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 -06... Morning...
( Jurai Manor... )
As was her custom, Washu was in the kitchen early supervising the staff as they readying things for the day...
Yesterday had been a bit more hectic than she had planned on...
Besides the arrival of the new young lord, the Earl's oldest daughter had also returned home, suddenly and very unannounced...
It seem that she had been over in the colonies this whole time, acting as a nanny for her late sister's children...
It had been her mother who had suggested it, when they met her brother-in-law at the hospital...
And he would be the only one to know who she really was...
It would serve a dual purpose, care for the children and give her time to forgive her father, whom she blamed for chasing her dearest little sister away...
In a way, she also blamed him for her death...
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She had managed to get Washu alone and discuss a few things...
Like if there was any one, besides Washu who might recognize her?...
Do to her father's disposition and staff turn over, there were probably very few people, from her younger years who knew her, still working for him...
This was to be her nephew's day, not hers and if she were to be recognized it could be spoiled...
As it turned out, most of the regular staff was in London with her father, with only a small skeleton staff here...
And the few family members there were too new and young to have known her, much less remember her...
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Not to mention her not wanting her father, the Earl, to know she had returned...
She had forgiven her father during her stay with her sister's family...
She loved her father, but like her mother, she had supported her sister's choice...
Even if he was an 'American', he was the only one, outside the family, to ever get her to smile...
And even more important, get her to laugh...
Her mother had once said it was the reason why she had married the Earl...
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Besides who cared that an ancestor had once taken the wrong road and thus not gotten to Yorktown with reinforcements until AFTER general Cornwallis had surrendered?...
She'd gone with her mother to visit them when they got word that she was sick...
( A lot of people got sick during the blizzard of '85 in New York... )
They had managed to spend a short time with her sister...
And her sister told them that she had forgiven their father long ago...
Her little sister had asked her to forgive their father, before she passed away, quietly in her sleep...
But it had taken a while before she was able to say, she forgave him...
She too was stubborn...
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( the manor kitchen... )
All at once, one of the girls assigned to assist the new young lord rushed into the kitchen...
Coming to a stop, she had to catch her breath...
Finally, as the rest of the staff waited and watched, she spoke...
" Ma'am... Gone!... He's Gone!... "
Washu sighed and took a slow, deep breath to remain calm...
" Calm down Mary!... "
The young girl nodded as she panted...
" Now... "
Washu paused for a moment...
" Who's gone?... "
Trying to follow Washu's example, the girl manager to calm herself and point up-stair...
" Himself be gone!... The young lord!... "
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The staff was silent as they all looked at Washu...
Washu sighed and managed to keep any trace of panic from her voice...
" Calm down Mary... Tell us exactly what happen!... "
The young girl caught her breath and managed to calm down...
" I wince up to his lordship room to wake him, as you told me too... "
Washu nodded her head, but didn't say any thing...
" I knocked on the door, but got no reply... "
Again, nothing...
" Thinkin' he be still asleep I quietly entered with me lamp to check on him an' wake him... "
The young girl looked at the other members of the staff...
" But he weren't there!... "
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Washu sighed but didn't say any thing, she could see the concern on the staff's face...
Less than 24 hours and the new young lord had been misplaced?...
" His bed be made, as if he hadn't even been there... "
That raised an eyebrow...
Washu closed her eyes and sighed...
She had made sure to check on him before calling it a night...
And he had been there, under the pile of covers that were there to keep him warm on these chilly nights...
She had been very careful not to wake him...
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Washu wasn't sure if she should ask the girl some more questions or send out a search party...
It was then that she heard a soft chuckle for across the room...
The staff moved so she could see the small figure sitting at the table, looking through several large cook books...
" He's OK... He just got up early... "
Some how Washu wasn't surprised that young lady Sasami would be the one to know something...
She was oh-so like her mother and her Grandmother...
She hadn't even looked up...
There were times Washu tended to believed that Sasami might have 'the Sight', that gift of knowing things...
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Even with every eye in the room on her as Sasami continued to look through the cook books...
It was Washu who broke the silence...
" And where, pray tell, might he be?... "
Smiling, Sasami now looked up...
" I would guess he's still on top of the old North tower!... "
The question slipped from Washu's tongue on it's own...
" And why would he be up there so early?... "
Washu could now see Sasami's eyes dancing...
" Well... That would be the best spot to watch the sun rise in the early morning... "
One question down, and a dozen more raised...
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Washu sighed...
" And how might you happen to know this?... "
It wasn't little Sasami's eyes Washu was looking into, it was lady Seto's...
" Because I told him it was the best place, when he asked me!... "
No one said any thing, none dared...
Some how Washu seem to know the answer to her next question even before she asked it...
" And when did you happen to tell him this?... "
Washu had been with him almost from his getting off the carriage to seeing him tucked in to his bed, with his sister...
Sasami tilted her head slightly, but continued to smile...
" When I came down stair early this morning... "
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Sasami took her time answering...
" I found him wandering around looking for a way up to the top of the manor... "
She paused, as if considering something...
" He wanted to see if the sun rises here was as beautiful as his mother had once told him they were, when he was little... "
Washu could almost hear pride in Sasami's voice as she said that...
" I led him to the foot of the tower stairs and gave him a small lantern... I then watched him climb them for a while before I came down here... "
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At that Sasami returned to her books, looking for something special to fix...
Seeing every one frozen, Washu clapped her hands...
" Alright, every one... Back to work... Back to work... "
At that every one returned to what they had been doing...
The silence of the last few minutes, gone...
Washu smiled as she noticed the young girl still standing there...
" Mary... I'm going to fix a small tray... You'll take it and a mug of milk up to his lordship... "
The girl nodded her head...
" Then ask him if he would be joining the others for breakfast?... "
After a moment she continued...
" Also see if he needs any help getting back to the great hall?... "
The young girl smiled and nodded her head...
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( Later... )
On top of what he had been told was the old North tower, Tenchi was sitting on a weathered stone block that seem to serve as a seat...
The sun rise had been as beautiful as his mother had said it was...
And it seem to be just the way to start off his first day, of his new life, in his new surroundings...
" Hummm... "
Turning, he saw a young girl in a staff uniform standing next to the tower door...
She seem to be carrying a tray in one hand and a mug in the other...
She also seem to be waiting, so he gestured her over...
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As she got closer, he saw that it was a tray, with a white cloth covering it...
Taking the offered mug, he discovered it had milk in it, just what he needed at the moment...
The girl remover the cloth to reveal what appeared to be a sandwich that had been cut into small single bite size pieces...
Back in the states, when ever they had guest over, his sister and the others would fix these...
Choosing one he popped it into his mouth...
He smiled, it was quite tasty...
The milk was refreshing too...
What was that phrase his uncle had used at that elegant Boston restaurant they went to for his father's last birthday?...
Ah, yes!...
" My complements to the chief... "
The girl smiled...
She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she would tell lady Washu...
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" Your lordship... "
Tenchi turned his head to face her...
As he smiled and nodded his head she continued...
" Lady Washu ask if you would be joining the others for breakfast and if you might need help finding the great hall?... "
She was a bit nervous, the upper class usually didn't like to admit that they got lost...
Smiling, Tenchi closed his eyes and reviewed the 'blue print' he was creating in his head...
Having an excellent memory, he had done floor plans in his head since he was little, sitting there, watching his father create his...
After a moment he opened his eyes and smiled...
" At the bottom of the stairs take a right, go down the hallway to the end... Turn left and the great hallway is behind the pair of large doors at the other end of the hallway... "
The girl's eyes lite up and she smiled, nodding her head...
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Finishing off the milk, Tenchi handed the mug back to the young girl...
Then taking the cloth, he put the few remaining bites in it and folded it, leaving her the empty tray...
" Please inform lady Washu that I SHALL be down shortly... And that I will be joining every one for breakfast... "
As she turned to go he chuckled...
" However... If I am late, do have her send you, as it appears you are quite able of locating me if I get lost... "
Tenchi managed to hide his smile as he watched the young lady glow almost as bright as the sun rise...
Quickly bowing to him she managed to get inside the doorway before gasping...
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Smiling, Tenchi stepped to the battlement and began looking around, getting a 'lay of the land'...
He noted where the stables were located...
He could also see the road that they'd traveled up the day before to get here...
A good distance down it was the 'gate house' and the gate to the estate...
He noted that there were also several 'back roads' leading away from the manor house in the other direction...
Probably to other sections of the estate...
His father would call it recording the outside landscape...
He could use it to help him get around the estate...
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Back "home", he'd examined the area around the building they were living...
Knowing the neighborhood was quite helpful when he need to get around...
It was something he'd picked up while living at his father's family home...
His grandfather had been a general with the Union forces during the war of southern 'Aggression'...
His father had been a drummer boy in his father's unit during the war, but didn't talk about it, at all...
Like many families, not all of the members had been on the 'winning' side...
There were still a few members, who'd been on the other side, who still referred to it as the war of southern 'Secession'...
At a recent family reunion, a number of his uncles and grand-uncles has come close to starting the war up again...
Only when his grandmother, aunts and grand-aunts stepped in was peace restored, with a general withdraw of ALL males present...
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( Below... )
As the young girl reached the bottom of the stairs. a female stepped around the corner, carrying a small lantern...
Mary didn't recall who she was at first, but then remembered seeing her being helped from the carriage by the young lord...
Tennyo looked at the mug and tray that the young girl was carrying and smiled...
" Would you perhaps know where Tenchi... Excuse me, where the young lord might be?... "
Mary had heard that one of the two females with his lordship was his sister, while the other was a cousin...
No one had pointed out which was which, so she lowered her head...
" His lordship b on the roof... At da top of da stairs... Do ye wish me to return n' let him 'now ye wish to see 'm?... Ye ladyship?... "
When nervous her tongue reverted to the northern Wales one she'd spent the past year trying to get away from...
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Tennyo smiled and shook her head...
Climbing three floors of stairs wasn't her idea of how to start the day...
And the young girl had already been up once, no need for a repeat...
" Did he perhaps give a hint as to when he might be rejoining us?... "
The young girl smiled and spoke slowly...
" His lordship ask me to inform lady Washu that e' would be down fer breakfast with the others... "
Tennyo nodded and moved aside to let the girl continue down the hallway...
If staff here was like back in the states, there were lots of things waiting to be done, just to start the day...
" Inform lady Washu that I shall be joining her shortly myself... "
The young girl nodded her head and continued down the hallway...
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When the light the girl was holding disappeared in the darkness, Tennyo spoke up...
" Will you be joining us also or will you too remain in the shadows... Auntie?... "
Chuckling softly, Minaho, the Earl's oldest daughter stepped into the light of Tennyo's lantern...
" How long have you known?... "
Tennyo smiled...
" Suspected for some time... From an old picture of mom and an older girl... A sister?... "
Tennyo paused...
" Known?... Only after I over heard you tell dad on the train that you needed to slip away when we got to the manor... To be sure no one might recognized you before you contacted your mother... "
Then she smiled...
" Of course, the large family portraits in the main hall helped too... "
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Minaho sighed...
" Think Tenchi suspects?... "
A soft calm voice from behind them answered...
" Does Tenchi suspect, what?... "
Both females turned to find young lord Tenchi standing on the stairs, a small lantern in his hand...
Before ether could reply, Tenchi continued, smiling...
" Does he suspect that his nanny, of so many years, is actually his mother's older sister?... "
Both Minaho and Tennyo looked at each other and then back at him...
" Last year when I came down with that flu, you really shouldn't have sworn that you were not going to lose you sister's child to the same fever that took her... "
He paused...
" At least not while standing next to their bed... "
Both females stared at him...
" It seems being sick doesn't prevent you hearing things... "
He turn to his sister...
" Like a confession about putting caster oil in some one's soup at dinner to get them to have to spend the night running out into the cold night to use the outhouse... "
Tennyo's face turned red...
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After a while Tennyo sighed...
" So... What now?... "
Tenchi smiled...
But before he could reply a noise drew their attention down the darken hall way...
" Clang!... Clang!... Clang!... "
Tenchi and Tennyo turned to Minaho, who sighed...
" It appears we have some one at the front door... "
There was a pause before she continued...
" And most, if not all the staff are in the kitchen at the moment... "
Tenchi smile as he turned to face down the darken hallway to the front door...
" It would be rude to keep them waiting... "
He offered each female an arm...
" Shall we?... "
Each taking an arm, the two smiling female allowed him to lead them...
And the three disappeared into the darkened hall, Tennyo holding the small lantern...
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( A nearby manor... )
A young female sat at the side of a bed with a young boy asleep on it...
Kiriko Masaki had promised young Seina Yamada's mother that she would keep an eye on him and keep him safe...
Their trip from up North had been long and tiring...
And Seina had gotten little sleep...
When they got here she managed to get him to 'rest' for a while...
He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow...
On the trip, she had been truly amazed at how calm he had been...
Most of his life she recalled how hyper active he'd been and how many things seem to happen to him...
By slowing down it seem fewer things tended to happen to him...
Their entire trip had been so quiet...
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No problems, no accidents, nothing out of the ordinary had happen...
Well, there had been the waiter who had tripped and gotten soup all over the male at the table next to them at the restaurant...
Kiriko thought they should get something to eat after their long trip and before heading to his family's local manor house...
Easier to get some thing to eat, as most of the staff was up North with his mother or in London with his father...
While Seino hadn't heard what the male and his two female companions were chatting about, Kiriko had...
About some colonial brat that a local Earl had transported clear across the ocean to continue his blood lines...
The male joked about what kind of uncouth brat the 'American' would be...
She wasn't too happy, her family had long ties to the Jurai family...
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Kiriko knew well the list of tragedies that had befallen the Jurai family...
The younger daughter's break away from the family to marry an "american"...
The Earl's wife then siding with her daughter and then being at odds with the Earl ever since, the two still living apart...
Then there was the death of their younger daughter about a decade ago, followed by the disappearance of the Earl's older daughter soon after...
Since then, both of his sons had died serving in the military...
Serving crown and country could be costly...
His oldest and his heir, had died not too long ago...
So, the Earl's closest blood heir WAS his younger daughter's only son...
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Kiriko smiled As she recalled the young male's face as the two females giggled at him sitting there covered in soup...
It wasn't what she wanted to do to him, but it would do...
Rumors had it there were some large untapped resources under the Juraian Estate...
And she had reason to believe the young male's family was one of those waiting for the old Earl to 'kick-off"...
Another flock of vultures circling the Juraian Estate...
As daylight entered the room, Kiriko looked down on Seino's face...
He had a very long day ahead of him...
And it would soon be time to wake him up to face that day...
She couldn't help smiling...
But for now she would let him sleep, as there was still time...
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( The front door... )
In the light of the small lantern Tenchi looked at the door and wondered how to open it, as there was no door knob like back 'home'...
Smiling, Minaho stepped forward and grasp the large door handle...
As she pulled on it, the door seem to grown loudly in protest of being opened...
Tenchi wasn't sure if it was him or the hall it's self that seem to amplify the noise the door was making...
Reaching over, he got a hold on the handle and helped Minaho pull...
To his surprise, it wasn't as hard as he had thought...
With the door open they could see several figures standing on the top of the steps, looking at them...
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As his eyes adjusted to the brighter light outside, Tenchi could make out more details...
There were three well dressed mature females standing there, looking at him...
Tenchi's up bringing took over without thinking, he smiled and bowed his head slightly...
" Good morning ladies... And how may I be of service?... "
He heard some one giggle softly behind him, but didn't turn around...
The two closest females smiled slightly while the third showed no signs of emotions at all...
Though the white in their hair suggested age, the twinkle in their eyes and way they smiled tended to suggest a little older than his father...
And that was as far as he was willing to go on that subject...
It was one of those 'facts of life' that his sister and female cousin taught him about when he was much younger...
When he over guessed their ages, they beat him up...
As it was, he couldn't help notice how their eyes seem to be studying him...
And then there was something about those smiles...
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The one with just a touch of black in her hair reached over and gently stroked Tenchi's cheek...
" You were right... He is oh so cute!... "
From the various giggling behind him he knew that both females were really enjoying ever second of this...
The female with what appeared to be a touch of green(?) in her hair sighed...
" Well, it has been a while... And then he has grown a lot... "
This caught Tenchi off guard, but she continued before he could reply...
" You have done quite well bring him up, Minaho... "
He found his aunt's reply enlightening...
" Yes, Mother... "
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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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