*** Disclaimer - I don't own any of these characters. I wish I did, but I don't. This means that I stole them. If you legitimately own any of the characters used here, and want to sue me, go right ahead. I'll gladly give you my nickel. I'm not making any money off of this, and I don't plan to. ***
If you who have never heard or seen Tenchi Muyo!, this, as with all fan fiction, may contain inadvertent spoilers, although I tried to keep them to a minimum. If you absolutely don't want it ruined, I recommend you don't read this.
For those of you that can't guess, this is my first fic. This is not however, my first work. Any C&C, flames, advice, whatever would be greatly appreciated. Included herein is the first chapter, and a teaser for the second. So far, its relatively short, but knowing me, the chapters will grow long with each one I write. They will probably also grow farther apart in time. I had planned on writing the great majority of this first, and then posting it once I had it somewhat close to completion, but I've decided to post what I have so far in hopes that it'll give me a sense of urgency for finishing the rest.
This is based strictly upon the TM! OAV's continuality, excluding the movies or manga. I will eventually include some of the characters from there, but they will all be introduced within the context of the story. The only one that even possibly needs explaining would be Nagi, but hey, just b/c Ryoko was Kagato's slave for 2000 years doesn't mean she didn't time to make an arch-rival. And now, without further a-do, on with the fic.
Chapter One.
Tenchi stood up and dusted himself off. Watch your feet, he reflexively thought to himself. The way his shoulder hurt, Tenchi thought his grandfather just might be right. He couldn't remember the last time he'd simply fallen down the stairs like that (instead of tripping over something, like he usually did). For some reason, his balance just felt wrong.
Below, he heard his father call out breakfast. That too seemed somehow wrong. "I'm coming!" He hurried down the second flight of stairs, this time making sure of his footing. Out of habit, he turned towards the storage closet, and somehow managed to wind up underneath all of its contents, before he finally placed what was different.
They're gone, he thought. For some reason, life didn't seem as peaceful and pleasant as he had thought it would when the girls finally left. Instead, he just felt lonely.
The television still rambled on about Juraian politics; that was one thing that remained the same. Washu had 'fixed' the set the first day she had arrived. But everything else was gone. He never could quite shake the feeling he had just woken up from some dream, trying to hold on as the last little bits slipped from his memory.
"Tenchi!" His father called once again. "Breakfast!" Breakfast didn't seem right, either. Some of the food was burned, and some not quite finished, and the seasoning just tasted off. Not too mention the unmistakable taste of 'instant' food. He started to ask Sasami what was wrong, then stopped himself when he realized who must have cooked the meal.
He hurried through the meal faster than usual, and grabbed his bag, glad for something to do to take his mind away from the emptyness of the house. He almost looked forward to school these days. Of course, his mind still found time to wander on the long trek down from the shrine to the bus.
Chibi was on the steps once again. Unconciously, he quickened his pace. The cat, or at least its ghost, had been there the first time he met Ryoko, and had been sitting right on those very steps watching when she left. He remembered Ryoko floating there, waiting, when he had come home. He could still see the half-concealed tear in the corner of her eye, more emotion than she had ever shown. "Tenchi, give me my gems," was all she had said. And then, she and Ryo-Ohki had just disappeared.
The bus arrived, and Tenchi returned to the present. Memory can be a terrible thing, he thought. Especially since it had been his fault she had left, although he still wasn't sure exactly why. All Grandfather had said was "bonehead," but then he had refused to train him for a month, and now he was having to work twice as hard as usual to catch up. That had been three months ago.
Aeka, Sasami, and Washu had left that same day, when Azusa had arrived the second time, and this time had taken them with him. Why they had demanded Washu go as well was beyond him. Mihoshi, of course, had been gone even longer, off on her patrols. The last he had heard, she and her partner had been reassigned to some other part of the galaxy. He almost felt sorry for whoever her partner was.
He was struggling to decide which event hurt the most when a familiar voice spoke to him. "Man, you look beat. Don't tell me you've been sleeping with mummies again." This time, he didn't even bother to answer. The clown took the hint and gave up, somewhat fearful of what had happened last time, especially since he had of course heard the rumors of who was responsible for the fire.
The lecture that day was uneventful. The physics teacher had spent most of the class lecturing over the impossibilities of interstellar travel. Of course, the irony was totally lost on Tenchi, who merely groaned, as yet another event reminded him of the girls. Eventually, he just resigned himself to his sorrow, and did his best not to notice the rest of the world around him until class let out.
Coming home didn't seem to help anything either. Reflexively, he grabbed the broom standing outside the house, and began to sweep the steps again. It would have been Aeka's turn to sweep today, and Ryoko's turn to clean the house, and Sasami cooking as usual, and Washu with bathroom duty, he remembered. Of course, Washu would have concocted some scheme to get out of it, probably involving a nurse's costume and a guinea pig, and Mihoshi would have forgotten that she needed to do anything at all, and fallen asleep on the porch again.
"Tenchi! Are you pretending to be a statue?" Masaki Katsuhito called from inside the shrine. "You still have work to do."
Startled, Tenchi started sweeping the steps again. "Yes, Grandfather."
"Well, while your not doing anything, Tenchi, you might as well come take a look at this," his father said, sliding open the door. Tenchi could here noise coming from the television as he walked inside. It sounded like the Juraian news channel.
"... have been captured today." The image of a bored broadcaster from some vaguely humanoid race was on the screen, trying to appear as if he was not in fact reading from his notes. "The two pirates were apprehended while attempting to break through the Juraian planetary defenses. As of this time, it is unknown what the pair were after, but it is believed that it was in response to the recent return of the princess Aeka after her seven hundred year absence. Ryoko ..."
Tenchi yelped. "Grandfather! Wha, what happened?"
"Tenchi, your missing the best part!" His father muttered, admiring the green haired policewoman who was leading the pair off. "Oh, my wife in heaven ..." The camera caught a close up of the policewoman's chest, as her partner tripped over herself and flung her at the cameraman.
"Boneheads," Tenchi remarked, at the way both of his relatives were glued to the screen.
"Hush, boy. You don't want to miss anything, do you?" Katsuhito said.
On the screen, the broadcaster had reappeared. "The Juraian council has scheduled a private hearing for the two most wanted criminals next week. Their spokesperson announced that they wanted this matter solved, and that justice be dealt with as quickly as possible. Furthermore, in light of the newest crimes, the Juraian council has revoked the statue of limitations for Ryoko's previous offenses, and say they will be trying them as well."
Chapter Two
"What do you mean, we're going?" Tenchi asked his grandfather.
"Tenchi, you are a prince of Jurai. It is your duty to attend every meeting of the Juraian council." Light glinted off the front of Katsuhito's square-framed glasses, like it usually did when he lectured.
"That never stopped you from running away," Tenchi said, impertenent as always. "Besides, how are we going to get there?"
"Tenchi. You do not think me as unresourceful as that. We shall take Ryo-oh."
"We're going to do what?" Nobiyuki blurted out.
"Aeka and Washu left Ryo-oh in my care, in case we ever needed to return to Jurai. So, we shall take Ryo-oh." With that, Katsuhito grabbed the master key, and summoned the tree-ship from the pocket of subspace Washu had left it in. The tiny tree, and the unit Washu had prepared, shimmered slightly, and transformed into the ship that had been destroyed so many months ago.
***
Tenchi's first impression of space was that it was big. His second impression was that it was far too crowded. It had taken them a day to get to Jurai, but now they had to spend three times that long going through all of the formal introductions and greetings, before they were ever even allowed to land at the palace.
Funaho had been the first one to greet them, this time without Misaki, for which Tenchi was silently thankful. "Hello, mother." Grandfather said as she came aboard.
"So. You finally decided come visit me, Yosho?" Tenchi thought his grandfather looked paler than he had ever seen him before.
"E-hem." Katsuhito cleared his throat. "I thought now would be a good time to introduce Tenchi to his family. It is important that the boy learn politics, with the council meeting coming up."
"Yosho." Funaho frowned.
"Yes, mother?" Katsuhito yelped.
"Your disguise, Yosho?"
"Disguise?" Tenchi managed to blurt out, before he saw his very pale looking grandfather become a very pale looking thirty-year-old, and decided that lying face first on the floor was the appropriate manner to watch this conversation.
"E-hem. So, mother, what is the news of the council?" Katsuhito said, fixing his mother a cup of tea, oblivious to his unconcious son-in-law and grandson.
"Your father has taken the news hard, as always. Your return is something of a scandal."
"And Ryoko?"
Funaho took a sip of tea, glancing out upon the deck of Ryo-oh. "It is so nice of you to come visit. I am sure Misaki and the girls will be delighted that Tenchi is here."