The sounds of women scurrying about made Tenchi smile as he relaxed on the couch. He was home again, the queens had somehow managed to convince their husband to let him postpone his trip to Jurai by a month. Misaki had muttered something about three hundred years, but he hadn't caught exactly what she meant.
They'd only been gone for a few days, but it felt like ages ago that he'd wondered when he would ever make it back again. He wished he could forget about all of it, but he knew those few days would stay with him for a while.
He lifted his cup of tea only to find it was empty. He was about to get up, when Sasami came over and poured some more into his cup. "Thanks, Sasami."
"You're welcome." She flitted back into the kitchen, humming merrily to herself.
He smiled, surprised by how much importance she put on receiving her own set of battle armor. The queens, or Misaki at any rate, had obviously been planning for the possibility, since they'd had it ready when they picked up all of the house members on their way back from Romartan space. Sasami had spent the entire trip back to Earth showing it off to everyone she could find.
He admitted that she looked pretty fierce that way, with the markings on her face, and the flowing bodysuit. When she screwed up her face to give him her best tough look, though, he'd collapsed to the floor laughing. She'd ignored him from that point on, but once they got back home, she'd returned to her normal self.
Ryoko was loafing as usual, but she occasionally dropped down one of the gems she'd created for Ryo-Ohki to play with. Kiyone made note of each, marking it into an inventory book she'd created for the purpose of trying to decide when her first trip to Kurashiki to open the store would be.
Mihoshi and Kiyone had turned in Valentino Rudolpho and Marco Manetti to great acclaim within the GP. An investigation was already underway against their former superior officers, and enough evidence had already been found to have the two stripped of their rank. Sakai and Watanabe found themselves doing maintenance on the equipment used by the GP secretarial pool, taking orders from the women they'd previously harassed.
Their normal superior officer, Section Chief Nobeyama, had been recalled to duty early from his vacation, due to the demotions of Sakai and Watanabe. From the accounts Kiyone had heard, he was himself trying to turn down a promotion so he could remain section chief for this area of space. He had hinted that promotions were likely for Mihoshi and Kiyone, but so far nothing had come through. Both had turned down his request to transfer them back to HQ, maintaining they were more suited to patrolling this part of space than manning a desk.
Ayeka had spent quite a bit of time explaining to her mother how it was that Sasami had managed to go along on the raid against the Rudolphos. In the end she escaped her mother's wrath by pointing out how Sasami had singlehandedly subdued half of the fifty or so gangsters they'd gone up against. Misaki had been so proud of her youngest daughter that she'd forgotten she was angry with her oldest.
The queens had returned with them to Earth, saying their vacation had been interrupted the last time. Everyone knew they were doing so to punish the King somehow, but the silence regarding the matter was never broken.
Nobuyuki had returned home to a deliriously happy Rea, after promising he would install the security device Washu had whipped up for him. One look at it had caused him to discard it in a pile of trash next to Tenchi's house before he went home.
Washu had disappeared into her lab soon after returning, and had only ventured out a few times for meals. She hadn't said anything about what she was working on, but that didn't disturb anyone since it was normal behavior for her.
Ryo-Ohki was spending more time as an adult now than ever before. Apparently something had made her decide that it was time, so she and Sasami had spent a few hours outside that afternoon practicing walking. She had managed to walk the length of the house without falling at one point during their session.
His grandfather had stopped in to chat about what happened, and Tenchi had been quite proud of himself when Yosho had complimented him before leaving. He'd hinted that Tenchi still had much to learn, of course, but had postponed the resumption of practice until tomorrow.
The urge to actually do anything had been strangely absent for Tenchi today. He'd slept in, not feeling like getting up to work in the fields, and without practice, he'd spent much of the day napping and catching up on the news. He had resolved to start his routine again tomorrow, since the carrots were likely in serious need of tending, but he felt he'd earned the day off and enjoyed himself.
Chores around the house had mostly been put off by everyone as a result. Everyone had tried to spend time around him during the day, even Washu had chatted with the group for an hour or so at one point before disappearing back into her lab with a considering look on her face.
All that brought him back to now, as he stopped reminiscing and sipped some more tea. He looked back over his shoulder as Sasami announced dinner was ready, and slowly made his way over to sit down between Ayeka and Ryoko. Washu appeared after Kiyone stuck her head inside the lab door to call for her, and the grin on her face was a little disconcerting. He remained silent, however, not willing to risk breaking the pleasant atmosphere currently resounding through the house. Washu continued to leer at him as they waited for the queens to arrive, and finally Ryoko couldn't take it any more.
"Get off it, mother. Whatever you're thinking about Tenchi right now, we don't want to hear about it."
"Why, Little Ryoko. Whatever do you mean?" Washu batted her eyes innocently.
"Look, just cause it's your turn again tomorrow, doesn't mean we all want to be subjected to your crazy games. Knock it off."
"Actually, Ryoko," said Misaki as she and Funaho came down the stairs, "tomorrow will be our day. Washu will have to wait one day longer before her turn comes again."
"WHAT?" screamed everyone together.
"Have you noticed, sister, a tendency in this family to all yell 'what' at the same time?" Funaho asked.
"Now that you mention it, it does seem to be a regular occurrence around here. That is rather odd, isn't it."
"Indeed."
"Ah, what exactly do you mean by 'your day', great-grandma?" Tenchi asked nervously.
"Why, just that. Tomorrow will be our day to monopolize your time, of course."
"Um... is that all?"
"Why, Tenchi, are you trying to wriggle out of giving me a kiss?" asked Misaki seductively.
"MOTHER!" cried Ayeka and Sasami.
"I, uh... I really don't think that's a good idea," whimpered Tenchi.
"No? And after everything that happened aboard our ship just before you headed out? Why, I just assumed that if Gr..." Misaki broke off as Tenchi's face turned white.
"OK! Tomorrow is your day." Tenchi slumped onto the table, defeated.
"Of course it is, dear. We already told you that." Funaho's face was beaming her usual smile again.
Everyone else was looking suspiciously between the queens and Tenchi, but it quickly became obvious that no more answers were forthcoming. When the silence lingered long enough, Sasami finally ordered everyone to start eating.
Not much was said, various chitchat mostly conducted between the queens. Washu muttered frequently about spending the entire day planning her compensation for saving Tenchi's life, but everyone ignored her. When the meal was finally finished, Tenchi escaped out to the porch to sit in silence looking out at the lake.
Kiyone wandered past, looking curiously at her beeping communicator watch, and he chuckled when she disappeared into subspace to apparently receive a message of some kind. He watched with curiosity until she appeared again and nodded when she arrived on the shore of the lake, completely dry. It was definitely a Mihoshi thing, then.
She walked back up to the house and looked curiously at the chuckling Tenchi. She hadn't done anything amusing that she could think of, but it was nice to see him smiling, regardless. "Um, Tenchi?"
"Yes?"
"I just got a message from a friend of mine. She works for the GP, though she's actually just a secretary. She asked if she could come visit, she apparently has a lot of vacation built up that she needs to use, and she recently had a pretty rough experience of some kind. She thought it would be fun to get away, but still have a friend around, too, so she thought of me I guess. I hope you don't mind, I told her it should be fine. I think we should be able to squeeze her in our room, otherwise she said she wouldn't mind sleeping on your couch. Um, was that okay, you don't look very good."
"No, that's fine Kiyone, I don't mind. What's her name if I could ask?"
"Oh, right. Grace Sakumi. Thanks, Tenchi." Kiyone disappeared back into the house.
He sighed as he looked back at the lake, wondering how he could handle this situation. He didn't get a chance to start thinking about it before Sasami poked her head out of the door. "Tenchi. I was wondering if you could start teaching me how to use a sword? I mean, I know Yosho could teach me, but I thought maybe you could, too, so brother doesn't have to slow down for a beginner."
Tenchi mulled the request for a moment, trying to figure how he could fit it into his schedule. Maybe if he trimmed a little of his time in the fields, he could teach her for a short while before she had to prepare lunch. "Um, yeah, I suppose I could. Sure, Sasami."
"Great! Thanks, Tenchi."
She popped back into the house, but he could still hear her voice inside saying, "Tenchi's going to show me how to use his sword."
He started to call out a clarification, but was cut short by the arrival of Ayeka who had a stern look on her face as she watched her sister. It disappeared when she turned to Tenchi.
"I certainly hope that was meant to mean you would be giving her lessons in swordsmanship much like Yosho is doing for you?"
"Of course it was."
"I see. Well, then, I would like to protest this ridiculous idea of Ryoko's."
"Huh?"
"It's not my idea, it's Ryo-Ohki's." Ryoko glared at Ayeka as she appeared on the porch. "I'm just the translator. If you don't like it, take it up with the furball." Ryoko turned away from Ayeka and looked at Tenchi. "Apparently Ryo-Ohki," Ryoko hauled the cabbit out from behind her back, "would like to have her own day with you, Tenchi. Something to do with 'catching ice' but she was mumbling when she said it."
"Sure, that seems fair. Ryo-Ohki lives here too, I suppose I ought to spend some more time getting to know her. I wonder if Washu can make me up a translator, so I can actually understand her?"
"Whatever. Come on furball. Happy, now?"
"Miya!"
"Bah. Cabbits are weird. Come on."
"Well, I suppose... it does seem fair to allow Ryo-Ohki a day, since she does live here." Ayeka crossed her arms as her face got stormy. "Mother, however, is a totally different story. You can't seriously expect us to stand by while she makes goo-goo eyes at you in front of us, do you?"
"Goo-goo eyes? That sounds like fun."
Ayeka jumped guiltily as her mother walked out onto the porch with a bundle of clothes in her arms. Funaho appeared behind her, and they both raised eyebrows waiting for Ayeka to continue.
"Well, that is... You're a married woman, after all, you shouldn't be playing games with poor Tenchi's emotions like that." Ayeka floundered, trying to think of anything to sway them.
"I'm currently on hiatus from my marriage, actually. I've given the King three hundred years to consider the error of his ways during these last few weeks. You can't really expect me to go lonely that whole time, can you?"
"Ah... three hundred years... lonely..."
"There, there, dear. That's why your Aunt Funaho is sharing my day. You didn't really think I would do more than 'make goo-goo eyes' at Tenchi, did you?"
"Yep," smiled Funaho. "We just want to go out on a date with a handsome boy, that's all. It's been so long since I went on a date, and I don't believe your mother ever got to go on one. See, it's all very innocent, isn't it?"
"Um, certainly, Aunt Funaho. If you'll excuse me, I believe I have some things I should do..." Ayeka hurried back inside, her mother's laughter trailing behind her.
"Now then, Tenchi, which dress do you think I should wear tomorrow? This one?" Misaki held up the dress on top of her pile of clothes. It fell down from her hands to reveal a low-cut full-length red dress with a slit up the left side that would probably reach her hip. "Or this one?" Funaho held the other dress, which revealed itself as a strapless dark blue dress which would likely not make it to her knees.
Tenchi pulled his mouth closed, then waved at the dress Misaki was holding, not caring either way beyond knowing he was going to be very uncomfortable tomorrow.
"Oooh, the red one. Good choice. I'll see you tomorrow, Tenchi." Misaki disappeared back into the house and Funaho trailed behind her with a parting wink for him.
He groaned and once again turned to look at the lake, wishing for a little peace. He didn't even see Mihoshi until she was in a pile on top of him. "Ow. Mihoshi?"
"I'm so sorry, Tenchi," she cried as she climbed up off of him. "I was just going to come and invite you to join us while we watch that new Wasoonti soap opera. It's supposed to be really good, everyone's getting ready, even Washu."
"Uh, sure, Mihoshi. Give me just a minute, I'll be in shortly."
"Oh, goody. Don't be late."
He watched her bound back inside and took deep breaths, counting to ten. He rose to his feet, taking one last look out over the lake, and whispered to himself, "I should have taken the money."
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