A/N: I'm aware that the way I'm using Ryoko's tail isn't at all the same as in the original anime or manga (as just a dress accessory for certain ones she wears). I just thought it would be cool to actually make it a part of her and reacts according to her mood :) Also, sorry for the wait! Here's a new chapter!
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Chapter Three
"The Protector, The Princess and The Priestess"
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"Tenchi?" Ryoko landed from a hover in front of the door she believed to be Tenchi's, the boy she had loved after only moments of meeting him. It took her some time but now, she realized that she and Tenchi Masaki were never destined to be together in the way she longed for many years ago. She had a duty to be by his side in a different way- as his protector. She still loved him, of course, but in another manner.
Ryoko looked down at the ruby gem in her left wrist, a reminder that the other two she needed to unleash her true power were in Tenchi's care, embedded in the hilt of his energy sword that he used for protection when she wasn't around. The memories of her conversing with Tenchi about giving up the gems to her flooded her mind. She was furious and frustrated because he had refused on more than one occasion while he stayed calm. Somehow, he managed to convince her that it would be best that he kept them in order to grow into a man who could protect himself and to keep Ryoko intact with her sanity. If Ryoko had all of the gems in her possession, she would lose herself and be consumed by power, killing anybody who stood in her way or who she saw fit, Tenchi being no exception. She wasn't spiritually strong enough to handle all of the power the gems held.
Though, she believed her will to be strong enough that she wouldn't ever harm Tenchi and she would protect him until his dying days. Unfortunately, Tenchi still refused to give them to her, fearing for his life and those around him and more importantly that he would lose her. As a result, Ryoko gave in but made a pact with him. In exchange for him keeping the gems, he had to let her protect him for the rest of his life. Tenchi pondered, not really thinking it would be a good idea, seeing as how Ryoko would go overboard with protection in the worst way, but he knew her offer was sincere and that it was obvious she'd give her own life to keep him alive, and so he agreed. Either way, with any of the gems in his possession, he and Ryoko were bound together for life.
Ryoko's gem made her wrist pulse and she looked at the door in front of her. "He's gotta be in here." She tapped twice and noticed it shift inwards. She tapped two more times and pushed it all the way open. "Tenchi-ah! Ayeka, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
A girl with pink eyes and long purple hair separated into two low ponytails turned to the doorway of the room with a mischievous smile on her face. Her hands were on Tenchi's shoulders, massaging them in a seductive manner.
Tenchi opened his dark brown eyes and followed Ryoko's voice. "Oh, good afternoon, Ryoko."
"Hey, Tenchi. Ayeka, what are you doing?" Ryoko stomped up to them and rushed her greeting and repeated her question to Ayeka.
"Why, Ryoko, I'm relieving Tenchi of his stress." Ayeka answered, stopping her massage but keeping her hands in place. "He was rather tense so early in the day and I would hate for it to have gotten any worse." She cackled.
Ryoko growled. "Why, you..." She grabbed Ayeka's wrists and they wrestled over Tenchi's head.
"Hey, let go!"
"You keep your hands off of Tenchi, you hear me? Better yet, stay away from him!"
"You are not my mother or father nor are you a high rank official aboveme in the Jurai Family! I'll do as I please!"
Tenchi stood from his desk chair and held his palms up at both girls. "Ladies, please. Ryoko, would ya cut it out?" He begged.
Ryoko.
Ryoko gasped as a string of energy shot through her body and she heard her name being said softly by a deep voice in her head. She instantly calmed down and a shiver crept through her body. She growled again and gave Ayeka's wrists one last squeeze before she let go.
"Fine." She frowned. "Tenchi, I only came to check on you to make sure everything was okay. Are you all set for classes?"
Tenchi nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine and ready for the new quarter."
"Why so tense so early in the day?" She stared him down and tried to get an honest answer out of him.
"I've been training hard with Grandpa Yosho over the summer so I can get stronger. I guess my body is just now feeling some of the effects." He put a hand to the back of his neck.
Ryoko stared at him a bit longer. "You better not be up to anything." She pointed. "I'll get you some money and a membership at the spa I go to. I don't want this crummy princessputting her hands on you anymore." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Ayeka.
"Just who do you think you're calling crummy, you mummy?"
Ryoko winced and before she could retaliate, Tenchi objected to her offer. "There's no need for that, Ryoko. Thanks, but no thanks."
Ryoko.
There was the deep voice again and this time it was more demanding, making her shivers almost melt her body. "You'll thank me later, Tenchi. Go and have some lunch."
"I was going to head there now, actually."
Ryoko nodded. "Ayeka, get lost. I gotta go." She took a step towards the door and disappeared into thin air.
Ryoko appeared on the door step of a beautiful two-story home in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Instead of teleporting inside like she'd always do, she'd spare scaring the hell out of the hanyou on the other side who, like Sango, wasn't used to that aspect of her powers yet. She chuckled at the thought and kicked herself. She could use a laugh but she had already been standing there too long- he had more than likely already picked up on her scent.
"Yo," Ryoko entered the house, kicking her shoes off at the door. She'd usually keep them on, not used to the common "manners" of entering houses in Japan, but she had respect for the demons that lived in this home.
Making her way to the kitchen, she spotted a human girl with long black hair and pale skin relaxing on the couch in the living room, watching TV.
"Hello, Ryoko."
"Kikyo." Ryoko greeted in a bored voice. She and the powerful priestess sharing the room with her had had a few disputes in the past and Ryoko had already decided that she wasn't one of her favorite people to be around. She put up with Kikyo for the sake of her boyfriend's younger brother, whom she was very fond of and had a close relationship with. "Wonder if they got any Sake in here? I could use a drink." Ryoko opened a cabinet and pulled out a shot glass.
"Fresh bottle right here." A voice said behind her. "What's up, Ryoko?" The person reached below into a cabinet near the entrance of the kitchen.
"What's up, Inuyasha? How's your day been? Want a shot?" Ryoko offered with a smile.
Inuyasha's own golden eyes narrowed at her. "You know I hate Sake."
"Aw, come on, it's just one little shot." She pressured him. "For your big sis, please." Her tail popped up and Inuyasha took notice of it.
"You always do this." He sighed, giving in.
"And you do have the right to say no." Kikyo approached the kitchen counter, resting her bare arms on top. She wore a pale pink shirt that showed off some of her curves and a pair of grey skinny jeans.
"And youalways try to ruin the fun. Inuyasha's an adult. He can handle these things, right?" Ryoko sang her last word and turned back to the hanyou who had fetched a shot glass for himself.
Inuyasha pulled on the bottom of his fitted white t-shirt that caressed his biceps to keep it from rising above his waist line. He was lounging around in a pair of red sweat pants and some white socks. "It's alright, Kikyo. I don't really mind."
"There you go. Here's to a new school semester, eh?" Ryoko poured them Sake and thoughtfully asked Kikyo if she wanted any- even though she didn't want to. The pale girl had always annoyed her in some sort of way. She shrugged when Kikyo declined and clinked glasses with Inuyasha and they both downed their drinks. "Ah, that hit spot."
"Disgusting." Inuyasha shook his head and put his glass in the sink, his long silver hair flowing with his motions and his dog ears flattening against his head.
"You took it like a man, though!" She slapped him on the back, causing him to cough a few times. "I'll take this." She took the bottle of Sake and her shot glass and bid farewell to the young couple and skipped up the stairs.
She walked down the long hallway to the right and right through the last door on the left, Sesshomaru suddenly coming into view. "You called?"
The silver-haired demon shifted his gaze from the flat screen TV hanging on his wall to the curvy woman standing at the door. "So, you did hear me?"
Ryoko smirked at him. He was relaxed as always. He was propped up on some pillows so he could see over his right knee that was raised up beside his extended left leg. He wore a fitting white t-shirt similar to Inuyasha's, light grey sweat pants and white socks. Ryoko's eyes ran along his jaw line and the patterns of the purple scars on his cheeks were once again etched into her mind, along with the dark purple crescent moon in the middle of his forehead that was peeking from his bangs.
"You're getting better at this telepathy thing, I must admit. I've taught you well." She walked over to his nightstand on the right side of his large bed and helped herself to another shot before sitting the Sake and glass down.
"Yet, I had to call you twice." He focused back on his TV.
Ryoko gave a soft laugh and pulled her dress up to her thighs and mounted the dog yokai, blocking his view of the TV and forcing his knee down so she could be comfortable. "I was checking on Tenchi and Ayeka was in his dorm room."
She looked down at her left wrist and squeezed her hand into a fist, causing her gem to glow and pull itself out of her skin. She took it between two fingers and placed it by her left ear, turning it into an earring. Though he didn't look it, Sesshomaru was still a bit infatuated by Ryoko's powers. It was her honest and outgoing nature, her strength and the mystery of her powers that had attracted him in the first place. Their first meeting was in battle with each other and of course he didn't dare speak on his curiosity. Sometime afterwards, she approached him and struck conversation like they hadn't had a dangerous fight and he figured since she could do that, he could talk back to her and not be cold-hearted like usual.
Sesshomaru removed his right arm from behind his head and retrieved something from the drawer of his nightstand. "Don't you need these?" He pulled two gems similar to the first one of hers from a small box and placed them in her hand.
She shrugged. "Not really. They don't hold the true power the real gems do. I only made them to balance out my powers for convenience. I haven't summoned any demons lately." She put them back in the drawer and closed it. "I met my roommate. Kagome Higurashi. Junior. Priestess. She looks an awful lot like Kikyo."
Sesshomaru idly placed his hands on Ryoko's hips and she responded by caressing his biceps and forearms, playing with strands of his long silver hair he and his half-brother inherited from their father. "Let's not let Inuyasha hear you say that. Or Kikyo."
Ryoko shrugged again. "She has the same Chem class as me too. Said she'll help me study so I can pass and be able to move into my suite by the time winter break is here."
"I hope so." He narrowed his amber eyes at her, something else he and Inuyasha shared with their father.
She shrunk under his gaze and her tail reacted as well by trying to wrap around her waist, but over-lapped Sesshomaru's hands in the process. "Don't look at me like that. I'm gonna pass this time." She removed herself from his lap long enough to take two more shots then claimed her spot again. "Ya know, you made my body shiver something crazy when you called me earlier." She confessed.
"Is that so?" He smirked with satisfaction, intertwining her tail between his clawed fingers. He was the type to never smile and the fact that Ryoko could even get him to do so said a lot about the type of person she was to him. She touched parts of his emotions and soul that nobody else even knew existed.
"Mhm..." She nodded. She pulled her tail back and it waved in a slow motion behind her. "I wanna play." She suddenly said.
"Play what?"
"Cops and Robbers."
Sesshomaru let a small laugh slip, entertained by her childish behavior. The Sake was taking its effects on her and she let it. He knew she could stay sober if she wanted by dissolving the alcohol in her blood stream and could even control her level of intoxication. He didn't know how many shots she had when she first arrived, but she had taken three in his presence and that was enough.
"While my brother and his girlfriend are here?"
Ryoko gave a soft frown. "Who cares?" She glanced around the room. "Where's that imp of yours?"
"I sent Jaken to run some errands for me. He'll be gone for a while."
"Hm. So, what do you say?" She challenged him, starting to grip his neck.
Sesshomaru quickly grabbed both her wrists and pinned them to her sides. "I'll be the cop." A small smile tugged at his lips and Ryoko's just the same.