ah, look what I miss when I don't turn on the computer...
Vacation Days
Chapter 8
"We're almost on top of it."
Malgaunt's whisper carried on the wind just into Funuyaki's hearing.
The
marshal-turned- potential-revolutionary wasn't quite correct about
that. It
^extra space here
was she and Ariana that were almost on top of it. They were the ones
that
*snip*
one. Initially, everyone -save Funuyaki and Autolycus- had been
delighted
^everyone--save
^Autolycus--had
*snip*
"There's no way she could have known the code!"
'course not...that woman has more luck!
*snip*
Autolycus gave a soft sigh of relief. "Praise be. Now we can get on
with
our lives and finally get off this rock."
"Don't... start!" Stargrave snarled, turning in anger upon the
diminutive
creature.
Some people don't learn, do they??
Autolycus held up his small, gnarled hands. "No offense was
intended, but
you've known my feelings on the matter."
Stargrave raised his face to the skies and allowed the gentle rain
to wash
over him. He needed desperately to believe in something. Perhaps
Autolycus
was right. Maybe the whole plot with the Shihana had been nothing
more than
a fanciful dream he would never have seen to fruition. Maybe it was
time to
get on with his life and get out of the pirate business altogether
and do
something else. Something peaceful. Perhaps-
Yes, please come to your senses!
"I can track them!"
Never mind...
*snip*
"It survived," Autolycus informed him, then turned to Stargrave. "Do
you
remember when I took a leave of absence a few months back? It was
then I
^then that I
stumbled upon its location in the protected zone around Earth.
Sirocco's
outward form has changed so much that she's physically
unrecognizable, and
she's taking great efforts to mask her presence, but it is her. She
is
powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than before." He paused a
moment to
allow the information to sink in. "Think about it, Sa'bre. A first
generation space tree at your command. It'll be true power for you,
not
this bone the Yagdagron intend to throw at you for helping them
overthrow
an empire."
Very sneaky indeed.>
*snip*
Autolycus looked deeply into Sa'bre's eyes. It was as he suspected;
Stargrave would never give up on his quest. "Then it's time for me
to go. I
have no desire to watch you destroy yourself, or waste my time any
further.
You're on your own from now on." Autolycus turned and headed back
the way
they had come.
A nice show of integrity here. I like it.
Her mind began racing. What about Autolycus's offer? A chance to get
out of
the situation? She had been looking for one since the entire fiasco
had
been revealed to her. Now it seemed, at least on the surface, that
she had
an opportunity to cut her losses and run. Could she salvage
something of
her career? Could she even salvage something of her life? What was
there
for her if she ran away now?
And what if, in spite of all the difficulties that Malgaunt and the
others
had encountered, they still somehow succeeded in their plans and
overthrew
the Jurai Empire? Where would she be then? Could she afford to pass
up the
rewards if they were successful, even with the recriminations she
had over
her own actions? She had to make a choice, and she had to make it
now. What
was she going to do?
(Kara holds her breath)
A soft smile was the first response she gave to Autolycus. For the
second,
she said, "My fate is here with these others. Nothing can change
that now.
Nothing."
A final sigh escaped Autolycus's lips. "Such a waste," he murmured,
then
turned and began walking away again.
DRAT
"Do you want me to bring him back, or take care of him?" Ariana
asked
Stargrave.
"And what purpose would that serve?" Stargrave gave Ariana a
disappointed
look. "He's free to come or go as he pleases. It just means he'll be
cut
out of the deal when the time for rewards comes." He shouldered the
back he
^pack
had been carrying. "It's time to move out. Every second we waste
here the
Shihana gets further away from us. Ariana, show us the way."
*snip*
It was getting close to Mihoshi's turn to pull the anti-gravity
sled. It
was not so much the weight of the sled that bothered Tenchi -it was
in an
^Tenchi--it
antigravity field and was weightless- it was the slow, steady pace
and
^weightless--it
*snip*
"I can carry it a while longer." It was true that Mihoshi had
insisted on
pulling the sled at least half of the time, and it was the fair
thing to
do, but chivalry, along with a bit of a desire to be macho, made him
want
to pull it at least fifty minutes out of every hour.
Mihoshi was adamant. "No. It's been two hours and that means it's my
turn
to pull it. Now give it up, Tenchi."
Nice characerization on both of them
"Why don't we wait in there, you know, with how the weather is and
all?"
Tenchi pointed to the mouth of the cave.
"What do you mean? What's wrong with the weather?"
She's tougher than I thought
*snip*
Once they were satisfied
with their space, they elected to leave the sled outside at the
mouth of
the cave, the size of it being far too large to make staying in the
cave
comfortable.
Why does that give me a BAD feeling??
*snip*
"Do you have something that could
start a fire?"
"Hmm. I think I might have something, if I remember correctly."
Mihoshi
rifled through the pockets of her uniform until she came up with a
book of
matches. She handed it to Tenchi.
Tenchi's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked the matchbook over.
"You've
been to The G-Spot Club?"
"Yes," Mihoshi said, giggling. "I went with Ryouko and Aeka last
month. It
was all Ryouko's idea. She said she'd been there lots of times and
that it
had great food."
"It's the most infamous male strip club in all of Tokyo."
"Oh. I guess that would explain why the waiters were so big and
handsome
and wore those tight leather pants muscle shirts. And here I thought
it was
just because the place was really warm. Anyway, we had a really fun
time
and all got along really well. The waiters were very accommodating
too."
Mihoshi got a far off look in her eyes. "One of them gave me a nine
inch
sausage."
Tenchi made a strangling noise.
*falls off chair*
"It was bigger than anything I ever had before. I was so proud of
myself. I
managed to swallow the whole nine inches on the first try."
Tenchi began choking on air.
*somebody call 911 for Tenchi!*
"Even Ryouko was impressed by that. She said she wanted to try too,
but she
could only get seven inches down before she gagged."
Tenchi's heart began to fail.
"Aeka said that was nothing and got a nice, fat, juicy foot long one
down
in a single gulp. She said she was so good at it because of her
Juraian
bridal training. Who'd have thought they taught that sort of thing
in
bridal training, right, Tenchi? Tenchi?"
*Um, DB, you forgot to tag this one...* *gets hysterical*
Mihoshi suddenly realized that Tenchi had stopped breathing and
promptly
began giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Forget 911. That's better
*snip*
"Anyway, I don't want you to go
back there again."
Wow, he's telling her what to do? *looks around for the real Tenchi*
*snip*
"I just don't want you to go there because it makes me uncomfortable
that
you would hang around guys like... that."
"Like what?" Mihoshi asked in bewilderment.
"Err, guys that like to go around showing off their bodies at the
drop of a
hat."
"You mean like Ryouko does with you?" Mihoshi asked.
"Yes, exactly like-"
[NOOO! You idiot! You fell into the trap!]
It was too late. Mihoshi, as scatterbrained as she could be at
times, was
still a woman. "If I don't mind you hanging around Ryouko, why
should you
mind me hanging around guys like that?"
[Told you so]
Tenchi began to panic at having the tables suddenly turned on him.
"It's..."
[It's called a double standard. I can hang around whoever I want,
but you
are allowed only to hang around people that I think are okay. Which
means
you can't breathe the same air as anything male that doesn't looks
like he
was beaten with an ugly stick, broke the stick, and then got hit
with
another one. Deal with it.]
That wasn't going to work. Even with Mihoshi.
[I'm fresh out of ideas then. You're on your own from now on.]
Tenchi gave a sigh. Best to tell the truth. "I shouldn't. It's wrong
of me,
I know, but I can't help the way I am. I'm sorry. You can hang out
with
whoever you want."
"Of course I can," Mihoshi said confidently. "But I won't go there
again.
If it makes you uncomfortable, it would make me uncomfortable and
then I
wouldn't have fun, and if I wouldn't have fun, there wouldn't be any
reason
for me to go."
Got away with it, did he? Hm.
*snip*
"Are you sure you can't make a fire?"
"How? It's not like-" Tenchi paused, looking down at the floor of
the cave
until he spotted what he wanted. He picked up two greenish-blue
colored
rocks. "It's not like you can just randomly pick up a couple of
rocks and
hit them together, hoping you can make a spark and start a fire."
To prove his point, Tenchi drew the rocks back, then brought them
forward
to strike one another. Just as they were about to make contact, he
heard
Mihoshi cry out, "Wait, Tenchi! Don't do it!"
Tenchi was about to ask her what the problem was as the rocks struck
one
another. A bright red-colored light formed where the rocks
contacted, then
a wave of heat knocked Tenchi unconscious.
*nods* *knew something like that was going to happen*
*snip*
"After about a year of that, I was reassigned. A became mobile,
working a
^I became, maybe?
bunch of different assignments with different partners, all of them
good,
upstanding officers. My career took off, and I made dozens of arrest
and
^arrests
won a chest full of medals and commendations for a job well done.
But as
time passed, I fell further into debt and further into misery. I
mean, I
was scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel in money. I have to
admit, I
was sort of desperate. That's probably why I went along with what
happened
next.
*snip*
"We met in a large city on his homeworld. I nice, dank, back
alleyway in
the dead of night; the proper place for such underhanded dealing to
take
place, yes? He was there, smirking at me like the cat that had
swallowed
the proverbial barchard. And all the time fear gnawed away at me in
a way
I'd never felt before. Getting gunned down in the line of duty, that
I
could handle. But to be arrested, dishonored and thrown into prison
for the
sake of busting a few criminals, that was too much to take. I
thought I was
going to break down, I stress was eating away at me that bad.
^the stress
*snip*
"As to Ariana herself, she was bought and married to a rather
wealthy lord
named Bethlamu that had this gambling problem.
^suggest: who had a gambling problem.
*snip*
"Whatever."
"At least I managed to get a fire going using some of the excess
flames you
produced."
"I noticed you did that before you put me out."
"Well, you were the one that wanted a fire going. I was just trying
to
help, and it's not like you got burned much."
"I see."
"I have a marker if you want to try and draw your eyebrows back on."
LOL!!!
*offers Tenchi some of Cologne's salve...oops, that's my story*
*snip*
"You usually try to keep them from
fighting, don't you?" Mihoshi might not have had much success at it,
but
she did try.
"Of course," Mihoshi said as though it was the most obvious thing in
the
world. "I don't like to see anyone fight, especially when deep down
inside
they're really friends, like those two are. I see more than enough
people
fighting in my line of work. If I never saw two people arguing
again, it
would be all right with me."
"I see." That was a new insight on Mihoshi. Tenchi found the answer
simple,
but in this case the simplicity of it made it all the more poignant.
It
impressed him.
I like that. A lot.
*snip*
"Isn't the Grand Marshal your grandfather?"
"Yes," Mihoshi said. "He's been the top man of the Galaxy Police for
nearly
twenty years now."
"It must have made getting on the force pretty easy."
"That's not true!" she shot back with the sound of anger in her
voice.
Tenchi found himself taken aback by the intensity of Mihoshi's
denial, and
that she actually directing anger in his direction. "I'm sorry. I
just
assumed that since he was your grandfather and all..."
Mihoshi shook her head furiously. "A lot of people think that
because he's
family that's how I got my position on the force, but they're all
wrong. If
anything, it made my graduating the academy even worse."
"How so?" Tenchi hoped she would calm down. There was something
about
Mihoshi being angry at him that he found very disturbing.
"Because he didn't want me to join the Galaxy Police," Mihoshi
explained.
"He was dead set against it. He thought I should get into a line of
work
that was less hazardous. But I wanted to be a police officer more
than
anything in the galaxy. So I went ahead and enrolled, even over
grandfather's objections. Once I got accepted into the academy, he
saw to
it I had the hardest instructors and was given the most difficult
tests so
that I'd fail. But I didn't. I refused to lose. I put everything I
could
into trying really hard and passing everything they could throw at
me. And
I did it. It wasn't easy. I think maybe it was the hardest time I
ever had
in my life. But I surprised everyone, even my instructors, by
graduating
with honors, in spite of everything they tried to do." With her
explanation
over, Mihoshi relaxed.
Once again, Tenchi found himself impressed by Mihoshi's intensity.
"It
looks like I underestimated you again. Sorry about that."
Very, very nice.
*snip*
"Sorri Techi," Mihoshi slurred as she walked across him and into the
night
^Tenchi
beyond.
*snip*
All it had taken was when Mihoshi was at her most
^was waiting until Mihoshi
vulnerable and striking her in the back of the head to bring matters
under
her control.
*snip*
It was over in a second, as the
blade finished its cut and nearly severed Tenchi's opponent nearly
in half.
The world turned black for Ariana, and her last thoughts were of
Sa'bre,
and that she had failed the man she loved, for now there was no one
to warn
him of the unsuspecting dangers he faced at the hands of the boy.
And then there was nothing.
!!! Wow.
The blade of energy sizzled through the air as Tenchi finished the
follow
through on the strike on his opponent. The blow was nearly identical
to the
one that had killed Kagato save that it had not cut quite as deeply
on the
woman, though from the results of his blow, it was deep enough.
Still, as
Tenchi saw the blade slice more cleanly through the woman than it
had upon
his pale-skinned opponent from so many months ago, a surge of
revulsion
threatened to overwhelm him. He had seen the blood and bone that the
blue
blade of energy had cut through, and it nauseated him. When he had
driven
his sword through Kagato, there had been nothing -not even an
obvious wound
on his body- before he dissolved into a death so clean and sanitary
that it
had not even seemed real.
However, the woman's death was nothing so sterile. A spray of blood
from
the body nearly being severed in half had splashed across the bottom
of his
outfit him, leaving an all too real reminder of what he had just
done. The
body of Mihoshi's attacker remained where it was, an unmoving sight
full of
gore. This time the body remained where it was.
Saying it twice seems sort of confusing.
When Kagato's body had
disappeared, it had almost been as though he had never existed, and
if he
had not existed, then Tenchi wouldn't have had to feel guilty about
killing
him, even if deep within he had known the truth and had lived with
it to
this day.
It would not be so easy this time. The evidence was there, and even
though
the woman had intended to kill him -and from the look in her eyes he
knew
that was precisely what she had been going to do- a wave of guilt
shot
though him. Again he told himself it had to be done. It was a simple
choice
that the woman had forced him to make: his and Mihoshi's life or
hers.
Kagato had forced a similar one and the results had been the same.
Tenchi
was just going to have to live with what he had done, just like any
soldier
would on a battlefield. It wasn't easy, but it was a necessary
thing.
Very good explanation.
*snip*
"AHHH!" Mihoshi screamed as she hit him with a palm thrust that
connected
hard with his chin. She rolled out of his grasp and into a standing
position next to his stunned form. She gathered the top of her
uniform and
pulled it up to cover her revealed flesh. "I can't believe you did
that!
And I trusted you so much, Tenchi."
Saw that one coming, but I LIKE it
Senses just started to return to Tenchi, or so he thought, until
hearing
the accusation from Mihoshi. "What?"
"I can't believe you'd hit me in the back of my head and try to take
advantage of me while I was unconscious!"
"I did not-
"You didn't have to knock me out. If you wanted to have sex, all you
had to
do was ask."
Tenchi facefaulted. That proved both a mistake and wake up call at
the same
time.
Kara facefaults with Tenchi
Once they were within ten feet of the entrance, Tenchi began to
speak. "I
think we'd better..." He trailed off as he heard a gentle unlocking
noise
come from the direction of the orb. For some odd reason, the smooth
surface
of the polynison had begun to retract, the top pulling back and
gathering
around the bottom. He stood transfixed as it continued opening until
the
top half had retracted and the contents within the orb could be
clearly
seen at last.
Uh oh
A small metal platform, no bigger than a meter wide, sat in the
bottom of
the sphere. A mechanical device was on the bottom of a the small
platform,
evidently creating the small rippling flow of blue-hued yet
transparent
energy that formed a dome over the true contents of the orb. Tenchi
recognized it as a stasis field, something Washuu had pointed out to
him
one of the times he dared to venture into her lab without others
accompanying him.
"You mean all of this is for some funny looking flower?" Tenchi
said,
staring at the brightly-colored foot tall plant.
Mihoshi's reaction was to visibly pale as she fell to her knees in
shock at
the impossible image before her. There was only the faintest of
whispers
upon her lips, but it was loud enough for Tenchi to hear.
"Shihana."
eep
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry that one took so long to do. Serves me right for proudly
proclaiming
it would probably only take me two weeks to get it out. No
guarantees for
the next one
Make no promises, DB. When they email you, just say "I'm working on
it".
Seriously, I liked it - a lot.
Kara