Chapter Two
Earth
Some Years Later.
"You know, I'd swear on my life that some of this junk hadn't been shifted for a long, long time."
Washu sat back against the wall, eying the pile of boxes, odds and ends with a mixture of suspicion and dislike. "I don't know why you don't just open a sub-dimension and drop the whole lot into it, Noboyuki-san. It would save a whole lot of time and energy and I have several hundred other things that I should be taking care of right now. Why did you rope me into this anyway? Where's your son? Isn't it his job to be your unpaid slave whenever you can't find anything?"
"Tenchi and Ryoko are still in Osaka until the weekend, because of his graduation party, and I wanted to find what I was looking for before then." Noboyuki said pensively, sitting back on his heels as he sent his companion an amused glance. "As for the sub-dimension, Washu, not all of us can open holes in thin air and throw rubbish through them. And besides, some of this stuff is important. A lot of old memories are tied up in this room - that's why I hoped you'd help me get to the bottom of it."
"Well, when you said you had a little bit of sorting to do, I should have known that you meant a landslide." Washu sighed, getting to her feet and glancing ruefully at her scuffed nails as she did so. "Men always underestimate problems when they want a woman's help. I never learn, do I?"
"With all your magic, I thought you'd be as good a bet as anyone." Noboyuki agreed blithely, reaching down to push an old, battered box to one side. "But I do appreciate your help, Washu. After all, it is all in a good cause - or it will be, when I find what I'm looking for."
"What, exactly, are we looking for?" Washu eyed her companion quizzically, hovering over the boxes as she peered into the gloom beyond. "Aside from the fact we're standing inside the room that time forgot - what's in here that's so urgent it just can't wait?"
"I'm looking for an old photo album." Noboyuki turned, offering her a smile. "A very old one, you'll probably say, and one I haven't looked at in years and years."
"A photo album?" Washu stopped, staring at him in disbelief. "All this over a bunch of stupid photographs? Are you serious?"
"Not so stupid." Noboyuki's face became grave and he shook his head, sitting down on the worn old box as he did so. "They're the photos from my wedding - of Achika and I on that happy day. With Tenchi and Ryoko so keen to banter about dates and times recently, and with his graduation now behind us, I thought maybe he'd like to see his parents' wedding photos. I've never had cause to show him before, but it seems appropriate now."
"Wedding...?" Washu's expression softened, and gently she set down on the floor beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise they were that kind of pictures. But how come Tenchi hasn't seen these before, Noboyuki-san? Surely he's asked you questions galore about Lady Achika, and with all this matrimonial teasing that's been going on of late, he must have wondered about your own wedding."
"He has asked, but I've always told him I don't know where the book is." Noboyuki admitted. "Achika was very dear to me, Washu, and for many years I couldn't bring myself to revive those memories again. Tenchi was very young, really, when she passed away...too young to remember everything about her and the way in which she was. But she was the most important person in my life for many years. It's hard, sometimes, to go back. That's why."
"I see." Washu pursed her lips. "Yes, and I understand. I'm being altogether too hard on you, when I'm probably guilty of exactly the same kind of information hoarding."
She grinned, revealing a row of perfect white teeth. "But now I know what we're after, I agree that it's all in a good cause. You're sure it's here, in one of these boxes? It couldn't have been put anywhere else?"
"This is the last place to look - all of Achika's stuff is in here, in one box or another." Noboyuki nodded his head. "I kept a lot, really. I always told myself that I kept it for Tenchi's benefit, but in truth it I found it hard to let go."
"Hrm." Washu faltered for a moment, her hand going to her throat as she fingered a gleaming gold chain that hung around her neck. A bright new clasp held the expensive, carefully crafted item in place, and as she ran her finger over the engraved centre of the medallion, a sheepish expression crossed her face. "Well, I suppose that makes sense. We all have our keepsakes, after all."
"I suppose we do." Noboyuki admitted. "Although I've never seen Father take the same approach with either Haruna-san or Itsuki-san. I suppose it's just a different point of view - he always manages to be so serene about these worldly things and I just don't get it at all."
"Lord Katsuhito is quite another kind of man." Washu pursed her lips. "And I rather think Tenchi is beginning to take after him, in many respects. No offence, Noboyuki-san, but I think that's probably a good thing...not that your own influence over him isn't important, but I really think I've begun to see the Juraian in him, this past year."
"No, I've seen it too." Noboyuki nodded. "And it's another reason I want to find this stuff. Achika-chan was his link with that family, not me...I'm not even truly a Masaki, not really. The shrine has rather dominated the naming of our family for the last few generations - but I'm well aware that my son is no ordinary Earth boy."
"It goes in his favour, though, that he is who he is." Washu eyed the pile of boxes contemplatively, flexing her fingers and then probing them through the cardboard, groping around inside as she ran her hand over the box's contents. "Yeesh, there is a lot of junk in there. What colour is this album, anyway?"
"White, with a red border." Noboyuki frowned. "But how are you going to know if you find it? You can't tell colours by finger-tips, can you?"
"No, I can't." Washu agreed cheerfully. "But my fingers aren't the only part of me that can go through boxes. White and red, huh? All right. You keep searching at the front here...I'll go further back and see what I can see."
Before Noboyuki could respond, the scientist had pushed the rest of her body through the flimsy cardboard and the dusty, stacked up contents towards the far side of the room, holding her breath against the pockets of dust that assailed her as she moved. As she reached the furthest wall, she spied a small space between two precarious piles of belongings and carefully she phased herself into it, dusting herself down absently as she scanned the inked labels that marked each container.
"Well?" Noboyuki's voice sounded muffled and distant, and Washu frowned.
"I think I've found Tenchi's baby clothes, and a bunch of stuff that's got something written on it in Katsuhito's handwriting. God only knows what it's meant to say...like most of his shrine scribbles, it looks like something died and got squashed in a long, straight line. Otherwise the boxes aren't marked. I didn't see anything on my way through, but there is a dusty pile here in the corner I haven't tackled yet. Maybe it's in there. No luck your end?"
"Not yet, although I did find a couple of albums of Tenchi when he was younger." Noboyuki responded. "Thank you, Washu...and you know, if you need some help getting the dust off your clothing afterwards, I'm always willing to help out."
"Shame on you." Washu tut-tutted, amusement in her eyes as she hopped neatly up onto the side of the pile of boxes. "Saying such things while looking for your wedding photos - what would Achika say to you, if she could hear you?"
"She'd probably give me a look and tell me to act my age." Noboyuki admitted, and Washu gave an amused chuckle.
"She had your measure, then." She said appreciatively. "I always knew she was a smart woman."
"My son takes after her as much as he does his Grandfather." Noboyuki agreed. "Maybe I'll keep some of these on one side too. Just in case Tenchi wants to look at them. Seems a shame not to, while I have them out."
"Makes sense to me." Washu agreed. "Earthlings have such primitive ways of keeping memories, but then again, I think it works for them. A digital data drive can crash and erase thousands and thousands of happy memories. Perhaps something more tangible is a better option, after all."
She pushed her hands through the box, her fingers closing around something hard and bound, and she frowned, pulling it out. As soon as she saw it, she knew it wasn't the missing album, but it was indeed a book, dark in colour but faded and worn by years of use. Leaning back against the wall she flicked it open, glancing over the contents with a smile.
"I might have found something else Tenchi should see." She remarked. "I think I found your sketch-pad, Noboyuki."
"My what?" Noboyuki sounded alarmed, and Washu laughed.
"It's no secret that you used to draw. When I sent Tenchi and co back in time to help Achika, we saw that well enough." She said. "But I had the impression you drew pictures of houses. I didn't realise you also had a sketchpad full of Achika-sama and Tenchi, Noboyuki-san. These are really well done - no wonder your son has such an amazing talent."
"Those were put away when Achika died - she was the only one who ever saw them." Noboyuki said slowly and Washu flickered her form out of the small corner, re-materialising in front of him as she held the old book out.
"Then here." She said solemnly. "I can keep a secret. It's yours, and you probably want it back."
"Yes...I suppose so." Carefully Noboyuki thumbed through the pages, a wry look on his face. "I'd forgotten about some of these. I haven't drawn in ages, Washu, except in a work capacity. Houses are all I draw these days and even seeing Tenchi following artistic tendencies at college hasn't stirred me to do anything about it. I suppose the drawing stopped when Achika did, too...I had far too much to do, raising a son on my own to worry about it."
"You shut half your life away when Achika died, didn't you?" Washu tilted her head, eying him compassionately as he nodded. "I understand that feeling. I did rather the same when I lost my fiance - long ago as that was now. It's easy to run away from things you can't change, but it's also easy to lose important parts of yourself when you do so, Noboyuki-san. I learnt that when Ryoko came back into my life. Maybe you should take a lesson from it too, now your son is starting to branch out for himself."
"Your fiance?" Noboyuki shut the book with a snap, sending a cloud of dust up around them and causing the scientist to choke, wafting the haze away. "I didn't know."
"Well, it was a long time before you were born." Washu said pensively. She shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't always a mad scientist who lived in a closet, you know. I did have a life, beyond my scientific prowess."
"Can I ask what happened to him? You never married him?" Noboyuki asked keenly. Washu shook her head, a shadow flickering into her expression as she did so.
"He died, on Jurai." She said softly. "While we were working there on some top secret research program."
She fingered the pendant, then,
"He gave me this." She added. "And I've always kept it. But I've always regretted that I couldn't keep him, too. So I know how you feel about Achika-sama, Noboyuki-san. I understand what it's like to lose someone like that."
She smiled, shrugging her shoulders as an impish expression lit up her green eyes.
"Which is why we both want the wedding of our children to go off without a hitch." She added carelessly. "Isn't it?"
"I suppose it is." Noboyuki returned her smile, nodding his head. "I never imagined my son would be marrying an alien, but then again, you have to be broad-minded these days. And some of those alien women are very pretty. Heck, I suppose I half married one myself, when it comes to it. I've certainly nothing against my boy's choice of paramour."
"Well, I'm just hoping we manage to get through the ceremony with the house and shrine still in one piece." Washu said frankly. "That Katsuhito offered his services worries me a little. I don't know what kind of bride Ryoko will make, but I have my doubts that it will be like anything the Earth has ever seen before. I've heard concerning words like 'traditional Japanese' and 'proper Earth wedding' from her on a couple of occasions. I dread to think what her interpretation of those things might be."
"Ah well. Children do keep you on your toes, so they say." Noboyuki spread his hands. "What will be will be."
"I suppose you're right." Washu sighed. "Okay. Then let's see if we can't find this album of yours, huh? If nothing else, maybe it will give Ryoko some idea of how an Earth bride is meant to behave - even if she hasn't a hope in hell of doing it!"
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"I can't believe I'm really a full blown University graduate, now."
Tenchi Masaki took a sip of his drink, setting the mug down on the table as he cast his companion an affectionate smile. "It all seems like yesterday that I even began college, and now..."
"And now you're out there in the big bad world with only me to protect you from harm." The booth's other occupant returned his smile with an impish grin, reaching over to squeeze his fingers as she did so. "What would you do without me, Tenchi-kun? You'd be lost."
"If you say so." Tenchi looked amused. "But it is strange, Ryoko. Osaka has been a big part of my - well, of our lives for a while now. Hard to imagine that it's all done and dusted."
"Harder to imagine that Otousan's friend needs his apartment back for his daughter, when she returns from whatever weird study project she's been doing up north." Ryoko sighed, resting her chin on her hands as she looked pensive. "It might not be the biggest flat in the world, or the most glamorous either. But it's been our adventure into living together and it sucks that we have to lose it so suddenly. After this weekend, we won't have a place to come to in this city - not to sleep over and do naughty things without the risk of your father or my mother intruding on us. What's it going to be like when we finally do tie the knot, Tenchi? I don't know about the permanent chaperoning thing."
"Do you want to move to Osaka?" Tenchi looked startled. "I thought you liked staying in the mountains."
"Oh, I do, and I don't want to move." Ryoko shook her head. "It's just that it's nice having a secret hideaway where we can just spend time alone. You know? But I guess even with what the Japanese Government are paying us to 'liase' on their behalf with Jurai, it's not possible."
She looked amused.
"Even if all that entails is keeping us on good terms with them and making sure their mad Emperor doesn't want to invade our planet." She added. "They have no clue that Ayeka is really the one doing all the work - she's the reason Azusa doesn't even dare think about launching that kind of expedition, because she's far too fond of Earth and the people who live here. But if this planet wants to pay me for occasionally zipping across space and yelling at a few Juraians, then who am I to complain? It keeps me in sake, so I'm quite happy doing it."
Tenchi chuckled.
"I guess it is the perfect job for you, then." He teased. "And I suppose that now my school responsibilities really are over, they'll call on me to do a lot more of this 'mediation' stuff as well. It's strange really - how they seem to want to trust in Jurai's intentions, but really they're using you and I to make sure that nothing funny happens. Even though you're no Earth-born woman, they seem to trust you more than they do the Emperor of Jurai. Funny, isn't it? Once the universe's most notorious space criminal - and here you are, protecting the peace."
Ryoko snorted appreciatively, nodding her head.
"Like I said, the job works for me." She agreed. "I don't have to do much, they give me money, I get to use my spaceship without them having seven fits about it. It's all good, as they say. I can live with it."
She frowned, tilting her head on one side as she took in her fiance's features. Absently she remembered the first time they had met, and a smile touched her lips as she realised how far both of them had come since that day. They had both changed, she realised, him as much as her. But in the end, it had only served to bring them closer together.
Tenchi frowned, eying her keenly.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, concerned, and Ryoko pinkened, shaking her head.
"No...no." She assured him. "I was just thinking. That's all."
"Something must be wrong, then." Tenchi teased, and Ryoko pouted, kicking him beneath the table.
"That is no way to speak to your future wife, Mr Masaki!" She objected, though humour sparkled in her golden eyes. "Really, you have to learn to treat me with respect - after all, you do have the honour of marrying one of the most prestigious space criminals ever to ransack the universe. You might show a little appreciation."
Tenchi laughed.
"Consider me scolded." He said playfully, and Ryoko grinned.
"Well, just keep it in mind." She said lightly. "All right?"
"All right." Tenchi drained the last of his drink, offering her a smile. "So what was so important you spaced out on me? Joking aside, daydreaming really isn't like you at all."
"I know." Ryoko admitted. "But I suppose...well, it's just the fact that here I am, getting ready to marry you. And how many things have happened since I crashed to the Earth and this moment. How much we've both been through and that we've both changed a whole lot since then. Don't you think so? This would have seemed crazy to us both back then. Now it seems crazy to think we might not have been together. Do you know what I mean?"
"Yes, I suppose I do." Tenchi agreed. "Guess it is some kind of fate that we are here now, as we are. I know they say that there's someone out there for everyone, but I didn't expect to be searching galaxies to find my future partner, that's for sure."
"And I never thought I'd wind up living on - or loving - a backwater planet like the Earth." Ryoko sighed pensively, getting to her feet as Tenchi pulled on his jacket. "And yet, here we are. There was a time when this place would have bored me to death just thinking about it. But now I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. It's backwards and quaint and really strange, sometimes. But it's home, so I can forgive it all those things. And you know, the basics are quite good, when you come to it. The alcohol is readily available. You can spend the night on the town if you want to...and of course, there's you if I'm ever bored. Nope, all things considered, the Earth is all right."
"I'm glad you think so." Tenchi shot her an amused look as they left the coffee shop, stepping out into the bright Spring day. "As for Osaka and not coming here, well, maybe we will. Who knows? Or even further afield. We can take trips, have visits, do that kind of thing. They don't have to be interstellar, after all. And we do have friends here, too."
"You more than me." Ryoko acknowledged. "Some folk are still hung up over that nightclub business."
She pulled a face.
"Like it wasn't ages ago now, and not that it wasn't my fault, but you know people. They like to hang onto a juicy story."
"Yeah, I know." Tenchi agreed. "But on the whole, it's been all right - hasn't it? I mean, you obviously like Osaka, if you're going to miss spending time here."
"I do like Osaka." Ryoko said, an impish expression crossing her face. "We had a very special first in Osaka. Why would I not think of it fondly?"
Tenchi reddened at this, and Ryoko laughed, slipping her arm playfully into his.
"Oh, you are so easy to tease, Tenchi-kun." She said playfully. "Come on. We've time to shop before we head back to the apartment, and since this is our last weekend there, we should make the most of the time we have."
"All right, I suppose so." Tenchi agreed. "Although if your idea of shopping is trawling through the liquor stores, can we at least do the summarised version today? I know you can drink for Jurai if you want to, but some of us get blisters on our feet if we walk too far in one day."
"You're such a wimp, but I wasn't actually thinking of alcohol." Ryoko shrugged dismissively. "We'll get enough of that tonight, at your graduation party - unless you'd forgotten about that little venture, of course. But I need something to wear. After all, I am your fiancee and I do deserve to look stunning, feminine and beautiful at this little college shindig of yours. Don't you think so? It's only right."
"I think I'm about to be conned into spending money." Tenchi eyed her ruefully, and Ryoko laughed.
"You might just be right, Tenchi-kun." She said amiably. "But at least you know it's all in a good cause, right? I mean, you do want me to make a good impression? After all, the last time I went to anything that involved more students than just Ikeda and Sakura was that unfortunate nightclub business itself. You do want people to remember me in a different light - don't you now?"
"All right, you win, I'm coming." Tenchi held up his hands. "Where do you want to begin?"