Angel - Chapter Four - By Tilena

"Ugh," Ryoko groaned, blinking furiously. Her head hurt even worse than it had before. She reached up and felt a particularly sore spot on her head, and furrowed her brow. What had happened to cause that?

"I see you're up, sleeping beauty," a voice said dryly.

She turned to look at the owner of the voice, then winced. Her head throbbed and worse, in front of her was the reminder as to WHY it hurt. She glared. "What are you doing on my ship?"

"Hell if I know," he shrugged. "One minute my ship went bam! The next… I was here."

Ryoko sighed, rubbing her head. "You moron." She sat up, dangling her long legs over the edge of the bed and regarded Hiroshi thoughtfully. "So your ship is gone?"

His gray eyes narrowed. 'Yes, my ship is gone," he spat angrily, then drew himself up to his full height. He was rather tall, Ryoko noted, standing a good eight Earth inches taller than her. "I don't know how I ended up here, but I assure you, I had no intention of things turning out this way."

"Yeah, with your ship blown all to hell," Ryoko agreed, smirking.

Hiroshi snarled, his handsome face twisting. "If it wasn't for you—"

"If it wasn't for me defending myself against an idiot like you," Ryoko interrupted, then waved her hand. "Ryo-ohki must've saved you."

"Who?"

"My ship. You know, the one you thought you could defeat."

"Amazing," he mused, looking around. "You must have a very sophisticated AI program."

"Not an AI," Ryoko said. She frowned. "Why aren't you hurt?"

"My ship may have been destroyed, but it is also very advanced," he replied. "It has a program designed to protect in case of emergencies. I feel fine, pretty much."

"Wonderful," Ryoko muttered. "I feel sick. However, that could be due to your presence."

He gave her a sour look. "I never asked for this."

"You attacked me, you fool. Anyone who does that is asking to have their ass kicked."

"Win some, lose some."

She just growled in response.

"Hey, do you have any food on this ship?"

"First you attack me, then you complain about being rescued, and now you want food?"

Hiroshi glowered. "A man has to eat, you know."

"Fine, fine. Exit out of my room," she said, putting an accent on room, "and go two doors down. There should be some provisions in there."

He bowed to her slightly. "Thank you, madam."

She sighed. It appeared that she was stuck with him for the time being. Her head ached and she didn't feel quite steady, but she got to her feet anyway. Giving up walking, she instead flew out to the cockpit area.

"You call this food?" Hiroshi asked, holding up a packet of noodles and dried fish.

She turned her head and glowered. "What the hell do you want? This stuff is great!"

"It's weird," he replied.

"You sound like a kid!" she retorted. "Just shut up and eat it." She turned away from him and glanced back at the controls. Now, to get back on course, she told herself.

"Hey," Hiroshi interrupted her thoughts. "Where are you going?"

"The Ruki system," she answered.

"Wow, you're really off course."

Ryoko turned and regarded him with glittering gold eyes. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," she snapped.

"Well, excuse me," he said, shrugging.

"You know, I never wanted to pick you up! If it wasn't for the fact that Ryo-ohki decided to play rescue you'd be floating around out there!"

"Oh, yes," he said, swallowing. "You didn't explain about this Ryo-ohki."

"She's my ship," Ryoko said shortly, wishing that her vision would focus right on something. Either that or she'd settle for Hiroshi to cease his chatter.

"You talk about her as if she was alive," Hiroshi noted, then jumped as a crystal popped up near him.

"Miya!" the little cabbit's face in the crystal said.

"What the hell is that?" Hiroshi exclaimed, almost dropping the noodle he had been munching on.

"It's Ryo-ohki," Ryoko said with a trace of a smile. "Oh, yeah. There's one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Those noodles taste better when you cook them."

She watched him in amusement as his eyes dropped down to the noodles in his hand, then back up to her face. His own face turned a crimson color. "C-cook?" he sputtered.

"Yes, you know. Generally that's what people do when they prepare food," Ryoko said patiently.

He barked out something inarticulate, then stormed out of the cockpit. She waited. Seconds later she heard footsteps. "Where is the kitchen?"

She told him the way, then leaned back in her chair, a smug grin on her face. She quickly sobered up, though, as she regarded the map in front of her. He was right. They were headed the wrong way by about 60º. In fact, they were farther from Ruki than they were when Ryoko made that stupid decision to stop at the bar. The stop that had led her to go off course and subsequently get an extra, unwanted passenger.

Well, there was one good thing about this whole encounter, she told herself. Hiroshi was sure to provide a great deal of amusement.

He seemed to be young, about twenty-five in Earth years. Ryoko smiled. Earth years were ever so much shorter than the measurements they used in space! But then again, Earthlings had a much shorter life span. Ryoko was much, much older than she cared to admit. Then again, she thought bitterly, I was created. I wasn't conceived in the normal fashion. Well, at least Washu had thought enough of her experiment to make her suitably powerful.

Her eyes drifted down to the gem on her left wrist, then to the matching one on her right. Tenchi had eventually given her all three gems from the Tenchi-ken. She closed her eyes, remembering that day. She thought that it symbolized something, but apparently it meant nothing to him. The warmth in his eyes as he pressed the red orbs into her hands – did she just imagine that?

"Hey, Miss Space Pirate, just how do I use this kitchen? This stove has at least ten knobs!" Hiroshi called.

Ryoko opened her eyes slowly and gritted her teeth. Washu had made that stove special for the ship, and it had taken Ryoko at least five hours to figure out how to do it all and memorize it. She started getting out of the chair, then paused. She remembered! She remembered when the red-haired scientist had patiently told her the stove's instructions!

"Hurry up!" Hiroshi said. "I'm hungry!"

Ryoko snarled, her fangs protruding momentarily, then teleported to the kitchen. It took her a minute to adjust, her eyes scanning the area quickly. The table with its two levitating chairs, the countertop with the smooth gray surface, the large refrigerator, and other appliances came into sight. Walking across the room to where Hiroshi stood by the stove, she turned some knobs and placed the pot on a burner. "There."

"Geez, this thing is complicated," Hiroshi muttered.

"Yeah, no thank you or anything," Ryoko sighed, then turned to leave. This was going to be one long trip.

That night, as Ryoko lay in her bed, she reflected back on the day. It had been odd, having someone else on her ship. A stranger, no less! But there hadn't been any place to leave him, and she just didn't have the heart to dump him out in space. He was civil to her, for the most part, though he made it clear that he despised being here with her.

Ryoko sighed. She didn't want to be stuck here with this bloated jerk. That little nagging conscience that she had developed certainly was irritating. No, not developed, her mind said. It was always there. Kagato just suppressed it. "Whatever," Ryoko said out loud. "Either way, I'm SOL."

"Miyaaa," a voice by her said softly. Ryoko smiled. "I'm glad that I have you, though, Ryo-ohki."

"Miya!"

"That guy sure is pushy." Ryoko sighed and turned over restlessly. "And my head is killing me! We should have brought some of those Earth drugs, aspirin, whatever they're called, along."

He's not so bad, though, that pesky little voice in her head said faintly. "Yes, he is!" she snapped, ignoring the fact that she was arguing with herself. Angrily, she punched the bed. "I can't get –OOMPH- comfortable," she growled, then lay still for a moment. Her eyes turned to the large window near the foot of the bed. There were only a few stars visible from this angle, but the little dots somehow reassured her.

This all only seemed like a dream. Somewhere in her mind she thought she was going to wake up back at the Masaki residence. She closed her eyes, and for just an instant, she imagined that she was back on her rafter. The image didn't last long, however, as the soft blankets beneath her penetrated her senses. This is real, she told herself. The way things are now. That time on Earth was just pretend. I'm Ryoko, the monster woman space pirate!

Her eyes wandered around the room. For the first time, she noticed how bare it was. There wasn't one thing in here that really said it was Ryoko's place. She frowned. Tomorrow she'd have to change that. But how? It wasn't as though she had brought any of her Earthly possessions with her. Hell, she didn't have any Earthly possessions.

Ryoko's gaze fell upon a dusty lump in the corner. She frowned. What could that be, she asked herself. Closer inspection found that it was an old rag doll. Her eyebrows came together in concentration. How could this be here? And… why did it seem familiar? This was a new Ryo-oh-ki. The old one had long ago been destroyed. Ryoko felt a twinge, but she consoled herself with the fact that this Ryo-ok-ki was really the same creature. She had been created from the cells of the old one.

She scolded herself. This wasn't about the ship! Her fingers caressed the doll gently, causing a prick to go up her spine. There was something here that she wasn't quite remembering, she was sure of it! But what could it be?

Ryoko blew some of the dust off of the doll. It had short, red hair and big green eyes. In fact, it looked like Washu!

The space pirate let out a growl. How dare Washu put this here! Of all the nerve…

And yet, she knew that wasn't true. How could Washu have moved this doll here without Ryoko knowing? Furthermore, it was obvious that the doll hasn't been moved in quite a while. The few times that the ship had been used since Ryoko's release had not included an invasion of this room. It was her private space, and they had respected that. Besides which, she thought bitterly, they weren't interested in anything that had to do with her. She was here, and that was more than enough for them.

She threw herself down on the bed, holding the doll above her. She stared at it, trying to penetrate the secret of where she had seen it before. A picture of an adult Washu flashed into her mind.

Ryoko shook her head. That couldn't be right… could it? She closed her eyes again, trying to remember. It was on the tip of her memory; she could feel it! She couldn't quite get it, though.

Annoyed, she dropped the doll down onto her stomach. What was it that she was missing? What little piece of the puzzle…

Again, she thought of Washu. Could she have given this to Ryoko? Ryoko rolled onto her side, causing the doll to slide down onto the bed next to her. She regarded it with glittering eyes. Another image pushed itself to the front of her brain, this one of the doll being in a room. The room was oddly familiar. Ryoko concentrated, trying to sharpen her memory. It was… it was… damn! It slipped away from her.

Exhaustion won out over her want to figure this out, though, and Ryoko gave in to the heaviness that stole over her eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

All right! I haven't written a note yet, so now's as good a time as any.

I apologize for the long time inbetween my updates, but I'm very busy. So, so sorry. ^_^;; Also, an added apology for the shortness of this chapter. I'll try to do better next time.

Thanks to everyone who leaves a comment! I really enjoy getting them -- they make me feel like what I do does have a purpose!

As with all the other fanfics, I do not own Tenchi or any of the characters associated with that TV show. In fact, I don't own any anime characters. Wah! I'm POOR, dammit. However, Hiroshi is mines. Mines, mines, mines! *Glomps him*

Welp, this concludes this session of "Tila's Notes!" Please tune in next time... -_^