geosword@usa.net (Brian Navy)


A VERY TENCHI CHRISTMAS
Written by Brian Navy (geosword@usa.net)
Copyright (c) 1997
All characters are Copyright to their creators.  You know who you are!

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:  Perhaps my most loved series of all, Tenchi
Muyo has made me laugh to death and cry when it counted.  The
characters are beautiful people that I have come to love like a
family.  They have helped me get through some rough times in my own
life and so I have written this fan fiction for Tenchi and the rest of
his wacked out group of space girls and family members.  I know the
season is off (I had planned to release during Christmas of 1996 BUT
those ROUGH times in my life I mentioned sprung up, but Tenchi was
there to help me through it.
     This 4 part fanfic is based in the TV series universe and occurs
during the Christmas following the movie; Tenchi Muyo in Love.  I hope
you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.  I had a really hard time
writing the ending of this story.  It's hard to type when your eyes
are tear filled.  I hope I can get some emotion out of you too.  Thank
you for reading.  Please send me E-mail regarding this work.  Let me
know if I did okay or if I should hang up my word processor.



PART ONE:  THE GATHERING

     Tenchi sat the box down on the coffee table and wiped his brow.
That was box number six.  All done.  Well, at least with getting the
stuff down from the attic.  The real work was to begin soon.  Where
was Nobuyuki?  <He was suppose to help me!> Tenchi grumbled.
Upstairs, Nobuyuki snored loudly from the safety of his bed.
     Tenchi suddenly felt the sensation of someone rubbing his chest
but there was no one there.  Tenchi knew however that there was.
Ryoko materialized behind him, her arms slid under his and around to
his chest where her hands were playfully exploring.
     "Good morning Tenchi." The gray hair beauty said in a singing
voice.  She noticed the boxes littering the floor.  "Watcha up to?"
     "Today's the day we get the tree and decorate the house." Tenchi
said.
     Ryoko floated around to Tenchi's front, never quite letting her
hold on him go.  "Tree?  Decorate?  For what?"
     "It's Christmas time." He said opening up the box on the table.
     Ryoko peered into it curiously with her catlike yellow eyes.  She
pulled out a white box with a clear front.  Inside, various colored
orbs rested with hooks on the ends of them.
     "I don't get it.  What is all this junk?"
     "Ornaments for the Christmas tree."
     "Christmas tree?" she said, opening up the box and pulling one of
the brightly colored balls out.  Her reflection in it's shiny surface
was distorted from the concave effect, her left eye much larger than
the right.
     "Yes.  You get a pine tree and decorate it with lights, garland
and ornaments.  It's an American tradition but we celebrate it too."
     "I still don't get it."
     Ryoko let go of the fragile ball and it smashed on the table's
edge.  "Oops."  Ryoko smiled innocently.
     "RYOKO!!!" Tenchi scowled.
     "What a hideous word to hear first thing in the morning." Came a
proper sounding voice from behind.  Ryoko's eyes narrowed and she spun
around to face the long purple hair woman standing in the entryway,
still dressed in her sleeping robes.
     "Oh look.  It's the walking grape princess." Ryoko grinned.
     "Are you making fun of me!?" Aeka growled.
     "I don't have to do that at all little princess.  There's no real
challenge in it." Ryoko's grin widened.
     "Why you little-" Aeka started to shout out.
     "You two cut it out!  Not this early!  I have work to do." Tenchi
interrupted with a sigh.
     Aeka simmered down and noticed all the boxes.  "What are you
doing Lord Tenchi?"
     "Getting ready to decorate the house up for Christmas then me and
dad have to go get the Christmas tree."
     "Oh yes.  Christmas.  I know of this Earth holiday.  We have a
similar one on Jurai.  It is the exchanging of gifts between loved
ones, right?" Aeka said, sitting down on the couch next to Tenchi.
Ryoko floated over to the other side and sat down as well.
     "Well that's part of it."
     "Lord Tenchi, I would love to assist you in the decorating of the
family house and tree!" Aeka said enthusiastically.
     <Oh no you don't little princess!> Ryoko thought, her eyes
narrowing.
     "I'll help too Tenchi!" Ryoko said, trying to match Aeka's
enthusiasm.  Tenchi cringed slightly at Ryoko's offer.  He couldn't
say no to either.  Somehow he knew he was going to be doomed to a day
of disaster.  If he was lucky, the house would be left standing at the
end of the day.

     "I don't understand why we are putting lights on the roof dad."
Tenchi said, lifting the box of lights up on to the roof that his dad
was holding while on the ladder.
     "Well son, it's simple, if we get visited by more pretty space
girls I want them to see where to land." Nobuyuki laughed at his joke,
climbing on to the roof.
     "I don't think they have any trouble finding this place anyway
son." Youshou said, climbing on to the roof next.
     "That's true!  My boy Tenchi just has that natural Masaki charm
that attracts women like magnets.  Right son!?" Nobuyuki laughed,
nudging his son.  Tenchi grumbled.
     Nobuyuki handed Tenchi and Youshou each a staple gun.
     "Okay.  We have to get creative here.  I want people in orbit to
see this house!  Now, what to design..." he trailed off in thought.
     "Can't we just, you know, push him off the roof?" Tenchi
whispered to his grandfather.
     "You could but it wouldn't stop him." Youshou whispered back.
     "I've got it!  We'll design a Christmas mosaic of lights!  A snow
man here standing next to a tree there.  Santa Clause riding his slay
above it all!" Tenchi's dad said, pointing to the locations.  "Let's
get started!!!"

     "Exactly what are we doing again?" Ryoko said, tangled in several
strands of lights.
     Aeka and Sasami sat across the room with their own lights neatly
laid out on the floor.
     "We're checking for burnt out lights." Sasami said cheerfully.
     "You should know about burnt out has beens Ryoko." Aeka chuckled.
Ryoko glared, thinking up another use for the strands but she knew
murdering Aeka would be bad for her relationship with Tenchi.
     From the corner of the couch the head of what was a cat... a
rabbit...  both, stuck out curiously.  The large cute yellow eyes
peered at something on the floor nearby.  The half rabbit, half cat
creature hopped over to a blue Christmas ornate ball cautiously.
After several tense seconds of no motion the cabbit batted at the
ball.  It rolled.  The creature "meowed" in a questioning tone.  The
cute animal hopped over to the ball and batted it again.  Again, the
blue ball rolled.
     "MEOW!" the cabbit said happily, having found a new toy to play
with.
     She hopped over and batted the ball around, chasing it where ever
it tried to escape.
     "Way to go Ryo-oh-ki!" Sasami giggled, her pink eyes watching the
cabbit with amusement.
     At one point the ball got the better of the cabbit, rolling
underneath the big hind feet.  Ryo-oh-ki tried to watch it and ended
up falling over.  Sasami giggled at the cabbit's antics.  Aeka smiled.
     "OH!  These damn lights are driving me crazy!" Ryoko growled.  "I
know how to check them out real quick!"
     Ryoko grabbed the plug ends of all the strands.
     "WATCH THIS!" she said with a grin.
     The red gem on her right wrist glowed brightly as she sent a
surge of energy through the strands.  All at once the lights glowed
with a bright light and all at once they exploded.  When it was done
Ryoko sat tangled even worse, black soot marks on her face and
brightly colored clothes.  Sasami let out a giggle and Aeka out
right laughed.
     "I liked that Ryoko!  Do it again!" Aeka teased.
     "Shut up!" Ryoko growled, trying again in vein to untangle
herself.
     "There!  All my lights work!" Sasami smiled happily.
     "Very good Sasami." Aeka said, plugging her strands into the
power strip.  All the lights lit up except one.  "Oh.  Looks like I
have a burnt out one.  I'll just replace it."
     Aeka fished out a new bulb and took out the bad one.  She screwed
in the new one and it lit up.  However, all the other lights on the
strand went out.
     "That's odd." She frowned.  Aeka unscrewed the bulb and the
others came back on.  "Perhaps it's a bad one."
     She grabbed a different new bulb and screwed it in.  It lit up
but every other bulb on the strand started blinking.
     "That's not right either."
     Fifteen minutes later Aeka's frustrated screaming voice echoed
through the house.  "I've had it with these stupid lights!!!  They are
evil!  You probably made them Ryoko!"
     Ryoko cackled in the background.  "Incompetence just runs in the
family I guess!"
     "You are just as bad you freak!" Aeka glared.
     "You take that back!"
     "The truth hurts doesn't it Ryoko!?"
     "Why you stuck up---!"
     "Come on!"
     "Gladly!!!"

     Washuu's green eyes scanned the holoscreen readouts with
interest.  She picked up her crab decorated cup and sipped the tea
inside still focusing on the screen.  With a free hand she typed on
her keypad and the data on the screen changed.
     "I think I can do it with no problem." She smiled.
     Punching a few more keys she brought up more strange diagrams and
data.
     "My present to you three will be the best you will ever receive.
I swear it."
     Two small Washuu puppets appeared on her shoulders.  The one on
her left shoulder had a red letter A on it's chest while the other had
a B.
     "You're a genius Washuu!" Washuu A said.
     "You're the greatest Washuu!" Washuu B cheered.
     Washuu nodded.  "It's so true!" She said, tapping a few more
buttons.  The screen flickered out of existence.  "Time to get
started."

     Tenchi stood next to Youshou gazing down at the roof.  Nobuyuki
stood up next to them with a satisfying smile.
     "There!  All done." He said proudly.
     Tenchi looked at the design his dad had constructed out of
lights.  He looked again, harder, rubbing the back of his head.
     "It's... great... dad." Tenchi said.
     "It's lame actually." Youshou commented.
     "What do you mean dad?  It looks just how I pictured it."
Nobuyuki said, studying his handy work.
     The snowman next to the tree looked more like a snowman tree,
Picasso style.  Santa Clause had made a crash landing through both the
tree and the snowman.
     "Then you pictured a jumble of lights all mixed together?"
Youshou smirked.
     "Well... It has a few problems in the design but not bad for an
amateur designer."
     "Architect you are, lighting technician you are not." Youshou
patted Nobuyuki on the shoulder.
     "Hello?  Is anyone home?" came a voice from below.
     Tenchi left his father and grand dad to discuss the intricacies
of light designs to look over the edge of the roof.  Below stood a
very attractive blonde with dark brown skin and pretty light blue
eyes.  Her ears were slightly longer than a normal persons.  The woman
next to her was just as pretty with long greenish hair and blue eyes
as well.  Her skin was much lighter.
     "Up here guys." Tenchi called down.
     Mihoshi and Kiyone looked up, Mihoshi waving happily.
     "Hello!  What are you doing up there Tenchi?" she asked.
     "We're decorating the roof with Christmas lights."
     "Wow! Neat!" Mihoshi smiled.
     "Go on inside.  I'll be down in a moment." Tenchi said.
     Mihoshi and Kiyone made their way into the house and were met by
Aeka and Ryoko tangled together on the floor in strands of broken
lights.  Both were soot covered, their clothes torn in places, hair
sticking up in a wild mess.
     "Are you two fighting again?" Mihoshi asked with a smile.
     "No!  We're playing!  Get us out of this stupid mess!" Ryoko
yelled.
     "How did you wind up like this anyway?" Kiyone asked, trying to
help them out of the tangled web.
     "It's all Ryoko's fault!" Aeka accused quickly.
     "My fault!?  It's your fault!" Ryoko accused back.
     After a moment Mihoshi and Kiyone managed to get the two
untangled.  At that moment Sasami entered the room holding a tray with
a pitcher and three glasses on it.
     "Break time!  Oh!  Mihoshi!  Kiyone!  Hello!  When did you get
here?" Sasami asked, setting the tray down.
     "We just got here." Kiyone replied.
     "Would you like some tea?" Sasami asked, pouring some of the
refreshing drink into the three glasses.
     "That would be wonderful." Mihoshi smiled and sat down.
     "Sure." Kiyone sat too.
     Sasami bowed and ran back to the kitchen while Aeka and Ryoko got
up off the floor, glaring at each other.  Aeka regained some of her
composure.
     "I have to go change my clothes." she growled, spinning about and
storming up the stairs.
     "Don't hurry back." Ryoko mumbled under her breath, brushing her
hair back with her hands.
     The front door opened and Tenchi walked in, closing the door
behind himself.  He waved with a smile as he entered the room.
     "How's everyone doing in here?"
     Ryoko was instantly latched to Tenchi, snuggling into him.
Tenchi grumbled and tried to pull himself free without success.
     "Aeka blew up all the lights, Tenchi.  She's so clumsy and
dangerous." Ryoko said, snuggling in closer, smearing some black soot
on Tenchi's face.
     "What did you get me for this Christmas Tenchi?" Ryoko cooed.
     "I'm not telling!  So don't ask!" Tenchi said.
     "We were just in the neighborhood, thought we'd drop by.  It's
been a few weeks.  We've really be busy at our part time job." Kiyone
said.
     Sasami returned with three more glasses.  "I thought I heard you
come in Tenchi.  I'll make you a glass of tea." She said, quickly
filling those three glasses.  She passed out the full glasses to
everyone in the room then took a sip.  Tenchi took a long drink of
his.
     "This is good tea Sasami." Tenchi smiled.
     "Thanks."
     "Meow?"
     Ryo-oh-ki leapt up on Sasami's shoulder and peered at her drink.
She sniffed above the glass.
     "It's tea.  Want some?" Sasami smiled at the cabbit.
     "Meow." She replied.
     Sasami brought the glass up so the cabbit could get at it.  She
tipped it slightly bringing the tea to the rim.  Ryo-oh-ki lapped at
the liquid a few times and meowed in approval.  Sasami giggled then
took another drink from her glass.
     "I am glad you two came by.  It saves me the trouble of having to
call you.  We are going to be having a party here and you two are
invited.  You can make it I hope?" Tenchi said, sitting down on the
couch with them.
     "Really!?  Thanks!" Mihoshi cheered.
     "We will try our best." Kiyone smiled.
     "A party?" Aeka said from the stairs.  Her hair was back in
place, her face clean and pretty again.
     "Yeah.  On Christmas Eve, the 24th."
     "All right!  Party!" Ryoko cheered.  "Going to have sake!?"
     "You don't drink sake.  You drink eggnog."
     "Eggnog?  What kind of a weird drink is that?" Ryoko said,
snuggling Tenchi again.
     "You'll find out." Tenchi said, trying to scoot away.
     Aeka's left eye twitched slightly and a second later she forced
herself into a sitting position between Tenchi and Ryoko.  Ryoko
glared at her but Aeka just ignored her.
     "Lord Tenchi, we tested the lights.  They worked, up until Ryoko
got a hold of them."
     "HEY!"
     "We'll just buy new ones.  Dad and I have to go into town to get
the tree anyway." Tenchi said, defusing the situation before it had a
chance to get ugly.
     "Can I go with you into town Tenchi?  I want to buy your
Christmas present." Aeka asked, leaning against him.
     "Sure."
     "Me too!  Me too!  I want to pick up your present as well!" Ryoko
said, having suddenly appeared on Tenchi's other side, leaning on him.
     "We'll all go into town."
     "Yippee!" Sasami shouted.

     The group huddled together on the street corner.
     "All right.  It's 2 o'clock.  Let's meet back here in two hours.
Okay?" Tenchi said.
     Everyone nodded then split up.  Tenchi and Nobuyuki headed for a
Christmas supply store to buy some more lights and a tree while
everyone else headed off in other directions to find presents.

     Ryoko walked down the crowded street, looking at the signs above
the various shops she was passing.  Nothing looked like a good idea so
far then she noticed a little shop stuck between two larger ones.
     "Koki's Art and Photos.  Hmmm." Ryoko said, reading the sign.
She smiled to herself as a thought crossed her mind.  "What better
present than myself?" she giggled and headed into the shop.

                        *          *          *

     "What to get?  It must be something special.  My Tenchi deserves
the best." Aeka said to herself as she walked along the street looking
at the multitude of shops.  One sign suddenly caught her eye.
"Yakoto's Custom Shirt Shop."
     Aeka smiled.  "Perfect!"  She entered the shop.

                        *          *          *

     "I don't know what to get him.  What should I get him?  I really
don't know." Mihoshi said, gazing in the window of the shop Kiyone and
her were standing in front of.  It was a thrift shop, full of odds and
ends, A to Z.
     "Don't ask me.  You know him better than I do.  What does he
like?" Kiyone asked with a shrug.
     "I don't know." Mihoshi frowned.
     "Well I'm sure we can come up with something.  Let's go in here."
     "Okay."

                        *          *          *

     Sasami peered at the item sitting in the window.  "Wow!  I bet
Tenchi would love that!" she said.  It was a purple crystal sculpture
of a unicorn rearing up on it's hind legs.  Ryo-oh-ki meowed in
approval.  Sasami snuggled the cabbit then ran into the store.

                        *          *          *

     Tenchi stared in disbelief at the tree his father was suggesting.
It was a pretty tree, full and trimmed into a perfect triangle.
However, it stood 18 feet tall.
     "It will never fit dad.  Let's get a shorter one." Tenchi said.
     "But this one is the prettiest in the lot.  It will fit.  We just
have to trim it a bit."
     "Yeah, by four feet."
     "Show some optimism son!" Nobuyuki said to Tenchi then turned to
the attendant.  "We'll take this one.  Can you have it delivered to
this address?"
     "Not a problem sir." The attendant bowed.

     Two hours passed and the group gathered at the same street
corner, each with shopping bags slung over their shoulders.  The
shopping done, they all headed for home and each headed to their rooms
with their secret gifts to begin wrapping.



PART TWO:  IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

     Tenchi woke up and looked over at the calendar on his wall.
It was December the 22nd.  He sat up in bed stretching and noticed
that snow was coming down outside his window, a lot of snow.  He got
out of bed and went to the window.  It had been snowing for some time
because the ground was now solid white and a thick layer of the powder
covered the roof completely.
     Tenchi left his room and did his wake up routine in the
bathroom then headed down stairs.  He made his way down the hall to
the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal then sat down to watch
the snow falling outside.  He knew then it was going to be one of the
best Christmases ever.  He smiled and took a bite of his cereal and
nearly gagged on it as someone grabbed on to him from behind, giving
him a big crushing hug.
     "Morning Tenchi." Ryoko purred into his ear.
     Tenchi pounded on his chest to make the cereal go down.  It
finally did and he began to cough.
     "Be careful would you!?" Tenchi shouted through coughs.
     "I'm sorry." She said, laying her head on his back, rubbing
his shoulders.  This tenderness made Tenchi swallow a lump in his
throat and he coughed again.
     "It's.. umm.. snowing." Tenchi managed to say.
     "It's very pretty." Ryoko said, pressing herself against
Tenchi's back.  He gulped again as he felt her chest pressing into
him.  He tried to take another bite of his cereal, the spoon
shuddering in his grip.  He managed to finally get it into his mouth.
When he went for another spoonful he was unable to as Ryoko had
started rubbing against him.
     "Ryoko...  I am trying to... eat." Tenchi stuttered, finally
getting a spoon full of cereal.
     "I just want to give you an early Christmas present, Tenchi.
Myself." She said, hugging him tighter.
     Tenchi had just put the spoon full of cereal in his mouth when
she said that.  That cereal became airborne as he spit it out in
surprise.  He began to cough again.
     "Everyone's asleep Tenchi." She whispered softly to him.
     Ryoko winked out then reappeared, straddling Tenchi's lap.
She put her hands on his chest and smiled down at him.  He looked like
a frighten rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming car.  He knew he
was doomed when Ryoko brought out a piece of Mistletoe.
     "I did some reading up on this Christmas thing.  You know what
this is Tenchi?" she smiled, dangling the plant.
     He nodded quickly and watch it as she raised it above their
heads.  Ryoko smiled and Tenchi gulped.  She leaned forward slowly and
Tenchi's head retreated back some.  Ryoko stopped halfway there when
she saw this and frowned.
     "Am I really that awful Tenchi?" she whispered, her lips now
an inch from his.
     Tenchi slowly shook his head and whispered, "No."
     Ryoko closed her eyes, tilted her head and went the remaining
distance to his lips, giving him a soft warm kiss.  Tenchi's eyes were
wide open and he felt like his heart was trying to escape his chest.
She started to deepen the kiss and Tenchi's eyes closed involuntarily
and he found his arms wrapping around her back.  And finally, after
almost a year, he kissed her back.
     Ryoko's hands started unfastening the buttons on Tenchi's
shirt but she only got to button number three when the pitter patter
of foot steps alerted her.  She grumbled and vanished.  A second later
Aeka entered the kitchen yawning.
     "Hello Lord Tenchi." She said.  Tenchi yelped, his eyes
snapping wide open.  He spun around and accidentally knocked his bowl
of cereal to the floor.  The bowl shattered releasing a flood of milk
and round cereal puffs.
     "Oh my!  Did I startle you Tenchi!?  I'm sorry!" she said,
grabbing a handful of paper towels from a roll hanging over the sink.
     Tenchi laughed nervously.  "No! No!  I was just a little
clumsy." he said, kneeling down to pick up the bowl fragments.  Aeka
started sopping up the milk with the towels.  Tenchi took the broken
bowel and dumped it into the compactor then returned to help Aeka
clean up the rest of the mess.
     "Let me clean it up Aeka.  I made the mess." Tenchi said,
picking up cereal balls.
     "It's no trouble at all." She smiled at him.
     A short time later the mess was cleaned up.
     "You didn't get to finish your breakfast.  I'll make you
something better than that cereal." Aeka smiled, turning to open the
pantry.
     "No!  I mean, that's okay.  I have to take a shower and shovel
the snow off the walk way first anyway."
     "Okay." Aeka smiled.
     Tenchi sighed in relief silently then headed up stairs to
shower.

     It was cold outside but it was not windy which made it
comfortable.  Tenchi whistled a tune as he shoveled snow from the
walkway.  He was halfway done and it had only taken an hour.
Thankfully, the snow had stopped coming down so the path he had
shoveled was not being recovered.  He stopped a moment, leaning on the
snow shovel and looked over at Sasami and Aeka building a snow man.
Ryo-oh-ki was helping too, rolling snow balls up to the them.  He
could not see Ryoko anywhere.  He had wondered where she disappeared
to since the kitchen incident.  <boy that was close.> he thought.  He
replayed the kiss in his mind and a smile crept on to his face.
     Aeka stuck a branch into the side of the middle giant snow
ball that formed the snowman's chest giving it an arm.
     "Isn't this fun Aeka!?"  Sasami smiled, placing three lumps of
coal on it's chest.
     "Yes.  It is actually.  Our snowman is turning out really
well." Aeka smiled back, picking up the other branch they had selected
for the left arm.  She started to place the branch when a snowball
impacted on the back of her head with enough force to snap her head
forward.  Her face embedded into the side of the snowman.  She
detached herself from it then spun around.  Ryoko was standing ten
feet away dressed in her red and black striped combat outfit, a pouch
hanging at her waist, full of snowballs.
     "Ryoko!  How dare you strike me!"
     "Revenge is a dish best served cold Aeka.  Snowballs are VERY
cold!" she said chunking another.  Aeka brought up a shield and the
snowball disintegrated on it.
     "Kamadaki! Azaka!  To my side!" Aeka growled.
     Two floating logs with a round gems imbedded near their tops
appeared to either side of Aeka.  Each log was properly marked with
it's name just below the gem.
     "We are here Princess Aeka!" Azaka said.
     "What is your wish?" Kamadaki said.
     "SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!" Sasami shouted out, tossing a snowball and
striking Azaka right in the gem.
     "Sasami!  Not you too!" Aeka was shocked.  "This is childish
behavior!"
     Sasami was already creating another snowball.  "But I am a
child!" she grinned.
     "Look what you have done Ryoko!  You've corrupted my little
sister!  Kamadaki!  Attack Ryoko!"
     "Yes ma'am!" the log said.  A dozen snowballs formed and
floated up next to it.  Ryoko eeped as all the snowballs were hurtled
at her!  She rolled and flipped through the air but one caught her
square in the chest.
     "YOW! YOW!  That's cold!" Ryoko shouted.
     She landed back on the ground with the gracefulness of a cat.
She crouched down.  "So you want to play rough princess?  I can
oblige!"
     Ryoko began to laugh evilly and a snowball three feet in
diameter began to form before her.  Aeka turned to flee, screaming in
panic.  Ryoko's laughing became even more sinister and she let the
snowball rip!
     "Don't fear Princess Aeka!  I will save you!" Kamadaki said,
moving into the path of the snowball.  As the giant white ball of
destruction bared down a sweat drop appeared on the log.  "This was
not such a good idea." It said in a calm voice.  The snowball plowed
into Kamadaki burying him.  Ryoko flew past cackling, chunking
snowball after snowball at Aeka, landing solid hits all over the
princess.
     Tenchi chuckled and returned to shoveling the walk.

     She had lost track of Aeka.  Ryoko cautiously approached the
tool shed, a snowball in each hand.  She looked for tracks in the snow
but there were none.  Aeka had left a clear trail up until this point.
Ryoko eyed the woods, from side to side, then looked back at the shed.
     "Come out!  Come out!  Where ever you are princess.  I have
your Christmas present right here." She grinned evilly.
     Ryoko stealthily made her way up to the shed and pressed
against the wall.  She slid down the wall not making a sound and
peered around the corner.  No Aeka.
     "Revenge is mine Ryoko!!!" came a loud shout from behind.
     Ryoko spun around and Aeka was standing there with a stake
mallet in her hand.  She was ready to swing it and did, slamming the
mallet into the wall of the shed.  There was a low rumble and Ryoko
looked up in time to see all the snow that had collected on the roof
of the shed come crashing down on her.  Aeka took confident steps up
to the Ryoko snowman and laughed sadistically.
     "That will teach you to trifle with me!" she said, still
laughing loudly.
     The snow around Ryoko began to melt, steam rising off the
surface.  Soon her enraged face emerged.
     "I'm going to get you for this Aeka!  I swear it!"
     "Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!" she laughed as she ran off.
     Ryoko finally melted all the snow away from her and glared
after the retreating Aeka  Ryoko shouted out in anger and fired a
shock wave at the ground.  A large snowball formed and started rolling
down the hill.  As it did it got bigger and bigger, rolling faster and
faster.
     Aeka skipped along happily in her victory.  When she heard a
rumbling she stopped and looked around then she looked behind her and
screamed.  A snowball twice as big as her was rolling down the hill at
a high rate of speed.  She took off running, the snowball on her
heels.  She summoned up some hidden strength and started to outrun the
rolling white ball but then she tripped, falling face first into the
deep snow.  She turned over on her back and screamed out as the ball
reached her.  Her scream was muffled as it swallowed her whole.  It
continued on down the hill.
     Ryoko smiled and held up her fingers in a victory pose.
"Strike!" she shouted happily.

     Tenchi and Sasami had gotten into their own snowball fight,
Ryo-oh-ki cheering on Sasami and making new snowballs for her.  They
stopped when they heard a rumbling sound from the woods.
     "Wonder what that is." Sasami said.
     "It's not good whatever it is." Tenchi said.
     A huge snowball rolled out of the woods at a blazing speed.
Tenchi, Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki yelped as it did, noting they were in
it's path.  They split off in different directions avoiding it
narrowly.  The snowman they had built was not so lucky.  It became one
with the snow boulder.
     Kamadaki finally dug itself out of the snow and turned around
at the rumbling sound.  "Oh no." it said calmly again.  The snowball
enveloped him and continued on finally smashing into the side of the
house.  It fell apart and it's two occupants fell out, stunned.
Aeka's face was blue, her teeth chattering.  Tenchi and Sasami ran up
to her.
     "Are you okay Aeka?" Tenchi asked, helping her out of the
snowy prison.
     "I think I've had enough snow for the day." She chattered.
     "Let's get you inside and warmed up." Tenchi said, helping her
along.
     Ryoko came out of the woods, dusting her hands together, a big
smile on her face.  That smile faded when she saw Tenchi had his arm
around Aeka.  She pouted.  "It's not fair." She said and sat down in
the snow, kicking it.  "This sucks."

     Aeka sat on the couch, wrapped in blankets, sipping a hot cup
of cider.  Tenchi sat next to her with his own cup, Sasami on the
other side.
     "Feeling better?" Tenchi asked.
     Aeka sneezed and nodded.  "Much" she said with a stuffy nose.
"Curse that Ryoko!  Now I'm going to be sick when the party happens."
She sneezed again.
     "Just keep warm.  You'll be okay.  I'll go see if Washuu has
some super cold medicine or something." Tenchi said, getting up.
     He knocked on the yellow door under the stairs and waited.
The door opened a moment later.  "Enter." A voice said from within.
     Tenchi stepped through and instead of ending up in a closet he
was standing in a huge room full of computers and other technological
junk.  In the center of the maze of blinking lights and humming sounds
was Washuu, sitting in her floating chair, typing away on her
holoputer.  She turned around in her chair and hopped out before
Tenchi, smiling.
     "What can I do for you Tenchi?" she said.
     "Ryoko buried Aeka in snow and now she's getting a cold.
We're having a Christmas party in a couple of days and I don't want
her to get sick.  Do you have something to give her?" Tenchi asked
nervously.
     "From genius scientist to plain old nurse.  I think I can whip
something up." She said, hoping back into her chair.  She spun back
around and started typing on the keypad.  "So what's this about a
party?  Why wasn't I invited?  Hmmmm!?"
     "You are!  You are!  I just haven't had time to tell you."
Tenchi laughed nervously.
     "Great!  Then I'll be there!  We exchanging gifts?"
     "Yes." Tenchi said.
     With a few more keystrokes a black portal opened up in the air
and a bottle fell out of it.  Washuu snatched it up then lept back in
front of Tenchi.  "Here you go.  Follow the directions on the label
and she should be fine by tomorrow.  Now, if you'll excuse me.  I have
a lot of work to finish up here before the party."
     Washuu pushed Tenchi toward the door which swung open on it's
own.  She then shoved him out.  The door slammed back shut behind him.
<She's pushier than usual today.> Tenchi thought and shrugged.
     "Here you go Aeka.  Washuu made this for you.  It should make
you better by tomorrow."
     "Thank you Lord Tenchi.  That was very sweet of you." Aeka
said, finishing the sentence with a sneeze.  "I think I'll take some
and then go take a nap."
     "All right." he said.

     Tenchi walked down the hall and stopped when he heard sneezing
and coughing coming from Ryoko's room.  He hesitated then knocked
lightly on the door.  The door opened and Tenchi stuck his head in.
     "Ryoko?"
     She laid in her bed, wrapped in a mound of blankets.
     "Hi Tenchi." She coughed.
     "What's wrong with you?"
     "Aeka buried me in snow up on the hill.  I think I'm getting
sick."
     She sneezed and groaned.
     "Oh."
     <I guess they got each other.> he thought.  He had been angry
with Ryoko for what she had done to Aeka but it looked like they got
each other.  His anger dissolved.
     "Washuu made some cold medicine.  I'll get you some.  Wait
right here."
     Tenchi returned a few minutes later with the bottle.  He read
the label carefully then fed Ryoko the prescribed amount of doses.
     "YUCK!  This stuff tastes like dirt!" she grumbled.
     "Well it's suppose to make you feel better." Tenchi said.
     Ryoko laid down staring at the ceiling.
     "It's getting kind of warm in here." She said.  She wiggled
out of the covers and laid back down on top of them.  She was wearing
her low cut brightly colored shirt she normally wore, the pink sash
tied snuggle to her slim waist.  "It's really getting warm in here.  I
feel funny."
     "What do you mean?  It's comfortable to me." Tenchi said.
     Ryoko rubbed her forehead and then valley between her breasts.
She pulled her shirt open, showing a dangerous amount of skin.  Tenchi
turned bright red and looked away.
     "I am burning up." She said in a voice that sounded really
sexy to Tenchi.
     Tenchi then felt a very soft pair of something on his back,
unclothed somethings.  Ryoko's arms wrapped around him and she kissed
the back of his neck.
     "Tenchi.  Make love to me." Ryoko said between kisses.
     Tenchi lept to his feet and spun around.  Mistake.  Ryoko's
shirt hung around the sash, her perfect breasts freely displayed.
Tenchi's nose started to bleed and he quickly pinched it.
     "I think I'll be going now." Tenchi said, making his way
quickly for the door which slammed in his face.  Ryoko slid in front
of the door.
     "Tenchi." Ryoko flung herself around him, rubbing her chest on
his.  "I can't help it.  I need you right now."
     "Ryoko!  Stop it!  You're really freaking me out here!"
     A hand on Tenchi's crotch made him leap back.  He stumbled
over a foot stool and landed on his butt, looking up at Ryoko.  She
undid her sash and tossed her shirt off completely.  Next she pulled
her skirt off.  Underneath were a pair of black laced panties which
rode high on her shapely hips.
     "RYOKO!" Tenchi scrambled back against the wall, looking at
the label on the bottle still in his hand.  His eye caught the very
fine small print which said, "Absolutely do NOT give any of this to
Ryoko.  You have been warned."
     Tenchi suddenly found his face buried between Ryoko's breasts.
     "Oh Tenchi!  You're so aggressive!  I like that!  Take me now!
I am your love slave!"
     Tenchi somehow managed to scramble out of her grasp and got
back up to his feet.  She stood back up and turned around smiling
seductively.
     "Going to make me beg are you?  How mean." She mock pouted.
     "Ryoko!  Try to get a grip on yourself."
     "I'd rather get a grip on you.  Come here." She wiggled a
finger.
     Tenchi shook his head.  Ryoko wiggled her finger.  Tenchi
shook his head.  Ryoko wiggled her finger.  Tenchi shook his head
again then made a break for the door.  Ryoko tackled him to the bed,
straddling him.  She literally tore his shirt open and started placing
kisses on his chest.
     "STOP IT!  Ryoko!  Come on!  Knock it off!  HELP!"
     Tenchi struggled but Ryoko firmly held his wrists down on the
bed, her super strength over powering him.  She kissed up his chest to
his neck then his chin then gazed into his eyes.
     "I'm going to take us both to heaven." She whispered.  Tenchi
gulped.
     "Think it over Ryoko.  This is not you.  We can't do this."
     "Are you afraid of losing your virginity Tenchi?" she said
kissing his cheek, rubbing her breasts along his bare chest.  Tenchi
turned red and he focused all his concentration on keeping in control
of his body.  He was losing the battle.  Her nipples brushing along
his chest was starting to excite him to the point of breakdown and
then she suddenly stopped and blinked at him.
     "What the hell am I doing?"
     "Good!  The medicine wore off!" Tenchi smiled and sighed in
relief.
     "That's one hell of an aphrodisiac!  Well," she smiled.
"While I have you here!  Might as well do it."
     "Ryoko!"
     "Oh, okay!" she grumbled and hoped off.  "Hey.  That stuff did
cure my cold.  I feel great!" she said gathering up her clothes.  She
turned back and smiled at Tenchi then that smile widen when she saw
the bulge in his pants.  "We'll at least I know I can get some kind of
reaction out of you."
     Tenchi lept up and laughed nervously, trying to hide his
excitement.  He turned and ran out of the room as fast as he could.
Ryoko chuckled and closed the door.

     Tenchi laid in his bed staring blankly at the ceiling.  That
feeling was coming to him again as it always did this time of year.
The feeling of being alone.  But he should not have been feeling  like
that this year.  He had a house full of pretty girls now.  He knew
that Aeka and Ryoko liked him.  Ryoko was fanatical about it.  Aeka,
she was shy, just like he was but sometimes could be just as blatantly
open about her feelings without even knowing it.
     Tenchi rolled on to his side and stared at a framed picture on
his night stand.  Aeka was to his left, Ryoko to his right, Sasami was
making rabbit ears behind Tenchi while Ryo-oh-ki stood on Sasami's
head, captured in a cute meow.  In front of him sitting down a few
steps was Washuu, Mihoshi and Kiyone.  Everyone looked so happy in
that photo.  Tenchi smiled and sat up, picking up the picture.
     He stared at it quietly for a moment.  "Any miny mighty
moe..." Tenchi said, touching a finger to each girl in turn.  He ended
up pointing to Mihoshi at the end of his little song and he chuckled.
     Mihoshi.  Very pretty, insanely cute.  Sweet and innocent.
Off setting these fine assets was extreme accident proneness and
missing brain cells.  She was a very nice girl but not his type.
     Kiyone.  Of all the girls she was the sanest.  Tenchi chuckled
at that thought.  But, she was a professional business woman, older
than Tenchi.  Those facts and the fact that she showed no interest in
him marked her off the list of girlfriends.
     Washuu.  Cute as a button but off the wall insane.  That's all
Tenchi had to think about that.  He went to the next girl in the
photo.
     Aeka.  Sweet, almost innocent.  Very pretty but her temper was
incredibly short fused and she had a nasty mean streak.  But her
eagerness to help and the fact she was a princess made her a very
tempting choice non-the-less.  Tenchi knew she was in love with him so
why couldn't he return that love?  He moved on, not wanting to try and
answer that question.
     Sasami.  She was cute but way to young.  When she grew up she
would be very beautiful.  She could cook up a storm too.  She would
make someone very happy.  Tenchi smiled and moved to Ryoko.
     Ryoko.  Uninhabited, a tease, show off and gorgeous but out of
control, reckless and also with a short fuse.  She didn't hide her
feelings toward Tenchi.  She wanted to practically jump him any chance
she got.  That kind of straightforwardness scared Tenchi.  He should
have been use to it.  His dad had preached straightforwardness to him
most of his life.  She was the hardest to think about.  Especially
after today.  That is the closest he had ever been to her and the way
he reacted to her touch made him think.
     "Afraid of losing your virginity Tenchi?" echoed in his mind
just then.
He replayed the scenario in his head but gave it a different outcome.
He sighed and rolled back on his back and proceeded to stare at the
ceiling once more.  He reached over and shut the light off and
snuggled into his pillow.

     Washuu typed away on her console and watched as her automated
robots went about their task of building the machine.  The status
report showed that her invention was 80% complete, at least the
hardware portion.  She was still working on the software portion and
would be on it all night and all of the next day.  It was going to be
the perfect gift though.  Nothing would match it, ever.  Washuu smiled
happily and took a large gulp of her drink.
     "I am so good I scare myself sometimes." She said.
     "You're so perfect Washuu!" Puppet A said.
     "You're number one!" Puppet B added to the cheer.



PART THREE:  LET IT SNOW

     He rolled on to his side but something kept him from rolling
all the way over.  He opened one eye and was staring into Ryoko's
beautiful sleeping face.  His other eye snapped open but he did not
move, not wanting to wake her.  That was a strange thought.  Normally
he would have just yelled out and flown out of bed.  He kind of
expected this kind of thing now.  At least she was still in her
clothes.  One of her arms was draped over his side.  Tenchi smiled and
lightly kissed her forehead.  He then shook her gently.
     "Hey.  Wake up Ryoko." He whispered.
     "Just a little longer honey." She moaned out and snuggled into
him.
     "Ryoko, come on, wake up."
     Her eyes blinked open and she sat up, stretching.
     "Oh my.  Tenchi, why are you in my bed?"
     "I'm not.  You're in mine." He said.
     She looked around the room and laughed.  "So I am.  How did I
get in here?  That weird stuff you gave me must have kicked in again.
Oh no!  I sleep walk!?" she said, her voice filled with melodrama.
     "It's okay Ryoko.  Just sneak out.  Don't let Aeka see you or
else world war three will break out."
     "Okay."
     She leaned forward and gave him a big kiss on the lips then
teleported out of the room.  Tenchi got up and stretched himself.  He
opened his door and almost bumped into Aeka.  She was already dressed
in her Jurian robes, her hair tied back in the standard duel pony
tails.
     "Good morning Lord Tenchi." She smiled.
     "How are you feeling?"
     "Like new!  That stuff really worked miracles.  I feel
terrific, really.  Thank you."
     She stood up on her tip toes and kissed Tenchi's cheek then
ran downstairs, giggling.  Tenchi blinked after her.  That was
different.  He shrugged and did the morning ritual of waking up,
opting to take a shower before coming downstairs.  When he arrived in
the kitchen Aeka had already prepared him breakfast.  It was something
that was suppose to be a waffle, he guessed.  Bits of things we're
sticking out of the lopsided gooey mess.  The counter top was a wreck
and Aeka's sweet face was splattered with batter and flour.  Tenchi
thought she looked rather cute.
     "I made you breakfast Lord Tenchi!  I hope you like it." She
smiled.  Tenchi sat down reluctantly and stared at the breakfast
before him.  The waffle thing, the black charred toast and the mutated
eggs.  The orange juice looked normal so he choose to take a drink of
that first.  He then poured syrup on the waffley-thingy, a lot of
syrup and then he spread butter on the toast which fell apart in his
hand.  Aeka smiled nervously.  Tenchi smiled back.  He then cut off a
piece of the waffle and made sure it was dripping thick with syrup
before putting it in his mouth.  He bit down and something crunched,
something with the smooth texture of an egg shell.  Tenchi chewed on
it silently while Aeka looked on with sparkling eyes.
     "Is it okay?" she asked.
     He drank down half his glass of orange juice before wheezing,
"Yeah... it's just fine."
     Aeka smiled brightly.  So not to make her feel bad, Tenchi
took another bite of the waffle imitation and chewed slowly, holding
his breath so not to taste it.  It went down rough and he had to slam
down the rest of his juice to keep from gagging.
     And so Tenchi got his morning torture.  When he was done with
what surely could have been his last meal, he went outside to shovel
the new snow that had covered the walkway during the night.  After
that his dad showed up with a box full of lights, a ladder and a
couple of staple guns.
     "Okay son.  Now comes the easy part.  Time to trim the house
with lights."
     "Sounds easy enough.  I hope you do a better job than that
roof mosaic."
     "Hey now, give me some credit will you?" Nobuyuki said,
shoving a staple gun into his son's hand.
     "Let's get started!"

     "Are you sure this is safe Sasami?" Aeka said, looking down
the snow covered hill.  It descended for quite some distance.  Aeka
swallowed a nervous lump in her throat.
     "Sure it is and it's fun!" Sasami said, laying the snow sled
down on the ground.
     "Not getting cold feet are you little princess?" Ryoko
taunted.
     "It seems a bit undignified and childish."
     "Excuses, excuses!  Get outta the way!  Let a master show you
how it's done." Ryoko floated over to the snow sled and laid down on
it stomach first.  She adjusted her goggles to protect her eyes.
     "Primary booster, ready!  Shields up!  LAUNCH!"
     Ryoko pushed off hard with her right foot and zoomed down the
hill, leaving a wake of flying snow from the blades.
     "Yahooooooooo!" she yelled on the way down.
     Aeka blinked and coughed.  "It looks dangerous.  Maybe I
should just sit and watch."
     Sasami pushed her sister from behind toward the second snow
sled.  Aeka looked at it like the jaws of a shark about to clamp down
on her.
     "Come on Aeka!  It'll be fun!"
     Sasami managed to get her sister to sit down on the sled then
she sat down in front of her.  Ryo-oh-ki lept in her lap with a bright
meow.
     "Okay!  Goggles, check!" Sasami said, sliding them down over
her eyes.  Aeka quickly did the same.
     "Steering system, check!" she said, playing with the foot
pedals that controlled the front steering blades.
     "We're ready!"
     "MEOW!"
     "What about safety belts?" Aeka said worriedly.
     "There aren't any!  LAUNCH!"
     "WHAT!?"
     Aeka hugged on tightly to her little sister as the snow sled
took off down the hill.  As the speed increased so did Aeka's frantic
terrified screaming.  Sasami cheered on and Ryo-oh-ki stood in her
lap, the wind whipping the cabbit's big ears back.  After a moment
Aeka opened one eye to see the terrain whipping pass.  She hugged
tighter and screamed out again.
     "I am going to die!!!"
     "No you're not!  Isn't this fun!?" Sasami giggled.
     "Hardly the word for it!  Stop this thing right now!  I demand
it!"
     "The only way to stop is to get to the bottom of the hill or
leap off." Sasami giggled more.  Aeka closed her eyes back and gripped
tightly to her sister, to tightly.
     "Aeka!  Watch it!  I can't keep control if you---" Sasami
tried to say but she suddenly lost control and the sled began to turn
to the left sharply.  "OH NO!!!  WIPE OUT!!!" Sasami screamed out as
the sled tipped over.  Everyone went tumbling through the snow.  After
many feet of sliding and tumbling they finally came to a stop, on
their backs, staring up at the snowing sky.  Sasami began to giggle
then she started to laugh.  Aeka laid there with her eyes tightly
shut.
     "Good wipe out Sasami!" Ryoko said, hovering over them with
her snow sled under arm.
     "Thanks Ryoko!" she beamed.
     Ryo-oh-ki's head popped out of a snow bank with a questioning
meow.  Sasami giggled at the cute cabbit which lept out of the snow
bank only to disappear into another one as she landed.  This made
Sasami laugh and she crawled over to the cabbit shaped whole in the
snow and dug her out.
     "Not cut out for the snow are you Ryo-oh-ki?" Ryoko smiled.
     "I am dead aren't I?  I hear the voice of the devil." Aeka
squeaked out.
     "No, you're not dead.  But I can change that for you if you'd
like." Ryoko grinned evilly, popping her knuckles.
     Aeka sat up and opened her eyes, shaking the snow out of her
purple hair.  She checked herself over for bodily damage and sighed in
relief.  Nothing appeared out of place.
     "I told you it was dangerous, didn't I?" Aeka scowled at
Sasami.
     "Only when you're doing it." Ryoko teased.
     Aeka tossed a snowball at Ryoko and stuck her tongue out.
Ryoko floated easily out of the way.
     "Care for a snowball rematch princess?  I'll put you down
again."
     "Oh, go jump in a frozen lake you witch!"
     Aeka got up and stormed down the hill.  Ryoko chuckled.  "I
sense wounded pride."
     Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki nodded in agreement.
     Aeka continued to storm down the hill, mumbling to herself.
"Make a fool me will she?  I am going to get you back Ryoko!  If it's
the last thing I dOOOOOOoooooooo!!!"
     She suddenly found herself up to her neck in snow.  She had
stepped into a deep snow drift.  Aeka sighed in frustration.
     "I hate my life."

     "Tonight will be the grand unveiling of our handy work son!"
Nobuyuki smiled, his arm around Tenchi's shoulders.
     It had taken 3 hours to trim the house with lights but they
were done.  It had been easy and uneventful for the most part.  The
only bad incident was his dad nearly falling off the ladder from the
second floor.  Thankfully the drainage canal had been strong enough to
support him hanging until Tenchi could get the ladder back under him.
     "I've had enough of this cold weather!" came Aeka's angry
voice from behind.
     "Aeka, it wasn't that bad." Sasami said, walking hurriedly to
keep up with her sisters storming gait.
     "Hey guys.  What's wrong?" Tenchi waved.
     "Aeka became good friends with the snow again." Ryoko cackled.
     "Shut up monkey girl." Aeka gave her a drop dead glare.
     "I just had another great idea!  Let's go skating!  The pond
is frozen over!" Sasami said cheerfully.
     "No thank you!  If you want to risk your life in this stupid
weather then go ahead."
     "Sounds fun Sasami.  You coming Tenchi?" Ryoko said.
     "Sure!  Let me get my skates."
     "You're going Tenchi?" Aeka's eyes flashed happily.
     "Sure.  I like to ice skate."
     "Oh... ummm... well, I'd better go too then to keep you
ummm... safe." She smiled.
     "Oh.  Okay." Tenchi smiled back.
     Ryoko frowned and grumbled.

     The pond was a solid thick sheet of ice, well suited for
skating.  Ryoko flew on to the ice and went into a graceful triple
axle to revival even the best figure skater.  Sasami clapped and
skated on to the ice herself, a little shakily at first but then more
firmly.  Ryo-oh-ki hoped after her and spun out of control on the ice
with a surprised meow.  Tenchi went out next, skating backwards at a
high rate of speed.  Aeka choose to sit on a fallen log nearby, a pair
of skates next to her.  She eyed them and sighed.  She had never
skated in her life.  She returned her eyes back to Tenchi who was
moving gracefully around the pond.
     "Oh Tenchi...." She sighed.
     Aeka sunk her head down and looked at the ground, kicking the
snow with her feet.  She sighed again then looked up at the sound of
someone sliding to a halt on the ice.  It was Tenchi.
     "Aren't you going to skate Princess Aeka?" he asked.
     "I... don't know how to."
     "That's no problem.  It's really easy.  I'll teach you.  Put
your skates on."
     Aeka's unhappy face lit up with a big smile.  "Okay!" she
said, putting on the skates and quickly lacing them up.
"Ryoko is really moving!  The crowd is wild with anticipation of her
next breath taking move.  And there she goes!" Ryoko commentated out
loud as she lept into the air into a blurringly fast spin.  She
remained airborne for ten seconds, spinning with her arms out to her
sides then she came out of it, floating in mid air for a second before
landing gently back on the ice.  She threw up her arms and took a bow.
"And the crowd goes wild!" she shouted, making crowd cheering sound
effects.  She looked up and noticed no one was watching her.  She
searched for Tenchi and saw him, holding Aeka by the hands skating
backwards with her.  She was wobbling on her skates, her legs bowed.
It was a very ungraceful display.
     "You just have to find your center of balance." Tenchi said.
     "My center of balance, right.  Exactly where is it?" Aeka
said, wobbling almost out of control.  Tenchi brought them to a stop.
     "First off, just learn to stand on your skates."
     "Okay." Aeka said regaining her footing.  She managed to stand
up right... for about two seconds before wobbling again.  She fell
forward with a cry.  Tenchi caught her in a hugging embrace.  Their
faces were now dangerously close to each other.  Aeka found herself
lost in Tenchi's brown eyes.  Tenchi gulped as he found himself gazing
into Aeka's beautiful red eyes.  Uncomfortable silence.  Aeka's eyes
closed and she started to lean forward.  Tenchi knew this was the
start of a kiss.  He wanted to kiss her, just like he had done to
Ryoko.  He tilted his head and started to lean forward then Aeka went
suddenly flying across the ice, Ryoko having rammed into her.  Aeka
screamed, her arms flailing as she skated out of control and crashed
head first into a snow drift on the bank of the pond.
     "Oppps!  I am so clumsy!  I just lost control.  I am so sorry.
Maybe you could help me with my skating Tenchi."
     "You seemed to be doing fine earlier." He said, cocking an
eyebrow at her, speaking in a flat tone which conveyed his disbelief
of Ryoko's "accident".  He skated over to Aeka and helped her up.
     "You okay?" he said.
     Aeka's face was red hot.  Her eyebrows were furrowed close
together, a vicious grimace on her face, her lower lip trembling in
boiling anger.
     "RYOKO!  You did that on purpose!" she exploded.
     "I did not!  It was an accident!" Ryoko protested.
     "Have I ever told you how much I hate your guts Ryoko?" Aeka
hissed.
     "Well I can assure you the feeling is mutual you stuck up
bit---"
     "HEY! HEY!  Come on you two!  This is suppose to be the season
of friendship and family.  Jeez.  Can't you just get along for these
couple of days?" Tenchi sighed.
     Aeka folded her arms over her chest and hmphed!  Ryoko stuck
her tongue out, pulling the skin under her eye down.  Her other hand
giving Aeka the bird.
     "And you need to cool it the most Ryoko." Tenchi barked.
     "What did I do!?  You always take her side!"
     "Because you're usually the one that starts it." Tenchi
shouted.
     Ryoko look genuinely hurt by that.  Her eyes started to tear
up and her lower lip quivered.  "Well fine then!  If I am such a
bother I'll just leave!"
     Ryoko blinked out of sight.  Tenchi sighed heavily, his
festive mood suddenly drained.  He felt guilty suddenly.
     "I'll be back." Tenchi said, heading for the house.  When he
cleared the tree line he could see a figure on top of the roof,
sitting.  He could tell it was Ryoko.  He made his way into the house
and up to the attic.  He climbed up the ladder and opened the roof
hatch.  He stuck his head out and saw Ryoko sitting there, her back
turned to him.  He could hear her crying and frowned.  He climbed on
to the roof, closing the hatch, then he sat down next to her.
Uncomfortable silence.
     "Ryoko..." he started to say.
     "Leave me alone.  I don't want to be a bother to you." She
sniffled, not looking at him.
     "Look at me."
     She sniffled, wiped her eyes and looked at him.  She looked
really sad and it drilled a hole through Tenchi's heart.
     "I'm sorry Ryoko.  I didn't mean to yell at you."
     "I just get so jealous." She hugged him.  Tenchi blinked then
hugged her back.  She rested her head on his shoulder.
     "Yeah.  I know." He said, doing the next thing that came
natural.  He stroked her hair comfortingly.
     "It seems to me that you like her more." She whispered.
     Tenchi had no reply to that.  He thought about it and again he
could not choose.  To choose one was to lose the other and he decided
right then that he loved them both.  It was not a solution but for him
it was enough at that moment.
     "I..."
     <Say it stupid.  It's easy.  Tell her.>
     "I..."
     Ryoko pulled back and looked at Tenchi, her eyes searching
his.
     "I..."
     "...love you too." Ryoko said.  She kissed him softly on the
lips.  Tenchi melted into the kiss and hugged her tightly, letting go
of his bent up oppressed feelings.  He kissed back, a little rougher.
Ryoko reacted to the more aggressive kiss and parted her lips
slightly, running her tongue along his lips.  Tenchi opened his mouth
slightly and added his tongue to the kiss.  And then they lost their
balance on the roof and began sliding down it.  Tenchi yelped, arms
flailing, trying to grab something.  When the roof ran out Tenchi shut
his eyes and cried out but he did not fall.  He dared to open his eyes
back up after a couple of seconds.  Ryoko was staring at him, smiling.
He looked down.  They were floating high above the ground.  Tenchi
looked back at her and smiled, chuckling.
     "You can let go of them now, if you want." Ryoko winked.
     Tenchi noticed his hands were firmly planted on her breasts.
He laughed nervously and quickly let go.
     "Tenchi?" Nobuyuki called out.  "Where are you?"
     Ryoko floated them to the ground in front of Nobuyuki.
     "The tree is here.  Give me a hand would you."
     "Sure."
     They walked around to the front of the house.  Tenchi stopped
dead in his tracks.  The tree somehow looked even bigger than it had
at the lot.
     "Wow." Ryoko whistled.
     "How are we going to get that in the house dad?" Tenchi asked.
     "Wow!  What a pretty tree!" Sasami said as Aeka and her
arrived on the scene.
     "Magnificent." Aeka gasped.
     "I figure we can take it through the garage into the den, but
first, we have to make room in the den."
     They entered the house and  looked around the den.  Tenchi
concluded after just a few seconds that there was no way to fit the
tree.  The ceiling was just to low.
     "There's no way.  The ceiling is to low."
     "Not a problem!" Ryoko smiled.
     The gem on her right wrist glowed and she aimed her hand up at
the ceiling.  A ball of orange energy shot up and blew a hole through
it.  Everyone in the room blinked at her.
     "What!?" Ryoko blinked back.
     After two hours of agonizing struggle they finally got the
tree inside, in it's base, and standing up right.  The hole Ryoko had
created had worked out perfectly.  The tree itself had survived the
move almost completely intact.  When it was in place they stood back
and admired it, short winded.
     "Let's start decorating!" Sasami said eagerly.
     Everyone fell over in exhaustion.

     Tenchi dragged himself into his room which now had the top of
a Christmas tree sticking through the floor.  He ignored it and
flopped into bed.  The clock on his night stand said it was 2 a.m.  It
had taken nearly 8 hours to decorate the thing and he was bushed.  It
was very pretty though, thanks to the artistic vision of Sasami.
     Tomorrow would be the party.  Tenchi looked forward to
spending Christmas with all his friends and family.  That happy
thought was on his mind as he passed into sleep.

     Washuu flipped up the welding shield and wiped her brow.  The
last bit of hardware was in place and the software was complied.  Now
all she had to do was hunt for what she needed to make this an
unforgettable present.  Tomorrow she would give her present to Tenchi,
Nobuyuki and Youshou.  The excitement building in her was driving her
mad.  She flew to her chair and began the hunt.



PART FOUR:  CHESTNUTS ON AN OPEN FIRE

     Tenchi rolled on his side with a sleepy grumble and then he
woke up.  Half expecting to see Ryoko laying there, he was
disappointed when she wasn't.  He looked at the calendar.  Today's
date had a big red circle around it.  Party day had arrived.
     The smell of something really delicious came to his nose and
got him up out of bed.  He put on a tank top and headed down stairs,
following the aroma to the kitchen.  Sasami was hard at work baking.
She had already prepared two appetizer trays, which were lying on the
table, covered by saran wrap.  She opened the oven and pulled out the
rack inside.  On it was a huge turkey.  She looked at the pressure
gauge stuck in it then slide it back in oven, closing the door.
     "You're hard at work." Tenchi said.
     Sasami spun around with the same sweet smile on her face that
was always there.
     "Good morning Tenchi!  Yes!  I am going to be preparing the
food for the party most of the day!  Oh, I made you breakfast too."
     Tenchi looked at the plate which had a large portion of
scrambled eggs, four juicy pieces of bacon and two pieces of perfectly
browned and buttered toast.  Next to that was a tall glass of ice cold
orange juice.
     "Thanks Sasami!  That's very kind of you."
     "No problem.  Now take it and get out!" she smiled sweetly.
     Tenchi nodded, gathering some silverware, a napkin and his
food.  He headed into the den to admire the mighty Masaki Christmas
tree.  The perfect amount of lights, garland and ornaments were mixed
together to make this one of the best trees Tenchi had ever seen.
Underneath the tree were a pile of presents wrapped with care, at
least the ones not wrapped by Ryoko.
     Tenchi chewed on a piece of bacon and thought how lucky he
was.  He had the best friends, a good family, a nice house.  All that
was missing was the touch of a mother.  He smiled as he remember a
Christmas from so long ago.  The tree had sat in the same spot, not
nearly as big, but just as pretty.  Achika, his mother, had been there
then.  He was three then but he remembered it all clearly.  He could
almost see her again, her smiling face as she handed out the gifts.
He shook the thought from his mind.  It always made him sad to think
about her.  It had not use to bother him so much until he had been
with her, defending her from Kain, in another time.
     "It's pretty." Ryoko said from behind.  Tenchi looked to his
right where Ryoko was leaning over the couch.  She smiled at him and
he smiled back.
     "Yeah.  We did a really good job." He said, offering her a
strip of bacon.  She took it and nibbled on it.
     "Look at all those presents.  Watcha get me Tenchi?" she said
with a cute smile, snuggling her cheek against his.
     "I am not telling.  You'll just have to suffer till tonight
like the rest of us."
     "Phooey."
     Ryoko floated over the couch and sat down next to him, looking
at the tree.  Tenchi put an arm around her shoulders.  At that moment
Aeka came down the stairs and a look of disbelief filled her face.  He
had his arm around her.
     "Tenchi?" Aeka said.  Tenchi looked back and up.
     "Good morning Aeka.  Come and sit with me a moment." Tenchi
said.  She obeyed sitting next to him on the opposite side from Ryoko.
Tenchi sat his food on the table then put his arm around Aeka.
     "I just wanted you two to know that no matter what present you
got me, the best one is right here.  Your friendship is the best thing
I could ever have." He said.  He pulled both of them to him, and
kissed both on the cheek.  Aeka blushed, a little misty eyed.  Ryoko
smiled and cuddled.
     "Thank you Lord Tenchi." Aeka choked up then laid her head on
his shoulder.
     "Yeah.  That means a lot to me Tenchi." Ryoko whispered
softly, staring at the tree.
     "That's my boy!  Go for the gold!  Two is better than one I
always say!" Nobuyuki said from the stairs.  The gang looked up at
Nobuyuki standing at the bottom of the stairs in his robes.  In his
hand he held a very nice looking Pioneer camcorder which he was
looking through.
     "Say hi." He waved to them.
     "Mr. Masaki!  Please!  I am hardly ready to have my picture
taken." Aeka said, hiding behind Tenchi.
     "Bah!  You could never truly be ready for a picture anyway
Aeka." Ryoko giggled.
     "And here we here in the family den.  As you can see, this
year's tree is a whopper and quite beautiful."  Nobuyuki panned the
camera up and down the tree then he sniffed the air.  "I smell the
sweet aroma of Sasami's cooking.  Into the battlefield that is the
kitchen!" Nobuyuki said, panning the room and heading down the hall to
the kitchen.
     "You're dad sure loves his cameras." Ryoko said.
     "Yeah.  Don't tell him but that's my gift to him.  I bought
him the new multilensed, super zoom capable Pioneer camcorder with
onboard editing features, the works." Tenchi said.
     Ryoko whistled.  "Bet that cost a bit."
     Tenchi nodded.
     "Did you spend that much on me Tenchi?" Ryoko cuddled again.
     "Why would he waste money on a pirate like you?" Aeka bleahed.
     "As I said before, you'll just have to wait and see."
     "Phooey!" Ryoko said.
     The doorbell rang at that moment.  Tenchi got up and answered
it.  Standing outside was Mihoshi and Kiyone.
     "Hi everyone!" Mihoshi chirped happily.
     "Mihoshi somehow sweet talked the manager into giving us the
day off." Kiyone smiled.
     "Come on in!" Tenchi said, hugging them in turn.  Each one had
a few wrapped presents which they placed under the tree.
     "Sorry we're so early but we had nothing better to do."
Mihoshi said.
     "Nice tree.  A little tall." Kiyone said, looking up at the
hole in the ceiling.
     "That's no problem.  Make yourselves at home.  I am going to
go take a shower then I'll be back down."
     "All right!  I'm going!  I'm going!" Nobuyuki's voice came
from the hall.  He entered the room with camera rolling and locked it
on Mihoshi and Kiyone.  "And here we have Galaxy Police Detectives
Mihoshi and Kiyone.  Say hello girls."
     "Hello Mr. Masaki." Kiyone waved.  Mihoshi bowed and giggled.
     "This is our first Christmas to have such distinguished guests
in our presence." Nobuyuki commented into the portable microphone.
Mihoshi giggled more, blushing slightly.  Kiyone just smiled.
     The sound of a door creaking made Nobuyuki spin the camera
around.  The yellow door to Washuu's sub-space lab was opening,
slowly, frighteningly.  The hinges made a terrible sound.
     "Oh!  Behold viewers, a rare appearance by the beautiful
goblin that dwells in the caverns below the house." Nobuyuki said.
     Washuu walked out waving at the camera, her long bright red
hair held back by her purple scrunchy.
     "Just who are you calling a goblin?" she smiled.
     "No one Queen Washuu." Nobuyuki bowed.
     "That's better." She giggled.
     "Why Washuu, I am surprised you showed your cute face at all."
Nobuyuki said.  "You're coming to the party?"
     She held up her fingers in a victory pose and nodded.  "I
wouldn't miss it for the world."
     "I am going to take a shower." Tenchi said, heading up stairs.
     When he returned to the living room everyone was there,
talking and laughing.  He smiled at his family, and his friends he
considered family.  He came down the stairs the rest of the way and
entered the group.
     "How's the supper coming Sasami?" Tenchi asked.
     "It's great!"
     "Because Aeka didn't help you make it." Ryoko said.
     "Ryoko." Tenchi said in a warning tone.
     "I know.  I know." She smiled.
     "I'd like to thank you again Tenchi for inviting Kiyone and I.
This is our first Christmas.  I am so excited!" Mihoshi bowed.
     "I couldn't see it any other way." Tenchi smiled.
     "So when do we bust out the presents!?" Washuu shouted above
everyone.
     "After dinner tonight," Tenchi answered.  He eyed the
appetizer tray on the table which everyone had already dug into.  He
picked up a finger sandwich and swallowed it whole.  "Which is going
to be spoiled if I eat to much of this stuff."
     Everyone laughed.
     "I want to say that I am glad that so many girls are here this
year." Nobuyuki said.
     "You would be happy." Ryoko chuckled.
     "It's good to have a full house." Nobuyuki said sincerely.
Everyone smiled at the warm thought.
     "I am thankful for not being stuck in that stupid cave anymore
and to have a place to call home again.  I have you to thank for that
Nobuyuki." Washuu said.  She got up and kissed him on the forehead.
He blushed.
     "Well, if it gets me a kiss from a queen I'm all for it." He
laughed.
     "I want to thank you for being so kind to Sasami and I.  I
should thank you the most Mihoshi.  Because of your distress beacon I
found everyone here, my friends." Aeka bowed.
     "You're welcome!" Mihoshi giggled.
     "Yeah, I guess I owe you too Mihoshi.  If you hadn't forced me
to crash on this planet I would have missed all this fun." Ryoko said.
     "I am glad I chased you here.  It gets pretty lonely in space
and even lonelier when you don't have any friends." Mihoshi frowned a
bit then smiled.  "But I have lots now."
     "You... always... had me Mihoshi." Kiyone stuttered through
her sentence.
     "Really?" Mihoshi's eyes sparkled.
     "Yeah.  You may cost me promotion after promotion after
promotion, and you may needlessly risk my life constantly but you're
one of the only people that has ever liked me for who I am, not afraid
of me." Kiyone smiled.
     Mihoshi's eyes watered then a waterfall of tears exploded
forth.  "That's so sweet!" she said, glomping on to Kiyone.  Kiyone
patted her on the back.
     "It's really been a lot of fun!" Sasami said.  "I've got to
meet so many interesting people and make new friends, especially you
Tenchi."
     Tenchi blushed at the tone in which she used his name.
Nobuyuki laughed.  "You got them all chasing after you Tenchi.  You
make your father so proud!"
     "Dad!  Come on!" Tenchi said, turning beat red.
     Everyone laughed.  When everyone quieted back down Tenchi
stood up and cleared his throat.
     "My life has really been touched by the presence of each and
everyone of you.  I can't even remember what a normal life was like."
     There was laughter.  Tenchi continued.
     "You sure know how to show a guy a good time.  We've been
through a lot together and I hope it never ends.  I love each and
every one of you."
     Mihoshi burst into tears again.
     "I'm so moved." She cried.
     "Of course, you love some more than others, right Tenchi?"
Ryoko purred.
     "Yes, like me." Aeka said, cooing into his other ear.
     Ryoko made a buzzer sound.  "Wrong!  Try again princess."
     "You really love me the most don't you Lord Tenchi?"
     "Yeah sure, whatever.  Has he kissed you yet?" Ryoko grinned.
     "K-ii-ssed?  Tenchi?  You didn't kiss this monster did you?"
Aeka said, clutching Tenchi's shirt desperately.
     "Well..." he said, sweating bullets.
     Nobuyuki held up a piece of mistletoe over Tenchi and Aeka's
head then pushed the two together, into a kiss.  Ryoko's left eye
twitched while everyone else laughed.  Aeka's cheeks turned rosy red
as she kissed Tenchi, a kiss that lasted longer than normal.  Ryoko
finally yanked Tenchi back.
     "Come up for air lover boy!" she growled at him.
     Aeka smiled in heavenly joy.
     Youshou stood up next, adjusting his glasses.  "I am blessed
as well with my family and by friends willing risk their lives to save
each other.  Achika would be very proud of you Tenchi."
     Nobuyuki nodded.  "I have raised our boy well mother!"
And so they talked and had a major snowball fight later in the day.  A
snowman building contest was won by Sasami and Aeka and the snow sled
race was won, believe it or not, by Aeka as well.  They skated at the
pond for the rest of the day till the sun went down then gathered back
in the dining room for the feast.  Sasami had prepared a massive meal
complete with turkey, stuffing, corn, green beans, cranberry slices,
corn bread, rolls and tons of other stuff.  Everyone ate till they
felt they would burst then they retired to the living room.
     Aeka and Ryoko cuddled with Tenchi, sharing him in a rare
moment.  They sang Christmas songs and played games, drinking eggnog
which mysteriously had been spiked with sake.  Then the giving of
gifts came about.
     "Normally, mother would hand out the gifts.  I think that...
Mihoshi should do it this year." Nobuyuki said.
     "Me?" Mihoshi looked surprised.
     "Sure.  Go ahead.  The privilege of having a first Christmas
and being really cute." Nobuyuki winked.
     Mihoshi lept up and knelt before the tree.  "Okay then!  Who
wants a present!?"
     Ryoko and Aeka practically knocked each other trying to be the
first.
     "Give me!  Give me!" Ryoko pawed.
     "Ladies first!" Aeka said, elbowing Ryoko.
"Here's one for Ryoko from Nobuyuki.  And one for you Aeka from
Youshou.  And one for Washuu from Tenchi, one for you Kiyone from me!
And here's one for you Ryo-oh-ki!"
     The cabbit meowed excitedly.
     "Here you go Sasami.  That's from Tenchi and here's one for me
from Tenchi too!  Here you are Mr. Masaki, and you too Mr. Masaki.
From Aeka and Sasami."
     They tore into their gifts.  Kiyone got a pair of bright
silver handcuffs with her name engraved on them.  "Oh wow.  Cool!
Thanks Mihoshi!"
     Sasami's gift was a pair of fancy matching kitchen pot holders
with "To" written on the left one, "Cute" on the right.  Sasami
giggled.  "Thank you Tenchi!  I needed a new pair."
     Ryo-oh-ki tore open her rather large present with her tiny
paws and meowed excitedly when a basket full of bright delicious
carrots was revealed.
     Aeka's present was a finely crafted crystal blue pendant.  She
held it up to the light admiring it's perfect cuts.  "It is very
beautiful Mr. Masaki.  Thank you." She said, putting it on.
     Ryoko tore through her wrapping in record time revealing a
pair of beautiful bracelets.  "Super Pirate" was engraved in the
surface of each.  "Cool!  Thanks!" she said putting them on.  She then
pecked Nobuyuki on the cheek and sat back down.
     Nobuyuki and Youshou opened their presents and received a
personalized leather wallet and sandals, respectively.  "Very nice."
Nobuyuki said.  "Yes, thank you Sasami, Aeka." Youshou said.
     Washuu shredded her wrapping and found a cheery oak plaque
with "Cutest Scientist Of The Millennium Award, Washuu." in gold on
it.  "It's the total truth too.  Thank you Tenchi."
     Mihoshi opened her present which was a trophy, the head piece
being a crumpled space ship.  "Best Planetary Landing Award." Mihoshi
laughed and ran over to hug Tenchi and give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you Tenchi."
     "You deserve it." He smiled.
     Ryoko handed Tenchi a flat large poorly wrapped rectangular
package.  "This is from me Tenchi.  I hope you like it." She said.
     Tenchi smiled and tore it open and his eyes bugged out.
Nobuyuki grinned and Youshou cleared his throat.  It was a gorgeous
still life painting of Ryoko in the nude, very life like.
     "You can hang it above you bed." Ryoko smiled.
     "What is it Tenchi?" Aeka asked.  Tenchi quickly wrapped it
back up the best he could.  "Just a picture frame."
     "Here's mine to you Lord Tenchi." Aeka said handing Tenchi a
package.  He opened it.  It was a shirt box.  He opened it and pulled
out a dark blue sweater.  On the front was stitching, "Aeka and Tenchi
Forever.", a heart design in the center of it.  Tenchi smiled.  "Thank
you Aeka.  It's very sweet."  She beamed a smile at him.
     "First wave complete!" Mihoshi said, grabbing more presents.
     "Let's see, To Nobuyuki from Tenchi.  For Ryoko and Aeka from
Tenchi.  To Tenchi from Sasami and here's one from your dad and
granddad as well Tenchi.  That's about it."
     Nobuyuki opened his present and stared, stunned at the new
camcorder.  "Oh my!  The new Pioneer LC-400 super camcorder!"  At that
moment Tenchi thought his dad looked like a little kid in absolute toy
heaven.  Aeka screamed out in joy.  It was a ring, nothing fancy, a
band made of gold with a small imitation gem embedded in it.
     "An engagement ring Tenchi!?" Aeka said excitedly.
     "It's a friendship ring."
     Ryoko smiled as she opened her box and inside was an identical
ring.  She slipped hers on and admired it.
     "It's lovely.  Thank you Tenchi." Ryoko said, kissing his
cheek.  Aeka kissed his other cheek.
     Tenchi opened his gift from Sasami and the crystal blue
unicorn was inside.  Tenchi took it out and looked it over with a
smile.  "This is a very beautiful sculpture Sasami.  Thank you very
much."
     Sasami bowed.
     Tenchi opened his present from his dad and grandfather next.
The box  was long and slender and heavy.  He tore the packaging off.
It was a long cherry oak case with delicate carvings on the top.  He
pulled the latch and the lock popped open.  He carefully opened the
case and a gorgeous katana samurai sword came into view.  The blade
was extra shinny and very sharp.  The hilt was made of white ivory,
carved into the shape of dragon.  Tenchi pulled it out and held it up.
     "Wow.  This is a beautiful sword." Tenchi said.
     "It was specifically made for you Tenchi.  Since you can't
handle Tenchi-ken yet.  You may practice with that instead." Youshou
said.
     "Thank you very much." Tenchi bowed in respect.
     "Well that's that.  That was fun!" Mihoshi said.
     "NOT QUITE ALL THE PRESENTS!" Washuu shouted out, getting
everyone's attention.  "I have saved the best present for last.
Everyone, come with me!"
     Washuu led the train of people into her sub space lab, through
the maze of computers to a door.  She opened the door and ushered
everyone inside.  The chamber was about half the size of a football
field with a domed ceiling curving  twenty feet above.  In the center
of the round room was a strange device with four prongs sticking up.
Resting on the prongs was an orange orb which was pulsating.  A ring
built into the wall circled the room.  It looked like it could move,
designed to rotate around the room.
     "Wow.  This is impressive Washuu." Tenchi said, gazing in awe
at the chamber.
     Washuu smiled warmly.  "Wait till you see what it does.
Tenchi, Nobuyuki, Youshou... Merry Christmas to you." Washuu said,
pressing a switch on a hand held controller.  The ball in the center
hummed to life and lit up brightly.  The ring around the room, as
predicted, began to rotate around the room, slowly at first, building
to a blurring speed.  Then suddenly the orb flashed and the room was
transformed into an exact duplicate of the living room.  It was so
realistic that Tenchi thought he was standing in it again.  But it was
different than before.  The furniture was arranged differently, and
the tree was smaller but still beautiful.  On the ground in front of
the tree was a little boy, perhaps four years old with short black
hair and cute brown eyes.
     "It's me." Tenchi whispered.
     "Merry Christmas Tenchi." someone said behind Tenchi.  His
eyes widened as recognition set in.  He turned around and his heart
skipped a beat as he saw his mother standing there.  Her long black
hair was down to her ankles, tied back into one long pony tail.  She
was dressed in a beautiful blue kimono with yellow flowers decorating
it.  She held a wrapped present in her delicate hands.
     "Mother." Tenchi smiled.
     She walked past him to little Tenchi.  He hugged tightly on to
Achika.
     Tenchi knew this was the past brought to him in the present,
something only Washuu could do.  As Tenchi watched his eyes filled
with happy tears.  He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at his
dad who was also getting teary eyed.
     "Merry Christmas Tenchi." Washuu whispered and faded into the
background.
     Tenchi sat down with his mother and reached out for her, his
hand passing through her.  That's when the tears rolled down his
cheeks.  Nobuyuki kneeled next to his son, his own tears starting to
roll.
     "Mother." Tenchi whispered.
     Achika looked back as if she had heard him, staring straight
at him.  For a moment Tenchi was with his mother again.  She smiled
then looked back to little Tenchi.
     "I miss you." Tenchi cried. He laid his head against his dad's
chest.  Aeka wiped her own tears away.  Ryoko was trying her best to
keep from crying but failed in the end.  Mihoshi was flooding, holding
on to Kiyone.
     "Oh wow!  Thanks mommy!" little Tenchi said as he opened his
present.  It was a toy robot, bright red.  Big Tenchi smiled, wiping
his face.  It did little good as new tears replaced the ones wiped
away.
     "You're welcome." Achika smiled and hugged little Tenchi.
     Big Tenchi hugged Achika as best he could and gave her a kiss
on the cheek.  "I love you mom." He said.
     "I love you Tenchi." Achika said.  It sounded like she had
spoken to him directly but he knew she was talking to his younger
self.  Tenchi sat watching with a smile as Achika, Nobuyuki and his
younger self enjoyed a quite family Christmas together.  For five
minutes Tenchi enjoyed his mother and then the scene flickered and
switched to baby Tenchi in his mother's arms, sitting on the porch
under a star lit sky.  She was singing to him.  "Sleep my Tenchi.
Close your little eyes and sleep."  She had such a pretty voice.
     Nobuyuki smiled as his past self emerged from the house with
two glasses of tea.  He sat down next to her, giving her a quickly
kiss on the cheek.  He handed her the glass of tea which she took with
her free hand.
     "Thank you Nobuyuki."
     "You're welcome." Both Nobuyuki's said in unison.
     "How's our son doing?"
     "He's finally asleep.  Little cranky butt." Achika whispered,
smiling at the sleeping baby.  Tenchi chuckled.
     "He likes it when you sing to him." Past Nobuyuki said.
     "I do." Tenchi whispered, nodding.  He wiped his tears again.
     "Well he heard my song six times tonight.  Guess I bored him
to sleep finally." Achika said, sipping her tea.  "He takes after you
you know."
     "Are you calling me boring?" Nobuyuki said. Achika leaned back
into him with a smile.
     "Hardly," She said, kissing Nobuyuki's neck.  "I love you."
     "I love you too." Both Nobuyuki's spoke.
     Nobuyuki removed his glasses and wiped his face of tears,
rubbing his eyes.  He replaced his glasses then the scene flickered
and changed again.  A nine year old Achika came running up the path
toward the porch they were sitting on.  Someone called out her name
from behind.  Youshou smiled at his voice calling out his daughter's
name.
     "I'm coming papa!" she said, scurrying up to the porch.
     Youshou opened his arms to receive his daughter.  She opened
her arms and ran through him to the past Youshou.  Present Youshou
closes his arms as if he had hugged her.  The past Youshou grabbed on
to her and swung her around a few times.  She giggled and Youshou
kissed her on the forehead.
     "You're mother was starting to worry about you."
     "I was playing with the fishes.  They're fun!" She smiled
cutely.
     "Well let's go eat.  She has prepared a special meal tonight."
Youshou said, putting Achika on his shoulders and entering the house.
     The scene flickered again.  Achika was much older now, dressed
in a high school graduation robe.  She stared at herself in the full
length mirror.  There was a knock at the door.
     "Come in." she said.
     Youshou and Nobuyuki entered her room.  Nobuyuki was dressed
in an identical graduation robe, Youshou dressed in a tuxedo.
     "Look at you.  My grown up girl." Youshou smiled.
     "You look pretty in that Achika." Nobuyuki said, giving her a
warm hug.
     "And you are handsome." She kissed him and he blushed.
Youshou chuckled.  The scene flickered out again and was replaced by
an outdoor scene, before the shrine.  Many people were gathered and
they stood as music started to play.  The turned their heads to watch
as Achika appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in a gorgeous
white wedding gown.  She made her way down the path and joined past
Nobuyuki at the altar.
     "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this glorious day to
join together this man and woman in the bonds of holy matrimony.
Forever, from this day forth shall they share their lives with each
other.  Speak your words to each other."
     Nobuyuki smiled at his wife and had to remove his glasses
again to wipe his eyes clear.  His past self turned to face her,
taking her hands in his.
     "Achika, you are my first and only love.  I would give my life
for you and more.  I will forever be by your side no matter how far
apart we may travel.  I want you and no other for as long as I should
live and even then I hope we will be together.  I love you."
     Achika had to wipe the tears threatening to overflow from her
eyes.
     "You are my first and only love as well Nobuyuki.  To you I
give my life and forever shall I stay by your side, even if I should
pass from this world into the next.  I will love you and no other."
She said.
     The ring bearer came to the altar and the priest took them,
holding the beautiful pieces of jewelry up.
     "These rings, forged of circles, forever joined together.
This is the symbol of their love and their devotion to each other.
Nobuyuki, take this ring and place it on Achika's finger and repeat
after me."
     He did so giving her hand a loving squeeze.
     "I, Nobuyuki Masaki, take you Achika Misaka to be my wife for
all eternity, to love and honor you even into the next life." the
priest said.  Nobuyuki repeated his vows flawlessly.
     The priest handed Achika her ring.  "Repeat after me.  I,
Achika Misaka, take this man Nobuyuki Masaki as my own, to love and
honor him for all eternity." the priest spoke again.  She repeated her
vows, tears on her cheeks.
     "Under the eyes of God and these witnesses gathered here today
I now pronounce you husband and wife."
     Nobuyuki turned to her and she to him.  They leaned in and
proceeded into a warm long passionate kiss.  Cheers erupted from the
audience then suddenly the scene flickered into a new one.  It was a
bedroom.  Achika laid in the bed staring out the window.  Little
Tenchi walked into the room frowning.  Achika looked over and smiled.
     "Come here Tenchi."
     Tenchi walked over to her slowly.  She sat up and pulled him
up into her lap.
     "Daddy says you're going away." Little Tenchi said.
     "I have to my little Tenchi." Achika said, stroking his hair.
     "Where are you going?"
     "Someplace special where I will be waiting for you, where I
can watch over you always."
     "Why can't you stay here?"
     "I am sick Tenchi.  I have to go to a place where I will be
better."
     "Can't I come with you?" he said.
     "I need you to stay here and help out your father."
     Tenchi thought this over a moment then hugged his mother.
     "Okay mommy.  I don't want you to be sick anymore."
     She hugged him close, a tear escaping from her left eye.
     "Just remember Tenchi, no matter where you are, I will always
be with you.  I love you so very much."
     Then the scene flickered out of existence and Tenchi was left
sitting on the floor of the room Washuu had built.  The spinning ring
came to a stop and the orb stopped glowing.  Tenchi continued to stare
where Achika had been.
     "I know mom.  I can feel you here now." Tenchi sniffled and
wiped his wet face on his sleeve.  He stood up and turned, giving
Washuu a tender hug.  "Thank you Washuu.  I will never forget this."
Nobuyuki hugged her next then Youshou.
     The party finished an hour later, the Christmas tree's lights
were turned off and everyone went to bed.  Kiyone and Mihoshi crashed
in the living room, wrapped up in sleeping bags.  Upstairs, Tenchi
laid in his bed, snuggled up with a certain red robot, a smile on his
face as he slept.  On his night stand, a picture of Achika watched
over him next to a picture of his best friends.


                                THE END
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