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The Pledge 1
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These characters do not belong to me. No money is being made here. First in this series there is The Bet, The Gamble, The Wedding Night, and The Pledge. Confusing, isn't it? The Pledge Washu crept inside her house in the morning. She kept one ear on the upstairs and in the back of her brain, kept tabs on Ryoko's awareness. Grinning at the underlying current of joy and happiness radiating from her daughter, she started to quietly get things out of the cupboards and refrigerator to make breakfast. *** "Mmm?" Ryoko crawled out from under Tenchi's arm that was wrapped tightly around her middle. She yawned, stretched, and started on the dutiful task of waking Tenchi up. Flicking a piece of her hair across his nose several times, Tenchi finally woke up. He focused on Ryoko and his eyes went wide. Then the weight of the ring on his left hand made him smile and he kissed his bride of not twenty-four hours. "Good morning, love." He said to her. "'morning," Ryoko mumbled back. "I've got a good question for you." "What is it?" Tenchi said, his eyes sparkling. "Washu's making breakfast downstairs." Ryoko said. Tenchi took a big sniff and could smell things cooking. Ryoko continued. "You don't have any clean clothes." Tenchi looked at his rumpled pile of clothes on the floor. "I'll have to wear those until I can get into my room." He told her. A thought ran through his mind. We're going to have two rooms? That'll never work. Ryoko got up and Tenchi admired her backside as she walked to the closet. She leaned against the edge of the closet and the open door. "Hmm?" she examined her clothes. "What shall I wear today?" She glanced over her shoulder to see Tenchi admiring her. She grinned. That was more like it! She chose her clothes and slowly got into them, knowing that Tenchi's gaze was on her the whole time. Once dressed, she turned around and asked, "Aren't you coming down to breakfast?" Tenchi quickly got dressed and they strolled down to breakfast. *** Washu struggled not to smirk at them. Newly wedded, newly bedded, she thought. Oh, was I ever that young? "Yes, you were, Mom. And I bet if I ask Tsunami, she could tell me charming stories." Ryoko retorted. Washu grinned at her. "Tenchi, how do you want your eggs?" Washu asked. "Over-easy." He replied. Washu cracked two eggs and put them in the frying pan. "So how'd it go?" Washu asked innocently. Ryoko looked at her mother with one eyebrow raised. "What?" Washu said. "I just want to know if my little girl needs her mommy to look at any thing that might be sore." Washu fixed her gaze on Tenchi. "Or any claw marks that might need stitching." "Mom!" Ryoko shrieked. Washu grinned and turned to catch the toast as it popped out of the toaster. *** Once everyone's breakfast was fixed, Washu pointed a fork at them. "Find any other problems?" she asked. Ryoko opened her mouth wide. "No, Ryoko, I'm not referring to last night. Any other problems as for example where are you two going to live?" Washu asked, then put a bite of egg in her mouth. Tenchi and Ryoko looked at each other. "Well," Tenchi started, "we could live in my father's house." "Uh-huh. With two little girls running amok and a newly married couple around." Washu shook her head. "Try again." Ryoko looked at her mother. "What have you got in mind?" Washu grinned. "Cutting to the chase. Good." Washu nodded and a blueprint appeared to their right and Washu's left. "This is the house that I had designed for you." Ryoko and Tenchi looked at the house. It had a large living room, though not the size of Washu's, a small kitchen, a room for videos off the living room, one small bathroom upstairs, a large one downstairs, and four bedrooms in it, two up and two downstairs. In short, it looked a lot like Washu's house. "Now, you realize this is just the prototype." Washu waved a hand dismissively. "Those bedrooms and bathrooms can be shuffled around, depending on whether you want your bedroom to be upstairs or downstairs or next to another bedroom at all. Your big decision is this." Washu took a deep breath. "I can put this anywhere you like. I can make it so that it's like my lab. Step through a doorway and you go to this house. We could have it so that when you stepped through Tenchi's room, you ended up in this house." Tenchi looked at Ryoko. That would be handy. "Or I can set it up so that the house will be built on the other side of the lake." Washu continued. "Or I can set it on Jurai. Anywhere you like, I can put a portal to this house." Washu waited. Ryoko and Tenchi looked at each other. Where did they want their house? Ryoko said softly, "Our house." Tenchi looked at her. "We can have a house all to ourselves." he replied. Washu rolled her eyes. "But where are you going to put your house?" "Washu..." Ryoko said slowly. "Can we have two doorways in the house?" Washu thought about it for a second. "I'd have to tweak the doorways to not interfere with each other, but it could be done. Why?" "Because I don't want to leave this house entirely." Ryoko's eyes glanced at Tenchi, asking him to understand. "Could we have a doorway that involves Tenchi's bedroom leading to our house, but could we link my garden to both houses?" Washu was working with the data in her mind, while Tenchi was asking himself a very important question. Did he mind what he was about to suggest? "Why don't," he started, "we combine the top floors and keep the bottom ones to ourselves?" Ryoko and Washu stared at him, identical looks of amazement on their faces. "You'd do that?" Ryoko said. "That's a good idea." Washu said, stroking her chin. "I could work it so that I entered the second level by the middle of the staircase, whereas you could enter through the garden. If I link the two houses having the bridge be the edge of your garden, Ryoko, and I can enter your house through the garden..." Washu stared off, examining the possibilities. Ryoko beamed at Tenchi. "This is wonderful." She said to him. They looked at each other with love in their eyes. Snap! Washu's fingers close to their heads broke them apart. "Tenchi, Balar's handling your chores, though if you'd like to lend a hand, I think you're welcome. You don't have lessons for the next six days in either subject. So why don't you two go off and pick out some furniture if you'd like." "But the house isn't even done yet." Tenchi objected. Washu winked. "By the time you get back it will be." *** After Washu had given them a portal to put the things in and a keyword to say to activate it, Ryoko and Tenchi went shopping. First they went to a furniture store in the huge mall. They had a very good time picking a couch that both of them liked. Ryoko wanted one that was a pretty fabric, while Tenchi wanted one with a bit of wooden arms. They compromised by having a pretty fabric that covered the arms but had a wooden armpiece sticking out the end. That narrowed down their choices. Ryoko was looking at one that was very pretty and plush when Tenchi sneaked up behind her and whispered in her ear, "That's too narrow." Ryoko frowned and looked at it again. "We're both rather on the skinny side." She said. Tenchi blushed faintly. He whispered to her that there were other places to make love than in bed. She fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Why, Tenchi." She purred. "I had no idea you were that adventurous. We'll make a pirate of you yet." After buying a sofa that was decided upon by the salesperson to be the finest sofa in the place, Ryoko and Tenchi continued to look around. Ryoko's eyes alighted on something she wanted very much. She ducked inside the store with Tenchi wondering what she was up to. Ryoko carefully walked up to a huge wooden rocker. Its headboard was decorated with kittens and big balls of yarn. The arms were slender but wide enough to hold a person's arms up comfortably. The seat was carved to fit narrow or wide comfortably. The rockers on the bottom were curved up to make the rocker go as far forward or backward as the sitter wanted. Tenchi sighed happily as his Ryoko sat in the rocking chair. She looked as a queen on a throne. He chuckled. She would be a queen on a throne one day. The mental picture of Ryoko replacing the throne with a rocking chair caused him to laugh. "You don't like it?" Ryoko said a hurt expression on her face. "No." he said softly. "You look beautiful." The look they shared was one of absolute love. "That's a handmade rocker, lady." A man said coming up to stand beside Tenchi. The term lady was used as a gesture of respect, not of insult. Ryoko's hand stroked the rich brown/red wood. "It's lovely. Do you make them?" The man nodded. "These are just the floor pieces. I make chairs by request also." Ryoko grinned at him. "If I show you what I want on the headboard will you make one exactly like this for me?" He nodded. Ryoko winked at Tenchi and popped out of the chair into nothingness. The man did not seem alarmed. "What is your name, sir?" Tenchi asked politely. "Samson. Yours?" Samson asked. "Tenchi. That was Ryoko." Tenchi explained. Ryoko popped back with a brown and white furball in her hand. "This is who I want on the headboard." Ryoko said and Ryo-ohki leapt out of Ryoko's hands to the floor. The man stared at the cabbit. He grinned suddenly. "Ryoko." He said softly. "I'm going to make a rocking chair for the Space Pirate Ryoko with her devil spaceship Ryo-ohki on the headboard." Tenchi tensed and Ryoko did the same. Ryo-ohki, on the other hand, leapt forward. The man scooped her up and rubbed her small head. He looked calmly at Ryoko. "Balls of yarn, like that one?" Ryoko pulled a carrot out of her pocket. Ryo-ohki saw it as Ryoko dropped it and leapt upon it, crunching merrily. The man winked. "Carrots, then." *** After settling on a price and a day to pick up the rocking chair, Ryoko and Tenchi walked on. They walked into many stores but had already decided not to get too many things today until after they saw the house. A couch was their immediate need. Besides, they had all the money they would need to furnish the house. "But," Ryoko reminded Tenchi, "we also have a place to store the stuff we buy in." The shopping spree continued after lunch. *** Meanwhile back at the ranch, the members of their family were doing what they did everyday. Balar had a lesson with Washu and Ayeka after his chores. He was glad Tenchi hadn't shown up to help him. He had enjoyed the contemplation time. Was he formally engaged to Ayeka now? It didn't worry him, but what if it worried Ayeka? Would she want to marry him now that her father had conceded to it? *** Ayeka was thinking about the same thing. Was she or wasn't she engaged to Balar? He had not given her a ring, but that could be passed over because he didn't know about them. Maybe he thought Tenchi giving Ryoko a ring was an Earth custom. Their wedding rings would be from Jurai's trees, of course. *** Sasami and Mihoshi were doing chores together. Mihoshi usually needed someone to supervise her work. Today, they were dusting the house. "I hope it all works out." Sasami sighed. "What works out?" Mihoshi asked. "Well, Father has agreed to let Ayeka and Balar marry. But they aren't engaged yet or at least Ayeka hasn't been given a ring by Balar. So I don't know if they're engaged or not." Sasami explained. "Wow. That is a tough problem." Mihoshi agreed. "He doesn't have the money to buy one, either." Sasami giggled. "That's not the problem, Mihoshi. If Balar wants a ring, all he has to do is ask Funaho for one." "Why ask Funaho?" Mihoshi said confused. "On Jurai, the wedding bands are usually of the bark. Engagement rings can be the same way. If a royal tree is petitioned for a ring, then if the asker is worthy, a ring will be given." Sasami wound up. "Oh." Mihoshi said. A *clunk!* sounded as a metal object hit the floor. Sasami sighed again. "Mihoshi, try to be careful." *** Balar was around the corner when he heard this. Did Ayeka want this? Was he worthy of her? Maybe he had been reading the signals wrong. He knew that she loved him, but did she want to get married right away? He resolved to ask Tenchi when he returned. Maybe he would have some insight to this problem. *** Ryoko and Tenchi were looking in a furniture store trying to decide on whether they wanted stools or a kitchen table to eat at. They were interrupted by a few of the rough teenagers that roam every mall, inside or outside known space. *Disclaimer: Yes, I know that all teenagers are not rough. I was one not very long ago and protested the label quite strongly. But since most of the Tenchi characters are young, I did not want to bring in a gang of older men to hassle them.* They whispered around the couple for a few minutes then approached them. Ryoko had kept her eye on them and knew they weren't up to anything good. "Hey, are you the space pirate Ryoko?" one of them asked. Ryoko nodded curtly. "Then what are you doing hanging around this loser?" he jabbed his thumb toward Tenchi. The man went on further to say, "When you should be hanging around a handsome devil like me." He ran a hand through his greasy hair and tried to grab her. Ryoko dodged away. "Oh, playin' hard to get, huh?" the teenager started forward again, yanking a projectile weapon out of his jacket. (in other words, a gun of some sort) Ryoko's energy sword came up and Tenchi pulled Tenchi-ken out of his belt. The teenagers all pulled out energy weapons and started to fire at them both. The bolts were absorbed by Ryoko's sword and Tenchi's. Seeing this the teenagers tried to escape, but security showed up and contained them. The manager of the store showed up, making apologies to all the customers. Security approached Ryoko and Tenchi. "Ryoko, you'll have to come with us." The man said. "Why?" she asked. "Don't make me arrest you." He said coldly. Tenchi stepped up to them. "We were attacked by those," he pointed to the teenagers being led off, "and instead of asking us to file a report against them, you're arresting a Princess of Jurai, who defended herself?" Tenchi said mildly. "She's no princess of Jurai." The man said smugly. "She's the space pirate Ryoko." "If I'm the prince of Jurai and I married her yesterday, then technically that makes her a princess of Jurai." Tenchi said solemnly. The guard got a good look at him. He dropped the attack on Ryoko. "Then, your highnesses, will you come to the station to swear out a report?" he said mockingly. Tenchi and Ryoko shrugged at each other and went with him. *** After that unpleasant duty was over, Tenchi and Ryoko decided that enough was enough for the day and went home. *** "It's done." She told them shortly. "Of course, you'll want adjustments made to it..." she muttered. Washu led the way to her house. "We'll enter through mine first." She said shortly. She led them to the stairs. "Here's where it gets tricky. The upstairs is Ryoko's, always has been. Anyone that we invite into my house can go up these stairs. You'll know when someone comes up here because a tiny alarm bell will ring once." Washu stepped on the first step. *ring* came a tiny but distinct sound upstairs. Washu, Ryoko, and Tenchi proceeded up the stairs. "I expanded the bedroom for you." Washu told them. "Bigger closet. I'm assuming you'll want a bigger bed so I added extra space for that." Washu continued on into the garden. "Now the way I have it set up is that your house is bridged by this garden. If you want to get into your house from mine, you walk into the garden and out through that gate." Washu pointed to a gate at the far end of the garden that hadn't been there when they left. Washu walked to the gate and stepped through it. "You don't have to open it." She said to the surprised couple. Once they were through the gate, Washu led the way down a staircase of five steps. She opened a door and stepped through it into Tenchi and Ryoko's house. Washu let them explore it. The kitchen was tiny, but had a wide bar so they could eat on stools if they wished. The video room was empty and so was everything else. The bedrooms were all on the ground floor, all four of them. The bathroom was huge with pools of water running in and out of each other. They grinned together. It was wonderful. Washu cleared her throat. "Try that door." She said pointing to a door that was out the back of the house. Ryoko opened the door to find a backyard with a white picket fence around it and patio stones on the ground. "I thought you'd want it this way." Washu grinned. Washu herded her daughter and son-in-law back inside. "Now, here's something else." She said. She walked up the staircase. Their bedroom was there. "How can it-?" Tenchi said puzzled. "That, would be telling." Washu winked at him. "Now, let's review. You can go from my house up to your floor, tripping the alarm, walk through the garden and the gate, into your bottom floor, and up your house's staircase into mine. The top floors are identical, the same in both places. The only thing that matters is whichever house you go to sleep in, you'll wake up in." *** After a few more "reviews", they left to go to dinner. Over dinner, Washu disclosed that they could also get to their house, bottom floor by entering Tenchi's closet. When asked why the closet, she sighed and said it was traditional. *** So after dinner, Ryoko and Tenchi walked into his closet to find themselves in front of the door, the five steps behind them. Tenchi opened the door and said, "After you." Ryoko nodded to him and flounced through the door. They looked around the empty house. Ryoko said positively, "I have got to do some major shopping tomorrow." Tenchi just sighed. Ryoko looked shyly at him. "Could we take a bath?" Tenchi's eyes softened and he said, "Sure." The couple walked toward the bath hand in hand. They stripped off and slid into the warm, soothing water. Ryoko's face lost the edge of tension it had retained for most of the day and relaxed. "Ryoko?" Tenchi asked worriedly. Ryoko sighed. "It's just soreness, Tenchi. It'll go away." Her eyes opened. "Unless you want to now..." she trailed off. "No. You're sore." He told her. She smiled faintly. "Most of the guys I came in contact with wouldn't care." "Well, I do." Tenchi said firmly and moved to sit beside his wife. They let the water swirl around them and they both relaxed before bedtime. |
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