November 25/97                  Surprises all Around
Jamie Jeans

Things are going to relax for a little bit, but they aren't going to relax by
much, mostly due to what happened between Aeka and Azusa last chapter. This
will get resolved....I hope.

Legal stuff: All the characters and cabbits of Tenchi Muyo belong to Pioneer
Inc. Except for Samantha Jones, who belongs to me.
________________________________________________________________________

A beautiful Thursday morning greeted the landscape of Japan, the rays of the
sun painting everything a wonderful gold in the early morning light. Samantha
Jones, a.k.a. Silhouette, noticed this the most when the light shone in
through her window and woke her up. A lot had happened in the past few days
that had opened to her eyes to a picture bigger then she could possibly
imagine. She now knew that there was other intelligent life in the Universe
and that her land lord was actually a member of Royalty of a major ruling
empire. Added to that was the fact that the women whom she had believed to be
his sisters were aliens themselves.

All this ran through her mind for what seemed to be the thousandth time since
Tenchi had fully revealed the whole story to her, front to back. And as
amazed as she was by them, they had been equally amazed by her own stories of
encountering her own destiny and her own brushes with death.

"Who would've thought that I would have so much in common with people of
other worlds?" she thought with mild humor. "If anyone had told me that line
a year ago, I would have laughed my head off at them."

The good mood immediately evaporated when she thought of the broken shards of
the relationship between Aeka and her father, Azusa, Emperor of the Jurai
Empire. She hoped that it would all work out in the end. It reminded her all
too well of her own current relationship with her own father.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice calling out, "Hey Sam, are
you decent?"

Samantha immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Ryoko's and,
without replying, the former Space Pirate was in her room having phased in
through the floor. She was dressed in a black and gold shoulder pads with red
leggings and a white T-shirt that was very low cut. The Canadian gave herself
a lookover, she was currently wearing a large black T-shirt, and decided that
she was decent enough.

"Don't you ever enter the way normal people do?" she asked her.

"Show me a normal person in this house and I'll do it," Ryoko countered and
Samantha had to laugh at her point.

"So what is it?" she asked, and then noticed that the former Space Pirate did
not look all that good. In fact, she looked like the demoness that Aeka kept
calling her in their fights over Tenchi. But as of late, the fights had
happened with less and less frequency, probably due to Aeka's estrangement
from her father, and the normally direct Ryoko had gotten less and less
direct in her flirting with Tenchi. It had not taken a detective, even though
there was one living in the household, to figure out that Aeka and Ryoko were
rivals for Tenchi's affections and that the young man hated it when they
fought over him.

"You don't look so good," Samantha pointed out. "Were you up all night?"

"Um. yeah. Keeping an eye on Tenchi, that's all," Ryoko replied, and a huge
yawn split her face open. "Have to make sure that Aeka stays away from him."

"I highly doubt that the proper Lady Aeka would ever do anything like sneak
into his room in the middle of the night to sleep with him. She just isn't
that type of person," Samantha said. There was something about Ryoko's body
language that told her that she needed to ask her something but was afraid of
doing so. She could see it in her nervous stance and the way she constantly
shifted about. "Well, what is it? You need to ask me something. I can tell it
from the way you keep fidgeting about."

"Um, yeah you're right. I do need to ask you something." A tense filled pause
and then: "How do you ask a guy out?"

                                *               *               *
Ryoko had noticed, in the short time that she and the other women of the
Masaki household had pretended to be Tenchi's sisters, that the young man had
been far more comfortable with Ryoko not being so forward with offers of sex
and kinky outings. Instead, he felt more comfortable with her behaving like
Princess Aeka. This bothered her to no end and she had immediately gone back
to being the way she was as soon as the farce had been revealed to be false
to Samantha.

After this, she noticed once again how uncomfortable Tenchi was when she
threw herself at him, brining up plenty of reasons for her and Aeka to fight
and thus getting Tenchi mad at the both of them. For someone who had never
really been in love before, Ryoko could not figure out how to get Tenchi to
accept and return the love she was trying to give to him. Thus, two days
after their last tangle with death and destruction, the former Space Pirate
had decided upon a decision: ask someone for help or else risk losing Tenchi
to Aeka. That threat became all the move evident with each passing day.

The response she got was not like what she had expected.

Ryoko had expected something wise and old from Yousho had she gone to him or
a long and scientific explanation from Washu if she had went to her. But,
since Samantha was neither old nor scientific, she had expected something she
could understand.

Samantha went red in the face with embarrassment.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ryoko asked, unable to figure out what was wrong
with the new tenet.

"Nothing. Uh. Gee I wish I could help you but I have no idea about what
advice to give you on boys. You see, I don't have much of a love life,"
Samantha admitted.

"So that's why you're so embarrassed. Hey don't worry! I won't mention a word
of this to anyone!"

"Thanks....But I can still help you if you want."

"Okay then....How do I ask a boy out?"

Samantha's embarrassed face took on a more thoughtful expression as she
pondered this over. She had not been lying when she told Ryoko that she had
no love life. Her frantic and dangerous encounters with the mob and crime
kept her from ever attempting to have one, but she would not pass up the
opportunity to bond with this woman. Her dangerous life also gave her little
time to have any friends. She remembered how, only a few days ago, she had
been fighting this woman for her life and now, here she was asking her for
help. She smiled.

"What is it," Ryoko asked, seeing the smile.

"Nothing. Anyhow, the only way to ask a guy out is to walk on up to him and
ask him out."

"That's it?" Ryoko seemed dubious with that answer.

"Yeah, that's it. Just walk up and ask him out. Is there anything else? I
could give you some more advice, but I'm still a little vague on Tenchi,"
Samantha replied.

"Well he's very shy and modest, brave and strong, and he's very responsible,"
Ryoko told her.

"Shy eh? Maybe when you ask him out, don't be so direct with him. I've seen
how he blushes whenever you throw yourself at him. Trying being shy
yourself."

"Me? Shy? I don't think I could do that!"

"Okay, if not shy then try less direct," Samantha offered. "Ask him nice and
gently if he would like to go out on a date with you. Nothing fancy, maybe a
picnic or something."

"A picnic? But I don't know how to cook," Ryoko said.

"Then get Sasami to help you. Heck, even I'll give you a hand!"

"You will? I've never really had anyone help try to hook up with Tenchi."

"Oh no problem. Now, here's what you do......"
                                *               *               *
Tenchi wiped the sweat off his forehead with his hand and went back to work
on the carrot fields. Yousho had given him the day off from practicing
because he had actually tagged him once or twice the day before in practice.
Of course he had got his butt whipped after that but he was improving in his
training.

"Ah," he thought, the basket he was carrying filled to the top with carrots.
"This ought to satisfy Ryo-oh-ki for a few days, at least. Now to just bring
these in and place them in the kitchen and I can relax for the day."

"Oh Tenchi," cooed a voice from behind him.

"AAhhhh Ryoko! Don't do that," Tenchi said, scared by Ryoko's sudden
appearance behind him.

"I'm sorry Tenchi. Do you want a hand with that," she asked, indicating the
heavy basket of carrots.

"Uh. Thanks Ryoko. I sure could use a hand in this. I'll take one handle and
you take the other."

The former Space Pirate, dressed in her blue and gold dress with the tail,
did as she was told and helped him to carry the carrots to the house.

"Actually I had a reason for coming out and it wasn't to help you with the
carrots."

Tenchi waited for Ryoko to go on, never knowing that a pair of white eyes
stared out from the trees, enhanced senses listening to the conversation with
a child like eagerness.

"Oh this is working out great!" Samantha thought, hearing the words with as
much anticipation as Ryoko was. "Mom always said I was such a match maker.
Guess she was right. Now if only I could match myself up........ Worry about
that later, now I'll worry about Ryoko getting together with Tenchi."

"Would you like to go out with me for a picnic at lunch today?" Ryoko's voice
was full of nervousness as she waited for his answer.

"Sure I would. But no tricks all right," Tenchi replied, a little bit
suspicious.

"No tricks, I promise," Ryoko agreed, happy and nearly giggling.

>From the treeline, Samantha had to fight to keep from shouting 'YES!' in
victory.
                                *               *               *
"Oh Sasami!" Ryoko called into the kitchen. Spotting her at the countertop
preparing lunch, she asked, "Could you help me with something?"

"Why sure Ryoko, what is it," the younger princess of Jurai asked.

"I need you to help me prepare a picnic lunch."

"Well why don't you just eat lunch in the living room with us?" Sasami asked.

"Uh...You promise not to tell your older sister," Ryoko asked.

Instantly, Sasami knew that something was up but made the promise
nonetheless. Plus, if it was anything that might upset her then it would be
for the better to keep it from her.

"I asked Tenchi out on a picnic today and I want it to be just between the
two of us," Ryoko explained in hushed whispers, afraid that a certain someone
would overhear.

"Oh, is that it! No problem. Here, I know what Tenchi likes the best so I'll
make that for you to take to him."

"Thank you Sasami. I want everything to be just right!"
                                *               *               *
Samantha had just entered the house and was making her way to the kitchen to
find out how Ryoko was doing when Washu stepped out of her subspace lab.
Although interested at what seemed like an impossibly large room where a
closet should be, she tried to move around the genius scientist to get into
the kitchen.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be rude, I just have to ask Ryoko some questions,"
she hastily explained.

"And you can ask her later but right now I need your help with something,"
Washu said, tugging on her arm to get her into the pocket dimension.

"All right. But please don't let it be too long, me and Ryoko have something
very important to talk....about...." Samantha craned her head in order to see
the full confines of the lab.

>From her estimate, it appeared to be three times bigger then the house with
more then enough room to house over fifty people. There was a small garden
where someone had placed a sign saying VERY IMPORTANT SHIP GROWING HERE and
there was a pool of water nearby.

"How the heck did you do this!"

"Oh this? Not much. Just some rerouting of space through the higher
dimensions to create a subspace pocket. Impressed?" asked Washu, a hint of
pride in her voice.

"Impressed? Amazed is more like it. The answer to the world's housing
shortage is right here."

"Never thought of that. Now I need you to do something for me. See that
electron wavelength modifier?" The genius scientist was pointing at a twenty
sided multicolored box.

"Yeah."

"I need you to lift it up and place it on the computer dais."

"Okay."

"And then-"

"Sorry to interrupt Washu but why do you need me to do this?"

"Because I forget to build some robot helpers and I want to get this new
science project together by lunch time."

"What does it do?"

"I've developed a machine that, hopefully, will be able to control the
weather for a certain range around Tenchi's house."

"Wow, that's amazing. It would certainly be something to see," Samantha said.

"Then will you help me?"

"Sure, no problem," Samantha agreed, forgetting in her excitement that she
was supposed to be helping Ryoko with Tenchi.

Little did the Canadian know that her helping Washu was not really needed,
that it was actually a way for the genius scientist to secretly test
Samantha's powers.

"I am such a genius," she thought, hiding a grin. "Since Samantha knows who
we are and we know who she is, she won't see any reason not to use her powers
in front of us. Thus, I can perform all kinds of experiments even as I wait
for the DNA analyzer to finish scanning the hair I got out of her comb."
                                *               *               *
Ryoko was waiting in the living room, not knowing that Samantha was in
Washu's lab unknowingly having experiments performed on her, and waiting for
her friend to help her find the perfect spot for her picnic with Tenchi.

"Good morning Ryoko," Mihoshi called out as she entered the living room.

"Good morning Mihoshi."

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just waiting for Samantha."

"Why?"

"I need to speak with her," the former space pirate explained.

"About what," the blonde asked.

"Important stuff."

"Oh I see. Mmmmmm, something sure smells good and I sure am hungry. I wonder
what Sasami has cooking." Not bothering to wait for an answer from Ryoko,
Mihoshi went into the kitchen to find out for herself.

"Where is Samantha? She said she would help me with finding a good spot for
the picnic. Hope she comes soon, before Aeka comes back from the Onsen,"
Ryoko thought.

She had taken the precaution of finding the older Princess of Jurai and then
sending Ryo-oh-ki to keep an eye for her. Through the mental link she shared
with the cabbit, the former space pirate could see that the princess was
still reclining in the baths and enjoying the hot water.

"Wait a minute! I don't need Samantha's help for this part. I can find a good
romantic spot just as well as she could!"

With a whoosh, Ryoko teleported away and reappeared a thousand feet above the
Masaki house, golden catlike eyes scanning the area around the house and
lake. She finally found a spot on top of a hill behind the house and, not
having been there before, flew down to inspect it. It was a gentle sloping
grassy knoll on top of the hill with a perfect break in the trees to view the
valley before it.

"This spot is perfect! Tenchi will love it! Now to get the rest of lunch
ready and get him up here before her royal highness finds out!"
                                *               *               *
Aeka was enjoying a lovely morning just relaxing in the Onsen. It was
something that she decided to do in order to get her mind off her father.
Just thinking of him brought back the cold words he had said, as well as her
own, and she shivered in the hot water.

"Maybe I do need to talk about this with Tenchi. I feel as though I'll
explode if I keep this all bottled up inside me for very long," she thought.

The idea of expressing her feelings to Tenchi was very tempting to her
but.....the time just didn't feel right to unload herself on him. Her
thoughts were interrupted when she heard a meow. Recognizing the noise, she
looked about and saw Ryo-oh-ki starring at her and meow again.

"Oh hello there Ryo-oh-ki. I'm sorry but I don't have any carrots to give to
you," Aeka told the little cabbit.

It meowed in sadness and came right up to her, snuggling against her
shoulder. The princess turned about and gently scratched the cabbit behind
the ears, the animal/spaceship leaning into the rubbing. It brought back
memories of a week after she had crashed on Earth, when she thought her life
could get no more worst. Then the ship of Ryoko came and cheered her up,
giving her hope where there had been none before. The peaceful memories
stopped at the mere mention of the demoness and she looked, as if expecting
to appear at any moment.

"Oh dear. She could be with Lord Tenchi right now! I knew that I should have
been more diligent in keeping an eye on her. For all I know, she could be
forcing herself onto Lord Tenchi right now," Aeka thought, getting out of the
baths and reaching for her clothing.

It fell away from her hands and she looked down to see that the cabbit was
gripping the end of her white and blue kimono in it's teeth and was playfully
running around with it.

"AAHHHH! Release it you cabbit! No this is not a game. NO, not into the-"

SPLASH!

Aeka had to move quickly to keep the cabbit from being pulled down to the
bottom of the baths and being drowned. But the poor cabbit now resembled a
drowned rat and the Princesses clothing was drenched.

"Oh my. How am I going to stop Ryoko if all my clothing is wet?"

Aeka was now faced with a choice, head back to the house in her current
attire, which was nothing more then a large beach towel wrapped about her, or
wait for her clothing to dry in which time Ryoko could have enacted out her
will on *her* Tenchi.

"No. I will not allow it. I shall save Tenchi even at the risk of my
dignity!" Aeka thought vehemently.
                                *               *               *
Seeing this all through her mental link with the cabbit, Ryoko promised her
friend and spaceship that she would get a barrel of carrots for delaying Aeka
for a few precious seconds. Dressed in a simple white dress that she had seen
on TV, Ryoko carried the lunch in a picnic basket and was eagerly awaiting
for Tenchi to finish his bath, which he had started after his morning chores
had been done.

He came down the stairs, dressed in a simple T-shirt and summer shorts, and
stared at Ryoko's simple yet beautiful dress for a few moments, more
accustomed to the slinkier suits or tight dresses she normally preferred.

"Hello Tenchi. Are you ready for our picnic," Ryoko asked nicely.

"Sure. Where are we going to," he asked.

"Oh I found this perfect little spot earlier. You'll simply love it," she
told him.

"Okay, but remember your promise: No tricks."

"I remember. Now hold on." Ryoko gently took his arm and, with a bit of
concentration, teleported herself and him up onto the hill.

A few seconds later, Aeka rushed into the living room, looked around and then
went to her room to slip into something more decent.
                                *               *               *
Samantha strained with the weight of the twenty sided box and finally placed
it gently on the computer dais. It had taken the redhead a few minutes to
lift the box, considering how much it weighed, and then balancing right so
that she could lift it without falling. The effort make her limbs ache, even
though they had been enhanced with her inner energy, and she gently leaned
back on a tree that was growing nearby.

"Tired already," Washu asked, running a scanning device over the two combined
pieces of machinery.

"No, not tired, hungry." To emphasis her point, a loud growling sound issued
from her midsection.

"Wow, no kidding, but we're almost done. Just a few more things to do," Washu
said.

Samantha sighed and stood up, hoping that she had some fat left in her
stomach to feed her rapid metabolism. A few minutes later, the machine was
complete and her stomach was growling even more.

"Hmmm. Sounds like you're really hungry," Washu pointed out.

"Yeah I am."

"How come? That wasn't much work."

"Well the chi speeds up my metabolism in order to burn the fat and get the
energy required to keep myself going. If I use it continuously, it burns away
all the fat and starts to eat on the muscle."

"Hmmmm. Interesting. But if the chi provides energy to your body, then how
come it speeds up your metabolism to burn the fat and provide even more
energy?"

"I never really figured it out. Now then, is there anything else?"

"No that's it. Thank you."

"No problem. I just hope that Ry...Sasami has lunch all cooked. I'm
starving."

Washu pondered a moment at Samantha's near mix up but decided to put it aside
until after lunch. She had acquired much knowledge from watching Samantha
flex her chi augmented muscles. Also the tidbit of info that the Canadian had
just given her helped to refine the ongoing theory she had as to the source
of her inner energy.
                                *               *               *
"This is a beautiful spot you picked out Ryoko. It's such a nice view,"
Tenchi commented, his gaze sweeping the lake and the valley before him.

"Thank you Tenchi," Ryoko replied. "I found this spot earlier. I wanted
everything to be perfect."

The young man looked back at Ryoko, who was currently spreading a thin
blanket on the grass, and was amazed by this sudden change of personality. In
all the time that she could have poked fun at Aeka's relationship with her
father, she didn't. Was Ryoko finally maturing? He watched her as she placed
the picnic basket on the blanket and sat down, opening it up and setting the
bowls of food in a neat circle.

When she was done unpacking the lunch that Sasami had helped her make, she
gestured for Tenchi to sit down and he did. At first, lunch was tense, seeing
as to both people present could think of nothing to say at first, but after
some of the delicious food had been eaten, the ice began to break.

"This is good. Did you make it," Tenchi asked.

"No, not really. Sasami gave me a hand with it," she replied.

Silence again. Then Tenchi decided to break it with a good question.

"So....uh....," he stuttered a bit, trying to find the right words so as to
not bring up the painful memories. "What was it like travelling?"

"Travelling?"

"You know. Visit other worlds and people."

A pained look came across the cyan haired beauties face and he knew that he
had chosen the wrong words.

"I'm sorry Ryoko. I didn't mean to-," he started but was soon cut off.

"It's okay Tenchi. I know you wouldn't intentionally hurt me." An
uncomfortable pause and then she continued. "I don't remember much.
Sometimes, when I try hard enough, I can see vague images of different
planets."

The pain on her face faded a bit. Tenchi watched her and kept quiet, not even
daring to eat.

"Just me, Ryo-oh-ki, and the stars. That's the only constant I can remember
from...back then....But now I have better memories to remember, thanks to
you."

The young man blushed and waited for Ryoko to go on.

"So did you do any travelling Tenchi?"

"No, not much. And what little travelling I did was to out here before the
house was moved here. I don't know why but I guess that it had to do with Dad
after Mom...."

Now this time it was Ryoko's turn to wait for Tenchi to speak.

"After that, the urge to go anywhere just wasn't there anymore. He worked and
did his best to raise me and in the summers I would come here and train with
Grandpa. But that was about it."

"You think we could talk about something else? This is getting depressing,"
Ryoko said.

"Okay," Tenchi replied, feeling the old pain subside. "Ever since that day
that I'd released you from the cave, the only thing I'd ever wanted was a
normal life. Don't know why considering how other people would love a life of
excitement and danger, but I just want things to be normal."

"That's because you're simple Tenchi. A simple person with simple needs in
life. It's one of the things that I like about you," she admitted.

"I must admit that....one of the things I like about you is that you're
so...straightforward. You see what you want and you go get it."

There was silence for a few moments as Ryoko tried to find something else to
talk about it. Tenchi, waiting politely for her to continue, was amazed at
how Ryoko was acting this day. Except for the scare at the carrot fields, she
had been acting.....docile. It was a new side to her that he found, not only
pleasant, but amazing as well.

She started speaking and he pushed those thoughts aside, placing all of his
attention on her.
                                *               *               *
"Has anyone seen Lord Tenchi and Ryoko," Aeka demanded.

"Nope. Haven't seen them at all," Mihoshi said in-between mouth fulls of
rice.

"Why, is there something wrong," Samantha asked.

"Of course there is! Tenchi is not here and neither is Ryoko and that, by no
doubt, means that she is trying to rob my Lord Tenchi of his purity!" The
Princess nearly shrieked out that last one, as if trying to prove her point
by the volume of her words.

"Rob his purity," Sasami repeated, confused by the words.

"That means try to spend more time with him then Aeka is," Samantha was quick
to say, giving a way watered down version of the truth.

Of all the people seated at the table, only Sasami, Samantha, and Washu
really knew where the two missing people were. Washu had found out when,
checking through the mental link she shared with her daughter, she found her
daughter on a hill enjoying a peaceful picnic with Tenchi and talking. Her
mind was a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and happiness, all of which the
genius scientist had no intention of ruining. If she told her where the two
were, Aeka would spend no time in marching up that hill and interrupting one
of the few peaceful moments her daughter had in her life.

"Calm down Aeka. I'm sure they're around here somewhere," Mihoshi said, the
proceeded to swallow the rest of her Miso soup.

"Mihoshi's right. Have a seat and have some lunch Aeka," Samantha added and
gestured to the empty spot beside her.

"But you do not know Ryoko as well as I do Miss Jones," Aeka started and
Samantha bristled at being called *Miss*.

Ever since the group had found out who she was and vice versa, the elder
Princess of Jurai had started calling the Canadian Miss Jones. She felt
irritated by it, like it was a title.

"Makes me feel old," she had told her once but Aeka would not stop calling
her that.

"I must find them and put a stop to her vile scheme," Aeka declared. She
would have marched right out of the house had not Samantha stood up and
restrained her with a friendly, yet firm, grip on the shoulder.

"You don't need to put a stop to any *vile scheme* Princess," she said.

"And why is that? I take it you know of her plot to take my Tenchi away from
me?"

"Yes I do know and it is not a plot to take Tenchi away from you. Well it
could be from your point of view. Anyhow I didn't want to say anything but
since you're so intent on finding them, I might as well tell you."

"You mean you are in on this with that Demoness? How could you? I had thought
that you were better Miss Jones."

"All right, all right. You want to know what they're doing," Samantha asked,
peeved off by the princesses attitude. "They're having a nice, peaceful, pure
picnic. That's all."

There was a stunned silence, made more so by Aeka and Mihoshi, since they had
not known at all, and it was several seconds before she said anything.

"How could you? You have no idea what kind of person she is! She could have
used this as a kind of cover for what she really wants!" Aeka exploded.

Samantha was confused. Surely it had been this woman and Ryoko who had worked
so well together in fighting Seriyou on his ship. Had that Aeka been replaced
with another when they had gotten back to Earth?

Throughout this tirade, Sasami admitted to helping Ryoko cook and Washu stood
up for her daughter, saying that she knew Ryoko was doing nothing to Tenchi.
Aeka accused her of merely covering up for her daughter since she wanted
Tenchi as well. Only Mihoshi had nothing to say and, sensing that it would be
best to say nothing, merely continued to eat her lunch.

Samantha had long ago lost her appetite and was rapidly losing her cool. She
knew, from the stories the group had told her of their earlier adventures,
about how the two girls would fight side by side with a coordination unheard
of and then turn against each other over Tenchi as soon as the danger was
past. But actually seeing it replayed in front of her eyes, she was still
having a hard time grasping it. Samantha knew, when Aeka started to shout,
that she had one thing left to do.

A shrill loud whistle broke over the multi-person argument and they all
stared at her.

"Listen to me *Princess*, if I were to take you to where they were having
their picnic and show you that Ryoko is doing nothing unpure to Tenchi, will
you settle down?"

Aeka thought this over a moment before agreeing. "But on one condition."

"Yeah?"

"You set me up on a date with Tenchi," Aeka stated.

Samantha groaned and wondered just how the hell she was supposed to solve
this love triangle. Reluctantly, because she did not want the princess to
rudely disrupt what was probably a peaceful picnic, she agreed to her terms.

"I swear," she thought, leading the princess outside. "That this is the last
time I get involved with other people's personal business."
                                *               *               *
It took a few minutes for Samantha to find the scent of Tenchi and Ryoko,
even though the wind was nice and calm, but after that, she tracked them down
like an Irish Wolfhound.

"Now you be quiet Aeka. Remember, as soon as you see that everything is all
right, we head back and mention not a word of this to anyone," Samantha said,
blazing white eyes showing that she was in touch with her chi.

"I am a Royal Princess of Jurai," as if that was reason enough to trust her.
"My word is my bond."

The Canadian nodded and crept forward, not making a sound in her passage
through the woods while Aeka seemed to blunder onto everything that made a
noise. A few more minutes and the two had found the spot that Ryoko had found
earlier. The princess heard Ryoko's giggling and rushed forward, expecting
the worst. Samantha stopped her before she could get far and told her to be
quiet. Silently, the two crept forward and looked at Tenchi and Ryoko
enjoying their lunch.
                                *               *               *
Tenchi was enjoying himself immensely. He was amazed by how *much* he was
enjoying her company. It was as pleasant as Sasami's. Ryoko laughed lightly
at the telling of how Tenchi had gotten the keys from his Grandpa and entered
the forbidden cave.

"That's amazing! So he tripped you and you still got the keys!"

"Yeah. Although he said that I had to beat him to get them, I think he gave
them to me. But no matter how I got them, I'm glad I did."
                                *               *               *
"There, you see? Nothing bad happening," Samantha fiercely whispered.

"We have only been here for a few minutes Miss Jones, thus I cannot be
assured that she will do nothing.....unladylike." Samantha cocked an eyebrow
at that. "But I still hold you to your promise," Aeka whispered back.

The Canadian growled, picked up Aeka and, ignoring her silent protests,
carried her bodily down the hill. She didn't want to risk the chance that she
would make a noise and announce their presence to the couple on the hill.

"Now the only problem I have left is to set her highness up with Tenchi," she
thought.

After the two had gotten down the hill, they went back inside the house and
finished the rest of their lunch.
                                *               *               *
Ryoko blushed at that and was speechless for a few moments, giving Tenchi a
chance to ask a question he had been wanting to for a long time.

"Why is it sometimes that you watch over me as I sleep?" The young man did
his best to keep some of the pent up annoyance inside of him from seeping out
but, as he saw the small twine of hurt in her eyes, he knew that some must
have gotten out.

The former Space Pirate grew quiet and somber at this, pondering over her
answer for a few seconds before giving it.

"I guess one of the reasons I did it was out of jealousy. To make sure that
Aeka didn't get into your bedroom while you were sleeping and.....You know."

"Not Lady Aeka. She's too shy for that," Tenchi replied. The thought itself
was laughable but he dare not do so, not when Ryoko was being so open with
her feelings.

"The other reason is that, after being stuck in that stasis pod, as Washu
would call it, for so long and then being free again, I wanted to spend as
much time with you as possible..." Here she stopped, unsure whatever or not
to go on. She looked at Tenchi staring at her with a genuine curiosity and
knew that he would not make fun of her, especially when she felt so
vulnerable right now. "Because I was afraid that it was all a dream that
would disappear and I would wake up from it, never to see you again."

"I never knew it was like that," Tenchi admitted, amazed by the amount of
feeling Ryoko now held on her face.

"I never told you. I was so afraid that you would laugh at me or something."

"You know I would never do that. Never. I couldn't hurt anyone that I care
for so much," Tenchi replied.

"No I didn't know," Ryoko replied a bit harshly. "For as caring and
thoughtful as you are, there was always the deep fear that you would laugh at
me." Now her voice lowered in volume. "Laugh at me and then marry Aeka."

Tenchi was speechless. He never really knew just how deep the woman's
feelings for him ran. As he stared at her, he gave her a smile, a kind and
gentle one, reached out and took her hand in his.

"I will never laugh at you Ryoko. No matter what you say or do, I will always
be there for you. With nothing but kindness and respect for you."

Ryoko sniffed and choked back a sob, amazing the young man once more. Ryoko
was nearly crying. She gave his hand a light squeeze and said, "Thank you
Tenchi. You have no idea how much that means to me."
________________________________________________________________________
I hope you Ryoko fans liked this scene. It wasn't easy to make since I had to
dig deep and model her emotions as much as possible. Send any comments or
compliments to xwing@perf.bc.ca