Chapter 4: Pillow Talk
Galaxy Police headquarters number twenty-one eleven housed a variety of criminals in tidy little subspace packets lovingly referred to as "cells". Every thug and monster captured by the GP and sentenced by a jury of his or her peers or under the rules and laws of the unified Jurai federation, came through Twenty-one Eleven at one point in their incarceration. Dr. Clay was no exception. He languished in subspace cell nine hundred and sixty-three for several Earth years, since being thwarted by Professior Washu and her meddling gang of kids. He sighed and took a sip of his tea. Clay maintained his rotundity on the poor prison food as well as somehow managing to keep the curl in his beard. He had a long time to enjoy GP Twenty-one Eleven, his term would not be up for another four hundred eighty-three years. This was plenty of time to ponder new scientific endeavors to complete when he was finally released.
Clay set his tea cup down and guessed it to be about bed time. The cell had no day or night but his body seemed to remind him when to sleep and when to wake and Clay had long since given into these messages. He lay his fat head down on his pillow and closed his eyes to reassess the day behind him. Nothing. He had done nothing, thought of nothing, felt nothing. He was allowed no equipment for fear of escape so Clay also had nothing to "play with" while he was incarcerated. This was worse than death and it was beginning to make him crack.
"Dr. Clay."
The voice bounced around in his head like a spring. Surely he wasn't going insane. He couldn't be insane yet…he had calculated the prison term in correlation to the boredom factor and had estimated the onset of insanity for not another forty years, so who the hell was talking to him?
"Dr. Clay."
"Who?" He shot out of bed and looked about the room. Nothing. No one. He lay back down and made a mental note to check his insanity calculation figures in the morning. He was too tired to worry with it now.
"Dr. Clay!"
The voice, nothing more than an ethereal whisper, rattled his brain. He decided to play along and answer mentally.
"Who are you?" He thought.
"Salvation is soon. Take the opportunity."
"What?"
"You will know it when it occurs."
Silence.
"Salvation, eh….." He smiled and drifted off to sleep.
***
Ayeka solemnly stepped toward the second floor landing of the Masaki house. A sound. A horrible and heart breaking sound caught her very sensitive ears. A moan. Not just any moan, but a very familiar sound slipping from the lips of that demon.
Lightening struck, as it did Ayeka found herself no longer on the staircase but cowering in the middle of a grand hallway in the palace of Jurai. There it was again, a small cry of passion. The princess's heart leapt from her chest as she ran to the ornately carved door of Yosho's room. She was no longer an adult, but a young girl of about twelve. She had followed her brother and a strange girl to the palace on the eve of Startica.
This girl, this older woman would not leave his side and he did not push her away. What was he thinking? They were betrothed. Yosho was intended for Ayeka. She loved him in her very own, childlike way but also yearned for him to return her love. And there he was, again, in the arms of that trollop. They discretely danced at the ball. They playfully joked and laughed for two weeks prior. And now….now Ayeka was sure that tart was entertaining her half-brother at this ungodly hour.
Click!
The child heard the latch to Yosho's door turn. She ran like mad to hide behind one of the dozens of looming marble columns in the grand hallway. She held her breath, certain she would be caught when that monster heard her breathe. Two very light steps clanked upon the marble floor. The princess slowly spied around the pillar to see that same woman emerge from her brother's room. The lady wore a bright pink dress, not in any fashion Ayeka had seen on Jurai. The dress was strapless and hung on her slender body in disarray….as if hastily put back on. The woman also struggled to put on a small bolero jacket that was the color of the sky. She stopped a moment to gaze at her reflection in the highly polished marble of the column across from the hiding princess. The lady adjusted her jacket and ran her fingers through her hair. Pale blue hair.
"Perfect." She smiled and continued to walk past the Princess.
"Wait!" Yosho cried from within his room. Prince Yosho. Young and handsome, with ruby eyes and flowing black hair that was no longer bound and away from his face, but free and cascading down his back. He was shirtless and wore nothing else but his loose fitting trousers. "Why are you leaving?" He panted as he ran, his bare feet making soft pitter pats on the marble floor.
"Uh…..weren't you sleeping?" She turned to face him.
"Why don't you stay? You don't have to leave now."
"I have to go, my prince….." She smiled.
"But why now…spend Startica with me, please?"
"It won't work…you know it….why make each other miserable knowing the inevitable." Her face showed no hint of emotion.
"I don't understand…why we can't figure this out." He pleaded.
"I have something I need to do, a task I almost allowed myself to forget…." She frowned and turned her back to him.
"Please?"
"Keep your loved ones clear of the carnival grounds and the western palace tomorrow." She walked off. "Please." The woman quietly slipped down the hall and out the far door.
"Ryoko." He whispered loud enough for Ayeka to hear and he slowly turned in defeat and went back into his room.
"Western palace?" The child thought. "Where the trees are kept?" It did not make sense at the time.
"Tenchi….."
She heard the pirate utter the boy's name with lust. Something broke within her soul forcing the Princess to take off down the stairs in a panic as the lightening crashed outside and the ran fell. She ran like a beast tore after her. She ran past the second floor landing down to the first and past the kitchen. Her flight caught the eye of a certain dark prince trying to sooth a sake induced headache.
"Ayeka?" He saw her as she ran out the door and into the storm. "Stop!" He tossed the glass of milk he held in his hand and ran after her.
Ayeka flew like a wounded deer. Her flowing nightgown clung to her small body as the rain soaked the fabric. Her shiny purple hair fell around her face and darkened with moisture. Her tears merged with the falling rain so that her face shone with water. She ran and ran, with Zephr at her heels up and toward the stairs leading to the Masaki shrine. She almost made it to the top but tripped and fell on the last few steps. The forlorn girl fell in a heap of sobs and tears as the rain pummeled her body.
Ka-Boom! Lightening struck a tree to her right, splintering the wood. The heavy trunk lurched to the left and began to fall. The Princess, unaware in her pain, sat helpless as the tree fell upon her. With a swift jump and grab, Zephr plucked her tiny body out of harm's way and the tree landed with a crash upon the stone steps. He cradled her in his arms once more as they huddled in the pouring rain.
"What's gotten into you?" He tried to shake her to her senses. "Ayeka?"
"She's stolen him from me again….I can't bear to lose another…" She grew limp in his arms.
Zephr scanned the distance and saw the Masaki Shrine illuminated by lightening. No lights were on inside so he figured the shrine keeper, Tenchi's grandfather, Lord Katsuhito slept through the storm. He didn't know what to do, to wake the old man and try to explain just how he and the half clothed Princess made it up to the shrine in the rain, or take her back down the mountain. A bolt of lightening struck a few yards away, making him decide in a hurry. He clutched the exhausted girl and made a mad dash for the closest structure to his right, the tiny teahouse.
The chashitsu or teahouse albeit tiny, was a solid structure. Zephr rest Ayeka just outside the opening, her eyes glassy with hurt and pain. She carried a dull expression on her face, as if she didn't care if the storm killed her. The boy discovered that the small door to the teahouse opened easily and he ushered the Princess inside and out of the rain. Chashitsu by no means was foreign to the dark lord. His home world, strangely enough, had a very similar structure for their own version of the tea ceremony. Zephr suddenly felt sad at the building's state of disarray and wondered why no one kept it up. The mats were torn or missing. Most of the rice paper screens and windows were torn or boarded up. Leaves and kindling littered the floor and in the far corner in the traditional niche in the wall, a paper scroll lay tattered on the floor. The boy attended to the distraught princess. She sobbed so that he could not distinguish her tears from the raindrops and water falling down her face from her wet hair. He embraced her.
"Let it out…." He soothed. "Let it all out." Ayeka wailed at his request, the onslaught of tears never ending. After what seemed like forever, her pitiful sobs died down as she choked back more tears.
"You, you don't have to console me." She sniffled then realized her proximity to the handsome man. "Oh…" She tried to back away from him.
"No you don't." He wouldn't release her. "Not until all this is out of your system." He rest his chin on the top of her head.
"I, I think I am over it, for now…" She smiled and shivered in his arms.
"You are cold….let me see if this stove still works." He did release her to gather some wood and debris and stuff this into the small stove inset in the floor of the teahouse. He clenched his fist and let the tiniest of this power create a spark which ignited the very old and very dry kindling until a there was a warm fire. "That should warm this place up." He turned to her. "Now, tell me-only if you want- why you took off like that."
"Oh," she stared at him. Ayeka bit her lip and averted her eyes. "It's nothing to concern yourself."
"Well, I don't put myself in danger everyday without knowing just why, please tell me." He urged.
"I heard them."
"Who?"
"Tenchi and Ryoko…."
"Doing what?" He paused for a moment as he considered the pale look on Ayeka's face. "Oh……that."
"I didn't mean to, I heard shouting and it piqued my curiosity. I thought they were fighting but apparently they made up." She looked away.
"You can't get over him, can you." His voice made her look back.
"I have to…he is no longer mine."
"Ayeka…please don't get angry with me, but remember, I read his note…is it possible he was never yours to begin with?"
"I….uh…..I," she stammered.
"Tenchi loves Ryoko. I'm sorry." His face truly carried the look of sadness upon uttering the words he knew she didn't want to believe.
"I know….I really know….it just seems that she takes everything from me. I just snapped when I heard it."
"What do you mean, she takes everything from you?"
"I told you I came to Earth to find my half-brother, Yosho. That we were to be married?"
"Yes…you told me that was Jurain custom…" He smiled. "You told me that Ryoko attacked Jurai under the control of Kagato and Yosho drove her off and followed her to earth. That his ship, Funaho crashed leaving him stranded and that he defeated Ryoko in a horrendous battle." He leaned closer to her. "Are you still bitter with Ryoko for leaving Yosho stranded on Earth and away from you?"
"No….she didn't make him come here. Ryoko tried and failed to steal Tsunami, the tree of Jurai, when she attacked. But, she succeeded in stealing something just as precious. She stole his heart…..that is what she took from me."
"What?"
"He left Jurai not only because he was running from his responsibilities….but he was also running from me, from having to marry me when he….when he loved HER." A solitary tear fell down her cheek as Ayeka began her story.
"He loved Ryoko?"
"Yes. Yosho met this woman weeks before Startica, the summer star festival. The pirate was actually scouting the palace for Kagato when she bumped into my brother. She was using him, she never expected or wanted to fall in love with him."
"But did she?"
"I don't know. But, for weeks she flirted and pried her way into my family until father had enough. I heard him screaming at Yosho to remember he was betrothed and to end this relationship. I heard Yosho defy father as well. Later, when Ryoko attacked, my brother was so angry, hurt and confused, he took after her without saying much of a goodbye. Everyone thought him brave to face the demon and avenge the deaths of many fallen Juraians, but they didn't know the true reason he left, the reason I am sure of-to try to break through to the pirate."
"I saw it all through Funaho's memory banks," she continued, "long ago, Yosho bravely battled Ryoko as she was controlled by Kagato's evil hand. He couldn't snap her out of the spell and in a fit of rage he ran her through with his sword. I saw his face as Ryoko died at his hands."
"Died?"
"Well, Tsunami must have heard Yosho's heart break because that monster really didn't die…something about her…her gems…Funaho…Tsunami herself, kept her barely alive. So, he stayed."
"Stayed on Earth to watch over her out of guilt?" Zephr put his hands over the fire.
"Partly, but also as an excuse to not return home again…to me."
"Ayeka…you are forgetting the most important part of all of this."
"What is that?"
"Don't you see….Yosho…he did get over Ryoko…and you can get over Tenchi."
"Yes, he did, "she managed to chuckle as she thought about the many wives her half-brother married in the span of seven hundred years on Earth.
"And Ryoko got over him…if she ever truly loved him…."
"I really never thought of it that way….it just hurts so much."
"I understand….I've never been in love, but I know how it hurts to miss someone you love." His face turned solemn.
"You?"
"My uncle…he's alone now….I don't know how to get back to him, I'm scared to try."
"Oh, I'm sorry…." She remembered how becoming her friend made him an enemy of his own people.
"Don't be, I did the right thing, I just hope someday to be able to return to see him again."
"We should talk about this with Washu…she'll figure something out." She yawned.
"I think we should try to get some rest and sneak out of here when the rain lets up."
"Good idea." She still shivered.
"Come here, princess." He reached over and in one movement, pulled her body next to his.
"Oh, my." She blushed and again averted her eyes.
"Don't get any ideas….it's just that…I'm cold too." He smiled.
"Alright, then." Ayeka blushed again at seeing Zephr's shirtless form shivering as well in the cold. She returned his smile as they both lay back, side by side and huddled close for warmth. They soon fell fast asleep.
***
"Are you sleeping?" He whispered in her ear, making sure to nibble on her earlobe.
"I don't think I'll ever fall asleep again….as long as I'm finally in your arms." She giggled.
"The sun's coming up…." A tiny stream of light seared through the closed drapes and settled upon his face. "Thank goodness, no rain today…"
"If it rained all day, then we wouldn't have to get out of bed." She grinned.
"Ryoko," He chided and slipped the covers off his body and sat on the edge of the bed.
"mmmmm." Ryoko purred as she watched him stretch in the new morning, the sunlight falling upon the curvature of his muscled body. "Tenchi….." She reached over and grabbed him by the waste. "Why get up when we can stay….here…" She snarled.
"Well, we could stay in bed all day….or…." He squirmed out of her grasp and walked around the bed. The pirate's eyes followed him around the room. Tenchi reached his dresser and pulled an object out of the top drawer. "Or….you can give me another chance…" He knelt at the edge of the bed as Ryoko rolled around and raised up on her elbows making her more or less face to face with the boy. "I love you and I want you to marry me." He opened the box in his hand and presented her with the ring a second time.
"I think you convinced me this time….." She smiled and plucked the ring from the box. "Of course…I will." She put the ring on her finger.
"Whew!" Tenchi smiled with relief he wasn't punched across the room this time.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko propelled her body forward and took both herself and her fiancé to the floor. She rest her head on his chest and listened to the erratic rhythm of his racing heartbeat. She smiled and felt pure happiness…a feeling she never expected to own…a feeling that was always taken away from her by Kagato.
"Ryoko?" He pulled her face toward his own. "Don't worry."
"Hmmm?" She was amazed. Ryoko wondered how Tenchi knew she was in pain last night, but now she was sure there was something within him allowing him to feel her emotions.
"I won't let anyone steal your happiness ever again."
"Oh, Tenchi….." She planted a passionate kiss upon his lips. As she kissed him, her right arm hovered over the bedspread, clutched it and pulled the comforter over top of both of them.
*******************
Author's notes:
Insert random porno music after the last entry….just kidding. So Tenchi and Ryoko worked it out? Can Tenchi keep his word about keeping Ryoko happy? She was never lucky in the past, what makes her think the same could be said of her future? What about Tenchi? The Masaki men never had much luck with keeping wives-alive. And will Ayeka's sudden realization give way to a new love with Zephr? Just what the heck is he going to do on Earth anyway? And Yosho and Ryoko? Yuck! But hey….think about it, I did, and figured that it was as good a reason as any to fly across space to Earth….to try to reach the one you love. And just how does Clay keep his beard oh so curly? Stay tuned……
Galaxy Police headquarters number twenty-one eleven housed a variety of criminals in tidy little subspace packets lovingly referred to as "cells". Every thug and monster captured by the GP and sentenced by a jury of his or her peers or under the rules and laws of the unified Jurai federation, came through Twenty-one Eleven at one point in their incarceration. Dr. Clay was no exception. He languished in subspace cell nine hundred and sixty-three for several Earth years, since being thwarted by Professior Washu and her meddling gang of kids. He sighed and took a sip of his tea. Clay maintained his rotundity on the poor prison food as well as somehow managing to keep the curl in his beard. He had a long time to enjoy GP Twenty-one Eleven, his term would not be up for another four hundred eighty-three years. This was plenty of time to ponder new scientific endeavors to complete when he was finally released.
Clay set his tea cup down and guessed it to be about bed time. The cell had no day or night but his body seemed to remind him when to sleep and when to wake and Clay had long since given into these messages. He lay his fat head down on his pillow and closed his eyes to reassess the day behind him. Nothing. He had done nothing, thought of nothing, felt nothing. He was allowed no equipment for fear of escape so Clay also had nothing to "play with" while he was incarcerated. This was worse than death and it was beginning to make him crack.
"Dr. Clay."
The voice bounced around in his head like a spring. Surely he wasn't going insane. He couldn't be insane yet…he had calculated the prison term in correlation to the boredom factor and had estimated the onset of insanity for not another forty years, so who the hell was talking to him?
"Dr. Clay."
"Who?" He shot out of bed and looked about the room. Nothing. No one. He lay back down and made a mental note to check his insanity calculation figures in the morning. He was too tired to worry with it now.
"Dr. Clay!"
The voice, nothing more than an ethereal whisper, rattled his brain. He decided to play along and answer mentally.
"Who are you?" He thought.
"Salvation is soon. Take the opportunity."
"What?"
"You will know it when it occurs."
Silence.
"Salvation, eh….." He smiled and drifted off to sleep.
***
Ayeka solemnly stepped toward the second floor landing of the Masaki house. A sound. A horrible and heart breaking sound caught her very sensitive ears. A moan. Not just any moan, but a very familiar sound slipping from the lips of that demon.
Lightening struck, as it did Ayeka found herself no longer on the staircase but cowering in the middle of a grand hallway in the palace of Jurai. There it was again, a small cry of passion. The princess's heart leapt from her chest as she ran to the ornately carved door of Yosho's room. She was no longer an adult, but a young girl of about twelve. She had followed her brother and a strange girl to the palace on the eve of Startica.
This girl, this older woman would not leave his side and he did not push her away. What was he thinking? They were betrothed. Yosho was intended for Ayeka. She loved him in her very own, childlike way but also yearned for him to return her love. And there he was, again, in the arms of that trollop. They discretely danced at the ball. They playfully joked and laughed for two weeks prior. And now….now Ayeka was sure that tart was entertaining her half-brother at this ungodly hour.
Click!
The child heard the latch to Yosho's door turn. She ran like mad to hide behind one of the dozens of looming marble columns in the grand hallway. She held her breath, certain she would be caught when that monster heard her breathe. Two very light steps clanked upon the marble floor. The princess slowly spied around the pillar to see that same woman emerge from her brother's room. The lady wore a bright pink dress, not in any fashion Ayeka had seen on Jurai. The dress was strapless and hung on her slender body in disarray….as if hastily put back on. The woman also struggled to put on a small bolero jacket that was the color of the sky. She stopped a moment to gaze at her reflection in the highly polished marble of the column across from the hiding princess. The lady adjusted her jacket and ran her fingers through her hair. Pale blue hair.
"Perfect." She smiled and continued to walk past the Princess.
"Wait!" Yosho cried from within his room. Prince Yosho. Young and handsome, with ruby eyes and flowing black hair that was no longer bound and away from his face, but free and cascading down his back. He was shirtless and wore nothing else but his loose fitting trousers. "Why are you leaving?" He panted as he ran, his bare feet making soft pitter pats on the marble floor.
"Uh…..weren't you sleeping?" She turned to face him.
"Why don't you stay? You don't have to leave now."
"I have to go, my prince….." She smiled.
"But why now…spend Startica with me, please?"
"It won't work…you know it….why make each other miserable knowing the inevitable." Her face showed no hint of emotion.
"I don't understand…why we can't figure this out." He pleaded.
"I have something I need to do, a task I almost allowed myself to forget…." She frowned and turned her back to him.
"Please?"
"Keep your loved ones clear of the carnival grounds and the western palace tomorrow." She walked off. "Please." The woman quietly slipped down the hall and out the far door.
"Ryoko." He whispered loud enough for Ayeka to hear and he slowly turned in defeat and went back into his room.
"Western palace?" The child thought. "Where the trees are kept?" It did not make sense at the time.
"Tenchi….."
She heard the pirate utter the boy's name with lust. Something broke within her soul forcing the Princess to take off down the stairs in a panic as the lightening crashed outside and the ran fell. She ran like a beast tore after her. She ran past the second floor landing down to the first and past the kitchen. Her flight caught the eye of a certain dark prince trying to sooth a sake induced headache.
"Ayeka?" He saw her as she ran out the door and into the storm. "Stop!" He tossed the glass of milk he held in his hand and ran after her.
Ayeka flew like a wounded deer. Her flowing nightgown clung to her small body as the rain soaked the fabric. Her shiny purple hair fell around her face and darkened with moisture. Her tears merged with the falling rain so that her face shone with water. She ran and ran, with Zephr at her heels up and toward the stairs leading to the Masaki shrine. She almost made it to the top but tripped and fell on the last few steps. The forlorn girl fell in a heap of sobs and tears as the rain pummeled her body.
Ka-Boom! Lightening struck a tree to her right, splintering the wood. The heavy trunk lurched to the left and began to fall. The Princess, unaware in her pain, sat helpless as the tree fell upon her. With a swift jump and grab, Zephr plucked her tiny body out of harm's way and the tree landed with a crash upon the stone steps. He cradled her in his arms once more as they huddled in the pouring rain.
"What's gotten into you?" He tried to shake her to her senses. "Ayeka?"
"She's stolen him from me again….I can't bear to lose another…" She grew limp in his arms.
Zephr scanned the distance and saw the Masaki Shrine illuminated by lightening. No lights were on inside so he figured the shrine keeper, Tenchi's grandfather, Lord Katsuhito slept through the storm. He didn't know what to do, to wake the old man and try to explain just how he and the half clothed Princess made it up to the shrine in the rain, or take her back down the mountain. A bolt of lightening struck a few yards away, making him decide in a hurry. He clutched the exhausted girl and made a mad dash for the closest structure to his right, the tiny teahouse.
The chashitsu or teahouse albeit tiny, was a solid structure. Zephr rest Ayeka just outside the opening, her eyes glassy with hurt and pain. She carried a dull expression on her face, as if she didn't care if the storm killed her. The boy discovered that the small door to the teahouse opened easily and he ushered the Princess inside and out of the rain. Chashitsu by no means was foreign to the dark lord. His home world, strangely enough, had a very similar structure for their own version of the tea ceremony. Zephr suddenly felt sad at the building's state of disarray and wondered why no one kept it up. The mats were torn or missing. Most of the rice paper screens and windows were torn or boarded up. Leaves and kindling littered the floor and in the far corner in the traditional niche in the wall, a paper scroll lay tattered on the floor. The boy attended to the distraught princess. She sobbed so that he could not distinguish her tears from the raindrops and water falling down her face from her wet hair. He embraced her.
"Let it out…." He soothed. "Let it all out." Ayeka wailed at his request, the onslaught of tears never ending. After what seemed like forever, her pitiful sobs died down as she choked back more tears.
"You, you don't have to console me." She sniffled then realized her proximity to the handsome man. "Oh…" She tried to back away from him.
"No you don't." He wouldn't release her. "Not until all this is out of your system." He rest his chin on the top of her head.
"I, I think I am over it, for now…" She smiled and shivered in his arms.
"You are cold….let me see if this stove still works." He did release her to gather some wood and debris and stuff this into the small stove inset in the floor of the teahouse. He clenched his fist and let the tiniest of this power create a spark which ignited the very old and very dry kindling until a there was a warm fire. "That should warm this place up." He turned to her. "Now, tell me-only if you want- why you took off like that."
"Oh," she stared at him. Ayeka bit her lip and averted her eyes. "It's nothing to concern yourself."
"Well, I don't put myself in danger everyday without knowing just why, please tell me." He urged.
"I heard them."
"Who?"
"Tenchi and Ryoko…."
"Doing what?" He paused for a moment as he considered the pale look on Ayeka's face. "Oh……that."
"I didn't mean to, I heard shouting and it piqued my curiosity. I thought they were fighting but apparently they made up." She looked away.
"You can't get over him, can you." His voice made her look back.
"I have to…he is no longer mine."
"Ayeka…please don't get angry with me, but remember, I read his note…is it possible he was never yours to begin with?"
"I….uh…..I," she stammered.
"Tenchi loves Ryoko. I'm sorry." His face truly carried the look of sadness upon uttering the words he knew she didn't want to believe.
"I know….I really know….it just seems that she takes everything from me. I just snapped when I heard it."
"What do you mean, she takes everything from you?"
"I told you I came to Earth to find my half-brother, Yosho. That we were to be married?"
"Yes…you told me that was Jurain custom…" He smiled. "You told me that Ryoko attacked Jurai under the control of Kagato and Yosho drove her off and followed her to earth. That his ship, Funaho crashed leaving him stranded and that he defeated Ryoko in a horrendous battle." He leaned closer to her. "Are you still bitter with Ryoko for leaving Yosho stranded on Earth and away from you?"
"No….she didn't make him come here. Ryoko tried and failed to steal Tsunami, the tree of Jurai, when she attacked. But, she succeeded in stealing something just as precious. She stole his heart…..that is what she took from me."
"What?"
"He left Jurai not only because he was running from his responsibilities….but he was also running from me, from having to marry me when he….when he loved HER." A solitary tear fell down her cheek as Ayeka began her story.
"He loved Ryoko?"
"Yes. Yosho met this woman weeks before Startica, the summer star festival. The pirate was actually scouting the palace for Kagato when she bumped into my brother. She was using him, she never expected or wanted to fall in love with him."
"But did she?"
"I don't know. But, for weeks she flirted and pried her way into my family until father had enough. I heard him screaming at Yosho to remember he was betrothed and to end this relationship. I heard Yosho defy father as well. Later, when Ryoko attacked, my brother was so angry, hurt and confused, he took after her without saying much of a goodbye. Everyone thought him brave to face the demon and avenge the deaths of many fallen Juraians, but they didn't know the true reason he left, the reason I am sure of-to try to break through to the pirate."
"I saw it all through Funaho's memory banks," she continued, "long ago, Yosho bravely battled Ryoko as she was controlled by Kagato's evil hand. He couldn't snap her out of the spell and in a fit of rage he ran her through with his sword. I saw his face as Ryoko died at his hands."
"Died?"
"Well, Tsunami must have heard Yosho's heart break because that monster really didn't die…something about her…her gems…Funaho…Tsunami herself, kept her barely alive. So, he stayed."
"Stayed on Earth to watch over her out of guilt?" Zephr put his hands over the fire.
"Partly, but also as an excuse to not return home again…to me."
"Ayeka…you are forgetting the most important part of all of this."
"What is that?"
"Don't you see….Yosho…he did get over Ryoko…and you can get over Tenchi."
"Yes, he did, "she managed to chuckle as she thought about the many wives her half-brother married in the span of seven hundred years on Earth.
"And Ryoko got over him…if she ever truly loved him…."
"I really never thought of it that way….it just hurts so much."
"I understand….I've never been in love, but I know how it hurts to miss someone you love." His face turned solemn.
"You?"
"My uncle…he's alone now….I don't know how to get back to him, I'm scared to try."
"Oh, I'm sorry…." She remembered how becoming her friend made him an enemy of his own people.
"Don't be, I did the right thing, I just hope someday to be able to return to see him again."
"We should talk about this with Washu…she'll figure something out." She yawned.
"I think we should try to get some rest and sneak out of here when the rain lets up."
"Good idea." She still shivered.
"Come here, princess." He reached over and in one movement, pulled her body next to his.
"Oh, my." She blushed and again averted her eyes.
"Don't get any ideas….it's just that…I'm cold too." He smiled.
"Alright, then." Ayeka blushed again at seeing Zephr's shirtless form shivering as well in the cold. She returned his smile as they both lay back, side by side and huddled close for warmth. They soon fell fast asleep.
***
"Are you sleeping?" He whispered in her ear, making sure to nibble on her earlobe.
"I don't think I'll ever fall asleep again….as long as I'm finally in your arms." She giggled.
"The sun's coming up…." A tiny stream of light seared through the closed drapes and settled upon his face. "Thank goodness, no rain today…"
"If it rained all day, then we wouldn't have to get out of bed." She grinned.
"Ryoko," He chided and slipped the covers off his body and sat on the edge of the bed.
"mmmmm." Ryoko purred as she watched him stretch in the new morning, the sunlight falling upon the curvature of his muscled body. "Tenchi….." She reached over and grabbed him by the waste. "Why get up when we can stay….here…" She snarled.
"Well, we could stay in bed all day….or…." He squirmed out of her grasp and walked around the bed. The pirate's eyes followed him around the room. Tenchi reached his dresser and pulled an object out of the top drawer. "Or….you can give me another chance…" He knelt at the edge of the bed as Ryoko rolled around and raised up on her elbows making her more or less face to face with the boy. "I love you and I want you to marry me." He opened the box in his hand and presented her with the ring a second time.
"I think you convinced me this time….." She smiled and plucked the ring from the box. "Of course…I will." She put the ring on her finger.
"Whew!" Tenchi smiled with relief he wasn't punched across the room this time.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko propelled her body forward and took both herself and her fiancé to the floor. She rest her head on his chest and listened to the erratic rhythm of his racing heartbeat. She smiled and felt pure happiness…a feeling she never expected to own…a feeling that was always taken away from her by Kagato.
"Ryoko?" He pulled her face toward his own. "Don't worry."
"Hmmm?" She was amazed. Ryoko wondered how Tenchi knew she was in pain last night, but now she was sure there was something within him allowing him to feel her emotions.
"I won't let anyone steal your happiness ever again."
"Oh, Tenchi….." She planted a passionate kiss upon his lips. As she kissed him, her right arm hovered over the bedspread, clutched it and pulled the comforter over top of both of them.
*******************
Author's notes:
Insert random porno music after the last entry….just kidding. So Tenchi and Ryoko worked it out? Can Tenchi keep his word about keeping Ryoko happy? She was never lucky in the past, what makes her think the same could be said of her future? What about Tenchi? The Masaki men never had much luck with keeping wives-alive. And will Ayeka's sudden realization give way to a new love with Zephr? Just what the heck is he going to do on Earth anyway? And Yosho and Ryoko? Yuck! But hey….think about it, I did, and figured that it was as good a reason as any to fly across space to Earth….to try to reach the one you love. And just how does Clay keep his beard oh so curly? Stay tuned……