointment in her voice, Tenchi quickly added, "I'll be back soon, Mihoshi, and it'll be nice to dry off in the sun. If you don't mind me getting your towel wet, that is."
"That's okay, Tenchi. Go ahead, I don't mind." Mihoshi's face returned to her customary smile.
Tenchi quickly headed for the water, relieved to get a chance to get away from all the near-naked ladies and cool off. All of the ladies in question watched him go. Ryoko whistled.
"Wow, I never really stopped to consider how much Tenchi has filled out lately. He's got a little of his father's build finally, but all the exercise has been turning it into muscle. He's hot!"
"Yes, he is very good-looking, isn't he?" Ayeka agreed.
"Mm-hmm," Sasami said, earning herself a stern look from her mother.
A round of nods from everyone and they were all smiling, all but the queens thinking thoughts they didn't want to voice in front of the others.
"Yeah..." Mihoshi sighed. "I noticed it in the house just a while ago. He's all grown up, isn't he? He was just cute when I first got here, but now he's really handsome. I bet all the girls must go for him."
Everyone looked strangely at Mihoshi for a moment, and then burst out laughing.
"Um, Mihoshi? All the girls do go for him. Here, any way." Kiyone continued to laugh at Mihoshi, but took pity on her enough to point out her ridiculous statement.
Mihoshi blushed a bit, then said, "Oh, yeah, we do, don't we?"
They all watched as Tenchi swam around a bit, holding their breath every time he dove below the water and didn't come back up for a few moments. Finally Tenchi made his way to shore, and sat down next to a near-giddy Mihoshi.
"Here, Tenchi, let me put some sunscreen on you."
Mihoshi grabbed a bottle of sunscreen, and squeezed some out into her hand. Tenchi squirmed a bit under her attention, and everyone else's jealous looks, as she rubbed it on his back, but he put up with it as well as he could. When she finally finished, he let out the breath he'd been holding, and laid down next to her to enjoy the pleasant warmth of the sun on his back.
Everyone again just reclined in the sun, the only sound the clicking and beeping of Washu's keyboard, and the light snoring coming from Ryo-Ohki. Tenchi quickly found himself falling asleep, and didn't attempt to stop it.
He had no idea how long he'd been asleep when he was awoken by Sasami announcing her need to go start dinner. He stood up and rubbed his eyes momentarily, then watched silently as she bounded back to the house.
"Ahem." The sound of Misaki's voice right beside him caused him to jump, and he guiltily blushed, having been caught ogling Sasami. He then turned away to avoid looking at Sasami's mother in a bathing suit. Of course the view he next encountered wasn't any better as Mihoshi had appeared next to him on the other side, forcing him to look up into the air.
"I guess it's time to go, then. We can get cleaned up before dinner. I wonder what Sasami's going to make tonight? I hope it's yummy."
"If Sasami's making it, it's definitely going to be yummy. Well, ladies, I'll see you all tonight, er, well maybe tomorrow I guess." Remembering his dinner date with Mihoshi, Tenchi made a point to say goodnight to everyone, unsure if he would see them til the morning. By the time he was done, his face was bright red from the charge of facing all the scantily-clad ladies.
"I'll be over as soon as I've taken a bath and grabbed some clothes, Tenchi. And I'll bring supper, of course."
"All right, Mihoshi. See you then."
--
Tenchi was lounging on the couch, paging through his sketchbook when Mihoshi arrived. He hadn't had time lately to even think about doing any sketches, and it was nice to remind himself how much he'd enjoyed having the leisure to do something like that. Lately, he hadn't had time to think, his only spare moments lately had been spent sleeping on the beach this afternoon.
He grabbed dishes from Mihoshi, marveling that they all still seemed to be there and unbroken, and brought them to the tiny table sitting in his kitchen. He'd never made use of it or the kitchen yet, so this would be a first.
"Mmmmm, this smells good. Another Sasami special, huh?"
"Yep. I can't wait."
Tenchi rummaged until he found some chopsticks and then they sat down to enjoy the meal.
"Yummy, this fish is scrumptious." Mihoshi's eyes nearly rolled back in her head as she swooned over the delicious food. Tenchi smiled at her obvious delight, not being too far from the same reaction himself. The sight of the beautiful Mihoshi in front of him with nobody else around was a treat in its own right, and mixed with the fabulous food Sasami had made, he felt good.
"It sure is."
"Tenchi? Why did you decide to be a priest like your grandfather?" Mihoshi shoveled more food into her mouth, waiting for his answer.
"Hmm. That's a tough one to answer specifically, but mainly it's because I wanted to stick around here to be close to everyone, I guess. I know some day I'll probably have to go to Jurai. I don't know if I'll have to stay there, but I'll have to leave for a while. Grandpa's not going back, at least he says he's not, and I doubt my dad would want to leave, so I'd like to spend as much time around them as I can. And I suppose, I don't really know what you ladies will do when it is time for me to go. I know Ayeka and Sasami can go back of course, but what about the rest of you? I assume you and Kiyone will go back to the Galaxy Police and whatever you did there, and Washu will just find her own place somewhere she can work mostly undisturbed. I'm not sure about Ryoko, I doubt she'd want to go to Jurai, I would think there'd be too many bad memories there, and I'm not sure how well she would fit in. I like the way it feels here right now with all of you around. I'm not ready to give that up and move away before I have to."
He looked up at Mihoshi after his long speech to see tears in her eyes. "What's wrong, did I say something bad?"
"Y-you said you assumed Kiyone and I would just go back to the Galaxy Police. You've already decided on someone else, haven't you? It's Ayeka or Sasami, they're the only ones who'd fit in when you move to Jurai. Waaahhhh!"
As the tears started pouring out of her eyes, Tenchi jumped to his feet to go over and try to comfort her. He knelt down beside her, and reached out to lift up her chin with his left hand so he was looking into her eyes. "I haven't chosen anyone Mihoshi. I just said that whole thing wrong. Now, I won't lie, I might not choose you, and if I don't, then I would assume you would go back to the Galaxy Police. But I might choose you, too. And if I did, I guess I would hope you would come with me to Jurai, at least some of the time. I don't know that I'm going to fit in on Jurai either, you know."
Mihoshi stopped crying, and sniffled, "R-really. You haven't picked anyone yet?"
"No, Mihoshi, I haven't. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it that way, I didn't want to make you cry."
"Oh... Tenchi!!"
Mihoshi flung herself at him, tackling him to the floor in a hug. For the first time ever, Tenchi found himself not irritated to be lying on the ground with Mihoshi on top of him. He was having a different reaction, actually, and it was making him nervous.
As Mihoshi lifted her face from his cheek to again look him in the eyes, he once again marveled at how big and blue they were. The innocence in her eyes was astounding for someone who'd spent her life as a police officer. Kiyone's eyes were usually tough. They'd softened up some since she got here, even more when they'd actually been alone, but they didn't hold Mihoshi's innocence.
They looked each other in the face for a while before both their cheeks reddened and then Mihoshi started giggling.
"We've ended up like this a lot of times, haven't we Tenchi? I'm so clumsy, I'm always knocking you down. You don't hate me, do you?"
"Of course not, Mihoshi. I like you a lot. I know you don't do it on purpose." Mihoshi's cheeks brightened a bit for some reason, but he continued. "You're so nice Mihoshi, no one could not like you."
"You're so sweet Tenchi."
Tenchi smiled at her and answered, "You are too, you know. Um, maybe we should finish eating?"
"Oh, my! I almost forgot." Mihoshi lifted herself off of Tenchi, and scooted back to her spot at the table, waiting just long enough for Tenchi to get into place and then she started eating again.
Tenchi just smiled as he watched, still not understanding how she could eat like she did and still look like that. She ought to be hugely fat with an appetite like she had. He was glad she wasn't though, she was certainly beautiful. The occasional "mmmm" and "yummy" which escaped brought out a chuckle in him as he ate, much more calmly.
Finally the meal was done, and they both worked quickly to clean the dishes up as best they could with the limited resources available in Tenchi's house. He hadn't really planned on eating here much at all, and hadn't brought in many of the things he would need in the short time he'd been living in his own house.
"So what did you want to do now? I've got the TV, I suppose, and a few movies. We can talk, of course, I'd love to know more about you. Whaddya say?"
"Well... I was hoping you might do that sketch of me you promised. We can still talk while you're doing that, right?"
"Oh, you wanted me to start tonight? I thought maybe you'd want to do some other stuff on our first night, but if that's what you wanted, I suppose I'll try. I may be pretty quiet while I'm working, but we can chat a little bit. Let me just find my stuff, and I'll turn on all the lights."
Tenchi went to the small storage room in his house and rummaged through a few of the boxes he had yet to unpack, knowing his drawing pencils had to be in there somewhere. Eventually he found them, and returned to the living room only to freeze. She was still dressed in her low-cut pink top and short khaki shorts, but she was posed with her hands behind her back and a cute little grin on her face that made her look even more adorable than usual.
"So, how do you want me?"
"Er, what's that?" Tenchi's eyes popped as she rocked up and down from her heels to her toes, causing jiggles and bounces of an extremely distracting nature.
"How do you want me to pose? I assume you want me to pose somehow. Just let me know, I'll do whatever you want me to."
Tenchi blinked hard, not quite sure if he'd really heard the invitation for her to do more than just pose for him. If it had been Ryoko certainly, or Washu, he wouldn't have been as surprised, but Mihoshi just didn't do things like that. Not that he could recall, any way.
"I, ah, well, what kind of portrait did you have in mind, I guess? Did you want it of just your face, or did you want it to be your whole body, erm..."
"Oh, definitely my whole body. I'd like that. What should I do, then?"
Mihoshi looked at him with those innocent eyes which seemed even bigger and wider than usual. Tenchi thought he could still see a bit of the grin hiding inside of her smile, though. So, she was playing a game with him then, was she? Tenchi barely hid his grin as he planned out his response.
"Well, then, I guess if you want it to be your whole body, we should maybe pose you then, right?" Receiving a nod, he continued, "So, let me think, how about you sit down on the couch. No wait, why don't you lie down on your left side, facing me. Yeah, kind of like that. What do you think?"
"Whatever you say, Tenchi, I trust you. I know you'll do a good job."
"Well, then, yeah I like that pose there. Okay then, take off your clothes."
It was Mihoshi's turn to blink hard, and Tenchi could barely keep from laughing as she looked at him with the surprise obvious on her face. Tenchi wasn't ready for her next move though, as she shrugged, and said "OK." Then she sat up and started unbuttoning her shorts. He was so shocked, he barely managed to find his voice in time to stop her from dropping them completely.
"Stop! I was just kidding." He tried not to stare at her but he couldn't help himself. He didn't even notice the blood trickling from his nose for the first few seconds, and he quickly whirled around in embarrassment and shame, both for his rudeness in staring, and his reaction to it. So much for his great ideas, he'd nearly taken utter advantage of sweet Mihoshi by trying to play a joke on her.
"Are you sure, Tenchi? I don't mind if you want to draw me that way, really."
Grabbing a tissue, Tenchi wiped his nose off, surprised at how quickly it had stopped. Not worrying about that now, though, he answered, "Mihoshi, I really didn't mean it. I thought you were playing a joke on me, so I tried to turn it back on you. I didn't think you'd actually take your clothes off."
Then Tenchi heard her giggling, and slowly turned back around to face her, not understanding why she was laughing at him.
"Hee, hee. I was poking fun at you, Tenchi. I didn't think you'd go for it. Isn't that funny? Both of us tried to play a joke on the other, and neither of us got away with it. I guess we're not very good at making jokes, huh?"
"Heh, heh. I guess not. Um, Mihoshi. You can button your... Um, I don't really want to draw you that way."
"Really?" She turned those big innocent eyes on him again, buckling his resolve.
"Really," he sighed.
"OK." She quickly buttoned her shorts back up, bringing another sigh of relief from Tenchi. "So, how do you want me to pose, then?"
This time the question seemed to be genuine, and not loaded with the innuendo he'd thought he'd detected earlier. He considered it for a moment, before answering. "Well, how about you stand the way you were when I came back out of the storage room. Do you remember? You had your arms together, behind your back and you were kind of leaning with a little smile on your face. You were absolutely gorgeous."
"You think so? Oh, you're the best, Tenchi."
Tenchi saw the warning signs as she started to wring her hands and tense up her muscles. He managed to brace himself in time to not get knocked down by her flying hug, only having to take a few steps backward to catch his balance. If nothing else, he should be ready for Sasami, tomorrow. He'd hopefully be able to handle all the hugs she was certain to dish out any way, assuming things went well.
Tenchi returned the embrace, enjoying the feeling of it being just a hug, not the possessive grasp or near-groping that he often received from Ryoko and Ayeka. Not that it was always like that from those two, but more often than he would have liked. After a while, Tenchi realized Mihoshi wasn't going to break the embrace any time soon and so he pulled back gently. She did so too, once she felt him doing it, and their eyes quickly met again, and Tenchi could see the happiness, or maybe contentment, in her eyes.
Suddenly feeling like it was the right time, he leaned in, tilting his head to the right a bit as he did so after learning the hard way with Ryoko last night, and gently kissed Mihoshi on her lips. She enthusiastically returned the kiss for a few moments, before she suddenly started getting heavy in his arms.
"Waaugh. Mihoshi? Are you all right?"
"Hnnnggh. Tenchi? Oh, my, I suddenly got dizzy. Ooooh, that was fun."
Mihoshi quickly straightened, and leaned in close to start a new kiss. Again, it lasted a few moments before she sagged in his arms again.
"Mihoshi? Are you all right? Are you getting dizzy again?"
"Mmmm, hmmm. This feels good, you holding me like this, Tenchi. I could do this forever. Mmmm. Zzzzzz."
Tenchi stared in disbelief at the now sleeping Mihoshi still resting in his arms. Torn momentarily about what to do, he debated putting her to bed as she was or waking her up to let her go to bed on her own. Fighting down the urge to let her sleep, he regretfully tried to wake her up again.
"Mihoshi? Mihoshi?" With no response, he started to gently shake her. "Mihoshi! MIHOSHI!"
"Erng, unngh, wha-huh?" Mihoshi's eyes blinked open, darting about momentarily as she got her bearings. "Oh, Tenchi? Did I fall asleep?"
"Yeah. Look, you're obviously tired, and now that I think about it I am too." Tenchi stifled a yawn, only to watch Mihoshi's jaw gaping wide in her own yawn. "Why don't you go put on your pajamas in the bathroom, and I'll do the same in my room. Then we can go to bed. I'll do the sketch of you some other time, okay?"
"Okay, as long as I get another kiss."
"Well, I suppose I can do that if I absolutely have to." Tenchi grinned, and leaned in for a kiss, this one being much shorter, more of a quick peck than anything else. Trying to pull away, his face was caught by Mihoshi's hands.
"Uh, uh. A real kiss."
Tenchi smiled, then calmly performed a kiss which eventually met with her satisfaction.
"That's better. You're pretty good, you must have practiced a lot with Ryoko last night, hmmm? Kiyone told me she only got a couple which weren't real great, and Washu only got the one really bad one, so I have to assume that you must have practiced a lot with Ryoko. I mean that's really the only logical explan..."
Tenchi finally gave up listening and cut her off with another kiss. He was definitely getting to like this, he mentally berated himself for taking this long to get around to it with the ladies.
"Okay, now, let's get ready for bed, okay?"
Receiving only a bemused "mmmm" in response, Tenchi pointed her towards where she'd thrown a small bag of stuff she'd brought with where he assumed she had her pajamas. Then he turned and headed into his room, closing the door behind himself. He pulled out his pajamas, and quickly changed into them. Then he made sure everything in his room was arranged properly, and sat down on his bed to wait for Mihoshi, hoping she wouldn't fall asleep in the bathroom. A few minutes later he heard the knock on his door.
"Okay, Tenchi, I'm all ready."
He opened the door, stared for a fraction of a second, and then passed out.
"Tenchi!!!! Tenchi!!! TENCHI!!! WAKE UP!!!"
Tenchi slowly came to and groaned, then gradually turned to look into Mihoshi's face upside down above him. Once he regained his orientation, he realized he was lying down with his head resting on her legs crossed in front of her while she leaned over to look worriedly into his face.
"Ugh. I'm okay now, Mihoshi."
He struggled into a sitting position, rubbed his face a few times, then froze, remembering the sight which had caused him to pass out was probably still right behind him. He slowly peeked back to confirm that Mihoshi was in fact wearing the tight black tank undershirt and the black panties, and he quickly closed his eyes as he felt another wave of dizziness start. He fought this one off, and struggled back to his feet on trembling legs. Realizing he had no choice but to deal with it, he turned around and opened his eyes.
Mihoshi was standing now, giving him a view of her nearly flawless body. For some reason he was more flushed now than he had been earlier today when she'd been wearing the tiny pink bikini, which had actually shown off even more of her body. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and said, "Well, I guess we should go to bed then?"
"Nuh, uh. Not yet."
As his legs started to tremble a little more, he barely managed to say "Mihoshi?"
"I need a good-night kiss of course. I'm not going to let you go to bed until I get it. Understand?"
She put her hands on her hips and a small pout on her mouth. Hoping his knees wouldn't completely fail him, Tenchi leaned in for what he assumed would be his last kiss of the night. He slid his left foot forward to try and keep his balance, and was about to kiss her when she stepped back with a frown on her face.
"It's gotta be a good one, Tenchi. Arms, too."
Again her hands went to her hips, but the frown stayed on her face. A few deep breaths and Tenchi risked the step towards her he wasn't sure his knees would tolerate, but fortunately they did. He stretched his arms around her carefully, pressing them against her shoulder-blades, and tilted his head as he looked into her eyes.
The frown came off her face, to be replaced by a happy smile. She reached back and lowered his arms til they were pressing against the small of her back just above her butt. Then she tilted her head to the left as he did to the right and they banged noses.
"Owwiiiee! That wasn't what I had in mind, Tenchi. I think you're going to have to do better."
"How's this?"
Taking one hand from behind her back, he raised it up to her chin and held it in place so he could tilt his head to avoid her nose. Then he kissed her.
A few moments later, she slowly dropped back and sagged down to the futon on the floor.
"That was good enough. Good night, Tenchi."
Flopping thankfully onto the bed before he collapsed, Tenchi answered, "Good night Mihoshi."
He had barely crawled under the covers when he heard the heavy breathing of an already sleeping Mihoshi. He listened to it for a few hours before he managed to finally fall asleep.
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Comments and Criticism definitely wanted. It's hard to improve without it.