I'll Go With You
(Tenchi Story Arc: Mihoshi)
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://members.tripod.com/~Ammadeau/fanfiction.htm

Any C&C, comments, or questions would be appreciated.

Part of the Tenchi Story Arc, originally created by Robert Ballet.

Part 1 (of 3, hopefully)

***

Washu and Tenchi were sitting around her lab, discussing his latest 
failure.  Or rather Washu was sitting while Tenchi was still 
strapped to her machine.  Tenchi had tried making changes to the 
past so he could settle down with Ryoko or Aeka, but neither world 
had worked out in the end, much to his frustration.  There was 
always something he didn't think of that ended up ruining 
everything.

"You know, Tenchi," Washu told him after taking a sip of tea.  
"Those weren't the only changes you could have made.  There are 
probably several other alterations that would have left you happy 
with either Ryoko or Aeka, perhaps even both."

Tenchi shivered a little at the suggestion.  He had a hard enough 
time dealing with one, both would be too much for him to handle.  
"I don't know Washu, they're both so much that I don't think I'd be 
able to survive that, and besides, I can't think of anything else to 
try and win one of them right now.  Maybe I should try for 
someone a little more normal, like Mihoshi."

A frown crossed Washu's face.  Tenchi wasn't very surprised; he 
knew that the diminutive genius and the galaxy police officer didn't 
get along very well.  "There's nothing normal about Mihoshi."

"Maybe, but at least she doesn't have the power to blow up the 
house a dozen times over."

"Need I remind you of a little incident involving Mihoshi and a her 
shuttle?  Believe me, Mihoshi is dangerous enough with the power 
that she has."

Tenchi did remember when Mishoshi had crashed her shuttle into 
the lake.  It was a good thing Washu was around the repair the 
house so quickly or his father would have had a fit.  Mihoshi had 
come back sooner than any of them had expected, just because he 
had said that she could.  He remembered how her whole face had 
lit up when he had said that.  It was the first real time that he knew 
that Mihoshi had some feelings for him.  He also remembered not 
being upset at the house being leveled, mainly because he could 
see her again.  So maybe he had some feelings for her too.

Tenchi had also sometimes wondered what being a Galaxy Police 
officer would be like.  At heart, all he wanted was a simple life on 
Earth, but that didn't mean that a part of him didn't ponder how it 
would be to right wrongs out among the stars.  He wondered how 
different his life would have been had he gone with her to make 
that report rather than inviting her to return.  "Wait, that's it!"

"What's it, Tenchi?"

"Washu, what if I had gone with Mihoshi when she left to make 
her report and didn't come back?"

Tenchi could tell by Washu's expression that she didn't like this 
idea at all.  "The other girls would feel extremely upset for one."

Tenchi didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but knew that it was 
that reluctance that had gotten him into the mess he was in now, 
not to mention had ruined his chances for happiness in the last 
experiments he had tried.  "Yes, they'd be hurt and probably angry 
at first, but letting them down easy didn't work before.  Maybe this 
way they'll get over me."

"I really don't know about this, Tenchi."  Washu sounded 
extremely reluctant, but Tenchi couldn't be sure if the thought of 
Mihoshi was clouding her judgment.

"Come on Washu, there'll be no harm in trying this."

Washu nodded as she started up the machine again.  "If you say so 
Tenchi, but I don�t think you've given this enough thought.  Don't 
be surprised when it doesn't work."

Tenchi nodded as his world dissolved in a flash of light.

***

"Tenchi, are you all right?"  He heard Mihoshi say to him.

Tenchi opened his eyes as he recovered from the slight wave of 
dizziness that was the only side effect of Washuu's machine.  He 
marveled at how precise it was.  Mihoshi now stood before him in 
her black dress uniform, her blue eyes wide in concern for him.  
Behind her, her shuttle lay in the placid lake as the sun set behind 
it.  Sasami and Ryo-oki were at his side, also looking up at him 
with worried expressions.  This was the exact moment which he 
wanted to change.  "I'm fine, really.  Just a little dizzy there for a 
moment."

Mihoshi nodded and straightened up.  "Tenchi, thanks for 
everything.  I'll never forget the time that I spent here," she told 
him with a smile that had much more of an effect on him now, then 
when this had first happened.  He was surprised on how sad and 
wistful a smile could look.

"Mihoshi, are you really going home?" Sasami asked, her young 
voice filled with emotion.  Tenchi had forgotten that he hadn't been 
the only one who had been reluctant to see the GP officer go.

"I have to, because of my work," Mihoshi replied regretfully, 
looking down at her hands.

"No, I don't want you to!" Sasami suddenly shouted, grabbing hold 
of Mihoshi's hands as she began to cry.

Before Sasami's tears, Mihoshi's professional facade crumbled.  
"I'm sorry, Sasami.  I don't want to . . . I don't . . ." she said as her 
own tears began.

"Sasami, please don't be difficult," Tenchi told her, this time to 
make it more easy on him then on Mihoshi for what he was 
planning to do.  He didn't want to think of how much it would hurt 
this little girl when both he and Mihoshi left her behind.

"But Tenchi," Sasami said, giving Tenchi a hug that only made 
him feel more guilty.  His resolve was firm, however.  If he didn't 
do this, nothing would change, and no one could be happy.

"Mihoshi, would it be better if I went with you?"  Tenchi asked 
her, hiding a slight smile.

"What?" Mihoshi said in some surprise, blinking away her tears.

"I thought that I'd go with you.  I've always wanted to see the 
galaxy and who knows?  Might even want to join the Galaxy 
Police."

"Really?"  Mihoshi asked, her eyes sparkling.

Tenchi nodded with a smile.  "Yes, really."

"I'm so happy!"  Mihoshi practically shouted and danced around.

"No!" Sasami shouted, tightening her hug on Tenchi.  "You can't 
leave me too, Tenchi!"  "Miya, miya!" chimed in Ryo-oki with her 
own protests.

Tenchi looked down to her young face, tears flowing freely from 
his eyes, and said the first thing that came to his mind, "Why don't 
you come with us, Sasami?"

"I can?  Really?" she asked, sounding very excited.

Tenchi had the feeling that he had just made a big mistake, but he 
couldn't take back his words before her hopeful expression.  Not 
trusting himself to speak, he simply nodded.

"Wow, it's going to be so much fun!" Sasami shouted in glee.

"Yes, it will," Mihoshi added with a joyful giggle.

Tenchi nodded and said, "But we have to leave now or everyone 
else will want to come too.  That means leaving everything you 
have behind.  Except Ryo-oki, of course."

Mihoshi added, "Oh, I still have some old outfits that should fit 
Sasami pretty well.  I really have no idea why my father packed 
them for me.  But what about you, Tenchi?"

Tenchi realized then that it might have been better if he had 
jumped in sometime before this moment so he could have spent 
some time packing, but then again that might have given his whole 
plan away.  *Well, there's no time to worry about that now.*

"I'll be fine," he told them.  "I can pick up some things on the way.  
I think we should leave right now, though."

Mihoshi nodded and they quickly boarded the shuttle.

***

"Bye bye now, don't come back for a long time," Aeka and Ryoko 
said simultaneously as they watched the shuttle take off.  Moments 
later, after the lake water had settled down again, they realized 
something was wrong.

"Hey, where's Tenchi?"  Ryoko asked as she looked out to where 
the boy had stood only minutes ago.

"And Sasami as well," Aeka added, studying the same spot.

The former space pirate turned to face the crown princess of Jurai.  
"You don't think..?"

"That Mihoshi would kidnap Tenchi and Sasami?"  Aeka asked 
and laughed.  "I certainly doubt that.  She is a Galaxy Police 
officer, after all."

"I don't know.  She's been awfully friendly to my Tenchi lately and 
some people will do anything to get what they want."

Aeka had noticed Ryoko referring to him as 'her' Tenchi, so she 
asked with some venom, "If that's true, then why didn't you kidnap 
Tenchi some time ago?"

"Honestly?  I never thought of it before.  Well, I did try something 
like that before and it didn't work out, thanks to you.  Either way, 
I'm going to stop that shuttle.  Come, Ryo-oki!"

The both waited for some time in silence, but the cabbit failed to 
appear.

"Damn it!" Ryoko shouted.  "I can't sense her, so she must be out 
of range."

"I would seem that Mihoshi kidnapped Ryo-oki as well."

"How can you be so calm about this?  She kidnapped Tenchi!"

"And Sasami," Aeka added.

"Yeah, and your own sister!  How can you be so calm, especially 
when my ship is gone and it'll be years before your ship will fly 
again?"

"It's simple, we ask Washu.  She must have some way of following 
them."

Without a word, Ryoko rushed off to Washu's lab, Aeka following 
close behind.

Washu sat calmly as Ryoko and Aeka took turns in explaining to 
her what had happened.  By this time, neither of them were calm.

"I see.  Well, there is something I can do--"

Aeka jumped in.  "I knew there would be, after all you are the 
number one genius scientist in the universe."

"True, but as I was saying, there is something I can do, but it's 
going to take time to set up.  And I'd finish it much faster without 
the two of you in the way."

"But she'll get away with Tenchi!"  Ryoko protested.

"Don't worry, Ryoko dear.  With my invention, it won't matter how 
far away they are.  After all, I am a scientific genius!"

Ryoko and Aeka were forced to wait outside Washu's lab until she 
called for them.  They both showed an amazing amount of 
patience, for them at least, but after three hours and no sign of 
Washu, that patience was completely exhausted.

Ryoko burst into the lab with Aeka following close behind.  What 
they saw shocked them speechless.  The lab was now mostly 
empty.  In fact, entire portions of the lab were simply missing.  The 
only room that remained was where Ryu-oh was growing.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Ryoko shouted as electricity 
arched between her hands.

Too stunned to speak, Aeka handed Ryoko a note that she had just 
found on the door.  It read "Went after Tenchi.  Love, Washu.  PS, 
try not to blow up the house while I'm gone."

Their screams of outrage could be heard from far away.

At the nearby Masaki shrine, Katsuhito wondered what all the 
commotion was about, but was confident that he would find out 
soon enough.

***

"Yukinojo?  I'd like for you to meet Tenchi and Sasami."

"Miya."

Mihoshi giggled.  "And of course, Ryo-oki."

Yukinojo bowed, or at least as much a bow as a robot head could 
manage.  "A pleasure to meet you all.  But Mihoshi, why are they 
here?"

"Why are they here?  To come with us, of course."

"With us?" the robot asked, blinking in surprise.

Mihoshi, finally realizing that her guests have been standing for the 
last ten minutes, took out her control cube.  "Now, I know there 
was a way to configure the bridge for three people," she said as she 
started fiddling with it.

Tenchi was surprised by the cup of coffee that suddenly appeared 
in his hands.  He was happy that it came with a saucer because it 
was steaming hot.  Ryo-oki had to quickly dodge out of the way 
when one of the compartments above her suddenly opened up and 
dumped out all of its contents.  Sasami had instantly become the 
proud possessor of a battery-powered portable grill.  "I can make 
grilled fish on this!" she enthused.

"Quarter turn of the right side," Yukinojo instructed once it had 
figured out her purpose.  "And then turn the top 18 degrees."

Mihoshi did as she was instructed and the modular bridge began to 
move around, with two additional seats coming up from the floor.  
"There, I did it!" she said happily.

"You certainly did," Tenchi replied as he took a seat and a sip of 
the coffee.  He had never really drank coffee before, but this was 
rather good.

Sasami took her own seat, with Ryo-oki perched on her head and 
the hibachi slung across her lap.

"We will be docking with the main ship shortly," Yukinojo 
announced.

They only felt a slight jarring sensation, like the echo of a far-away 
earthquake, before Yukinojo said, "Docking with the main ship 
complete."

"Great," Mihoshi told her robotic assistant.  "Then let's make our 
report."

The robot head sweat-dropped.  "Mihoshi, there are currently three 
unauthorized personal on the bridge.  It is against Galaxy Police 
regulations to talk about sensitive matters like your report in front 
of them.  I suggest that they wait in one of the rooms of the main 
ship."

"It's okay, Yukinojo.  There were there for everything I'm going to 
report on anyway."

"I don't want you to get into any sort of trouble, Mihoshi," Tenchi 
told her.  " Sasami and I can wait in your room or something.  It'll 
be no problem."

"Okay, I'll show you all to my room.  You could watch TV there if 
you want.  Us GP officers get Galactic TV for free.  My report 
should only take a few minutes anyway."

Mihoshi lead them down the main corridor of the ship a short ways 
until they reached a room that had a sign proclaiming "Mihoshi" in 
badly drawn characters and little yellow stars all around it.

Tenchi and Sasami were more than a little surprised by what they 
found inside.  Mihoshi's home at the Masaki residence was never 
what one would call clean, though she did make a weekly effort to 
keep it in shape.  This room looked like it had never been cleaned 
at all.  It was filled with a vast assortment of both mundane and 
strange objects that seemed to be scattered about at random.  The 
only things that were relatively clear were the bed in the center, the 
TV up against one wall, and the open closet on the other.

"Okay, you just sit and rest here.  I'll be right back," Mihoshi told 
them, then went back to the bridge.

Tenchi sat down on the bed, only blushing slightly when he 
realized that this was Mihoshi's bed that he was now sitting on.  To 
distract himself from hentai thoughts, he switched on the TV and 
started flipping through the channels with the remote that he had 
found.  Some shows seemed pretty interesting, though he hadn't 
found one in any language that he understood so far.

Meanwhile, Sasami was going around the room, tidying up things 
as best she could while she thought of all the exciting adventures 
that awaited them.  Ryo-oki did her best to help at first, but seeing 
there wasn't much a cabbit could do, settled down to watch TV 
with Tenchi.

Looking up from an odd show staring two penguin-like aliens, 
Tenchi noticed that the room was now much neater than it had 
been minutes ago.  Sasami was currently hanging up a few of 
Mihoshi's sweaters in the closet.  "Wow Sasami, you've really 
cleaned this place up fast."

Sasami blushed a little with the compliment.  "It was nothing, 
Tenchi.  After all, Mihoshi is letting us travel the galaxy with her."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that.  Sasami, how closely tied to Jurai 
is the Galaxy Police?"

"Pretty close.  Mihoshi needed Jurai's permission just to enter the 
solar system."

"I thought so.  That means that people will recognize your name as 
a princess of the planet Jurai and try to take you home."

"But I want to stay with you, Tenchi!"

Tenchi had hoped that she would want to go home, but he would 
miss her company if she were gone.  "Okay, then you need an 
alias.  A name that we can call you so people don't know who you 
really are."

Sasami thought about this for a while.  "How about . . . Sammy?"

Tenchi didn't think that it was much of a change, but both Sasami 
and Ryo-oki seemed to like the name very much.  "All right, you'll 
be Sammy.  I'll be Tenchi Amagasaki, since people might 
recognize the name 'Masaki.'"

"Then what will be my last name, Tenchi?"

"Hmm . . . I guess you can use Amagasaki as well.  You can be my 
little sister."

"All right!  I like that idea, Tenchi."

Just then, Mihoshi came back in the room.  "Wow, what happened 
here?"

"Sasami decided to tidy up the place for you, Mihoshi," Tenchi 
told here.

"Thanks so much, Sasami."

"You're welcome, but my name is Sammy now."

"Huh?"  Mihoshi looked very confused.

Tenchi explained, "Sasami and I don't want to attract any attention 
from Jurai, so we decided to use the names Sammy and Tenchi 
Amagasaki for now."

"Oh, I get it.  Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.  Hey, 
maybe I should think of an alias too.  How about . . ."

"Miya?" Ryo-oki said.

"Yes, Mia could be my alias."

Tenchi and Sasami sweat-dropped.  "Mihoshi, you don't need an 
alias since you're not related to the Jurai royal family."

"Oh, that's right, though I could be . . ."

Feeling that Mihoshi was starting to move a little too fast for his 
tastes, Tenchi changed the subject.  "So where are we headed, 
Mihoshi?"

"We'll be going to see my grandfather first.  I haven't seen him for 
some time.  He really wants to meet you, Tenchi!"

"Your grandfather?" Tenchi asked nervously.  He knew the whole 
purpose of doing this was to start a relationship with Mihoshi, but 
he didn't feel ready to meet any of her relatives yet.  Things were 
going a little faster than he had expected.

***

In deep space, far from these events, a husband and wife team of 
salvage operators had found more than they had bargained for on a 
recently discovered wreck.

The woman was investigating the intact portion of the ship while 
her husband was rounding up the more valuable loose pieces with 
their shuttle.  This was standard procedure for them since he had 
the brute strength and she had the talent for firearms.  Though she 
rarely had to draw the blaster that she wore on her hip, there were 
some very dangerous things to be found on old hulks like this.  
Violent aliens, mutated animals, malfunctioning auto-defense 
systems.  She had earned a scar from a clawed, mad alien once, but 
her husband had only said that it gave her face character.  She was 
a woman prepared for anything, except what she had found.

Near the center of the ship was a malnourished young woman in a 
tattered GP uniform.  Her hair had been cut ragged and short and 
her skin was very pale.  The salvager bent down to make sure that 
she was still alive.

Immediately, the green-haired woman sprang up and had a blaster 
pointed at the salvager's face.  Despite the fact that she was 
breathing hard and she looked ready to collapse any moment, the 
blaster didn't waver in the slightest.

"Mihoshi?" the GP officer asked in a scratchy voice, her voice a 
mixture of hope and terror.

"Who?" the woman responded, too surprised to pull her own 
blaster.

"Who are you then?" she demanded.

"Calm down.  I'm just a salvager here to make some money off of 
this wreck.  I don't mean you any harm.  We didn't even know 
anybody was here."

"Oh, good," the teal-haired officer said and then collapsed on the 
floor.

The woman took out her radio.  "Pa?"

"Yeah, ma?" her husband responded.

"Bring the shuttle around here.  I need your help in carrying a girl I 
just found here back to the ship.  She looks half-dead so I want to 
feed her to our med unit pronto.  Strange thing is, she's wearing a 
Galaxy Police uniform."

"Galaxy Police? Will do."

***

Sleeping arrangements had been easy to set for Mihoshi, Tenchi, 
and Sasami.  Mihoshi and Sasami slept in the GP detective's room, 
while Tenchi got the room of her former partner, 'Kiyone' as the 
sign on the door said. Tenchi decided that separate rooms would be 
best for now.  Not that he wasn't tempted, but still with Sasami 
aboard . . . his fantasies turned to nightmares when he imagined the 
young princess walking in on him and Mihoshi.

Tenchi was surprised on how easy things had worked out.  
Mihoshi's space craft had everything they would need for a while 
and they had found a place on the way that sold clothes that Tenchi 
could wear and not feel embarrassed.  There were some galactic 
fashions that he simply wasn't ready for.

Sasami handled all of the cooking, though she had become overly 
fond of grilling things for some reason.  She also did the little 
cleaning and laundry that needed to be done.  All of that took up 
only a small portion of each day for her, so she was quickly bored.

She wasn't the only one.  Yukinojo piloted the ship so there was 
really nothing Mihoshi had to do until they arrived at her 
grandfather's.  Tenchi could only spend so much time each day 
planning for future problems. 

"I'm bored," Sasami announced on their third day out.  Ryo-oki 
miyaed in agreement.  This wasn't quite the adventure they had 
been expecting.

"Me too," Mihoshi admitted.  She had been using some of the time 
getting closer to Tenchi, but she wanted to do something more 
active . . 

Tenchi was a little distracted by Mihoshi's sudden blush and the 
way her blue eyes sparkled.  He had enjoyed some of the talks her 
and Mihoshi had had recently, but they both knew that things could 
only go so far with Sasami on board.

Tenchi tried to think of what they could do to ease their boredom 
for the several more days it was going to take to get to Mihoshi's 
grandfather's place.  Watching TV was out, they already did 
enough of that during tea and meals.  Mihoshi didn't have anything 
like board games and there simply wasn't enough room for most 
other games that Tenchi knew.

"Wait, I just remembered!" Mihoshi shouted suddenly and pulled 
out her control cube.  She started fiddling with it again as all sorts 
of odd junk started to suddenly appear all around them.

Sasami laughed in delight as a rubber ball suddenly bounced 
before her, changing its bright colors with every bounce.  She 
managed to catch it after running around for a bit.  That would be 
fun to play with Ryo-oki.

Tenchi was beaned by a bo staff that suddenly appeared above him.  
He rubbed his head, but smiled at the weapon.  The halls of the 
ship were just long enough so he could get in some practice with it.  
It was probably a good idea to get some sort of weapon practice in 
if he wanted to join the Galaxy Police, and also to stay in shape.

"I found them!"  Mihoshi declared as she pulled out what appeared 
to be a pack of ordinary playing cards.

"What are they?" Sasami asked, looking up from tossing the ball to 
Ryo-oki.

"It's an Earth game that I picked up because it looked so neat," 
Mihoshi told her.  "Do you know how to play, Tenchi?"

Tenchi took the offered card deck and started to flip though them.  
Each card featured something from the popular anime Sailor 
Moon, including a short description and various stats.  Tenchi had 
heard of similar card games, though he had never played one 
before.  He found that included a small rule book and started to flip 
through that.  "Mihoshi, it says here that you need at least one deck 
for each person playing."

"That's okay, Tenchi," she told him.  "I have plenty."

It wasn't long before they all had the rules down and made their 
own decks.

"All right, I'm tapping two Mars and using the Burning Mandala 
attack against your yoma, Mihoshi," Tenchi announced.

Mihoshi tapped her yoma to indicate that it had been hit.

"My turn," Sasami said.  "I'm tapping three Moons and using 
Moon Healing Escalation against your yoma, Mihoshi."

"Waaah!  My yoma is dead now!  I should never agreed to play the 
Dark Kingdom," Mihoshi complained.

"It's okay, Mihoshi," Tenchi consoled her.  "You still have two 
dark generals and a queen left and you'll be able to create more 
yoma."

"But I know I'm going to lose."

"How do you know that?"

"Because the bad guys always lose."

Tenchi shook his head, not even going to try to reason with 
Mihoshi that that was something that only existed in anime.  "All 
right, I'll be the Dark Kingdom next game."

"Great!"

What free time that wasn't spent on playing cards or just talking, 
Tenchi used to practice with the bo staff, Sasami played ball with 
Ryo-oki, and Mihoshi spent quite a bit of her free time resting.

Tenchi walked into Mihoshi's room after taking a shower to get 
cleaned up after his practice session.  He had noticed that Sasami 
was currently on the bridge chatting with Yukinojo and thought 
that this would be a good time for another talk alone with Mihoshi.

"Mihoshi, are you . . .?"

The question died on Tenchi's lips as he noticed that Mihoshi was 
in bed, asleep, with the covers pulled up around her neck.  He 
blinked a little in surprise, lunch had been two hours ago and she 
hadn't looked sleepy then.

Mihoshi mumbled something in her sleep and turned over, her face 
now looking over to left side of the bed where the TV was still on.  
Tenchi smiled noticing the smile on her lips, and moved over to 
her silently, shutting off the TV so she wouldn't be disturbed.

Being this close to her already, Tenchi decided it would be nice to 
spend a little time with Mihoshi now even if they couldn't talk.  He 
sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to wake her, and just 
watched her sleep.  Her blonde hair was currently undone and lay 
like a river of gold across the pillows.  It hit Tenchi just then how 
beautiful she was.  It was something that he had always known, but 
being surrounded by several beautiful women, he had never 
appreciated this late-comer in his life.  While not as exotic as 
Ryoko or Aeka, Mihoshi had the sort of beauty that was simply 
there, rather than being overwhelming.  Her blue eyes, tanned skin, 
soft, red lips . . .

Tenchi was startled when he realized that he was leaning closer 
and closer to Mihoshi, preparing to steal a kiss without even being 
aware of it.  At first he felt ashamed, but then thought that would 
be nothing wrong with it, just a small kiss on the lips.  Mihoshi 
liked him and he liked her, so what would be the harm?

Tenchi leaned in closer again, focusing on Mihoshi's lips, now only 
inches away.  Tenchi closed his eyes and . . .

And suddenly the door opened and Sasami said, "There, I've found 
you!"

Tenchi, startled that his nightmare had come true, tried to leap up 
and away from Mihoshi.  Unfortunately, his foot snagged one of 
the blankets, and he tripped, landing on the floor, with Mihoshi 
landing right on top of him, the sheet settling over the both of 
them.  The GP detective opened her eyes just as their lips met.

Tenchi and Mihoshi stared at each other, stunned by their 
accidental first kiss.  They were finally distracted by the sound of a 
ball hitting the floor, drawing both of their gazes towards the door.

Sasami was standing there with her pink eyes open very wide and a 
deep blush nearly covering her whole face.  "Ah . . . Sorry to 
interrupt.  I'll just come back later."

Sasami quickly stepped back out into the hall, closing the door 
behind her.  Tenchi and Mihoshi heard the sound of her rapidly 
receding footsteps.

"Wait, Sasami, it's not what you think!"  Tenchi shouted after her, 
but she was already gone.

Tenchi turned back to face Mihoshi, her bright blue eyes only 
inches away from hers.  She still looked stunned and there was a 
blush on her cheeks just as heavy as Sasami's

"Um . . ." Tenchi struggled for what to say.  He had no idea how to 
explain that something had happened by accident, yet something 
that he intended to happen.  Added to the difficulty was the fact 
that Mihoshi was still lying on top of him and very interesting 
portions of her anatomy were making themselves known.  He was 
thankful that she had fallen asleep in her everyday clothes, rather 
than a flimsy nightgown.  "Um . . .," he tried again.

Mihoshi suddenly snapped out of her daze and gave Tenchi a hug 
that strained his ribs.  "Oh Tenchi, Tenchi, I'm so happy!"  she 
declared with tears of joy.  It was some time before she could be 
persuaded to calm down, and even longer to persuade her to let go 
of him so he could breathe.

"I thought you had some feelings for me when you decided to 
come with me, but I wasn't sure, I mean Ryoko is so pretty and 
Aeka is a princess, and I'm always tripping over things or messing 
things up.  I was kind of hoping something like this would happen, 
but I wasn't sure if I wanted . . ."

Tenchi, realizing that Mihoshi was now off in her own little world, 
did the first thing he could think of to snap her out of it.  He kissed 
her again, this one lasted much longer than their first.

"Tenchi, does this mean?"  Mihoshi asked in a voice filled with 
hope.

Tenchi smiled, took her hands in his, and told her, "Before we left, 
I wasn't sure how I felt about anyone.  I was confused and never 
really had the time to sort out my feelings.  I asked to join you on a 
spur of the moment, to get the chance to sort them out.  Ryoko is 
very pretty and a nice person at heart, but she'll always be too wild 
for me.  Aeka is also lovely and kind, but she is a princess, while I, 
no matter what my heritage is, am a simple Earthling.  I finally 
realized what I wanted was someone more like myself, someone 
like you, Mihoshi."

Mihoshi was obviously struggling for words.  "Tenchi, I--"

Tenchi stopped her speaking by a finger to her lips, causing her to 
blush again.  "I know that you're confused.  I am too.  Why don�t 
you stay here and think things over while I go talk to Sasami?  She 
seemed shocked when she left.  All right?"

Mihoshi nodded with a smile.  "Okay."

As Tenchi got up and made for the door, Mihoshi said, "Oh 
Tenchi, one last thing."

Tenchi turned back around.  "What is--?"

Tenchi's question was cut off when Mihoshi sprang up, held him 
close, and kissed him passionately.  Tenchi was left feeling a little 
week in the knees, and not just from a lack of oxygen, when she 
finally let him go.

Mihoshi giggled and waved at him.  "See you later, Tenchi."

Tenchi absently waved and walked out into the hall, stumbling 
around like a drunk.

Meanwhile, Sasami had run back into the cockpit and flopped 
herself down in her chair.  Her eyes were still wide and her blush 
was so deep that her freckles had vanished.

"Is there something wrong, Sasami?"  Yukinojo inquired.  He had 
grown fond of the polite little princess since their journey had 
begun.

It was a few minutes before Sasami had even realized that she had 
been asked a question.  "No, nothing," she eventually replied with 
nervous laughter.

"Miya?"  asked Ryo-oki.

Noticing that the two were still looking at her intently, Sasami tried 
to explain.  "Well . . . I was kind of wondering why Tenchi wanted 
to go with Mihoshi in the first place and I sort of just found out."

"Oh, I thought he had some interest in joining the Galaxy Police," 
Yukinojo said.  Both Mihoshi and Sasami had mentioned that to 
him and after reading Mihoshi's report on Tenchi's abilities, he 
thought that the Earthling would make a excellent GP officer.

"Maybe that's only part of the reason."

"And what is this other reason you have discovered?"

Sasami, who had finally lost her blush, regained in full.  She 
brought her fingers together and stuttered out, "Tenchi . . . Mihoshi 
. . . they were . . . were . . ."

"Miya?"

Sasami thought about it not being nice to gossip about people, but 
she had to tell someone about this, and Yukinojo and Ryo-oki were 
the only other people on the ship.  "I think Tenchi and Mihoshi like 
each other," she said finally, letting out a held breath.

"Yes, from what I've seen you all get along together quite well, 
unlike Mihoshi's former partner."

"I don't mean like that.  I mean Tenchi and Mihoshi like each other 
in a different way, that they like each other a whole lot."

"Miya?"  Ryo-oki and Yukinojo were obviously confused.

Seeing there expressions, Sasami decided to tell it like it was.  "All 
right, I was going into Mihoshi's room looking for Tenchi and 
Mihoshi to see if they wanted to have some snacks.  When I went 
into the room, Tenchi and Mihoshi were on the floor kissing with a 
blanket over them."

Sasami looked up after a few minutes of absolute silence had 
passed.  Both Ryo-oki and Yukinojo looked stunned by her news.

It was during this silence that Tenchi entered the bridge.  They all 
turned to look at him, but said nothing.  Tenchi felt uncomfortable 
under their gaze.  "Is something going on?"

***

Back on Earth, Aeka and Ryoko were destroying the Masaki home.  
This was not a surprising event, however, this time they were being 
a lot more methodical about it and the overall structure of the 
house wasn't seriously compromised, yet.  They had been looking 
for something, anything, that they could use in order to pursue 
Mihoshi, Tenchi, Sasami, Ryo-oki, and now Washu.  So far, their 
search had turned up nothing.

"Say, what about grandpa?" Ryoko asked the second half of what 
was now a pretty dirty pair.  "Maybe he has something we can 
use."

Nodding to each other, the two very determined women made their 
way to the Masaki shrine, Ryoko flying up the steps while Aeka 
hitched a ride on Azaka.

Katsuhito was in the shrine office sipping on some tea, when he 
felt something stirring in the air.  "An omen," he said to himself.

Minutes later, his calm was invaded by two very angry and 
somewhat disheveled young (in appearance at least) ladies.

"Please, my brother," Aeka begged him.  "Tell me that you have 
some means of getting off of this planet."

"Aeka, whatever is the matter?  Has something happened?  Did 
Tenchi do something?"  He hadn't seen her this upset since she had 
crash landed on Earth.

"I'll tell you what happened, old man," Ryoko told him in an angry 
tone.  "That blonde bimbo kidnapped my Tenchi and it's all 
because of your suggestion that she be his boyfriend!"

Aeka was a little put off by this discovery.  "Yosho, how could you 
say such a thing when you know that I am a far better match for 
Tenchi than she will ever be?"

Feeling the tension in the air, Katsuhito said, "Now ladies, please 
calm down.  I was simply looking out for my grandson's best 
interests and seeing what intentions Mihoshi had in regards to him.  
I certainly didn't think that she would kidnap him because of it."  
He took a sip of his tea and considered.  "Have you spoken to 
Washu about this yet?"

"Yes," Ryoko replied, grinding her teeth in barely surpressed fury.  
"She decided to go after Tenchi without us."

"What about using Ryo-oki?"

Aeka told him, "Mihoshi took her with her as well.  It appears that 
she was much more clever than I had given her credit for.  She 
must have been planning this from the very beginning.  Pretending 
to be a scatter brain in order to lure us into a false sense of security, 
so she could snatch up Tenchi just when our guard was down."

"Now you don�t know that for sure, Aeka," Yosho said.  "I would 
avoid jumping to conclusions until you know the whole story."

"But we won't know the whole story until we catch up with them!"  
Ryoko shouted.

"I am sorry," Katsuhito said, putting down his tea.  "But, as you 
know, my spaceship crashed seven hundred years ago and can 
think of no other ship on Earth that could undertake the journey 
you want it to."

Two now thoroughly depressed girls left the shrine, dragging their 
feet as they came down the stairs.

"Hey, want to take another bath?  I think I still have a few bottles 
of sake left over." Ryoko asked her long time rival.

"I suppose that is all we can do at the moment," Aeka replied.

Sometime later, Ryoko and Aeka were relaxing in the onsen, 
drinking sake, and trying to ignore the loss that they both felt.  It 
wasn't working very well.  Somehow, they had gotten onto the 
topic of how they had each first met Tenchi.  Ryoko had already 
told her story and now it was Aeka's turn.

"I was searching for my brother to fulfill the promise of marriage 
between us, and to make sure you paid for your crimes.  I probably 
would have never found you if it hadn't been for the signal Funaho 
sent . . . "

Ryoko looked with drunken concern at the Jurai princess staring 
straight ahead at nothing.  "What?  What is it?"

Suddenly, Aeka was in motion.  She dashed out of the onsen in 
nothing but a towel, heading in the direction of the house.  She 
looked as if she didn't even notice the cold.  Ryoko got dressed and 
followed soon after.

Ryoko's eyes met with the unwelcome sight of Aeka trashing 
Tenchi's room.  They had both agreed to leave his room untouched 
until they could get him home. Ryoko had to duck some books 
'accidentally' thrown in her direction as she entered.  "What are you 
doing?" she asked, outraged.

Aeka exclaimed, "I've found it!"

"Found what?"

"The Master Key.  With it, we can use Funaho to send out a 
distress signal to Jurai and summon a ship to come get me."

"Us."

Aeka laughed a little.  "Yes, us, of course, how silly of me to 
forget."

***

The initial awkwardness of their situation faded rather quickly.  
Tenchi and Mihoshi's relationship was only just beginning and 
they made sure to only kiss when not in the presence of others, and 
even then not very often.  Sasami learned to knock first.

Mihoshi strode into her room where the rest of them had gathered 
to have breakfast.  The GP detective had just received a personal 
call and Tenchi had decided that he wasn't quite ready to face her 
relatives yet.

"That was my grandmother," Mihoshi told them as she sat down 
and Sasami placed her breakfast before her.  "She said that my 
grandfather wants to meet us at work.  I told her it was okay.  Is it 
all right with you, Tenchi?  Sasami?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Sasami said immediately.

"I don't mind either," Tenchi told her.  "Where does your 
grandfather work?"

"Oh, he works at the main Galaxy Police office.  It's on a space 
station that orbits the planet he lives on."

"I guess that makes sense.  Does working for the Galaxy Police run 
in your family?"

"Well, my grandfather was originally from a planet where 
interstellar contact was kept a secret like on Earth, so my father 
didn't even know about the Galaxy Police until after he was 
married.  My grandfather wanted him to have a normal life.  My 
mom and dad were sort of mercenaries back then.  Mom became 
an antiques dealer and father more or less takes care of the house, 
but they still go on adventures sometimes."

"Okay," Tenchi said, now nervous with the idea of meeting 
Mihoshi's parents.  "How long is it going to take for us to get 
there?"

"Oh, another few hours."

"What are we going to do until then?  I don't feel like practicing or 
watching TV."  Tenchi was feeling a little too nervous to pay 
attention to either activity.  He needed something to take his mind 
off meeting the grandfather of his new girlfriend.  It made him 
more nervous to realize that him being a GP officer meant that he 
could lock Tenchi up and throw away the key if he didn't approve.  
Grandfathers can be stern like that, Tenchi knew from experience.

"We can play that card game," Sasami suggested.  "I want to be 
Sailor Moon again!"  She stood up and posed, "In the name of the 
Moon, I will punish you!"

"Meow, meow!"  Ryo-oki added.

"All right, Ryo-oki will be Luna," Sasami translated.

"And I want to be Sailor Venus!"  Mihoshi declared, also standing 
up and posing.  "In the name of Venus, I will punish you!"

"Why is that?"  Tenchi asked, at the same time thinking that the 
girls were getting way to into this game.

"Because she's the Sailor of love, Tenchi," Mihoshi practically 
purred as she through a seductive glance in his direction.  Tenchi 
gulped, feeling suddenly hot under the collar.  "She also has blonde 
hair like me!"

Everyone face-faulted.

They had a much more lively game then they ever had before.  
Sasami and Mihoshi had to pose and declare all of their attacks, 
while practically forcing Tenchi to act out his role as a dark 
general.  He absolutely refused to pretend to be the queen.  Ryo-oki 
had also aided the two crusaders for love and justice.  The 
highlight of the game had to be Mihoshi's invented attack, the 
'Venus Surprise Kiss,' which took out the dark general and nearly 
took out Sailor Moon at the same time.

By the time the game was over, they had nearly reached the space 
station.  They all took their seats at the bridge while it loomed 
closer and closer on the screen.  Tenchi was in awe.  He had never 
seen something artificial that was so huge before.  It dwarfed the 
tallest buildings of Tokyo.  The only thing that could come close 
was the Death Star thing from Star Wars.  The GP headquarters 
was much smaller than that, but then that had only been a movie.

Sasami thought it was neat.  Mihoshi hardly gave it a second 
thought, most of her thoughts focused on the man sitting beside 
her.  Without her eyes leaving the screen, Mihoshi slipped her hand 
over to take his hand in hers.  She smiled and blushed when Tenchi 
automatically tightened his grip.

"Incoming transmission from the station," Yukinojo announced.

"Put it on screen," Mihoshi said in a professional-sounding voice.  
Tenchi was a little startled by her tone.  The only time he heard it 
before was when Kagato had attacked.  He suddenly realized that 
he was holding Mihoshi's hand, thought about letting go, but then 
decided not to.

A holographic window suddenly appeared with the image of a 
humanoid in a galaxy police uniform.  She was obviously female, 
but had magenta skin, three sloped back horns, and red wrap 
around glasses.  She spoke as if it were something she had said 
countless times before, "GP vessel, please state your--"

The woman paused for a moment and said in a much friendlier 
tone.  "Oh Mihoshi, it's you.  Take docking bay 14.  Your 
grandfather is waiting for you in his office."

"Thanks a lot," Mihoshi replied in her normal tone with a smile.

The woman smiled, nodded, and the window disappeared.

"Beginning landing procedure now," Yukinojo announced.

"So was that a friend of yours, Mihoshi?"  Tenchi asked.

"Never seen her before in my life, Tenchi," Mihoshi admitted.

Tenchi pondered this while their shuttle detached from the main 
ship and landed in one of the landing bays.  He pondered this some 
more as everyone they passed went out of their way to be polite 
and helpful to Mihoshi. He knew that she was a first class 
detective, but they were treating her as she were the princess, rather 
than Sasami.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Tenchi asked as he 
noticed they were passing the offices of some of the most 
important people in the Galaxy Police.

"Yep, almost there."

Tenchi stood in shock when they finally stopped.

"This is it, Tenchi," Mihoshi announced, gesturing to the office of 
the Marshall.

"You mean . . . that your grandfather . . . is the head of the Galaxy 
Police?"  Tenchi asked in surprise.

"Of course.  Didn't I tell you that before?"  Mihoshi asked.

Tenchi was so shocked that Sasami and Ryo-oki had to drag him 
inside, passed the secretary who gave them a funny look, but 
waved them on anyway.

The Marshall of the Galaxy Police had a huge office.  His large 
desk looked tiny against the back drop of the windows that reached 
all the way to the ceiling three stories above.  The man himself 
stood by one of those windows, looking out at the ships that 
floated there.

He was a big man, Tenchi noticed immediately, though more of 
build than of weight.  He stood around two and a half meters tall 
and his body appeared to be all muscle, though it was hard to tell 
with the somewhat elaborate uniform he wore.  With only seeing a 
hint of the man's profile, there was already a strong resemblance to 
Mihoshi.  Same blonde hair, pointed ears, and tanned skin.

"Hi, grandpa!" Mihoshi said warmly.

The man turned around and Tenchi was struck by his proud and 
unlined features.  He looked more like he should be Mihoshi's 
father rather than grandfather.  He smiled and said, "Yes, I watched 
your ship arrive.  It is good to see you again, Mihoshi."

The Marshall seemed to notice now that there were others there 
besides his granddaughter.  "And you've brought guests.  Would 
you please introduce them?"

Tenchi suddenly found Mihoshi's arm around him, "This is my 
new boyfriend, Tenchi, and over there is Sasami and Ryo-oki."

Tenchi, after recovering form being called her 'boyfriend,' 
whispered to Mihoshi, "What about the aliases?"

"Oh, they would never work on my grandfather," Mihoshi told 
him, whispering right into his ear.  "He knows everything."

Sasami bowed, "Pleased to meet you, sir."

The Marshall bowed to her even more deeply.  "It is I who should 
bow to you, second princess of Jurai."

"See, I told you," Mihoshi whispered to Tenchi.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Tenchi told the Marshall.

"A pleasure to meet you, Tenchi Masaki."

"How did you know my full name?"

"I have my ways.  It should have been mentioned in what is 
supposed to be my granddaughter's report.  I don't know how they 
thought they could fool me into believing that it's the work of my 
own granddaughter.  It seems that Jurai are trying to keep secrets 
from the Galaxy Police, and not for the first time either."

Mihoshi whipped out a hard bound report with a doodle of her on 
the cover.  "I brought a copy just in case, grandpa."

The Marshall walked over and took the report from her.  Up close, 
Tenchi noticed just how tall and imposing he really was, perhaps 
even more so than Aeka's father, Azuza.  He was also very 
conscious of the fact that Mihoshi still had her arm around him.  
There was the sudden thought that this was a man so powerful that 
he didn't even need to invent a charge to get Tenchi arrested.

Tenchi and the Marshall's eyes met for a moment and Tenchi was 
sure that he was going to say something, but instead he moved on 
and sat down behind his desk.  He touched it's smooth surface and 
three chairs popped up from the floor.  "Please, take a seat," he told 
them.

They all took the offered seats, Ryo-oki perching on Sasami's head.

The Marshall started to flip through the report.  There was a 
different tone to his voice when he spoke, more formal and less 
open.  "As exhaustive as ever, Mihoshi, but as it will take me some 
time to go through this, can you hit the high points for me?"

"Yes, sir," Mihoshi replied in her serious voice.  "I had been 
assigned to pursue Kagato and that search led me to Earth.  My 
shuttle was thrown into subspace due to the summoning of a 
demon by the former space pirate Ryoko.  I escaped mostly 
unharmed after being rescued by Tenchi.  On Earth, I discovered 
not only the space pirate previously mentioned, but also four 
members of the Jurai royal family; Princess Aeka, Princess Sasami, 
Prince Yosho, and Prince Tenchi."

"The version of the report I was handed made no mention of Yosho 
or that Tenchi was related to the Jurai royal family.  Yosho has 
been lost and presumed dead for over seven hundred years.  Tenchi 
was only mentioned as an Earthling.  I believe I may have to 
contact Jurai over this.  Please, go on."

"After I had been staying at the Masaki home for a little while, 
Kagato appeared and attacked.  I attempted to apprehend him, but 
he resisted arrest.  Tenchi tried to fight him off with Tenchi-ken, 
the sword last in the possession of Yosho.  That it worked for 
Tenchi confirmed that he was related to the Jurai royal family.  
After he failed to defeat Kagato, Tenchi's grandfather appeared and 
revealed that he was in fact Yosho.  He attempted to fight Kagato 
as well, but the criminal took control of Ryoko, whom he claimed 
belonged to him.  Yosho managed to free Ryoko from Kagato's 
control, but the criminal vanished, taking Ryoko with him.

"We all, save Yosho and Sasami, went off in pursuit of Kagato in 
Ryo-oki, who had absorbed the remaining part of Ryo-oh, Princess 
Aeka's ship.  There was a fire fight, during which it was assumed at 
the time that Tenchi had been killed.  I would later discover that he 
had been saved by Tsunami, Sasami's ship.  Ryoko appeared, 
having escaped from Kagato, and we all boarded Soja in search of 
the criminal.

"Though odd circumstances, I ended up on the reversed layer of 
the ship where Kagato had imprisoned the legendary mad scientist 
Washu.  I managed to free her while attempting to subdue two 
snake guardians.  She destroyed said guardians and explained that 
there was no way out of the reversed layer while Kagato was still 
alive.  We observed Aeka and Ryoko fight Kagato, unable to help 
for the most part.  Washu was able to thaw Ryoko when she 
became frozen and brought Aeka over to the reversed layer so 
Ryoko wouldn't have to hold back her power.

"Tenchi appeared with Tsunami.  He tried to fight Kagato and 
failed.  The criminal made use of the full power of the gems in 
order to try to take control of Tsunami.  He also attempted to kill 
Tenchi, but was stopped when Tenchi suddenly generated three 
Wings of the Light Hawk and eventually destroyed Kagato, cutting 
the Soja in half as a side effect."

"You're the one who killed Kagato?  By generating Light Hawk 
Wings by yourself?"  the Marshall asked Tenchi directly, the 
surprise clear in his voice.

Tenchi felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny.  "Yes, sir, but I don't 
really have control of the Light Hawk Wings.  I've tried to use 
them several times afterwards, but nothing has happened."

"It is still an impressive feat," he told Tenchi.  "We had been 
hunting Kagato for a very long time.  He has destroyed more ships 
and killed more officers than I care to think about.  That one young 
man could obliterate him utterly is nothing short of amazing.  I'm 
not surprised that Jurai tried to keep it a secret.  I haven't heard of 
anyone who could generate the Light Hawk Wings like that, no 
matter the circumstances."

"It was really nothing," Tenchi said and laughed, uncomfortable 
with the praise.

The Marshall leant back and closed his eyes for a moment.  When 
he opened them again, they were focused directly on Tenchi.  
There was something intense about his gaze that Tenchi didn't like.  
"We have an agreement with Jurai that no members of their royal 
family should ever become members of the Galaxy Police for 
various reasons, but Tenchi, you have yet to be acknowledged as a 
member of the Jurai royal family."

"What are you trying to say, sir?"

"I want you to come work for us, Tenchi.  You have the right sort 
of mindset and more power than one of our star ships.  After you 
graduate from the academy, I'm sure you would make it to first 
class detective in no time.  I could even make you a temporary 
officer for destroying such a wanted criminal."

Tenchi was stunned by the offer.  Mihoshi giggled happily.  
Sasami said, "I want to be a detective too, grandpa!"

The Marshall laughed at her enthusiasm.  "All right, you can be an 
apprentice detective, but you won't be able to use your real name.  
I'll even assign Mihoshi to be your superior."

"Thank you, grandpa."

The Marshall smiled and noticing that Tenchi was still in a state of 
shock, said, "I can see that you need some time to think my offer 
over.  Why don't you stay at my home for a few days?  I have to 
make preparations for your award ceremony anyway."

"Award ceremony?" Tenchi asked.

"Yes, for all of you defeating the wanted criminal Kagato.  I'll have 
to think of something though, so Jurai won't know your true 
identities."

"We already thought of that, grandpa," Sasami told him, "My new 
name will be Sammy Amagasaki and I'll be Tenchi's little sister.

"Very clever," the Marshall told her.  "But seeing as Tenchi isn't a 
common name, it will have to be changed as well.  How about . . . 
Kenji?  It's close to the original, so shouldn't be too hard to get 
used to."

"I like it!" Sasami enthused.  "Don't you, Kenji?"

It took Tenchi a moment to realize he was the one she was talking 
to.  "Yeah, sure, it's fine."

"Good.  Mihoshi, why don't you take your friends and get settled at 
my house.  I should be joining you around dinner time."

"All right, grandpa."

***

Kiyone rubbed her head as she awoke in unfamiliar surroundings.  
She blinked as fuzzy objects arranged themselves to form a ship's 
sick bay.  She also noticed that she was wearing clean, ill-fitting 
clothes rather than her dirty GP uniform.  She added that she 
herself had been cleaned and her uneven self hair cut had been 
made into something more presentable.

Because of all this, she was slow in realizing that she didn't feel as 
bad as she once had.  She still felt like hell, but it was more like the 
fifth level of hell rather than the ninth that she had been on.  He 
whole body was covered in dull spots of pain and her tongue felt 
like sandpaper, but she no longer felt like clawing out her own 
stomach to stop the hunger pains.

While Kiyone was still getting her bearings, a woman entered the 
room.  She was somewhere in her mid-fifties, with light grey hair 
and dark brown eyes.

"Oh, you're awake."

"Who are you?" Kiyone asked in suspicious tone as she covertly 
glanced around the room for something she could use as a weapon.

"You don't remember?"

Kiyone shook her head.  Her last clear memory was hunting in vain 
for any vermin that remained on the ship, only to discover that she 
must have caught and eaten them all already.

"My husband and I found you on a ruined hulk that we were 
salvaging.  I guess I can understand you not remembering.  You 
were obviously delirious from starvation at the time."

Kiyone relaxed, though only slightly.  If this woman had wanted to 
harm her, she would have done so already.  She certainly wouldn't 
have treated her.

"My name is Vitia and you're aboard the Kazani.  We're still not far 
from where we found you and are willing to help you get where 
ever you need to go."

"Kiyone, Galaxy Police detective first class, and I need you to take 
me to the nearest GP station immediately," Kiyone told her in the 
most authoritarian tone she could muster at the moment.

Vitia nodded.  "We thought that would be the case, so we're 
already headed in that direction.  It's still some distance from the 
nearest station though and our ship isn't what you would consider 
top of the line, so it will be a little while before we get there.  
Incidentally, I laundered and repaired your uniform as best I could.  
It's in the guest room I've set aside for you, along with your blaster 
and the other things that you had on you."

"Thank you for your hospitality.  Could you take me there now?"

Vitia frowned slightly.  "I don't think you should be moving 
around yet.  Your body has been through hell.  Heck, you were 
lucky to survive."

"I'll be fine," Kiyone insisted as she stood up and started walking.  
She only took a few steps, however, before she started to collapse.  
Vitia caught her before she could hit the floor.

"You're as stubborn as my own daughter," she told Kiyone as she 
helped the GP detective to walk.  "But since all your body needs 
right now is sleep, I guess you can do that in your room as well as 
in our med unit."

Vitia helped Kiyone settle into her bed after the GP officer had 
checked to make sure all of her things were there.  The older 
woman even tucked the sheets up around her.  *Poor girl,* Vitia 
thought as she left the room.  *No one should have to go through 
what she did.*

Just before she surrendered into sleep, Kiyone mumbled to herself, 
"Mihoshi, I swear I will find you and kill you."  It was with a smile 
that the GP detective finally fell asleep.

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