Adam Clark (desert_father@hotmail.com)
Tenchi Muyo:  Fly To The Angels - Chap.9 - "Leavetaking"
Lemon
Tenchi and Ryoko's honeymoon comes to an end.

     As they are wont to do, the next couple of days passed all too quickly,
though the two of them did their best to make them unforgettable.  Ryoko
introduced Tenchi to slot machines, cards, and dice games, as well as
dancing.  Many of the dances Ryoko knew made Tenchi red with shock and
embarrassment, but he was soon overcome by her enthusiasm.  They dined
together, and took long walks by the underground seashore, hand-in-hand as
their bare feet turned up the white, wet sand between their toes.  They also
made love there, crying out together as one as the tide broke around them,
washing their naked bodies with foam the color of pale jade.
     Neither of them cared to face what the morning would bring for their
new romance.
     They packed their suitcases in silence when it came, both content to be
alone in thought on the matter.  Heading down the lift and to the lobby,
Ryoko took Tenchi's hand and gave it a squeeze, feeling his own grip just as
strongly.  They shared a kiss and held each other tight as it reached the
floor, opening to a gathered throng of new lovers whose vacation was only
beginning.  Ryoko wiped a tear from her eye and gave Tenchi a brave smile,
following him to the front desk for their final checkout.
     "I guess it has to end, doesn't it, Tenchi?", she asked him softly,
laying her papers on the counter.  Tenchi nodded solemnly, slipping an arm
around her.
     "I don't want it to, either", he said.  "I can't think of a more
wonderful time I've had with anyone, but Ryoko...I'm seventeen.  You know we
have to do this."
     "Yeah, yeah", she said, giving him a weak grin.  "I know how it is.
You just don't like being married to an old bat like me.  Well, it's easily
fixed."  Sighing, she took out a tiny blue folder and pressed it into his
palm, running her thumb over it tenderly.  "I've already taken care of my
part, Tenchi.  All you have to do is press your thumb on the pad, and we're
through.  At least, marriage-wise."  Tenchi looked at the folder sadly and
nodded.  Ryoko held him tight and kissed him gently, tears running down her
cheeks.  "Just take care of it so that I don't see, okay?" she asked softly.
  "I'll be back.  Just have to take care of something."
     She left him then, wiping at her cheeks roughly.  Tenchi opened the
folder to a picture of them both holding one another in their wedding
kimonos, their arms around one another and happy smiles on their faces.
Below it was a blue pad that flashed "expire", one half of it already
pressed by Ryoko's unwilling hand.
     "Ryoko", he said, closing his eyes sadly.  Then he did what he had to
do.
***
     Ryoko returned shortly, her eyes red and wary as she paid their bill
and led Tenchi after the escort.  As they came into the docking bay, the
alarm began to sound and flash crazily, stopping them cold.  A squad of
large, armored men blocked them from escaping down the hall, led by the
green-skinned woman who had given them their suite.  She grinned in
satisfaction, holding out a wanted poster.
     "Well, well, well", she said, wiggling the poster.  "I thought you
might be her, and I was right.  And you just couldn't help sticking your
greedy little fingers into our casino vaults, could you?  For shame."  She
rolled up the poster and gestured to the men.  "Take her and her husband
into custody.  I'm sure the Juraian authorities will be more than happy to
see to your sentencing, space pirate Ryoko."
     Tenchi's jaw dropped at her statement, and he looked at Ryoko in
disbelief.  "Ryoko, um..heh..is that true?"  Ryoko blushed and chuckled,
taking him by the hand.
     "Well, yeah", she said, "have to say so, Tenchi.  I was kinda short on
cash, you see.  Heh."  Ryo-Ohki meowed in consternation.
     "So you stole your way out of our bill?", he yelled, the guards coming
ever closer.  "Realy smart, Ryoko!  Now we're going to jail!"
     "I doubt it", she returned, giving him a wink.  "Steel bars aren't a
turn-on for me.  Hah!"  With that, she powered up an energy ball and tossed
it at the floor, sending showers of dust and fragments of metal and plaster
into the air.  The men cried out and backed off, giving her the opportunity
to smash open the dockbay doors and pull Tenchi inside.  Ryo-Ohki meowed and
leapt ahead, turning into her spaceship form and bringing the two of them up
via tractor beam.  By the time the guards got through the dust and wreckage,
the two of them had already left the asteroid far behind.
     "Yahoo!", cried Ryoko, taking Tenchi by the hands and spinning him
around.  "Lost 'em again, Tenchi!  We're a regular Bonnie and Clyde, you and
me!  Ha ha!"
     "Ryoko!", said Tenchi, dizzy from her spinning.  "You can't just keep
stealing from people when you're out of cash!  You know that!"
     "Tenchi, that's gone in one ear and out the other with me all my life",
she said, kissing his cheek and settling into her chair.  She winked at him
and set the course to earth, Ryo-Ohki meowing in compliance.  "I'm a space
pirate, and I always will be.  It's who I am!"  Tenchi sat and cradled his
head in his hands, shocked and worried as she laughed and sped them both
home.
***
     They settled in orbit around Saturn, Ryo-Ohki trailing the brilliant
ring dust from her upper spires.  All readings indicated that they were not
being followed, so they had reduced their speed and looked for a calm place
to relax, Saturn being the obvious choice as it was quiet and uninhabited.
Ryoko and Tenchi had both retired to bed after a long shower, Earth being
their early morning destination and requiring all their energies to face
Ayeka and the others.  Still, Ryoko was troubled, and knocked on Tenchi's
door to talk to him.
     "Tenchi?", she called.  "Are you asleep?  Tenchi?"
     "Mm", he murmured.  Ryoko phased through the door and sat on the edge
of his bed, looking at him intently.
     "Hey", she said softly.  "I just wanted to let you know that,
well...this past weekend...it was wonderful for me.  Thank you for coming."
     Tenchi blinked and yawned, sitting up to face her.  He smiled and laid
his hand over hers, nodding in agreement.  "Me too", he said.  "I'm never
going to forget it."
     Ryoko smiled and nodded back, then looked at the floor.  "I'm not going
to ask about the marriage license", she said.  "I'm pretty sure that I know
the answer anyway.  But please...just remember that it changes nothing about
the way I feel.  I'm still in love with you, Tenchi.  You can always count
on that from me."
     She rose to leave, but his hand took hers before she could stand.  He
slipped his arms around her and kissed her forehead, holding her tight.  She
sighed and held him just as tightly, resting her head against his chest.
     "I'm in love with you too, Ryoko", he said tenderly, stroking her long
silver hair.  "Married or not, that's something you can depend on as well."
     Ryoko nodded, hugging him tightly and beginning to cry.  "Even though
I'm a 700 year-old mummy woman who robs hotels and has a spaceship that
loves to eat carrots?" she asked, managing a chuckle.  Tenchi laughed and
lifted her chin gently, kissing each of her cheeks in succession and giving
her a loving smile.
     "Maybe you'll stay with me tonight, and let me show you how much?", he
asked.  Ryoko wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled happily at that,
wrapping her arms around his neck and covering him with kisses.
     "Yes", she whispered.  "Yes, my love..my Tenchi..my everything."
     And so they loved one another there, in the comfort of Tenchi's bed as
well as in what they felt when they were together.  The morning would come
soon enough, after all.  Time now for the love they felt with one another,
and for the evening, when love is best of all.