Having problems with my webpage lately (note the new address)
got me to go through my old fics and find stuff that I never
sent to the FFML for one reason or another. Most of these
are less polished than my other works and probably won't
be continued, but I think at least they are worth reading.
***
I'll Go With You
(Tenchi Alt History)
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/amma/
Thanks to LarryF for his pre-reading of this.
***
Part 3
Mihoshi, Tenchi, and Sasami soon were all back in
Mihoshi's shuttle, this time to make the descent down to the planet.
Tenchi had expected a big place -- after all it was the home of the
head of the Galaxy Police -- but he wasn't quite prepared for the
collection of large, elegant buildings that lay amidst the well-
maintained parkland. Mihoshi, or rather Yukinojo, brought the
shuttle in for a landing on a pad that was reserved for her private
use.
Upon stepping out of the shuttle, the group was greeted by
a very tall, elderly man in formal dress. He was thin almost to the
point of anorexia, with pale purple skin and bright green eyes.
"Hi, Zeej!" Mihoshi greeted him with a wave.
Zeej bowed to her. "It is good to see you once more, miss
Mihoshi. Your grandmother is waiting for you and your guests in
the main house. I will take you to her now. Please follow me."
Zeej turned and made his way out of the shuttle pad, the
others following close behind. He lead them to a floating platform
that had no adornment, just railing to prevent the passengers from
falling and simple controls, which Zeej went to immediately.
Once they were all on, Zeej started the platform, and
without a sound, they were slowly traveling through the grounds of
the estate. Where they had landed was mostly flat greenland, with
bushes and groups of flowers scattered about. It reminded Tenchi
of a golf course, and the platform was like a futuristic golf
cart.
Mihoshi chatted with Zeej while Sasami gleefully took in
the scenery, and Ryo-Ohki "myah'd" in excitement. Tenchi was
mentally preparing himself for meeting Mihoshi's grandmother.
He was more confident now though, after facing off against the
Marshall with no real problems. Only a few minutes had passed by
the time they arrived at the main house.
Mihoshi's grandmother was a relatively small woman in
stature, compared to her husband and granddaughter, though she
would have been of average height in Japan. She had the same
tanned skin and pointed ears of the rest of her family, but her hair
was blue, a few shades darker than Sasami's. She also had that
same agelessness about her that she could have easily passed for
Mihoshi's mother.
"Mihoshi, dear!" the woman shouted in delight and gave
her granddaughter an affectionate hug.
She broke off her hug after a few minutes and turned to
study Tenchi, who quickly felt uncomfortable under her scrutiny.
"Who is this? . . . Wait, don't tell me! I know! He's your
husband, right? So handsome! Hello, my name is Kia. Mihoshi
dear, why didn't you invite me to the wedding?" Then she noticed
Sasami. "And what a darling child you have!"
Tenchi and Sasami face-faulted. Mihoshi's whole face
turned red. All of them were too stunned to speak.
"You should have told us earlier, now we have to rearrange
the rooms. It just wouldn't do for you and your husband to sleep in
separate rooms." Then she said to herself, "I wonder how long it
takes to install sound proofing?"
Tenchi suddenly regained his power of speech, though it
was still somewhat shaky. There was a panicked look in his eyes.
"No, no, you've got it all wrong! It isn't like that!"
"You mean that this little girl was born out of wedlock?
She's a love child? How romantic!"
Tenchi and Mihoshi face-faulted yet again. This being the
last straw for Sasami, the little girl fainted away. Zeej caught her
before she could hit the ground, however, and with a gesture of his
wrist, a hover bed floated in, which he placed Sasami on. Ryo-oki
jumped on the bed to be with her.
"Poor girl," Kia commented. "The trip must have been too
much for her."
Mihoshi had finally recovered, more or less. She was still
blushing horribly. "Grandma, you have it all wrong. Sasami isn't
my and Tenchi's child. And we're not married."
"Oh, my apologies," Kia said, bowing to Tenchi. "I have a
small habit of jumping to conclusions. Zeej, cancel the room
change. Leave it as it is."
"Yes, Madame."
"Now, Tenchi, can you please tell me your true relation to
my granddaughter?"
"Well, I guess you could say that I'm her boyfriend,"
Tenchi answered a little uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his
head. That's what Mihoshi had told her grandfather and he saw no
reason to contradict her.
Kia grinned. "Zeej, cancel the canceling of the room
change, make sure the water bed is extra durable, and add another
layer of sound-proofing."
Tenchi joined Sasami in la-la land. Zeej caught him easily
and placed him in another floating bed which he had already called
for against such a possibility.
"The trip must have been too much for him as well." Kia
glanced over at the now unconscious Tenchi and then turned to her
granddaughter with a grin. "I guess you really worn him out on the
way here, Mihoshi."
"Grandma!" Mihoshi shouted, now blushing so badly that
she was beginning to look like a cooked lobster. "We just started
dating!"
"Well, it's never too soon to make a relationship more
intimate. Your grandfather was quite the rascal at your age. Why
do you think we have such a large family? And your parents . . .
well, the impending birth of your older brother was one of the
reasons that they married so quickly. And I swear they just keep
getting noisier as they get older. Every time they visit . . ."
Mihoshi took a deep breath. She should have been more
prepared to deal with her grandmother than she was. She should
have at least told the others what to expect. Kia was of a different
race than most others from their home world and such had a
different cultural background. The result was she had some rather
odd ideas about relationships. "Tenchi and I aren't ready to take
that step yet, grandmother. Please don't try to push us."
Kia smiled and put her arm on her granddaughter's
shoulder. "Of course, dear. We'll keep it to separate rooms. Set
your own pace with Tenchi."
Mihoshi sighed in relief. "Thanks for understanding,
grandma."
"They'll be connecting rooms so Tenchi will have no
trouble sneaking in for a late night visit, or for you for that matter.
It's quite all right for girls to do that, you know. Your mother was
quite aggressive. She told me that she used to sneak into your
father's room all the time."
Mihoshi pretended that she hadn't heard that.
Kia had Zeej guide them all to their rooms, while she
watched them go with a smile. She wanted more grandchildren
and she thought that if she was clever about it, she could bring
those two together in no time.
Aeka and Ryoko waited beside Funaho for their distress
signal to be answered. Aeka couldn't figure out quite how to send
the message properly, since the former space tree had been on
Earth for some time and so had gotten a bit eccentric. Azaka and
Kamedaki had helped her compose the message they sent, but even
they weren't sure that it would be interpreted properly.
Katsuhito had been gone when they had come to the shrine
for help once again, having left a note that he was visiting a sick
friend and would be away indefinitely. The two women had found
his timing to be a little too convient, but they had no way of finding
him. No matter how badly the message was garbled though, they
were likely to get some sort of Jurai ship to respond, eventually.
So they sat by the former space tree and waited.
"At this rate, Ryo-Oh will be ready to fly by the time a Jurai
ship shows up," Ryoko commented in irritation.
"Now Ryoko, really," Aeka told her. "It's only been a little
over two days since we sent the message."
"Yeah, and it's been over four days since Mihoshi
kidnapped Tenchi. In that time, she could have . . . could . . ."
"You don't seriously believe that she could convince Tenchi
to do _that_, do you? After successfully thwarting your advances
for so long, he should have no trouble with Mihoshi."
"If she was able to pretend to be a ditz all that time and
snatch Tenchi from right under our noses, who knows what else
she's capable of? Washu might even be in cahoots with her,
planning to use one of her devices to turn Tenchi into their
mindless love slave or something."
"No! They couldn't! They wouldn't!" Aeka said in
growing alarm.
Ryoko nodded seriously. "You know that Washu could if
she really wanted to. Mihoshi was probably the one that convinced
her to do it too. They must have had this whole thing planned from
the beginning and were just pretending to hate each other so we
wouldn't realize that they were working together. Early on the day
that they left, Washu had trapped Tenchi in her lab, or at least that
was what Sasami told me. She must have done something to him
then and that's why he didn't resist when she took him. Probably
did something to Sasami and Ryo-Oki as well."
"Then why didn't Washu leave when they did?"
"Simple. Mihoshi got greedy and decided that she didn't
want to share Tenchi with anyone, so she left early without telling
Washu."
Aeka thought this over for a time before replying. "I must
admit, you present a very convincing scenario."
Further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a
Jurai ship. Aeka could tell at a glance that it was a battleship,
though not one of their heavier models. While it was about as well
armed as her ship had been, the accommodations wouldn't be as
nice.
"Azaka! Kamedaki!" Aeka shouted, her eyes never leaving
the ship that hovered above them.
"Yes, your highness," the guardians responded immediately
"Fetch me the captain of that ship at once."
"Yes." The guardians faded from view.
"Looks like your plan worked after all, princess," Ryoko
complimented her with a grin. "I was just beginning to lose hope
that we'd ever find Tenchi again."
"Even if I must hunt them to the ends of the galaxy and
beyond, I will never give up until I find Tenchi," Aeka declared,
her fist upraised to the heavens.
The guardians reappeared, this time with a man nearing
middle age, dressed in the uniform of the Jurai royal navy.
"Princess Aeka?!" he said in surprise as he made hasty bows. "It
is indeed an honor to meet you, your royal highness."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Aeka said loftily. "Captain, I will be
commandeering your vessel for the near future. Do you
understand?"
"Of course, my lady. It would be our pleasure to serve you.
Are you returning home to Jurai?"
"No. A member of the Jurai royal family has been
kidnapped and we are going to rescue him."
"Him? Who is this?"
"If you must know, he is Tenchi, grandson to Yosho."
"Don't forget about Sasami," Ryoko put in.
"Ah yes, Sasami has been kidnapped as well, though I don't
believe that she is in any danger."
"Who would dare kidnap two members of the Jurai royal
family?" the captain asked with some alarm. It was the kind of act
that could lead to war, which was the last thing he wanted. He
only had a few years left until his retirement.
"A high ranking member of the Galaxy Police, detective
first class Mihoshi, and assisting her, the infamous mad scientist
Washu."
The captain gasped in surprise. "Could this be some plot
by the Galaxy Police to gain power at Jurai's expense?"
"We do not believe so. We think that the GP officer in
question is acting on her own initiative in this. The Galaxy Police
are most likely still unaware of her crime."
"Then we must inform them at once!"
"No, that we will not do."
"But why?"
"Because this is a private matter that we much handle
ourselves. You must make sure that neither you nor your crew
speaks about me or this mission to anyone, including the other
members of the Jurai royal family. We could suffer a great deal of
embarrassment if this matter was ever made public. I can rely on
your discretion, can't I, captain?"
The captain bowed. "Of course, your highness. I will
speak of it to no one."
Aeka nodded and spoke to her guardians. "Azaka,
Kamedaki, take the captain and I aboard ship."
"Yes, your highness."
The four vanished from view, leaving one very surprised
space pirate behind.
Aeka was startled, on appearing in one of the storage bays
of the ship, by the large cage and wheel that was there. "What
purpose does this serve, captain?"
The captain looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, your message
said that we were to come to Earth in order to capture the giant
space hamster there. Where is he, by the way?"
Instead of bothering to explain, Aeka headed directly to the
bridge.
Aeka nearly jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder.
This crew should have known much better than dare touch her
royal person. As Aeka turned and prepared to give a scathing
reprimand, she stopped as she stared into familiar golden eyes.
"Forget someone, princess?" Ryoko asked in her normal
tone, though underneath there was a definite layer of menace.
Aeka laughed nervously. "Oh please forgive me, Ryoko. I
was so eager to be off on Tenchi's trail that you must have slipped
my mind."
"Yeah, right."
"Excuse me, princess Aeka," the captain said to her.
"Yes, what is it?"
"We are ready to depart. What is our destination?"
Aeka looked at him in surprise. "I don't know."
Everyone on the bridge face-faulted.
In another part of the ship, one of the crew members was
busy sending off a coded transmission to Jurai. He knew it was
against the princess's orders. However, he also knew that the king
had to be informed of this.
Tenchi woke up in bed to the site of Mihoshi looking down
at him in obvious relief. "How do you feel, Tenchi?" she asked,
concerned.
Tenchi rubbed his head. "All right, I guess. I think your
grandmother was a little too much for me." He laughed nervously.
"Yeah, she does take some getting used to. She also
promised not to do anything like that again."
"That's a relief," Tenchi told her as he started to take in the
room he was in. First of all, the bed was big enough for four
people and the room itself was about the size of the entire
downstairs of the Masaki house. Added to that, everything was
tasteful and elegant. The furniture alone had to be worth a fortune
and he was sure that the art pieces that decorated the room were
priceless. "This is a guest room?"
"Well, sort of. The guest rooms are only about a quarter
this size and aren't so decorated. These are the rooms normally
reserved for family. This room belongs to one of my brothers,
actually, but grandma wanted to put you here because it's right next
to mine. My mom decorates all our personal rooms herself with
some of the antiques she collects. My parents like to live pretty
simply though. The room I grew up in was a lot like my room on
my space ship, though not as modern."
"Wait, what about Sasami?"
"She has the room on the other side of mine, belonging to
my youngest sister. She's fine, don't worry. She got up a little
while ago and Zeej is showing her and Ryo-oki the grounds."
"How long was I out for?"
"Oh, about three hours."
"Three hours?! Why didn't you try and wake me?"
Mihoshi blushed a little at this. "But you looked so
peaceful lying there, Tenchi."
He smiled to see her blush. Quickly glancing around to
make sure there weren't any grandmothers lurking around, Tenchi
shared a kiss his new girlfriend.
Meanwhile, the residence was receiving yet another visitor.
Kia was surprised when the house security told her that someone
was at the main door. She wasn't expecting any other visitors.
Besides, no other ships had landed and perimeter security hadn't
informed her of any new arrivals. She was even more surprised
when the security system was unable to determine if this new
visitor was a danger. Of course, it had said the same thing about
Tenchi.
Kia activated the security screen to see a young girl about
twelve with bright red hair and an innocent expression. "Hello
there, who are you?"
The girl smiled cutely and said, "Hi there, my name is
Washu and I'm Tenchi's younger sister."
Kia was a little surprised by that. With that hair color, the
girl could have easily been a granddaughter that she didn't know
about.
"Mihoshi," Kia's voice suddenly came into Tenchi's room,
interrupting their conversation. "Could you please bring Tenchi to
the tea room. I have a surprise for him."
"A surprise?" Tenchi asked Mihoshi nervously.
"It'll be okay, Tenchi," Mihoshi assured him. "I told you
that she promised not to push us together. Best be prepared for
anything, though."
Tenchi nodded solemnly.
Both Tenchi and Mihoshi were shocked to immobility to
see Washu calmly sipping tea with Kia.
Washu turned to face Tenchi with a grin. Then with a cry
of "big brother!", she pounced on him with a monster hug. He just
barely managed to avoid fainting this time.
Tenchi, Mihoshi, and Washu were now all in Mihoshi's
room so they could discuss some things away from Kia.
"Miss me, Tenchi?" Washu said with a grin and continued
without giving Tenchi a chance to answer. "You know, it wasn't
very nice of you to leave without a word like that."
Tenchi was embarrassed. "Well, it was really a spur of the
moment kind of thing."
"That's okay. I'll forgive you as long as you agree to be my
genea pig."
Tenchi decided it was a good idea to change the subject.
"How did you follow us here? And why are you pretending to be
my sister?"
"Well, I had a tracking device installed in Mihoshi's shuttle
when I repaired some minor damage on it just prior to your
leaving, mainly to keep track of Mihoshi. Using it's signal, I was
able to anchor a subspace doorway to the shuttle. As to being
you're sister . . . well, I couldn't tell her who I really am. The Royal
Space Academy would be sure to track me down. As the sister to
her granddaughter's boyfriend, Kia would have no problem with
me staying here. Besides, you already call me Washu-chan."
Tenchi thought that this was because she didn't allow
people to call her anything else, but choose to stay silent.
Further conversation was interrupted by Zeej's voice from
outside the hall. "Miss Mihoshi, your parents are here."
"My parents?" Mihoshi repeated, looking slightly startled.
Tenchi was looking more than slightly startled. Washu
grinned as she saw his look. *Things going a little too fast for you,
Tenchi? Not exactly how you planned it, is it?*
Kiyone sat in the room that the salvagers had given her, the
lights set to the lowest level of illumination. She chuckled to
herself as she polished her service blaster, newly recharged, until it
gleamed in the dim light.
She bided most of her time waiting for them to reach the
GP station in plans of Mihoshi's slow and painful demise. None of
her plans had been good enough for her so far. Too quick and not
painful enough. She wanted her former partner's suffering to be
slow for the hell that she had been put through, all due to the
clumsiness of that . . . that . . .
She thought of peeling off ever layer of skin from Mihoshi
with a butter knife, but Mihoshi would probably die long before
she finished. She thought of breaking every bone in Mihoshi's
body, one by one, with a rusty pipe, but there wouldn't be nearly
enough blood that way.
Kiyone sighed. She would have never thought it would be
so difficult to find the perfect way to kill someone. It had to be
perfect, after all, she would only be able to do it once. Maybe she
could clone Mihoshi somehow and work out some methods? No,
making more Mihoshi would only make matters worse.
Just then, Vitia walked into the room and asked, "Why is it
so dark in here?"
Kiyone looked startled for a moment, but she took control
of it. "I was just practicing servicing my blaster in low-light
conditions. Have to keep up my skills now that I'm going back to
the Galaxy Police."
"You never did tell us how you got stranded on that hulk in
the first place."
Kiyone's facade cracked for a second, but it was too quickly
gone for Vitia to notice it. "It was just an accident. It's not
important now."
Vitia didn't look so sure, but let the matter drop. "Well, I
just came to tell you that dinner is ready."
"Great, I'll be right there."
Still looking uncertain, Vitia left.
Kiyone grinned and let out a low chuckle. "Soon," she
whispered to herself, "Soon Mihoshi, you'll learn how much I have
suffered first hand."