All comments strictly my opinion, and offered in good spirit.
Sketches of Tenchi 1: Deciding on the Brides
A Tenchi Muyo! OAV fanfic
by HKMiller
30 November 1999
Featuring characters created by Hiroki Hayashi and Masaki
Kajishima, also copyright AiC and Pioneer.
- - - - - - - - - -
Funaho, Misaki, Youshou, and Tenchi knelt in a circle, in Youshou's
{Are you sure it's "Youshou"? I was just discussing this with Dave Roeder
a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed that (judging from the meanings) a
prince of Jurai would be more likely to be named "Yousho" than
"Youshou"... but I'm not sure. If you have hard info, such as the kanji
spelling, I'd sure like to share it.
{Alternatively, you could dodge the matter by spelling his name "Yosho",
since you have "Washu" rather than "Washuu"... but then you'd have to
change "Ryouko". Arrgh, I hate deciding on the romanizations. :) }
office next to the Masaki shrine. In Washu's lab, two women watched
this scene closely on a monitor.
"It could be anything between two and six," Aeka replied, thinking
repidly. "It depends on a number of factors: women of Jurai noble
rapidly.
or royal blood have to balance out aliens; the Jurai House of Nobles
must approve, to ensure that all factions are properly appeased; the
aliens have to bring something valuable to the marriage."
"Right. Ryouko-chan and I qualify on that count.
{Understatement of the millenium. :) }
"I don't! But I have to know any possible way she might qualify
so I can devise a counter strategy!" Washu fumed at how slow Aeka
counter-strategy!" {? or perhaps} strategy against it!"
"Through the wall, of course. Why so upset? Don't you think this
conference concerns me as well? After all, princess," Ryoko smiled
slyly, leaning an elbow on Aeka's shoulder, "you and I will both
be married to Tenchi..." Aeka shivered and grimaced.
{This seems about right. :) }
In the shrine office, Funaho explained to Tenchi, "The Emperor
must approve the entire list as a single package once you have
made up your mind, you have asked the women involved, and they have
accepted. You may consider yourself engaged when the Emperor
approves your list. The marriage itself will take a few years
to plan. The Emperor will approve or disapprove of your list fairly
quickly, but until he does, you should not assume the approved
list will be identical to your choices. He does reserve the right
to make changes.
{This appears to contradict the "approve the entire list as a single
package" above; I interpreted that to mean that the Emperor can approve
all or disapprove all, but does not have a, er, line-item veto, as it
were. You might want to clarify this, as Funaho strikes me as the type
who would speak clearly on this matter.}
Funaho smiled gently, "In practice, nothing is going to budge
{suggest} gently. "In
Washu-sama or Ryouko-san from the list, should you choose them.
Funaho continued, "You must be careful, however, with Aeka.
It is not certain that the Emperor will approve her, and, until
her and,
he does, it is important that..." Funaho coughed, "...certain
actions... not occur. This would also apply to Sasami were she
older."
Misaki crooned, "But they're so much in love, sister. My little
Aeka may have already made her move."
{heh. I think of Funaho as sly and Misaki as blatant, but slyly blatant
works too. :) }
Tenchi blushed. Aeka blushed. Ryouko snarled, "She'd better
NOT have..."
{What, with you watching him half the time and trying to get in his
pants yourself the other half? I wouldn't worry, Ryouko. :) }
Tenchi hesitated, then spoke. "Great grandmother, what about
Sasami? She won't be old enough to be married for years."
"Oh boy, Tenchi-niichan wants to marry me!" Sasami announced
approvingly.
"Actually, Tenchi, there is no bar under Jurai law to marrying
Sasami at her present age. One just postpones the consummation
for a number of years, to a more appropriate time."
{Very sensible. If memory serves, this custom has been practiced.}
"Are you sure, Tenchi? If you marry Sasami at the same time
as the others, the moment you choose for the consummation of
your marriage to Sasami is a purely private matter. However,
if you postpone the marriage with Sasami, the Jurain public will
Juraian {?}
know why, and the moment of consummation will be public knowledge.
"If my little Sasami-chan is anything like me," Misaki chortled,
{! Aiyaa. Fanfic idea: "The Young Misaki Chronicles"...}
"she may start to become very amorous at around sixteen, or
even earlier. You, Tenchi, might find this easy to ignore, with
several other wives, but what about Sasami? She will be promised
to you, either way; she may see no other men. If she is already
married to you, you can ease her frustrations as you see fit
{! Don your asbestos jockstrap NOW. :) }
without public comment. If she is not, you may feel yourself
obligated to wait until she is years older, rather than let the
entire planet of Jurai know what you are doing with Sasami at
sixteen."
{Misaki certainly is practical... in some ways. :) It occurs to me that
the mothers Tenchi gains by this may be even more comforting -- and/or
exasperating -- than the wives...}
Tenchi blushed more. "I see that now. I guess you're
right, Sasami should be included from the beginning."
- - - - - - - - - -
"Aeka-oneesama, what are they all talking about?"
"Later, Sasami. It's hard to explain."
{"But I already help you with the whips and chains!" :) (Ojousama to
Oyobi reference, for those as didn't get it.) }
Tenchi slowly ran through the list of women in his head,
as he ran his hand through his hair. To whom did he want to be
married? Ryouko and Aeka, certainly. For all the
annoyance they occasionally caused, he knew it would hurt
to be parted from either.
{SOMEbody would get hurt, there's no doubt about that. :) }
Washu, it didn't look like he was being given any choice about;
while he didn't always enjoy her presence the way he did with
Ryouko and Aeka, and could easily imagine life without her,
he knew he didn't dislike her enough to resist the pressure
to choose her, both from Jurai and from Washu. He didn't
dislike her at all, really. She certainly was handy to have
around at times.
{Even if the hand did have a rubber glove on it. :) }
Sasami, he thought of as a younger sister, but he knew that
she thought of him otherwise. And Tsunami actually kissed
{suggest} him as more than a brother.
Tsunami had actually
him once. He remembered Tsunami's beauty. Tenchi knew that he
didn't think of Tsunami as a little sister, more as an
{suggest} sister, but more
unobtainable beauty. One which could be his in a few years,
simply by agreeing to marry Sasami.
{Sentence fragment; suggest} beauty, one {...} years simply
Youshou poked his glasses back into place. "Tenchi! The wise
man in your position ensures the balance of power among his
wives. Who else can balance out Washu-dono?"
Washu started. "NO! That's precisely why I don't want her!"
Aeka and Ryouko looked at Washu speculatively.
{O_o My, what an intriguing notion.}
Tenchi thought about it. Suppose Washu decided to monopolize
him? Her ability to neutralize Aeka and Ryouko had been
demonstrated over and over. Her inability to do the same
with Mihoshi had also been demonstrated a number of times.
{Well put.}
He sighed. "Okay, I will ask all five to marry me, including
{suggest} "Okay. I
Mihoshi-san."
A shimmering light appeared in the middle of Youshou's office.
It slowly grew into the shape of a commanding woman. The
roof of the office appeared to fade away as the woman grew
taller and taller. Behind her, on two sides, silhouettes
appeared.
{EEEK!}
"I am Tokimi. I wish to join my sisters in this matter. You
will reserve one position as Tenchi's wife for me. I will
return for the wedding itself." The woman faded away and
Youshou's office resumed its normal appearance.
{Right, who's going to balance TOKIMI, then?! Yikes.}
"Why me?" Tenchi moaned, pounding his head on the floor.
THE END (for now).
Well, that's pretty cruel, because the most amusing aspect of this fic
for me was the images of Tenchi's future home life it conjured up. It
sparkles possibilities of hilarity and mayhem in all directions;
Tenchi's going to be in even more trouble now that he's been forced to a
decision, and that's good for us, the audience.
I hope you see fit to tell some of those tales, and that "for now" isn't
too long. :)
This and other fanfics stored at:
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Thanks for writing and sharing!
Vince Seifert Fanfic Analyst FFIRC Frog
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