It's a weird feeling when a person realizes that they have no clue what to say. It's an even weirder feeling when they happen to be surrounded by other people who haven't the slightest idea what to say. And they're all stuttering and gaping at one thing.
A thing such as a boy in his later teens, his left arm laid in a cast, his whole right leg braced in steel and pivoted at the knee.
A thing with a black eye. Or two.
A thing that looks like he got in a jousting match with a tree and lost. Badly.
A thing with a blatant gash running down the whole length of his right arm, and what might be described as a dent rendered in his right shoulder.
A thing that had just unknowingly dripped blood from one end of the Masaki's kitchen to the other, and who was now leaning against the open door across the dining area. None of the others had even heard or noticed when he slid the door open; they were too perplexed over the sudden appearance of BLOOD in the kitchen.
That was until he spoke. His croaking words had pulled their attention away from that ghastly sight and straight onto another one: himself.
"What the-" Nobuyuke began to exclaim, but Ryoko was ahead of him.
"Hey, who are you?" She demanded of the boy. "And what makes you think you can just come in and start bleeding all over the place, anyways?" The pirate advanced on the boy, but Tenchi held her back.
"You're one to be talking, Ryoko." The bleeding teen shot back at her.
"You've made a great imposition on us, whoever you are, so why don't you just-" Ayeka cut her sentence short.
"W-What did you just say?" Tenchi, Ryoko and Ayeka asked simultaneously.
"Oh, nothing important." The boy replied, brushing off the question of names. "Y'know, I was hoping that a home like this one would have a bit more hospitality for someone in this... condition" He gestured to his various injuries.
An awkward moment passed as the various members of the Masaki home stared at their intruder and murmured back and forth to each other, trying to decide what to do about this development. The said person just leaned against the sliding glass door and sighed.
Sasami hadn't bothered to talk with the others. She left the group and approached the boy, much to the surprise of the rest of the group. He was taken aback when Sasami suddenly grabbed his good hand and pulled him over to the low table and made him sit in her place. She then picked up the miso bowl and rushed off to the kitchen to fill it again. The others parted and watched as she passed.
"Huh. She doesn't seem to mind blood being there anymore." Ryoko noted.
"Still," Ayeka added, and she glared at the boy, drawing the gaze of everyone else to him as well. The boy blanched and grinned nervously at them.
"Uh, hi, ther-" his voice cracked and he coughed. "Hi there. Oh, and I didn't mean to... you know. On the kitchen."
Five faces still looked at him apprehensively. He stared back at the table.
"Aww, great. I've gotten everybody mad at me." He paused. "Now what?"
"Rest!" Sasami's voice carried from the kitchen. "You're hurt and you shouldn't be standing around," She continued, and then poked her head around the kitchen door. "So just rest there until Washu can come and take a look at you!" She ducked back into the kitchen.
