Decision
A Firefly/Scuzzy joint

 All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective
owners; there use herein is not intended, nor is it to be construed as,
challenge of said ownership.

--

[Friday afternoon]
 Tenchi sighed as he got off the bus.  Another schoolday had ended, and
while he was glad to be home, another part of him dreaded what certainly
awaited him there.  Having several beautiful women living in the same
house would seem to his classmates a grand thing... but then, they did not
have to deal with Ryoko and Aeka's constant bickering.  Or Washu and her
ideas of fun.
 "What am I going to do?" he asked himself, by now approaching the front
gate.
 "Do about what, Masaki-sama?"  It was Kamidaze - one of Aeka's two
guardians (who tended to flank the gate these days).
 "The girls.  Everyone seems to want me to choose, you know.  Don't they
have any idea what it's like for me?"
 Azaka thought about this, decided that the girls did in fact not know
what problems they gave Tenchi, and said as much.  "Well," he then added,
"there's something you might want to know, seeing as you are Juraian
royalty, after a fashion."
 "Really?"
 "Indeed," Kamidaze went on, taking the cue.  "There is, Masaki-sama, a
small... er, clause in Jurian law..."

[Sunday night]
 "You'll have to choose, you know," Ryoko told him.  "Little Miss Frigid
over there" - she indicated a nearby Aeka, who fumed at that comment - "or
me."  She leaned close, flicking at an ear with the tip of her tongue.
 "Stop pestering him like that, you hussy!"
 It took about a minute for them to realize that Tenchi had not said a
word during this entire exchange.  For another, they both looked at him
expectantly.

 Two days ago, he would not have known what to do in this situation.  He
would have stammered, stalled for time, been lost in indecision.  But this
was today.
 Tenchi opened his eyes and looked at the two women, a smile on his lips.

 In truth, there were several things Ryoko and Aeka expected Tenchi to do,
stammering being chief among them, and trying to be elsewhere a close
second.  They were very surprised, therefore, when he began to laugh.

 "HmhmhmhmhmhahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!!"

 Even if they had expected laughter, this certainly was _not_ the sort of
laugh they had expected from Tenchi.  This was a laugh that belonged to
something inhuman, something evil.

-

 In the kitchen, Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki huddled under a table, shivering from
the chills born of pure fright.  The youg gir was near tears, and the
cabbit miyaed plaintively.

-

 At that very moment, as if he was somehow aware of what had transpired,
Noboyuki leaped to his feet, thrusting a victorious fist skywards.  At
last, at last, his son had taken that important step!  Tears of joy ran
freely down his face as he danced about his office.
 "You'd be so proud of him, Achika."

-

 Happosai had been meditating among his collected underwear when he felt
it.  He opened his eyes, then walked over to a window and looked out onto
the urban landscape.  Never in his long life had he felt anything like it,
but he knew at once what it was.
 A new presence, one of unimaginable power, had entered the play.

-

 Kyo Kusanagi also knew the sound, his body stiffening in instinctive
reaction.
 {Yagami!}
 It had to be; the laugh was unmistakable.  But there was no sign of him,
and that was puzzling...
 "What's wrong?" Yuki wanted to know.
 "Nothing," Kyo told her after a long five seconds.  "Nothing at all..."

--

Firefly's rant:
 Done.  Finito.
 Look, as loveable (or not) as the women of the Masaki household are, I
thought it high time that Tenchi have a break from the hounding.  Couple
that with watching a _lot_ of KoF '97, and... well, you saw what happened.
 Yeah, you say, but why Iori's laugh?  Answer: it's cool, and just look at
the reaction it got from everyone else.
 Washu, by the way, was engrossed in a really interesting experiment; this
is why she makes no appearance in this fic - she'd simply tuned out the
laugh.

Scuzzy's rant:
 [There isn't one.  Isn't he modest?]

Contact information:
 Firefly: firefly1@hotmail.com
 Scuzzy:  lair@trinidad.net