Tenchi Muyo: Faith, Hope & Carrot Soup Hi there! Well, this is my first Fanfic so I hope you'll all bear with me as I find my bearings. I am writing this because it just begged to have something done with it, and the way it has shaped up has lent it to this type of writing. It is set in the Manatsu no Eve continuity so it mixes both the OAV and the TV background continuities, and some slight alteration on my part to help it gel. I hope I have got the best of both continuities. I am also trying to write this with some sense of reality as to how each of the characters will cope in the scenario and I hope that the way it plays out feels both honest and natural. I have used Romanji (phonetic Japanese in English text) for the suffixes (such as -chan and -sama) and for some select words. This is because some things in Japanese just sound strange in English, and this is a Japanese show so I wanted to remain faithful to the original speech style. I'll stick the translations in my notes at the end of each chapter and add to it as and when needed. For now I've put in the ones I'm most likely to use. I also warn that it will probably be a bit of a dark fic as it goes on but I hope that that won't put you off. It's just the way it came to me, and it might change as I go! There may also be some lime content (nudity and mild sexual situations) later on but nothing worse than in the OAVs. This first part is mainly scene/continuity setting and a bit of an introduction for those newer to Tenchi Muyo. Well, comments and criticisms gratefully received at: nutzoide@hotmail.com If you don't I won't know how to improve! By the way: Tenchi Muyo, it's associated characters and names etc. belong to AIC and Pioneer (and possibly others too!) I own the story ideas and original characters, so if you want to use them please ask first. Please, PLEASE don't sue me. I'm only doing this through love of the show! I hope you enjoy this, and I'll try to continue it as soon as my studies permit. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ********************************************************************* --------------------------------------------------------------------- Faith, Hope & Carrot Soup - A Tenchi Muyo Fan-Fiction By Nutzoide - Chapter 0: A Long Quiet Night It was dark in the Masaki's house. Everyone was asleep, even the seemingly insomniac Washu having dosed off in her laboratory. But in the living room lay a little 9-year-old girl in her pyjamas, crying. Her two long blue ponytails, usually wrapped up in cloth when she slept, were out underneath her face absorbing her tears as she lay on her side. It hurt. Why did it have to hurt so much? She had been looking forward to this for a while now. With one exception it was the most important time of her life. But there she was, curled up in a ball, her pink eyes, usually so bright and cheerful, tightly closed as another lance of pain coursed through her stomach. she thought. That was seven hundred years ago now. True, she should have gone though this period centuries ago, but she and her sister had stayed in stasis for most of their journey. Even though her tree would give her the extended life the Juraians had become accustomed to, her time in stasis meant that she was still a child. She had still had a few years to learn. But then they had left, and she never had been told any more. Her sister had had other things on her mind and the times it had occurred to her she had assumed that her tutors or even Mother Funaho would have explained it to her. Or she would just ask. But now she knew what it was like. And she would have to bear it. Maybe for a long time. And she wouldn't let the others know about it or what it was like. More than anything else she wanted everyone to be happy, and she knew they would worry about her. She didn't want that. It would disrupt everything. She liked the way it was. This family had come together despite everything that had happened and she didn't want to be the one to upset it all. That's why she had come downstairs when it started. She was afraid she would cry, and that might wake up Ayeka or Ryo-ohki. So she lay there in the dark, holding herself, wishing it would go away. "Tsunami," she whispered to herself, "please make it go away." Slowly, and despite the pain induced by her first menstruation, she felt her eyes relax as she fell into a fitful sleep. Alone. *** Ayeka, first princess of Jurai, rubbed her dark pink eyes. She was sure she had heard something. Her younger sister Sasami was gone, her futon left untidily on the floor. At first she thought her sibling had gone for something to drink, but she had been missing for a while now. Ryo-ohki had also disappeared. She tried to stay awake. When Sasami returned she would be there to tell a story to her as she fell asleep. Without that her sister could get some truly terrifying nightmares and her face as she awoke was too much for Ayeka. Sometimes her sister even screamed in her sleep. She believed this was probably something to do with the bond Sasami shared with Tsunami, as many of these dreams where somewhat prophetic in nature. Ayeka herself usually slept well. She had even been trained not to snore by the doctors at the palace. It was only a little noise, not the loud rumbles she would sometimes hear if she passed Nobuyuki's room, but it was still not considered to be ladylike and not desirable in a royal or a wife. So, like the rest of her behaviour, her sleep was that of a perfect lady. In fact her politeness and etiquette were exemplary. She also tried to respect the customs and feelings of those around her, much unlike Ryoko who would embarrass Tenchi no end with her allusions and extrovert behaviour. She didn't like seeing Tenchi uncomfortable like that. She had noticed Sasami had become more rash, and louder now she came to think of it, since meeting that pirate, which is what Ryoko was lets face it. But when riled this princess could really lay down the line. Her combat abilities were impressive thanks to royal self defence training and the combat abilities afforded her by her headpiece, which was also the control key to her ship, Ryu-oh, now re-growing in Washu's lab. Her verbal combat was also impressive, thanks to observing Jurai's political feuds. She would sometimes work these verbal contests into the stories she told she sister. Sasami could stand up for herself, but her arguments were often very simple. Fine for this family, as with the exception of Nobuyuki and Washu who was not always there at meals there was no one else to cook. However, later in life she might find a crippling put down or retort useful every now and again. But for some reason she was too tired to think of any. Barely awake for 10 minutes her eyelids had begun to droop, and she found herself trying to tie back the two long tresses of purple that descended from under her neatly cut pageboy hair despite the fact they were already neatly packed away in the cloth she slept with them in. "I hope she's OK," she murmured to herself as she lay back down. "She can't get into any trouble, and Ryo-ohki is with her." She didn't even get around to worrying whether Ryoko would be there, teaching her more bad habits. All that was left in the room was the sound her soft breathing as she slept. *** Up on the Masaki family roof lay a woman. She wore an elaborate outfit of white, blue and orange, which she liked as it set of her contrasting head of spiky cyan hair and her slightly feral looking yellow eyes. It wasn't shy about showing off her figure either. She was in a tranquil mood. It had been a good day. Nothing much had happened, but that was what was good about it. She had just floated around, spent a few hours looking after Mayuka while the others had gone shopping, given Tenchi a really good scare out in the fields. She had even done her chores, which had gained her complements from one and all, even Ayeka, however grudgingly it had been given. Mind you, she had soaked the royal pain in cold water in the baths that morning, so she had been lucky to get any acknowledgement at all. That reminded her of the first time they had met. It hadn't been such a harmless situation then though. That had been during the one time she had managed to escape Kagato's hold on her, and the consequences had been very unpleasant. No, she didn't want to think about stuff like that. It was ruining her mood. She though back to the day Tenchi had freed her from that damn cave. She had spent all of two centuries using every drop of her energy to create those substitute gems so she would have enough power to free herself and who should wander in and open the door, but that kid who had been so interested in her cave. The one who had come there to grieve over the loss of his grandmother. She had enjoyed scaring the living daylights out of him that day when he fell asleep at school. He had looked so cute! Her orange energy bolts and energy sword, summoned at a moments notice, coupled with her abilities to fly, pass though solid objects and project herself pretty much anywhere had meant he would have been dead if she had really tried to kill him. His winning their duel had been quite a surprise. Of course, she hadn't planned on him having the Tenchi-ken, the Juraian tree control key that shared his name. As a weapon it was an energy sword with the power to absorb her power gems. Naturally it had already had all three of them, but he simply destroyed one of her substitutes. Lucky she had persuaded him to give her back one of the real ones when Ayeka had turned up! As she remembered she felt herself slip towards sleep. She looked up at the clouds that had started to gather. She wanted to stay there on the roof. It was too much effort to teleport herself to her beam inside and it was nice out there. And besides, the man on the television said it wouldn't rain today. She knew it was just a guess, since climate control hadn't yet been invented on this planet, but that was OK. If he was wrong she would just break his legs. Well, maybe just his thumbs. she thought, Then the space pirate Ryoko was asleep. *** Ryo-ohki slept. She dreamt she was helping Tenchi in the fields tending the carrots they had been growing for her. She dreamt she was helping Sasami in the kitchen making everybody's meals. She dreamt she and Ryoko were flying through space, having fun whilst avoiding the Galaxy Police, bounty hunters and all the other enemies they had made or found. Since she had heard about something called Statute of Limitations she had been told the GP didn't want them any more though, which she supposed was good considering two of them were living in the town and often came to visit. Technically there was a very good reason she wanted to help everybody. She was genetically predisposed to be deferential. Washu had created her as a companion and helper for Ryoko, and to be her ship, one of her original forms. In fact they shared the same life base, the Masu. Ryoko was even linked to her mind, so she could always find her and understand exactly what she said. Even though she could now take humanoid form, thanks to the additional Masu that she had absorbed when they escaped Washu's lab, she still couldn't speak much. She had tried to learn but found it very hard work. Since everyone pretty well knew what she would want or intend anyway she hadn't tried much after her initial attempts, hoping she would pick it up eventually if she needed it. She did like the form though. As an animal they treated her like a pet. She liked the attention, and found it very useful being so small but she also liked being treated like a person. So she spent a lot of her time in the form of a young child. She hadn't tried to look like an adult since she first became able. She wanted to be able to walk and act without falling or making a fool of herself before she did that. It was important to her. In those forms she looked very human except that she was covered in short brown fur like her natural animal fur with two large streaks of blue tinted white in the long thick hair on her head. Like Ryoko, her fangs were slightly elongated, but her face was very human. In fact, as an adult she had looked stunning. And as an animal, well, she was the embodiment of cute. Somewhere between a small cat and rabbit (hence Washu's christening of her species: the cabbit) she would be small enough to sit comfortably in a person's cupped hands, or on Sasami's head, as she often did. But for now Ryo-ohki slept. If she hadn't though, she would have noticed that the two members of Juraian royalty whose room she shared were nowhere to be seen. *** Out in the woods, the goddess Tsunami felt strange. It was calming. She didn't feel the need to do anything. Just appreciating existing was enough. Recently she had spent more and more time in her humanoid form. True, she was just an arrangement of energy that looked human, but she could interact with the others around her, and she had begun to enjoy it. All thanks to one little girl. This girl had been the one to initiate the change in the goddess. Previously, she had been embodied in a single tree. This tree had been imbibed with her power, as had its children, and its children's children. They were the trees of Jurai, whose waters extended the lives of the people. Each bonded with a person to protect and power their ship. They were, if you will, the ship's heart. This girl had changed that. The trees remained, as did their power, but as this girl lay dying in front of her and her blood mixed with her own water, she decided she did not want this life to end. So she channelled herself into the child, healing her, and the two life forms shared themselves with each other. From that point onward Tsunami knew what it was to have truly human feeling. Just a little at first. The happiness of saving the girl, the desire to protect her, and the sadness of knowing one day she would have to leave her trees because of what she had done. She would become this girl's ship. There was no other choice she wanted to consider. As time progressed she understood more of what humans felt, but she was not one of them. When she wanted to appear as a human she was the embodiment of what that girl would be as an adult. Long flowing blue hair, beautiful pink eyes, and an unassuming yet comely figure. Sasami would indeed grow to be an enchanting sight. However, she only thought of herself as Tsunami's creation. She thought the real Sasami had died. She would understand in time. And when that time came, they would become one. Quite how or when even the goddess didn't know, only that it would be when Sasami was ready, as there are some things a child cannot cope with. Becoming one with a goddess is one of them. Tsunami had power. But it was not an active power. She could influence things to happen over time, throughout the many levels of the universe. Her role was to watch, to observe, and to guide. With power must come this discipline to know how, and more specifically how not, to use it. That had been Yuzuha's mistake. But some things must be. When the boy Tenchi lay dying in deep space she had told Sasami and together they had helped heal him, rebuild his broken body, and at that time give him a gift. She needed someone to aid her. As she had planned, he was it. She had given him the power to create and control the Light Hawk Wings. The power of the Juraian military and royal fleets and one of the most powerful defensive forces known to these beings. They were blades of her power manifested to deflect and absorb both energy and matter. Tenchi, like the ships of Jurai, could create these 'wings'. They formed his armour and sword. But they could only be used when they were needed. Power does strange things to people, so she had made sure he knew he could create them, just not any time he wanted. Though no longer physically a tree, as that form had been lost when Ayeka and Sasami had crashed on Earth, she was still a ship. The one who had gone to Tenchi in deep space. But, being who and what she was, she herself physically created and became the ship, unlike her children, who were planted inside the craft they powered. she mused as her mind drifted. She smiled as she closed her eyes and lay down at the lake under the stars, beneath the boughs of Funaho, the tree of Katsuhito's now destroyed ship, named after his mother. For one of the few times in her long existence, she slept. *** Deep in a sub-pocked of multi-dimensional reality the universe's greatest scientist was taking one of her very few breaks from consciousness. It had been a good day for her too. She had just finished her latest experiment and it had taken two and a half long weeks. To Washu, that was more than an age. True, she didn't really have to worry about time. She was 20,000 years old and didn't have any intention of slowing down, but with her brain power and the technology at her disposal very few experiments of hers lasted more than two weeks. Except Mihoshi, that is. That one had her stumped. Mihoshi could get into the most secret, protected areas of her lab without even trying, and mostly by accident it seemed. And with her luck, abilities, or whatever it was, having Mihoshi in her lab wasn't something she liked. Things tended to blow up, collapse, or otherwise just fail when she got clutsy or fidgeting. In fact once she had accidentally solved a problem the scientist had been working on, on and off, for almost a two week stretch. Unfortunately she had also managed to delete the record of how she had done it! How Mihoshi managed to do anything she did was a compete mystery. But one for another day. Right now she dreamed of what her latest project had told her. She was definitely a power to be reckoned with. True, she knew that, and her intellect was something she wasn't shy about proclaiming. In fact she could be quite pretentious about it. But this was different. It was the reason she had recognised Tsunami when she had first appeared. The reason she had many of the powers she had. Maybe even the reason for her intellectual capacity. She didn't like it much, but it was true. That was probably the reason she had no memory of it. Memory could never be completely removed, so she could get it back, but she was the greatest scientist in the universe, and she trusted herself. If she had hidden it, it would be for a damn good reason and that was enough to prevent her from going digging. The only reason she had performed the test in the first place was to make sure that bastard Kagato hadn't done it to her whilst he had had her trapped in that crystal. But now she knew and was confident she didn't want to know more. After all, given what she could remember, it must be pretty damn bad. She could remember her student days, and what had been the most painful moment of her life. she had thought, So she had been. From that point on she had had the body of a twelve year old, and had developed a constantly happy, if rather self important, nature. Only on a couple of occasions had this broken down to reveal the tender, hurt person she had bottled up all those millennia, and the last time she did she had confronted it, and it had felt better. Not totally, but enough to be more at peace that she had been for a very long time. She could revert back to her adult form at will, as she had done briefly after that healing encounter with Taro. She looked much the same, but much taller, and with full hips and bust that could look quite alluring. In her usual body though, she aimed for the cute look. In fact her cuteness was something else she constantly reminded everyone of, to the point that they all had to call her Washu-chan if she were to be co-operative at all when she was in a less forgiving or thoughtful mood. Except Sasami. They were the same height, and she was really cute too, so there wasn't really much point! Mind you, her unusual eyes and hair did fit well with her brash outgoing image. Her red mane of hair certainly befitted her. It was spiky like Ryoko's but much longer and thicker, tapering almost to the ground. When she was doing something more physical though the longest of it would be wrapped up under the cloth she held it back with. Her eyes were emerald green, and they were one of the few pointers that gave away whether you would get away with a helpful suggestion, a hopelessly complicated lecture, or a statue over your head! She could summon her portable, semi-transparent laptop computer at will to work or create things, which she then pulled out of a sub space pocket that would open as she wished. It also seemed to double as a garbage disposer. She could also manipulate energy much like her daughter, though she rarely had cause to, much preferring intellectual combat, or a well-timed china tanuki on the head. Of course, to her it was simply science. She just wished Ryoko would acknowledge her as 'mother'. Sure, she had done so before, but only in sarcasm, and Washu did want to hear it sincerely, not having been there to raise her. She was genetically her daughter after all, even if the circumstances had been unusual. She had managed to hear it one night, but she did feel a bit guilty afterwards about the way she had coerced it. She had got it on tape though, so she could hear it if she felt the need, though she hadn't since Mayuka had arrived. Another baby in the house, and this time she could be there to care for it. And she would. Even at night if you were careful not to intrude she could be found watching over the child or being the one to go to her if she woke, not that she wanted the other seeing her like that. She was the universe's greatest scientific genius after all, and she had a reputation to keep. *** Several miles away, First Class Detective Mihoshi of the Galaxy Police slept soundly in the apartment she and her partner shared. It was nice living there. They could go and see their friends at the shrine any time, they could catch the criminals who came into this restricted area of space to hide or smuggle things out of this primitive world, and they had enough free time to earn money to live on the planet. After all, living in their ship would get stuffy, and now there wasn't enough room at the house. She just wished Kiyone could like it as much as she did. she had thought the night before. They had been job-hopping ever since they had arrived all those months before. For some reason they just didn't seem to fit in well at work. Of course she had no illusions about the situation. She had managed to lose them every single one of the jobs they had been fired from. It wasn't through lack of trying. She couldn't have been more enthusiastic. It's just she didn't understand a lot of the details about why she had done something wrong. She did what they had told her to do, but she just had a tendency to make mistakes. Kiyone said that a lot. So did Washu. She tried her best, but it just, sort of happened. Becoming a GP officer had been the highlight of her life. Everyone at the academy had treated her like an accident waiting to happen, but she passed with the best overall score in the last century. Flying colours. But she did have trouble remembering the little fiddly things. Even though they told her she was a good officer, and she was a First Class Detective, things tended to go wrong somehow, even though they usually solved the case. She wished she could do something without people getting mad at her. She wanted people to be happy. That's why she had joined the GP in the first place. She was glad Kiyone was there. Even though she got mad, and shouted, and blamed her for being stuck on earth, she was still her friend. So were Sasami and Tenchi. They were always happy and friendly. That's why she liked Tenchi. He didn't call her stupid, and he made her feel better when she was upset. No, it wasn't too bad to be there. Officially they were lookouts to make sure the princesses were OK since they had caught the criminal they were after. She was glad they thought she and Kiyone were good enough for an important job like this. She just felt bad that Kiyone didn't get the promotion she wanted after they had got him. She was kind of glad too though, because she would really miss her if she left. She was still wearing the clothes she had been out in earlier that night, some leg hugging jeans and a loose yellow vest she had worn under a light jacket. Even laid out in bed it managed to show off her curvy figure quite well. If she hadn't kept her long wavy blonde hair in its ribbon it would have been everywhere. To the natives of the planet it looked a little odd considering her strong tan skin, and her bright blue eyes just emphasised the fact. Then again, she managed to turn quite a few heads, not that she noticed. It was just a characteristic of her race, as were the rather small teeth, slight fangs and slightly elongated pointed ears, the tops of which were always hidden in her loosely held hair. Which was a good thing considering they were trying to blend in. It wasn't planned, that's just the way it was. *** In the futon next to the sleeping blonde's was her partner, Detective First Class Kiyone Makibi. She was still awake, as usual, though she could tell it wouldn't be for long. She let the small book drop onto her face. She was too tired for this hassle. However, while this hassle could wait, sleep deprivation leads to lack of co-ordination, both physically and mentally. The detective picked the book off her face and flicked it onto the table next to her. She ran two fingers down her right cheek. She looked at them. she thought. They were smudged with blue liquid. She got up and headed for the kitchen area. She ran the tap above the sink, picked up some of the cold water and washed her cheek, removing the neat Japanese script that had been part of her finance list for next month. "I finished second in my graduating class at the academy. I did two years at the Clarrisen den run with 37 confirmed shutdowns." She was running sleepily through her exemplary career, looking for some reason why she was stuck on a sub-contact planet in a restricted Juraian preserve in the backwaters of the western spiral arm of the galaxy. She had known the reason before she had even started. Mihoshi. Since being partnered with Mihoshi her arrest record had gone up by 32%. Also, her expenditure costs had gone up by 450% percent. And her incidental damage reports had gone up by 920%. Things never used to blow up before. So, regardless of their effectiveness at solving cases, they were stuck out here, where they couldn't cause too much trouble. It also meant she had no prospects for career advancement. None at all. "And I was expected to be on my way to becoming field section chief by now," she lamented as she climbed into bed, not worrying whether her ranting woke Mihoshi. Very little could wake Mihoshi. That girl could sleep for her species. However, she had long given up worrying about her ailing career. If being involved in the destruction of Kagato and the arrest of Dr. Clay couldn't get her out of here nothing would, so now she concentrated on what she could do. They had their current jobs, which they had managed to keep for over a month with getting fired through Mihoshi's ditziness or being called out as Galaxy Police to give a speeding ticket or confiscate a pot of smuggled lilacs from someone who had 'forgotten' about the laws concerning extraterrestrial disease control and planetary ecosystem preservation. They had the Masaki's extended family who would always be good for a laugh, good meal, and some time away from their current worries. she though as she drifted of into her own inner dreamscape. And regardless of work, she did have fun when she was out with the other aliens. And Karaoke. The one activity in the universe that could completely relax her. So why did she still remind herself what she could have been if things had been different? Well, Mihoshi often said too much stress is bad for you. It's good to vent your spleen every now and then, get everything off your chest, and preferably so that it didn't upset the carefree blonde. She could really put on the waterworks when she wanted, and that was a real guilt trip. And anyway, Mihoshi was a *very* good Karaoke partner. *** It was a bright sunny day as Tenchi awoke. It was almost 10 am. If he wanted breakfast he would have to get there fast, before he was called. That usually led to problems, whoever it was who fetched him. Except Sasami and Ryo-ohki of course, but even then Ryoko or Ayeka could get jealous that they weren't the ones to wake him. Ryoko might feel robbed and maybe angry, Ayeka would just look disappointed. Mechanically he got up and wandered out to the bathroom. Ryoko hadn't been there to watch him wake, so she and Ayeka would have met earlier and ended up fighting downstairs or outside about something or other. Tenchi wracked his brain as he urinated. Plenty to do today, as usual. And he would be back in the fields in a few hours. <*Groan*.> He was glad the others were around to help look after Mayuka, despite the trouble they caused. He hoped he would have enough time to be a proper father to his child. No, he would make the time. He went back to his room and got dressed, forgetting to tie the short, thin lock of black hair that fell just between his shoulder blades from his otherwise short cut hair. He wondered whether he should tell his father what he had decided. He wouldn't be very happy. he thought as he wandered downstairs and into the kitchen. "Good morning Tenchi," said Sasami... "Good morning Tenchi," said Sasami... "Good morning Tenchi," Sasami didn't say. Tenchi snapped out of his supine routine. Sasami wasn't there. Neither was the breakfast she would usually leave if she were elsewhere. He couldn't hear the yells or, god forbid, explosions of Ryoko and Ayeka's frequent morning scuffles. It was just him. His dad would sometimes leave early if he had a big project to work on, like he had been doing the past few days, and his Grandfather lived up at the shrine so he rarely saw him at meals. Washu, despite spending more time out of her lab, due in part to Mayuka's unexpected arrival, would still often have to be fetched away from her computer if she were to join in with family meals. But there was no one. It was definitely wrong. He looked outside. For the first time since the flurry of snow at Christmas it was overcast and he could hear the rumbles of thunder in the distance over the mountain. He had even taken the weather for granted. Suddenly Tenchi felt very scared. *** To Be Continued... --------------- *************** --------------- Author's Notes: Not much to add as it is just the intro, but a few more continuity notes for those as want them. It would follow much like the OAV but: Mihoshi came down on Ayeka and Sasami's distress beacon after their crash. Kagato appeared twice; Once to assess the situation (a scientist always does) during which Mihoshi freed Washu, and once to capture Ryoko. The battle and his ambitions were as in the OAV. The TV Earth based stand-alone episodes happened in between the two. Kiyone arrived tailing Kagato when he first appeared. The TV space based stand-alone episodes happened during a vacation they all took. Who wouldn't want to have a holiday on another planet, huh? Unfortunately there is a case of mistaken identity that leads to them all being wanted criminals. They are cleared by the GP (galaxy police) after they find the real criminals. (Yes I made this up myself, so sue me. Actually, please don't. I'm usually broke anyway. I have an anime habit to feed you know!) The second OAV series happened after all that (though naturally including Kiyone). Then came Manatsu no Eve. (Whoever came up with the English title 'Daughter of Darkness' should have their head examined. We know that as we watch it but you don't need to spell it out before we've even sat down!). It included Tsunami this time though. She couldn't go to the 'realm of darkness' but gives Ayeka the idea of taking a piece of the tree Funaho. Plus Katsuhito uses the Tenchi-ken to take a swipe at Yuzuha. I think in the film he summoned an energy blade / Light Hawk Sword. The Tenchi Muyo In Love and Tenchi Forever Movies have never happened. Neither has Tenchi in Tokyo (Shin Tenchi Muyo). Yes, I know I'm messing with the formula a bit, but I would have thought that Manatsu no Eve would have it's own continuity, so there it is. *** Translation Notes: -san: Translated as Mr. or Miss. And so on. Can be used for both family and personal names. -chan: Diminutive honorific. The closest English speakers have is 'little' or 'li'l'. Used for children, *very* close friends or lovers. -sama: Formal honorific. Translated as 'Lord' or 'Lady'. Very respectful. -dono: Also translated as 'Lord' or 'Lady' but I don't know the specifics of this one. I'm guessing it is a bit less formal than '-sama'. -sensei: Translates as teacher or professor. Onee-sama / Onee-chan: Meaning 'sister'. The '- sama' variation is 'big sister' and the '-chan' one is 'little sister' (with more respect in the big sister version). Onii-sama / Onii-chan: As above but meaning brother. Sasami uses the '-chan' variations of both for the family because she is young / being cute / because they are all close family to her. (They can also be used without the 'O' at the beginning when placed after someone's name, signifying that that person is their 'brother' or 'sister'. Sasami uses this for the family she is not immediately related to such as Tenchi and those she considers family like Ryoko. Ie. Tenchi nii-chan) -ken: The name attached is the name of a sword. The Tenchi-ken is the 'Sword Tenchi'. I've heard other translations and can't be sure, but this is what it means here! Onsen: A public or communal bath. It is associated with a hot spring. Sake: Japanese rice wine. Futon: A bed lying on the floor as opposed to raised up like western beds. Tanuki: Smallish Japanese mammal similar to a raccoon (I think). Tanuki statues are often placed outside shops for good luck. Karaoke: Popular pastime. Music is played (usually along with lyrics to read) and you sing the song yourself. *** Completed: Sometime in September 2002