Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Ecchi Days - An Interactive Tenchi Fic ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The commute to school was a relatively long and usually boring one, considering his home in the middle of the mountains. Today, however, the commute gave him time to do some much needed thinking.

The first topic to spring to his mind, like she always did, was Ryoko. She loved him, but at the same time had sex with Sasami. To him it seemed contradictorily, but he kept in mind what he had learned of cultural differences. Where he saw a conflict of interest, they saw nothing unusual. Thinking back, he remembered how Sasami gave him an opportunity to be alone with Ryoko when he found them fishing yesterday. Looking back, he could see that it was only the latest in a number of incidents, all where Sasami had tried to get him and Ryoko together.

But what did that mean? He concluded that Sasami must believe in Ryoko's love for Tenchi too. And since she had sex with Ryoko anyway, it must have been because Sasami too was convinced that their activities did not preclude Ryoko from loving him.

If they both honestly thought that way, he guessed he could accept that. That led only to the question of his own feelings for Ryoko. He had suspected that he was in love with her, but he really didn't know what love was. The revelation with Sasami and Ryoko also shed some light on the issue. He had been disappointed, perhaps jealous when it was a possibility that Ryoko didn't love him unconditionally, but didn't that mean he loved her?

He was pretty sure it did, but accepting that, how should he act upon it. He knew he really enjoyed being around Ryoko when he could forget his nervousness. She was so carefree and happy it was infectious, and he couldn't get enough of her. What would happen if he confessed his love to her? More time together? Kisses? Cuddling? Something more?

Before Tenchi's mind could go the somewhat familiar route of imagining what 'Something More' would entail with an angelic babe like Ryoko, he was interrupted by someone shaking his shoulder.

Turning, he saw one of his classmates who usually got on the bus a few stops after his.

"Good morning Tenchi, what were you dreaming about, and where does she live?"

Noticing the huge grin on his classmate, he realized that he must have been staring dreamily into nothing for awhile. He cleared his mind and replied.

"Oh, nothing, Kaneda. Good morning."

Smiling, Kaneda sat beside him and answered.

"It sure didn't look like nothing. Which reminds me, wait until you see what my cousin brought home from England."

Kaneda extracted something from his bag while looking around to see if anyone was watching them. As he got it clear of the bag, Tenchi noted the foreign lettering 'Uchuu Kaizoku Karenda' on the front, along with a shapely woman in a somewhat revealing outfit. As Kaneda got it out of his bag, he held it between them and Tenchi got his first proper look at the front.

The picture was a very shapely young girl about his age. She was clad in a very tight red one-piece suit, with skin showing through patches of missing fabric all over. A large dark-blue cape with a metallic collar was draped over her shoulders, adding to the intimidating look. Resting on her shoulder was a huge futuristic weapon, and a patch of transparent blue glass covered her right eye like some sci-fi targeting device. And she had a wild mane of cyan hair and piercing yellow cat-like eyes.

Tenchi almost said out loud what he was thinking. Ryoko!

Misinterpreting his friends stunned expression, Kaneda said with a large grin.

"Stunning, isn't she? I wouldn't mind to be kidnapped by *that* space pirate."

Kaneda opened the wall calendar and leafed through some of the pages, almost drooling. Tenchi could make out that they were all pictures of Ryoko, and in some way related to piracy.

Halting at one of the pages, Kaneda allowed Tenchi a closer look. It was a picture of Ryoko standing on the roof of a Juraian bank, with a bag of loot slung over her shoulder. She was looking into space past the camera, with a serene content gaze. Around her and the bank could be seen a large futuristic city by night, with flashing police hover-cars, holographic commercials and spaceships landing in the horizon.

"That, Tenchi, is Art."

Kaneda had a reverend respectful expression while he talked.

"Not only is the model a grade A+ babe, but look at that background. The new Star Wars had less details than that."

Tenchi only nodded, knowing that the background was no photo manipulation. The entire thing was most likely taken by Ryo-ohki some time ago. Tenchi looked at the picture with mixed feelings. He was enraptured by that serene look in her eyes, the one she had when she was happy and relaxed. He also felt a pang of jealousy when Kaneda all but drooled while checking her out, but he reasoned that it was irrational.

When Kaneda returned the calendar to his bag shortly before they had to get off, Tenchi found himself wondering other questions. Kaneda had said that the calendar was bought in England, but how did pictures from Ryoko's piracy around the galaxy end up in a wall-calendar on Earth? And some of those had not just been pictures, they had been poses. Ryoko had to have cooperated in making at least half of them. But did that mean Ryoko knew of the calendar?

Tenchi's musings were interrupted when he and Kaneda had to get off the bus a minute later. He was pretty sure that if not for Kaneda, he would have missed the stop entirely, absorbed in thought as he was. It was going to be a loooong half school day.

---o--o---

As his stop came up, Tenchi collected himself mentally. It was time to face life at the shrine, with new answers, but also with new questions. He had decided that his feelings for Ryoko were genuine love, but when and how to tell her? And what about the rest of the household. And what was that Space Pirate Calendar business all about?

Getting out of the bus, Tenchi looked around. It was another warm summer day, with only a gentle breeze. Slowly he made his way to the stairs, only to notice Ryoko waiting for him. She smiled and greeted him, and he returned the gesture.

They were walking up the stairs side by side, doing idle chat, when Tenchi decided to find out about the Calendar thing.

"I never knew you posed as a model for a calendar, when was this?"

Ryoko looked at him shortly, as if trying to find out how and how much he knew, then turned back with a smirk.

"Oh, about half a year ago."

"I saw it today, it was quite good. But what inspired you to do that?"

Ryoko bit her lip slightly with one of her fangs, a sign of nervousness, before facing Tenchi.

"Promise me not to tell I said this."

At Tenchi's nod, she continued.

"About a year ago, when everybody had lived here a short while, Noboyuki found out that his salary wasn't exactly enough to support us all."

Tenchi nodded. He had wondered from time to time, but he hadn't thought it was really a problem at any time.

"So, since I may not have been the most active person when it came to chores, I offered to pay for us."

"So you modeled for the calendar?"

"No. I was actually just using some of the gold I stashed away while 'exploring' the galaxy."

Ryoko's mischievous smile left Tenchi no doubt that she was talking about hidden loot from her pirate days, but he didn't really mind. It was a part of her which he had come to accept.

"So how does the calendar measure in all this?"

"Well, about half a year ago, Ayeka found out that I had been paying for all of us with 'dirty money', which she didn't like."

Another nod from Tenchi, he could see what the princess might not like about it.

"She wanted 'legal' money, but she couldn't contact Jurai at the time, so her family's fortune was out of the question. Instead she wanted to bet with me that I could not make the money legally on Earth."

Tenchi suddenly understood, and Ryoko's smile widened when she saw that.

"So, what did you two bet?"

"A month of washing dishes. Would have been more fun if I didn't owe her a month of dish washing from betting on Mihoshi and Kiyone's relationship though."

At Ryoko's horribly fake pout, Tenchi started snickering. Soon they were both laughing. Once they stopped, Tenchi thanked her for helping with the family economics.

As they walked Tenchi debated internally, if he should talk to Ryoko now or later about his love for her. Now was a good time, they were alone, enjoying each others company in the nice weather. On the other hand, tonight promised to be comfortably wrong, with no clouds to block the view of the stars. It would be a nice romantic setting. As they approached a little plateau where the stairs to their last turn before the house, Tenchi knew he had to take the decision now.

What would Tenchi choose?.

(*) Tenchi confesses his love for Ryoko now - go to chapter 12
(The option all Ryoko fans have waited for in fanfics ^_^)
(*) Tenchi waits with the confession - go to chapter 13