Its Always Been You

After teasing Tenchi for a while longer, Kiyone laid down with him. Tenchi sat up and started to massage her shoulders. Kiyone seemed to purr in contentment, and quickly fell asleep.

"Huh, so a little massage and she's out like a light," Tenchi mused, "I need to go to the bathroom." And so he did

A few seconds after he left, Ryoko manifested in hers room. She immediately noticed Kiyone sleeping in Tenchi's bed and become jealous. She thought about throwing her out the window, but she knew Tenchi would be very angry with her so she merely poked Kiyone with her foot until she awoke.

"What?" Kiyone asked groggily thinking Tenchi had woke her up

"Where's Tenchi?" Ryoko tried to remain calm

Kiyone jumped and sunk down to appear as small as possible, "T-Tenchi." It was a call for help, than confirming Ryoko's question.

"Yeah Tenchi. Where is he?" Ryoko repeated

"Um, um. I-I don't know." Kiyone looked around nervously, expecting Tenchi to appear and save her from Ryoko. It wasn't that Kiyone was helpless, it just that she couldn't handle someone as powerful as Ryoko.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Your in his room, in his bed." Ryoko snapped

At that point, Tenchi entered his room and show Ryoko. At first he was glad to see her, but then he realized that Kiyone was in his bed, and that wasn't a good thing now.

"Ryoko you're back." Tenchi stated trying to sound innocent

"Don't play dumb with me. What's she doing here?" Ryoko asked

"We've been hanging around in here all day," Tenchi answered boldly

"Really? Well Tenchi I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. Privately." She put emphasis on privately

"Um, I guess. Let's go, um, outside," Ryoko fazed out obviously meaning she'd meet him there, "I'll be right back Kiyone." He smiled at her as if to say nothing to worry about. She nodded in understanding and returned the smile.

When Tenchi made it outside, Ryoko was leaning against the house.

"Hey Ryoko. I'm glad that you're safe, I was starting to worry." Tenchi said as he came to stand her

"I'm sorry about that. I just needed some time alone to think," Ryoko spoke, "And I also wanted to say I'm sorry about the way I acted. I shouldn't have lost and blown up at you and Kiyone like that."

"Ryoko." But she kept going

"I'm also really happy for you Tenchi. If you had to pick someone beside at least it was Kiyone. She's really a nice person," she stated, "At least it wasn't that stuck-up princess Ayeka." Ryoko said sounding more like her self.

Even Tenchi had to laugh a little at that, "Yeah well, I have chosen Kiyone, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you and the other girls. You're all my family."

"Thanks Tenchi," Ryoko then enveloped him in a hug, which Tenchi slowly returned, "Well I best let you go, before Kiyone tries to arrest me for keeping you away for to long." She joked

"Yes mustn't keep her waiting." And with that he was off

"It won't be easy to let him go, but at least his in good hands," Ryoko spoke to herself. Out of nowhere Ryo-ohki jumped on her shoulder and meowed, "Yeah Ryo-ohki I think he's going to be very happy. I'll make sure of that, one way or another."

Upon arriving back in his room, Tenchi saw Kiyone huddled in the corner of his bed. She looked at him and waived him over to her.

After a moment of silence Tenchi asked, "So want to know what we talked about?"

"Nope."

"Really?" he asked in confusion

"Un huh." She replied

Tenchi sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, "How come?"

"Why don't you tell me some other time," Kiyone suggested, "I just want to enjoy the time alone I have with you."

"Whatever you want Kiyone." She shuddered as he said her name

"Whatever I want Tenchi?" she confirmed, he nodded his head

"Yep whatever."

"Then kiss me." She commanded

"My pleasure." Tenchi complied as he pulled Kiyone to him. But instead of the passionate kiss she'd was waiting for, Tenchi simply quickly kiss her and pulled back.

"What was that?" she asked, "I meant a real kiss." She declared wantingly

"What? That was a real kiss," Tenchi said trying not to laugh at the pout that from on her beautiful face

"Come on, Tenchi. Pleeeeaasssee." Kiyone begged, giving Tenchi big puppy eyes. He tried his hardest to resist, but fail after a few seconds. Giving in, he pulled her over and practically smashed his lips onto hers. Soon their tongues found each other and the war was on. Before long Kiyone was moaning with pleasure and Tenchi smirked in triumph. When the need for air became apparent, they broke away and Kiyone was panting slightly.

"Was that better?" Tenchi asked the smirk still playing on his face

"Much, huff, better," Kiyone answered him still out of breath. When Tenchi chuckled to himself, Kiyone grew suspicious, "You did that on purpose didn't you?" She accused

"I didn't do anything." Tenchi defended himself

"You were teasing me, weren't you?" She tried to sound offended

"I have no clue what you're talking about. You asked for a kiss and I gave you one." Tenchi said logically, still trying to hold back his laughter

"Tenchi Masaki, I can't believe you. I ought blast you with my blaster gun." She threatened

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." He apologized while busting out with laughter. She went into another pout and looked away. Upon seeing her angry, Tenchi immediately sobered and apologized

"I'm sorry Kiyone. Really I am," But she refused to look at him, "Alright shoot me with your blaster gun." He reached down to the floor and tried to hand her the gun.

Still silence.

"Fine then I'll shoot myself." Tenchi concluded. He held the gun up to his head and Kiyone flung herself at him.

"STOP." She yelped. Kiyone grabbed the gun and threw it across the room. Now she was lying on top of Tenchi and he had snaked his arms around her waist.

"You are so not funny." She stated as she wrapped her own arms behind his back.

"I'm sorry I won't do it again." He said one last time

"You'd better not." She said and snuggled down deep into his chest.

Tenchi stroked her hair until she fell asleep again. (I know they've been sleeping all day. I've actually done it myself.)

The next morning Tenchi and Kiyone actually emerged from his room to join the others. Setsuko was downstairs helping Sasami with breakfast. Ryoko was still asleep in her usual spot, and Mihoshi was snoozing on the couch.

"Good morning Miss Setsuko, Sasami." Tenchi greeted and Kiyone repeated

"Good morning Tenchi. Good morning Kiyone." The two cooks spoke in unison

Tenchi and Kiyone took their seats and were soon joined by Ayeka.

"Good morning everyone." She called and took her set at the table. Everyone returned her salutation and they began eating Nobuyuki, Ryoko, and Mihoshi wander into the kitchen.

"Hey who are you?" Ryoko asked rudely pointing her chopsticks at Setsuko

"Ryoko mind your manners," Ayeka scolded, "She is Mr. Masaki's fiancée."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Ryoko." Setsuko said

"Wha, since when is he," she pointed at Nobuyuki accusingly, "engaged to her." Then she pointed back at Setsuko

"Oh for a few days now," Nobuyuki pointed out

"Man its just been surprise after surprise here the past week," Ryoko groaned, "Mihoshi you didn't get a brain while I was gone did you?"

"Was I supposed to?" Mihoshi asked confused

Ryoko grunted and said, "I guess that answers my question."

Everyone laughed; even Mihoshi who still didn't know what was going on or what was so funny. Before everyone could leave, Tenchi called their attention to make an announcement.

"Everyone, Kiyone and I wanted to know if everyone wanted to go spend the day at the beach." He suggested

"YAY." The household yelled

Soon the family van was packed and Ryo-ohki transformed to carry the people since the van was full. Upon arriving at the destination, they unloaded and set forth to find a place to set up. Setsuko and Nobuyuki sat down on an oversized blanket to relax. Washu laid back and decided to work on her tan, since she spent all her time in her lab Ryoko, Mihoshi and Sasami went to swim, and Tenchi, Kiyone, and Ayeka started on a sand castle to end all sand castles. Tenchi and Kiyone worked on the castle while Ayeka kept up a small shield around them to protect from Ryoko's accidental attacks. A little after lunch the castle was complete. It came up to about Tenchi's waist and even had a moat running around it. The three stood back an admired their work. They quickly took a picture of it in case in was destroyed before they left.

"Hey guys, how about a game of volleyball." Ryoko suggested

Tenchi looked at Kiyone and Ayeka who nodded theirs heads, "Sure lets go for it."

They teams were divided as follows: Tenchi, Kiyone, and Sasami verses Ryoko, Ayeka, and Mihoshi.

"How come we get Mihoshi? Let's trade for Sasami." Ryoko complained

"Now way we get Sasami. Beside she's short, it should give your team an advantage." Tenchi reasoned

"Not with Mihoshi. That's like subtracting three players." Ryoko remarked

"Hey I happen to be very good at tennis." Mihoshi defended herself

"This is volleyball Mihoshi." Kiyone corrected

"Oh, then what's the net for?" Mihoshi asked confused

"Volleyball has a net too." Tenchi said with a sigh

"Okay, then lets play." Mihoshi commanded

With that the game started. Tenchi's team took an early lead, but once Mihoshi figured out what to do, after a few screams for Ryoko, her team started to close the gap. Tenchi now stood with the ball in his hand. It was his serve and the score was tied game point. This was their third game and each team had won once. Tenchi took a deep breath, threw the ball up into the air, and when it started to come back down, he smacked it over the net to Ayeka.

"I got it," she called, and popped it back over to the other side.

Sasami quickly knocked the ball up and over to Kiyone who promptly returned the ball over the net

"It's all mine." Called Ryoko as Mihoshi set the ball up to be spiked. She didn't see that Tenchi had run up and jumped for it as well. He gracefully smacked the ball before Ryoko could get it. The ball bounced off her head and went backwards were Ayeka failed to recover it before it hit the ground.

"WE WON." Tenchi and his team yelled out. Kiyone ran over and enveloped Tenchi in a hug quickly followed by Sasami who followed her example.

"Yeah, yeah. You won, but I still had Mihoshi on my team. We would have won if you would have traded Sasami."

"No way. I'm a member of team Tenchi." Sasami proclaimed

"Whatever. Team Ryoko is now disbanded and I'm going work on my tan." Ryoko snapped and headed off.

Sasami headed off to swim some more with Ayeka and Mihoshi. Tenchi walked over to his blanket and Kiyone followed him.

"Oof," Tenchi said as he plopped down.

"Tired?" Kiyone asked

"Just a little." He responded

Kiyone sat down behind him. She pulled him down onto her lap, and he sighed in contentment.

"Tenchi?" Kiyone called to him after a minute or two

"Hm." He responded

"Don't you have to go back to school soon?" Kiyone brought up the long forgotten subject

"Hum, yeah I do. I got one more year left. Starts in about a week. Why?" he told her

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you gone almost all day." She explained

"Why don't you fly me to school and pick me up in your ship." He suggested trying to sound serious

"You wish," she slapped his chest lightly, "Maybe I could get Washu to make me a car so I could drive you. I am old enough to drive on your planet right."

"That's not such a bad idea. Might be fun having my girlfriend driving me around," he agreed, "And of course your old enough, I can drive and you're older than me."

"Alright I'll talk to Washu about it later." Just as she finished that statement, a large amount of water was dumped on them. Tenchi spluttered and coughed. He jumped up and looked for the culprit. Spotting Ryoko trying to look innocent, he knew he'd found the guilty party, but the real shocker was that Sasami was the one holding the bucket next to her.

"Sasami, how could you." Tenchi asked in mock hurt

"It was Ryoko's idea." Sasami pointed the guilty finger at Ryoko

"Me. I didn't do anything." Ryoko denied

"Tenchi lets get'um." Kiyone commanded

"CHARGE." And the chase was on.

They ran around eventually getting Ayeka and Mihoshi mixed up in their odd game of tag. They finally came to a stopped when Nobuyuki announced it was time to leave. When they arrived home it was very dark and everyone went of to bed. Kiyone once again snuck into Tenchi's room.

"Good night Tenchi. I love you." She whispered into his ear

"I love you too Kiyone. Good night." Tenchi pulled her close as they drifted off to sleep

This chapter is slightly longer than my pervious ones. I think sending Tenchi back to school will give me new options. My idea bucket is really running low, so review, review, review.