Tenchi Muyo All Good Things Chapter 119 Concubine
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Standing suddenly in the doorway of an unfamiliar octagonal room, Ryoko found herself again taking stock. Marveling at the subtle details which proclaimed this new vista unfolding before her as absolutely real. The sight of lavish draperies splashing iridescent color across dark hardwood walls, a lingering aroma she couldn't immediately identify cascaded pleasantly past her perceptions as Ena's voice softly began.
"I was still quite young; the day my mother pulled me roughly into the room where she held her divinations, urgently pressing me to into a cupboard."
Ryoko watched mutely as the narration paused just as an azure skinned woman hurried heedless past her position, leading a little girl as sky blue as she was by the hand quickly to the room's far side.
Matching hair, white as new snow, elegantly affirmed their lineage as the woman hastily drew a drape aside.
Pausing to touch a hidden switch upon the panel just revealed, prompting in turn appearance of a previously hidden opening which appeared almost magically before them. The little girl was ushered then without ceremony in to the space behind, as Ena's voice solemnly resumed.
"Hastily placing a loaf of fresh bread into my hands along with a tankard of water, my mother then said that I was to remain hidden! Not to utter a sound! Until she or my father came for me!"
Ryoko observed, as the action soundlessly followed Ena's words. Seeing first the confusion on the girl's face as the woman, whose features obviously echoed the adult Ena's tenderly brushed flaxen hair away from the child's large emerald eyes. She could sense the rising apprehension as the panel closed a moment later. Almost taste the child's growing fear as if it were her own.
"I remember thinking; it was all just a game!" Ena continued. "I had often hidden there, behind the lavish beaded curtains my mother had sewn. Listening when she told fortunes to the villagers and to the occasional curious outlander.
I soon realized that day however was to be different! Upon hearing my father's voice outside, shouting over those of several other men!"
Again the scene blurred briefly, placing Ryoko upon a rolling plane over looking a quaint village dell. Crude two wheeled carts visibly lumbered along a dirt road, drawn by hulking creatures resembling shaggy rhinoceros more than any oxen she had ever seen.
"It had been a particularly poor harvest." Ena resumed her narration. "Coming near the end of several rough years. 'Itah' and 'Borron' it seems were in the waning portion of a' hotter' solar cycle. With less grain to sell, the normal influx of tradesmen brought proportionally fewer of the needed and wanted commodities upon which the villagers depended."
Ryoko watched azure skinned men and women dressed in leather and homespun labor in fields. Even without Ena's oratory her years observing farmers in Okayama as a spiritual presence were more than enough to tell the soil was being 'stubborn', while 'events' were played out before her in a sort of time lapsed collage. She did find herself wondered briefly, what sort of crops would thrive at all under the two suns blazing in the sky overhead.
"Thus, tensions were riding high!" Ena's voice drifted across the scene even as Ryoko attended. "And so poor timing indeed for nature to bid me manifest my powers!"
Now at the edge of the village, Ryoko caught sight of the little girl again, standing upon the lip of the village well, talking excitedly to anyone who would hear.
"Yet, here was this little girl, telling this villager, 'Go home quickly your house is about to catch fire!' or to that one to, 'Keep an eye on your wife there's a strange man in your house!' At the time, my skills were nowhere near on par with those of my mother 'Elay'. But what I lacked in polish I more than made up for in scope!"
As images continued to flow, Ryoko saw little Ena playing amid other village children. Several blue skinned little boys and girls hard at a sort of 'dancing game' which to Ryoko sort of resembled 'earthly hopscotch'. She observed as the girl pointed, to what appeared to be a healthy 'rhino/beast' while voicing concern to its owner. She then watched in time lapse as the animal slowly withered and died. Then seeing Ena as the scene resolved, back at the well and the dancing game with noticeably less children playing.
"I was able to 'reach forward', sometimes months, with a level of accuracy and detail frightening even to my mother." Ena's voice explained. "And hers, were not the only fears generated by my visions!"
Ryoko watched while the girl played and 'prophesied'. Seeing the villagers grow more fearful as each new revelation unfolded with startling accuracy even as the circle of children allowed to play with her grew smaller.
Finally as the images began to fade into a kind of velvet blackness, the little girl stood alone at the center of the dancing ring. The white pebbles used to play the game falling from her small hand, a sad little frown creasing that beautiful innocent face.
"It was less than roughly two standard years, as measure by the current galactic calendar from the time of my first vision." Ena continued. "On the day before what would have been my thirteenth birthday, that I sat and I waited, listening fearfully to 'the intensity' building in the voices, just outside the walls of our home!"
The scene before Ryoko brightened again, only enough to show the inside of the cupboard in which little Ena had been hidden. She could almost feel the little girl's heart racing faster and faster. Watching as her delicate hands pressed against the panel before her.
"To this day, I still don't know what precisely caused the villagers to turn." Ena explained. "Ironically, my clairvoyance does not extend to more than dimly seeing elements of my own fate. A blessing in some ways I suppose, yet never more inconvenient than then."
From her omnipresent perspective Ryoko saw the child suddenly start within the cupboard. Could see her eyes widen, as she seemed to hear.
"I heard my father Galus, fine-smith supreme, shout yet again." Ena's voice narrated woodenly. "The last time I would ever hear his voice! For the moment was punctuated by a scream from my mother! Seconds before the noise of the crowd rose to a fevered intensity! Random elements of broken dialogue mixed jaggedly the sounds of smashing furnishing as our home too absorbed its measure of their violence! Fear, wonder and a child's curiosity conspired for me to disregard mother's stern instructions and push open the cupboards hidden door!"
Helpless to do more than observe, Ryoko saw the cupboard open before little hands as the action continued, playing out in perfect counterpoint to Ena's words.
"Framed within that narrowest of cracks, I glimpsed Elay. Backing slowly towards me, giving ground only begrudgingly against the belligerent approach of several recognizable men! I watched her slender frame, even then attempting to remonstrate with the unreasoning hoard. I've inherited my mother's sensual hourglass shape I'm proud to say, though I wish now perhaps she'd been the most unappealing of hags! If it would have sparred their insulting attentions! I was force to watch in horror as they boar her down upon one of the ornate benches my father had constructed with his own hands and observed, horrified and helpless, as the men multiply violated her!"
Ryoko too felt an impudent sickness, wanting desperately to charge into the pack of leering men! To butcher them like the animals their action revealed them to be! Yet she was only a passenger on this voyage of the damned. Watching as a tall man opened his red robes while settling between the spread legs of Ena's mother. Held apart while she strained by two others as a third man held her in place on the bench.
"Even amid her anger, shame and humiliation," Ena continued. "My mother never shirked in her duties. As I was loathed to recognize the village cleric laboring over her, Elay's pain filled eyes covertly sought my hiding place. Our gazes almost seeming to meet as my sweet mother slowly shook her head mouthing a single cryptic 'No' my direction."
Ryoko felt her breath, rapid and shallow witnessing it all! Every microscopic moment of pain and degradation as the beautiful woman took their full horrific measure. Noting that she never again looked towards the little girl's hiding place.
"They took their time with her" Ena's voice continued sullenly. "I'm quite certain my father was already dead. So I suppose at the very least, he was spared witnessing the parade of slavering bastards taking what for them must have been some kind of vengeance.
Vengeance? For what, I'm certain I shall never know. I only then recalled next when Jasib, the son of the village miller was mounting my then un-protesting mother. He was a great, ugly beast of a man, who rapidly seemed to become dissatisfied with Elay's lack of enthusiasm and so began to throttle her!"
Ryoko felt her own throat tighten in outraged revulsion, watching gnarled blue paws the size of hams closed about the woman's graceful neck, gripping the by then insensinate woman's throat for leverage, as he oozed his bloated mass back and forth above her.
"The ignorant swine didn't even realize he had killed my precious mother until he had spent himself. Nor had any of his companions seemed to notice or care until it was far too late!"
From somewhere at last Ryoko found the power to shut her eyes, screwing them closed against perverted circus before her! Blotting the sight of Elay's dead listless eyes silently screaming an accusation into the faces of her murders!
"Only in the 'aftershock' did the light of sanity seem at last to find them. I was even treated to the bitter irony of the cleric who'd participated! Saying a hasty blessing over my mother's still warm corpse!
There was, I recall a search, no doubt for the 'little bitch that had somehow eluded them! Yet hearing them ransacking the house, fear bid I pull the cupboard door close."
Ryoko was only able to hold back her gaze for a few moments. In truth part of her somehow feeling she must witness this! For the sake of the little girl Ena once was. A penance she suddenly in some way owed, for the innocence that had been stolen.
"Father had never intended those 'cubbies' to be truly secret." A tinge of wryness manifested itself here as Ena continued. "Only wanting the room in which his beloved wife was to ply her trade not to give hint, it was in fact the home's pantry. So perfectly had my father skillfully blended the enclosures into to the wall, the villagers never suspected that I cowered mere inches away!
I don't remember how long I sat listening to them tear through our home before I heard a cry from one of the men. Asking why one of his fellows was lighting a torch! There was I recall no direct reply to his question that I could hear. Other than a general consensus that they all should flee! Presently I could smell the smoke as the fine timbers my father had fashioned by hand began to burn!"
As the narrative continued Ryoko witness the panic written plainly on young Ena's face as arid white smoke began wafting around her and into the cupboard.
"I waited long as I dare before venturing out..." Ena pressed on. "Going instantly to my poor mother. I tried to move, perhaps drag her body from the path of the fire, but I was only thirteen. As a last desperate act I yanked the pendent father had made for her from around her neck, bidding a tearful goodbye before I ran at last into the night!"
Ryoko observed, from her sifting perspective, standing only now a few feet away. Instinctively extending a hand towards the girl's shoulder wishing desperately to give comfort as both in turn watched from the edge of the nearby woods. Observing in silence as the only home the child had ever known burn to the ground.
"I wandered ... for what must have been months. Among the other skills my parents had taught, the art of herbology proved its worth. There are always useful things growing around for those with the eye and the knowledge, staying clear, rightfully distrustful of the smaller hamlets and townsteads."
While hardly compensating for a lingering sense of horror, Ryoko felt a strange kind of comfort watching little Ena sitting then beside a clear stream. Even found a smile creeping to her lips seeing the child eating several oddly purple roots she had harvested.
Though as Ryoko looked deep into those emerald pools through which young Ena's world was captured, the sadness rose within her again. Noticing, though clear and beautiful as before they were simply no longer the eyes of a child, a clear and sad testament to what she had irretrievably lost.
"It was thus that I quit the region of my birth, eventually finding my way to the city of 'Logopas.' The largest and most important city on the eastern continent and one of the most advanced on my home world of Boralis at that time.
What a spectacle it was too, far larger by many times the size of any gathering of people I had certainly known! On just the cusp of fourteen, it was difficult to find my way, though honestly at the time I didn't really care. As the collage of my days continued, I adapted to the life of a street urchin. Using every trick my young mind could conjure to survive!"
Continuing, baring silent witness, Ryoko silently nodded. She could certainly sympathize, watching young Ena learning the ways of her world, via her old alma mater. Aka, the school of hard knocks!
"I worked at any job that would have me, eventually settling into the esteemed profession of tavern maid! 'Dyken Reyal', a tavern-master was a nasty old sot but treated me reasonably enough I suppose. All in all, a difficult but manageable existence in pursuit of which I did my best to put the past where it belonged. Swearing solemnly never to ply my mother's trade nor use the skills which had ultimately killed both my parents."
Yet again, Ryoko surveyed the changing scene about her, finding it reasonably palatable. She'd certainly seen and been in worse circumstances. The proprietor or Tavern master Ena mentioned was a huge blue bull of a man, almost making three of Nobuyuki! Beside him, the fourteen-year-old Ena looked like a china doll. Ryoko continued to watch Ena settle into her new, if unglamorous life. Catching a glimpse of Ena going to 'knuckle junction' with another tavern maid over pocketing a tip as the Voice of Ena resumed.
"All that changed the day of 'The announcement'.
I will tell you now Ryoko that 'Boralis' had many distinctions as a world. One of which being that it had been known for many, many generations among those who choose to concern themselves with such things, that we as a people were not alone in the universe. It seems however, while having full knowledge of extraterrestrial life and contact with multiple star-fairing races ... My home world being host to a mostly pre-industrial civilization had no real stake in the larger galactic picture.
Apparently, though I confess this information became known to me only much, much later, this no long was a factor after large deposit of Cysrarium, were discovered almost on Logopas's doorstep."
Ryoko found herself nodding, she knew of that one! A pure white, vaguely iridescent appearing ore which when refined became a high energy source, useful in many F.T.L or faster than light stardrives. At least a hundred space hoping technology depended on it in one fashion or another.
"Needless to say, the race was on! Suddenly a small backward planet became a place of intense alien interest. Overnight an obscure mine in the hills was being besieged by all manner of ships dropping from the heavens, in a few short weeks the sight of actual aliens wandering among the populous became almost commonplace. Within months to use terms you will recognize Boralis had become ... Important.
Suitably important even to be recognized by the fabled Jurian Empire, whose protection Boralis now desperately needed.
Amid the continuing series of culture shocks, finding out that we were suddenly part of a empire seemed somehow trivia, at least to the common man. When one is living from coin to mouth, plans for a spaceport/mining hub being drafted up, with the promise of jobs and a better life was something far more palatable. Enough that it seemed the whole planet was suddenly abuzz!"
The scene again moved to the tavern, now three times busier any previous image of the place. Ryoko couldn't resist smiling, watching Ena lithely dart in and out of the tables with the other barmaids.
"None of which of course meant bilge to me!" Ena resumed. "I had just turned seventeen, having in the past year and a half undergone a promotion of sorts. By day I still tended bar and helped the old tavern-master. By night however I now plied the oldest profession known to woman."
Ryoko felt a kind of coldness creep next to her heart at these words. Feeling it crawl deeper inside of her watching in the darkened after hours in rooms above and behind the tavern as the young woman lifted her tavern livery from her elegant shoulders. Only to allow it then to fall, to the sheer delight of a successive series of strange men.
"I would love to spin some elegant lie for you" Her voice grew hard as she continued. "It would be easy to say that I had been forced by circumstance. But the harsh truth of the matter was, I simply didn't care anymore! I had chosen to drown my sorrows, to lose myself within the endless nights and a sea of faces in a sad parody of love. All the talk of the spaceport and planet Boralis's recognition by the Jurians was less than trivial to me."
Ryoko watched, feeling tears starting finally to burn as the girl gave herself again and again to what appeared a never ending night. Almost moved to open weeping for how dead and empty those once beautiful eyes had become.
"That is, until one night...
I was tending bar later than usual and for once looking forward to the nights ... festivities? A particularly interesting man had taken an interest in me. What did it matter if he were paying for my favor? He was young and for once rather pleasant looking if not handsome.
I suppose even then, like so many young girls I was still foolish enough for some part of me to believe there was a prince somewhere out there! Just waiting to come to my rescue!
Thoughts of that nature may even have been playing about while I was wiping down. When suddenly stricken like a thunderbolt with the strongest vision I'd ever experienced!"
Ryoko jolted forward out of pure reflex, observing as the young woman tumbled. One moment running a damp cloth over top of a table the next crying out as her eyes appeared to glaze over as she fell backwards. The image of young Ena passing cleanly through Ryoko's outstretched hands as she fell to the floor.
"So powerful in fact was the vison that I lost consciousness!" Ena explained solemnly.
All about Ryoko the scene shifted again, melting and flowing from where the young blue woman gazed with milk white eyes at the bars ceiling as the other tavern maids gather round, stabilizing now just outside of the tavern.
Or had it? She couldn't help notice how the view seemed to continue to 'shift' slightly here and there. As if certain details were subtly missing. Most likely she reasoned because she was now inside of the younger Ena's vision.
A dream, within a dream ... Sorta.
"In the realm between, I found myself suddenly standing amid a crowd along the city's main thoroughfare, watching some bizarre kind of parade." Ena's voice resumed.
"You look good." Tenchi told the Princess as she stood leaning against the side of the porch. It had been several minutes now, the two of them standing there, alone. The air in the living room before had seemed, stifling. Beyond his ability finally to bear. There hadn't been anything so much as a plan in coming outside, rather than the sudden, almost overwhelming need to just get out of there! Tenchi had taken her hand almost without realizing he had done so. More of ... an after thought...
"WHA?!" A just arriving Ryoko yelped, suddenly finding her self standing at finger point, while Tenchi, among others blinked in surprise. He however was the only one suddenly very aware of the pressure Ayeka was exerting on his arm as just to the other side of the Princess, certain galactic law officials where sizing up the pending predicament. "And now it gets really interesting!" Kiyone thought glumly. Not, without an appropriate amount of sympathy for Tenchi to be sure. "OH!"...
Lady Funaho had changed little since Mihoshi had last seen her. But then, she had 'changed' little in the last thousand years if the truth were told. One did not bring such matters up around the queen of Jurai However, if one wished to remain in good health. "I would say that this is an unexpected pleasure." The queen politely intoned. "But of course we know that would be untrue." Kiyone stood staring, uncharacteristically mute. Mihoshi however, having met the queen on more than one...
The next hour or so was blessedly uneventful, for the most part. Beginning with the Grand marshal being sent on his merriest of ways, 'sarcasm intended', with a surprising minimum of fuss. Azusa's bemusement at having so efficiently defused the situation however suddenly melted upon his return to the vicinity of the front yard. The very moment his dark brooding eyes had set upon where Ayeka stood. Something poignant seemed to have passed briefly between father and daughter. Enough...
"I'm surprised they're allowing us so much time together really." Tenchi huffed. Sparing only a few glances the direction of the massive tent the Jurian's had set up in the vicinity. Noting with some amazement something which had been absent only yesterday now towered over and almost completely engulfed most of the old rest stop. "Don't they have some traditions about, you know? 'Seeing' the bride before the wedding or some such?" He finished. Deliberately ignoring the now...
Sasami had been waiting patiently as she might. Attempting to hold a sense of what she believed was termed 'cultivated composer'. That managed to last until the first few bars of the all too familiar 'Wedding March' began. For the way that her heart leaped in her chest it might well have been 'Toccata en Fugue'. She quickly reminded herself that she was not about to greet some mad doctor or even a disfigured deranged organ playing actor for that mater. This was her wedding day and...
Several minutes, and as many buckets of soapy water later. The female contingent of Wataru's crew had almost restored the mini to showroom condition. While Sara, Mikito and Yoshi worked, the interval also witnessed Yuba's final tentative re-emergence from the caravan. "Now, Yuba dearest." Michele attempted to console. "Everyone has a moment or two of dementia now and then." "My god!" Yuba wailed, as Michele steered her sullenly towards a rest stop bench. "I really showed my...
Turning to regard the new speaker even as the others, Tenchi felt something in the location he normally associated as his brain simply freeze. In his twenty-one years he'd done and believed he had 'seen', many a great thing. Some of which could even be termed 'miraculous' Perhaps even godly. This however was the first time he could specifically remember seeing someone who actually looked ... Well, like one always expected an alien to look. She was blue! His mind instantly shooting...
'Tenchi the magnificent', glanced under at the first hold down's release mechanism, then again at the rectangular shape muted under the bright green tarp on top. Realizing he'd barley noticed it on the stage/bed behind Yuba. "Well, She had nice legs." He admitted privately, among other distractions at the time. "You go round." He started, pausing when noting Todd staring into the distance with a look of undisguised wonder. Just then on the ground, in front of him ... a moving shadow,...
Tenchi dragged more than walked himself up the darkened entry hall. Even by his standards, this had been one exhausting day. Thoughts of food, bath and bed circled his mind while trudging past entry into the living room, wondering who would be still up at this hour? Seated across from the doorway from him, Katsuhito sat holding a sleeping Mayuka while providing Ayeka a shoulder against which to slumber. It would have been an idyllic scene, if not for how pissed he currently were at his...
"Ow." Kiyone moaned softly. Fidgeting when gently as possible, Tenchi laid her down. "Lie still." He commanded, equally soft, before turning purposefully to a squat cupboard at one side of the Olsen's entryway. "Hold on." He told her soothingly. "I'll be just a moment." He would rather have taken her to the shrine however she'd insisted her injuries were not severe and the Olsen with its supply of healing herbs was closer. Once certain his back was to her Kiyone allowed her...
Day 3: (Faster than the speeding bullet.) The steady rhythmic hum of the passenger car nestled about him. The dull regular 'clackity-clack' as the train's bogies made their way across countless trestles beneath. So oddly soothing in its way as one came to terms and accepted. That after a time, it had almost Lulled Tenchi in to a kind of daze. Last night had been complete and utter hell, his thoughts wandered briefly backwards. The events of the previous day insuring a state of total...
"Tenchi?" Kiyone whispered urgently. "Uh?" he attempted, then embarrassed at the slight lapse, swallowed the portion in his mouth. He'd been concentrating on his meal, desperately avoiding eye contact with Sasami while ignoring Ayeka's periodic flinging of visual daggers at her sister. "What's on your mind Key?" He whispering at diminished volume. "Is, they're something wrong with your Grandfather?" She asked. "Huh?" "Would you mind?" Ayeka muttered, annoyed as Kiyone...
"Daaaaaadeeee." Tenchi seemed to hear from a great distance. "You gonna wake up?" The darkness shrouding his senses seemed to be lifting gradually, though the room about him remained fuzzy. "Key?" The child's voice came again. "Why don't he open he eyes?" Tenchi tried to concentrate, certain that he recognized the voices. Not an easy feat, feeling like he was swimming in Jell-O. "Give him a moment sugar bear," He seemed to hear distinctly. "You're daddy's been through a...
Smiling, his mind in a whirl Tenchi was yet again, wondering ... He was still uncertain exactly what had made that moment any different from countless others, but having no real regrets. What was more, it had all come so natural, instinctively. like he had done it before ... Had he? It was after all just a kiss. Mechanically it wasn't 'brain science' or even 'rocket surgery', but at the end of any day, is a kiss just as kiss? He'd always wondered also ... Well, what Ryoko would taste...
Hero had been sitting at the base of the entry hall stairs staring despondently at his shoes for several minutes. He been siting there far longer he supposed, lost in thought uncertain of his next move. His conversation with the queen had raised far more questions than it had answered. To say nothing of the considerable inner turmoil it had stirred up! The same questions had been rolling through his mind, over and over again since the Queen had made it her business to be elsewhere and no...
Elsewhere at roughly the same time, Tenchi was making his way along the house sun porch. Briefly he paused, taking the majestic view of the placid lake offered from this angle. Then, taking a deep breath, he smiled. "The coast is clear Mr. Sheagame." He addressed the empty air. "You can come out now." There followed a long pause during which nothing happened. Then suddenly, sounds of shuffling from underneath prompted seconds later a slight squeak. Signaling in turn loose boards being...
"I tell you Tenchi it was Achika!" Kiyone swore. "Right in front of me plain as day!" Having cleaned and washed, no longer looked like a victim of a food riot, Tenchi stopped. Turning slightly, holding the ends of a towel around his neck in both hands, staring at her evenly. "Why don't you believe me?" Kiyone challenged. "First of all," He told her slowly. "I never said that I didn't, Key." "Well what do you think..." She began. "What I said, was 'let's not talk about...
"Excellent!" Funaho breathed decisively, as Kiyone continued to glare holes in her. More than anything, Key thought the Queen seemed ... Relieved? Almost like she was expecting another answer? She wasn't certain, and didn't know that moment if she gave a damn anyway! "Not like this!" Ayeka openly wept, still kneeling on the floor leaning forward to bury her face into hands. "Please eternal Tsunami! Not like this!" She whispered, almost inaudibly. It was difficult to watch and almost...
Their arrival at stair's end was not at all disappointing. As usual, Sasami had pulled out all stops preparing lunch. The largest permanent table in the rest stops area covered with bright linen. Even from where they stood, the aroma was sheer heaven. "You know Sasami," Kiyone was saying, while Katsuhito and Washu looked on. "You're going to a lot of trouble for just a lunch!" Watching as the second princess was finishing a few last touches with Kiyone holding a box, on which Sasami...
"Dear mother and father," Ayeka wrote. Now siting in her side of the divided room she shared with Sasami. "I hope this writing finds you in the best of heath. I must confess I have been remiss in my correspondence with you, but with father's quite verbal abatements as to my 'living in shameful denial of my family duties' Nothing I could offer would have done more than simply aggravate the situation. To that end, I hope this pronouncement will gladden father's heart, as I wish to...
Ayeka stood, slightly stooped over eyes closed, totally out of breath. Slowly, methodically the princess began taking deep 'lung-fulls' of air. Sara, at that moment being the closest to the stairs stood blinking at the young woman's sudden appearance. Glancing then back along the ancient flight to a curious a trail of dust still spiraling, linking the front of the distant house to the top step of the shrine. "Who is that?" Yoshi asked voice brimming with awe, still standing over where...
"You are now Husband and wife," A voice coaxed softly behind them. With every thing going on it took Tenchi some seconds realizing it was Masaki addressing them. "There is no longer a need to restrain yourselves!" Ayeka's mother smiled. Responding to the gentle urging Tenchi opened his hand shifting his grip. Only just aware of the last of the vines still entwining their fore arms falling away. Noting in its passing the delicate patterns now indelibly there understandable more livid...
There was music in the air. The shrine and its grounds had been meticulously cleaned, not that Katsuhito had EVER allowed them to fade into disrepair. Tenchi had more than his share of calluses attesting to the fact. It was never the less a point of amusement for him to note several of the flagstones he was going to replace this week had been hastily dealt with. Obviously to his eye by someone new to using a trowel. Whatever they had 'stuck' them down with didn't even appear to be...
"Ah Mr. Masaki!" The man behind the counter said in surprisingly fluent Japanese. Tenchi had never considered himself racist, but hearing his native tongue from an someone of such obvious Jewish origin, without a trace of accent was ... Well, just plain odd. Not that 'it' coming from what appeared to be a floating wooden log was any less strange. "Or a bronzed, elf eared, blue eyed blond bomb shell for that matter!" He thought with a smile. "I understand you need some custom sizing...
"It's Beautiful." Mihoshi breathed. Looking over at her, Tony had to agree, enjoying the soulful perhaps 'mesmerized' look that had come over Miho. He could sympathize really, he was sort'a fixated himself, on Mihoshi. "You really like it?" He baited. "IT'S SO CUTE!!!!" She squealed. Clasping her gloved hands together and bouncing in place staring at the mini. "Well, I'm pleased to hear that Miho," He told her. "Cause were gonna take pictures of you and the car...
In spite of her being closer at start of their sprint, Tenchi easily beat Kiyone to roadside. Not that she was really going 'flat out' mind you. When coming finally a breast to him however, it seemed to her that most of his sense of urgency was lost. Obviously reading her next question with a glance, Tenchi simply pointed. Allowing her to follow the line of his gesture. Before Kiyone suddenly felt a groan rising from within. "Kiyone!" Came a weak and distant wail. Staggering up the...
"Grandpa's right." Tenchi thought bitterly, forcing the memory to subside with difficulty, taking its place among a multitude of lingering regrets. "I'm being selfish and it's just plain wrong!" He silently added. Having finished stowing all the tools, he then made his way towards the front entry. Of course, that was not precisely true ether, he continued to consider. Oh, he had tried to make amens with how he had unintentionally stabbed Ayeka in the heart. He had given her the...
With attention focused on the small screen, Ryoko absently reached into the box and after a moment of two of groping managed to procure the intended prize. "Quit hogging the crackers!" She hissed in a low voice. Sparing the princess only the smallest of sideways glances. "You know perfectly well you're the one shoveling them into you trap!" Ayeka whispered, fiercely indignant. "Shhhhh!" Ryoko snapped "They'll hear your big mouth!" grimacing while gesturing at the small device...
"Did you enjoy your meal sir?" The stunning brunette behind the lunch counter asked. "Not really," Tenchi thought, smiling politely, wondering if he should just come right out and say... "I'm accustom to larger portions and the sauce you use for your teriyaki eel is substandard at best!" Instead he simply nodded and smiled. After all Washu's seafood supply plus Sasami's cooking no doubt had him spoiled rotten! "And here's your change!" She intoned, pleasantly if mechanically,...
"Here we are again." Tenchi thought dryly. Though the observation was largely untrue. The ubiquitous rhythms beneath the earlier car were all but absent. Replace with a lulling 'throb' barely hinting at the power and speeds they were currently traveling. He'd also been spared the the indignations of being forced to stand, hanging on to a ceiling strap for dear life. More over and perhaps most importantly, Sasami was no longer stalking him. Like grandpa, she was dead to the world....
"Lucky son of a bitch!" Todd said wonderingly as Tenchi was dragging Ayeka away. "Come again?" Kiyone asked, in the act of taking a step forward to follow almost involuntarily, When Todd's remark brought her up short. "I mean some guys have all the luck!" He said quickly. Having seen what had just 'gone down' Todd was reevaluating his chances. 'Clearly, Masaki and that 'Ayeka' chick were an 'item'. "So." He ventured now that he seemed to have Kiyone's attention. "What's...
"One can't help but wonder," Petra intoned solemnly. "How many times have feet of countless multitudes traversed these stones?" He paused, gesturing at the step on which he stood. "Wearing them away as worshipers and acolytes tended to the needs of the spirits which bind these mountains together." Petra descended the flight of ancient stairs slowly as he continued his narrative. "Listen!" He said, stopping. "One can almost hear them whispering!" He looked toward the other side of...
To her credit Ryo-ohki didn't jump or lose grip on the tray, though her eyes did widen slightly. The ambient light catching the crimson jewel at her brow. Looking her over, Tenchi was in a mild state of shock. Ryo-chan looked nice. Really nice! It was plainly obvious there was feminine skullduggery a foot. Noting instantly not only was there only one glass on the tray but two straws. "I know Ayeka and Ryoko had a hand in the clothes and make up but the juice and straws," He paused...
It was only as the door behind them slid suddenly shut that Tenchi realized they simply weren't where they were suppose to be. No amount of redressing could have 'added' the extra space opening up before them supposedly inside of the priest quarters. That in of itself wasn't too disconcerting, he'd been telliported, translocated, dimensionally shifted and phased through solid matter once too often to go willy-nilly over such things anymore. For a good solid second or so the...
Kiyone had lain for more than several additional moments. Allowing her over taxed mind to simply 'idle' while just listening to the muffled exchanges from somewhere in the house below. The exact interval she lay there likewise went unnoticed when she suddenly started. Making out what was clearly Azusa amid the others she could hear. Perhaps she was still 'off balance' to put her current state into the mildest of terms but hearing the emperor's voice served to crystallize the...
"One hundred fifty seven!" Kiyone grimaced, chinning herself on a bar suspended between two of the older trees on the training ground. "Going to kill her!" She gasped upon lowering to full extension, before exerting, rising again. "One hundred fifty eight!" She rasped upon returning chin to the bar. "Finally lost what little brain she had!" She then growled, then lowered. Then, in spite of working off a serious 'mad on' since she had arrived, Kiyone executed her one hundred and...
"What I would like to know!" Misaki conferred angrily as she fairly stalked along besides Azusa. "Is how they always seemed to know our comings and goings!" They were moving towards 'the boardwalk' that spanned the small section lake almost touching the house. Now surrounded by a healthy selection of the imperial guard. "Come now good wife." Azusa soothed, seeming far less concerned. "They most certainly have their sources as indeed do we." Misaki seemed to consider, digesting...
Ryoko carefully slid the door open, glanced left, right, then just for good measure leaned impossibly backward. Defying gravity just shy of bringing both feet off the floor as she surveyed the darkened corridor behind to either side. "The coast is clear!" She whispered gleefully, having no real idea what that saying had to do with someone lurking about but when in Rome... Thinking 'that' in turn set her to 'thinking' which made her pause. "Whoo boy!" She grumbled shaking her head,...
"Soon." The thought drifted, as the presence unseen bided its time. Watching quietly as Sasami turned and left for the kitchen from the eves above of the entry hall, "Just a little longer" A silent promise was made from the shadows which clung there. "And he'll be all mine!" Patiently observing as the chosen quarry returned just below, watching as Tenchi set to stowing his heavy work boots. Waiting pensively for the right moment to strike! The instant Sasami hurriedly disappeared...
"Meyow..." Ryo-chan moaned. Watching darkness slowly fade as the shadows about her assembled themselves, taking on the familiar shapes of Sasami and Kiyone looking down at her. "Meyow?" she asked faintly, hoping, somehow she had imagined the whole business. "That's a big aye-firmitive Ryo-honey." Kiyone told her seriously. "You plum fainted." "Mooooooh." Ryo-ohki whispered, totally mortified suddenly identifying the new location she was in as the sun porch or patio. Smiling...
"Sis?" Sasami called quietly, knocking softly at the door. "You still awake?" In the darkness beyond Ayeka turned, in a way grateful for the intrusion. Try as she may, sleep simply would not come. She had lain for what seemed like hours, wrestling with her conscience. Listening to the sounds of house surrounding her. It had taken every ounce of will she could muster not to rise and follow, when she'd heard Tenchi's soft foot steps. Growing fainter and fainter as she noted his leaving...
In her room, Ayeka paused regarding herself in her full-length mirror. With the original destruction of Reyo, she had gone for the longest time unable to stand the sight of any artifacts, which they had managed to reclaim from the wreckage. So when Misaki's mirror had been recovered, seeing it broken covered in muck, only seemed to vigorously salt an open wound. She had no idea at the time it could be restored in such a fashion! She was a princess, not an artisan after all! So when Tenchi...
Night had at last fallen. "Time flies." Tenchi mused to himself quietly. "As the saying goes." He was uncertain of how long he had been laying there, the wedding seemed only a few hours ago. Not precisely tired from his exertions, though he supposed the word 'fun' was a raggedly deficient descriptor of the last few hours. It was curious that he found himself speculating as to the current location of the massive Ryeo unit in relation to his house. Was it floating? perhaps even...
"One should always remember, my princess." Shalla nodded pleasantly, her wizened features almost seeming to bob upon her neck. "Virtue is mostly for the masses! Nothing is inherently sinful in the bed chamber after all!" In the sun-room at the houses West End Ayeka, now dressed only in a light robe, surveyed her options without much enthusiasm. Gone where the carrot shaped throw pillows and cushions, replaced by row after row of garment racks holding the finest livery. Except for the...
"Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!" Ryoko called across the field. "You boys hungry? I got the cure! Plain, mild or spicy? It's great I'll insure! Step up quick, Jump up real fast! I got the beef but it sure won't last! Pork so juicy you'll yell for more! The pigs in heaven and the taste'll take you there for shore! Noodles so tasty slippery and hot! Come one, come all my Ramen will hit the spot! Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!" Ayeka found herself smiling, Ryoko seemed to be in her element. It...
"My god!" Tony gasped, standing finally at foot of the path gazing up, taking in the awesome glory that was Funaho. He'd been walking, taking picture and muttering since arriving at valley rim. So much so both Mihoshi and Michele trailing behind were beginning to think the camera was geared to his legs and larynx. Step, Click! Step, Click! "Good lord!" Step, Click! Step, Click! "Incredible!" On and on with only minor variations. Until finally standing at start of the modest path...
Suddenly within her minds eye Ryoko was aware of being lowered, feeling bare shoulders touch a smooth soft surface that yielded under her. Experiencing a brief but pleasant friction as her body was eased downward. All but suspended by a pair of wonderfully muscular arms. In the dark above her, enough light was present to reveal a pair of dark morocco eyes silently regarding her. "So ... beautiful," A man's voice sighed. "You have been haunting me all day!" In turn Ryoko simply stared,...
"Groggily I tried to reassure the panicky young gaggle of women, rapidly finding myself at spear point!" Ena's words continued contritely. The beach Ryoko now found herself standing upon had that curious blend of the familiar and the unknown. After all, she had trod the surface of many worlds and after a certain point, one beach front is much like another. The tidal pool in which the current drama was playing itself out, lacked the same overall serenity of a calm coastal day. Yet it was...
"The nerve!" Todd muttered sympathetically, having witnessed the entire scene. "Pardon me?" Ayeka started still stunned, turning to look uncomprehendingly at him. "Sounds like sour grapes if you ask me!" He added brightly, adjusting the strap holding the cam he was carrying. "I-I'm afraid I don't..." Ayeka stammered, still in a kind of shock. "Well, its kind'a obvious!" Todd continued smoothly, really wanting to cheer her up. "I think the girls around here should just 'wake...
"Ok," Kiyone was saying evenly, halting as she was passing through and under the Torii. "Now repeat it back to me." "No touching, no button pressing, no lever throwing." Mihoshi sighed, taking the final step up. "No cable disconnecting, no tying or untying for that matter." She continued after pausing beneath the Torii's arch, reciting in a sing song voice complete with rocking her head back and forth in time with the meter of her words. "And if I see anything in my way higher than...
"Tell me," Kagito addressed The girl pleasantly. "Why dose a 'weapon' need an education hmm?" The younger incarnation of Ryoko simply looked at him curiously as he approached. Continuing to study him when he stopped only a few feet away regarding her intently. "Power down." He commanded firmly. In response the girl closed her eyes, flipping a mental switch causing the colors of her battle skin to fade, ebony and crimson lightening, its protective epidermis thinning until she stood...
"MAYUKA!" A voice suddenly called. Ryo-oki came running into the room at almost a dead run. Before Washu and Ayeka's startled gaze, Ryo-chan slid to a halt then fell to her knees throwing her arms about the child. It was obvious to anyone Ohki had been crying her eyes out. "Hi dad ya hondar of lik dat?" She sobbed, squeezing the child tightly. "I sorry!" Mayuka sniffed. Petting Ryochan's fur. "Wanted see what wrong wit Papa yuki!" Ryo-ohki looked up. Glanced at where Nobuyuki now...
The Noise of the celebration cascaded all about the palace, as it had done for the past three days. Her ability to endure more unbridled adulation of her fawning subjects long since exhausted, Ayeka finally sought relative peace and sanctity in her chambers. She bore no ill will, did not fault the common folk their desire to see, to speak and even attempt touching her! After all, they were her subjects and she, their new queen. Still clad in her flowing gown, Ayeka found the relative quiet...
Ryo-Ohki was happy. Of course that was her usual state, being one of the most 'up beat' creatures in creation. Having left Sasami at last sleeping soundly, she was off on her nightly hunt, searching relentlessly for the perfect bed. She didn't sleep so much as 'catnapped' for want of a better term. With three solid hours being the longest interval Ryo-chan had ever slept in one go in her entire current existence, over seven hundred years of hibernation not withstanding. Carefully...
Only a few hours later, inside the more mundane portions of the Misaki home, Hero looked up expectantly from where he knelt at table side. Waiting patiently within the small dining area, he nodded respectfully to the queen as Funaho was first to arrive fresh from the bath. Noting Misaki trailing less than a step behind. Taking the moment also of delighting privately as any man would upon the arrival of so many healthy females, attending Tanzuru aside. "And where have you been all this...
"To recap; Just under and hour ago the entire entourage finally arrived here at the United nations." Andarka solemnly addresses her audience. "Consisting of the Japanese Prime Minister and several notable cabinet officials as well." With a well-lighted hallway serving as 'backdrop' Andarka Moi looks attractive and markedly different from the last time we saw her. Favoring a more tightly conservative cut and style. The majority of her hair is wound in a tight braid, coiled and...
At a gesture from Ena, Ryoko glanced to her left as yet another scene began its revelation. "I awoke,..." Ena explained quietly. "How much later I do not know, to find Azusa tending me." Ryoko raised an eyebrow at the vision revealed. The younger version of Ena now lay naked, starkly sprawled on a raised platform in some darkened chamber. The effect of her nudity heightened by a single source of overhead illumination and the ebony material upon which she lay. Rendering sight of the...