Mirai Muyo!
***********

A Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki fanfiction.
Tenchi Muyo! in all its incarnations, and all its characters, are owned by
Pioneer and AIC. Please don't sue me.

***

2 - School's In!

***

"Ryoko," Tenchi said as they waited for the bus, "promise me you won't use
your powers, OK? The last thing I need is trouble at this new school."

"Hai," Ryoko responded absently. *I wonder what it'll be like?*

"I mean it! Promise me you won't use your powers!"

"Hai," she repeated, irritated. "I promise I won't use them. Happy?"

He sighed, and then looked embarrassed. "Gomen nasai, Ryoko, but I was kind
of hoping to have a bit of peace at school at least. I don't get much of it
at home." He chuckled. "Besides, if all the other students are afraid of
you, you won't make many friends."

***

"Friends?" Ryoko said, dumbfounded, as she dressed. "What do I need friends
for?"

Washu sighed breathily. "You can't go through life alone. Tenchi has
friends, and classmates, and people who were part of his life long before we
showed up. Did you ever think he may have had a girlfriend?" She noticed the
miserable look on Ryoko's face, and quickly corrected himself. "I doubt he
did though, Tenchi's a little clumsy around girls."

"I still don't get it."

*I keep on forgetting how sheltered she really is,* Washu thought to
herself. "Look, Ryoko, a friend is someone you can count on to help you when
you need it, and who you help when they need it." A moment of revelation
brought her the answer. "Like Sasami, but someone your own...age, as it
were. Girls who you can talk to about clothing, and your hobbies, and..."
she chuckled, "...boys."

"Boys?" Ryoko repeated.

"Hai," Washu said with a conspiratorial grin. "Who else to teach you how to
snare Tenchi than other Earth girls?"

***

"Do...do you think I'll make many friends?" Ryoko asked in a small voice.

Tenchi tensed unconsciously. To him, Ryoko was the most volatile member of
his household in many ways. As much as she put on the air of a big tough
pirate most of the time, he knew there were times that she really opened up
to him. This was one of those times. "Of course you will," he said in his
cheeriest voice. "Why would someone not want to be your friend?"

"Who'd want to be friends with a girl like me?" she asked bitterly. "'No one
would mistake me for a normal girl,' remember?"

*Shimatta,* Tenchi winced. *She heard that.* Not knowing what to say, he
remined silent until they reached the bus stop, when inspiration struck.
"I'm your friend, aren't I?"

Ryoko looked at him with wide eyes, and then smiled brilliantly. "Hai, you
are." The bus pulled up and they got aboard.

***

Ayeka wandered through the glass cages that made up Washu's laboratory,
looking with interest and disgust at the creatures in each habitat.
"Washu-san? Excuse me? Washu-san, are you here?"

She suddenly found herself looking into the barrel of a very large gun.
"Washu-WHAT?"

"Washu-CHAN! Washu-CHAN!" Ayeka yelled frantically. She shrieked as Washu
pulled the trigger...

...and she was drenched with a deluge of water. "Much better," Washu
cackled, and turned back to her terminal. "So what can I do for you,
Ayeka-dono?" she asked, holding out a towel for the girl.

Ayeka sputtered for a moment and took the towel. "I wished to ask you if you
have noticed any...odd behavior from Ryoko this morning?"

Washu made a small smirk. "You mean like not glomping on Tenchi, not
fighting with you, and wanting to go to school?"

"Why, yes," Ayeka said, and blinked in surprise.

"Not a thing, why do you ask?"

"Washu-sa-er...Washu-chan, do you honestly mean to tell me that you believe
that bakemono's behavior this morning was normal?"

Washu turned to Ayeka, her somber expression shocking the girl. "Ayeka-dono,
you need not worry, that is not another Ryoko clone. That girl is my
daughter." She turned back to her terminal, and made a dismissive motion
with her hand. "Now go away, I have work to do."

Ayeka bit her lip in worriedly as she left the lab. *If that is really
Ryoko, then why did she behave that way? Something has happened, and I've
missed it, whatever it is.* She went to the living room, sat on the couch,
and sighed heavily. "I hate this."

"Daijobu, Oneechan?" Sasami asked, walking in from the kitchen.

"Hai," Ayeka replied absently. *What is that woman up to?*

Sasami bounced onto the couch beside her and grabbed the remote, putting on
a soap opera. "Don't you think it's romantic, what Ryoko did?"

Turning to her sister with a start, Ayeka asked "What did you say?"

"It's so sweet," Sasami said with a dreamy look. "She followed him to school
and now gets to spend the whole day with him!" The little girl sighed
breathily. "It's just like one of those shojo manga."

Ayeka shuddered involuntarily at the memories those last two words brought
up. Sasami's shojo manga prank was one of the more embarrassing moments of
her life. AS she thought about it, she realized the truth of her sister's
words. "Why...that SNEAK! So THAT was her plan! Well two can play at that
game!" She stood up and stormed off to her room.

Sasami watched her sister disappear. *Two can play at that game indeed,
Washu.* On her forehead two golden dots disappeared, and a bipart triangle
appeared. Sasami blinked in disorientation.

"Sasami?" Ayeka called from the stairs. "Do you think you could help me make
a school uniform?" She winced at the mercenary look on her little sister's
face.

"Well...I don't know..."

"How about my star saphirre necklace?"

"And the matching earrings?"

Ayeka winced again and sighed. "Extortionist. Deal."

***

"Konton High School," Ryoko read from outside the gate. Besides her, Tenchi
grimaced.

"I hate new schools," he complained, and led her into the yard. They walked
on for a moment, looking around at the students who were scattered around
the yard, until Tenchi suddenly waved and yelled at another student.
"Momonari! Hey, Momonari!"

The shorter boy with the brown hair in a ganger's cut turned, and his face
lit up. "Masaki-sempai! Finally, a familiar face!" His gaze wandered over to
the girl following Tenchi and he began to sweat, turning a little green
about the gills. "O-o-oha-ay-o-o," he stuttered.

Tenchi blinked at his reaction, and then shook his head. "Momonari-kun, this
is ...uh..." he looked panicked for a moment.

"Kaizoku Ryoko," she finished for him, and smiled at the other boy. "Ohayo!"

"If...if you'll excuse me," Momonari said, "I'm not feeling well." He turned
and headed for the building.

"That is the first time I've seen him do that to a clothed girl, you should
feel flattered," Tenchi chuckled, and then looked in surprise at Ryoko.
"Kaizoku?"

She shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Well I WAS a pirate."

Tenchi shook his head in amused dismay and started heading into the
building. "Come on, let's get you registered." That said, they made their
way though the crowds, Tenchi nodding to some other people he knew.

Ryoko followed him, looking down at the ground as she noticed the amount of
attention she was getting. Before she knew it, she found herself surrounded
by some anxious boys.

"Hi! I'm-"

"What's your name?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Ah...uh" Ryoko stammered. She had no idea what to do. Normally she would
have just killed these jerks, but she had promised she wouldn't use her
powers. "Um..."

"What's your sign?"

"What are your measurements?"

"You free Saturday night?"

Tenchi reached the door and made to open it for Ryoko, when he noticed she
wasn't following him. Turning to look for her, he discovered the situation
he was in. He frowned and stormed back to the crowd, roughly shoving the
other boys aside. "Teme...you guys, leave her alone," he yelled. Reaching
her, he grabbed Ryoko's hand and pulled her towards the doors, snarling back
at the boys who objected.

"Arigato, Tenchi," Ryoko said as he pulled her into the school. She suddenly
realized how angry he seemed.

"I forgot how some guys could act," Tenchi raged. "I can't believe they'd do
something like that. You'd think they'd no better than to pick up another
g-" he closed his mouth with a snap as he realized what he was saying. They
reached the office and he was suddenly very conscious of Ryoko's hand in
his, he let go it like it had burned him. "Gomen."

"What were you going to say?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Ah...nothing!" he said frantically, and slid open the door, and almost
dashed inside.

Ryoko followed him, a bit disappointed. *Chikusho! He almost said it!* She
inwardly sighed as more of Washu's words came to her.

***

"You know, Ryoko, you're probably going to have to do some work on him,"
Washu said speculatively.

"There's nothing wrong with Tenchi!" Ryoko insisted.

"He's not perfect!" Washu snapped. "Tenchi needs to learn a few things about
women too!"

"But he's so sweet, and kawaii, and brave..."

Washu nodded. "I wouldn't argue any of that. However," she held up a finger
to forestall Ryoko's interruption, "he also has to change how he views you a
little. He most likely thinks of you as the violent space pirate who hangs
all over him. He takes you for granted in some ways, and the thought of
losing you could make him value you more."

Ryoko suddenly made the connection. "But he could also decide to give up on
me."

"Tenchi doesn't seem the quitting type," Washu mused, "but yes, that is a
risk. Are you sure about this?"

"Do I really have any other choice?" Ryoko asked sadly.

***

"Well, Kaizoku-san," the secretary began, "it is the policy in this district
to have all new students take an entry exam upon coming into the high
school, even if they do have as," she looked disbelievingly at the papers in
front of her, "unusual a transcript as yours." She pointed to a room where
some other students were working and handed Ryoko a booklet. "It is now
8:25, you have three hours. Good luck." The secretary turned to Tenchi.
"Masaki-san, you will be in the Dragon class, that's room 3-C."

"Don't worry, Ryoko," Tenchi said as she walked into the room, "you'll do
fine. I'll see you by the front doors at lunch, ne?"

"Masaki-san," the secretary interrupted, "you have only four minutes left."

"Kuso!" he swore. "Gotta go! Ja!"

Ryoko watched him disappear out the door, and suddenly felt very alone. With
a heavy heart, she walked into the room and found an empty desk. Opening the
booklet, she read the question at the top of the page. *Given the graphs
below, determine the associated function.* She immediately felt a bit of
elation. *This is EASY!*

She had reason to reevaluate that statement two hours later, as she
miserably waited for the vice-principal to tell her which grade she would be
in. The first few sections on math, physics, and chemistry were easy - after
all, Washu and Kagato had implanted a great deal of knowledge on those
subjects into Ryoko's mind. It was the later sections, on biology,
literature, history, and that ridiculous English language however, that had
turned the last hour of the test into torture.

Inside the vice-principal's office, a frantic conversation was going on. The
tester was having a nervous breakdown, having never seen scores like this
before. "She solved every single one of the mathematics, chemisty, and
physics questions, Radashii-san! Even the ones that were well into college
level!"

"Then why the low marks?" Radashii asked.

The tester opened up the booklet and showed him her work. "Look at this one.
It takes most students twenty minutes, and usually requires at least two
extra sheets." He pointed to the lone number on the page. "She just wrote
down the answer! No work, no calculations, she just knew it!"

"So then she was cheating."

"That's what I thought, until I noticed that on some of the questions, her
answers differed from the ones in the book. The answers in the book were
wrong, and HERS were correct! She's a genius!" He shook his head in dismay.
"That's why the other scores are so disappointing. She scores college level
in these three subjects, but she's elementary level in everything else."

The vice-principal hummed in comtemplation. "So what do you suggest?"

"I've talked to her, and the girl is quick. Her records suggest that we make
her a Senior, and I'm inclined to agree. I don't think she'll have much
trouble in the long run."

"All right then," Radashii stabbed the button on his speakerphone for his
secretary. "Please send in Kaizoku-san." A moment later, the cyan-haired
girl entered the room. "Kaizoku-san, we've reviewed your scores, and have
decided to allow you to become a Senior. BUT," he held up his finger to
forestall her celebration. "We will be watching you. Despite your
above-average performance in some areas, you are FAR below-average in the
rest. You will have a lot of catching up to do, young lady." He smiled at
her. "You will join the afternoon classes, see the secretary for your class
assignment. Welcome to Konton High, Kaizoku-san."

In a slight daze, Ryoko bowed and babbled some thanks. She went to the
secretary to get her assignment, barely registering that she would be in the
same class as Tenchi. She walked outside the office, and stood in the hall,
staring blankly at the walls.

Inside the office the two men were looking over the next test scores when a
loud cry interrupted them.

"YAAAAATTAAAAAA!"

***

Ryoko's happiness lasted until the first five minutes of the lunch period,
when she found herself once again surrounded by a crowd of teenage boys. She
was about three seconds from breaking her promise to Tenchi and blowing the
lot of them up when she felt a pair of arms reach around her back and grope
her.

At that time, Ryoko had been held by a grand total of two men in her life.
The first was Tenchi, who held her like he actually cared, and who's touch
was like a warm ray of sunlight on her skin. The second was Yosho, who
groped her in a rather unpleasant way, with a distinctly slimy feel to it.

The pair of hands reminded her far too much of the second. She lifted her
arm up, grabbed the hair of the boy behind her, and flung him into a nearby
tree. "HANDS OFF!!" The brown-haired hentai landed with a sickening crunch.

"Darling no baka!"

Ryoko blinked as she saw an Oni girl fly over to the guy and shock him back
to consciousness. *I guess I'm not the only alien on this planet.*
Shrugging, she growled at the boys around her. "Who's next?" Within moments,
she found herself alone.

"I see you've met Ataru, the resident hentai," a dry female voice said, and
she turned to see a trio of girls standing behind her. "Nice throw." The
tallest of them, a beautiful girl with straight long hair a color like
Ryoko's. Her azure eyes sparked with amusement.

"Hihi!" Another of the girls said. She had wild red hair tied into a long
pigtail, and had an air of innocence and friendliness around her that
reminded Ryoko of Sasami. "I'm Shidou Hikaru, what's your name? You want to
eat lunch with us?"

"Ryoko," she responded, a bit taken aback by the girl's openess and
enthusiasm. "Kaizoku Ryoko."

"Ryuuzaki Umi," the girl who spoke first said. "And our quiet friend is
Hououji Fuu."

The third girl, with shoulder-length brown hair and large thin glasses,
smiled shyly. "As Hikaru-san said, would you care to join us for lunch,
Ryoko-san?"

"Well, I was waiting for someone," she began, but then Washu's words about
friends flashed through her head, and she decided it was worth a try. "But
as long as I can keep an eye out for him, I'd be glad to!"

"Him?" Umi echoed with a knowing smile as they moved to sit under a tree.
"Who's 'him'?"

Ryoko got a slightly dreamy look. "Tenchi."

The three girls looked at her in surprise. "MASAKI Tenchi?"

"Hai," Ryoko responded. "Do you know him?"

"He was in our class at our old school and in our class at this one as
well," Fuu responded. "But he was always such a quiet type, since he spent
so much time at his grandfather's shrine."

Hikaru giggled. "He's always so nervous around the girls in class! Remember
when the our class went to the beach that one time?"

Umi frowned in concentration, and then joined Hikaru in giggling. "Oh yeah,
when Ai 'lost' her bikini top, and Tenchi fainted."

"That sounds like Tenchi," Ryoko agreed.

"What do you see in him?" Umi demanded.

Ryoko thought about that. "He's sweet, and honest, and brave, and kawaii,
and strong, and caring, and..."

"Whoa!" Umi yelled, holding up her hands. "I get it already." She looked at
Ryoko appraisingly. "You really do have it bad for him, don't you?"

Hikaru looked at Ryoko with wide eyes. "You sound like Fuu-chan."

Fuu blushed crimson. "Hikaru-san!" she protested.

"Well she does! Ryoko-chan sounds just like Fuu-chan when she talks about
Ferrio-kun!"

Fuu's argument to the contrary was drowned out by a yell from the doors to
the school. "Ryoko!"

Ryoko stood up and waved to the doors to get Tenchi's attention. "Over
here!" Tenchi began to walk over, and Ryoko ran to meet him halfway.

"So how did you do?" Tenchi asked. She wordlessly handed him her class
assignment form. Taking it, he read it out loud. "Room 3-C...Dragon class!
You're with me? That's great!"

"Do you really think so?"

"This way I can make sure you don't get into any trouble or anything," he
began. It took her a moment to realize Tenchi was thinking out loud. "I was
worried if you were in another class I wouldn't be able to watch out for
you."

"Gee, thanks," Ryoko said sarcastically.

Tenchi realized he had just embedded his foot in his mouth, and made an
embarassed sort of laugh. "Uhh...gomen?"

"That's OK," Ryoko said brightly, and gave him a carefully chaste hug. "It's
nice to know you care." Tenchi turned a bit red.

"Uh...er...well...you see," he stammered, then took a deep breath. "I'll see
you in class, ne? Ja!" He took off running.

Ryoko watched him run off and shook her head in dismay. "Baka," she
whispered, not sure if she meant herself or him.

"That was Tenchi-kun?" Hikaru said disbelievingly as she walked behind
Ryoko. "Since when does he act like that?"

Following her, Fuu giggled a bit. "It seems you've done him some good,
Ryoko-san."

"No doubt," Umi snorted. "You'd think he's almost grown a backbone or
something."

Just then, the first bell rang, and the four girls had to run into the
school. Ryoko caught a snippet of conversation as she ran.

"Luna tells me she feels weird energy from those four girls," some girl with
two long blonde ponytails said to her tall companion.

"Luna's felt weird energy from practically everybody at this school!"

***

"Ah, Kaizoku-san," the teacher said. "As I told the others at the beginning
of the day, I am Kyouju Shin, your homeroom and algebra teacher. Although,"
he chuckled, looking at the papers in front of him, "it seems that you could
teach algebra yourself." He turned to look at the classroom. "Now, to find
you a seat..."

Several of the young men in the class loudy made their suggestions for where
she could sit, and the theacher glared at them. "Kiddies," he drawled,
"control your hormones." Several of the girls in the class giggled. He
pointed to a seat that was in a predominantly female section of the class.
"Please take that seat beside Shidou-san."

Ryoko made her way to the seat, giving Tenchi a short wave as she did so,
then smiling as he blushed. She sat down and looked at the front of the
class, frowning at the decidedly hostile look one of the other girls was
giving her. As the teacher began the lesson, she examined the girl out of
the corner of her eye.

She was attractive, the most attractive girl in the class with the possible
exception of Ryoko herself and Umi. She had long light brown hair, too light
and uniform to be naturally that color, unlike Fuu's hair. She had a figure
that Ryoko placed to be roughly comparable to hers. As she watched, the
other girl turned to sneer at her. Just then Ryoko felt a nudge from behind
her, and felt a piece of paper rub her neck. She grabbed the note and read
it.

        That's Ikamono Ai. She and Tenchi used to date
        in Junior High. She dumped him when we entered
        High School, I guess she still sees him as hers.

                                        Umi.

Ryoko scowled at the words on the page and crumpled it. *So the hussy thinks
she owns Tenchi, does she? Well, we'll just see about that!*

"Kaizoku-san!" she looked up and caught the piece of chalk that was flying
at her, and by reflex whipped it back at the teacher. It hit him high on the
chest and slid down into his shirt pocket. The teacher looked dryly at her
while he fished the chalk out of his shirt, and joined the students in a bit
of laughter. "This isn't physical education, young lady. Now if you would,
please try to solve the question on the board."

"The odds are 2783 to 1, Kyouju-sensei," she said immediately.

He blinked in surprise. "That's correct," he responded after glancing down
at his key. "Would you like to show us how you calculated that?"

Ryoko looked blankly at him, and felt herself begin to sweat. "Umm...I don't
know?" At the teacher's irritated look, she began to blush a little. "The
answer just sort of...comes to me."

"I see," Kyouju sighed. "That's what they meant," he muttered, and turned to
the board. "Well, then, pay attention Kaizoku-san, so you can figure out HOW
we get the answer." He turned back to the board and began to write. Ryoko
focussed her attention on the board and ignored the furious gaze that came
at her from Ai's direction.

***

At Konton High, gym period was the last class of the day for Seniors.

Umi laughed at Ryoko's shocked reaction to the gym uniform. "It's a little
risque, isn't it?"

"And Ayeka has the nerve to call my normal clothing indecent!" She held up
the much-too-small piece of fabric that was the shorts. "I have sashes with
more material than this!" She paused and considered how it would look on
her. "I LIKE IT!" she declared loudly to her new friends' obvious amusement.
"I'll have to get some more. If I wear these around the house, Ayeka won't
have a chance!"

"Ayeka?" Hikaru inquired. "Who's Ayeka?" Ryoko got a distasteful expresion
on her face.

Fuu frowned. "Competition?" she asked, and Ryoko sighed and nodded. "For
Tenchi?" Fuu shook her head in disbelief. "What happened to that boy over
the summer?"

"It gets worse," Ryoko admitted, and held up her hand to stall their
questions. "I'll tell you about it sometime, it's a really long story."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Ryoko-san," Umi said, and tossed Ryoko the
T-shirt that went with the shorts. "Come on, let's give the boys the show
they're waiting for."

As they walked out, they overheard a conversation between two of the other
girls on the other side of an aisle of lockers. "Do you believe that hair?"

"She matches right up with those freaks," the other girl said, and then
giggled.

Ryoko growled in anger, but then Fuu put her hand on Ryoko's shoulder in
restraint. "Don't bother," she said, and jerked her head towards Umi, who's
face was red with fury. Fuu and Hikaru began to pull Ryoko out of the locker
room by her arms. "This won't be pretty."

***

The men of the Senior class were busy doing laps around the race track
behind the school. Tenchi discovered his two old friends flanking him as
they ran.

"So, Tenchi-kun," a tall, gangly young man with short messy hair said, "I
take it you know the kawaiiko...what's her name, Jinchi-kun?"

The shorter, reasonably handsome man pushed his thick glasses up his nose
and panted "Ryoko."

"That's it," the first speaker said. "So what's the story?"

"Che..." Tenchi sighed. No matter how he said this it was going to be taken
the absolutely worst way, he just knew it. "Kuroguma-kun, she's boarding at
my house with her mother, OK?"

"She's boarding at your house?" they chorused.

Kuroguma grinned and pounded Tenchi on the back. "Way to go, Masaki! No
wonder we didn't hear from you all summer."

"It's not like that!" Tenchi yelled.

They caught up with the rest of the students who were gathered around the
coach. "Well, Masaki-san," he turned to glare at Kuroguma, "Ueru-san," then
his gaze went to Jinchi, "and Kanshiki-san, since you three are having such
an easy time with the run you can hold a conversation, perhaps you'd like to
take the first round at the hurdles?" His tone made the question an order
and not a request.

"Hai," the three young men groaned.

"Arigato, guys," Tenchi said sarcastically.

"I'm expecting details, Tenchi-kun," Jinchi grinned.

The coach glared them to silence. "Ready, GO!"

***

As the four girls waited to get their turn at the long jump, Ryoko couldn't
help but watch Tenchi as he leapt over the hurdles. She waved to him, and
then winced as Tenchi went down in a tangle of limbs. "Oops." She
half-seriously glared at the giggling trio. "It's not funny!"

"Yes, it is," Hikaru giggled, then placed her hand on her chest to try to
stop herself. "Say, Ryoko-chan, that throw you did on Ataru was really neat!
Do you know a lot about fighting?"

Ryoko's mind raced as she tried to find a way out of that question. It
wouldn't do to tell her new friends that she was a space pirate, after all.
"I know some, why?"

"Hikaru's trying to form a club of girls who can compete in the fighting
arts," Umi explained.  "Girls can't compete for the school unless we're part
of a club, but most of them are run by that chauvanistic coach."

"We'll call it the Female Fighting Force!" Hikaru declared. "F-cubed for
short."

The acronym brought a different name to mind. "Ano...Hikaru-san, are you
sure you want to call it that? I know of another name that becomes F-cubed,"
she said. *And if the boys in this high school are anything like Noboyuki,
they'll think of it,* she silently added. She leaned over to Hikaru's ear
and whispered the words.

Hikaru blushed. "That's ecchii! Where did you see that?"

"On some ecchii anime in a store," Ryoko lied. *In Noboyuki's collection."

"What is it?" Umi demanded, and then blushed beet red as Ryoko whispered it
to her.

Fuu gasped as Hikaru did the same. "Perhaps another name? How about the
Girl's Combat Club?"

"GCC?" Hikaru mused, and then nodded happily. "Better than," she blushed
again, "F-cubed."

"Ne, Ryoko-san," Umi asked, "are you busy after school? We were going to go
to the mall."

Ryoko considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Hai!"

***

From the school, a tall, handsome man with long reddish-brown hair watched
the young womens' class. He hummed appreciatively, and narrowed his eyes.
"Tansei Tsurai's next conquest has been found," he murmered to himself.
"Kaizoku Ryoko, you will be mine."