Originally posted to GenSao's on 4/3/98
Flickering Images: A Tale of Nobuyuki Masaki
Tenchi and company are property of AIC and Pioneer, yatta
yatta yatta.
I seat myself on the couch, turning the video case over in my
hands. Finally, I
pick up the remote, point it at the video player, and hit the play
switch....
"I'm home!" I quickly kill the VCR and hide look around
frantically for some
place to hide the box. This had been the perfect time for me to
watch this video.
Mihoshi and Kiyone were off patrolling the solar system, Ayeka and
Ryoko were outside
fighting, Sasami was visiting Washu in her lab with Ryo-ohki, Dad was
up at the
shrine....and most importantly, Tenchi was at school.
And now he's not. Musta skipped kendo club or something. He
steps in the door,
heading up to his room, and he sees me in the living room. "Hey,
Dad, whatcha doing
home so early?" He then sees me holding the video box and his face
clouds over.
"Dad...."
I look down at the box, and then back up at my son. "Uh,
Tenchi! I didn't expect
you home so early! How wa--"
He glares at me. "Dad, what's the video?"
"Uhh....nothing." I drop it on the table and stand up.
"Tenchi, how much
homework do you have tonight?"
He eyes me suspiciously. "None. Why?"
I pull out my wallet and empty every yen I have into his
hands. "Go out. See a
movie. Take the girls."
"But, Dad--"
I manage a hearty laugh. "Well, Tenchi, get going! I'll
tell your grandfather to
forget about practice tonight. You're getting so good nowadays that
he needs a break."
"Dad?" Tenchi is watching me with a worried expression.
"Are you sure you're
all right?"
I nod quickly. "I'm fine, son. Go change into some
comfortable clothes.
Mihoshi and Kiyone ought to be back any minute now."
He watches me for a few moments before nodding and heading up
the stairs.
In the end, it takes nearly an hour to get everyone out of
the house. In the process
I received more than a few dirty looks from Washu and Kiyone, who
think they know
what my plans are. Oh, well.
The door slides shut. I watch them out the window until
they're out of sight, and
then I settle myself in front of the TV. I've been waiting for this
all day. The VCR
clicks on, the tape starts playing....
Achika, wrapped in a kimono, is humming to herself while
fixing breakfast.
Presently, she becomes aware that there is another presence in the
room, and she turns
around and gasps in exaggerated shock, a playful smile on her face.
"Nobuyuki! What
are you doing?"
If Tenchi had looked more closely at the video box, he would
have seen the label
"Home movies--Summertime '84."
My voice answers, clearer and stronger than it is now: "Just
smile for the camera,
love."
She gestures at herself. "But look at me! I just got up,
and I'm a mess!"
"You're perfect," I assure her. "Now, just smile for me...."
She smirks at me for a moment, then grabs a spatula and
starts singing. Even now
I have to supress the urge to wince; my Achika was perfect in every
way except singing
voice. After a few minutes of attempting a rendition of a popular
American pop tune, she
stops and smiles at me. "Now will you turn that thing off? Your
breakfast is getting
cold."
I laugh along with her and myself. It's not that difficult
to imagine her stepping
out of the kitchen, wearing an apron reading "Kiss the Cook" in
English, to gently chide
me about watching these videos. "We have plenty of time to watch
memories," she
would say. "Why don't we concentrate on making some?"
Oh, how I wish I'd listened to her....
If you ask Tenchi what I'm like, he'd say that I'm somewhat
self-absorbed and
something of a "dirty old man."
If you told him that the "dirty old man" part was a facade,
he would drop on the
floor laughing. When finally able to form coherent sentences, he
would sputter, "My
dad's not that clever!"
And if you told him the reason that his father acts like
this--to keep anyone he
might find himself attracted to at a distance--he would give you the
look that people
reserve for the untreatably insane.
It's all right. I suppose he has every right to think that
kind of thing. I haven't
exactly been a good father. Not since Achika died.
He can't understand what it feels like to have your very soul
ripped away from
you, and to know that you will never see it in this life again. Yes,
Tenchi lost his mother.
Yes, that is a tragedy. But he didn't lose the one who made his life
worth living.
I did.
But, then again, this is not knowledge I would wish on my
son. This is wisdom
that I would prefer to have lived in blissful ignorance of. The
eighteen months I spent in
a bottle after her death did little to numb this knowledge, and the
years have only
sharpened the pain instead of dulling it. Whoever said that time
heals all wounds was
either incredibly stupid or incredibly crazy.
Oh, Tenchi.
I can see the one that he loves. The knowledge would come as
a great surprise to
all the other girls, but I think it makes perfect sense. She is so
much like Achika, so
beautiful, even when angry, and so gentle. And I can see that she
loves him. It's a
mystery to me how everyone else keeps missing it, though. Even them.
Tenchi, this is what I've been trying to tell you all along.
When you see the one
you want, go after her. She won't be here forever. Sooner or later,
someone else who
isn't so discreet will steal her away, or she may decide that
spending her career in a
backwater pining for a guy who can't make up his mind is pointless.
Tenchi, ask her to
stay.
Please.
I ask this not for myself, out of any desire for
grandchildren (although God knows
I would like to be a grandpa before I die), but because I don't want
you to let her slip
away. I was so lucky with your mother. She was an angel from heaven
(or from Jurai, as
the case turned out to be). I can see so much of her in this one
girl, and you would be a
fool to let her walk away without at least trying to tell her how you
feel.
Sleep is overtaking me again. The image of Achika on the
screen is now tending
to breakfast, turning back from time to time to smile at me.
Pixelized image and reality
begin to blur as my eyes defocus. My only rest is in my dreams,
where Achika is alive
and we have a grandchild on the way. It'll just be a matter of
time....
As unconsciousness takes me, my last thought is: Please,
Tenchi, don't let her
get away. Don't let Kiy--
The door slides open and the girls file into the house, still
talking about the
movie. Tenchi brings up the rear and shuts it behind them.
"That was a good movie!" says Sasami excitedly. Ryo-ohki
mi-yas in agreement.
Kiyone nods and stretches, yawning. For a brief second, her
eyes meet Tenchi's
and they linger for an instant before breaking away.
"Are you and Mihoshi working tomorrow?" he asks.
Kiyone shakes her head. "We finally got a day off." She
sighs. "Of course, we'll
probably have to spend the whole time answering emergency calls."
"You're welcome to stay the night," Tenchi offers, trying not
too sound to eager.
She looks up, trying to hide the sudden sparkle in her eyes.
"Uhh, thank you,
Tenchi, I think we'll take you up on that offer. Won't we, Miho--"
She groans as she
sees her partner already asleep on the floor. "Oh, great."
"Don't worry about it," says Ryoko. "Just let her sleep on
the floor. She won't
know the difference." Her gaze falls upon the sleeping form of
Nobuyuki. "Hey, Tenchi,
your dad's crashed on the couch."
Tenchi rolls his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, brother. Did he
fall asleep watching
dirty movies again?" He glares at the TV. Whatever movie his father
may have been
watching has long since played out, for the only thing on-screen is
static. Reaching for
the remote, he sees the video box. "What was it tonight?" he wonders
aloud. He picks it
up, looks at the label, and drops the box, an amazed expression on
his face.
Kiyone is the first to notice this. "Tenchi, what's wrong?"
"N-n-nothing...." Unaware of the strange and worried looks
the girls are giving
him, Tenchi picks up the remote and hits the play button. The screen
goes from static to
blue, and then....to his mother, smiling at the camera. "Nobuyuki!"
she scolds playfully.
"Put that camera down and give your wife a kiss!" The picture
shifts, and Tenchi's
father, not much different in appearance but walking taller and
looking more alive than
today, comes into the frame. He picks up Achika in his arms and
starts kissing her,
causing her to giggle like a schoolgirl and kick her feet in the air.
Tenchi is staring transfixed at the screen, and the girls are
all doing likewise.
"That's your mom, Tenchi," says Sasami quietly.
Tenchi nods. His hand, while still holding the remote,
refuses to move. Finally,
he manages to bring it up and point it at the TV. The screen goes
blank. He looks over
at his father, the amazed expresion still on his face. A smile
slowly grows on his face.
Wordlessly he rushes upstairs and retrieves a blanket. Draping it
over his father's prone
form, he leans down and whispers in Nobuyuki's ear, "Good night,
dad." He then moves
over to.Mihoshi. Taking her by the arms, he tells Kiyone, "You take
her feet, and we'll
carry her up to bed.
In another realm, a beautiful woman looks down on a man
asleep on a couch.
Her eyes are brimming over with love as she gazes at him. "Hello, my
love," she tells
him. "I've been waiting all day for you. Now we have all night to
be together."
The man shifts in his sleep. A small smile, not unlike that
of a husband arriving
home to find his beloved wife waiting at the door for him, appears on
his face.
The End
Author's Notes: This is my first solo fanfic, and the result
of several months
spent psychoanalyzing anime characters. This may be a little choppy
at times, but I
believe it gets the point across. What point is that, you may ask?
The point is that
Nobuyuki is not just a dirty old man. He is a man who lost the love
of his life
inexplicably and cannot bring himself to try again (that would be too
much like betraying
Achika), so he creates this shell that keeps out anyone who he might
be attracted to. I
might well do the same if I lost the woman I loved. As to why Tenchi
doesn't know it's
an act: Nobuyuki's been keeping this up for so long it almost is
real. The real man is
still there, but he rarely ventures forth anymore. He has little
reason to.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome. I hope to produce a
more refined
version of this in the future, but this will suffice for now. Send
all messages to
keiichi_dono@hotmail.com or to lordyosho@hotmail.com (yes, I am also
the Lord
Yosho that co-writes Mugen Tenchi Muyo! For those reader who would
like to connect
this into that FF series' chronology, it takes place just before
episode #1, "No Need For
New Arrivals!"
"I can't wait to see it....your dream house."
"Our dream is still very much alive even now, right, Achika?"
"Yes. Time is short, but Nobuyuki and I will live our lives
to the fullest, I swear.
That's all that really matters."
Keiichi Masaki, High Priest of the Temple of the Teal-tressed Goddess, Kiyone Makibi
Member of the Kiyone Ring and the Tenchi Ring
Co-writer, Mugen Tenchi Muyo!
http://members.xoom.com/RC_Books
/mugen1.html
Visit my Temple of the Teal-tressed Goddess
http://www.geocities.com
/Tokyo/Palace/9909
ICQ #: 18044248
"I am the one you think I am."
--Katsuhito "Yosho" Masaki
"The carnival comes and goes. If you wait for a while,
it'll always come back to you."
--Ryoko
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