Chapter Three

The Guardian Series

Chapter Three

Revelations

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

It was late, though Washu had not noticed; she had gone for days on end without sleep at the need. Tonight she was reviewing the data she had recorded during the episode in the living room when her little guinea pig had entrapped the ladies in his mirror shield spheres. The energy he had used was almost undetectable. It was not his usual Jurian energy. It was something more basic, yet more profound. An energy that was ever-present in the universe yet almost undetectable. It was an energy generated by every life form and at a very low level from all inanimate objects.

"I wonder could that have been a form of magic that he used. Supposedly, magic used life energy to perform its tricks. I wonder what else he has learned. Hmmm, now that I know what to look for, I can monitor the area for an attack using this type of energy." Typing away at her computer, she reprogrammed her sensors and monitors to detect this new type of energy.

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

"Hmmm, that is Tenchi's Jurian energy I am detecting, and it is coming from the clearing in the woods that the boys use for sparing and training. Let's see what is going on," she said as she adjusted her monitor to connect to a surveillance drone. As the drone whizzed over the trees of the Masaki Estate, into view came Tenchi making his way toward the training grounds. He was in his Jurian battle armor; in his hand was the master key, her monitors showed that his emotional state was calm. "Phew, that is a relief, what ever he is doing, he is not worried about it."

As he stepped into the clearing, a bubble of energy formed around him and then pushed outward until it enclosed the whole of the clearing. Washu saw that the bubble had the energy signature of the low-level energy and Jurian energy. It seemed to have the properties of a major shield, possible as strong as a capital ship or a world-class shield.

"Wow that shield is stronger than either Ryoko or Ayeka can form by several orders of magnitude. I wonder just how powerful a shield he can form and what all it can protect him from." Washu was very intrigued by what she was seeing and wondering at the same time what it meant.

The surveillance drone settled onto a tree limb at the edge of the clearing where its wide-angle lens could take in the whole of the clearing at once. On the edge of the clearing further most from Tenchi, Washu noted a shimmering in the air. In the center of this dim light, the form of a humanoid in archaic armor was forming. Zooming the camera in on the humanoid, there were several things she noted about him, because he was obviously a man, that were strange.

He was clothed in archaic armor; there were similarities to Jurian and several other advanced cloth armors. A cloth like the desert peoples of many desert environments wore covered his face and head, this did not allow her to get a good look at his face and verify which humanoid race he came from. Her Monitors noted that he was exuding Jurian and the same low level energy that Tenchi was using, but he was not giving any indication of producing the low level energy that a living or inanimate object would give off. This had her rubbing her head in confusion. Then she looked at his eyes or where his eyes should have been, the orbs of his eyes were totally black as a void.

Upon see this, something deep in her memory was triggered, something from far far in her past, from the times before her tenure at the Galactic Academy. She wondered about this, trying to dredge up the elusive memory, but it would not come to the surface.

"Oh well, it will come to me, he he he," Washu said, scratching the back of her head.

Looking back at the screen, she noticed that both of them had fell to sparing at a very intense level, way above what she had watched when Lord Katsuhito and Tenchi had spared. Not only were they sparing with blades, energy bolts thrown at each other, movable shields formed to block them. What appeared to be phantasms formed to attack each other's opponents, waves of light and shadow moved across the clearing. Objects not unlike her drones floated around, firing beam weapons, physical attacks, waveform, sonic, and even the low energy attacks. Tenchi was able to dodge or shield himself from all of the attacks while still defending himself from the attacks of the other humanoid and even get in many of his own attacks.

This went on for an hour, the attacks, feints, and defenses by the two, and then suddenly it ended. The two bowed to each other, the archaic humanoid faded from view and the shield disappeared. Washu saw that Tenchi was making his way back to the house and got up from her computer terminal to meet him in the house.

Washu stepped out of the lab just as Tenchi was sliding the front door shut. "Good evening or morning Tenchi. You are up early or staying up late as the choice may be," said Washu with an innocent smile.

Tenchi looked winded but well rested, now dressed in sports shorts and a sweatshirt with a strange crest on it with the letters M.U. raised on the crest. "Good morning Little Washu, I did get a few hours sleep last night after the party. Did you enjoy the show this morning?" Tenchi said with a mischievous smile.

With her head slightly lowered and blush lighting up her cheeks she said, "Ugh, I was working on an experiment and was just hungry for a snack. It is only a coincident that we meet here at the same time."

Tenchi smiled down at the diminutive Washu, and said, "Its ok, I am not trying to keep it secret, but I would rather you not talk to anyone about it except Grandfather, since I noticed that he also was watching." Putting his arm on her shoulder, he turned her toward the kitchen, "Now how about those snacks you spoke of, I am a little hungry and then a few more hours sleep."

Washu felt very warm inside from Tenchi's hand lying on her shoulder and with him walking next to her leading her toward the kitchen.

At first light Tenchi woke to a sight, he had not seen in many years, Ryoko floating above his bed. Oh how he had missed this, looking up at her in this relaxed state he saw how beautiful she really was. Sliding out of bed, he took the blanket from his bed and covered her. The added weight of the blanket drew her down to the bed.

Ryoko shifted a little when she settled into the bed, the smell of Tenchi on the bedding, comforting her in her sleep. "Sleep well my Ryoko, sleep well," said Tenchi. He gathered the clothing he needed for the day and headed to the bathroom to cleanup and dress.

As he moved down the hallway, the door to Ayeka's and Sasami's room slid open and Sasami stepped out. After sliding the door shut, she turned around stepping right into Tenchi's path.

"Oomph," Sasami let out as she bumped into Tenchi.

Tenchi reached out and stopped Sasami from falling, holding her steady until she got her balance back. "Are you ok?" asked Tenchi.

"I'm, I'm ok," she said with a rosy blush on her cheeks. Looking up into Tenchi's eyes, she saw warmth that had been missing from the household for a long time. "Why are you up so early Tenchi?"

"I am quite sure that there are things around that need being done. I thought I would start doing my old chores again since I am back," said Tenchi.

Sasami moved deeper into Tenchi's arms, hugging him close to her. "It is good to have you back Tenchi, though now the fights will probably start to escalate again between Ayeka and Ryoko."

"I am not sure how long I will be back." Sasami started to pull away from him in alarm at the sound of worry in his voice and with the look of disappointment and concern on her face, Tenchi clarified. "I have an important job now that I have finished my training. I will be based here from home, but I will have to go away at times to take care of things."

"What do you mean Tenchi? What kind of work can this be? Is it dangerous?" Sasami asked with concern, bordering on tears in her voice.

"Yes, it can be very dangerous at times. At times, I will work alone or with a team of people. The title of my position is 'Troubleshooter', I go where I am needed to fix problems, which the people there are incapable of doing themselves," said Tenchi.

"What kind of school did you go to, that that is the kind of work you ended up with Tenchi?" asked Sasami. "I never did learn the name of the school you went to."

"'Miskatonic University' was the name and it was a very strange school that was for sure. A lot of different peoples went to that school, not all of them were human or from this reality," Tenchi said with an ironic smile.

She smiled up at him, hearing the humor in his voice, "It sounds like an interesting place. I wish I had gone there more often and been able to meet some of your strange friends"

"By school rules I could not allow that, though in our travels as a family we have also seen some weird things," said Tenchi. "I did try to get an exemption for all of you, but grandfather did not want it known all of you were here on Earth since you did not pass through 'World Immigration" when you got here. So technically all of you are here illegally on planet, though I have gotten that cleared up."

"I did not know that this planet even had an immigration entry point," said Sasami.

"As far as the Jurian, the Galactic Union, and the Galactic Patrol are concerned there is not one. They are a private organization set up in America over 40 years ago, totally unknown to the public and the vast majority of public officials. Some 'Heads-of State' know of them, but not many, Grandfather knows of them though. The University helped to set up this organization because of a higher influx of off-worlders. The University has been around for several millenniums, they even have records of when the Earth was a Jurian Colony, and that was a long time ago."

"Wow, I would love to hear more of this school," said Sasami with wonder. "But, I need to get down stairs and make breakfast; some of the others will be waking up soon."

Tenchi relaxed his hold on her and she reluctantly pulled away from his comforting embrace. Moving down the stairs, she wondered at the change in Tenchi. He used to be so standoffish with every one, not showing any emotion except shyness to any of the women in his life. It felt nice, the way Tenchi had held her, so comfortable, so right; she hoped that she was the one that he 'chose'. With a sigh, she made her way into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

At breakfast that morning things seemed as if nothing had changed, Ayeka and Ryoko sat on either side of Tenchi, each trying to get him to pay more attention to her.

"Ten-chi have some more," said Ryoko as she raised her food laden chopsticks to his mouth.

"Get away from him you demon," Ayeka said as she pulled Tenchi away from her.

"That is enough Ladies, I am done anyway. Thanks for the great food Sasami, it was as good, if not better than I remembered," said Tenchi.

"But Ten-chi, when are you going to tell this prissy princess that you have chosen me, so she will leave us alone," said Ryoko in a condescending voice.

"Choose you? Lord Tenchi will do no such thing! You must be dreaming if you think that he will choose you," yelled Ayeka.

"I said, 'that is enough Ladies,' and you are partially right Ayeka," said Tenchi.

With this said he had everyone's attention in the room. Ayeka and Ryoko looked at him in shock.

"I have made my decision on that subject, and my decision is that I will not make a choice" and with that said, Tenchi got up to leave the room.

"Daddy, don't be mad," Mayuka looked at him with worry on her face.

"It will be ok Little Mayuka, everything will work out, you will see," said Tenchi, as he gave her a hug and then headed out of the room.

Most in the room had looks of confusion on their faces. Ayeka and Ryoko had tears flowing down their faces that they had not been chosen by Tenchi, not understanding what he meant by what he had said.

Mihoshi just looked at Kiyone with the normal confusion in her eyes, "what did he mean by that?"

"I am not sure, but the girls did not like the answer that is for sure," she said looking over at Ayeka and Ryoko with an interested look on her face. Is there hope for me, she thought.

Katsuhito and Nobuyuki looked at each other with knowing smiles on their faces. Nobuyuki pulled his wallet from his pocket and passed over to Katsuhito several bills. "I guess you had it right Father."

"Yes I did. I thought of that option a long time ago," said Katsuhito.

Ayeka and Ryoko looked over at them with confusion blatant on their faces.

Sasami, Ryo-oki, and Washu looked at each other with knowing looks also. Sasami shot her arm into the arm with enthusiasm, "Yes," Sasami said with deep feeling in her voice.

Tenchi started toward the back door, from behind him, he heard Grandfather call out, "Tenchi, there is an assignment board next to the door. Initial next to the job you are going to do so that others do not repeat what you do."

"Ok grandpa," hmmm, that is a good plan, that way there is no assigning of jobs, people do what they do best, thought Tenchi. Coming up to the board, he saw that several jobs were assigned on a rotational basis, these jobs being the ones that none of them liked doing.

He signed out to go to the fields, at least there, he will have some peace, and quite for a while, he hoped. Going into the tool/storage shed, he picked up the tools he needed for today and the carry basket for bringing back any vegetables that might be ripe.

Rounding the house, he headed across the deck toward the far shore leading to the fields in the valley beyond. The walk to the fields gave him time to think about his situation in private. Just a few years ago, before school had started, his life was a pure hell. He was not and at the same time was in control of his life. He did not have control of what was going on around him; the arrival of the Ladies, the Kagato incident, the Doctor Clay stir-up, and the Yazuka frackiss. He did have control also in all those situations also, control of his actions that is. He smiled at the thought that he did release Ryoko, which probably started all this. Though from the letter that he had received from grandfather telling of Ryoko's past, he gathered that at that time he had been working toward ways in which I could get a hold of the keys to release her anyway.

Therefore, in a way, it seemed that all this might have been preordained to happen. Maybe he should talk to Sasami and Tsunami about that, maybe she had something to do with all this, Tsunami that is.

A smile came to his face again at the thought of Sasami; she had come to look exactly like Tsunami, so she was now coming into her own powers also at last. The smile even got bigger as he thought at how the Ladies had taken his revelation at breakfast. As he left the room, he noted everyone's expressions. Father, Grandfather, Sasami, and Washu had grasped the meaning right away, though it looked like Kiyone may have figured it out also. Ayeka, Ryoko, and Mihoshi, (though the last was not a surprise, at times it took an anvil to the head to get some ideas across to her, and at times she figured out the answers very quickly), had not grasped the meaning at all. They were still stuck in the rut of only thinking about themselves.

He crested the ridge beyond the lake and gazed upon the fields that he had not visited in seven years. They had changed, the fields were bigger, and carrots were not the only thing growing now. It was a real truck farm in the American since now. There were all kinds of vegetables growing; the family might even be self-sufficient in the way of foods now, except for rice that is.

Looking to the fields, he noted which field was most overgrown with weeds and headed in that direction, (though there was not much in the way of weeds in the fields). He worked the whole morning through, reveling in the feel of working again with his hands and not worrying about anything except the removal of the obnoxious weeds. The work here gave him the time to think over many things. He now had duties outside of the family and outside of the Royal family, though that could be up for debate if the work he did was found out.

Towards noon, he started to feel hungry and remembered that he had forgotten to bring a lunch with him. He looked up toward the road to the house and saw Ryo-oki sitting on a rock next to the road in a sundress with Mayuka sitting next to her. This brought a smile to his face seeing the two of them sitting there watching him work. He started walking toward them, as they saw him coming toward them they waved.

Reaching the edge of the field, Mayuka ran toward him, "Daddy, we brought you lunch," she said.

"Why thank you, my Little Mayuka," saying that, Tenchi picked her up and hugged her tight to him.

Ryo-oki had lain out on top of the rock a picnic lunch for the three of them. "Thank you Ryo-oki for thinking of me. It was kind of you to bring this out here," said Tenchi as he sat on the rock next to her and gave her a hug.

Ryo-oki's cheeks got very warm at the touch of Tenchi, "You are welcome Tenchi," she said to him with that purring voice of her's. She bowed her head somewhat in embarrassment, so that she was not looking directly at him. Her whole body felt tingle at the thought of what he had said that morning and what it might mean.

- 13 -