Somewhat relevant author's notes to follow
        (strange, coming from me, but you never know)

                                Ryoko's Choice

        Ryoko sat by herself in blessed silence; how could there be
anything else but silence in a vacuum, after all? In a way it
wasn't true-- Ryoko was not truly alone; a quick mental call and
Ryo-oh-ki would be by in a few seconds, hovering on the other side
of the moon. There's also the link between Ryoko and Washu, who
might potentially even now be peeking around parts of Ryoko's soul.
Still, for all intents and purposes (well, Ryoko's intents and
purposes at least), she was alone in silence, and it was good.
        Much had to be decided, much had to be done. You'd think seven
hundred years of not being able to do much more than think would
have trained one to be patient and to think, but after that length
of time the lure of the physical realm became too enticing to do
much thinking.

        Still.

        Even so.

        Much needed to be thought of now, and that meant no physical
distractions, not even an atmosphere to distract by breathing it
in. There was a question Ryoko needed answered, needed to answer
for herself, and that question was Tenchi.
        Ryoko was not sure when it started, when it first occurred to
her, but at some point she began to question what she felt for
Tenchi. Grateful? certainly. He rescued her from the damnable cave
(albeit accidentally, true), and he went after her when Kagato
returned. Don't forget when he came after her during the whole Zero
incident. How could she not be grateful?
        But was it love that Ryoko felt? Once? Yes, yes and yes again.
Most assuredly so; there was not one single thing she would not do
for him. The problem, though, was the past tense. Now? There were
things Ryoko would not do, compromises or sacrifices she would not
make, even for Tenchi. Did that mean that Ryoko did not love Tenchi
anymore? Not necessarily, just that she no longer worshipped him
the way she used to.
        The infatuation, at least, was over-- or was it something more?
Had Ryoko in fact grown? Even more of a question was whether Tenchi
loved her. He cared, he had to have cared, at the very least.
        What was this new feeling, this new idea? Something Ryoko had
never felt before, a kind of gnawing in her stomach. Doubt.
        The boy was forever mistaking her gestures, never believing
her. Let's face it, Tenchi did not really trust Ryoko when it came
to many things. Who got blamed when a fight between her and that
prissy little snot got started? Right. Hah. If she wanted to, Ryoko
could easily do Ayeka in. Wouldn't even break a sweat. If she cut
loose with her powers, even with only one of her gems, well...
Jurai wouldn't be pleased at losing a crown princess. Yet who did
he scold, who did he use harsh words on for lack of discipline or
self-control?
        Not Ayeka, who couldn't handle a little good-natured teasing;
not Ayeka, whom she saved more than once when fighting Kagato and
who was a hindrance in that battle. Not Ayeka, who had never, not
once ever thanked her for doing so. Oh no, not that little golden
child whom she really did try to make nice-nice with once and got
laughed at for her troubles. Oh no.
        But he was kind. He did try to do what he thought was right.
Ryoko suspected Tenchi respected her more than he did Ayeka; he
tip-toed around the princess, walking on egg-shells as it were,
afraid she would break if he was a little rough. Ryoko, on the
other hand, was more robust and not as fragile, not as weak.
        That wasn't the point though. The point was... the point was...
Kagato... the cave... Tenchi... the point was....

        Ryoko looked up at the stars, and at the one the earthlings
called the Sun. She smiled, forgetting how beautiful they could be.
She opened her senses, listening on different bands and heard the
stars sing their glorious songs, each one slightly different as
they blended into a celesial chorus that no human could hear
without sophisticated instruments to sense and translate the
wavelengths to something they could hear. It paled to what Ryoko
could hear.
        She raised her hand, holding it in front of her face as she
looked at the sun and smiled as she made a grasping motion with it.
Ryoko laughed then, even if there was no one around and even though
no one would be able to hear her if someone were close by; it did
not matter.

        Ryoko made a decision. She stood up and called Ryo-oh-ki. Did
she love Tenchi? Did he love her? Did it really matter? Maybe yes,
maybe no, maybe, maybe, maybe so. She would go back to the Masaki
shrine, to say goodbye. She would get the rest of her gems back,
both of them. He would give them to her now, without question. No
hesitation, no doubt.
        The stars were strong and bright and beautiful and free. Ryoko,
whose existence consisted of being Kagato's automaton and then the
cave, was strong and bright and beautiful, but only now learning
what it meant to be free. She would never give herself away, never
become anyone's slave, not even Tenchi's, though he would never ask
that of her.

        Would she ever return? Perhaps, one day.

        The universe was grand and filled with wonderment and Ryoko was
determined to see it for herself.

        /Where will we go first?/ Ryo-oh-ki asked.

        /Anywhere we want,/ Ryoko replied with a laugh.

                        -A Beginning-

Author's notes: I think the seeds of this came partially from something
Lara Bartram once said on IRC many months ago which stuck in my mind,
and a challenge on the list more recently to write a story where
Ayeka got Tenchi. Well, the latter didn't happen here, but then again
such a possibility hasn't been discounted.
        I started this shortly after I saw the challenge, but forgot
about it until now, when I went through my hard drive. I lost my
original train of thought I had for it, but it ended up roughly the
same way I had originally conceived it to. As always, comments of all
sorts are appreciated, and yes, if you must know I really AM flame
resistant ^_-

Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
InDefinitelyso on IRC
See him on FFIRC [bachman.newberry.edu fanfic]
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
        maybeso@ican.net
Different to be dare
Playing the fool in a foolish world
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There may be a time and a place for all things, but there's
always room for Jell-o!
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