There was near perfect silence in the clearing as the older,
gray haired man and the younger, black haired girl gazed at each other
intensely from their perches on the small wooden poles. The older man
suddenly became a blur of motion and the woman leapt straight up into
the air.
Krak! The wooden practice swords came together loudly even as
they both dropped down. They both landed, perfectly balanced on their
toes. They almost became a blur, sword blows being parried expertly,
the woman handling the older man's attacks quite expertly. Then the
older man simply seemed to disappear.
She moved by instinct, not letting herself think too much as
she brought her own sword up and over her shoulder to lay across her
back. Clack! The force of the attack echoed up her arms, and she could
almost feel the honest surprise of the man behind her. Bonelessly she
dropped, sweeping her leg across the older man's and sending him
crashing to the ground even as she brought her sword to the ready at
his neck.
Katsuhito Masaki looked up at his granddaughter, who seemed
almost like a warrior from a bygone age. 'She looks just like a
samurai,' he thought admiringly and then he said to her with a smile,
"Not bad, Tenchi."
Tenchi offered her hand, pulling him up with a single pull. "I
just got lucky," the dark haired young woman answered simply.
"Incredible," a wide eyed Sasami murmured softly, her twin
light blue ponytails blowing in the gentle breeze.
"The same fighting patterns our family used in training back
on Jurai," Ayeka said in awe, her own darker purple hair swinging
behind her in a more orderly way.
From a branch in a nearby tree Ryouko watched everything that
was going on below her, the expression on her face very thoughtful.
'That wasn't luck,' she thought, watching the two of them beginning to
fight once again, 'she's really good.' A impish little smile appeared
on her face, and the blue haired woman teleported.
"I wonder if they passed the knowledge down in their family,"
Ayeka speculated, not sensing the presence behind her.
"Well hello, Princess," Ryouko drawled, "what are you doing
here?"
"Ryouko?!" Ayeka whirled around to glare at her, "How long
have you been spying?"
"Long enough," Ryouko smirked back.
"What are you implying?" Ayeka demanded.
Ryouko looked out at Tenchi fighting, and her expression
became almost fond as she said, "Tenchi's pretty good, isn't she?"
Ayeka followed her gaze, looking over at the graceful young
woman working so hard at developing her skills. "Yes, she is," Ayeka
admitted quietly.
Ryouko just had to grin at the fascinated look on Ayeka's
face. "So you're interested in her, too," she chuckled softly.
Ayeka went red, "What? I am not!"
Ryouko gave her a airy little wave, "We'll see." She strode
over to where the two were practicing and called out, "You two going
to be done, soon?"
Tenchi smoothly blocked another strike even as she answered,
"Yeah, I think so." She smiled at her Grandfather, "We wouldn't want
to miss one of Sasami's lunches."
"You grow wise, Tenchi," her Grandfather agreed, putting his
sword away. Tenchi kept her guard up, but it seemed that they were
finished for now.
Ryo-Ohki emerged from the woods, and was soon bounding along
beside Sasami as they walked back up to the shrine. It had been an
interesting few days, since Ayeka and her sister had arrived. Shortly
after they arrived there her father Nobuyuki had called, explaining
that the school was in a tizzy over the apparent alien abduction of
Tenchi and Ryouko, as witnessed by a large portion of the student
body. They were going to have to lay low for a little awhile, which
meant all of them were staying at the shrine for the near future.
The big problem in this situation was, Ryouko and Ayeka hated
each other's guts with a passion that was almost holy. So keeping them
both under one roof without one killing the other was going to be...
interesting. Tenchi had already begun devising various techniques to
keep them as far apart as possible.
'Like now," Tenchi thought to herself mournfully. Keeping
herself between Ryouko and Ayeka while they walked home seemed to keep
them only taking verbal pot-shots at each other, rather than any real
ones. Listening to them talk she was suddenly reminded of the Chinese
ideogram for trouble: two women under one roof.
"Tenchi," Ayeka asked softly, "I was wondering if you could
show me some of the older parts of the shrine? There might be other
clues to my brother's location."
"Oh ho! Trying to get alone with my Tenchi again? Wasn't
yesterday enough for you?" Ryouko asked with an impish grin.
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki perked up at the mention of yesterday.
"What do you mean, your Tenchi? And how did you know about
yesterday?" Ayeka asked.
"My link to Ryo-Ohki lets me see anything she does," Ryouko
smiled dangerously, "and I certainly got a good view of both of you."
"What does she mean, Ayeka?" Sasami asked the fiercely
blushing girl curiously.
Tenchi sighed, thinking about what happened to them. Tenchi
and her grandfather were practicing like today when a watching Ayeka
had lost her balance and fallen down a short hill. Her startled cry
had brought Tenchi and her Grandfather running, but she only hurt her
leg. Tenchi had tried to carry her home, but the two of them had been
caught out in a rain storm. The storage shed they took refuge in was
cramped, and Tenchi had started up a fire in an old box to dry them
out.
Tenchi had stripped down out of her soaking clothes to her bra
and panties first, laying out her shirt and pants over a bench to dry.
Ayeka had been a bit more hesitant, but finally stripped off her heavy
robes down to a simple clingy bodysuit. She had moved closer a bit to
the fire when something had jumped at her!
"Eeeek!" Ayeka screamed, twisting about as a brown and furry
bundle clung frantically to the front of her underthings.
Tenchi ran over, her sword igniting in a flare of energy while
the fluff ball had ran away from Ayeka's cry of fear, and then Tenchi
stood in front of her protectively. A little head popped out of a
corner and went "Myah," at them quite plaintively.
"It's just Ryo-Ohki," Tenchi smiled in relief. She felt a
presence, and turned back to see Ayeka right behind her. The other
girl stepped back, a blush to her cheeks as she saw how close they had
been standing.
"Excuse me," Ayeka blurted out.
Tenchi blinked, not quite sure what was happening. "It's all
right," she smiled gently at Ayeka, but the girl just seemed to blush
harder, looking away from the bra and panty clad woman standing in
front of her.
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki said mournfully, plainly wet from the rain.
Quickly grasping the opportunity to change the subject Tenchi
knelt down to say to the little creature, "You really scared her, you
know."
"Myah, myah," Ryo-Ohki sounded just a bit apologetic. The
little cabbit sat by the fire for a few moments, drying itself off,
while Tenchi and Ayeka sat there uncomfortably, waiting for their
clothes to dry out.
"How long have you and Ryouko known each other?" Ayeka finally
asked, the sound of the rain drumming down on the wooden roof in the
background.
"A week or so," Tenchi said, feeling a bit of relief that
Ayeka was finally talking. Her face seemed to light up as she said
with a smile, "It seems longer, somehow."
"Just a week," Ayeka murmured, and shook her head. "I just
don't understand how you can be friends with her, Tenchi," she said
softly.
Tenchi looked over at Ayeka, the fire lighting both their
faces in the otherwise mostly dark little shed. "I guess I just like
her," she finally answered her simply, "I like the woman I
occasionally see under the bad attitude and all the teasing." She
finally just had to shrug, unable to explain it to Ayeka any better
than that.
"Myah," Ryo-Ohki was scratching at a basket sitting at the
side of the shed, before looking over at the two of them entreatigly.
"You want this?" Tenchi asked, moving over to fish out a
carrot.
"Myah, myah," Ryo-Ohki batted at the carrot like a cat when
Tenchi waved it above her, then she dropped the carrot in front of the
cabbit. Ryo- Ohki began to munch on it, chomping away until she raised
her head to happily exclaim, "Myah!"
Ayeka laughed softly, "The silly little thing."
"A starship that becomes a cabbit," Tenchi chuckled, "and it
likes carrots. Two weeks ago, I don't think I could have imagined any
of this happening to me."
The sound of the rain hitting the roof began to ease off,
finally coming to a stop. Ayeka looked at Tenchi, "Do you think it's
over?"
Tenchi got up, not really noticing how Ayeka's gaze lingered
on her underwear clad form, and pushed open the door a bit. The clouds
were moving, the sun finally breaking through the dark clouds. She
turned back to Ayeka, "Looks like the storm is over."
Tenchi was brought back to the present when Ayeka exclaimed,
"I can believe you would actually spy on us!"
"Why, are you shy about your body?" Ryouko asked. With a bit
of a drawl she added, "You certainly weren't shy with Tenchi."
"You shameless, I ought to..." Ayeka growled.
Ryouko turned her back to Ayeka and patted her bottom
invitingly as she cheerfully invited her, "Take your best shot."
"What are you, some kind of masochist?" Ayeka snarled.
Ryouko smirked, "Actually, I'm more of a sadist."
Tenchi sweatdropped.
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