Finally, the next chapter is done.  sorry to those people who were expecting
this before.   hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer:  Tenchi and the others are the property of youmex, etc... i don't
own them, don't plan to make any money off of them, so please don't sue me.  

Why Me?
Part 8
by Rose and Jared

	Jared stopped in his tracks. "Uh, did somebody say that I was Ryoko's 
brother?"

	Yosho released his hold on the young man, patting him on the shoulder. 
"That's right. Perhaps Washu would like to explain that to you."

	Attention tracked over to the little genius.

	Washu started out of the reverie that events had placed most of us in, 
smiling and trying to take it all in stride. "Oh, it was nothing really. 
I'd just charged a clone chamber with protoplasm based on a genetic 
template grown from one of my ovum. It was simple really. Then Mihoshi 
somehow dropped you into the tank and the plasm bonded with you, 
overwriting your own genetic material. The same sort of thing happened 
with your other sister, Rose."

	Jared's eyes searched out the one face he couldn't identify. I waved 
meekly at him, chewing with a piece of pizza in my other hand.

	[Right, mental note to self: Subject Rose, copy visual pattern into 
memory. Identity: Sister. Personality traits unknown, but she likes 
pizza.]

	He gave a confident wave back, accompanied by a sort of 'is this insane 
or what?' sort of a grin.

	"Aaaaackkk! My Word!! How did THIS happen!?" Washu's scream at her 
terminal put a stop to the general migration back to the house that had 
begun, and once again she was the center of attention.

	"What is it, Washu-chan?" Jared and Ayeka echoed in a kind of errie 
unison. They looked at each other and he shrugged.

	Washu ceased typing at her at her terminal to look up at him, scowling. 
"First of all, let's get this straight right from the start. I want you 
to call me Okaa-chan! Secondly, it appears that my genetic sample was not 
the only one in the tank with you. My computer's still working on it, but 
you do *not* have as pure a template as either of your two sisters. My 
DNA processor is still trying to work out what the contaminant might be. 
That's strange. I usually keep my lab sterile against just this sort of 
need. What kind of organic thing might have gotten in there?"

	Tenchi was rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, you know, I kinda hate to 
bring this up. But Mihoshi was the one in there with him last night, 
right?"

	A chorus of nods.

	Tenchi blushed, closing his eyes while he relayed something he found 
*really* uncomfortable. "And wasn't she chewing on potato chips? When she 
was in there, I mean. You did find a pile of them next to the cloning 
machine."

	Faces written with horror surrounded Jared, who seemed lost in thought. 
After a moment he confessed. "Why do I have this sudden urge to sing a 
Gene Kelly song about kissing a gal from Idaho? Something about the land 
where potatoes grow."

	"You mean it doesn't bother you?" Sasami asked.

	"Being half-spud?" He asked. "Nah. My body works, it does all the right 
things. Why should I care what what went into making it? After all," he 
took Sasami by the shoulder, beginning once more to head into the house. 
"If I start doing something like sprouting leaves or *really* weird stuff 
then Washu can just toss me back into the tank. She rewrote my whole code 
once, why not again? Um..."

	He paused, looking over at Washu, most of his audience remaining stunned 
at his reaction to this. "Mom? I'd hate to pick up any horrible, 
degenerative conditions from this. You know, mental breakdown or anything 
like that? I'd hate to lose my mind or something you couldn't fix 
easily." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, if I lost my mind, 
would I even know it? It's not like vegetables sit around thinking about 
how they're not thinking. Does perceived reality even exist without 
thought? Then again, I'd be a burden on everyone else and that's to be 
avoided."

	Jared and Sasami wandered into the kitchen. Yosho followed with a 
contemplative smirk on his lips.

	Everyone else remained frozen, a variety of shocked and strange 
expressions on their faces. Ryoko was the first to recover.

	"Man, is he ever weird! He's okay with being a potato?"

	"Eh," Ayeka grunted, still motionless. "You certainly have a strange 
brother, Ryoko."

	Washu began tapping her chin. "Hmm, I wonder what happened to him to 
make him so adaptable?"

	The Tenchi household soon gathered around the dining room table. Sasami 
was helping Jared serve up the pizza, garlic bread, and fruit salad he'd 
had made as an early lunch.

	He'd planned enough for a crowd. Cooking for a group was his default 
mode. Though he suspected he'd underestimated, which was why they were 
supplementing with regular Japanese food.

	Ayeka soon fell to being the strained hostess. "Well, Jared, why don't 
you tell us something about yourself?"

	Jared cleared his head, sighed heavily, and asked. "Oy, where do I 
begin?"

	Everybody burst out talking at once.

	"What was..."

	"Tell us..."

	"How did..."

	Yosho was calmly sipping his tea. Unable to discern from the barrage of 
questions, Jared followed his example with a sip from his dewing glass of 
milk.

	"Great pizza." Rose hefted a slice. He smiled back at her, nodding.

	"Jared," Ayeka began. "How is it that you know us? And what about that 
loss you mentioned?" She was avoiding the other subject.

	Everybody seemed to agree that was an okay place to start. Jared thought 
how best to break the news. Tell them they were a TV show? No, best to 
modify it to be something a little more believable. The reality he'd 
*last* been in gave him an idea.

	"I've been given the standard material, but never got a formal briefing. 
I saw some videos and read some summaries on all of you. Nothing special. 
It was *not* something I'd ever been expecting to use."

	There. He'd gotten away without lying.

	"Briefing?" Several people repeated, in various states of alarm.

	"Hey? What? I don't get it." Tenchi complained. "What material? You 
don't mean *dad's* videos, do you? I mean, who'd want to prepare a 
briefing on us? What do we have that could interest anyone?"

	Jared found himself smirking. Raising his eyes he began to playfully 
list. "Well, let's see. We've got one former Galaxy's Most Wanted space 
pirate, the granddaughter of the Head of Galaxy Police, the universe's 
greatest scientific genius, and practically the entire succession to the 
Juraian Empire all under one roof. Who *wouldn't* care? Is there a power 
group you guys have somehow left out? If so, I'm sure you can fix that."

	Lots of eyes met lots of other eyes. Alarm, surprise, and apprehension 
were all evident. Rose was staring around herself with the greatest 
alarm. Who *WERE* these people? And why was it she kept learning about 
them in dribs and drabs here and there? What *other* surprises were there 
for her?

	Ryoko grabbed for the front of Jared's ruined shirt front. Since a large 
hunk came off she elected for merely screaming in his face instead of 
hauling him around by the fabric. "Hey! Who *ARE* you, huh? And what 
gives you the right to know so much about us anyway?"

	If he'd not watched so much of the show he'd have scurried back and 
hidden somewhere. If he'd not spent the last several months or more in 
continual fights to increase and train in martial arts skills he might've 
done it anyway. As it was, he knew enough about her weaknesses and had 
the courage to act on them.

	He kissed her lightly on the forehead, then blinked innocently at her. 
Ryoko's growl and gathering of an energy ball was more or less predicted, 
so he wrapped her in a hug and leaned into her with childish trust.

	"I love you, Ryoko. You're my best sister ever."

	His own brand of warfare. Her mental processes froze and refused to 
restart. As he continued to hold her, Jared decided that it was probably 
the first time anyone had shown any kind of affection for Ryoko.

	She needed love too badly to be able to refuse any, as he'd hoped.

	Jared had more than his share of flaws, and part of that was a certain 
childishness about lots of things. But the flip side of that was that he 
was still like a child in many useful ways. Ways like adapting to change 
and loving people by default rather than design.

	Which had its uses. Like this display was FAR more successful because he 
could throw genuine feeling into it.

	Others could treat love like a prescription medicine and measure it by 
the eye-dropper full. He far preferred to treat it like water and ladle 
it out by the bucket. And this was certainly a case of the more you use 
the more you have.

	He addressed the others, who had frozen for this display. "The facts in 
the summary were mostly appearance, name, and what amounts to a very 
brief outline on each of you." He continued to hold Ryoko, growing more 
comfortable as she failed to resist. "A few lines each devoted to 
personality, domestic ability, and combat potential."

	"So why did you run away from us?" Sasami inquired, sounding hurt.

	Jared's smile had grown. "Because a line can say a lot." He motioned his 
head to indicate Washu. "Her combat potential is listed as �Deadly. You'd 
never know what hit you, even if she explained it.' Ryoko here is listed 
similarly as �Extreme, with powers surpassing those of a small starship.' 
And as cuddly as she's turning out to be, having her teleport into my 
face all angry was enough to turn surprise into flight. I am sorry. None 
of you are bad people."

	He glanced around himself and asked a question, figuring it was his 
turn. "Um, so how did I get here? The last I remember I was dying as my 
enemy ripped my body to shreds."

	Washu blinked, then chuckled at the praise and watched with apparent 
glee Ryoko's continuing helpless state as Jared held her. "I can answer 
that. Mihoshi was interfering with my experiment!"

	This was not a phrase to inspire confidence. Not coming from Washu.She 
went on to state."There was an accident with my cloning machine. While I 
was preparing a batch of protoplasm to create Ryoko a sister, this person 
fell into it." She indicated Rose. "Her cell structure was completely 
overwritten by my own genetic pattern. Then I was trying to restore her 
to her original form and body when Mihoshi started playing around with my 
Dimension Tuner. Next morning we found you in the chamber where my new 
batch of protoplasm used to be. I'm still going to have trouble with 
restoring Rose-chan, though, as I don't have a sample of her original 
body."

	Washu smiled proudly and took a drink.

	Jared had watched *FAR* too much of the series. He spoke without 
thinking. "What about her astral pattern?"

	Washu sprayed her drink all over the far wall. "WHAT?!!" She settled and 
became a great deal more wary. "There was no deviation. Even her quantum 
space was reset to parameters. Why did you ask about that?"

	Ayeka and the rest were watching this like a tennis match, their heads 
tracking back and forth as they followed the conversation.

	Jared shrugged. "No reason. It only occured to me that her template 
might have varied, and it would have supplied a line of approach, that's 
all. So her overdimension, psycho-layer and parallel patterns are all 
normal as well?"

	He felt like he was cheating, grabbing lines from the series like that.

	Washu thought about it, chopsticks poised to grab the next morsel. 
"Well, maybe there is something..." Her unseen computer pinged at her and 
the redheaded scientist brought forth her holographic keyboard, grabbing 
a piece of pizza in her chopsticks while she did so.

	"So am I from good, Idaho stock?" Jared inquired, trying to cover the 
fact that he *was* afraid. At the same time Ryoko's eyes suddenly turned 
shimmering and liquid. With a mixture of misery and hope on her face, 
almost disbelieving her own actions, she raised her arms and began to hug 
Jared back.

	When he failed to drop her or do anything else mean she closed her eyes 
and wept, clinging to him tightly. He rocked her gently, cooing softly.

	Washu chewed. "Uh uh. No." Slurp, chomp, smack. "Nope!" She announced 
clearly, face shining. "I can't believe it! I am such a GENIUS!!!"

	Tenchi blinked. "What? What is it, Washu?"

	"According to these results, Jared's genetic structure was *not* 
contaminated by a potato chip." 

	The redheaded boy leaned his head against Ryoko's and sighed heavily 
with his relief, continuing to rock her.

	"Well, what was it then?" Noboyuki asked, curious.

	Washu was looking far too proud to grin evilly. "This is *WONDERFUL* I 
can't believe this has happened. It only goes to show that I'm the 
*GREATEST!*" She came down off her triumphant rush and announced. "Jared 
has two mothers. The other sample was a lock of hair."

	Jared's head shot up and his face drained of all color. "Mihoshi?" He 
squeaked, terrified.

	Rose found it quite instructive that he found being related to the blond 
so much more terrible than being half vegetable or Ryoko almost killing 
him.

	Said blond spouted perkily. "Wow! So this means we're related, right?"

	"Nope!" Washu crowed. "I can't *believe* it, there's no other scientist 
in the UNIVERSE who could have done it! We may even have to thank you, 
Mihoshi." She calmed down and addressed her new son directly. "Jared, in 
addition to my own genetic material you have the perfect template of a 
royal Juraian. I don't even know how it happened. Isn't it wonderful? The 
other sample was from Tenchi's mother!"

	The Most Massive Facefaulting of All Time, ensued. The floor got damaged.

	Tenchi got up screaming. "What do you mean!?! Washu! You've *GOT* to be 
kidding. I don't have a brother!"

	"I've got *two* sons now?" Noboyuki wondered.

	"A...Achika is my mother?"

	"Hmm," Yosho was scratching his chin. "I guess that means that I have 
*two* grandsons now."

	"We..." Ayeka was completely pale. "We are related by blood, he and I?"

	"Wow!" Sasami cheered. "I think this is exciting."

	"Meow!"

	Ryoko stiffened from where she was still holding Jared. Raising her 
head, she shouted to Ayeka over his shoulder. "Hey! What are you talking 
about!? This is MY brother! There's no way I'm letting you have any part 
of him!"

				*	*	*	*

	When I had first seen Jared in the lab I was almost relieved.  Now I had
someone else who would feel as out of place and uncomfortable as I was.  A
comrade in arms so to say.  Everyone here was nice, I liked everyone a
lot...well, Mihoshi did take some getting used to, and Ayeka and Ryoko 
were
dangerous to be around for long amounts of time, but everyone was 
likeable.

	After hearing the way Jared talked about everyone as if he knew them I 
was
beginning to feel depressed again.  The one person with whom I could have
talked about feeling out of place turned out to not only know the Masaki
household, but he was even ok with the possibility of being half potato.

	Finishing my pizza, I looked over to Ryoko and Jared again.  It had 
surprised
me how easily Ryoko had let Jared hold her.  I had thought her to be the 
most
prickly of people I had ever met.  She seemed to enjoy fighting with me 
almost
as much as she enjoyed chasing after Tenchi.  

	"...There's no way I'm letting you have any part of him!" Ryoko screamed.

	Ryoko yelling.  This was nothing new.  But, yelling to Ayeka that she 
didn't
want Jared to have any part of the princess was strange.  Only a few 
minutes
ago she had been yelling how she didn't need any more family dumped on 
her.

	Walking up to Ryoko I asked, "Hey Ryoko, what's the big deal?  I mean 
just a
few minutes ago you were protesting this guy's newly attained status of
brother, and now you're yelling that you want to keep him?"

	This stopped her raging in its tracks.  Blinking a few times she put her
hands on her hips and said, "It's simple really.  If he has to be my 
brother,
I don't want Hime-chan to have anything to do with her.  I don't want to 
be
related to that high and mighty witch in any way."

	"Bakemono!!!!  How dare you say that to me!  A royal princess of Jurai!!"

	Jurai??  This was getting complicated.  I vaguely remembered something 
about
it from the time Ryoko and I had our talk in Washu's lab, but details were
escaping me.

	I sighed and said, "Ayeka, you're not helping."

	It was at that point that I noticed that her face had turned quite an
interesting shade of purple.  Somehow I knew I'd be getting it later, but
maybe I could hide out long enough somewhere else that it will blow over.

	Turning back to Ryoko I started to explain.  "Ryoko, being related to 
you, I
in turn am related to him.  He is related to Washu, and now he's related 
to
Tenchi.  Just think, now you're related to Tenchi in a weird backhanded 
sort
of way..."

	I stopped in mid thought.  Wait...if Jared is related to Tenchi through a
lock of his mother's hair, and Ryoko's screaming at Ayeka that she doesn't
want her arch-rival for Tenchi's affection having any part of 'Hime-chan',
that means that Tenchi is related to Ayeka.  If Tenchi is related to 
Ayeka,
then why...  Uh-oh, best not go there.  I don't want to know, I don't 
care,
let's not continue with that thought.

	Sudden pain burst in my head as Ryoko rapped me on the head.

	"Ite....what was that for?"

	"Where did you go off to?"  she asked with a raised eyebrow.

	"I don't want to go back to that thought.  There are some things I'd 
rather
not know."

	That statement earned me a puzzled look, but I ignored it.

	"You know what Ryoko, go back to fighting with Ayeka." I commented as I 
went
over to Jared.

	A quick glance and a shrug later, Ryoko was off in Ayeka's direction to 
let
off a little steam.

	Jared seemed distracted by observing the rest of the household, and was 
watching Tenchi get upset and shout at Washu. I got Jared's attention by 
a quick cough and then by tapping on his arm when that didn't work.

	He refocused on me.

	"So, looks like you know everyone here. What did they tell you about me?"

	He shot me a conciliatory or apologetic glance. "There wasn't a profile 
on you."

	"Ahh," Yosho interrupted. "This is your other sister. Her name is Rose."

	Jared blinked and asked a ridiculous question. "Are we close?"

	I gave Jared a look that said, "What are you kidding me?"

	Closing my eyes slowly and opening again I gave an answer. "And why in 
the
world would we be close?"

	Jared winced and tried to hide his hurt at the remark. My eyes were 
closed so I didn't see it.

	He gestured grandly as my eyes reopened. "Why, because of our wonderful 
and excellent history together, of course!" He leaned on the table and 
sighed. "Ah, the memories."

	This guy had to be joking, and I guess my face gave him that message. 
Rolling my eyes I asked him. "Are you making that up to be funny or are 
you as wacko as you're acting?"

	Hopefully that would calm him down to where he could tell me something 
useful about this place. He seemed to know everybody.

	Jared winced again in pain. 

	File Update: Rose. Opening gesture responded to by an attack. Initate 
Avoidance Proceedures, pending reviewal.

	I could almost see his features close me off, the warm and open look 
he'd been wearing darkening completely into a blank shell. It stunned me. 
He inclined his head toward me in a slight yet formal nod, no longer even 
the same person as before.

	"As you wish. No, of course we wouldn't be close. I can see my error. 
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pressing concern dealing with my 
wardrobe, or lack thereof, that I really should be devoting my attention 
to."

	Then he left, pausing briefly to collect a denim waist pouch from Washu, 
quickly checking it for his wallet, then he was out the front door.

	I stood there blinking. He'd take being a potato, face death with a 
grimace while leaping into it, hug Ryoko at peril to his life and in 
spite of all reason, and wouldn't even talk to me?

	What was with him?

				*	*	*	*

	Jared wandered out the front gates and, when they were closed, leaned 
upon them and sighed heavily.

	Ouch.

	File Review: Tenchi household, as expected (well, or as *not* expected. 
He'd never thought he'd wind up here, of all places). Dealt well with 
insanity, accepted him just fine from appearances.

	Exception: Rose. Guarded person with shields and defenses dealing with 
liking anyone, pretty much standard from his homeworld. No exceptions, 
blame or otherwise, to be assigned her.

	He sighed again. But nearly exactly the kind of person he avoided as 
soon as he'd had them identified.

	Jared's rules were very simple. He accepted anyone who would, in turn, 
accept him. And to avoid being unreasonable, he tended to accept them 
first.

	He pretty much trusted people by default, until they gave him a reason 
not to. Rose reminded him of *far* too many women back home. People whom 
he'd had to deal with, who kept their emotions guarded and close. And he 
had no clue how to get along with them.

	Verbal sparring just wasn't his thing. Accept him or keep your distance.

	The problem was he tended to speak from the heart. When he'd asked if 
they were close if she'd responded even jokingly with 'Yes, we tell each 
other everything' he would have accepted that and acted in accordance 
with it.  Strange but true.


	But she'd very clearly given an answer that translated easily as �No.' 
Or, the way his mind perceived it, �We are not close.' Or, more fully 
translated, as �We don't get along.'

	So he acted in accordance with that data, just as he would have the 
other way.

	Standing away from the gates, he looked to either side at the wide 
wooden posts. "Azaka, Kamidake, my name is Jared. Due to an incident 
involving Washu's lab I am now Achika's son. Anyone inside will probably 
be able to tell you this or confirm it. Will there be any problem with 
letting me back inside once I'm done shopping?"

	The two wooden pillars turned to regard him.

	"I do not foresee such a problem." This from the red-symboled one.

	The blue added in a much deeper voice. "Our own scans are able to 
confirm that you belong to the royal family of Jurai."

	Nodding his thanks, he looked away, groaning when he saw the long and 
windy road down to catch a bus. He'd nearly forgotten that Noboyuki 
complained about the commuting. Two hours to town, was it? No, two hours 
to the man's job.

	But seeing as how he had no idea where the shops were that increased the 
time, not lessened it.

	Catching a couple of explosions out in the wood, an idea came to his 
mind. Ryoko was mobile as anything, but Ayeka couldn't move around that 
much. With his ability to leap between trees he soon caught up with the 
fighting pair.

	These two could ignore pleas to stop fighting from the people they 
valued most in the world, and didn't seem to notice when innocent 
bystanders got caught in their explosions.

	So, he did the least predictable thing.

				*	*	*	*

	Jared staggered out into the middle of the battlefield, belting out 
lyrics and waving a pretend mug. "Oompah-pah, oompah-pah, that's how it 
goes!" Stagger right. Oompah-pah, oompah-pah, everyone knows!" Stagger 
left.

	He waved his pretend mug high, crossing his feet and weaving. "They all 
suppose what they want to suppose! When you sing Oompah-pah!"

	The gamble here being based off the observation that things *had* 
interrupted their fights before. Kagato, for example. Mihoshi for 
another. Even Sasami did it once when she walked past the two ignoring 
them. Anything sufficiently strange or unusual or threatening COULD break 
the two of them out of their momentum long enough to kill a fight out of 
sheer surprise.

	He staggered blindly into the way of what he'd knew would be an energy 
blast (since they'd hit bystanders before he knew they didn't use lethal 
output with each other) when getting hit failed to happen.

	He opened his eyes. Ayeka and Ryoko were staring at him. He smiled, 
bowing slightly. Now to patch up some of the respect he'd lost. "Forgive 
the interruption, but I didn't know of another way to capture your 
attention. Aunt Ayeka, might I borrow my beloved and much adored sister 
for a jaunt into town?"

	"Uh." Ayeka's brain kept trying to switch gears and found that it didn't 
have a setting to deal with this problem. There were too many conflicting 
issues that wanted dealing with at once. Being termed aunt, his openly 
expressed love for Ryoko, and most especially his behavior earlier, and 
then just now...

	Hmm, he considered. Better get approval before Ryoko got bored waiting 
for her and rushed off just to tick Ayeka off. Jared did his best to 
subtly adopt the posture and mannerisms he'd seen Ayeka use, going for 
one of her emotional buttons.

	He bowed slightly, hands on thighs. "It would hardly be appropriate for 
a member of the noble house of Jurai, however new to the role he may be, 
to wear nothing but rags. Now would it?"

	Ayeka did something too ladylike to be called sputtering in confusion.

	"Hey!" Ryoko shouted, floating up close with a fierce expression. "What 
did she do that you're now being all cosy with her?"

	Jared fed her his best soft expression. Since she'd returned his hug 
with genuine feeling he really did care about her. His feelings were that 
mercurial. Thinking about it only briefly, he hugged her again at the 
brief risk of personal harm.

	"Ryoko, there is nothing in the world that Ayeka could do to make me 
stop loving you. Is that okay? I just wanted her permission because if 
the two of you kept fighting all day I wouldn't be able to let you take 
me to the mall." He began stroking her hair. "Sasami is her sister and is 
nice to you, is it okay if I be nice to Ayeka too? It would be only fair. 
I won't ever stop caring for you."

	Mmmm, she *did* give nice hugs.

	Ryoko now had dewy, kittenish eyes that he'd not seen on her since 
Ayeka's mom had hugged the snot out of her on a case of mistaken 
identity. Which hadn't happened yet, now that he thought about it.

	Jared was not the only one to be thinking of Ayeka's mother, the 
princess was also. To her the comparison was inescapable, and a rather 
close one at that. With that observation, a very great deal of floating 
uncertainty suddenly coalesced into a near perfect resolution for her. He 
*was* of the royal family. She was certain of it. Whatever sort of 
accident had happened with Washu was immaterial, it didn't matter. The 
royal Juraian template had never before been faked, and she didn't 
believe it could be now. That would mean it had to have been honestly 
achieved, and there was only one way to do that. That would make this man 
family, and he was already acting far too much like her own mother for 
there *not* to be a family relation. 

	With that realization she had certain duties of her own to adjust to.

	Ayeka calmly clasped her hands before her skirts. "Why yes, Lord Jared. 
I'm glad that you realize that. We can't have you dressing in rags. That 
would not provide a proper image of the house that you now represent. I 
shall be ready shortly."

	That got a heavy reaction from Ryoko. "Hey, where are *you* going?"

	Ayeka paused in her trip back to the house "Why, I am going with you, of 
course. We can't have a space pirate picking out clothes for a royal 
prince of Jurai."

	Jared groaned. He released Ryoko and bowed. "Forgive me, Ayeka. But if 
you must insist on baiting my sister, whom I love, then I should better 
go catch my bus, as you two will be far too occupied with fighting each 
other for either of you to spend time with me."

	Ryoko actually cocked her head and waited for Ayeka's response.

	Ayeka moaned behind her upraised sleeve, but gave in, bowing. "Gomen 
nasai, Lord Jared. I will be ready shortly."

	Jared and Ryoko both raised eyebrows and watched her go.

	Nothing so simple would forge a lasting truce between them. In fact it 
would probably fall apart when they were shopping. But saying it would at 
least *get* them to the mall. Given half an opportunity he could at least 
get one outfit.

	A badly shredded leg on his pants gave away and fell down around his 
foot. He looked at it, then up at Ryoko.

	"Lets go find a few yards of printed cloth. It looks like I'll be 
dressing Hawaiian until we can buy something."

	"Hawaiian?" Ryoko blinked.

	He smiled and explained as they loped (or in one case floated) back into 
the house. "A big, colorful cloth wrapped around your middle."

	"You mean like what all the tourists are known for when they go to 
Florida or some other suitably warm place?"

	Hearing the comment from the new voice all both sets of eyes turned to 
see Rose standing a small distance away as they entered the big living 
area.

	Frowning slightly, Jared did a handspring off of the railing on the 
stairs and flipped up to the second story balcony. From there he replied, 
"Yeah, I guess so."

	Rose spent a second blinking up at him, then shook herself.

	"Anyway, the reason I came out was that I heard you're planning a jaunt 
into town.  Now seeing as that I only have two pairs of jeans, a pair of 
sneakers, and two shirts to mix and match with those, I'd like to come 
along," Rose explained.

	Jared wasn't sure what to do.  He still wasn't sure as to what Rose felt 
towards him.  Her annoyance towards him before hadn't made him feel 
anymore confident, and he had no references to go on like he had on the 
others here.  Besides, the avoidance protocols were still in force. 
However, before he could reply Ryoko spoke up.

	"Hey that's a great idea!  I remember now, it was Hime-chan and Sasami 
that did the shopping for you before.  And you're old clothes are a loss. 
 Hah, let me just go get Ryo-Ohki and Sasami."

	"And I need to get my cloth." Jared nodded. In the back of his mind his 
relationship program was popping up to notify him that Rose was listed as 
�Sister' and family always deserved a second chance.

	Just as Ryoko left in search of the cabbit and young girl, Ayeka made 
her reappearance.  She rushed into the room and immediately demanded, 
"Where is that demon?  I hurry up to get ready and then when I am ready 
she disappears.  But then again what else could I expect from an 
uncivilized monster like her."

	"She went off to get Sasami and Ryo-ohki," I replied.

	"Oh, hello Rose, are you going to come with us also?  That's a good idea 
you know you really should have more than just two changes of clothes.  
It's not fitting that a person should wear the same thing all the time.  
We should have thought of it earlier, but I suppose with all the 
excitement recently we haven't had the chance."

	Nodding my agreement I turned towards the doorway to see if Ryoko was 
coming. I caught a glimpse of Jared's confused face as I made my turn, 
but decided explanations could wait.  Besides, he hadn't seemed all that 
excited to talk to me, and I didn't want to push myself on him the minute 
he returned.

	I blinked my eyes. He'd been gone for, what, forty seconds? And he was 
already changed? I watched as he twined flowers into a quick anklet and 
bracelet. He seemed to be going barefoot and already had an orchid tucked 
in his hair behind one ear.

	I felt like asking him why he'd go so deeply in costume but decided it 
wasn't worth it.