Tenchi wandered through the strange "interior" of Funaho's ship Mizuho, or maybe Misaki's Karin not knowing for sure how the twin trees' interiors might be linked, taking in the unusual sights and sounds. He knew consciously that it wasn't actually the interior of the ship, but he was still astounded by the concept of subspace as it related to being on a spaceship flying through space. It wasn't hard to picture a big closet where Washu stored stuff hiding in some distant place which she managed to create a link to, but having this whole little world to wander around in while trying to imagine it being somehow separate but attached to a ship flying through space, that he just had a hard time with. It was certainly pretty, though.
He wasn't surprised by the amount of foliage and water he encountered, he'd been on Ayeka's own ship Ryu-Oh a few times. What was really throwing him for a loop was how big it was. He was standing next to a fountain, with water streaming from the mouth of what was apparently a statue of a person whose arms and hands were changing into tree branches and leaves. He was surrounded by trees and bushes of all shapes and sizes, and a stream ran away from the fountain and dropped over the side of the platform he was on. Glancing down, he could see the pool of water below where the water fell, and a few other platforms scattered about as well, along with the half dozen or so which he'd already walked past.
He'd asked his great-grandmother about it a bit when they had eaten breakfast, and he had a mental picture of her ship being something along the lines of a jumbo jet in size. He knew that was actually a bit small, but the interior looked to be something along the lines of the whole Okinawa prefecture, maybe more. The two queens had just chuckled and done their best to explain it, but it hadn't really helped.
His stomach growled, and he realized it was probably time to go and find the queens in hopes of getting some lunch. He looked around, and finally spotted the portal which would take him back. He was still a little nervous using these, but he'd had no mishaps so far. He still closed his eyes before being teleported to wherever it was that it was set to take him. When the noise from the device calmed he opened his eyes again, and saw the two queens sitting at a table talking, numerous papers in piles and also spread about in front of them.
"Hello, Tenchi. Did you enjoy your walk?" Funaho barely glanced up from the report she was reading.
"Um... yes, it was nice. A little disconcerting, but nice."
"Don't worry, Tenchi, you'll get used to it eventually. Living on Jurai for a while will make this seem insignificant in comparison." Misaki set down the report she had been looking at, and signaled for a servant. "I believe it is lunch time. Could you bring in food for the three of us? Thank you."
The servant woman hustled off, and Misaki stacked up some of the papers which had been spread out before her. "So... Tenchi. How are you feeling? Nervous? Excited? Sad?" She clipped the papers together and placed them on top of one of the stacks, picking up the whole stack to move it from the table. Funaho was finally starting to do the same, though she had one paper which she refused to put away.
"Hmmm...," said Tenchi. "All of those, I suppose. Maybe a little wonder and fear mixed in. Top it off with a bit of anger and resentment, and just a dash of... resolve, I guess. My mind is still running circles, you might say." Tenchi laughed, mostly to himself.
"That's understandable. Our husband has done a good job turning your world upside down again." Funaho placed all of her papers except the one in a drawer with Misaki's, and turned to the table to sit down facing him. "It might seem like a lot at the moment, but if you believe in yourself, you'll be fine, Tenchi."
"He'll probably do more than fine, sister. When word gets out that he defeated Rugoya and Waruhan simultaneously, every faction on Jurai is going to want him to join their cause. And the ladies will be definitely be interested..." Misaki turned a mischievous grin on him. "He's used to that by now, of course."
Tenchi rolled his eyes and answered, "Gee, that's so comforting."
"You're right, of course. Did you see the maid this morning, Misaki? She's not used to having young men like Tenchi walking around without their shirts in front of her." Funaho laughed at his miserable expression, and traded a knowing look with Misaki. "It wouldn't surprise me if Tenchi ends up having the cleanest room on the ship, now."
Misaki burst out laughing when Tenchi buried his head in his arms. Funaho reached out to take one of his hands and pat it comfortingly. "We're just teasing, of course," said Funaho. She traded another look with Misaki indicating she wasn't, but Tenchi didn't look up in time to catch it.
"It's so comforting to know I'll have the two of you looking out for me when we get there," said Tenchi sarcastically.
Funaho and Misaki laughed at his discomfort some more, knowing he'd endured much worse at the hands of his house guests on earth. He found he couldn't help himself, and laughed along with them.
"On a more serious note, though..." Funaho paused as the servant entered the room with a tray stacked full of dishes, cups, pitchers, and a variety of foods.
They all waited as the woman worked, arranging things before each of them. When she finished, Tenchi said, "Thank you," then froze as he caught the blush in her smile when she returned a curtsy before turning and moving briskly from the room. He just groaned, shaking his head when the queens looked at him with knowing smiles on their faces that told him they'd seen it too.
"Lock your door tonight, Tenchi," Misaki laughed. "Or then again, maybe you wouldn't mind..."
Tenchi slumped onto his arms again, rocking his head while the two laughed some more.
"Back to what I was going to say...," Funaho paused to take a bite of something that looked somewhat squid-like to Tenchi. "Hmmm, you should really sit up and start eating, Tenchi, the Oosanqui is delicious. As I was saying, on a more serious note, you will want to be cautious at first, Tenchi. There will unquestionably be many people and groups approaching you to support their cause. You probably won't be in a position to understand their actual motives for quite some time, so I would recommend you be as noncommittal to everyone as you possibly can for now. Be polite, but turn all of them down, even if their offer seems to be genuinely appealing. Choices now can leave you with long-term consequences. So can refusals, but as long as you do it uniformly for now, you'll be better off down the road."
"That doesn't sound too hard. Turn everyone down... I can do that." Tenchi began eating, and realized the somewhat unfamiliar foods were all quite good.
"You've got plenty of practice with that one, haven't you?" Misaki chuckled as he blushed.
"Actually, that probably goes doubly for the ladies you'll meet, Tenchi." Funaho looked at him squarely, catching his gaze so he'd understand how serious she was. "While we both know you're not likely to be swayed from those ladies living back on earth, there are those here on Jurai who are not above trying to get you into a compromising situation. Scruples sometimes go out the door in politics between the nobility."
"Um... turn down the ladies, too. Okay." Tenchi nodded his head.
"Except us, of course..." Misaki rolled her finger up Tenchi's arm, causing him to tumble backwards from his chair.
"Please, Misaki..." Funaho shook her head at the other queen.
"Sorry. I think the prospect of the next couple hundred years has me feeling a little frisky..." Misaki blushed as she tipped Tenchi's chair back into place so he could sit down again after scrambling to his feet.
"Geez, you're as bad as Ryoko, or Washu even." Tenchi tried to settle himself back down so he could continue eating. His heart still felt like it was beating irregularly.
"Why thank you, Tenchi." Misaki smiled at him, which only made him puzzled.
"Let's see... what else should we try and warn you about?" Funaho sat back, musing. "Well, I suppose we should tell you about Azusa... Yes?" She looked up as another person Tenchi didn't recognize stepped in to whisper in her ear. "I see. Well, we have no choice, really. Make sure there's plenty of security, just in case, but we must pick them up."
The man bowed, then moved back out of the room at a trot. Misaki and Tenchi both looked questions at Funaho.
"Apparently there's a small GP shuttle craft out there with a distress beacon turned on. Scans show a single person on board, and initial indications are some kind of catastrophic failure in the engines."
Misaki nodded, and got to her feet. "I'll go talk to the squad, prep them for what we should do. Not that they need me to tell them, but I can't help myself." Misaki laughed as she stepped out of the room.
Tenchi waited, hoping to get more information. Seeing the questions still lingering in his eyes, Funaho continued.
"While this could very well be exactly what it appears to be, but there's always the possibility of this being an ambush or the like. You have to be careful when you are who we are, Tenchi."
"I see. That certainly makes sense. Is it all right if I come along to watch?"
"Certainly. You're the last person they'd be likely to go after, considering the clothes, and you're probably the most capable of protecting yourself, with the possible exception of Misaki. I don't think you'll be in any danger. It's likely to be nothing, any way."
"If you're worried about this, can't you just leave them behind, send someone else to come get them or the like?"
"In this case, no. Readings indicate that life support may have already failed, they might not have time for another ship to get here."
"Oh. Okay. Should we go?" Tenchi had risen to his feet, and offered his arm to Funaho who smiled as she took it.
"My, my. I see why the ladies all like walking on your arm."
Tenchi stumbled, then caught himself, looking at his great-grandmother in shock. "Wh-what?"
"Nothing, Tenchi. Just enjoying the feeling of walking on a handsome young man's arm, that's all."
Tenchi blinked, then turned to watch where he was walking with his face red, not wanting to see the smile he knew would be on her face. They walked down a corridor and eventually arrived at large metal door.
"I should probably go in by myself." Funaho let go of Tenchi's arm. "You can follow behind me in just a bit. That way they might not realize you're anyone important if it is an assassin. They'll unquestionably recognize me, however."
Tenchi stepped forward to the door and reached to open it. "I'll go in first then, if you don't mind. I wouldn't feel right letting you go in unprotected."
Funaho laughed as he stepped through. She waited a little bit so he could look around, then followed him in. The sight inside was not unexpected, and she quickly located Misaki and walked to her side.
The security detail was positioned in a semicircle around the open hatch from the small shuttle which was now located inside the hangar. They all were in alert positions ready to act, and the tension was fairly high. Funaho leaned over to whisper to Misaki, "Anything yet?"
"No. Funiki went in with a couple of marines. We should know soon." Misaki looked over at Tenchi standing by himself a short distance away with his hand holding the hilt of what was unquestionably the sword Tenchi-ken. "You've got a handsome new bodyguard, I see."
Funaho chuckled quietly, "He's just like Yosho. It certainly brings back memories. I feel sorry for any assassin that might come out of that ship, even assuming they survive the security squad."
A stir among the soldiers arrayed before the ship quieted the queens, and they watched as two soldiers emerged with a body on a stretcher, followed by the ship's medic, Masuhiro Funiki. A shake of his head caused the soldiers to relax, and the sergeant snapped orders to get them up and out of the way. When everyone had cleared out and the stretcher was on its way to the medical ward, Funiki approached the two queens. Misaki signaled Tenchi to bring him over, causing him a bit of surprise.
"Nothing appeared to be suspicions, your highnesses," said Funiki. "I'm sure your security detail will be checking the ship over thoroughly. There was only the one passenger, a lady. She didn't appear to be an officer of any kind however, though it's possible she only brought civilian clothes for some reason. If you'll excuse me, I should really go check on her condition some more, the life support systems failed shortly before we arrived. When we found her she was medically dead. Luckily, we managed to revive her. There's no telling whether she'll actually wake up or not, however."
The two queens nodded and dismissed him. He bowed, and turned to walk briskly in the same direction the stretcher had gone. Tenchi watched everything in puzzlement. He could understand it all, but it was a new experience for him.
"Well, that was uneventful. Pity..." Misaki headed back for the room she and Funaho used for conducting business while on board.
Tenchi followed with nothing better to do at the moment. "Does this sort of thing happen often in space?"
"No, almost never. Think about how big space is. Then really think about it." Misaki gave Tenchi a meaningful look, waiting til he nodded. "Your chances of getting found out in open space, even with a distress beacon, aren't really all that good when you consider how much space is out there. A signal we detect right now could have been traveling through space for days, weeks, or months even before we received it."
Tenchi just nodded, considering what he knew of basic physics, the speed of sound and light and the like.
"That's part of why we were so cautious. In our case, because of who we are, we have no choice. But even most commercial vessels of no real intrinsic value and without cargo of any particular value use a bit of caution when picking up stranded vessels and their passengers. While everyone is allowing for the possibility, it's still one of the easiest ways to spring an ambush for your more nefarious purposes."
Tenchi sighed as he absorbed Misaki's explanation. He hadn't even made it to Jurai, and already he was discovering how much of an education he needed. He'd privately scoffed at the idea of spending half of every year on Jurai being necessary, but suddenly that didn't seem so unrealistic.
Funaho smiled sadly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's a big galaxy, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's finally hitting me. It's hard to scale up your notion of the galaxy just being another half dozen planets on the other side of the moon. This is definitely gonna take some getting used to."
"It's all right Tenchi. We really are here for you, as much as we can be. While we disagree with his methods, we do believe what our husband is forcing on you is important in the long run. We'll do what we can to curtail him in turning this into a punishment for you."
Misaki nodded, and placed one of her hands on his other shoulder, making him realize how much it was unlike Ryoko and Ayeka walking along with him sometimes. The thought made him chuckle.
"Is something funny, all of a sudden," asked Misaki.
"Well, only that I'm not used to having two pretty ladies walking on either side of me without fighting."
"Oh, you're just so sweet, aren't you?" Misaki moved her hand down to take hold of his arm and laid her head on his shoulder as they walked. She chuckled as she felt the stutter in his stride.
--
The sounds of breakfast being eaten were almost resounding through the room. Unlike the usual morning conversations, nobody living in the Masaki household had anything to say right then. At any given time one of the ladies was looking at the empty seat at the table with sadness in their eyes.
Ryoko's eyes were particularly unfocused and bloodshot. She'd spent pretty much the entire night drinking sake, consuming what would undoubtedly have killed someone without her unique physical makeup and regenerative powers. She hadn't stopped until she passed out hours after Tenchi had left, and waking up this morning she hadn't felt like wiping the horrible feeling out of her body. The rotten feeling in her stomach and mouth seemed appropriate to her mood. The tasteless-to-her-palate food had long since lost its interest for her, and she mostly just stared morosely at the table.
The ringing of the phone brought most of them out of their stupor for a moment, and feeling no desire to remain at the table, Ryoko floated up and over to the phone to answer it. "Hello, Masaki residence," she said tiredly.
"Ryoko? Is Tenchi gone already?"
Ryoko blinked, trying to place the hysterical voice coming through the phone at her. "Yeah, so what?" The question left her in no mood to remain polite.
"Ryoko, it's Rea! Nobuyuki's been kidnapped!"
"WHAT?" Ryoko suddenly phased all of the waste products from the bout of drinking out of her system. Her head suddenly cleared, she asked, "What do you mean kidnapped?"
"I don't really know, exactly. All I know is Nobuyuki's not here, and I have a note left by someone saying that he has Nobo, and that if we want him back, Tenchi needs to come and face him in a duel. And he should bring Kiyone along to ensure Nobo's safety."
Ryoko stared at the phone, unsure what to say. She turned to look back at the table, and realized everyone had heard her side of the conversation only. "Someone kidnapped Nobuyuki, and they want Tenchi to bring Kiyone along to a duel, or Nobuyuki will be killed."
"WHAT?" Kiyone jumped to her feet, and rushed over to grab the phone from Ryoko. "Hello? Stay there, we'll be there to talk to you as soon as possible. Try not to touch anything." Kiyone slammed the phone down and ran for the stairs. "Let's go Mihoshi, I'll go get our guns." She reached the top, then screeched to a halt, turning to look back down sheepishly. "Um, who was that?"
"I think you've spent too many years as Mihoshi's partner. Well, should we go? I assume everyone will be going along to Rea's?" Washu looked around to see the confirming faces of everyone, and she materialized a terminal and quickly tapped away until she got the results she wanted. "There. Let's see, the house would be 21.36824 miles from here, and 1.653 degrees latitude to the north. Do you have those guns yet?"
Kiyone jumped where she was standing, and turned to race into her room long enough to grab hers and Mihoshi's guns. She then raced back out and down the stairs three at a time.
Washu activated a transport portal as soon as Kiyone arrived, and Sasami squeaked as everything blurred and faded. In only seconds they arrived in the back yard of the house Nobuyuki shared with his wife Rea. Washu looked around, relieved to see that nobody was around to whom she'd be forced to do some memory alterations. She turned back to the house and realized everyone had left her behind and was already inside. With a roll of her eyes, she headed inside as well.
--
Tenchi wandered down another corridor, having nothing better to do. He'd quickly discovered that space travel, at least in this form, didn't live up to his expectation. It would have helped if he felt he could contribute anything to the work being done anywhere on the ship, but since he knew pretty much nothing about anything that needed to be done, he found he had nothing to do. While the queens were perfectly willing to entertain him, he didn't want to intrude on them every minute of their day.
He had a notion in mind to visit the person who'd been rescued from the crippled shuttle. He didn't expect much to come of it, but he wanted to get a look just out of curiosity whether they looked human, just like every other alien he'd met so far. Ryo-Ohki looked human enough when she wanted to, any way, and she might not be classified as an alien, regardless.
He finally arrived at the medical wing, and the sight of a guard on duty outside one of the doors told him where he likely needed to go. "Hello. Is this where the passenger from the shuttle was taken?"
"Yes, highness, this is the room. Dr. Funiki is in there with her right now."
Tenchi started at the address by the guard, then sighed as he realized he would probably have to get used to it. "Is it all right if I go in?"
"I believe so, Dr. Funiki left no orders to keep guests out. Let me check before you enter, please." The guard pulled his gun into a ready position before opening the door. He glanced around, then relaxed and waved Tenchi in.
"Thank you." Tenchi walked in and nodded a greeting to the medic who appeared to be checking the woman's vital signs at the moment. Funiki nodded in return and then punched some info into a datapad he was holding.
"How is she, doctor?"
"About as well as you might expect. She's in a coma at the moment, which isn't surprising considering her heart stopped beating for a bit. She's stable and otherwise healthy, though."
"I see. I assume it's pointless for me to ask if there's anything I can do to help?"
"Well, medically speaking, not really. In these situations it's generally held true that having someone in the room talking to them seems to help out. So if you're willing, you could sit in here and just chat. It'll probably feel silly, but it's for a good cause."
"Well, I guess if you think it might help, I don't have much else to do any way."
"Great! I've got some other things to do for a while. If her status changes at all, the monitor there," Funiki pointed at a screen with various graphs and charts which was hooked to numerous wires from the woman's body, "should alert me immediately, so you don't need to panic. If she should wake up, do your best to keep her calm. She'll probably get pretty worked up at first, so we don't want her to do anything to hurt herself."
"Um... okay, I guess. You're the doctor."
"Thank you, your highness."
Tenchi sighed again as the doctor walked out of the room. There it was, 'highness' again. Shaking his head, Tenchi sat down beside the woman where Dr. Funiki had just been and took his first really close look at her.
Her face was stunningly pretty, framed by long aquamarine hair. From the contours of the sheet she was lying under, he could see that she would be quite tall, and probably have a very attractive figure. He was starting to wonder if all alien women were beautiful.
"Well, what to say? I suppose I should just talk out loud for a while, huh? I might as well introduce myself then. Hello, I'm Tenchi Masaki. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss."
Tenchi felt his face heating a bit, but the lack of reaction from the woman helped him get through his nervousness. "Um... well, let's see... I suppose I could tell you more about me. I come from the planet Earth, in the Solar System. It's pretty close to where we picked you up at."
He watched the monitor a bit, everything seemed to be pretty steady, the numbers in the charts didn't fluctuate much, and the graphs barely changed either. "Earth's a pretty uncivilized place compared to the rest of the galaxy, I guess. It's taking some getting used to, being away from the Earth and traveling through space. We sent some ships up into space of course, but we earthlings kind of thought we were alone in the universe."
Tenchi settled himself more comfortably into the chair, realizing he would probably be at this for a while. "Let's see, what else? Well, I've known for a while that there are people out here, living everywhere else in the galaxy. You see, I've got a few of you living in my house right now."
Tenchi reddened a bit at what he was thinking but turned his head towards the comatose woman. He whispered, "Don't tell anyone I said so, but you might be as pretty as all of them." He sat back up again and glanced around the room. It looked an awful lot like a hospital room should, nearly empty. "It's kind of nice having all those beautiful women living with me, I have to admit."
He closed his eyes and tried to picture all of the women. "I met Ryoko first. Would you believe she tried to kill me? It still seems weird after all this time, considering how she acts towards me now. She's really beautiful, with her kinda Cyan-colored hair. Sexy, too, though I try not to let her know I think that, she's a handful already. I know, a boy my age ought to want to be fondled by a beautiful woman, but it doesn't seem right to me until I figure out if I want to spend my life with her or not."
"I met Ayeka and Sasami next. Let me think... I guess it was Sasami. I was trapped in a cell of some kind on Ayeka's ship, and Sasami let me out. She was just a really cute little girl at the time; boy has she changed. She's gorgeous now... well you can tell that she will be, any way. She's thirteen years old, but somehow or other her body is sixteen. She's definitely starting to look like Tsu..." Tenchi opened his eyes to make sure nobody was around and the woman was still in her coma. "She's looking more like Tsunami than ever. Wow, what a cook, for someone her age. Don't make her mad, though."
He closed his eyes once again. "Ayeka is also very pretty. In a lot of ways, I wish she was here the most. Not because I like her better, but I could really stand to talk to someone who knows all about Jurai. That's where we're headed, by the way. Any way, she's definitely the most ladylike of the whole bunch. She's the only one who could pass for a traditional Japanese girl. That's kinda weird, too, I think she might someday end up being Queen, the ruler of all Jurai, and yet she's been living with me on Earth in my crowded house, doing chores and stuff."
"Next was Mihoshi. No, wait... It was Ryo-Ohki. What can I say about her. She's so adorable it's almost frightening. She's a cabbit, I guess a mixture of a cat and a rabbit, if you know what those are. But she changes into a little girl, and sometimes even into an adult woman, too. She's really cute, no matter which shape she's in. She only had the cabbit shape at first, she didn't get the human shapes until later. Oh, yeah, she's a spaceship, too. I guess I didn't mention that. Yeah, you're right, it's that Ryoko and that Ryo-Ohki. They're really not like that, though."
"Let's see... Mihoshi. How do you describe Mihoshi? Well she's tall, blonde, and gorgeous, with big blue eyes. You notice that immediately. She's much more than that, though. She's so sweet and innocent, it's hard to believe she's an adult sometimes. It's a shame she's so clumsy, and she gets a little too excitable. She takes her work as a Galaxy Police officer very seriously, and boy does she have a great memory. We quit playing memory games with her a long time ago, Washu was the only one who had a chance."
"Well, I guess Washu is next, now that I've mentioned her. You want complications in your life, let a twenty-thousand-year-old genius scientist who looks like she's twelve move into your house and set up a lab." Tenchi laughed, thinking about his trips into Washu's domain. "She referred to me as her 'guinea pig.' A guinea pig is a small furry animal from Earth, but it's kind of a term used to describe the target of somebody's experiments. So, yeah, she spent a lot of time running tests on me. She can also switch into an adult body. A very adult body. Oh, and I guess a teenager's body too, she must be able to choose whatever age she wants to look like. I often think she's a little crazy, but she's got a tender side that's just incredible if you can catch her at the right time."
"I guess there's Kiyone now, too. She hasn't been with us for long, just a few months, but she's already part of the family. She's Mihoshi's partner. I'm not sure she likes being Mihoshi's partner, she kind of waffles on that a lot. They seem to be friends, but she loses her cool when Mihoshi manages to mess something up. She's maybe the most normal of the girls. She feels the most like she comes from a world like mine. That's not necessarily good or bad, just different from all the others. We broke up a robbery together one time, she was pretty impressive."
"Yeah, Kiyone's great, isn't she?"
Tenchi's eyes flew open as he jumped out of his seat. The woman on the bed was looking back at him through barely-open eyes. "Wow! Uh, hello. I'm Tenchi, I'm sure the doctor should be here shortly. Just relax." Tenchi spun to look at the door, expecting it to open at any second.
"Tenchi? Where am I?"
"Oh, well, you're in the medical ward on our ship. Your shuttle broke down, and we picked you up. Your life support systems failed sometime before we got there, but the doctor was able to revive you." Tenchi's heart skipped a beat as her eyes closed again.
"Oh... okay. Thank you."
The woman's voice was tired and weak, and he instinctively reached out to take her hand between his. "You're welcome." Tenchi glanced up as Dr. Funiki returned and moved to leave but the doctor shook his head and indicated Tenchi should remain where he was.
"Hello, Miss. I'm Dr. Funiki. How are you feeling?"
"Tired."
"Ah, well that's not unusual. Your body underwent a tremendous trauma. I'll just check a few things, and then I'll let you get some more sleep."
Tenchi watched the doctor work for a bit before realizing he was still holding the woman's hand. He started to let go, but she grabbed onto his hand with hers, so he decided to just accept it for the time.
"There, everything still looks good. Some more sleep and you should start feeling better, Miss. Could I inquire as to your name? We can hopefully get things started as far as informing your family and the like, arranging transport back home and such."
"I don't know."
Dr. Funiki frowned. "You don't remember your name?"
"No. I can remember some things, like when Tenchi was talking about Kiyone, I remembered her from when I was younger. But I can't remember my name."
"I see. Well, we can start doing some investigation from the shuttle you were on, and maybe we can figure things out for you. I suspect your memory will come back eventually, regardless, if you remember some things. Don't worry, things will be fine. I'll be going, now."
"Okay."
Dr. Funiki rose and walked out. Tenchi said, "Well, I should probably leave, too, so you can rest." He started to move, but she again grabbed onto his hand.
"Please stay. I'm a little frightened right now."
"Ah... well, I guess."
Tenchi sat down again, still conscious of the woman's hand in his, thankful nobody was there to see the scene. If Ryoko or Ayeka would happen to pop in right then things would get ugly, fast.
"Can you talk to me some more. It was very comforting to hear a friendly voice."
Tenchi smiled back at the woman, seeing her smile slightly in return. "Well, I guess. Where was I? Oh yeah, Kiyone. You know her, apparently? Are you sure it's the same one?" The woman shook her head slightly. "Well, I suppose it could be, though that would be a pretty amazing coincidence. Any way, that's the big happy family I live with now. It's pretty weird when I stop to think about it, but it seems normal now."
"I guess I should mention that this ship is Queen Funaho's of Jurai. At least I think it is. It kind of merges together with Queen Misaki's so it's hard to tell one from the other. Queen Funaho is my great-grandmother, so I guess that makes me a prince of Jurai. I'm just a poor Earth kid, though, really, even if I am related to them. My dad is an architect, and grandpa's a shrine priest. Well, I guess grandpa is really Prince Yosho, when you get down to it. He doesn't act like it, though."
Tenchi felt the woman's hand relax, and looked over to see her eyes closed and her breathing steady. She seemed to be asleep again, and when he finally managed to get his hand away she made no move to grab onto him again. He smiled, and carefully tucked her hand under the covers before moving away. "I'll be back later," he said quietly before leaving.
--
The Masaki home residents arrived back at their own house after getting all the details from Rea. They'd investigated the area as best they could, but nothing had turned up, outside of the message that had been left. They'd brought that back home with them, and sent Rea off to stay with her mother.
"So, what do we do?" Ryoko looked around at the other ladies. "There's nothing there except the note, and it tells Tenchi to meet at some empty spot in the middle of nowhere, no planets anywhere nearby. Are you sure you don't know anything, Kiyone? Why would he be asking for Tenchi to bring you along?"
Kiyone started, shaken from her thoughts. "Huh? Um, no, I don't know. I mean, it's probably some old case of mine, somebody I arrested who finally got out of jail, what else would it be? There's way too many possibilities, though, I've arrested an awful lot of people."
"Well that's no help. Any of them swordfighters? This guy wants a duel with Tenchi, whoever he is."
"Sorry, I can't think of any that were swordfighters. I wish I could tell you something."
"Grrrrr. I'm really mad, now. If I ever get my hands on this guy...." Ryoko squeezed the railing of the stairs til the wood starting popping in her grip.
"That's enough, Ryoko." Washu looked at her daughter til Ryoko settled down. "Well, the question is still out there. What do we do now?"
"We must of course inform Lord Tenchi, and mother and Aunt Funaho, too," said Ayeka. "Maybe they can think of something."
"That's true, we really should contact them. I'm not sure telling Tenchi is a good idea, but the queens should know. Can you take care of that Ayeka?"
"Of course Miss Washu. I'll go to Ryu-Oh immediately." Ayeka turned and left the house.
"Little Washu," she called after Ayeka. "Well then. I guess we wait until we hear back from the queens? I'll be in my lab, let me know when Ayeka gets back." Washu turned away and disappeared through the closet door.
"Um, yeah. I'm gonna go outside for a while, I need to try and think." Kiyone disappeared from the house, leaving the rest looking around silently.
"Bah, I'm outta here." Ryoko disappeared as well.
"Hmmmm. It seems like it's just the three of us. Mihoshi, Ryo-Ohki, will you help me make lunch?" Sasami looked at the last two women remaining.
"Miya," cried Ryo-Ohki, heading for the kitchen door.
"Um... I guess so," said Mihoshi, looking at the door Kiyone had gone out.
Sasami herded Mihoshi into the kitchen, not giving the blonde woman a chance to change her mind.
--
Kiyone walked quickly down the dock to the spot where she could transfer onto Yukinojo. She was relieved Mihoshi hadn't followed her out, she didn't want to get Mihoshi involved in what she was planning to do.
She was pretty sure she knew who the culprit was, and this was something she meant to deal with herself. There was little doubt that the Rudolpho family was behind it, and Kiyone blamed herself for getting Tenchi's family involved somehow. If she had just found a place in town like she had originally wanted to, Marco probably wouldn't have known anything about Tenchi or Nobuyuki.
It had to be Marco, too. His record showed the history of killing people with knives and swords of all kinds. He was the top killer for the Rudolpho family, and she had just arrested Luigi, the son of Valentino Rudolpho who was the head of the syndicate. Nothing else made any sense.
She made her way to the bridge when she arrived on Yukinojo, and started warming things up to take off.
"Hello, officer Kiyone. Are we heading out for patrol again?"
"No Yukinojo, this isn't going to be a patrol. We're going after a criminal this time."
"Will officer Mihoshi be coming with us? She is my primary administrator, after all."
"No, Mihoshi won't be coming. She's busy right now. Are we ready to go?"
Yukinojo paused while he accessed his systems monitors. "Yes, officer Kiyone. We should be ready."
"All right, let's go then."
"Yes, ma'am."
Kiyone flopped into the pilot's seat as Yukinojo took the shuttle up into the atmosphere. "You bastard, Marco. We'll see who gets who."
--
Washu smiled to herself as she watched the footage of Kiyone sitting in Yukinojo, taking off. "Marco, hmmm? I knew she was hiding it from us. Guess we do some checking..."
Washu hummed to herself as she pulled up Galaxy Police records, absently swatting aside the attempt by someone within the GP to identify who was hacking into their system. "Marco... Marco. Hmmmmm, that looks promising."
Washu clicked a few keys, and downloaded the photo and description of Marco Manetti into a datapad, then closed down her terminals. She stood up and headed back for the main house. After stepping through the door, she heard the sounds of Sasami cooking in the kitchen with Mihoshi and Ryo-Ohki. Mihoshi was her current target, so Washu went in.
"Hello everyone. Wow, smells great Sasami. Mihoshi?"
"Yes, Little Washu?"
"Do you know anything about a Marco Manetti?"
"Let's see, let me think. I believe he's number 42 on the galaxy most-wanted list, which is the highest for anyone who isn't a pirate, actually. He works for the Rudolpho crime syndicate in the Romartan empire, and he usually kills people with a knife or a sword. He's around six and a half feet tall, and he's believed to weigh around 240 pounds, though nobody really knows for sure. He's got dark brown hair cut really short and brown eyes..."
"Thanks, Mihoshi. That's enough. Do you happen to know if Kiyone would have had anything to do with Marco recently?"
"She never said anything about him. She just got off that huge undercover case which she doesn't talk about, where she got an important drug dealer arrested. Marco isn't a drug dealer, though, he's an assassin."
"How about the Rudolpho family, then?"
"Well, they're Romartan, so they're probably into the usual things, racketeering, illegal gambling, drug-trafficking, weapons dealing...."
"Right. So, anything of note happen with the Rudolpho family lately?"
"Actually, yes. It was big news at headquarters, Luigi Rudolpho got arrested by someone in the GP. It was a huge undercover assignment, somebody played the part of a small drug trafficker and got Luigi when something happened to the distributor the Rudolphos were using at the time."
"Uh, huh. And this all happened when?"
"Oh, around three months ago, maybe a little more I guess."
Washu stared at Mihoshi, waiting to see if the blonde woman was ever going to make any of the connections. "Anything else?"
"Well, if you wanted to know about Marco so badly, you should have just gone with Kiyone when she left to go get him."
Washu's mouth dropped open, as did Sasami's and Ryo-Ohki's. "You knew what she was doing?"
"Well, of course, it was so obvious. I could tell Kiyone didn't want anybody else to know about it, though."
Washu tugged at her hair and screamed, "AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! Why do I even bother?"
"You're not really bothering any of us, Washu. We were just making lunch, you weren't in the way at all."
Washu banged her head on the door frame a couple times, then composed herself. "Well, do we know how to find this Marco Manetti, then?"
"Not really. If the GP knew where to find him, he wouldn't be on the most-wanted list any more, would he? You ask such silly questions some times."
Washu lowered her hands back down, realizing she'd raised them to go strangle Mihoshi without thinking about it. "Uh, yeah. Here's a question for you then. If nobody in the GP knows how to find Marco, how is Kiyone going to find him?"
"Well, obviously she's going to go to Romartan space, then send out a broadcast message to let Marco know she's there. He'll come find her, and she'll do whatever she needs to do to go rescue Nobuyuki."
"Right. Why didn't I think of that?" Washu rolled her eyes.
"Well, it's probably because you're not a Galaxy Police officer. You're a scientist, so you think of thing in terms of..."
"Shut up, Mihoshi! Okay, here's the plan. We're going to follow Kiyone in Ryo-Ohki, and get this scumbag when he takes her back to wherever it is that he hides."
"Oooo. That's a good plan, Little Washu. You know, you might be able to be a GP officer if you really wanted to. I bet you could make Section Chief some day, maybe even more. I'll be right back, I should go put on my uniform." Mihoshi walked out, leaving a stupefied threesome behind her.
Washu flopped her arms onto the counter, and started pounding her head against them. Sasami reached out to pat her left shoulder and Ryo-Ohki did the same to her right.
"It's okay, Washu."
--
Tenchi walked up to the guard outside of the door to Grace Sakumi's room and checked if it was all right to go in. Receiving confirmation, he slipped inside. She was sitting up eating something Tenchi refused to think of as anything else but pudding, and she smiled broadly as she acknowledged his entrance.
"Hello, Tenchi. Want some?" She offered the bowl of 'pudding' to him, but he shook his head and wrinkled his nose. "You sure? It's good. Really. Trust me."
"No, really, you can have it all, Grace."
She sighed, and pushed the bowl aside. "Yuck. Hospital food. So, did you bring me anything?"
Tenchi laughed, and opened his hands to show they were empty.
She put on a mock pout and crossed her arms. "Geez, don't you know you're supposed to bring presents when you visit someone in the hospital, Tenchi?"
"Sorry. Maybe next time. So, how do you feel?"
"Pretty good, actually. I mean, considering I was dead and all."
Tenchi's smile faded, and he looked away. "Yeah, I suppose so."
"Oh, don't get so serious. I'm alive, now, when I should be dead. That's twice now in my life. I'm happy to be alive, you should be too."
He turned back, and the grin on her face won him over and he smiled back at her. "I am. So, any new memories come back to you?"
"Nah, nothing yet. It's weird, I can remember all sorts of stuff up until a few months ago, then it all goes blank. Except for this one face I keep seeing."
"Well, at least you know your name, now."
She laughed. "Grace Sakumi. It sounds weird, cause it doesn't really feel like me when I hear it. I'm sure the reports of me stealing a shuttle and flying off on my own are probably true, though. Why would a secretary steal a shuttle and fly off into space?"
"I don't know. Trying to get away from something?"
"But what? Who'd be after a secretary?"
Tenchi chuckled some more. "Enough. I don't have the answers. Just let your memories come back, okay?"
"Spoilsport. You're supposed to humor me, I'm an invalid after all."
"Right..." The sarcasm dripped off his tongue. She whacked him on the shoulder, and he laughed some more. "Obviously you're barely able to move..."
She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned away with a sniff. "You can leave now, if you're just going to make fun of me."
"Okay..." Tenchi got to his feet, laughing, and turned towards the door.
"Wait! Oh..." Grace's eyes widened at the entrance of the two Juraian queens.
Tenchi froze in his tracks, then stepped back to give them room. They didn't move to sit down, but just watched him carefully, and he could see something in their eyes which let him know they had something important to say to him.
"We should probably go somewhere to talk, Tenchi," said Funaho.
"Um, okay." He turned to look at Grace. "I'll stop by later."
"Okay, Tenchi," she answered.
He walked out into the corridor, following the two queens. He looked around curiously when they took him through a transport to one of the many pools of water maintained in the subspace area of the ship. They sat down on a bench, and Tenchi chose another facing them across the path.
"We just got a message from Ayeka," started Misaki. "It's easiest to just come out and say it. Your father has been kidnapped."
"Wh-what?" Tenchi blinked several times in surprise, not really registering anything else at the moment except the incredible news. "Kidnapped? Why?" His face screwed up in puzzlement.
"It appears to be someone with a grudge against Kiyone, actually," said Funaho. "They left a message asking you to come and face him and bring Kiyone along. What's puzzling is that the message indicates he wants to have a duel with you. He asked for no ransom, not counting Kiyone that is."
"Duel? What the heck..."
"We actually received another message after that from Washu. She says that the culprit is an assassin named Marco Manetti. He works for a Romartan crime syndicate run by Valentino Rudolpho. Though she wouldn't give details how she knew, she indicated that Kiyone was responsible for getting Valentino's son Luigi arrested right before she came to live with you. It's likely revenge against her, and your father somehow got caught in the middle."
Tenchi let the ideas swirl around in his mind for a bit as he tried to make sense of everything. He looked back up at the two queens. "If he wants revenge on Kiyone, why does he want a duel with me, then?"
"We're not sure about that. He has a history of killing people with knives and swords, however, so he might just be looking for the challenge."
"So what happens now?"
"Well, he left instructions for you to bring Kiyone to a certain spot in space and wait for him. Nothing else."
"Well, let's go then." He got to his feet to walk back to the transport.
"Settle down, Tenchi," said Misaki. "It's not that simple. It's Romartan space, we can't take you there. These are Juraian warships after all, even if we mostly use them for travel. If we showed up in Romartan space, it would cause all kinds of problems."
"Then give me a ship, I'll go by myself."
"That's not a good idea, Tenchi. He's probably setting a trap for you, and you don't have Kiyone, either."
"I don't care about any traps, and I'd never bring Kiyone along any way. My dad would understand that, I'd never put any of those women at risk, even for him. Just give me a ship."
Funaho and Misaki traded a glance, then looked back at him. "If you're sure that's what you want, Tenchi."
"Of course it is. It's my responsibility."
"You could let the matter be handled by the authorities, Tenchi. It doesn't have to be your responsibility."
"My dad might not have time for that. I'm going."
Funaho smiled sadly. "Just like Yosho. If that's how it must be, then..."
Tenchi didn't say any more, he just walked back to the transport to take him to the normal space section of the ship.
--
Tenchi stepped into Grace's room and almost laughed at the expression on her face. He was too worked up to really laugh, but her body language told the whole story about how much she was enjoying the tests Funiki was currently inflicting upon her. When she caught sight of him, she smiled and waved.
"Stop that," said Funiki. "I can't get proper readings with you moving around like that."
"Stuff your readings. I'm fine, how many times do I have to tell you? You haven't found a single thing in any test you've run, so why would it be different this time?"
"Because the one I miss is the one that'll kill you. Now sit still."
She settled back into the bed with a look of frustration on her face. She mouthed 'help me' at Tenchi, and he finally found he couldn't stop himself from laughing, though it was short-lived.
"Fine, I'm done for now. I'll be back later." Funiki rose to his feet, and nodded at Tenchi as he walked by, "Highness."
Tenchi nodded in return, then caught Grace sticking her tongue out at Funiki from behind the man's back. He just shook his head.
"Grace, is it? Somehow that just doesn't seem quite right. You'd sure get along with Sasami, though."
She blushed as she pulled her tongue back in her mouth. "Yeah, daddy was hoping for the perfect daughter and the perfect son when he named us. He missed on both counts."
"You have a brother?"
"Yeah." She giggled. "His name is Courage, but he's a bootlicker like daddy."
Tenchi frowned, not used to people talking about their parents that way. She must have realized something by his look because she sobered immediately.
"Yeah, well, what'd you bring me?" He pulled the flower out from behind his back and handed it to her. "Ooooh, flowers. How thoughtful. Go get that cup and fill it with water." She pointed off at the counter where a small cup was standing empty. He complied, and brought it back to her so she could put the pink flower's stem inside. "Thank you, Tenchi. You didn't really need to, you know."
"I promised I would, just like I promised I'd stop back. This will be the last time, though. I've got to go do something, so I'll be leaving the ship."
Grace's eyes shot wide with surprise. "What? You're leaving? You're the only who talks to me except Dr. No-Fun-iki."
Tenchi chuckled at the name she'd given the doctor, who did seem to be a little stiff. "Yes, I have to go."
"But why? You're a prince, surely someone else can do it for you? You have servants and stuff, right?"
"No. I don't have any servants, and even if I did, they couldn't do this for me. Someone kidnapped my father, and he challenged me to a duel to get him back. Some guy named Marco Manetti."
Grace sucked in her breath as the face she'd been seeing flashed through her mind once more. "Marco Manetti. Kiyone. Oh, he's going to kill her." Grace slumped back on the bed as tears trickled out of her eyes.
Tenchi jumped forward to her side. "Grace? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Tenchi. Don't go, please. He's killed everyone else, and he'll kill her, too. And he'll kill y..." Grace looked up at him with the tears now running freely from her eyes.
"Are you remembering something? Please, tell me what you remember. You know this Marco Manetti?"
"Yes, Tenchi. He's the most dangerous killer in the GP files. He's been systematically hunting down every member of the undercover team Kiyone was with not long ago, killing them off one by one. She's the only one left. That's why I was on my way to Earth, I was going to warn her. The officers back at HQ weren't going to do anything, they were going to let her be killed. I had to do something, she saved my life when I was a girl."
"I see. Well, be that as it may, I still have to go. He has my father." Tenchi stood up fully. "Goodbye, Grace. I hope we'll see each other again some time."
"No... wait, he'll kill you." Grace sobbed into the sheets of her bed as Tenchi walked out the door. "Don't go..."
--
Tenchi made his way into the hangar, noticing that Grace's ruined shuttle had been moved back out of the way and was replaced by a new one. The queens were standing nearby talking to a couple of people who looked like technicians or mechanics. Misaki dismissed the two men as he approached.
"I take it this is the shuttle I'll be using?"
"Yes, Tenchi. It is indeed." Funaho beamed her usual smile at him, and stepped over to take his arm as they walked to the shuttle. "It's not the fastest one we had available, but it is the easiest to pilot. Everything can be handled automatically."
Misaki stepped up on his other side to take his free arm. "Be careful, Tenchi. We've started negotiations with the Romartans, but until they give us permission, we can't follow you in. Be careful, if any patrols should catch you, they might not be very helpful. Or nice."
Tenchi looked from one queen to the other, trying to read their expressions. Neither seemed to be terribly worried, which seemed odd considering how they'd tried to talk him out of going. "I'll be fine. Trust me."
"Of course you will, Tenchi. We believe in you."
Funaho nodded in agreement. "Yes, we certainly do."
"Well, I want to get going. Grace got her memories back. I think she knows all about Marco, when I mentioned his name, that's when her memory started coming back. You should probably talk to her, somebody at the GP isn't looking out for Kiyone. Goodbye, Queen Misaki. Goodbye, Great-grandmother."
"Goodbye, Tenchi." Funaho leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.
"Goodbye, Tenchi," said Misaki
Tenchi flinched when he saw the tears in her eyes, and braced himself. Misaki grabbed him in a great hug and squeezed until he thought his ribs would pop. When she finally let go, Tenchi caught a strange look in her eye, and turned to follow her gaze.
Walking slowly across the hangar in nothing but her hospital gown was Grace Sakumi. He'd been right, she was fairly tall for a woman, and she definitely had an attractive figure. The gown did almost nothing to hide her legs as it flapped around.
"You never let me say goodbye, Tenchi, so I had to come down and do it now."
"Erm... Sorry."
"Goodbye, Tenchi." Grace lifted up slightly on her toes and leaned in to kiss a stunned Tenchi on the lips. Then she turned and started walking away again.
He watched her silently until she disappeared from sight. He suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath in hopes she would turn around and look back one last time.
"Ahem."
Tenchi jumped, then turned guiltily to face Misaki.
"Six ladies wasn't enough for you? I'm not quite sure what to think, or what to tell my daughters and the rest."
"I... I don't know where that came from. I was just visiting her while she recovered. She was nice, and she needed someone to talk to."
"Mmmm, hmmm." Misaki lifted an eyebrow and he backed a nervous step as he saw her foot start tapping.
"I'm sure Tenchi is telling the truth, Sister. He does seem to have an impact on the ladies after all." Funaho winked at him, and Tenchi relaxed a tiny bit.
"I, uh... I don't know about that, but I never did anything to make her think there was anything between us, I swear."
Misaki looked him hard in the eye, then suddenly her face broke out into a huge smile. "Well, of course you didn't. You would never do something like that, there's no need to apologize."
Tenchi shook his head, trying to figure out what had just happened, then gave up. "I should go now. Thank you, both of you."
"You're welcome, Tenchi. The course is already laid in with the computer, so all you have to do is order it to go. There are some instructions on the terminal screen, so you can understand how to operate certain things, like the food dispenser. Don't worry, we'll make sure the King gets a message explaining why you won't be coming. This is one time where I know he will understand, he won't hold a grudge. Good luck, Tenchi." Misaki waved as he climbed into the shuttle, and Funaho did likewise.
The hatch closed behind him, and Tenchi wandered the short distance through a passage into the bridge. He strapped himself in, then waited for the signal. He felt a small lurch, then a voice sounded in the cabin.
"You're free of the ships. Wait about thirty seconds to let us get some distance, then engage the engines and autopilot."
He took a deep breath, the reality of his situation sinking in completely. He was in space now, and all by himself. He was going off to save his father by fighting a duel with one of the most dangerous killers known. The only relief he felt was the knowledge that Kiyone would be safe back on Earth, out of the hands of Marco. He didn't plan to lose this duel, no matter what. His father's life depended on it, but if he lost, Kiyone's was in danger, too.
--
Comments and Criticism definitely wanted. It's hard to improve without it.