'In Wine There is Truth' v.1.1

In the steam that permeated the onsen, two figures could be seen in the folds of mists. The first form had a spiky display of cyan as its coiffure; the other was a mass of royal purple. Only the upper parts of their bodies were not submerged in the water, as they stood back in the stone lip. Behind the two was a forgotten tray. On it was a collection of sake bottles. Some upright, some toppled over; all empty.

Both were silent, seemingly oblivious of the other, continuing to sip away at their respective poison. Almost as if the only fixation they had was on their drink, breaking concentration from the transparent fluid only when they had to refill as they steadily drained the supply. The two were in a reflective mood, in their own little worlds that their thoughts placed them in. One wore a pink towel with white trim, and she smoothly downed the potent contents of her shallow sake cup with a deft flick of her wrist. The other wore what she was born into the world with, looking up to stare at the shrouded surroundings, trying to lose her thoughts in the shifting mists.

There came a time when both went to refill their cups, only to find that their bottles were empty, not even a leftover drop clung to the curves within. Simultaneously both threw the 'empties' back, arching high behind them. The faint ringing that the porcelain created when it clattered across the stone floor acted as the signal to look for more. Their dull, blank stares changed to a focus; hunting for that one last source of obliviousness. There! Both saw their prey floating, a boey in a still bay shrouded by coastal fog. As they reached for the large glass bottle that continued to bob, their hands met in grasping for its slender, smooth, cylindrical neck. The bottle of vodka was raised into the air as they pulled up, the 'piece du resistance' between them. Following the odd routine of synchronicity both grunted in an inebriated fashion before looking at the other arm holding onto their prize, then onto the owner of that arm. The dull mirrored glaze faded as topaz met ruby, replaced by an acuity a raptor would have envied. In the space between their eyes, it was as if sparks flew, the two sets of gazes glaring at the other, seeking dominance. After several long moments, both blinked, breaking the impromptu staring contest.

Whether it was from the onsen, the alcohol, the other's presence, or some combination of the three, both girls' temperatures rose. It accompanied the reddening of one caused by consuming too much of the rice- wine.

Both looked down where their hands communally held the bottle, the small part of them still sober wondering just how life seemed to have it in for them somehow. Held between them was their vessel of distraction, the means of escape from which they ran away from confronting their problems. Whatever fire the sake had given them was extinguished as they were struck by reality in the form of irony.

Loosening their grasps, the bottle dropped, disappearing for a moment under the milky sea until it resurfaced with a triumphant jump, tumbling in mid-air like a graceful creature they have seen on television before turning a buoy once more. Like the millennia-long struggle between the cliff and the sea, the girls were finally worn down. Like the cascading earth dislodged by eons of being battered by the elements, the girls staggered into the onsen, dull saffron staring into somber burgundy.

Simultaneously, the two laughed, as well they could at least, finding twisted humor in themselves and their commiseration. One could've been a princess, the other a pirate. yet they looked the same in their current state. Lost, lonely, their despair enhanced by inebriation, their 'reprieve' only enhancing their downtrodden condition.

"What did. what did we go here for again, Ryoko," one slurred, weaving about lightly where she was harbored, small currents in the water emanating from her, small bow waves disturbing the harmony of the still surface. She bent over when a small hiccup escaped her, followed by another, and yet more till she stopped her ignorant convulsions.

Ryoko chuckled at her, before going into a series of hiccupping herself. "To get plastered-" she belched. "It got too damn sugary for me back there, Aeka." She shook her head, as if it would help alleviate the light headache that had taken form.

"I suppose," Aeka agreed softly, "it was an. odd sight to see."

Ryoko shook her head lightly, looking cynically at her drinking companion. "You mean you wish it was you, neh?" Ryoko inquired in a jovial tone.

"Must you point out the obvious? To my knowledge, you were. in the same boat I was in," Aeka grumbled, repressing a small growl as she felt her hackles rise.

Aeka was surprised when, instead of throwing something else back at her, Ryoko chose instead to hair her hands slightly, empty palms facing her. It was a gesture of peace, not that Ryoko was backing down to her, just that she didn't want to fight. Well, at least not yet.

"They beat us to it again, didn't they?" Ryoko joked lightly, relaxing in the water, letting herself float half-submerged on her back, her hands making small ripples in the water, creating a very aesthetic picture of energy at rest.

Aeka turned to look at her, kneeling down slightly on their shallow end of the onsen, her neck slightly above water. She noted that a large section of her locks must be soaking up the heated water something awful. She repressed a dejected sigh, momentarily wishing that the alcohol haze was there. "Its really frustrating at times," Aeka murmured, nodding, "it seems as if it takes more and more sake every time to get me drunk."

"You mean you're still sober," Ryoko inquired cupidly. Aeka lifted a hand out of the water and pinched the air lightly.

"No. I'm a bit just a little." Aeka searched for the words, knowing she just left herself open for a remark, "'buzzed' though."

"Nice to see you learning to hold your booze. princess," Ryoko quipped, still staring at the ceiling as she floated, the small current she caused with her hands lapping gently up at the sides of her face, several of her cyan locks acting like booms, being slicked back against her cheeks, then floating free again.

Aeka groaned lightly. "Could you drop the title?"

Ryoko 'mm'-ed in a playful manner.

"If you're not going to use my title without respect, don't even bother." Aeka clarified, hoping that Ryoko wouldn't keep on being so obtuse, well, rather stop being so acute in her badgering. The water was so lovely.

"Not like you're even acting the part." It was phrased in Ryoko's normal dusky tone.

"You're right," Aeka replied, smiling as she savored the experience, "I haven't fulfilled my duties in so long."

"Fun ain't it?" Ryoko pointed out, poking open cat-like eye to swivel towards her.

Aeka smiled broadly, nodding sincerely, letting herself sink slightly deeper in the water. she could feel the pool on her lower lip. "Yes, quite."

***

"What we're you all doing down there?" Aeka brought up, looking over at her floating companion.

"This again?" Ryoko replied with a question of her own. "Had a nightmare, remember?"

Something about the pirate's tone didn't match the cavalier phrasing of her response.

"What was it about, Ryoko?"

Ryoko oriented herself to where she was standing again. She took a moment to answer... an oddity that Aeka noted.

"He died." Ryoko stated dully, but in a clear manner.

"Eh?"

"Tenchi died." Ryoko didn't bother to reply with a smart-aleck remark.

"How?" Now Aeka was intrigued. She was worried that she might be inquiring too deeply... but it was an interesting topic.

"Because of me." Ryoko turned to face her, a bland expression in her eyes. Her indifferent visage gave away nothing, but her amber eyes hid nothing. Before Aeka could probe her again, Ryoko continued. "Remember the time he went to rescue me from him, the Bastard?" Aeka ignored Ryoko's denial of her part in the rescue, intentional or otherwise. "We were still aboard Shoja, Tenchi had just returned... Kagato was still there." Dejectedly, she dropped to her knees, creating a splash.

"The Duel..." Aeka concluded.

"It didn't go the same way," Ryoko continued, "I was scared... I was just so... so scared."

Aeka was still dumbstruck by her admission, by the pirate's admission of weakness. She clumsily waded over, arms swaying off to her sides, stopping when she was next to Ryoko, who was hugging herself, her head, hidden by her crown of cyan, resting on her kneecaps.

Aeka felt awkward, unsure of how to handle this. A child... she's just a child, Aeka thought, not being able to help feeling pity... no, sympathy towards Ryoko. Aeka responded in a way she knew how; she placed her hands on Ryoko's shoulders, refraining from cooing, like how she would have done with Sasami.

Ryoko let out a few sniffles before she was able to talk, still facing away from Aeka. "Until I saw him, I was still frightened, that he was gone... gone," Ryoko croaked.

Her companion had a reassuring reply on the tip of her tongue, but she closed her mouth, knowing that anything she could say wouldn't help the situation.

"You know the worst part is Aeka," Ryoko laughed softly. It was a nervous laugh...

"What is it Ryoko?" Aeka replied in a tone normally reserved for comforting her sister after a particularly bad dream.

"I still am," Ryoko admitted again, letting go of any shame she might have had, knowing that she was giving Aeka all the rope she needed to hang her.

Aeka nodded, leaning over Ryoko's shoulder. She giggled nervously. She whispered into her ear. "You know... I am too, sometimes."

***

"You know," Ryoko brought up.

"No. I do not," Aeka replied, blinking softly as she was roused from where she sat, half-conscious, savoring the sensation of drifting in. and drifting out, much so like the light tide that lapped up against her chin every now and then, like a very slow metronome. She sat in the bottom of the onsen, arms around her legs, enjoying being tickled at her jawline by the water.

"They really got us, didn't they?"

Haven't we gone over this? Aeka groaned inside.

"How?" Aeka yawned, swiveling her head slowly towards Ryoko, popping open a shut eye, contemplating her companion.

Ryoko snorted lightly. "Come on, you don't think they really were asleep, did you?" The dubious tone helped drive her message through.

Regretfully, the topic cut through the blessed haze that Aeka was in. She grumbled lightly as she contemplated Ryoko's statement. She stifled the urge to strike the water when enough of her synapses were allocated towards that particular thought-stream.

"Why that little-"

"-Angel?" Ryoko quipped, a wide and short curved 'm', a mieu, serving as her all-too-knowing smile. Her saffron eyes danced about.

En Guarde.

Aeka fumed, then smiled in her own fashion as well. Ryoko felt an involuntary shudder coming on.

"Washu, actually."

Riposte.

Both glared at the other, the tension building up.

Which was promptly released when they both burst out laughing, albeit softly.

Coupe.

"Wish I thought of it first," Ryoko said, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye.

Aeka shook her head. "No, neither of us could have those little demonic angel expressions, could we?" she finished rhetorically.

"Demonic angel?" Ryoko repeated. "Nah, I don't think we could've pulled it off. Still."

"Tell me about it," Aeka replied.

"Sucks, neh?"

"Damned if it doesn't."

"I swear, Washu overshadowed us," Ryoko confessed.

"Don't forget Sasami."

An awkward paused ensued.

"Ah shit."

"Damn."

The laughter that followed was a bit forced.

Ryoko spoke first. "Well, don't be so down about it." She shrugged. "After all, it isn't as if Tenchi is like that."

"No, he isn't," Aeka concurred. "A bit odd."

"Are you complaining?" Ryoko followed up.

Aeka nodded. "Actually, yes, I do mind. in a sense."

"I should know. neh?" Ryoko joked.

Aeka chuckled.

It was obvious to any observer that it was a dry exchange.

Between them, they noticed something. There it was, bobbing softly, bottle of forgotten libation. and it shone.

The two shared a look.

Aeka went towards shore.

Ryoko churned forwards.

Aeka returned with two sake cups, held between the fingers of her right hand.

Ryoko returned with the bottle, grasping it by the body, where the label was beyond soggy and already had slipped off, she could feel the letters imprinted on the bottle spell out it's name: Starka.

Aeka only shook her head lightly. "Another won't hurt."

"Nah," Ryoko agreed, "I don't think it'll do any harm." She peeled off the foil label, discarding it in the water. There was a satisfying sound as the cap was taken off, and fangs bared, Ryoko pulled out the plug with her teeth. She was about to take an instinctive swig when Aeka coughed. "Sorry." She held the bottle out to Aeka.

The princess gingerly poured from her left hand to her right. Miraculously, the clear liquid skirted only the cups' edges, staying within, swishing about.

"To." Ryoko proposed awkwardly, "us?"

"Better than them," Aeka drawled. She shuddered as the 'shot' she kicked her in the gut. The warmth spread immediately, causing her to shiver in the steaming pool, her throat a bit raw from the fiery trail it left behind.

"That Sasami." Ryoko began, "wow."

"You can say that again," Aeka agreed with a not a small amount of pride mixed in with her sadness. What do you call this? Bittersweet?

"That Sasami-"

Ryoko was cut off by an annoyed glance. Aeka simply sighed, pouring the two of them another round.

"I understand Ryoko. She's. my little sister is. she's-" Aeka struggled to find the words, something that would do her sibling justice.

"Perfect, well, as perfect as someone who's not a Goddess can be," Ryoko offered, raising her cup lightly, as if to the girl in question as she took her second toast. "I'd think that she'd be what any man wants." She coughed lightly, and not from the drink. "I mean, you know what they say here, right?" She cocked her head, twirling her sake cup on a finger. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"If that's the case, then Tenchi already belongs to her," Aeka replied, not denying, not acknowledging, simply responding. "I burn water." she drawled, lightly slapping the water around her.

Ryoko clucked at her condescendingly. "Giving up, Aeka-hime no Jurai?" The use of a formal title stuck the barb in deeper than it should have. Ryoko smiled. "Beaten by a child, beaten by a Goddess. which would you pick?"

"Neither," Aeka declared silently, and the iron fist within the silken glove clenched. "I would triumph."

"Over your own blood," Ryoko said incredulously.

"No." Aeka sighed, relaxing, and slipping back into the folds of mists.

"I didn't mean it that way, you know?"

"I love her, I really do," Aeka said. "But."

"Why are we even worrying about this," Ryoko asked, a silly expression on her face. "We sound like a couple of old hags."

Aeka wisely kept quiet.

"It's not like Tenchi is gonna marry her tomorrow!" Ryoko emphasized, laughing. Laughing at them and the melodrama they wallowed in. "If you're so worried about it princess," she joked, "you still have time! Sasami is still a kid! So what, huh?" Ryoko exclaimed. "She'll be prettier than we are, Tenchi's not like that! So she can cook, big deal. Ooh, Sasami can clean. Why does it matter that she would probably make the perfect wife for him!"

"She's never made him angry."

"And Mihoshi hasn't either, what does it matter!" Ryoko countered, growing upset at Aeka's defeatist attitude.

"Out of all of us, she's the one closest to him." Aeka said half to herself.

"What? Wait, what the hell are you talking about." Ryoko muttered, thrown off her curve.

"Look Ryoko," Aeka began, voice growing clearer. "She all but embraces him as her brother."

"And. isn't that a good thing?" Ryoko emphasized, taking the bottle from her idle companion, pouring both of them a round. Aeka woodenly took her third shot while Ryoko did not even wait for the liquid to spill out of her cup, licking it off.

"You haven't seen the looks?"

"Yeah." What is it with you Juraians. and within your own family! Yuck!

"It'll turn to something else. She'll wait you know," Aeka babbled, garnet eyes shining with. madness?

"Aeka. are you all right?"

Aeka's giggled didn't serve to alleviate her unease. "That little schemer," she remarked ruefully. "Remember when we all fell for that Manga prank of hers?"

"Yeah." Ryoko drawled, "but I still don't see how-"

"This is just like that." Aeka smiled sadly, "to think. we're doing most of the work for her."

"Aeka, Sasami isn't trying to steal Tenchi away-" Ryoko tried to calm her companion down, who was scaring her. just a little. It's Sasami. What is Aeka's problem? It can't be sibling rivalry or anything like that. those two are the perfect pair of sisters.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off like that," Aeka apologized, seeming to deflate. "It's just that. I'm afraid of the future."

"Why, it isn't here yet." Ryoko felt sorry for the wound-up royal.

Aeka looked curiously back up at her companion. "It will be."

"Why are you talking like Sasami is some evil woman who is going to steal Tenchi away from us." Ryoko snapped her fingers, "like that! She's just a child!"

Aeka noted Ryoko's use of 'us' instead of 'me.'

"Yes, she is Ryoko, she is my little sister," Aeka shook her head. "But she will. Sasami, my Sasami, will never do anything like that to me, to us. It'll break apart her little family here," she gestured, arms out wide, indicating the whole onsen, but leaving little question as to what she meant. "Not intentionally." she finished in a hushed voice.

"Family, who, us?" Ryoko then nodded, understanding. "I guess we are something like a." she hesitated awkwardly, "family to her. right now."

"I can't blame her," Aeka replied softly. She gestured lightly with her hand. "This is exactly the type of childhood that she should have." Aeka flushed lightly. "well, minus all the cooking. but, she only does part of the cleaning," Aeka hurriedly amended.

"Why would you?" Ryoko inquired. "I mean, you do get pissy and all," she continued, heedless of Aeka's twitching cheek, "but, jealous of your own sister, that's not like you."

"Getting back to the point, Ryoko," Aeka proposed, "We will push him away."

Ryoko's attention was piqued again. "How? Show me some proof!"

She yelped when Aeka flicked the bottle's cork into her face, bouncing off her nose, causing Ryoko to flinch. Silence ensued for several moments. Trembling, Ryoko raised her forearm out of the water and lashed out at Aeka, who now had a smug, aloof expression.

Almost as if she was expecting a blow. Grudgingly, Ryoko stayed her strike.

"I rest my case," Aeka stated simply.

"We're not that bad-" Ryoko tried to plead, but Aeka's expression never wavered. "We have our limits."

Aeka nodded. "Yes, but not definite boundaries. They will keep on extending, and even then we will overstep them." Her crimson eyes locked onto amber. "It should only take one incident Ryoko." Aeka held up a finger in emphasis. "Plus. for each one, every meaningless fight that we have, the more we push Tenchi away."

"But." Ryoko was growing distraught. "Why?"

Aeka stifled a light sob, hiding it as a hiccup as she shot back another round. "Because," she paused, "it is not worth the pain."

Ryoko let that thought sink into her head. "I think I understand." Aeka looked at her. "Well, some of it, at least. But, honestly Aeka. what the hell do we do?"

"I'm still thinking about that," Aeka replied dryly.

"It's not like we're just going to be friends from now on are we?" Ryoko pondered to herself.

"Ryoko." Aeka said, trying to think of a solution.

"Come on, we hated each other's guts at one point, don't you call that 'progress' now?" Ryoko continued.

"Ryoko." Aeka repeated.

"Next thing you know, you'll propose something crazy like us sharing him." Ryoko went on in a dubious tone, heedless of her companion right beside her.

"Ryoko!" Aeka finally screamed.

"Aeka," Ryoko replied.

"Yes?"

Ryoko sighed. Clumsily, she strode over towards her companion. "Loosen up."

"Oh."

Aeka was surprised when she felt a warm wave engulf her. While she was used to being in water that turned her 'beautiful, tender, young' skin a light shade of rose, her head was more or less dry. She shrieked, only inhaling more of the water. If it was possible, the water tasted as if it had silt. She coughed instinctively, furiously snapping open her eyes.

Ryoko wasn't there. It didn't take too long for the neurons and synapses in Aeka's acute -in most respects- intellect to figure what had just happened. Her quarry's mocking laughter echoing in the Onsen chamber served only to put her mind through a red haze. Resolutions be damned, she thought, disregarding her hypocrisy as she scanned her surroundings, summoning several of her little 'accessories.' It's on now!

***
"It still hurts. Yeah. its not as if Tenchi cares about nobility or anything, does he?"

"No, he does not." Aeka sighed again, and Ryoko stifled the urge to follow along. "He isn't like that. He's more like a-"

"Commoner?" Ryoko finished. "Yeah. odd considering his family." She turned to face Aeka, who didn't seem to take offense where none was meant.

"No," Aeka disagreed. "Yosho," she clarified. "After the-" Aeka drifted off. "He ran away. He gave up everything to live a simple life here." She slumped back into the water, squatting on her haunches, not giving a damn how she looked. "He abandoned-"

"You?" Ryoko softly remarked. Or is it because he could ditch his responsibilities and you couldn't?

Aeka's silence marked her reply.