Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Autumn of Life ❯ Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Butterflies tickled the pit of his stomach. This was bad, real, real bad. He then noticed the cool, green grass that brushed the side of his right ear and he glanced toward the woman lying beside him. Wind softly flew over their bodies bringing with it a soothing relief from the summer heat. Summer. It seemed as though they would never survive the winter with all the bickering and fighting in the house. Survive they did, but if the Princess caught them enjoying one moment alone, they surely would catch nine levels of hell from her.

It wasn't that he intended to be anywhere alone with any one of the girls. Working the fields and daydreaming summed up the activities planned for that particular day. Overcome with laziness or plain adolescence prevented him from completing the chores his grandpa decreed would make him a warrior. He just ended up goofing off on the side of the hill that day. It was beautifully sunny and warm, not too hot, but a pleasantly comfortable. Lunch had been eaten and the remnants of this carefully prepared fare lay strewn about the grass. He smiled and tried to pick animals out of the clouds as he gazed up toward the perfect blue sky. Perfect. Yes, that was all that day could ever and forever be to him-perfect.

Naturally lost in his daydreams, Tenchi never noticed her stealthy advance until she was standing above him. She cast her shadow upon his body, causing him to open his eyes in dread. She was about to maul him-again. However, to his surprise, Ryoko simply sat down to his right, leaned back and tried to figure out what in the sky was taking his attention away from his chores.

"Uh, Ryoko?" He stammered. "Maybe…..uh……I should get….back to work…."

"You don't have to leave on my account, Teeeeennnccchhhiii…." Not an ounce of seduction lost from her voice.

He turned to her. Like he, she was clad in denim shorts, but she, true to her nature, also wore a pretty tight and revealing short t-shirt.

"Red." He thought. "She wears a lot of red."

Ryoko rest her right arm under her mane of blue hair and squinted as she regarded this cloud and that. He watched her as her bare feet made tiny circles in the grass-she was obviously enjoying the cool feel of the grass on her toes.

"She could be such a smart-ass sometimes…" He thought. "But now…..there's something totally `soft' about her…."

"Don't mind me, I promise I won't try to molest you now." She uttered without a shred of mischievousness. " …..unless you want me to, that is."

"It's just that….that…" He always stammered around her. "It's such a quiet day, and you know how Ayeka is….well……"

"Jealous of our love? Insane? Bitchimous maximus?"

"No! But, Ryoko, listen, I just can't put up with another fight between you two, not today……please?"

"So you want me to leave?" She started to get angry. "Can't I enjoy your company?"

"Ryoko, it's not like that and you know it." He whispered. "I would be grateful to enjoy your company here alone……and Ayeka's company alone too….but you two….you two can't handle it! It's insane how you always suppose just because I'm alone with one something is going to happen….you know?"

"Well, I don't care if you are alone with her. There. I know my place in this family." She sneered and turned her face toward him.

"Well, maybe you could persuade her to follow your example….I just need some peace."

"Tenchi?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Did you realize that we have spent five minutes alone together and there have been no fights or disturbances of your peace……well, except me and you bickering. Seems like that was just a big waste of our time. Why don't you let me do the worrying about Ayeka being mad and just stay here and I'll be quiet WITH you for a change."

"Well, I'd like that….I really would." He smiled but he was still nervous that allowing them to just share each other's company would stir up a big fight. Suddenly, he just decided to take his chances.

How long did they stay there? Who knows? They contemplated the sounds of nature, the birds in the woods, the chirping insects and even a lawnmower humming far off in the distance. The earth cradled them in complete contentment and the sky looming high above them seemed endless.

Tenchi felt a tickle-a bug or dust settling on his nose- so he raised his right hand to swipe it away. When he sat his hand back down on the grass he inadvertently grazed the soft skin of her left hand. She blushed. He slowly inched his hand away, hoping she would not notice, but knowing she would. That was when she did it. He knew calling a truce on her lust for him would be against her character, so, when she interlaced the fingers of her left hand with his right it came as a sort of shock. It was as if he was plunged head first into the frigid water of the north Atlantic…in December! To his surprise, he was not angry at that intrusion, it seemed natural-friendly even. She squeezed his fingers and did not turn to him, but she maintained her gaze upon the sky. He let her hold his hand, there on the cool grass on that beautiful June day. They were simply two friends, lying on hill, making pictures out of clouds as the time passed by.

Ayeka did find them. A fight did ring through the hills and carry on to that evening. Ryoko even poked her head through Ayeka's door to throw a verbal assault upon the Princess that night. But…that was normal, a normal day at the Masaki home.

****

"Lord Tenchi?"

"Yes, Ayeka?"

"I was wondering…." She demurely lowered her gaze to the ground.

"Yes?" Tenchi answered as he cheerfully swept cherry blossoms from the stars that led up the mountain to the Masaki Shrine.

"You see, there is a, an item that I need to purchase in town…."

"You want me to ask dad to take you?"

"No, I…I…." She stammered, "Never mind, I'm sorry I bothered you." She turned to make her way to the house.

"Wait!" The boy stopped her. "Ayeka, you can tell me…."

"It's just, well, I don't have any Earth money. How pathetic am I. You give me shelter and I still ask for more….."

"Nonsense! You never put us out! C'mon, what do you want to buy? I've got some allowance saved up."

"It's nothing, just, just I've read every book in your house…twice…"

"You want a new book? Why didn't you say so! We can take the bus to the bookstore, or do you want me to ask Dad for a ride?"

"You, you want to go with me?"

"Sure!" He smiled. "I'd like to get something to read too. I didn't know you read so much….and I'm ashamed our collection at the house is mostly my dad's, let's just say `colorful' manga collection." He chuckled.

"Yes, unfortunately."

"You should have said something earlier. C'mon, let's go!"

"But Tenchi? Your chores?"

"I won't tell if you won't."

"Deal. I will pay you back for the book, Lord Tenchi."

"Silly, you already have!" He smiled and grabbed her wrist and they both ran down the stairs to the house.

The sun dipped precariously low in the horizon as the Masaki family minivan pulled into the driveway later that evening.

"Thanks for the ride, Dad!" Tenchi waved to his father as he and Ayeka exited the van. "We'll be on the deck."

"Well, I think Sasami will have dinner ready soon, I'll send someone out to get you two."

Tenchi and Ayeka strolled side by side toward the deck of the Masaki residence. He ushered her to sit and he joined her on the edge of the wooden platform next to the waters of the lake. He unrolled the top of a bag he was carrying and produced two books.

"Here you go." He handed a volume to the Princess. "I want to read that when you're done."

"Sure." She blushed and took the book.

The two sat in silence reading together by the fading light of the day until they had to squint to see the print. A shimmering dragonfly zoomed past their feet, now dangling in the cool water. The oncoming night stole all the reading light and soon they retired inside to enjoy dinner with the rest of the family.

***

Tenchi realized that he was traveling at an extremely fast speed. The force of the pod's propulsion as well as the bumpy lurches tossing his injured body about ripped him from his happy dreams of family life back on Earth. He hadn't noticed that as soon as he ejected from the ship, it had exploded. He merrily dreamed away as the wave of energy after the implosion carried the pod like a surfboard faster and faster to the farthest reaches of space. He was now so far from where he had come, but he didn't realize that until the planet appeared in the porthole.

"What?" He mumbled weakly still clutching his bleeding side. Tenchi also was cold, so terribly and painfully cold. He hoped that he could see what that planet looked like, and hoped and prayed that it was warm.

The giant orb rotated slowly, heated by two suns. Wispy, horse-tailed clouds adorned its atmosphere. Tenchi could make out a few dark blue patches of water, small oceans or seas resting upon huge brown land masses. The pod, caught now in the large planet's gravitational pull, began its descent through the upper atmosphere. The boy leaned back in the chair and exhaled.

"How beautiful." He thought as he watched the blue atmosphere turn to brown as the pod approached the surface of the planet. "Like home……." He uttered as he lost consciousness once more, just in time for the landing systems to kick in, but not totally preventing a rough landing. The craft made contact with the pale sand ground of the planet and ricochet across a dune and finally coming to rest on its side by an outcropping of rocks. Steam billowed from its exhaust in a great climbing cloud, a cloud that caught the attention of a slight figure standing on a distant dune.