Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ What Women Want ❯ No need for pep talks ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four: No need for pep talks!

Steps of the Masaki Family Shrine

Tenchi bolted up the stairs as fast as he possibly could. His nose had stopped bleeding, but that was of little consequence to him now.

He had to get away, as far as was humanly possible.

The young prince ran and ran until he simply could no longer move his legs. His limbs turned to putty, and Tenchi collapsed on the stones.

"Why me?"he thought to himself. "I'm a good person, I pay my taxes, and I do hard, honest work. So why does all the crazy crap have to happen to me?!"

Angry with himself and the world in general, Tenchi stared up at the bright morning sky. He had finally gotten used to everything about the girls, all their pros and all their cons. Everything was routine now, with the upkeep of the house and shrine running like clockwork twenty-four seven.

Each of the girls had made a deep impression on him. In his first year of college, Tenchi was almost nineteen years old. He was no longer as timid as he had once been, and felt he had truly come of age.

However, Ayeka and Ryoko still fought constantly, often coming to blows over him. Washu was becoming more and more reclusive, interested only in her experiments. Mihoshi didn't seem to be able to function without Kiyone, and rarely said anything anymore. Sasami increased her workload, and had become little more than a short order cook.

Tenchi's routine had caused all this, though he had yet to realize it.

Before he could do any more wondering, somebody started screaming.

"YAAAY!" the unmistakable voice of Mihoshi Kuramitsu screamed.

Looking down, Tenchi saw the young Galaxy Police officer running toward him at a frantic pace.

She came to a screeching halt when she saw the Juraian Prince.

"Master Tenchi! I have wonderful news!!" Mihoshi squealed in delight.

Unexpectedly, she dove at him and gave him one of the biggest hugs he'd ever gotten in his life. She squeezed and squeezed until Tenchi was gasping for air. Only when he made a half-hearted attempt to inhale did the excited Mihoshi let go.

"That's…great Mihoshi. What happened that's so wonderful," asked the Juraian prince.

The young lady just stared at him with a very smug grin on her face. Instead of her normal, very casual attire, Mihoshi was wearing her Galaxy Police uniform. It was pristinely ironed, without a single crease or stain to dull the blue fabric.

"Hee hee, Tenchi'll never guess,"she thought. "I was never supposed to get an assignment ever again. This is so perfect…"

"Lemme guess, you…got a some kind of a new mission or something to that effect?" asked Tenchi, already knowing the answer.

Mihoshi was absolutely dumbfounded, yet still quite agitated.

"Wow! It's like you read my mind!" she exclaimed. "You're so talented Master Tenchi!"

For the next few seconds after that statement, Tenchi and Mihoshi awkwardly stared at each other. No expressions were made, no sounds except for the quaint rustling of the wind through the tree, only two living beings together in a beautiful setting. The young prince had always been too busy to notice how very beautiful Mihoshi was. Her dazzling blue eyes and shimmering golden hair were wonderfully enticing, yet he had never complemented her on them. Tenchi had been a fool for not noticing her in the past, as he had often times brushed her aside in favor of Ayeka, Ryoko, or Washu.

Now, as they stood together on the steps of his family shrine, he regretted doing such a thing, and suddenly wished they had been closer as friends.

All Tenchi could do was promise himself that he would remedy that in the future.

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

"As soon as Washu gets my passport back from the Galaxy Police," she replied. "So…probably in a few hours. I just came here to tell you that."

Tenchi wanted to continue on about how he loved her personality, the way she styled her hair, and how she never really in a bad mood. Instead, he merely smiled uncomfortably, only occasionally glimpsing up at her.

"Oh…everything will be so dull while you're gone…" was all he managed to get out.

The look in his eyes revealed the true meaning behind his simple words. Mihoshi felt flush all of a sudden, and her face turned bright red.

"My God, does he feel for me? It can't be true. But what if it is? Damn it, why did I play dumb all this time! I should've made my move when I had the chance…"

Needing to leave to find Washu, she gave Tenchi a quick hug and turned away.

"Good bye, I'll see you soon," said the young lady, turning away.

As she walked slowly down the stairs, Tenchi could hear her innermost thoughts.

They were much deeper than he had ever expected them to be.

The Masaki Family Shrine

After talking with Mihoshi, Tenchi felt rather down. He would be losing a good friend. In his heart knew Mihoshi wasn't a stupid person, just clumsy at times.

Sadly climbing the steps, he reached the Masaki family shrine. Beautiful in its traditional Japanese construction, it exuded a feeling of peace and security. The quaint forest surrounded the shrine, which sat atop a rather steep hill, giving it the need for an entire network of stairways. Nevertheless, the sparrows chirping in the morning sunlight made Tenchi feel ever so serene.

He felt that way at least until he saw his grandfather standing at the shrine's entrance looking rather peeved.

Yosho, Tenchi's grandfather and one-time prince of Jurai, came to Earth a long time ago and renounced his claim to the Jurai throne. However, when Tenchi was born, he saw the boy's potential and began training him in the Juraian ways. He had long since taken care of the Masaki family shrine and despite his age was still a powerful fighter and a wise leader.

The second Tenchi finally trudged up to the entrance, his grandfather immediately handed him a broom.

"You're late again," said Yosho sternly. "Sweep."

"But sensei, I have to tell y…" Tenchi started to say before being silenced.

"Sweep."

"But sensei!"

"You sweep now."

Not willing to disobey his grandfather, and not picking up any of his thought processes, Tenchi sighed heavily and diligently went to work.

For the next hour and a half he swept the inside and the outside of the shrine. With a brush and a bucket of paint, Tenchi finally covered up an unfinished spot that he'd left as bare wood for three years. With a rake, he carefully smoothed out the fine gravel that lined the outer edges of the shrine until it was perfectly flat.

After completing all of this, he went inside to find Yosho. Taking off his shoes, he stepped into the shrine. His grandfather was sitting crosslegged on the floor surrounded by burning incense. Deep in meditation, Tenchi dared not disturb him in any way shape or form. He bowed before his sensei for the next few minutes until Yosho decided he was finished attaining enlightenment.

"Have a seat Tenchi," he said, "and tell me what's on your mind."

The young prince grimaced as he sat down across from his grandfather. What he had to relate was going to be very difficult to explain.

"Are you ready for this sensei?" Tenchi inquired. "It might seem a little outlandish."

Yosho quietly sighed, and extinguish the incense candles around him.

"Oh, please. Living with you and the girls is often the epitome of outlandish," he replied. "So by all means, go ahead."

The younger Juraian took a deep breath and collected his thoughts before speaking.

"I…I…I'm pretty sure I can hear what women are thinking," was all that Tenchi said.

Ever so slowly, Yosho's jaw began to drop wide open. He could quite believe that, and needed to hear it again for confirmation.

"Repeat what you said," Tenchi grandfather demanded.

"I can hear what women think," the confused young man answered.

"You can hear what they think?!"

"I think so…"

"How could this have happened?"

"I think I got hit by lightning. Do you think this has anything to do with any of Washu's weather experiments, sensei?"

"I think you should be quiet for a moment so I can think."

Tenchi promptly shut his mouth while his grandfather pondered the weight of the circumstances. Yosho stood up and paced back and forth a few times, trying to rearrange a vague series of events in his mind. He'd been quite angry that Tenchi had not been around the past few days to tend the shrine. The young prince had been harvesting the fields for quite some time and had neglected many of his household duties.

He had been doing that just so he could have some extra time to himself, away from the girls.

The young Juraian had finally gotten to the point where he could call himself sane again.

Then Washu decided to play goddess again and screwed around with the weather, causing him to be struck by lightning.

Poor Tenchi's life was nothing but pain.

However, Yosho, being the wise man that he was, found the overriding factor that set everything straight. He walked over to his grandson, who was curled up in the fetal position, trying to shut out the simple thoughts of a few female birds in a tree outside. Bending down, Yosho picked Tenchi up and stood him on his feet.

"Tenchi, you need to get a hold of yourself!" he said, shaking his grandson by the shoulders.

"But grandfather…what's the point?" Tenchi replied, his voice unsure. "The day hasn't even ended and I'm losing my mind already!"

Yosho shook the young man harder this time. Tenchi just refused to see the good present in the situation.

"Boy, you really don't understand do you? You are quite possibly the luckiest man ever to live in the history of the universe!"

Quite startled by that, Tenchi's eyes grew extra wide, and he broke free of his grandfather's hold.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked.

"Not at all," Yosho replied. "Men all over the galaxy have been trying to figure out what women could possibly want since the beginning of time! Now you can do it with no trouble at all. Can't you see how incredibly fortunate you are?!"

For a good long minute Tenchi had to think about that. His brain was fried already from the barrage of thoughts the girls had given him earlier. With his quick reflection, he finally realized that this new power of his was not a burden, but a tool. With it, he might very well be able to put behind years and years of domestic disturbances and make peace with the girls.

He also might finally be able to tell the girl he truly loved how he felt inside.

"My God, you're right!" Tenchi exclaimed. "Sensei, you're a genius!"

Giving his grandfather a rather informal hug, Tenchi bolted out the door with a new found sense of enthusiasm. Yosho watched as his grandson ran off, quietly sighing to himself.

Then he remembered something very important.

"Nobuyuki! Oh crap! If he exploits this the girls'll kill him and Tenchi! Why did my son-in-law have to turn out to be such a bloody pervert?!"

With the same speed Tenchi had just demonstrated, Yosho flew out the door and down the stairs. He absolutely had to stop Nobuyuki from talking to Tenchi, otherwise he'd learn of the young prince's new powers and would surely find a way to use them for his own gain.

Yosho was now a man on a mission.

His objective: to prevent the beans from being spilled.


End Chapter Four

Chapter Five coming soon!