To be a Princess, Day 2 - Ryoko Gets Complimented
Mondays usually held a strained but normal ritual for Tenchi. Every Monday, well almost every day when he would wake up Ryoko would be either hovering over him or watching him sleep from his chair. But this Monday she was nowhere to be seen when he woke up. After he sat up and stretched he looked over at his clock. When he noticed the time he turned away then right back at it almost falling out of bed. "Oh No! I'm late for school!" Quickly he dressed and ran downstairs to get breakfast.
Upon entering the room he saw Ryoko sitting in her spot. When she turned to look at him he resigned himself for a tight groping, but it didn't happen. That was when he noticed she was still dressed up like yesterday, while she was not in the same clothes she was dressed up more than normal. "Good morning Lord Tenchi." He heard her say.
"Um, thanks. Good Morning to you too, I have to go now."
"Go? Go where?"
A frown appeared on his face, "I have to go to school, I'm late!"
Ryoko stood up and looked at him curiously, "but didn't you graduate just two weeks ago?"
"Yea but..." Tenchi stopped and thought about it. "Oh, I guess I did. Um, thanks." He was needless to say at a loss for words, he had forgotten that he had in fact graduated and would not be returning to school till later in the year for College.
"Please, have a seat Sasami has cooked you a wonderful breakfast and I have your place ready." Ryoko motioned for him to sit down which he did, but he was still confused as to what has changed Ryoko like this. Breakfast was uneventful, as Ayeka had slept in, as did Washu. Ryo-Ohki was having a carrot while Sasami, Tenchi and Ryoko ate in peace, at least until Mihoshi appeared.
Mihoshi bounced into the room, "morning!" When she sat down she looked at Ryoko. "Wow! Ryoko, did you get a hair cut?" Ryo-Ohki and Sasami started to giggle while Ryoko tried to hold back a snarl.
In as pleasant voice as she could Ryoko told her, "no, I haven't gotten a hair cut, I just wanted to change it for a while."
"I think it looks nice though." Everyone looked up at Tenchi as he spoke the words and it instantly dawned on him what he said. "Well, not that your other hair style was bad. Wait, oh um," he could tell he was digging a bigger hole for himself so he stood up quickly, "I have to go change now." With that he was gone while Ryoko was trying to hide how red her face was.
Washu could hear in Ryoko's mind as she talked to herself, "he gave me a compliment. He likes my hair! He did it freely! He likes it!" Ryoko was using all her will power to stay still as she desperately wanted to fly around the table and tell that princess that she got a compliment from Tenchi. Instead she stood and after saying a goodbye to everyone and thanking Sasami for another excellent meal she left for the library again.
For the next several hours Ryoko kept his words fresh in her mind, as it had been the first honest compliment he had given her. Tenchi also kept his words in mind as he worked the fields. "Why did I have to say that? Tenchi turned his thoughts inward and began to argue with himself over what could or may happen next. "Ok, now that I said that as soon as I get back home she will jump all over me."
"Would that be so bad?" Tenchi heard another voice, it was his voice a side that he did not listen to very often.
"Yes! It is very bad, cause then Ayeka will start a fight with her and possibly blow up the house or Ryoko will jump to conclusions and tell everyone that we are in love again."
"And you think that is bad?"
"YES!"
"Well what would you prefer her to act like?"
"Well, um, I would like her to act nicer for one."
"Like she is now? Addressing you by your proper title, not to mention that she has not been in your room lately. And she bows before you sets your place at the table and even serves everyone before herself now. Plus she is dressing up and has her hair pulled back, but you already know about that one."
"No, that's just not her. And yes I noticed, that's what started all this right?"
"Then why do you want her to act like that?" The inner voice was persistent and even ignored several of his questions.
"Why do you have to keep bugging me?" Tenchi was furious with himself, especially at letting himself act like this. He could not allow himself to show one or the other any favoritism. If he did it would hurt the other too much and he could not stand to see either of them hurting. For the rest of the morning he argued, but to no avail. Neither he nor that annoying inner voice of his could reach a decision or a compromise.
Lunch was quiet as only Sasami, Ayeka, Ryoko and Tenchi showed up for lunch. Washu had Mihoshi inside the lab and was trying to explain to her that she had setup a guidance system so that the ditz would no longer crash when she returned to Earth. As usual though the ditz was not catching on very quickly.
The rest of the day went by slowly and Tenchi continued to hound himself about complementing her like that. He knew that when he got home she would pounce on him like always. But at lunch she didn't in fact she almost seamed distant. His grandfather did not allow him a moment's peace, as after he was done with his chores Tenchi was forced to do double the practice as he thought Tenchi's mind was not focused enough. When finally allowed to leave Tenchi headed first to the bath to clean up.
He leaned back in the bath finally able to relax as he kept expecting Ryoko to appear and try something. But that never happened, he spent a few more moments in the bath cleaning and wondering why she was not there. He even began to think that he may have said or done something that might have upset her, but he could not think of what it could be. Again his inner thoughts began to plague him.
"Well, I see you are expecting her to show up?"
"Well, yea, she always has before."
"So are you saying that you miss it?"
"What? No, I don't miss it... I don't think..."
"Oh you don't think?"
"That's not what I mean." Tenchi began to get upset at himself.
"Oh then what do you mean? She is not here, you suddenly miss it, and then you say you don't think. You don't think about what? Her? How she feels for you? How you feel for her?"
"Just shut up! Leave me alone. You know I cannot tell anyone what I feel! What happens to Ryoko if I tell her how I feel about Ayeka? What happens if I tell Ryoko how I feel about her? Tell me!" He waited for a moment. "Oh I see now you don't have anything to say."
"So you will hide behind your silence? You will silently kill them every day with your silence. Will you even show one of them how you feel before they are taken from you?"
"WHAT? What do you mean me kill them? And where would they go? Tell me? Huh?" He was livid with his accusations of harming them himself and annoyed that he thought they might leave, but leave to where he did not what to think of.
"Well, for starters," he could hear a tone in the recesses of his mind that he did not like. It almost made his skin crawl. "Ryoko is a space pirate, and Ayeka is a princess. The mere fact that the two fight could cause Azusa to seek vengeance on Ryoko for trying to hurt his daughter. And Ayeka always has suitors that would love to have a woman like her. So if you are not careful then Ayeka will leave and Azusa will take both of them from you."
Tenchi tried to make a comeback or a remark but the truth in his own mind silenced him. The remainder of his bath was spent in silence as he thought about what horrible things could happen in the future. When he was cleaned he returned to his room expecting Ryoko to be there, but again she was missing, and these changes in her behavior was starting to worry him a great deal.
It was not until he ventured downstairs that he began to ease up a little, for he did see that in Fact Ryoko was still there. She had not run away like he had feared, but she was not dressed like normal and her hair was still braided down her back. Upon seeing him Ryoko just greeted him using his title again and directed him to his place at the table, but she did not hug or grope him.
Tenchi could not believe it, but seeing her act like this actually made him more uncomfortable than when she tried to grope him all the time. After dinner he tried to talk to her about it, but instead of speaking up all he could do was sit in painful silence. He tried to talk to her about her sudden change, but he could not come up with the words. Earnestly he searched for the words to ask her why she was acting differently, but no words formed. The only words that came to mind was, "you look nice Ryoko."
"Thank you Lord Tenchi." She tried to hide the pain, in her mind she was scared that he was only saying these things because of the way she acted. But what about when the bet is over? Would he still say things to her like that? Would he expect her to continue to act like this? Her face concealed her pain, but her eyes she did not know reflected her sadness.
As Tenchi looked at her he saw something haunting about her eyes, he swore that he had seen that same look before but at this moment he could not remember when it was. Both of them stood there for what seamed like a hour staring into each others' eyes, but in truth it had only been long enough for Mihoshi to get up from the table and break a dish as she tried to carry it back to the kitchen. The Sound of the dish breaking tore them away from each other's eyes and when Tenchi looked back she had left for Washu's Lab.
Unable to find an answer he resigned himself to his room to try and get some sleep. He still could not see why Ryoko kept going into the lab after what had happened before, but he had never been able to tell much about women, so he just hung he head and returned to his room.