Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome to the Masaki Family ❯ First Meeting ( Chapter 2 )

AN: Sorry for taking so long! I've been doing a lot of things: trying to finish up Kingdom Hearts...which I am miraculously finishing at level 70 and the Final Dungeon left to go, playing a very addicting game of Mah Jongg (which I am currently having the high score of 158...hmm...trying to beat that ^^), finishing up True Victor (which is finished now), typing up more chapters to other fics, etc., etc. And I'm also being lazy in writing ^^;;;;, but hey, inspiration works all the time!

Anyhoo, enough of my rambling, just read on, will ya?

Chapter Two ~ First Meeting

Miyuki shut off the fire on the stove, letting the food cool off for the few minutes before she would place them on the plates she set out. An unusual silence lingered in the kitchen before she let out a heavy sigh.

Man, that's the last time I'm going to wait for oniichan, she thought angrily to herself. She accidentally broke the metal spoon she was holding in half, growling. If it wasn't for him, then okaachan wouldn't be so pissed off at us when we got home.

Miyuki let out another sigh, absentmindedly picking up the broken pieces as her thoughts trailed back to the afternoon. Good thing Mom didn't ask why we were late, although I think she knows...

"'Kaachan's sure moody today, don't you think?" a voice asked behind her.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Without even thinking, Miyuki used all her mental energy to blast her unsuspected attacker into the opposite wall. The sounds of pots and pans, along with the muffled cry of her attacker, echoed throughout the home before Miyuki managed to open her eyes. She blinked once, then twice, as the debris cleared. Her confusion quickly changed into one of surprise.

"A...ahahahahahaha...." she laughed meekly at her brother in front of her, covered from head to toe with random objects. "Oniichan, gomen..."

Ichirou stayed dizzy for a few moments before shaking off the last remnants of unconsciousness. He rubbed his head in pain. opening one eye.

"Sure you were..." he muttered, standing up. "...Now I know not to sneak up behind. Gotta warn Akira about that."

Miyuki blushed red with horror. "Don't you DARE tell him about this! It's your fault that yo uscared me in the first place!"

"You could've turned around when I spoke, baka."

A dangerous glint shined in Miyuki's amber eyes. Ichirou immediately regretted his words. He knew that look.

"Uh...look, Miyuki, I---"

"What did you just CALL me?!?" Miyuki asked, taking slow, dangerous steps towards her twin brother. He instinctively backed away at each step, a look of fright on his face.

"I-I-I-I...."

"Repeat that again my DEAR twin brother," she dared him, a red aura surrounding her body. "What you say will lead your fate."

Ichirou gulped with his back against the wall. He frantically searched in his mind for a legitamate answer to calm his twin down when, luckily,

"Ara? What's going on in here?"

Miyuki paused for an instant before reverting back to her normal self and turned around, greeting cheerfully, "Otouchan, okaeri!"

Their father turned his head at the direction of her voice and smiled. "Oh, tadaima, Miyuki-chan! Why's everything on the floor?"

"TENCHI! YOU'RE FINALLY HOME!!!!" Ryoko's voice shouted with joy before she flew into the kitchen and collided into her husband off balance. They both fell to the floor.

"Uh, Ryoko, honey, it's nice to see you again, too..." Tenchi said, confusion written in his features. "Demo...this is the usual time I get home from work..."

Miyuki stooped down to her parents and whispered into her father's ear, "She's been like this all afternoon, asking when you were coming home..."

As more commotion settled upon his father instead of him, Ichirou finally sunk down to the floor with a sweatdrop on his face.

"Women scare me..." he muttered.

<Dinnertime ~ Masaki household>

"ITADAKIMASU!!!"

Mother and son quickly dove into the food, stuffing their faces as much as they could while the rest of their family sweatdropped and sighed. They ate like normal people.

"Caku! Caku!" Ayano squealed, mimicing her mother and brother while Washu had to constantly pull back her light aqua hair.

"Aya-chan, eat slowly!" Washu instructed.

"Hai, 'baachan!"

Washu sighed as her youngest granddaughter continued to stuff her face. Unlike her elder siblings who had mixtures of both parents in them, three-and-a-half year old Masaki Ayano looked like an exact replica of Ryoko with dark brown eyes.

"Geez, like our budget's going to get any longer..." she commented.

"Miyuki-chan, this is great!" Tenchi complimented.

"Oneechan's cooking's the best!" Ukimi announced.

"Ari-ga-tou," Miyuki replied. "Happy to at least help with the kitchen for once." She patted Ukimi's head next to her. "I feel sorry for you, Uki-chan. You get stuck with the dishes tonight."

Ukimi immediately dropped her chopsticks in horror. Dishwashing at the Masaki household was a tortuous chore for anybody to do alone. "Eh?!? I thought it was tomorrow!"

"That's what you get for hiding from okaachan's wrath," Miyuki sweetly explained.

Ukimi sighed only to realize that the food from her bowl was missing. "Hey! Not fair!"

"You snooze, you lose, Uki-chan," Ichirou managed to say before chomping down on some ribs. He skillfully ducked underneath his little sister's swipe, continuing to eat.

"Ichirou," Tenchi finally said. "I got a phone call from Kumamoto-san today."

Ichirou froze in mid-action, staring at his father who stared back with seriousness. Tenchi frowned at his reaction as all other commotion fell silent.

"What happened?" he asked.

Che, can't hide it, huh? Ichirou thought as he popped in a potsticker into his mouth, still meeting his father's gaze.

Can't say that I told you so, Miyuki replied.

Tenchi arched a curious eyebrow, sensing the twins' telepathy. "Well?"

"I got in a fight today," Ichirou calmly answered, finally breaking away from his father's gaze.

"Nani?!? Again?" Tenchi exclaimed.

"It was those Hayashi idiots trying to hit on Miyuki again," his son explained. "I couldn't just stand there when she was starin' off into space like that."

Miyuki slammed her fists on the table, "Have you ever heard of the term that I was 'trying to ignore them'?!?"

"And let them get that close for comfort to you?" Ichirou growled angrily. "Like hell am I gonna just stand there and see you not do a damn thing just because you wanna keep that 'good girl' repuation of yours!"

Miyuki's mouth hung wide open, too stunned to think of what to say.

"Demo, Ichirou, there are other ways to talk to them without losing your temper and fighting them," Tenchi interupted.

"That's the same bullshit that Kumamoto-sensei said to me," Ichirou replied.

"Bullsh---" Ayano was about to repeat but Washu had shoved in a piece of cake into her mouth before she could complete the word.

"Not until you're ten, Aya-chan," Washu explained. "Obaachan's orders."

"Well, that bullshit can work if you actually calm yourself before letting your emotions give way," Tenchi pointed out. He turned to his wife for backup, but Ryoko had continued to fill her bottomless stomach. A little bit too excessively, he realized. "Ryoko? Are you even listening?"

Ryoko nodded, swallowing her food in one gulp. She still didn't even look up when she asked, "Did you beat the crap out of them?"

"Yup," Ichirou replied.

Ryoko grinned, holding up a piece of steak, "That's my boy."

"Ryoko!"

"He's just acting his role as the big brother, that's all," Ryoko gave her own reasoning while continuing to eat. "Although I do think, Ichirou, that you should control your anger. I was like you before I figured out that if you can channel your anger into something good, you can become stronger. I think that's why Kumamoto-san is giving you a second chance with some more training at the dojo. He sees some potential in you to become something beyond the streetfighter: something great. Your anger is the only flaw that you have until you control it." She saw her son's astonished look on his face and smirked. "What, you think that just because YOU and your siblings can read minds means that I can't read minds either?"

She finally set down her bowl and chopsticks, leaning against Tenchi for support and patted her stomach. "Ah, I'm stuffed."

"Anno...honey?" Tenchi asked after a few moments of silence. She looked up at him. "Don't you think it's a bit cruel that you didn't leave anymore food for us?"

"Huh?" She looked down at the table, finding that every plate except one was starch clean. Ryoko laughed lightly. "Ohohohohoho....I guess I should've left you guys some, huh?"

"You ate more than the norm, 'kaachan," Ukimi whispered in bewilderment.

"And I thought that twenty was enough for everybody," Miyuki added.

"You didn't even touch the fried stuff, 'kaachan," Ichirou added as well.

Ryoko's face slightly turned green as she looked at the fried chicken and vegetables before quickly turning away. "Oh, I just don't like the taste of them, that's all."

"But you love chicken and veggies, okaachan," Miyuki pointed out. "It's your favorite dish. That's why nobody else touched it."

Ryoko stared at the only full dish on the table, resisting the urge to vomit. "I do, Miyuki-chan....it's just....I think I ate too much this afternoon...."

"She ate the entire contents of the first refrigerator," Washu noted, setting Ayano on her lap.

Everyone looked at Ryoko who blinked in confusiion. "Hmm? Nani?"

"Are you sure you're okay, okaachan?" Ukimi asked.

"Daijoubu! Daijoubu!" Ryoko cheerfully replied. "I'm perfectly fine! Quit starin' at me funny!"

The rest of the Masaki household looked at one another as Ryoko laughed hysterically and shook their heads. Washu looked at her daughter, a small smile creeping to her face as a tiny realization dawned on her.

<the next morning>

"Nyaooo--"

"Huh...." Miyuki mumbled as her hand popped out of the covers, groping around for her alarm clock. That's an odd sound for for my alarm clock to make.

When her hand finally reached the clock, she realized that it wasn't her clock going off. It was something else. She rubbed her eyes, trying to believe what the clock read back to her.

"Huh? It's five in the morning?"

"Nyahh...."

A light weight jumped on her stomach, causing Miyuki to turn around. Amber eyes stared back into tiny green ones. Miyuki smiled.

"Oh, ohayou, Ana-neko," she greeted the family cat, affectionately rubbign the back of the black cat's ears. "What are you doing here?"

"Nyaooo," Ana-neko answered sweetly, rubbing its head against Miyuki's cheek.

"Ah, mou, it's too early in the morning, Ananeko-chan," Miyuki groaned, trying to pull the covers cloer to her face. "I need my beauty sleep."

Ana-neko slid off her stomach only to stand right in front of her face. It meowed affectionately at her again.

"I told you, Ana-chan, not now," Miyuki said as she opened her eyes. She finally saw the note that was tucked into the cat's collar. "Ara? What's this?"

She sat up in bed, opening the note.

"'Tell Mom and Dad when they wake up that I went to the dojo today,'" she read. "'Not coming back until dinner. And sorry for making you angry. You cook a lot better than okaachan ^^. Ja ne, Ichirou.'"

She sighed, tossing the note up in the air and curling back into a comfortable sleeping position around Ana-neko who had taken the middle of the bed. "Mou, he didn't have to go through all that just to write me a damn note! Made me lose some sleep..."

<Dojo>

Masaki Ichirou entered the Kumamoto School decked out in the traditional gi and hakama, catching the eye of some of his peers.

"Oi, Ichirou, why're you here so early?" one person asked him as he set his training back down. "Don't you usually come to the afternoon classes?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to be here all day, Akira," he replied, sitting down. "Kumamoto-sensei asked me to teach some fo the beginner classes for the break."

"Oh, got in trouble again?" Akira asked.

"I'm surprised you don't know; practically the entire school is still talking about it as I speak."

"Ha, oh that. Miyuki told me over the phone last night."

"So you WERE at the tournament. No wonder why she was so damn depressed for the past few days. How'd it go?"

"Not bad, I guess. We place third this time."

"Hmm..." Ichirou leaned back against the wall, arms behind his head. This act led to many sighs fro mthe small female population attending, but he as usual ignored them. "Where's sensei? Shouldn't class've started by now?"

"Kumamoto-sensei told us last week that he was going to the airport to pick up his niece," Akira replied, noting some of the glares aimed in their direction by the other guys in the class. "He should be here soon, though."

"Picking up a relative at this hour?" Must be damn important to him, then."

"So you don't know who she is, either? I thought you did since you seem to be the closest to him."

"All I know is that he's got five nieces and one of 'em's his favorite. Yukino's her name," Ichirou curtly replied as he looked back at the guys glaring at them. They quickly looked away out of fear. "Che, why the hell are they lookin' at us funny?"

"Who knows," Akira replied. One of the doors to the dojo slid open, catching his attention. All other noise ceased as Kumamoto and a young woman behind him entered.

Everyone's eyes followed them, including Ichirou, who was wondering what the young woman's face looked like beneath her hood. The two figures stopped in the center of the dojo.

"Minna-san," Kumamoto addressed to his students, "this is my niece, Yukino."

Ichirou blinked in surprise. Yukino? The young woman Yukino took off her hood and revealed her face. Murmurs and random streams of thought ran through the students, but Ichirou paid no attention to them. He was too transfixed at Yukino.

Yukino was around his age, just like how Kumamoto had told him countless of times before when talking about her. She had dark brown hair that spilled across her shoulders, the rest loosely held up by a hair tie. She was petite of frame with a creamy complexion and looked vulnerable to any attack, but Ichirou knew quite well that looking innocent didn't mean thta one was innocent. Ukimi was a perfect example of this. She had the ability to attract all kinds of adults to make them do what she wanted, but if one tried to attack her, they would forever regret starting a fight with her. And combining her unusual knack for chemistry, it was a deadly combination.

The one thing that Ichirou was most fascinated in Yukino was her eyes. They were an uncanny violet and looked as if they had glowed in the mild dark of the early morning. Ichirou blinked again, wondering what was hidden under those eyes.

"Hayato Yukino, desu," she introduced herself.

"She will be staying here for the break and attending some of our classes, so please treat her as you would treat your peers," Kumamoto's words barely registered through Ichirou's ears.

He wondered to himself what his master was thinking. The bargain he had settled for was to teach the beginner classes for a week, and he was also to guide the new "guest" around, to get to know her better. All that Ichirou knew before seeing Yukino for the first time was that he was to be a bodyguard to his master's guest and that guest was a woman. He inwardly frowned to himself. What are you thinking, sensei?

Akira was saying something to him, but he didn't listen. He was still trying to figure out why Yukino was looking back at him and he felt flustered. Why was he, all of a sudden, so interested?

Masaki Ichirou was determined to find out.