TMiL! Revised (Note: This starts at the point where Ayeka and Ryoko are in the school admissions room waiting to 'meet' Miss Mihoshi.) (Note 2: This storyline places TMiL in the OAV continuity rather than in the TV series continuity.) - PART 1 - "What was that he said?" Ayeka asked. Ryoko shrugged. "Something about another new student. I suppose something like this was bound to happen." There was a knock on the door. "Come in." The door openned and Ryoko and Ayeka found themselves looking at a boy of about nineteen. He was about the same height as Ryoko from toe to forehead, dressed in a boys' uniform that was too neatly pressed for Ryoko's tastes. He had skin the color of fine porcelain, the color of the petals of a white rose in bloom. There was no undertone of pink, no blush of red. Not even the blue and red of veins could be seen, odd given the pale color of his skin. The only thing that could've rivaled the paleness of his skin was the paleness of his eyes. They were beautiful, those eyes. Almondine in their basic shape, but longer and maybe a touch narrower, with a slight exotic curve to the outer edge that made them even more hypnotic. His pupils that had been narrowed to the merest slits in the daylight were now wider, made darker by virtue of their increased width. Around the pupils the irises gleamed with soft reflected light, as the eyes of those bred for the night are wont to do. The color was difficult to describe. Neither golden, nor silver, but strangely both, as if the two had been mixed into a new element more beautiful than both by some expert alchemist. They held as much contrast to the pale white skin around them as ice does to snow, the chestnut lashes, so dark they were often mistaken for black offering the only noticable outline. His hair fell in an uneven frame around his face in a sweeping curve of dark chestnut that contrasted his pale skin as perfectly as a diamond contrasts black satin. The bangs, if they could be called that, fell in front of his face in a jagged curtain of hair, some stopping just below his eyes, still more reaching to the bottom of his face. The rest of his hair was pulled back behind his ears and into a thick ponytail that began at his neckline and flowed in a straight line down to the small of his back. Ryoko turned toward him, staring at him, eyes narrowed. Challenging him. Distrustful of anyone as beautiful as he was. He turned and met her gaze with his own, their eyes locking, their field of focus mutually narrowing until nothing else existed. Ryoko's lips turned upward in a small, tight, triumphant smile. //Now I'll find out who Mr. Perfect here is.// she thought. Before she could open her mouth to ask who he was and what he was there for, he leaned over and licked her face from the bottom of her chin right up to just below the eyelid. Ryoko looked stunned, a little grossed-out, bewildered, and really ticked off all at the same time. The boy gave a wicked but amused chuckle, the laugh of one who's just pulled off a harmless but annoying prank. "Gotcha." he grinned. "Why you....?!" Ryoko exclaimed. She was about to grab him and throttle him when the vice principal walked in with Mihoshi. Ryoko was far less than pleased when she learned that the annoying brat who'd licked her was going to be in all her classes with her. "Well, now the two of you can see each other more often." Ayeka teased, as they took their assigned seats. "He obviously has a crush on you." "Ayeka!" Ryoko griped. "I think you two make a cute couple." Ayeka turned to her niece and smiled. "Don't you agree, Achika?" Achika turned to Ayeka, unaware of their relationship. "You shouldn't tease like that." she chided, smilingly. "But you are right about them being cute together.." "You're right, Achika." Nobuyuki agreed. "On both counts." "You know," Ayeka told another student, grinning at Ryoko's predicament, "they're practically engaged." "WE ARE NOT!!" Ryoko yelped. "I DON'T CARE HOW CUTE HE IS! I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH THAT BOY!" "And I am not in love with the Space Pirate Ryo.. I mean I am not in love with Ryoko." Ayeka and Ryoko stared at the boy who looked like he wished he was someplace else at that moment. //He knows who I am.// Ryoko pondered. //But *how*?!// - PART TWO - Ayeka sighed as she washed herself off in the bathing barrel. It wasn't the luxurious bathing style she was accustomed to. In fact, it was downright annoying. A princess in a barrel! If word of this ever got back to her people, she would surely be a laughingstock! Still, it beat being dirty. "You know," she told Ryoko as she carefully washed her face, enjoying the feeling of cleanliness as the soapbubbles ran over her cheeks and chin and down her neck, "a double wedding would be very romantic." She dipped the facecloth in the water and washed the soap from her face and neck. Ryoko smiled, wickedly, turned the barrel onto its side, and sent it and Ayeka rolling off into the distance. "Don't forget to write!" She called out. "RYOKO!!!!!" Ayeka cried out as she tumbled over and over. She finally came to a stop a couple yards away. "Are you okay?" Tenchi asked, as he helped Ayeka up out of the barrel. "I'm fine." Ayeka replied, looking deep into Tenchi's eyes, her heart fluttering with joy. //Is this really happening? Is he really going to kiss me?// Ryoko cleared her throat, attracting Ayeka's attention. Then waved Ayeka's clothes cheerfully. Ayeka looked down and suddenly realized she was stark naked and dripping wet, the moisture on her body dampening Tenchi's clothes. "Oh!" She blushed, stepping away from Tenchi. She rushed back and grabbed her clothes from Ryoko. Ayeka dried off and started pulling on her clothes. Ryoko soon realized the folly of her joke as she was made to refill the makeshift bath and return it to its original position. Once it was back in place, she started to peel off her clothes. "No, Ryoko." Tenchi told her, firmly. "for what you did to Ayeka, you will take your bath last. Grumbling about how no one around there seemed to be able to take a joke, Ryoko sat on a log while first Kiyone and then Mihoshi took their baths. "They're taking extra long on purpose to make sure I don't get any hot water." She bitched. "You're already *in* hot water, Ryoko." Ayeka chuckled. Ryoko stuck her tongue out at Ayeka. Ayeka stuck hers out at Ryoko. This went on for a few minutes until Sasami's and Mihoshi's cheerful laughter at the whole thing set them both laughing as well. While Ryoko was finally enjoying her bath at midnight, Ryo-ohki hopped off to explore the surrounding woods. After a bit, she stumbled onto another campsite. The sleeping form there rolled over in his sleep, and Ryo-ohki saw the batlike curve of his short, grey-furred muzzle, the exotic curves of his batlike ears. His eyes were closed in sleep and he was keening in his sleep, lost in the depths of some unpleasant dream. Quietly assuming the adult humanoid form she'd taken when she had first combined with the Masses, she went over to the sleeping form and gently stroked his muzzle, trying to reassure him. His eyes flicked awake and he grabbed her wrist, suddenly, turning and sitting up. Ryo-ohki was so startled she tumbled back and reverted to cabbit form. "I'm seeing things." the batlike creature spoke in a voice Ryo-ohki recognized, from her link with Ryoko, as that of the boy who had licked Ryoko. "Miya?" Ryo-ohki moved her ears into a passable imitation of Ryoko's hair, then did an impersonation of the boy licking Ryoko, followed by a series of pantomimes about smitten lovers. "I get the point." "Miya?" Ryo-ohki asked. "No." He replied. "I'm not in love with Ryoko." That being said, he stood up, turned, and was about to walk off when he felt a pair of long, slender, furry arms around his waist and a female body pressing against his back? "Miya?" Ryo-ohki, once more in her humanoid form, whispered in his ear. //Now I *know* I'm dreaming.// Tantei A thought to himself. //Either that or Kain has done something to my mind. Yes, that's it. I was traumatized when Kain escaped. It's making me hallucinate.// He turned to Ryo-ohki and tilted her chin up towards himself. It was just a hallucination, after all. Ryo-ohki miya'ed softly as she leaned toward him just a little more. Their muzzles touched, gently, in a tender kiss that set both their hearts fluttering. "A*HEM*!" Ryo-ohki and Tantei A both turned their heads toward the souce of the throat-clearing and saw Ryoko standing there with Tenchi and the others. "Tantei A?" Kiyone asked. "What are you doing here? And don't say kissing Ryo-ohki." "I got pulled back here by that bastard Kain." Tantei A snarled. "Tantei A!" Tenchi snapped, looking briefly at Sasami. "I suggest you watch your muzzle. There are children present." "My apologies. It will not happen again." He looked up, a troubled expression on his face, then turned to the others. "When Kain gets here," he told them, "I'm going to kill him." "You can't," Kiyone pointed out. "You don't have enough power. That gun won't even make a dent in him." "I have to try." Tantei A told her. "If I don't, I'll be betraying the ones he killed." "You won't be of any use to them dead." Tenchi told him. "We're also here to stop Kain. If you'll help us, we'll have a better chance of succeeding." "Very well." Tantei A agreed.