Little Lord Tenchi...

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

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chapter -05 ... A quiet night...

( A secret room... )

Little Sasami watched as Washu read the draft of a story she had decided to write...

It was an adventure romance set in one of the few mysterious places left...

The unexplored jungles on the African continent...

In her 1st draft she had used names she knew, like her sister's and Washu's daughter's...

For the main character and hero, she had used the name of her new cousin...

Young Lord Tenchi from America...

When she heard the name some weeks before, mentioned by the Earl, she had liked it...

The final draft would use more 'common' names, like Jane and such...

She had asked a few people she knew for some suggestions...

Not going into the WHY she wanted them...

There were still many things that proper young ladies didn't do...

Even in this age of enlightenment...

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She'd written a letter to her former tutor, sister Tsunami, a Catholic nun who had spent time in Africa as a missionary...

She had inquired about names and places to use...

She'd gotten a reply back a week before, apologizing for not writing sooner...

But being an assistant to the Reverend Mother of Malton Priory in North Yorkshire kept her busy...

Susami confided that she wish to write a story set within Africa and she needed some names of exotic places and people...

It would be an adventure-romance...

( note: The 1912 novel by Burroughs created an exceptional example of an idealized, fierce-yet-noble, iconoclastic male figure, with few physical or psychological flaws... In the novel and several dozen sequels, he made subtle comments about the society of the times... With the Movies came the action, the adventure and the romance... )

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Sister Tsunami wrote back suggesting the jungle on Africa's west coast as the setting, as they were still largely unexplored, at the moment...

She had also suggested the name Tarzan, said to mean 'White skin'...

Susami liked it cause it was so close to lord Tenchi's name...

She smiled as Washu chuckled and set the papers back on the desk...

She even wiped the corner of her eye...

Turning, she started to say something, but shook her head instead...

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Washu sighed and smiled, the tired look on Sasami's face said it was time for a certain young lady to go to bed, whether she wanted to or not...

Opening the door, she smiled and gestured to Sasami...

Sighing, Sasami picked up the lamp, handed it to Washu and then proceeded to exit the room...

It had been a long and exciting day...

The sunrise promised even more excitement and new experiences...

With the new young lord around, things promised to be any thing but dull from now on...

She had also seen the look in her sister and Ryoko's eyes...

Ever since they'd met, they had been at odds over some thing...

Who got to ride the new horse first, who got the last bun at dinner or who could out do who at some thing...

It livened up the boring country days...

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Sasami knew that it wasn't about different social classes, cause most of those in the know knew that it was Lady Washu Hakubi of Inisfree...

A little something that went with the Victoria Cross the Queen had awarded her late husband...

Few knew that Inisfree, Ireland was her home town and that her small estate was being cared for by her good friend Lady 'the widow' Sarah Tillane...

But working for the Earl not only provided a better income than the title, it was a better environment for raising her two young girls...

Sasami looked up to Washu, as she did her mother, aunt and grandmother...

In fact Washu was one of the few, outside the family, who could stand up to her grandmother, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai...

Turning the corner ahead of Washu, Sasami led the way down the passage to her room...

She couldn't wait for the morning to come...

She wondered just how fast LORD Tenchi could run?...

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( Back outside the secret room... )

Sasami and Washu were unaware that they had not been alone the whole time...

A dark figure had heard every word and as Washu turn the corner with the lantern, they had quietly slipped into the room...

Striking a match, Minaho Masaki Jurai smiled...

The room was just as she remembered it...

She had followed Washu to see if she could still get around in the old passages...

They were just as she remembered them, Washu had kept them 'clean' for the Earl...

But she allowed the old moss to remain, it tended to glow slightly, allowing those with good eyesight to move about without the need of a candle...

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Finding the candle and holder, she lite it, allowing her to see better...

This also let her see the stack of papers she'd heard mentioned earlier...

As she read it she smiled and years of correcting not only Tenchi and Tennyo's grammar, but their father's as well, came into play...

OH MY!...

If Tenchi read this his nose would bleed for at least week...

But it did seem to sound a lot like the Tenchi that she believed was deep within him...

It also sounded a lot like her two brothers...

They had gotten into mischief in their youth and both had tales of wild adventure after joining the military and travelling the world...

But no matter what mischief the three of them got into when they were younger, they had always protected her...

She missed them both...

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She just had to smile...

If the description of the two female in the story was drawn from the two she saw earlier, it seem that Tenchi's live was about to change once more...

Growing up in Boston, Tenchi's experience with females had been limited pretty much to her, his sister Tennyo and his cousin Mayuka...

Most of the family lived out on the edge of Boston, but his father's work had them living in town...

In the 'middle class' part of town...

While she had taught he and the girls manners and such, dealing with English life was some thing she hadn't gotten to, yet...

But she had confidence in him...

There was much of her brothers in him...

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She smiled and sighed...

Putting the papers back, she blew out the candle and closing her eyes, letting them adjust to the dark...

She would get with Sasami later and offer to help her out with her story...

When she reopened them, it was still dark, but the moss on the walls allowed her to 'see'...

When her mother first showed her the passages, she'd told her it was fairy magic that lite the way...

Exiting the room, she started on her way back to her room in the dark...

She smiled, this took her back to her younger years, when she use to play in these passages...

It was really good to be home...

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( London... )

It was late, after dark, the Earl was at his desk, studying some documents...

The motion of the door opening caught his eye and he looked up from his papers...

The butler entered and waited a moment...

" Mi, Lord... "

Then he paused, most unlike him...

As the Earl's eyes narrowed, the butler seem to look behind himself before continuing...

" Her Ladyship... Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai... "

That explained the butler's nervousness, his sister...

Most of the members of the House of Lords were scared of her...

Many of them for very good reasons...

She was also a very close adviser to the Queen...

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Stepping aside, the butler bowed his head...

And an elegant looking female entered the room and smiled at the Earl...

The butler quietly and quickly exited, closing the door quietly behind him...

The Earl sighed and wished he could have escaped too...

Standing there, it would be hard for any one who was to just meet her to guess that she was the Earl's sister and only a few years younger...

In her 64 years, she let nether people nor things effect her...

He eyed the spot behind her, usually occupied by what she loved to refer to as 'her other half'...

Sir Utsutsumi Kamiki, lord Kamiki, her husband of several decades now...

And also why they seldom spoke any more...

Elbows on the desk, fingers interlocked, he rested his chin on them...

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He had a good idea why she was here, but waited for her to make the first move...

" What?... No offer of a seat?... "

A smile crossed his lips...

Her tongue was sharper than any blade, as many a Lord had learned over the years, to their regret...

" You mean I have a choice?... "

One of his eye brows went up, as if surprised...

Her reply was to smile and to sit in the chair directly in front of him...

A flick of her wrist and she opened a fan, some thing she picked up on her last trip to Japan some years before...

NOW, she was ready to get down to business...

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( The Jurai Kitchen... )

Washu stood to the side and sighed...

Young officer Mihoshi, wearing one of lady Ayeka's nightgowns and robes, was sitting at the kitchen table smiling at the small loaf of bread, stuffed with leftovers from dinner...

A late night snack Washu had fixed for her...

Washu had found her wandering around the kitchen, looking for some to eat...

Washu had heard about this from her grandfather, but this was her first experience with it...

As she was a guest, Washu had managed to put some thing together...

The loaf was sliced into a dozen equal sections...

Smiling, Mihoshi picked up one of the sections and began to eat, a large glass of fresh milk in her other hand...

Washu sighed, it seem that she was going to have to tuck another young lady in before she could call it a night...

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( Buckingham Palace... )

A mature female sat at a large desk studying a series of pictures taken by her security men, for her...

These new, almost 'instant' pictures were a great improvement over having to sit still for several minutes...

As long as the subject wasn't moving too much, you could get a reasonable image of it or them...

These were of a young boy, also the three females and two adult males travelling with him...

According to her reports, this was the son of the Earl of Jurai's youngest daughter, who had died in America some years before...

As the Earl had not approved of the marriage, they had not spoken in years...

Her Majesty, Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, had reason to believe both the marriage and her death effected him greatly...

He had turned his attentions to matters of State about that time and left most family matters to themselves...

The disappearance of his oldest daughter later hadn't helped...

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An argument with his lady, Airi Masaki Jurai at the time of the marriage, had left the two not talking to each other ever since...

His two son had both been in the military and both were stationed far away...

The lose of one had hurt, but with the death of the other some hard decisions had to be made...

In the end there was only one heir left, one person who could inherit the title...

That had been the young boy of his youngest daughter, born and raised in the colonies...

What kind of a person was he and would he be up to the position he must one day step into...

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According to the reports the party had stayed their first night in the country in London...

Catching the early train North in the morning...

One of the Earl's carriages had then picked them up at the station and taken them out to Jurai Manor...

There they were welcome by the Earl's staff, under lady Hakubi...

She was quite pleased...

The Earl's absence might have raised questions if she didn't already know the cause...

With the title in question, certain people, in very low places, saw an opportunity...

And what effected the Earl tended to effect the crown...

After all, he was in the line of succession for the throne...

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( The Earl's residence... )

It had only been minutes, but as usual it seem like hours, since lady Seto entered his den...

Both had just sat there and stared at each other...

As usual, it was the Earl who blinked first...

He had more important matters to attend to than this...

He was sure she was smiles behind that fan, a reason she had taken to using it, it hid any facial reactions...

As she closed the fan, he saw that she was smiling...

" Well... Yosho, what do you think about your new heir?... "

She was one of the few who used his first name and this caught him off guard...

Family had never come up in any of the very few conversation they had in the past few years...

" Don't know... Haven't met him yet... Certain matters dragged me to London... "

He turned to look across the room...

Portraits of both his sons, in their dress military uniforms hung on the wall...

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Lady Seto hid a smile, she was well aware of what matters he was referring to and who...

But she had been at the hotel when the party had arrived and watch at the lawyer got their keys and signed them in, quietly...

There had been the boy, slightly nervous, looking at all the new things around him...

An older male who must have been his father, also looking around...

Then there were the two young girls who were doing their best to get the two males to stop staring and move...

They must be the boy's sister and cousin...

It had been the smiling face of the 3rd older female who caught her eye...

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It may have been many years, but Seto recognized the face of her niece, Minaho Masaki Jurai...

So this was where she had been all those years...

It also explained why her sister-in-law, the Earl's lady, just smiled when asked about her oldest daughter...

She considered telling her older brother, but decide it was Minaho's decision...

" Should I drop by and check him out?... "

This caused him to smile, was the boy up to having the infamous Lady Seto turned loose on him...

His lawyer had spoke in glowing terms about the boy, perhaps a detail study was in order...

" By all means... Feel free to drop by and look him over, I'd like to hear your opinion... "

Lady Seto smiled, that aside, it was time to get to the real reason she was here...

" Now!... About this little matter you mentioned... "

The Earl smiled, he figured this had been her main reason for coming by and without her 'other-half''...

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( Buckingham Palace... )

Her Majesty studied the long report on the Masaki party...

The boy, his father, sister and cousin...

But it was the 'nanny' who caught her eye...

Some quiet research had answered her question, who was she?...

So this was where the Earl's oldest daughter had been all these years...

It explained much...

Mostly why Lady Airi Masaki Jurai hadn't been tearing up every continent trying to find her...

She had joined her sister's family to help take care of her children...

Perhaps after they all got settled in, she would drop by, again...

She smiled at the thought...

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( The Jurai Kitchen... )

Washu smiled and shook her head as she watch several female members of the staff help the sleeping lady Mihoshi to her feet and on her way to bed...

Having finished the 'snack' she had stretched and then rested her head on her arms on the table...

She was asleep before Washu realized what was happening...

She considered leaving her there, but what to do in the morning?...

They'd never get any thing done with her sitting there...

She almost lost it when Mihoshi cuddled up to one of the girls and whispered...

" Oh... Lord Tenchi... You're such a naughty boy... "

Then she began to giggle...

Both girls stared at Washu...

" NOT!... A!... WORD!... "

Both nodded and proceeded to carry the snoring officer up to her room...

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Washu was pretty sure the two would keep this to themselves...

Just about every member of the staff had seen lady Ayeka and Ryoko's reaction to the new Earl...

This had 'bloodshed' written all over it and it would be THEIR job to clean up the mess...

As the three disappeared, Washu dropped into her chair at the end of the table...

Taking a deep breath, she did a quick mental check of all the things needing to be done...

To her surprise she found that every thing was done...

She might be able to go long periods without sleep, it wasn't some thing she would recommend...

Getting up, she sighed as she headed towards her room...

Tomorrow was a new day, with new problems...

She looked at the clock on the shelf and smiled...

But that was at-least 6-8 hours away...

She exited the kitchen...

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If she knew what was happening else where in the manor, she might wish dawn was several hundred hours away...

Up stairs a dark haired female was cuddling up to one of her pillows, a big smile on her face...

And down the hall, in another room, a light haired female was also cuddling up to a pillow, a wicked smile on her face...

Almost at the same time, they both sighed and whispered ever so softly...

" Oh... Lord Tenchi... You're such a naughty boy... "

In both rooms, younger sisters smiled and giggled softly, they were looking forward to the new day too...

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To be continued...

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Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...

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