Dec 5/97                                Surprises all Around

Well the series is still going strong. If you have read up to this point
instead of just starting with this chapter, you are probably wondering
as to why I had Samantha interfere in the love life of Tenchi. I did it
because she was like a third party consultant, or in this case a fourth
party consultant, who could offer advice and give help without really
being involved. But, with the characters of the Tenchi OVA series being
the way they are, that idea about really being involved was scraped. I
think I can do about four more chapters before this series comes to an
end. Some of the subjects I'll be looking into is the Royal Family
visits, which will probably result in Aeka and her father settling
things, Samantha goes on a patrol with Mihoshi, and maybe even a little
something to make Noboyuki more serious then the side show source of
laughs he usually is.

Again I would like to thank Brazil who, with all of his nitpicking,
pointed out mistakes in my spelling and facts that I had wrong about the
characters. You were a great help thus far!;-) And also I would like to
thank you, the readers, for reading this fanfic and taking a small time
out of your lives to do so.

Legal Stuff: All the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to
Pioneer except for Samantha Jones who belongs to me. Please don't sue
me. I am merely doing a story.
________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 10

"Well you ready to go, Ryoko," Samantha asked.

The former space pirate looked down from her perch in the rafters at the
Canadian and blinked, a bit surprised by her invitation.

"What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to go out with me or not. I did offer to take you
out to the bar earlier," Samantha replied.

"But I thought you were mad at me," Ryoko said.

"Well I'm not. After all, it was Mihoshi's fault for making that
blizzard, not yours."

Ryoko thought about it for a few moments. Aeka and Tenchi were both
sleeping after the extensive treatment they had been given by Washu. It
would be a few more hours until they woke up, and Mihoshi and Sasami
were watching over them until they did. But she was still hesitant about
leaving the house with Tenchi in the state he was in.

The redhead saw the worry in her eyes and connected with her chi,
focusing it into strenght for her legs and leapt up onto the rafters.

"Don't worry about him Ryoko. Tenchi will be fine. After all, he's got
Washu looking after him," she assured her.

The former space pirate still looked unconvinced but, after a few
moments of thought, agreed to go with her.

"Great! I know this little bar in Tokyo that serves this great tasting
sake!"

Both women leapt down to the floor below and made their way to the door.
They stopped, however, when a famaliar voice called out. "Mt little girl
isn't going out on the town alone, is she?"

"I am hardly a *little* girl Washu," Ryoko said.

"And besides, I'm going with her," Samantha added. "But anyhow, I don't
think any bar will allow, what appears to be, a twelve year old in."

"Ah hah! I may look twelve but may I remind you, I am over twenty
thousand years old! I more than exceed this country's legal age for
drinking alcohol." Seeing the question on the Canadian's face, Washu
quickly added, "And besides, does *this* look like a twelve year old's
body?"

In the blink of an eye, little Washu had been replaced by adult Washu,
standing resplendent in the uniform of the Science Academy.

"But how did..."

"Don't ask Samantha. You'll just be bored to death by her answer," Ryoko
Interupted.

Samantha quickly shook thr shock away. "I shouldn't be surprised by
*this* after all I've seen but I still am. You definitely don't look
like a twelve year old anymore!"

"You got that right! Now come on! The bar awaits us!"

A thought struck Ryoko. "But aren't you worried about leaving Mihoshi in
your lab?"

"Oh that's no problem. I simply gated her back to her room after I
placed Aeka and Tenchi in their rooms. And before you ask, they'll both
be fine. They just need lots of rest. And with Sasami here, they'll be
sure to get it."

                                *               *               *
Tenchi felt something warm dab on his cheek once, then twice more. Very
slowly, he opened his eyes and stared into the tear streaked face of
Mihoshi.

Giving a startled shout, he sat back up and looked around, scaring
Mihoshi in the process. It was a few moments before he took in
everything and both had recovered from the shock.

"Oh I'm so glad to see you're alright," Mihoshi said, glomping onto
Tenchi and giving him a tight hug.

At first the young man was confused, trying to get his mind to work
enough to piece what had happened.

"I was so worried when Ryoko brought you in! I was afraid that I had
accidently killed you," she said.

It all came back to him in a flash: carrying Aeka through the blizzard,
tumbling through the snow, and then nothing.

"It's okay Mihoshi. I know you didn't mean to do anything," Tenchi
replied, returning the hug.

He knew that to be a fact. Everything that Mihoshi did to help that
turned out to be an accident always had her heart full of golden intent
backed behind it. Since she was apologizing, she must have fooled around
with Washu's machine and accidently made a blizzard.

"Oh thank you Tenchi! You've always been so kind to me," she replied,
bringing her face right up to his.

The young man gulped when he realized his proximity to the woman and
immediately blushed. Seeing this, Mihoshi giggled and back off, sitting
back down in the seat beside his bed. She knew how shy he was around
women, especially pretty ones such as herself, and she would never
intentionally make him uncomfortable.

"Why were you watching over me," he asked.

"Well, I was so worried about you that I felt it was my duty to keep an
eye on you until I saw that you were okay," she replied.

"Thank you, Mihoshi," Tenchi repied. "I'm feeling much better now." The
young man tried to get up, but a wave of dizziness hit him and he fell
right back into the bed.

"Oh dear, you poor thing! You must still be feeling weak after going
through that entire blizzard. Here, you stay right there and I'll go and
bring you some tea," Mihoshi said.

Tenchi nodded in reply, now feeling extremely tired. In the blink of an
eye, he fell back to sleep.

                                *               *               *
"Nice place Sam. When did you find this it," Washu asked, sitting behind
a table at a secluded corner at the bar.

"When I first came here to train with Hikiro. It was after some really
nasty exercises and I needed to relax a bit," Samantha explained.
"Hikiro suggested it to me."

"Very nice," Ryoko commented.

The bar was a small one, with a nice sized stage for Kareoke singers, an
old juke box which was currently playing soft music, and a few tables
that were already occupied by costumers. The bar tender was cleaning
some glasses on the countertop when he saw them and told one of the
serving girls to attend to them.

"And what will you three be having tonight," the waitress asked.

"Sake all around," Samantha replied.

The waitress nodded and went to the bar.

"So what do we talk about," Ryoko asked.

Samantha's mind drew a complete blank. When she had thought about this
excursion, it mainly included fixing the small break in her friendship
with Ryoko that her accusation had made.

"You know what? I have no idea."

"Luckily for you, you brought along the universes greatest scientist. I
can talk about anything! Just name a topic," Washu offered.

"I don't know, Washu. When ever you talk about anything, it's usually
way over our heads," Ryoko replied.

"You know Ryoko, you can call me mom."

Samantha felt the anger appear in the air the moment the scientist had
said mom. It didn't take her long to realize that there was some bad
blood between the two women.

"And why the heck should I?"

"Well for starters, I am...."

"Oh shut up! So you used your Ovule in making me! That still doesn't
make you my mother!"

The Canadian remained quiet, accepting the sake from the waitress and
placing it on the table. She poured herself a drink and offered some to
Ryoko and Washu. Ryoko down her cup in one gulp while Washu sipped hers
gently. Deciding that it would be safer if the subject were changed, she
quickly intervened.

"I know what we can talk about: boys. Mainly how you and Tenchi are
doing," Samantha said.

She already knew but figured that it was safer ground then talking about
the relationship between mother and daughter. From her own bitter
expierences with her father, she knew that these kinds of fights could
escalate to the point where irreparable damage could be done. And from
what she could tell, there was enough of that between these two women.

Ryoko blushed and fiddled with her cup a little bit.

"Come on Ryoko! You can tell me! How was he?"

"Oh, well.... It was Tenchi.... he was... you know, nice," Ryoko
replied.

"Oh, he was more then that," Washu said.

"What? How dare you read my mind like that!" Ryoko growled.

"Easy, easy! I didn't read your mind. I could tell your time with him
was wonderful simply by the waves of happiness you were putting through
our link."

Samantha was mentally bereating herself for touching upon even more
unstable ground when the next question came towards her.

"So, do you have a boyfriend yet," Washu asked.

"Huh?" Samantha went red in the face with embarrasement.

"You don't," Ryoko and Washu said simaltaneously, disbelief in their
voices.

"Um.. No I don't. My choice of lifestyle hardly leaves me any time for
being with someone."

"I'd figured that with your body, you would have had someone waiting
back in BC for you," Washu commented.

Samantha's face went as red as her hair and she fiddled with her own cup
for a few moments, too embarrased to say anything.

"Now look what you said Washu...."

"Call me mom Ryoko, mom."

The former space pirate growled at the scientist. "You don't deserve to
be called that! Not after what I've been through."

"And don't you think I know that," Washu shot back, the cheer in her
voice gone, leaving behind a harshness never used before. "Don't you
think I don't have nightmares where all I see is Kagato taking you away
from me to use for his evil deeds?! And then nothingness as I was forced
into a suspended animation pod for over two thousand years?"

Ryoko was taken aback, her anger having vanished upon seeing the sheer
look of pain on her mother's face. Samantha, in the meanwhile, remained
silent and still.

"Almost every night I dream the dream where I... gave birth to you and
he takes you away from me. Then the nothingness until I wake up."

"But our link... Wouldn't I have shared these dreams as well," Ryoko
asked.

"I kept that part of my mind from you closed. You've had enough bad
memories, or lack of them in this matter, as it is and don't deserve
anymore."

An uncomfortable silence reigned. No one spoke for a few moments but
merely sipped at their sake. Samantha tried to say something at this but
couldn't. It felt way too much like a hole had been ripped open and
nothing she could say could fill it up. She continued to sip her sake,
the warm liquer tasting bitter and cold in her throat. It was a long
time before anyone spoke.

"So what's it like doing what you do in Vancouver," Washu asked.

"Uh... Well it's dangerous. If I'm not careful, I can get pretty badly
wounded," the redhead replied. She knew that Washu had heard some of her
stories before and knew what she was up to. This was merely a ploy to
step away from the uncomfortable tension the last few words spoken
between mother and daughter had left behind. But she went with it
nonetheless.

"And how dangerous can pieces of lead chemicaly propelled be? All you
need is a simple force field and they're deflected, no problem," Washu
said.

"Well unlike you, I *don't* have a force field to simply toss in front
of me," Samantha replied.

"But what about your durability? You took some pretty good hits from
lasers and stuff and still survived," Ryoko pointed out.

"No can do. That portion of my powers is very hard to control. Sometimes
it's instinctive and other times I have to concentrate and focus it
about my body."

"I could probably fix that for you," Washu commented. "Just give some
time in the lab and I can make you as durable as titanium."

"Don't go for it Sam. Knowing Washu, she'll probably turn you into an
animal or something in the process," Ryoko growled.

"Thanks for the offer Washu but I like my body the way it is."

"Oh well, can't say I didn't offer. At any rate, at least yours isn't
sagging like someone's I know."

"Hey, my body is in great shape," Ryoko shot back.

"Great shape? Everything was strong and tight over two thousand years
ago. Now it's all sagging. A shame really," Washu replied.

Samantha sighed as Ryoko growled, glad that the two were talking again.
That gap between the two was still there but at least it wasn't the
enourmous black hole it had been before. With any luck, maybe the rest
of the night would go smoothly.

                                *               *               *
"God! She's out already," Ryoko said, hefting Samantha onto her
shoulder.

"Who would have thought that a few cups of sake would knock her out so
quickly," Washu added, sliding her shoulder under Samantha's other arm.

"I guess she doesn't have much of a tolerance for alcohol."

"Come on. Let's get her home Ryoko."

The former space pirate nodded and, with a disapeering shimmering of
their forms, the three fadded out of view from the front of the bar.

The three reappeared in front of the house and

Carrying the redhead into the house, they saw Noboyuki sitting on the
couch and reading the newspaper. Upon seeing them enter, he asked, "So
how was your night out, ladies?"

Ryoko merely growled and teleported away, leaving Washu to carry the
burden of the sleeping redhead.

"Hey Noboyuki, do you think you could take Samantha up to her room? I
have some things that I need to check on in my lab," Washu asked.

"Why, sure Miss Washu."

"And don't be trying anything funny young man," Washu said, handing
Samantha over to her and walking to her lab.
                                *               *               *
The architect let out a sad, tired, sigh as Washu walked into her lab
and hefted Samantha in his arms. The sigh came from being considered a
pervert by most of the women in the house and by his own son. He knew
that Tenchi would not go so far as to call him that to his face for the
respect and love that he held for him, but it was there on his face
whenever his father did something perverted.

Little did any of the people in the Masaki household knew, especially
Tenchi, that he chose to act this way. On times whenever he felt
reflective such as now, the man thought back and knew that he decided to
be the way he was shortly after his wife's death. The death of Achika,
the only woman who he had ever loved, besides those in his family, had
died at a relatively young age and left him alone to raise his son.

It was not that he blamed her for dying, after all when it was your time
to go you went, but it was the pain in his heart caused by her death
that hurt. Others, family and friends alike, had sometimes told him that
he should get remarried and thus have a mother to help raise Tenchi. But
he didn't... For Noboyuki, the risk that he would the suffer the pain of
losing someone he loved twice in his life was too great and he would not
take that risk.

Samantha mumbled something and her blurry eyes opened, bringing him out
of his reverie. She looked up at him with eyes glazed over in alcohol
before closing them and snuggling in.

"What are you doing here Daddy," she asked sleepily.

Noboyuki gasped. Somehow, in her drunken state, the Canadian had
mistaken him for her father. He remained speechless, not willing to say
anything that could possibly strenghten her misguided view.

"I thought you were back in Canada?"

The architect sighed and decided to act out the part. She was drunk and
would remember nothing of it tomorrow. "Why I'm here to help you
sweetie," he replied, hopping that he sounded like her father enough to
fool her.

"But I thought you didn't want anything to do with me?"

Noboyuki looked into her glazed eyes and saw a kind of sadness in those
steel grey eyes. He reconized that look as the kind his wife had had
before dying. Swallowing a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat,
he started towards the stairs, being careful not to bump her head or
legs against anything.

"And why would I do anything like that? You are, after all, my
daughter."

"But after I told you about being Silhouette, you said you hated me for
risking my life and such...." She choked up and began to weep silently,
burrowing her head against his head.

Noboyuki sighed again, wondering just what kind of man disowned his
daughter merely because of their lifestyle. His own son, Tenchi, risked
his life for Aeka, Ryoko, and the others whenever they were in trouble
and he was more proud of his son then ashamed.

"It's okay honey. I'm here for you now and everything will be alright,"
he choked on the last words, feeling ashamed that he was fooling a
drunken woman.

Looking down at her tear streaked face, he wondered if he and Achika
would have been able to have a daughter, a younger sister for Tenchi to
play with, had she lived. That was why he often pressured his boy into
getting a girlfriend. For Noboyuki, it was like having many daughters
and a large family. Only to himself would he admit to being a pervert
and doing the things he had done, but that was to prevent anyone from
caring too much about him. It was a contradictive mess of emotions, but
he had lived with it this far, he would continue to do so until he
died...

Maybe.

The house was quiet again and he wondered where everyone had gone to,
hoping to avert his mind to something else before he started to cry. He
hadn't seen Aeka since Samantha and Ryoko had gone out earlier and he
knew that Washu and Tenchi were in her lab, trying out some kind of
invention. Mihoshi had decided to look after Tenchi and was now sleeping
beside his bed.

"Come on honey, here's your room," he said.

Standing her up on her feet, she began to topple to the floor until he
braced her with his left arm and opened the door to her room with his
right. Picking her up again, he gently lay her on the bed and spread the
blankets from the foot of the bed over her. He stood up to leave when
her arm reached up and latched onto his.

"Please daddy, don't leave yet. I have nightmare lately," she said.

Noboyuki smiled kindly and sat down beside the bed. Samantha rested her
head against his arm and soon dropped off to sleep. After she had, he
tried to get up and leave but she kept a firm grip on his arm, not
willing to let go of who she believed to be her father.

"Well I suppose that it would be alright for me to stay like this," he
thought. Then, with a smile he added, "Besides, it's been along time
since I've slept with a lovely lady."

Being careful not to wake her, Noboyuki shifted into a comfortable
position so that his back was against the wall and soon, he too, fell
asleep.

                                *               *               *
Ryoko appeared in Tenchi's room, still feeling hurt over the memories
drudged up earlier, but not as hurt as she used to be whenever those
memoires had resurfaced. If Washu was as deeply hurt as she was, or even
more so, then...

Ryoko's train of thought vanished when she saw that Mihoshi was sleeping
against the wall beside Tenchi. The first emotion, anger, disapeered as
soon as it had appeared.

"I guess she must have fallen asleep while keeping an eye on him," she
thought, landing in front of her.

Kneeling in front of Mihoshi, Ryoko gently shook her awake. Eyes blurry,
Mishoshi rybbed the sleep out of her eyes and focused on Ryoko.

"Thanks for looking after him. I'll take it from here," the former space
pirate whispered.

"Okay. Tenchi's feeling much better now," Mihoshi replied, being careful
to keep her voice down.

Ryoko nodded and took Mihoshi's spot even as the blonde got up and
walked out of the room. Settling herself in, Ryoko took a few minutes to
ponder what she and Washu had said to each other, but the sake kept
interferring with her train of thought. The next minute, Ryoko was sound
asleep.

                                *               *               *
As Mihoshi passed Samantha's room on the way to her own, she saw that
the door was open and went to close it. Looking inside, she saw Noboyuki
snoring contently beside the redhead's bed, who was also snoring, and
giggled.

"Ah," she thought. "What a cute couple they make."

Giggling some more, Mihoshi closed the door and made her way back to her
room.

                                *               *               *

Aeka awoke with a start, a scream almost on her lips that was quieted
before it had even gotten out. Looking around, she quickly realized that
she was in her own room. Looking to her left, she saw her sister,
Sasami, sleeping peacefully beside and still dressed inher clothes.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was close to three in
the morning.

"Poor thing," she thought, getting up and drawing the blankets over her
sister. "She must have stayed up almost all night keeping an eye on me."

Aeka knew that she could never get back to sleep even if she wanted to.
She had fallen unconscious in the afternoon during that horrible
blizzard and had nearly twelve hours of sleep. There was also the matter
of the horrible dream that she had had during those twelve ours of
unconsciousness: her father killing Tenchi so that she would have
nothing to keep her on Earth and come back to Jurai.

Shivering slightly, Aeka stood and retrived one of her hourse coats,
decideding that maybe some fresh air would help to sooth her enough to
get back to sleep.

Stepping outside, she looked up at the clear night sky and saw a perfect
display of stars against the deep velvet of the night sky. The vision
brought a sense of peace to the princess and she was able to forget
everything, even if it was only for a small while. As she continued to
watch the sky, she noticed a bright flaring of one of the stars.

"That's no star... That's the subspace tunnel to Jurai," she realized.

"Oh, hello Aeka. I didn't expect you to be up at such an hour," came the
voice of Washu beside her.

"Nor did I. What is coming towards us, Washu," Aeka asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Just a messenger probe. One of the new safety
measures that I placed in the tunnel was a scanner and force field
projector," Washu explained. "Basically blocks any ship in te tunnel
until I've had a chance to scan it throughourly."

"A wise precaution," replied Aeka.

"Now I wonder who the message is for," Washu pondered aloud, her smokey
black laptop hovering in midair before her.

The princess remained silent, a feeling of dread growing in her stomach.
She knew who the message was for, but was not looking forward to
receiving it.

A small sphere with two engine pipes sticking out of the back flew down
towards the two women and came to a stop before Aeka. A blue light shot
out and scanned Aeka for a second, after that, the top of the messenger
blomed open and Azuza, Emperor of the Jurai Empire appeared before her.

"Aeka," the ghost image of her father spoke. "This is a short message to
inform you that I shall be arriving in two days time. We have much to
talk about and-."

Whatever the message had been about to say abruptly stopped when Aeka,
rage burning inside her, brought up her logs and detonated the probe in
a web of energy. The exposion was, thankfully, small and not loud enough
to wake anyone inside the house. Washu had seen to that.

Looking up at the princess, Washu saw her mask of anger fall away to
reveal a face barely holding back tears. Not daring to allow anyone see
her in such a state, Aeka ran off towards the shrine, crying all the
way.
________________________________________________________________________

What can I say at this point? The next few chapters are going to be full
of emotion, as well as some action, as a few old faces make their
appearence. There are also going to be some new ones as well.

Send any C & C to: xwing@perf.bc.ca