Chapter 6
"Lord Tenchi please!" Ayeka persisted as he came out of Washu's lab. "I really need to talk with you."
He could see she was upset. "Fine," He relented. "Let's go outside."
The late afternoon sun glared down between the branches of the ancient tree near the lake. They took shelter in the small shade it offered, Tenchi leaning against the trunk as he applied the icepack to his face. After a moment of a small struggle, She managed to pull the pack away from his face.
"That's quite nasty," She commented as she examined his face.
"It's nothing really," He said as she shooed her away. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
She closed her wine colored eyes for a moment and opened them, taking a deep breath. "I want to know what's going on."
"That seems to be the question of the moment, but I can't talk about it."
"Why not?"
"Because if you were in the same position you would want the same thing."
"Oh really?" Ayeka quipped icily. "It is kind of surprising that Ryoko hasn't been flaunting the fact that she managed to seduce you. This shroud of secrecy is quite the opposite of what anyone would expect of her."
He gawked at her for a moment, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. His surprise quickly faded though as he set his jaw firmly, unconsciously glaring at her. "That's what you think is going on?" He asked.
"Yes I do," She nodded, tendrils of dark lavender hair bobbing around her face. "And I will continue to believe that until you tell me otherwise." She looked up at him as he suddenly gave a low chuckle and relaxed his form back into the support of the tree trunk.
"She didn't seduce me."
"Then why was she in your room?"
"Something happened to her a few days ago and she couldn't sleep. She came to my room to talk and when she fell asleep I didn't have the heart to make her leave."
"What was so bad that you let her into your room late at night to talk about it?"
He sighed. "I can't tell you that Ayeka. You know that if it had been you I would have done the same thing."
"Really?" She questioned, walking closer. She saw how he became nervous when she invaded his personal space. "Tenchi," She said in a more civil tone, trying to choose her words and feelings carefully. "How do you feel about her?"
"Ryoko?" He replied as he arched an eyebrow, being caught off guard slightly by her question. "Why?"
"I think you know why Tenchi."
They locked eyes and a moment of silence passed between them as they both seemed to search for answers. Tears suddenly welled up in the corners of her eyes as Ayeka lost her patience.
"You know what's in all our hearts, but we have not even a clue as to what is in yours. Just tell me Tenchi, do you love her?" She pleaded.
He sighed, not sure what to say, when suddenly she launched herself into his arms and pressed her lips against his in a desperate kiss.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryoko had walked outside to find Tenchi after Mihoshi had told her he had left the house, only to pause a good distance away when she saw he was talking to Ayeka. She could not hear what was being said but from how tense the two looked it was obvious they were talking about her. They had went quiet for a moment when Ayeka had began to speak again and then flung herself into Tenchi and kissed him. Tears instantly flooded her eyes, seeing the two of them locked in an embrace. Unable to bear the scene, she spun on her heel and ran off into the woods.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It took him a second to comprehend what was going on in shock, but he quickly and gently pushed her off. "Ayeka please," He said softly as they disentangled.
The tears she had been fighting started to flow freely. "So I see," Her voice cracked as she tried to talk. "You do love her."
"I never meant to hurt you... any of you," He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her some. "I didn't realize how I felt until she was in trouble. I'm sorry Ayeka."
She slipped away from his hold, blinded by her tears. "I- I have to go Tenchi," She muttered and started back to the house on autopilot.
He watched her go, unable to make himself move to stop her. She disappeared from view through the front door and yet he lingered by the tree, thoughts spinning through his mind. Ayeka had kissed him and he had admitted to being in love with Ryoko for the first time. He sighed and snatched the ice pack off the ground that he had dropped when Ayeka had startled him. He had been alone thinking for about twenty minutes. Surely he could go check on Ryoko now. He made his way back into the house, Mihoshi and Kiyone sitting in the living room watching a soap opera. There was no sign of either Sasami or Ayeka, but he figured he would not be seeing Ayeka for a while after what happened. "Hey guys, have you seen either Washu or Ryoko?" He asked.
"Washu's still in the lab, but Ryoko went outside about oh... twenty, twenty-five minutes ago," Kiyone answered as Mihoshi sighed dreamily over the lead actor of the show they were watching.
"Twenty-five minutes ago?" He said puzzled. "I didn't see her come out."
"Well you should have. She was looking for you," Mihoshi perked up from her spot on the couch, returning momentarily to reality.
"Oh my god," Tenchi said as it clicked. "She saw. I have to go find her!" He spun around and ran out of the house.
The two galaxy police officers sat on the couch looking more confused than he had a moment ago. "Saw what?" Kiyone asked to no one in particular.
"Beats me," Mihoshi shrugged and went back to watching her show.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She crumbled to the ground after running for half an hour, curling herself into a tight ball as she put her weight on the trunk of a tree. Panting, she forced her eyes shut, tears leaking out in steady streams. Painfully the image of them kissing replayed over and over in her mind, despite how she tried to stop it. Only a mere two hours ago she had held possession of those lips, but now Ayeka...
It was as she feared. She was certain his acceptance of her had been pity. She could see him clearly in her mind, pity and sorrow swirling in his eyes. Poor little Ryoko got raped. Better go soft on her. Another wave of anguish overtook her at this and she felt an impossible increase of her tears. Anger swirled inside her. Anger at the thoughts invading her mind. Anger at what had happened. Anger that she should have stopped it. Unconsciously she took a deep breath and let out a scream that ended when her lungs were empty and her throat burned. Her body had tensed with the action, her fists balled at her sides. She remained rigid for a moment as if she would try to do something, but she simply collapsed back towards the tree, her tears coming silently once more.
"Ryoko!" She heard Tenchi's panicked voice yell in the distance. Please, go away, She thought to herself. Just leave me alone.
"Ryoko."
She refused to open her eyes and look at him, even as she sensed him drop to his knees on the ground in front of her. He tried to take one of her hands, but she roughly wrenched it away from him. She was surprised when he went silent and ceased his efforts to touch her.
"God, you did see."
It was muttered under his breath. Muttered like he was irritated at being caught. She suddenly wondered how long it had been going on. Had she intruded upon the first time or had she simply been witness to lovers' quarrel? She looked up at him then, the fire of her anger seeming to crackle like lightning in her golden eyes. She could tell her abrupt movement had caught him off guard, but he did not recoil from her. "How long?" Her voice splintered into pieces as it traveled from her aching throat.
"What?" He seemed confused.
"How long have you been hiding it? Do you love her? Was it just going to be a pity fuck with me?!?!" She yelled in his face.
She became angrier when she saw him have the nerve to get upset with her. "Pity fuck?" He asked her, his voice low yet as dark as hers was. "You actually think me capable of a pity fuck?"
She stared at him defiantly, but not able to bring herself to voice an answer.
"I was not looking to hand out a pity fuck this morning. I could never do that to someone I..." Despite how angry he evidently was, he was still holding back. "I wish you hadn't seen what had happened with Ayeka."
"Why not?" She hissed.
"Because it was her advance and I rejected it. She opened herself to me and I told her the truth... that I didn't love her."
She softened a little visibly as he said this. "How did she take it?" She asked now quietly. Hell, she had just broke apart when she had seen them together without any verbal proof that she had lost him. She could only imagine how Ayeka was feeling having been solidly turned down.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. It brought her attention back to his black eye momentarily, but he kept his face dipped downward. "I don't really know. I'm kind of afraid that she will never talk to me again," The last of her anger started to melt away as he talked. His eyes stay riveted on the ground as he continued. "She thought that I was hiding a relationship with you."
Ryoko's heart sped up, but not in a good way. "Did you tell her..."
He shook his head firmly. "No. Of course not. That is not my business to tell anyone." He was startled slightly as her hand crept out and cupped the side of his face. He looked up at her uncertainly.
"That's quite a black eye."
He relaxed a little, glad to see she had calmed down some. He knew in her own way she was trying to work her way around to an apology. "It's fine," He muttered in reply as he curled his hand around hers. She looked up at him and he observed what a distressed state her body was in. He pulled away from her reluctantly. "I still can't believe you would think that I would do something like that out of pity."
"I don't Tenchi," She rushed to reassure him, crawling closer to him. "I just overreacted. I had a fear that you were taking pity on me because you thought I was weak. I'm sorry Tenchi," She loomed closer begging acceptance. "Please believe me."
"Look at me Ryoko," He said after a moment of silence. She locked eyes with him and realized a deep seriousness had taken over him. "I want you to know that I would never do anything to deliberately hurt you. I... care too much about you to see you in any kind of pain."
She simply nodded to let him know she understood. Finally, it felt as if the tension in her body was starting to leave. She gave a soft sigh and sagged from her crouching position of making her way over to him to sit on the ground.
"So... did Washu say you were okay?"
Her eyes slipped closed briefly at the mention of the incident. The last thing she wanted to think about was the barren feeling she now felt inside since knowing the truth. "Yes. She said I just had a flashback of my repressed memories triggered by our contact."
"Will it happen again?" He questioned.
She cracked a wry smile at him. "I doubt it. I remember everything now so I don't see why it would."
"I'm glad to hear that," He felt awkward with her trying to make light of the situation.
The smile faded from her face at seeing him still so serious. Her mind was reluctantly brought back to what she had come to talk to him about. She scooted closer to him and crawled into the place between his legs he had left open when he had decided to finally sit down. She could tell he was surprised by her movement, but made no indication that he was unnerved by her. She timidly rested her hands on his chest and looked up at him. "Tenchi," She began softly. "We need to talk."
He laid his hands to rest on the small of her back and fastened his eyes onto her. "I know," He replied.
"Do you..." She looked down at the ground for a moment in shyness, then forced herself to look at him. "Do you regret this morning?"
He sighed at her comment. He knew that was what she had been thinking about. "Do you?" He decided to respond.
"Sort of," She muttered. "I regret it because it ended up getting you a black eye."
He chuckled softly, catching her off guard. "I don't mind the black eye. Not with what I got in exchange for it."
Ryoko's cheeks turned pink with his comment. "Do you mean that?" She asked as she took in a breath.
"The only thing I regret about this morning Ryoko besides the flashback was that I was too cowardly to have done it myself sooner," He moved a hand from her waist and stroked one of her cheeks softly.
Ryoko turned a deeper pink, starting to become overwhelmed.
The logical part of him knew that he shouldn't but his emotions began to overtake him. The warmth of her was radiating out to him and she looked so fragile, so beautiful... He just wanted to kiss her and let everything in that tell her that it would all be alright.
He leaned in towards her and a mere millimeter from her lips she panicked and fell backwards, quickly climbing out of his lap. Her heartbeat sped up as she jumped to her feet, looking down to find a rather bewildered boy looking up at her. Fear from an unknown source gripped her even as she saw a mixture of desire and sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry Tenchi," She started.
"You don't have to apologize," He said quickly as he stood up.
"No," She stuck a hand up to silence him. "Please, let me finish. I'm sorry about this morning. I wanted to do it, and I liked it, but I shouldn't have. And I shouldn't have encouraged you to try it right now either. The truth is... that I need to step back from this. I need to figure out who I am."
Tenchi looked more confused than he had a moment ago on the ground. "What does that mean?" He asked softly, a growing dread settling into his stomach.
"That means I'm leaving."
***
Ending author's note: I know that it took forever for me to post the next chapter of this story, but for the people still reading it, thanks for hanging in. I will try to have another chapter up soon. Remember to give feedback!