Disclaimers: I do not own Tenchi Muyo
Chapter Seven: One Fine Day
"Tenchi wake up!" Ayeka commanded as she rapped her knuckles against his bedroom door.
The troops had gotten back late last night from their little escapade to the beach. Though for the life of her, Ayeka couldn't figure out why Tenchi kept trying to talk to her… while giving her sorrowful looks.
"Tenchi Masaki, you wake up right now or you'll be sorry!" Ayeka's voice called out as she started to bang on the simple piece of wood.
"Ayeka, it's to early in the morning!" Tenchi shouted back.
"Nonsense, it's only five o'clock!" Ayeka called back, leaning against the door to hear more sound.
"But school doesn't start 'til seven! It might take girls two hours to get ready, but us guys need only at least ten minutes!"
"Yeah right! Daisuke takes three hours!" Ayeka scoffed.
"You're kidding me, right?" Tenchi suddenly swung the door open.
The sudden motion caused Ayeka to lose her balance as she had been using the door for support. She fell forward into a ward chest and strong arms.
"Uh… you're awake," Ayeka said softly, blinking up into his face.
"Seems that way. So, does it really take Daisuke three hours?" Tenchi asked curiously.
"Well, on an average day, he takes four," Ayeka said with a sly smile. "Now get dressed," she commanded, forcefully pushing against his chest so he was standing in his room.
"Wait a minute Aye…" Tenchi started to protest, but Ayeka cut him short by closing his door.
"I swear, what I am going to do with him," she murmured with a small smile tugging at her lips.
Ayeka stepped out of her room clad in the university uniform, which consisted of a white short sleeved button-up blouse, and navy blue vest, with a matching navy blue skirt that went mid-thigh. Her hair was left loose and down, curling at the end, with dark blue clips to hold it back from her face. She immediately looked around the room for any trace of her roommate and was met with nothing. She rolled her eyes skyward before moving her way to his room.
"Tenchi…" She said tentatively, placing her ear up to the door. "Tenchi?" She repeated when she was met with nothing. She pressed herself firmer up against the door, and she made out the faint sound of snoring. "Why that…" She growled. "TENCHI! GET OUT OF BED!"
She smirked when she heard the distant sound of crashing. Her ears were met with yelps of pain and more crashing. Then everything stopped and went quiet. Ayeka nervously leaned in to get a better hearing. Once again that day the door swung open and down she went into a pair of arms.
"We have got to stop doing this," Tenchi whispered in her ear, causing shivers to go up and down her spine.
"Shut up," Ayeka growled. "It's all your fault, you were suppose to be up an hour and half ago."
"I'm up now, aren't I?" He smirked, helping her get her footing.
"Sure Mister, but you can blame yourself for not having breakfast. We need to go or we'll be late," she rushed out, grabbing a hold of her briefcase like bag and throwing on a pair of black shoes.
"Wait Ayeka!" Tenchi shouted, slamming his own bedroom door and running after the Jurian Princess.
x.x
"Ayeka!" Sakura called out happily, running towards the two ex-Masaki residents, wearing the same outfit as Ayeka. "I still can't believe how weird these uniforms are," she commented, pulling out her skirt. "Well, at least the boys isn't that great either," she smiled; eyeing Tenchi's navy blazer, long matching pants, red tie, and white shirt.
"Whatever," Tenchi grumbled, before looking around and noticing the lack of presence of lechery. "Where's Daisuke?" Sakura just got an irritated look onto her face, like she just ate burnt crusting off a pan. Ayeka elbowed him hard in the ribs. "What?!" Tenchi yelped, rubbing his aching ribs.
"Sakura is still mad at Daisuke for what he did yesterday," she whispered harshly into his ear.
"No, I got over that… kind of," Sakura muttered grumpily. "No… on the way to school he just had to flirt with practically every girl we met on the way to school," she spat out viscously.
"Sakura!" A familiar voice called out. Sakura rolled her eyes in response.
"Speak of the devil and he shall come," Sakura hissed, rolling her eyes.
"Sakura… why'd you run off?" Daisuke asked, sounding breathless, slinging his arm around her shoulders. "One minute you're there, the next… well you're not."
"That was the point," she whispered before shrugging his arm off.
"You don't mean that… do yo… oh hey Tenchi. Princess," Daisuke greeted, just noticing their presence.
"Yo Daisuke!" Tenchi smiled, holding a hand into the air.
"Daisuke." Ayeka gave a curt nod in his direction.
"Drop the 'Princess' nick Jackass," Sakura commanded before elbowing him in the gut. Satisfied after hearing him grunt in pain, Sakura turned on her heels and walked off.
"What did I do now?!" Daisuke whined to her back; but she made no sign of telling him. "Do you know Princess?" Daisuke asked, turning his attention towards Ayeka.
Ayeka merely lifted her head high, and followed Sakura's lead. But not before stepping fully onto Daisuke's feet.
"Ow! They're gaining up on me. Don't you think so man?" Daisuke asked, turning pleading eyes onto Tenchi.
"I think you deserved all you got." Tenchi threw in his two cents.
"Did I ask for what you think?!" Daisuke shouted, an annoyed look crossing his face.
"As a matter of fact, you did," Tenchi grumbled before walking off in the direction the girls had.
It took Daisuke a few minutes before he realized that he was all alone.
"Hey guys!" He shouted, starting to look for any sign of them, as if they would appear out of thin air. "Guys, wait up!" He shouted as he spotted the backs of them. "I'm serious! WAIT UP!"
x.x
"Yes, we have the same classes!" Sakura exclaimed as she stared at Ayeka's schedule and her own.
"Great," Tenchi mumbled, none the too enthusiastically, as he walked behind the two girls.
"Oh shut up you!" Sakura shot at him, not very pleased with him trying to ruin her good mood. "Let me see your schedule," she commanded, holding her hand out behind her.
"Why shou…" He began to protest, but thought better of it when Sakura shot a dark look over her shoulder. "Here," he mumbled, pushing his schedule into her hands.
"FRICK!" Sakura screamed as she took one glance at Tenchi's list. "This can't be! It can't!"
"What is it Sakura?" Ayeka asked in a soothing tone.
"Ayeka… he… he…" Sakura began.
"He what?"
"He has the same schedule as us!" She whined. Tenchi dropped to the floor in surprise.
"Is that all?!" Tenchi shouted, jumping back up.
"Of course… what else would there be?" She said non-chalantly, walking into the nearest classroom door.
"Why that little…" Tenchi began but stopped as Ayeka put a calming hand on his shoulder. He faced her with a curious look.
"Just let her have her fun… besides, someone is about to ruin it," she commented before throwing a quick glance down the hall. Tenchi followed her lead to see Daisuke walking towards them, with some skimpy girl hanging onto him.
'This is going to be a one day.' He thought tiredly.
x.x
Tenchi made his way through the busy city crowd, before breaking off and going into a quaint little restaurant called Mama Chou's. He looked around, trying to spot any sign of his friends.
"Tenchi!" He heard Sakura's familiar loud voice call out to him. He followed the source and spotted Sakura, Ayeka, Daisuke and… Hitomi. Tenchi winced, remembering how they met the small blond.
x.x
"Tenchi, I want you to block Sakura's view… okay?" Ayeka whispered softly as they entered the classroom.
"Sure… but why? It's not like Sakura will care that Daisuke has found himself a girl… right?"
"I'll tell you later," she hissed, giving him a meaningful look.
"Woah… hold on a minute… are you trying to tell me that Sakura likes Daisuke, are you?" Tenchi whispered fairly loud.
"I'll tell you later I said," Ayeka replied harshly before putting on what Tenchi has come to know as the fake smile. "Hurry move! I see them coming in."
Tenchi tried to obey, but it was kind of hard when he had no idea where Sakura was. Ayeka nudged him forward, and caught a glimpse of Sakura. He tried to move forward, but the damaged had been done. Sakura saw Daisuke and she didn't' look too happy to see the girl with him.
"Move it!" Ayeka demanded as she pushed past him and made her way to Sakura.
"Ayeka wait1" Tenchi called, following behind her. They both made it over to Sakura just as Daisuke spotted them.
"Hey guys!' He called out as he came up to them. "I want you guys to meet Hitomi," he announced; gesturing to the girl hanging off of his arm. Tenchi took a small glance to the small blond, blue-eyed girl. "Hitomi, I want you to meet the guys," Daisuke said.
"Excuse me, but Ayeka and I are not guys!" Sakura yelled at him.
'Oh man, is he in for it.' Tenchi thought, giving little sympathy to his friend. 'then again, he deserves it, bringing that girl here.'
"I'm sorry," Daisuke mocked. "Meet, Tenchi, Ayeka, and Sakura."
"It's a pleasure," Hitomi cooed, placing her hand forward.
"I'm sure," Sakura spat… before looking away with a coughing fit with what Tenchi thought he heard slut.
"Um… well you seem like a… nice… person," Ayeka smiled, eyeing warily her 'alterations' to the uniform. Her skirt seemed shorter, and she left the top two buttons of the blouse shirt unbuttoned; showing a good amount of cleavage.
"Nice to meet you," Tenchi said.
"Don't lie you two," Sakura demanded. "It's not nice to meet ou and you don't seem nice you slut," Sakura spoke out viscously.
"Takes one to know," Daisuke defended.
Sakura just started wide-eyed at him before she turned and left. Tenchi saw the evidence of tears as he watched some flow down her cheeks.
"This is for Sakura!" Ayeka suddenly yelled out, bringing Tenchi's attention back to Daisuke. "Player!" She shouted before kneeing him where it hurts. "And this is for me!" With that, she gave him a swift kick in the ribs. Then Ayeka stormed off so she could go comfort her hurt friend.
x.x
"Tenchi, are you going to sit down, or are we going to have to eat without you?" Ayeka's voice brought him back to reality.
"Coming," he said, taking a seat between her and Daisuke.
"You know, me and Hitomi are going to be heading out," Daisuke announced getting up.
"It's not like you two were welcomed here in the first place," Sakura mumbled softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"THAT'S IT!" Daisuke shouted, causing some people to look in their direction. "YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT A BITCH TO ME SICNE THE BEACH! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS, BUT WHEN YOU GET HOME WE AER GOING TO TALK!" He proclaimed, now causing the whole place in there to stare at them.
"Well I WON'T BE COMING HOME!" Sakura screamed back.
"Where you gonna go then?" Daisuke hissed, lowering his voice while eyeing the customers.
"Tateruo's," Sakura hissed back viscously. A pleased look donned her face as Daisuke took on an angry expression.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I?" Sakura had this gleam in her eyes that scared Tenchi. "Oh look, you're little girlfriend wants you," Sakura jeered, stopping Daisuke from making any retort what so ever. Daisuke threw a quick glance over his shoulder to see that she was telling the truth.
"We will discuss this when you get home," Daisuke said in a low tone that left no room for arguments. With that said, he left without so much as a good bye.
"That girl has got you whipped," Sakura grumbled under her breath.
"That was… intense," Tenchi commented after giving a low whistle. "You two acted like a married couple."
"Shut-up!" Sakura snapped… and to his surprise, Ayeka did too.
"But really Sakura…" Ayeka started. "Are you really going to Tateruo's tonight?"
"Wait a minute… I thought Taterou was your ex," Tenchi spoke, a confused look coming onto his face.
"He is!" Both Ayeka and Sakura said in unison.
"What…" Tenchi was getting more confused by the minute.
"He was my boyfriend first… This was before I became friends with Sakura… then Sakura and him went out for a while last y ear…" Ayeka explained, noting Tenchi's confusion.
"Oh remember his pick up line!" Sakura began.
"How can I forget… it's practically the same one he sued on me!" Ayeka exclaimed, acting all high-school girl chat like.
"Excuse me miss, but I believe that's my chair," they both laughed out together.
Tenchi felt a little down-heartened at the two's familiarity. They acted as if they knew each other all their lives, and Tenchi knew better than that. It was moments like these that reminded Tenchi that Ayeka had abandoned the Masaki household… had abandoned him. Even still, he still was as clueless as to what she was doing in those years as when he first arrived in Tokyo.
":This is great and all, going down memory lane," Tenchi grumbled. "But why does Daisuke not like Taterou?"
"Because he doesn't," Sakura answered simply, shrugging her shoulders off-handily.
"But wh… Ow!' Tenchi turned to Ayeka who gave him a hard look. "Why'd you do that?"
"Listen," Ayeka whispered, leaning towards him. "I'll tell you later."
"But wh…Ow!"
"I said I'll tell you later," she muttered, removing her foot form atop of his. "So, I wonder how those two met," Ayeka commented, trying to change the subject.
"He said it was all our fault they met and so we have no reason to hate the girl," Tenchi replied, while taking a gulp of the water the waitress had placed before him.
"Wha…?!" Both Sakura and Ayeka exclaimed getting in his face.
"Yeah… apparently after we ditched him, he went looking for us… and he ran into her… well over her…. Then he put on his 'charm' and she went for it," Tenchi explained, relying the story Daisuke had told him to the girls.
"So, I'm right… she is a slut!" Sakura declared.
"I guess so… going for Daisuke's perverted ways…" Tenchi muttered. "But why is he so perverted."
"He's following his idol," Sakura giggled.
"Even though his idol can't get a single woman," Ayeka joined in, trying to stifle her laughter.
"What are you talking about… you meant there's a guy out there who is more perverted than Daisuke?" Tenchi asked, getting confused by the moment.
"More like more perverted," Ayeka burst out laughing.
"You've watched Inu-Yasha…. Haven't you? Or at least heard of it/" Sakura asked, calming down first.
"Yeah…" Tenchi didn't too much like the sound of where this was going.
"Well… he wants to be just like that perverted monk Miroku," Ayeka filled in. It took a moment for the meaning to sink in, but when it did Tenchi burst out laughing; the girls soon joining him.
"That's it!" A voice boomed. The three looked up to see the manager in front of them. "I tolerated the yelling… but I will not condone all this noise. Get out!" She shouted, all red in the face from yelling.
x.x
"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Sakura called out, when they reached out of the restaurant. She started to walk in the opposite direction.
"Come on Tenchi, let's go home," Ayeka smiled, walking the other way.
"Ayeka…" Tenchi started as he walked in step with her. "Why doesn't Daisuke like Taterou?" Ayeka's step faltered somewhat, but she regained her composure.
"Because… because he raped Sakura," Ayeka whispered so softly that Tenchi almost didn't' hear her. "You know… I was kind of hoping you'd forget," Ayeka laughed a little.
"R-raped her… but you went out with him too," Tenchi managed to get out.
"Yes… but he was different when we met… sort of. You see… Taterou is a musician… a guitar player… and well, let's just say we broke up because of artistic differences. Any ways, when he went out with Sakura, he'd always get drunk… had drug problems…. And one night he came home… his and Sakura's apartment, they lived together while dating… trashed and there was Sakura. He was sorry about it… yes… really sorry." Ayeka explained solemnly. "So… I forgot to ask this morning because we were in such a rush, but did you fix your bed?" Ayeka asked with mock cheeriness.
'You're changing the subject.' Tenchi thought as they walked into the apartment complex. "Ayeka… did he ever… hurt you?" Tenchi asked with a grim tone.
"Um… did you?" Ayeka asked, stepping into the elevator. Tenchi's anger rose in him as he stepped in after her.
"Ayeka," he growled.
"Did you?" Ayeka asked, unconsciously rubbing her arm.
"Ayeka…" He took on a more warning tone.
"Um…" She rubbed her arm again, just below the elbow. The doors opened before she opened her mouth, and she took the opportunity for the escape. She walked off into the hall, but Tenchi wouldn't allow her to go further. He grabbed her wrist and pushed her up against the wall. He placed his hands against the wall on either side of her head. His face centimeters form her own.
"Ayeka…" His breath tickled her neck, but Ayeka dared not laugh, for she knew this was no joking matter. "Did. He. Hurt. You." She just rubbed her arm and looked at anything but Tenchi. Fed up with the rubbing, Tenchi pulled her arm forward. He examined the place where she was rubbing and his eyes widened. There was the faint white tracing of a scar.
"Where'd you get this?" Tenchi demanded.
"No where," Ayeka replied, trying to take her arm back but Tenchi had a tight vice grip on it.
"Did he do it?" Tenchi started it more than asked her.
"I told you… we had artistic differences," Ayeka commented. Tenchi let go of her arm as if it burned him.
"Wha…?" Tenchi started, looking at her incredulously.
"Look… we'll talk when we get inside," Ayeka commanded. Not leaving room for questions.
"We better," Tenchi demanded, him too not leaving room for arguments. 'What a fine day this has been.'
Ayeka just rolled her eyes as she walked to their apartment door. She placed the key in and was about to open it when she heard something.
"What is it Ayeka?" Tenchi questioned, seeing her perplexed expression.
"There's someone in the apartment," she breathed, sounding somewhat scared. Tenchi immediately reacted. He pushed Ayeka behind him and placed a tentative hand on the door. Slowly he pushed it open. His ears were met with the sound of sobbing. He threw it open, his eyes widening in surprise. Ayeka peered over his shoulder, her own face becoming a mixture of confusion and shock.
"Sasami…"
A/N: That's all for now, see you guys next time!
