All previous notes apply.

Chapter Two
"Enemies"

"Ugh, being the exhibitionist, are we, Ryouko?"

Ryouko's eyes opened, seeing the clear stretch of water before her. She looked up with her head still water-set, causing liquid to soak into the dry parts of her hair, and observed the tapping feet of the one who called her name. She turned her head to glance up, gasping for a moment, recoiling back into the water. "Mitsuko?"

Ayeka stood up from leaning over, still peering at Ryouko, and tightened her towel. "I don't know whom you are talking about, but please cover your vile self up," she muttered, fluttering her hand in the air. She 'hmph'ed' and crossed her arms. "And leave so that I may bathe in peace."

Ryouko sat up and rubbed her eyes, smirking. She dropped her hands back to her sides to keep her upright, a little splash rippling across the calm surfaces of the onsen. The water drained from her locks and into her shoulders. Gaaawd, she is so typical! Ryouko thought with a grin. Talk about a broken record. I swear, she uses that 'royal we' crap more times than I care to recount. "Oh, come now princess, you act like you want li'l ol' me to leave! Planning on bearing all?" Ryouko winked and got up, looking down at the purple haired Juraian. She narrowed her eyes but smiled, resting her hands on her hips. Ayeka, on the other hand, was not smiling. She was, however, turning a pleasant shade of red.

"Miss Ryouko! When I- Hey! Stop that!" Ryouko desisted from shaking her chest comically as her innocent grin was abandoned for doubling over in laughter. She straightened in a fit of giggling, crossing her arms as she bared a renewed smirk. Growling, Ayeka stomped her foot.

"When I ask you to leave, I assume you'll have the common decency to respect my wishes!"

"Whatever," Ryouko mumbled, displaced for a moment before she returned, clothed and with her hair tied back, and looped an arm around Ayeka, whispering into her ear. The prude looked at her hand in detest and shuddered back away from her as Ryouko spoke. "But watch the decibels this time. Don't think I didn't hear you last time with the previous. . . adventure you had with yourself."

Ayeka froze and began to boil, her icy glare melted in an instant as she shoved the pirate away and as she clutched her towel tight. "GET OUT!"

"Whoa! Chill of the caffeine princess, I'm already out the door." Laughing, Ryouko curtly gave Ayeka the finger and phased out of the room.

Ayeka slid into the water with a sour look. "Of all the nerve. . ." Producing a small vial of sake, she decided to give herself a boost before breakfast.

-o-

Tenchi woke up as the sunlight of a beautiful summer morning poured in from his skylight and splashed across his face. Smiling and opening his eyes, he almost screamed when two golden ones stared back at him. However, when the little cabbit on his chest 'miya'ed reassuringly, he was satisfied that it was not Ryouko.

This time.

"Oh Ryou-ohki," he sighed, patting her on the head, "you're almost as bad as Ryouko." He chuckled, gurking when a telltale fizzle in the air alerted him to one more presence.

"Oh, is she?" Ryouko suddenly shifting in above him, grinning. "Thought you wouldn't see me this time, hmm, Tenchi?"

He groaned and dropped back to his pillow as Ryou-ohki hopped off, as though to make room for her companion, and scampered out through the closed door. "Get off me Ryouko, I don't have time for this. I need to get ready."

"Oh but I can help, Tenchi! Help you shower, help you dress, help you in the physical act of love; you name it!" she exclaimed, smiling, her bright amber eyes shimmering with mischief. It was left unsaid that her hands were snaking down to commit to their own 'shimmer' of mischief.

Mumbling, he scooted back and against the headboard, sitting up. "How about you help me relax and leave me alone for five minutes?"

"Awww, you can't get rid of me that fast Ten-chi!" Ryouko purred, leaning forward, trying to kiss him. He looked around in his chagrin, seeking an escape when they were thankfully interrupted by the slide of his door.

"Getting your morning exercise, eh, Little Ryouko?"

Ryouko shuddered slightly and glared at Washu. "Damnit, Washu, go away!"

Tenchi suddenly hopped up, clad in semi-tented boxers and a tee shirt, forcing Ryouko back on her rear where she sat indignantly on the bed. Rambling, he walked swiftly to the door. "Hey look it's Washu-chan well that's just great keep her busy and I'll see ya!" Washu smiled innocently as Ryouko's disbelieving glare returned to her.

"What? I didn't do that," she slurred slightly, still groggy from the morning. A tired and lower tone hung on her voice as she wiped her eyes. She leaned against the doorframe, resting her free hand on her hip.

"Yeah, yeah, what do you need?"

"Sasami said breakfast is ready-" Suddenly, Kiyone's voice rang out.

"Put down my tea, Mihoshi!" Washu looked briefly out into the hall and around the corner, glancing down the eastern-side steps before she returned to see Ryouko stick her tongue out at her and silently phase down through the bed and floor. Washu chuckled as she closed the door, heading back down the steps before she gave a quick glance down the hall to the bathroom where Tenchi had probably already advanced to brushing his teeth.

Smiling, and feeling a little naughty herself - probably from the lack of sleep from the last two nights of maintenance work - she crept down the corridor past the rooms of both Ayeka and Mihoshi and stuck herself against the wall near the toilet door. A sinister, Washu-like grin slithered onto her face as she placed her hand on the bathroom's lock and quietly incinerated it. She slammed the door to the side with the speed of a lightning propelled genius and stuck her head inward in an overplayed bout of curiosity.

"Oh," she mumbled, seeing only Ryou-ohki scratching behind the toilet as though for a lost stash of carrots. "He already went down." She shut the door in disappointment, treading back down the hallway. "I didn't see him pass me. . . Either that kid has a trap door or his training is paying off." She paused for a moment before she hopped down the steps.

"Trap door."

Downstairs, Ryouko phased into a place at the table and cocked her head. "Where's Tenchi?"

Tenchi groaned from below her, raising a hand weakly to the side. "'An 'ou geth offa muh?"

Ayeka narrowed her eyes, a hiss splitting into her voice. "It's not even TV time and you're already causing trouble! Now get off him, you harridan!"

"Hey, since watching me do stuff to him is the closest you'll get, ya don't gotta act all prissy about it!"

"Hey! Why you. . . grrrrr. . ." Ayeka slammed her hands down on the edge of the table and stood up, beginning to shake. "Why must you insinuate that I desire something as such so much? I AM NOT A WOMAN OF LOOSE MORALS!"

Sasami groaned, setting out the mountain of pancakes. "Oh, my gosh, don't even get started. Loose morals this, loose morals that." She sighed and sat down, pointing accusingly with her chopsticks. "Can you stop fighting at least while you eat? Bad karma."

Tenchi raised his hand and waved it again. "An' ca' 'ou ged'off muh nuw?"

Ignoring Tenchi completely, Ayeka continued. "I'm not you, Ryouko!"

Ryouko narrowed her eyes and phased over to Ayeka, her own chopsticks precariously balanced between being dropped to the floor and being stabbed through Ayeka's neck. "That's hardly insulting me! If it's not your morals, it's the screws in your head, princess." Tenchi gasped for the precious room air he needed as the sparks transferring between Ayeka and Ryouko threatened to light up the table. They were angry, today.

Mihoshi sighed and sipped at her tea - although, hers had more of a kick than the other morning teas did. "The common downfall of rivals is ignorance. . ." Everyone suddenly glanced her way as she looked up, puzzled. "What? I said 'good tea.'"

Ryouko sneered slightly but waved Ayeka off, giving her buttocks a sharp slap. "Kiss my booty, prudey."

Ayeka sat back down, though visibly shaken, trying hard to ignore the cyan haired woman. "Sit down cretin. At least show proper manners."

Chuckling a bit, Ryouko flicked a piece of her meal Ayeka's way. "You were still too loud," she said passively. Ayeka shaded crimson and immediately pursed her lips.

"Was not," she hissed quietly. Ryouko made a face at Ayeka and resumed eating in the air.

"Hurray!" was the glorious outcry of Washu as she came back down the stairs.

Kiyone looked her way and took a pancake. "What is it, Miss Washu? Another invention?"

Washu smiled and shook her head. "Nope, pancakes! My favorite."

Suddenly, her two Chibi-Mecha Washus popped up on her shoulders.

"Yes! Praise Washu and her taste for goof food!" cried one.

"Hail the number one genius of the entire universe for her love of pancakes!" shouted the other.

Washu chuckled as she sat down. "Cute, aren't they?" Kiyone nodded, reaching for another pancake before a set of chopsticks came down, fiercely stabbing the fluffy food. Kiyone quickly retracted her hand as Washu grinned, plucking the disk as her own before looking back up to the detective with a sweet-as-syrup smile. "And watch it with the 'Miss.'"

An hour later, Ryouko patted her stomach as she lay on the couch, about to turn on the TV. She could hear Ayeka complaining about her with Sasami as she helped her washed dishes in the kitchen. "Purple-headed bitch. . . Get a life." Groping for the remote, she stretched and sprawled out on the couch and turned on an early morning soap opera, but the sweet sound of Tenchi saying his goodbyes was suddenly much more important. Happily phasing away to meet him, the remote dropped out the air and clinked as it clipped the table, spiraling to the cushioned floor. As he went out the back door, Ryouko grinned at what Ayeka said earlier. What's wrong with a little public exhibition?

Tenchi smiled as Sasami handed him a bagged lunch to eat in the carrot fields. It would probably be rice cakes, but when you've been working all morning, food is food. Well, it was food until one of the other girls made it, at least. Ayeka looked upon him longingly as he walked out the door, only to have her gaze destroyed when she was staring into the contented face of a certain, cyan-haired neko-goddess.

Ayeka's gurgle caused Tenchi to look back with a cocked eyebrow. "Uh, Ryouko?"

"Why, what is it Ten- . . . Tenchi. . . Over there. . ." Whipping her head back around after gaping at one amused, young face and one curious, boyish face, she laughed sheepishly as she let go of a steaming and most furious Ayeka.

"Ryouko! What do you think you are doing?"

Ryouko scratched her head and furrowed her brow in thought as she crossed her arms, pointing at both Ayeka and her beloved – Tenchi, that is. "Hmm, odd. . . my aim seems to be a little off. . ." But then, she suddenly looked back at Ayeka and smirked, practically flinging her arms back and behind herself with a school-girl-bully's teasing quip. "Take another bath, princess. If this happens again, I don't want to gag." Laughing uproariously at Ayeka's particularly grumbly, although quietly atomic reaction, she went over and gave Tenchi a peck on the cheek. "Hurry back!" she fluttered, gazing at him with a soft smile.

Tenchi, feeling only slightly flattered and not at all surprised, made her day and smiled back at Ryouko. "I will. . . Bye Ayeka, Sasami, Ryouko." And with a quick motion, he waved and shut the door; gone.

"Well, he seems to be getting more responsive! Eh, Ayeka?" Ryouko looked back and raised her eyebrow, a small grin still smeared on her face. "Yoo hoo, princess?" Ayeka stood there mumbling, still beet red, trying to think of what to say. "Tell me this is just, like, the Juraian period, Sasami."

Her little pirate 'apprentice' giggled, shaking her head. "I don't think. It's probably just because of Tenchi. Besides, she had her period last week." Sasami giggled once again as Ayeka's eyes only widened further.

"Uh, um, that is. . ." Ayeka managed to sputter, but Ryouko didn't seem to care anymore.

"Hmm, my aim was pretty off. . . maybe I ought to go see Washu. See ya' round, kiddo." As suddenly as she always seemed to appear, Ryouko was no longer with them. Ryou-ohki jumped through the door and scrambled up Sasami's shoulder and onto her head as she went back to the dishes.

"Ryouko's funny." She said humming a tiny laugh, slinging a towel over her other shoulder. Ayeka still stood, embarrassed for the third time that day. Sasami sighed as she glanced at her, a reprimand in her young but authoritative voice. "Not even TV time."

-o-

Washu was tapping away at her holographic keyboard when she heard the sound of her crab-bell. "Hi, Ryouko. What can I do ya' for?"

"You know, that's a disturbing image."

"Trust me, I don't wanna think about it, either."

"So, how'd you know it was me?"

"Call it motherly intuition. So, what'cha need?" She swiveled her head, flashing a smile that betrayed her more brush-offy words. "I'm pretty busy." Washu flipped around on her pillow and looked up at her daughter.

Ryouko rubbed the back of her neck, looking up into the reaches of the laboratory. There was a soft cast of green from high above, any other portions of the laboratory construed by high columns of metal that surrounded them. Off through one split was the familiar expanse of a giant indoor garden. The only other light source seemed to come from an even greener incandescent holo-screen. She cleared her throat and pulled her attention back down to her ambience-bathed mommy, stepping forward and into the cast of illumination. "I think my teleportation aim is going haywire. Going after Tenchi, I - he heh - ended up on Ayeka." Rolling her eyes a moment, she blurted the rest out in a hum. "Anything you can do?" Washu twisted he face into a contemplative look, and shrugged.

"Nope."

"Just 'nope'?"

"Gonna call me mom?"

"Nope."

"Just 'nope', eh?"

Slapping her forehead, Ryouko did a brief Shinto prayer before holding her hands behind her back. "Mom, can you help me out here?"

"Well, the teleportation mechanism is internally controlled with an infinite usage loop. I designed you so that phase-shift energy would be used to create a vapor map. The more you do it, the more precise it gets. You should know the Masaki house like the back of your. . . like you know Tenchi's room. Body signatures on the map are not confusable. You have body signature system more complex than my own, got it?" Washu grinned a bit. "Whatever caused you to end up on Ayeka wasn't because anything was on the fritz; it was because your brain sent you there."

Dumbly, Ryouko furrowed her brow, staring at the scientist. "Are you sure?"

"Well, for doubting the number one genius in the entire universe, how 'bout you become a water sprite instead? Then I can send you off to Mihoshi to play." Washu grinned. "I don't know what to tell you, Little Ryouko; but why you did it, you wanted to."

Ryouko stuck her tongue out, frowning at the thought. "Pah, no way. Ayeka's not the freshest fruit in the bowl."

Washu hopped up and moved stealthily beside her daughter. "Agreed. Ever have grapefruit?"

"Can't even taste it and I hate it."

"Me too." Washu nodded and suddenly gave Ryouko a push, shoving her forcibly to a newly established door.

"Hey!" Ryouko cried, ramming her feet against the slick floor. "I came for help!"

"Well, believe me, I'd love to help; hate to snuff you like this, but we'll keep in touch. Things to see and people to do! So you go work this out and I'll get back to you. Ta!" With a final shove and muted protest, Ryouko was gone.

Washu sighed and slid down the still solid door. "Oh boy. . ." she exhaled in an almost praying voice, "this will get ugly. I thought I still had a few more weeks. . ." She leaned forward for a moment and forced herself back again in a cursing movement, eeping and grimacing as she quickly fell, banging her head off the floor after the doorway faded from existence.

"OW!"

-o-

Ryouko sniffed as the door slammed behind her, an odd and loud complaint ringing back through subspace. There's definitely something I'm missing, she thought. She shrugged and began to walk back to the couch to finish the soap that she thought had something to do with penguins.

Hey, if it was hot, it was hot.

However, she didn't get far. Two steps into the living area and she was flat on her back, yelping in pain as the fluffy bunny tail of Mihoshi rolled away. "There you are!" the blonde exclaimed as she bent over to pick it up. Ryouko's head finally stopped spinning as she looked up, a generous though unwanted view of Mihoshi backside bannered in the air. Mihoshi glanced over and suddenly stood up. "Oh my! Ryouko, are you okay?" Ryouko waved it off and shakily got to her feet, floating over to the couch.

"Mihoshi, you airhead. Next time, keep track of your things." Ryouko winced and rubbed her back.

Mihoshi sniffed and bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Ryouko. . . Here! Let me get you a drink!" She quickly went to work, squeezing her tail to the form of her confusing puzzle of a block.

Ryouko rolled her eyes as she lay back. "Whatever, just make sure you don't hurt anyone else with your little accidents."

"Agh! I wanted a drink, not a link!" She dropped the large coil of chain as she went back to work on her pseudo-rubics cube. A twist of a side and it flashed, a few balls of yarn dropping from the sky. "What is wrong with this thing!" As Mihoshi continued in the fairly amusing display, Ryouko couldn't help but stare in furtive joviality. That was just plain funny.

Mihoshi fumed as she again twisted a side and then the top, an eruption from the kitchen and a small explosion acting as a response. "AHH!" Sasami shrieked. "The microwave!" Mihoshi grimaced and quickly did the one command she was very familiar with: the fire extinguisher. Sasami quickly ran in, grabbed it out of Mihoshi's outstretched hand and speedily scrambled back to the kitchen. Moments later, the sounds of gases and the faint smells of powder were in the air. Detective First Class Mihoshi knew exactly why Kiyone so advocated that one. . .

Mihoshi grumbled and tried a last desperate time, brow furrowing upon completing the command. When the quick realization that the result was not something she could grab - or it was, she just didn't see it - but something she was wearing came about, she blanched for a moment. "Eep!" she yelped, tossing her hands up as she viewed herself in one of the skimpiest bathing suits she'd ever seen.

Ryouko's silent giggling had slowed upon seeing this. Just, well, she didn't know; perhaps it was the way her tanned chest bounced when she hopped on her yelp. Perhaps it was the tight, black wears - it was indeed a two piece; although there was so little material it could be called a half piece - leaving only so much curvy flesh to be desired was a cause. Perhaps it was just plain ol' Mihoshi.

Choice word, Ryouko's brain mumbled as she drank in the scene. Plain was calling the Pacific just a puddle. Was she stunning? or just lusty? Ryouko deemed that the high heels did nothing to stumper the appeal. But why was there an appeal?

"Ah!" the blonde squeaked again. She looked, as what could be called apologetically, towards Ryouko as she made no indication of covering herself.

"Sorry about the drink," she half laughed, relaxing so her knees knocked a bit. Somewhere inside, Ryouko had already died laughing. Who said she didn't get her drink? The scene, however, was a bit much for the pirate, something beginning to make her uncomfortable about seeing so much tanned skin. Nice skin, yeah. . . but too much.

Oh what the hell, since when is too much skin too much?

She shook her head, trying to banish the more explicit thoughts that came to mind. Shuddering a bit, Ryouko disappeared and filled the air a moment later, hovering near the steps.

"I-I'll be back. . ." she mumbled as she placed a hand on the railing, still catching herself stare at the detective. "I gotta check something."

"Are you alright?" Mihoshi innocently inquired, stepping forward a bit. Her unhindered breasts jiggled again, causing Ryouko to squirm a bit. Aghast, she thought: I can see nipples! It wasn't so much a victorious thought, but a public service announcement to the rest of her body.

"I'll be fine, r-really." As quickly as she had phased in, Ryouko winked out, leaving Mihoshi to readjust her cube to tail form. She froze upon hearing a voice from behind and whipped around, slapping Nobuyuki for all his worth. (So, it wasn't too much of a smack.)

"Hentai."

"OW!" he yelped as she turned, placed her bunny tail by her hip and stalked off. Again, he suggested (although to himself): "What about the ears?"

-o-

Washu rubbed the back of her head as she got to her feet. "I figured this would happen sooner or later. I may be the greatest scientific mind in the universe-"

"Yes you are!"

"The greatest!"

Washu sighed in disgust, swatting at them like flies. "Stuff it you two. I'm not in the mood."

The robots gasped and looked at each other.

"Wow," Chibi-Mecha-One said, "must be SERIOUS!"

"Yup, you ain't kiddin'! No praise equals big trouble!" the other one agreed. They ducked down behind her and vanished.

She scrambled off in a jog away from her lush surroundings, huffing as she passed towers and monoliths of machinery. It was a dead sector of her lab, having been inactive for a long time. It was the older fashioned part, when the idea was industrial utilitarianism and worth instead of the aesthetics her newer sections fronted; where organic beauty simply had no place. No seas, flowers or gardens.

They were just aisles of metal.

She raced around a bend as the maze turned to an enigma of a labyrinth. It was child's play to her, sure, being the creator. But her current mind set in a boggle, it was difficult, nonetheless. Running across her lab, she tripped forward a bit and skidded on a single foot before she came to halt in front of a towering, dormant machine. Calling up her holographic computer, she tapped a few sequences of buttons and the accumulation of circuitry lit up in a bright display of lime green and traffic light red. Lines, quips and dollops of light flashed in different concentrated sectors, meaning to do nothing more than make it look like a useful machine. And hell, it really, really was.

"Psycholayer stability: 46.709 percent normal deviation; propensity pertaining to limbic inhibitions: 85.985 percent normal deviation; memory filter breaking down- 93.160 percent deviation!" Her leg phased through the computer as she kicked the machine. "No! This is not good," she muttered to herself, pacing away for a moment before the genius walked back.

"If these numbers increase consistently, Ryouko will. . . well, neither she nor anyone here will be a very happy camper." She continued, her hands flying over the keyboard as she grimaced in stringent calculation. "I can stabilize the numbers, but it will take me a few days to create a back up; let alone the means to create a reversal system." She sighed again as her typing slowed, fingers trembling and idling over the keys. "Why didn't I catch these changes earlier. . . ? Even at these figures she can be dangerous." Her fingers stiffened slightly and quaked now, balling into a white-knuckled fist. "Kagato. . . " she breathed in disgust. "How could you do this to my little girl. . . ? She's at the brink of insanity because of you!" Her short and furious scream echoed in the high reaches of her lab as she slammed her hand through the projection.

"I'm sorry, Washu, did I do something wrong again?"

Washu turned and hopped back slightly when she saw her tall, dark annoyance looking at her quizzically.

"You. . . Mihoshi. . . how did you get in here?"

"Why, the door, silly!" Her giggle made Washu's skin crawl.

"Maybe I should install child-safety locks. . ." she mumbled quietly.

"Er, anyway, I was wondering if you could fix this." Mihoshi held out her slightly dented tail and frowned. "It's not working."

Washu shook her head with a slight chortle. "Sorry," she said grinning almost evilly. "Last time I modified something for the Galaxy Police it took out half their fleet." She went into a fit of laughter, hugging her sides to quell the pain of the heaves. "Oh boy, what I wouldn't give to be young again. . . ahhh, anyhow; no goes, sister."

"Are you sure? Ryouko stepped on it and now it's not working. I try to materialize me a cup of juice and I blow up the men's bath." Looking around nervously, she gave a small laugh. "Hypothetically, of course. . ."

"Ryouko. . . do you know where she went?"

"She said she had to check something and fwoom! She disappeared."

"Ryouko doesn't fwoom."

"Fine, bbzzzz!"

". . . Shaddup." Washu sighed. "Damn. Well, I have to find her, so that means you're leaving," Washu said as she put the large machine on stand-by. Washu began to walk out as Mihoshi shrugged.

"Okey dokey." She set down her guised cube on the console of the tower and followed – at least what she would call - her friend, out. As the door closed, - Washu briefly wondering why Mihoshi's globes were a bit more bouncy - the machine powered up once more. Sparks flew between the tail and the console as it began to quiver.

"All figures reset to 00.000 percent normal deviation," a booming mechanized voice sounded. While soothingly feminine, a deathly toll crept in, some how. "Error. Unacceptable command inputs." The tail rolled around, like guessing fingers looking for the right sequence. The electronic voice called again. "Error. You are advised to not toggle 'Propensity' factors.

"Error.

"'Propensity' percentage is now at 100.00 percent normal deviation.

"Error.

"All figures reset to 100.00 percent normal deviation. Warning: data given will result in catastrophic proportions." The tail stopped, shaking in its place. Of course, it seemingly thought, this has to be the right way to get that cup of juice. The voice repeated the vain message but no one was around to hear. "Error. Critical. . ." A brief alarm sounded before the tail exploded and the machine was again to be silenced for a long while.

-o-

Ryouko fell from the air, touching softy on the edge her comforter in the spare she claimed as her bedroom. She quickly sat in a lackluster slump on the bed, the cover now scattered over the floor. She gave herself a sharp slap in the face before she took a deep breath, phasing back to stance. She moved to her window, drawing the slat blinds so that the only light that entered came in thin trails, leaving the marks of a tiger on her back when she sat back down.

"I know why this is happening, don't I. . ." She rubbed her cheek where she'd viciously hit herself, sucking her breath in at the resident sting. The mark'd probably stick around for a while, too. "I just can't remember. . ." she mumbled, rising again to unsteady feet.

This wasn't the first time she remembered, of course. As she thought about how all that had made her feel, various flashes of the past sliced into her vision. It all started innocently. Sometimes she would be in the onsen and she would idly gaze at one of the other girls. No big deal, everyone does that occasionally. Why she sometimes reacted to the images was a question she preferred to leave unanswered.

Then again, that wasn't the worst of it. As she meandered around her room, she suddenly recalled a few rather disturbing instances. Occasionally, she'd catch the other girls indulging themselves and she couldn't stop herself from watching. Sometimes her hand would brush against Mihoshi's or Ayeka's at mealtimes and it would send a shiver up her spine. Sometimes she'd find herself borrowing items from the other girls and not even knowing why she wanted them.

However, since all these occurrences were so widely spaced apart, she didn't really give it too much mind. It bothered her that she couldn't rationalize; that she couldn't say that it was because of Tenchi; because sometimes he just wasn't around. Shaking off the string of thoughts, she stepped on the comforter, slipping forward slightly before she simply allowed herself to fall to her knees, sitting again in a tired, worn droop. She pushed the cover away, hugging herself as the spark deep in her stomach and chest fizzled out, no longer plaguing her with feelings that, however good, frightened her to the core.

Damnit! Girls were not supposed to get Ryouko going. It just wasn't her thing.

The crack in the air came like a blaze of crisp, lucid clarity when Ryouko's futon shattered to toothpicks and splinters. Ryouko sat still, staring forward as nary a breath escaped her frozen body, her unmoving form encapsulating a rocked mind. A small rain of wood chip plinked off her back as the larger halves of the futon clunked the ground, an obtuse 'V' made at the raised ends and the point of the schism; the rugged, jagged, sharp and painful schism.

Her memory burst as such, perhaps a little more harshly, at the seam, a flood spewing out like the portions of the futon. Each flash in her mind just as pointed and abstract as the pieces of wood that lay dispersed across the wooden floor. "I do know," she whispered, tiny pupils quivering in residual thoughts. "Why now. . ." She shuddered, the strain of the position cracking her as she fell to her side and curled into an innocent ball. Still staring, she shivered again as a few points of wood pressed into her side. She made no hint of a cry as she laid her head down to the floor, a sharp splinter cutting into her cheek and drawing a bit of blood. It flowed out in a thin line, a tear following suit and mixing in.

"Mommy. . ."

Mitsuko.

She needed her mother.

-o-

Ayeka sat in the onsen trying to relax, a quarter-full bottle of sake nearby. Whatever the rice wine did to her she sure enjoyed it, especially when mixed with an intoxicating, hot bath. Looking down, she twitched a bit as she saw her towel begin to slip, the water weighing it down and pulling it into the swirl. She reached up to readjust, but, throwing caution to the wind, she decided to remove it entirely. She was alone - who was she afraid of seeing her? Tenchi? Tenchi would be out in the fields for a few hours yet.

Besides, why not take the chance to boast that beautiful skin should a certain pirate show up? She smiled, finally seeing why Ryouko did this so often. It was so freeing . . . and, giggling at the thought, a little naughty. Looking over herself, she curled her lips, a dour face taking over at the sight of her breast size. They were disappointing, at most, leaning towards disproportion when she compared them to the rest of her figure. At least she had nice, shapely legs.

They weren't the smallest in the universe, sure, but they could stand to be larger. Maybe she should approach Washu on breast augmentation. . .

"No," she muttered firmly to herself, balling her fist in an ending gesture. Ayeka donned a puzzled look at the random thought. Why should the first princess of Jurai need any sort of outside aid? Her appearance was just fine. . . yeah, really. A princess for God's sake.

But it was still something to consider. That last thought made her smile, thinking of being able to look smugly down on Ryouko with huge ya-yas weighing down her chest. Ayeka burst out in a modest bit of laughing. It was probably the sake. Then again. . . Picturing Tenchi ogling her at all made her shiver with pleasure. She closed her eyes and let the alcohol take full effect over her as she felt the water temperature rise a few degrees. Her eyes snapped open with a startled flush as she realized why. Looking down, she saw - though perhaps, she really just imagined - the onsen waters mix with the gentle flow that left her person.

Blushing, she snapped her leg tighter together, her knees knocking and creating a small wave before she slinked deeper into the resettling water. It didn't take long for her to again realize that simply no one was around. She smirked as she reflected on how little she ever got the chance to take care of herself. In fact, considering the last time she was even alone, it had been quite some time. However disgusting and, well, unprincessly she might've considered it, there were times when her thoughts made it so that she couldn't resist.

Namely when it was Tenchi. Tenchi, you elusive bastard.

Now didn't seem to be an exception as she slid her hands up over her chest, kneading and squeezing warily, still unsure if it was even allowed that people could feel so good about touching . . . those places. A pleased hiss of air slipped through her lips as she slowly ground her pearly whites.

Slowly, mind you. Can't have a princess with unruly teeth.

Shedding her towel, she sped up, the word 'cliché' lost somewhere in the shuffle of her doings as she approached a once-in-a-few-years show-stopping orgasm. However, it was unfortunately cut short as a knocking at the door ruined the performance.

Quickly disengaging, she wrapped the towel back around herself and flung the bottle of sake across the pool where it first shattered then splashed as she tried to look casual. Washu entered, looked around and smiled at Ayeka. And then realized it was Ayeka, for whom she was not looking. "Oh, well hello Ayeka. Come for a breather?" She chuckled inwardly, the blatant remnant of a deep blush still on her face indicating her latter actions. At least, it revealed the drinking. The two points poking proudly through the towel told of otherwise.

Ayeka sighed and stood up a little wobbly. "Just trying to relax. . ." Her mind flashed and she involuntarily grunted. May as well, she thought to herself. Couldn't hurt, could it? Wait, knowing Washu? It could hurt like all hell's wrath. "Say, Miss Washu. . . what do you think about, uh. . ." She pursed her lips a moment and relaxed them into a broad frown as she motioned to her chest, rolling her eyes.

"Well I'm flattered my dear, but I don't really swing that way-"

"Miss Washu! That's not what I was implying! I was wondering about. . . augmentation."

"Oh! Implants! Why didn't ya say so!" She giddily clapped her hands, smiling, and waved her over, forgetting about her original task. Once she saw the opportunity for improvement, let's just say she wouldn't dare ignore it - whether it is mechanical or biological. Matters of personality still eluded her. "C'mon to my lab!"

Ayeka grimaced and pulled her towel taut. "Right. Implants."