Tenchi Muyo: Lineage A little bit of FanFic based on Tenchi Muyo OVA Disclaimer: Most of the characters herein contained are owned by Pioneer and AIC. Any other characters/places are the property of their respective companies. This story was not written with the intent to make money, and as such cannot be sold. I retain copyright to this work, andŠ (see inside cover of a book sometime). Do not post this on the internet without permission, I donıt want half-finished or altered copies circulating. Please contact me for permission to use this, or significant parts of it somewhere. Please feel free to link to the TOC. Chapter 4: Drifting By Tuor Beleg Measuring a summer's day, I only find it slips away to grey, The hours, they bring me pain. Tangerine, Tangerine, Living reflection of a dream; I was her love, she was my queen, And now a thousand years between. Thinking how it used to be, Does she still remember times like these? To think of us again? And I do. Tangerine, Tangerine, Living reflection from a dream; I was her love, she was my queen, And now a thousand years between. ["Tangerine" by Led Zeppelin] Visions of the five women living with him drifted through Tenchiıs head as turned toward his alarm clock. His hand flopped on the button and he rolled out of bed. It was 9:17. In his dream they were all lined up in front of him, like a Miss Tokyo pageant. He was asking them questions, then they all paraded out in bikinisŠ he was beginning to like that last part when the alarm pulled him out of sleep, but now the first part struck him. Was he really putting them on pageant like that? They had all stayed around for him; he knew this. Were they all in love with him too? That he wasnıt sure about. What if they were? He didnıt want to hurt any of them. But what if not telling them was hurting them more. "Argh! This is hurting ME thinking about this," he said aloud. This wasnıt the place to think anyway. Besides, someone else had been awoken by the dream and was making it painfully aware he wasnıt to be ignored. Tenchi let the pageant start up again in his mind, but this time the girls had less and less on each time they walked by. It was just Sasami and Ayeka with him at the table. Father had gone it to the office to get ready for Jurai and Grandfather was up at the shrine already. Ryoko wouldnıt be up until at least eleven. "Sasami, would you pack a lunch for me today? Iım going for a walk up behind the Shrine." "Sure, Tenchi-niichan," the cheery blue-haired princess replied. "Anything special I should pack?" "No, just some leftovers will be fine" "Could you use some company?" Ayeka volunteered. "No. Iıd like to be alone today." Ayeka looked down. She and Ryoko had fought yesterday for the first time in weeks and taken out a wall downstairs. "Is it something I did yesterday? Is it because Ryoko and I fought again?" He looked over at the crown princess. There was a tinge of hurt in her eyes. She really did believe it was her fault. After a moment Tenchi smiled. "No, you didnıt do anything wrong. I just want to think about my future, graduating and all." "How come he can just smile at me and make everything alright?" Ayeka thought. Gods above, she was a sucker for him. Tenchi finished breakfast and headed back up to his room. He pulled out a daypack and put a sweater and a notebook in it. Than he took a box off of his dresser and added that too. Downstairs Sasami handed him his lunch. "Be careful, and be home before dinner," she said. He hugged both princesses and headed outside. Mihoshi was asleep on the porch again. Sheıd probably stay there until just before lunch, than roll over and fall off just in time so she wouldnıt miss the meal. The path headed past Kiyoneıs office. She looked up from the stack of papers her desk and waved at him as he went by. He waved back. The Galaxy Police had sent her just after the royal family had visited. They were worried about the risk of having so many of Juraian royalty there, and wanted someone a little more dependable than Mihoshi hanging around. Miss Makibi wasnıt too upset about the position, except for ending up with Mihoshi again. She hadnıt quite forgiven her former partner for leaving her in a life-pod floating in the wreckage of a pirate ship for two days until the investigation team had arrived to clean up the mess. As was customary with a new outpost of the GP she had been given the rank of captain, which was quite a promotion from her previous position as detective. She also had a small building from the GP that was an office and basic quarters. Tenchi laughed, he could still remember the look on Kiyoneıs face over a year ago when she saw Mihoshi. Someone at HQ had not told her whom she was working with. The bubble-headed blonde for her part had not only forgotten to tell anyone another GP officer was coming, but had forgotten herself. The office looked a lot nicer now than when it had first appeared next to the Misaki house. It had come as a gray and blue box with four rooms. That winter his father had worked out some plans for it and Washuıs robots had helped put a nice shell on it in the spring, complete with a big porch where the captain usually did her work. Since her arrival, Tenchi and Kiyone had become good friends, which oddly enough hadnıt bothered either Ryoko or Ayeka too much. "They probably donıt think of her as much of a obstacle," Tenchi told himself. There were things that he Kiyone talked about neither would tell anyone else. She was the only one who really understood how he felt about the other girls. She was much more helpful when something upset Ayeka or Ryoko then his father was. His fatherıs advice usually ended up with a request for grandchildren and a box of condoms in his hand. He was happy to have one girl in the house he was sure wasnıt trying to fight for his affections. Maybe everyone else saw that too. No one had protested too loudly even when she was the one who went with him to his senior prom. She had created quite the stir anyway with the guys at school. She was as beautiful as any girl there, and a couple of years older. It infuriated the popular guys to no end that she had refused to dace with any of them. Tenchi crested the hill and walked down toward a little stream that had pooled up in the valley. It was a little spot he had often visited. The grass was soft and cool here shaded from the sun. It wasnıt a secret, everyone knew where it was and would come to find him if he had been out too long, but they all respected this was his spot. It was where he went when he needed to be alone for a while. He sat down and had a drink. It was a warm day and he was glad for the shade and the cool breeze coming across the water. He pulled the wooden box out of his daypack. Washu had made it at his request. It was a Juraian wood, something dark like walnut, but dense like oak. He pressed his thumb to the lock and it popped open. It was designed so nothing would move inside when the lid was closed and held considerably more stuff than it should have, but never seemed to gain any weight. Every once in a while her inventions turned out to be quite useful. Tenchi took the master key off the top. It still felt alive after being used yesterday. "The power of the space-trees flows through it," thought Tenchi. "It had come from Tsunami, and was a part of her. Itıs a part of Sasami too, I guess. Everyone is wrapped up around this thing in some form or another." Tenchi watched electricity crackle around the hilt and the blade form then disappear again. He wondered where the energy came from, was it Funho or the gems embedded in it or was it Tsunami herself? "Maybe it was even me," he thought. Memories of his first meeting with Ayeka came back to him. Guns blazing, threats, being imprisoned. Tenchi smiled, he was almost as afraid of her as he was of Ryoko at the time. She was absolutely heartbroken over her brother. She had never even thought of anyone else, having been betrothed to him since birth. It wasnıt long though before she set her sights on Tenchi. "I thought it was just the rebound then, I was the first eligible young man she saw," he thought aloud, but as time went on, he began to doubt that. He looked down at the Tenchikin in his hands and watched the gems glow brighter for a moment and then fade back to a dull red. Ryoko must have passed close by. The gems were strange, they would always glow around Ryoko, sometimes around Washu, and sometimes even when his grandfather used the sword. Ryoko still wanted the gems back, but could he trust her yet? She was still very powerful with only one, powerful enough to have almost destroyed Kagato on her own. Since things had calmed down, she had stopped asking about them except when they came up in conversation. A little while later he set down the key and pulled the next item out of the box. It was one of his motherıs old kimonos. The one Ryoko had torn. He pictured his motherıs face, what would she think of him here with five girls pawing over him? Which one would she like? His hands came across Ryokoıs crude stitching. She had almost been in tears when she handed it back to him. She hadnıt meant to upset him, and even after he had yelled at her she ran out to protect him from the massu. Tenchi liked it when she allowed herself to come out of her shell. He knew she was deep down a very caring person. "All those years with Kagato must have created that shell," he thought. "If only she wouldnıt hide in there so often." He couldnıt imagine the hell she had gone through by that bastardıs hand. She was torn away from her mother and constantly referred to as, well, garbage. She was forced to do his dirty work. He shuddered as some of the things that probably happened to her came through his mind. He was sure Kagato was a sick individual. The young prince shook his head trying to get the images out of his mind. He reached for something else out of his box. He found the ring Ayeka had given him, the one that transformed him into his Juraian battle outfit. It had been the first thing she had given to him, right before they went out to save Ryoko. He smiled, both girls had shown very different sides of themselves that day. They had put aside their differences. They both risked their lives for him and for each other. They had performed bravely when they thought he was dead, and he had almost died that day. He had first tasted his power that day too, and it still frightened him. He went through a few more items, including a little black box containing two rings. They were the rings he and Haruna had bought. He knew he had put them on the table when he left, but when Ryoko had set him down in the real world he had found them in his pocket again. He had definitely seen a change in Ayeka and Ryoko after he came back. They had almost ceased fighting, and even their occasional bouts were nowhere near as violent. Mihoshi and Kiyone had calmed down too, Mihoshi was more confident in herself and Kiyone more forgiving of the ditzy GP officer. Even Washu had begun spending less time in her lab. Tenchi watched as the sun drifted down the sky. The light was beginning to take a warm yellow that reminded him the day was waning. There was a small pile of objects and pictures by his side now. He picked up a red gem and looked as the light from the sun was refracted through it onto the ground. It was all that was left of his daughter. Washu had pulled him aside and told him she could bring Mayuka back, but he had declined. Not yet, Who was he to bring a child into this world without a mother? It would have hurt him too much to see her again. Still, a part of him felt hollow when he thought of his daughter. It had scared him at first, but he missed being called "Daddy." She was full of life, even though hers was so short and she was dedicated to him. A shiver ran through him. It was getting cooler and the orange-yellow rays of light shooting past him reminded him it was almost dinnertime. Sasami was expecting him, and his stomach growled in anticipation.