So, is this just for the sake of discussion? Or did Washu and Kiyone "break up" xD?

Um, what?

Akawo-aka! You're such a sil-sil! Kiyone is adult Sasami's special girlfriend! XD

Maybe Tenchi/Kiyone adopt Sasami and then marry her when she's old enough:D Lots of fics with that threesome:
http://www.tmffa.com/old/l/no_need_for_ ... esents.txt
and
http://www.tmffa.com/old/r/tmkiyo.txt
and this was turning into one:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2228652/1/

I remember reading that a long time ago on the AIC site as well. But Kiyone's only flaw was that Mr. K did not create her! So somewhere that fact spawned ...

an ...

unspeakable ...

pathological desire to ...

create ...

NOIKE

Kiyone is awesome, if Ryoko wasn't in the show Kiyone would be my favorite character.

Kiyone definitely has a strong case. She's the most mature, has a good head on her shoulders, and works hard with a lot of pride in her job. All of which are things Tenchi doesn't get very often from some of the other girls.

But Kiyone strikes me as someone who would say she doesn't have time for a relationship. She's too focused on getting promotions at work, and pre-occupied with picking up the pieces from Mihoshi's messes.

Plus, I don't think she displayed any interest in Tenchi, ever, now that I think about it.

I still remember the episode from Tenchi Universe where Mihoshi had to drag Kiyone almost by force to a karaoke studio to have fun one night. And surprise, Kiyone actually enjoyed herself! So she is one of those people that you have to force them to have fun once in a while. ^_^;;

As far as romance goes, it might be that Kiyone doesn't have enough time for a relationship, but I also think that she is really shy when it comes to romance. I'm pretty sure this fellow isn't Tenchi, but still a cute scene nonetheless -

http://www.henheart.com/images/kiyonecel1.jpg

If I'm right, that's the scene from Magical Project S where Kiyone is going to meet a guy on a blind date arranged by her mother [I'm hoping you know what I mean, I don't know the proper term]. As I recall, she wasn't much interested in dating, but after seeing his profile and some persuasion by Mihoshi she agrees to go to their meeting, and most of the main characters go along in secret to help out. So this version of her strikes me as one who is interested in romance, but who doesn't have the time and possibly the desire to more actively pursuit it.

As for the TU version, I can't recall any scenes that show any romantic nature on her part, but as you say, the karaoke scene, and a couple of other quiet scenes show to me that she does have interests beyond her career. I've seen no signs of any interested in Tenchi though.