Mementos: Chapter Three



Ryoko settled onto the blanket and smiled as the warm sun kissed her face. Up here on the mountain, her troubles seemed distant, too far away to bother her. She hated to sully this sanctuary with the darker visions of her past, but this seemed to be the best place to do it. And if her budding memories were correct, there were still some sweet moments mixed in with the sour. She smiled as big fluffy clouds moved slowly across the sky. Compared tot he vastness of the sky, what were her problems, really?

Tenchi opened the picnic basket and brought out a large bottle of sake and two saucers. "You want some?" he asked twisting the cap off of the bottle.

"You have to ask?" she asked wryly, lifting a slender eyebrow as she took a saucer and held it out to be filled.

"Just being polite," he said with a grin as he filled her cup.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. In spite of everything, there was Tenchi too. These memories couldn't hurt her as long as he was at her side.

He cocked his head. "What was that for?"

"The sake, you idiot," she teased. "Are you ready?" she asked, her fingertip lightly touching the play button on her electronic scrapbook.

He nodded and took a sip of his drink. He hated how this made Ryoko suffer, but he knew she needed to do this, and he was happy to support her as she needed it.

With a surprisingly amused smile, she started the device and the memory unfolded upon a portable screen.

***



Steam from a hot shower filled the bathroom and drifted out the door into the hall as a girlish voice sang a pop song a bit off key. The hum of water running through the pipes and the accompanying splatter of water against tiles came to an abrupt halt, followed by the sound of a show curtain being drawn aside.

"Umm…Mom?" called Ryoko's voice.

"Mmmm?" came the distracted reply.

"Can you come up here?"

"…."

"MOM!"

"Huh? What?" called back Washu, her attention finally captured.

"I said, can you come up here?" Ryoko shouted back.

"Now?"

"Yes!"

"Right now? I'm kinda in the middle of something here," the scientist wheedled.

"Mother!" Ryoko shouted, stressing the last syllable into a whine.

"Fine. I'm coming. Hold your horses," Washu muttered climbing the stairs. She wore cargo shorts and a stripped and hooded sweatshirt. Her feet were bare showing off silver painted toenails, a service rendered by her daughter the night before. She started to push the bathroom door fully open when a squeal stopped her.

"Don't come in here!" yelled Ryoko's outraged voice.

Washu sighed and leaned against the wall by the door. Her bright hair made a loud contrast against the green wallpaper. "Since when did you care about being naked?" she asked, truly confused.

Ryoko stuck her head around the door, damp, dark green hair hanging in loose tendrils around her face. "Mom… uh…." she started to say, her cheeks flushing.

Washu looked sideways at her daughter. "Yes?"

Ryoko flicked a long lock of hair behind an oblong ear. "Something happened. All at once."

Washu traced a toe along the pattern woven into the hallway runner. "Sweetheart, it helps when your speech makes sense."

"They grew, Mom," Ryoko said significantly. "A lot."

"They?" Washu asked. "Who else is in there with you?"

Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Ha ha. Very funny. Do you know what I'm trying to say?"

"No. I think since you turned 13, your ability to communicate has taken a turn for the worse," Washu said with a sad shake of her head.

"Fine," Ryoko snapped and stepped put of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped firmly around her damp body.

"What's with the towel… OH MY GODDESS!" Washu gasped when she saw the twin mounds of breast making a defined outline against the towels. "When did you get those?"

"That's what I want to know!" Ryoko cried. "They were just THERE when I woke up this morning!"

"My little girl is turning into a woman!" Washu exclaimed her eyes looking starry.

"Shut up!" Ryoko snarled, stamping a foot.

Grinning like a fiend, Washu reached behind her and pulled a measuring tape out from a handy dimensional pocket. Moving like lighting while she had the chance, she wrapped the tape around Ryoko's bust and took a quick measurement.

Ryoko started struggling immediately. With a quick motion, she incinerated the tape with a small burst of energy from her palms. "Stop!"

Washu giggled. "Wow, that's a D-cup for sure. I am very impressed, my not- so-little Ryoko!"

"Gross! I don't want breasts!"

Washu's giggles developed into fill blown guff-gaws of laughter. "Well you certainly have them now!"

"Make them go away! Please!" Ryoko begged. "I hate this!" she cried, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Hearing the pain in Ryoko's voice, Washu stopped laughing immediately. She laid a hesitant hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm sorry for laughing, Sweetie. What's the problem here?" she asked kindly.

Ryoko fell into her mother's arms. "It all happened so fast. What will I do with these big things? What will people say?"

"People will say you are growing up." Washu wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"No they won't. Normal girls don't wake up with mountains on their chests. They grow into them… slowly. People will say that's just another example of why I'm a freak."

"They better not say that around me," Washu growled.

Ryoko pulled back. "Yeah? Well, they will make sure to say it when you aren't around." She backed into the bathroom. "Just like they always do!" The door slammed and the lock snapped into place.

Washu rapped on the door with her knuckles. "What do you mean? Who says things to you?" she demanded.

"Go away!"

"Little Ryoko…"

"It's all your fault!"

Washu took a deep breath, counted to ten, and exhaled slowly. "Please come out."

"I hate you!"

Trying not to be hurt by her offspring's outburst, Washu straightened her back and headed back downstairs. "Ryoko, if you don't finish puberty soon, one of us isn't going to make it out alive," she sighed.

***



Tenchi's face turned an interesting mix of blue and red as he tried not to laugh. He and Ryoko were seated on a blanket in a mountain meadow far from the rest of the family. She had insisted on privacy because these memories were apparently about to turn dark and uncomfortable, and Ryoko didn't want to expose her mother or Sasami to them. But that memory had been just hilarious. He couldn't see why she was so worried.

As the cool breeze tugged at tendrils of her hair, Ryoko watched Tenchi's struggle. She took a sip of sake to hide her own grin. "Tenchi, you are turning purple."

"I'm sorry," he gasped. " But that was so, so funny!" His laughter broke free and he doubled over, sloshing his drink onto the blanket.

Ryoko smiled mildly. "Far be it from me to tell you that you're making a mess, my Tenchi."

He noticed what he was doing and held his cup over the grass instead of the blanket. "I'm sorry for laughing," he said, still snickering.

"It sounds like you never had to experience changes in your body like that," she said dryly.

"Oh I did. But not so quickly. And I think it's harder for girls anyway," he said his composure returning.

"Oh?"

"Well maybe the girls on earth don't go through such sudden changes as you did, but their bodies change shape and they start having…" he paused awkwardly. "You know, periods?" he half-said-half-asked with a blush.

"Periods?"

"You know, 'that time of the month'?"

"What time of the month?"

Tenchi was turning bright red. "You know. You have to know. You watch too much TV not to know!"

She looked at him closely, her non-comprehension clear upon her face.

"Think of the commercials for maxipads. You know, those things with wings," he stuttered.

"Ohhh. The menstrual cycle," she said, now understanding.

"Yes, that. So it seems to me girls have a harder time growing up," he continued on his original topic. "All I did was get a deeper voice and more hair."

Ryoko drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin there. "Yes all these changes to become sexual beings." She sighed. "Its natural for all species, but for me… a – a - construct it was more difficult than usual."

Tenchi frowned at her word choice, but remained silent as he heard the pain in her words. "For me, there were no cycles or rhythms. It was just off or on, zero or one, just like a computer program." She held her ceramic cup out for Tenchi to refill, carefully selecting her next words. "So when my puberty routine switched on, my body was flooded with hormones and energy currents at full potency all at once."

Tenchi nodded. "Washu has spoken of this. It didn't go well, did it?"

"No, my Masu genetics were overwhelmed by the chemical onslaught, and responded by producing random energy pulses." She winced, remembering how horrible that had been.

"What did that do to you?"

She smiled a strange little grin, a mix between a wince and longing. "I became the most irritable, emotional, unstable 13 year old ever known to sentient beings. But the problem was, this all happened as Kagato started to plot his betrayal."

Tenchi sucked din a breath of understanding. "You mean your problems gave him the perfect smoke screen?"

"Bingo," she said sounding just like her mother. "It must have been a dream come true. The bolder he became, the more distracted Washu was. The more I complained about him, the more I complained about everything else. It was perfect."

"So that last memory we saw meant what?" he asked, not quite getting how it all matched up.

"That morning marked the end of my childhood and the beginning of the end. Kagato had been waiting for me to reach maturity." Tenchi nodded as it all came together, and she started the next memory without another word.

***



Wearing a purple shirt that stretched uncomfortably across her chest, Ryoko sprawled on her back on a velvet couch in the recreation area of her mother's spacious home. Long gone were the days of cramped little Science Academy apartments. Somewhere downstairs Washu was working where the sound of Ryoko's activities could not distract her and vice versa.

A large screened video monitor was playing some teen-angst drama about adolescent love that typically held Ryoko in its thrall. But it didn't hold her attention this day. She watched the screen with unseeing eyes as the pain in her lower abdomen continued to throb. She lifted the hem of her shirt and pressed an ice pack to the general location and hissed as the cold rubber touched her skin.

Washu strode into the room with a small hand held computer, a worried frown on her pretty face. She looked at Ryoko and back at the readings a couple of times. "How's it feel now, Honey?"

"Worse." Ryoko had her hair bound up in a spiky ponytail, and beads of perspiration showed clearly upon her face and neck, a silent testament to her physical stress.

"Hmmm." Washu touched the keypad on her computer and shook her head. "For what it is worth, this time your spleen isn't swelling. I know it hurts, but you won't have to have another surgery."

Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Hur-ray," she said flatly.

Washu chewed at her bottom lip. She didn't know what was worse, Ryoko's growing passive acceptance to the many medical procedures she was suddenly forced to endure since the onset of her problematic puberty, or her sudden nasty mood swings. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a strawberry sucker and held it out to Ryoko. "I saw Dr. Vilella today. He asked me to give this to you."

Ryoko's eyes brightened as she took the candy and unwrapped it with a single twist of her thumb and index finger. "Cool," she said popping the treat into her mouth. "Ugh!" she yelled, pulling the sucker back out and staring at it as if it were poisoned.

"What's the problem?" Washu asked with a surprised laugh.

"This tastes like grass!" Ryoko wailed, starting to tear up. "That's not a funny joke Mother!"

Washu let the accusation slide past her. "Let me try it." She took the candy and licked it. "It tastes like strawberry to me."

Ryoko screwed up her face and reached for the glass of soda she had sitting on the table by the couch. She took a sip to cleanse her palate and choked. "This tastes like grass too!" she screamed, throwing the glass across the room, the dark liquid staining the cream carpet where it fell. "What's wrong with me?!"

Washu passed her small computer over her daughter's head. "Hold still, I'm scanning now."

Ryoko pulled in sharp and rapid breaths of air through nose as she did her best to hold still. "I don't want to be sick anymore, Mommy."

"I know, sweetie, I know," Washu clucked. "Ah…here it is…. Oh dear…"

"What? What is it?" Ryoko demanded.

Washu closed her eyes. "There is something wrong with your sixth cranial nerve. It's not sending the signals from your tongue to your brain as it should be. I'm afraid I'm going to have to operate." She opened her eyes and regarded her daughter with worry. "I'm sorry, Little Ryoko."

Ryoko's mood quieted at the mention of surgery. "Again? So soon?" she whispered. Just last week Washu had had to manually unfreeze the all the joints on the left side of Ryoko's body.

Washu ran a gentle hand through her daughter's bangs and sighed. "I'm afraid so. It will get worse if we wait."

"Okay, Mom."

Washu leaned down and kissed Ryoko's forehead. "I'm going to see if I can't grab us a surgical room at the medical campus, okay?"

" 'Kay," Ryoko said dully, turning disinterested eyes back to the television drama.

"I'll be back in about ten minutes." Shoulders drooping, Washu summoned a transdimensional portal and stepped through.

Ryoko sighed and jiggled the ice pack so that the ice inside clattered together like stones. "This sucks," she complained to the cabbit snoozing at her feet.

The furry creature lifted one ear and slowly parted the lids of one eye. "Miya," she agreed. Because of the link she had a front row seat to all of Ryoko's suffering. She kept the link closed most of the time these days so she didn't suffer along with her mistress.

Ryoko heard heavy footsteps coming up the main staircase. She stiffened and closed her eyes knowing exactly who was coming and hoping to avoid an interaction. She certainly did not feel up to his mind games this afternoon.

The hair on her skin prickled as she heard the footsteps enter the room and going around the couch, pausing as Kagato looked at her. Then they resumed again, this time coming closer. The cushions on the couch shifted and sighed as he sat on the couch near her feet. Before long, she felt a gloved hand stroking along her calf.

"Are you asleep, Ryoko?" he asked softly.

She pretended to mutter in her sleep and shifted her body so her legs were curled closer to her chest and away from his grasp. Ryo-Ohki whined in protest and crawled closer to her mistress.

He was quiet for the moment, the rhythm of his breath the only intrusion into her personal space.

"You are growing up, my Ryoko," he murmured softly.

This was getting too weird. Ryoko made a show of waking up slowly. She yawned and stretched her arms as she opened her eyes.

"Oh, hi," she said, acting surprised. "Mom isn't here, but I think she will be back soon."

He smiled at her smoothly. "Then I shall wait for her." His eyes drifted from her face to her new breasts as they pushed against the limited confines of her shirt.

Ryoko followed his gaze. "What are you looking at?" she asked in a voice full of doubt. Something about this seemed wrong, seemed scary.

His eyes slid back to her face. "Nothing, Little Ryoko. So tell me, how is your sword work coming?"

"It's okay," she said evasively.

"Then why did you not compete in the campus martial arts competition last week? You were favored to win the weapons category," he asked with a faint frown.

For some reason she couldn't really define, Ryoko had started to feel uncomfortable around Kagato. Just trying to think about why gave her a headache, one of those tight kinds, right at the base of her skull. Because of these feelings, she never wanted to show any weakness round him if she could help it. And given how creepy he was acting today, she had even more reasons to look strong. "Well, I'm not really interested in fighting anymore," she lied. The real reason had been her current physical problems.

"Oh Ryoko, I am disappointed," he sighed. "Your athletic abilities are your one true strength."

He was staring at her chest again.

She hugged herself to block his view and muttered, " I want to be a geologist, not an athlete."

Kagato looked at her with cold eyes, his hands clenching at his sides. He ran the tip of his tongue over his lips and then pressed his lips firmly together into a line. His eyes roamed her body and settled back on her face. "Sometimes we don't get what we want Ryoko," he said with conviction.

Ryoko scooted further away. He was definitely scarier than usual today. The way he looked at her, like she was just an object, it was like he wanted to gobble her up.

Ryoko was building up the courage to ask him to leave when Washu popped back through her pseudo-space portal. "Good news Little Ryoko… oh hello Kagato!" she beamed walking around the couch to join them.

"Hello, professor," he said with a half bow.

Washu took in Ryoko's body language and frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

Ryoko looked to her mother and back to Kagato and back to her mother. Something was wrong. Something was changing. But she didn't know how to describe it. All she knew was this big rush of fear she felt around someone she used to trust. And he was looking at her too, as if he was daring her to say something. But what could she say that would make any sense? Kagato was Mom's favorite student.

"Sweetie?" Washu asked again.

"Kagato…" Ryoko began, toying nervously with her ice pack. What to say? "Kagato was looking at my breasts!" she blurted out, her cheeks turning bright pink.

Washu snorted. "Who couldn't help look at those? You didn't have them last week. A big surprise, eh Kagato?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Indeed," he said laughing softly.

Washu leaned all of her weight on one foot and tapped the other one on the carpet. " I think we screwed up her puberty routine big time. The moment her pituitary gland came on-line, it was over-secreting hormones. And her Masu cells had an adverse reaction to it."

Ryoko jumped to her feet and grabbed her mother's shoulders. "Stop talking about me like I'm a thing! I'm a person just like you! You've always said so!"

Washu blinked. "Honey, I didn't mean it that way. You know that your body needs some work right now, and that's all I was trying to say. Kagato needs to know so he can help me fix this."

Ryoko stepped back and held her head with clenching fingers. "I don't want him to touch me! Do you understand? He – he just wants to hurt me."

"Ryoko!" Washu said, aghast. "How can you say that?"

"I hate you! I hate you both!" she wailed and fled from the room.

******



As the memory ended, Tenchi looked to Ryoko and silently put a hand over hers.

"Awful isn't it?" she asked tightly.

He nodded.

"Looking at it now, it seems so clear. But back then, it wasn't so different from every other thing that upset me." She laughed bitterly. "And Washu was right. EVERYONE stared at my breasts. They couldn't help it."

"But still," he protested.

"I know," she shushed him. "But I have clearer vision now to see it. And you have the clearest vision of all since you weren't there."

"I wish I had been there. I'd have killed him," he said hotly. "The way he looked at you… it was just wrong!"

"At least you got to kill him, maybe just not right then," she tried to joke.

"Yoko, I knew you had been through a lot. But to see it like this…to see how you were…to see what happened…. How did you make it out to the other side as well as you did?" He drew her into a hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Hey don't get all mushy on me," she said gruffly, a shadow of her old facade reappearing.

Tenchi noticed this immediately, and it told him, clearer than words, how hard it was for her to rexperince these moments from her past. He gently pushed her away and reached for the sake bottle. As she regained her composure, he poured her a large saucer of rice wine. He pressed the cup into her hands, and settled close to her, letting her draw warmth and strength from his body. "No more memories today, okay?"

She took a long pull of sake and closed her eyes for a moment. "I need you to see one more today."

"If you insist," he said with doubt.

"I do. This is the real moment everything changed," she said, stabbing the device's start button with a trembling finger.

***

Ryoko's room had pink walls. But it was difficult to tell that as 99% of the wall surface was covered with posters of horses, rock stars, and honor certificates. The floor was a warm, golden hardwood that gleamed from beneath piles of clothing, books, and discarded food wrappers. Wooden practice blades resting against stuffed animals made an odd contrast that was dulled by the surrounding mess.

Ryoko sat on the corner of her bed, hunched over, trying to paint her toenails a shimmery pink. She frowned as her large breasts made it more difficult to reach down her long legs. "Damn it," she grumbled as the polish smeared across the cuticle of her big toe.

"Language, language," a cool voice reminded.

Not shifting her position, Ryoko looked up with her eyes only, her expression carefully neutral. "Hello."

Kagato stepped through the doorway and surveyed the cluttered room with an air of mild distaste. "Is that all you have to say after you hurt me deeply yesterday?"

She looked back to her paint job. " I didn't mean it."

"Didn't you?" he asked strangely, almost as if he were baiting her.

She looked back up at him. "No. Should I have?" She wrinkled her nose. Something was different about him lately. He had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember, he was almost family, but more and more she was getting strange vibes from him. At first, she had thought it was just her moods, but she was starting to notice weird feelings even when her body and emotions were stable. Like today, just now. She was fine, but he was obviously nervous about something, and it made her nervous too.

His eye twitched at her answer. "My, you've become so suspicious, my Little Ryoko."

She blinked. What was up with him? Maybe she should just let it go. "I'm sorry Uncle. I didn't mean it. Honestly. I just get so moody these days."

He relaxed. "It must be difficult for you to be so out of control of your body," he placated.

"I hate it," she said in a clear voice. "I want it to stop."

He watched her resume painting her nails. "Sometimes it is good to give up control, it can make things easier."

"Huh?" she asked, half-listening, as she carefully rubbed the excess paint on the brush off against the lip of the bottle.

"Never mind. Why are you doing that?" he asked softly.

"So my feet will be pretty."

"I don't like it. You don't need to do that."

She shrugged and kept painting.

"Young lady, I want you to remove that pink paint at once."

Ryoko's head jerked up and she looked at him with wide eyes. The brush hovered over her last unpainted pinkie nail.

"You heard me. Remove it," he said in a stronger voice.

"You're not my Mom," she snapped back.

An ugly look crossed his face. "Am I not one of your creators? Do as I say, you useless creature."

"MOM!" Ryoko cried, tears filling her eyes. "MOMMY!"

Washu's head popped out of a dimensional pocket between Ryoko and Kagato. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly.

Ryoko sniffed as a fat tear rolled down her cheek. She leapt up and took a firm hold of Washu's shoulders and with a firm tug, she pulled Washu through the portal and into the room. "Mommy!" Ryoko sobbed, wrapping her arms around Washu's neck and holding on as if to save her life.

"What is it Honey?" Washu asked, patting Ryoko's back. "Tell Mom what's wrong."

"It's him," Ryoko said brokenly, pointing an accusing finger at Kagato. "He's acting all weird and he – and he - he called me a creation."

Washu rubbed Ryoko's back and looked over to her student and colleague. "Kagato?" she asked in disbelief.

He looked distressed and massaged his chin in thought. "She must have taken something I said the wrong way. You know how she gets these days, poor thing," he said in a pitying voice.

"Liar!" Ryoko screamed. "I'm fine today and you know it!"

"Ryoko, please calm down," Washu pleaded.

"Yes, maybe you should rest," Kagato added.

"No!" Ryoko stepped back and looked her mother in the eye as angry tears trickled down her red cheeks. "Listen to me Mother. He came in here and tried to tell me what to do. Then he called me a creation when I wouldn't do it. He called me useless!"

Washu sighed as Ryoko ranted, her daughter's words convincing her this was just another mood swing. She crossed her arms and leveled a stern look at Ryoko. "Stop. I know you are sick, but that's not an invitation to act like a spoiled brat."

"A brat?!" Ryoko sputtered.

"A brat," Washu agreed. "Whatever he told you to do, I want you to do it."

"But!"

"No buts. Just do it."

"Don't you even want to know what it is?" Ryoko pleaded.

"Not really," Washu said heading for the door. "I trust Kagato." She looked to her student. "Let's give her some space." She exited the room, followed by Kagato who turned and cut a little bow in Ryoko's direction, a triumphant smile on his face.

Ryoko stood in the middle of the room frozen with shock.

She didn't suspect something was wrong anymore. She knew.





The end of chapter three



Hey everybody! Thanks for the kind comments and feedback! My readers are the greatest in the entire universe!! -Di