Tenchi Adventures-Chapter 3- "A Fallen Man Arises"


"What kind of news is that?" yells a bitter Ryoko.

"There's no need to yell at her Ryoko. Washu doesn't want to see him in
there
like that any more
than you and me." Ayeka says trailing off as the events replay in her mind.

"I KNOW! I know, sorry Washu, this kinda has me shook up"

"Obviously Ryoko, you just apologized." Washu says attempting to lighten the
mood to no avail.

The room once again falls silent, silence has become all too familiar to the
Masaki residence. Every
one was pained and they knew it. The women of the house were constantly
asking themselves
"How did Jase get to me this fast? Why was he willing to give it all away
for
me? Why? Jase has
somehow worked his way into my life and I can't bare to see him lying
lifeless on a lab table. He
has to wake up ... he just has to." The silence was maddening, the group
managed to sit and feel
guilty and sorry for Jase exactly the way the person sitting next to them
did
yet they never spoke
a word.

Sasami stood up realizing the time and quaintly asked "Do you all want me to
start breakfast? I'm
sorry for starting so late."

As fast as what she said left her lips the group forgave her in unison.
Sasami headed for the kitchen
to start breakfast, Ryo-Ohki tacitly followed. When breakfast was cooked and
served all went to the
table and began to eat. Without a word they ate the meal of omelets and
rice.
Strangely Sasami's
cooking always reflected her mood so the group too knew she was distraught.
The meal ended with
few words, only ones of please and thank you when things were passed, Tenchi
knew it was time
for him to head for the bus stop and catch his ride to school. When Tenchi
motioned for the door,
Suprisingly Katsuhito told him "It's okay if you don't want to go to school,
I doubt your mind will be
on your studies. Although if you stay home I suggest you do something
because
this moping
around is going to only make you feel worse." Tenchi hung his jacket up and
walked to his room.
Katsuhito started again this time talking to the women of the house, "You
all
should really do
something to get your minds off this." As he finished he walked out the
front
door into the brisk
morning air to take the long walk to the Masaki Shrine at the top of the
windy staircase.

"Like what?" asked a depressed Ryoko. Ayeka followed her sister into the
kitchen to aid her with
the dishes. "Hmmm." Ryoko hummed. Ryoko followed her mother through the
dimensional portal to
Washu's lab. As the two approached Jase what they saw was even more
devastating, his vitals were
all normal and with the blankets of the lab table pulled up to his neck, if
it hadn't of been for the
bandage over his eye, Jase seemed to be peacefully dreaming. There was color
in his cheeks and
his hair had been pulled back into a pony tail. He even seemed to wear a
slight smirk on his face.

"He looks like an angel." Ryoko says as her vision becomes blurry and her
eyes fill with tears. She
pulls a chair beside the make shift hospital bed and rests her head on the
edge as she begins to sob.
Washu can only pull up a chair beside her hurting daughter and rub her back
as she also fights tears.
It was true though he looked as if peacefully slumbering while dreaming of
only happy thoughts but in
all reality he was essentially dead to the world, no one could reach him
now.

But the next few days were like that. Tenchi started attending school so not
to fall behind and to
get his mind off of Jase. And Sasami busied herself in household chores,
Ayeka aided her and began
taking walks in which she returned with reddened eyes and tear stained
cheeks. Washu busied
herself with lab work, which wasn't all that different from normal day to
day
life but she often found
herself at Jase's bedside. Mihoshi and Kiyone requested some personal leave
from their duties of
ensuring the safety of the Solar System but the downfall of there only being
two officers in that location
was only one could be off at a time. Kiyone agreed to let Mihoshi stay at
the
house as she did the
rounds solo. Mihoshi slept and watched TV, she really didn't know what else
to do, she inwardly
blamed herself by not fighting but she remembered Jase's words at the
shrine:
        "Remember, if anything happens to me and I don't make it, it's not
your fault, this is
             my choice. You don't realize what I'm doing now is of the
utmost
care of you and I
         really hope I live to talk with you about everything but if it
doesn't happen that way it
             doesn't happen that way. It's the luck of the dice. Stay up
here
until the battle is over
             and someone comes to get you, I will try my hardest to make
sure
that it's myself."

It wasn't enough, though he told her his life could be ended within a few
minutes and she barely knew
him. Mihoshi had never liked death or suffering that's the main reason she
went into the GP. But this was
pain and suffering and she wasn't use to it if anyone ever could be. Kiyone
spent her time on parol
staring into the emptiness of space, wondering of Jase, pondering the
mysteries of the universe, just
thinking. Kiyone was a quiet woman and was very deep. She had very high
hopes
of becoming the best
detective she could be, but she discovered all to quickly that the role of a
GP officer was simply to follow
the direction of her superior to the best of her abilities.

A week had past since the battle. A week. Jase's wounds were healing very
quickly and Washu
rationalized it by explaining that subconsciously the brain was telling the
body to heal itself, these are
automatic activities like pulling your hand from a hot pan, blinking or even
your heart beating. But it still
evident that Jase had not reached consciousness, he was still comatose yet
some hope remained as
his eyes slowly reacted to stimuli such as his pupils dilating and
constricting with light. But some would
argue this is a reflex not voluntary. Jase almost always had company at
bedside, someone always staring
at him, hoping he would rise and tell them everything was going to be okay.
He never did, Jase would lay
there as if in a deep sleep, never moving. Two more days passed and the
insomnia of worry was too much
for this group on the ninth night al fell silent in the house.

At one in the morning, deep into the lab of Washu, there was a stirring, not
much, but it was there. It was
not Washu. Jase in the blink of an eye was sitting straight up taking
panicked shallow breathes, as if
awaking from a horrible nightmare. As his eyes adjusted to the bright lamp
illuminating his bed he could
make out a figure sitting in the chair next to the bed. As his eyes focused
more he distinctly saw red hair,
and he knew it was Washu. His eyes adjusted farther as he almost had cat
like
night vision and saw that
her head was tilted down and her eyes were closed. She was taking in slow
and
deep breathes, she was
obviously asleep. Jase turned of the monitors around him and removed his
IV's
and whatnot. Jase
materialized himself into some black clothes, black tee with black shorts
and
some black boots. He
straightened the sheets of the bed and ever so gently wrapped his arms
around
Washu. He picked her up and
placed her softly in the bed. He pulled the sheet up until it was over her
shoulders and planted a gentle kiss
on her forehead after saying "Thank you, Washu" so quiet a mouse would seem
loud. As he pulled his head
back he became panicked, his memories came flooding back and he didn't know
what had came of Ayeka
and Ryoko. He looked at the tables around him expecting similar hospital
beds
yet they were bare. He
focused energy into sensing the whereabouts of the two lovely ladies. He
first sensed Ayeka and teleported
to right outside her door. Jase silently passed through the door to the
other
side. He saw the two beds and
knelt down in between them. He stared into Ayeka's closed eyes, he hadn't
the
heart to awake her, for all he
had to do is wait until morning. He stared at her face he desperately wanted
to caress her cheek and kiss
her but he would have to wait. He then turned to the slumbering Sasami. He
ran his fingers on the ring that
Tsunami gave him those years ago and he thought to himself "We will meet
again Tsunami, I swear we will".
Jase then picked up on Ryoko's telepathic scent and it led Jase to her room,
he passed through the door
and saw Ryoko's figure through the sheets. Ryoko's pure beauty was
undeniable, her body, her face and
her captivating eyes, a marvel of pure beauty. He hovered above her, staring
at her, impulses driving him
crazy, but he was too much of a gentleman to do any of those things giving
the situation. He then checked
on Mihoshi and to her credit she slept like an angel but she always looked
like one. He telepathically checked
on Tenchi and he was fine. But Kiyone was conspicuously absent from the
household. Jase searched the
area around and she was no where to be found but the Yagami was also gone.
Jase concentrated further and
swept the Solar System. Bingo! She was a little ways from Jupiter but a
small
task compared to what he had
to do to get here. He teleported to inside the ship and scanned for Kiyone,
he found her, she was extremely
close. As he turned the corner he bumped into her. Kiyone was caught off
guard by someone aboard and Jase
was caught even more off guard. Kiyone and Jase are about the same height
but
Kiyone has about an inch to
her advantage, but that still wasn't caught Jase off guard. Jase must have
caught Kiyone coming from the shower.
Her hair was wet and down and her skin was a little reddened from the heat
and the fact that she was
completely naked. Jase was absolutely stunned he was as speechless as if he
was in a coma (crappy pun I
know). Her body glistened with the sheen of water and Jase was trying to
keep
his eyes above her shoulders.
Kiyone was so happy that Jase was alive and moving around that she threw her
self uncharacteristically at
him. Jase opened his arms and she slid her arms around him to make sure this
wasn't a dream, while Jase
could only hope that he was dreaming and not going to wake up any time soon.
She pressed herself into him
hard and squeezed him tight as Jase kept his hands slowly moving above her
waist fighting with all the will
power he had not to go lower. Kiyone backed away and said "I can't believe
it, I"m so happy you're all right,
when did you wake up?"

Jase turned his head away from her and said "Umm. Kiyone I'd love to talk
but
... umm, you're kind of..."

"What do you mean?" In the pure jubilation of seeing Jase well she still
hadn't noticed her nakedness.

"Umm. Kiyone I can't talk to you when you are like that?"

"Like what?" Jase turned to Kiyone and looked her in the eyes and then
slowly
looked down her body soaking in
the incredible view until he got to her feet and then looked at Kiyone in
the
eyes, Kiyone had followed his vision
and when the two's eyes meet again they were both blushing, Kiyone a light
crimson. "Oh my! Wait here." As
she pushed her way past Jase because he was standing in the doorway of her
quarters. A few minutes later,
which seemed like forever to Jase who was standing in the hallway with his
head against the wall, a clothed, but
still blushing Kiyone emerged and asked "Would you like to come in?"

A minorly blushing Jase answered very politely "I would love to." As he
entered Kiyone motioned to sit in a chair
that was facing the bed, Kiyone sat on the bed as Jase took his seat. As he
was sitting down Jase started "I
want to apologize for bumping into you like that and catching you a little
off guard I really didn't mean to." Jase
finished thinking to himself "I'm glad I'm wearing baggy denim pants."

Kiyone only blushed more before responding "It's all right. I believe you. I
want to apologize for putting you in that
situation."

"Please don't apologize, I didn't mind."

"I really believe that." Kiyone said as the two chuckled a bit as Jase
thought to himself "Not baggy enough."

"Kiyone you know that you're a very attractive woman, why would you want to
apologize for hugging me earlier,
I knew you didn't mean anything other than you being happy for my safety. I
don't know why but I feel guilty for
earlier, I really hope I didn't offend you."

"You didn't offend me but thanks."

"For what?"

"For saying that I was an attractive woman."

"Kiyone, you know you're beautiful, you must hear it all the time." Kiyone
just smiled as Jase smiled back.

"So how long have you been back? I suppose with all the excitement they must
have forgot about me up here."

"About twenty minutes."

"Really?"

"Yeah you are the first person to see me. Everyone there was asleep when I
woke up."

"I feel so privileged."

"Why's that? I'm nobody special."

"What?! Are you serious? I don't know too many people who would die for
someone."

"Hmm. Okay, but other than that you really don't know who I am."

"I wouldn't mind finding out, besides do you have some place to live?"

"Not really, I could go back to a run down apartment in the void, I have a
few friends there."

"The one who told you about the attempting assassination of Ayeka and
Sasami?"

"The very one."

"Who is she?"

"It's not a woman, it's a guy and I rather wait to tell you who it is."

"Oh."

"Nothing personal, I didn't mean any harm by it, I just rather tell you all
at the same time. Plus I think a few
people might not want me to stay after I tell you all who my friend is, you
all have kind of met him before."

"Oh. Well, I'm still happy to see you all right." As she walked over and
hugged him again.

As she was about to let go Jase whispered in her ear "I should almost get
killed more often." Kiyone turned
and gave him a strange look, but then their eyes met. The just stared into
each others eyes not blinking, not
saying a word. They both moved in a kissed. Their lips met and they just
held
each other for a while. When
they broke the kiss they just looked in each others eyes and began to kiss
again, this time more passionately.
Kiyone rubbed at Jase's back as he in turn did the same, they only broke the
kiss to breathe and quickly
resumed. They only kissed, but to say only to the way the did it, denied
this
kiss's true meaning. They parted
long enough for Jase to say "Do you want to go home?"

Kiyone kissed him softly on the lips before saying "I have to finish my
rounds, but that should only take a few
hours then I'll head to the house."

"I'll come get you."

"You can take the entire ship with you?"

"I can but I'll have to concentrate pretty hard."

"Don't worry about it, you should fully recover first."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

"I bet you will."

"What do you mean?"

"The women in the house are going to be all over you when they find out your
okay. Everyone's been moping
around to find out if you would be okay."

"I forgot about that. Oh. I don't deal well with crowds, or women in
general,
especially more than one."

"You could have fooled me the way you're so charming."

"I'm charming?"

"Sweet too."

"You're not just trying to make me feel better are you? If so it's working."

"Honestly, you must be a real lady killer, especially in the void."

"Not me."

"Come on, you can tell me."

"Seriously Kiyone, I've never really been in a single relationship."

"Single as in one person, or you haven't had any relationships."

"None."

"Why not? You can't be a..."

"A what? Virgin?"

"Umm. I'm sorry to offend-"

"But that's what you were asking?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I'm not ashamed, I am."

"Huh?!"

"Why is that so shocking?"

"You! I mean you're nice and sweet and charming, why haven't you found
someone?"

"Well, in the void, the women there are, you know..."

"Yeah."

"And I never found someone I liked except one person."

"What happened with them?"

"That was a while ago when I was running from my feelings, everything around
me feel apart, I felt
if I were to get close to her I would make her fall apart too. Plus I was a
lot more naive then and I
didn't know what to say or how to say it, it was a pretty awkward time at
best."

"Who was it?" Jase simply held up his hand and the ring. "Tsunami?" asked a
puzzled Kiyone.

"Yeah, she was the first honest and nice person I ever met, including my
parents and all, I breathe talk
about that stuff another time."

"You don't have to go on, I won't make you." As soon as Kiyone said that
Jase
joined her on the bed
and he wrapped his arms around her Kiyone laid back and the two just sat
there. Holding their
embrace, not saying a word. Kiyone wrapped her arms around Jase returning
the
embrace. Jase
simply reveled in the idea he was with someone who earnestly cared for his
well-being.

Jase tilted his head up and looked into Kiyone's eyes and said "I really
don't know how to say this but to
come out and say it."

"That's the best way to say it." Kiyone said almost predicting his next
words.

"I love you Kiyone." She expected it, she could have bet on him saying it
but
it still hit her for her to hear
it. In the short period of time they had spent together a whole three hours
on the ship, they had very much
been close.

"I love you too, Jase. I love you too." Kiyone just said it and she meant
every fiber of every syllable. They
just laid there together, together the word was taking on a whole new
meaning. They were silent, Kiyone
had curled up next to Jase and Jase had his arms around her. Kiyone was the
next to speak "You should
get home, if they wake up and you're not there, they'll be worried sick.  I'll
hurry up here and I have to tell
you something."

"Yes Kiyone."

"I've noticed you around the other girls and I know you love them too."

"Kiyone, I know-"

"I want you to know that I'm okay with that."

"You are Kiyone."

"Very much so, I feel that one person could love more than one person as
easily as more than one person can love one."

"You're talking about Tenchi and you and everyone."

"Yes. But I'm also talking about you. The other women feel the same way I
do."

"Really, I"ve never had someone care about me, being just with you feels a
little strage, but I guess with who
I am being happy is strange, I might have a hard time adapting, but I will
try. Still I need to tell you all who I really am before I can do anything."

"Take your time, don't rush anything."

"Thanks Kiyone." Kiyone just smiled and kissed him off. Jase waved and then
he was gone.

When Jase arrived everyone was still asleep. For some reason after being in a
coma and only awake for hours
felt tired himself. He streched out on the sofa resting his head on the arm
and drifted off to sleep.