I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any related characters ect ect. Plot IS mine though! No takies!
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Ryoko raised a small porcelain cup to her lips. She sipped its contents quietly, enjoying the taste of the burning alcoholic saké as she took pleasure in the first sip of alcohol she'd had since entering the Dark Zone almost two years ago. While musing at the fact that her taste for saké hadn't left her through all of her life changes, Ryoko watched as thousands of people bustled around the café of the spaceport they where docked in.
Outside the giant window on the far wall, she observed a giant space vessel as it flew by the window. Beyond it she could see their ship, Shiki, as it sat idly, waiting to park in one of the docking bays. She knew that there were very few of her crew left on the port. Everybody else had homes to return to for their two-year leave, while the information they'd gained was analyzed and the debate of whether or not they should return to investigate further was concluded.
Taking another sip, Ryoko swirled it around in her mouth, and turned her attention away from the cafe and the window.
"Excuse Me? Do you mind if I sit here?" a feminine voice said behind Ryoko.
"Sure, why not?" Ryoko concented, motioning to a seat across from her.
"Oh, thank you very much." Ryoko looked at the girl who was now joining her. She looked about 16, and had curly pink hair that'd been pulled up into two bushy ponytails. She looked up and met Ryoko's gaze with pale green eyes, before her mouth dropped open.
"Ohmigod! You're Masaki Ryoko!!" Ryoko sat stiff in her chair as the girl squealed in delight.
"My name is Kirameku Aisu. It's a pleasure! You can call me by my first name!"
"Uh. . . Ok. . . Aisu." The girl grinned widely and grabbed up a notebook, which she'd been carrying under her tray.
"What a coincidence meeting you here Ms. Masaki!" Aisu opened her notebook to a blank page and grabbed a pencil out of the binding. Ryoko gave a tight smile, the girls enthusiasm unnerving her a bit.
"Oh, is it?"
"Yes it is Ms. Masaki! I'm doing a project on you at my academy! Do you mind if I interview you??" Ryoko stared at the girl. She looked so hopeful. For a minute, Ryoko wanted to get away from the toothy grin she was receiving.
"Sure, why not," she finally sighed. Aisu looked like she'd been crowned queen of the universe. Her grin split even wider and her eyes got all misted as she grinned into the distance, her fists clenched.
"Wow! An interview with Masaki Ryoko! I can't believe my luck! I'm sure I'll get the best grade in the class!" Ryoko leaned back into her chair and crossed her legs. She figured she might as well help the girl. She had nowhere to go until the spaceship she'd rented was ready to use.
"OK shoot." Ryoko smiled genuinely as Aisu stared at her with excitement.
"Well, Ms. Masaki," she started, "Your past is kinda unclear. Everyone knows you where considered a demon for a long while, but you weren't arrested or anything. Why?"
"Well, during a lot of that time, I was living . . . with a pretty close friendship to both of the current queens of Jurai." Aisu's eyes bulged.
"REALLY???" She gasped
"Uh, yea," Ryoko said, amused at the almost comic reaction from Aisu. "The princesses at the time had put aside an old grudge, because we had a common reason to be on Earth." Ryoko's mind strayed briefly to the invitation she had from Tenchi to visit.
"When Lady Ayeka returned to Jurai, the police ordered my arrest, but she cleared my name, because she knew I was ready to start over." Aisu stared at Ryoko, hanging on her every word. "For some reason, living on earth calmed me down. Um . . . maybe you should write that down?"
"Oh! Yes, of course!" Aisu said, an embarrassed blush spreading across her cheeks as she started to scribble down the information. Once her pen stopped moving she looked up again to Ryoko.
"Ms. Masaki, after you left earth, what made you decide that you wanted to become a scientist?"
Ryoko sat silently for a moment, contemplating.
"Well," she said finally, "I'm not quite sure. I think if it hadn't been for Ayeka's pardon, I wouldn't have become much of anything. But the fact that she believed in me gave me some hope. It seemed everyone I spent time with became great people, and I wanted to find that same greatness in myself. Otherwise, I don't think I would have ever left Earth."
"Ms. Masaki, I have seen pictures of you when you were studying to become a scientist. Seeing you now you seem much mellower. Why is this?"
"All that time to think in the Dark Zone," Ryoko laughed aloud, watching Aisu write feverishly in her notebook. "I had a lot of time to myself, and being the captain of my ship, I couldn't do anything wild like when I was studying. I became dependent more on my own company than the company of others, I think."
"What is your favorite food or drink?"
"Saké." Ryoko laughed again. "I still like it, even since I became this 'mellow'. But I've learned to drink it in moderation."
"Earlier you said you and Queen Ayeka had the same reason for staying on Earth. What was that?"
Ryoko smiled at Aisu, "I'm afraid that is for us to know only. I am sorry."
Ryoko sat through several more of the girl's questions, these more about her personally than her accomplishments. The answer that seemed to surprise Aisu the most was when Ryoko replied that her favorite flowers were Earth's cherry blossoms.
After a little while Ryoko excused herself and returned to the room she was staying in on the spaceport. She placed her hand on the laser pad outside her door the door slid open. Inside the small room, was a small double bed, a desk, a small bathroom and a tiny kitchenette in one corner. A large window looking out into the void of stars and spaceships was on the far wall. Ryoko's large trunk sat in front of the desk.
Turning into the bathroom and switching on the light, Ryoko observed herself in the mirror, tugging the one of the small red earrings that dangled from her ears and then looking down to the crystal around her left wrist. She turned left and right, observing herself in the mirror.
"Ms. Masaki, I have seen pictures of you before, like when you were studying to become a scientist, and seeing you now you seem much mellower," Aisu's words echoed in her head.
"Am I really Mellower?" she asked herself aloud, pulling her elastic out and letting her aqua colored hair fall over her shoulders. She picked up a long strand and inspected it. It was darker now, she'd admit that, and also softer. But, her hair had not been styled in their spikes for at least 4 years, if not more. Her hair being so much longer hadn't been able to support them.
Taking a hunk of her hair Ryoko held it up and turned left and right, observing herself, before letting it drop. She then turned sideways, observing her figure. She confessed to herself that, though she had lost weight, she was still fit and muscular. She pushed her breasts up slightly by supporting them with an arm and winked at the mirror. Her reflection winked back at her.
"I have changed." It was a soft, almost defeated sounding statement, and Ryoko pouted at herself. She felt that she looked more like Sasami then herself now. Her beauty, though still present, was softer, more delicate. She could have described her moods and looks with vivid colors and odd shapes while on Earth. Now, she was all pastels and soft shapes.
A sudden anger built up inside her and she turned and left the room, hitting the button for the lights with a smack that made the metal below it groan. It felt satisfying. Not since her academy days had she used any of her powers either, though the power to was always there.
For a moment Ryoko stood in the dark. Then she walked over to the window and stared out at a single ship as it and its crew made its way towards the stars that seemed to sparkle endlessly in the dark sky. She pressed a palm against the window, feeling the cold of space despite the layers and layers of thick glass between her and that black nothingness. She then brought her forehead down to rest on the glass as well. A sudden thought tore at her mind and begging her to realize it. Tenchi's image swam before her eyes.
They had all changed; nothing was like it had been. What if Tenchi had changed as much as she had? Ryoko, the lusty, showy, drunken space pirate who had become a gentle scientist. What if Tenchi had changed too? She couldn't bear the thought of him being a loud, pushy man or anything other than what he had been. He'd been so perfect then.
She pushed away from the glass and took a deep steadying breath.
"I decided in the Dark Zone that I was going to visit Tenchi," Ryoko told herself aloud, holding her head high, eyes glimmering in the darkness. She wanted to, needed to. No doubting thought would stop her from that. She then forced herself out the door, making sure to leave her doubts behind her in the darkness of her room.
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