TENCHI WAKUSEI

by Joe Meadows

A sequel novel to "Tenchi Universe," full and complete.

6. CHAPTER 5: No Need For Dracula

TENCHI WAKUSEI, BOOK ONE: "NO DREAMS FOR TENCHI"

By Joe Meadows (gpabn@yahoo.com)

NOTA BENE: This novel (comprising 24 chapters, a Prologue, and an Epilogue) is a sequel to the "Tenchi Muyo Television Series" ("Tenchi Universe"), with some "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki!" original OAV series characters and elements included where--in the author's opinion--they don't conflict with "Tenchi Universe." For example, in order to flesh out a family background for Ayeka and Sasami, rather than create new characters, I used the existing parental figures of King Asuza and Queen Misaki from the OAVs. In order to bring the Galaxy Police more into the story, I re-instated the Grand Marshall as Mihoshi's grandfather and used an existing character from the Tenchi Muyo mangas, Chief Tor Bodai. And so on.

AIC and Pioneer LDC, whose kind indulgence I am counting on, own the copyrights on the original Tenchi Muyo characters. The character of Chief Tor Bodai was created by Hitoshi Okuda for the Tenchi Muyo manga series and is also copyrighted by AIC and Pioneer LDC. All truly new characters are my creation. Those characters and the actual story are copyright 2002 by yours truly. The lyrics for both versions of the theme song for "Speed Racer," the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album, the Beach Boys' "Surfing USA," the theme to "The Brady Bunch," and "That's Amore" are copyrighted by their various owners. The events that comprise the "Tenchi Universe" series are discussed in this novel; consequently, spoilers lurk within. Be warned. Please check out the "Chapter Notes" at the end of some of the chapters. Feedback is very welcome! I can be reached at gpabn@yahoo.com and thanks for taking the time to read this novel.

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CHAPTER FIVE

No Need For Dracula

___________________

"Wow," said Sasami. "I can see myself in the floor, Kiyone."

The little girl leaned over further, peering at the mirror gloss of the freshly waxed floor. "You and Mihoshi did an awfully good job."

Kiyone smiled. "Thank you. Mihoshi and I think it came out all right."

"It is quite nice," Ayeka weighed in. She had divested herself of her formal robed gown. Now she was only wearing the tight satiny undergarment that was more revealing than anything Ryoko ever wore. Of course, Ayeka would never reveal it outside the room. She walked to her wardrobe to get her long, flowing, lavender silk nightdress.

"It was fun," Mihoshi said. She was already snuggled in her futon with Trissy. "Except all that polishing...my arms still ache!"

They were all preparing for bed in the women's "dormitory." For Ayeka, Ryoko, and Sasami, this was their first opportunity to see their floor now nicely waxed (lots of wax, thanks to Mihoshi) and polished (hard labor with cloths...no motorized polisher in the Masaki household) floor of their bacherlorette barracks. All three were complimentary, including Ryoko.

"Yeah, smells nice in here," Ryoko commented. "Of course, the floors are a wee mite slippery." She had just seen the Princess sway a little bit as she opened her wardrobe door. Ryoko smiled, at peace.

"Yes, you'll need to watch your step." Kiyone tried to restrain herself from rubbing a strategic area (and didn't quite succeed) as she recalled her two spills following the floor polishing. The second spill had included Mihoshi who had panic-grabbed her so that both of them ended up sliding across the room until a handy wall stopped them.

"I am afraid you are right, Kiyone," Ayeka admitted after nearly toppling again.

"Better go barefoot, Princess," Ryoko advised. "Shuck those house slippers."

"Humph!" Ayeka obviously had no intention of going barefoot.

Ryoko shrugged. That was the Princess's lookout.

"Sasami, you stay put. I shall get your nightgown also," Ayeka said, closing her wardrobe with her own nightgown in hand. She started toward Sasami's wardrobe.

"Okay. Thanks, Ayeka," Sasami replied from where she sat on her futon.

"Wheeee...!" Mihoshi laughed. She had pushed Trissy on the waxed floor for fun. The stuffed pooch slid on her velveteen paws a short distance on the gleaming woodwork...and stopped at Ryoko's futon.

Ryoko looked at Trissy. "That mutt gets uglier every day."

"She does not!" Mihoshi defended her doggie. "Push her back Ryoko, please."

"Like fun I will," Ryoko declined. "I'm not touching it."

Kiyone sighed wearily. She walked--carefully--over to Ryoko's futon. Ryoko waited until Kiyone had just about reached her and then pushed Trissy back to Mihoshi.

Kiyone stopped, hands on her hips. "Thanks a lot, Ryoko!"

"Yes, thank you, Ryoko." Mihoshi beamed.

"You're welcome, Mihoshi," Ryoko said.

"What's the idea?" Kiyone grated.

"I just changed my mind," Ryoko said, quite innocently. "That's all."

"Wanted to see me fall, huh?"

"Me? Bite your tongue, Detective."

"I may bite something...but it won't be attached to me!"

The galactic police officer started to walk back--and swayed--and then caught herself. Ryoko had the grace not to laugh out loud.

"Don't fall again, Kiyone," Mihoshi told her helpfully.

"Gee, I'll try not to." Kiyone gritted her teeth.

"So you already fell, huh? That's why I saw you rubbing your butt earlier!" Ryoko chortled.

The sound of Kiyone gritting her teeth was almost audible now. She walked carefully to her wardrobe and opened the drawer at the bottom. She withdrew a garment.

"It is not funny to see someone fall, Ryoko," Ayeka admonished the space pirate as she carried both her and her little sister's nightgowns back to their futons.

"Yeah? I guess all those comedy shows must have it wrong then, Princess." Ryoko turned her gaze back to Kiyone.

"What's that you're putting on?" Ryoko asked Kiyone, who had fully divested herself of outerwear and was slipping into what looked like a huge white cotton sack with a hole at the top. "What's that gnarly thing on the front?"

Kiyone decided she wasn't mad at Ryoko anymore. She might as well get mad at the weather. "It's supposed to be a moose," she explained.

"Looks like a sick one," Ryoko commented. "What's that writing under it?" Ryoko's grasp of written English was none too good.

"It says, "Wotsammata U." It's a joke...supposed to be, anyway."

"Well, ha, ha," Ryoko said caustically. "Only one person I know around here would own something like that."

"You're right." Kiyone smiled. "It's Tris's."

Ryoko was interested now. "Why did he give it to you?"

"I made him."

Ryoko considered this. "Why would you want it?"

"I just do. He sleeps in it...or he did." Kiyone grinned deviously.

"Kiyone tried to wash her jeans that got floor wax on them in the washer and she accidentally had her big white nightshirt rolled up with them," Mihoshi explained, as informative as ever.

Kiyone groaned and rolled her eyes heavenward. Blabbermouth!

"Bet that came out just swell!" Ryoko grinned.

"Aw, that's too bad, Kiyone," Sasami commiserated. "Did it help your jeans at all?"

"No." Kiyone grimaced. That had made the whole mess ever worse. She had failed to get the floor wax off the legs of her jeans and her comfy nightshirt had gotten nuked in the bargain. Now she was obliged to sleep with a dopey looking moose on her chest! Oh, well...at least it hadn't cost her anything, aside from a kiss or two. Kiyone smiled to herself. That big stiff!

"Put your nightdress on, Sasami," Ayeka told her little sister, having managed to step carefully and not slip, all the way back to her futon (to Ryoko's disappointment). She handed her little sister her mightdress. Sasami rose from her futon to slip it on while Ayeka donned her own nightdress. Sasami had already coiled her long pigtails and encased them in specially designed velvet sheaths to prevent them from being mussed while she slept. For her part, Ayeka had placed her two long back queues of hair in similar velvet sheaths for the same reason. In contrast, neither Ryoko nor Mihoshi did anything with their hair at bedtime and Kiyone simply tied her long hair in back with a yellow hair band. Preparing for bed was a bit more of a ritual for Ayeka and Sasami than for the others. "But why Tristram's shirt, Kiyone?" Ayeka now asked.

Kiyone shrugged. "I don't have anything else to wear to bed and he just brought in extra clothes, you know."

Ryoko caught Ayeka's eye. They silently shook their heads, obviously not buying that one little bit. Watching them, Sasami was confused by their reaction. Kiyone's explanation sounded logical to her.

It also sounded logical to Mihoshi. The blonde Galaxy Police officer was feeling bemused, though. Kiyone first saying Tris was her boyfriend, and now she had his big moose shirt to sleep in. Of course, Mihoshi had Trissy, from Tris. But Mihoshi was feeling that deja vu thingy...if she remembered right what that word meant.

She had originally fallen in love with Tenchi, and still loved him-- she had even fantasized when they were caught in Washuu's Dimensional Tuner thingy that she was married to him--but Ryoko and Ayeka were the ones he looked upon as girlfriends. Now, she supposed, she was out of the running for Tris. Kiyone was her very best friend and Mihoshi would do nothing to hurt her or to damage their friendship. But she liked Tris an awful lot and she had hoped that she and he...well, no chance of that now, it seemed. Still, she ought to ask Kiyone about it.

Mihoshi petted Trissy sadly. Her feelings for Tris would just be another thing to hurt her, she knew. Mihoshi hurt inside and yearned inside far more than the people around her suspected. But she hid it well.

------

Hours later, the communal bedroom was dark.

The occupants slept peacefully. All except for Ayeka, who was battling for her life.

Ayeka had never known such horror. The huge, pulsating mass, with its great, bulging yellow eye, reached for her with dripping tendrils. She could not move. The huge, glaring eye had enthralled her, somehow. Her powers were gone. No one was with her. She was alone with it. She felt the tendrils wrap around her neck. They were warm and clammy. They pulled her to the pulsating flesh-colored mass. Her body jolted, as if electrified. The pain!--dear heavens, the horrible pain!--it was killing her--she couldn't move--she seemed unable to even scream--

Ayeka opened her eyes, panting. The thing still held her! She tried to push it away--

"Ayeka...!" A sharp, childish whisper knifed through the fog that encased her head.

Reason returned. Vision cleared. Ayeka now saw it was Sasami holding tightly to her shoulders, trying to gently shake her awake.

"I'm...I'm awake now, dear," she whispered.

Sasami's face reflected her bottomless loving relief.

"Oh, thank goodness!"

Ayeka took the opportunity to hug her little sister. "Did we wake anyone...?" she whispered. She released Sasami and looked looked around the dark room. No, the others were still and quiet--save for Mihoshi's snoring--in their futons.

"Was it that awful dream again?" Sasami whispered, her voice soft and sorrowful.

Ayeka managed a weak smile as she whispered back, "Yes, dear. It was that horrible monster, as always." She attempted a tiny joke. "It certainly was a job for Pretty Sammy!"

Sasami clutched her big sister and pressed her face in a soft shoulder. Her own shoulders shook.

"Now, now, dear," Ayeka whispered, stroking Sasami's head. "It will be all right. Silly dreams do not mean a thing. They will end soon. Wait and see."

Sasami raised her head and nodded somberly.

Yes...please make them end, Ayeka prayed silently.

------

In the darkness of his bedroom, Lord Yosho sat up in his bed.

He had felt that Presence again...that cold entity that he had sensed before. He glanced out the window of his simply furnished bedroom. The stars twinkled in a black velvet sky. Peaceful and silent. And the Presence was gone, at least for now.

Slowly, the Juraian Prince settled back into bed. No, he could not place it yet. But he would. Enemies always showed themselves, eventually. And when this one did reveal itself, Lord Yosho and his grandson would have to deal with it. It was their responsibility and their honor.

Yet...Yosho worried. He was used to enemies that attacked openly and at least didn't skulk around in the dark. This enemy was not only surreptitious, but it also represented something that Yosho knew he had never encountered before. That was unsettling, the Juraian Prince admitted to himself. Worse, it seemed to foreshadow another great struggle and a desperate battle, something Yosho had hoped would never blight their lives again. As tenuous as this Presence was, it was redolent of evil and rancor. It meant harm to them--of that there could be no doubt.

Yet at the moment, it was only a feeling, a sensation. It was nothing one could take action again or even identify. Yosho knew he would simply have to wait until the Presence took more material form before he could alert his grandson and the others. It would do no good to agitate them now about something so tenuous.

Lord Yosho sighed. He willed himself back to sleep. Strength was needed for the days ahead.

------

The next morning, immediately after breakfast, Kiyone sat on her futon in the communal bedroom. She looked at her ruined jeans where they lay on her futon before her. She had a pair of scissors and an idea...if she had the nerve to try it.

The unseasonable spring warmth had helped germinate the idea. After all, spring would soon turn into summer, the weather would thus stay warm, and by fall she would have saved up enough money to buy another pair of jeans. Of course, hopefully by that time she would be back at Headquarters earning a Sergeant's pay again. God, she hoped so!

Mihoshi, who had been following Kiyone around as always, sat on her own futon. She was tying a pink ribbon around Trissy's shaggy head. She hummed some silly tune, happy and contented. No one else was in the room.

Kiyone made her decision. She applied the scissors. Sharp steel met denim and denim lost.

Mihoshi looked up. "What are you doing, Kiyone?" she cried, aghast. "Your nice blue jeans!"

Not any more. Kiyone held up what was left. Blue denim shorts...in fact, blue denim short-shorts. Kiyone had cut perhaps too bravely. Too late now.

"You're going to wear...those?" Mihoshi was shocked.

"Yes!" Kiyone replied, sounding far more determined than she felt.

"But...you'll show your thighs and all!" Mihoshi couldn't believe it. Kiyone had a pair of shorts already, but they were baggy, half- legged cargo shorts--not like what she held in her hands now. These were almost as brief as burumas, the legless shorts worn by Japanese schoolgirls for gym classes.

"And what's wrong with my thighs?"

"Nothing." Mihoshi actually felt that Kiyone's thighs were a bit too full, maybe, but she wisely decided not to mention it.

"I won't be wearing this to show off my thighs. I'll be wearing it so I can salvage these jeans and have something to work in. It's warm outside, Mihoshi. Besides, you've seen lots of women wear shorts like these on TV."

"Sure!" Mihoshi smiled, suddenly enthused. "All those girls who have guys chasing them. And at the beach, too! Beach party!"

"This isn't the beach, Mihoshi," Kiyone reminded her.

"Uh-huh. But there's beaches not so far away. Tenchi mentioned it once," Mihoshi pointed out. "Gosh, it'd be nice to go to a beach, huh, Kiyone?"

"Yeah, well, how'd we get there and how would..." Kiyone's eyes widened. "Hmmm."

"What, Kiyone?"

"Never mind. I have to think about it first."

"Think about what?"

"Never mind!"

"Okay," Mihoshi said agreeably. She had finished tying the pink ribbon on Trissy. She loved how it looked on her plush puppy dog.

Kiyone, wearing just her short-sleeved white cotton blouse and undergarments, stood. She took a deep, brave breath. She put the short-shorts on.

Then she walked to one of the mirrored wardrobes. The waxed floor was a little less slippery now to her bare feet. She looked at herself in the mirror. Girl! She never knew she had so much leg. Wow! She was rather pleased at the effect.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Kiyone wondered what the other women would say. Hah! She knew what they would say. Well, too bad. She could wear short-shots if she wanted to. It'd only be around the house, anyway.

Kiyone grinned saucily at her reflection in the mirror. She thought of Tris. It was a devilish thought. That big stiff...talk about her legs, would he? Wait until he got a load of her in this! His eyes were sure to pop out. Well, they had better pop out!

Then, behind her, Kiyone heard the sound of scissors on cloth.

"Mihoshi!"

It was, again, too late. Now, like her partner and very best friend, Mihoshi was wearing short-shorts, too. She walked over to where Kiyone stood by the mirrored wardrobe.

"You big copycat!"

Mihoshi grinned, delighted at her reflection in the mirror. "Gosh. Look at my legs! Now we're both beach girls! All we need now are lifeguards!"

Or groundskeepers maybe, Kiyone chuckled to herself, as another devilish though came to her.

------

"You've just about got that hill mowed," Tris called to Tenchi. "Bet you're glad."

"Sure am," Tenchi called back from the crest of a small hillock. He pushed the mower to get at the remaining tall grass. ""I should get the other hill mowed this afternoon. How are you doing?"

"Stone by stone...groan by groan," Tris said. He had risen with relief from trimming errant foliage around another stone pathway. "Isn't it about lunchtime yet?" he asked Tenchi.

"Way too early, buddy." Tenchi grinned. "Is that all you think about? No, I guess that's not all you think about."

"What's that crack supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean. Whom I mean."

"Yeah, well, I also think about increasing my medical coverage. too. Especially with "whom" around."

Tenchi laughed. "You asked for it!"

"Well...I got it!"

Tenchi laughed again, picturing Tris at lunch yesterday. "Career- first!" Kiyone and his "career-huh?" roommate! That was one he sure didn't see coming. Still laughing, his eyes roved toward the house. His eyes widened. He stopped laughing.

"Tris. Look over at the house. Second story hallway window."

Tris followed instructions. His jaw dropped. "Holey moley. Will you look at that...!"

Tenchi needed no invitation. He looked.

In that wide and long second-story picture window, Kiyone and Mihoshi stood waving at them wearing big smiles...and their short-shorts.

"Sha-zam!" said Tris.

"I'll say!" said Tenchi.

------

"Hey, Kiyone," Mihoshi said. She kept waving at the distant Tenchi and Tris through the window. "Are their eyes popped out yet?"

"Popped out and rolling on the ground!" Kiyone laughed gaily.

Mihoshi stole a look at her partner. Kiyone was so animated and happy. So much better now than when they had first come back to Earth and the Masaki household. Gosh, those had been sad days! No more, though. It filled Mihoshi with joy.

------

"Well," Tris explained with mock seriousness. "It's obvious. Wearing such abbreviated garments no doubt results in better air circulation for comfort and allows much more freedom of movement, invaluable for the accomplishment of many household chores." Who needed Washuu for double-talk?

"Are you kidding?" Tenchi said. "Look at those legs!"

"Jeeze, Tenchi," Tris said slyly. "Is that all you think about?"

"Very funny, wise guy."

For a moment, Tris and Tenchi were silent, staring at the two leggy Galaxy Police officers. It was a sight neither would soon forget.

"I'll go quietly, Officer," Tris said. "You won't even need handcuffs."

Tenchi agreed silently.

"Awww...show's over, already," Tris complained.

It was true. With a final wave, Kiyone and Mihoshi disappeared from the window.

"Just like running out of quarters," Tris muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing important. Well, back to toil and trouble."

"Yeah, toil," Tenchi said, feeling a slight twinge of apprehension and, perhaps, guilt. "And if Ayeka or Ryoko find out about this little show...trouble!"

------

Fortunately, trouble did not rear its unlovely head...at least not until luncheon.

The others, excluding Washuu as usual, were already seated at the table when Kiyone and Mihoshi braved an appearance in their short- shorts. Lord Yosho looked up. His eyebrows lifted a millimeter. He was not made of stone.

Tenchi and Tris treated themselves to another eyeful. Their expressions were appreciative. The leg show was even better closer up.

Sasami seemed enchanted with the abbreviated jeans shorts. "Gosh," she said. "I like them! So cool!"

Ayeka and Ryoko took one look at Kiyone and Mihoshi and their mouths sagged open. The two Galaxy Police officers took that opportunity to scoot to their places at the table.

"Yeow, girl!" Ryoko said to Kiyone. "Those are shorts?"

"Short-shorts," corrected Mihoshi, smiling.

"Too short-shorts," Ayeka muttered.

Ryoko regarded at Kiyone with admiration. That took guts! And a little sass, too. Kiyone was a real surprise these days.

"I needed to find a way to use these jeans," Kiyone explained. "You know how awful the pant legs looked. So I cut them off and made these jeans into shorts. It's warm weather now, anyway, you know. I'll just wear them around the house. So will Mihoshi."

"If you wore them anywhere else, Detectives," Lord Yosho said with a slight smile, "no doubt the males among my temple's visitors would neglect their devotions in the face of such beauty." It was a typically kind and gallant way for him to say: Not around my temple, you don't!

Kiyone nodded. "Yes, Lord Yosho. We understand."

"What's your story?" Ryoko asked Mihoshi. "You spill something on your jeans, too?"

"Oh no!" Mihoshi smiled. "I just wanted to be like Kiyone!"

Kiyone rolled her eyes eloquently.

"It's a good thing Tenchi works outside, huh, Princess?" Ryoko said, half in jest. "Otherwise we'd have something to worry about!"

"Oh, Tenchi likes our short-shorts all right!" Mihoshi laughed. "Tris too! You should have seen their eyeballs pop out when we modeled--"

Kiyone's hand clamped her partner's big mouth. It was a futile gesture. Mihoshi had spilled the beans, but good.

"Modeled?" Ayeka drew herself back. "Modeled!"

"No, not "modeled,"" Kiyone told her.

"Then what was Mihoshi referring to?" Ayeka's voice was icy.

"Aw, Princess," Ryoko scoffed. "So what? It's just legs!" She was acting more blasé about it than she really felt. But it wasn't something to convene court over. At least, not yet.

The fact was that Ryoko and Ayeka were more unsettled by Mihoshi wearing the short-shorts than Kiyone. Kiyone was sweet on Tris now and she had never shown more than a sisterly affection for Tenchi anyway. Mihoshi, however, was a different matter. She was unattached, she clearly adored Tenchi, and she was a beautiful, sexually aware woman despite her simple, sweet, and cheery nature. Back during the time they had all been caught up in Washuu's Dimensional Tuner, Mihoshi had somehow gotten herself married to Tenchi for a time. That was all Ayeka and Ryoko had needed to know about Mihoshi!

"I do not require your assistance or advice, Ryoko." Ayeka snapped. "I simply desire an explanation from Kiyone."

"It's my fault," Tenchi broke in.

"Your fault, Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka stared at him.

"Your fault?" Ryoko echoed, also staring at him.

Mihoshi also nearly said, "Your fault?" But Kiyone's hand kept her mouth tightly and safely clamped. Their eyes on Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko failed to notice.

"Yeah. Tris and I were outside doing our chores when I noticed Kiyone and Mihoshi--they happened to be walking by the second floor hallway window." Tenchi hesitated, darting a glance at his grandfather. But Lord Yosho appeared to have no difficulty with his swallowing this time around. Tenchi continued. "I mentioned it to Tris and--"

"And I yelled and whistled, and Kiyone and Mihoshi stopped and looked to see what all the racket was." Tris added, catching on to Tenchi's gambit.

Okay, thought Tenchi, fair enough...thanks, Tris. "They just waved at us and went on, that's all. So that's how we saw them in their new shorts." Tenchi took a nibble of fish ball and glanced again at his grandfather. Yosho just sat there, chewing serenely.

"Ohhh..." Ayeka's voice had modulated by a power of ten. "So there was no "modeling." I see."

"The second floor hallway isn't much of a catwalk, Princess Ayeka," Tris pointed out to her.

Ayeka's eyes took in Tris. Those lovely ruby eyes twinkled. "I do believe you have a point there, Tristram."

Ryoko snorted. "Of course. You're making a big deal about nothing, Princess. Although maybe I should invest in a pair of those little short-shorts. What do you say, Tenchi?"

"Invest? You mean steal!" Ayeka retorted.

The discussion thus entered more familiar--and safer--waters.

Kiyone covertly unclamped Mihoshi's mouth. She used that hand to (also covertly) slip underneath the table and gently grasp Tris's hand. She gave it a tiny squeeze.

------

A half hour or so following lunch, Tenchi stood in the improvised dojo with his grandfather. Both of them were taking a breather. That is, Tenchi was taking a breather. Lord Yosho breathed just fine following a particularly vigorous practice bout.

Tenchi wiped his forehead. Bushido practice was warm work for such balmy weather. But it wasn't the heat that was bothering Tenchi at the moment.

"Grandfather?" he asked.

"Yes, Tenchi?"

"I should understand things like this better, I know. But why didn't you have any objection to my telling not strictly the truth at lunch to Ayeka and Ryoko, when you made it clear a couple of days ago it was wrong for me to invent something to placate Mihoshi?"

"Because, Tenchi, there is a difference between trying to smooth a path for someone and possibly causing them to trip--and amending the truth to avoid hurting people's feelings over something of little import. It's a matter of not interfering on the one hand, and being discrete on the other."

"I guess I understand, Grandfather. I'm just glad it worked!"

------

Some time later, after a quick gulp of ice water provided by little Sasami, Tenchi was back to mowing, this time taking on the second hillock.

Tris was located further down, stooping down at the pathway just before the first small hill, diligently trimming. Well...diligently trimming and rising to take a stretch about every five minutes, Tenchi noted with a grin. But his buddy made progress.

Yes, he was making progress, Tris realized. And it was unexpectedly comfortable here out in the open air. Somehow, the temperature had cooled enough to be more spring-like. The sun no longer beat, but caressed Tris's back. He was full of rice and miso soup and fish balls and he had seen Kiyone--and Mihoshi--in short-shorts. He was in fine fettle. Who could want more from life?

Things improved. He spotted, quite a distance away, both those young women still attired on those short-shorts out on the lawn. They were hanging up rugs on the clothesline and using a carpet beater on them. That is, Mihoshi hung up the rugs while Kiyone wielded the carpet beater. Kiyone seemed to enjoy the chore for some reason.

------

"Kiyone?" Mihoshi suddenly said, while she watched her partner smack the rug hanging on the clothesline with a certain amount of authority, not to mention enthusiasm.

"What?" Kiyone asked tersely. They had three more rugs to beat clean of soil and only one carpet-beater, which meant Kiyone would do the honors. Mihoshi had a tendency to laugh and hit the rugs only lightly; she did not seem to have it in her to use physical violence on anything, even rugs. Kiyone didn't really mind, but she wanted to get the job done and small talk would only slow her down.

"I like Tris."

"Yeah?"

"You like him too, don't you?"

"No, Mihoshi," Kiyone said sarcastically. She picked up the pace, really making the rug shake on the clothesline. "I always pick a guy I can't stand to be my boyfriend. That's a silly question!"

"Oh." Mihoshi seemed to digest this slowly. "I've never had a boyfriend before, Kiyone."

"Uh-huh?" Kiyone stopped, panting a little. She had given the rug some more hard strokes and dust particles filled the air. She accidentally caught one in her mouth as she answered Mihoshi and immediately spat it out. "Yuck! Mihoshi!"

"Well, I haven't," Mihoshi insisted.

"Okay, you haven't--so what?" Kiyone sensed that Mihoshi meant to go somewhere with this conversation. She held off resuming the carpet beating.

"Have you had a boyfriend before, Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked.

"What's that got to do with--" Kiyone gritted her teeth. Then she mentally shrugged. She'd better answer the ding-dong so she could get back to the task at hand. "Of course I have. Guys lined up for the privilege of taking me out. I was a social butterfly! Okay?"

"Gosh...were you, Kiyone?" Mihoshi stared at her partner, her blue eyes wide with wonderment. "I thought you told me you scared the guys away because you beat them at sports and stuff. All the other girls at the Academy said you'd never get a boy to date you--" Mihoshi's eyes widened more. She clamped her hand over her mouth.

Kiyone closed her eyes and took a deep breath to control her aggravation. It was a bad move because she inhaled more dust motes liberated from the rug. She managed to cough and curse at the same time, a not inconsiderable feat.

"Are you okay, Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked solicitously.

Kiyone rapidly got her coughing under control. "Mihoshi, if you have something to ask me--ask me!"

"I already did, Kiyone." Mihoshi seemed mystified.

"I mean--ask me what you really mean to ask me! Stop leading up to it! We've got work to do."

Mihoshi seemed to understand. At least she nodded. "Well...you've had all those boyfriends and I haven't had one, not really. And Tris likes both of us, so..." Mihoshi stopped. She looked at Kiyone worriedly.

So that was it! Kiyone felt anger surge within her. But she knew better than to just lash out. Mihoshi saw things her own way and yelling at her didn't help much in getting her to see sense. And Mihoshi had to see sense about this. Kiyone lowered the carpet beater. She silently counted to ten...then twenty...

"Kiyone?"

"Quiet!"

"Okay."

Kiyone reached thirty. She felt a little less angry now.

"All right," she said slowly. "I will say this once, Mihoshi. Only once. Understand?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Listen up. Tris is my boyfriend. I am his girlfriend. It just happened. There's nothing heavy between us--believe me!--but there's that much, anyway. It's not a question of what's fair or what you want. It's just the way things are. You don't figure in. If you're hurt, I'm sorry. Get over it! End of discussion."

And with that, Kiyone picked up the carpet beater and really laid into the defenseless rug. She hit it with a single-minded dedication. It felt so good to smack something! Smack something hard! Smack something over and over again! Yes! It was marvelous! She couldn't stop! She didn't want to stop!

As the teal-haired Galaxy Police officer pummeled the rug with blows that were in direct violation of the Marquis of Queensberry rules, not to mention the Geneva Convention, a gray cloud of dust and ancient soil, soil that had clung to that rug tenaciously for years, soil that had finally met its match, billowed around her and her partner.

"Kiyone!" Mihoshi cried, then lost herself in a fit of coughing. Kiyone coughed, too, but the pleasure of beating Mihoshi--that is, the rug--more than made up for it. She laid into that rug with everything she had.

Then, above the rush of adrenaline that made her ears ring, the swirling clouds of dust and dirt, and the coughing of herself and Mihoshi, Kiyone heard a voice demand stridently:

"Kiyone! Mihoshi! Stop that this minute!"

It was a cultured voice, yet one that carried to the very treetops. It was the voice of Princess Ayeka.

That voice seemed to dissolve Kiyone's rug-rage. She stopped beating the rug. Slowly, the fug of dust and dirt dissipated. Mihoshi stopped coughing. She was gray with dust. Kiyone didn't have to look down at her own self...she knew she had to be covered with gray dust, too.

Now Kiyone saw the Princess. Ayeka stood a small distance from them. She had her arms folded across her chest. She looked first at Mihoshi and then at Kiyone. She radiated vexation.

"I spend the entire morning mopping the floors and dusting the furniture," Ayeka told them. "Then I open a window for fresh air. But does fresh air come into the house? Does it?"

"Ummm...no?" Mihoshi hazarded a guess.

"You are correct!" Ayeka snapped. "Instead, dust comes rolling in-- covering everything! I say to myself: That is unusual. Dust usually does not flood the house when I open a window. So I investigate. And what do I find?"

"Ummm...us?" Mihoshi guessed again.

"Correct!"

Kiyone intervened. "I'm sorry Ayeka. It's my fault. I got kind of carried away." She chuckled weakly. "It's kind of funny when you think about it..." Kiyone stopped. From the Princess's expression, humor had taken a trip to Fiji and left no forwarding address.

"Whom," Ayeka asked frostily, "will re-clean the house? That is what I want to know."

"Ummm...weum? I mean, we...us?" Mihoshi was on a roll.

"Correct again!"

Kiyone and Mihoshi looked at each other. Then they moved closer together and quietly brushed the dust off each other. When they were spotless enough to pass the Princess Ayeka 12-Point Inspection, they trudged indoors to re-accomplish Ayeka's morning chores.

Ayeka didn't follow them in...not right away. She looked at the carpet. Then she looked at the carpet beater. Finally, she laughed heartily.

------

Even if it did end up costing her extra work, Kiyone was at least satisfied that she had made her point about Tris to Mihoshi. In addition, by dinnertime she had rendered the issue of short-shorts moot.

Before dinner, Mihoshi and Kiyone changed into full-length pants (Kiyone wore her prized "dressy" slacks, but no matter). Kiyone had decreed to Mihoshi that they wear the short-shorts only for working-- period. Mihoshi had argued with Kiyone, but gave in quickly. She had seen the look in Ayeka and Ryoko's eyes when the two had first beheld her in the short-shorts.

Thus, dinner was, for once, relatively tranquil That is, aside from occasional quiet chuckles issuing from the First Princess of Jurai whenever her gaze fell upon her two favorite Galaxy Police officers.

------

Shortly after the evening meal ended, Tenchi and Tris briefly conversed.

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea...I'm sure the girls will enjoy it," Tenchi agreed.

"Okay, I'll get the instructions from Washuu and I'll put the stuff in the kitchen. I'm glad you have that old saucepan."

"It was my mother's..." Tenchi's voice trailed off. He had a faraway look in his eyes.

Tris knew that Tenchi was very attached to his late mother's memory and Tris certainly understood that. "Still okay to use it?"

Tenchi smiled. "Sure! I think Mother would have approved."

------

"Do you wish something, Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka asked. Having just seated herself on one of the couches in the living room, she noticed him standing before the television set.

"If I can have your attention," Tenchi said. "Everyone."

Most of the gang had gathered in the living room. Ayeka, Ryoko, and Sasami sat on one couch, Mihoshi and Kiyone on the other. Tenchi had appraised his grandfather and his Dad about the evening's program and both had declined, with thanks. He had then asked Washuu to join them. She had said, "Maybe."

"What's up?" Ryoko asked. "Aren't we going to watch TV?"

"Well, yeah, Ryoko," Tenchi said.

"So, what's the big deal?" Ryoko asked.

"Let him speak and you will no doubt find out," Ayeka advised her.

"Well, we are going to watch TV...but something a little different," Tenchi ventured.

"We got a zillion channels now, thanks to Washuu," Ryoko pointed out. "We've already watched about everything there is except those porn channels."

"Ryoko!" Ayeka objected. "Remember, Sasami's here!"

"I know what porn is," said Sasami.

"No, you do not!"

"Go ahead, Tenchi," Kiyone prompted him.

"Thanks. As I said, we're going to watch something different. We're going to watch an old classic Hollywood movie on this old-movie channel."

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" Ryoko asked.

"Tris's," Tenchi admitted, a bit defensively.

"No wonder! It bites."

"Ryoko..." Tenchi was getting a tad steamed.

"Those old movies are fun--and romantic!" Mihoshi offered her opinion. "Like that one where the man loves the woman, but she goes off in a plane with another man, and he walks away with some guy...I cried!"

"Sound like a real kinky porn channel special!" Ryoko cracked.

"Ryoko!" Ayeka was incensed. "I shall not warn you again...!"

"Ryoko, do you want to stay...or not?" Tenchi asked her, his jaw set.

"Stay," she said.

"Okay, then. Really, it'll be fun. Tris even brought some popcorn. It came all the way from America, and..."

"Popcorn! I've heard of that!" Mihoshi interrupted excitedly.

"Americans eat that for breakfast, do they not?" Ayeka asked, a bit puzzled.

"No, big sister," answered Sasami, who paid attention to things like that. "That's puffed corn. It's a different thing."

"Right!" Tenchi smiled. "Americans eat popcorn when they watch movies."

"Why?" asked Ryoko.

"Because it's good! Tris and I have eaten a lot of it. It's great study food."

"But it's American," Ryoko pointed out.

"So?" Tenchi queried.

"Something about those Americans...I don't really cotton to them," Ryoko said.

"That's as ringing an endorsement of the United States as I could ever imagine," Ayeka told her.

"Good one, Ayeka." Kiyone smiled.

Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "Watch it, Kiyone. Just because you're kissy-faced with one..."

Tenchi groaned. Things were not going well. Ryoko just had to get in that shot at Tris. And now she and Kiyone were at loggerheads again.

But Kiyone just kept smiling. "Yes, I am. And he's a great kisser, too."

Ryoko's jaw dropped. This was news. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Ryoko shrugged. She respected Kiyone's hardball answer. "Well, then, let's bring on the popcorn. What movie are we watching?"

------

In the kitchen, Tris was listening to the conversation in the living room and wrestling with the quadruple sealing of the jar of popcorn, the divine stuff, direct from Princeton Farms, USA. His buddy from the States had sealed the jar with at least half a roll of postal tape. Tris had managed to open the butter seasoning can, but the popcorn jar was proving as stubborn as Ryoko. At least it had made it through customs intact.

Tris grinned as he heard Kiyone's parry to Ryoko's verbal thrust. That Kiyone! Kind of a nice thing to say...

He now heard Tenchi explain to the group that they didn't know what was going to be playing on the American old-movie channel, since listings were available only on the Internet and Tenchi's Dad was using the Apple for business. So it was pot luck. "More like pot unluck," Ryoko opined.

Sheesh! Tris was trying to use a kitchen knife--it wasn't a Ginzu, he noted with a grin--and having little luck. If it had been the British Crown Jewels instead of popcorn in the jar, they would have been as safe as houses.

Tenchi walked into the kitchen, shaking his head. "Man, that was a hard sell! Ryoko's really in a mood tonight. Say, what's holding up the popcorn?"

Tris held up the jar. "This! It's sealed like King Tut's tomb. Any ideas?"

"Yeah." Tenchi grinned. He walked to the kitchen entrance. "Ryoko!" he yelled.

------

In the living room, Ryoko started as she heard her name spoken by her true love--but not in the tone she preferred.

"What have you done now, Ryoko?" Sasami asked her.

"Who knows?" Ryoko shrugged.

"It is so hard to keep track, isn't it?" Ayeka laughed.

"You're a riot, Princess." Ryoko rose from the couch and floated toward the kitchen.

"I wish she would walk a little more often," Ayeka said.

"I don't know," Sasami considered. "If I could fly, I sure would!"

"Aren't we gonna watch movies...and eat popcorn?" Mihoshi asked Kiyone where they sat on the other couch. She seemed a little let down.

"Don't worry, Mihoshi." Kiyone told her. "The idiot will come through, somehow."

------

In the kitchen, Ryoko opened the jar immediately, without a second effort.

"Thanks, Ryoko," Tenchi said.

"You're a born arm wrestler, Ryoko," Tris added gratefully.

"Thanks. It's nice to be appreciated." She smiled. She regarded Tris with her golden eyes. Great kisser? Well...maybe. "I think I will try some of your old popcorn, Tris," she said.

"You'll like it, Ryoko," Tenchi promised.

"I'd better." Ryoko rose from the floor and lazily floated out of the kitchen.

A moment later, Sasami walked into the kitchen. "Please show me how to make popcorn, Tris," she requested.

"Sure, kitten," Tris said, smiling at the amazing little girl.

"Kitten? I like that," Sasami said shyly. "I like you, Tris."

"Thanks, Sasami. I like you, too."

Tenchi grinned. "I'll leave you both to it."

------

Very soon, warm, delicious smells wafted from the kitchen into the living room, as well as the sound of popping.

"That's why they call it popcorn, huh?" Ryoko asked.

"Nothing gets by you, Ryoko," Tenchi said. He had seated himself, by informal edict, between her and Ayeka.

"You especially, sweetums," Ryoko countered, and leaned against him.

Ayeka frowned and grabbed Tenchi's right hand.

Ryoko smirked and then grabbed Tenchi's left hand.

"How am I supposed to eat popcorn?" he queried.

"I'll feed it to you, Tenchi," Ryoko told him.

"We'll both feed you," Ayeka amended.

"Sounds great," Tenchi muttered, rolling his eyes heavenward.

At the other couch, Mihoshi asked Kiyone, "Is Tris really a great kisser?"

"Mihoshi!"

"Well? I want to know," Mihoshi persisted.

"Let's just say he kisses better than Trissy," Kiyone answered her.

"Trissy! I forgot her!"

"Good!"

"I'll go get her."

"How can you eat popcorn and hold Trissy, too?" Kiyone asked.

"Oh...yeah." Mihoshi stayed put. Food had won out over cuddly companionship.

Tris walked in. He held two heaping bowls of popcorn, buttered and salted. He walked over to the couch where Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka sat. He handed one of the popcorn bowls to...no, Tenchi's hands weren't free...Ryoko looked at the popcorn a little leerily...then Ayeka accepted the bowl with a smile.

"Over here, Tris!" Mihoshi called from the other couch.

Tris smiled and walked over to Mihoshi and Kiyone. Mihoshi grabbed the remaining bowl.

"That's for all three of us, Mihoshi," Kiyone told her.

"Of course!" Mihoshi shoved popcorn into her mouth. "Oh, yum, Tris!"

Kiyone asked Tris, "What about the movie?"

"Coming right up," Tris said. "Where's the remote?"

"Mihoshi had it last," Sasami called from the kitchen.

"I did?" Mihoshi asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Forget that, then! Use the on-board controls, Tris," Kiyone advised.

"Right."

Tris walked up to the TV set. It was a Sony, he noted. "You know, they own Columbia Pictures," he remarked. He switched on the set.

"What is Columbia Pictures?" Ayeka asked, after swallowing a thoroughly chewed kernel of popcorn. She seemed to favor the crunchy snack. She fed one to Tenchi. He crunched it and smiled at her.

"Pictures in Columbia! What do you think?" Ryoko hooted. She munched more popcorn.

Tris, punching the numbers he had gotten from Washuu earlier into the black box on top of the set, didn't bother to correct Ryoko.

He stepped back. The TV screen blazed on. A well-dressed elderly gentleman, standing in a drawing-room set, appeared on the screen.

"Who's that old buzzard?" Ryoko asked.

"Just the presenter," Tris explained, as he adjusted the volume. He walked back to the couch where Kiyone and Mihoshi were seated. "He's talking about the movie."

"Why bother yakking about it if we're gonna watch it anyway?" Ryoko asked.

"Ryoko..." Tenchi began. Ryoko smiled at him and flipped popcorn into his mouth.

"Where is Sasami?" Ayeka asked, glancing around the living room.

"I want to pop some more popcorn and then I'll be in, Ayeka," called the little girl from the kitchen. "It's fun!"

"All right, dear."

Tris settled down between Kiyone and Mihoshi. He was tempted to try for some popcorn, but Mihoshi liked it so much, her hands were attacking the bowl like runaway steam shovels. At that rate, she'd have the bowl consumed by the second reel.

"Did you get any popcorn?" he whispered to Kiyone.

"A few kernels," she whispered back, dryly. "It's good. I like it."

"I'm glad."

The TV screen blackened. The movie was starting. Tris quickly walked up to the set and increased the volume so they all could hear. Then, striding over to the light switch bezel, he lowered the lights in the room. The room was plunged into semi-darkness.

"Cozy," Ryoko approved, laying her platinum head on Tenchi's shoulder. "You do have some good ideas, Tris."

"Thanks." Tris walked back to the couch. Mihoshi was still crunching away happily. He sat down again between her and Kiyone.

He felt Kiyone snuggle against him. Her hair caressed his neck. Her lips found his ear:

"Now I'll find out what kind of movies you like, buster. It'll tell me a lot about you."

"There'll be a pop quiz after the movie," he whispered back. Her elbow dug into his side.

"What's this? It's not going to be one of those retarded science fiction movies, is it?" Ryoko groused as the image of stylized lettering circling the Earth appeared on the screen. "Those are a laugh! Little green men!"

"No, it's the logo for Universal Pictures. See?" Tris replied. "The movie's from around the Forties, I think." Okay, he thought. Maybe it will be an Abbott and Costello flick...everyone should enjoy that.

"No color," Mihoshi noted. "How come some movies are like that?"

"I'll explain it to you later, Mihoshi," Tris promised.

Suddenly foreboding music filled the room from the TV set's speakers. On the TV screen, ghostly plumes settled to form the film's title:

HOUSE OF DRACULA

"Oh, no!" Tris groaned. He loved the old classic horror films but he was certain no one else in the room besides Tenchi would.

"This is a good one," Tenchi managed to sputter between all the popcorn being deposited in his mouth by the loving hands of Ryoko and Ayeka. "I saw this with Tris back at the dorm. It has a lot of style."

"Who's Dracula?" Ryoko asked.

"He's a vampire, a real famous one," Tenchi explained. "See--the bat."

A bat zoomed around on the screen. Then, thanks to some skillful cartoon animation, it morphed into--Count Dracula.

"Oh, gosh!" Mihoshi was thrilled.

"Just another pest who flies around," Ayeka said. "Do we not have enough of those?"

"But who'd want to become a bat just to fly?" Ryoko demanded, ignoring the Princess. "That's--that's--"

"Bats?" Tris couldn't resist.

Mihoshi laughed. Kiyone removed her elbow from his side. He felt her form quiver with a silent chuckle.

"This is a real scary movie, and fun too," Tenchi said. "If certain people would give it a chance..."

"Okay, okay. You know, that Dracula, he does have some style," Ryoko admitted.

"A very handsome man," Ayeka added. "Such dignity...and that mustache. He rather reminds me of Lord Yosho."

Tenchi nearly choked on his popcorn.

Sasami came in carrying two more bowls of popcorn. She passed out the bowls and then sat down beside her older sister.

"What's a vampire?" she asked.

"Take that one, Tris," Tenchi said.

"Okay. A vampire is a person who died...but he was evil and so he rose from the grave with supernatural powers. He drinks the blood of living people and kills them."

"Oooohhhh..." Mihoshi shivered and grabbed Tris's arm.

"Balls!" said Ryoko.

"Ryoko--your language!" Ayeka objected.

"Sorry."

"It's just a legend, Mihoshi," Tris told her. Her grip on his arm was considerable. She really didn't seem to know her own strength.

"It's scary!" Mihoshi whimpered.

"It is!" Sasami agreed, sounding a little bit apprehensive, too.

"Sasami, perhaps you should not watch this," Ayeka said.

"Please let me stay, Ayeka!"

"Yeah, let her stay, Princess. This movie's the bunk, away...and she helped popped the popcorn. You know, this popcorn's darned tasty," Ryoko interjected. She crunched more popcorn with enthusiasm.

"Please?" Sasami asked again.

"All right. I suppose I can see you through one night of bad dreams, dear." Ayeka smiled at Sasami with a hidden meaning only they understood.

"Thanks!" Sasami snuggled happily against her big sister.

"Some movie!" Kiyone murmured in Tris's ear.

"It has its moments."

On the screen, Dracula was asking a brilliant scientist-doctor to cure him of neck-biting.

"Why would he want to be cured?" Ryoko asked. "He's got some cool moves, although drinking blood is yucky."

"He wants to be normal...like most of us," Ayeka said meaningfully.

"He wants to be boring...like at least one of us," Ryoko countered.

"Please watch the movie," Tenchi requested.

The group watched Larry Talbot, AKA the Wolf Man, enter the film and ask the good doctor to cure him of his hairy affliction.

"What does that guy do again?" Ryoko asked.

"He turns into a wolf when there's a full moon," Tenchi explained.

"Yeah...him and about a million other guys!"(1) Ryoko said sardonically.

"Not that kind of wolf. You'll see."

Now on the screen, Dracula was talking to a pretty woman--a nurse-- and another pretty nurse was also present...only the second nurse was, unfortunately, a hunchback.

"Look at that one nurse. She's got one hell of a posture problem!" Ryoko snickered.

"Aw, the poor lady," Sasami said.

"Yeah." Mihoshi commiserated.

"You know, actually she's supposed to be one of the five "monsters" in this film," Tris said.

"I could never understand that," Tenchi told Tris. "She's really kind of pretty and nice."(2)

Ryoko looked at Tenchi. She raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you like, Tenchi? Women with humps?"

"Uhhhhh..."

"I could grow myself a hump. Just for you, Tenchi."

"A distinct improvement!" Ayeka crowed.

"Say!" Mihoshi asked. "What's that all about?"

On the screen, Dracula and the pretty non-hunchbacked nurse were conversing as she played the piano. The nurse's eyes grew glazed. Dracula began to command her to play a different tune. She played eerie music. Dracula spoke of the delights of the living dead.

Mihoshi shivered against Tris. Kiyone snuggled closer to him too, taking his hand in hers.

On the other couch, everyone huddled closer to Tenchi, except Sasami, who pressed closer against her older sister.

"Creepy," Ryoko admitted, a bit unsettled.

"What did Dracula do to her?" Sasami asked fearfully.

"He hypnotized her," Tris said.

"What's that, Tris?" Sasami asked him.

"Yes, Tristram...what is that, exactly?" Ayeka asked also.

Tris was amazed. "You don't know what hypnotism is?" It seemed impossible. As advanced as the alien women's civilization was, ignorance about something like hypnotism didn't add up.

Tenchi looked at Ryoko. He appeared surprised, too. "Don't you know, either?"

Ryoko shook her head. "I've seen it on some of these movies and TV shows...making people bark like dogs and stuff...never knew what it was all about, though. I thought it was all faked."

"I think it's something that has been banned a long time," Kiyone said uncertainly. "In the Galactic Union, I mean. But I've noticed it is allowed here on Earth."

"That's right. It's used by doctors and psychologists and by some stage performers," said Tris. "Sometimes it is faked and sometimes it's not."

"But...what is it?" Sasami repeated her question.

Tris shook his head. It still floored him that the ultra-advanced alien women were ignorant of something as basic as hypnosis. "It's a method of capturing a person's attention and having them concentrate on something so intently that they enter a very susceptible state of mind," he explained. "It can be a form of mind control."

"Yeah?" Ryoko seemed impressed. That was one power she did not have. "It's for real, huh?"

"Sometimes."

Kiyone looked at Tris with surprise. "How do you know all that?"

"Tris is an expert on hypnosis," Tenchi said.

"Come on, Tenchi. I'm hardly an expert."

"You wrote papers on it. You've hypnotized people in labs." Tenchi reminded Tris of what the latter had told him before.

"You have?" Kiyone asked, sounding astonished.

"Just for extra credit. Lots of people can do it, Kiyone."

"Well, I don't believe even physicians are allowed to practice it in the Galactic Union," Kiyone said, thinking hard.

"I think you're right, Kiyone," Mihoshi said. She seemed awed by the hypnotic happenings on the screen.

"Anyway, Count Dracula's hypnotic power is absolute. He can control almost anyone," Tris informed them. "It's far beyond what a real live hypnotist could do."

The women now seemed to regard the vampire on the screen with increased respect--and, perhaps, a bit of apprehension.

"Imagine...a man having that kind of power over you," Ayeka murmured.

"He's an all-right guy, that Drac," Ryoko said. "He's no wuss."

On the screen, the good doctor and the bad vampire were both laying on tables, with tubes attached to each other's wrists. A blood transfusion was taking place.

"I thought vampires bit people for blood," Mihoshi said, sounding confused.

"They're swapping blood," Ryoko noted. "This is getting kinky. I like it."

"Look! Dracula is hypnotizing that poor nurse. He's doing something to the blood transfusion thing," Sasami reported with a shiver.

"He's giving his blood to that wimpy doctor. That really shows style. Go, Drac, go!" Ryoko laughed. She also munched popcorn, forgetting for the moment to feed Tenchi. She did not neglect to hold his hand, however.

Poor Ryoko! Her new-found movie idol was about to meet his comeuppance.

On the screen, the now ticked-off good doctor chased the vampire, who climbed into his coffin. The doctor pushed the coffin to a shaft of sunlight and opened it. Dracula evaporated into a skeleton.

"What's that all about?" Ryoko demanded, not happy at all. "What's happened to Drac?"

"Sunlight is one of the few things that can kill him," Tenchi told her.

"Well, that's a heck of a note," Ryoko said. "He got a raw deal there. I mean, I like the night life, myself, but..."

"Hush!" said Ayeka.

Surprisingly, Ryoko hushed. She watched as that other guy, the big, lumpy one, groaned and shook as the moon rose. Wuss! He was no Dracula, in Ryoko's opinion.

"Uh-oh," said Sasami.

Everybody was silent as the man sprouted hair and fangs and began to act thoroughly unhousebroken.

"That's more like it, now," Ryoko said. "We're finally going to see something."

They all watched as the Wolf Man got himself thrown in jail and the benevolent good doctor bailed him out.

"They're taking him back? No way!" Ryoko remarked with disbelief.

"Yes. Some households will accept anyone, it seems," Ayeka commented primly. "No matter what crimes they have committed."

Ryoko leaned across Tenchi to glare at Ayeka. The Princess just sat there, supremely placid.

"Please sit back, Ryoko," Tenchi said. "I'd like to see the movie."

Ryoko sat back.

"Any more popcorn?" she asked.

"I'll make some more, Ryoko." Sasami rose dutifully, her eyes riveted on the screen.

"Please sit down, dear, and watch the movie," Ayeka told her. "We have all had enough popcorn...haven't we, Ryoko?"

"Okay, I guess so," Ryoko yielded, but not cheerfully.

Now on the screen, Larry Talbot jumped into the sea. The doctor somehow found him in a cave, transformed into the Wolf Man. Also in the cave, the good doctor found something else--the Frankenstein Monster.

"Hello, big, tall, and ugly!" Ryoko whooped.

"Now, just exactly what is that?" Ayeka asked, taken aback.

"It's the Frankenstein Monster," Tris explained. "He's man-made-- thrown together with parts of dead bodies and made to live with electricity. He's as strong as a dozen men."

"And uglier than all of them put together," Ryoko noted.

"Aw, he looks kinda sad," Mihoshi said, displaying sympathy for the big galoot.

"He does," Sasami confirmed. "Poor monster."

"Yes, no family, no past, thrown into a world that fears and hates him," Tris agreed.

On the screen, the now-maddened, not-so-good doctor was strapping the Frankenstein Monster onto an operating table in his research laboratory.

"Hey, that looks like Washuu's lab, kinda!" Ryoko laughed. The others laughed, too.

"Yes, there is a resemblance," Ayeka agreed. "Except that this lab is much cleaner!" She tittered.

"Wait--what's the doc doing to the poor guy?" Ryoko asked. The Monster had supplanted Dracula in her esteem. Ryoko could identify with having no family and having people fear and hate you. Of course, the Monster still looked like someone wore out an ugly stick on him.

"He's going to jolt the Monster with electricity and make him powerful again," Tris replied. By now he had learned not to tell Ryoko to just watch the movie and find out. It didn't work with her. She wanted to know now.

On the sceen, as sparks and electric arcs lit the laboratory, the now- mad doctor (who was also a mad scientist, it seemed), strangled the hunchbacked nurse.

"No!" cried Mihoshi. "I liked her!" She whimpered softly, pressing against Tris.

Kiyone reached across Tris and gently patted her partner's shoulder. "It's just a movie, Mihoshi."

"It's a mean movie!"

Kiyone gave up and sat back.

"Just knocked her off...that's pretty cold." The doctor's stock seemed to be rising with Ryoko. "I haven't seen that hairy guy for a while."

"He's been cured," Tenchi reminded her. "He doesn't get hairy anymore."

"Well, forget him!"

More mayhem erupted on the screen, as the mad doctor took a cart ride with a villager and gleefully dispatched him, too.

"That doctor's starting to show some real style now," Ryoko said approvingly.

"He's just a mean man," Mihoshi said, her voice still upset.

"I'm sure he'll get his, Mihoshi," Kiyone comforted her. She had seen old American movies before.

Events took place fast and furiously on the screen to accommodate the movie's short running time. Angry villagers surrounded the mad doctor's lair. The mad doctor got his, as Kiyone predicted. The Frankenstein Monster was sent back into temporary retirement with fire.

As they watched the Monster being consumed by flames, no one spoke.

Then they heard a sniffle. Nearly everyone attributed it to Mihoshi. But it wasn't Mihoshi. It was Ryoko. She had kind of warmed up to that Monster. Still needed to wear a bag on his head, though.

Tris stood up as "The End" flashed on the screen.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kiyone asked him.

"To turn off the set and turn up the lights," he said, surprised at her question.

She shook her head. "Oh, no, you're not. Just turn off the set."

"Huh?"

"Do what I tell you."

Tris obliged. He walked to the TV set and shut it off. Then he walked back to the couch. Kiyone pulled him down beside her.

Kiyone turned to Mihoshi. "Go to bed, Mihoshi," she told her.

"But--"

"Bed!"

"Okay..." Mihoshi got up slowly. "That was a awfully scary movie, Tris, but I liked the popcorn!"

"I'm glad you did, Mihoshi."

Tenchi started to get up. "Well, if he isn't going to get the lights--"

Strong female hands pulled him back down. "Think again, Tenchi," Ryoko told him.

"Yes, Lord Tenchi...this is so nice," Ayeka said. In the dark, she could pretend that Ryoko wasn't there.

"I guess I ought to go to bed now, huh?" Sasami was a sharp little girl.

"Thank you, dear," Ayeka told her.

Sasami intercepted Mihoshi on her way out of the dimly lit living room. "Let's have some tea first, Mihoshi," she said.

"Okay!" Mihoshi smiled down at her.

They left for the kitchen.

"Yes, sir," Ryoko commented in the darkened room. "No flies on the Junior Princess. No, sir."

"Ryoko...for the last time..." Ayeka stopped. She decided not to pursue the subject of that awful nickname--for now. This was no time to get cross with Ryoko. She stroked Tenchi's hand. It was a strong, masculine hand. That hand had held the sword that saved her from Prince Kagato. Ayeka was certain her Lord Tenchi would have made short work of Dracula, the Wolf Man--and, yes, that horrid Frankenstein Monster, too.

Over on the other couch, Kiyone and Tris had just finished their second kiss. Her lips moved to his ear.

"Do you know what?" Kiyone whispered. "I have it all figured out now..."

"What?"

"We're all in the House Of Tenchi!"

------

Elsewhere in the House Of Tenchi, a discussion of some import was taking place between a real mad scientist and a Juraian Prince.

The reason Washuu hadn't made it in for the movie was because she found herself visited by Lord Yosho. The latter had made one of his extremely rare ventures into her laboratory.

Lord Yosho showed not the slightest perturbation with Washuu's many unsafe-looking contraptions, the tanks and pens filled with heaven knows what, or her general untidiness. He, to put it baldly, had class. Washuu showed her appreciation by clearing a spot for him to sit on one of the chemical-stained couches. She sat on apparently nothing opposite him. She pulled that trick every so often, just for grins. Yosho ignored it.

"I don't think I can help you, Grandpa," Washuu said. She was pouring over graphs and charts and occasionally peering at her transluscent console screen.

Lord Yosho displayed no reaction to her informality. He knew it was in Professor Washuu's nature to defy convention. She showed respect in other ways--such as by industriously looking through all her surveillance and scan data merely in response to his simple question.

"It is only a sensation I have that an evil force is invading our domain," Lord Yosho said. "It is unlikely to be tangible, in that it is detectable by instrumentality. But I had to investigate the possibility."

"Hey, any sensation you pick up on is tangible enough for me, Grandpa," Washuu told him. "But you're right. I can't find a trace of an alien power flux in our vicinity or an unusual transmission or energy surge of any kind." Washuu put down her handful of data records and closed the top of her translucent console--it instantly disappeared. She folded her arms and asked, "What do you think it is?"

"It is heartless and cold, yet burning with malevolence," Lord Yosho answered. "I must assume that its target is within our immediate circle. Beyond that, I cannot fathom."

"Sounds like you fathomed enough!" Washuu shook her head. "Brrrrr! It sounds particularly nasty to me."

"I believe that it is...and that it must have come from very far away. I sense that it is also of long existence."

"Worse and worse. I can see why you're beating the bushes. I just wish I had some data for you."

"That is all right, Professor Washuu," Lord Yosho said. "I know you will continue your surveillance and scanning. That is all anyone can do at this point."

"I'm glad you're letting me in on this, Grandpa," the petite super scientist told him. "It helps to get cracking on something like this early. I guess you haven't spilled it to anyone else, huh?"

"No, I haven't. I think more definite information about this entity is needed before I can justifiably disturb my grandson and the other young people here," Lord Yosho said. "At the moment, it is so ephemeral that it does not even register on your sensitive instruments."

"Guess you're right. Don't play your cards too close to your chest, though," Washuu advised. She glanced at him knowingly.

"I will heed your words, Professor Washuu," Yosho said, nodding.

"Sure wish I knew who is being targeted," Washuu said, thoughtfully. "If it is just one person."

"Yes. That would help immensely." Lord Yosho stood up. "I think we may rest assured, however, that that part of the puzzle will fall into place eventually. The problem we face is..."

"Yeah, I know," Washuu finished for him. "Will it be too late then?"

------

"They sure are quiet in there," Mihoshi said as she sat at the dining room table with Sasami. She picked up her teacup and took a sip.

"They're just being romantic, Mihoshi," Sasami said. "The poor things. They almost never get a chance to. So many other people around all the time."

"Some people never get a chance to," said Mihoshi, staring into her teacup.

Sasami felt her heart go out to Mihoshi. She always had known that Mihoshi was not the "ditz" that some people, especially Ryoko, thought she was. It was hard for her. Almost no eligible men came around (Tenchi didn't count; he was spoken for--in spades). Tris was the first in a long time. And Kiyone had him now. Sasami was both glad for Kiyone and sad for Mihoshi.

"Well, when you go on one of your patrols, why don't you pay a visit to Galaxy Police Headquarters? Lots of young men in the Galaxy Police," suggested Sasami, the matchmaker.

Mihoshi shook her blonde head. "You don't understand, Sasami. No one at GP Headquarters likes us much anymore."

"I can't believe that." How could anyone not like sweet, happy Mihoshi?

"It's true. After we had that trouble, just about everyone thought we deserved to be fired. They think Grandfather pulled strings to keep Kiyone and me on the force. They really resent us, Sasami." Now Mihoshi's voice grew sad. "We're all alone now, Sasami. We really are..." Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"You are not!" Sasami was adamant. "You have us--all of us, Mihoshi. We're with you. We'll always be with you! And you'll show those people! I know you will."

Mihoshi smiled at the little girl who had become such a good friend. Her blue eyes still radiated sadness, though. "Do you really think so, Sasami?"

"I really do." Sasami suddenly smiled. "Say, guess what?"

"What?"

"There's some of that ice cream left! Let's have some. Want to?"

Mihoshi wiped her eyes. Those blue eyes were happy again. "Yeah! That sounds great, Sasami!"

------

"Say, Grandpa." Washuu had a question to ask Lord Yosho before he left her. "Could you tell me one thing? That Tris character. I like him, but he's hardly what the cabbit usually drags home around here."

Lord Yosho smiled. "You mean that he is of this Earth?"

"That's it. Is he meant to serve some purpose?" Washuu looked at Lord Yosho shrewdly. She had come to understand the venerable and masterful Juraian Prince very well. "I know he's Tenchi's pal and all and he's an invited guest, but this unknown entity should be enough for you to convince Tenchi to send him packing. That is, unless there's a reason for him to stay."

"Well, as to that, Professor Washuu...do you recall your basic chemistry?"

"Sure. Of course."

"What is the purpose of a catalyst?"

"To effect a chemical change in other elements..." Washuu grinned. "Oh, I get you! You are a sly old fox, Grandpa."

"From you, that is the highest compliment, Professor Washuu." Lord Yosho stood up from the couch and bowed to her. Washuu stood and returned the bow.

------

Some hours later, the Masaki house was quiet and dark. The occupants had long retired to bed. Nothing stirred in the still of the night. Nothing, that is, until the slumbering silence was rent with a scream of pure, unbridled terror.

The scream filled the women's bedroom. It ululnated from the futon occupied by Ayeka. It was followed by another scream, then another. This time the Princess's nightmares woke not only Sasami, but also the other women and the rest of the household as well.

Trembling, Sasami held on tight to her big sister, who thrashed on her futon. The little Princess had forgotten to hold Ayeka's hand this time as they both drifted off to sleep. Flustered, she hadn't been able to place her hand over her sister's mouth until it was far too late.

In the pitch-dark room, Mihoshi, Kiyone, and Ryoko sprung up from their futons. The piercing screams had galvanized them. Drugged with sleep--it was just after two a.m.--they stumbled against each other in the darkness.

"Who screamed?" Ryoko demanded. "I--yow!" Her feet slid on the still slippery waxed wooden floor and she sat down--hard.

"I don't know!" Kiyone replied. "Get the lights, Mihoshi!"

"I can't find them!" Mihoshi cried, her hands scrambling at the wall. "I'm trying--oops!" She slipped and told it to the floor.

"Mihoshi!" Kiyone tried to locate her by feel. "Where are you--" Now she slipped, piled onto the floor, and there found her partner.

"What the hell is going on?" shouted Ryoko, still sitting painfully on the floor. She didn't know then how apt her wording was.

------

Both Nobuyuki and Lord Yosho rose from their beds at the sound of the screams. Lord Yosho quickly switched on his bedside table lamp, slipped from his bed, donned a kimono and house slippers, and hurried out the door.

Nobuyuki didn't bother with all that. In his bare feet and pajamas, he sprang from his bed, barked his shins against the dresser, and hopped painfully to the door. Ignoring the pain, he sped out of his bedroom and hustled to the source of the screams--the women's bedroom, the "cat house." He was a parent and someone was screaming. Thus, he reached the door of the women's bedroom moments before his father-in- law. Then he hesitated.

------

Downstairs, the agonized screams sent Tenchi springing out of his bed like a shot. Unfortunately, he temporarily forgot about the futon and the person sleeping in it. His foot slammed into Tris's stomach.

"Oooof!" Tris was awake now.

Tenchi said to Tris: "Screaming! From upstairs!" He slid the bedroom door open and ran out. Tris followed, banging his elbow on the door handle. He paid it no mind.

Tris could run, he had proven that, and he passed Tenchi on the way to the stairs. He bounded up the stairs, rather like he bounded up the temple steps each morning. Tenchi was only a few feet behind Tris. They reached the top of the stairs and sprinted toward where the screams seemed to come from--the women's bedroom. Both young men's pulses raced, their energy and anxiety level zooming.

Tris spotted a dark figure lurking at the women's bedroom door. "There he is!" he yelled. "Get him!"

"Wait--Tris!" Tenchi yelled. He was wasting his breath.

------

Nobuyuki had hesitated at the door, only briefly, because in the past he had been accused at being far too interested in Tenchi's female houseguests. He had spent some time since concentrating on being the very paragon of fatherly virtue and hostly discretion. But he still hesitated to open that door, even under the current circumstances.

Now he made his decision and grasped the door handle. He began to slide open the door. He heard shouts. He looked down the hallway. Something was flying at him. Something big.

------

Unheedful of Tenchi's warning, Tris went into position and launched himself in a flying tackle.

It was a great tackle. Tris had spent a one season on his high school's football team, where he had trained to be an offensive wide receiver (due to his speed) on a team whose two quarterbacks preferred to engage in heroic running plays rather than passing (last-place team, first-place cheerleaders). As a result, Tris had spent most of his time on the gridiron having interesting discussions with blockers from the opposing team and doing little else. He had finally quit football to concentrate on track. But he remembered his fundamentals.

Unfortunately, the fundamentals of tackling did not take into account the presence of doors with protruding door handles. One so rarely encountered those on the football field. And Tris had an affinity for doorknobs and door handles.

"Yow!"

His head smacked on the door handle with a pulpy thump. It didn't stop the forward momentum of his spring, however, so he rammed into poor Nobuyuki, and they both collapsed onto the hallway floor with a resounding thud. Nobuyuki lay still. Tris grabbed his bruised head and cursed the ancestry of all door handles, past and present.

Lord Yosho appeared in the hallway.

"What has happened here?" he queried, observing the two-man pile up.

"I think," Tenchi said tragically, "that Tris has just killed Dad!"

No...not quite. As Tris slowly rose, Nobuyuki also got up, slowly and groggily.

"God--I'm sorry, Mr. Masaki," Tris groaned, helping Tenchi's Dad to his feet.

"It's...all right, Tristram," Nobuyuki replied shakily, proving he was a host of the first water. "Did you...did you think I was a burglar?"

"I didn't think, period," Tris admitted sheepishly, rubbing his sore noggin.

"Amen to that, you blockhead!" Tenchi told him. He was irritated at Tris's dumb stunt but also ineffably glad his Dad was still with them.

Lord Yosho cleared his throat pointedly.

"Gosh! The girls!" The screaming had stopped, but the sudden cessation seemed just as ominous. Tenchi slid the bedroom door open all the way. The men all piled into the room, Lord Yosho doing so with far more dignity than the others.

Inside, Ryoko had finally switched on the lights. The sight that greeted the men was of Ryoko, Kiyone, and Mihoshi standing around yelling at each other with frustration and rubbing their bruised behinds. When they spotted the men, the three women froze. Their faces flamed with embarrassment, even Ryoko's.

Lord Yosho ignored that and walked deeper into the room, slowly, noting well the mirror-waxed floor. He saw that Princess Ayeka and Sasami were still lying on their futons, watching the scene with more than passing interest.

"We heard what seemed to be screams coming from this room," he said mildly.

"We heard them too, you know," Ryoko muttered.

Lord Yosho did not respond to the space pirate's quite understandable irritation at being caught massaging herself in a private place. "Might I inquire as to who screamed?" he continued.

Sasami slowly raised her hand. "I did," she said in a small voice.

"You, young lady?" Lord Yosho appeared a bit surprised.

"Sasami!" said Ayeka.

"It's no use trying to protect me, big sister," Sasami insisted. "I was the one who screamed. Gosh, I'm awfully sorry."

"Your screaming is remarkably mature in tone and timbre," Lord Yosho told her.

Sasami smiled shyly. "When I scream, I really scream!"

"That's a news flash," Ryoko said grumpily.

Mihoshi shook her head. "It didn't sound like you, Sasami."

"Oh, it was me all right, Mihoshi."

"But why did you scream, Sasami?" Kiyone asked. She radiated competence and authority, despite the oversized Bullwinkle nightshirt she wore. However, her face was still pink from the embarrassment of having her bottom-rubbing viewed by every male member of the household, including Tris. Especially Tris!

Sasami shrugged. "Bad dreams, I guess."

"Bad dreams...oh, that horror movie." Kiyone turned and glared at Tris. Then she noted that he was rubbing his head and grimacing. Her expression softened.

"Door handle," he explained.

Her expression turned sardonic.

"You were right, big sister," Sasami said. "I shouldn't have watched that scary movie. I'm really sorry."

Ayeka stared at her little sister but didn't reply.

"Not your fault, Sasami," Kiyone assured her. She again glared at Tris. "Someone could have picked a better movie for us to watch."

"He didn't know what movie was playing, Kiyone," Sasami interjected. "Remember?"

"Well..." Kiyone had to acknowledge the truth in that. But she was still ticked off about Tris seeing her in such an unglamorous pose.

"Of course it's not Tris's fault." Tenchi made a dismissive gesture while continuing to prop up Nobuyuki. He was slowly getting over being upset at Tris's airborne assault on his father. "And it's not your fault either, Sasami. I'm sorry you were so scared by that bad dream."

The others also expressed sympathy to the little Princess. Even Nobuyuki, who was regaining his full senses now.

Lord Yosho looked from Princess Ayeka to Sasami--and back again. A pause as pregnant as a mother cat ready to unload a new litter followed.

"Very well," he finally said. "I think, in the future, you should avoid such films, Sasami."

"Oh yes, I will, Lord Yosho."

Lord Yosho nodded. He walked back to Tenchi and Nobuyuki.

"Here, son-in-law...I'll help you back to bed. Nothing broken, I trust?"

"Nothing, father-in-law," said Nobuyuki. "But Tristram can certainly tackle a man!"

All the women's faces registered enlightenment at those words. The jarring crash they heard outside the bedroom had finally been explained.

Lord Yosho took over assisting Nobuyuki from Tenchi. "I think it's time for us to depart," he told the men. "The ladies need their sleep...and so do we."

Good-nights were exchanged, and the men left. Tris left last, fully aware that he wasn't exactly the apple of some of the women's eyes.

------

Not all the women went back to sleep immediately. Princess Ayeka announced she was going to take Sasami downstairs and prepare some warm milk for her. The other women nodded. Ayeka took Sasami's hand and led her from the bedroom.

A few minutes later, they were downstairs in the kitchen. Ayeka watched Sasami sip a glass of milk that the Princess had warmed on the stove.

"Why did you lie, Sasami?" she asked.

"For you, big sister," Sasami said simply. She lowered her glass. She had a milk mustache. Ayeka used a napkin to clean it off, gently.

"I do not want you to lie, Sasami."

"I know. But I also know that you don't want the others to find out about your dreams."

"Well, that is true," Ayeka admitted ruefully. "They will go away eventually, and I do not want them to be the talk of the household." Especially not the talk of any household that included Ryoko.

"I think I understand. You don't want Tenchi to think you have-- those kind of problems."

Ayeka shook her head. "Really, Sasami! Where do you get these ideas?"

Sasami said nothing. But she looked at her big sister questioningly as she drank the warm milk.

"It is true that I want Lord Tenchi to see me as steadfast and capable and calm and always responsible and ready to support him," Ayeka added. "I am not a silly woman who goes to pieces over bad dreams that I have already out-grown once."

Sasami lowered the glass. "I know, Ayeka."

Ayeka smiled. "Are you finished with your milk?"

"Uh-huh." Sasami offered her the empty glass.

Ayeka wiped off her little sister's milk mustache again. She took the glass and rinsed it in the sink and placed it on the drying rack.

"You know, Sasami, " she said, "the first time I had those dreams, it was quite awful, as I have told you. Yet, I can remember something very wonderful that happened during that same time."

"What's that?"

"Mama was carrying you, dear. I soon forgot about the dreams because I had a new baby sister."

Sasami looked up at her beautiful big sister with tear-glistened eyes. She walked closer to her and held out her arms. Ayeka scooped up Sasami and hugged her.

"Let's go back to bed, dear. No more bad dreams tonight...for either of us."

------

Kiyone wasn't in bed, either. After all the men had left, she thought about how Tris had looked when he left the room. She then departed the communal bedroom and walked downstairs. She could hear Ayeka and Sasami talking softly in the kitchen. She walked to the living room, where the lights were also on. Sure enough. Tris was sitting on one of the couches, his head a bit bowed, while Tenchi stood talking to him.

Tenchi displayed a relieved smile when he saw Kiyone walk in.

"You talk to him, Kiyone. He's upset about the things that happened today and he won't go to bed."

Kiyone nodded. She walked to the couch and sat beside Tris.

"Now," she asked. "What are you wah-wahing about?"

"Who's wah-wahing?" Tris said.

"Sounds like you are."

"Aw, this whole day...this whole visit. I tried to do something right for once and gave poor Sasami nightmares, then nearly put Tenchi's Dad in traction."

"See?" Tenchi told Kiyone.

Kiyone sighed. "I don't know why I waste my time with a big crybaby."

"A big screw-up, you mean," Tris corrected her, disgruntled.

"Listen, Tris Coffin. I already told you we know you're a screw-up-- added to goofball, idiot, and big stiff."

"Thanks a whole load!"

"But..." Kiyone's voice softened, "you're as brave as anyone I've ever met. You went charging into that person you thought was an intruder. No hesitation. That was brave--kinda stupid--but brave. And if you try to be nice and give us a night of entertainment and someone gets a bad dream accidentally from it, no one's going to hold it against you. It just shows you're a nice guy, that's all--just not terribly lucky sometimes."

"Exactly," Tenchi said.

"Besides..." Kiyone bent over and whispered something in Tris's ear. Tris's eyes widened.

"Huh? Really?" He looked at Kiyone, all truculence gone.

"Uh-huh." Kiyone smiled that million-candlewatt smile. "Now...you tell me what I want to hear."

Tris brushed back some of Kiyone's silky dark-teal hair, exposing one of her ears. He whispered into that ear.

Tenchi saw Kiyone's face glow.

"Okay...we've both said it. Now, are you going to kiss me and go to bed like a big boy?"

"You bet."

Tenchi dutifully turned his head as they kissed.

------

"Ryoko?"

The space pirate irritatedly raised her head from her pillow. She sat up in the darkened bedroom. The place was still deserted aside from Mihoshi. She saw that Mihoshi was also sitting up.

"What?"

"Do you think..." Mihoshi's voice was hesitant. "Well, that those screams really were Sasami's?"

Ryoko snorted. She should have known Mihoshi would be asking a dumb question. After Ayeka, Sasami, and then Kiyone had left the bedroom, Ryoko had turned down the lights in an attempt to get back to sleep. Mihoshi obviously hadn't taken the hint.

"Of course they were! Now clam up, Mihoshi."

"You sure?" Mihoshi persisted.

"I'm sure! Sasami admitted it. What more do you want?"

"I think I want the truth," Mihoshi said softly.

"You got the truth. Don't be such a pain, Mihoshi. The Junior Princess got scared by that horror flick and had nightmares. Don't you think so?"

"I don't know." Mihoshi's voice was uncertain. "It didn't sound like--"

"Get off that kick! We've never heard Sasami scream before, so you don't know how she sounds when she does. Besides, who else would get nightmares from that silly movie? Me? The Princess? Kiyone? You?"

"Well..." Mihoshi paused. "I guess only she would."

"That's right! Now pipe down. I want my beauty sleep!" Ryoko lay back down on her futon. Mihoshi just sat on hers. To heck with her. Ryoko closed her eyes. God, she was tired.

She had just started to dream that Tenchi was in bed with her when the bedroom lights blazed on again. Ayeka and Sasami had returned from the kitchen. Ryoko heard Mihoshi greet them. They returned the greeting. Ryoko keep her eyes closed. She wanted to get back to that dream.

"You see, Sasami," Ryoko heard the Princess say, "some people has so much concern for others that they just drop off to sleep again regardless of everything."

Ryoko groaned inwardly, but didn't stir. She was too tired to even reply.

------

"Uhhhh...Tris..."

Tenchi spoke suddenly from the darkness of their bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"No. It's none of my darned business. Just forget it."

"You want to know what Kiyone and I whispered to each other?" Tris asked.

"Naw. It's none of my business like I said. Sorry I even started to ask."

"Hey, I'll tell you."

"Really?" Tenchi asked, surprised.

"Sure."

"You probably shouldn't..."

"Oh, Kiyone wouldn't mind," Tris insisted.

"Well...if you're sure about that. Okay."

"Let me remember." Tris paused a moment. "Oh, yeah...Kiyone said, "I hope you didn't mind seeing me rubbing my butt." And I said, "Nice butt--you'd better cut down on the rice cakes, though.""

"What!" Tenchi sprang up in bed. "She didn't say--you didn't--"

He heard Tris's chuckle.

Tenchi groaned and lay back on his bed. Snookered again!

Tris grinned in the darkness. Actually, Kiyone had simply told him that she thought he was a great kisser and he had then told her the same about herself. It had sure buoyed his spirits...and it was a nice thing to go to sleep on. No bad dreams tonight for him.

______________________________________________

CHAPTER NOTES

(1) With all due respect and affection to the classic comedy-horror film "Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein," where Lou Costello uttered a version of this famous line. I couldn't resist borrowing it. If that isn't a Ryoko line, nothing is.

(2) Indeed, the actress who portrayed the hunchbacked nurse in "House Of Dracula," Jane Adams, is just as nice today. This writer had the privilege of meeting her at a Monster Bash convention a few years ago.