To be a Princess, Day 8 - Four Course Dinner of Surprises
Tenchi took another look at the woman sitting across from him at the table. The woman was currently lazily sipping on a glass of wine. She had a wonderful figure, beautiful cyan colored hair and when her eyes fell on him he felt himself lost in her golden eyes just has he has been many times before. Even the gleam off her fangs tonight was amazing. This woman whom he called Ryoko had been called a demon and a pirate by many, but tonight she was none of that.
As he took another glance it surprised him that she still sipped lightly at her wine, just like she had for the past hour. He had known her to drink several bottles of sake alone in this time, but now she just seemed to be sipping and enjoying the time. His eyes followed hers again to where she kept longingly looking. The dance floor, she had been dreamily looking at it for some time watching the other couples dance a series of old yet timeless waltzes. "I promise as soon as we learn we can do that." He told her again, for what seemed like the hundredth time."
She responded with a non-committal nod just as she had before. He hated not knowing how to dance, but he knew that they would both have to learn soon, if what he had been thinking about was to come true. Just the idea of it brought a grin to his face. He looked back at 'his Ryoko', as he had called her before, and it was surprising to him how much she seemed to have changed. Chuckling in his mind he recalled just how many surprises they had had seen just this day.
The large hotel that they had stayed at when they arrived was truly but a small building compared to the hotel they had moved to now. Both of them had stared in awe at the sheer size of it before an attendant collected their back and asked them to follow. Upon reaching the desk at the end of the grand foyer the clerk addressed him by his title and Tenchi had to hold in his cringe at his own title. He then told Tenchi that they had a room waiting for them.
Thinking a room would be about twice the size of the last one did nothing to the actuality of what happened. They were handed a key and then the transport took them around to their room. The building was a large crescent moon that had a huge lake in the middle of it. However on the other side completing the circle were many miniature mansions or chateau's as the driver call them. These were nestled between many lush trees so you could not see one place from another from all the trees. The tree's reminded him of some of Earth's trees but they were different somehow he knew. He did not know what made them different and soon he forgot that problem as his eyes beheld the chateau that the transport had pulled up to.
To say it was grand or magnificent seemed to cheapen it. Inside it was a complete house, not really just a 'room'. There was a foyer that to one side led into a lush living room and to another side a formal dining room and a door that he supposed went to the kitchen. But before them was a huge staircase that went up partway then spiraled off in both directions to encircle the room. The upper level seamed to be the bedrooms and the baths.
Ryoko went immediately upstairs while Tenchi explored the downstairs. He saw Ryo-Ohki bounce off into another room that he had thought was the kitchen possibly to get something to eat. He followed her in and was amazed at the kitchen. The first thought to his mind was "Sasami would love this place." Hearing Ryo-Ohki he turned to see her staring at a strange device set into one of the walls. He watched the cabbit bounce from here to there obviously trying to find her beloved carrots, but there seemed to be none around.
Finally she stopped at a strange device in the wall that looked, like an oven or microwave but there were no buttons. Tilting her head sideways she stared at it for a moment before Tenchi walked over. "What's wrong Ryo-Ohki? Want a carrot?"
She nodded her head so hard he thought it was going to fall off. "Ok, now all we need is to find them." Before he could finish the machine beeped and the door opened. When he looked in it he was surprised to find a carrot. "Look, here's a carrot." He pulled it out and handed it to her, which she promptly ate quickly. "I guess you want more carrots then?"
Again the machine beeped and this time several carrots were in side. Removing them he scratched his head the said, "Carrots." This time when it opened he discovered it's true use. "Oh, ok Ryo-Ohki, anytime you want one you have to tell the machine carrot, ok?" at the word the machine beeped and another one was there.
The little creature was ecstatic and bouncing happily. She tried to say carrot but all she got was a small "me-ya" which it did not understand.
"No, you are going to have to say it, I heard you say it before. But, "he thought for a moment. "You will have to use your human form though."
She nodded and changed to her older form. Tenchi quickly turned around, as she did not have any clothes for this form yet. She did not pay attention to it and just told the machine "Ca-rot." And to her great joy it delivered one to her.
It was then that they both heard a scream from Ryoko. Both ran off upstairs to find her thinking she was in trouble. But as they got to the end of the hall they say the reason. She was standing by the bed in the master bedroom clutching a box to her chest. "It's here! It's ready!" she kept repeating.
"Ryoko? What's here?" Tenchi was confused as he had thought she was hurt, but she just seemed to be, happy.
Turning towards him she looked at him and with a joyous expression. "My dress, it's here, it's ready!"
"Oh, may I see it?"
She was about to open the box again then for some reason she did the one thing he had never heard from her, "No." He stared in amazement; it was the first time she had refused him anything. "Not yet. I want this to be a surprise."
Tenchi looked again at the woman across the table from him now. She had kept her resolve on not letting him see it. When he finally did see it and even now he thought it was truly amazing. The dress had been a very beautiful black dress that sparkled under any tight. The dress went from her neck to just above her feet. Which he though was strange because it did not show nearly as much of her as her clothes usually did. The front showed off a little of her neck and a hint of her shoulders. But none of her breasts, however it was tight enough around them so that they were clearly defined. Her shoulders were covered as were the tops of her arms, but the rest of her arms were exposed. The dress clung to her all the way to her hips then from there it loosened up and flowed down her legs to just above her feet. The back though was open from her neck down to the small of her back so that much of her back was exposed to him.
Even remembering it now he nearly got a nose bleed as he had imagined what it would look like on her the other way so that the front was open that much. As much as a part of him kept thinking of what she would look like he just could not believe how beautiful she looked this way. It had taken him several moments to realize that instead of her hair standing up in spikes she had it flowing down her back. He thought then as he still does now looking at her that it is a very exotic contrast of the black of the dress against her pale skin and it was also enticing the way her cyan hair seemed to caress her back.
It was then that the transport had arrived to take them to dinner just a few hours after dropping them off. When he had placed a hand around her he could feel the softness of her skin against his fingers and he almost pulled away but found that it was rather enjoyable. And so it was that Tenchi led her out to the transport with his arm around her. Even on the way and up to the time that they sat down he kept his arm around her. He was unsure of if he wanted to try dancing or not. He wanted to feel her close to him again, yet he was scared of making them look like fools in this place.
They had talked about a number of things, from her mom to his and to the other members of their strange family. All through dinner they talked, but now she seemed relaxed and content to just sit and watch the dancers move around the floor gracefully. She would occasionally look over at him though and he could not help the guilty feeling he had for not knowing how to dance. As he looked at her again for the hundredth time his hand fell to his side and he felt the bulge there in his pants pocket.
For this entire evening he talked to her and would then argue with himself if this were the moment. But he never seemed to be able to bring it up in the right way, or what he thought was the right way. Finally after what he thought was the hundredth time he moved. He slid out of his seat and moved to right beside her so that he was on one knee. She had caught his movement and was now looking at him with a raised eyebrow wondering what he could be up to now.
"Ryoko..." He started but his voice caught in his throat. She just looked at him with loving eyes that he felt himself loosing himself in them. Recovering his resolve he tried again, "Ryoko, I have for some time loved you and after a lot of thinking..." Again his voice caught but he quickly recovered, "And I want you to know that I never want to be without you."
"Tenchi, what are you talking about?" Ryoko to say the least was confused, she had no intention of leaving or going anywhere so what was he talking about?"
"Would you marry me?" Finally he said it, he let the words fly out of his mouth, and he found that afterwards he felt much better and very relieved. At least until he looked again at her eyes. In them he saw a confusion and joy. She sat for a moment taking in what he said and running it through her head wondering if this was real. Removing the ring box from his pocket he opened it and presented it to her. "I want you to have this, as a token of my love and my pledge." He looked at her hoping that she would take it and say yes. He knew she loved him and he found it strange that he was worried that she might not want to marry him.
Finally a small grin crossed her face as she realized that this was real, he was asking her to marry him. Her grin grew larger to the point he thought it must hurt. Finally she moved. "Yes. Of coarse..." She was interrupted by him, but not by words but by deed. Right after she said yes he moved and with his free hand he cupped her face and brought his lips to hers. Neither cared that some of the other patrons had been watching and neither cared.
When they parted they both were slightly flushed and extremely happy. Carefully Tenchi removed the ring from the box and slid it on her hand. To his surprise it slid on as if it had been made just for her. Ryoko just stared at the ring there on her hand and immediately brought her other fingers to it to examine it closer. It was a new feeling wearing a ring there, but it felt like it belonged. They stayed there a while longer before they left to return to their home away from home, the chateau that was called their room.
Outside a light rain had started but they did not care, as for the rest of the time there and all the way back Ryoko was rather subdued. Sitting in the back of the transport leaning against Tenchi with his arm around her she just would look between him and her ring idly toying with it. It served as a reminder that this was not a dream and he had asked her to marry him. After he had returned to his seat she had asked him about marriage and he had explained all that he had known, and the more they talked the more she like it. There were two things that stood out to her about being married to him, the first was that they would be together for the rest of their lives. And the second was that in doing this is proclaimed to everyone that he loved her.
She was vaguely aware that they had gotten home and were now alone as she had been totally engrossed in her ring and thoughts. When she did look around again she saw that he had led her to a balcony outside their bedroom. Here they stood watching as the rains began to pour harder and harder. While they remained dry, as the balcony was half covered, which kept the water off of them. Tonight had been a night of surprises for the both of them, but she still wondered if his proposal had been a dream. The ring on her hand remained there to tell her it was not a dream. She then wondered if she had seen the last surprise of the night as he began to kiss her again.