"Whoo hoo!", yelled Ryoko, leaping onto the king-sized bed in the
honeymoon suite.  "At long last we're married, Tenchi!  Oh, it's going to be
so wonderful being your wife!  It's just you and me, my love.  You and I
against the world!"  Tenchi smiled and continued unpacking, watching her
snuggle up in the sheets happily.  "Well, remember that it's only for 48
hours, Ryoko", he said, locking his suitcase.  "As nice as this is, it has
to end in two days.  Just remember."
     "I know that only too well, Tenchi", she said, crawling off the bed and
over to the liquor cabinet behind the wetbar.  "But just you remember that
you and I are husband and wife until then, and have responsibilities towards
one another.  Loosen up, all right?"  She chuckled and jiggled the lock on
the door, frowning when her strength alone proved inadequate to the task.
     "Ooh..damn it!", she cursed, summoning up an energy sword.  She held it
two-handed above her head.  "Open up you stupid thing!", she yelled, then
blushed when tenchi jingled the keys at her from the opposite side of the
room.
     "Ahem", he said, and tossed them her way.  Ryoko dispersed the sword
and caught the keys one-handed, smiling embarrasedly.  "Well, what do you
know about that?", she said, opening the cabinet.  "Thank you, darling."
     "Well, I think the management would appreciate you using those
instead", he returned, lying down on the bed and yawning.  He watched Ryoko
pour them each a drink and closed his eyes, thinking over the events of the
day.  The he felt Ryoko's approach on the bed and opened them again, sitting
up to accept the glass of wine she offered him.
     "Thank you", he said, raising the glass to her.  Ryoko smiled and
slipped a finger into her glass, swilling the wine around and sucking the
wetness from her finger.  "Shall we make a toast?", she asked, sliding over
close to him and slipping her arm around his waist.  Even after the kiss
they had shared, Ryoko's closeness to him continued to make him nervous, and
he gulped.
     "Um..sure", he said, and raised his glass to hers.  "'To friendship'",
he said, "'and to a restful evening spent in its warmth'.  Will that do?"
     Ryoko chuckled and kissed his cheek, firing his temperature up anew.
"You're so cute, Tenchi", she said.  "Nervous, but cute.  How about this?
'To love, and lots of it, forever and always between you and me.'  Cheers!"
And she clinked her glass to his, downing it at a gulp.  Tenchi grinned
nervously and finished his more slowly, but did not refuse when Ryoko
offered him another glass.  They drank several more glasses each until
Tenchi began to feel light-headed.  Ryoko, on the other hand, emptied out
the liquor cabinet and rang up the room service number for more.
     "Ryoko?", he said, a slight slur in his speech.  "There's something
I've been meaning to ask you."  Ryoko was unscrewing the cork on a strong
vintage she had ordered, gritting her teeth as she did so.  "Yes, Tenchi?
What is it?  Uh!", she grunted, pulling out the cork so hard that it bounced
off the wall.  "Need some more to drink?  Hee hee.  Me too."
     "No, no thanks", he said.  "I was just wondering..do you know what
business Ayeka and Sasami had to see to?  It's not like them to leave so
suddenly."
"Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that",she said.  You know Ayeka, Tenchi.
  Always concerned with that royal nonsense."  She took a swig of the wine
and wiped off her chin.  "Ah, good stuff!", she said, hiccuping.
     "Ryoko", he said, raising a brow to her.  "Remember now, we're supposed
to be married.  There aren't any secrets between a husband and wife."
     Ryoko looked out the window at the stars and sighed.  "Tenchi", she
said at last,"you and I both know that this vacation wouldn't be happenning
if Ayeka knew about it.  So I had to take matters into my own hands."
     "And that involved what, exactly?", he asked, stifling a hiccup of his
own.
     Ryoko took another swig from the bottle.  "I sent out a dispatch via
Washu's Intergalactic Messaging Board.  I made up an incident for her
involving a dispute between the first and second families of Jurai.  Being
first princess, she'd have no choice but to settle the matter personally."
     Tenchi looked at Ryoko angrily.  "So you lied to her", he said.
"Ryoko, you know that wasn't right.  She could get into serious trouble!  I
can't believe you could be that selfish."
     Ryoko lowered her head into her hand and began to weep softly.  At
first, Tenchi thought that it was only a ploy on her part to gain his
sympathy, but he soon realized that her tears were indeed genuine, and he
felt them tearing at his heart.
     "Ryoko", he started, but was cut off by her upraised hand before he
could finish.
     "Yeah", she said, her voicing shaking with sobs.  "I guess I am
selfish, Tenchi.  But I don't think you understand just how difficult it is
to have you all to myself long enough to tell you how I feel."  She stood up
and walked to the window, laying her hands on the sill.  Tenchi looked down
sadly.
     "I've been alone all my life, Tenchi", she continued."I don't remember
my parents, or have any family to speak of.  I've pretty much had to survive
on my own, and it's made a hard woman of me.  I've done a lot of things that
I regret, you see.  But meeting you, Tenchi", she said, turning towards him.
  "Tenchi, I've never regreted a moment of that.  You mena the world to me,
you know?"
     "Oh, Ryoko", he said, standing up and walking over to her.  "I don't
regret meeting you, either.  Granted, there have been some wild times, but
you've made life wonderful for me.  All of you have."  He put his hands on
her shoulders and squeezed them gently, feeling her own hands settle on his.
     "Forgive me, Tenchi", she said, looking down at the floor.  "But I
couldn't help myself.  I want you to be all for me.  My heart has beaten
only for you since we met.  I..I..", and she trailed off in tears.
     Tenchi closed his eyes, tears of his own welling from her words.  He
turned her around and touched her cheek, drawing his fingers down its silken
softness.  Ryoko wrapped her arms around him and sobbed against his chest.
     "I love you, Tenchi", she said softly.  "I love you so much.  I always
have."
     Tenchi felt his world fall all around him at her words.  Deep inside,
he always knew how she felt, but denied it to himself for reasons he felt
were right.  He knew also how he felt for her, and at long last, felt it
being released from deep within him.
     "Ryoko", he said, cupping her face in his hands.  "I love you, too."
     Ryoko's eyes filled with fresh tears, and the most beautiful smile he
had ever seen grew upon her lovely face.  "Oh, Tenchi", she said.
"Please..kiss me?"
     And so they did, holding one another tight beneath the stars, their
lips working slowly together as their hearts filled with the joys of newly
discovered love.