Good idea - flip the reason for the protection around. This way, Garrick is protecting his alternate self not from domestic threats, but extra-terrestrial ones.
And believe me, at that time frame? An alternate me would look a bit younger for certain (I was often mistaken for a fourteen year old when I was eighteen) but the resemblance would still be close enough that someone nasty enough to not care about collateral damage would gladly take the margin of error just to make sure he got the right one. I can think of three right off the top of my head that would do something like that.
As for the obscurity... I'll look at either fleshing them out or just nixing them altogether.
In the meantime, though... Guess who's coming back?
My days, lately, had taken on a bit of a routine.
Wake up at five in the morning and get something into my stomach
along with Tenchi and Sasami – just enough to give our metabolisms
the kick-start they needed – and then go up to the shrine for a
short workout with Yosho. Note: unless otherwise stated, all
transits through the forest are done with free-running.
Invigorated,
I stop by and get a bit more breakfast and a hug from Sasami-chan,
then hit the books with Yakagi's holocron. I'll either be working
out some new bit of knowledge or work on a project in the smithy.
At around eleven, stop and check on Heater's latest number crunch
and, if ready, send it off to it's original owner and cue up the next
one. Go downstairs and have lunch with everyone else.
Afterwards, spend a couple of hours tending to my garden. Priority:
spending time with Katherine.
Later, join Yosho and Tenchi at the shrine for lessons. Alternate
between handing Tenchi his ass and he handing me mine. Get both ours
handed to us on silver platters by Yosho.
Go back down to the house and help Sasami (and everyone else) with
dinner. Banter and bond with my family, talk about what's been
happening in general.
Of course, there were variations,
After spending a full month working at the Driving School and
teaching Mihoshi enough that she was finally competent enough to get
her license, I spent two days out of the week helping special cases
that needed remedial education. My success rate was starting to make
me legendary and Yuki's Grandfather was starting to joke that I
should take over teaching English at her school. The salary wasn't
half-bad either – I was starting to stockpile a tidy sum in my
savings account.
On the days Yuki would visit, Yosho insisted that I be a proper
sempai and take the brunt for instructing Yuki the basics of
swordsmanship. There would also be a study session with a special
focus on English – Yuki was getting pretty good at it, but given
her dedication that came as no surprise. The rest of the time I
spent hearing Yuki and Sasami giggling behind my back and dodging
Yuki's tackles (to varying degrees of success – she was getting
better at sneaking up on me, too).
Sasami had one night off a month for female reasons. Those days I'd
take a little time out to pamper her (hot water pouches for cramps,
special tea, and hugs) and we'd have American Dinner Night.
Of course, Ayeka would get somewhat pampered as well. However, she
was also considered an adult by her cultural standards. Sasami
wasn't, hence why she got the royal treatment (heh-heh). Besides, I made sure
that Tenchi saw to that more often than I did. After all, she was
his future wife, not mine.
Mihoshi didn't seem to have any sort of 'feminine issues'. It either
never really bothered her or her alien physiology just handled it
more gracefully.
Ryoko's was a non-issue. She could turn it on and off at will. And
teasing Washu about menopause would only come up once we decided to
have at each other. (Oh yeah. I am a rat bastard once the kid
gloves come off. I once accused her of hysteria in the old-fashioned
sense, citing that it had been so long since she's gotten some –
look at how she'd go after poor Tenchi-kun! Ryoko and Ayeka couldn't
look Washu in the face without laughing for a week after that one.)
However, the biggest change to my routine came when I noticed that
the girls had started watching the Mito Vice-Shogun TV Drama Series.
Tenchi saw me as I began to make my way to the deck with my Bluetooth
speakers as well as my bokuto and shoto.
“Ah, is it that time already?” asked Tenchi apprehensively. The
girls were already gathering in the den.
“Yup,” I replied cheerfully. “Wanna join me or weather the
storm inside?”
“I think I'll join you this time, Gar-kun.” And with that,
Tenchi ran upstairs to his room to get the Tenchi-ken and joined me
out on the deck. I was already queuing up a playlist on my C-pod.
While the girls would watch their drama, I, and more often than not
Tenchi, too, would occupy ourselves outside on the deck. We could be
doing any number of things – calisthenics, painting, composing
haiku, cloud watching...
Today, it was swordplay.
A
while ago I remembered that in Star Wars there was one or two
characters known for being able to adjust the intensity of their
lightsaber so they could make it relatively harmless – a perfect
training aid – and I suggested to Yosho that maybe Tenchi should
try doing the same thing with the Tenchi-ken.
Yosho thought it was a wonderful idea as it would be additional
mental discipline to Tenchi's training and got him started on it
right away.
Tenchi cursed me for this at first... until he finally got it right.
And ever since, he's been using the Tenchi-ken for regular
practice... and trying his damndest to kick my ass as revenge.
“Get over here!” Tenchi growled as I evaded yet another attack,
spinning gracefully on the feet. “You damn monkey!”
“Hey, there's no tail here!” I cried out in mock-hurt as I added
a physical reposte. “I'm an ape, dagnabsit.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Tenchi said as we circled each other for a
moment. “Sure move like one!”
“At least call me a chimp, ya chump!”
I was just glad Yuki wasn't watching us now. She was actually
watching the show with Sasami. On second thought, that actually
kinda worried me even more because I found out recently she was
putting me in certain roles in her imagination.
Suddenly, I heard Ryo-Ohki frantically meowing up at the sky.
TODAY WAS THE DAY!
“Hold on, Tenchi! We got incoming!” I said.
“Heh?” he replied and I pointed up at the sky. “What? Oh no!
Not here!”
“Pondstrider, Tenchi,” I called out.
“What?” he said, giving me a terrified look.
I smiled back at him as I went to gather up my speaker. “It's
gonna be okay this time. Though it might be for the best if we step
inside.”
Tenchi disappeared into the house so quickly that he might have
teleported. I just smiled and shook my head as I followed him in and
shut the door.
“Hey
everybody!” I called out, interrupting a playful spat between Ayeka
and Ryoko. “We got visitors!” And not a moment too soon as the
nose of Mimisaka
smashed through the edge of the deck, sending splinters flying
everywhere.
“Yaaaayyyyy!” cried out Sasami and Yuki together as they both ran
for the deck outside. I chuckled at their enthusiasm and followed
after them.
As
we made it outside, followed by everyone else, the familiar sight of
Hinase came sweeping
down out of the heavens and gracefully poised itself over the water.
Minagi immediately appeared overhead, looking horrified at the sight
of the damage.
“Oh dear,” I faintly heard her say. Suddenly, she locked her
eyes onto me and I heard her suck in a breath of air just as she
zipped in my direction arms held out to tackle me with an absolutely
joyous look on her face.
“HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
When Minagi sent us the letter through Mihoshi a few months ago, she
had nothing special to say to me. At first I didn't really
understand it – I knew that she was more than capable of making a
separate, private holo-letter for me and me alone. But then, I began
to suspect that she honestly didn't know what to say at the time.
And seeing her now proved this.
I was glad that Washu had toughened me up, because that tackle would
have busted every rib in my body.
“ohmygoddessImissedyousomuchmorethanIthoughtIwouldIdon'teverwanttoleaveyouagain!!!”
“minagi... air,” I croaked.
“OMIGOSH!” squeaked Minagi as she suddenly let go of me like I
was a hot potato. She suddenly realized, though, that there was
something different. “Gar-kun? Your eyes! Your hair! What did
you do!?”
“Oh... Ah, bit of a story on that, but the short version is that I
don't want my alternate here in this time-line to be mistaken for
me.”
“Gar-kun?” came Yuki's voice as she approached cautiously. “Who
is this?”
Minagi shot confused looks at Yuki and me, so I cleared my throat and
said,
“Yuki-chan, this is Minagi, the woman I told you about. Mina-chan,
this is Yuki Mihara... she...”
“I want to be his wife someday!” said Yuki excitedly. “Gar-kun
has told me all about you! Oh you do look like Ryoko! Your eyes are
so pretty! Oh we gotta get to know each other! If we're gonna be
sister-wives, then I want to be your best friend ever!”
Minagi shot me an adorably shocked and confused face while Ayeka,
Washu, Ryoko, and Sasami all nearly suffocated from trying not to
laugh.
“Yeah,” I drawled. “It's been an interesting summer.”
While the others extracted little Lady Asahi from her ship, I sat
down with Minagi and told her about all the events that led up to my
meeting with Yuki and those that followed. Minagi was at a loss.
“But... is she really serious about this, Garrick? Does she really
want to marry you?”
I sighed. “I'm holding out hope that she grows out of it, but that
doesn't seem too likely at this point.”
Yuki
turned her nose up and me, harumphing cutely. “I am
here, you know!”
I gave Yuki a look. “Yes, we know, you spoiled little princess.”
Minagi giggled. Yuki harumphed. I sighed.
“Look, I'm gonna see what the others are up to. Why don't you two
get to know each other?”
As I left them together I could already hear Yuki begin pelting
Minagi with about a dozen questions a minute. I just hoped that she
wouldn't have any hard feelings about that.
“So, how's sleeping beauty doing over here?” I asked as I
approached the couch.
“She's just unconscious,” said Washu. “She should be coming
around any minute now.”
I stood over the arm of the couch and looked down on the sleeping
wood carver princess.
“She's beautiful,” I noted. “She was pretty cute in the manga,
but seeing her now...”
Ayeka was about to say something, but then Asahi stirred, her eyes
slowly starting to open.
“gohgei?” she murmured sleepily.
I smiled. “Sorry,” I said gently. “But I'm not your childhood
friend.”
Her eyes opened wide and she bolted upright. “Who're you!?”
“Easy there,” I soothed. “My name is Garrick. You've landed
at the Masaki household on colony world number 0315. We call it
Planet Earth.”
“Zero-three-one-five? Isn't this a protected world!?”
“It is, but don't worry. We have some special residents here.”
I then gestured over to the Princesses.
The teenage girl's face lit up in joy. “Big Sister Sasami! And
Big Sister Ayeka!”
Ayeka and Sasami were a bit confused at first until Asahi told them
who she was. The girl's home world of Ryuten was not only the source
of Jyurai's wood-carved starship hulls, but also a resort planet.
Asahi, being something akin to a princess herself on her homeworld,
wound up spending a great deal of time with our two princesses when
they would visit Ryuten.
Of course, Sasami treated Asahi like a sister.
We then found out that recently, her father had been made the Master
Sculptor by the old one as he lay on his deathbed. Of course, this
meant that somebody else wasn't happy about the fact.
His rival had come to the planet with three strange men. Asahi's
father had disappeared... and that rival, a man named Tatetsuki, had
taken over as the Master Sculptor of Ryuten.
With her father accused of poisoning the old Master Sculptor, Asahi
tried to flee Ryuten in search of help, but Tatetsuki had already
blockaded all routes leading to Jyurai.
And then she had run into Minagi, mistook her for Ryoko, and wound up
coming to Earth.
With the way to Jyurai closed, it was decided that the only way to
handle the situation was in a direct fashion... and what better way
than for everyone to role play a plot from Mito Vice-Shogun?
While
everyone got all excited about making this whole thing into a Mito
Vice-Shogun LARP, I pulled Tenchi aside.
“We got a problem here, Tenchi-kun,” I said as dragged him into
my C-Space... and shut the door behind us.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Tenchi replied in exasperation.
I shot Tenchi a look. “The problem here, my brother, is you.”
Tenchi gave me a look that mingled shock, horror and anger. I
couldn't have got a better reaction if I'd tried.
“WHAT?”
“Tenchi,”
I said, sighing before I went on the rant. “Listen to me,
Brother. You have a horrible habit of fading into the background
whenever you can. Sometimes that can be a good thing – you know,
letting someone else take the spotlight so they can gain recognition
of their own.
“But lately, I've
gotten plenty of my share of recognition. It's time that you stepped
up to the plate and accept the mantle of Prince of Jyurai. Besides,
it's the only way you're going to get those girls to tone it down.
Quit running, quit hiding, face up to them, and don't be afraid to
fire back.
I then smiled.
“It's not like they aren't tough enough to take a hit or two.”
“WHAT!? But
that's not-” Without warning I did a leg sweep and took Tenchi's
legs out from under him.
“FIGURATIVELY you
doofus!”
“Ow! What was
that for!?”
“That was for you
being an idiot. Now man up a little, get out there, and show those
ladies who's in charge. You don't need to completely torpedo their
plans. Just get them to cool it a bit, okay? They'll go along with
it as long as you compromise some.”
“They'll really
do it?”
“Of course they
will, you goof. They love you, remember?”
At that point,
Tenchi blinked and was silent for a brief moment as he processed that
information.
“Oh!” he
finally said.
As Tenchi proceeded
to get the ducks in a row I began to load up Scooby with all my
greatest big boy toys. Big rifles. Big shotties. Big hand cannons.
Shaped charges. Flash bangs. EMPoppers. Noise makers. My
collection of melee weapons. Portable storming field generator.
Enough ammo to wage an insurgency. And the galaxy's biggest
shorting-probe this side of Washu's Lab.
Honestly, I had
considered staying. But I had been paying attention to Minagi when
she tackled me. And when she said that she never wanted to leave me
behind again, I believed her. So, since Minagi had an important role
to fulfill, I would go along as well and help her.
“Whatcha doin'?”
came the voice of the adorable Yuki Mihara. I turned and found her
standing there in the middle of my shop floor, a smile on her face,
but a stiffness in her posture...
I went over to her,
took a knee down, and gave her a small smile.
“I gotta go help
my family, Yuki-chan.”
“I want to come
with you.”
I shook my head.
“You shouldn't. Your life could... will
be in great danger if you come with me.”
“But Sasami-chan is going!”
“Sasami-chan is a princess. There are plenty of people that would
like to hurt her only because it would hurt the Royal Family of
Jyurai. From the moment she was conceived she has always been in
danger, so she has been taught how to take care of herself. It is
something she is very good at because her mother is in charge of the
body guards that protects her father, the Emperor or Jyurai.
“But you, my precious little Yuki-chan... you are a very sweet
little girl from Earth. The worst thing you have ever had to face is
a bully on the playground.”
“But I've been learning so much from you and Master Yosho!” she
cried out petulantly.
I am by no means whatsoever a heartless man. I am the farthest thing
from it. And, Goddess help me, I do love Yuki very much. She is so
vibrant and energetic, throwing herself into everything she does,
giving it one-hundred-ten-percent, and flashing that big, beautiful
smile of hers all the way. And I knew why she smiled like that, too.
It was because she knew she was up and coming. She was on her way
and nothing was going to keep her back.
I didn't want to take that smile away from her... but I had to, in
order to make sure she could still smile again later on.
I went to the wall where I kept my practice weapons, retrieved a pair
of shinai, then came back and handed one to Yuki.
“Show me first form,” I said tersely, slipping into sempai mode.
Yuki nodded her head resolutely and began to go through the motions.
She knew all the basic forms already. She even knew the preferred
counters for the moves that made up those forms. I moved in,
attacking with such a counter, and disarmed Yuki with contemptuous
ease.
“Again!” I snapped. “Second form this time.”
Yuki gave me a stricken look, but she grabbed her shinai quickly and
began second form. Once more, I disarmed her with the basic counter.
“Third form!” I cracked. Tears were already starting to well up
in her eyes, but I stood firm as she did. Another form, another
counter, and the shinai clattered to the shop floor.
“Fourth!” I all but shouted. Yuki faltered, tears streaming from
her eyes, but she still went for her shinai, still stubbornly moving
through the exercise knowing full well what would happen.
As the shinai skittered across the concrete Yuki finally lost her
composure completely and began bawling.
That sound cut
through to my heart more effectively than Yakagi's sword had and in a
heartbeat I had her wrapped up in my arms, clinging, shuddering,
sobbing and crying as only a little girl that had her hopes dashed
could.
“Why are you so
mean?” she cried. “All I want is to be with you, (hic!) but you
keep pushing me away!”
“I'm not trying
to push you away. I just want you to be safe because I love you so
much.”
There. It was out
now. Yuki gasped softly and then pulled away so she could look up at
me with those gorgeous brown eyes of hers...
...And she suddenly
lunged at me and proceed to plant one firmly on my lips.
The little imp,
hitting me when I'm weak like that – I couldn't even muster up the
will to pull away from her. I even put my arms around her and let
her finish.
After that, there
really wasn't anything that could be said as we looked into each
other's eyes.
Finally, I found my
voice and told her gently, “For my sake, please wait here for me.
I promise, no matter how long it takes, I will be back.”
“You really
will?” she asked, sniffling.
“I will. But
just remember that this changes nothing between us. You have to be
content with that kiss until you're old enough.”
“Mou,” she
sighed, crestfallen.
“Hey. You wait
for me, I'll wait for you.”
“Heh!? Really?”
“Of course. I
think I finally fell for you just now... When I saw how hard you
wanted to try. Even though you started crying, I could tell that you
would still pick up that shinai and try again.” And that was the
truth of it. Yuki had the sort of stubborn determination that would
let her come through ten times out of ten no matter what she set her
mind to. I couldn't help but find that more than a little
attractive.
Yuki blushed, and
then squeaked as I scooped her up and started heading out of the
shop. “C'mon, let's get something to drink – I got some barley
tea in my refrigerator.”
And believe me, at that time frame? An alternate me would look a bit younger for certain (I was often mistaken for a fourteen year old when I was eighteen) but the resemblance would still be close enough that someone nasty enough to not care about collateral damage would gladly take the margin of error just to make sure he got the right one. I can think of three right off the top of my head that would do something like that.
As for the obscurity... I'll look at either fleshing them out or just nixing them altogether.
In the meantime, though... Guess who's coming back?
My days, lately, had taken on a bit of a routine.
Wake up at five in the morning and get something into my stomach
along with Tenchi and Sasami – just enough to give our metabolisms
the kick-start they needed – and then go up to the shrine for a
short workout with Yosho. Note: unless otherwise stated, all
transits through the forest are done with free-running.
Invigorated,
I stop by and get a bit more breakfast and a hug from Sasami-chan,
then hit the books with Yakagi's holocron. I'll either be working
out some new bit of knowledge or work on a project in the smithy.
At around eleven, stop and check on Heater's latest number crunch
and, if ready, send it off to it's original owner and cue up the next
one. Go downstairs and have lunch with everyone else.
Afterwards, spend a couple of hours tending to my garden. Priority:
spending time with Katherine.
Later, join Yosho and Tenchi at the shrine for lessons. Alternate
between handing Tenchi his ass and he handing me mine. Get both ours
handed to us on silver platters by Yosho.
Go back down to the house and help Sasami (and everyone else) with
dinner. Banter and bond with my family, talk about what's been
happening in general.
Of course, there were variations,
After spending a full month working at the Driving School and
teaching Mihoshi enough that she was finally competent enough to get
her license, I spent two days out of the week helping special cases
that needed remedial education. My success rate was starting to make
me legendary and Yuki's Grandfather was starting to joke that I
should take over teaching English at her school. The salary wasn't
half-bad either – I was starting to stockpile a tidy sum in my
savings account.
On the days Yuki would visit, Yosho insisted that I be a proper
sempai and take the brunt for instructing Yuki the basics of
swordsmanship. There would also be a study session with a special
focus on English – Yuki was getting pretty good at it, but given
her dedication that came as no surprise. The rest of the time I
spent hearing Yuki and Sasami giggling behind my back and dodging
Yuki's tackles (to varying degrees of success – she was getting
better at sneaking up on me, too).
Sasami had one night off a month for female reasons. Those days I'd
take a little time out to pamper her (hot water pouches for cramps,
special tea, and hugs) and we'd have American Dinner Night.
Of course, Ayeka would get somewhat pampered as well. However, she
was also considered an adult by her cultural standards. Sasami
wasn't, hence why she got the royal treatment (heh-heh). Besides, I made sure
that Tenchi saw to that more often than I did. After all, she was
his future wife, not mine.
Mihoshi didn't seem to have any sort of 'feminine issues'. It either
never really bothered her or her alien physiology just handled it
more gracefully.
Ryoko's was a non-issue. She could turn it on and off at will. And
teasing Washu about menopause would only come up once we decided to
have at each other. (Oh yeah. I am a rat bastard once the kid
gloves come off. I once accused her of hysteria in the old-fashioned
sense, citing that it had been so long since she's gotten some –
look at how she'd go after poor Tenchi-kun! Ryoko and Ayeka couldn't
look Washu in the face without laughing for a week after that one.)
However, the biggest change to my routine came when I noticed that
the girls had started watching the Mito Vice-Shogun TV Drama Series.
Tenchi saw me as I began to make my way to the deck with my Bluetooth
speakers as well as my bokuto and shoto.
“Ah, is it that time already?” asked Tenchi apprehensively. The
girls were already gathering in the den.
“Yup,” I replied cheerfully. “Wanna join me or weather the
storm inside?”
“I think I'll join you this time, Gar-kun.” And with that,
Tenchi ran upstairs to his room to get the Tenchi-ken and joined me
out on the deck. I was already queuing up a playlist on my C-pod.
While the girls would watch their drama, I, and more often than not
Tenchi, too, would occupy ourselves outside on the deck. We could be
doing any number of things – calisthenics, painting, composing
haiku, cloud watching...
Today, it was swordplay.
A
while ago I remembered that in Star Wars there was one or two
characters known for being able to adjust the intensity of their
lightsaber so they could make it relatively harmless – a perfect
training aid – and I suggested to Yosho that maybe Tenchi should
try doing the same thing with the Tenchi-ken.
Yosho thought it was a wonderful idea as it would be additional
mental discipline to Tenchi's training and got him started on it
right away.
Tenchi cursed me for this at first... until he finally got it right.
And ever since, he's been using the Tenchi-ken for regular
practice... and trying his damndest to kick my ass as revenge.
“Get over here!” Tenchi growled as I evaded yet another attack,
spinning gracefully on the feet. “You damn monkey!”
“Hey, there's no tail here!” I cried out in mock-hurt as I added
a physical reposte. “I'm an ape, dagnabsit.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Tenchi said as we circled each other for a
moment. “Sure move like one!”
“At least call me a chimp, ya chump!”
I was just glad Yuki wasn't watching us now. She was actually
watching the show with Sasami. On second thought, that actually
kinda worried me even more because I found out recently she was
putting me in certain roles in her imagination.
Suddenly, I heard Ryo-Ohki frantically meowing up at the sky.
TODAY WAS THE DAY!
“Hold on, Tenchi! We got incoming!” I said.
“Heh?” he replied and I pointed up at the sky. “What? Oh no!
Not here!”
“Pondstrider, Tenchi,” I called out.
“What?” he said, giving me a terrified look.
I smiled back at him as I went to gather up my speaker. “It's
gonna be okay this time. Though it might be for the best if we step
inside.”
Tenchi disappeared into the house so quickly that he might have
teleported. I just smiled and shook my head as I followed him in and
shut the door.
“Hey
everybody!” I called out, interrupting a playful spat between Ayeka
and Ryoko. “We got visitors!” And not a moment too soon as the
nose of Mimisaka
smashed through the edge of the deck, sending splinters flying
everywhere.
“Yaaaayyyyy!” cried out Sasami and Yuki together as they both ran
for the deck outside. I chuckled at their enthusiasm and followed
after them.
As
we made it outside, followed by everyone else, the familiar sight of
Hinase came sweeping
down out of the heavens and gracefully poised itself over the water.
Minagi immediately appeared overhead, looking horrified at the sight
of the damage.
“Oh dear,” I faintly heard her say. Suddenly, she locked her
eyes onto me and I heard her suck in a breath of air just as she
zipped in my direction arms held out to tackle me with an absolutely
joyous look on her face.
“HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
When Minagi sent us the letter through Mihoshi a few months ago, she
had nothing special to say to me. At first I didn't really
understand it – I knew that she was more than capable of making a
separate, private holo-letter for me and me alone. But then, I began
to suspect that she honestly didn't know what to say at the time.
And seeing her now proved this.
I was glad that Washu had toughened me up, because that tackle would
have busted every rib in my body.
“ohmygoddessImissedyousomuchmorethanIthoughtIwouldIdon'teverwanttoleaveyouagain!!!”
“minagi... air,” I croaked.
“OMIGOSH!” squeaked Minagi as she suddenly let go of me like I
was a hot potato. She suddenly realized, though, that there was
something different. “Gar-kun? Your eyes! Your hair! What did
you do!?”
“Oh... Ah, bit of a story on that, but the short version is that I
don't want my alternate here in this time-line to be mistaken for
me.”
“Gar-kun?” came Yuki's voice as she approached cautiously. “Who
is this?”
Minagi shot confused looks at Yuki and me, so I cleared my throat and
said,
“Yuki-chan, this is Minagi, the woman I told you about. Mina-chan,
this is Yuki Mihara... she...”
“I want to be his wife someday!” said Yuki excitedly. “Gar-kun
has told me all about you! Oh you do look like Ryoko! Your eyes are
so pretty! Oh we gotta get to know each other! If we're gonna be
sister-wives, then I want to be your best friend ever!”
Minagi shot me an adorably shocked and confused face while Ayeka,
Washu, Ryoko, and Sasami all nearly suffocated from trying not to
laugh.
“Yeah,” I drawled. “It's been an interesting summer.”
While the others extracted little Lady Asahi from her ship, I sat
down with Minagi and told her about all the events that led up to my
meeting with Yuki and those that followed. Minagi was at a loss.
“But... is she really serious about this, Garrick? Does she really
want to marry you?”
I sighed. “I'm holding out hope that she grows out of it, but that
doesn't seem too likely at this point.”
Yuki
turned her nose up and me, harumphing cutely. “I am
here, you know!”
I gave Yuki a look. “Yes, we know, you spoiled little princess.”
Minagi giggled. Yuki harumphed. I sighed.
“Look, I'm gonna see what the others are up to. Why don't you two
get to know each other?”
As I left them together I could already hear Yuki begin pelting
Minagi with about a dozen questions a minute. I just hoped that she
wouldn't have any hard feelings about that.
“So, how's sleeping beauty doing over here?” I asked as I
approached the couch.
“She's just unconscious,” said Washu. “She should be coming
around any minute now.”
I stood over the arm of the couch and looked down on the sleeping
wood carver princess.
“She's beautiful,” I noted. “She was pretty cute in the manga,
but seeing her now...”
Ayeka was about to say something, but then Asahi stirred, her eyes
slowly starting to open.
“gohgei?” she murmured sleepily.
I smiled. “Sorry,” I said gently. “But I'm not your childhood
friend.”
Her eyes opened wide and she bolted upright. “Who're you!?”
“Easy there,” I soothed. “My name is Garrick. You've landed
at the Masaki household on colony world number 0315. We call it
Planet Earth.”
“Zero-three-one-five? Isn't this a protected world!?”
“It is, but don't worry. We have some special residents here.”
I then gestured over to the Princesses.
The teenage girl's face lit up in joy. “Big Sister Sasami! And
Big Sister Ayeka!”
Ayeka and Sasami were a bit confused at first until Asahi told them
who she was. The girl's home world of Ryuten was not only the source
of Jyurai's wood-carved starship hulls, but also a resort planet.
Asahi, being something akin to a princess herself on her homeworld,
wound up spending a great deal of time with our two princesses when
they would visit Ryuten.
Of course, Sasami treated Asahi like a sister.
We then found out that recently, her father had been made the Master
Sculptor by the old one as he lay on his deathbed. Of course, this
meant that somebody else wasn't happy about the fact.
His rival had come to the planet with three strange men. Asahi's
father had disappeared... and that rival, a man named Tatetsuki, had
taken over as the Master Sculptor of Ryuten.
With her father accused of poisoning the old Master Sculptor, Asahi
tried to flee Ryuten in search of help, but Tatetsuki had already
blockaded all routes leading to Jyurai.
And then she had run into Minagi, mistook her for Ryoko, and wound up
coming to Earth.
With the way to Jyurai closed, it was decided that the only way to
handle the situation was in a direct fashion... and what better way
than for everyone to role play a plot from Mito Vice-Shogun?
While
everyone got all excited about making this whole thing into a Mito
Vice-Shogun LARP, I pulled Tenchi aside.
“We got a problem here, Tenchi-kun,” I said as dragged him into
my C-Space... and shut the door behind us.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Tenchi replied in exasperation.
I shot Tenchi a look. “The problem here, my brother, is you.”
Tenchi gave me a look that mingled shock, horror and anger. I
couldn't have got a better reaction if I'd tried.
“WHAT?”
“Tenchi,”
I said, sighing before I went on the rant. “Listen to me,
Brother. You have a horrible habit of fading into the background
whenever you can. Sometimes that can be a good thing – you know,
letting someone else take the spotlight so they can gain recognition
of their own.
“But lately, I've
gotten plenty of my share of recognition. It's time that you stepped
up to the plate and accept the mantle of Prince of Jyurai. Besides,
it's the only way you're going to get those girls to tone it down.
Quit running, quit hiding, face up to them, and don't be afraid to
fire back.
I then smiled.
“It's not like they aren't tough enough to take a hit or two.”
“WHAT!? But
that's not-” Without warning I did a leg sweep and took Tenchi's
legs out from under him.
“FIGURATIVELY you
doofus!”
“Ow! What was
that for!?”
“That was for you
being an idiot. Now man up a little, get out there, and show those
ladies who's in charge. You don't need to completely torpedo their
plans. Just get them to cool it a bit, okay? They'll go along with
it as long as you compromise some.”
“They'll really
do it?”
“Of course they
will, you goof. They love you, remember?”
At that point,
Tenchi blinked and was silent for a brief moment as he processed that
information.
“Oh!” he
finally said.
As Tenchi proceeded
to get the ducks in a row I began to load up Scooby with all my
greatest big boy toys. Big rifles. Big shotties. Big hand cannons.
Shaped charges. Flash bangs. EMPoppers. Noise makers. My
collection of melee weapons. Portable storming field generator.
Enough ammo to wage an insurgency. And the galaxy's biggest
shorting-probe this side of Washu's Lab.
Honestly, I had
considered staying. But I had been paying attention to Minagi when
she tackled me. And when she said that she never wanted to leave me
behind again, I believed her. So, since Minagi had an important role
to fulfill, I would go along as well and help her.
“Whatcha doin'?”
came the voice of the adorable Yuki Mihara. I turned and found her
standing there in the middle of my shop floor, a smile on her face,
but a stiffness in her posture...
I went over to her,
took a knee down, and gave her a small smile.
“I gotta go help
my family, Yuki-chan.”
“I want to come
with you.”
I shook my head.
“You shouldn't. Your life could... will
be in great danger if you come with me.”
“But Sasami-chan is going!”
“Sasami-chan is a princess. There are plenty of people that would
like to hurt her only because it would hurt the Royal Family of
Jyurai. From the moment she was conceived she has always been in
danger, so she has been taught how to take care of herself. It is
something she is very good at because her mother is in charge of the
body guards that protects her father, the Emperor or Jyurai.
“But you, my precious little Yuki-chan... you are a very sweet
little girl from Earth. The worst thing you have ever had to face is
a bully on the playground.”
“But I've been learning so much from you and Master Yosho!” she
cried out petulantly.
I am by no means whatsoever a heartless man. I am the farthest thing
from it. And, Goddess help me, I do love Yuki very much. She is so
vibrant and energetic, throwing herself into everything she does,
giving it one-hundred-ten-percent, and flashing that big, beautiful
smile of hers all the way. And I knew why she smiled like that, too.
It was because she knew she was up and coming. She was on her way
and nothing was going to keep her back.
I didn't want to take that smile away from her... but I had to, in
order to make sure she could still smile again later on.
I went to the wall where I kept my practice weapons, retrieved a pair
of shinai, then came back and handed one to Yuki.
“Show me first form,” I said tersely, slipping into sempai mode.
Yuki nodded her head resolutely and began to go through the motions.
She knew all the basic forms already. She even knew the preferred
counters for the moves that made up those forms. I moved in,
attacking with such a counter, and disarmed Yuki with contemptuous
ease.
“Again!” I snapped. “Second form this time.”
Yuki gave me a stricken look, but she grabbed her shinai quickly and
began second form. Once more, I disarmed her with the basic counter.
“Third form!” I cracked. Tears were already starting to well up
in her eyes, but I stood firm as she did. Another form, another
counter, and the shinai clattered to the shop floor.
“Fourth!” I all but shouted. Yuki faltered, tears streaming from
her eyes, but she still went for her shinai, still stubbornly moving
through the exercise knowing full well what would happen.
As the shinai skittered across the concrete Yuki finally lost her
composure completely and began bawling.
That sound cut
through to my heart more effectively than Yakagi's sword had and in a
heartbeat I had her wrapped up in my arms, clinging, shuddering,
sobbing and crying as only a little girl that had her hopes dashed
could.
“Why are you so
mean?” she cried. “All I want is to be with you, (hic!) but you
keep pushing me away!”
“I'm not trying
to push you away. I just want you to be safe because I love you so
much.”
There. It was out
now. Yuki gasped softly and then pulled away so she could look up at
me with those gorgeous brown eyes of hers...
...And she suddenly
lunged at me and proceed to plant one firmly on my lips.
The little imp,
hitting me when I'm weak like that – I couldn't even muster up the
will to pull away from her. I even put my arms around her and let
her finish.
After that, there
really wasn't anything that could be said as we looked into each
other's eyes.
Finally, I found my
voice and told her gently, “For my sake, please wait here for me.
I promise, no matter how long it takes, I will be back.”
“You really
will?” she asked, sniffling.
“I will. But
just remember that this changes nothing between us. You have to be
content with that kiss until you're old enough.”
“Mou,” she
sighed, crestfallen.
“Hey. You wait
for me, I'll wait for you.”
“Heh!? Really?”
“Of course. I
think I finally fell for you just now... When I saw how hard you
wanted to try. Even though you started crying, I could tell that you
would still pick up that shinai and try again.” And that was the
truth of it. Yuki had the sort of stubborn determination that would
let her come through ten times out of ten no matter what she set her
mind to. I couldn't help but find that more than a little
attractive.
Yuki blushed, and
then squeaked as I scooped her up and started heading out of the
shop. “C'mon, let's get something to drink – I got some barley
tea in my refrigerator.”