Chapter Two

The following morning, a hazy sun was well over the horizon, before Ryoko opened her eyes. She rolled over onto her back, her tussled blue hair spreading out around the pillow, and the bare curves of her body gleaming with a faint sheen of perspiration. She had abandoned her nightgown sometime in the night, deciding that it was too hot to be worried about decency. Besides, if Tenchi needed to come bother her again, he deserved to see a little bit of what he was missing.

Her eyes widened at the thought. Tenchi.

She scrunched her eyes and puckered her lips. No. She wasn't thinking about him. She desperately sifted through her memories, trying to find any other possible thoughts to fill her mind. She remembered how adorable Sasami had looked in her fist ever bikini this summer. And how Tenchi's warm brown eyes lit up when he smiled… No! Not about Tenchi!

Ryoko rolled over in bed, burying her face in her pillow. She couldn't really think about Sasami's new bathing suit without remembering that she had helped the little girl acquire it while Ayeka had been away on her honeymoon. And that thought led to Tenchi….

Ryoko growled and grabbed her head. She couldn't help it. Everything was leading her thoughts back to Tenchi… And Tenchi was married. He was married to Ayeka and completely out of Ryoko's reach.

Giving up her attempts to hide in denial, Ryoko sat up and grabbed a corner of her pillow and squeezed tightly. Today was the first day of their lives with Ayeka and Tenchi as a married couple. That meant that even Sasami was now legally a member of Tenchi's family.

Ryoko's shoulders sagged. So now she was even more of an outsider than before. At least Ayeka used to be a freeloader too, but now she had a claim on the family resources. How long would it take before she lost her temper and kicked Ryoko out?

But where would she go? This was the only home she knew. Really, it was the only home she had ever had.

Home. This wasn't her home anymore, as much as she wanted it to be. It wasn't going to be Tenchi and Ryoko's house one day, like she had hoped.

She didn't have a home anymore.

She clenched her fists and forced the frightening concept of exile from her mind. If she behaved, then maybe they would let her stay. That was it. She knew all about toeing the line, from her days with Kagato. If she gave them no reason to be angry with her, then surely they wouldn't make her leave.

Nodding, Ryoko levitated off of the bed and tilted forwards, landing on her feet. She ran a hand though her hair, and decided the wild snarls suited her mood. With a thought she was attired in her tailed yellow and blue dress. With another thought, her body vanished and reappeared by the dinner table.

The rest of the family sat eating their breakfasts and chatting over the details of the honeymoon. Upon Ryoko's arrival, the conversation halted abruptly. Eight pairs of eyes followed Ryoko's progress as she silently took her seat and reached for her bowl of rice. She dug her hashi in and shoveled a bite to her lips, pausing before she put it in her mouth.

"Yes?" she asked quietly, then completed her bite. Even though her mouth felt glued together, the pirate forced her self to chew, as she firmly restrained herself from looking at Tenchi and Ayeka.

All eyes looked away as the sounds of Ryoko's chewing filled the uncomfortable quiet. Ryoko continued to eat, her eyes stoically staring at a blank spot on the wall above Noboyuki's head. After four uncomfortable mouthfuls, she placed her bowl back on the table with a soft thump and reached for her cup of hot tea.

The family continued their breakfasts in silence, no one knowing quite what to say. The ticking from the hall clock highlighted the absence of conversation.

Ryoko raised the cup to her lips and blew softly, before taking a long sip. "Great breakfast, Kiddo," she said, finishing the rest of her tea in two gulps. She stood up and stretched, showing off how causal she could be. "Thanks. I'm a busy woman, so I better get going." And with the familiar sound of shifting molecules, she was gone.

Sasami looked at Ryoko's place setting and took in the half-eaten bowl of rice and untouched plate of omelet and sake simmered sea bream. "But she hardly at a thing!" she said in a small voice. "I know she's still hungry." Her eyes shimmered, showing signs of tears.

Mihoshi looked around the room in confusion. "When did we get a clock in here?" She shook her head. "Tick tock!"

Ignoring the statement of the obvious, Tenchi and Ayeka's eyes met and they both shook their heads with regret weighing down their shoulders.

Washu drummed her fingers on the tabletop and addressed the newlyweds. "Don't worry she'll get over it," she said confidently, though her expression belied her words.

"Oh will she Miss Washu?" Ayeka asked, her head bowed over her breakfast. "I've never seen her looking so empty. This is not like her at all!"

Katsuhito finished his tea with a loud slurp. "Isn't it?" he asked in his gentle voice.

Washu gave the older a man a considering look and nodded in agreement with his implication.

Tenchi looked perplexed. "Of course it isn't like Ryoko. She's too quiet. Too… accepting, Grandpa! I expected her to be angry! To fight!"

Katsuhito, rose from his place at the table and crossed his arms. "Then you do not understand," he said firmly. He raised an eyebrow at Washu and calmly left the room.

Tenchi titled his head. "What's not to understand?"

Washu snorted, as she also rose to her feet. "Well Tenchi, looks like you made the right choice, then."

***

Hours later, successfully not thinking of how awkward breakfast had been, Ryoko gazed out at the fast moving clouds caught within the jet stream. The air was moving up high, but not down on her level. The still muggy air was like that of an oven; yesterday's rain had only made the weather worse. A small trickle of sweat rolled down her neck, and she considered, not for the first time that summer, cutting off her heavy mane of hair. What would Tenchi think of that?

Tenchi. She had blown it at breakfast somehow. Even when she was being well behaved, it upset them. Couldn't she do anything right? This wasn't working.

As her throat tightened, she realized she had let her thoughts stray to unhappy areas. With a force of will, she returned her thoughts to the safer topic of whether or not to cut her hair.

Cut it? Her hair, that was one of the few things that made her special. Who could see those spiky blue locks and not be instantly afraid? It was like her hair was a forewarning of sharp edges and punishing spikes, or so she would like to think. Then again, it was also very soft and lost its spiky appearance the moment it got wet. In fact, her favored style was not doing so well in the humid air. The sharp peaks of hair resembled more of a natural wave this summer.

She snorted. So what? It wasn't as if anyone noticed her these days.

Which was sort of what she wanted, but it made her feel so…so…tense. There was a tight feeling in her chest, a mix of frustration, anxiety, and anger. Feelings she almost always had, but had been able to vent in her friendly fights with Ayeka. Those didn't seem likely or very political anymore, particularly if she didn't want to be evicted.

What did they have to fight over now anyway? Even so, Ryoko missed the verbal and physical sparring. More than that, she needed it. Without that release, long pent up emotions were clamoring to the surface of her mind where she might have to address them. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore her problems.

She growled and tracked the flight of a song sparrow as it took wing across the lake, swooping upwards as it caught a thermal. She extended her index finger and took aim, needing to release some steam before she took aim at a member the household.

"Sparrows have such a sweet song, don't you think?" asked a wise sounding voice.

Ryoko flinched and curled down her finger, a look of guilt in her eyes as she made eye contact with the elderly priest. She shrugged and turned away, shamed that he had caught her in such an act.

Katsuhito peered up at the young woman, leaf shaped shadows dappling his face. "Its hot today."

Ryoko grunted and kept her eyes averted.

"Yes, I agree," the older man went on as if she had answered him civilly. "It's hotter than usual this year. Would you like to join me in my office for a glass of iced tea?"

Ryoko tilted her head towards him and narrowed her eyes. "What are you up to?" At least she didn't have play nice with him. She didn't live in his house.

Katsuhito chuckled. "The radio said it was up to 104 at lunch, where we missed you today by the way."

Ryoko shrugged. "And?"

"And, since it is so hot and you missed lunch I thought you might be thirsty," he said disingenuously.

"And you came all the way out here to invite me to have some tea?"

"I have some beer if you would like that better."

"Why not?" Ryoko jumped from the branch to land stiffly in front of Katsuhito. She winced and tilted her neck from side to side to ease the tension she felt there.

As they started walking, the grey haired man looked at Ryoko appraisingly. "Your muscles look very tight today," he observed.

Ryoko nodded, unconsciously massaging the back of her neck with her hand.

Katsuhito slid the shrine's door open and gestured for Ryoko to proceed him. "Have you been stretching properly after your exercises?"

A bark of a laugh escaped her lips. "What?" she asked incredulously.

Katsuhito opened a small fridge and took out two ice cold bottles of Asahi and quickly removed their bottle caps with an opener. "Cooling down after physical exertion is very important," he said seriously, handing Ryoko a beer.

She cackled and took a long pull. "You crazy old man, you know I don't exercise."

"Why not?" he asked sinking into seiza . "I would think some one as athletic as you would exercise quite a bit."

Ryoko joined him on the floor. "I don't need to."

"Even to reduce stress?" he asked with a casual air, peering into the neck of his beer.

"Hey, who says I'm stressed?"

"The stiff way you hold yourself, not to mention they way it hurt when you jumped from the tree," he answered, after a drink.

"What would you know about it?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Part of my training involved body massage and pressure points. I can tell your muscles are tight just by looking at you."

"I thought masseuses had to touch people," she said sarcastically.

"Do you want a massage then? I could do it for you, but with tension such as yours it would hurt badly."

"Whatever." She drank her beer faster so she could get out of there. Nosey old man.

"I understand. I would avoid such pain as well," he offered in a complacent voice.

"What, you're saying I'm scared?" She couldn't believe it.

He took a loud swig of beer and didn't answer.

"Well, screw that! I'm not afraid of you! Bring it on old man!"

"If your certain," he said gravely, getting to his feet, and placing his half finished beer on his desk.

"You bet your sissy blue skirt I am," she muttered, finishing her bottle and pitching it into a garbage can.

He walked over to a small closet door and opened it calmly, reaching in to pull out a rolled futon. "Now, don't mock my hakema," he chided. "You know very well it is a symbol of my rank."

She watched him unfold the mattress and cocked her head to one side, "Rank shmank. I just think you are trying to get me in bed," she groused, cheered considerably by the banter. She hadn't really considered him before, but Katsuhito was almost as fun to play with as Ayeka.

He gave her a clinical look and ignored her comment. "Take your clothes off and lie on your stomach," he said turning his back to her.

Always game for a challenge, Ryoko unbuttoned her collar and quickly untied her obi. "See what I mean?" she asked letting her dress fall around her ankles. "A bed and no clothes can only mean one thing!"

"Lie down," he repeated in a tranquil voice.

"Okay, okay!" The covers on the mattress made a soft sound as she lay down upon her stomach. "I'm down."

Her turned around and quickly draped a white sheet over her rear, then knelt at her side with a bottle of oil in his hand.

"Hey, no fair! Don't cover it up," she complained, wiggling her butt under the sheet. "What's wrong with it?"

Katshuhito chuckled and poured some oil into his hands, releasing the faint scent of jasmine. "I'm a priest. I should not be tempted by the bared bottoms of young women." He rubbed the oil in his hands, warming it.

"Hmph. I guess that's all right then." She turned her head and looked up at him. "Why are you being so nice?"

"Does there need to be a reason?" he answered with a question. "Now try not to talk, just relax." He placed two hands on her back and let the warmth from the oil sooth her. He began moving his hands in slow, circular movements, pulling her muscles up and around her shoulder blades with his hands.

Her eyes drifted closed and she sighed.

"Good. Relax." He rubbed firmly at the base of her neck. "Its not got for you to hold your feelings so strongly in your body," he whispered close to her ear. "You need to let it out."

Ryoko frowned at his words, but what he was doing felt too good to interrupt.

He slid his hands down to her lower back and began to knead. "You can let it out in many ways you know. By exercising, talking to somebody, writing, drawing a picture, or many other things."

Ryoko laughed, sounding dreamy from his ministrations. "Me draw? Or write? Don't be stupid."

"We all have hidden talents," he said, as his hands beat a percussive rhythm along her spine.

"I know my talents, " she said firmly. "And expressing myself isn't one of them."

"Hmmm." With that, came a change in his technique. He dug a thumb deeply in the muscle that made up her left shoulder blade.

She grunted in surprise and pain.

" I warned you this would hurt," he explained, pushing his thumb in even deeper. "I need to release the muscle toxins that have been building up.

"That's supposed to hurt?" she quipped, grinding her teeth.

"Don't you think it does?" he asked repeating the procedure on her other shoulder.

"No, " she gritted out. "It feels like a flea on my shoulder."

"Ah." He grabbed the muscle group right above her kidneys and squeezed tightly.

"Are you even doing anything back there?" she demanded her bravado at full power, despite the single tear of pain that rolled from her lashes.

Katshuhito chuckled and began rubbing her back more gently. " I think you have lots of hidden talents."

"Yeah?" she asked, relieved the torment was over.

He extended the sheet up her back and draped it around her shoulders, helping her to sit up. "Yes. You are a great actress."

"Huh?"

He handed her a glass of water. "Drink that, it will help wash those released toxins out of your system."

She nodded and took a sip. "Actress?"

"Yes, we both know that hurt, yet you hid it so well." He paused. "Just like you do around Tenchi and Ayeka."`

She hunched her shoulders and frowned into her glass.

"But now we know you are an artist, we can try some other forms besides acting!"

Ryoko kept her frown and directed her gaze to the shrine keeper. "I'm not really interested."

Katsuhito returned the expression, the frown wrinkling the aged skin around his eyes. "You would continue harming innocent creatures instead?"

Ryoko's frown shifted to a look of shame. "I didn't do it."

"But you almost did. What about next time? And the time after that?"

Ryoko gathered the sheet around her neck and was silent.

"Instead of harming the song birds, perhaps it would be better for you to find your own song," he said gently.

"I see," Ryoko responded phasing into a simple black dress with a red belt as the discard sheet fell away from her body.

"You can read and write, yes?"

"Of course I can! You don't have to be a spoiled princess to know how to read," Ryoko snapped.

Katsuhito rose to his feet and approached his desk. "Forgive me for asking. I wasn't sure of the educational requirements for space pirates."

She shrugged her shoulders as he opened a desk drawer and pulled out a legal pad and a blue roller ball pen. He walked back over and handed them to her. "These are for you."

Ryoko took them and stared at the blindingly bright expanse of clean, white paper. "What do you want me to do with these?"

"I would like you to try your hand at a form of poetry. It is called a haiku. It has three lines, the first and third lines have five syllables and the second has seven. Do you understand what I mean?"

Ryoko thought for a moment then grinned. "You mean something like this:

Ayeka's big butt

Grows bigger because she eats

My share of tea treats!"

Ryoko put her hands on her hips and waited for Katsuhito's reaction.

He chuckled behind a hand. "It seems you have a natural talent for word play, which actually isn't very surprising. Just remember they don't have to rhyme. They can, but they don't have too."

Ryoko nodded. "Say, aren't you mad because it was about Ayeka?"

The grey haired man walked slowly to the door and slid it back, and obvious signal for Ryoko's departure. "Poetry is a private thing. No one has the right to tell you what it should be about."

Ryoko scooped up the dress she had been wearing previously and headed for the door. "It can be about anything? Even bad things?" she asked walking outside.

"Especially about bad things," he affirmed, shutting the door behind her.



Author's note: Well? Is it getting any better? Is it worth having me write with a broken finger? Let me know! Review please!