Tenchi Muyo!
______
Disclaimer: This episode of Tenchi Muyo! is
of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Tenchi
Muyo. "Tenchi Muyo!" and all related characters, names, etc. are
©1992-2003 AIC Inc. and Pioneer LDC. All rights reserved.
Note: This story line is a sequel to 'The Darkness Within.' I recommend reading
the stories since it is an incredible series and is very well done.
______
The Return to Darkness
Chapter 6:
Strength of the Heart
______
Tenchi slowly opens his eyes. The first thing he sees
is soft, light brown hair. He smiles in remembrance of the night before with
his beautiful wife Tokimi. The prince leans in and
kisses her on the back of her neck, getting a slight sleepy moan in response.
He begins to move up towards her ear and the goddess starts to squirm under
him. Knowing he is getting somewhere, Tenchi smiles
to himself. He now is nibbling and licking along the edges of her ear, getting
her to moan even louder.
Tokimi suddenly begins to shift under the covers and
turns to face her husband. Her spectacular blue and purple eyes are shining
with amusement. "Good morning dear," she mutters before leaning in
for a quick kiss. She then turns onto her back and stretches lazily. "I
had such a wonderful time with you. I only wish that our lives could always be
as perfect."
"They already are," the prince replies. He pulls back the sheets and
places a hand on the goddess's stomach. "And soon, it will be even more
perfect." He leans in and kisses her belly.
Tokimi smiles warmly at Tenchi
while she ruffles his hair lovingly. "We will have such an amazing
family." She focuses her powers to check on the tiny life growing inside
of her. Her smile becomes more maternal as she senses that everything is
progressing along nicely. "I cannot wait to raise our child
together."
"Well until then," Tenchi starts while
getting out of bed, "let's just enjoy the time we have together. Just the two of us." He reaches out for her to take his
hand. "Come on, let's take a dip in that Jacuzzi
tub. I know you want to," he finishes in a playful tone.
The goddess takes his hand, a gleeful smile on her face. 'An eternity with this
man,' she thinks to herself, 'truly is not long enough.'
______
Back at the Masaki residence, the rest of the family is beginning to awaken
after a peaceful night, that is except for young Sasami
who has been up for nearly an hour making breakfast for everybody. She is a tad
disappointed that Tenchi won't be in for breakfast
but since he promised to eat an extra large lunch and dinner that she'll make
especially for him, it will all be worth it.
Just as the princess puts the last plate of food on the table, Mihoshi makes her way down the stairs, yawning and
stretching all the way. This comes as a surprise to Sasami
since the GP officer is usually the very last person up and downstairs.
"Why are you up so early today for Mihoshi?"
The blonde quickly looks over at Sasami, too quickly,
and she stumbles the rest of the way down the stairs.
The crash gets Ryoko, who is still sleeping on her
favorite rafter, to stir lightly, but not awaken. "Ouch," Mihoshi mumbles as she begins to get up from her awkward
position on the floor. She stands up and uses one hand to scratch the back of
her head embarrassedly while the other rubs the rest of the sleep from her
eyes. "Good morning Sasami," the GP says
cheerfully. She walks past the still confused youngster and takes her place at
the table. "Wow! This sure looks yummy!"
The young princess is about to ask again, but she closes her mouth and shakes
her head slightly, knowing better than to try to get a reasonable answer out of
her. The soft padding of footsteps coming downstairs alerts her to her older
sister's presence. "Good morning Ayeka," Sasami cheerfully calls.
Ayeka makes the rest of her way down the stairs and
smiles warmly at her younger sister. "Good morning Sasami.
I see breakfast is already prepared and set."
"Yep," the girl nods, "so just go and sit down at the table with
Mihoshi and wait for everybody else to come
down." She pauses for a moment to look upstairs while listening intently.
"They should all be down in just a bit."
True to her words, within the next five minutes Nobuyuki comes downstairs, Ryoko floats down from her rafter, Washu
emerges from her lab and Katsuhito comes in from his
shrine. They are all soon enjoying a peaceful breakfast without Tenchi...well...Ayeka and Ryoko do have a minor squabble over the last bowl of rice,
but the house still remains intact and nothing is destroyed or charred in any
way.
Soon they are all finished and are splitting up to do their own things. Ryoko makes her way over to the floating onsen for a nice post breakfast dip. She phases out of her
clothing and slowly lowers herself into the warm waters, letting out a sigh of
content. She pulls out a bottle of saké out of
nowhere and begins to indulge herself.
After a very short amount of time, the space pirate has worked up quite a
healthy buzz. She doesn't notice the door to the onsen
opening or the sounds of light footsteps coming closer towards her, but she
does notice when the slightly aggravated princess hovering behind leans over,
blocking her light. "Hey there princess," she casually greets, which
only helps to anger Ayeka further.
"Really now," she admonishes, "why must you
always get drunk so early in the morning? I would not be so irritated
with you if you at least waited until the late afternoon or evening to start
drinking."
Ryoko moves to the side so she can see the princess
better. "But where'd the fun be in that?" she chuckles. "Come
on," the daughter of Washu beckons, "join
me for a dip. You don't have to drink if you don't want to."
Ayeka sighs deeply, but smiles all the same. "I
guess a quick dip would be refreshing." She turns around and goes into the
girls changing room, passing by the clump of Ryoko's
clothes on the floor, 'tsking' as the pirate's
inability to at least attempt to be a little cleaner. Sure, she does help a
little more around the house, but old habits do die hard, especially for her.
The crown princess of the planet Jurai emerges from
the girls changing room after a few minutes wearing only a pink towel. She
submerges herself in the water next to Ryoko, moaning
slightly in delight. "Tenchi should be coming
home soon you know."
"Yeah I do," she replies. "I mean, Sasami's
been getting so bouncy about the big lunch and dinner she's gonna
make for him that I was afraid the she was going to knock herself out or
something."
Ayeka cover her mouth with her hand and begins to
giggle. "Yes, even though she has taken on so much responsibility around
the house she is still a young girl and it always seems to show off when Tenchi is involved."
Ryoko starts to smile, but it quickly turns into a
worried frown. "You know...little Sasami may
look up Tenchi like a bigger brother or something,
but I do detect the signs of a small crush on him. I'm thinking that if Tenchi doesn't make a choice between us two before Sasami starts growin' up...well
I'm afraid that we just might loose him to her."
The princess sighs and joins the pirate in her worried frown. "Yes, that
is true. I remember having similar worries the night we discovered that Sasami and Tsunami are one and the same and that my dear
little sister will look exactly like Tsunami when she matures."
The nefarious space pirate manages a small chuckle while taking a sip of her saké. "As if we already didn't have
enough competition for him."
______
Tenchi and Tokimi finished
their dip in the Jacuzzi tub a little bit ago and are now both having breakfast
in bed in their hotel room. She normally only ate in the past on rare occasions
to be social with a guest, but now recent events have changed her priorities.
Since a goddess has never before become pregnant, Tokimi
is unsure as to whether or not her own powers could sustain her child's needs.
Therefore, she makes it a routine to eat at least three times a day to provide
the correct amount of sustenance for the life growing inside of her.
The prince looks over at his lovely wife's plate and holds back both the cringe
and chuckle that are trying to escape his lips. Aside from the normal mixture
of foods like fish, noodles and rice, Tokimi has
mixed in large amounts of pickles, peanut butter and vanilla ice cream.
"That sure is an...assortment
you've got there," he comments.
The goddess looks over at him, a sly smile crossing her luscious lips.
"That I do. I normally do not even have an appetite even though I do enjoy
the taste of many foods, but recently I have been hit with cravings of food in
very odd mixtures. I know this is quite normal in pregnancies but it still is
odd nonetheless."
This time, Tenchi does chuckle at her. He reaches
over and wraps an arm around her still slender waist and pulls the goddess in
close. She leans her head on his shoulder and sighs happily. "We should
leave in a little bit you know," he tells her.
"Yes, I know," Tokimi replies, starting to
look downcast at what will happen afterwards. He will go home to his family and
she will be left to return to her temple with only D3 to keep her company.
Tenchi feels his wife's shoulders slump slightly
against him, signifying that she is upset. He knows why she feels so and has
already come up with a conclusion to make her feel better, though it wasn't
very easy for him to do it, seeing as how it will most likely cause only more
complications in his already difficult and confusing life. "Well," he
starts, "when we're done, I'll have one of the guys downstairs call us a
cab so we can go home."
The goddess is momentarily stunned. 'He...he cannot mean what I believe he
does...can he?' She looks up, confusion and hopefulness in her radiant blue and
purple eyes. "What exactly do you mean by 'go home' Tenchi?
I am afraid that I do not fully understand."
The prince pulls her in closer to himself. "What I meant was that I don't
want to keep you and our relationship a secret any longer. I'm going to tell
everyone about us and I don't care what any of them say or do about it. I'm
tired of constantly lying and hiding things from everyone. Most of all,"
he adds while kissing her forehead, "I'm tired of having to say goodbye to
you all the time. I vowed to love you forever and never leave your side and
that's what I intend to do."
Tears are now streaming down Tokimi's beautiful face.
"Oh Tench.i.." she
cries into Tenchi's chest while the prince rubs her
back in a soothing way. Without warning, she shoves him down onto the bed and
hops on top of him, straddling his chest and leaning over so their noses are
practically touching. A predatory smile appears on her face, eliciting Tenchi to gulp nervously. "You are truly an amazing
man Tenchi Masaki," she coos in her sweet voice.
"Sometimes when I am with you I think that I am in a dream since
everything is all too good to be real." The goddess leans in closer and
steals a quick kiss. "I am quite thankful that it is not."
Breakfast is quickly forgotten as the two of them express their love for one
another as only those destined to be together can.
______
Sasami has been in the kitchen since after breakfast,
diligently working on the special lunch she promised to make Tenchi which he promised to eat. Ryo- Ohki, in her toddler
form, helps the young princess here and there, giving her ingredients and
spices that she asks for. In between steps for making Tenchi's
lunch, she puts stuff to the side for everybody else's lunch as well. All in
all, she is very busy.
She stops for a moment to look out of a nearby window, a faraway look in her
eyes and a mild blush across her cheeks. "I really hope that Tenchi enjoys the lunch I'm making for him. I'm putting
everything I've got into it. Maybe he'll like it enough to take me out
once...or maybe even give me a kiss!" She covers her quickly overheating
face and begins to giggle in a fashion that would make Mihoshi
proud.
The cabbit girl smiles at her friend, a healthy blush
adorning her face as well while thinking about getting closer to Tenchi.
______
In her lab, Washu smiles
wistfully while watching Sasami and Ryo-Ohki in the
kitchen from one of the many hidden cameras she strategically placed all
throughout the house and grounds all around it. "Young love is just so
adorable!" she giggles into the monitor in front of her.
The little genius has always admired Sasami. The
girl, though still young, has shown vast maturity and responsibility that even
most adults fail to hold. Her persistence and determination rival even Washu's. Of course, being assimilated with Tsunami, the
Goddess of Light and main reason why the planet Jurai
is as powerful and respected as it is does help a great deal. One day, Sasami and Tsunami will be one and the same. It will be a
momentous occasion to behold and Washu already has
many machines and devices constantly watching over the young princess all the
time just in case the full assimilation begins sooner than expected. She wants
a complete and full analysis of everything that happens when it occurs.
Until that time comes, Washu is content in watching
over her family, occasionally jumping in at convenient times to spew out her
vast knowledge or introduce a new gadget to the entire household. The
self-proclaimed 'Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe' looks over her
shoulder at her newest invention that is nearing completion. The next time she
gets her hands on Mihoshi's ship the Yukinojo, which should be soon seeing as how the blonde
just crashed it into the lake again yesterday, she
will install the gadget into the ship's navigational computer. It will then be
able to sense the tractor beam in Washu's lab and
then always bring the ship in for a safe, destruction free landing.
A beeping noise alerts her to the fact that someone has just entered the
vicinity of the Masaki Residence. Washu types a few
commands in on her holo laptop and a screen pops up
and a taxi just stopping at the side of the road near the carrot fields. The
back passenger door facing the fields opens and Tenchi
comes out, smiling lightly.
"Ah good, Tenchi's finally home," the
genius mutters under her breath. "At least Sasami
will be happy that he's here to eat her special lunch," she finishes with
a small chuckle. Her smile turns into a frown as she watches the prince walk
over to the other door and open it. A beautiful woman comes out, giving Tenchi a warm smile, which he returns. "Who's
that?" Washu asks herself out loud.
She types in a few commands in her computer and it zooms in on the woman,
revealing all of her beautiful features, including her dazzling blue and purple
eyes. "She's not from earth, that's for sure," the genius says,
starting to answer her own question. "No earthling has eyes like that. I'm
definitely sure of that."
As Washu takes in all the woman's features, she is
hit with a very powerful sense of déjà vu. She knows that she has seen this
woman before, but she has no idea of when or where. Confused, the genius has
her computer run a scan on the mystery woman's face, confident that it will
tell her who she is. After a few seconds, the holo
laptop flashes the words 'No Matches Found,' which only confuses her even more.
"If even my computer doesn't know who she is.then who or what can she be? And why is she with Tenchi all of a sudden?" Her eyes narrow as she
watches the woman grab Tenchi's hand and interlocks
her fingers with his. The two then walk hand in hand back to the house.
"This...is not good," Washu mutters while
placing a hand on her forehead.
______
Meanwhile, Tenchi and Tokimi
make the long trek back to his house. The prince is unusually calm while the
goddess next to him is filled with a number of emotions, nervousness,
anticipation, excitement and fear. She is beginning the feel as if this was not
such a wise idea. Her main worry comes not from what everyone might say, but
what they might do. She loves Tenchi more than even
her own life and she would be completely destroyed if one of them managed to
take him away from her or quite possibly try to harm either one of them.
Before she knows what is happening, they are at the front door. Tenchi looks over at her with one of his patented warm
smiles. "So, are you ready?"
"I am," she replies, letting go of his hand and wrapping both of hers
around his arm.
The prince chuckles at her sudden twist in behavior and opens the door. He
moves aside for Tokimi to enter first. She
reluctantly lets go of his arm and goes in first, with Tenchi
right behind her. "Hey everyone!" he calls, "I'm home!"
The sounds of Sasami squealing in delight and
Ryo-Ohki meowing happily reach their ears. Tokimi
can't help but smile at the sounds of the two young girls. Both quickly come
leaping to the front door abruptly when they see that Tenchi
is not alone.
Both the princess and the cabbit get a strange sense
of déjà vu while taking in this new person. "Hi Tenchi! Uh...who's your friend?"
"Hello Sasami. Hello Ryo-Ohki. This is..."
his answer is cut short by a certain space pirate suddenly teleporting in and
wrapping her arms around him, infuriating the goddess next to him.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko seductively purrs in his ear, giving him shivers all
down his spine. Tokimi's anger only increases as she
feels his reaction to the pirate. Ryoko suddenly
notices the goddess at his side. Her eyes narrow dangerously as she slides off
of Tenchi and faces Tokimi
nose to nose. "Who are you?" she says in a low, menacing tone.
Just at that moment, Ayeka makes her way to the front
door from outside. "Excuse me," she begins politely, "but could
one of you please move aside so I may enter?" Tenchi
does and the crown princess walks in, giving him a warm smile as she passes
him. When she gets all the way in and turns around to face the prince, only
then does she notice Tokimi standing very close to
the man she loves. Despite the worrisome and jealous feelings beginning to stir
deep inside of her, the princess keeps up her calm and friendly face. "Why
hello. I am Ayeka. Who might you be?"
Tokimi is about to speak up when Ryoko
buts in. "Well whoever the hell you are, you're standing awfully close to
my Tenchi! You had better back away from him or
there'll be trouble!" Sparks of energy crackle from her
hands to prove her point.
The goddess, however, is unfazed. "You cannot truly think that you can
threaten me in such a fashion can you?"
Everyone besides Tenchi and Tokimi
are stunned by her show of boldness. The stunned silence is broken by Mihoshi cheerily coming down the stairs. "Oh Tenchi!" she exclaims, "Welcome back home!"
"Thanks Mihoshi," he chuckles.
Ryoko suddenly snaps out of her trance and advances
on Tokimi menacingly. "Alright
there missy! You've got a lot of guts to stand up to me like that! Do
you have any idea who I am?"
Tokimi sighs slightly. "Of course I know. I had
forgotten how much of a pain you are Ryoko."
Once again, most of the room is stunned at the woman's knowledge and bravery. Sasami, however, is still plagued by her constant attacks
of déjà vu from this woman. "Um...excuse me miss," she begins in a
small tone, but still gathering everyone's attention. "What is your
name?"
The goddess smiles slightly. 'She is a lot nicer and more innocent than when
she fully assimilates with my bratty little sister,' she thinks to herself.
"My name is Tokimi," she announces proudly.
She then wraps an arm around Tenchi's. "And I am
the wife of Tenchi Masaki!"
To be continued...
______
Author's notes: Once again, I am
sorry for not updating sooner. The usual school and work got in the way as well
as a very bad case of writer's block. If it hadn't been for geekyomega,
a great writer who I am very thankful to, and his awesome ideas, I probably be stuck with only a few pages done. He helped give me a
good direction for this fic since I wanted it to
start getting dark soon.
Now that I have a good idea where this series is going, I should be able to
write more and update sooner. Until then... -- lighthawkdemon
Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemon@yahoo.com