Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Tenchi Muyo: No Need For Boys! ❯ Chapter 5

Tenchi Muyo: No Need for Boys!

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters from this fanfic, which is probably a good thing. Some of the material for this chapter was freely adapted from both Tenchi Muyo OVA #2 and 3, but any fanservice was added in by me. ^_^

Part Five

There was near perfect silence in the clearing as the older, gray haired man and the younger, black haired girl gazed at each other intensely from their perches on the small wooden poles. The older man suddenly became a blur of motion and the woman leapt straight up into the air.

Krak! The wooden practice swords came together loudly even as they both dropped down. They both landed, perfectly balanced on their toes. They almost became a blur, sword blows being parried expertly, the woman handling the older man's attacks quite expertly. Then the older man simply seemed to disappear.

She moved by instinct, not letting herself think too much as she brought her own sword up and over her shoulder to lay across her back. Clack! The force of the attack echoed up her arms, and she could almost feel the honest surprise of the man behind her. Bonelessly she dropped, sweeping her leg across the older man's and sending him crashing to the ground even as she brought her sword to the ready at his neck.

Katsuhito Masaki looked up at his granddaughter, who seemed almost like a warrior from a bygone age. 'She looks just like a samurai,' he thought admiringly and then he said to her with a smile, "Not bad, Tenchi."

Tenchi offered her hand, pulling him up with a single pull. "I just got lucky," the dark haired young woman answered simply.

"Incredible," a wide eyed Sasami murmured softly, her twin light blue ponytails blowing in the gentle breeze.

"The same fighting patterns our family used in training back on Jurai," Ayeka said in awe, her own darker purple hair swinging behind her in a more orderly way.

From a branch in a nearby tree Ryouko watched everything that was going on below her, the expression on her face very thoughtful. 'That wasn't luck,' she thought, watching the two of them beginning to fight once again, 'she's really good.' A impish little smile appeared on her face, and the blue haired woman teleported.

"I wonder if they passed the knowledge down in their family," Ayeka speculated, not sensing the presence behind her.

"Well hello, Princess," Ryouko drawled, "what are you doing here?"

"Ryouko?!" Ayeka whirled around to glare at her, "How long have you been spying?"

"Long enough," Ryouko smirked back.

"What are you implying?" Ayeka demanded.

Ryouko looked out at Tenchi fighting, and her expression became almost fond as she said, "Tenchi's pretty good, isn't she?"

Ayeka followed her gaze, looking over at the graceful young woman working so hard at developing her skills. "Yes, she is," Ayeka admitted quietly.

Ryouko just had to grin at the fascinated look on Ayeka's face. "So you're interested in her, too," she chuckled softly.

Ayeka went red, "What? I am not!"

Ryouko gave her a airy little wave, "We'll see." She strode over to where the two were practicing and called out, "You two going to be done, soon?"

Tenchi smoothly blocked another strike even as she answered, "Yeah, I think so." She smiled at her Grandfather, "We wouldn't want to miss one of Sasami's lunches."

"You grow wise, Tenchi," her Grandfather agreed, putting his sword away. Tenchi kept her guard up, but it seemed that they were finished for now.

Ryo-Ohki emerged from the woods, and was soon bounding along beside Sasami as they walked back up to the shrine. It had been an interesting few days, since Ayeka and her sister had arrived. Shortly after they arrived there her father Nobuyuki had called, explaining that the school was in a tizzy over the apparent alien abduction of Tenchi and Ryouko, as witnessed by a large portion of the student body. They were going to have to lay low for a little awhile, which meant all of them were staying at the shrine for the near future.

The big problem in this situation was, Ryouko and Ayeka hated each other's guts with a passion that was almost holy. So keeping them both under one roof without one killing the other was going to be... interesting. Tenchi had already begun devising various techniques to keep them as far apart as possible.

'Like now," Tenchi thought to herself mournfully. Keeping herself between Ryouko and Ayeka while they walked home seemed to keep them only taking verbal pot-shots at each other, rather than any real ones. Listening to them talk she was suddenly reminded of the Chinese ideogram for trouble: two women under one roof.

"Tenchi," Ayeka asked softly, "I was wondering if you could show me some of the older parts of the shrine? There might be other clues to my brother's location."

"Oh ho! Trying to get alone with my Tenchi again? Wasn't yesterday enough for you?" Ryouko asked with an impish grin.

"Myah," Ryo-Ohki perked up at the mention of yesterday.

"What do you mean, your Tenchi? And how did you know about yesterday?" Ayeka asked.

"My link to Ryo-Ohki lets me see anything she does," Ryouko smiled dangerously, "and I certainly got a good view of both of you."

"What does she mean, Ayeka?" Sasami asked the fiercely blushing girl curiously.

Tenchi sighed, thinking about what happened to them. Tenchi and her grandfather were practicing like today when a watching Ayeka had lost her balance and fallen down a short hill. Her startled cry had brought Tenchi and her Grandfather running, but she only hurt her leg. Tenchi had tried to carry her home, but the two of them had been caught out in a rain storm. The storage shed they took refuge in was cramped, and Tenchi had started up a fire in an old box to dry them out.

Tenchi had stripped down out of her soaking clothes to her bra and panties first, laying out her shirt and pants over a bench to dry. Ayeka had been a bit more hesitant, but finally stripped off her heavy robes down to a simple clingy bodysuit. She had moved closer a bit to the fire when something had jumped at her!

"Eeeek!" Ayeka screamed, twisting about as a brown and furry bundle clung frantically to the front of her underthings.

Tenchi ran over, her sword igniting in a flare of energy while the fluff ball had ran away from Ayeka's cry of fear, and then Tenchi stood in front of her protectively. A little head popped out of a corner and went "Myah," at them quite plaintively.

"It's just Ryo-Ohki," Tenchi smiled in relief. She felt a presence, and turned back to see Ayeka right behind her. The other girl stepped back, a blush to her cheeks as she saw how close they had been standing.

"Excuse me," Ayeka blurted out.

Tenchi blinked, not quite sure what was happening. "It's all right," she smiled gently at Ayeka, but the girl just seemed to blush harder, looking away from the bra and panty clad woman standing in front of her.

"Myah," Ryo-Ohki said mournfully, plainly wet from the rain.

Quickly grasping the opportunity to change the subject Tenchi knelt down to say to the little creature, "You really scared her, you know."

"Myah, myah," Ryo-Ohki sounded just a bit apologetic. The little cabbit sat by the fire for a few moments, drying itself off, while Tenchi and Ayeka sat there uncomfortably, waiting for their clothes to dry out.

"How long have you and Ryouko known each other?" Ayeka finally asked, the sound of the rain drumming down on the wooden roof in the background.

"A week or so," Tenchi said, feeling a bit of relief that Ayeka was finally talking. Her face seemed to light up as she said with a smile, "It seems longer, somehow."

"Just a week," Ayeka murmured, and shook her head. "I just don't understand how you can be friends with her, Tenchi," she said softly.

Tenchi looked over at Ayeka, the fire lighting both their faces in the otherwise mostly dark little shed. "I guess I just like her," she finally answered her simply, "I like the woman I occasionally see under the bad attitude and all the teasing." She finally just had to shrug, unable to explain it to Ayeka any better than that.

"Myah," Ryo-Ohki was scratching at a basket sitting at the side of the shed, before looking over at the two of them entreatigly.

"You want this?" Tenchi asked, moving over to fish out a carrot.

"Myah, myah," Ryo-Ohki batted at the carrot like a cat when Tenchi waved it above her, then she dropped the carrot in front of the cabbit. Ryo- Ohki began to munch on it, chomping away until she raised her head to happily exclaim, "Myah!"

Ayeka laughed softly, "The silly little thing."

"A starship that becomes a cabbit," Tenchi chuckled, "and it likes carrots. Two weeks ago, I don't think I could have imagined any of this happening to me."

The sound of the rain hitting the roof began to ease off, finally coming to a stop. Ayeka looked at Tenchi, "Do you think it's over?"

Tenchi got up, not really noticing how Ayeka's gaze lingered on her underwear clad form, and pushed open the door a bit. The clouds were moving, the sun finally breaking through the dark clouds. She turned back to Ayeka, "Looks like the storm is over."

Tenchi was brought back to the present when Ayeka exclaimed, "I can believe you would actually spy on us!"

"Why, are you shy about your body?" Ryouko asked. With a bit of a drawl she added, "You certainly weren't shy with Tenchi."

"You shameless, I ought to..." Ayeka growled.

Ryouko turned her back to Ayeka and patted her bottom invitingly as she cheerfully invited her, "Take your best shot."

"What are you, some kind of masochist?" Ayeka snarled.

Ryouko smirked, "Actually, I'm more of a sadist."

Tenchi sweatdropped.

To be continued...