Time Enough for Tenchi (Part 1)
by Eaerth

   "Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again."
    - Robert A Heinlein

My name is Tenchi Masaki.  When I was young, I lived with 6
cute girls, and each one loved me.  They were crazy.  I'm
not kidding here, the day didn't pass when some wholesale
destruction wasn't being inflicted upon my home.  They
fought and fought and fought over me.  I don't know what I
would have done just for the chance for some peace and
quiet.  I considered moving to Tokyo to get away from the
arguments.  And women trying to feel me up any chance they
got.

In time I became very expert at pushing away guerilla
kisses.

But as the years passed, I fell in love with them.  Then the
problem changed from "How do I fend these women off?" to
"Which one should I choose?"  This question was much more
difficult, because I loved them all.  Even though they were
insane, every woman had her time when she was beautiful.  If
I picked one over the others, five girls would be crying and
so would I.

It took a couple more years for me to figure out this one,
more to get over the fear than figure it out.  But one
morning, a week from my twentieth birthday, I decided.  I
decided not to decide and chose not to choose.  They
couldn't make me love one and drop the others.  I would love
all of them before they had a chance to react.  Aeka and
Ryoko might even calm down and give me some peace.

I woke up smiling and made quick time through my morning
ritual.

I had no idea how to stop a houseful of women from
competing, even when I'd given them each what they wanted. 
I didn't know if *I* could handle it, to be truthful. 
Father never taught me how to keep a harem.  But I had the
greatest genius in the universe to help me and give me
advice, so I hurried to Washu's lab, eager to break the
news.

					#

I excitedly entered Washu's lab.  I'd been here many times,
usually to escape Ryoko and Aeka fighting, which was still
audible in the lab, and unstopping, as much a part of the
atmosphere as the sound of wind blowing through the trees in
the forest outside.

"Hi Washu, do you have a minute?" I asked her.  "I need some
advice on something important.  I finally decided what I
need to do, and I need your help on how to--why is it so
quiet?"  I listened.  It was dead silence.  "Where are Ryoko
and Aeka?"

"They've gone, Tenchi," she said, getting up from her
workbench.

"Where did they go?" I asked.

"Aeka, Sasami, and Ryoko went back to the Court yesterday. 
They couldn't bear to tell you goodbye, so they left the
task to me."

"Why, Washu?  What happened?" I asked.

"They grew tired of waiting for you, Tenchi, tired of
waiting for you to decide what you wanted.  They have lives
to get on with, loves to find."

"But I know what I want!  I just had to work it out.  I
decided, I couldn't choose one of them, but I was willing to
try to make it work with both.  They can't go, now of all
times!"

"That's so, so sad," Washu said.  "If you weren't so late. 
They won't be coming back, Tenchi.  They never want to see
you again.  Mihoshi and Kiyone moved out of their apartment
a couple weeks ago and transferred back to Galaxy Police
Headquarters.  They won't be returning, either."

"No!  NO, dammit!  I love them!  All of them.  They can't
leave me!  They can't all leave me alone."  I was hysterical
now.  "*Why are you packing?*"

"I'm leaving too, Tenchi.  They offered me a teaching
position at Sigma 957 University.  I start right away."

"You don't need to go.  You don't need to wait for me any
more.  I love you, Washu.  I've loved you for years.  Please
stay with me.  Please don't leave me."

"I..."  Washu paused and sat down, taking my hands in hers. 
"I loved you once, Tenchi.  I loved you for a long time, but
time passes.  When you are in love with someone who doesn't
return your love, time passes at a year for every hour.  I
stopped loving you thousands of years ago."

"NO!" I cried.  "It's not fair!  I was a high school
student!  I couldn't handle half a dozen women hundreds of
years older than me.  I'm not even twenty!  Don't leave me
alone.  Please."

"I'm sorry, Tenchi.  I need to pack."

I fled the lab.

I didn't see Washu again.  She had left me months earlier
and I never noticed.  I was too distracted by arguing, and
fighting, and aliens invading, and Mihoshi crying about TV,
Kiyone begging for rent money, Aeka nagging, Ryoko blowing
up the living room, Washu calling down Outer Gods, and
Sasami catching deadly illnesses.  More than anything, I'd
wanted some quiet.

I didn't see Washu again, though she patted me on the head
as I sat on the stoop, face in my hands, the next day.  I
didn't move from sun up until sometime in the middle of the
night, when I fell asleep.

The thing I thought I wanted more than anything else was
peace.  One night of uninterrupted sleep.  One bath alone. 
The chance to think.  Quiet.

Now, as I swept my empty, neglected shrine in the mountains
far away from the nearest city, I had quiet.  I dropped my
broom and listened to the nothing.  Only the peaceful sound
of breeze.  I fell to my knees, and then to my face, and the
quiet went away for a time.


---------
The names of Tenchi, Washu, Aeka, Sasami, Ryoko, Mihoshi,
and Kiyone are copyrighted and probably trademarked by AIC
& Pioneer LDC.  I don't claim any ownership over them.
Beyond the names, this story has just about nothing to do
with the series.  I hope you don't feel cheated.

Completely unrelated stuff, such as my comic, "Kevorkian 
Won't Return My Calls," can be found at my website.
http://eaerth.isfuckingbrilliant.com/ is the redirect.

The email address on this post has been spam harvested and
at least one of the spammers has the Klez virus, so I'm
getting that mailed to me too.  If you send anything there, 
there's a good chance I won't even notice it when I check 
email (once every couple months).

If you have any comments or questions or anything, check the
website.  I used to put my real email address here at the
bottom, but the website redirector has lasted two years, 
which is longer than any email service I've signed up with 
has lasted.  Sorry for the extra step, but if you'd tried 
to send a message to the old address at the bottom of this
chapter and gotten a bounce, you'd understand why.