Hosted by
|
Nighttime Chat
|
|
|
These characters do not belong to me. No money is being paid to me. The Night Time Chat Ryoko yawned on her rafter. It was nighttime and she couldn't sleep. She'd usually go and watch Tenchi sleep and that would make her tired enough to sleep. About an hour before he woke up, she'd go and watch him sleep. She cradled her knees to her chest. Why did she have so many nightmares? She snorted. Kagato. Jurai. Murderer. Killer of everyone you've ever come across. Ryoko flung those memories away. It did her no good to think about that at night and would make her nightmares worse when they came. She dematerialized from the rafter and floated down to the kitchen. Ryoko would nibble at night. She couldn't turn on the TV because it would wake everyone up. She wasn't interested in reading tonight although sometimes she did settle down on the couch with a stack of comic books. She slid quietly around the kitchen, looking for something interesting. Her ears pricked up suddenly. A footstep. Coming this way. Ryoko disappeared back into the shadows, shading her eyes so she wouldn't be seen. Was it an intruder or family? **** Tenchi stretched in the dark. His stomach rumbled. He tried to walk stealthily toward the kitchen for a snack. Hopefully, no one else would hear him. He stepped into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, scanning the contents. A slither of movement caught his eye and he turned, alarmed. Seeing Ryoko's yellow eyes, he relaxed. "You couldn't sleep, either?" he whispered. She shook her head. Tenchi turned back to the refrigerator and took out some apple slices. Ryoko watched as he put the apple slices on the table. "Want to join me?" he asked, gesturing to the chair. She shook her head and walked to the cupboard. Picking up a box of graham crackers, she extracted a package and carried it to the table. They looked at each other. "Want some cocoa?" Ryoko finally offered. Tenchi looked shocked. "Sure. Did you want me-?" Ryoko shook her head. "I'll fix it." She crept toward the box in the cupboard. **** Watching Ryoko go about making cocoa, boiling water, stirring in the package, etc, he thought of how precious she was to him. The girls were all precious to him. He couldn't understand why Ayeka and Ryoko fought over him. He wasn't much to look at. He didn't do anything special. He sighed. He was expected to choose one of them. His father never let up and the way his grandfather had joined in lately was making him nervous. A hot steaming cup of cocoa was set down in front of him. Ryoko sat down after, cradling her own cup in her hands. He tentatively sipped the cocoa finding it was excellent. Ryoko snorted. "Didn't expect that I could make cocoa? I come down here often enough. I leave the cups in the sink so that I don't wake everyone up. Sasami usually beats me to washing them in the morning." Tenchi nodded. He offered Ryoko an apple slice. She accepted it gravely and offered a graham cracker in return. They both munched in relative silence. "So, why can't you sleep?" Ryoko asked. Tenchi shrugged. "I don't know. I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. It happens sometimes. Why can't you sleep?" Ryoko shrugged. "I don't need to sleep." "Then why do you?" Tenchi asked. Ryoko stared into the darkness. "It's a welcome change from the living nightmares of my memories." Tenchi almost laughed at the statement, but he saw how concerned Ryoko was. "Then why don't you talk about them? Talking about nightmares makes them go away sometimes." "Tenchi, if I talked about my nightmares, everyone in this household would have nightmares as a result." Ryoko stirred her cocoa with a spoon idly. "I've noticed that your father's been pressuring you to choose lately." Tenchi looked at his cocoa. "Yes, he has." Tenchi admitted. "I'm no closer to choosing than Ryo-ohki would be." Ryoko sighed heavily. "Ryo-ohki would choose Sasami. They're so close, I've thought of asking Washu to make me another spaceship so they could always be together." "Ryoko, that's sweet." Tenchi told her. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it." Ryoko told him with a grin. "So treat me like I'm not battling four other girls for your heart. Spill your guts." Tenchi smiled. "I can't do that." "Why not?" Ryoko said. "Or leave me out of the conversation. Just discuss the others." Tenchi shrugged. "Sure. I'm not going to hurt myself by telling you. Just don't tell Ayeka...?" Ryoko waved a hand dismissively. "Of course. Our midnight talk is ours. Won't go beyond my ears." Tenchi began. "Sasami is sweet, but she's too young for me." Ryoko nodded. "She knows that. Plus she's going to be Tsunami when she grows up and you don't know how you figure into the goddess of Jurai's plans." "Washu is..." Tenchi trailed off. "She needs someone who could devote time to her, time to love her endlessly. I can't." Ryoko tilted her head. "I can see that." "Mihoshi," Tenchi started. "You can't even begin to describe Mihoshi." "Then move on to Ayeka." Ryoko suggested, waving a graham cracker in his direction. "Ayeka is too much the princess. She'd treat me like a commoner when I made a mistake. She couldn't help it. We'd marry and be happy in our own little circle, but I'm afraid it would end." Tenchi fell silent. "Well, it looks like you'll have to fall in love with someone outside the house and bring her to meet us. Then we'll all get lost." Ryoko tried to sound as if she was being flippant, but it didn't come off just right. "I could," Tenchi looked at her indirectly, "choose you." "I thought we weren't going to mention me." Ryoko said with a dry mouth. "Why don't we just because it'll complete my thoughts." Tenchi began. "You're impetuous, startling, amorous, not afraid to show off, and the most brazen person I've ever met." "Gee, Tenchi, you really know how to flatter a girl." Ryoko said, sipping her cocoa. "On the other hand, you're in love with me." Tenchi said quietly. Ryoko valiantly swallowed the cocoa and didn't spit it out at that statement. "Yeah, everyone in the house knows that. What's your point?" She said nastily. "So I love you. You don't love me. I'm the bogeyman to the Juraians. The evil demon space pirate. I have nightmares where I can hear everyone I've killed screaming." "I don't see that." Tenchi said. "Yeah, well, you live in a dream world. You practice swordfighting with your grandfather who doesn't hurt you too badly. You have five women fighting over your love. You live on a world that is unconcerned with galactic politics." Ryoko tried to calm her voice so the other people in the house wouldn't hear her. "And it's uncomfortable with everyone trying to tell me what to do all the time." Tenchi said. "It's uncomfortable. You're uncomfortable?" Ryoko said, looking into his eyes. "Ryoko, not now. Ryoko, I'm busy. Ryoko, what are you doing in my room? Ryoko, I wasn't doing anything with Ayeka. Ryoko, don't do that. Ryoko, don't do this." She mocked. "I love you and you do nothing but shove me away." She gave him a look she had never given him before. Loathing. He recoiled from the look in her eyes. Ryoko selected a graham cracker and bit down savagely, looking away from him. "I'm sorry." Tenchi winced at his words. Even to him they sounded pitiful. "Oh, so now you're afraid of me?" Ryoko said to him. "It doesn't take much for you to see the pirate in me, does it? Ryoko is just a murderer, just see how she looked at me then." She turned to look at him. "You want to know why I'm angry right now? If I wasn't angry and being defensive and strong, I'd cry. Yes, the Dreaded Space Pirate, the Demon Ryoko, would cry like an animal. I'd howl and sob and wear myself out." She snorted and looked away. "Maybe I should indulge myself that way. I'd at least get a good night's sleep out of it." Tenchi had no idea in his head what to do. "I'm not afraid of you." He said. Ryoko lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "You're not?" she said quietly. Tenchi shook his head. "No, I'm not afraid of you. Because you're just Ryoko. This beautiful girl I freed from a cave. The woman who has fought at my side and for me. The lady who dressed in my mother's kimono and struggled to fix it because it had made me angry." Ryoko's eyes glistened. She got up from the table and ran outside near the vegetable shed. Tenchi quietly ran after her. She crouched in a corner as he entered. Her knees curled up to her chest, head down on her knees sobbing. Tenchi walked over to her and crouched down. "What's wrong?" he asked. Ryoko raised her head, tears streaking her face. "You say such lovely things." She sniffled. "You'll shove me away soon." The tears rose in her throat and she hid her head again. Tenchi pulled her toward him and she sobbed into his shirt. "Shhh. See? I pulled you toward me." He said soothingly. Ryoko grabbed handfuls of his shirt and sobbed harder. A shadow of a red-haired scientist appeared at the door. She looked worriedly to her daughter. Tenchi smiled at her. She smiled back and crept quietly away. Ryoko's tears eventually faded away. While she had been crying, Tenchi had thought of something. It was only Ryoko he could talk to like this. He had felt a 2x4 hit him in the back of the head. He loved Ryoko. He looked down at her heaving form and felt the feeling overwhelm him. Ryoko looked up at him. What was that expression on his face? Distaste? She started to get up to go away, but he held her close. "Stay," he whispered. So the two crouched there on the floor, both exhausted. "Tenchi, you should go to bed." Ryoko said. He smiled at her. "Only if you're going to go back to sleep." Ryoko sighed. "I'll have nightmares. But maybe I've worn myself out so that they'll stay away for a few hours." Tenchi tipped her chin up. "Maybe this'll make them go away." He pressed his lips to hers for a brief second. Ryoko blinked at him when they broke apart. In her emotional state, she let Tenchi walk her to the living room and bid her good night. She hopped up on the rafter and fell asleep instantly. **** Ryoko awoke in the morning, clear headed. She had actually woken up early enough to do the two cups. She smiled wistfully at them. Tenchi had kissed her last night. She signed. He would go back to normal this morning, shoving her away and he would forget all about that talk. He had only kissed her because she had been crying. Glancing at the reflection of herself in the stove, she flew to the onsen to take a quick bath before breakfast. **** Sasami got up and made breakfast. Ayeka dressed meticulously in her room, making sure that nothing was out of place. Mihoshi's alarm clock went off and she slapped it off, rolling over to go back to sleep. The second one went off and she managed to get up. Washu had been up for hours and was about to step out of the lab to go to breakfast. Tenchi was lying awake in his bed. How was he going to handle this morning? He grinned. I'm going to handle it as if everyone won't kill me. He jumped up and got dressed, whistling all the while. **** Ryoko was helping Sasami carry something heavy to the table. Ayeka had already made a sarcastic comment about it which Ryoko had ignored. Tenchi bounced down the stairs. He walked steadily up to Ryoko. Ryoko told herself not to flinch. He was going to tell everyone she cried, or tell her to leave the house, or simply not remember... Tenchi grasped both her shoulders, gave her a kiss, and said, "Good morning, love. What have you got there?" he said pointing to the dish she had just put down. "Uh," Ryoko stammered. "Rice cakes." "That sounds nice. Sasami, do you need a hand?" he asked politely. "No, Tenchi, I've got it." Sasami carried the small dish out and put it on the table. "Lord Tenchi, are you feeling well?" Ayeka asked. "Sure," Tenchi said cheerfully, "Ryoko helped me with my problems last night by talking it out. It felt like a 2x4 hit me when I realized I loved her." Ayeka smiled weakly. Ryoko looked at Tenchi like he was crazy. Then her thought process caught up with her. Tenchi had said that he loved her. Tenchi looked at her smiling. "Well?" he said. Ryoko responded with the only option left to her. "I love you, too." The family sat down to breakfast, numbly. Sasami was bubbly, Ayeka was in shock, Mihoshi was happy for the couple, Washu winked at her daughter, and Tenchi just grinned at everyone like an idiot. Ryoko was in shock through the whole meal. "Want to walk with me to the fields, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked. She nodded. **** "So I bet you're wondering why I did that." Tenchi asked. "Just walked into breakfast and kissed you." Ryoko nodded. "It's nothing for me to be ashamed of. I've done what you all wanted me to. I've chosen." He suddenly faltered. "You do love me?" Ryoko turned to look at him. "Yes." She said with complete
seriousness. "You and only you." |
|
Hosted by
|