Two days had passed since Nagi's attack on the two space pirates.
Washuu had successfully healed Kyoko's shoulder, and Ryoko's lip had closed
back up within an hour. Now, thirty-six hours later, Kyoko could be found
outside lying on the grass on a clear, cloudless day. The blades gently
brushed her exposed arms and shoulders as the breeze played its game. Her
hair lay thrown about her head, and her legs were bent comfortably.
She was deep in thought, when a voice drifted across the ground to her ears.
"Kyoko!" Tenchi called out. Unwillingly, the red headed young woman opened her eyes and sat up to look at him. Soon he came striding up in front of her.
"Yo?" she asked in her usual chipper voice. She watched as he sat down in the grass next to her and stared out to the trees.
"I have a problem," he admitted.
"We know," came Kyoko's sarcastic response.
Tenchi smacked her in the back of the head, laughing.
"Okay, let me rephrase that. I need your help."
"Why do you need my help? I need more help than you, I'll just make it worse!" Kyoko continued her child-like act.
"Can we be serious for a moment?" Tenchi looked at her, his face clearly saying, "If you could ever be serious."
"Yeah, sorry," she apologized.
"I have a problem," the prince paused to see if Kyoko would respond, but when nothing came, he continued. "I can't…"
"Oh!" Kyoko cried out, cutting a very disappointed Tenchi off. "Oh! Let me guess! I'm good at this!" She drew in a deep breath and began. "It has to do with a certain girl. A woman, actually."
"Yeah…" the successor said uncertainly.
"And can't get her out of your mind?"
Tenchi nodded.
"And…let me see…" Kyoko raised her hands to her head and began to massage her temples like a psychic. "Everything you do reminds you of her?"
Tenchi's response became more eager as Kyoko's predictions began to reflect his problem perfectly.
"This all began with a certain unusual event…a kiss, maybe?"
"Yes!" he yelled, causing his consultant to cringe.
"And, you're experiencing feelings you've never felt before, and you want to know what they mean?" she finished.
"You are good! How'd you do it?"
It's only the most obvious thing in the world, moron, Kyoko thought. But that's not what she said. Instead, she answered, "I'm psychic."
"Sure," he responded. "So what does it all mean?"
"It means…" she paused as he waited with baited breath. "It means you're falling in love."
Whatever Tenchi expected, it sure wasn't that. He looked at her, confused.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" the pirate asked tauntingly.
"Not at all."
The two fell silent, Kyoko looking back up at the sky, Tenchi trying to figure out if she was right. Falling in love? There was absolutely no way he could be falling in love. He had tried his hardest to keep all his love evenly divided for each girl. Apparently, that hadn't worked. He leaned back on his hands and felt a book under his palm. It was then that he remembered that consulting Kyoko wasn't the only thing had he intended to do.
"Hey Kyoko?"
"Yeah?" was the lazy reply.
"Here. I was searching through our collection of books and I found this one. I thought you might find it of some interest." Tenchi handed her a black, hardback book with a bright red explanation of the book written in Kanji. She turned it over to look at the front cover.
"Unsolved Cases of the Supernatural? Coooooool," she said in awe.
"That book has some pretty graphic pictures and sick descriptions. It gave me nightmares, but then again, things like this don't interest me much."
"A guy is murdered by the spirits in his house?" she read off the first page. "ESP turns fatal for one woman? One guy commits suicide to rid himself of the demons possessing him? Awesome."
"I figured you'd like that," Tenchi said, nose wrinkled.
"Hey Tenchi! Hey Kyoko!" Ryoko's voice sounded across the yard. The pair turned around to see the demon summoner jogging towards them. Kyoko stood up, book in hand, and waited. When Ryoko finally reached them, she met them with a suspicious eye.
"Don't get any ideas, Tenchi just gave me this book," The red head waved the book in front of her friend's face. Ryoko stopped the book and read the title.
"Oh, I remember that one," she said. "That's the one that gave Tenchi nightmares for a week."
"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Kyoko said, looking from the other pirate to the prince. "I have a question to ask Washuu, and then I want to get a jump start on this book."
The two watched her retreating back as she left. Then, when she was out of sight, Tenchi got up and turned to Ryoko.
"Wanna take a walk by the lake?"
Smiling, she replied, "Sure."
The two quietly walked down the lawn to the edge of the lake. Kyoko's words kept repeating in Tenchi's head. "You're falling in love." Before he knew what he was doing, Tenchi had taken hold of Ryoko's hand and laced his fingers with hers. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw she was blushing. He also couldn't help but notice how astonishingly beautiful she looked. She had on a red strapless shirt underneath a brown short sleeved jacket. Around the edges ran a lining of gold. Her skirt was just like her jacket, and it split up the side. Around her left hip it looked as though her skin was wrapped in bluish cloth.
No, Tenchi, Stop! You can't be falling in love! Yet another part of his mind scolded him for delaying the inevitable.
Tenchi was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts when the very person he was battling himself over stepped in front of him.
"Tenchi," she said in a worried tone. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, why?" he asked. He stared deeply into her golden eyes as she continued.
"Nothing…I guess. It's just, it used to be when I would touch you in any way, you would either scold me of push me off. Usually, it was both. Now, you're taking my hand out of your own free will."
Again, Kyoko's words raced across Tenchi's mind. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He gently brushed a stray piece of her hair out of her face and answered, "Nothing is wrong, Ryoko."
Up above the two, high in the air, Kyoko looked down upon the scene.
"They make such a cute couple," she said to no one in particular. Then, silently as she had come, the space pirate flew back to the house.
~*~
That evening, a distressed purple hared princess was practically dismantling the house in search of Ryoko and Tenchi.
"Where is Ryoko?" she kept yelling.
Silently as she could, Kyoko crept down the stairs. She didn't want to be seen by Aeka, or she, like everyone else in the house, would find herself up against a wall until Aeka was satisfied that she knew nothing. When she reached the last step, she thought she was safe, until the stair creaked.
Aeka whipped around and saw the space pirate on the steps. Walking calmly over, she grabbed Kyoko by the collar and pushed her against the wall. Before Aeka had a chance to question, the red head raised her hand.
"I don't know anything about Ryoko and Tenchi, so please don't ask me."
Aeka looked at her with an evil eye, but the girl's face was impassive. So, she released her hold, and Kyoko walked to the front door of Washuu's lab. She knocked three times, and opened the door.
"Washuu-chan? You in here?" Slowly, the pirate tiptoed into the alter- dimension lab. Inside it was a destructive child dream world. There was large thinga-ma-bobs in the corners that looked very valuable and breakable. Many wires fell from the invisible ceiling. Many glass tubes filled with strange objets floating in equally strange liquids lined the walls. The floor below her bare feet looked like the vast outer space.
The magenta hared little genius came zooming in on a pink pillow with gold tassels.
"What?" Washuu asked.
"I've got a quick question for you," Kyoko said. Washuu snapped her fingers, and her transparent computer popped out of no where. With a few well-selected buttons, Kyoko had a royal blue pillow with a silver dragon and silver tassels to sit on.
"Follow me," the little girl said shortly.
"Uh…Washuu…I don't…" But before Kyoko had the chance to finish, her pillow began to fly behind Washuu, and the red head was almost thrown off. As soon as she regained her balance, the cushion suddenly stopped, jerking the recovering girl forward.
"First, Kyoko, I something to ask you," Washuu said as Kyoko adjusted her position. "Where is my daughter? Her end of the link with Ryo-ohki and me is completely closed off."
Kyoko brushed her two-tone bangs away, and swayed, slightly nauseated. "I don't know," she lied.
"Bull. Where are they?" Washuu asked.
"I'm serious, I don't know. I haven't seen them since earlier this afternoon!" Kyoko insisted. The scientist raised her eyebrow. "All right, if it makes you feel any better, I doubt they'd do anything too extreme. Tenchi only just realized that he…yeeeah…" She didn't want to say too much. She'd leave that to Tenchi and Ryoko.
Washuu smiled understandingly. "Right. It's about time," she said. "So, what did you want me for?"
"Oh! Right. You've been keeping track of the dates of Ryoko's dreams, correct?"
"Yes." The green-eyed woman in the little girl's body continued to type, her fingers touching what seemed to be random buttons.
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me when the first one was?"
"What for?"
"I was just curious," Kyoko quickly responded. There were deeper reasons, but those were to remain inside her head.
"Okay, fine." The direction Washuu was typing in suddenly shifted into the completely opposite direction. Soon, another transparent screen had popped up out of thin air. Washuu looked at it, typed some more, and finally turned her full attention to it.
"The first one was about two months ago, late May."
"Exact date?" Kyoko looked at the screen, but didn't understand a single thing it said, so she left deciphering it to the genius.
Hmmmm…Looks like…May 21," Washuu answered matter-of-factly.
Interesting. May 21? The red head thought.
"Thanks Washuu-chan!" She said.
"Sure," the little girl said. Then, as Kyoko turned to leave, Washuu looked down at her hand. As each second passed, she'd put down a finger. When the last finger had been put down, Kyoko turned came running up to Washuu.
"How do you get out of here?" she asked.
Snickering, the magenta hared girl pointed to the pillow, which Kyoko left behind in her mad dash to leave. The pirate walked over to the blue covered pillow, but before she sat down, she turned back to Washuu.
"Can I…uhh…can I…" she began, but Washuu interrupted her.
"Yes, Kyoko. You can keep the pillow."
~*~
The bright white stars sparkled above. Tenchi and Ryoko lay side by side on the roof staring at the Milky Way painted in the sky. The pirate was snuggled next to her love's side, and his arm around her shoulders.
"Oh, look at that one!" the summoner said excitedly as a meteor raced across the velvety black of the night.
Unbeknownst to anyone at the Masaki household, the two had spent the entire afternoon together, doing nothing more than walking, talking, and spending some well needed time together. Ryoko was still surprised about Tenchi's sudden urge to spend time with her, but enjoyed it all the same. Tenchi was beginning to think that maybe Kyoko was right. Maybe he was falling in love. And it wasn't so bad, like he thought it would be. Now, the task at hand was keeping it from the rest of the family.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked her. He felt her head move up and down in response.
The two watched in silence for a few moments before Tenchi spoke again.
"You miss it, don't you?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.
She lay quietly for another few seconds before answering.
"I do. I miss the feeling of being free. I miss the adrenaline rush. I miss the beauty…everything," she said, a deep sadness in her voice.
"Would you go back?"
"Would you go with me?" She laughed half-heartedly at her own words. Tenchi knew Ryoko thought he wouldn't. He tightened his hold on her shoulders and reached over with his free hand.
Gingerly, the young prince picked up the summoner's right hand and held it in his own. Using his thumb, he traced the creases of her palm. Then, slowly, he lightly drug it down to the deep crimson gem in her wrist. Gently, he traced around its edge.
Ryoko turned her head away from Tenchi and looked to the shadows of the trees. Her wrist tingled as he played with the gem embedded in her skin.
The mysterious jewel had never failed to keep Tenchi's attention. It was amazing that such a tiny object could hold so much power and life. And there were three of them. Part of him felt bead because he controlled two of them. They weren't his; they were Ryoko's.
Tenchi began to lightly push on the red gem. It sank deeper into the pirate's wrist. He continued when no response came from the one next to him.
But just because Ryoko hadn't done anything didn't mean she couldn't feel it. She felt it all right. It felt like all the energy from the gem was being pushed out, and electricity was shooting up her arm and through her body. There was pain, but it was not as Ryoko had known all her life. There was comfort, and she welcomed it.
The successor heard the pirate gasp, and he immediately stopped as a sudden thought came to him.
"I'm hurting you," he said sadly. It wasn't a question, but a statement. He knew he was causing her pain.
Ryoko turned her head to face him.
"No," she cooed softly. "Don't worry." She was disappointed he had stopped. The feeling he had given her was new, and she longed for more.
Instead, however, Tenchi carefully bent her hand back. He lowered her wrist to his lips and gave it a feather-light kiss. Her skin was warm and tasted sugar sweet. Carefully, he put it back where it was before.
"I would go with you, you know," Tenchi told her. "Back to space."
Shocked at his words, Ryoko turned over and looked at his face. He looked back at her, becoming absorbed in her golden eyes.
"You would?"
Smiling, he reached up and ran the back of his hand along her cheek. She leaned into his hand, closing her eyes. When he lowered his arm, she turned back over and scooted closer to the one she loved.
~*~
Two hours later, Kyoko could be found in her room on her futon. She was getting fed up with staring at that stupid piece of paper in front of her. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She had been staring at the same notebook page for the entire afternoon. Its bright red ink seemed to blur her vision. But there was something to what she was staring at. Something on that sheet of paper that remained hidden.
On the page, in bright crimson pen, was a web. In a bubble in the center was the date "May 21". Other bubbles were connected to it. They read, "Ryoko's dreams began", "I hacked into GP's system", "I began my search", "Accident at the FNBJ", and "I supposedly died".
"What the hell am I missing, damn it?!" she hissed at herself. She rubbed her eyes hard; causing spots to appear in her already impaired vision.
Fed up, she threw the notebook against the wall as hard as she could. It collided, and the paper inside it flew in separate directions. Then, she fell back on the bed and closed her eyes. She could picture the red lines perfectly in her mind. They disgusted her; the way they fit so perfectly together with hidden reason. She was beginning to wonder what it was going to take to decipher them.
"God! I give!" she said. "For all I know, I could be the one causing this shit." She laughed at the thought. Kyoko, the indomitable space pirate, was caught in the explosion and supposedly died on May 21. She got the sudden urge to do something she didn't even know how to do on May 21. She began to search for her friend on May 21. And…
Ryoko's dreams began on May 21!
Suddenly, the red head stopped laughing. That was it. That was the fact that stood out. That fact held the answer. She didn't know how it could have passed her before!
Before she knew it, Kyoko dashed out of her room, down the stairs, and into Washuu's lab.
"Washuu-chan?" she called. "Washuu?!" She ran through the alter-dimension laboratory until she found the mad scientist working on her computer.
"What are you yelling about?" Washuu asked annoyed.
"I've done it, Washuu. I've figured out what you've been working on for almost two months now," Kyoko panted.
"And that would be…?"
"I know what's causing Ryoko's dreams."
Washuu stopped her work to stare at the space pirate, who was breathing heavily.
"Impossible," she said. "I've been looking for that longer than you've even been here; there's no way you could have figured it out."
Kyoko raised her eyes to face the doubtful genius when she replied, "You haven't been looking at the whole picture."
"All right, then. What is it?" Washuu challenged.
The red head stood up straight and walked over to the little girl. She didn't know how to say it. She had to use her knowledge to back her up, but it was all too hard to explain without a visual.
"Do you have something I can write on? Something big enough you will be able to see what I write?"
Washuu hit two keys at the same time on her keyboard, and a dry-erase board appeared next to Kyoko.
"Thanks." She turned to face the board and picked up a red marker lying on the bottom. "Okay, I'm going to make this as simple as I can." Kyoko closed her eyes and pictured the web in her head. Each line that seemed so complicated before now looked so simple. As she remembered each little part, she copied it down on the white plastic, until the entire web was written up. Then, she turned back to the pink hared girl.
"Now, this is the whole picture," the pirate said, gesturing to the white board. "Let's forget for a moment the explosion factor," she continued, putting a big "X" through the "Explosion at the FNBJ" circle. "This makes it easier to understand."
Washuu felt as though she was being taught a lesson in class. The red lines made no sense to her, though it seemed like a simple web. Though she was having doubts, she continued to listen.
"To make things short and sweet, I began my search on May 21. I hacked into the GP files May 21. I supposedly died on May 21. I did. I did all those things." Kyoko looked at the stunned genius, and knew she was getting her point across. "You get it, don't you?"
Washuu gulped. "Don't say it, Kyoko. Don't say it."
"I'm sorry, Washuu, but we must face the fact. At first it was meant to be a joke. I was stressed and in need of one. Now I see how wrong I was. It was no laughing matter." Kyoko looked down, ashamed. In a barely audible tone, she said, "The force causing Ryoko's dreams is…me…"
~Notes from Minagi~
Okay, that whole thing on the roof between Tenchi and Ryoko, that was just weird. It came to me one morning when I was lying in bed thinking about nothing in particular. Oh well, I hope you liked it!
So, tell me, how do you like it so far? I think it's going pretty well, considering I didn't know how to put what's in my head down on paper. Tell me whatcha think!
Arigatou and ja ne!
She was deep in thought, when a voice drifted across the ground to her ears.
"Kyoko!" Tenchi called out. Unwillingly, the red headed young woman opened her eyes and sat up to look at him. Soon he came striding up in front of her.
"Yo?" she asked in her usual chipper voice. She watched as he sat down in the grass next to her and stared out to the trees.
"I have a problem," he admitted.
"We know," came Kyoko's sarcastic response.
Tenchi smacked her in the back of the head, laughing.
"Okay, let me rephrase that. I need your help."
"Why do you need my help? I need more help than you, I'll just make it worse!" Kyoko continued her child-like act.
"Can we be serious for a moment?" Tenchi looked at her, his face clearly saying, "If you could ever be serious."
"Yeah, sorry," she apologized.
"I have a problem," the prince paused to see if Kyoko would respond, but when nothing came, he continued. "I can't…"
"Oh!" Kyoko cried out, cutting a very disappointed Tenchi off. "Oh! Let me guess! I'm good at this!" She drew in a deep breath and began. "It has to do with a certain girl. A woman, actually."
"Yeah…" the successor said uncertainly.
"And can't get her out of your mind?"
Tenchi nodded.
"And…let me see…" Kyoko raised her hands to her head and began to massage her temples like a psychic. "Everything you do reminds you of her?"
Tenchi's response became more eager as Kyoko's predictions began to reflect his problem perfectly.
"This all began with a certain unusual event…a kiss, maybe?"
"Yes!" he yelled, causing his consultant to cringe.
"And, you're experiencing feelings you've never felt before, and you want to know what they mean?" she finished.
"You are good! How'd you do it?"
It's only the most obvious thing in the world, moron, Kyoko thought. But that's not what she said. Instead, she answered, "I'm psychic."
"Sure," he responded. "So what does it all mean?"
"It means…" she paused as he waited with baited breath. "It means you're falling in love."
Whatever Tenchi expected, it sure wasn't that. He looked at her, confused.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" the pirate asked tauntingly.
"Not at all."
The two fell silent, Kyoko looking back up at the sky, Tenchi trying to figure out if she was right. Falling in love? There was absolutely no way he could be falling in love. He had tried his hardest to keep all his love evenly divided for each girl. Apparently, that hadn't worked. He leaned back on his hands and felt a book under his palm. It was then that he remembered that consulting Kyoko wasn't the only thing had he intended to do.
"Hey Kyoko?"
"Yeah?" was the lazy reply.
"Here. I was searching through our collection of books and I found this one. I thought you might find it of some interest." Tenchi handed her a black, hardback book with a bright red explanation of the book written in Kanji. She turned it over to look at the front cover.
"Unsolved Cases of the Supernatural? Coooooool," she said in awe.
"That book has some pretty graphic pictures and sick descriptions. It gave me nightmares, but then again, things like this don't interest me much."
"A guy is murdered by the spirits in his house?" she read off the first page. "ESP turns fatal for one woman? One guy commits suicide to rid himself of the demons possessing him? Awesome."
"I figured you'd like that," Tenchi said, nose wrinkled.
"Hey Tenchi! Hey Kyoko!" Ryoko's voice sounded across the yard. The pair turned around to see the demon summoner jogging towards them. Kyoko stood up, book in hand, and waited. When Ryoko finally reached them, she met them with a suspicious eye.
"Don't get any ideas, Tenchi just gave me this book," The red head waved the book in front of her friend's face. Ryoko stopped the book and read the title.
"Oh, I remember that one," she said. "That's the one that gave Tenchi nightmares for a week."
"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Kyoko said, looking from the other pirate to the prince. "I have a question to ask Washuu, and then I want to get a jump start on this book."
The two watched her retreating back as she left. Then, when she was out of sight, Tenchi got up and turned to Ryoko.
"Wanna take a walk by the lake?"
Smiling, she replied, "Sure."
The two quietly walked down the lawn to the edge of the lake. Kyoko's words kept repeating in Tenchi's head. "You're falling in love." Before he knew what he was doing, Tenchi had taken hold of Ryoko's hand and laced his fingers with hers. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw she was blushing. He also couldn't help but notice how astonishingly beautiful she looked. She had on a red strapless shirt underneath a brown short sleeved jacket. Around the edges ran a lining of gold. Her skirt was just like her jacket, and it split up the side. Around her left hip it looked as though her skin was wrapped in bluish cloth.
No, Tenchi, Stop! You can't be falling in love! Yet another part of his mind scolded him for delaying the inevitable.
Tenchi was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts when the very person he was battling himself over stepped in front of him.
"Tenchi," she said in a worried tone. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, why?" he asked. He stared deeply into her golden eyes as she continued.
"Nothing…I guess. It's just, it used to be when I would touch you in any way, you would either scold me of push me off. Usually, it was both. Now, you're taking my hand out of your own free will."
Again, Kyoko's words raced across Tenchi's mind. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He gently brushed a stray piece of her hair out of her face and answered, "Nothing is wrong, Ryoko."
Up above the two, high in the air, Kyoko looked down upon the scene.
"They make such a cute couple," she said to no one in particular. Then, silently as she had come, the space pirate flew back to the house.
~*~
That evening, a distressed purple hared princess was practically dismantling the house in search of Ryoko and Tenchi.
"Where is Ryoko?" she kept yelling.
Silently as she could, Kyoko crept down the stairs. She didn't want to be seen by Aeka, or she, like everyone else in the house, would find herself up against a wall until Aeka was satisfied that she knew nothing. When she reached the last step, she thought she was safe, until the stair creaked.
Aeka whipped around and saw the space pirate on the steps. Walking calmly over, she grabbed Kyoko by the collar and pushed her against the wall. Before Aeka had a chance to question, the red head raised her hand.
"I don't know anything about Ryoko and Tenchi, so please don't ask me."
Aeka looked at her with an evil eye, but the girl's face was impassive. So, she released her hold, and Kyoko walked to the front door of Washuu's lab. She knocked three times, and opened the door.
"Washuu-chan? You in here?" Slowly, the pirate tiptoed into the alter- dimension lab. Inside it was a destructive child dream world. There was large thinga-ma-bobs in the corners that looked very valuable and breakable. Many wires fell from the invisible ceiling. Many glass tubes filled with strange objets floating in equally strange liquids lined the walls. The floor below her bare feet looked like the vast outer space.
The magenta hared little genius came zooming in on a pink pillow with gold tassels.
"What?" Washuu asked.
"I've got a quick question for you," Kyoko said. Washuu snapped her fingers, and her transparent computer popped out of no where. With a few well-selected buttons, Kyoko had a royal blue pillow with a silver dragon and silver tassels to sit on.
"Follow me," the little girl said shortly.
"Uh…Washuu…I don't…" But before Kyoko had the chance to finish, her pillow began to fly behind Washuu, and the red head was almost thrown off. As soon as she regained her balance, the cushion suddenly stopped, jerking the recovering girl forward.
"First, Kyoko, I something to ask you," Washuu said as Kyoko adjusted her position. "Where is my daughter? Her end of the link with Ryo-ohki and me is completely closed off."
Kyoko brushed her two-tone bangs away, and swayed, slightly nauseated. "I don't know," she lied.
"Bull. Where are they?" Washuu asked.
"I'm serious, I don't know. I haven't seen them since earlier this afternoon!" Kyoko insisted. The scientist raised her eyebrow. "All right, if it makes you feel any better, I doubt they'd do anything too extreme. Tenchi only just realized that he…yeeeah…" She didn't want to say too much. She'd leave that to Tenchi and Ryoko.
Washuu smiled understandingly. "Right. It's about time," she said. "So, what did you want me for?"
"Oh! Right. You've been keeping track of the dates of Ryoko's dreams, correct?"
"Yes." The green-eyed woman in the little girl's body continued to type, her fingers touching what seemed to be random buttons.
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me when the first one was?"
"What for?"
"I was just curious," Kyoko quickly responded. There were deeper reasons, but those were to remain inside her head.
"Okay, fine." The direction Washuu was typing in suddenly shifted into the completely opposite direction. Soon, another transparent screen had popped up out of thin air. Washuu looked at it, typed some more, and finally turned her full attention to it.
"The first one was about two months ago, late May."
"Exact date?" Kyoko looked at the screen, but didn't understand a single thing it said, so she left deciphering it to the genius.
Hmmmm…Looks like…May 21," Washuu answered matter-of-factly.
Interesting. May 21? The red head thought.
"Thanks Washuu-chan!" She said.
"Sure," the little girl said. Then, as Kyoko turned to leave, Washuu looked down at her hand. As each second passed, she'd put down a finger. When the last finger had been put down, Kyoko turned came running up to Washuu.
"How do you get out of here?" she asked.
Snickering, the magenta hared girl pointed to the pillow, which Kyoko left behind in her mad dash to leave. The pirate walked over to the blue covered pillow, but before she sat down, she turned back to Washuu.
"Can I…uhh…can I…" she began, but Washuu interrupted her.
"Yes, Kyoko. You can keep the pillow."
~*~
The bright white stars sparkled above. Tenchi and Ryoko lay side by side on the roof staring at the Milky Way painted in the sky. The pirate was snuggled next to her love's side, and his arm around her shoulders.
"Oh, look at that one!" the summoner said excitedly as a meteor raced across the velvety black of the night.
Unbeknownst to anyone at the Masaki household, the two had spent the entire afternoon together, doing nothing more than walking, talking, and spending some well needed time together. Ryoko was still surprised about Tenchi's sudden urge to spend time with her, but enjoyed it all the same. Tenchi was beginning to think that maybe Kyoko was right. Maybe he was falling in love. And it wasn't so bad, like he thought it would be. Now, the task at hand was keeping it from the rest of the family.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked her. He felt her head move up and down in response.
The two watched in silence for a few moments before Tenchi spoke again.
"You miss it, don't you?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.
She lay quietly for another few seconds before answering.
"I do. I miss the feeling of being free. I miss the adrenaline rush. I miss the beauty…everything," she said, a deep sadness in her voice.
"Would you go back?"
"Would you go with me?" She laughed half-heartedly at her own words. Tenchi knew Ryoko thought he wouldn't. He tightened his hold on her shoulders and reached over with his free hand.
Gingerly, the young prince picked up the summoner's right hand and held it in his own. Using his thumb, he traced the creases of her palm. Then, slowly, he lightly drug it down to the deep crimson gem in her wrist. Gently, he traced around its edge.
Ryoko turned her head away from Tenchi and looked to the shadows of the trees. Her wrist tingled as he played with the gem embedded in her skin.
The mysterious jewel had never failed to keep Tenchi's attention. It was amazing that such a tiny object could hold so much power and life. And there were three of them. Part of him felt bead because he controlled two of them. They weren't his; they were Ryoko's.
Tenchi began to lightly push on the red gem. It sank deeper into the pirate's wrist. He continued when no response came from the one next to him.
But just because Ryoko hadn't done anything didn't mean she couldn't feel it. She felt it all right. It felt like all the energy from the gem was being pushed out, and electricity was shooting up her arm and through her body. There was pain, but it was not as Ryoko had known all her life. There was comfort, and she welcomed it.
The successor heard the pirate gasp, and he immediately stopped as a sudden thought came to him.
"I'm hurting you," he said sadly. It wasn't a question, but a statement. He knew he was causing her pain.
Ryoko turned her head to face him.
"No," she cooed softly. "Don't worry." She was disappointed he had stopped. The feeling he had given her was new, and she longed for more.
Instead, however, Tenchi carefully bent her hand back. He lowered her wrist to his lips and gave it a feather-light kiss. Her skin was warm and tasted sugar sweet. Carefully, he put it back where it was before.
"I would go with you, you know," Tenchi told her. "Back to space."
Shocked at his words, Ryoko turned over and looked at his face. He looked back at her, becoming absorbed in her golden eyes.
"You would?"
Smiling, he reached up and ran the back of his hand along her cheek. She leaned into his hand, closing her eyes. When he lowered his arm, she turned back over and scooted closer to the one she loved.
~*~
Two hours later, Kyoko could be found in her room on her futon. She was getting fed up with staring at that stupid piece of paper in front of her. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She had been staring at the same notebook page for the entire afternoon. Its bright red ink seemed to blur her vision. But there was something to what she was staring at. Something on that sheet of paper that remained hidden.
On the page, in bright crimson pen, was a web. In a bubble in the center was the date "May 21". Other bubbles were connected to it. They read, "Ryoko's dreams began", "I hacked into GP's system", "I began my search", "Accident at the FNBJ", and "I supposedly died".
"What the hell am I missing, damn it?!" she hissed at herself. She rubbed her eyes hard; causing spots to appear in her already impaired vision.
Fed up, she threw the notebook against the wall as hard as she could. It collided, and the paper inside it flew in separate directions. Then, she fell back on the bed and closed her eyes. She could picture the red lines perfectly in her mind. They disgusted her; the way they fit so perfectly together with hidden reason. She was beginning to wonder what it was going to take to decipher them.
"God! I give!" she said. "For all I know, I could be the one causing this shit." She laughed at the thought. Kyoko, the indomitable space pirate, was caught in the explosion and supposedly died on May 21. She got the sudden urge to do something she didn't even know how to do on May 21. She began to search for her friend on May 21. And…
Ryoko's dreams began on May 21!
Suddenly, the red head stopped laughing. That was it. That was the fact that stood out. That fact held the answer. She didn't know how it could have passed her before!
Before she knew it, Kyoko dashed out of her room, down the stairs, and into Washuu's lab.
"Washuu-chan?" she called. "Washuu?!" She ran through the alter-dimension laboratory until she found the mad scientist working on her computer.
"What are you yelling about?" Washuu asked annoyed.
"I've done it, Washuu. I've figured out what you've been working on for almost two months now," Kyoko panted.
"And that would be…?"
"I know what's causing Ryoko's dreams."
Washuu stopped her work to stare at the space pirate, who was breathing heavily.
"Impossible," she said. "I've been looking for that longer than you've even been here; there's no way you could have figured it out."
Kyoko raised her eyes to face the doubtful genius when she replied, "You haven't been looking at the whole picture."
"All right, then. What is it?" Washuu challenged.
The red head stood up straight and walked over to the little girl. She didn't know how to say it. She had to use her knowledge to back her up, but it was all too hard to explain without a visual.
"Do you have something I can write on? Something big enough you will be able to see what I write?"
Washuu hit two keys at the same time on her keyboard, and a dry-erase board appeared next to Kyoko.
"Thanks." She turned to face the board and picked up a red marker lying on the bottom. "Okay, I'm going to make this as simple as I can." Kyoko closed her eyes and pictured the web in her head. Each line that seemed so complicated before now looked so simple. As she remembered each little part, she copied it down on the white plastic, until the entire web was written up. Then, she turned back to the pink hared girl.
"Now, this is the whole picture," the pirate said, gesturing to the white board. "Let's forget for a moment the explosion factor," she continued, putting a big "X" through the "Explosion at the FNBJ" circle. "This makes it easier to understand."
Washuu felt as though she was being taught a lesson in class. The red lines made no sense to her, though it seemed like a simple web. Though she was having doubts, she continued to listen.
"To make things short and sweet, I began my search on May 21. I hacked into the GP files May 21. I supposedly died on May 21. I did. I did all those things." Kyoko looked at the stunned genius, and knew she was getting her point across. "You get it, don't you?"
Washuu gulped. "Don't say it, Kyoko. Don't say it."
"I'm sorry, Washuu, but we must face the fact. At first it was meant to be a joke. I was stressed and in need of one. Now I see how wrong I was. It was no laughing matter." Kyoko looked down, ashamed. In a barely audible tone, she said, "The force causing Ryoko's dreams is…me…"
~Notes from Minagi~
Okay, that whole thing on the roof between Tenchi and Ryoko, that was just weird. It came to me one morning when I was lying in bed thinking about nothing in particular. Oh well, I hope you liked it!
So, tell me, how do you like it so far? I think it's going pretty well, considering I didn't know how to put what's in my head down on paper. Tell me whatcha think!
Arigatou and ja ne!