Ryoko felt the side of a finger brush the tear off her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Yuki Nagato kneeling over her, studying the drop of salty water as if it were a new, yet to be discovered, element.

"Abort deletion protocol," Nagato said coldly.

Ryoko blinked through pained foggy eyes, a confused expression on her face.

"You were very resourceful," Nagato said with a nod of respect. "Your escape route was clear. Yet you chose to return... to give your life for this human's."

Ryoko did not speak, her breathing now too shallow to allow it.

Nagato placed her hand on Ryoko's forehead; "Initiate data inspection protocol." Nagato's eyes went clear as she rummaged through the memories in Ryoko's head, experiencing them as if they were her own.

Nagato looked up with a start. "In the cabin. You saved the girl's life." Then, after several seconds of scanning, she looked toward the place where the Taro's television once stood. "You were attacked and damaged, yet you chose to spare your assailant's life." She turned her gaze to the corner; at Taro who was still lying unconscious on the bed. She slowly turned her eyes toward what was left of the studio, now decimated, seeing it through Ryoko's eyes as if it were still there. Nagato removed her hand from Ryoko's forehead and dropped it to her side.

"The two of you…," she said softly, "you need each other."

Nagato stood up and put out her arms. "Reconstruct enclosed data space reflecting time coordinates minus eight two seven." In response to her command, it seemed as if a tornado hit the inside of the room, flinging matter and data around randomly in a swirl of fine particles, until the room slowly morphed into it's previous undamaged state.

With the girder and concrete chunks now restored to the ceiling, Ryoko Asakura rolled onto her back, her body still battered and bloody; most of its major bones shattered, coughing blood out of her mouth.

"Reconstruct data entity Ryoko Asakura reflecting time coordinates minus three three five, filter two one alpha."

Ryoko could feel herself being restored. Within seconds she was as good as new, though she felt slightly different cerebrally. Nagato extended her hand and helped Ryoko sit up.

"Please forgive my intrusion."

Without another word, Nagato turned and walked toward the front door. She opened it and closed it shut behind her.

Haruhi Suzumiya burst through the SOS club room door. "CHECK THIS OUT!" Haruhi's shout startled the club's calm members. "You gotta check out the cover of this week's ARTery magazine!"

While exploring the museum, Haruhi had filled out a courtesy card entitling her to a free one year's subscription to the Art District's "The Main ARTery" magazine. Today, her first issue arrived.

Koizumi raised his eyebrows. "I must admit, the person on the cover looks very familiar."

"Duh! Yeah!" Haruhi shouted. "It's Ryoko Asakura!"

Mikuru Asahina's eyes grew wide with shock as she scanned the cover. "She's naked!"

Kyon snatched the magazine from Haruhi's hands. He studied the image. It was a bright colorful painting of a very pretty long haired girl, who was sitting and facing the artist; her head tilted to the side, a happy genuine smile lighting up her face. The model's legs, adorned by a pair of knee-high square-patterned socks, were pulled up to her body and crossed at the ankles hiding both her breasts and lower private regions. In large letters at the top was the heading "Meet The City's Hot New Artists". At the bottom it read, "Taro Shinjyo", and below that, the title of his painting, "Flannel Socks".

"She's not naked," Kyon joked. "She's got socks on."

"Oh come on, Mikuru. She's not really naked," Haruhi said as she looked over Kyon's shoulder at the magazine. "Well she is, actually, but it's all hidden by her legs... very tastefully."

"The image depicts 'implied nudity'," Koizumi said. "I believe that is the technical term for it."

Kyon leafed through the magazine to the Hot New Artists article. "It's not Ryoko Asakura. Ryoko Asakura is a high school student studying somewhere in Canada. This is the artist's wife." He moved his finger down the page. "It doesn't say what her name is, though. She's probably not nearly as good looking in real life. That's what good artists do. They know how to make things and people look beautiful."

Haruhi shrugged. "You may be right. It is just a painting. And Ryoko Asakura was really attractive." She sat on the table facing Kyon. "I bet this girl is related, though. Maybe a cousin or an older sister."

Kyon focused on the cover again. "You gotta admit, this painting is really hot!"

Haruhi snatched the magazine from Kyon's hands, walked it to the back of the room, and slammed it face down on her desk. She glared at Kyon, who reclined back in his seat with a small smile.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

"I'll get it," said Taro. He walked through the exit and jogged down the steps. When he arrived at the bottom, he pressed down on the handle and pushed open the main door. Taro did a double-take when he saw who stood before him.

"Hello," said the guy standing on his welcome mat. "Yuki Nagato told me I would be able to find you here. I wanted to apologize in person for my outburst at the gallery a few weeks ago."

Taro moved sideways and waved him forward. "Come on in, Kyon! I'm glad you came to visit."

"You know who I am?" Kyon stepped through the door.

"Of course I do! Follow me." Taro turned and trotted up the stairs. A surprised Kyon followed Taro.

After stepping through the door leading to the building's top floor, Kyon did a quick scan of the area. Back in the corner, he took note of Taro's studio. The outline of a familiar model was taking form out of a large slab of marble. Then he turned back to the other side of the floor and scanned the living room.

He reflexively gasped when he saw her. Then he noticed the girl he was staring at looked a little pale as well.

"Kyon," she said with nervous blinking eyes.

"Ryoko Asakura," Kyon replied.

Taro patted Kyon on the back. "Not anymore. It's Ryoko Shinjyo. Come on," he waved Kyon over to the table, "let's have some tea and cake." Kyon followed him and sat down. Ryoko joined them, cautiously sitting down in the chair next to her husband.

"So Kyon," Taro said. "What's it like hanging out with aliens, espers and time travelers all day? And this girl, Haruhi Suzumiya, she sounds like a trip."

Kyon looked over at Ryoko, then back at Taro. "You know about all that stuff?"

Taro put his hand over Ryoko's. "We don't keep any secrets from each other."

"How is Miss Suzumiya, Kyon?" Ryoko asked this with a cute mischievous smile.

Kyon blushed. "Oh you know, she's the same as ever. She wanted to punch me out when she saw the way I was looking at the picture of your 'Flannel Socks' painting."

It was now Ryoko's turn to offer an embarrassed red-cheeked giggle.

And so the ice was broken...

Taro, Kyon and Ryoko enjoyed several hours of conversation and fun sharing stories about the present and the past - the good times and the not so good times. He felt right at home with his new friends. In fact, for the first time Kyon felt comfortable talking about his feelings for Haruhi Suzumiya. Ryoko had incredible insights into the emotions of a girl with supernatural powers, even a girl who wasn't aware of them.

At one point Kyon asked Ryoko, "Hey. Now that you're no longer affiliated with the Data Integration Thought Entity, are you still able to manipulate data?"

Taro answered. "When Yuki Nagato came over for a," he cleared his throat, "visit... a few weeks ago, some things got, um, rearranged." Taro shook his head. "Aw hell, I don't need to mince words around you, Kyon. These two women leveled the damn place! When Miss Nagato put everything back together afterwards, some items didn't get restored. Unfortunately my shoulder remained dislocated. And Miss Nagato erased Ryoko's data manipulation memories and skills. So I was in the hospital when I found out that an offer to purchase my entire Law and Order collection for a crazy amount of money got accepted."

"That guy still got a deal," Ryoko said with a warm smile.

Kyon turned to Ryoko. "So you're just a regular human being now, like me?"

Taro and Ryoko both unconsciously glanced over at the red video tape case still sitting on the VCR. "Let's just say… my wife is very... resourceful. That's all I'm going to say."

After finishing a couple Dominos pizzas with jalapenos and pineapple - which somehow showed up prepaid without anyone actually ordering them - Kyon felt it was a good time to go.

"I'll walk him down to the door," Ryoko told Taro.

Kyon followed Ryoko down to the ground level door, where she turned to face him. "Thanks for coming by, Kyon. It really means a lot to me." Ryoko paused for a few seconds. "I need to tell you… I mean… I want you to tell you… that… I want you to know..."

Kyon smiled and put up his hand. "Don't worry about it. You and me. We're good."

Without any warning, Ryoko stepped forward and gave Kyon a huge bone crushing bear hug… which he happily reciprocated.

When they parted several moments later, there were tears in Ryoko's eyes.

"I hope you'll come back and visit us again." Ryoko giggled sweetly. "And bring Miss Suzumiya."

Kyon smiled. "I will."

The End

Author's Notes: And the story ends. Sorry to everyone who loves author's notes. I figured the chapters were kinda short so I didn't want to muck it up with too many distractions or potential spoilers toward the end. So... where did this story come from?

Well, I was sitting there one day, watching the first four episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and I was thinking about what an interesting character Ryoko Asakura was. After all, in the first three episodes she's presented as the sweetest, most caring person in the world; so popular she's elected to be the home room president. Then out of nowhere she turns into this psycho killer in episode 4, and a pretty resourceful one at that; thwarted only by Nagato's prescient use of a detonation element.

What if Ryoko wasn't all bad?, I wondered. What if she just didn't understand? And what if, sure, she really was this sweet person that everyone saw on the surface. But she also had that scary driven edge to her, lurking just below that surface that revealed itself when circumstances warranted it.

So that was the Ryoko Asakura I imagined in this story. I hope you liked her. And Taro, too. Believe it or not, I actually had a story sitting around in the Ringu section of FF that wasn't getting any attention or love, so I pulled it and re-purposed it for this tale. That's how my OC Taro got here. I like him much better with Ryoko.

Please let me know what you think. Like most authors, I love getting feedback. If you liked, or even if you didn't like this story, please take the time to post a positive or helpful review. Thanks! - TZM