Tenchi hesitated a moment, and Sasami looked up at her
entreatingly. "Please, Tenchi, could we go?" she asked her sweetly.
Looking down Tenchi gazed at those wide eyes and cute face and
knew that she didn't stand a chance. "All right," she smiled, "we'll
go."
"Yeah!" Sasami cried happily, running towards the shrine to
pack their clothes.
"Wait up, Sasami," Ayeka followed, but not before giving a
lingering glance at Tenchi.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ryouko stepped up beside
Tenchi to ask.
"No," Tenchi smiled at her wryly, "but when has that ever
stopped us?"
Ryouko snickered softly, "Good point."
"C'mon, lets go talk to my Dad," Tenchi sighed. They walked up
to Noboyuki together as Tenchi called out, "Father?"
"Yes, Tenchi?" he turned to smile, but being momentarily
distracted by the rise of Ryouko's cleavage. Noticing the glares he
was getting, he quickly focused on his daughter.
Quite seriously Tenchi said, "Don't even think of trying any
of your peeping tom stuff on this trip, because if I catch you, I'll
beat you to death with a wooden practice sword. Understood?"
"Why Tenchi, I'd never," Noboyuki replied innocently.
Tenchi glared at him, and her voice dropped down to a
dangerous purr as she repeated, "Am I making myself understood?"
Noboyuki sweatdropped, "Right. I'll... go get the van ready."
With that, he all but fled.
Ryouko watched him go with a little smile, "Think that will
really stop him?"
Tenchi chuckled, "Maybe not, but it will slow him down."
"I will find and capture the criminal Kagato!" Mihoshi threw a
salute for her superior. Her blonde hair offset oddly with her dusky
skin, and her wide eyes glowed with enthusiasm.
"Wait, wait," her supervisor tried to say, "you only have to
find him! If something happened to you, the Marshal would have my.."
"It does not matter sir!" she said crisply, "I will prove
myself by capturing the criminal Kagato! I need to close this
communications channel and begin, over and out!"
"Wait, no," the man managed to get out before he was cut off.
Mihoshi narrowed her eyes, "Lets go."
Getting the luggage aboard wasn't too hard, but getting
everyone seated in the van was going to be a problem, Tenchi just knew
it. 'If I put Ryouko or Ayeka in the front seat with Dad, he's going
to try something and there's going to be a homicide,' she thought
glumly.
Tenchi happened to meet Sasami's wide, innocent eyes and was
struck by an inspiration. "Sasami, you get to ride up front with Dad,"
Tenchi smiled. 'There's no way that he'd try anything with her,' she
thought.
Tellingly, Noboyuki looked quite disappointed.
"Where should I sit, Lady Tenchi?" Ayeka asked with a charming
smile.
Tenchi blinked, wondering why she was laying on the charm that
way. She thought wildly, "You get in the back first, I'll be next, and
Ryouko last."
As they climbed in Ryouko took a moment to admire Tenchi's
slim form in front of her. And to admire her mind, as well. 'Tenchi
knew what would happen if Ayeka and I sat side by side,' she smiled,
'she thinks fast on her feet, my Tenchi.'
"How long is this trip, anyway?" Ryouko thought to ask.
"Only a few hours," Noboyuki said cheerfully.
Ryouko smiled a truly evil smile as she gazed over at Ayeka.
Tenchi quickly leaned in to whisper, "Don't even think about
it."
Ryouko pouted, "You're no fun at all, Tenchi."
The car trip wasn't exactly terrible, but it wasn't fun,
either. Tenchi kept herself so busy moderating between a snippy Ayeka
and a sly Ryouko, as well as keeping an eye on her father and Sasami
that the trip just seemed to fly by.
"We're here!" Sasami gave a happy squeal and bounded out to
rush towards the building.
"Slow down, Sasami," Ayeka climbed out with as much dignity as
she could muster and followed her onwards.
"Are these ladies all Tenchi's friends?" the old woman looked
up at Noboyuki suspiciously. She could easy see the dirty old man
hauling a group of strangers up here just to improve his chances of
peeping on someone.
"Yes, I think they are," he smiled, noticing Ryouko lingering
to help Tenchi with the luggage.
"They took off and stuck you with doing this?" Ryouko growled
out angrily. She looked like she was ready to run inside and give
Ayeka what for.
Tenchi had to smile slightly at Ryouko jumping to her defense
even as she said quietly, "I don't think she did it intentionally."
Ryouko looked over at her questioningly so Tenchi explained, "She's a
noblewoman, she's probably used to people doing this stuff for her.
She probably didn't even really think about it."
With a surprising show of strength Tenchi hefted a pile of
luggage, and Ryouko swiftly grabbed the rest. "Lead the way," she
grinned at Tenchi.
"Thanks," Tenchi smiled back.
Almost as soon as the two luggage laden women stepped in Ayeka
realized her mistake. "Lady Tenchi, I.. let me help get some of
those," she stammered.
"It would be more helpful if you show us the room," Tenchi
managed a bit breathlessly.
"Right," Ayeka hurried down the hall to slide open the door to
the room that all the ladies would be staying in. She watched Tenchi
and Ryouko deposit the luggage there before very pointedly only
apologizing to Tenchi, "I'm very sorry."
An odd look passed on Tenchi's face. "Of course," she said
quietly, and it looked like she was struggling to control her temper,
"excuse me, I think I'll head over to the baths early, wash some of
the sweat off." With that, she turned and was gone.
"What.." Ayeka started to say weakly, taking a step to try to
follow her only to be stopped by Ryouko's hand on her arm. "Let go of
me," she pulled her arm away.
"Taking cheap shots at me while Tenchi was already irritated
was not a wise move, princess," Ryouko said firmly.
Ayeka looked up at Ryouko, then off to where Tenchi had gone.
"You could be right," she finally said quietly.
"Let's just cruise around the system for awhile," Mihoshi said
cheerfully.
"What good would that do?" the ship's computer Yukinojo asked
patiently.
"We might stumble across some clues," Mihoshi explained.
Yukinojo sweatdropped slightly, then paused. More intently,
"There's an odd reading, on the third planet of this system."
"Then let's go there," Mihoshi said decisively.
Tenchi used the soap to build up a lather over her body, even
as she tried to sort her wild thoughts out. 'I shouldn't have lost my
temper with Ayeka that way,' she thought tiredly, 'I better go
apologize to her later.' She rose smoothly, her body sleekly female as
she grasped the bucket of water then poured it over her, gasping
softly at the cold.
With a towel wrapped around her she headed out from the bath
and into the hotspring itself. Tenchi took a deep breath and sighed
happily, letting the warmth soothe her body. There was a slight
disturbance in the water so she turned to see who it was, only to
freeze. Then turn quickly away.
"Tenchi," Ryouko's amused voice came from just behind her,
"what's wrong? You've seen me naked before."
"That was back in the cave," Tenchi said weakly, "and you
still looked like a mummy."
A gentle hand tugged on Tenchi's shoulder as Ryouko said
softly, "Turn around and look at me, Tenchi." A bit of amusement
colored her voice as she added, "I'm certain that I don't have
anything you don't."
With a fierce blush Tenchi turned back to meet Ryouko's kind
gaze, a slight smile tugging on her lips. She stood there proudly, her
body uncovered from the swell of her generous breasts to the silvery
triangle of hair down below.
Tenchi looked down shyly. "I just wish I knew why my heart
skips a beat when I look at you," she said very quietly.
Ryouko was about to say something when they heard a cheerful
voice cry out, "Tenchi, Ryouko!" Sasami beamed at them happily,
Ryo-Ohki perched on top of her head as she turned back to the baths to
call, "Sister, Tenchi and Ryouko are already here!" She sweatdropped
slightly, as silence was her only reply.
Ryouko saw Sasami run back to get Ayeka, and they could hear
quiet talking. "I'd better go get her," Ryouko rose up in the air and
disappeared.
Remembering something Tenchi made her way over to the stone
wall that separated the women's area from the men's and very carefully
peered down. Only to meet her father's startled eyes. "Hello Father,
how are you?" Tenchi said with a little smile.
Noboyuki gasped in alarm, lost his grip on the stones, and
fell back into the waters below with a loud splash. She paused a
moment to see if he was alive, then headed back to where Ryouko was
hauling a protesting Ayeka towards the water.
"I wanted to do that," Ryouko called out with a laugh to
Tenchi.
"I wanted him scared, not dead," Tenchi grinned back.
Ayeka pulled herself free of Ryouko's grip on her arm, then
straightened out her towel with as much dignity as possible. "I wanted
to apologize again, for before," Ayeka bowed, clearly including Ryouko
into the apology.
"It's all right," Tenchi smiled, glad to see that Ayeka could
learn from her mistakes. She splashed her hand in the water, "Come on
in, the water's fine."
Sasami bounced forward and straight into the water, Ryo-Ohki
right behind her. With a bit more dignity Ayeka stepped by Ryouko to
get into the water, not noticing Ryouko grasping the edge of her
towel. Another step, and her only covering dropped away.
"Eek!" Ayeka screamed, diving in with a splash to try to cover
herself, even as a blushing Tenchi turned away as quickly as possible.
Ryouko was nearly killing herself laughing, barely managing to stay
upright,
'Breasts are a bit smaller than Ryouko's,' Tenchi found
herself noting.
Ayeka splashed out of the water, scooping her towel up and
wrapping it around her roughly even as she scowled at Ryouko, "I'm not
a show off like you!"
Ryouko smiled back as she asked, "You bathe naked, don't you?"
She gazed pointedly at Ayeka's breasts, "You're not proud of yourself,
are you? I guess I can understand." Ryouko gave Ayeka a dangerous
smile, "If what I said was offensive, show yourself to me."
Ayeka reared back and gave Ryouko a ringing slap.
Ryouko slapped her twice in reply.
The women glared at each other, the hostility seeming to
shimmer in the air between them.
"Uhm," Tenchi started, only to have the two glares directed at
her, "never mind."
"I have had quite enough of you and your insolence, Miss
Ryouko," Ayeka said coldly, power shimmering around her. Small pieces
of wood began to materialize all around Ryouko, who gazed at her with
a slight smile.
"Are you going to do something about it?" Ryouko asked with a
grin. Ayeka's eyes narrowed and the wood flowed like water, but Ryouko
teleported away before it could grab her. She used Ayeka's head to
give her a boost and landed smoothly onto a nearby boulder.
"Why, you," Ayeka growled, looking around wildly.
"Do you want to know why they call me Ryouko?" she asked
softly as the gems on her wrists began to glow, "Because I can call up
spirits from anything on this Earth!" The white spirits flowed up from
the ground, from the water, ever from the air itself.
Ayeka raised her shield, watching as the spirits bounced off
of it harmlessly. "I'm not impressed," she said disdainfully.
"You will be," Ryouko answered, calling the spirits in front
of her to form a monstrous beast. Ayeka took a half step back from the
clawed figure even as Ryouko felt someone looking at her. Leaving the
beast to wait patiently she turned slightly, and met Tenchi's gaze.
Tenchi's expression was calm, the dark haired young woman
looking up at her with absolute faith and trust. Ryouko hesitated, the
gems on her wrists still glowing softly, then she turned back to look
at Ayeka.
"I could order this to attack you, and I doubt you could stop
it," Ryouko mused. She smiled slightly, "But I won't." With a sweeping
gesture she dissipated the beast, returning the beast to it's rest.
She leapt down, and felt warmed by Tenchi's approving gaze.
"Thank you," Tenchi said softly.
"But... why?" Ayeka looked on in disbelief.
Ryouko's lips curled in a smile, "Because Tenchi didn't want
me to." And with a much more wicked look, "And because I don't need to
fight you to beat you."
"EXCUSE ME," the massively loud voice knocked them all off
their feet. They had been so wrapped up in their personal drama that
they hadn't even seen the silvery, wedge shaped spacecraft descend
until it was floating above them.
"Galaxy Police?" Ayeka blinked, recognizing the insignia.
"HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN A CRIMINAL NAMED KAGATO?" the voice
boomed down at them cheerfully.
"Kagato?" Ryouko's eyes grew wide.
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