Tenchi and the others aren't my characters. They never were and I never made
a penny off them.


Training
By, Clayton Overstreet

Prologue

  Tenchi was getting tired. Since all the supervillains had been coming 
after them
he had been pushing Tenchi alot harder. When he had asked why Yosho had
looked at him levely. "If you hadn't let Ryoko out of the cave we wouldn't 
have
this problem." Tenchi gritted his teeth and looked at Yosho. "She didn't 
deserve
to be locked up in there and you know it. Besides if you had told me the 
truth
instead of stories about demons and things I might have gotten off to a 
better
start. I might not have been so scared when I saw her in the cave." He 
ducked
under his grandfathr's swing and blocked it with his own sword.
  Yosho thought about it. His grandson was right. He was just lucky that he
hadn't pointed out the fact that he had also pushed Ayeaka off on him.
Unfortunately he was distracting himself with these thoughts and for the 
first
time ever he felt Tenchi's wodden sword hit him in the back of the head. 
"OW!
That hurts." Tenchi smiled at him. "I could have told you that. You've hit 
me
with it enough." Yosho sighed and tossed his sword down. "Well Tenchi you
beat me. You now know everything I do about swordfighting. Now we move
onto the next section of your training."
  Tenchi's jaw dropped. "What? Youy meant there's more?" Yosho nodded.
"Give me some time to set it up and we'll see what you can realy do." Yosho
walked off leaving a worried Tenchi. Once he had rounded the corner though
he stopped and rubbed the knot on his head.

Part 1

  Tenchi woke up and saw Ryoko floating over his bed. She always tried to
stay awake and watch him all night, but sometimes she just couldn't do it. 
That
was why he usualy let her get away with puting her chores off for a while. 
Still
smiling he snuck out from under her quietly. He grabbed some clothes from 
his
closet and snuck out into his bathroom. When he was done washing up and
dressing he left his room. When he turned around Ayeaka was in the hallway
behind him. "Goodmorning lord Tenchi." He stopped cold and put a finsger to
his lips. "Shh, be quiet. Ryoko is sleeping." He whispered. Ayeaka's face
turned red, but she managed to keep her voice down. "What was that demon
doing sleeping in your room?"
  Tenchi frowned and whispered back, "First off don't call her a demon. And
secondly she likes to watch me while I sleep so she knows I'm alright. So 
far
she's never tried anything and unless she does I'm not going to make a big 
deal
about it ok?" Ayeaka frowned. "Alright, but don't trust her too far Tenchi." 
She
turned around and walked down the stairs. Tenchi peeked through the crack in
his door and saw Ryoko still sound asleep in the air over his bed.
  Tenchi went down stairs for breakfast. Everyone else was already at the 
table
and Tenchi said hello to each of them."Hello Tenchi, I made breakfast for
everyone." Sasami said. Tenchi smiled and rubbed her head. "Thank you
Sasami." She smiled up at him and sat down at the breakfast table. "Hey
Sasami, Ryoko is kinda sleeping in today. Could you save some for her?"
Sasami nodded. "Sure Tenchi, no problem." Tenchi ate his breakfast totaly
unaware of Ayeaka's suspicious stares. Ayeaka was certain something was up
with him and Ryoko, she just knew it.
  Yosho looked at Tenchi over his food. "Tenchi, I have planned out your 
next
phase of training. I want you and the girls to meet me at the training area 
in one
hour." Tenchi looked at him quizically but befor he could ask why the girls 
were
involved Kyonei did. "Yosho, I may be new here but isn't this a little 
strange?"
Yosho smiled and got up. "Just be there. Bring whatever equipment you need
to elude someone and then you'll see what happens." He got up and walked
away. Tenchi and the others just shrugged and continued to eat breakfast.
  A half hour later everyone finished breakfast and went to their rooms to 
get
ready for whatever Yosho had planned. Tenchi got back to his room and found
Ryoko looking all over his room. When she saw him her face lit up and she
hugged him tightly. "Oh Tenchiiii! There you are. I was so worried. Why 
didn't
you wake me up?" When Tenchi didn't answer she noticed that she was
hugging just a bit to hard and let him go. When Tenchi could breath again he
smiled at her. "You looked so peaceful asleep I couldn't wake you." She
frowned and looked away. "Yeah right. You probably just didn't want to put
up with me." Tenchi shook his head. "No Ryoko I swear. I even had Sasami
save some breakfast for you." She looked back at him." Realy, you mean it?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yes, but you have to eat now. Grandpa wants all os
us to meet him in the training area." Ryoko hugged him again then pahsed
through the floor.

Part 2

  Tenchi and the others assembled on the training grounds and looked at 
Yosho.
Ayeaka was especially confused. "Brother, once a person finishes sword
training isn't their training over?" Yosho nodded and looked at her. 
"Normaly
yes, but this isn't a normal sitution, so I've asked Washu to help me 
arrange a
new part." They all looked at Washu who sat there smiling. She passed out
what looked like watches. "These are holograms. They take a picture of the
area you are in and make you look like an appropriate object, or if there 
isn't
one it will make you invisible." They put them on and Washu put one on 
herself.
tenchi looked at her and said, "Do I get one?" Yosho shook his head.
  "Tenchi, you are going to be looking for them. When you find one you then
have to manage to tap them with your sword. They will try to avoid you and
defend themselves." Tenchi grinned and looked at the girls. "Sort of like 
hide
and seek?" Yosho nodded. "When you manage to get all of the grils your
training is over. You have until sundown. If you do not get them befor then 
all
of them are back in for the next day. This will go on for three days." Yosho
smiled at them.
  Kyonei raised her hand. "What if we are buisy? Mihoshi and I are on call 
all
the time and Washu and the others may have something else to do too." Yosho
smiled at her. "I understand that. Should any of you be unable to 
participate
then it wil be put off until the next day." She nodded and smiled back. 
Mihoshi
looked at Yosho and said, "Um... what are we supposed to do again?" Yosho
closed his eyes and the others fainted. "You're playing hide and seek 
Mihoshi."
  Tenchi was told to hide his eyes for five minutes and the girls ran off to 
hide
in the bushes. Once the time was up Yosho smiled at Tenchi and sent him off.
Tenchi walked down the path first. It was a familiar area for him and he was
sure he would notice anything out of the ordinary along it. Suddenly he
stopped. There was a bush and a small boulder in a place he didn't notice
before. Smiling he walked past them, then turned around and tapped each of
them with his sword. The bush giggled and the rock let out a tiny meowing
sound. Suddenly Sasami and Ryo-oki were there. "I guess we should find a
better hiding place next time huh Tenchi?" He smiled and nodded. Then took
a look around for anyone else whiel Sasami and Ryo-oki headed back to
Yosho.
  Fifteen minutes later he found nothing else out of the ordinary along the 
path
and went into the woods. He heard a snap behind him and turned. There were
two identical bushes sitting right next to eachother. He smiled. If he 
guessed
wrong on this one the real one would get away. A breeze brushed through the
trees and he smiled. He slowly placed his sword between the two bushes.
Suddenly he flicked it to the side and tapped something solid inside the
hologram. Washu stood up shaking her head. "What tipped you off Tenchi?"
He smiled at her. "The wind. Your leaves didn't move." Washu grinned and
shook her head. "I'm going to have to fix that for the next time." He smiled 
and
walked of into the bushes.
  He passed by a cherry tree he used to climb all the time as a child. 
Looking
up he smiled and saw the branch he always used to climb. He also noticed a
new branch comign out of it. He jumped up and tried to tap the limb with his
sword, but at the last instant it vanished. "Hello Ryoko." She smiled up at 
him
from below. "You didn't think I'd be that easy to get did you Tenchi?" He
smiled and shook his head. She backed away from the tree and he jumped
down. "Don't think that just before I love you I"ll go easy on you Tenchi." 
She
held up her energy sword. He nodded and said, "Same to you Ryoko." She
took a quick gasp of air, but quickly composed herself.
  Tenchi dived at her ducking under her sword and swung his up at her wrist
like the master key had when she had fought him at the school. Ryoko was
ready this time though and pulled her hand back. Unfortunately in doing do 
she
dropped her own sword for a brief second and Tenchi tapped her on the head.
Ryoko smiled at him and winked. Then she disapeared into the ground. Neither
of them noticed Ayeaka who had seen the whole thing. Neither saw her fade
into the forest, a look of quiet sadness on her face.
  Tenchi walked through the cherry tree's admiring them. At one time the 
shrine
had raised them and had kept up the orchard, but as people moved out of the
forest and into the city the orchard had been left alone. Walking through 
the
rows of trees he was very glad that his family had this land to themselves.
Suddenly he stopped and looked down a row of tree's. There was a second
one right between two others. It could have grown there from a cherry or it
may have been there and he'd just never seen it, but Tenchi wasn't about to
take the chance. When he was right next to the tree he looked up at it.
  The other holograms had all been about the size of the person in them. 
This
one was tall. A breeze blew through the area and he held his hand up next to
the tree. The wind was blocked by it so it was solid, but he wasn't entirely 
sure.
Suddenly the top of the tree jumped into the air and the bottom rolled to 
the
side. The hologram turned off leaving Kyonei and Mihoshi standing there. He
grinned at them. "So you stood on eachother's shoulders huh?" Kyonei grinned
back and nodded, while Mihoshi looked at him, "It was my idea." He nodded
and held up the sword. the  GP officers ran around him in a criss cross 
pattern
through the trees.
  Tenchi did a flip and landed infront of Kyoeni. She stopped dead and he
tapped her with the sword. Cursing Kyonei watched as he turned to Mihoshi.
Mihoshi meanwhile had gotten fairly far away. He ran through the tree's 
after
her, but lost her in some bushes. He was about to give up when he heard an
'Oof' from behind him and saw that she had tripped over a tree root. He 
almost
tapped her in the head with his sword... but instead helped her stand up.
"Come on Mihoshi. it wouldn't be fair if I caught you because you tripped." 
She
smiled up at him and then ran off into the woods. Tenchi left in the other
direction heading towards Funaho. He was going to give Mihoshi a little time 
to
hide. When he got there Tenchi smiled up at the leaves. All in all it was
probably the best tree in the forest. Perfect in every way.
  Tenchi looked at the trunk and noticed an odd lump in the trunk. It was 
about
the shape of... He tapped it with his wodden sword. "Hello Ayeaka." She
turned and tried to smiled half heartedly. "Hello Lord Tenchi. I see you 
found
me." He nodded. "It wasn't easy." Ayeaka sighed and looked away, still quite
sad. "Is something wrong Ayeaka?" She looked at his eyes and reached out to
touch his cheek. When he didn't blush or turn away like he used to when any 
of
the girls touched him, she knew for sure. Only one girl could do that to him 
any
more. "You love Ryoko don't you?" Tenchi was a bit off guard. He hadn't 
realy
given it much thought. "I... I don't realy know Ayeaka... I mean I love all 
of
you." She smiled pleasantly and looked into his eyes. When he looked at her
she saw love, but it was the love of family. Nothing like the look he had 
given
Ryoko earlier. Without another word she turned away and went back to the
training area to wait for him to find Mihoshi.
  When he could finaly move again Tenchi shook his head. He'd think about
what Ayeaka had said later. Right now it was almost sunset and he had to 
find
Mihoshi. Tenchi thought about where Mihoshi would be. Smiling he headed
back to the training area and saw her sitting with the others. Sighing he 
tapped
her with the sword. Yosho smiled at him and nodded, "Mohoshi told me what
you did Tenchi. I am quite proud of you." Tenchi smiled and looked at the 
girls
around him. They all smiled back and nodded.

Part 3

  The next day Tenchi found them all over again. Washu he found because the
rock she was disguised as didn't give off a shadow. Ayeaka was sitting in 
the
middle of the road, completely invisible. Mihoshi was next to the bath 
house.
Sasami was sitting against the wall of the house. Ryoko was laying out on 
the
lake just off shore. Kyonei had hidden in a large mile of boulders. And 
Ryo-oki
was hardest to find because she had taken on her adult humanoid form and
hidden in a pile of logs.
  The third day Mihoshi and Kyonei had to go into space to circle the solar
system, so everyone got to take a break. Tenchi took the time to talk with
Ayeaka about what she had said. Unfortunately Tenchi being Tenchi couldn't
quite find the words to start off the conversation. "Ayeaka I was wondering, 
I
mean... I'd like to talk to you about..." She smiled at him. She realy did 
love the
guy but had accepted that he wasn't for her. She still fought with Ryoko
ofcourse but not about him anymore. "Tenchi, it's alright. You have nothing 
to
be ashamed of. You love her and that's what matters. Even if you don't know
yet, you do." Ryoko heard them talking and her heart lept.
  Tenchi didn't love Ayeaka! She flew off onto the roof to think about it. 
This
was a mistake. After a while nagging doubts began to creep into her mind.
What if she wasn't the one they were talking about? What if Tenchi had 
fallen
in love with one of the others. Sasami? No, despite everything else she was
way to younge for him. Tsunami? No, Tenchi had never gotten to realy get to
know her and since she was going to join with Sasami she was out. Ayeaka?
Ha! Well they had already said he hadn't picked her. Maybe it was Mihoshi or
Kyonei? Well there was a possibility, though they were all pretty sure the 
two
GP officers were seeing eachother. So that left Washu. Washu looked younger
that Sasami most of the time, but when she wanted she could become one of
the single most beutiful women in the universe. It was one of those perks of
once being a goddess. She had made Ryoko prettier, but at the time Ryoko
couldn't see that. Right now all she could see in reguards to herself all 
she could
see was the times Tenchi had gotten upset wih her.
  Finaly she totaly convinced herself that Tenchi was in love with one of 
the
other girls and disapeared for the rest of the day, crying quietly to 
herself.
Meanwhile Tenchi was sittingback thinking about what Ayeaka had said. Did
he love Ryoko? Every time he was around her he felt scared and embarrased
like he was going to do something stupid infront of her. Plus whenever he 
saw
her the times he had called her a demon and said he hated her kept shooting
through his head and made him feel bad. All those things usualy combined to
make him want to just run away as fast as he could. He used to feel that way
about all of them actualy. Now he was totaly at ease with all of them 
besides
Ryoko, which made him feel worse.Was that love?
  He remembered when he had found her in the forest on the first day of this
new training. She had said she loved him... had been saying it since they 
met.
He thought over his own words. It was true he loved all the girls. They were
all a part of his family even if not all of them were blood relatives. But 
it was
Ryoko who had brought them together and in all honesty whiel all the others
may have to leave for political or work reasons, the one he could not ever
picture leaving his life was... Tenchi bit his lip. He didn't want to hurt 
anyone
though. On the other hand Ayeaka had already accepted it and if she could
then the others probably would too. It was at that moment he realized that 
he
realy did love her. And he'd tell her as soon as he could.

  The next day came faster than would have been expected. Washu had
claimed to have finaly perfected the holograms and told Tenchi that it would 
be
almost impossible to find any of them. Tenchi just smiled. He had some free
time yesterday and after getting his grandfather's permission he had gotten
some equipment of his own. "Actualy Tenchi I'm impressed that you figured
out how to get around Washu's device." Tenchi smiled and rubbed his head
unwilling to admit that he'd gotten the idea off the X-files.Turning away he 
went
into the bushes again. A low cloud hung over the forest, just above the 
trees,
casting an odd shodow over the whole area.
  In fact it was a realy odd shadow, especialy for a cloud. Tenchi looked up
and smiled. Quickly climbing a tree he tapped the side of the cloud. Ryo-oki
let out a sad meow and the hologram vanished leaving the huge spaceship in
plain view. "It's alright Ryo-oki. When you get home you get an extra carrot 
for
being so clever alright?": Ryo-oki took on her cabbit form and landed in his
arms to give Tenchi a hug. Then she meowed and ran off.
  Tenchi found a patch of bushes near the edge of the forest. He recognized 
the
patch, but there was something odd about it. Picking up the lazer pointer he
had bought he pointed it into the bushes. The last bush he went to didn't 
let the
beam pass through the leaves. The light just stopped just at the edge. 
Tenchi
grinned and tapped the bush with his sword. Washu looked up at him and
frowned. "That was sneaky. Thought I think you showed remarkable ingenuity.
You are probably the best student I've ever had Tenchi." Tenchi smiled and
bowed. "Thank you proffesor Washu." Washu frowned again. "What did you
call me?" Tenchi blushed and smiled at her. "I mean little Washu." She 
smiled
and turned to walk away. Then she stopped and looked back. "You know
Tenchi, I hope you and Ryoko are happy together." Before Tenchi could say
anything Washu was gone. Shaking his head he mumbled to himself. "Did
everyone figure this out but me?"
  A rock next to him said, "Yeah, we did." The the log leaning on the rock
yelled and said, "Mihoshi, why can't you keep quiet?" Tenchi tapped them
both.
  Hours later he had found everyone except Ryoko and there was only an hour
before sunset. Actualy now that he thought about it he hadn't seen Ryoko 
since
yesterday. Sighing he looked around. Even thoguh he could beat it Washu's
device still made it hard to find anyone. Sighing he started for the path up 
to the
shrine. Every now and then Tenchi would whack at a bush or something for
something to do. When he reached the shrine Ryoko was there looking into the
cave. He walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder with the sword. She
smiled and turned around. "Hello Tenchi." He smiled nervously and sat down
next to her. "Are you alright Ryoko? It's not like you to just sit here and 
wait
without even trying to avoid me." Ryoko smirked still staring into the cave. 
"I
could say the same about you Tenchi."
  Tenchi blushed, mostly because he knew she was right. "Ryoko, about 
that..."
She turned and smiled at him. "Yes Tenchi?" His blush deeped and his eyes
fixed on her's. "Well... I'm sorry. I guess I just didn't know what to do." 
She
smiled and shook her head. "About you being in love with one of the other
girls? It's alright Tenchi, I'm not to upset. I heard you and Ayeaka talking 
and
I suppose if she can accpt it I can too." A tear fell from her eye and she 
turned
back to the cave. Tenchi was stunned. She thought he loved one of the 
others.
"I guess it's my fault realy. I spent so much time fighting with Ayeaka I 
must
have practicaly pushed you into whomever it is. So who is it Tenchi? 
Mihoshi?
Kyonei? Washu? Who?" Tenchi closed his eyes and let his head sink into his
chest. Softly he whispered, "It's Ryoko."
  Ryoko smiled and chuckled. "You like Ryo-oki? I never would have seen that
one comming." She stopped laughing when she felt his hand on her back. She
turned to look into his eyes. "I didn't say Ryo-oki. I said Ryoko." She 
stared at
him in shock. She had totaly given up all hope and couldn't believe what she
was hearing. Shaking her head she turned away. "This isn't something to joke
about Tenchi. I already know you don't love me. You said yourself that you
hate me. Remember?" Sobs racked her body, tears dripping down onto the
rock beneith her.
  Her breath caught in her throat as she felt Tenchi's arms wrap around her
from behind. "I never hated you Ryoko. You scared me sometimed, you made
me mad, but I never hated you. I can't." She gasped and cried harder. "No...
you can't... I'm just... a demon. I'm... evil. I hurt so many people. I hurt 
you...
If it weren't for me Kagato would never have come here. You'd have been able
to live out a normal life without all the problems." Tenchii reached out and 
ran
his fingers through her hair. "Ryoko, I'm glad I set you free. The problems 
that
came along are nothing. I'd let Kagato kill me a thousand times if it meant 
I got
to spend one minute with you. Because of you we have out friends with us.
You brought us all together Ryoko, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."
  Ryoko turned and buried her face in Tenchi's chest, her tears soaking 
through
his shirt. She mumbled into his chest, "You can't love me. You can't. I'm 
just a
demon... a demon..." Tenchi held her close, squeesing her to him with all 
the
strength he had. "Ryoko you aren't a demon. And I won't let anyone ever call
you that again. Least of all you, do you hear me." Ryoko's eyes rose up to
meet his again. "Tenchi if I'm not a demon... what am I then?" Staring into 
those
yellow eyes Tenchi knew instantly what he wanted to say. A single word
escaped his lips before Ryoko kissed him and the sun set. "Angel..."

The end

Author's note
  Ok was that a romantic ending or what? The story could have had more
dialogue, but what can you say when you're wandering through the woods?
If you have any comments you'd like to make abotu this story feel free to 
send
them to clayton_n@hotmail.com