Ryoko shivered, she attempted to open her eyes but the heavy lids didn't seem too keen on moving. Gritting her teeth the ex pirate grew irate at the fact that her body wasn't responding to her commands to move; suddenly her breath caught in her throat as something slithered below her fingertips.
"My, my, what energy…" A velvety voice whispered in her ear, fear gripped the young woman's heart; but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move nor make any form of sound.
She could feel an oddly familiar, cold, clammy hand grip her arm before it slowly slid its way down towards her wrist. 'The gem!' She thought, her mind trying to grasp where she'd heard the man's horrible voice before, her first thought was Kagato. '….B-but he's dead! He has to be…' She corrected inwardly, but her frantic mind was so consumed by fear that anything was possible.
It was just like before when she was… 'Born', she could feel hot tears making their way down her cold cheeks. The day Kagato had released her from her tank she'd grown in, only to make her into his tool….
Suddenly a deafening scream escaped her as she felt the flesh of her wrist being severed and the warmth of the gem, her energy source, seemed to fade as quickly as the blood drained from her body.
"…Ryoko! Ryoko, wake up!!" Kiyone cried frantically, she was struggling to still Ryoko's flailing limbs.
The demoness' eyes were wide, her feline like pupils nearly invisible in their narrowed state. Mihoshi sat up suddenly; the blonde was rubbing at her still sleep logged eyes, seemingly oblivious to the chaos taking place just a few feet from her.
"Mmmm… Breakfast time Kiyone…?" She asked stupidly, possibly mistaking Ryoko's shrieks for one of her routine squabbles with Aeka.
Kiyone glared over her shoulder at her dim witted partner, her eyebrow twitching slightly in her agitation, "… You dolt! Get over here and help meeeeee!" Kiyone cried as Ryoko continued to struggle against her, the ex pirate's strength was nothing like the Galaxy Police Officer had encountered in any of her arrests… She was now quite thankful that the Statue of Limitations had given Ryoko a complete pardon, if not for that she would have had to arrest the pirate when she'd first met her. In her current position, if wouldn't have had such a good grip on the other woman's flailing arms she most likely would have already been thrown to the other side of the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry! What do I do?" Mihoshi wailed helplessly as she slowly approached the two women, Kiyone merely continued to glare at her clueless partner.
But before the blunette could insult her, the body beneath her gave a huge shutter before finally relaxing underneath her firm grip, the only sounds in the room were Ryoko's ragged breaths and Mihoshi's sniffling.
"…Ryoko?" Kiyone whispered fearfully, she was afraid to send the woman into another fit. Taking a deep breath the younger woman gently shook the ex pirate in an attempt to rouse her.
The demoness' amber eyes fluttered open after a few seconds, "…What the hell…?" She muttered, her fingers sliding through her messy mane of cyan hair as she attempted to calm her racing heart.
Kiyone sighed in relief as the realization that her friend was back to her normal self hit her in full force. Mihoshi was suddenly at her side, her big blue eyes widened with worry. "Oh Kiyone, are you alright? You're bleeding!" Her partner cried, tears streaming down her tan cheeks.
Kiyone blinked and gently rubbed just underneath her throbbing nose, during her violent thrashing Ryoko had managed to give the blunette a rather sound clobbering to the face. When she retracted her hand and examined her now blood coated fingers the remaining color fled from her horrified face.
Letting out a loud shriek the young woman jumped up and ran for the door and then hurried towards the upstairs bathroom, Ryoko sat up a confused look crossing her features.
"…Did I miss something?" She asked one slender brow arched, Mihoshi turned a surprised look crossing her own features as if she was just now realizing Ryoko was in the room.
"Oh hello Ryoko-san! When did you get in here?" She asked in her normal chipper voice, the ex pirate gave her a pitying glance before teleporting to the door.
"Mmm, never mind that Mihoshi, I'm heading down to grab some grub, smells like Sasami's already got things going… Why don't you go check up on Kiyone?" She suggested making the blonde's eyes widened.
"Oh no! Kiyone! She was bleeding! Thank you Ryoko-san! I think you are right, I… Oh my, maybe I should grab bandages first… Or no, maybe get her onto Yagami… Or wait, Yukinojo could probably fix her up too…."
Ryoko shook her head and floated out into the hallway as the bumbling blonde continued to list of her options on ways to help Kiyone with her bleeding nose.
Teleporting down into the dining room Ryoko stretched, she was now wearing one of her trademark outfits, the sleek black tail twitched slightly as the inviting smells reminded her of her hunger. The feeling of "hunger" was one she would have to get accustomed to, if she let herself go too long it became almost painfully annoying.
Turning to face the table she was surprised to see that Washu was already seated, a newspaper in hand with a half empty plate before her. "You're up early daughter, what was all that screaming about? Lady Aeka isn't even up yet." The pink haired scientist said lowering her reading material to look at her daughter.
Ryoko's tail grew kinky at the question, and she averted her amber eyes from the all seeing emerald that were studying her as she took her place at the table. "It was just a nightmare, no biggie. I'm guessing it's from all these new senses ya know? I'm oversensitive at the moment so yeah." The younger woman responded a smile crossing her features; Washu shook her head sadly seeing Ryoko taking pride in such a pitiful response.
"Mmm I see," Washu said placing her small glasses into her pocket; she took note to Ryoko's wondering eyes as they moved towards the laboratory door. "Tenchi-dono already headed out into the fields, and Sesshomaru is still resting. Maybe you can get him to eat; he has no interest in coming out here or even having me bring him anything…" The scientist finished with a sigh, she took another bite of fish before continuing. "I studied his DNA a little last night before he woke up, he's a "demon" all right. "Caniscean" race, they can be found on planet K1260, ironically most of Earth's demons are 'aliens.' Seems to work out about right, at first there weren't very strict laws when it came to becoming involved with developing civilizations. Of course, now a days the laws are extremely tight, and this planet is under strict rule with the Jurai Royal family keeping such a close eye on it… For several reasons I'm guessing."
Ryoko cocked her head at the notion, but quickly brushed it off. "So he doesn't know he's an 'alien' then?" She asked twiddling her fingers on the hard wood of the table, Washu nodded.
"Quite naturally, his race has been here for many, many years. Not as long as the humans of course, but long enough that their own origins may have been lost. If they had a specific reason for leaving their planet in the first place they may have not wanted the younger generations to even know." Ryoko nodded seeing her mother's point, just then Sasami came into the room humming happily to herself as she refilled Washu's glass for her.
"Uh, wow! Hello Ryoko! Good morning, you sure are up early." The little Princess said with a warm but surprised look on her face, Ryoko chuckled slightly.
"G'morning to you too, would you mind bringing me out an extra plate for Sesshomaru? And maybe if it's alright, I'll take Tenchi's lunch out to him then…" Sasami winked at the older woman who was now staring embarrassed at the wood grain of the table as if it was the most interesting thing she'd ever laid eyes on, the Princess' grin would have put the Cheshire cat's to shame as she agreed full heartedly.
"Of course I can! I'll be right back with the food for you two, and then I'll get Tenchi's ready when it's closer to lunch time for you then." She replied before skipping back into the kitchen Ryo-Ohki hot on her heels eager for the chance to mooch a carrot off of the kind hearted young girl.
Washu smiled softly at her confused daughter, she could sense the girl's thoughts, and though she knew Ryoko didn't like it Washu would often open their link to see what she was thinking. "Ryoko… No matter what you do, understand this… There are more men out there than just Lord Tenchi; I know you care very deeply for him. And I don't doubt that he does have some feelings for you but… You can't wait forever, that just isn't fair." The elder woman said, and despite her smaller form she suddenly seemed so much wiser than she usually did.
Not only was she a genius, she was a mother, and a woman who had lived through quite a bit. She'd lived through good times, bad times, victories, losses…. And births and deaths, and Ryoko could feel her experience in her voice. She hadn't heard her speak so seriously, not since Taro and her whole speech about how she'd once had a baby, and a husband…
A family, a family… Though Ryoko would never outright admit it to anyone she loved the thought of being a mother, the chance to give a child the life she'd been deprived of and to share her life with a man she truly loved. But it seemed with the way things were going that she would have to wait quite a bit longer before anything like that would happen.
Smiling softly she grasped Washu's small hand tightly with her own, much to the genius' surprise, "…Thanks mom." She said in a tone that she rarely used with the other woman, it was not far from the one she used so often when she and Tenchi shared a tender moment….
'Tenchi.' Ryoko thought her smile quickly faltering; she didn't want to lie…. She did have feelings for this other man, and with the way Tenchi had been responding to her lately why shouldn't she try? She'd waited loyally for him, a powerful, beautiful and intelligent ex pirate… Renown through out the universe as one of the most powerful beings to ever exist and he wouldn't even give her a try?
Washu shook her head with a quiet chuckle, their special moment may have been short lived but she sure as hell wasn't ever going to forget that. And deciding that she wanted to say one more thing before she let Ryoko off the hook, she reminded her daughter of her prescence by giving her hand a small squeeze.
"….I'm glad you were born my daughter and no one else's, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you when you needed me the most. But I promise I will support you from her on out, whatever you choose to do. Just make sure you're true to yourself, or you'll end up like me… I let my love get away, and with him went my child, and if I could go back I wouldn't let him leave…" She said with a sad smile, Ryoko blinked as she was brought back into the dinning room in time for her mother's last comment.
Grabbing her glass and downing its contents Washu then rose from her spot, and brushed a few stray crumbs from her Space Academy shirt, "I'll go check on Kiyone and make sure her nose is ok… You gave her quite the beating, and oh, don't worry… I didn't access your dream, but if you want I can analyze it then." Ryoko shook her head with a chuckle, but for once she wasn't mad at Washu for reading her mind.
She watched as the scientist made her way towards the stairs before turning back to stare at her hands, she sat there for several moments just mulling over the many thoughts moving through her mind.
"Ryoko-chan! Here you go, Washu told me that Sesshomaru likes more meat type foods so I prepared that one for him and this one is yours, I made them in bento boxes so you can carry them into the lab easier. Plus if he's not hungry right now then we can always just refrigerate it."
Ryoko smiled as she accepted the two bento boxes from Sasami, "Thanks, do you and Ryo-Ohki want to come in and say hi too? Or well… Maybe it would be better to wait a bit, he's still being a bit temperamental, but I think he's just being difficult because he's not familiar with us and our home yet." She finished ruffling Sasami's hair gently then her free hand, the Princess chuckled slightly readjusting her bands and smiled.
"It's ok, I understand. I'm sure you'll introduce me to him later." She said before once again skipping back into the kitchen, but this time rather than follow the young girl Ryo-Ohki snuck into the laboratory behind Ryoko. The smell of carrots in her bento was too enticing for the little cabbit to ignore.
Sesshomaru grit his teeth his claws digging into the metal of the machine around him, his acid was beginning to drip from his claws bringing a loud hissing noise into the room. Sweat covered his already dirty brow in a light sheen; his dreams were haunted by the figure of Naraku…. Rin lay dead in his arms, and he was on the brink of death himself, the young girl's eyes were open and staring lifelessly into his own. And for the first time in his life he felt grief, pure grief… Over the loss of a human, how ironic was that? The child had affected him so deeply; perhaps this was how his father had felt….
Suddenly, much to the Tai Youkai's relief, the scene before him evaporated into the cold machinery and empty silver walls that was Washu's laboratory. He could hear a woman's voice, that woman's voice. He sat up to glare at her; she was currently kneeling with her back to him. A meowing could be heard from the other side of her, he guessed that she had some sort of cat demon with her.
"…Here you little rat, now go on… Get, shoo! Ryo-Ohki! Ugh, I've got to tell Sasami to stop spoiling you so much…. Oh! I'm sorry did we wake you?" Ryoko asked noticing Sesshomaru's attentive form. Ryo-Ohki peeked out from around her master's leg and upon seeing the strange man she 'popped' into her toddler form and shyly clung to Ryoko's arm.
Sesshomaru watched the child, the two females before him both had cyan hair, only the smaller one had a shocking mane of wild dark brown hair going down the center of her head. He noticed the two boxes that the elder one held under her arm, she rose to her full height her free hand clutching the smaller girl's tightly.
"Here, I brought you some food. Washu helped our cook get some ideas for stuff that you would be interested in eating… Well possibly interested." Ryoko said extending the blue box out towards him, heaving a sigh Sesshomaru took the box from her. Taking note to the blush that crossed her slightly tanned cheeks as his long fingers brushed her own.
He opened the container and was met with a delicious aroma, there was grilled eel and some teriyaki steak as well as various other fish, the demon calmly took up the chopsticks from within the box and after positioning it correctly on his lap began to eat slowly. Ryoko snapped her fingers and the comfy chair she'd sat in only a day earlier reappeared, she took a seat before setting in on her own food. "…So how are you feeling?" She asked softly, admiring her food rather that raising her eyes to meet his following her question.
Normally the demon lord would have ignored the question, but this woman was slowly earning his respect. He had surprised himself when he'd taken the food she'd offered him so easily, he had told himself it was because he had just seen that dream where the young Rin had lain dead in his arms. Connecting this meal to the one she'd offered him when she found him injured out in the woods just outside her village.
"…I'm feeling much better." He said in a calm voice, watching her as she continued to slowly ingest her food. Ryoko slowly raised her eyes to meet his; she chuckled slightly bringing a deep frown to his face.
"What is it about this Sesshomaru that makes you laugh so?" He growled falling back into his aloof speech pattern; Ryoko struggled to quell her laughter to keep from breaking his trust.
"…You need to get cleaned up; your hair is so dirty that it's sticking up at odd angles. It's almost as bad as mine!" She joked with a nervous laugh, his frown deepened as she struggled to keep from mocking him further.
"Fine then wench, you shall clean this Sesshomaru up." He growled placing his chopsticks back into the now empty box; Ryoko's giggles stopped instantly and she raised her eyes again slowly to meet his.
"Say what?"
Bwahahaha! coughs He can be so bad… Damn, I may have to draw that scene. Lol Anyway, so anyone who pays any attention to what I say at the end of these is probably wondering what happened to the fun, light happy story I said this was going to be… Sorry I lied, for some odd reason I've been in a foul mood lately, going back and forth from depressed to extremely pissed off, and its been having an affect on both my artwork and my writing… Anyway, so, do you like it more in the Tenchi POV? Or should I do a chapter that's mainly the Inu cast? Hmm in any case, please, please, please review? D,: