Chapter Fifteen
"Washu-san? Are you all right?"
Washu glanced up from her chair, casting her companion a warm smile as she beckoned for the droid to come and join her. Yume did so, eying the drawn curtains and the dim, flickering light of the lamp on the table. She cast her mentor a quizzical look.
"Why so dark?" She asked softly. "How come you're in here all alone, Washu-san - shouldn't you be with Ryoko?"
"Ryoko doesn't need me watching over her. She'll be all right, now." Washu said dismissively. "And I needed some time and space too, you know. In an hour or two I'm going to start work on Ken Ohki's shields, but I wanted a break before I began. It's been a difficult few days, all told. I didn't realise how difficult until now."
"You look tired." Yume acknowledged, coming to sit down opposite. "But everything worked. Just as you theorised, Ryoko was being held in space by an entity and Tenchi managed to bring her back. Right?"
"Yes, pretty much." Washu sighed, glancing at her hands as she did so. "But in a way, Yume, I was out-thought today, as well. I realised something about myself, up there in space. Something which you actually tried to tell me. I should listen to you more, it seems - you've managed to out-theorise the universe's number one genius scientist this time. I guess while I'm top of my game in all things scientific, I really don't know a whole lot about magic."
"Magic?" Yume looked startled. "Oh! You mean your Kii powers? Did they come back?"
"I don't know." Washu looked thoughtful, lowering her hands and meeting Yume's gaze with a pensive one of her own. "I'm not even sure they fully went away. I've been arrogant, Yume-chan. I've fallen into the same trap as everyone else does, when they think of or talk about Kihaku."
"Meaning?"
"I dismissed the magic as archaic, pointless and old...and I turned my back on my heritage as if I was ashamed of it." Washu said slowly. "But if I had only learnt to use it and embrace it when Father wanted me to, Ryoko would have been rescued from her ghost hell a lot quicker. I had the potential inside of me to do it, and always did. There was more to Kihaku than selling your life into slavery to it's whims. I just didn't see it till now, that's all. Kihaku isn't really dead and gone...not while Tokimi and I are still alive. That's what I never realised. There's more inside of me that the world didn't control or dictate. It's what you said - I just never called on my own strength to do it, before."
"And this time you did?" Yume's expression softened. "What happened, Washu-san? Did you go into this world of Ryoko's, too?"
"No...sadly I still haven't worked out how to do that." Washu said sheepishly. "But Ken Ohki came under attack from pirates while we were there, and I managed to throw up a forcefield to protect him. I've been making forcefields since I was a little girl, but I never thought much of doing it. It didn't take me much effort, when I relied on Kihaku to power the few magical forays I made. Now it has to all come from me and I realise that I've criticised Ryoko far too much for her lack of discipline. Her grasp of her magic is a hundred times better than mine, after all. And it seems she inherited that lack of discipline right from me. I'm really badly out of shape, if I'm honest about it. It took everything I had just to hold it for a few minutes."
Yume grinned.
"So are you going to become the witch, now?" she wondered. "Give up all this scientific exploration in favour of magic and spiritualism?"
"No...I don't think that's ever going to be me." Washu said ruefully. "I'm a scientist, and I expect I've gone too long without properly nurturing my magic. No wonder I've struggled with it from time to time. It's hard to master something you consider beneath you."
"So what now, then?"
"Well, it struck me that there are still things for me and my magic to do." Washu glanced across at the flickering lamp, a dreamy look entering her green eyes. "Science can't raise my sister from her sleep, Yume-chan - but perhaps Kii magic can, and maybe it can heal her, too. I'm tired, this evening, but I also feel a lot less haunted, somehow. I can't really explain it, but I feel like I learnt something today. I'm far too willing to rely on other people's magical skill, or my scientific prowess. But I have magic too, and dammit, it's strong, vibrant magic. I don't know how much, or what it entirely entails. But then, that's something for the scientist in me to find out. And if there is a way I can use what I have to raise Tokimi, in the way Sasami-chan saved both Ryoko and I from death - I'll try it."
Yume was silent for a moment, then she reached across to squeeze her companion's hand.
"If anyone can help Tokimi-sama, it's you." She acknowledged. "You're the only one who could reach her - the only one who might understand how to bring her back."
"And so I'll learn, even if it takes me a long time." Washu agreed. "It gives me a new focus of investigation, anyhow. And a new chance to rehabilitate my opinion of being Kii. I can't expect anyone to accept it - or me for being it - if I'm just as dismissive of it myself. Right?"
"Right." Yume said thoughtfully. "But if you've found your magic again, Washu-san, are you going to go back to being a child?"
Washu hesitated, then shook her head.
"I'm not a child." She said softly. "I've grown up, at long last...since the death of Kihaku, and beyond. I can't lock myself away from the world any more and I don't want to - Kii magic isn't going to kill or destroy anyone, but I've already relinquished far too many things in the pursuit of isolation. No, Yume. I'm an adult and that's how I'll stay. After all, I'm a mother - and whether she admits to it or not, Ryoko and I have developed a rapport between us since I began to live on the Earth. I'm fond of Tenchi and Noboyuki and Katsuhito-dono. I like this life, now I've found it. And I have you, as well - my waif and stray. It wouldn't be fair to you, to abandon my responsibilities and go back to being a child."
Yume smiled.
"You and Tenchi have been so good to me, since I came to the Earth." She reflected. "And even though Clay was my creator, he was never anything else. You've been more like a mother and a friend both - things I've never had, and things robots shouldn't ever have. I'm glad you're staying as you are, Washu-san. I like working with you, and I like living here, too. It's like I'm part of a family now, and I don't want that to change."
"It's a strange sort of family, but I agree with you." Washu nodded. "Ryoko and Tenchi have had a deeper impact on more lives than just theirs, when you come to think about it."
"That's Tenchi's special charm, though." Yume's eyes twinkled. "Even if I can't quantify it, I know it's there. He has something that's not like other people - you must have felt it too."
"I have." Washu agreed. "Maybe it's his link to Tsunami - or maybe it's all his own. But whatever it is, it bodes well for Planet Earth. While he's here, and Lord Katsuhito, and my impulsive, unpredictable daughter, this planet will be fine. And who knows? Maybe we all will be too - now we've worked out where we belong."
"I think so." Yume nodded, getting to her feet. "Do you want some tea, Washu-san? Then I'll help you, if you like, with your work on Ken Ohki's shields. After all, there's still a lot a droid like me can learn from a genius at work - even if I can call her out on her magic!"
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Twilight.
Ryoko pulled her wrap more tightly around her body, settling herself more comfortably atop the shrine gateway as she glanced thoughtfully around her at the surrounding hills and mountains. The Earth was peaceful, she mused, and somehow she'd come to like it that way. Exciting as her life had once been, it was nice to have a home - and to know where that home really was.
She leant back on her hands, gazing up at the stars with a rueful smile. They would always be there, she acknowledged to herself wryly. There was no rush to explore them all at once.
"Ryoko?"
Tenchi's voice startled her and she glanced down as something hard clattered against the shrine gateway. She grinned at him as he clambered up Katsuhito's old ladder, pausing to steady himself as he reached the top and then pulling his body up alongside hers as he perched on the end of the beam.
"I guess it goes without saying that you feel better." Tenchi broke the silence, and Ryoko nodded her head, slipping her hand absently into his as she moved herself closer to him.
"Much." She agreed. "You know, Tenchi, I used to look at the sky and see all those stars - always shining and constant, each one marking new planets and adventures and worlds I'd never seen. I swore once that I would explore every single one before I died - that I'd roam the whole of the universe and see everything for myself."
"And did you?" Tenchi looked surprised. Ryoko laughed, shaking her head.
"Even Washu couldn't explore so many places in her lifetime, so of course not." She replied. "But it seems to matter less, now. It's funny, but I almost think that it wasn't about exploring them at all. I mean, I could go where I liked and take what I chose from anywhere, but it was still never quite enough to keep me occupied. I was always looking to be away again - to move on to the next place and the next new experience. And now I wonder if it was just because the people on these worlds belonged there. They had families and homes - things I'd never really had. Maybe that's why I spent so long searching through space for new horizons. I hadn't found my world yet. It was still out there."
"You are philosophical tonight." Tenchi observed, offering her a crooked grin. "So do you think you found your world, now? Or are you still wanting to go hopping through space in search of new ones?"
"There are a lot of places I'd still like to travel to. Just to say I'd seen them." Ryoko said thoughtfully. "But I don't need to travel, Tenchi-kun. I have roots, now. I never really realised how much being here meant to me until I thought the whole thing had been destroyed. And even when Hotsuma told me you and Ryo Ohki and Washu and everyone were dead...my impulse was still to come back here. Somehow it's become my home now. It's not just another world I visited. It's the one I belong on."
"Well, I'm glad to have you back." Tenchi reflected. He paused, then,
"Ryoko, about Hotsuma?"
"Yes, Tenchi?" Ryoko turned curious amber eyes on her companion. "What about Hotsuma?"
"Nagi said...well...she thought you and he..." Tenchi faltered, his cheeks reddening, and Ryoko laughed.
"Once, maybe. In a superficial sense." She agreed. "Does it bother you? Are you jealous?"
"A little, I suppose. Or I was." Tenchi admitted. "You've never mentioned him before. It made me...well, I wondered why you never did."
"Honestly?" Ryoko looked sheepish. "I think I forgot about it, as much as anything. I know it sounds awful and cold, but he was a raiding partner and not even one I had for that long. We didn't always get along and both of us wanted to be in control. Yes, we dabbled and played and I experimented. I'm not ashamed of that. Perhaps sometimes we were even friends. But I didn't fall in love with him. It was just...well, being pirates. That's all. Nothing else."
She squeezed his hand playfully.
"Didn't I tell you that you were the first man I fell in love with?" She added. "I didn't lie to you, Tenchi-kun. Knowing you changed me and my outlook on a lot of things. That's the truth. And being aboard the Nagatabi proved that time and time again. Much as I wanted to track down Shank and kill him for what I thought he'd done, I don't know if I ever would have done it. The thing was, Hotsuma was still a pirate. I wasn't any more."
She spread out her palm, tilting it so the moonlight glinted off her undamaged skin.
"Your Light Hawk Wings healed my pirate bond the last time we fought Kagato." She murmured. "It healed all my scars, Tenchi. That's powerful magic. How could you ever think I'd choose Hotsuma over you?"
"Well, I'm just glad that Mirei got involved and everything got settled." Tenchi said fervently. "Although now it's over, I do feel sorry for Hotsuma as well. He lost his life because of something he didn't do - he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Mirei. He set out to protect her - and wound up posthumously indicted for her murder. No wonder he couldn't rest."
"But now he will, because now people will know the truth about what happened on the Nagatabi." Ryoko said matter-of-factly. "Nagi doesn't like children-killers, so she'll probably go after Shank with twice as much gusto now, and if she doesn't force a confession out of him before she nails him, I'd be very much surprised. And we know what really happened, even if it takes time for the official version to be written. I think that's what he wanted, in the end. To have people know that he didn't murder a child."
"No, he wanted you to know." Tenchi said pensively. Ryoko looked startled.
"You think so?"
"I think so." Tenchi nodded. "He pulled you into his world, he built himself on your memories and held on to you through a blood bond you made years ago. He wanted to keep you - it's fairly obvious to me that, whatever you felt towards him, he had pretty strong emotions towards you. I think he was in love with you, Ryoko. And I think the only thing that mattered to him, at the end, was that you knew he didn't kill Mirei. He gave up so easily then, when it all became clear. Once he knew he was really dead, he let you go. But he wouldn't have done that if you'd still thought him guilty."
"I hadn't thought about that." Ryoko frowned. "I didn't realise he could feel like that about me, because I never felt that way about him. But I guess if you're right, I was kind of mean to him. I didn't know."
"He's at peace now, so it doesn't matter." Tenchi told her gently. "Either way, both he and Mirei can settle now that their story is really known."
"I guess." Ryoko agreed. "But it's the last time I'll be going near Sargasso space for a while, I'm telling you. Pirate superstitions may be pirate superstitions, but having experienced one of them first-hand, I'm in no hurry to go back there. Without you, without Ryo Ohki - heck, I even found myself missing Washu, so you know I must have been going crazy there. I guarantee that sector is off limits now. No more ghosts for this pirate, that's for sure."
"That suits me fine, too." Tenchi grinned. "The next time we fly to Jurai, we won't be taking that particular detour. Even if we do run into pirate ships!"
He hesitated, then slipped his arm around her, and she leant her head on his shoulder, comforted by his warmth.
"What if I had been dead, Ryoko-chan?" He asked her softly. "And that world had been reality. Would you have made bonds with Hotsuma again? Mixed blood and flown as a pirate?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Ryoko shrugged. "But we tried that once...it didn't work out. I expect I'd have wound up alone again sooner or later. I don't make great company, most of the time. You're the exception - you seem able to put up with most of my character quirks. It's not something I want to dwell on, if I'm honest. It's too close to when I actually believed it. So...so let it go, huh? We're here now and that's all that matters."
All right." Tenchi nodded. "I guess you're right."
Before Ryoko could answer, there was the sound of scratching and a rustle of fur, and with a triumphant mew Ryo Ohki's head appeared over the edge of the beam, amber eyes glinting mischievously in the moonlight as she scampered across the grained wood, curling herself up on Ryoko's lap. Ryoko grinned, reaching down to fondle the cabbit's ears affectionately.
"Yes, it's good to have you back too." She agreed. "And I'm glad you're feeling better. I'm sorry I put you through that, Ryo Ohki. No more flights into ghost space, I promise. Just a long rest and lots of carrots for the time being. Yes?"
Ryo Ohki's eyes sparkled with anticipation, and Tenchi laughed.
"You know, sometimes I feel that if I do have any competition for you, it's her." He teased, and Ryoko looked rueful as the cabbit flicked her ears playfully in his direction.
"You probably have a point." She agreed. "I couldn't choose between you, in truth - so I'm glad you don't hate one another. I belong with Ryo Ohki and now I belong with you, too."
Ryo Ohki rubbed her head up against her mistress's hand with a contented purr, and Tenchi reached across to scratch her under the chin.
"Well, Ryo Ohki and I have a special understanding." He said simply. "She wants you to be happy, and so do I. So, we agree."
"Plus she knows who it is who plants her carrots." Ryoko reminded him, ruffling idle fingers through the tousled chocolate fur. She glanced up, an impish twinkle in her golden eyes.
"I'm really glad that Ryo Ohki and I came to the Earth in the beginning, regardless of all the craziness we've been through since then." She added. "It was worth it. All of it. Life's never slow, is it, Tenchi?"
"No, that's for sure." Tenchi agreed ruefully. "Although I think that's your influence...there was nothing insane in my life before I met you."
"You're welcome." Ryoko's eyes danced with amusement. "I'm glad I could spice up your dull little mountain existance for you. You were always meant for better things than chasing after local girls and an office job like your Dad, anyway. You do know that, right?"
"Maybe." Tenchi grinned. He paused, eying her keenly, and despite herself Ryoko frowned, glancing down at her body, then back towards him.
"What?" She asked. "Why are you staring, Tenchi? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Tenchi reddened, a sheepish look touching his expression. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking, that's all. About you and your life as a pirate and well, all the things I probably still don't really know about you. I suppose I was wondering if it mattered - that life you had before. Or whether it didn't, now it was over."
"Now who's being philosophical?" Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "My brain can't take too much of it, Tenchi. If you get any more obtuse, I'll have to break into your Grandfather's sake."
"No." Tenchi laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not trying to be confusing. I just don't think much about your pirate days. And now I am. That's all."
"Well, you don't have to, because they're past. But I have nothing to hide - whatever you want to know, I'll happily share with you." Ryoko shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "I don't regret being a pirate - not any of it, Tenchi. It was a wild life - a good life - but I've lived it and now I've moved on. It got old with me, that's all. But if you want to know - ask away. It isn't a secret."
Tenchi eyed her long and hard for a moment. Then he shook his head.
"I don't need to know." He said softly. "Because it's as you said. It's over now and you're here."
He frowned, holding up his hands to the silvery moonlight.
"Does it really mean so much, though, to slash your palm and mix your blood with another? Can that really tie you together forever?"
"It's not what it does, but what you believe it means. Symbolism. That's all." Ryoko shrugged. "It's an official pirate act that marks a bond...the meaning is more important than the act."
Tenchi fell silent, and glancing at him, Ryoko realised he was mulling this over. In her lap, Ryo Ohki had settled down to sleep and the buzzing dreams of the cabbit against her senses began to make her feel drowsy also. She stifled a yawn, looking sheepish as she absently reached down to pat the creature's head.
"She's making me sleepy." She admitted. "I guess it must be getting late, and Washu's still adamant that I get some rest. Anyone would think she worried about me, the way she goes on."
"What about our bond, Ryoko-chan?" Tenchi's question came out of the blue, and Ryoko started, jerked back to wakefulness by the uncharacteristic gravity in her companion's voice.
"What do you mean?" She asked, surprised. "I'm not going to ask you to spill blood on my account, if that's what you want to know. You're not a pirate and nor am I, now. I don't need to cut either of us to know we belong together. It's deeper than that. Much deeper. I keep telling you we're soulmates - sooner or later you're going to have to believe me."
"Maybe I do believe you." Tenchi admitted, and Ryoko's eyes almost dropped out of her head.
"Tenchi?" She whispered. "I don't understand. Why are you...?"
"We have a bond, you and me. It's more than just a relationship - I think we've proven that now." Tenchi said quietly. "Only someone with a connection to you could have pulled you out of Sargasso, and I've known for a long time that we have an understanding between us. A sense of...knowing about the other. Do you know what I mean? Like...intuition. Understanding. Something."
"I think so." Ryoko frowned, confusion flooding her expression as she gazed at him. "But I don't know where this is going."
"You had a bond with Hotsuma, and that bond meant something in pirate circles. Symbolically." Tenchi continued, slipping his hand beneath hers and lifting it into his line of sight, gently turning it over as he did so. "And the bond was broken because the scar healed - or so you've just said. I don't want to be a pirate and I don't want to bleed all over Grandfather's shrine steps. That's not who either of us are now and I'm glad you know it. But I do want us to...to seal our bond. To make it...real. Somehow."
Ryoko eyed him tenderly for a moment, then very gently she kissed him.
"That makes it real." She whispered. "We don't need anything else, Tenchi. Just that."
"Maybe." Tenchi hesitated, then he slid his free hand into his pocket, pulling out the worn jewellery box and flipping it open. Carefully and lovingly he extracted his mother's ring from it's soft cushioning, holding it up to the light as he did so.
"This belonged to my mother." He said quietly.
"To Lady Achika?" Bemusement entered Ryoko's eyes. "But I don't understand. Why do you have it? I didn't take you as the kind of man who likes wearing women's jewellery."
"No...no." Tenchi shook his head. "Father gave it to me, when we were on Jurai."
"I see." Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "So it's Otosan who likes to wear women's jewellery...?"
"No!" Tenchi laughed. "Not either one. But when Mother died, she gave it to him to give to me, one day, when he thought the time was right for me to have it. To use it."
"To use it for what?" Gently Ryoko picked up the ring, turning it over. "It looks normal enough to me...does it have special magic or something? Something Juraian from her ancestry?"
"Not at all." Tenchi shook his head. "At least...I suppose it has Earth magic. If you want to call it that. But nothing else."
"Earth doesn't have magic." Ryoko shook her head, handing it back. "Stop teasing me, Tenchi. Why did your mother give you a ring?"
"On this planet, we have a tradition." Tenchi took a deep breath, and Ryoko could see the mixture of anxiety and apprehension in his expression. "Ryoko, my father gave this ring to my mother when he asked her to marry him. It was a symbol of their bond - and they were always very happy. Mother wanted me to have it so that one day I could...could form a connection with someone that she hoped would be just as happy. It's her way of giving me her blessing, even if she's not here to do it herself. And Dad told me that he thought I should have it now, but I didn't know whether I was ready to. I mean, that's why I didn't say anything then, when we came back from Jurai. But after all we've been through, I guess I realised that I want that connection. And I'm ready to make it if...if you are."
Ryoko's eyes could not get any bigger, and for a moment words failed her. For a long couple of moments there was silence between them, as time seemed almost to have stopped still. Then she bit her lip.
"Are you asking me to marry you?" She whispered. It was impossible for Tenchi to go any redder, and he dropped his gaze, fidgeting with the edge of his jacket as he did so.
"Please don't make me say it again." He begged. "It's scary enough doing it the one time...Ryoko, isn't it pretty obvious that's what I meant?"
"I guess...but...I mean...wow." Ryoko faltered. "You really want to be tied to me? Forever? That's a long time, you know. A really, really long time."
"I already am." Tenchi raised awkward eyes to hers. "It's what you said. A symbol. That's all. What it means is something more."
"Is it really an Earth tradition, my Tenchi?"
"Yes." Tenchi's cheeks resumed their normal colour and he nodded. Ryoko pursed her lips, reaching out a tentative finger to brush the edge of the ring.
"But what if I damage it? Or lose it? Or something?" She asked hesitantly. "It was Achika-sama's ring. What if I did? I mean, I'm tough on things. Clothes, jewellery, everything. I...I might, and then..."
"Will you stop fixating on the ring for a minute, and think about what I'm actually asking you to do?" Tenchi put a finger to her lips, an awkward expression in his brown eyes. "It's not about a piece of jewellery, like it's not about scars or blood when you bond as a pirate. Look past it, will you? Please? Or I'm going to really start regretting that I ever brought it up."
Ryoko fell silent for a moment, then she relinquished her contact with the ring, offering him a sheepish smile.
"I'm sorry." She said ruefully. "Noone ever asked me to marry them before. Actually, most of the men I've met wanted to kill me. This is a whole new experience for me."
Tenchi did not answer, his eyes clouded with apprehension, and Ryoko hesitated, then lifted her finger to his cheek, running it gently across his skin.
"I don't need to marry you to be with you forever." She said contemplatively. "If Hotsuma is anything to go by, love outlives death and we'll always be linked somehow, no matter what plane of existance we're flitting through."
She smiled at him, mischief returning to her golden eyes.
"But I know what it means to you, this Earth symbolism." She added. "I understand the gesture, Tenchi-kun - and so long as I have you, I don't mind what we do or where we go."
"Was that a yes?"
"Of course it was." Ryoko held out her hand, a smile touching her lips as clumsily and hesitantly Tenchi slipped the trinket onto her finger. "Though promise not to kill me if something happens to it. I told you - I'm hard on stuff. And I don't want you to hate me if I wreck your mother's ring."
"It's not hers any more. It's yours, now." Tenchi's cheeks were red once more, and Ryoko laughed.
"Well, maybe I'll just wear it when it's special. Like when we visit Ayeka on Jurai, for example." She said playfully. "After all, like you said - it's just a symbol anyway. A symbol that it takes more than a ghost ship and a pirate encounter to split us up."
"Right." Tenchi looked relieved. "You know, I'm really glad I'm never going to have to do that again."
"But you're so cute when you're blushing." Ryoko teased, and he grimaced at her.
"Not funny."
"Aw. Don't be like that." Ryoko reproached him. Carefully she scooped the sleeping Ryo Ohki up off her lap, setting her down gently on the beam beside her. Then, with a grin, she threw her arms around her fiance, taking him off guard and making him lose his balance. With a wild yell he struggled to regain his grip, but it was to no avail and both of them tumbled head first off the beam.
"Ryoko!"
"Oh, relax." Ryoko blurred them out of view, re-materialising neatly on the grass outside the shrine itself. "There. You need to be more careful though, Tenchi. I might not always be there to catch you."
"Yes, you will." Tenchi reminded her. "And to make me fall, too, most likely."
"Forever?"
"Forever." Tenchi agreed. Ryoko grinned.
"Well, I promise you something, my Tenchi." She said softly, meeting his brown eyes with pensive amber ones. "Life with me might be unpredictable, insane and even hell-raising, on occasion. But one thing it will never, ever be is dull."