Chapter Nineteen

"Detective First Class Kiyone, over and out."

Kiyone flipped off the intercom, letting out her breath in a rush as she contemplated the interview. It could have gone worse, she realised, a rueful expression touching her face as she sat back in her seat, drumming her fingers on Yagami's dashboard.

"I suppose I'm still lucky I haven't been demoted, and I'm not about to be thrown in a prison cell back at HQ." She mused. "He wasn't pleased...but thankfully Jurai's pressure is something the Galaxy Police find it hard to resist."

"Well?" Mihoshi poked her head around the door. "What's the story, Kiyone? Is the chief glad to hear from us or what?"

"Or what is probably the most accurate answer." Kiyone rubbed her temples. "He said that what we did...no, if I'm honest, what I did in breaking Ryoko out was vigilante and careless, and I was fortunate things had ended up the way they did. He was disappointed in me, I think. And I'm sorry, Mihoshi. My bright ideas brought you into this mess as well...you could have been in trouble too."

"Well, I wouldn't have minded." Mihoshi shrugged her shoulders in her usual happy-go-lucky way. "You're my partner, Kiyone. We do stuff together, right? Of course I was coming with you. Where else would I go?"

Kiyone sent her colleague a glance, taking in the wild blond hair, the askew Galaxy Police hat perched atop her head and the wide blue eyes that sparkled with a genuine, open warmth. Despite herself, she grinned, reaching up and grabbing the other girl by the hand.

"Yes, that's true." She agreed, shaking Mihoshi's hand firmly. "We are a team. And right now we're a team that needs to be making tracks back to HQ. We have a lot of paperwork still to write up on this whole business, and I figure if we start now, we can get back in the chief's good books by the turn of the century."

"Oh, Kiyone." Mihoshi giggled. "You're always in such a hurry. Relax, okay? We've just been catching dangerous space criminals. We need a holiday and Ayeka's wedding is not far off. We should go, don't you think? It'd be fun, and she did say she'd like us to be there."

"So she did." A thoughtful look crossed Kiyone's face. She nodded. "All right. We can't really afford to insult Jurai right at the minute, so I suppose we should stay. Since we were invited and all. Sure, Mihoshi. We'll go to the royal wedding. Maybe you're right - it could be nice to have a genuine day off for once in a while."

"I think so too." Mihoshi agreed. She stifled a yawn. "All this work is so exhausting you know, Kiyone?"

Kiyone stared at her companion for a minute. Then she burst into laughter.

"Some things never change." She said affectionately. "But I guess in your case, Mihoshi, it doesn't have to be a bad thing, huh? Come on. Let's head down to Jurai and see if there's any food going. I don't know about you, but I'm starting an appetite!"

-------------------

Freedom at last.

Ryoko pushed open the door of the Juraian chamber cautiously, glancing up and down the corridor before slipping out of the little bedroom, pushing the door shut behind her with a soft click. Washu might have taken precautions aboard Yagami to stop her from getting up, she mused, but no such tactics had been used since they had arrived on Jurai and she had been glad. Whether the Emperor did or did not review her case, she was starting to get fed up of being confined.

"Even if it's just because I got hurt, it still feels like a prison cell." She muttered, as she crept down the hallway, pausing at the end and attempting to teleport out of the complex, into the outside atmosphere. Her magic refused to respond, however, and she sighed, glancing down at her hands.

"Guess I'm still pretty drained." She mused. "Oh well. Looks like I'm taking the long way out. Good thing I know a short cut and I'm not afraid of a scramble."

She turned, doubling back on herself until she reached the other end of the hallway, reaching up above her head to push a smooth white panel out of place. It took a couple of tries, but eventually the square slid aside and with something of a struggle she hauled herself up into the hole, panting with the exertion as she crouched there, debating her next move.

"It's harder when I can't fly or phase." She muttered. "And I am still damn tired. Hell, what did that man do to me? Washu said my heart stopped...was she telling the truth? It's so hard to know with that woman...she's more than half mad as it is."

She crawled forward along the narrow duct on all fours, counting softly in her head as she passed over the individual panels. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. She paused, tapping on the sixth panel and hearing the hollow echo from beneath. A smile on her face, she gave it as hard a shove as she could manage, watching as it tumbled forward, revealing bright Juraian daylight before her. Dropping her legs through the hole, she manoevred herself to the ground, pausing for a moment to enjoy the sunshine and the fresh air.

"Ryoko?"

Tenchi's voice startled her and she swung around, guilt crossing her features as she saw him coming towards her. She frowned, folding her arms across her chest.

"I thought Washu had you confined to bed." Tenchi looked confused. "You must be feeling better, huh?"

"No, actually I feel like someone ran over me with Ryo Ohki." Ryoko said acidly, then she groaned. "Dammit. That wretched drug is still in my system. I'm going to throttle Washu when I get my hands on her."

"Drug?" Tenchi looked alarmed. "What has she been doing to you in there? I thought you were only there to rest!"

"I was interrogated by the Emperor of Jurai and his halfwit brother. Ayeka's father." Ryoko said flatly. "She pumped me full of truth serum and it hasn't fully worn off yet. You probably don't want to speak to me right now, Tenchi. Trust me, I'm not sure I want to talk to you. I might say something I'll regret."

"Truth serum?" Tenchi frowned. Ryoko nodded her head.

"They do it a lot on this planet." She said quietly. "And the Galaxy Police, they picked up the bad habit from them, too. It's quite common now, before a trial, to pump a defendant full of the stuff to ensure an easy prosecution. It saves legal costs, if the witness just takes the stand and babbles out all their secrets to the jury. Though sometimes they babble more than they're supposed to...and then they wind up with a longer sentence as a result."

"You don't think it's fair, huh?" Tenchi eyed her keenly. Ryoko shrugged her shoulders.

"From my side of the coin, it's a cheap trick." She said simply. "Lying is a defence mechanism. Taking it away is like making you turn up to court with no clothes on. Embarrassing and something you'd rather forget."

She bit her lip, and he burst out laughing at her expression.

"So it makes you say things like that, huh?" He asked playfully. "I see. Interesting stuff. I didn't realise. Ayeka never said anything to me about it."

"She probably doesn't know." Ryoko turned away from him, staring out across the horizon. "She's a pampered little princess, Tenchi. I doubt her father has told her the half of the things he's sanctioned and been involved in. He's the Emperor's chief of security...in charge of the planet's safety since the destruction of Kagato. He's a bigoted, horrible little man and I hate him a fair bit. But that's not really important. It can't be a mystery to you that I don't like Ayeka's family."

Tenchi was quiet for a moment. He shrugged.

"Lord Haru seems fine to me." He said slowly. Ryoko snorted.

"You're not a wanted space pirate. It makes a difference." She said flatly. Tenchi looked sheepish.

"Guess so." He admitted. "So what did they say to you, then? Are they going to follow through with Ayeka's request and allow the pardon to go through?"

"Lord Haru didn't want it, but I think the Emperor was convinced I wasn't any threat to anyone out there." Ryoko flexed her fingers. "Which right now I'm not, by the way. I can't even fly."

"Well, give it time. You were pretty badly hurt, you know. You shouldn't be in such a hurry to get fit." Tenchi scolded her. "You should be resting...not sneaking out of the palace and out through vent shafts in the wall to escape Washu's attention. You could at least use the door."

"Short cut." Ryoko said laconically. "And besides, where's the fun in that way?"

"You know this place pretty well, don't you?" Tenchi asked softly. "You must do, if you know your way around the vent shafts."

"I know every inch of this palace. Why do you think Lord Haru is so keen to keep me locked up?" Ryoko shrugged her shoulders. "I lived here once, Tenchi. Oh, not as a princess. That's not my place." As Tenchi looked startled. "But I was a ward of Jurai. Azusa and Haru found me on some outpost planet at the corner of their jurisdiction and they brought me here. My mother had been killed...and they took pity on me. But I wasn't really like the other children...and so I wound up isolated and pretty much rejected by most of them."

"You never told me any of this before." Tenchi looked surprised. "I knew you'd been here, of course - you navigated your way through the defences so smoothly when we came to challenge Kagato that I realised you must have been. But I didn't know that you lived here. You never told me."

"I'm not sure I knew." Ryoko looked pensive.

"Haki did say he took memories from you." Tenchi recalled. "I wondered why he'd do that when he said it...it seems such a crazy, cruel thing to do."

"Maybe." Ryoko pursed her lips. "But I get the feeling that he didn't really care that way. I think he eradicated as much of my Juraian memories as he could...in case I made my own connection to Kagato and worked out his plans before he had a chance to put them into play. How he knew who my father was...or what clued him in about those gems, I don't know. I didn't know anything of that when I was a child and I still don't, not really. Maybe that's something my mother could have told me, if she was still here to ask. I don't know, and it may not even be the whole truth anyway. Kagato might not be my father. I have Haki's word for it, but that is all...his and Washu's."

A dry smile touched her lips.

"There are two mad fools you wouldn't bet on to tell you the truth."

"So you have all your memories back now?"

"I think so." Ryoko nodded. "They've flooded through me in bits and pieces since...whatever happened to me aboard Karasu. I don't know really how to explain any of that, and the flashbacks don't help. But in some ways I'm glad that I have that bit of me returned. Even though it's hard remembering some of it...it's better to have a complete memory than bits of one. I had snippets of memory...encounters with Ayeka, the way to the palace...and a strong feeling that I really didn't like Jurai. But I didn't really understand what was behind a lot of those things. Now I do. It's good to know."

She smiled slightly.

"And I know my mother's name, too. That's something I didn't have before."

"I'm sorry you lost her so young. I know how that feels."

"Losing her wasn't really such a painful thing. I was too young to understand that it wasn't a game...it's only now I can look back on it and realise that she was murdered and I was with her when she died." Ryoko shrugged. "Then it was just a lot of things I couldn't quite piece together. And at first I thought it would be fine...on Jurai. But things don't always work out."

She bit her lip.

"On the few occasions I saw Ayeka, I wasn't always nice to her. Polite, either. I played rough and I didn't understand social protocol. Hell, I still don't." She mused. "But she wasn't nice to me either, Tenchi. She was a Princess of Jurai and she knew it...repeating her father's words in my face when she was too young to really understand what they meant. There's only so much of that a kid can take before she snaps and lashes out...and I wound up getting into more and more trouble for wild behaviour and outbursts of temper. It became untenable. In the end I ran away."

"And got wound up with Haki." Tenchi pursed his lips. Ryoko nodded.

"Yes, something like that." She agreed. "I won't pretend I was an angel, but it wasn't easy for me either. Nobody else my age could fly, Tenchi. Noone else walked through walls. Yes, some had Juraian magic, but not like mine. And they thought me a demon because of it. Cursed. I hate this planet and I hate being locked up on it. I just want to leave."

"Are you well enough to do that?" Tenchi looked alarmed. "You sure don't look it, you know. You're pale as a ghost, Ryoko. I'm sure you should be resting still."

"Probably I should, but better to take the risk than spend more time in this fake, stuffy environment." Ryoko sighed. Tenchi looked troubled.

"You're serious, aren't you?" He murmured. "You really are going to leave Jurai...and soon?"

"Very soon, if I can track down Ryo Ohki." Ryoko nodded. "She's been strangely elusive of late...I haven't been able to pick up her energy so easily. Or maybe it's because my own magic is exhausted...I don't know. Either way, if you know where she is...I could use the help."

"I'm not letting you fly anywhere until you're fit to do it." Tenchi grabbed her by the wrists, and though Ryoko struggled feebly against his grip, he held her firm. "Don't be crazy, Ryoko! You almost died aboard Karasu. I won't let you try and kill yourself just to make a point to people who probably don't mind either way about it!"

"And you'd care, if I killed myself running away again?" Ryoko snapped back, tears fresh in her eyes. "When you left me entertaining the Galaxy Police while you chased off after Ayeka? I'm not blind. It's all too obvious that you love that woman and I can't stay around here and watch that for all eternity!"

She bit her lip, her cheeks turning pink as she realised what she'd said, and she muttered a curse.

"Damn drug!" She exclaimed. "Stop it! Let me go, Tenchi - right now it's not safe to have a conversation with you about anything!"

"No, I think now is the perfect time to talk to me." Tenchi made no attempt to loose his grip. "You can't fly away from me, Ryoko, so stop fighting, all right? We're going to settle this now, while you can't evade me and tease and confuse me with your games."

"What games?" Ryoko looked wounded. Tenchi raised an eyebrow.

"What games?" He echoed. "Come on, Ryoko. You must know what I mean."

Ryoko clamped her jaw shut, clearly fighting against the impulse to speak. Tenchi grinned.

"All right. If you don't want to talk, you can listen to me instead." He said softly. "Your logic doesn't make any sense. Ayeka lives on Jurai. I live on Earth. And in a few days Ayeka is getting married to a Juraian Lord. He's a nice guy - I've met him. He'll treat her well, and she's going into it with her eyes open. She knows what she's doing. We both do. So how can I be running after Ayeka when she's a taken woman? Explain that to me."

"That doesn't mean anything." Ryoko said sulkily. "You can still love someone, even if they're in love with someone else. Or betrothed to someone else."

"True, but I'm happy for Ayeka." Tenchi said simply. "She and I have talked this through in some detail...and we both know where we stand. She is princess of Jurai, and someone who is very very dear to me. But I'm not in love with her, Ryoko. So you can stop deluding yourself about that. There's no need for you girls to continue to spar...there's no reason whatsoever to carry on a silly fight over nothing."

"It's not over nothing!" Ryoko exclaimed. "It's been over you, you stupid man! Ayeka might fool you with her lies but she doesn't fool me...she's been in love with you pretty much since she arrived on the Earth. And you're my Tenchi, not hers, but like everything, the Princess has to come and take it away! She shows up with her airs and her graces and her beautiful pampered skin and you don't even know that I'm alive. Just because I'm a common space criminal doesn't mean I don't have feelings, you know! And it hurts when the only man that I've ever been in love with leaves me to rot in a prison cell!"

Horror flooded her golden eyes and she forced her jaw shut before she revealed anything else, finally pulling her hands from Tenchi's grasp and fastening both of them over her mouth as if afraid of what she might say next.

Tenchi did not respond for a moment, eying her thoughtfully. Then he reached out a hand, resting it gently on her shoulder.

"Ayeka told me that I needed to wake up and realise a few things." He said at length. "I think she's known longer than either you or I where my thoughts and feelings were drifting, Ryoko. But you're such a conundrum sometimes. You can be the bravest, most unselfish person I know...the one who knows me better than anyone in the world, and the one who I know I can always call on if I need you. And then...then you're the other girl. The one who flirts and pushes and makes me uncomfortable by teasing me and playing games that I don't understand. Those times I get confused...and I don't know what I really want."

Ryoko sank down on the grass, dropping her gaze as she absently picked a blossom, almost automatically beginning to remove its petals.

"I've never felt like this about anyone before." She said softly. "I can't put it into words what it does to me. And if I'm too full on, it's only because I don't know how to handle any of this. I've never been around people so much...not people who cared what was happening to me. You've always taken care of me, Tenchi...you took me in even when you knew who I was and what I'd done. And I didn't ask to be in love with you...but then I don't think many people ask to fall in love. I just can't help it. I only wanted you for my own...and I didn't know how to get your attention any other way."

"I see." Tenchi settled himself down on the grass beside her. "How many times have I broken your heart, Ryoko-chan?"

Ryoko raised golden eyes to him, tears glistening in their depths.

"Too many times for me to count." She admitted. "Please, Tenchi, stop asking me these things. You know I can't stop answering you right now, and it isn't fair. It makes me feel exposed."

"You needn't feel that way." Tenchi assured her. "You're not telling me anything I don't want to hear, you know."

Surprise glittered in Ryoko's expression, and Tenchi nodded, reaching over to pick a nearby red bloom and handing it to her.

"So I'm a little dense too when it comes to the whole romance thing." He admitted, a rueful look entering his dark eyes. "We're not unalike in a lot of ways, you know. Ayeka coined it for me earlier, in fact. She said that we were both willing to fight and die in defence of each other, but when it comes to having a conversation like this..."

He pursed his lips.

"One of us has to be doped up on truth serum and the other still in shock from the fact you almost died." He said wryly. "There's a certain irony in it really, isn't there?"

Ryoko took the flower, glancing at it, and a slight smile touched her lips.

"I guess there is." She agreed. "Though I still wish you hadn't forced it out of me this way."

"Would you ever have told me so plainly, if I hadn't?"

"Maybe not." Ryoko tilted her head, considering. "Maybe I would have just taken Ryo Ohki and left Jurai, heading out into space before the Emperor could make a decision about my future and before you could break my heart over again."

She winced.

"Ouch. I have to stop saying stuff like that. Washu said this would wear off in an hour or two, but I'm still spewing my guts here."

Tenchi laughed. He took the flower gently from her grasp, reaching up to tuck it into her hair. She raised an eyebrow.

"Flowers in my hair? Tenchi, who do you think I am?" She demanded.

"A mad, bad and dangerous space pirate." Tenchi said with a grin. Ryoko shook her head slowly.

"So what happens now?" She asked. "If the Emperor doesn't grant my pardon, what then?"

"He will. Ayeka will turn the screw if she has to." Tenchi said with a shrug. "She's a stubborn woman, and she told me she would push this as far as she could. She already has taken it fairly far. I wouldn't worry, Ryoko. You'll leave Jurai a free woman."

"And then?"

"And then, well, you promised me a trip a long time ago." Tenchi said softly. "Do you remember? A honeymoon in deep space, isn't that what you called it?"

Colour flooded Ryoko's cheeks and she groaned, burying her head in her hands.

"Maybe I don't need truth serum to make a fool of myself." She muttered. Tenchi chuckled.

"Maybe not." He agreed. "But I'd still like to take that trip, Ryoko. And then, well, who knows what next?"

"Planet Earth, perhaps." Ryoko settled herself more comfortably on the grass, stretching out on her front and resting her chin in her hands, gazing up at him thoughtfully. "If your father and grandfather could stand having me back. I might even sweep the shrine, if they agreed to let me stay. You know. Sometimes."

"I think they could be persuaded." Tenchi's eyes twinkled. "Grandfather actually commented that it was a shame I didn't convince any of you girls to stay with me. Actually, he said it was a shame I hadn't talked any of you into marriage - but that isn't something I'm in any hurry to run into."

"Me either." Ryoko shook her head firmly. "But I would like to see the Earth again. There's something about it that makes me feel at home."

She pursed her lips.

"Or maybe that's you. I don't know." She admitted sheepishly, her cheeks pink.

"You do know Washu will be looking for you, if she realises you've gone."

"Let her look." Ryoko shrugged. "She complains enough about playing nursemaid to me anyway, as if I asked her to lock me in a bedroom and gawk at me every few hours."

"Well, if you're feeling up to it, we could take a walk through Jurai. You could show me some of the places you remember from when you were a child." Tenchi suggested. "I've seen it from Ayeka's perspective, but I'd like to see it from yours too, you know."

"Difficult." Ryoko sighed. "I can't fly right now, remember? Most of my favourite places are up high."

"Well, we can still walk." Tenchi got to his feet, hauling her up with him. "And I'm sure your flying will come back, Ryoko. Just give it time."

"Time is something I have plenty of." Ryoko said ruefully. "I guess I can be patient. All right. We'll walk, before Washu sends out a search party or something."

"I think I have time on my hands too, now." Tenchi owned. "Ayeka said that since I discovered my Jurai power I'll be like grandfather - I'll live much longer than most earth people. That's going to be hard to get used to, you know."

"I wondered about that." Ryoko admitted. "I didn't like to think about it, but...I hoped it would be the case. Having seen Lord Yosho and all..." She shrugged her shoulders. "I hoped."

"How old are you really, Ryoko?"

"Tenchi! You should never ask a woman her age!"

"I guess the serum wore off." Tenchi looked amused, and Ryoko laughed, nodding her head.

"I guess it did." She agreed. "But who knows? Maybe one day I'll tell you."

"You and your secrets." Tenchi scolded. Ryoko shrugged.

"I don't want to keep secrets from you, my Tenchi." She said thoughtfully. "Not about my past or my future, or anything else...not now."

"Well, there's plenty of time to share it all with me." Tenchi cupped her chin in his hands, meeting her gaze with a soft one of his own.

Then, very gently, he kissed her.