Sorry to keep you all waiting!
Here's Chapter 6!

The Confession (#6)
A Tenchi & company short story by Gary Littlejohn
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All Tenchi* characters and the like are trademarks of AIC/Pioneer.
I did not invent these characters, I simply thought up the situation
for them to be in.
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Let me tell you, I don't know how I ended up out by the cave, but
there I was. Maybe I wandered there on purpose, or maybe by accident.
Either way, this cave seemed to be connected to me in many ways.

As I sat down on the familiar rock formations ouside the entrance,
memories always flooded into my head. All of them had to do with
Tenchi. I would always watch him from here, and I would always feel
so sad when he had to go.

And then, finally, one day he came inside the cave. I could feel the
tension in my mind as he came nearer and nearer. As he approached the
area of my confinement, I felt the energy coming to me from those gems,
and I was given the strength to rise and finally greet Tenchi.

But of course, he was scared. Anyone would have been, I suppose.
Especially at the state I was in, having been there for 700 years.
I must have really looked like a mummy.

Of course, I got my looks back... but the fact remains that I am
not human. Of course, Tenchi isn't human either. Or at least half
of him. It makes me wonder if Tenchi minds that fact. Is he
still scared of me? It's hard to tell with Tenchi, since he's
always being so thoughtful. I swear, sometimes it's annoying
just how friendly he is!

And yet, it's his most attractive feature. His heart, I mean. I
can't imagine loving anyone else in this whole universe! But I
wonder if Tenchi could possibly love someone like me in this wide cosmos.
Of all the people he could love, would he choose me?

Tonight was the night I was going to find out though. TOnight was the
night that I had swore to confess everything to Tenchi. I had decided last
night to tell Tenchi everything about me, not leaving out a single detail.
He might get scared or appalled, but I don't care. I would tell him
everything.

Yes. Everything.

I stood with strength and walked back towards the house. I looked up at
Tenchi's window, hesitated for a moment, and then called his name out.
A moment later I saw his face peek out his window and look down at me.
He waved and I floated up to his window and entered, taking foot by his bed
just as I had the previous night.

"Ryoko" he said "About last night..."

"Tenchi, don't worry about it. I have something much more important to talk
to you about." I replied. He looked concerned.

"What's wrong, Ryoko? Of course, you're thinking about what we did..." he
stuttered for a moment, "I wasn't in my right mind. I'm sorry."

"Tenchi, I'm the one who should apologise." I said "I planned the whole thing.
I was planning to kiss you. It was a bad thing for me to do... so I
am the one who should be sorry." I was holding back tears.

"You... planed the whole thing?" he said, astonished. He must have been astonished.
Why wouldn't he be? I had stolen his first kiss unjustly! "I don't
believe it..."

"I know!" I replied "I should make it up to you somehow!" I truly felt ashamed.

Then Tenchi laughed. "I don't believe that I didn't figure that out on my own"

I looked up, not knowing what to do. "Tenchi... You aren't mad?" I asked,
a little bit of astonishment going through my mind as well now.

He shook his head "Of course I'm not mad. Ryoko is Ryoko. I'd expect such things
out of you." he smiled goofily "Sorry! I should have been more careful!" and then
he laughed, as earnestly as always.

I laghed as well. I didn't know what to do. I expected him to be mad.

"Tenchi..." I said. "Look, there's another reason I came up here tonight." I looked
up and saw a shocked expression on his face suddenly. "No no! It's not for 'that'!
I wanted to talk to you about something else!" I said, a look of relief spreading
accross his face now.

He sat up on his bed cross-legged. "Well.. what's up?" he asked, probably thinking
I was going to make some sort of light conversation.

"Tenchi..." I finally got the courage to say. "I'm dirty."

"What... do you mean?" he asked, as a thick air suddenly spread accross the room.

"I mean... Well... I'm not innocent you might say. Yes. That's a good way to put
it. I'm not as innocent as you might think..." I said.

"Ryoko... what do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I mean... I've been with other men." I blurted out. "Many other men! I'm so
dirty, I'm not even worthy to be with you, Tenchi! It was wrong to kiss
you last night! It was probably wrong for me to come here tonight! But
I had to tell you! I had to tell you! Do you see that?" I began to cry, and
I could feel my confidence slipping away.

"Ryoko, why are you telling me this?" he asked, his head lowered. "What
could have happened to make you want to tell me this? Just that kiss?
Was that kiss all it took to make you snap?" his voice sounded somewhat convicting.

"Tenchi!" I looked up at him, and what I saw surprised me.

I saw his face smiling at me.

"I thought Ryoko was much stronger than that." He said softly.

"Tenchi..." I said, not knowing how to follow that statement up. He was right.
I always put on this tough face. I always triued to keep others out. Even him,
the man I supposedly loved. He really didn't know anything about me at all.
How could he truly love someone he didn't know? All this time, I took it for
granted that he could easily love me back since I had known him since his
childhood. However, he didn't know me that long. How could I have been so selfish?
How could I have been so weak.

To truly be strong, I had to let others in. I think that's what Tenchi wanted to say.
I think that maybe he had said that to me just now, even without saying it directly.
I wiped my tears and smiled back at him.

"Of course I'm stronger than that. I'll show you how strong I am, Tenchi!" I grinned.
"Maybe tonight, I can show you how strong I am... in bed!"

"Hey now, don't joke like that!" he said back, keeping his smile. "Why don't you go
to bed? You've had a tough moment here."

I nodded.

"Oh, by the way, Ryoko" he said as I was about to leave. I looked back.

"Tonight, you showed me that you're incredibly strong." he smiled.

Those words were like sunshine on a rainy day. I had been complimented by Tenchi! And
even after I had confessed to him about my past.

I walked out of his room and closed his door. I leaned my head against his door for a moment.
I hadn't even gotten around to the real confession though. Something I am sure
Tenchi already knew, but I had never said to him directly.

"Tenchi..." I whispered. "I love you."

I stood up straight, turned, and began to walk to my room when suddenly from down
the hall came a scream and a bright flashing light. I ran down the hall towards
the light, which was coming from Ayeka and Sasami's room. I heard Tenchi come out of
his room and start running behind me.

"What's going on?" he called out.

"I don't know!" I yelled back as I got to their room and looked inside.

"What the hell!!" Came out of my mouth naturally when I saw what was in that room.


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To be continued

(C)2002 Gary Littlejohn

dragon@icon-stl.net - Comments welcome