Chapter Ten
"Well, I have to admit that it's been a while since we had such an interesting break, Tenchi."
Noboyuke Masaki leant back in his seat, taking a sip of his drink as he cast a smile at his son. "Makes a change to travel long distance, don't you think so? You can't say you haven't seen the world now – you've seen the entire universe!"
"Yes, I guess so."
Tenchi nodded his head, turning to glance out at the window at the stars that danced by them. "And it will be good to get back home, you know. It's been an adventure – but I've missed a lot of things about the Earth since we started to travel. I never really realised how many, until they wanted me to stay on Jurai forever."
"You don't regret your decision then, Tenchi?" Yosho put in from his position in the corner, glancing up from a Juraian newspaper that he had been busy reading. "You don't think that leaving is the wrong thing to do, even though you're leaving behind a very beautiful potential bride?"
"Grandpa, stop it." Tenchi sighed, rolling his eyes. "You know I'm going to miss Ayeka and Sasami a lot, now we're going back home. And I still feel bad about hurting Ayeka's feelings – but I'm not ready to get married and I'm certainly not ready to give up my life and become Emperor of a planet I just don't know enough about. You made the same decision, and you knew Jurai better than I do. You can't criticise me for making the same choice!"
"I'm not criticising you in the least." Yosho assured him calmly. "Quite the opposite. I think that when you start to take decisions yourself, as a man, then people around you are much more likely to think of you as such. Whether you are their king or not, Tenchi, you did them all a great service in slaying Kagato. Now they are a free people once more. That was your doing. You should be proud of that, and not dwell on regrets. You made the decision you felt was best. And I do not question you in it. Nor does your father. We're both glad to be taking you home with us."
"Well, I'm happy to hear that." Tenchi pursed his lips. "It will be kind of lonely though, won't it? When we're back there. Washu is at the Science Academy, and we haven't heard anything from her since she left Jurai. She's probably knee deep in work already. Once they've dropped us and our house off on the Earth, Kiyone and Mihoshi will be heading off to Galaxy Police Headquarters for their de-briefing and promotions, and now Ayeka and Sasami are home on planet Jurai. I didn't think how strange it would be when we all split up – but it is strange. It's going to take a little while to get back to normal."
"Didn't you forget someone, in that evaluation?" Noboyuke frowned.
"Hrm?"
"I'm surprised at you, Tenchi." Noboyuke tut-tutted. "Ryoko is a pretty young woman – can you forget about her so easily?"
He winked
"I'm not sure that I will."
"Ryoko was a pretty young woman." Tenchi said slowly. Noboyuke looked surprised.
"Pardon me?"
"Washu believes that Ryoko did not survive the injury Kagato gave her." Yosho said quietly. Noboyuke stared, then glanced at his son.
"I see." He said, his expression uncharacteristically thoughtful. Tenchi bit his lip.
"I was trying not to think about that." He admitted. "I've made my decision and there's nothing that I can do for her now anyway, if Washu is right."
"Maybe she's already back on the Earth." Noboyuke suggested. "Just because she didn't come to Jurai, you shouldn't be so gloomy, Tenchi."
"I suppose she could be?" Faint hope kindled in Tenchi's eyes for a moment, then faded. "But why would she go there, if noone else she knew was waiting? Not even the house, Father – only the mountains and the shrine. That's all. It just wouldn't make any sense."
"How are you guys doing in here?"
At that moment Kiyone pushed back the door, stepping into the Masaki living room and casting the assembled men a smile. "Mihoshi's taking over the drive room for the time being, so I can take a break – but all being well we should reach the Earth in a fairly short space of time. It'll be a quicker trip back, at least. We had to take so many detours and double back on ourselves so many times – but we should have a smooth, even course this time around. I've set the coordinates, anyway."
"Thank you, Kiyone." Yosho bowed his head slightly. "We appreciate you taking this detour – you must be eager to get back to Headquarters and see people there, after your exoneration."
"Yes, and no." Kiyone admitted, sitting down on the edge of the reddish sofa and leaning over to pour herself a mug of tea from the pot on the table. "It will be nice to be back there – and promotions beckon, which is exciting. I've wanted to be back there for so long, after all. But it's strange. I suppose after doing so much travelling through space with everyone, I'm going to miss us all being in close company. You form bonds when you're forced to spend time with people in a confined environment. It will be strange for a while."
"I think the same thing." Tenchi nodded. "Nice to get back to normal, but strange, too. At least to begin with."
"I don't know if Mihoshi or I will have time to patrol the Solar System at all once we're assigned new orders." Kiyone pursed her lips. "If we can, we'll definitely come to visit. But I don't know yet if it will be possible."
"Well, you'll always be welcome if you can come, Kiyone. Mihoshi too." Nobuyuke assured her. "I'm going to miss having all these pretty girls around the house, you know. It's going to seem very dull, going back to being a house full of bachelors again."
"Dad." Tenchi grimaced, but Kiyone smiled.
"If we can, we will." She promised. "After all, I doubt that anyone else will be able to get away."
"Kiyone, can I ask you something?" Tenchi raised his gaze to the officer's, meeting her blue eyes with questioning brown ones. She nodded, setting her cup down on the table.
"Of course. What is it, Tenchi?"
"You didn't…I mean…you haven't managed to…" Tenchi hesitated, then, "There's been no trace of Ryoko or Ryo Ohki on your police scanners in the last few days, has there?"
Kiyone's expression became grave, and she shook her head.
"No. Nothing. And I have been looking." She admitted. "But it's like they both disappeared into thin air. Literally, in fact. I managed to trace the ship via the Galaxy Police tracking cameras to a particular space zone – but there's no indication of how Ryo Ohki left the area. No planets in the region and no other ships that showed up on our radars – so no other criminal activity in that area. It's a mystery, to be honest with you. But there have been no new sightings or logs on her rap sheet. There's not much more I can tell you."
"Do you think she's dead?" Tenchi asked softly. Kiyone spread her hands.
"Well, till I see a body, I don't know." She owned. "But it has to be considered as a possibility. I'm sorry, Tenchi. She's been a friend to all of us, in one way or another – unconventional as she is and annoying as she can be when she puts her mind to it. I wish I could bring you better news, but I can't. And honestly, as a Galaxy Police Detective, it might be better that I didn't know her whereabouts anyway."
"I suppose you're right." Tenchi looked pensive. "Thank you anyway, Kiyone. I had to ask, just in case."
"I know." Kiyone nodded her head. "And I wish I could tell you more."
"There's no chance her ship headed for the Earth somehow?" Noboyuke asked. Kiyone shook her head.
"Not according to the police scanners." She admitted. "Ryo Ohki hasn't been spotted anywhere near the Solar System area – although admittedly tracking cameras there are limited, and Ryoko probably knows only too well how to duck and dodge the ones there are. It's not a foolproof science – policing the galaxy never is."
She eyed Tenchi keenly.
"What about Ayeka?" She asked softly. "I only saw her briefly before we left – just to say goodbye – but she seemed very distracted. I think she's going to miss you quite a lot, Tenchi. In fact, I think she'd been crying, before I saw her."
"She cried when we said our goodbyes." Tenchi said sadly. "I didn't want her to, or mean her to, but I guess she wanted me to stay more than I realised. I know she's lonely on Jurai, Kiyone – in that sense I feel really bad for abandoning her. But in the end it wasn't Ayeka or Ryoko that made up my mind where I was going. It was what was best for me and for Jurai. And for me to become Emperor wouldn't have been good for either one. Everything that I was involved in – I always had to defer to Ayeka for help and guidance anyway. In the long run it would have generated twice as much work and twice as much pressure for her. And then, when marriage became a factor in it…"
He trailed off, shaking his head.
"I'm not ready." He said frankly. "I think of Ayeka as a sister, a confidant and a friend. For all of those reasons I would love to keep our acquaintance. But being her husband would be just too weird. Especially at the moment. So, well, here I am."
"I'm sure she understands. Or she will, when she has a chance to think it over." Kiyone said soothingly. "And considering her position, I suppose it's not impossible that she and Sasami will take another trip to the Earth one day in the future. You never know."
"I hope they do." Tenchi nodded. "I'd like to see them both again."
He sighed.
"Seems a million years since I was just an average earthling with average Earth problems." He added. "I wonder if I'll even have a place at school when we get back. I've missed months of classes already because of everything…do you think they'll even begin to understand? I mean, who is going to believe an absence note that states I've been in outer space saving the universe from an evil Juraian pretender?"
"Don't worry so much." Yosho said serenely. "I will speak to the Headmaster. He's a good man and I'll explain to him how urgent family matters called you away at very short notice. He'll understand. Just leave it to me."
"I suppose they were urgent family matters." Tenchi reflected. "Seems funny to think of it now – that Ayeka and Sasami are my family too."
"Well, I suppose if you ever wanted another long distance holiday, you could go and visit them. I'm sure they'd put you up, if you wanted to go." Noboyuke observed. Tenchi pulled a face.
"With what spacecraft, exactly?" He demanded. "Nice idea, Dad, but I think they'd notice if we started mooring a ship in the atmosphere over the shrine."
"I suppose we could say it was a gift from the Gods." Yosho mused thoughtfully. "But in truth, it would be difficult to maintain and I'm not sure you're responsible enough yet to learn to drive, Tenchi."
Kiyone laughed.
"I'm sure, once you're back home, everyday things will swamp you and you'll forget about visiting distant planets." She said lightly. "It'll just be a memory, that's all…something you did one year, instead of sweeping autumn leaves."
"Maybe." Tenchi looked doubtful. "I don't know, Kiyone. Something tells me that I'm going to have a hard time forgetting anything that's happened over the past few months!
-----------------------
Three days on.
Ryoko stood at the window of her bedroom - or, as she had come to think of it, her prison, - staring blankly out across the unfamiliar horizon as she attempted to pick out any landmark that she knew. Over the past few days she had endured the company of her host on only one occasion - when he had insisted on changing her bandages and had not taken no for an answer. She had tried to resist, resenting his touch anywhere near her fragile form, but he had had his way in the end, drawing such vivid pictures of the risk of re-infection that, despite herself, her resolution had faltered.
Brave as she knew she could be, the memories of those days of pain aboard Ryo Ohki were still too vivid for her to want to risk going back.
Besides which, she mused, biting down absently on her lip as her gaze fell on a distant settlement, she was still weak. Frustrated and angry as she was with her current situation, she had found it hard to rally either her strength or her spirits to fight off the after effects of the infection. The fever had run for several days, she knew that, taking her reserves of energy and leaving her tired and listless. Even the indignity of being her arch-rival's effective captive had failed to raise the fire to fight inside of her since their first near-confrontation. In fact, she acknowledged to herself, she didn't feel anything much at all at the moment. Just empty.
"Because as soon as I am better, I'm leaving." She murmured. "But what happens then, I don't know. Pace out my days and wait for Nagi to find me, hunt me down and kill me for the reward money she seems to want so badly? Or will I go back to the life I had before I crashed to the Earth? Looting and pillaging...it holds so little appeal for me at the moment. There's nothing on any planet that I want to take. Nothing except one thing, and that's something I can't have. So what's the point?"
"That is not the kind of sentiment I expect from an infamous criminal."
A smooth voice came from the doorway and Ryoko wheeled around, drawing breath sharply as she jarred her injury and glowering at her foe, folding her arms across her chest as she gathered the shreds of her composure.
"Don't eavesdrop on me. I didn't ask you to come in and you definitely didn't knock." She snapped. "Get out and leave me alone, will you, Nagi? My sentiments are none of your business."
Nagi eyed her for a moment, steely red eyes giving nothing away. Then, very slowly, she shook her head. She made no attempt to leave, instead coming into the room properly and shutting the door behind her, leaning up against it as she assessed the pirate's demeanour. Ryoko bristled, her gaze narrowing.
"Did you hear what I just said?"
"Yes." Nagi inclined her head slightly. "But you don't scare me."
"I wasn't trying to. I just told you I don't want your company." Ryoko snapped. "Either get out or I'll teleport somewhere else."
"I don't think you will." Nagi seemed calm. "I know you're not strong enough to use your magic extensively at present. Besides, this planet is alien to you. You wouldn't get very far even if you tried."
"You have no idea what you're talking about."
"No, I know exactly what I'm talking about." Nagi's eyes bored into hers and despite herself, Ryoko found it hard to hold the woman's gaze. "There was a time, Ryoko, when I would have said I knew you better than anyone else in the universe. I knew your haunts, your fighting style...yes, even what you were thinking or feeling when we did battle. I knew how much you relished those encounters - the adrenalin rush and the stakes rising higher all the time. But now, when I look at you, all I see is a shadow. A weak, pathetic shell of the woman you once were. I almost think it would have been better to have left you, out in space. At least then you would have died a legend."
Ryoko stared at her companion for a moment. Then she narrowed her eyes.
"You think you know me but you don't. Maybe you never have." She said flatly. "If you're trying to goad me into fighting you, Nagi - we both know right now I can't do that. Nor do I intend to. I don't care about beating you. It's not important to me. Not any more."
Nagi's expression became thoughtful, and she crossed the floor to the window, pausing a foot or so from the pirate and grabbing her by the arms.
"Hey! Let me go!" Ryoko phased her hands through Nagi's arms, reaching up to rub her right wrist with her left hand. "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for the Space Pirate Ryoko." Nagi said in low tones. "I'm starting to think that she's dead."
"Maybe she is." Ryoko said defiantly. "What business is it of yours anyway? If you want my reward so badly, you only have to take it. I'm here and you know I can't do much about that at the moment. I'm in your power - yours and your stupid, creepy brother. If you want the money that badly, you might as well just take your chance."
"This is not a matter of money." Nagi said coldly. "It's a matter of honour. Mine and yours. And you keeping your word. You owe me a fight, Ryoko. And I will collect - you can be assured of that."
"Do whatever you want to." Ryoko turned back towards the barren landscape. "You'll have to catch up with me first."
For a moment there was silence, then,
"I wouldn't fight you now, even if you were fully healed." Nagi spoke quietly, a note of disgust edging her words. "Right now, you're not worth anyone's time or effort. Certainly you're no challenge for me. Not with that state of mind. And I like a challenge, Ryoko. Not to fight against a failure who's given up before she even begins."
Despite herself, Ryoko flinched at the disparaging tone.
"I'm not a coward and I'm not a quitter." She said darkly, clenching her fists. "If you want that fight, Nagi, you'll get it. And you won't be so sure that you'll win it, either. But the be all and end all of my life isn't fighting you. You might be obsessed with me but it doesn't run both ways. And I'm not going to wait around for you to come and kill me. It's not the way I work, so you better get that into your head right now."
Nagi grasped Ryoko by the shoulder, pulling her roughly so the two women were once more facing each other and raising her hand, as if to strike the pirate across the cheek. Then she paused, lowering her hand and resting it on the woman's other shoulder. A slight smile touched her lips.
"You know, I almost believed you then." She observed. "You almost sounded like you meant it."
"I do mean it."
"Do you?" Nagi raised an eyebrow. "Do you really? Or are you still mooning over your lost love? Tell me, Ryoko...has your affection for that boy made you lose all sense and reason?"
"You leave Tenchi out of this!" Ryoko exclaimed, pulling away and teleporting herself to the other side of the room. The exertion drained her strength, however, and she stumbled slightly, sinking down onto the bed as she struggled to catch her breath. Nagi frowned.
"Pitiful." She observed. "You can't even move three metres without collapsing. And you talk about leaving? Ridiculous."
"You...just shut...your mouth." Ryoko gasped out, sending her foe a murderous look. "Some things are none of your business, so you keep Tenchi out of it! He's nothing to do with it or with me! I make up my mind who I fight and when, not you and not anyone else. I'm a space pirate - and not just any space pirate. I'm one of the best there has ever been. One of the most infamous in the universe, whether you believe it or not. I'm Ryoko. I'm the one you've never managed to bring down!"
"Well...or a reasonable facsimile." Nagi said, a humourless smile crossing her face.
"I said, shut up!"
"Mmm." Nagi sent the pirate a sidelong glance, then she shrugged her shoulders.
"I suppose that your movements won't be hard to trace, anyway." She said quietly. "Not now he's left Jurai."
Ryoko's retort died on her lips at this, and she stared at her foe, disbelief and uncertainty flickering in her golden eyes.
"What?" She whispered. "What the hell are you talking about now?"
"Nothing." Nagi seemed unconcerned, as she made to leave but Ryoko forced her tired body into a standing position, moving to block the entrance to the room.
"No, you just stay right where you are and you tell me what you mean. Who's left Jurai? What are you saying?"
Nagi eyed her levelly.
"Exactly what I said." She responded simply. "Your boy has left Jurai. He's just like you - he has no nerve for the big occasion. It's been all over the Galactic News Networks."
"Tenchi?" Ryoko's eyes widened, her voice little more than a whisper, then, "No. You're lying to me. You're trying to make me want to fight you and it's not going to work."
"I don't tell lies." Nagi said quietly. "Which you well know."
"I thought you didn't care what happened to him!"
"I don't." Nagi shook her head. "And I consider it pathetic, this transformation he's instilled in you."
"But?"
"But I don't want you hanging around here forever, sponging off my brother and staring off into the distance like some lovesick puppy." Nagi said cuttingly. "Get a grip on yourself, Ryoko. This isn't you - none of it is.You don't give up so easily."
"And so you've told me about this because you think it might spur me on?" Ryoko asked softly. Nagi's face was expressionless as she shrugged her shoulders.
"I want to collect on my debt sometime this milennium." She replied coolly. "Whatever it takes."
She took Ryoko by the arm, manoeuvring her out of her way. "Think on it, Ryoko. Make up your mind who you are. You don't need him or any man to find that out - but you obviously need to get this out of your system before you remember the person you used to be."
With that she was gone, and Ryoko dropped back down onto her bed, the pain in her side forgotten as her mind grasped hold fully of the news Nagi had brought.
One thought and one thought alone seared through her mind.
"Tenchi." She murmured. "But...but what does that mean...for me?"
