A Quiet Rooftop Moment
By BGlanders
***
For as far as the eye could see, the great blanket of milky
white stars that Ryoko had come to know so well seemed to engulf the clear,
cool evening sky. Night after night the
demoness had found herself floating aimlessly around the house only to wind up
here, on the edge of the cold tiles of the Masaki roof. Maybe she would watch some TV with Sasami or
knock a few back with Aeka, but after awhile even spending time with them got
old. After awhile, everything seemed to
grow old to the space pirate.
When this would happen, Ryoko would drift silently to her
rooftop, and make no mistake; above all else the roof was her territory. Few would tread where the queen of cats was
known to hold sacred, and the roof was by now well known to be one of those few
places. It was here, under that
familiar blanket of white, shimmering stars that she would lay; endlessly
gazing with questioning, yellow eyes that reflected the tiny sparkles like
diamonds against a golden shore.
Usually Ryoko didn't find the time to sit for long moments
and think about things. For her, life
required little questioning when it came to decisions. For her, life was black
or white, right or wrong, take it or leave it, and Ryoko was the type to take it
and run. So it was rare that she found
herself questioning her moves, regardless of what they might entail. For some reason though, she found herself
winding up more and more underneath this same silent sky, staring at everything
and nothing all at once.
The problem, she figured, was that she didn't even know what
the problem was. That alone set her to
thinking about what could be so wrong that she would be bothered by it, and
this made her feel even more bothered.
Eventually she would sigh, fade back through the ceiling and drift off
into a dreamless sleep on her favorite rafter (another place well avoided by
those who would know better than to disturb her peace of mind).
It was while on the roof as she was pondering her unknown
problems that she received a visitor from the household below her. She knew them by their scent, the way they
moved, even by the sound of their breathing.
She knew who it was without even giving a glance over her shoulder, and
strangely enough this didn't seem to bother her visitor in the slightest.
"Ryoko… what are you doing up here? You'll catch cold if you stay out too long,
you know…"
Ryoko allowed a slight smile to cross her face at the kind
remark. She knew perfectly well that if
she could swim through the black, endless, freezing void of space, something so
trivial as a summer's breeze would have quite a time trying to damage her
health. Still, she answered
anyway. It was the human side of her
showing through, she supposed.
"I know. I won't be
out much longer… I just needed some time alone, that's all."
Her visitor, a young man wearing a brown jacket with his
name written on its breast in red kanji, wandered over to the demoness, mindful
not to loose his balance and fall off, for the roof was a bit steep, and he
didn't feel like breaking a leg.
"Ryoko… has something been bothering you lately? You seem, well, not yourself lately…"
Ryoko sighed as Tenchi Masaki, the future ruler of the
Jurain Empire and quite possibly the most powerful mortal being in the known
universe, not to mention her own one true unrequited love, carefully tried to
seat himself a good meter away from her.
Without a glance in his direction, Ryoko answered, her eyes continuously
fixed on the blanket of stars above her.
"What? You mean I
haven't been blowing things up or melting through the walls or, dare I say it,
trying to get you in the sack lately?
Is that what you mean by me not acting like myself?"
Tenchi felt a sweat cross his brow as he hurriedly tried to
back paddle his statement.
"Well er, what I
mean is, um… you've just seemed detached these last few weeks, I guess…"
Ryoko lay for several moments longer, letting the silence
around them build. Tenchi felt his
words trailing off, his own efforts not producing anything in the way of a
reaction. Shrugging, he stood, brushed
off his pants and started to head for the window that looked out upon the roof,
for how else could the family members get up there so easily?
"Well, um, I guess I won't bother you anymore. Goodni…"
Tenchi was cut off by an orange streak of light whispering
past his left ear, slightly singing the hairs on his neck. In front of him, a small, smoldering crater
had mysteriously appeared. Sweating
profusely, Tenchi ceased his retreat for the safety of the house and turned
again to Ryoko, who was now sitting up straight and looking quite angry.
"Damnit! You're
supposed to ask me what's wrong, not walk away!"
"…Oh."
Ryoko turned away from the boy king and swung around to face
the roof's ledge, her legs dangling out over the side. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and
despite the fact that it was evening, Tenchi could swear that the area of space
around Ryoko's head seemed even darker than the night that surrounded them.
Slowly, Tenchi walked back to the edge of the roof. Without saying a word, he once again sat on
the ledge, this time right next to the space pirate he called friend. The quivering uneasiness that usually
wavered in his voice was gone as he quietly asked, "So what's wrong Ryoko?"
Ryoko sat motionless for several minutes, and for a moment
Tenchi thought that he was merely wasting his time. Then Ryoko looked up, her half closed eyes once again filled with
the beauty of the night sky.
"You see that out there?
I've been there. Pick any one of
them and I could probably tell you a story about an adventure I've had there,
or a crime I committed. I've been to
all of them, seen all of them, and they were all so different…so…unique."
She pointed at one in particular. It was a faint one that was two over from a rather bright star in
the center of the night sky. Tenchi
followed the outline of her arm and let his gaze fall on the tiny flake of
light that the demoness had pointed out.
"See that one there?
It had a planet that was so cold everything was made of ice. The houses, the schools, even the
castles. All of it was ice, and the
people there were content with that fact.
They had such wondrous sculptures there that people would come from all
over the universe to see them, and at night the planet's magnetic filed would
create the most beautiful lights in the night sky. It was like watching the sea become infused with color, then
watching it spill out over the heavens.
It was beautiful.
"Not two planets over another race lived. Their planet was much warmer than their
neighbors. They had endless seas that
stretched out for as far as you could imagine, Tenchi. The beaches there were covered with white,
powdery sand that felt like sugar between your toes, and the forests beyond the
beaches were lush and green. At night
the sky would turn purple, and the water looked like it was carved from some
deep, blue stone that rippled in the moonlight. It was beautiful there too."
Tenchi felt himself become lost in Ryoko's words. His mind started to paint delicate pictures
of fairy tale worlds, each one more beautiful than the last. He tried to let himself see what Ryoko had
seen, and even as he tried her realized that he couldn't know, not even in a
thousand years, all the beauties and wonders she had seen in her time.
"I saw them Tenchi.
I saw so much when I was in space.
It was a never-ending voyage with stop after stop of wonders. Sure I was a slave to Kagato, but that
didn't mean I couldn't loose myself in the beauty of the universe from time to
time. It was all so big, so beautiful…"
Tenchi felt something warm and soft shift under his arm, and
only then realized that his arm was around Ryoko. Her head leaned against his shoulder, and Tenchi found himself
wondering what it would be like to feel that closeness, that warmth every
night. If nothing else, it would be
something to remind him that he wasn't dreaming, that this life, this woman
beside him was real. Idly, he let his
mind drift on that thought until Ryoko's words brought him reeling back to
reality.
"I want you to come with me Tenchi. I want you to see those wonders with
me. I want to see them, for myself if
nothing else. I need to know that… that
there's something out there that's waiting for me. Something to remind me why I'm here, why I live from day to
day. I need something, anything to make
me feel… free, Tenchi. I want to be
free…"
Ryoko felt Tenchi's arm tighten ever so slightly around her,
giving her an excuse to snuggle closer to him.
Tenchi spoke, his eyes tracing the outline of Ryoko's unique, beautiful
hair.
"But Ryoko, how can you say that? I mean, you've got all of us here for you, and we care about you
very much. You're a part of our world,
you know that. How can you say…"
"I know, Tenchi. I
know you all care, and for that I'm eternally grateful. It's just… for so long I wanted to go out on
my own, without any chains pulling me back.
I wanted to make a decision on my own, one for myself and no one
else. I wanted to know what life was
like outside of… I wanted to know what it was like to live my life for
myself. I just… hell, I just had a
birthday last week! At least, mom
thinks I had one last week anyway…"
"Congratulations Ryoko!
So how old are you?"
WHAP!
Tenchi pulled his arm way from Ryoko for a moment to nurse
the side of his face, which at the moment was sporting a rather large
bruise.
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!"
Tenchi nodded, mumbling a 'sorry'. Ryoko felt her anger dissipate as she looked out over the tree
line that extended from the edge of the house yard. Idly she noted how it looked like the ocean at night; great waves
of black moving silently against one another, whispering as they passed for
places unknown.
"I guess the point is that I'm getting restless, that's
all. I'm… God I feel like I'm going to
scream, and I don't even know why."
Tenchi nodded, his eyes trying to catch a glimpse of Ryoko's
as they stared at the endless inky landscape.
With a slight 'oomph' he got to his feet and started to walk back towards
the window a second time. After taking
two steps, he stopped and turned to face Ryoko again, but all he saw was her
back.
"Ryoko, do you regret ever coming to live here?"
At that she turned to face him, her face looking half
surprised to the young prince.
"No… not once. Not
ever. I'm happy with where I've gotten
with my life, Tenchi. I'm happy just to
be here with you and the others. I
just…"
Tenchi raised his hand, motioning for her to stop.
"Then as long as you don't regret what you do with your
life, you should never hesitate to live it.
I'd like to see those places with you Ryoko. Someday… someday we will see them… and it will be because we want
to, and we won't regret going there, no matter what."
Ryoko's face seemed to light up for a moment in the
darkness, and for the briefest of seconds Tenchi thought he could actually see
her hope burning like two dying embers in her eyes.
"Do you really mean it Tenchi, or are you just saying that
to make me feel better?"
Tenchi felt himself smile at her words.
"I mean it, Ryoko.
Someday we'll get out of here and go wherever we want to, but not
tonight."
A cool breeze chose that moment to wisp past Tenchi's singed
neck, causing what little hair remained there to stand on end.
"It's getting pretty chilly out… Ryoko? You wanna come inside for awhile?"
Ryoko shook her head, her eyes already drifting back to the
curtain of stars overhead.
"No… I think I'll stay here a bit longer. You go ahead and I'll follow soon, okay
Tenchi?"
"Sure. Good night,
Ryoko."
With that, Tenchi turned to climb through the upstairs
window and return to the warmth and security of the place he called home. Before he did however, he paused and turned
one last time to Ryoko, who was already laying on the roof, staring out into
the glitter-covered abyss.
"Ryoko?"
"Yeah Tenchi?"
"Happy birthday, Ryoko."
"…Thanks."
***
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All C&C Should go to [email protected]
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For Wess