The next day, Seiryou and Ryoko were in the fields.
Seiryou was
sketching a picture of Ryoko wearing a revealing garment
that he had
designed.
        "How long do I have to stay in this position?"
Ryoko grumbled.
        "Is that what you're going to say to the prince
when you're seducing
him?" Seiryou quipped.
        "Funny, Seiryou," she replied, "but how many
times do I have to
tell you, I don't like him!"
        "Sure you don't.  And I suppose you wouldn't
mind if Prince
Tenchi married Ayeka."
        "I wouldn't mind if he married you!" Ryoko
retorted.
        "You know, if the prince married Ayeka, Kagato
will have you
bringing them breakfast in bed, Lady Hakubi."
        "No, if Ayeka marries the prince, he'll have
plenty of other
servants to torture and he'll forget about me."
        In the distance, Seiryou noticed a boy and two
royal guards
riding in their direction.  He looked at Ryoko, "I guess
if you ever saw
that cute prince again you'd tell him--"
        "I'd tell him, 'Your Majesty, please, marry that
underdeveloped
Ayeka and take her away from here.'"
        "Great, Sweetie," Seiryou said laying down his
drawing pencil
and putting his fan up to his face, "because here he
comes now."
        Ryoko looked into the distance and saw Tenchi
and the two royal guards
approaching fast.  She sprung to her feet and dashed
behind a haystack.
Tenchi rode up next to Seiryou.
        "Good afternoon," he smiled.
        "Good afternoon, sire," Seiryou started to
curtsy, but then caught
himself and bowed. Tenchi's eyes fell on Seiryou's
sketch.
        "W-who is that in your picture?" he asked
anxiously.
        "This?  Why, it's the Lady Hakubi of course,"
Seiryou replied.
        "You know her?  Do you know where I can find
her?" Tenchi demanded.
        "Why of course I do," Seiryou noticed Ryoko
glaring at him from behind
the haystack.  He shot her a wry grin.  "She is staying
with some
cousins at the Soja estate."
        "That's going to be a problem," Tenchi sighed.
        Seiryou fanned himself.  "I do happen to know
that the Lady Hakubi is
at Soja right now," he raised his voice slightly and
added, "alone."
        Ryoko punched the haystack she was hiding
behind.  She couldn't believe what was happening!
Really?  Thank you!" Tenchi said excitedly.  He
addressed the two guards, "We will go to the Soja estate
at once."  He looked back at Seiryou, "Nice drawing," he
said as he rode off.
        "Nice outfit," Seiryou replied waving his fan.
        Ryoko stormed out from behind the haystack.  "I
am going to kill you!" she threatened.
        "Not now, Sweetie," he told her, "if you do it
now you'll get blood all over yourself and the prince
will be at your house any minute. You'll never get it
off in time.  I suggest you run home quickly and change."
        Slowly, a smile spread over Ryoko's face.  She
turned and ran toward Soja.  She ran up the stairs
calling out to Kiyone and Mihoshi.
"Quick!  Help me get dressed!" she said, gasping for her
breath.
"Who are you and what have you done with Ryoko?" Kiyone
joked.
"Don't tease me!" Ryoko pleaded, "He'll be here any
minute!"
Tenchi and the guards reached Soja.  The prince
attempted to dismount,
but his foot caught in the stirrup.
        "Jeez!" he exclaimed as Ryoko opened the door of
the house, "I can't
get it out!"  Tenchi tumbled off the horse onto the
ground.  He quickly
scrambled to his feet.  Ryoko was standing in the
doorway wearing a
lovely blue dress.
        "Good afternoon, Your Highness."  Ryoko curtsied
and stifled a laugh.
"Lady Hakubi, I found you."
"It looks that way," Ryoko replied.  She looked into his
large, brown eyes and found herself smiling.  Tenchi
blushed.
"So, do you not worship at the Temple of Tsunami?  I was
looking for
you there yesterday."
        "Oh," Ryoko faltered.  No one below noble class
was permitted to enter
the temple. "I prefer to worship on my own," she
answered.
        "I see," Tenchi replied.  Then he
continued, "So, you um, you like sword fighting, right?
Because there's this tournament going on near the castle
and, uh, I was wondering if maybe you'd like, I mean,
that is, unless you're not busy and--would you like to
go to the tournament with me?"
        Ryoko knew that Kagato and Ayeka would not be
back for some time.
"Yes, I would like to go," she replied.
        Tenchi held his hand out to her.  For a moment,
Ryoko stared at it with a mixture of confusion and
suspicion.
        "My Lady," the prince said smiling.
        Ryoko slowly put her hand in his and smiled back
at him.  He blushed.
        Tenchi lead her to his horse.  He was about to
assist her onto the horse, when to his surprise, she
quickly hopped up on her own.
        Ryoko looked down at the prince, "Something
wrong, Sire?" she asked, her golden eyes filled with
mischief.  Tenchi shook his head and mounted the horse.
        "To the palace," he ordered his royal guards as
he rode off in the direction of his home.
        The tournament was marvelous.  Swordsmen from
all over the galaxy had come to compete.  Afterwards,
Tenchi took Ryoko for a walk in the palace library.
Ryoko looked at the books in awe.  The library contained
books on science, philosophy, law, poetry and even
novels.  Towards the back of the library, at the end of
a row of shelves, Ryoko noticed a stack of magazines.
She picked up the top one.  The front cover showed a
picture of a long legged woman in a lewd position.
Ryoko smirked.
        "Yours?" she asked the prince.
        Tenchi blushed a deep red.  "No!" he exclaimed.
        Ryoko picked up the next magazine on the stack
and then looked at Tenchi.  "You buy your underwear from
Frederick's of Hollywood?!" she laughed.
        "No!  These are my dad's magazines!" Tenchi
protested.  He reached for the magazine Ryoko was
holding, but she held it beyond his reach.  But then
Ryoko's eyes fell on a large portrait hanging on the
opposite wall.  She dropped the magazine to the floor
and walked slowly over to it.  The portrait was of a
young woman with large, kind eyes and a long bluish
black ponytail.
        Tenchi walked up behind her.  "Her name was
Achika; she's my mother," he explained.
        "She's beautiful," Ryoko told him.
        "I was very young when she died," Tenchi
continued.  "I remember
playing outside as it was snowing when my dad came to
tell me.  He looked so serious.  I miss her so much.  I
wish I could see her one more
time."
        Tenchi said all this with his eyes fixed on his
mother's portrait.  Now he turned and looked at Ryoko.
She was still staring at the painting.
"You don't have any idea how lucky you are," she
said.  "You are lucky
you have this picture of her.  You are lucky to have
heard her voice."
        "Lady Hakubi, is something wrong?"
        "I lost my mother after I was born.  I don't
even know what she looks like or what her full name
was.  I would give anything to be able to hear her voice
just one time.”
 Ryoko turned her eyes from the painting and looked at
Tenchi.
"I'm sorry," he said gently.  "I know how lonely it is
to grow up without a mother."  Ryoko never spoke of her
mother and the kindness and understanding in Tenchi's
voice made her throat swell.  She felt tears welling up
behind her eyes.
        "What do you know?  You have everything!" she
lashed out at the prince.  "You have a kingdom, wealth,
a family and a portrait of your mother who loved you!  I
don't even know what my mother looked like!"
"I have offended you," Tenchi said softly.
        Ryoko shook her head.  "No."  She smiled, "Your
Majesty, let's go for a walk in the woods."
        "A walk in the woods?" Tenchi looked surprised
as if he'd never considered such a thing before.
        "Yes, just the two of us, without any guards or
anything.  Unless, you're afraid?" Ryoko teased.
        "Of course I'm not afraid!" Tenchi declared.  He
held out his hand once again and Ryoko took it.
        Meanwhile, Kagato and Ayeka arrived back at
Soja.  Kiyone stood attentively at the door, but Mihoshi
dozed in a corner.  Kagato's eyes darted around the room.
        "Where is Ryoko?" he asked.
        "I don't know, sir, she went out a few hours
ago," Kiyone replied.
        Ayeka giggled, "She's probably out catching
cabbits with her teeth!"
        Kagato ignored Ayeka.  "I want to be informed
the moment she returns."
        In the woods, Tenchi stood at the foot of a tall
tree.  His face was bright red and blood trickled from
his nose.  He wiped it away.
        "You think I'd know how to get back to my own
palace!" he complained.
Then he called out, "I can't believe you're up there and
naked, too!"
Ryoko's kimono, hanging from a low branch, flapped in
the breeze.  She looked down at Tenchi and
grinned.  "Well, Your Highness, you don't expect a lady
to get her dress dirty, now do you?"
        "H-have you figured out how far we are from the
palace?"
        "Yes, it's about five miles West.  I wish you
could see the view from up here, You Majesty, it's
beautiful!"  Then she glanced down at the prince and
grinned wickedly, "Unless, of course, you prefer the view
from down there!"
"H-have you figured out how far we are from the
palace?"
        "Yes, it's about five miles West.  I wish you
could see the view
from up here, You Majesty, it's beautiful!"  Then she
glanced down at
the prince and grinned wickedly, "Unless, of course, you
prefer the view
from down there!"
        Tenchi blushed an even deeper shade of red and
looked down at
his shoes.  He turned around to wait for Ryoko to climb
down and
suddenly discovered that the space gypsies had
surrounded him.
        "What?!  Not you guys again!" he stammered.
Ryoko looked down
just in time to see a man who appeared to be the leader
of the gypsies
reach for his sword, backing Tenchi against the tree.
        "Hey, you get away from him!" she demanded.  One
of the gypsies
snatched her dress from the tree branch.
        "My wife thanks you for this dress, milady," he
mocked.
        Ryoko quickly dropped onto the back of the space
gypsies' leader
and grabbed his sword.  She pointed it at the gypsy who
stole her dress,
"You will return my clothes this instant!" she ordered.
        The man whistled, his eyes fixed on Ryoko's
naked body.  "Yeah, right," he muttered.
        Ryoko advanced toward the gypsy, swinging her
sword, but three other gypsies suddenly grabbed her and
wrestled the sword from her hand.  One of them held a
knife to her throat.
        "No, don't!" Tenchi cried out.  "Your quarrel is
with me."  The gypsies menacingly approached Tenchi and
attacked.  He managed to fight off the first few, but
they soon overwhelmed him.  They seized the prince and
held him down.
        "Stop!" Ryoko hollered.  The gypsies turned to
her in astonishment.
She said, "Since you are depriving me of my escort, I
demand that you give me a horse so that I can return to
my estate!"
        "You demand?" the leader questioned.
        "Yes, and I demand that you give me back my
dress!" Ryoko said forcefully.
The leader considered this and began to laugh, "Young
lady, you may have anything you can carry."  He smiled
and bowed mockingly.
        Ryoko faced him, "Do I have your word on that?"
        "You have my word as a Space Gypsy," he
replied.  Ryoko walked over to Tenchi.  She slung the
prince over her shoulder.  Tenchi had a clear view of
Ryoko's naked bottom and his nose began to bleed again.
Ryoko turned back to the gypsies, curtsied, and then
began to walk away.
Behind her, the gypsies started to laugh.
        "Come back!" the leader called out, laughing
heartily.  "I'll give you a horse!"
        Oddly enough, the space gypsies were very kind
after this incident.
They called a truce with Tenchi--who took some time to
recover from the
shock of being so close to Ryoko's butt--and invited the
two to a
bonfire.  There was plenty of fine sake at the bonfire,
and after a good
deal of coaxing, Ryoko and the gypsies were able to
convince him to have
a few sips.  He became plastered.  Ryoko, on the other
hand, drank
around ten bottles before she even began to feel dizzy.
        Under the influence of the sake, Tenchi began to
relax.  He and Ryoko
sat near the fire arm wrestling.  Ryoko easily forced
Tenchi's arm to
the ground.  Behind them, the gypsies danced and
rejoiced.
        "OK," Ryoko laughed, "I win, so truth or dare?"
        "Truth," Tenchi answered abruptly, not wishing
to know what she would
dare him to do.
        "What's your deepest, darkest secret, Your
Majesty?  And feel free to
be as provocative as you want."
        Tenchi laughed uncomfortably.  "Actually, my
darkest secret is just
that, well, I don't want to be the king of Jurai."
        Ryoko looked at him, "But why not?  You could do
so much as the king."
        Tenchi sighed.  "As a prince or a king I have to
live up to
expectations other people place on me.  You have no idea
how awful it is
to be defined by a label other people have given you."

        "You would be surprised," Ryoko murmured.  Then
she smiled at Tenchi,
"Your Majesty," she began, "you are lucky that you have
the ability to
change things for the better.  You were born to
privilege, and with that
comes certain obligations."
        "That's what my grandpa told me," Tenchi sighed.
        "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lecture you," Ryoko
replied.
        "That's OK," Tenchi said, "I don't mind."  He
looked at Ryoko and
smiled.  Ryoko once again noticed the open honesty and
kindness in the
boy's face; she smiled back.

Then, It was as if the world around them was spinning
very fast and gravity was working with all its might to
pull them together.  Their eyes met and locked.  She
began to feel dizzy and she knew it was not just because
of the sake.  This was a different feeling than
drunkenness.  It started in the pit of her stomach and
shot up like lightening to her heart, which was beating
very fast.  He slowly raised his hand and placed it on
her cheek very gently as if she were made of delicate
porcelain, and he was afraid he would break her.  She
felt so warm inside she thought she would melt. His
face, bathed in gentle moonlight, was very close to hers
now. She searched his kind expression and suddenly felt
a strange surge of emotion and knew that she never
wanted it to end.  She closed her palm around his hand
and held it, as if it were a blanket made of the softest
fabric in the universe.  She felt his sweet breath upon
her face and suddenly their lips were pressed together.
Ryoko did not know how it started, but she never wanted
it to end.  At that moment, she was not Kagato's slave
and Tenchi was not the Crown Prince of Jurai.  They were
individuals, with no obligations to anyone except each
other.  His lips were as soft as rose petals.  She had
never known anything could feel this good.  She moved to
pull him closer, but the gypsies caught sight of them
and began to hoot and holler.  Tenchi abruptly broke the
kiss.  He blushed, but she smiled.
        The moon had begun to fade into the sky, which
was evolving from a deep black to a gentle violet as it
awaited the return of the sun.
Tenchi and Ryoko rode on horseback to the gates of
Soja.  Ryoko sat in front of Tenchi.  She felt safe and
happy with his arms around her.  Tenchi stopped the
horse before the front door.  He dismounted and held out
his arms to help Ryoko down.  She accepted, falling into
his arms.  The two stood face to face for a moment.
Their noses touched, but Tenchi blushed again.
        "Good night, Your Majesty," Ryoko said.
        "The name is Tenchi, if you don't mind," he
said.  He let her go and she stumbled back, staring at
him in amazement.  Not even the menacing morning shadow
of Soja could stop her heart from fluttering.
        “Tenchi,” she repeated softly. As she began to
walk towards the front door.
        “Hakubi!” he called to her, “do you know the
cave by the old abandoned shrine?”  Ryoko nodded, “ Can
you meet me there tomorrow?” he asked.
        “I will try,” she sighed.
        “And I will wait all day,” he answered.