This chapter contains nothing but flashbacks of Ayeka's and other members of the main storyline. I'll leave you to guess who's flashback is who's. I'm sorry if you don't like it but they needed to be done to explain a little of the back story. Again if you don't like it, tough.

Samanda


Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo, sorry!



Italics symbolize flashbacks or dreams.



Lullaby of Flowers

Chapter Three: Flashbacks




"But what will I wear?" Ryoko asked in despair.

Washuu tapped a finger against her chin. "I don't know. Come to my lab and we'll see what I can do for you. After all, my daughter, it will be your wedding day."

"I should have thought about this more carefully," Ryoko muttered to herself.

Washuu laughed. "You shouldn't have insisted on marrying so quickly. Then you would have had time to get everything together."

"Yeah, yeah." Ryoko grumbled. Her voice grew fainter as the two walked away.

Ryoko finally decided on a dress to wear and Washuu duplicated it for her. Ryoko still wasn't entirely satisfied. It was missing something but she didn't know what. But she shrugged and told her mother that it would do.

Ryoko looked down at it. It was a wedding kimono embroidered with lush tropical birds but it wasn't the old fashioned one that she had dreamed about wearing since she had met Tenchi and fallen in love with him.

It was too flamboyant, Ryoko decided.

That wasn't normally a word that repelled her, as Ayeka could attest. But she had wanted something simple and modest for her special day. But while she was wild and sometimes uncontrollable, she also had a small part of her that craved respectability. And marriage made one respectable.

And so she phased upstairs to her room, carrying her dress in her arms. She spotted a clothing box laying on the bed. An opened letter lay on the box. Ryoko laid her dress carefully in the chest at the foot of her never used bed. She floated over to the box and opened the letter, expecting it to be from Tenchi.


Dear Ryoko,

I expect that you have jumped head first into this marriage without thinking ahead. You probably have not a thing to wear to one of the most special days a woman has. Please accept this gift from me.

Remember, when you marry Tenchi you will become not only his wife but also a Princess. Wear it in pride of who you are and who you will become after this day.

Ryoko, Tenchi has made it clear that you are his happiness. And it isn't fair of me to begrudge his happiness... or yours. So I wish you both well, my soon to be kin.

Ayeka,

First Princess of Jurai


With salutations to Ryoko,

Third Princess of Jurai


Ryoko was naturally suspicious of thi gift. She phased it down to Washuu's lab and set it down on her lab table.

Washuu looked up. "Back so soon?"

"Ayeka left me a gift. I want to make sure it's not poisionous." Ryoko grinned.

Washuu shrugged. "Easy enough to do."

Washuu checked it out. "It's clean, daughter. Take it out so we can look at it."

"Fine," Ryoko opened the box. She shifted aside the tissue paper and lifted out the slippers and then the under kimono.

The under kimono was made of pink silk tinted so delicately it looked white until held next to a garment of paler hue, the best that royal money can buy. It was decorated with embroidered pink cherry blossoms at the hem, sleeves and neck.

"Pretty. What's next?" Washuu smiled.

Ryoko pulled out an obi that matched the color of the under kimono and was also embroidered with cherry blossoms but in red. Finally she pulled out the wedding kimono.

"Oh my," Washuu said softly.

The kimono was deceptively simple. It was snowy white in color and was unadorned. The only thing that saved it from being severe was the shorter sleeves, lower neck and higher hem that allowed the sakura blossoms of the garment underneath to show.

"Why would she give this to me?" Ryoko wondered as she held it up to herself.

Washuu was thoughtful. "I don't know, Ryoko. But a thanks is definitely in order."

Ryoko grinned. "She's saved my day, that's for sure."

******************************************

Ryoko didn't know how hard it was for me to write that letter, Ayeka thought painfully to herself.

She had had to write that letter over and over again till her tears had stopped staining the paper. Consequently it had been a long time until the task was done. Now her eyes were dry and burned with the tears she couldn't cry. The words she had written were burned on her brain forever. They already mocked her as she remembered the letter without wanting to.

She had written it because that is what a princess does. She gracefully accepts the things that she cannot change. She accepts defeat when hope dies and no miracles shine on her. So she had written the letter. Part of her, the caring and forgiving part of her, actually felt that way and meant it.

But the rest of her mourned for the illusion that she had believed in. Mourned for what she never had and was bitter towards the woman who had gotten Ayeka's dream instead.

Ayeka's small hand clenched into a fist. Slowly she relaxed in when she had noticed what she had done. It didn't matter anymore, she told herself. Soon matters would come to a satisfactory conclusion for everyone. Well almost everyone.

She thought suddenly, I wonder how I smiled when she thanked me. I must have looked strange...

************************************

It was a beautiful night. The moon was waxing and would be full in a few days. The air outside was crisp but still held onto the vestiges of summer as Ayeka slipped outside.

The moon lit her precious garden and made it glow as she bent down to whisper encouragement to her flowers to grow taller, bloom more radiantly. She stood up and wandered a little farther afield.

Her garments reflected the light of the moon as the silk made soft shushing noises as she walked. Her kimono was the color of snow and purity as she meandered. It was a twin to the beautiful creation that Ryoko had worn to her wedding yesterday but at the same time there was something curiously off about it.

She stood at the edge of the lake and stared out at the water. The moonlight was beautiful as it glittered on the water and it brought a smile to her lips. But the smile faded eventually.

She tilted her head up to stare at the stars and the moon. Her unbound hair slithered around her wildly for a moment before settling down around her like a cloak. The light hit her delicate face and made her look ethereal, fey and mysterious as she stared upwards.

The two triangular marks announcing her royal status and immaturity were gone. In their place, two circular dots graced her forehead and announced boldly that here was an adult.

Her eyes lowered and she faced the waiter again. In slow movements she moved and water lapped over the tops of her slippers. Then the water soaked the hem of her robe. Next were her knees and then her obi, chest and shoulders were submerged under water.

She continued walking forward, ignoring the way the layers of her clothing weighed her down. She kept moving until her head was well under water. A small smile adorned her face the whole time.

A few minutes later a trail of bubbles made their way to the surface and popped softly in the quiet night.

************************

"Dammit, Ayeka!" Ryoko phased her into Washuu's lab.

Washuu who never slept much, hurried towards her. "What happened?"

"Idiot tried to kill herself." Ryoko heaved her onto the table that popped up on Washuu's orders.

Washuu shook her head. "Foolish."

Washuu looked the unconscious Ayeka over. Her garments were streaming water and puddled on the floor. Her head lolled to the side with her hair stuck in wet clumps to her face, clothing and anything else in reach.

"She'll be fine." Washuu assured Ryoko as she used a machine to blast Ayeka dry from hair to toes. "Nothing to worry about."

Washuu put her in one of her special medical pods just in case. She looked down at Ayeka and shook her head.

Washuu thought, Ayeka better have a damn good reason for doing something so stupid.

"Yeah," Ryoko agreed and Washuu realized with a start that she had said that out loud.

Washuu's face took on a sly expression as she stared at Ryoko. "What were you doing up anyways? You would think that your new husband would have exhausted you."

Ryoko smirked. "He did. But I still couldn't sleep which turned out to be a good thing didn't it?"

"Yes," Washuu agreed. "Now go up to bed and sleep with your Tenchi."

Ryoko nodded and disappeared. Washuu sighed and turned back to the work she was completing before she was interrupted. But as she did so something caught the corner of her eye.

She examined her finding more carefully. She then shook her head again and dropped the edge of Ayeka's kimono.

"How strange," Washuu spoke out loud. "Royal teardrops."

****************************************

Ayeka woke up abruptly. She started to shake even though her nightmare was now receding.

"Sister, are you okay?" Sasami spoke sleepily from the corner of the room.

Ayeka's voice only quivered a bit. "I'm fine, Sasami. Just a bad dream."

"What kind?" Sasami sounded more awake.

Ayeka opened her mouth then shut it. "I can't remember it now. Isn't that funny?"

"Oh okay," Sasami sounded fuzzy again. "G'night."

Ayeka was still shaking although she could no longer remember the reason why. "Good night, little sister."