Just a few details to clear up before you get reading. This is an Alt Universe fic so it doesn't follow the happenings of any of the Tenchi series exactly, though it does have themes from both Tenchi TV and Tenchi Muyo! Also, this is a shoujoai, girl/girl love fic, non lemon. If themes of female/female love offend you I advise you not to read this fic. And please note that any flames towards lesbian or bisexuality will be ignored. I'm writing this to explore new areas of the Tenchi series I am not trying to change yours, or anybody else's view on the original love interests in Tenchi Muyo! I am writing for my readers and for myself, simply because I enjoy it. Feel free to comment on this fanfiction but bare in mind these details before doing so.

Thankyou for reading,
Yuffie.

::Bandit Nights Chapter 3::

::Thy Foe and Thy Friend::

After a long speech from Washu, announcing how their captives would only remain so until a ransom- suiting their tastes- was given in exchange. Aeka was happy at this, her father would give them the ransom no trouble, and kill very last one of those barbarians later. Yes, they truly would get what they deserved.

"...Ryoko?" The short pink haired woman looked over the pedestal from where she was talking to glance warmly at her daughter. Ryoko looked up and raised an eyebrow "..Could I speak to you for a moment?" Nodding the cyan haired girl walked off out of the hall together with her mother, talking of matters unknown to anyone else.

Aeka suddenly lurched forward as she was pushed from behind, looking over her shoulder she scowled at the two large men. "What do you think you are doing!?" One of the men chuckled and shoved her again. "Come along now princess, we're taking you to your quarters..." She raised and eyebrow and snorted "More like pushing me to them, very well..." And she was pushed again, she huffed as she was lead off out of the hall, as were her mothers and ladies in waiting.

***

The two feline looking women walked along the main barracks of their troops, they were quiet now as all the men and women were probably eating at the mess hall. Ryoko kept her gaze on her mother, a puzzled look on her face, as the shorter woman kept hers dead ahead, making the silence between them give Ryoko a sense of un-easiness.

After about three minutes or so of walking, Washu came to a sudden stop, she turned and looked directly at her daughter. A piercing look was sent Ryoko's way, one so sharp it sent a chill up her spine. She swallowed hard as small beads of sweat trickled down her forehead "W-Wha.. What is it?"

"Tell me something" Ryoko jumped slightly, the abrupt cut of suspense coming as a slight shock. Washu continued, folding her arms and looking over the camp, now near the end of the day it could almost be described as... tranquil. A word not many would use for a camp filled with thieves and delinquents. "Why did you kidnap that whining royal?"

Forcing a laugh which came out more strangled than she would have liked, the bandit smirked "Well I know Misaki is a little odd but I wouldn't call her 'whining'"

The look she received from her mother caused her to re-coil and sweat-drop slightly "Don't try to be funny Ryoko, I mean that pretty little brat princess Aeka"

Apparently Washu had hit something of a nerve for as soon as that name was mentioned her daughter turned her back and folded her arms, nearly mimicking her Mother's earlier pose. ".....What about her?"

"Why'd you bring her here, more importantly why in a cloth bag which was oh so conveniently carried by you?"

Again her daughter forced a laugh and glancing over her shoulder at the much shorter woman she huffed "She was being annoying, you said so yourself, she's whining and stuff, the bag made it harder for her to be heard"

"Then why did you chase after her when she ran into the forest?"

"Duh, she was in danger, if she got herself injured our heads would be on a one way trip onto king Azusa's plaques" There was a brief pause and Ryoko smirked in triumph, her explanation obviously fine with her mother. She didn't actually understand why she was explaining herself anyway.

"If that's so, why did you refuse help from anyone else? It's not like you to be all heroic and stuff.... you usually a lazy good for nothing letting everyone else do the work" She grinned as she noted Ryoko's sweat-drop grow larger and larger on the back of her head "Why the change in attitude?"

Ryoko however stayed silent, clearly she didn't have a decent answer or explanation for all of this. Maybe if she closed her eyes real tight she'd wake up and this would just turn out to be a bad dream.

Sadly it didn't work and her eye lids were starting to hurt. "Well?" Came her mother's now annoyed voice the sound off tapping in the dirt, most likely her foot making it clear she wasn't going to wait until Ryoko thought up an answer. "...Is there something more about that princess, that you haven't told me-

-Look I don't have time for this, I'm sleepy and if you don't mind I'd like to get some rest. You should too because your starting to imagine stupid things mom"

Not giving her mother chance for verbal retaliation she quickly vanished from sight.

***

"LET ME OUT I SAID! I ORDER YOU TO RELEASE ME!"

The rantings of princess Aeka could be heard all through the night. She had been led to a small room, one of the most luxurious rooms in the whole of the camp. Most of the camp consisted of tents and huts where the thieves slept, but near the meeting hall were specially made rooms. The walls made of stone from the ever plenty supply around them, they did live underground after all. Though there wasn't thousands upon thousands of stone, but enough to make a few rooms, just in-case.

The roots of the great tree weaved and twisted in the roof of the room, as Aeka continued to bang at the sturdy Oak door. Though she had no hopes of breaking through, due to Washu's advice of removing her tiara. The noise was still quite annoying.

"MY FATHER SHALL HAVE YOUR HEADS FOR THIS YOU FILTHY ROUGES!"

Again the two guards standing watch turned and looked to each other, their expressions tired and exasperated. "She's been at that for two hours straight now..." Said the first guard. A tall well built man with short messy grey hair and the greenest of eyes. The second guard nodded, it was Xun. She sat on the cold floor with her back against the wall, playing with the string on her bow.

"I know..." Sighing deeply she hit the door with the back of her hand. "Can you please just rant quietly? I'm really tired and I wanna go to sle-

"QUIETLY?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? KEEPING ME IN THIS PLACE AGAINST MY WILL AND YOU EXPECT ME TO 'RANT QUIETLY!?"

Hanging her head in defeat, Xun sighed again. "Looks like another sleepless night..."

A voice came from down the hall, accompanied by light footsteps, both guards turned and looked to see Ryoko slowly walking up toward them. A happy sight, hopefully a chance to get away from that whining princess. "Hey what's all the noise?" She said as she stopped in-front of them. Xun- who was still sat on the floor, looked up at her with a drained look.

"The princess is a little miffed that you've locked her in there.. she wants out"

"Well of course she does" Placing a hand on her hip she raised an eyebrow. "I doubt anyone would really wanna be locked up anywhere with no recollection as to why" Xun nodded as she absently played with an arrow, scratching doodles on the floor. Seeing how completely exhausted her friend looked, the bandit leader huffed and crossed her arms. "I'll go talk to her, you guys can go get some sleep"

No sooner had she finished her sentence both guards were rushing down each end of the corridor to their nice warm tents. In hopes of getting some shut- eye before morning. A light chuckle escaped Ryoko's lips as she gently knocked on the door, unlocking it she went inside.

Immediately as she stepped inside she was tackled from the side and as she fell to the hard floor with a *thunk* she was continuously beaten with a candle stick. Curling into a defensive ball she shielded her face with her arms "OW! OW!? GAH!"

Aeka crouched over the person on the floor and continued to hit them with the candle stick "Take that! And that you vile creature!"

Before another painful blow could strike her, Ryoko quickly grabbed the make-shift weapon and pushed the princess off her sending her rolling into a nearby wall. Jumping to her feet she marched over to her "What do you think your doing you crazy idiot!?" Waving the now broken candle stick in Aeka's face "That hurt!"

Glaring at Ryoko the princess folded her arms "Yes well it was suppose to!"

In response Ryoko quickly grabbed the princess, hauling her to her feet and flinging her onto the bed. Aeka yelped in surprise as she bounced slightly on her landing, then lay in a startled, tangled way.

That got her cherry eyes blinking as Ryoko sat on the bed in-front of her and pointed straight at her "look...." She said, making sure to stress the word, her finger mere centimetres away from the princess' nose "Your not going anywhere until we get that ransom ok? We're not gonna harm you or do anything else to you, because as looks may be deceiving we are quite decent people, ok?" Aeka snorted at that as she composed herself, folding her arms and looking away. "So until your daddy decides to get off his big royal ass, you better shut up, quit whining and enjoy your stay here while it lasts, alright princess?"

Aeka however had other things to say, and exploded in Ryoko's face "ENJOY!? You expect me to enjoy my time here with you!? Your all nothing but a bunch of disgusting vile criminals and you expect me to take your word that no harm will come to me!?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Aeka's eyes widened as for the first time in meeting Ryoko, she saw rage and fury in her expression. The bandit's eyes seem to almost be on fire as she growled, her pointed fangs peeping over the top of her lip. The princess couldn't deny it, but at this time she was terrified. The leader of the most notorious bandits and thieves in the whole of all the kingdoms, and with her arrogant mouth she had managed to annoy her. The thing that scared her the most, was that as Ryoko had shouted out a sudden burst of heat flew to Aeka's neck. There, mere inches away from her throat was her brother's sword.

If at all she would have had her wits about her, Aeka would have noticed that the sword was ignited. And only those of Juraian Royal blood could possibly ignite a royal sword. Though at this moment in time such details did not matter to her. As she was solely focused upon the roaring heat of the blade inches from her neck and the panting bandit in-front of her.

Amber eyes turned and focused upon her, the cyan haired girl seemingly more calm and composed. Her voice just over a whisper as she strained to keep the anger and frustration from her voice. "...If I wanted to kill you or harm you...princess.... I would have done it by now, now I have tried to be nice to you, but your too damn proper to notice that. Or even pay attention to it. So now I'm going to do it your way, I'm going to be cruel, and mean and I'm not even going to utter a nice word to you again. would that make you happy princess?"

Her voice seemed almost strangled and took on the tone of a child whom had just be scolded. "...N-No.."

Ryoko nodded "Now will you please co-operate with us, because I swear on my life that you'll be perfectly safe until we get that ransom ok?"

She nodded, her voice still tiny "Ok" She jumped slightly as she felt Ryoko gently place a finger under her chin and lift her bowed head to face her. Searching in Ryoko's eyes she saw no malice and immediately calmed, a little.

"I'm sorry"

Sorry? Was she hearing her right? This woman, who had held up her carriage, kidnapped her and thrown her into a room. Was saying sorry? What kind of thief was this? The princess was more than confused but never the less she listened.

"I didn't mean to scare ya, but your constant whining was pissing me off neh?" She chuckled slightly causing Aeka to feel a smile try to creep upon her lips. Taking her hand from under the princess' chin she stood from the bed. "Now you get some rest, I'll get someone to bring you some food in the morning ok? And then we'll discuss ransoms and release. Though it'll be between your mom and mine so don't you worry your pretty little head about anything" Slowly she walked to the door, placing the now distinguished sword hilt in her belt.

As she walked through the open door she turned and looked over her shoulder "And I'll see you in the morning"

Laying back on the bed as the door shut to her room, she sighed and stared at the ceiling. Furrowing her at the strange sensation she felt at the pit of her stomach. "Probably from shock of Ryoko's outburst..." She said to herself, turning over and pulling the covers over she prepared for a nights sleep.

***

As the two queens settled into their new 'accommodations' Misaki gave a sigh of frustration from across the room. The first queen looked up and over at her co-wife, raising an eyebrow as she fluffed a pillow.

"What's wrong Misaki?" The blue haired queen huffed again, hanging her kimono over a mirror preparing to dress into her nightgown.

As she began to put her arms inside the white silk gown Misaki sighed, looking over at a caring faced Funaho she fiddled with the hem of the gown "I'm just worried about Sasami.... She's still back at the palace and she'll be worried about us.."

In response the dark eyed queen giggled slightly, looking at the entrance of the tent as the bright torchlight from outside shone in decorating the floor with reds and oranges "She'll be fine" Climbing into the makeshift bed, a simple combination of a rug and a bed sheet with one pillow. "Azusa is there remember? You know he'll look after her...." She paused at her co- wife's expression "But Sasami isn't the only thing on your mind hmm?" Opening her arms as Misaki settled into the bed beside her, giving her a reassuring kiss on her forehead she smiled "I doubt they mean to harm us, as soon as Azusa delivers the ransom Aeka and we, shall all be returned to the safety of the Juraian boundary" A few more kisses and she felt Misaki relax in her arms. "Now go to sleep, I'm sure everything will be much clearer in the morning"

::End Chapter 3::