Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and all characters, symbols,
places, and anything I'm forgetting, are copyright Pioneer. The Double Chain Knot and all bracelet ideas
used in here are copyright Klutz. Go
ahead and sue me, if you want, but I don't think you can. What's my name? Where do I live? You'll
never know, will you? *Grins evily*
Hahaha…maybe I do own all of these guys. You never know.
"What are
you doing?" Ryoko asked Sasami. She was sitting out on the porch, crouched
over something. She sat up at the sound
of Ryoko's voice and smiled at her.
"I'm making
friendship bracelets. See?" She held up some thread.
"Friendship
bracelets?" Ryoko asked, sitting down
by Sasami. Sasami handed her some
embroidery thread.
"Choose two
colors. I'll teach you how to make
them." Ryoko decided on a green and
blue. "Now, you want to cut each of the
threads into three equal pieces. So you
have six threads total."
"I can
count, Sasami."
"That's
nice to know, Ryoko. Tie the threads
all together in one big knot. Here's a
pin, you can clip it onto your dress, so that it stays still while your making
it." Ryoko shook her head. "What?
Oh, I see. Maybe you don't have
enough dress."
Ryoko was
wearing one of the short dresses she preferred. It might have been great for impressing Tenchi with (or maybe it
wasn't…Ryoko wasn't getting very far with him.), but it was not at all good for
this.
Sasami
sighed, went inside, and returned with a piece of cardboard and some tape.
"Tape the
thread to this." She instructed, her
own bracelet hanging from her skirt.
Ryoko did so, and Sasami sat down.
"This type of bracelet is called the Double Chain Knot. You can make all different kinds of
bracelets, but we'll start with this.
"You want
to separate the colors so the blues are together, and the greens are
together. Now, take all of the greens,
like this, and tie it around the blues, like so." She demonstrated it to Ryoko.
"Then you do the same with the blues, and…Ryoko?"
Ryoko
seemed to have dozed off, or something.
She was staring at the threads in her hand. Shaking her head abruptly, she smiled at Sasami.
"Ryoko, are
you alright?" Sasami asked, concerned.
"Yes, I'm
fine."
"What were
you doing?"
"Oh,
just…remembering something." A sad look
crossed her face, but it was pushed aside so fast that Sasami almost missed it.
"Really? What?"
She asked, worried about Ryoko.
"I'll tell
you later, Sasami."
"Why don't
you tell me while we work on these?"
"Not right
now, maybe later, Sasami."
"Please?" Ryoko smiled at the little girl.
"Alright." They started working.
"When I was
about your age, a little younger, maybe, I was sitting at my school. They didn't know me as the Space Pirate
Ryoko, then. I was always getting into
trouble because I would wander away from school. That was one of the first things I got rid of, my school. Blew it right off the map."
"Ryoko!" Sasami said, shocked.
"I'm
kidding, Sasami."
"That's
good!"
"There was
this guy at my school…really nice little boy, who I used to like, named
Kyoto…you know, little kid love. Washu
isn't the only one to lose a loved one, you know. Must run in our family.
Anyway, I was sitting in there when I noticed a group of girls over in
the corner, working on something. It
was really strange because the girls in my class never worked at all. So, I decided to go see what was happening.
"They were
making friendship bracelets, too."
"Why does
that make you sad, Ryoko?"
"Because
that was the day that Kagato came. I
was trying to sneak out of school again, when he appeared behind me and knocked
me out before I could react. Good thing
for him that I wasn't a big fighter then.
I would have been a lot more careful, now.
"He took me
to Souja, and kept me frozen like Washu for several years. He apparently took data from her mind, and
used it to control me. Damn him!
"I don't
remember much of the rest of that, but there is one battle in particular that I
remember. Kagato had sent me out to
destroy a planet called Kyishu, which looked a lot like earth. I was to bring him back some important
gem. We easily got past the planets
defenses, but we had some trouble when we got the gem.
"This
warrior was standing there, I'm assuming he was Jurai, because he had a sword
like Tenchi's. Something about him
bugged me, he looked so familiar. I
ignored it, of course, and jumped into battle with him. It was only when he was dieing at my feet,
that I realized who he was.
"'Ryoko' he
told me. 'Ryoko, why'd you have to turn evil?
You were such a nice little girl…cute little Ryoko…my cute little
Ryoko…'" Ryoko sobbed, holding back tears. "It was Kyoto. I'd never felt so horrible before, because I
still felt like a child, since I couldn't control my actions, so I never really
grew up. My hatred was the only thing
that grew."
Ryoko
couldn't stop crying now. The cardboard
she was holding started showing dark splotches, until she dried her eyes.
"I'm sorry,
Sasami. I didn't mean to tell you all
of that."
"Ryoko, if
you loved Kyoto, then why do you want Tenchi?"
"I grew up, finally,
Sasami. I realize that it was just a
childhood love, nothing more."
"But, then
why'd you cry?" Sasami asked, confused.
"Sasami,
even if I didn't really love Kyoto, I still cared about him a lot."
"Oh, I
see!" She looked down at Ryoko's
bracelet, and her still-working hands.
"Umm, Ryoko, I think you're done with that."
Ryoko
glanced down at her hands and winced.
"Oops." She had been braiding
air for about 5 minutes, she was so caught up in her story.
"Tie off
the end, like you did at the top. Now,
when you see your friend, tie it around their wrist." Ryo-Ohki hopped around the corner as Sasami finished talking.
"Ryo-Ohki! Just who I wanted to see!" Sasami exclaimed. "Here, hold up your head.
I'm not going to hurt you, silly cabbit!" She tied her bracelet around the cabbit's neck. Ryo-ohki miya-ed, and tried to look at her
new 'collar'.
"It means
that we're friends forever!" Sasami
said. Ryo-Ohki miya-ed happily, and
jumped to Sasami's shoulder.
"Hey,
Ryoko, who are you giving yours to?"
Sasami look at the Space Pirate.
"Maybe you should give it to Ayeka!
Then you'd be friends forever, and never ever fight again!"
"I don't
think that its that easy, Sasami. But I
do know who I'm going to give it to."
Ryoko disappeared.
"She'd
going to Tenchi, isn't she?" Sasami
said to Ryo-Ohki.
Sasami was
right.
"Tenchi!" Echoed across the yard.
"Oh
no!" He sighed, looking up from his
work with the carrots.
"Tenchi!" The voice was coming closer. He saw it's owner seconds later.
"Tenchi,
I've got a present for you!" He tried
to look excited, rather than scared.
"That's
great, Ryoko!"
"Hold out
your arm, and close your eyes." He did
so, with some apprehension.
Ryoko
quickly tied the bracelet around his wrist and disappeared, hiding behind a
tree. Tenchi opened his eyes a few
seconds later, amazed that he hadn't been abducted or something. He gaped at the bracelet on his arm, then
looked around for Ryoko.
"Where'd
she go?" She heard him ask. Giggling, she appeared right behind
him. He turned, feeling the air rush
away to make space for her.
"Like it,
Tenchi?" She smiled. "It's a friendship bracelet. I made it myself."
"I love it,
Ryoko."
"And…"
"And
what?" He said, looking confused. Say "And I love you." Please, Tenchi? Ryoko thought.
"Never
mind." He shrugged. Ryoko sighed, and disappeared. Stupid old Tenchi. Will he ever learn?
