Disclaimer: This story features characters that weren‘t created by me, they were created by Masaki Kajishima. I don‘t own these characters either, they are owned by Pioneer LDC. The author only owns the story and the characters he has created. I do not write this for profit, only for the pleasure of writing. Suing me would by pointless since I have no money or assets. This story mentions a character I have created called Akito, all you need to know about him now is that he is Sasami‘s husband. I’ll put more information about him in up coming chapters. ============== Tenchi Muyo! When I Grow Up... Chapter One A Day in the Life ============== Prince Tenchi of Jurai awoke to the sound of a Thunderclap. It was raining again. ‘It has been raining for the past two weeks’ he thought to himself and sighed. Jurai’s rainy season was the only time of the year he didn’t think Jurai was beautiful. He had always hated the rain ever since he was little and his mother would not let him go out play in the rain. “You’ll get a soaked head and get sick,” she had always told him. Tenchi looked over at his clock. It was fifteen minutes earlier than when he would normally get up. ’Well I could stay in bed for a little while until it ’s time to get up or get up now and start my day early’ he thought pensively. When he realized he would not be able to get back to sleep, he decided to get up. “Lights,” he uttered and the room lit up. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the light. He pulled the red covers off of himself and rolled out of bed. He walked over to his bathroom, got undressed, and got in the shower. When he satisfied that he had cleaned himself thoroughly he got out of the shower and put a bathrobe on. He then used his sonic scrubber to clean his teeth and dried his long violet hair. He braided his hair into single ponytail and looked into the mirror to check for any white heads or pimples on his face. Fortunately there were not any. Every day when Tenchi looked into the mirror he noticed his brown eyes. His eyes were a sign of the human blood that flowed through his veins; Jurians did not have brown eyes if they were pureblooded. For a long time he had hated his eyes, he thought that his human blood caused the problems that his mother had with certain conservative members of Jurai society. Some people didn’t like the fact that the Crown Prince of Jurai was part human and they demanded that his mother remarry and produce a new heir. His mother had of course refused and told her critics that they should be so lucky to have her son as the Crown Prince. Once he thought of getting a gene factor conversion to change the color of his eyes to red like his mother’s. When he asked for his mother’s permission she had angrily refused to let him and told him that he had his father’s eyes and if he changed them that there would be no sign that he was father’s son. She also told him that his human ancestry was not his problem, it was only the problem of close-minded bigots. “You should be proud of your human heritage,” she had said “Although humans are short lived they have done great things and are just as smart and good as Jurians, and besides, your father would not want you to be ashamed of your humanity.” He didn’t hate his eyes anymore; he sort of liked looking exotic and different from the other people around him. Tenchi got out of the bathroom and went to his dresser to pick out his clothes for the day. On top of his dresser where holograms of his mother, aunt, and grandmothers. He didn’t have and holograms of his father, only flat two dimensional images in frames his mother and aunt called “photographs.” He had never met his father, he had died before he was born, and he often wondered what it would be like if his father had lived. Women had raised him and it would have been nice to have to have met his father at least once. He felt sorry for his mother because she had only been married to his father for a few days before he died. The young prince selected his clothes for the day and got dressed. The final object he picked up was the sword Tenchiken. The sword had belonged to his father and great-grandfather and now the sword belonged to him, a birthday present from his mother. Tenchiken didn’t look all that impressive at first, other than the single red jewel on the pommel; it looked like any other Jurian sword. He knew that wasn’t true, Tenchiken was an extremely powerful weapon and key. With it he could carry he could carry on the legacy of his great-grandfather and father. He tucked Tenchiken into his belt. The last two things he did before he went downstairs for breakfast was to gather his pajamas from the bathroom and place them in his dirty clothes bin and make his bed. Unlike other princes before him, Tenchi didn’t have servants clean his room for him. Tenchi’s mother always insisted that he keep his own room clean. If he didn’t keep his room clean he would be punished. Once he had finished making the bed he left his room and started his day. The palace was always a bustle of activity. Really the palace never closed only the Royal Family did (they have to sleep sometime). Every day the palace officials worked on hundreds of reports, received hundreds visitors, lead tours though the palace, answered the palace’s electronic mail, and attended to various details of running the Empire. As Tenchi walked through the halls various officials nodded to him as they passed by. Tenchi returned their nods and continued down the hall. The only person in the dining room when he arrived was his Aunt Sasami. His aunt sometimes cooked for him and his family, she had even taught her nephew how to cook, but she was very busy women helping her sister run the Empire and had very little time to cook any more. The Palace chefs prepared most Tenchi’s meals. Tenchi could cook as well but he was busy, and didn’t have time to prepare meals. Aunt Sasami’s cooking was rare treat. “Good Morning,” she said as she put down her cup of tea, “You’re up early earlier than usual.” “Good Morning, I got up early,” Tenchi said. “Oh? Let me guess, the thunder woke you up,” Sasami inquired. “Yes,” Tenchi replied with some embarrassment. You’ve always been a light sleeper, I guess you get that from me,” she teased, “Don’t worry the rain will turned off this afternoon.” “Where is everyone else?” Tenchi asked. “Well it’s still far to early for your mother to be up,” Sasami giggled “Uncle Akito is back on earth, your Grandmother Funaho had to start work early today, and your Grandmother should be here any minute now.” As if on queue, Lady Misaki appeared behind Tenchi as gave him a strong hug. “Good Morning, my dearest little Tenchi,” she said happily, “I hope you had sweet dreams.” “Good morning grandma,” Tenchi replied enthusiastically. “Yes, I had very sweet dreams last night.” Tenchi always felt somewhat embrassed by his grandmother’s overly affectionate nature. “Oh good,” she said, “I thought maybe last night’s storm scared you again.” Tenchi blushed with embarrassment, when he was younger thunder had always scared him and sent him running to his mother for protection. Thunder was another reason Tenchi hated the rain. “Little Sasami,” Lady Misaki asked, “Where is little Ayeka?” “Mother.” Sasami said with embarrassment, “Ayeka and I are far too old for you to be calling us little.” “What?” Lady Misaki arched an eyebrow “Mother?” “Sorry mommy,” Sasami knew it was best not to fight her mother. “And besides,” Lady Misaki said “you’re my children, I made you and I can call you what ever I want to.” Tenchi’s mother finally stepped in to the room. She was still wiping the sleep from her eyes, as Aunt Sasami had always said her sister was not a “morning person.” But still she was fully dressed and ready for the day. “She must be able to get dressed in her sleep;” Aunt Sasami had once joked. “Good morning all,” Ayeka said sleepily. “Good afternoon,” everyone said in unison. “I wish you had not started that little tradition,” Ayeka said as she gave her sister a sore look. Sasami just giggled. Tenchi knew his aunt’s joke wasn’t entirely fair. His mother worked very hard to take care of the empire and to take care of him. She usually got up on time but she never got enough sleep. No wonder she was always sleepy or when she got a day off (a rare event) she liked too sleep in till the afternoon. But still Aunt Sasami’s joke was funny. “Oh Sister, you need to lighten up,” Sasami said “besides we always hurt the ones we love.” “Well, you certainly don’t need to make jokes at my expense,” Ayeka lectured. Sasami giggled again. “Oh little Ayeka, your sister doesn’t mean you any harm, and besides it’s all in good fun.” Lady Misaki explained. “Et tu mother?” Ayeka said. Only Ayeka could get a way with calling her mother that, Sasami and Akito had to call Lady Misaki mommy. Tenchi could not refer to his grandmother as grandmother; he had to call her grandma. Ayeka turned to her son and said “and I suppose you think this is funny too?” Before Tenchi could answer the food arrived. Tenchi felt relieved that he didn’t have to answer his mother’s question. The meal was quite and relaxing as always. Their meals together were some of the few times the royal family could relax through out the day. Breakfast was a simple meal; the way Tenchi preferred it. He didn’t like foods that were overly rich or sweet like breakfasts were on some worlds. His uncle Akito liked to drink something called “coffee” for breakfast. Tenchi had tried it once but found it foul and bitter. Tenchi ate every bit of food on his plate. If he didn’t he would get a lecture from his mother on wasting food. Even if he didn’t like what was given to him he still had to eat it. But Tenchi had learned not to complain when something he didn’t like was offered to him. This had made meals much easier on him and his mother. After breakfast was over Tenchi walked with his mother and aunt over to the hall of nobles. They didn’t get wet because a metal canopy covered the walkway to the hall of nobles. Tenchi knew that the canopy was expensive because Jurai was a metal poor world and most metal objects came from off world. Tenchi listened to the sound of the rain on the canopy and felt disgusted. He looked over to the great expanse of grassland to the south of the palace. He couldn’t see the mountains to the south because they were obscured by the rain. ‘It’s like a big gray cloud has surrounded the world’ Tenchi thought to himself. The hall of nobles was a very large building, larger than the palace. Like all large buildings on Jurai the building was actually a tree. This wasn’t one of the trees of the Jurai royalty that possessed intelligence and could become a spaceship. This tree was genetically engineered to grow into a building. The hall was really just a non-thinking plant. The largest room is the hall was the great meeting hall. Every noble in the Jurai Empire had a seat in the hall. Tenchi’s seat was behind his mother so he could observe and learn the fine art of statecraft. Tenchi found the meetings in hall of nobles to be often boring. Once he had fallen asleep during a meeting, something he vowed he would never do again after the lecture his mother had given him. His aunt’s seat was to the right of her sister and grandmother Funaho’s seat was immediately to the left of her. His other grandmother was taking care of various military affairs. Lady Funaho gave Tenchi a grin has he entered the room which he returned. He had missed her during breakfast but he could see her later. The meeting was extremely boring as usual. Another meeting about tax and tribute reform. Duke Catkas took his usual position that the various member worlds were not paying enough into the Empire while his mother took her usual position that point of the Empire was not bleed the various member worlds dry but to improve the quality of life on each world. Tenchi tried to pay attention but his mind began to drift to some of the more attractive daughters of the various nobles. It didn’t really matter if he was paying attention as long as he looked like he was paying attention. Tenchi knew he wouldn’t learn anything from the meeting today. This was a very old debate. Tenchi knew exactly how it would end. Duke Catkas would purpose a new bill that called for increased taxes only to be out voted by the other nobles that were his mother’s allies. Most nobles didn’t want to increase taxes because they would become unpopular with the people and no noble wanted that. Tenchi usually got to leave the meetings a little early so he could start his studies and have a little free time. Tenchi had an half-hour of free time before lunch. Usually he would go to his room and start his studies early. Today however he would read a book his uncle had given him. The book his uncle had given him was considered an ancient classic on Earth. Tenchi considered that odd because his mother must have been alive when the book was written. It was called the Odyssey and a poet named Homer wrote it. The book was about an ancient human king and all the adventures he had trying to return home from a war. Tenchi sat down on his bed and began to read more on the exploits of the clever king. Suddenly Tenchi heard a noise. He looked around the room but there was no else in the room with him so he returned to reading. He heard the same noise again. Now he knew that something was wrong. Tenchi turned just in time to see the faint outline of a man swinging a weapon at him. He managed to roll away just in time to avoid the blow which destroyed his bed instead of him. He rolled of his bed and on to the floor placing his bed between him and his attacker. He pulled Tenchiken out of his belt and stood up. Tenchiken flashed to life producing a blue blade in front of him. Tenchi stood ready to face his opponent. But there was no one there. ‘He must have an invisibility unit’ Tenchi thought to himself. He backed up against the wall so that the assassin could not attack him from behind, ‘unless he can phase through walls’ he thought angrily to himself. Tenchi thought he heard the same noise again. He turned toward where the sound had come from and struck out with Tenchiken. Luckily his sword connected with assassin and destroyed the invisibility unit. Tenchi saw man dressed in in all black standing before him wielding a metal sword. ‘At least now it’s a fair fight’ Tenchi thought. The man leapt to attack him. Tenchi spun away from the attack and swung Tenchiken at his opponent. Tenchi struck out with his sword again but the attacker ducked under the attack. The assassin went to strike at him again and Tenchi swung out at his opponent again. This time he connected. His blade sliced through his opponent’s sword and cut through his neck. The man collapsed on to the floor, blood spilled from his jugular staining the carpet red. Tenchi stood there for a moment in shock. One of the palace guards burst through the door. His eyes widened when he saw the corpse on the floor. “Prince Tenchi are you all right?” the guard asked worriedly. “Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Tenchi replied in a quiet voice. He was still in a state of shock. “Tell my mother and aunt what has happened.” “Yes your highness,” he keyed his com unit and spoke in a very professional voice “contact the Empress and Princess Sasami and inform them that an attempt has been made on Lord Tenchi’s life.” “Now take me to my mother,” Tenchi commanded. “Yes your highness,” the guard nervously spoke “right away, but shouldn‘t you deactivate your sword?” “Oh,” said Tenchi looking down at the still activated Tenchiken. He hadn’t realized that it was still on. He deactivated the sword and tucked it back in to his belt. He followed the guard out of his room and into the hallway. Tenchi followed the guard through the hallways toward his mother’s office. As they walked the guard signaled for other guards to join them until there where four surrounding him in a box formation, each willing to give their lives to protect the Prince. On the way to the office Tenchi realized what he had done. He had taken someone’s life. He had never killed anyone before in his life. Tenchi wondered if the man had a family or friends. Would they hate Tenchi for killing him? But then Tenchi realized that the man would have died anyway. The punishment for plotting to or attempting to kill a member of the Royal Family was execution. Tenchi had just put him to death early. Tenchi knew his mother would be worried about him. He looked down at his hands and noticed that they were shaking. If his mother saw him scared she would be even more scared herself. He decided to put on a brave front before meeting his mother. When he finally reached the office his mother rushed to him and gave him a hug. “Thank the Heavens you’re all right,” Ayeka said in a relieved voice. “I’m fine,” Tenchi said trying to reassure his mother. “You’re sure you’re all right,” questioned Ayeka. Tenchi silently nodded. “Well your aunt is certainly going hear about this.” Tenchi knew that his aunt was responsible for security in the Palace and that his mother was angry at her for letting an assassin get past security. “Don’t go so hard on Aunt Sasami, she does work very hard to keep us safe, we’ve gotten hundreds of death threats this year alone, there have so many plots uncovered by her to kill us all, she’s only made one mistake, but nothing bad happened, I was able to handle it,” Tenchi explained. Ayeka sighed, she knew her son was right. “You’ve... matured recently; it’s very comforting to know that you’re more mature than I was at your age.” Tenchi felt embarrassed. “It’s true,” she continued “I would have been very angry if that had happened to me.” There was a knock at the door. “Come in Sasami,” Ayeka commanded. Sasami entered the room. Her expression was a guilty one and her head hung low. “Tenchi, Ayeka, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “It’s all right, everything is fine now,” Ayeka said trying to reassure her sister. “No, It’s not, I’ve failed,” Sasami explained. “I’m going to resign as the head of security and give the job back to Funaho.” “No you’re not,” said Ayeka forcefully “you’re going to continue on in your posistion and do an excellent job as you’ve always done and that’s an Imperial order.” Even Sasami had to obey an Imperial order from her sister. “But...” Sasami had started to reply but was cut off by her sister. “But nothing,” Ayeka said “I can not think of anyone more dedicated to protecting this family than you.” Sasami sighed, she knew she couldn’t win this argument. “All right,” said Sasami “but I’ll need to question Tenchi on what exactly happened and I’ll need to examine the corpse.” Ayeka nodded in silent agreement. “All right Tenchi let’s go,” said Sasami and Tenchi got up to follow his Aunt. “Oh Tenchi,” said Ayeka before he was out the door. Tenchi turned to face his mother. “Do not worry about your room it will be cleaned by bedtime,” Ayeka reassured him. He would probably have tried to clean his room by himself if she hadn’t said that. He nodded to his mother and followed his aunt out of the room. Sasami lead Tenchi down corridors toward a small, windowless lounge with large comfortable chairs. She motioned for Tenchi to sit in one of the chairs and motioned the guards that had followed them to stand near the entrances. Then she sat in the chair in directly across him. She sighed heavily. “You seem shaken up,” she said with concern. “I am,” said Tenchi “a little.” “You put on the brave act for mother didn’t you?” Sasami questioned. “Yes, I did not want her to worry,” replied Tenchi. “You’re a sweet boy Tenchi,” said Sasami with a smile “you’re going to make some lucky girl very happy some day.” Tenchi wondered why she had said something like that. “All right,” she said in reassuring voice “Tell me everything that happened and don’t leave out any detail no matter how small.” As best he could, Tenchi explained in detail what exactly had happened earlier that day. Sasami entered what he told into her organic computer unit so she could write a report for his mother later. “And that’s when the guard came in?” asked Sasami. “Yes,” replied Tenchi. “Which guard came in?” questioned Sasami. “Salki,” Tenchi answered. “Thank you, I’m going to need to talk with him later.” Sasami said. “That’s it, you’re free to go.” “Really, we’re done?” asked Tenchi. “Yes,” replied Sasami. “Now let’s go have lunch,” she smiled. Tenchi hadn’t noticed it before but he sort of hungry. Lunch sounded like a good idea. A nice, quiet meal might help calm Tenchi’s frazzled nerves. It just Tenchi and Sasami for lunch for it was much later than their normal lunchtime. Everyone else had already eaten but the cook was more than happy to prepare a quick meal for them. Tenchi and Sasami ate their meal in silence. Tenchi needed a little peace and quiet after today’s excitement. After Lunch Tenchi said goodbye to his aunt and went off to see his tutors. He had already missed much of today’s lessons and soon it would be time for his swordsmanship training. He knew his tutors would try to cram more in their sessions to catch up on what he missed today. Tenchi’s sessions with each tutor were shortened. However each tutor tried to cram as much they possibly could into their session. Tenchi didn’t mind he, was very good at his schoolwork. He had the equivalent education any college graduate; he even spoke three foreign languages. Tenchi was not as good with his sword as he was at his studies. Usually his uncle Akito taught him to fight with his sword but since he was away on Earth a volunteer from the Blade Masters of Jurai, an order of knights that specialized in fighting with light swords, would teach him today. The Blade Master would be rough on him, distracting him and striking him with the bokken when his attention was else where. Tenchi usually came away from practice with more than a few bumps and bruises, and today would be no different. After practice Tenchi returned to his room and rubbed the bruises on his body. He felt slightly nervous and fearful. This was the first time he had been alone since the attack. He looked around the room to make sure that know one else was in here with him. He even looked under his bed and checked in the closet. When he was sure he was alone Tenchi changed out of his training clothes, took a bath, and changed into his formal clothes. Tenchi still felt a little nervous. He looked around the room and saw that there were two new sensors in his room. His aunt and/or mother probably had them installed earlier in the day. He was glad that these sensors were not the types that recorded visual images. There would be no way some pervert could watch him changing his clothes or worse the some one could sell images of him to the seedier side of the media. In way the sensors were comforting, his aunt’s people would always be watching over him. He also saw that his room had been cleaned just like his mother had promised. The body was gone and the bloodstains had been cleaned out of carpet. The bed had been replaced with a brand new bed. Tenchi got ready for the dinner and the ball that evening. Tenchi wasn’t really looking forward to the ball. It was just another excuse for nobles to force their daughters on him. His mother had never picked a bride for him she had always told him to marry the one he loved. But that had worked so that some nobles kept a daughter available for Tenchi to fall in love with and marry. Tenchi felt bad for those girls because he didn’t love any of them. Still some of them were very pretty and Tenchi didn’t mind getting a little attention from them. When Tenchi went to the ball he was meet by his grandmothers who made a big fuss over him and made sure he was okay. He reassured them that he was fine as best he could and eventually he convinced them of that. Other than that the ball went on like any other. They were given an exquisite dinner and Tenchi made small talk with various nobles. After dinner various young women approached him and asked him to dance. He danced with some of them but most he passed off to one of his friends, there were simply too many girls to dance with all of them. He knew some of his so-called friends hung around him so that he would pass on a girl to them. Some nobles gave him scowls when he passed off their daughters but the girls never seemed to mind some of them were just to nervous around Tenchi but they seemed comfortable around his friends. After the ball Tenchi was tired and returned to his room to sleep. Tenchi changed into his pajamas and prepared to sleep. Tomorrow would be another big day. ‘It will rain again tomorrow mourning’ Tenchi angrily thought to himself. Before he went to sleep, Tenchi grabbed Tenchiken and placed it in bed him, just in case. * * * Ayeka approached her sister waiting on the balcony for her “so tell me,” said Ayeka “what do we know about my son’s attacker?” “He was human, from Earth most likely,” replied Sasami. “Earth?” asked Ayeka. “Yes trace element analysis of his equipment indicated that it was manufactured on Earth,” explained Sasami. “How did he get past security?” inquired Ayeka. “He wasn’t just wearing an invisibility unit but also had a complicated ECM unit, that allowed him to sneak past the sensors,” Sasami said. “But the new sensors I’ve placed in Tenchi’s room will be able to detect anyone using the same ECM unit. I plan placing them through out the palace.” “How did he evade the telepaths?” asked Ayeka. The palace telepaths would detect the thoughts of anyone who didn’t belong in the palace, normally. “He wasn’t carrying any technology that would allow him to do that. The best explanation is that there is a leak in security somewhere,” said Sasami with a sigh. That scared Ayeka but she knew her sister would find the leak quickly. “What about my son, is he safe?” “Yes, I’ve got my best people watching over him,” Sasami reassured her sister. “I’m surprised you didn’t order him to sleep in your room tonight.” “I would of when he was younger but he is becoming a man and I won’t be able to protect him forever. He needs to learn to protect himself.” Ayeka wanted to protect her son desperately but she knew what she just said was true. Still the thought of losing her son terrified her. * * * Duke Catkas had killed the idiot that sent the assassin to murder Prince Tenchi. Princess Sasami might trace the money trail back to him and he would be executed. No, if he wanted to rule the Empire he would he have to kill the entire royal family all at once and he had the plans to do it. He laughed to himself. “Sleep well little prince for soon you will die.” All right, that’s the end of my first fic. Please tell me what you think. I plan to write more chapters if I receive some positive comments. You can e-mail your comments and questions to me at drobe@siu.edu. Next Chapter: Who is this cyan haired boy with the amber eyes? Is he really as powerful as he says he is? Are his parents really who he says they are? Find out in chapter two of Tenchi Muyo! When I grow up...: The Cyan Haired Boy. Thanks for taking the time to read my fic. Dave^^