Ok peoples, how the hell y'all doing? Gotcha'sll with Mihoushi, didn't I? Heeheehee. Don't worry, I won't be torturing Kiyone, too much. Oh by the way, there's bound to be a twist here and there within the next two or three chapters, nothing big, well maybe, we'll just have to wait and see huh? Heh heh heh, sometimes I give myself the creeps.

Disclaimer- Having trouble trying to sleep, I'm counting sheep but running out, as time ticks by, still I try, but no matter what I'll never figure out how to own Tenchi Muyo.

Heart Wrenching Decision

Kiyone dazedly walks out of headquarters. Mihoushi, Kiyone's partner for two days now quickly following behind her. One thing Kiyone can't stand about her partner is the fact that the blonde bimbo never seems to stop talking, it's like Mihoushi can only breath when she talks, so she does it constantly. Ok, maybe that's exaggerating some, but not much, she does talk a lot and fast. Kiyone finds her self confused over what Mihoushi says to her most of the time. There's another thing that's been bothering Kiyone about her new partner, since she met her. How does someone as much as a ditz like Mihoushi, become a police officer anyway!?

Kiyone climbs into her patrol car and start it as Mihoushi gets into the passenger side of the car. Kiyone closes her eyes and tries to will the growing headache away as Mihoushi adjusts the radio in the squad car to a station that plays nothing but pop music. Someone up above must have it out to get her, trying to send her to an early grave by having to listen to Mihoushi's music.

------

Ring! Ring....Ring! Ring! Tenchi continues to stare at the telephone as it rings, afraid to pick it up. Only two people could be calling him, and he doesn't want to speak to either of them, Azaka, and Kimedaki. Tenchi has been fearing this for the last two days, they're expecting the profit from their shipment, the one that literally went down the drain. What can he do? What can he say? What will THEY do when they find out? Those are some of the thoughts running through Tenchi's head as he watches the phone ring.

"Aren't you going to answer the phone Tenchi?" Sasami asks.

Tenchi glances over to Sasami for brief moment before starring back at the ringing phone. Sweat rolls down his brow as he slowly reaches a hand to the phone, dreading the worst. "H-hello?" Tenchi calls into the phone.

"Time is up Masaki." Tenchi recognizes the voice as Kimedaki's.

"Y-yes..." Tenchi coughs, clearing his throat. "The usual spot?" Tenchi asks.

Tenchi can here some conversation on the other line, but not able to understand what is being said. A moment passes before Kimedaki responds, "No.. We'll go to your place."

"Wh-what?" Tenchi asks in disbelief, unfortunately Kimedaki already hung up on Tenchi. Tenchi hangs the phone up, he stares absent mindedly at the hand still on the phone, 'They're coming here' He thinks in disbelief. They never made an exchange at his place before, they would give him the shipment for him to sell at his apartment a few times, but he never had to give the money to them at his place, it would too suspicious for him to hand them a few thousand dollars, in cash.

"What wrong Tenchi?" Sasami asks from her spot on the couch, noticing Tenchi's troubled face. Tenchi opens his mouth to respond but is interrupted by the sound of knocking at his front door.

Tenchi jumps, startled, 'They're already here!?' He wasn't expecting them so quickly. Obviously they were on their way when they called. 'I have to hide Sasami.' Tenchi thinks to himself.

"Tenchi? You home?"

Tenchi blinks in confusion at the voice. He sighs in relief when he realizes that the person behind his front door can be none other then Kiyone. Tenchi quickly turns around and heads over to his front door. He pastes a friendly smile across his face before he opens up the door, and there stood Kiyone, "Hello officer, what can I do for you."

Kiyone rolls her eyes at the title, 'You'd think he'd be using my name by now.' Kiyone thinks to herself, "I was wondering..." Kiyone interrupted by a cheer coming from her squad car, turning around, Kiyone sees Mihoushi literally bouncing in her seat, clapping her hands happily as one of her favorite songs begins to play. Kiyone's eye twitches at the sight of her 'partner.'

"Uh... who's that?" Tenchi asks, noticing the blonde for the first time.

"That's my new partner." Kiyone replies in disgust. Tenchi holds back the grin that threatens to spread across his face. Kiyone shakes her head in disbelief at her partner before turning back to Tenchi, "Anyways, I was wondering."

"Can you do me a favor?" Tenchi suddenly asks, cutting Kiyone off.

Kiyone blinks in confusion not expecting the question, "Uh... sure. What do you need?" Kiyone asks.

Tenchi turns around to look into his apart, "Hey Sasami!" He calls into his apartment.

Sasami appears at the door and smiles, "Oh hi, Kiyone." She greets cheerfully.

Tenchi grins and faces Kiyone again, "I was wondering if you could take my cousin out shopping." Tenchi asks hopefully.

"What?" Kiyone asks in disbelief, it didn't even dawn on her what Tenchi just called Sasami, "Why don't you take her?I happen to be on call right now"

Tenchi scratches the back of his head and laughs embarrassedly, "Well, she needs 'girl' things and I don't feel comfortable shopping for those." Tenchi replies, his face turning red.

------

Down the street, a black Cadillac is parked on the side of the road. The occupants of the vehicle are watching the scene in front of them. They watch as the familiar cop steps out of her vehicle and heads up to Tenchi's apartment door. They watch as Tenchi answers the door and the two of them have some sort of conversation. Then they see a little girl step out of Tenchi's apartment and begin making conversation with the police. Azaka and Kimedaki both exchange a look with each other before glancing back at the three. A wide smile spreads across the little girl's face as she skips down to the police car.

------

"Thank you." Tenchi says.

Kiyone shakes her head, waving him off with hr hand, "Don't mention it, just remember, you owe me one." Kiyone replies before she turns around and heads towards her squad car.

"Why hell little girl. My name is Mihoushi. What's yours?" Mihoushi asks striking up conversation with Sasami who's sitting in the backseat of the car. "Are you another partner of Kiyone's?" Kiyone lets out a deep breath before she puts the vehicle in drive.

"My name is Sasami! I live with Tenchi." Sasami replies cheerfully.

Mihoushi tilts her head to the side in confusion, "Who's Tenchi?"

"He's the person I just went to see Mihoushi." Kiyone answers, "Sasami is Tenchi half-...." Kiyone stops what she's saying as something clicks in her mind, 'Half sister... But Tenchi said...'

"Half what?"

"I was wondering if you could take my cousin out shopping."

"Kiyone?"

Kiyone blinks out of her thoughts at the sound of her partner's voice, "What?"

"Half what?" Mihoushi asks again.

"Sister." Kiyone replies quietly as thoughts race through her mind. 'She can't be Tenchi's half- sister and cousin at once..." Kiyone's grip on her steering wheel tightens as anger builds up in her, 'Tenchi was lying...' Kiyone looks into her rearview mirror to glance at the little girl in her backseat . 'She's not his sister, or cousin or anything for that matter. She's not even related to him... But then... who is she?' It doesn't take long for Kiyone to draw out a conclusion to that question, she had the answer the first day she met Sasami. She's a homeless child, or a runaway, she's suppose to be in an orphanage .

------

Tenchi paces back and forth in his living room, his fear slowly creeping up even more on him. Tenchi can't believe the bad luck he's been having lately, 'In the end, bad turns to worse.' Tenchi thinks to himself. The only good luck he has, or maybe it's not so good, is the fact that he has a ghost helping him every now and then.

Tenchi stops his pacing as a thought crosses his mind. Now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen Ryoko for awhile now. In fact... the last time he did see her was... 'And remember Tenchi, always use protection.' Tenchi's face heats up slightly at the memory. The last time he's seen her was in Kiyone's car, when they went out to breakfast. That was two days ago, he hasn't heard or seen a thing from Ryoko since then.

'Maybe I was temporarily insane.' Tenchi thinks to himself, 'And now that my sanity is back into place, I don't see dead people anymore.' Tenchi knows he's kidding himself. Though the thought of not having an apparition following him everywhere he goes is a load of his heavy shoulders, the thought of not having her around is a bit saddening. Ryoko did make good company when he was alone, well sometimes, when she wasn't in one of her moods.

'I wonder where she flew off to?' Tenchi's thoughts are interrupted by the pounding at his front door. 'They're here.' Tenchi thinks dreadfully. He could try and make a run for it, but they'd eventually catch him, besides that, if he was going to run, he would of done it when they called him to begin with. No, he'll stand his ground, best to get it over with now then later, even if the consequences could be fatal...

Tenchi slowly walks over to his front door and opens it up to reveal Azaka and Kimedaki on the other side. "Alright Masaki, where's the profits?" Kimedaki asks, cutting straight to the chase.

Tenchi gulps nervously, "I don't have it." He hesitantly replies.

Before Tenchi knows what's going on, he's struck in the face by one of Azaka's mighty fists, causing him to fall backwards. "So, you gave it to that cop..," Azaka says disgusted.

Tenchi blinks in confusion, "Wh-what?" 'They know about Kiyone?'

Kimedaki smirks from his spot, "That's right Masaki, we know about your little cop friend. Officer Kiyone Makibi, we did a little research on her once she interrupted a meeting with the boss and us a few days ago."

"We were a bit surprised to see her alive, we thought we killed her that night." Azaka cuts in, "Though we were a bit more surprised to see you two together having breakfast in that cafe two days ago."

"You were following me!?" Tenchi asks surprised.

Kimedaki ignores the question and continues on, "The two of you seemed to have a very interesting conversation, no doubt about the 'business.' Which leads us to believe that you tipped that pathetic cop on us when we left your apartment a few days ago."

"No, I didn't. I had nothing to do with- "Azaka strikes Tenchi in the face.

"Be quiet!" Azaka orders.

Tenchi sits on the ground, his head hung low as he waits for their 'punishment', which most likely will be death. "You're lucky the boss ordered us not to kill you." Kimedaki says suddenly, as if reading Tenchi's thoughts.

"Huh?" Tenchi says not believing what he's hearing.

Azaka smirks, "That's right... instead we were given another order."

Tenchi gulps nervously before voicing out the question that's swarming in his mind, "What's that?"

"We were ordered to 'take care' of your cop friend. And you're going to help us." Kimedaki says, a vicious grin spreading across his lips. "We need you to direct her here." Kimedaki throws a folded piece of paper on the floor next to Tenchi. "That way no one will hear what's going on."

"I can't do that!" Tenchi shouts in disbelief, "I can't help you kill Kiyone!"

Azaka eyes narrow dangerously as he reaches down and picks Tenchi up by the collar of his shirt. "Look here Masaki." Azaka begins, Tenchi turns his head to the side, so he doesn't have to smell Azaka's rotten breath, "We were told to do what it takes to get rid of this cop. She's too nosey, and getting into places where she's better off to leave alone. You WILL help us or else we'll just have to kill the little girl that you're keeping here also." Azaka threatens.

"Leave Sasami alone! She's has nothing to do with this." Tenchi says as he struggles in Azaka's grasp.

"It's your decision Masaki." Kimedaki says calmly, "One or both of them. Only one of them has to die."

"If that cop is there tonight, then the little girl will live, if she isn't we'll kill both of them." Azaka says before tossing Tenchi back onto the floor, "Remember this Masaki." Azaka begins, "The boss has eyes all over the city. If you don't help us, you can't protect the girl, or yourself for that matter. One of these days, the boss won't be so gracious to you."

Tenchi just remains on the floor of his apartment as Azaka and Kimedaki leave his apartment. Tenchi sat there for what seemed like an eternity to him, his whole mind racing with thoughts of how to get out of this, only to find none. How long has he been sitting there since the two men left? A few minutes? A couple of hours? Tenchi lost track of time, he only knows whatever amount of time that passed, is the amount he needed to make his decision.

Tenchi glances over to the folded paper next to him, he reaches over to it and picks it up. Once it's in his hands, Tenchi unfolds it and reads what's written down. 'Marcel's Paper Products, nine o'clock tonight.' Tenchi refolds the paper, one life or two, one is better then two.

Tenchi turns his gaze to the door as Sasami suddenly runs into the apartment, "Tenchi, Tenchi!" Sasami says excitedly, "Look what I got!" Sasami spinning in a circle to show Tenchi her new dress.

Tenchi grins at Sasami, "That's very nice Sasami." Tenchi stands up and turns towards the door as Kiyone appears, "Thank you for taking Sasami out, she's been so cooped up in here I figured she needed to get out some." Tenchi says flashing Kiyone with an appreciative smile.

Kiyone shrugs her shoulders, "No problem. Well... I'll just be on my way now." Kiyone turns to leave.

"Wait!" Tenchi says suddenly, startling the police officer.

Kiyone turns around and raises an eyebrow, as if telling him to continue. Tenchi scratches the back of his head and chuckles embarrassedly, "Um... I was wondering, that is if you could... but you don't have to.... meet me tonight... but you don't have to."

Kiyone stares at Tenchi for a few moments, her face expressionless, as if she were studying a book. "Sure... where?" Kiyone asks.

"You know the old Marcel's building?" Tenchi asks, "The one that used to be a paper products factory?"

"Yes."

"Meet me there as nine." Tenchi says a bit quietly.

Kiyone nods and turns around, leaving his apartment. She walks down the steps towards her car where Mihoushi is sitting in, sleeping. She gets in the car and drives off, 'Something's not right.' She thinks to herself as she drives. 'Too many things seem wrong with this... Why would he want to meet me? And why meet at that place?' That isn't the only thing she finds wrong, Tenchi seemed to be trying to tell her not to go, he kept saying she doesn't have to, if he wants to meet her why would he keep saying that? And when she was studying his face back at the apartment, it looked like a few marks, like the beginning of bruises were forming on his face. 'Something's not right at all. I guess I'll find out tonight.' Kiyone thinks to herself.

Okay, slow chapter, and shorter then usual, I think. But the next one will be better, I promise, and that's a promise I intend to keep lol. But maybe I can convince the gullible saps out there that this was a good chapter, right? Well anyways, I hope y'all review! TTNC!