Tenchi Muyo! Fanfiction
La MagdalenaNote: This story takes place after Tenchi Forever.
Chapter 1:
The Sea of Change
_ _ _
This is not enough anymore. How can I be satisfied with only a smile here and there, when I know he can give so much more?
It has been seven months since Tenchi came back from Haruna's world. Ever since then, she couldn't shake off the memories of seeing him and that woman holding hands, whispering softly to one another, Tenchi being so … so gentle with her.
He's never been gentle with me…no one has.
Ryoko opened another bottle of sake and took a huge swig before wiping her alcohol soaked mouth with her sleeve.
I guess I can't blame him. I can't blame anyone, but myself. Ha! Look at me, hiding away on the roof, drowning away my sorrows. Kagato would beat me senseless for just thinking about him, about anything.
About Tenchi… love… belonging… family… Washu.
Washu. The only family I really have, and the only one who cares the least. The story of my life. If you can call my experiences life, more like a nightmare. I can still hear the screams, the paralyzing look of fear and loss of hope in their faces. The look of contempt in Kagato's face, his features slowly changing from disgust to perverted pleasure as I mentally relay my latest agony to him.
"Well, well, aren't you going offer some sake, or do I have to go buy some more pirate?"
Ayeka finished climbing the latter on the side of the roof and settled comfortably next to Ryoko. She held out her hand waiting a little anxiously for Ryoko to offer some sake.
The pirate eyed the hand from the corner of her eye and took noisy sip before passing it to her.
"Since when do you ever ask princess?"
"Someone's in a bad mood today." Ayeka rolled her eyes as she looked around the roof and quietly counted six empty bottles, maybe even seven if the broken glass next to the edge of the roof was done recently.
"So what brings you to my humble abode?" The biting sarcasm was a little too sharp edged tonight.
The roof was unofficially known to the family as Ryoko's territory, much like the cherry blossom trees and the rafters above the living room. All places where she can be herself, and the only places where people can't get to easily.
"I don't know, felt like a drink, and when I went to the cupboard they were all gone, I naturally knew who took them" Ayeka said this last part with a teasing tone, but her face was lightly burrowed, showing the concern she felt for her friend, her very ebriated friend who was currently lightly rocking back and forth.
"Every night this week you have spent it up here. You know you missed the wedding in "Love and Sorrow"? It was so delicious, he takes her into his arms, looks her in the face and gives her the most pass"
"Give me a break princess! That doesn't happen in real life. Love is…" The pirate's eyes glazed over for a moment and she leaned over the edge, her face burrowed in pain. "Love is only an illusion." Ryoko hissed bitterly and attempted to swipe the bottle from Ayeka, but the princess raised it past her reach.
"Hey? What gives? Give it back!"
"No. You don't really believe that Ryoko. I can see it in your eyes."
Ryoko huffed and slumped for a few minutes, realizing that she had allowed herself to get drunk on purpose and that was going to hurt her chances of getting that sake bottle back from Ayeka. With an annoyed sigh the pirate tried to stand up. The world became unfocused as her head swirled in sympathy.
Ryoko quickly sat back down clutching the edge of the roof with both hands. Her rocking motion increased momentum, and she closes her eyes, squinting at the pain in her head.
"Tell me what's wrong Ryoko. You haven't gotten this drunk since before Tenchi disappeared."
Since Tenchi disappeared... Lord, how long ago was that? I wish I could go back, make myself forget that Haruna ever existed, maybe then I could convince myself that I am happy, that I can really win Tenchi's heart from Ayeka, from any other female. But, he wants a normal girl; he wants a Sakuya, a Haruna, maybe even an Ayeka. After all, she is the most normal between us.
"Ayeka" Her voice was muffled. "Do you think I'm normal?"
Ayeka snorted, caught off guard by her question and was about to answer with a quick retort, but noticed Ryoko's serious _expression and vulnerable position. In a fetus position, the pirate still rocked back and forth, her head between her knees, hidden from view. Her skin was clammy and she smelled. Probably hadn't taken a bath in a couple of days, which was odd for her. Ryoko loved baths. She would often take three a day. The princess quietly studied her friend. Ryoko was depressed. Seriously depressed, and now that she thought about it, Ryoko had been for the past several weeks. She hadn't showed up for any of their favorite soaps, and she had missed eating with the rest of the family for a while now. Well, not that she really needs to eat, but the way she packs on the grub one would think she absolutely adored food.
Ayeka laid a hand on Ryoko's shoulder and frowned as she stiffened under her touch.
"Ryoko," she sighed, "you're the weirdest person I know, but who wants you to be normal?"
Ryoko mumbled more to herself. "Tenchi does."
"What?"
Ryoko shrugged off Ayeka's hand and tried again to stand up, this time with better results. She threw an empty bottle lying near her feet into the air and shot a small red flare to destroy it.
The princess squinted at the bright light and shielded her face from the exploding debris with her arms.
There was a hiss, and she realized Ryoko had teleported. When she looked to her left she disappointed to find her friend long gone. In fact, if it hadn't been for all the empty bottles, it would be hard to believe Ryoko had ever been there.
The moon peaked out from under the clouds and the princess noticed something reflecting the moon's light. A closer look and she realized it was another sake bottle, but this one was full and judging by the look of the label, the 'good stuff'. She smiled to herself as she held the bottle close to her chest and began to climb down the latter. She silently acknowledged Ryoko's gift. The pirate never forgot where and how many bottles she had, and Ayeka was sure she had left this one for her. The fact that it wasn't cheap made it more touching. Grinning to herself she made her way to the onsen, she swallowed the urge to skip, and opened the bottle eagerly. Her soft laughter was carried by the wind.
– – –
"Ugh, I need another drink." Ryoko was clumsily floating down the path to the lake when she heard a suspiciously muffled sound coming from the vegetable storage bin.
"Tsk, tsk, Ryo-ohki." She smiled in spite of her blues, and fazed through the wall to participate in her ship's current looting.
"Meow!! Meow, meow, meow?"
Anyone else would have had no clue what the funny little animal had said. Ryo-ohki looking like a mix between a cat and a rabbit was devouring the last of the carrot stash Sasami had hid in the vegetable out house. To Ryoko, who had known Ryo-ohki since she was born, understood her perfectly, and vice versa, all thanks to the mental link thought up by their "mom" Washu, the greatest scientific scientist in the universe.
Hey Ryoko! You won't tell Sasami about this will you?
What do you take me for Ryo-ohki? Eat all the carrots you want, in fact I think I saw Sasami hide some more behind the wicker basket-
"Meow, Meow!!!"
As she saw a happy Ryo-ohki head to the wicker basket, Ryoko's smile grew. Ryo-ohki always knew how to cheer her up, even in the worst of times.
"Meow?"
I'm fine Ryo-ohki, just a little tired of … life.
"Meow?" asked a confused cabbit as she hopped up on Ryoko's head.
I don't know what I mean either, but I can't take much more of whatever it is, She relayed to the cabbit.
In her own thoughts she agonized over the lie. How can I lie to Ryo-ohki? But if I tell her what I'm really thinking, she won't understand. Why would she, ever since I met Tenchi I virtually ignored her. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she left with Sasami when it's her time for her lessons on Jurai. Perhaps Ayeka will go with her, and there goes my friend. And with all this royalty around, so will Tenchi. He has a right to reclaim the throne that rightfully belongs to him. He would look so handsome in those robes… Especially now that he is growing out his hair, and his body is maturing. He is even taller than me now! And I don't know how the hell this is possible but he has become even sexier. All that time in Haruna's world made him more confident and sure of himself. Every time he turns my way, my insides melt, my knees turn to butter and I loose my breath. I wonder if he has ever felt this way towards a woman. Perhaps Sakuya. She was pretty in her own human girl sort of way, I guess.
I noticed how much he changed from the minute Ayeka and I saw him and Haruna walking on the street. The way they held each other, the way he looked into her eyes. So… so gentle. He now carries his sexuality in every movement, every look. Sometimes the way he glances at me is so intense I'm forced to phase away to avoid hyperventilating. I wonder what he thinks when I just disappear like that? Probably doesn't even notice it. He doesn't blush so much at my advances anymore either. And when I sit next to him while he draws, his hand movement is so graceful I imagine his hands are moving against my body instead of the sketchbook and then I-
"What was that?" The pirate turned her head in the direction of the noise quickly and winced as the room began to spin.
Did you hear that Ryo-ohki ?
"Meow, meow…" Ryo-ohki spooked off Ryoko's head to her shoulder, her fur standing on end.
Ryoko phased through the wall trying to pinpoint the place where the sound came from, but the sake had done its job well. After a few minutes of useless attempts to focus, Ryoko forgot what she was doing and decided to head out to the cherry blossom trees, star gaze for a while. Ryoko turned her back to the house when she heard voices coming from the onsen.
– – –
"Lor' Tenshiii I'm quite alreght. Hooow, I mean, how many times have I tol' you a princessss doesn't not get druunnk?"
With that Ayeka successfully did a one-eighty and hit the dirt. Tenchi quickly helped her up and swung her arm over his shoulder to help steady her while they headed to the house.
"How much did you drink anyway?" Tenchi asked, turning quickly away when her alcohol soaked breath hit him.
"Oh! Is all thats peeesky pirates fault. If only she woulda shared the bottle wit me. I wouldn't have gotten zzoo carried away."
Tenchi shook his head at the mention of Ryoko's involvement. She was probably off somewhere laughing at Ayeka's drunken moment.
"The mooon is beau-ti-fulll to-night isn't it Lorl' Tenshi?"
"Huh? I suppose." He glanced over at the princess, and wondered why she had such a content look on her face as she rested her head on his shoulder. "You talked to Ryoko? I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon, and she seemed to be avoiding me. Has she said anything?"
"Huh?" She raised her head, her contented look disappearing, "Umm nooo. I don't know whatzz wrong wid heer."
Tenchi carefully maneuvered Ayeka around a rocky part of the path and decided to take a short cut through the garden to get to the house quicker. He had a sneaky suspicion she would want to hurl at any moment.
"Tenshiii? Tenshi?" Ayeka stumbled and almost took Tenchi with her. She squeaked and grabbed hold of his shirt, and they ended up face to face.
Sighing, Tenchi stopped, looking for the right words, "Ayeka, tomorrow. You should go to bed-"
"Wait!" she clutched his shirt with fists. "I need to tell ya thiz while I still have the nerve. I, I …you know how much I love you right?"
All signs of drunkeness suddenly left the princess and she was fully aware of her words but forced herself to continue. Tenchi seeing her sudden change looked away, but Ayeka held his face with her hand, forcing him to face her, to face the decision they both knew had taken place a long time ago.
"Ayeka, I do too. But-"
But… but… always a but!
With the rest of her fleeting courage, she reached up and kissed him. Not a sloppy, drunken kiss, but a kiss that was meant to transfer the soul of one to the body of the other. She grabbed the back of his head with the other hand and pulled him closer. Pressing her body on to his, the heat radiating from his body intoxicated her more that any bottle of sake could ever do, no matter how expensive. When he responded to her caresses, heart soared.
– – –
Ryoko heard the voices stop and tired of her conscious effort to float straight decided to walk.
"Meeoow?" I don't know why Ayeka won't take my advice and turn the garden into another carrot field. Are you sure you told her Ryoko?
Yeah I told her, but it seems your obsession for carrots doesn't occur to the rest of the family. Ryoko winked at the cabbit and headed to the house.
The moon, having gone to hide behind the clouds, decided to peek down at the earth, completely illuminating the Okayama landscape that in turn accentuated the brilliance of the stars. Ryoko stopped walking and a little slack jawed stared up at the sky.
Look Ryo-ohki! Look at the stars! She pointed a clumsy arm upward and smiled at the cabbit on her shoulder. I can spend decades just gazing at them.
"Meow"
Party pooper. I can't believe you want to go inside.
"Meow, Meow"
It is not THAT cold.
"Meow! Meow!"
All right! Lets go then! But don't count on me for your next midnight carrot snack.
Ryoko warned her cabbit as she lifted branch that was in her way. The image that met her next was to say it in a nutshell, soul shattering. There was Ayeka; her so called friend, and Tenchi, the Tenchi that had saved her from Kagato, from the cave, even from herself. There they were kissing, in the middle of the garden. The moon illuminating their bodies, making them seem like one person, the perfect union.
Ryoko's heart shattered. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think. Her chest hurt so much she felt she would pass out. She squinted, trying to blink away the tears and stop the quivering of her bottom lip at the same time. Her chest burned with anger, hurt, rage… She bit the inside of her cheek when she felt a sob strangle her throat dry. The pirate was oblivious. Oblivious to the fact of Ryo-ohki was trying to communicate thoughts of comfort through their link. Oblivious to the fact that as her hands were balled into tight fists, her nails were drawing blood.
She blinked again and her world stopped spinning. She phased away, and the very next moment in complete rapture Tenchi moaned her name.
"Ryoko."
– – –
–
Ayeka's eyes shot open and her mouth hung wide open. Her hands still around his face and head, only they began to shake, her nostrils flaring. Tenchi had called Ryoko's name while kissing her, Ayeka! The first princess to the most powerful empire of the known universe! Her conscious tried to say how she had brought it on to herself, but Ayeka was in no mood for sermons. She had to get out of there. She wouldn't let Tenchi see her cry. She suspected he loved Ryoko, but she couldn't resist kissing him, at least once. To savor his lips on hers, and to engrave completely the memory of how he tasted for her to turn over in her fantasies. Now everything was ruined. All she could do was…
BAM!
Tenchi received the biggest slap of his life. His head swung completely to his left and she heard bones in his neck crack. She was sorry for having hit him and she would apologize later, but now she ran. Ran like her life depended on it, in fact it did. Her soul was barred and bleeding. She ran all the way to Funaho, before collapsing into a crying jag that continued till morning.
The wind cut through her kimono, completely ruining it for any further use. Her eyes were bone dry, having not blinked once, the cool night air hitting her more that 100 miles per hour having easily rid her of the burden of drying her face. Her hands still balled into fists kept bleeding, Ryoko still hadn't noticed. She hadn't noticed anything but the instinct to flee. If Kagato had taught her anything, it was to flee like the devil was after you. She had tried it on him a couple of times, but the pupil never could surpass the teacher.
"Meow, meow."
"Ryo-ohki?"
Ryoko stopped dead in mid air, almost making Ryo-ohki shoot out if it hadn't been for her death grip on Ryoko's shoulder.
"Meow?"
"I'm leaving. No more you hear me? I'm NOT a monster! I might not deserve for somebody to LOVE me, but I sure as hell won't stay to have them rub it in my face!"
Ryoko they would never do that, they love you.
"Don't be so naïve Ryo-ohki, and if what you said is true, it doesn't matter, I have to leave. I have to-"
Where will we go? We have a family and they do love you. They do.
Ryoko stared at Ryo-ohki for a long time. We? Ryoko thought to herself. The wind still nipped at her. Her hair swirled with the wind. Her crying had made her cheeks have a rosy glow, and her torn clothes in turn revealed intimate parts of her body when moved by the wind.
She teleported them to the ground and took a deep breath.
Ryo-ohki changed into her toddler form to better comfort her mistress.
"Ryo-ohki, you… you are my best friend, my only family, my true family. You have witnessed me, my life…"
Ryo-ohki gently placed her tiny hand on Ryoko's once again tear-stained face. She patted her cheeks gently and smiled. Ryoko smiled back. She could always get a smile out of her.
Ryoko sniffed. "I know that we have grown apart. It's my fault, my useless obsession with him but," Ryoko bit her lip, "I would like you to come with me. I … it's okay if you want to stay with Sasami. She- she is good to you. She's a good kid, but I don't belong there, I never did." She looked at Ryo-ohki, "But you do. It's up to you, no obligations, no pressure; you are more than a ship to me. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."
Ryoko had said this so quickly that she had to stop to catch her breath. The moment that passed was so infinitesimal that only Ryoko noticed, but Ryo-ohki quickly gave her a hug and kissed her cheek meowing words of love and support.
You know that Washu will find us.
Ryoko gasped, but just as quickly shook her head.
"She won't," she said confidently. "The only way she has to track me is with the gems. And with them she tracks you too. Since she thinks I will never part with them, she has not taken any pains to create another device to track us. So I will … "
"Meow?" Ryo-ohki asked in disbelief.
"Yes Ryo-ohki, if it means a brand new start to find out who I really am. I will-" Ryoko swallowed, "give up my gem."
As she was saying this, with Ryo-ohki on her lap and she sitting on the ground Indian style, she looked at her wrist. Her gem. The only source of protection she had. The only time she could remember being without it, was through her confinement in the cave. But Tenchi had been there to save her. He would not be there again. Yet she owed him a lot. He was the first person to see her as a person, the first person to smile at her without cowering in fear. She owed him a lot. She now honestly wished him to be happy, and if he didn't chose her, then, well she was happy it had been Ayeka. Ayeka was her first friend, female friend; that was the real miracle. They were born for each other, the first crown prince and princess of Jurai, what could be more right?
She held her gem through her dried, bloody hand and smiled, a sad, knowing smile. She would miss all the comforts her powers gave her, but most of all she would miss the flying. She felt so free in the sky.
She dried her tears and grinned forcefully. "Well Ryo-ohki, lets not make this harder than it is huh?"
I love you Ryoko"Do you realize that without the gems we won't be able to communicate mentally with each other? I will have to teach you how to speak."
"Meow!?" Ryo-ohki exclaimed in disbelief.
Ryo-ohki? I love you too.
With that she threw the gem into the air and it vanished taking its place next to the other two resting on Tenchiken.
"Today is the first day of the rest of out lives Ryo-ohki. Where do you want to go? The world is out playground."
- - -
Sea of Change
Tenchi Muyo!
La MagdalenaIntermission:
Notes: This is intermission, a song by Fiona Apple that I think
describes wonderfully how Ryoko feels right now. If you
have a chance to actually listen to the song, you'll be
amazed on how well it fits! The CD is from "When the Pawn"
Love Ridden
- - -
Love ridden, I've ever looked at you
With the focus I gave to my birthday candles
I've wished on the lidded blue flames
Under your brow
And baby, I wished for you
Nobody sees when you are lying in your bed
And I wanna crawl in with you
But I cry instead
I want your warm, but it will only make
Me colder when it's over
So I can't tonight, baby
No, not "baby" anymore -
if I need you
I'll just use your simple name
Only kisses on the cheek from now on
And in a little while, we'll only have to wave
My hand won't hold you down no more
The path is clear to follow through
I stood too long in the way of the door
And now I'm giving up on ... you
No, not "baby" anymore - if I need you
I'll just use your simple name
Only kisses on the cheek from now on
And in a little while, we'll only have to wave
No, not "baby" anymore - if I need you
I'll just use your simple name
Only kisses on the cheek from now on
And in a little while, we'll only have to wave
Fiona Apple