Chapter 15
Breakfast was enjoyable, not just because of the delicious food Sasami had prepared, but mainly due to the tension of the last couple of days having vanished; Aeka had obviously come out of her funk concerning Tenchi and Ryoko, making her acceptance official when she apologized to everyone for her 'unseemly' behavior. They forgave her immediately and all agreed to put it behind them. She told them of her upcoming visit to Jurai, promising to return in a month or two. She also informed them of Sasami's decision to stay behind – much to the happiness of both the remaining household members as well as their taste buds.
The conversation after that was a mixture of anecdotes, banter, teasing and counter-teasing shared by all at the table. Near the end of the meal, Sasami mentioned that Aeka had helped her prepare the meal that everyone had obviously enjoyed, eliciting a look of surprise on quite a few faces, the most animated being that of Ryoko.
"Aeka asked me to show her some things about cooking and she's going to help me… well mostly after she gets back from Jurai," said the little princess.
Tenchi smiled, saying, "That's great, Aeka, I'm sure you'll be a big help to Sasami." Then he turned to his girlfriend and with a big smile and expectant eyes, tinged with a bit of mischief, asked, "Isn't that great, Ryoko?"
Knowing exactly what Tenchi was doing and realizing she was trapped, Ryoko glared back at him, saying, "Yeah… great." She heard a slight cackle at the other end of the table, and instantly targeted the diminutive red haired culprit with her most intense death stare. Her mother's cackling immediately stopped, but Ryoko could see that she was now stifling giggles; as a matter of fact all those except Sasami and Mihoshi were in the same predicament, including Tenchi.
Hoping to somehow come out on top of this, Ryoko's expression changed to her most genuine-looking smile and said to Sasami, "Hey kiddo, I'm interested in your cooking class too, you know. Maybe I can learn some stuff and give you a hand while your sister's off getting waited on hand and foot on Jurai." When all else fails, she thought, stick it to the princess. She was rewarded with a slight scowl by Aeka, making her feel a little better.
"Sure, Ryoko," Sasami agreed, beaming a smile. "This should be fun."
Even Ryoko found that she wasn't immune to the infectious smile given her by the little chef. Maybe this won't be so bad after all, she thought. I like food and spending time with Sasami. Most of all it will please Tenchi… and that can't be nothing but good. This evoked a real smile, which she directed toward her little-sister-like friend. "I think so too," she agreed.
The remainder of the meal was uneventful, except for the occasional quick sinister side glance Ryoko would throw Tenchi's way. He picked up on them thinking, Yeah, I'm probably a dead man… but it was worth it.
After the meal, the elders – Yosho, Washu, and Nobuyuki who had the day off – departed, leaving the young folk to do the clean-up, which went quickly. With that finished, everyone went off in different directions and Ryoko and Tenchi found themselves alone. She was standing there, her arms crossed, head cocked to one side, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
He walked up to her, sweating a little, and asked, "Do I get a blindfold and a cigarette?"
"You don't smoke," she replied bluntly.
"A blindfold then, at least?"
Ryoko slowly shook her head. "I want you to see it coming."
She closed the remaining distance between them and, gently grabbing his face with her hands, planted a deep loving kiss on Tenchi's lips. Then she punched him in the shoulder, hard enough to sting.
"Jerk."
He replied with a big grin, taking her in his arms, ignoring the slight pain.
"Stop doing that," she ordered with a half-smile. "I wanna be mad at you."
He now warmly smiled at her. "No, you don't," he said, looking into her golden eyes.
Her feigned anger melted away under the gaze of those soft brown eyes. Ryoko couldn't help but look lovingly at her Tenchi.
"Wanna go for a walk?" he asked.
For the second time today, Tenchi and Ryoko left the house, this time together. The sun was brightly shining and it had warmed up a bit; at least Tenchi was warmer than he had been earlier in his pajamas.
They walked around the periphery of the lake, hand in hand, towards the shrine, passing the tree, Funaho, along the way. They walked without conversation through the silent snow covered ground. Ryoko soon realized that Tenchi was leading them to the cave entrance, the path all too familiar to her. When it looked like he was about to lead them inside, Ryoko stopped abruptly, forcing Tenchi to stop as well.
"Do you want to go in there?" she asked dubiously. Going back in there was not high on her list of things to do that day or, for that matter, any day. I've spent enough time in there, thank you very much, she thought. Now he was guiding them in.
He looked at her with purpose. "Yes, I do," he answered. "It'll be okay. I promise it'll be worth it."
She could see his determination for them to enter, plain on his face. "This isn't one of my favorite places, you know."
"I know," he admitted. "It has a lot of bad memories for you." He smiled. "I'm hoping to change that."
She still seemed a little hesitant, but started to move anyway. "You better be next to me the whole time," she warned.
"I will, I promise."
"Okay…" she responded, her voice betraying her nervousness.
They walked up to the old metal gate, locked with a padlock and chain. On the ground, in front of the gate was a relatively new electric lantern.
"When did that get there?" she asked indicating the lantern.
"This morning when I put it there," he confessed. "It'll all make sense; just trust me for now."
She looked surprised but didn't say anything. What is he up to? she thought.
Tenchi reached into his pocket and pulled out a very old key. He looked at her, holding it up. "I've kept it, this whole time," he said with a smile, and proceeded to unlock the gate. It squealed in rusty defiance, but easily gave way to his efforts. He picked up the lantern and turned it on. He then held out his hand, which she took.
He led her down the path until they reached the antechamber where the Tenchi-ken had once kept Ryoko asleep until he had removed it, unknowingly setting her free.
This was the first time that Ryoko had seen this room with her own eyes, having only seen it in her astral form in times prior. Even after her release, she had not see it in person as she had teleported directly outside in search of Tenchi.
He set down the lantern and moved over to a rock that had been split down the middle, its halves tied together with a very old rope. He removed the rope, separating the halves, causing a large rock to lower in the center and the back wall to open up. He picked up the lantern and again offered her his hand which she gripped tightly. He led her through the gap in the wall.
"Watch out for the floor," he warned. "It's pretty steep. I wouldn't want you to fall."
Smiling for the first time since entering, she said, "That's okay. I got this." She then teleported with Tenchi in tow to the bottom of the ramp.
"That was a lot easier than the last time I was here," he muttered, not quite low enough for Ryoko to miss.
"You fell, didn't you?" she asked with a smirk.
He gave her an embarrassed grin. "More like slid all the way down and landed in a heap here at the bottom." Not wanting to focus on his past klutziness, he led her forward to the center of the chamber. Ryoko felt an involuntary chill as memories threatened to make themselves known. She held them back focusing on her beloved, trusting in his motives.
Tenchi understood that he had to work quickly as to cause her as little anxiety as possible. He set down the lantern, and moved over to Ryoko, facing her, taking her by her shoulders and maneuvered her into place.
Standing in front of her he cleared his throat and began, hiding his nervousness as best he could. "Okay," he said. "I brought you here for a couple of reasons. The first one is that I've owed you something since I met you. Something that you rightfully deserved to have, but didn't get because I acted like a scared little kid. We're here, right now, so I can pay that debt."
He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply, passionately; the kiss lasting longer than any of their previous kisses. Ryoko's uneasiness with the cave vanished as she lost herself to the kiss. When they finally parted lips, she felt light headed, needing a moment to gather her wits. Tenchi appeared to be in a similar condition.
"Debt paid," she murmured almost drunkenly, with an accompanying smile.
He smiled at her, softly stroking her cheek.
"So what's the other reason we're here?" she asked him, after recovering.
Her question heralded the return of the eagles in his stomach, as his nervousness hit its peak. He stepped back, taking her hands in his, to help quell it, only partially succeeding. He took a deep breath.
"Remember when I had that talk with dad yesterday?"
"Yeah," she said, with a nod.
"We talked about a few things… important things. He told me about how happy he and Mom had been, but that he would have given anything to have more time together. He told me the worst thing to do is waste time, because you can't ever get it back."
He paused to take another big breath, and then continued. "I wasted all that time trying to decide how I felt about you, when I should have known all along. What almost happened to you this morning convinced me that I can't afford to waste another second."
He let go of her hands and he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his mother's ring; the light from the lantern caught the facets of the diamond, causing Ryoko's eyes to go wide, for her to let out a huge gasp, and then quickly bring up her hands to her mouth.
Tenchi continued on, encouraged by her reaction. "Dad gave me this. It was my Mom's engagement ring. He said I should give it to the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." He knelt down on a knee; she let out a squeal that she barely held back with both her hands. Her eyes immediately filled to overflowing, as she stared at him. He held up the ring to her.
"Ryoko Hakubi, will you marry me?"
Ryoko, afraid to move for fear of waking from what she feared was only a magnificent dream, took her hands away from her mouth long enough to utter a quick and meek "Yes."
He smiled and stood up reaching for her left hand; she quickly presented it to him. He held it and slipped the ring onto her finger. It was almost a perfect fit. Thank goodness for that, Tenchi thought. He looked at his fiancée; she was a vision, even with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Ryoko gazed at the ring with wonder and then looked up, giving him an amazing smile. She threw her arms around him and laughed, "Oh, Tenchi!"
Down in her lab, Washu, having received all of her daughter's unblocked thoughts and feelings, was crying her own joyful tears. She had never felt this much pure happiness emanate from Ryoko, which she, of course, now shared. Not wanting to disturb her daughter in her moment of jubilation, she thought only to herself, Oh Ryoko. I'm so proud and happy for you my little one.
In the cave, her daughter held on to her new fiancé, laughing and crying all at once, lost in her elation. She would hold him close, then pull away slightly to shower him with kisses, then hold him close again, repeating the process over and over. Tenchi was enjoying the moment as well, happy that he hadn't made a mess of the proposal, as well as seeing Ryoko this ecstatic. All the kisses didn't hurt either.
When she had finally settled down enough, he gently leaned back and reached up to wipe away her tears. "You're beautiful," he said with a warm smile.
Ryoko chuckled, and looked back at him with her own smile. "I'm a mess," she stated, sniffling.
"Yeah," he agreed, "But you're a beautiful mess. He moved in close and kissed her, tasting the salt of her joyful tears on her lips. He pulled back to look into her amber eyes.
She caressed his cheek, looking at her future husband; her smile and eyes obtaining a dreamy quality.
"What are you thinking?" he asked seeing her expression.
"I'm thinking about the future I thought I'd never have… or deserve," Ryoko answered. "I almost can't believe it." She looked at him seriously. "Don't wake me up if this is a dream, Tenchi. Let me sleep."
Tenchi laughed, "We're both awake. This is very real. I doubt if I'd have been that nervous just dreaming it," he admitted.
She smiled in agreement, "Well nervous or not, you did great."
He smiled warmly at her compliment and then asked, "Do you feel a little better about the cave now?"
"Well I still hate it..." Ryoko confessed. "But now I love it too." She gave him a shrug and a grin, "I'm complicated."
He chuckled.
She looked at him and asked, "Can we get out of here now?"
"Sure," he said with another chuckle, picking up the lantern. She kissed him and they teleported out of the cave, reappearing near the front door of the house.
"That sure does come in handy," Tenchi told her, receiving a smile in return. Then Ryoko could sense his mood shift just a little as he said, "I guess we should tell everybody now." She knew what he was thinking and who he was thinking about when he said it.
She reassured him; "She'll be okay Tenchi, especially if I talk to her about it… and I PROMISE that is all we're gonna do." She looked at him with a serious expression, "I trusted you about the cave. Now trust me about this."
Not sure how convinced he was, he nevertheless nodded his head and smiled.
They went into the house together, finding most of the family, save Yosho and Washu, in the living room as they left the entrance hallway. Ryoko turned and smiled and ported away ending up behind Aeka, who was sitting on the couch next to Sasami. He saw Ryoko lean down and speak to the princess, who looked up and smiled. After a moment, Aeka nodded her head and rose from her seat. She walked with Ryoko; they were talking as they moved off towards the foot of the other set of stairs. Tenchi made his way to the living room ending up standing behind the couch. He exchanged greetings with everyone there, then glanced back to the two women. Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, he could plainly see the expressions on their faces; Ryoko's had an almost casual, hopeful demeanor, whereas the princess exhibited curiosity.
In a moment he saw a change in Aeka, going from curiosity to surprise... followed by a painful look in her eyes. He felt a tightness in his stomach and worried about both Aeka and her reaction to what she was being told. He subconsciously held his breath, half-waiting for an explosion.
It never came.
Aeka's expression again changed, now showing a slight smile, even through the pain. She said something to Ryoko who responded by presenting her left hand, obviously showing her the ring. He watched the princess examine it, saw her say the word "beautiful" and then briefly took both of Ryoko's hands in hers. He saw Ryoko smile and then her "grin" appeared as she said something else to Aeka. The princess looked as if she was considering something then nodded, smiling. Ryoko returned the smile, said something briefly and then popped over to Tenchi.
"Everything's fine," she told him with a big smile. Then, with a twinkle in her eyes, she said, "Aeka and I are going to the onsen to have a little "liquid" therapy."
Tenchi smiled back and nodded, understanding the double meaning in her words. "You okay with me telling the rest of them?"
"Sure, go ahead." Glancing back at Aeka, she informed him, "She and I have important things to... discuss." She gave him that grin he so adored.
He chuckled, saying, "You two go enjoy yourselves then."
"Oh we will," she responded. Giving him a peck on the cheek, she popped back over to Aeka and grabbed her hand. They disappeared together.
He turned, still smiling, and headed around the couch to tell the others the good news.
