To be a Princess, Day 4 - A Strange Request
Tenchi's prayer was only half answered as he dreamed. Last nights dream was no where to be seen, but he still dreamed of Ryoko. His mind replayed to him everything that he had done or said to her, and this time all he could see around him was her face. Note just once but many times around. He could see the hurt look on her face when he called her a monster the first time. How she begged for him to give her one of her gems back. Every moment of hurt or pain was frozen in time in his memory, the worst was when he screamed at her those three horrible words. He tried to close his eyes and ears as to not hear him shout at her, but it was no use. "I hate you!" Echoed and reverberated around the vast emptiness of his mind. The absolute look of rejection and hurt was painfully visible but instead of saying that he was sorry he ran out on her to see about Ryo-Ohki.
Only one thing granted him any sort of comfort from that vision was later when he saw her and told her that he was no longer angry she seamed so happy. But one thing still unsettled him, he never apologized he never said that he was sorry. Upon seeing her face in his dream again he called out to her, "Ryoko!"
As he called out he awoke and looked about his dark room. He was alone again, and he wondered why she was not there. She also awoke in Washu's library with a start. Again she had heard him, but he was no where near her. Unsettled she went to look at Washu's camera system and she saw him awake in his room. She carefully considered what could possibly be the problem as this was the second time she has seen him awake in the middle of the night. Slowly he reclined on his bed and she ached to be there so that she can find out what is wrong. But going into a prince's room after hours was not an option if she was to win this bet.
She hadn't planned on this type of thing, it was supposed to be an easy week, but this was turning out to be one of if not the hardest thing that she had ever done. Ryoko continued to watch him for several more hours and he seamed to be sleeping again so she herself went to bed.
That morning he awoke and immediately looked around his room, but she was still not there. He began to feel uneasy about her sudden change of behavior. He dressed quickly and headed downstairs in hopes of talking to Sasami. Just as expected she seamed to be the only one awake and making breakfast as usual. Entering the kitchen after looking around carefully he approached Sasami to ask her about Ryoko.
"Morning Sasami."
"Oh hello!" she replied cheerfully. "How are you this morning?"
"Well, not good." She turned around as he tried to continue. "I have, um, been worried, about, oh." He was not sure how to say what was on his mind, should he say that she's acting strange or acting nice or that she is just not herself?
"You're worried about Ryoko?" Sasami asked him point blank and he was surprised that she knew, but she did always seam to be more in tune to others than he was. He nodded and looked to the floor. "We'll don't worry so much, it's nice isn't it?" Doubt was the only thing he could feel was it nice to have her act like this? He tried to speak again when the sound of the lab door opening disturbed them.
Stepping out of the lab Washu and Ryoko greeted him and Sasami and prepared for another day. He knew he had lost his chance so he sat down for another meal and watched as Ryoko served him again. He increasingly disliked the new Ryoko, he wanted the old one back, but how to ask was something he just did not know.
The rest of his day went along in silent torment, as he watched how proper she had become as if taking lessons from Ayeka, but why? Everyone but him seamed to know and not a soul was telling him. His grandfather would not even answer him, but even though Katsuhito did not know he would not let on to the fact.
The one bit of joy he did get from the day was when Ryo-Ohki helped him in the carrot patch. Of coarse she was more interested in eating carrots, but she did manage to help out a little bit in her human form. Mainly by making him smile and taking his mind off the dreams he had been having as well as his thoughts on Ryoko. When he went to practice he was attacked almost relentlessly and it took a great deal of concentration and effort to keep from getting any new bruises. He fought for what seamed like an eternity but finally the onslaught ended, and to his surprise he was not bruised or hurt, yet. He let a smile escape his lips as he realized that he was not even winded.
Upon seeing the smile Katsuhito pressed his attack and at first Tenchi was forced backwards but he soon began to press back and would have won except one thing. Suddenly before Tenchi was a vision of his dream where he fought Kagato, which caused him to attack fiercely, but also sloppily. His grandfather was easily able to knock him down and give him a good bruise from it. Before ending the fight.
"Tenchi, never fight from anger. You loose focus and you will fail." Helping Tenchi off the ground he studied the young man then added, "Anger can be used to gather your strength, but never for attack. For when you attack out of anger your attack will soon fail."
Tenchi looked up at his grandfather as a sudden realization hit him, in his dream when he attacked Kagato he attacked in anger and although it made him strong he was swatted away. "Sensei, teach me to channel my anger." Tenchi's statement was one of desperation and need. He needed to learn how to channel his anger into something useful if he was to protect the girls as he was expected to. And judging by his last attempts if it had not been for something else setting off his light hawk wings then they would be dead.
After several moments he finally consented. "We still have to get through your current lessons, but we shall soon start on that." For the next several hours he trained harder and with more determination than he had ever shown. Tenchi just knew that Ryoko was in trouble and he seamed to be the only one that cared. Therefore he resolved in himself to be the one to defend or rescue her.
After his lessons he made his way back to his home both tired and hurting, but he was happy in his progress. It did not cross his mind how late it was until he saw that the sun had already set. Letting out a sigh he headed towards the baths. By the time he made it to the kitchen everyone else had all ready eaten and were getting ready for bed or were already asleep.
Sasami had left his dinner in the fridge so after re-warming it he was able to eat. His current state of mind however did not allow him to enjoy it. He had learned many things today, from his own lack of self-control to his inability to take a stand on anything. One of the things that his grandfather was to have him do as part of the training was excruciatingly hard. He was supposed to sit and answer any question his grandfather could think of without any sign of emotion. And the answers were supposed to be stated calmly as he was holding several of his grandfathers teacups stacked in each hand.
The first few were easy he was asked about school, but the questions soon became pointed and difficult. When he was asked about his mother it was hard to not show emotion, some how he made it through it. Even when his grandfather asked him to repeat everything he said the night before she died. That was one of the many things he did not want to relive, but he was forced to repeat it. His arms began to shake a little and he almost lost a cup. What he was not ready for was when Katsuhito started asking him about the girls, almost to the point of taunting him. To Tenchi it seamed that his grandfather took a strange delight in tormenting him when he could do nothing against it. Luckily for his first day of training he had not lost a single cup, but he nearly did, many times.
Tenchi ate his dinner slow as he dreaded going to sleep. For the past several nights he has been having bad dreams of sorts and he has not found a reason for having them or a way to keep them away. He knew that he was powerless against many things while he was awake but in his dreams he was even weaker than that. Many times over he scolded himself for not being able to call the light hawk wings at will, because of his inability he was nearly killed before and he has let down everyone in the process. It was by some sheer stroke of luck that he was able to defeat Kagato. Not to mention his calling of the wings when trying to rescue Ryoko from Clay was not entirely his doing at least he thought so.
Instead of going to his room he sat on the couch and started to watch some TV, but he paid more attention to his thoughts than the TV. He vaguely was aware that it was some infomercial. Instead he thought about many other things, namely where was that smell coming from? As he sat there he became acutely aware of a smell, it was not him, but it was pleasant. When he leaned over and rested his head on a pillow he noticed the smell became stronger. With the smell so strong now he instantly realized it was the same scent he smelled every time Ryoko was near. Looking up he saw her normal spot in the rafters and noticed also that the pillow she used was no longer up there.
Tenchi allowed a smile to play across his face as he realized this was the same pillow Ryoko used when she slept up there. Since she was not using it he was a bit saddened, but sleep was a more persistent thought. It was not long before he was sleeping with his head cradled in her pillow.