Photographs
By TimeRunner (keiichi@i-manila.com.ph)

        Nobuyuki scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "C'mon,
Tenchi! You can't blame your old man for trying to have a little fun, now
can you?"
        "Yes I can!" Tenchi was livid. "Trying to take photos of the girls in the
bath! How low can you get!?"
        Nobuyuki couldn't understand why Tenchi was so uptight about these things.
"Son," he started, "you have to appreciate the finer things in life! There
are ladies in there just waiting to be taken pictures of!"
        "And just where do you base that logic, Dad?"
        "Why do you think they parade around naked like that in the bath? They're
practically inviting us in to bathe with them!"
        "No, they're not!" Tenchi grabbed the camera from Nobuyuki's hands and
opened the back, exposing the film.
        "Aww, c'mon! What did you do that for, son?"
        "Dad... GROW UP!" Tenchi threw the camera onto the couch and walked away
in disgust. "You don't care about anything! Just you and your drawings and
your cameras..."
        Nobuyuki watched Tenchi walk away, silently. He wasn't listening anymore.

---

        "Nobuyuki! Nobuyuki!"
        Nobuyuki looked up from the drawing board and swiveled his chair around.
"What is it, Achika?"
        "You promised Tenchi you'd bring him to the zoo today!" Achika placed her
hands on her hips and frowned at him.
        Nobuyuki slapped his fist on his palm. "Oh, that's right! Aw, damn, I'm
busy right now, Achika! I still have several plant designs to finish by
tomorrow and..."
        "Don't give me that excuse, mister," Achika snapped. "Tell it to Tenchi."
        Nobuyuki cringed and scratched his head. "Can't you just show him that
film I made of the last trip we had to the zoo or something to keep him busy?"
        Achika sighed. "Oh, Nobuyuki... GROW UP! Has it ever occurred to you that
your son may be interested in other things besides your stupid films and
pictures and drawings?" She stormed out of the drawing room, leaving
Nobuyuki to his thoughts in guilty silence.

---

        Achika held the baby Tenchi in her arms as she sat up in the hospital bed.
        Nobuyuki beamed proudly, and then he leaned over and kissed Achika on the
forehead.
        Achika winced slightly at something. She looked up at him and said, "What
is THAT?"
        "What is what?" He rubbed his upper lip. "Oh, this? I was thinking of
growing a moustache, so I haven't shaved for a few days now..."
        "Well, it looks funny." She smiled teasingly. "Whatever happened to the
Nobuyuki I knew? The baby-faced boy who had all these hopes and dreams? The
one who was going to build the house where I would visit?"
        Nobuyuki's face softened. "He's still here, Achika. You just have to look
harder for him, that's all."

---

        Nobuyuki slowly walked up the steps to the Masaki shrine. He paid no
attention to the snow falling all around him or the beautiful shades of red
and brown on the trees...
        The sound of his footsteps as he trudged up the stone steps seemed to echo
in his head. No one else could do it, no one else could be there to tell
Tenchi but him...
        And there Tenchi was, at the top of the steps, running and playing
happily, catching falling snowflakes and wondering where they went when he
closed his hands...     He ran up to Nobuyuki and tugged at his knee...
        Nobuyuki knelt down beside Tenchi and held him by the shoulders, and
hesitated for the longest moment... then he spoke.
        "Tenchi... Your mother... she's..."

---

        "You'll come to see the house I'm going to build, won't you, Achika?"
        "I will. I promise."

---

        Nobuyuki stood at the grave, underneath a tree near the edge of a cliff.
        "Hello, Achika." He knelt down and placed a bouquet of beautiful roses at
the foot of the grave. "I hope you like these..."
        He smiled, weakly. "Tenchi's doing fine, now. You should see him, dear...
you'd be so proud... He even lectures ME sometimes... just the way that you
used..." He paused, momentarily unable to continue. "Just the way you used
to."
        He sighed, sadly... "What have I become, Achika? I feel like I've lost
myself, somewhere... That... That a part of me refused to go on when you
left me... When you left I..." He paused, then... "I felt like it was all I
could to, just to tell Tenchi that you'd gone... I felt so useless, that I
was no good at being a father if all I could do for Tenchi was tell him
that you'd..." He turned away, ashamed to even look at the gravestone. "But
that's not what you want me to think, is it? That's not it at all!"
        He took off his glasses and wiped away tears at the corners of his eyes
with the back of his hand. "You teach a hard lesson, Achika. But I finally
understand, now... I guess Tenchi can teach me a thing or two, after all...
        "I AM Tenchi's father, even though you father seems to think he knows
better than me when it comes to brining him up..." 
        His hand moved down his face, and traced his moustache. He rubbed at it,
and he chuckled. "Yes, it's still here. I never did get to shave it off, no
matter how hard you tried to get me to. The ponytail's gone, too, remember?
I said I had to take it off because it made me look too childish, and you
said, 'Little by little, the man I fell in love with is disappearing before
my eyes,' in that little teasing way you were so good at..."
        Nobuyuki smiled softly. "And I said, 'The man you fell in love with is
still here, Achika.'"

        Behind a tree, on the path to the grave, Tenchi smiled softly as he
watched, wiping away tears with the back of his arm. He finally said, "We
just need to look a little harder for him, that's all."

***

"Put your money where your foot is!"

TimeRunner's Fics can be found at:

TimeRunner Central
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482