Tenchi Muyo Never an Ending: Mihoshi's Realizations, and Conclusions
This is a continuation of "Tenchi Muyo Never an Ending." This takes 
place several months after "Ryo-Ohki, Person of Pet." I do not own or 
hold the rights to any of the characters or activities that have gone 
on through any of the TM episodes, as they are the Property of AIC and 
Pioneer. I want no money or fame out of this, nor do I want a lawsuit 
so please go easy on me.
*****
Tenchi Muyo Never an Ending: Mihoshi's Realizations, and Conclusions
Mihoshi sat in the command chair of her ship the Yukinojo thinking 
again. 'It's been a long time,' she thought in reference to her time on 
earth. Almost nine months ago she was recalled to space for what she 
thought was just a routine report, but this time it was her 
grandfather, the Grand Marshal, asking her to return to the central 
office. Since he was asking, she couldn't say 'no'.
That plus, since that night, she changed a lot. 'It happened that 
night. The night he chose.' She took one more look at the monitor. In 
this part of space, there was just her ship for at least two days 
travel in any direction. Seeing that nothing was anywhere nearby, she 
surrendered herself to her memories.
Sasami had woken her up saying that they needed to find Ryoko, so she 
had agreed to help look. While in the kitchen though the whole wall 
seemed to fall in on them. She had barely covered the princess' body 
before she was knocked unconscious by something. When she awoke she was 
covering Sasami's body with her own and there was something red all 
around.
She had immediately thought that the princess was dead, but a quick 
check of her pulse showed that she was just unconscious. Relieved, she 
carried her outside and met up with Tenchi and the others. As she stood 
there trying to understand what happened, she was surprised when he 
threatened Ayeka with his sword. She knew then that this was not going 
to be a fun night. It was shortly after she told them about where she 
had last seen Ryoko that Washu fell apart.
Trying hard to understand and forcing back the voice in her head saying 
to forget it was tough but she managed. Soon he was telling them about 
hearing Ryoko in his head and then a horrible sound was heard, that 
sound that broke her defenses and pulled down the walls she had 
mentally put up to protect herself. It was a scream, but not just a 
normal one, but one of sheer torture and pain like she's never heard 
before. 'No, I've heard a scream like that before,' she recalled, it 
was her partner Kiyone that last sounded like that. She was not sure 
how or what had happened to Ryoko, but since hearing the scream she 
could not sleep for the next several days.
It was because one of those sleepless nights that she happened to be 
awake when Nobuyuki came home. He had been at work in the city the past 
week so he was not aware of what had happened. She had tried to explain 
but all she really knew was that Ryoko had been hurt, Tenchi saved her 
and while in the onsen with Ryoko and Ayeka she had found out that 
Tenchi had chosen and said he loved Ryoko. This meant that the one she 
thought was her destiny was not in love with her.
She had cried out, "Why can't he love me?" To her surprise, she 
discovered that Nobuyuki had listened to her and was giving her a 
slight hug trying to help her. The gesture was sweet, but it didn't 
help as much as she wanted. Over the next several weeks, he was making 
the commute home every other night. He was trying to help and each time 
he was home the two of them would talk in the kitchen over coffee about 
anything she wanted to. 
It was one of those nights that she had told him the truth about her 
last partner Kiyone, and how she felt responsible for her death. Well, 
she had thought Kiyone had died. Now she knew the truth, but at the 
time she was so sure, Kiyone was never coming back. When Ayeka left 
Earth, she knew that the princess would be back but that only served to 
force her out of her protective shell. On Earth, she had found a place 
she loved and could be happy, truly happy for once. And now that Ayeka 
had gone only the princess Sasami was left on Earth; and if she left 
then it would not be much longer before she would have to leave, too.
Over the next several months, she took Ryo-Ohki to several bars until 
they found a karaoke bar. It was there that she had taught the cabbit 
how to sing, and she was surprised to find out how good the girl sang. 
Of course Ryo-Ohki kept saying that Washu had given her the ability to 
speak and sing, but Mihoshi knew the truth; in order for her to sing 
like that, one must have the heart for it. There were several nights 
when Ryo-Ohki would sing an especially sad song, as she would say to 
test her ability. But during the song the tone, the emotion behind the 
words and the voice would strike a cord with many there. She almost 
laughed now at how common it was to see people nearly crying or out 
right bawling after a particular sad song from Ryo-Ohki.
It was after the girl had won the singing contest every night they went 
for a month that it was decided to try something new. That something 
new was dancing, and though neither had really gone dancing before they 
both tried hard. She started chuckling softly as she remembered how 
many heart-broken boys they left behind. Each one of them had tried to 
teach them a new step or move, and each one loved trying hard to be the 
one to go home with them. As usual, Mihoshi would not allow Ryo-Ohki to 
leave with any of them nor would she allow any of them to come home 
with them. 'Poor Ryo-Ohki, she just didn't understand them,' she mused 
to herself as she thought of the way the poor girl looked when she told 
the boys no.
Taking care of her like that and having Nobuyuki to talk to had brought 
Mihoshi out of her shell. Since Kiyone, she had lived in a bubble world 
where she seemingly cared about nothing. But since the night that Ryoko 
attacked everyone, her beautiful fantasy world had fallen apart. There 
was no way she could pick it up after that. Slowly over the months, she 
had tried to piece together her new life with Tenchi, Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki, 
Washu, Sasami, Katsuhito and Nobuyuki. In that time she realized that 
real life was not as bad as she remembered and she left her Old World 
behind. A few of them noticed the changes in her.
Nobuyuki was first to notice as she had spent the most time with him 
since then. Sasami and Ryo-Ohki noticed but it was not until nearly a 
month later that Tenchi or Ryoko noticed. She could hardly fault them 
on it though. They were getting used to life together and Ryoko herself 
was going through a lot of changes. Many times, she had seen the ex-
pirate trying to cook and clean, and even taking cooking lessons from 
Sasami while she was there. Then after she was married to him she 
calmed down even more!
The wedding still brought a tear to her eye as she remembered it. Ryoko 
and Tenchi had been dressed up fancy, especially her. Most of the 
people there were his family though a few others had showed up as well. 
Even the Queens of Jurai were there, and dressed up in Earth clothes as 
to not let his Earth family know that any of them were from another 
planet. She smiled remembering how her own grandfather had been there 
as well. After the wedding and during the reception was when he gave 
Ryoko his present. As a wedding gift he gave her a full pardon of 
everything that he could saying it had been proven to him that what she 
did was not her own fault. The gift had caused Ryoko to start crying 
openly and she hugged him. The feared space pirate Ryoko was hugging 
the Grand Marshal of the Galaxy Police and crying. It was a moving and 
touching scene.
"Hey, Mihoshi, you okay?"
She suddenly looked up out of her memories to see her partner there, 
Hishiro Masayuke. He was slightly taller than she was and definitely 
more muscular than Tenchi, but he was a royal pain. He wasn't hard on 
the eyes at all, and like her, he had tanned skin, blonde hair and a 
set of beautiful blue eyes, but she couldn't stand him. "Yeah, just 
something in my eye." She rubbed her eye to find that she had a tear in 
it as she remembered the past. 'And why not, it's a good memory,' she 
told herself. She had been reliving memories of the past and of course, 
he had to show up and pull her out of her memories.
"Have you seen or heard anything yet?" She just shook her head and he 
cursed, "Nothing ever happens out here." They had been assigned to 
patrol this rock called a planet several months ago and during the time 
there was only a few things to do; eat, sleep talk to him and remember 
the past. And though she liked to eat there was only so much food that 
they could carry and it would last them only a short time if she ate 
all the time so that was out. And watching for problems required one 
person to pilot and one to watch the scopes so she could not sleep that 
much. Talking to him was out as the first month he had spent trying to 
get her into bed with him. So that left her to her memories and she 
took every advantage of it.
An uncomfortable silence followed his last words, but she had since 
grown used to it. She knew what was on his mind as he had asked several 
times. He had come up with a way to pass the time and while she thought 
he was cute enough, she just could not see having sex with him. 'He's 
arrogant, selfish and egotistical,' she thought. 'And I don't love 
him.'
It had been a few months after Sasami left that she had to leave as 
well. And while it was a sad occasion, she knew it would be coming. 
Many times, she had told Nobuyuki that she would have to leave and 
surprisingly he had asked her not to go, then told her not to go. When 
asked why he would come up with several weak excuses. She herself had 
nearly believed them, but there was one reason that he would not 
mention and she had to guess about it.
She thought the reason he wanted her to stay was that out of their 
friendship something more seemed to be growing. At first, she did not 
want to admit it to herself, but if Ryoko can fall in love with a man 
that young when she herself was over a few thousand years old then age 
certainly should not be a factor for her. But she had slowly decided 
that while neither wanted her to go she had to. He was an earthling, 
they rarely lived to be over a hundred, and even then, they looked to 
be several millenniums old.
When the day finally arrived she had left and many tears were shed, but 
she had to leave. It would be hard to watch him grow that old while she 
remained looking young. Now that she thought about it, if they would 
have just said what was on their minds she could at least be happy at 
this moment. She looked over at her partner and as expected he was 
looking at her, but only certain parts of her. Just the look in his 
eyes made her skin crawl. 'Just one more reason to add to why I won't 
do that with him,' she said mentally.
When he finally realized that she was ignoring him, he left in a huff 
muttering something about her cracking soon. "Not on your life," she 
muttered back as he left the room. Taking another look at the display, 
she resumed her boring watch over this planet. The planet had a 
breathable atmosphere like earth, but there was much less water and 
trees. In fact, it was what most races classified as a desert planet. 
The inhabitants were split as surface dwellers or underground.
Those that lived underground had better eyesight and pale skin while 
the surface dwellers had poorer eyesight and dark skin from their 
exposure to the sun. However, both lived in relative harmony and it was 
because of a few warring factions that she was here now. For nearly a 
month she had interrupted battles and acted as a mediator to both 
sides, but since that time, it has been quiet. Also since she came to 
terms with things in her past and left her fantasy world behind she's 
had fewer accidents and has even been able to land her ship in a severe 
firestorm in hostile weather without taking any damage.
A sudden thought hit her and she turned her attention to an Earth 
calendar that he had given her. It has been four months since she left 
Earth and on each month, he had something written to remind her of her 
home. He had circled dates that were anniversaries of special events. 
Like birthdays, Tenchi's Anniversary, the day Tenchi chose and more. 
"Has it really been four months?"
Recalling her first month back she had spent it in the central office 
going over her old reports and getting re-acquainted with how the 
Galaxy Police operated. In her absence, a few things had changed, but 
she was able to adapt quickly. The most important thing though happened 
at the end of that month before her re-assignment to space. Her 
grandfather the Marshal had called her into his office for a briefing.
"Mihoshi, I have something for you."
"Oh, What is it sir?"
"Please, in here just call me grandfather."
"Ok." She relaxed and sat in a chair beside him.
"You've changed," he said pensively, "and in a good way. After losing 
Kiyone I thought you would never be able to get over it."
"I know, it's been hard." her voice cracked as the painful memories 
came back.
"As I said I have something for you, I was not sure how you would react 
to it before so I kept it until I thought you were ready." He reached 
over and pressed a button on his desk. A monitor rose from it and a 
picture of Kiyone appeared. The sudden shock nearly caused her to start 
crying, but she noticed that she wasn't in her uniform, and she looked 
older than she remembered. As Mihoshi looked at him expectantly he hit 
another button and the video began playing.
"Detective First Class Kiyone Makibi reporting in Marshal." She said 
with a sharp salute. "I'm sure you're wondering about my delay in 
reporting especially since Detective Mihoshi's report must have listed 
me as dead from our last mission." This caused Mihoshi to squirm in her 
chair, as she realized that this must have been made after their last 
mission! But how could that be?
"This is a long story sir but I will keep it brief. After falling into 
the energy stream, my body was forced into a hibernation state and when 
I awoke, I was with the pirate Hisato. She had saved my life but for a 
time, after then I was extremely sick and unable to move. She cared for 
me during that time and Mihoshi was right. She hasn't always been the 
mean vicious person our reports say she is. Anyway, I am getting off 
the point. At the time I wanted to kill my partner for what happened," 
Mihoshi balked and pulled away before the recording. "But I realize now 
that it wasn't her fault. I do not blame officer Mihoshi for this and 
in fact, I thank her."
"What!" Mihoshi nearly screamed.
"We drifted in space for a few days before a passing freighter picked 
us up and brought us on board. At the time, I was too weak and she did 
not mention who I was or who she was. I spent the next week in the 
medical lab and recovered slowly. She spent time with me until my full 
recovery. I had wanted to make my report to you then and that was when 
I was told that it would be impossible. The freighter did not have deep 
space communication abilities and we were already too far out of range 
for normal communication. I had asked them to turn around but found 
that they could not. And so I stayed with them on the freighter until 
their return to this sector."
The video grew silent for a moment. Then she continued, "What happened 
out there is hard to summarize sir, but I request that my status be 
dropped from missing in action to retired. I. I've found my home. I 
will not be returning to active duty, sir." She bent over and picked up 
a little girl. "This is my daughter, I have married one of the officers 
on board and my friend, the one who saved me has married his brother." 
She laughed a moment then added, "Imagine a pirate and an police 
officer in the same family. But it's true. She's saved my life, sir. I 
ask that you grant her a pardon of her crimes. She's turned her back on 
her past and her children would be hurt to see her go."
Mihoshi couldn't believe it! Her partner, married, and a mother! Not 
only that, but to hear her saying this about someone that she had said 
so many cruel things about. In Mihoshi's mind she could still hear 
Kiyone say, "Once a crook always a crook." And now, it was a whole 
different story.
"Sir, if it will help I will resign my commission and remain MIA or 
presumed dead if needed. She's like a sister to me and I care about her 
as much as I care about Mihoshi. I'm not sure how she will react to 
this and since I have spent so much time away I am not even sure I 
could resume my duties if asked." Tears were flowing down her usually 
stern face as she held her daughter. Finally placing her daughter of 
the ground beside her, she looked back up at the camera. "This is 
Detective Kiyone signing out." She then removed her badge and gun and 
placed them in a box along with what looked like her uniform folded up. 
Kiyone now stood before them, alone. And with a last salute she was 
joined with the pirate, two men and their children before it stopped.
"That's."
"Yes, that's her family, her new family. The man beside her is Takana, 
her husband and that is their daughter." He paused for a moment as 
Mihoshi stared at it, "And yes that is his brother and his wife, the 
now pardoned pirate Hisato. After reviewing this information, I granted 
her request on both things. Her sister was pardoned and she was re-
classified as retired."
"How. how long ago?"
"We received this during your stay on Earth. And from the video it 
appears to have been filmed possibly two years after your mission and 
it had been several months before we received it."
"So she's."
"Yes, she's not dead, and she thanks you for what happened." At that, 
his granddaughter began crying and holding on to him, so he just held 
her and like he had done many times before he comforted her. Mihoshi 
had needed his help after the mission when Kiyone disappeared and he 
helped calm her down then, and several times since then, she had gone 
to him. He was more than a grandfather was; he was like her father.
A slight beeping pulled her away from her memories yet again. Blinking 
her eyes, she looked at the display to see that her shift was almost 
over. "Why can't this planet have at least one beach that's 
worthwhile?" She had asked nobody in general so she was not surprised 
when she did not receive an answer. It would not be much longer till 
she was to retire for the night so she began reviewing the radar 
displays and the other surveillance systems to make sure she had not 
missed anything.
After her shift, she set the ship on a stationary orbit above the 
northern pole of the planet while her partner watched the radar. 
According to her calendar, it was getting close to Ayeka's birthday so 
she quietly went to the communication room to send a happy birthday 
message. What she was not expecting to see were a list of messages that 
were sent to her. Apparently, they had been viewed, but she'd never 
seen them. The first was the normal junk from the central office about 
their orders and usual encouragement's; then the messages changed. For 
the past month the central office has been recalling them saying that 
they've been re-assigned, but the messages never said to where.
She hoped they were re-assigned to Earth but none even hinted at going 
back, until the last one. It was a dispatch sent directly to them from 
The Empress of Jurai. There was a message encoded into it so she played 
it.
"Greetings Officer Mihoshi." A cheerful voice said. And even before she 
looked up at the display she knew it was Ayeka's voice. "I've been 
asked by Tsunami to deliver this personal invitation for you to return 
to your patrol on Earth. It seems that a request has been made weekly 
for about a month before I was informed by my sister," she stopped and 
giggled. "I mean Tsunami. She said that I should re-assign you there, 
though I don't know why. Oh well, they have their reasons. I just hope 
this time you don't turn it down."
There she sat for several minutes looking at the display. 'I've been 
re-assigned for a month and no one told me! I could've gone home and no 
one told me!' The blonde missed the simple fact that Ayeka was an 
empress or even that Tsunami and Sasami had apparently assimilated or 
something for she was contemplating what she would do first, to him. 
That jerk had been keeping her out here when she could be home! If she 
had seen him at that moment she might have used him for a punching bag, 
but his luck held out and she returned to her cabin without seeing him.
There in the stillness of space she began making her plans. She was 
going to return home despite what he wanted and when she got there she 
would finally tell him, the man that has been occupying her thoughts 
lately just what she thought of him. 'If Kiyone can find love and get 
married, then so can I,' she proclaimed as she went to her room to 
think. Several hours later he arrived to tell her it was her turn to 
watch the radar again. It took all of her will power not to throw him 
out right that instant. "Ok you go to sleep and I'll take it from 
here," she told him with a wink. Racing off to the command chair though 
she could not help but feel her skin crawl as he watched her.
Hishiro stood there a moment watching her run off admiring her figure 
from the back. "I can't wait till I have that." Smirking he went to his 
quarters.
When she reached the command chair she turned on the radar but also 
brought up the ships central scanners. Once she confirmed that he was 
asleep she put her hastily thought up plan into action. She had the 
computers and scanners to his room shut off and then had her ship lock 
him in it. Satisfied that he would not interfere she sent a personal 
message to central command and to Jurai, "This is Officer First Class 
Mihoshi Kuramitsu. I have received the orders for re-assignment to 
Earth. I accept and am on my way there now." Closing the channel she 
smiled and set course for Earth. "Yukinojo? "
"Yes Miss Mihoshi?"
"I've set a new course for Earth. I want you to head there as fast as 
possible."
"But the engines will overheat long before we get there! It'll take at 
least three days to get there at maximum velocity!"
"Oh, you worry to much! Just step on it." She then pushed the ship up 
to speed slowly as to not jar her sleeping partner. When he learns of 
this he'll be upset, and she did not want to have to listen to it right 
now. "Goodbye desert planet, Hello Earth!" Nearly squealing with 
delight as the ship reached its maximum thrust, she knew it would take 
some time but she had to get home: the faster, the better.
She awoke some time later still in the command chair, but something was 
different. "Yukinojo?"
"Yes Miss Mihoshi?"
"Where are we?"
"We are precisely Forty hours away from Earth. The engines have slowed 
to allow them to return to normal operation before starting out again. 
We should resume course in four hours."
"Ok." Her ears then picked up a different sound, similar to a banging 
or clanging. "Um, what's that noise?"
"That would be Officer Hishiro trying to get out of his room."
"Oh, turn on the internal audio communication to his room please."
"MIHOSHI! Get me out of here! Damn it! You can't keep me locked up in 
here! What'd I do! Damn you let me out!"
"Oh my," she said covering her ears. "Please calm down."
"What the hell's going on! I went to sleep in orbit around a planet and 
awake to find we're in the middle of nowhere."
"Not entirely nowhere, we have new orders and we are not far from our 
new patrol!" She nearly sang the words as she thought of going home 
again.
"How'd you find out? I mean what new patrol?"
Her happy mood was crushed as this confirmed her suspicions. "You've 
been receiving new orders from Central Command and have not told me 
about them. Then you respond to them in my name turning them down! I 
ought to have you court-martialed or jailed for this! You're lucky I 
only confined you to quarters."
"How'd you find out!" he shouted out.
A grin spread across her face, 'He's confessed to it!' Up to now she 
had been running on speculation but now she had some proof. "Yukinojo, 
cut all communications from his room. And keep his computer terminals 
off."
"Yes ma'am"
Once her orders were carried out, she began thinking of what she would 
do once she returned home. Should she rush into his arms or should she 
wait for a few more moments to find out if he feels the same? And what 
of Hishiro? She had composed a message to be sent to the central office 
about what he has done, and she knew that if she really sent that 
message he would be as good as jailed and his career as a Galaxy Police 
Office would be over. She argued back and forth over it, and she could 
almost understand his wanting to be loved, or at least she hoped that 
was his reason. However, he was the one that has kept her away from 
what she wanted. to return home. Nowhere else in the stars had she felt 
so comfortable as the backwater planet that was called Earth. As her 
partner called it and even if she had to give up her commission, it 
just might be worth it.
Forcing those thoughts out of her head, she had her ship begin playing 
some of the recorded songs she loved so much. It was shortly after 
Nobuyuki discovered that she liked singing so much that he began taking 
her to the music stores and he would allow her to buy a few CD's at a 
time. Then Washu had installed a player compatible with the Earth CD's 
into her ship to allow her to listen to them even when on patrol. Each 
time she listened to them she though of Earth and in the time she had 
spent out in this remote section of space she has played her music over 
and over again till she new every song title and track by heart.
Of course the constant playing had nearly driven Hishiro crazy so she 
only played it when he was asleep or in her own quarters, but now she 
had them blasting throughout the ship. For some time she sang along 
with them and nearly made herself hoarse from it. When the ship began 
to move again she shrieked in excitement as this meant that it was just 
one more day to go before she arrived.
Kicking back in the command chair she allowed herself to drift to sleep 
and dream of sunbathing by a small lake, sleeping out on the grass, 
watching her favorite shows, and talking for hours on end with 
Nobuyuki. The only problem with her dream was that she kept being 
awakened by a noise, and each time she realized it was him, her 
partner, banging on something trying to get her attention. Reluctantly 
she turned back on the internal communication with his room. "What do 
you want?"
"Please, let me out of here! Look I know you want to go back, but that 
place is not good for you. Besides you said before that Tenchi rejected 
you, why go back?" Though he spoke what he thought was truth, she could 
not help but laugh.
"I'm not going back for him, and the place is not bad for me." She 
giggled thinking of how he and others referred to Earth as barbaric.
"But it's a non-interference system, you can't just show up on Earth 
uninvited!"
"Oh but I've been invited." 
If she'd had the internal video playing, she would have seen the smirk 
Hishiro wore. "Oh no, they only said you should resume your patrol and 
not that you could go back to Earth." She started to reply but then 
stopped, he was right. Ayeka had asked her to return to her old patrol 
only. "So you see they are just toying with you. Please, I was only 
trying to keep you from getting hurt." She began to soften at this and 
began to wonder about things. "Please, I love you."
She looked up and turned on the video screen, so that she could look at 
the image of him in his room. He looked rather haggled and tired, which 
only added to her thoughts. 'Was he right?' She looked back at her 
orders, and at once realized that a special request from Earth had been 
made for her return, and the only one that could contact the Galaxy 
Police from Earth must have been Washu. But why? Washu had always been 
telling her to go away and not to come back. 'No! That was before!' She 
nearly screamed at herself.
"Please Mihoshi, let me out of here. Let me show you what love is?"
"Yukinojo?" She looked up at the robotic head in front of her, and a 
new look swept over her face, the confusion seemed to be washed away.
"Yes Miss Mihoshi?"
"Turn off his communications again and resume playing CD 23 track 6."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Mihoshi! Wait you bit." His voice was cut off and she smiled, as she 
knew he was lying. From that sudden outburst from him, he had to have 
been lying, why call her that if he loved her? 'For Washu to want me 
back there someone had to really be pestering her about it.' She smiled 
at the thought of him wanting her to come back; it had to be him.
She sat back and enjoyed listening to this CD; it was an American one, 
but it was still good she thought. Slowly she drifted off to sleep as 
she listened to her collection. The next several hours were a mix of 
joy and torture. 'What if I'm wrong and they don't want me back? But 
they must since they asked for me. But what if he doesn't want me? Or 
maybe Tenchi decided he wanted me too?' She stopped on that thought and 
began laughing. 'Yeah, right, like Ryoko would let him have another. 
But what if he's had a fight with her? I'm not going to get in the 
middle of that. They could just want to pick on me. or maybe Ryo-Ohki 
just wants a singing partner again. Oh, I wish I knew.'
On and on her thoughts went and back and forth she swayed from wanting 
to return to not wanting to. However, in all of her wondering she did 
not tell her ship to change course, or even slow down. Despite any 
misgivings, she felt or thought she had there was the driving feeling 
that she was needed at home. To pass her time she would take short 
naps, shift through her memories and wonder about her future.
By the time she reached the Sol system, she was nearly a nervous wreck. 
As she neared the system a voice nearly caused her to jump out of her 
skin. "Miss Mihoshi!"
"HUH! Oh yes Yukinojo?"
"We have entered the Sol system and are being hailed by the Earth."
"YES! I mean, put it on."
A screen appeared with the eccentric red-haired scientist on it. "Hello 
there!"
"Hi Miss Washu! I'm back!"
"I see, thankfully. He's been driving me crazy asking me every week to 
ask for you to return." Mihoshi was near jumping up and down holding 
her hands together. "I'm gonna open a portal and bring you directly 
into the lab."
"Really?"
"Yes, you're just a few seconds away and. there." Suddenly a huge void 
opened up before her ship and even before she could say a word it had 
enveloped the whole ship. All was black for a moment then the ship came 
to a sudden stop inside a dark room. Slowly the lights brightened and 
from the command chair she could see the insides of Washu's lab. 
Finally, she was home.
Washu, Ryoko, and Ryo-Ohki were there to welcome the blonde as she left 
her ship and appeared on the ground. None of them could even utter a 
hello or welcome back before the blonde had grabbed them in all in a 
huge hug. The three women were caught quite surprised but they returned 
the embrace and the blonde cried.
"There, there," said Washu as she patted the girl on the back. After 
some time, they were able to calm her down and they were about to leave 
when Washu suddenly stopped. "Um, Mihoshi?"
"Yes?"
"Why do my scanners indicate that there is someone still on your ship?"
"Oh, yeah. He's Hishiro, my partner." Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki suddenly 
looked nervous about that.
"Well, should he come too?"
Mihoshi looked over her shoulder at the ship and thought about it for a 
long moment before answering. "No, let him stay there for a while. 
Well," she looked back at her ship, "Yukinojo, would you beam him down 
in five minutes?"
"Yes, miss Mihoshi."
"What's that all about?" Mihoshi turned to Ryoko who was looking at her 
rather confused.
"Well, I just don't want to be here when he gets out, but if he's good 
then he's free for a while."
Ryo-Ohki quirked an eyebrow at this and asked Ryoko mentally, 'What 
does she mean?' Ryoko just shrugged her shoulders and told her she 
hadn't a clue. The two of them stayed behind to see just what this was 
all about while Washu led Mihoshi out of the lab.
"Miss Washu, you said that he's been asking about me, would that be 
Tenchi?"
Washu looked sideways at her and it was easy to tell that the blonde 
was nervous about who was asking her to return. But the scientist was 
not sure if she should tell her or not. Finally, she decided to say, 
"No it wasn't him." She then watched a curious sight as suddenly 
Mihoshi smiled and seemed relieved that Tenchi was not asking about 
her. She was going to ask more when they reached the door and Mihoshi 
all but jumped through it excitedly.
When Washu caught up to her she found that the blonde seemed suddenly, 
sad so she walked up beside her and asked her what was wrong.
"He's not here?"
"Who?" Mihoshi just looked at her and tears were already starting to 
form. "Oh." She then began to understand what was going on. Every week 
since Mihoshi had left Nobuyuki had asked about her and wondered if she 
would return, and in the past few months he had been nearly begging 
Washu to send a message to see if she could get Mihoshi re-assigned to 
patrol this system. Now she knew why he had asked to be called if she 
had ever showed up again. "You know of course that it's the middle of 
the week and he's in town working." Suddenly Mihoshi looked up and had 
the beginnings of a smile. This confirmed Washu's suspicions. "He asked 
to be called the moment you returned, but I haven't had the time to 
call him yet." She looked at Mihoshi who was now grinning; Washu 
herself began to grin. "Why don't you call him yourself?"
Before she even finished asking the blonde had grabbed the phone and 
was dialing his number at work. Laughing, she went to the kitchen to 
pull something that Ryo-Ohki was cooking off the stove. From there she 
could hear Mihoshi's half of the conversation.
"Hello, is. is Mr. Masaki available? Yes I'll hold." There was a bit of 
nervous waiting on Mihoshi's part as she twirled the phone cord in her 
fingers before he picked up. "Yes Mr. Masaki? It's me!" The scientist 
swore that she could hear him yell her name over the phone. "Uh huh, I 
made it back today. Yep, I'm home!" To hear her say that removed all 
doubt from Washu's mind. "Um, sure sounds fun. OK, see you soon." After 
hearing that, Washu walked back to the hall where Mihoshi was still 
standing and staring at the phone that she had just hung up.
Before Washu could even ask, Mihoshi told her. "He wants to take me 
out. to a restaurant in town." Mihoshi could barely believe it, he 
sounded so happy to have her back, perhaps she was right and she was 
missed and needed here. All of her thoughts that had been mixed between 
whether or not he wanted her back seemed to fade away. He was happy she 
was back; he was even taking off work early to make a special trip home 
just to take her out tonight.
"Well I'm glad." She was unable to finish her thought as a man suddenly 
fell out of her lab door looking rather disheveled. He was tall and had 
blonde hair like Mihoshi, which caused her to suddenly think of her 
son; the child she had lost so many years ago.
"Damn it Mihoshi! What's the big idea of locking me up?" Mihoshi turned 
to him then saw that he sported two rather large bruises on his face, 
one on each side that looked like handprints. Out of the lab walked two 
rather annoyed ex-pirates. Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki looked at him with a 
rather foul look on their faces as they stepped out.
"What'd you expect me to do? He pinched my butt!" Ryoko shouted at her 
mother in answer to the obvious question that Washu had asked mentally.
Mihoshi just smiled and told them all, "I have to go get ready. I'm 
going on a date tonight!" His jaw dropped and the two ex-pirates just 
looked at her and then smiled.
Ryo-Ohki was the first to speak, "Nobuyuki right?" To which the happy 
blonde just nodded and ran upstairs.
"That old man?" All faces turned to him and he looked back at the 
disgusted looks, "What?" Ryo-Ohki just rolled her eyes and ran upstairs 
to help the blonde get ready. He looked around at the two remaining 
women around him and thought, 'This is going to be fun, all these 
beauties in one house. how lucky can one guy get?'
Mihoshi ran into her room to find that it was clean and nearly just 
like she left it; the one exception being that it was clean. Rushing to 
the closet, she began to pour through it trying to find the right 
outfit. "I'm glad you're back." Mihoshi turned to see Ryo-Ohki at the 
door.
"Oh thank you! Come in, come in!" Ryo-Ohki entered and began trying to 
help the blonde find the right clothes. "Tonight is going to be a 
special night, he's asked her to dress up for it!" The blonde was near 
bubbling over with joy as she had dreamed of this moment for so long. 
"Oh, it's good to be back. home." She smiled as Ryo-Ohki went about 
helping her pick out what should she wear. Right after picking out a 
formal dress she turned to her friend with a strangely sad expression. 
"Do you. do you think I'm doing the right thing?" The girl just looked 
at her strangely, as her mood seemed to change suddenly. "Do you think 
I should have come back quieter, maybe I should have come back and just 
kept it a secret for now. or maybe I should have got a place to stay at 
first before coming here and staying without asking. or maybe."
"You don't want to stay with us?" Ryo-Ohki said quietly interrupting 
the blondes rambling. 
"Oh, no it's not that, it's."
"It's what?" They looked at each other, Mihoshi wondering if she can 
make her understand what she's feeling and Ryo-Ohki looking back trying 
to understand. Pensively Ryo-Ohki asked a rather pointed question, 
"You're not sure if you love him?" The look on Mihoshi's face nearly 
caused Ryo-Ohki to start laughing. Her eyes had grown to nearly popping 
out of her head and the bewildered look was amazing. "So you don't know 
if it's right or if it's real."
"Let me tell you what's happened lately, it may help, okay?" Mihoshi 
looked at Ryo-Ohki as the girl sat on the side of the bed. Nodding, 
Mihoshi joined her and the girl began telling the blonde about last 
several months. "You see after you all left I was very lonely and was 
wondering what I should do now. I'm not really a human and not really a 
pet either." She looked down and her face reflected the sadness that 
she felt, "But after singing with you and being around here I realized 
I had some feelings that I've never had before." She looked at Mihoshi 
intently. "Love. I felt love for the first time. But, who could ever 
love me back?"
"Oh Ryo-Ohki, I'm." she was going to say sorry but the girl cut her 
off.
"Well after several months of loneliness I finally went to talk to 
Tenchi and Ryoko about it. Imagine my surprise when Ryoko asked him if 
he could love me!"
"She what!" Mihoshi nearly screamed.
"Yes! She asked if he could love me, I. I guess I was broadcasting my 
feelings and she. She understood. Who could love a demon, but he loved 
her. So she thought he might love me too."
"Well? Did he?" Mihoshi was nearly hopping waiting for the answer, but 
the blush and look that Ryo-Ohki bore told all that needed to be. "He 
did! I mean, he does?" The girl just blushed more and nodded. "Oh! I'm 
so happy!" cried Mihoshi happily as she began to hug Ryo-Ohki tightly.
"Um, now." coughed Ryo-Ohki, "Let's get you ready for your date."