I'm back and I just want to say Thank You so much for you reviews. I was a little bit worried about my writing since I'm from Puerto Rico and my English isn't the best. But I'm glad ya all liked it. Hope this is of your liking. Now read on!

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, they belong to their creators, blah, blah, blah….

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No matter what: Feelings

She was having the best dream in a long time. She felt thrilled as she floated, weightlessly, through space. The warm glow of the stars as she passed them gave her a feeling she hadn't felt in a while. She felt at home. Safe. And loved. The stars, her friends, where she belonged. Where she had no worries and no doubts. No fears and no pain. Here, in this vast emptiness of shinning stars was a place where she could be free. Free of everything that troubled her. She could see in the distance a bright star. It grew bigger and warmer as she floated closer to it. It was brighter than all the other stars around it, and it looked inviting. She felt a sudden wave of longing rush through her veins as she extended her arms to grab the bright star but she couldn't reach it. 'I need to get closer' she thought. She felt a little bit unnerved. What could that star be? Why did she want so desperately to reach it and hold on to it? She was about to reach it. 'Yes, that's it. Just a little bit closer'. She felt a rush on her body that ran up from her fingertips, down to her feet and up her spine, reaching her head and making her dizzy as some of the misty light curled on her hand and pulled her closer to its warmth. It felt strange, but good and exciting at the same time. It was confusing. She was feeling so many things. Why? Why was she feeling all of this? What did this bright and warm star represented? As she got deeper into the light, a silhouette became visible. It was strange, yet she felt like she new it. Whoever could that be? As she neared it, it became clearer. She was about to reach it when she felt a sudden pull. She silhouette began to retreat back into the misty light surrounding it as she was pulled back from it, from the warmth, from the brightness. She could hear it call her name. "Ryoko" 'No, don't leave' she thought desperately trying to go forward again instead of backwards. "Ryoko" it called again. 'I'm trying! No!'

"Ryoko!"

"No!" yelled Ryoko as she suddenly jerked up on her rafter. Her eyes were big and teary.

"Sorry Ryoko. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to get you to wake up." said Sasami lowering her head and looking down sad.

Ryoko looked down and saw Sasami look down ashamed. She floated down from her rafter and gave her a gentle hug. "I'm sorry Sasami. You didn't scare me. I've just been a little edgy these past few days. It's really getting to me. You didn't do anything wrong so please, don't be sad," she said softly while lifting the little girl's head to look at her in the eyes.

As fast as lightning, Sasami's expression changed from almost tears to a sunny smile. "Oh well, in that case, breakfast is ready". With that said, she hopped her way to the kitchen, Ryo-oki trailing behind her, hopping in the same manner as her companion.

Ryoko gave a soft laugh at the young princess's antics. Memories from her dream flooded her mind and she sat down on the couch with a thoughtful expression on her sleepy face. What kind of dream was that? It sure was strange. Yet, she had felt so good and so loved when she had reached that shinning star. She had felt warm and protected. As if nothing in the universe could go wrong. Which was really far from the truth. Complete opposites actually. Everything in her life could go wrong. In fact, everything in her life did go wrong. She was always screwing things up and getting everyone into trouble. She was a complete screw up.

'That's not true and you know it' she heard a voice say in her mind.

'Yeah, well, that's what everyone around here thinks' she said, glaring even though her so called mother couldn't see it.

'No they don't. Why don't you go ask them and see for yourself'

'No' she said, standing up from the couch and heading to the kitchen.

'Fine then. Think what you want. But someday, you'll see how right I was. After all, I'm always right' said Washu very matter-of-factly.

'Whatever' said Ryoko uncaringly and closed her end of the link. "Do you need a hand Sasami?" she asked when she saw the little princess balancing big bowls and plates of food on her tiny arms.

"No Ryoko. Thanks. I can handle it" At that moment, a plate she had been balancing on her left arm toppled over, but Ryoko caught it before its contents spilled over. "Well, maybe a little help wouldn't hurt after all" she said while giving a small laugh.

Ryoko took two more plates and headed to the table to place them. At that moment Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai, entered the kitchen. "Well, well, well. Finally decided to make yourself a little more useful I see," she said sarcastically as she sat down.

Ryoko looked at her and shrugged. "I guess I did" she said and then simply sat down without another remark.

Ayeka looked at her a little worried. Ryoko had been acting really strange this past few days. She wasn't her spicy self any more. She hadn't argued with her and didn't even try to reply when she provoked her. She had looked strained also. And very depressed. Ayeka knew something had been bothering her but wasn't sure what. And what had just happened had been in fact a confirmation to her suspicions. She had felt as if something was approaching. She didn't know what. But she knew she wasn't the only one feeling this way. She could see it in Ryoko also. But Ryoko had taken the feeling in a more depressing way than herself. Could Ryoko possibly know what was bound to happen? But if she did, then how? Does she have anything to do with it? She was worried and confused. She was worried for Ryoko and what was bound to come sooner or later. And for what she could see, it was going to be sooner rather than later. Much sooner.

Her line of thoughts was interrupted when two GPs and a miniature genius entered the kitchen followed by two men, a middle age man and a priest.

"Good morning everyone" said Nobiyouki cheerily.

"Good morning" she replied. 'I'll get back to my thoughts later.'

"Morning" answered Ryoko, not paying much attention. She had her elbow on the table and her face in her left hand. She looked very thoughtful.

Everyone sat down at the table, waiting anxiously for Sasami's delicious food.

"Where's Tenchi?" she asked looking around the table to find his empty spot between Ayeka and Ryoko. "Is he still asleep?"

"I guess," answered Nobiyouki, looking a little annoyed at the fact that his son wasn't present so he could start eating.

"Ryoko, could you please go wake him up?" asked the small princess while making a pleading face that she knew worked wonders with the space pirate. "He's more used to seeing you first thing in the morning"

"Uh, what?" said Ryoko, startled out of her reverie by Sasami's question. "What was that? Sorry, I wasn't listening". She looked down sheepishly.

"Could you please go get Tenchi so we can start eating?" repeated Sasami, looking strangely at Ryoko and then at her sister. Ayeka shrugged her shoulders as if to say she had no idea of what had gotten into her rival.

"Oh, sure" said Ryoko faintly as she phased out of existence and appeared in front of Tenchi's bedroom door. She knocked softly, not really wanting to go inside. She had been this way lately. Avoiding him, not wanting to give him the chance to corner her and finally tell her that he had chosen the princess. She knew it was bound to happen. Her mother had told her that things weren't the way she thought. That life was a mystery. Oh, but she knew. She knew how everything would turn out. She had always known.

"Who is it?" came a sleepy reply from inside.

"It's me Tenchi. Sasami asked to come get you for breakfast. Everyone is waiting for you" she responded softly.

She heard a shuffle inside, something being knocked of a table and a muffled 'ohff' before the door flew open and Tenchi appeared in front of her, in all his sleepy glory, rubbing his knee. "Ryoko!?" he asked surprised.

"Are you all right?" she asked when she saw the way he was rubbing his knee. "And why are you so surprised to see me" she said in an incredulous voice.

He didn't answer her. He just stood there, not rubbing his knee anymore, looking at her strangely. He had made a promise to himself and to her last night. When he had heard her. When he had seen her on the roof from his window. Crying her soul out for him into the night sky. To the stars, her only source of comfort. He had heard her words and it had hurt him deeply to know that she thought that way.

He hadn't been able to sleep that night. He had been feeling strange for the last couple of days. As if something was about to happen, but he couldn't figure for the life of him what. He had been watching out his window when he saw a shadow appear next to it. He had recognized it immediately and had closed his eyes quickly, pretending to be asleep. When she had disappeared from his window, he had walked up to it and leaned out to be able to see her. He had planned to walk up to her and give her a little company since he knew he wasn't going to rest that night, but when he heard her speak his name, he had frozen where he stood and had listened.

Her words had cut deep into his heart and he had felt so guilty and regretful. He knew she was right and that hurt him most. The way she thought he couldn't see her pain when he himself had been feeling it, not being able to be with her as much as he really wanted. And he did understand, he really did. He just couldn't afford to hurt anyone on his family. They were too important to him. But when he had heard her words, it had been the last straw for him. And when she had said how much she loved, cared and worried about him, he had wanted to scream.

The way she said she wanted to be dead every time he looked at her that way. She thought he despised her, for God's sake! How could she think that!? The thought it's completely absurd, and yet, she believed he did. He was so grateful that she had chosen to stay here with him instead of wander off into a corner of the universe where he would never be able to see her, her beautiful and spirited eyes and her radiant smile, but he had never thought that she might have wanted to wander off into a corner of the universe instead of stay here and wait for him to make up his mind. Which he had already done a long time ago but had been to scare to say anything, afraid that he might hurt his family. She had said she longed to be up there.

That had scared him out of his mind. Did she really want to leave? Would she? At that moment he had been about an inch from going up there, gather her up into his arms and tell her how far off she was from the truth. He had started to climb out his window when he heard her voice suddenly rise in volume and intensity. 'She's angry' he had thought. She had called him cruel and selfish. Unfair. And then, the words that came out of her mouth had destroyed his entire world and had shattered his existence into a big, dull and cold nothing.

'Oh, how I wish I could hate you' she had said. At her words, he had crumpled to the floor, staring out his window, looking stunned and shocked. 'She had wanted to hate me. She had wanted to hate me', he repeated in his mind, like a mantra. Those words, horrible to his ears as they were, had crumpled every resolution he had made to himself. But the emotional assault hadn't stopped there. She kept venting her anger.

'Hate you with all my being! At least that way I would be able to leave! I would be able to go away and live on my own without whishing that I were here to be able to see your face and hear your voice!' That had stopped cold in his mantra. Had she ever tried to leave? Was she going to try now? All his fears of not hurting his family melted and blended together creating a resolution bigger and more important to him than losing his family by voicing his feelings, but to not lose her by not voicing them.

After her tirade, she had calmed down again. She had asked if he would miss her. If he would wish upon the stars every night for her to come back so he would be able to see her face, to hear her voice, to feel her presence. If he would cry himself to sleep every night feeling lonely and deceived. God, if she only knew that he wished upon the stars every night for her, even if she was there with him. That he wished that he would be able see her beautiful, angelic face in the morning, able to hear her seductive and luring voice whisper in his ear how much she loved him, able to feel her presence near him, able to feel her. God, how he wished to feel her. To become one with her. To go to a level of passion and desire with her that it would be impossible to get down from it. To feel her lips on him and all over him as he wished his to be on her. Feel her skin pressed against his as they rocked together, in sync, one and a whole climbing to their peak and falling into the abyss together, never letting go of one another. Being together that way forever. God, he wished it to be that way so badly.

If she only knew how many times he had cried himself to sleep, wanting nothing more than to be able to hold her in his sleep and yet denying himself that pleasure. Good God, she thought he loved Ayeka! She had said that he wouldn't miss her. That he would have the princess to fill in the void that she would leave. How wrong she had been. So wrong.

She had said she would have nothing but a shattered heart, a lonely soul and a dead spirit. God, he had hated himself for making her feel so useless, alone, broken and deceived. But what she spoke after saying those painful words lifted his spirits in a way only she could. She had said that no matter how much she wanted to hate him, he meant too much to her. That even if he chose someone else, even if he left her all alone in the world, she would never hate him. She had said that he had showed her what it was to love and that she would be eternally grateful for that. And she had said that she would always love him, no matter what.

After hearing her last words, he couldn't hold his tears. They had poured out of his eyes like blood from a wound. When he had thought of everything she had said, he couldn't hold the sob that escaped his lips either. He had then silently closed his window and had gotten back into bed, with his new resolution fresh in his mind.

And when he had fallen asleep he had had the strangest dream. He was surrounded by a bright light. It was all around him. He had felt scared, but then a presence had entered the light. He had felt safe and secured then. It was warm and very familiar. He had seen a silhouette appear amidst the light. It had gotten closer to him enabling him to recognize the person it belonged to. It was unmistakable. The way the silhouette's hair flew in spikes in all directions. And the shape of the person he could recognize in the vastness of the universe. It was a body that he desired as much as a man lost in a dessert desired for a drop of water. She had come closer, almost at his reach. But then she had been pulled away from him. He had called her but she had disappeared.

And now, as he stood there just looking at her, his resolution came back full force. The look she was giving him, confused and curious, was priceless to him.

He took her hand gently and pulled her slowly into his room, closing the door after she was inside.

By the look she was giving him, he knew her confusion had tripled. He himself was confused. Where did he get the courage to actually pull a stunt like that with Ryoko? And why wasn't she all over him like she would be in a situation like this? But she had been acting strange lately. If he didn't knew any better he would say she had been avoiding him. But that was impossible. This was Ryoko. 'My Ryoko' he thought.

"Tenchi, what's going on?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, as always.

He looked at her with a serious; yet gentle expression on his face. "I need to talk with you. In private" he said softly.

"Now? I mean, well, they're waiting for us at the table" she answered trying to change the subject from what she knew, or at least she thought, was to come. 'I knew this day would come. I knew it had to end sometime. Oh, but please Tenchi. Not now, please. I can't take it right now. Please give me time to prepare for you to tell me you chose her. Please' she thought desperately while trying to hold her tears in check.

"Yes, now. They can eat without us. I'm sure Sasami will save some for us," he said sternly. He had to get this done with before it was too late. Before his fear took over. Before he lost her.

'Oh no, please!' she cried mentally. "But I'm hungry!" she whined, trying to convince him to eat breakfast first. 'Maybe then you'll forget what it was you wanted to tell me'

"Well then, go get some and bring it up here" he said. "We'll eat it while we talk"

She looked down sadly. He wasn't going to give up and she knew how persistent he could get. 'Well, it was bound to happen sometime' "No, that's alright. I'll just eat later" she said in a low, sad tone.

"Well, you should go down and tell them we won't be joining them" he said after a moments thought.

"Sure" With that said, she phased out of existence giving Tenchi a few precious moments to gather his thoughts and think of what would be proper to say.

This wasn't going to be easy, especially when the moment came to tell the rest of his family. But he had to do this. He wanted to do this and he was going to do it. God help him, he was.



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I know, I know! How dare I leave you hanging like that! I'm sorry, but I already blew a fuse writing everything that you just read so I'm taking a break. Now don't worry! I promise I'll have the next chapter up and ready in the blink of an eye. After all, it only took me like two hours to write this second chapter so the third one should be up and ready in no time. In the meantime, be nice and review. And as I said before, please excuse my grammar and writing skills. I'm from Arecibo, Puerto Rico and I'm sure you all know that English is not my main language. So please, don't flame me for my flaws. Stay put!

Bye. XOXO