Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ The Nigh ❯ What Dreams May Be ( Chapter 4 )

Over the next few days Aeka made herself more at home. She took on some of the chores for Lord Katsuhito. At the crisp light of dawn she would get up before everyone and cook breakfast. The old priest found the attention pleasing, but his grandson was less enthused by her kind deeds. He did show appreciation to her, but never gratefulness. It was as if he didn't want her to get the feeling that she was wanted. By doing so Aeka would only try harder to get his respect and attention. She spent the rest of the morning cleaning up and each day at noon she would carry lunches out to them. While preparing lunch on the third day, her head began to hurt. Before she knew it, she became light-headed and toppled down to her knees. Her consciousness blacked out for a second.

When she came to, she found she was no longer in the kitchen. Instead, it was a strange place. It was a vast space that had no definite up of down, nor left or right. It was dark, but she was not afraid. Things seem to move slowly. She looked around to see if there was something that she could focus in on, but there was only emptiness. Then she noticed a shadowy figure just beyond her. She observed that the figure seemed to be a man. He was practicing some swordplay. It held a glowing sword that looked strangely familiar to her. He moved gracefully as he stroked and slashed at the thick air. Aeka was amazed at his poise, as he stood proud and confident. The figure stopped its motions and took notice of her. He sheathed his sword and faced in her direction. Aeka felt strongly attracted to it. The figure raised one of his arms toward her and then she heard a voice speak out to her and say, "Aeka, I've been waiting for you. Where have you been? It doesn't matter, you're here now, and we can finally be together." Aeka's heart began to beat harder. She started to walk toward the figure, but with each step she took it seemed to take her further away. Her paced hurried, but the same problem occurred. She ran till the figured could barely be seen. Her surroundings began to dissipate, and the figure along with them. Her effort gave way and she could only yell out to it. Her breath fixated and she released a cry of, "Yosho!" before everything turned black again.

When she came to this time, she found herself back in the kitchen on her knees. She was still muttering the name that she cried on instinct. It took a second for her to get a grip, but she snapped back to attention and realized that she was calling someone's name. She still couldn't remember the person's face or who he was, but she did have a name to work with. Aeka took a moment to stand up. She rubbed her head and then went back to preparing their lunches.

After she finished she wrapped them in bento boxes and carried them to their recipients. She went to deliver Lord Katsuhito's first. He was inside of the shrine at this time of day. As she walked, she tried to put the fragmented memories she had together. She couldn't place a face with the name, but she knew it meant something to her. She quickly made her way up the stairway to the shrine. When she reached its entrance, she found the old man having tea. He had anticipated her arrival. Aeka handed him his meal, then she joined him at the table. She took a moment to correctly choose her words, and then she told him about what she saw when while preparing his meal. The old man nearly choked on a water chestnut after hearing her. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Hm... What you say is very intriguing. Are you sure the name you recall is Yosho?"

"Yes. I can't place a face, but the name I can definitely remember as important."

"Hm. Very interesting indeed. You see my name is Yosho."

"You're name is Yosho, but why did you tell your name is Lord Katsuhito?"

"It is my dear. My birth name is Yosho, but when I became a priest I had to take on a holy name."

"Please forgive me sir, but the figure that I saw looked to be younger, and he seemed to have been a swordsman."

"Well, that could be Tenchi then. I've never been much of a sword handler, but the boy has grown to be an expert at swordsmanship. However, he doesn't do it anymore. He gave up the art a while back. There is one other thing that could help link it to him. Tenchi's name is Yosho also.

"Wait did he change his name also."

"Heh, not exactly. His name is Tenchi, but his mother nicknamed him Yosho after me. One of our family traditions is for loved ones to give certain things the same name as family members. For me, I named my favorite tree after my daughter Achika. She married and left me quite some time ago. She lives far away, so she wanted a way to keep me on her mind. After she had Tenchi she decided to give him my name as a nickname. Normally, we only gave family member names to objects, so I was greatly honored when I found she nicknamed her son after me."

Aeka reeled from the words that were spoken to her. For the first time since Lord Katsuhito had found her, she felt as if she had grasped a piece of her pass life. She rose from the table and picked up the lunch that she prepared for Tenchi. She then bowed to the old man and hurried out of the door to make her delivery and to inform the young man of what she had learned from her memory flash and from his grandfather. With some luck he could possibly make some sense of things. During that time of day, she new she could find him somewhere near the garden patches. She came up adjacent to a storage shed. With a few more steps she was able to see him just beyond the edge of the shed. She was about to press forward, but she halted her motion as a horrible sense of fear over-whelmed her. Akea thought to herself; what good could come from the knowledge she now possessed? What if Tenchi was the Yosho that she saw in her vision? His conduct toward her never was promising, but Lord Katsuhito did tell her that Tenchi cared for her as if they were family. Could anything good come from this?

Aeka, pondered on these questions all the way to the gardens. When she got there, she saw Tenchi swinging a hoe into the ground. At the moment, he was gesturing in the same motion as the shadowed figure from her vision. Tenchi rested the hoe to his side, and it almost looked to be the same as the sword when it was sheathed. The young man had turned toward her direction and began to speak.

"Aeka, I've been waiting for you. Where have you been? It doesn't matter, you're here now, and we can finally have lunch."

"What!? Oh, yes. You startled me," said the young lady as a slight shock hit her from the near exact words he spoke to her matching what she had heard in her vision.

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't mean to scare you. I hope you have some ramen today."

"No, I fixed dumplings."

"You didn't have to go through that trouble for me, but thanks anyway. Is there something on your mind? You look a little perplexed."

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that..."

"Wait there's something I want to say to you. I want to apologize for not being sensitive to you. I know you've been going out of your way to do nice things for my grandfather and me. Unfortunately, I judged you wrongly when we first met. For that, I am deeply sorry. Will you forgive me?"

"Lord Tenchi? You do not have to apologize to me. I should be thanking you for taking care of me when I was ill. Your grandfather told me you put in extra time for me. For that I will always be in your gratitude. Here, allow me to serve you now."

"Sure, but on one condition. You brought too much for just me to eat. Please stay and join me. I could use the company if you don't mind, and you don't have to say Lord Tenchi. Just saying Tenchi will be fine."

"Thank you, and I would like that."

The two found shade under a tree and had their lunch. For the first time Aeka felt truly happy that Tenchi took the time out so they could both enjoy each other's company. Before they knew it, over an hour had passed. Tenchi helped gather the remains and gave them to Aeka to take back to the house. When she got there she found Lord Katsuhito waiting on the porch. He asked her what Tenchi thought about her vision. She told him that she had not told him about it yet, and she would like to wait a little longer before she did. Tenchi was just now starting to open up to her, and she didn't want to drop something like that on him so soon. For the most part, the little that she knew about him was far greater than what he knew about her. It'd be unfair if she let him know what she knew. Lord Katsuhito agreed with her and promised not to mention anything to Tenchi. With that said, Aeka went to finish her chores, while the old man went to do his daily blessings. The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly.