Tenchi Muyo! belongs to AIC Pioneer, I'm just having some fun with them, alright. So don't even think about litigation. As a college student I have Zero money, except for the essentials, like my anime collection. ' ' : thinking " " : speaking * * : telepathic communication Chapter 8: Forever Today Tenchi eyed Kyokki uncertainly. She was dressed much the same as his grandfather's mother was when she came to visit. She looked healthy and happy, and had a warm glow about her, and a satisfied little smile on her face. Her hand was entwined with Grandpa's. 'What on Earth is going on here?' he thought. As the others came into view, Kyokki leaned over and whispered into Yosho's ear. "Play along." "What are you going to do?" he whispered back. She winked at him. Everyone was standing around Tenchi looking at Kyokki and Yosho as they approached. Suddenly Kyokki gave a girlish squeal and rushed to Tenchi. "Oh, Tenchi, guess what?" She hugged him tightly, her hair swinging behind her. "Your grandpa has given me his blessing to marry you. Is that not wonderful?" A collective gasp goes through the girls surrounding Tenchi. Ayeka stormed up to her and exclaimed, "You leave Tenchi alone!" Kyokki looked at her in feigned confusion, not releasing her grasp around Tenchi's neck. "Yeah, you can't have him." Ryoko chimed in, her eyes narrowed. Sasami went over to Yosho and asked him. "How could you Grandfather?" Yosho was trying so hard not to laugh that tears were starting in his eyes. "It seemed like a good idea." He strangled. "BUT TENCHI IS OURS." The three girls yelled in unison. Then they looked appraisingly at one another. The light dawned in their eyes as they realized what had just happened. Tenchi looked as though he were about to throw up. "Well, if that is the way it is." she gave Tenchi a kiss on the cheek, then took her arms from around his neck and turned back and walked to Yosho. "I will just take this one instead. Any objections?" They all just looked at her in mute astonishment, then at Yosho, then at her again. "If you do not stop that you are going to get dizzy." She told them. "You do know that, as a prince of Jurai, Tenchi can have as many wives as he wants." They nodded, all except Washu, who was rolling on the ground laughing. Tenchi still looked like a man staring into the headlights of a speeding star cruiser. "Lady Kyokki," Ayeka said in confusion. "Why, well, why...?" "Well, I love him, little Ayeka." She smiled up at Yosho, who was gazing down at her in mute adoration. Then she walked over to the very confused young girl and hugged her tightly. "You have grown so much." She exclaimed. Ayeka just stared at her. "You do not remember me?" she asked curiously. "You look somewhat familiar, Lady Kyokki. Have we met?" "Why yes, little Ayeka, I was there when you were born. Your mommy and I are good friends, and you used to call me Auntie Kyo." She grinned impishly, "Would you mind calling me that from now on, I would like that." Ayeka's eyes rolled up into her head as she fainted, but luckily Tenchi was there to catch her. "So it is hereditary." Kyokki muttered. Yosho laughed, not being able to hold it in any longer. "Can I call you Auntie Kyo too?" Sasami dashed up and wrapped her arms around Kyokki's legs. Kyokki face-faulted, "Of course you can, little one." She recovered, and knelt down to hug the little girl soundly. Sasami's face screwed up and it looked as though she were about to cry. "There, there Sasami, do not cry. I am back with you and we are all safe now." She stood up and took her hand, then reached out and took Yosho's with the other. "Let us go down to the house, and you can catch me up with all that has happened while I was gone." They turned to make the long walk, but Washu was there, and she laid a restraining hand on Kyokki's arm. "Can I talk with you a minute?" She asked, her emerald eyes glowing. "Of course." Kyokki reached up and kissed Yosho's cheek. "You all go on ahead, we will catch up in a bit." They stood there for a moment, watching them walk away, laughing and smiling. Noboyuki was thumping Yosho forcefully on the back as they walked. "Way to go, dad!" he congratulated him. Yosho smiled with forbearance. Kyokki laughed, then turned to look at the somber twelve year old who stood looking pensively at the ground. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about Washu?" Washu looked up at her with a sheen of tears covering her eyes. "How is Tentousama?" "He is well, Washu." She was a bit confused, "but how do you know him?" "Let's sit." Washu replied, making herself comfortable on the mossy stone steps. Kyokki sat next to her, examining her closely. "About ten thousand years ago I was director of the Royal Science Academy." Kyokki nodded. "I see you knew about that. Well, then I guess you already know about my husband and my son. After they were taken from me, I threw myself into my work. Some time later, when I was almost burned out, a man came to see me. He wanted to know if I could arrange for him to sit in on some of my classes. He was ever curious." She smiled slightly. "I agreed. He stayed for quite a while and we became friends," friends, then lovers. "Then he came to me one day and said it was time for him to go. I guess I didn't realize how much he meant to me until then. I begged him to stay. But he told me he couldn't. I asked him why. Then he told me who he really was, Tentousama, god of the Sol system. He said he had been neglecting his duties, and he needed to return home." She paused, overcome. Kyokki laid a soft hand on her back and Washu smiled, a bit tearfully, back up at her. " I accused him of being just like my husband. All he did was gaze at me with a sad look in his eyes. He told me I could come with him, but I refused. The last thing he did before he left was to warn me about Kagato. I was too angry to listen. Then he was gone." She looked up at the sky. "I wanted him back, for oh, so many years, but he never came. Then Kagato imprisoned me, and took my Ryoko." She sat with her head hung and her hands clasped between her knees. Kyokki looked at the scientist, her eyes warm with compassion. "He will be coming here." Washu's head snapped up. "Very soon." "I won't know what to say to him." She mourned. "Say what it is your heart," Kyokki advised. "He will listen and he will know. I never knew what he did during those years away, but now I do." She hugged Washu, "But I know that when he came back I had never seen him so heartbroken." Washu stood, looking at Kyokki with grateful eyes. "Let's go down...Auntie Kyo." "Of course... Little Washu." And laughing, they linked arms and headed down the stairs to where everyone waited. Yosho left the group for a moment as they passed by the temple. He walked into the office and rummaged around for a while until he came upon that which he was looking for in the bottom of a trunk. He clasped it firmly as he headed out again. As he passed by his room he head a scratching noise coming from Kyokki's and he opened the door. A flash of glossy black fur flew by him and out of the house. He chased after it, he was not going to miss this, and he smiled. Kyokki and Washu were walking lightly down the final few steps when Kyokki heard a familiar voice behind her. Mistress!!!! * She turned just in time to be bowled over by a bundle of black fur and muscle. Washu shrieked. They tumbled down the last few steps in a mass of body parts. Then Kyokki jumped up, none the worse for wear. "Kokuten!!!" she called gaily. He leaped up and placed his paws on her shoulders, covering her face with canine kisses. She laughed as she grabbed his ruff. "That is enough, you silly mongrel." He dropped to all fours as Kyokki mournfully observed the state of her dress. "Ah, well." She smoothed her hands down over the fabric and the grass stains and mud disappeared. Then she noticed the prone form of Washu, still with a dazed look upon her face. "Washu, are you all right?" "Call me little Washu, if you please, " she said a little unsteadily. Kyokki laughed and helped her up. Kokuten sat to one side as Washu examined him. "And who is this?" She asked Kyokki curiously. "This is Kokuten, my ship." She explained, smiling at the approaching Yosho, who had just managed to get there in time to watch the wolf's greeting of his mistress. Washu walked around the wolf a few times. "Hmmm...an interesting specimen, she mused. "Would you like to be a guinea pig?" she asked him in her most persuasive voice. The wolf's ears twitched warily. * What is a guinea pig? * Kyokki laughed. "Let us keep walking, Kokuten, and you can tell me what you have been up to while I have been gone." She took Yosho's arm and wrapped it around her waist as they continued across the clearing. Washu walked beside the suffering wolf, occasionally prodding him with curious fingers, as he filled his mistress in on what he had been doing. *...So I came down and met the pack, except this one. * He glanced warningly at the still prodding girl. * And if she does not stop that she is going to soon be missing a paw. * Washu gasped and snatched her hand back. "He wouldn't really do that, would he?" She asked Kyokki. Kyokki just smiled as Kokuten bared his teeth in a menacing canine grin. They approached the teeming house where everyone had gathered, waiting to be filled in on Kyokki's adventures. Just as they reached it, the door to the pantry opened and the human form of Ryo-Ohki emerged, blinking in the sunlight. She saw Kyokki and with a joyous "Miya" rushed over and jumped into her arms. "Ryo-Ohki, where have you been?" the woman asked, smiling gaily. "Miya, miya, miya." The girl replied. "Oh, I see." Kyokki laughed. "And you have met Kokuten?" she asked. The girl glanced at the big wolf that sat near the woman's side and blushed. Kyokki smiled knowingly. She set the girl down and started to walk towards the house when Yosho stopped her. She looked at him, confused. "Kyokki, now that we are all here, there is something I would like to ask you." He unhooked his arm from about her waist and walked over in front of her, where he knelt. He reached into the front of his shirt and drew out what he had taken from the trunk in his room. It was a ring that appeared to be made out of wood. It was cunningly carved to seem to be made of tiny twisting branches. No matter how long you looked at it, your eyes could not trace the path of those branches as they wove the ring. The ring glowed with the same silvery luminescence of the bark of the tree, Funaho. Ayeka gasped, and her eyes filled with tears. Tenchi came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder, "What is it Miss Ayeka?" He asked. She turned to face him, her scarlet eyes glued to his dark ones. "It is a Tokoshie ring, Tenchi. It symbolizes eternity. Once given and accepted, the ring binds the pair together forever. It is the most sacred oath of Jurai, only given in cases of true love." She smiled at him warmly as he took her hand, and when Ryoko took the other, she did not even object. All three turned to watch the scene before them, hands clasped as though, like the oath of the ring, they were bound together for all eternity. Sasami stood in front of the three, with Ryoko's hand on one shoulder and Ayeka's on the other, thus completing the circle. Noboyuki and the bawling Mihoshi stood next to them, while Ryo- Ohki and Kokuten, who had assumed his human form, sat at their side, with Washu a respectful distance away from Kokuten's teeth. Yosho was still kneeling, the ring held on the palm of his hand. "When I was young, this ring was given to me by Tsunami herself. I was standing before her when it formed from her branches. I have kept it with me all these years, I did not know why." He reached out and took her hand. "I did not feel I could give it to my wife, though I loved her deeply, because I knew, inevitably, that she would be taken from me." He smiled up at the woman, who had tears of joy streaming down her face. "I believe that it was meant for you, that Tsunami knew, as only she does, that we would be brought together eventually. Now I kneel before you, and pledge you my entire life, will you accept it?" Kyokki, speechless, nodded her head emphatically. Yosho stood and slipped the ring onto her finger, where it fit perfectly. He said, "As the twisting branches of the ring can never be separated, neither can our destinies." Then he bent down and kissed her soundly. Everyone cheered. "This calls for a celebration," Noboyuki exclaimed. "Let's go have some sake, and sing karaoke!!!" Everyone vociferously agreed, except for Yosho and Kyokki who were still embroiled in their kiss. When they parted, finally, the woman said, "I love you so, Yosho," and he returned the sentiment. Kyokki looked around. "Where did everyone go?" Suddenly the slightly slurred voice of Ryoko was heard echoing from the house. "Hey c'mon yoush guys, or yoush gonna miss your engagement party." "Sounds like fun," Kyokki laughed, "Hey Ryoko, do not get too drunk, or I am going to whip you at shots!" She called. "You're on!" She looked at the man beside her, "Ready to go in, Yosho?" "You bet, though I can drink you under the table." He replied, smiling. "I never could resist a challenge." She laughed. Some time later Kyokki sat on one side of the kitchen table, with Ryoko facing her and Yosho on her left. Ryoko was currently passed out with her face in the remains of her last shot. Yosho was swaying slightly. "One more," he said blearily, trying to find a full bottle among the twenty or so empty ones that littered the table. It was proving to be quite a search, since he kept picking up the same empty bottle. Kyokki was in a slightly better condition but had not really expected the capacity of alcohol of the cyan haired woman and her own fianc‚e. He finally picked up a different bottle and was delighted that it still appeared to contain some sake. Kyokki took it from him and poured instead, trying to hit the glasses instead of watering the table. When finished she raised her glass, and he his. They knocked them back, at least Kyokki did, Yosho's somehow ended up being tossed over his shoulder as his mouth slid the other way. He tipped over on his side and began to lightly snore. Kyokki held up her empty cup in silent toast, then looked glassily around the room. Noboyuki was sitting on the couch with Mihoshi sleeping on his shoulder. Mihoshi was drooling on his shirt but the man seemed not to notice. He had dropped out of the drinking contest early on and his eyes had a slightly glazed look as he listened to Ayeka, 'sing'. All right so she didn't have much of a voice, especially when drunk, Kyokki winced at a couple of notes, but you had to give a girl credit for at least trying. When the song was finished Tenchi applauded, he was really the only one in any condition to. Sasami had earlier fallen asleep curled up on his lap and he had taken her up to bed. He also refused any sake, probably because he was worried about what may happen if his defenses came down. And he was right for worrying. Washu had lured Kokuten and Ryo-Ohki into her lab and Kyokki could hear occasional howls and yelps coming from what appeared to be a broom closet under the stairs. She supposed she could go investigate, but she couldn't seem to locate her legs, 'they had to be there somewhere.' She thought fuzzily. She heard a ghostly chuckle. * You never could hold your liquor. * Her father's voice came to her. "Be quiet dad, I am trying to find my legs." She said indignantly. The chuckle became a load roar of laughter. * When is the wedding? * He asked when he recovered. "I have never believed in long engagements." She stated primly. * In the morning? * He asked mischievously. "I do not want to even think about morning." She groaned, "How about the morning after this one?" * I will be here. * The voice disappeared. 'It was nice of him to visit,' she thought. "What a comfortable looking table!" She was asleep the moment her head touched down.