Another D.F. Roeder fic. And only a month or two late. Time for more C+C,
(and right before I'm due to release a fic. It's a coincidence. Really)
Hello. Just a little something in between ongoing series...
Tenchi Forever SPOILER ahead...
*Blech* You're lucky I enjoy your writing. That was not one of my favorite
movies.
.
The stone steps were, in any practical sense of the word, eternal. For
as long as he could remember, there was an almost ritualistic quality to
climbing the long stairwell to his house, or the even longer trek to the
shrine, which was suitably higher on the hill.
nice opening paragraph.
grandfather when he was young. He'd even taken to wearing his hair
longer, strengthening the resemblance to the Yousho of times past... or
of a young man artificially aged in a pocket dimension. He shook those
thoughts loose.
Well, at least he got some :)
College, or the possibility of it, loomed large in the very near future,
but it was actually the furthest thing from his mind. Rather, each step
higher brought increasing thoughts of long, but pleasant, burdens, of
matters avoided, of decisions deferred... and of secrets kept.
Ah, so it's time to tell the other girls that he's been secretly involved
with Ryo-Ohki for the last year.
A flash of red caught his eye just before reaching the landing for the
house, and Tenchi
I'd break that into two sentences 'house. Tenchi
He opened the sketchpad and pulled the pencil out of the tunnel of
spiral binding.
Ah, so he kept something from that time.
father's legacy, he imagined -- but he'd never really done much of it
before the 'Incident'. Haruna had awakened some need in him to create
when she'd pulled him into the world she'd made; a unforeseen
an unforeseen
byproduct
of that experience. Now that he was drawing often, however, it always
seemed to unnerve a certain two
'a certain pair' sound better to me since the 'a' makes it sound singular.
"Thank you, Tenchi-dono." Washuu was flustered, but her mercurial
personality soon washed it away as the gathered people continued to have
fun. It wasn't long before the sake was broken out, and even Tenchi
partook, much to everyone's surprise.
It was his first step on the long road to alcoholism.
~~~~~
Tenchi made a profound discovery: he was a moody drunk.
I can see that.
"Some air. Need air." Tenchi opened the front door and quickly closed it
behind him. "Ah. Better. Maybe a walk, too." He didn't feel up to the
stairs, so he wandered down one of the forest trails that disappeared
into the darkness along the side of the hill.
Two words about passing out in the outdoors: dew point.
"Lies, lies. I'm living a lie..." he muttered, stumbling along and
slowly losing awareness of his surroundings as he dwelled on his
thoughts. "I'm so tired of it."
So he ignited the Master Key and lopped his head off.
~~~~~
Setting the bottle down, he rubbed his belly with one hand while
massaging his forehead with the other. "I'm going to regret this
tomorrow, just as soon as Ryouko sneaks in and wakes me up." He giggled
at a passing fancy of grabbing her and kissing her madly. <Wouldn't she
be surprised...> His mood soured almost instantly. "Can't do that yet,
Tenchi. Bah."
Yet? Interesting choice of words.
He rolled over onto his hands and knees and returned to an upright
position by working his palms up the tree's trunk. Once standing, his
gaze continued up the split in the bole to where the single trunk
divided into many branches.
"Haruna..."
I wonder if Tenchi realizes that he was really nothing more than a
substitue for Yosho. :)
"Tenchi!" Ryouko fluttered in teleport
"fluttered in teleport" sounds awkward. I'd rephrase that.
Tenchi laughed ruefully. "I thought it would be easier on you. I didn't
want to hurt you... talking about it. You tried so hard to get me back,
I--"
"Me and Aeka can take it, Tenchi," she answered a little crossly. "We
don't break too easy."
True enough.
"No, no. That's not what I meant." He finally raised his head and looked
at her with bloodshot eyes. His hand reached out and clumsily caressed
her cheek. "Your face. It wouldn't go away. It gave me a real pounding
headache, too."
True. It always was her face that plagued him.
"You made me remember, and you weren't even there."
'or maybe it was Minagi,' Tenchi admitted.
Ryouko blink-blinked,
Don't care for that phrasing. Sounds too 'scriptish'
>"Ryou-- ko," Tenchi falteringly muttered, bending over at the waist,
"I... I..." He scooted to the side, leaned over the ground, placing his
palms on the leaf litter, and began emptying the contents of his stomach
onto the ground.
Better than the contents of his bowels. :)
"I... I..." *COUGH* "love... you..."
I did this once myself. It seemed awful romantic at the time. The hangover
the next morning erased any thoughts of that.
Another set of heaves cleaned out
whatever was left. Tenchi fell to his side, groaning, and Katsuhito
returned to his side
two 'to his sides' in the same sentence. I'd rephrase the second part as
'Katsuhito returned to help him
and helped him sit up.
Ryouko was frozen.
Odd, I thought she'd be running hot. :)
Ryouko shifted around, but didn't say anything.
"I see. I will leave you to your thoughts." Aeka made to rise, but
Ryouko's hand quickly lay atop her own before she could move.
"No! Um, no. Please stay, Aeka. That is, if you want to..."
Touching.
Ryouko opened her mouth to retort, but she stopped and slowly closed it,
smiling wanly. "I'm... glad, to tell the truth." She picked up her sake
cup and quickly drained it, looking at Aeka over the rim. She set the
empty cup down. "I... like having you around, Aeka."
Ryouko: Let's have sex.
Ryouko tensed, closing her eyes and waiting for the explosion, waiting
for the pain, for the scream, the tears, hate. Instead, the hiss of
hands on cloth reached her ears, and Ryouko straightened, opening her
eyes. With a neutral expression, an almost empty expression, Aeka's gaze
followed her own fingers as they ran down creases, trying to smooth away
the lines.
She waited, as Aeka smoothed.
A hundred years passed.
"Okay, I'm over it now," Aeka finally said.
"Too bad Tenchi's been dead the last couple of decades," Ryouko lamented.
The overhead lamp glinted off of Ryouko's
it's actually okay to drop the 'of'
moist face as she lowered it,
and the soft sniffles tore jagged, mortal wounds in the life-long feud
between the two women, a feud that had already had
I'd just say 'feud that already had'. Sounds better.
"I... don't know what you mean." Aeka released her, and Ryouko sat back
and turned her head away.
"If, if you leave... I win... and lose."
That's life.
"I've... been better," he finally said. "How are you?"
"About the same as you. Isn't sake in excess wonderful?" she dryly
remarked.
She wasn't dry last night. :)
"Ahhh, heh, well..." Tenchi sat up and twisted to put his feet on the
floor, then regretted the movement, cradling his head in his hands.
"Oooh, how does Jiichan do it? He's probably already seeing people at
the shrine."
"Superior Juraian constitution, perhaps."
perhaps?"
"I was thinking..." She
she
"Why didn't you want to be emperor, Tenchi?" she asked abruptly, a short
burst of courage.
Awkward. I'd reword it, but not sure how to right now.
"And," he uncharacteristically cut her off, "I don't want to be in the
position of deciding whomever else lives or dies. I don't want that kind
of power." He looked her in the eye. "You can't say that the throne
*doesn't* do that."
Heh. Not what she expected.
Tenchi collapsed in surprise, moaning from the floor as he aggravated
his hangover.
I'll say.
She looked over at Ryou-ou-ki, sitting on a stool and gnawing a carrot
gnawing on a
without her usual zeal. Even the little cabbit was aware of a change in
the prevailing house-winds, and the poor dear was distracted.
Sasami forced her mind back to her tasks, lest the meal get away from
her. It would all be all right. All the ingredients were gathered in one
place, ready to play their parts. Everyone would stay together. Bad
stuff couldn't hurt them if they all stayed together. That was the
important part. Together.
Ohh. Forshadowing, perhaps?
~~~~~
Aeka returned with two glasses of water
and some bourbon to mix with them.
She looked at him with a twinkle in her bleary eye. "Nobility are
allowed, ah, multiple wives, and as Emperor, you could probably have as
many as you wanted-- within bounds of reason, of course."
ie: 'You can only choose me and Ryouko.'
Aeka finally reddened. "Well... usually two,
Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge.
sometimes three, but four
or more happens at times, although some consider, ahem, five and above
rather scandalous." She fanned herself in embarrassment, thinking of
that circumstance as little better than a harem.
I see. Four: normal. Five: harem. Got it.
Although Tenchi was already nobility, she carefully couched her
presentation around the throne, using it to lend credence to what she
knew would be a difficult moral adjustment for the young Earther. She
noticed Tenchi had wandered off into strange mental territory.
We already know my feelings on the matter. He'd make a break for freedom
within twenty years. :)
"Jurai, disappointment, not taking the throne."
He matched answers to questions, and gaped. "ME?! I'm *NO*-body!"
Almost instantly furious, Aeka raged to her feet. "YOU ARE *NOT*
NOBODY!! EVER!!!"
"You're a weenie'" Aeka assured him.
"You are the most powerful, Tenchi-sama, and the direct heir to the
throne. I could feel the enormity of your Jurai Power coming off the
Tenchiken in waves. It was almost painful. No one... no one else could
have defeated Kagato."
Except for Ranma, Sailor Moon, Lum, Dog Soldier...
Tenchi was stricken, remembering how poorly the night before had gone
off,
I'd drop the 'off'
but Aeka reclaimed his attention one last time, her soft voice
ringing in the room with a quiet power.
"The Throne of the Emperor of Jurai will always belong to Masaki
Tenchi... until his death.
Or the Facist Monarchy that is Jurai is overthrown in a revolution and
power is restored to the people.
"Your place is waiting," he softly said, his voice seeming to
unnaturally echo to her.
Aww. How sweet.
While they were alone, Ryouko studied Aeka for a few seconds and then
nodded to herself over a decision she'd already made. She put down her
dish, placed an arm around Aeka's waist, and leaned in to whisper in the
other's ear.
"When the time comes, 'Sister', you have my support. I just want him to
myself for a little while."
My, my. Ryouko is being awfully generous here.
Ryouko leaned back and saw suds jumping off of her friend's shaking
hands and tears spilling down her face. She gathered Aeka into a hug,
and Aeka snaked her hands around Ryouko's torso and buried her face in
Ryouko's shoulder.
"Time for some nooky," Ryouko thought. Seducing women sure was easier then
man, she mused.
"Strip."
"Ah! Haha! Um, I was kinda hoping to ease into--"
"You'd better ease into it," Ryouko warned. "I hate guys that try to rush
things."
"I'm going to scrub your back," she said, arching one eyebrow. "Got a
problem with that?"
"Ah... ah... okay... I guess... um..."
"I'm going to do it with my breasts," Ryouko said.
(I can't take credit for that. It was one of the more hilareous scenes in
the manga)
Ryouko read that thought by the expression on his face, and she laughed
for the sheer joy of it, causing Tenchi to chuckle in response. Her
clothes faded away, leaving her nubile glory open to his inspection.
"But saggy there, eh?" Tenchi said.
And the storm rose around her, entered her, became her, buried her in an
embrace of blinding white heat, and her keen changed to a cry of union,
love, and joy, shouting the name that was now her life.
"Nobuyuki!"
"I want a divorce," Tenchi said blandly.
Tenchi skidded to a stop when Ryouko whirled on him. She floated down to
his level, her belly only now noticeably distended. It had taken three
years, but with some help from Washuu, Ryouko was finally blissfully
pregnant.
Washuu used some Nanniichuan on herself, eh? :)
"Oh, yeeeah. Your father loves a good peek, and your grandfather loves a
good squeeze, now and then. Some family I married into. Hmph!"
She did say she was willing to share. :)
Tenchi paled, imagining the necessary increase in carrot yield from the
fields, and promptly fainted. Ryouko reappeared, a soused and satisfied
cabbit in each hand, held by the scruffs of their necks. Nagi wrinkled
her nose as the sour odor of sake wafted around the room. Ryouko looked
at her friend.
Drunk. Best way to do it. :)
~~~~~
She'd first feared that a coup was brewing, but she realized that the
looks were ones of amusement. It happened often enough that she'd almost
been to the point of screaming, wanting to know what in the world was
going on. But pry and needle as she might, no one coughed up a single
explanation. Even the Knights, Azaka and Kamidake, seemed to be grinning
more than usual. Not so rare for Kamidake, but Azaka?! <I'm going to
have to have words with them one of these days,> she vowed. <Legends
reborn or no...>
Heh. They'd better watch out.
Highly interested in what had been planned, the rest got up and followed
the blue-haired princess as she led them into a room Aeka didn't
remember having been there before. <Washuu,> she correctly concluded,
seeing the smirk on the scientist's face. The new room reminded her of
the ladies' bath, except without the bath.
Oh, a paradox. :)
When she had finished tying the obi and adjusting Aeka's kimono, Sasami
looked her up and down and nodded. They retraced their path, and Sasami
led her to a single cushion on the side of the table opposite Tenchi and
Ryouko. Once seated on her shins, Aeka clasped her hands to cover the
trembling and peered wide-eyed at the two across from her. Sasami
retreated and took her own seat, and Tenchi cleared his throat.
"Fooled you! Bet you thought I was going to marry you. It was all just a
joke," Tenchi teased.
Ryouko was a widow a moment later.
"Aeka," he warmly said, "you have been more than family to us; you have
been our friend. And now, we would like for you to be more."
"We really need a maid. Mind cleaning up the place?"
His voice
firmed
voice was firm
"Ah... yeah," Tenchi said, scratching his head. "Maybe if I keep them
alternately pregnant--"
Hehehe. Very evil.
Ryouko took the opportunity to whisper in Aeka's ear, the resemblance to
the action from years ago sending a tingle along her spine. "I expect a
*lot* more from you than just a little kiss on the cheek, but I can wait
till later... Aeka-chan." She leaned back, wiggling her eyebrows.
"EEEE!!!" Aeka screeched.
"Did't you know I was only using Tenchi to get to you?"
Interesting and enjoyable, though a bit slow for my taste. Didn't care much
for the Sasami marrying Tenchi bit at the end, but only because it feels
like something of a cop out since Sasamu didn't share the bonding
experiences the others did. Overall an enjoyable fic, not one of your best,
but better than a lot out there.
D.B. Sommer