Patience.  When dealing with beings that demand nothing in the way of
personal wealth or material possessions, it quickly becomes the coin of the
realm.  Patience can be traded, patience can be earned and as the Ronoken
was quickly finding out, patience can also be spent.

“I thought you said I would have my Avatar within a days time.  I thought
you promised me you could deliver.  I thought… that you were the best.”  The
being speaking wasn’t completely visible; the Ronoken could only at best
make out a floating red gem and the eyes- the cold, emotionless green eyes
he had begun to dread in recent days, that floated behind it.  D3, his
master’s right hand in all things looked on silently as the voice spoke from
somewhere beyond even himself.. The Ronoken didn’t need to see his
addresser’s full form to know who she was, and more importantly why she was
so upset.

Again, the Ronoken’s ears were covered by the woman’s steady, syrupy voice.
It seemed to pour form the nothingness around him and encase him in its
thick, sweetened words.  It was all the Ronoken could do not to gasp for
air, assuming that there was any air to gasp for.

“Was I wrong to place my faith in you, Ronoken?  Child of the Scales, your
brothers have served I and the other Keepers of the Plains for thousands of
years.  I had assumed that you were the same.  I had assumed that you would
do your best to bring my plans to fruition, unlike so many others that have
fallen before you...  Tell me child, was I mistaken?”

He ‘stood’ unmoving in the cold vacuum of space, forcing himself to radiate
complete calm and confidence.  Inwardly however he found himself wincing at
the Lady’s accusations.  She was saying he wasn’t as good as his coworkers,
she was implying that he was incompetent in his duties, and most of all she
was accusing him of false advertisement.  If it was patience that she was
trying to extract from him she had succeeded, because he was just about out.

“My Lady with all due respect, a professional cannot achieve one’s goals
without the necessary information.  You asked for an Avatar, but you
neglected to inform me that not only are each of these targets not…
conventionally normal, but one of them just so happens to be a Goddess of
the Multiverse.  Had I been informed of such trivial details, then I can
assure you you’re precious Avatar would have been hand delivered by now… my
Lady.”

While still appearing cool and confident, inwardly the Ronoken was now
terrified.  In the 20,000 years he had been self-employed, he had NEVER
belittled one of his clients this badly.  Granted, this was hardly what
anyone would consider belittling, but when you consider the fact that your
clientele can vaporize you on the grounds that they were dissatisfied with
your services, one tends to become awfully polite awfully fast.

“Hmmm, maybe I’m hearing things, but that sounded like an excuse, Ronoken.”
This time the Ronoken visibly cringed.  He knew she was right, and that had
he not been distracted this would all have been finished by now.  After
swallowing his pride, the now-defeated Jinn merely bowed and said, “Forgive
me my Lady.  It won’t happen again, of that you can be sure.”

The visage before him seemed to glare for a moment, then replied, “See that
it won’t.  You have 24 earth hours, Ronoken.  If my wishes are not granted
by then, I will be forced to… replace you.”

“I understand my Lady.  I guarantee you it will not come to that.”

Again, the phantasm seemed to regard the demon floating before it.  “See
that it doesn’t.” It whispered across the airless winds of space.  The
Ronoken continued to bow until a familiar shiver coursed through his body.
When he finally looked up, the Lady was gone.  Almost immediately, his
characteristically emotionless features flooded with rage.

‘That bitch,’ he thought to himself, careful not to speak out loud, lest she
hear him.  ‘I’m damn lucky to be alive after facing both Washu AND Tsunami,
and all she can do is criticize me?  Well, at least I have 24 hours.  Far
more time than I need.’  The Ronoken straightened his red power tie, and
then turned his attention once again to the now all too familiar orb of
shimmering blue below him.

With a thought, the floating man in space vanished without a trace.  The
feeling that someone was still watching however hung on for quite some time.

***

BGlanders presents…

The Devil and Mr. Masaki

Chapter 4:  One Simple Reason

Note:  It really helps if you’re familiar with K’thardin’s side chapter

***

It had, without question, been one of the strangest shopping experiences of
her life.  Not only had the mall she was in been destroyed (not to mention
over half of downtown), not only was she suffering from a massive hangover,
but that…that outfit Aeka had been wearing…

“Ojousama to Oyoubi… heh… it’s gonna be a cold day in Hell before I let her
live that one down… heh heh…”

While thoughts of teasing her rival and sometimes friend were tempting, her
mind and body were pretty well set on shutting down completely for the
night.  She had already shared a mercifully silent bath with the princess,
Mihoshi and Kyione after they had managed to pick themselves up off of the
floor earlier on. They had each come to an unsaid conclusion that the less
said about what had happened at the mall, the better for everyone.

With a yawn and a stretch Ryoko teleported up to her favorite rafter,
foregoing her rather cramped closet of a room for her more familiar perch.
After all of ten seconds, she was completely passed out, not even noticing
that her mind link with Washu had been completely silent for the last hour.

***

>From the second floor balcony a tall, rather unsettled, eerie presence
silently appeared.  Calmly it watched as its next victim slept soundly, a
wicked-looking smile forming on the things lips.  Its hands, once slightly
shaking, now rested calmly on the lapels of its suit coat jacket.

‘Excellent.  She’s so wrapped up in her love for the boy that she’ll say yes
to anything.  I can just see it now…’

***

“Ryoko?  Ryoko, please wake up…”

Ryoko slowly stirred to the sound of a very familiar, and very welcome, male
voice whispering in her ear.  Slowly her eyes fluttered open to the image of
Tenchi’s face hovering a few scant inches from her own.

“Tenchi… what are you doing?  It’s late…err…early I mean….”

“Hush now, my darling.  I don’t care what time it is.”

Ryoko shrugged and sleepily tossed her blanket aside.  “Whatever you say
Te….”

Waitaminute

“Tenchi?” Ryoko asked, her eyes now the size of saucers, “di..di…did you
just call me….’darling’?”

Tenchi leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Ryoko’s waist.  She wasn’t
quite sure how or when in happened, but she and Tenchi were suddenly
standing outside underneath Funaho.  Quite honestly though, she didn’t care
in the slightest about the rather drastic scene change.

“Of course I called you darling.  What else would I call you?”

This was a dream; this HAD to be a dream…

“Ryoko there’s something I have to tell you… Something I should have told
you a long, long time ago.”

Who cares if it’s a dream!  Death to that purple-haired bitch if she woke
her up now!

“Yes, Tenchi?”  Ryoko’s voice wavered; her heart was beating a mile a
minute.  Were those cherubs flying around his head?

“Ryoko… I love you.  I love only you.  I have loved you since I met you and
I will love you forever.  My heart is yours…just promise you’ll be gentle
with me.”

Oh yeah, those were cherubs.  Fireworks too.  This man of hers certainly
knew how to admit his pent up feelings with style.

“Oh Tenchi, I love you too!  But… what about Aeka?”

“Who?”

That was all it took.  Ryoko was smothering him with kisses before he could
even blink, let alone respond.

“Oh Tenchi, you’ve made me so happy!  Oh I love you I love you I love you!”

Somewhere in-between kisses, Tenchi managed to catch his breath and gently
push Ryoko away.  Ryoko tilted her head quizzically as Tenchi did his
soulful best to gaze deep into her amber eyes.  Then without warning, Tenchi
kneeled before Ryoko, taking her hand in his.

“Ryoko… would you marry me?”

Ryoko was so shocked that all she could do was nod mutely at first.  Then
Tenchi slipped the ring on her finger, a ring so heavy even SHE had trouble
lifting her hand up.

At this point, the muteness stopped.

“YES!  YES I’LL MARRY YOU!”  As Ryoko glomped Tenchi on the cool grass
below, fireworks could be seen going off over Masaki Lake.  The cherubs were
now tossing confetti over the quickly disrobing couple as the scene slowly
faded to black.

***

By now, the figure in the black suit was wringing his hands as his mental
interlude started to fade out.

“Yesssss…. That will be perfect!  Why didn’t I think of this before?  She’s
so incredibly love sick for this fool boy she’ll agree to anything without
question!  It’s so obvious I’m mad I didn’t go for her first.  I mean, she
just begging for him to…”

“Tenchi, is that you?”

With a mental curse, the Ronoken transformed and spun around just in time to
see Sasami sleepily walking out of her room.  A Ryo-Ohki doll was clutched
under her left arm as she tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes.  By the
time she got a good look at who was there, all she saw was a nervous
ten-year old boy staring back at her.

“Oh Monis, its you!  I thought I heard someone talking, so I came out here
to see who was up so late.  What happened to you today?”

Monis, a.k.a. the Ronoken nervously shifted his feet as he turned to his
lightning fast con artist skills for an answer.

“Well…umm…. I was…errr…I mean…. You were pretty tired after playing video
games and fell asleep.  I didn’t want to wake you, so I let myself out.  You
don’t mind, do you?”

Sasami giggled and smiled back at the obviously nervous boy.  “That’s okay.
I’m sorry I fell asleep like that.  I guess I didn’t realize how tired I
really was.  Thanks for understanding, that was really sweet of you.”

“Ummm… no problem.”  Damn it, why was his face suddenly so hot?  It wasn’t
THAT warm in here, was it?

“So what are you doing here?  It’s pretty late, you know…”

Oh damn.  Think brain, think!

“I….umm…you’re grandpa told me I could stay for the night!  I was…err…I was
just looking for the bathroom.”

“Oh,” Sasami seemed satisfied with that answer.  For a moment Monis relaxed,
thinking that he was in the clear.  That moment lasted for all of three
seconds as Sasami took a step towards him, her eyes locked on his.

“Say, I never got to say thank you for helping me do the dishes today.”

The Ronoken sweat dropped slightly as Sasami took another step towards him.
Slowly he started to back away from this constantly chipper grinning
machine.

“That’s quite alright.  Actually I was just on my way to…”

“Say, I was gonna make a midnight snack for myself anyway… I could throw
something together for you, if you like.”

The Ronoken paused, rather thrown by the sudden turn in conversation.
Suddenly he found himself locked in a mental debate with over what to do
next.

‘What are you doing?  Just knock her out, get that other girls soul and get
the hell out of here!’

‘But… she’s offering us food.  When’s the last time we actually had anything
to eat?’

‘We don’t need to eat.  We’re/I’m/you’re a demon, for L-Sama’s sake!  Food
is not something we need to survive!’

‘Yeah, but… it still tastes really good.  We haven’t had anything to eat in
years!  And besides, she’s really cute…’

‘Have you forgotten we fail in the next 24 hours Lady Tokimi is gonna blast
me…err…you…US into the next dimension?’

‘But we’ve got 24 whole hours and this next gal is gonna be a walk in the
park!’

‘Okay, what about the fact that this little mortal here is a friggin’
GODDESS?  The fact that she’ll VAPORIZE US if we look at this girl the wrong
way doesn’t bother you?’

‘Yeah, but you heard Tsunami… she can’t do anything unless we directly hurt
this little girl, and I don’t see how eating a ham sandwich is going to
cripple her.’

‘Yes, but…. Hey wait.’

“Um, Sasami?  What kind of snacks do you have?”

Sasami stared for a second, wondering why her friend had been standing
completely still and mumbling to himself for the last several moments.  Once
she realized he was done, she smiled and responded.

“Anything you want, Monis!  We’ve got cookies, cake, peanut butter and
jelly, some ramen if worse comes to worse… are you hungry at all?”

‘…The cyan girl can wait a few seconds’

‘But a moment ago you were hell-bent on finishing this job up fast.  Are you
sure..?’

‘I am curious as to these ‘cookies’ the girl speaks of.’

‘Yeah, but…’

‘Cookies!’

‘…Right then.’

“Lead the way, Sasami!”  Monis said happily, a sweat-drop now very
noticeable beside his head.

***

As Sasami rooted through the fridge, Monis glanced around the kitchen, idly
taking in the sights and sounds of a quiet summer night in the house of a
mortal.  The back door was open, allowing for the summer air to once again
waft through the screen door and into the house.

“Say Sasami, don’t you and your family have air conditioning?  This has got
to be murder on your electric bill…”

“Nope!” Came the chipper reply from somewhere within the icy bowels of the
fridge.  “Father designed this house with an Old Victorian style in mind.
That way, if you keep the windows open in the summer it’s always able to
catch a breeze, no matter which way it’s blowing from.  That way it’s always
cool in here.”

“…I see.”  Ah yes, the father figure of the household.  Had he been around
yesterday this whole mess wouldn’t have occurred.  He would have been the
perfect candidate for a wish, the Ronoken thought to himself.

“Say, where is the father of the house?  I haven’t seen him around since I
got here…”

Sasami emerged from the fridge carrying a half-gallon of milk in one hand
and a plate of saran-wrapped chocolate chip cookies in the other.   “Oh, he
had to stay overnight at the office to finish out some emergency project.  I
think Tenchi said that father was working on designing a new mall for
downtown Tokyo, or something like that.”

“I see…” The Ronoken continued to glance around, staring at the sink as he
did so.  He noted that quite a few dishes had piled up since he and Sasami
had washed them that afternoon.

“Sasami, are those not the dishes we had washed earlier on?”  The Ronoken
asked, pointing at the rather large pile now sitting on the countertop.

“Yeah, I cooked a really big dinner tonight, so there were a lot of dishes
left over.”

The Ronoken turned his attention Sasami, who was sitting down across from
him at the kitchen table and unwrapping the plate of cookies in her hand.

“So you did all the cooking?”

“Yep!”  Sasami beamed, happy that someone had taken an interest in her
cooking.

“And now you’re stuck washing all of the dishes?”

Sasami sweat-dropped slightly, her cheery smile never leaving her face.
“Well… aside from grandfather, I’m the only one here who can really cook.
And as far as washing dishes goes… if I let the others do it, we probably
wouldn’t have very many dishes left over.”

“But still,” Monis began as Sasami poured two glasses of milk, “you’re
telling me that you cook every single meal in this house, and that you clean
up after everyone when they’re done every single day?”

Sasami nodded, a small sigh escaping her lips.  “It gets frustrating
sometimes, but they have their own jobs around the house.  This is my way of
helping out around here, and besides they always praise me for my efforts.”

“Hmm… it just doesn’t seem right, is all.”  Monis sighed, half put out by
the situation Sasami was in and half angered that all of his hard work that
afternoon had been so quickly messed up, but considering how the day had
gone, it really wasn’t that big of a surprise.

Sasami smiled warmly at her new friend as he stared intently at the pile of
dirty dishes from that night’s feast.  Sasami really had gone all out with
her cooking, and it was really nice to see someone care that much about what
she was doing.  Oh sure, everyone in the house had praised her as usual, but
it was nice to see that someone took a genuine interest in her efforts.

Sasami suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that Monis was
now staring at her.  Blushing slightly, Sasami turned her attention to the
plate of cookies between him and herself

“Well thank you Monis, it’s really kind of you to take an interest in what I
do.  I know the others around here care, but it’s still nice to hear it from
someone, you know?  It just feels good to know your work is appreciated.”

“Indeed it does, Sasami.  Indeed it does.”  The Ronoken smiled a genuine
smile at this.  It was the first time anyone had actually ever seemed to
understand what it felt like to keep up with an endless task.  Slowly, the
Ronoken found his face getting warmer again.

Stupid air-conditionless house.

“So even though you don’t always get the appreciation you deserve, you keep
cleaning and cooking for these people?  Why?  Why do something so selfless
for them when you know you’re getting next to nothing in return?”

Sasami’s smile turned a bit softer as her voice grew quieter.

“For one simple reason, Monis.”

“That being?”

“Because I love them.”

“…Oh.”  That was the answer he should have expected, but it still came as a
surprise.  He knew well enough about love.  He had used it to his advantage
hundreds of times in the past.  People, he had learned, were willing to do
quite a few foolish things for love.  He had seen people steal, cheat,
perform mind-numbing acts of self-sacrifice and even start wars over this
thing called love.  While the Ronoken knew well and good how to manipulate
love to his advantages he suddenly found himself realizing one simple thing.

He had used love for years, but he had never quite known just what it was.

The Ronoken never liked to admit that he didn’t understand something.  After
all, he who has knowledge always has an advantage, but still… just what
exactly was this stupid little emotion anyways?

“So, would you like a cookie?”

The Ronoken, now trying to focus on something other than love, cosmic
mysteries and the girl across the table, turned his attention to the plate
of disc-shaped dough lumps in front of him.

“Umm…sure, I guess.”

Slowly he reached out, selecting the nearest one to him.  Cautiously he
lifted it up, testing its texture with his fingers.  While he did
technically know what food was, it had been several hundred years since his
last meal.  On top of that, he had no clue as to what a ‘cookie’ really
consisted of.

Ever so slowly he brought the dough disc to his mouth.  While happy that he
was getting to enjoy a meal for the first time in decades, he still wasn’t
too sure about these so-called cookies.  What if they were horrible?  What
if they were rotten?  What if they were poisoned by Tsunami in an elaborate
plan to incapacitate him for twenty-four hours so as to have him killed off
by Tokimi?  What if…

The Ronoken glanced at Sasami, who was watching him with a tinge of fear in
her bright, pink eyes.

What if these were prepared by one of the best damn cooks in Japan?

Without further delay, the Ronoken shoved the cookie into his mouth.

***

“Dear Tsunami, please just let me die now.”

Aeka, first princess of the Jurain Royal family and heir to the throne lay
tossing and turning on her futon, her covers half kicked off by her own
tussling.  Grimly she noted that the glowing red digital numbers on her
clock face read 1:16 in the morning, and here she was still awake.

“This is all Ryoko’s fault!  If I hadn’t…err…if she hadn’t…umm…all right, it
was that blonde guy’s fault the mall blew up, but still!  All I wanted was
to do something for Tenchi.  I just wanted to do something that didn’t
involve Ryoko.  Just once!  I know she means well, but we always end up
botching everything we do for him, and then he just gets mad at us.  Oh, why
won’t this damn headache go away?”

While Aeka tended to the dull, throbbing pain in her skull she let her
thoughts drift back to the last time they had tried to buy a Christmas
present for Tenchi.  That time they had decided to get him something
together, so as neither one could upstage the other.  At first it had seemed
like a good idea, in fact they had even spent several hours trying to find
something they could both agree on.  Then they had decided to stop at the
bar and grab a quick drink before setting out again.

Not thirty minutes later the shopping mall exploded.

“It’s just not fair!  This time it wasn’t even our fault!  Oh why can’t
these things work out for me just once?  Just once, I want Tenchi to see all
of the hard work I’ve put into winning his love, just once!  Oh Tenchi, why
can’t you understand how much I care for you?  How ….how much we both care
for you?  Tenchi…”

As her light sobbing echoed throughout her room, the princess Aeka tried her
best to calm herself and get back to sleep.  Unfortunately, her tears
refused to stop for quite a while.

***

“Hmmm…”

The Ronoken sat, his mouth filled with cookie mush.  While the Princess’s
pleas might have been meant for her walls alone, they did not go unnoticed
by a certain demon sitting in the kitchen.

‘Yes!  If all else fails this Princess has left the door wide open for me.
In fact, she might even be easier to trick than my previous choice.  Now the
only question is which to pick… hmmm…eeine meeine… Oh!’

With almost an afterthought, he looked to Sasami and said, “These are
delicious!  Thank you, Sasami.”

The young princess suddenly let out a huge sigh and said, “thank you!”

‘Hmm, she was holding her breath.  Was she that nervous I wouldn’t like
these….these cookies she prepared?’

Without another word, Monis grabbed three more cookies and shoved them in
his mouth, his jaw trying to chew them as fast as it could.

Sasami sat back with a single cookie in hand, her eyes wide.  “Wow Monis, I
guess you were really hungry!”

The Ronoken paused, half of a cookie hanging out of his mouth.  “umm ymmh.
Mmms  mmre mmmem mmmd.”

“Huh?”

Quick, something to drink!  Fortunately, there was that ‘milk’ that the girl
had poured earlier.  The Ronoken thought he vaguely remembered milk and that
it wasn’t toxic.  Satisfied, he tried his best to get some into his overly
full mouth.

While the Ronoken tried to keep himself from choking, Sasami stifled a
giggle and headed over to the counter to grab a paper towel.  She had only
seen one other creature alive eat that fast, but that was their star ship,
and these were cookies, not carrots.

“Here you go,” she said, offering a paper towel to the Ronoken.  “You know,
you should really slow down.  You could choke if you eat that fast.”

Sheepishly, the Ronoken grinned at her and mumbled, “Yeah, you’re probably
right.”  Now that the last of the cookies were down, the Ronoken went for
another sip of milk, casually glancing at his glass as he did so.

The angry face of Tsunami glared back up at him.

Sasami let out a small yelp as the Ronoken suddenly spit his milk out onto
the kitchen table.

“Umm… sorry about that,” he mumbled as he quickly started to clean up his
mess.  Sasami just stared for a moment, and then started giggling.  The
Ronoken stopped his frantic cleaning and watched her as she began to laugh
whole-heartedly.  After a few seconds he looked at himself, the table and
the laughing girl in front of him.

‘Why not?’

Sasami laughed even harder as her new friend joined in, not caring about the
mess he had made of his suit or the table.

***

Sitting in the depths of the Royal Gardens, Tsunami watched as her charge,
second self, near sister and link to the outside world laughed hysterically
with one of the most feared demons in the known Multiverse over some spilled
milk.

She had tried to warn Sasami of the danger this creature represented through
a dream, but Sasami had woken up too early for the entire message to play
out.  Now all Tsunami could do was watch as her Sasami had milk and cookies
with the terror of a thousand worlds.

Sighing, she tried to calm her nerves and focus on the facts at hand.  First
off, it the creature knew that if it hurt Sasami it was dead where it stood.
  Secondly, it actually seemed to like spending time with her, otherwise it
would have simply put her to sleep again.  Tsunami took all of this in and
wondered for a brief second why this demon would go through all of this
trouble.  Then it hit her; it was trying to gain her trust.

That was it!  That had to be it!  It had devised some fiendish scheme for
gaining Sasami’s confidence, and just when the little princess was at her
most vulnerable… Tsunami shivered at the thought.  What could this monster
be planning with HER Sasami?  Obviously one warning hadn’t been enough.
Tsunami thought her silent second warning in its glass of milk would have
done the job, but…

Hmm, come to think of it that was pretty funny…

Tsunami shook her head and sighed again, not knowing what the future would
bring, or what dangers lie in store for her Sasami.  All she could do was
sit, and wait, and watch.

That’s what she always did, wasn’t it?

***

An hour had passed, and Sasami had long since gone to sleep.

The young girl had stayed up talking with him for nearly thirty minutes
before sleep overtook her and she headed off to bed.  Even though she was
tired, she refused to let him help clean up the mess of milk droplets and
cookie crumbs they had left scattered across the table.  After everything
was in order Sasami had bid him goodnight and quietly climbed the stairs to
her room, leaving the Ronoken to his thoughts.

“Well, that was interesting.  I wonder if Tsunami purposefully meant for me
to spit my milk out on the mortal’s table just so I would embarrass myself?
She probably did, that overprotective fern.”

The Ronoken paused, suddenly realizing what he was saying.

“What is wrong with me?  I’ve been letting myself get distracted by these
pathetic little mortals for far too long!  No more will I play their little
games!  No more will I be a slave to their puny, emotion-ridden little
minds!  No, for I am the Ronoken!  I’m responsible for more pain and
suffering than anyone else I can possibly think of, and that’s saying quite
a lot!  Ahh well, all is well now.  Now that the little one is out of the
way, I can resume my task of taking a soul for the master…but…which one?”

As the Ronoken pondered this, he silently teleported out of the kitchen in
search of his prey.  Strangely enough, it never occurred to him once to
change back to his adult form after Sasami had left.  However, this could be
attributed to the fact that he had been quite busy.

There were an awful lot of dishes left over, after all.

***

Hiya folks!

No, I am not dead nor am I retired, just swamped with real life.  For a
while things were looking pretty overwhelming, but now school is out, jobs
and organizations are going well and I’ve found my muse once again.  Yes,
all is well in the world.

A special thank you to K’thardin for the wonderful C&C.  I know how much of
a hassle it is to pre-read at a moments notice, and I am extremely grateful
for your help.  Of course, you do realize this means I’ll be dumping every
new fic I write on your doorstep till you scream at me to stop… BTW: If you
want to make those formatting changes you wrote me about, go for it. ^_-

Tenchi and Co. belong to AIC, TV Tokyo, Pioneer and now, God help us, the
WB.

L-Sama is from Slayers.  She’s just too cool not to have as a God in
anime... and yesss…she too is now owned by the #$#%^%& WB.

The Ronoken is my own heavily inflated original character.  Mine!

Please send any and all C&C to BGlanders@aol.com
www.geocities.com/tokyo/gulf/6417