THE JOB, Chapter 7: Days Of Future Passed.

DISCLAIMER: Tenchi Muyou! is copyright AIC/Pioneer, LDC. I claim no rights to it. However, all events in this story are entirely of my own imagination. Please don't change them. Feel free to distribute this story as widely as desired.

FOREWORD: For once, the termination of Mihoshi's employment is not due to any fault of hers.

AUTHOR: Dreamr

LAST REVISION: 22 November 2002

EMAIL: TrueDreamr@Hotmail.com

BEGIN.

Nobuyuki very quietly shut the driver's door of his van so no one would hear. The lights in the house he had built for his family were all out. Hopefully, everyone was asleep. If Ryoko caught him coming back in, he would be dead meat. He intentionally left behind the documents and designs he had salvaged from the fire. There was no point in bringing them in, since they would end up at the office on Monday, anyway. Besides, it made it easier to sneak around without those noisy papers.

"I wish she'd'a said something. I would have told them to knock it off. But, no. She has to go and burn the whole place down. Sheesh."

As he carefully slid the back door open, he found a reason to be glad the girls occasionally wrecked the house. All the repairs meant there were hardly ever any squeaky doors or floorboards. Sneaking around was a cinch. Once inside, he made sure to shut the door behind him. The stairs beckoned. Slipping out of his shoes, he tiptoed up each stair, careful to step in exactly the right places. Not a peep.

"Heh! I might just make it."

Passing by the second floor, Nobuyuki continued up the darkened stairway to the third floor where his study, and Tenchi's room, were. As he neared the third floor, he peered over the flat surface of wooden flooring to see if anyone was waiting.

"Almost there..."

So intent was he that the patch of slightly darker shadow behind him went unnoticed, even as he climbed onto the floor and stealthily made his way to the door to his study. So intent on being quiet was he, that he never noticed the girl floating into view just behind him.

"Welcome home, old man."

Nobuyuki's hair stood on end.

"I hope you didn't forget about me."

Spinning around the middle-aged man nearly wet himself when he saw the look of anger on Ryoko's face.

"Now, wait a minute. Can't we talk about this?"

Ryoko smiled malevolently as she reached up and took a hold of his shirt and tie.

"Absolutely. We're gonna have a nice little wall-to-wall counseling session, just you and me."

"Wait! I'm not gonna tell! Honest!"

"I know."

With only one hand, Ryoko suddenly shoved him through the door to his study. The cheap wooden slats collapsed, and Nobuyuki fell to the floor amid the wooden splinters of various sizes that had once made up his door. He looked up in time to see the orange energy sword that Ryoko was so fond of appear in her hand. With each step she took, his fear grew until he could not no longer hold it in. His scream echoed off the hills.

"That's right. Be afraid. Be very afraid."

"What in the Hell is that noise?!"

Ryoko turned to see who was watching. Unluckily for her, it was Tenchi. He peered past her to see what was going on.

"Dad!"

At the sound of Tenchi's voice, Nobuyuki stopped screaming. He promptly scrambled by Ryoko and ran for the door.

"Oh, no, you don't!"

Ryoko made a grab for him, but Tenchi immediately interposed himself between them, allowing his father to make his escape.

"Dammit, Tenchi! Get out of the way!"

Thinking quickly, Tenchi grabbed hold of Ryoko's wrists to keep her from following.

"Ryoko, calm down!"

"No! That dirty old man's got an ass whoopin' coming, and I mean to deliver!"

Tenchi continued to keep his grip, even as the enraged woman flailed about trying to free herself.

"Stop it! I won't let you hurt my dad!"

"I'm not gonna hurt him. I'm gonna kill him!"

"No, you're not!"

The sound of Nobuyuki's van starting alerted Ryoko to the possibility that she was about to lose her quarry. Even at his best, Ryoko knew Tenchi could not hold her against her will. Right now she was not inclined to allow him that. With a quick flick of her wrists, she was free. But, before she could turn to pursue Nobuyuki, Tenchi tackled her to the floor. He quickly planted his hands on her shoulders, pinning her down.

"LEMME GO!"

"Ryoko, I don't know what my father did to make you so mad. But whatever it was he doesn't deserve to die for it."

Ryoko glared up at him as she squirmed under his weight.

"Shit! Why do you have to be so damned clueless?"

"What happened, Ryoko? Why are you always so angry?"

Ryoko's breath suddenly caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide as she realized Tenchi was not angry with her, but concerned. She stopped struggling, even though freedom was as simple as phasing through the floor.

"I... can't."

The memories Ryoko struggled to ignore on a daily basis began to bubble to the front of her mind. They were quickly joined by new memories from earlier this day. Clamping her eyes shut, she savagely pushed at the thoughts, trying to bury them anew.

"I can't..."

The more she pushed, the worse it was. The memories that she had buried long ago continued to defy her mental commands. They arose from the darkness like zombies from their graves. Each one clawed at her mind, jealous of the life she was trying to live. Gritting her teeth, Ryoko disappeared so that Tenchi would not see how much she was hurting inside.

"What in the name of sweet Tsunami is going on up here?"

Tenchi turned towards the sound of Aeka's voice as she stood looking into his father's study. He knelt on the floor, trying to understand what was going on with Ryoko.

"I wish I knew."

The first thing in the morning the next day, the phone rang. Since Sasami was already up and about preparing a wonderful breakfast for everybody, she went and answered it.

"Hello! Masaki residence!"

The sound of Mihoshi's sniffling immediately issued from the earpiece.

"Mihoshi?"

"Sa-sa-sa-Sasami, is Ryoko home?"

"Uh, let me check."

Taking a quick peek up at the ceiling in the main room, she saw that the rafters were empty.

"No, I don't think she is."

"But, how can I tell her our bar burned down if she isn't there?"

Sasami's eyes went wide in surprise.

"Bar?"

The sound of Mihoshi's sniffling was suddenly replaced by sounds of a struggle and Kiyone's voice.

"That's supposed to be a secret, bubble-head! Hi, Sasami."

"Uh, good morning."

"Look. Uh, could you forget Mihoshi said anything about dancing at a bar?"

"But Mihoshi didn't say anything about dancing. Just a bar."

"She didn't?"

Sasami finally made the connection between Mihoshi and Ryoko's work, and dancing at a bar. She stifled a conspiratorial giggle.

"I get it. But, I think it's too late. Ryoko and Tenchi's dad got in a fight last night. I'll bet he found out."

"Yeah, I know. He came over in the middle of the night asking for a place to sleep. He told us the whole story."

Sasami giggled even harder.

"I've got an idea. Why don't you come over for breakfast and tell me all about it?"

Kiyone's voice perked up at the mention of breakfast.

"Breakfast? We'll be right there. I'm sick to death of instant oatmeal."

Sasami laughed.

"Okay. 'bye."

When Tenchi finally managed to get downstairs a little later, he found most of the family arranged around the table having a massive breakfast. Sasami had apparently gone all out this morning. The second thing he noticed was that his father had returned.

"Dad! Are you all right?"

"Yup! I managed a clean getaway last night, and Kiyone and Mihoshi let me stay at their place. Wasn't exactly comfortable. But, hey, any old port in a storm."

Kiyone grimaced.

"You're welcome."

Walking into the room, Tenchi found the last of the space at the table and sat down to eat.

"So, does someone want to tell me what that was all about, last night?"

Washu gave Tenchi's father a stern expression.

"Maybe you should be the one to tell your son what you did."

Nobuyuki began nervously scratching at the back of his head.

"Heh, heh. Well, I happen to have a business meeting last night with some prospective clients. So, I took them to this hot new bar in town. It turns out Ryoko was working there. When I introduced my clients to her, they tried to get a little closer than she liked."

"That doesn't sound too unusual." Tenchi remarked as Sasami ladled some soup into his bowl. "As much as Ryoko drinks, I'll bet she's a pretty good bartender."

Sasami immediately began to giggle. Mihoshi was right behind her. Except for Aeka, the others chose to remain silent.

"Miss Ryoko is not a bartender. She's a..."

Washu, Nobuyuki and Kiyone suddenly gang tackled Aeka. They piled on top of her, trying desperately to silence her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kiyone yelled at the princess. "If Ryoko finds out Tenchi knows AAAHH!"

Kiyone suddenly yanked her hand away from Aeka's mouth, where it had been keeping her from revealing Ryoko's line of work.

"She bit me!"

Aeka took advantage of the short opening to reveal what she wanted Tenchi to know.

"She's a stripper!"

Everyone froze. Tenchi just stared at the pile of people as he digested this information. Then he frowned.

"Aeka, how would you like it if someone said that about you? I know Ryoko has different values than us. But that doesn't mean we should say bad things about her."

Now everyone was staring at Tenchi in disbelief. Tossing her captors aside, Aeka sat up.

"Lord Tenchi. I am not lying! Ryoko and Mihoshi have been working at a strip club for weeks!"

Mihoshi broke in to the conversation.

"Um, excuse me. We're dancers, not strippers. In fact, I don't think I could even get naked on stage. I get nervous enough just in a bikini." Her face began to blush.

Tenchi stared at Aeka for several seconds before turning to his father.

"Dad?"

"It's true."

"But, why?"

"Oh, that's easy." Mihoshi waved her hand at Tenchi with a giggle. "She wants to take you on a trip."

For a moment Tenchi sat still as he thought about that.

"A trip? Hmm..."

It took him a few seconds to retrieve the memory from several months ago. When he finally remembered what he said to Ryoko back then, he heaved a long sigh.

"I guess I'll have to have a talk with her."

More stares were levied at him.

Washu suddenly leapt up from the table.

"Well, I've got some research to do. So I'll just take this delicious soup with me, 'kay? 'Bye!"

With that, she ran for the door to her lab and disappeared inside. The sound of a bolt slamming home announced that she did not wish to be disturbed.

Kiyone leaned forward a bit so she would not have to speak quite as loud.

"So, Tenchi. Are you gonna go with her?"

Tenchi gave her a rather mysterious look, that was surprisingly similar to the one his grandfather often used.

"I think I should wait until Ryoko and I have spoken."

Aeka was quick to offer her opinion on whether or not Tenchi would accept.

"Most certainly not. Lord Tenchi knows better than to do something so foolish."

"Besides," Tenchi added, "I can't really go if she hasn't even asked me, yet."

Murmurs of agreement went around the table.

END.

AFTERWORD: Not much to say here.