Ryoko looked out into the star field and leaned back into the deck chair. She had spent most of her life looking on that sight. Wandering, always wandering.
She had been getting tired of it. She hadn't really realized just how much the endless desert of the star field was wearing her down until she crashlanded on a backwater planet past the defined edges of civilized space. She could have easily spent the remainder of her life on Earth if it were not for Kagato.
She typed a few keys on the control ball next to her and the view changed to an Earth receeding in the distance. She was leaving again.
"That still looks weird," Ranma said. Ryoko snapped to face him, moderately annoyed for the first moment. She calmed down quickly though, in truth the sound of another voice was welcome.
"Never thought about it," Ryoko said. She couldn't even remember the first time she'd seen a planet falling away behind her. She frowned and corrected herself. "Not usually anyway."
"Never stayed anywhere long?" Ranma asked. "Me either, until Nerima."
"It's a little..." she paused for a moment. "I guess it isn't different."
Ayeka's eyes cracked open again to the sound of that incessant beeping again. Her head still pounded with a dull, muffled ache. She looked around, the action of moving her head hefty strain alone. The room design looked to be a hospital maybe.
Ayeka frowned and struggled to remember the last few days, but little if anything made sense. Something was gnawing at her, some worry, but she couldn't remember precisely what.
"Good morning," a voice said, and she looked to see what seemed to be a young girl in a lab coat. She seemed familiar, but Ayeka couldn't quite grasp from where.
"I know you..." Ayeka said uncertainly.
The girl didn't say anything for a little bit, checking the machine next to the bed, but she glanced at Ayeka with a comforting smile. She looked to young to be a nurse or doctor, but somehow Ayeka got the feeling that she should be there with the machines. She felt both safe and vaguely, horribly, at risk from something truly and greatly dangerous.
"Where's Tenchi?" Ayeka asked, she moved to sit up, this lying down was not dignified. There was danger somewhere, it was clear before, or was that a fever dream?
"Don't push yourself," the girl warned sharply. "You'll have to deal with a little undignified recuperating for a month or two."
"What happened?" Ayeka asked. "Who are you? Where's Tenchi?" Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up again and the girl gently pushed her back down. "Ryoko! There's a malfunction in her cell! I could hear her thinking!!"
"My name is Washu, and Ryoko...is fine," the girl said in a strange manner. "She's coming here to Jurai last I heard. Please calm down." The urgency in her voice was directed totally at Ayeka.
"This is not Earth?" Ayeka asked. "No, we left Earth...with...walking legends," she gave Washu a funny look. "....and..." there was an image of falling debris flashing through her mind. "Where's Tenchi? And my sister?"
"Sasami is fine, too," the girl said. "She's been here as often as she can."
"I demand you tell me what is going on!" Ayeka commanded.
"I thought I told you not to push yourself," her red-headed attendent firmly insisted. "You've been in a coma for nearly two months..."
"Two...months?" Ayeka said in quiet disbelief.
"And I am not going to have you relapse on me," Washu said firmly.
"What happened?" Ayeka asked again. "Where's Tenchi?" Washu breathed deeply and sighed, then she sat down at Ayeka's side.
"I don't know how much you remember yet," the small scientist said. "I can regenerate brain matter to some degree, but I can't recreate it...yet."
"Just tell me," Ayeka insisted, in her normal imperial tone. Then she relaxed her dignified image. "Please."
"Tenchi died," Washu said reluctantly.
"...died..." Ayeka said hollowly.
"In battle," Washu said.
"Where was Ryoko when it happened," Ayeka asked coldly.
"She was badly hurt when..." Washu hesitated. She didn't know how Ayeka would take the idea that this all happened to rescue her. "In the last fight with the enemy. I'm told she went as far as she could. We didn't think she could have survived."
"You said she was fine," Ayeka pointed out, sounding tired.
"She turned up alive, back on Earth," Washu said. "It would be best to ask Mihoshi and Kiyone about her when they get back. They'll know more. Now, I want you to relax, but tell me if you feel like you are going to sleep."
"I suppose I must live," Ayeka said. "For the empire."
"Living is enough for now," Washu said, leaving it perfectly clear that they would expect more eventually.
"This is very big inside," Ran Ran said in Mandarin, looking around, then she wandered into a room and up to a wall, giggling as the wall again turned transparent with her approach.
"Would you please stop doing that?" Shampoo insisted from the hallway. The window-walls did not amuse her nearly as much as they did Ran-Ran. She didn't like knowing her feet weren't on the ground. Or at least within twenty feet of it. Heights were one thing, a void something completely different.
Shampoo was beginning to have doubts about the decision to return to Nerima. Less than a week back and she was on the way to act as a guardian for Ran Ran in a galatic trial. Of course it had to be her, Mousse was more suited to dealing with the Japanese than she was and they still had to look for property to support a true colony of Amazons.
Ran-Ran sighed and stepped away from the wall. She sat down on a chair at a desk and pouted.
"You said Ranma was supposed to be mine," Ran-Ran said. "Now he's over there with that...witch, and I'm here."
"Grandmother suggested I try to match you up," Shampoo told her.
"But Amazon Law..."
"If Amazon Law were irrefutable I would be married to Ranma," Shampoo snapped, she sighed. "It would be better if you would find someone else."
"But..."
"The Tribe will not support a claim that involves making an enemy out of Ranma," Shampoo said. "We do not have the power to force Ranma to marry anyone."
"He is just..."
"The man that killed Saffron," Shampoo reminded her. "And he is not the only problem. There is Ukyou, her fiancee, her ninja and that crazy girl. There are Ranma's parents, and the Tendos..." Ran Ran started to protest. "Don't underestimate them. Akane is dead, but Natsume and Kurumi both consider themselves Tendos, they are both beyond exceptional fighters and Kurumi would surface if she felt she had to.. The modern world is Nabiki's playground. And that isn't considering that 'witch's' friends." Shampoo gestured at the spaceship around them. "We are surrounded by people that would make a permanent stay in Japan impossible."
"Why did you bother even saying anything to me," the younger girl demanded. Ran Ran didn't want to listen to it. She sat down and pouted trying not to pay attention to her sister.
"I didn't know Ranma already had someone," Shampoo said. "I wanted him to be happy. If he is, then I need do nothing."
"How do you know that sorceress didn't cast a spell on him," Ran Ran asked. Shampoo sighed and shook her head.
"She knows as much about magic as that blonde would," Shampoo said.
"But," Ran Ran started to protest.
"Is Great-Grandmother Teaching you?" Shampoo asked, knowing the answer. "Then don't presume to know more than me."
"Yes, sister," Ran Ran muttered. Shampoo walked over to her and hugged her comfortingly.
"You are young," Shampoo said. "You'll find someone."
I don't want 'someone', Ran Ran thought to herself.
"Sister!" Kuno shouted as he entered the estate. "Sister! I demand your presence." He turned a corner and found himself facing a rather surprised looking Kodachi.
"Brother?" she asked. "Is that you under those filthy bandages?"
"Yes, but that is a minor detail," Kuno said. "We must pool our resources, for even you must see the evil that Saotome is commiting now."
"What evil is that, brother?" Kodachi asked, her nose wrinkled back as she covered her mouth and nose with a hand and handkerchief.
"Can you not see that he is working to enslave yet another fair maiden to his evil ways?" Kuno demanded.
"If you mean his wife," Kodachi said, looking down to the...substance her brother was leaking onto the floor. "Then I am told that she is an ex-criminal strong enough to fight Ranma to a standstill. I think perhaps she can take care of herself."
"And where have you learned this information, Sister?" Kuno demanded. "Certainly these must be lies crafted by that foul diabolist Saotome."
"It is amazing what you learn when you attend dinner parties," Kodachi said. "And despite Nodoka-san's protests and attempts at distraction, Ryoko is quite outspoken about her past."
"You see, he already has her spreading these foul lies about herself," Kuno insisted.
"Yes...I see," Kodachi said. She looked him over again. "Perhaps you could take a bath while I make a call."
"Yes, of course," Kuno said. "I must appear my best when I destroy the foul demon." And he stomped off toward the baths leaving a slithering trail of....something that smelled less than healthy.
"Might I ask what call you mean to make, mistress?" Sasuke asked as Kodachi reached for the phone.
"The one you think I'm making," Kodachi said.
"Ah," Sasuke said, torn between loyalties. "How long will he be staying this time?"
"Oh, I don't know," Kodachi said. "He never generated multiple lawsuits in less than two weeks before. Or soiled my floors for that matter."
"I recognize this system," Ryoko said quietly as they passed a gas giant. "Why is Kiyone bringing us this way?"
"Is something wrong?" Ranma asked.
"We stopped here," Ryoko said. "All of us."
"Oh," Ranma said. He moved close behind her.
"We...I spent all our money," she said. "On a karaoke machine." She sniffed and laughed a little. "We were all taking turns on it. Mihoshi, Washu, Tenchi's father...he couldn't sing at all." She laughed again. "And me and Ayeka...we were still competeing over...Tenchi. I can still remember the song..." Ranma gripped her shoulder comfortingly and Ryoko's hand reached up to hold his.
"...but maybe they're right..." Ryoko sang softly, under her breath. "...but tonight's the night...to give your winning charm a try. Most people think...I'm a loon..." Her voice trailed off. She was always competing with Ayeka, always uncertain which one he would choose. Uncertain. Confused.
"Sorry," Ranma said, "I shouldn't have asked."
"I'm fine," Ryoko said.
"We...used to sing at parties," Ranma said. "Akane, her sisters, Shampoo and me. Nabiki had us record a few copies of a CD once. I still have it, in a box with a lock of Akane's hair."
"You're lucky," Ryoko said. "I don't have any souvenirs. All I have is memory."
"They ain't quite a substitute," Ranma said softly.
"You go to...your Akane's grave how often?" Ryoko asked cautiously.
"Every month," Ranma answered after a moment of consideration.
"I can't do that," Ryoko said. "I don't know where Tenchi's grave is, and they probably buried him at Jurai in some royal cemetary or something."
"You could stay on this Jurai place probably," Ranma reminded her.
"No," Ryoko said. "I'm going back to Earth, one way or another." Ranma frowned at the phrasing. "If...Nagi does kill me, you'd see to that wouldn't you?"
"I would try," Ranma agreed reluctantly.
"Good," Ryoko said. "That's...I think that's home now. And if he's anywhere, he's there." She remained silent after that, still holding Ranma's hand. "You're right," she said finally. "It is confusing."
"Yeah," Ranma said. "You think you know what you want..."
"But is it okay to take it?" Ryoko finished. "You think you know what you want?"
"Yeah," Ranma said looking down at the seated space pirate. She smiled softly back and then frowned pensively.
"I hope..." she was cut off as a communicator screen popped into existence.
"Ryoko, I think you should check the..." Kiyone stopped as she saw the scene. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine," Ryoko said bringing her hand away from Ranma suddenly. "I was just remembering the last time we were here," Ryoko said. The cop appeared confused and then a pained look crossed Kiyone's face for a moment.
"The last time we were here," Kiyone said. "Right, that was fun."
"Yeah," Ryoko said, focused now. "It was fun. What were you asking?"
"Turn on the news," Kiyone said with a good deal more confidence. "You should probably see this, and then we should probably stop for a talk, face to face. Is...this planet alright for you?"
"I'll see you in the docks, Kiyone," Ryoko said. Kiyone nodded and almost eagerly shut off the communication. Ryoko sighed deeply.
"Ciao?" Ken-Ohki inquired to her side. Ryoko flinched, she was still not to used to the white cabbit being around. She didn't really trust him either, he was loyal to Nagi, and that did not leave her with a good feeling.
"She couldn't remember," Ranma guessed, remembering the first time he had met the woman.
"She isn't even certain of what her relationship with Mihoshi was," Ryoko said, she looked up. "And I can't answer that question, I really can't. And Ayeka might be worse. I don't ever want to forget...any of them." She tapped a few keys on her console to call up a news screen.
"Ya shouldn't," Ranma said as the news started running.
"A crew of independent miners made a grisly discovery today when tapping a previously undiscovered asteroid field," the reporter said. "There was heavy debris scattered about the field, some pieces large enough for the miners to identify the debris as multiple Galaxy Police patrollers. The GP is making no comment, but our sources indicate that the serial numbers they identified belong to three of the five ship convoy assigned to escort Nagi."
"An asteroid field," Kiyone said as she noted the coordinates on the back screen. "Nice touch." She didn't want to think about the lapse Ryoko had just caught her in, especially when this time the pirate hadn't teased her about it.
"Apparently the villian's series of murders and terrorists activites have been ended, not in a court of law, or field of battle, but due to natural phenomena."
"Don't count on it," Kiyone said, shutting off the broadcast. "She used the Evslin Field as a dumping site. Probably took one of the patrollers until she could find something less conspicuous."
"I don't get it," Mihoshi said. "Didn't Ryoko say she thought Nagi was a police officer?"
"Yes," Kiyone said. "About four or five years ago."
"OHHH!!" Mihoshi said. "Are we stopping here again?"
"Yes, Mihoshi," Kiyone said. "We're stopping here."
"They're not coming along?" Ryoko asked, indicating the two Amazons. "Are they?"
"Well of course they're coming," Mihoshi said. "The more the merrier after all."
"I will not be treated like some weak farmer that must be protected," Shampoo said.
"It ain't your fight Shampoo," Ranma said, without much hope of having an effect.
"After what happened to Ran Ran," Shampoo reminded him, eliciting a flinch from the younger Amazon. "And it has been four years Ranma, even I speak better Japanese than you do."
"That don't..." Ranma started. He stopped as Shampoo arched an eyebrow and Ryoko snickered a little. "That doesn't mean anything."
"What funny?" Ran Ran asked.
"I am at least sitting in on these plans," Shampoo said. "And I shall contribute if it at all possible."
"And the kid?" Ryoko asked pointing at Ran Ran.
"She stays out of the way," Shampoo said. Ran Ran started to protest but stopped when Shampoo turned to glare at her. "But I want her to watch and learn at any rate. Stupidest young warriors become good old leaders sometimes." Ran Ran beamed. "Of course most of them just get themselves killed."
"Big Sister..." Ran Ran whined.
Ken-Ohki watched the group leave down the docks and started to follow them. In all likelyhood they would be talking about Nagi, and he wanted to be there when they did.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki yawned quietly from where she was curled up resting from her travels. Of course, it was just like the humanoids to forget that they weren't machines. Did they expect to just leave her alone like that, what if someone broke into the ship?
Ryoko glanced back to look at them and nodded towards Ryo-Ohki, and Ken-Ohki understood. The woman trusted him with Ryo-Ohki, but she didn't trust him around her. She wasn't leaving him a choice.
"Ciaaoo," Ken-Ohki sighed wearily. "He could still warn Nagi off of this hunt, if she got close enough to listen that is.
"Do you need anything to drink, ladies and gentleman?" the waiter asked, succeeding wonderfully in not sounding shaky.
"Yeah," Ryoko started. "I'll have..."
"Something that ain't got alcohol," Ranma interrupted. Ryoko turned to look at him and tapped her fingers irritably. Ranma returned the look with one of his own.
"I was going to have the klah, thank you," Ryoko said after a moment, and a quick glance at the menu. "No alcohol, just caffeine."
"Bleh, not as bad I guess," Ranma said. "Ain't they got fruit juices or something?"
"We certainly have a selection of fruit juices, sir," waiter said. "What would you like?" Ranma looked at the menu's breverage section and frowned.
"What these drinks?" Ran Ran asked.
"I don't recognize anything on this menu," Shampoo echoed.
"Start with the leej juice," Mihoshi suggested. "It tastes almost exactly like orange juice." The three Terrans shrugged and decided to go with the blonde's suggestion.
"I'll have a klah, also," Kiyone said, massaging her forehead and sounding as tired as usual.
"All right," the waiter said. "I'll be back shortly to take your order." He bowed and stepped away from them, as soon as he was out of their sight, he grabbed the closest pay-communicator and started dialling. Ryoko did not wait long past when the waiter disappeared.
"You don't think that she's dead," Ryoko said sharply. "Nagi would not be taken down by something as meaningless as an asteroid field."
"The convoy certainly wouldn't have had trouble with a field that has been a GP landmark for the last two years," Kiyone added. Ryoko blinked and looked at her. "What, you don't think that pirates are the only ones using undocumented phenomena, do you?"
"I guess not," Ryoko said. "Still think letting her live was a good idea?"
"I'm not bounty hunter, Ryoko," Kiyone said. "I don't have the luxury of doing what I want to do. I have my own duties and obligations."
"And when you were on the run with us?" Ryoko asked. Kiyone hesitated.
"I didn't have a choice then, either," Kiyone said. "Nagi has to be stopped, secured, but I am not going to her level to do it!" Ryoko and Kiyone stared across the table at each other, and everyone tensed.
"She wouldn't have gotten far in a GP ship," Ryoko said finally, eliciting a group sigh of relief.
"Yes, well, I'm checking all the reports of missing vehicles," Mihoshi said. "But there are a lot of them."
They quieted down as the waiter returned with their drinks, until they asked for more time to decide.
"She will come for you," Shampoo said, simply. "Yes?" Ryoko nodded, frowning at the Amazon's entrance to the conversation. "Then we wait, and while she attacks you, we take her."
"I am not going to be a decoy while the rest of you take down Nagi," Ryoko said. "I am not doing that."
"What about someone dressed like you?" Mihoshi asked.
"Right," Kiyone said. "There's nobody here that can pass for more than a couple of seconds, and then she knows its a trap."
"We don't need a decoy anyway," Ryoko said. "She wants to fight me full out. Not take me down from hiding like some sniper."
"How about a couple of seconds at a time?" Ranma asked. Ryoko snapped her attention to Ranma.
"What do you mean?" Kiyone asked.
"What about that thing where you blink in and out?" Ranma asked turning to Ryoko. "Can't get a good look at someone doing that." Ryoko froze.
"And who else can teleport?" Kiyone asked wearily.
"Or move fast enough to look like it?" Ryoko asked hesitantly. She shook her head. "It won't work, how the hell do we know where Nagi's going to attack? We just have to wait for her."
"Giving up the iniative loses the battle," Shampoo lectured.
"What do you know about it?" Ryoko asked.
"Nagi is hunted, and she is desperate," Kiyone said interrupting the potential argument. "She'll strike soon or she'll lay low and strike years from now. If she strikes soon, it will be somewhere she knows we're going to be. Where we should be relaxed and feel safe. With high security, but not too high."
"You know a place like that, doncha?" Ranma said.
"No, this is a bad idea," Ryoko said.
"Do you have any other idea?" Kiyone asked. Ryoko frowned, but said nothing.
"And who is this we see sitting in animated conversation around a table," the reporter asked as a small image appeared in the corner above him. The image zoomed forward to fill the screen to show six people at a back corner table of a small restaurant. The small group consisted mostly of women or girls with a variety of hair colors. There was, in fact, only one male in the group. "We recognize prominent hero police officers Kiyone Makibi and Mihoshi Kuramitsu, and the pardoned space pirate Ryoko. As for the other three, your guess is as good as ours."
"I'll bet those bigwigs in the Jurai are really chewing their fingers off now," someone laughed in the bar as the news turned to something else.
"Yeah, bet they never expected Ryoko to turn up alive when they pardoned her," another added.
"It would be better if she had been dead," someone muttered.
"What are you talking about?" someone asked. "It's the biggest tag the powers that be have taken in ages."
"If she's turned bounty hunter?" the nay-sayer pointed out. "She'll be more dangerous than ever Nagi was." A figure in the corner of the bar frowned at that, and the way that the rest of the bar seemed to take it seriously. Ryoko could never be as dangerous as her.
The broadcast itself proved it. It was sloppy. Getting caught on film like that was something Nagi would never allow to happen if she didn't want it to. She silently tsked as she sipped her drink. It just went to prove that even Kiyone was not up to her standards.
"So you've left Earth," Nagi whispered. "But you aren't following my trail. Hmmm. Where are you going?" She glanced up again as the television news gave an update on the status of the crown princess Ayeka. Nagi smiled darkly.
There was only one entrance to the Jurai inner systems.
"Well?" Ranma asked.
"You don't look at all like me," Ryoko said, looking over Ranma-chan in the wig they had procured and a spare outfit of hers that had to be altered somewhat to fit. "She's going to know something's off. She'll..."
"You want to get her right?" Ranma asked.
"This isn't going to work," Ryoko protested. She'd been protesting the whole month of travel since they had first come up with the idea.
"Hey," Ranma said. "I can take care of myself."
"Only if you see it coming," Ryoko snapped. "She wants to humiliate me, but you are not me. She'll know and she'll just kill you out of spite. Before we know she's there."
"Do you have a better plan?" Ranma asked. "She won't catch me of guard like that."
"She wants a fight," Ryoko said. "I can give it to her."
"That's right," Ranma said. "SHE wants the fight."
"I want her to suffer," Ryoko growled.
"Fine with me," Ranma said. "Don't see how you'll do it, I don't she cares if she lives or dies. As long as she fights you to the end."
"You won't give up on this will you?" Ryoko said.
"Excuse me, miss," the officer said, approaching a serious looking woman in a heavy coat. "I need to ask you to clear this area."
"What's the problem," the woman asked. The tone of voice set the young Jurain security officer on edge, and he narrowed his eyes. There was word that an assassination attempt might be made in the next day, by Nagi no less. Really, he should have called for back-up in handling any apparent vagrant considering the circumstances, but he doubted anything would happen. And if it was Nagi, he'd be a hero.
"There's no loitering here," he said.
"I'm not loitering," the woman said. "I'm waiting for someone."
"There are any number of restaurants to wait for your other party," the officer said. "We've had too much trouble recently to allow people to hang about the checkpoint proper." He said, catching a glimpse of something through her coat.
"Enjoying the view officer?" the woman asked irritably. He looked her over cautiously and his eyes widened, when he came back to her face. He started to draw breath and move for his sidearm.
The woman moved quicker and dragged him out of sight. A few moments later Nagi was looking into the darkened window next to her and frowned. The make-up had rubbed off her facial tattoos somehow. They made things so cheap these days. She dragged the rookie's body into a closet and eased her way back into where she could see the lines of people heading for the check point.
Any moment now.
It was coming close, they'd all know she was here soon, and something was wrong.
Ryoko wasn't coming here, that was it. Ryoko wasn't coming.
"Time to..." Nagi stopped as she caught a glimpse of silver hair in the line ahead. "Maybe I was wrong." She smirked and eased out into the main section. Something was still wrong. She could feel it as she broke from the shadows of the stations structure.
She glanced about for a moment and returned her focus on Ryoko as she got closer to the silver-haired woman. That sense of warning was getting stronger, almost like something...or someone, yelling in her head.
Nagi stopped.
"Ken-Ohki?" she asked and then frowned. "You chose your side. Leave!"
Ken-Ohki realed in shock as Nagi forcibly cut the connection between them, hardly willing to believe it.
Nagi turned back toward Ryoko and was surprised to notice the former pirate staring at her.
"Excuse me," a man next to her asked before she could react. "I didn't hear....y...y..you're...NAGI!!!" Half a dozen heads turned to the shout and then there was screaming as the area around Nagi cleared. The bounty hunter cursed as officers started to respond to the screams. They'd be working their way through the stampede any moment.
"RYOKO!!!" Nagi shouted, charging forward.
She made it about half the fifty feet before something smashed into her leg. She tumbled to the ground, feeling another solid blow to her back. Her whip skittered across the floor and she struggled to get up and reach it. Whoever her attacker was kicked her across the room.
Nagi barely held onto consciousness now as somebody lifted her off the ground. She blinked and tried to focus on the person holding her, finally focusing on a angry, pained face. Ryoko's face.
"This isn't the way it ends Ryoko," she wheezed. "We're warriors both, this isn't the way warriors end things." Ryoko growled and pulled the hunter to her face.
"What kind of warrior are you?" Ryoko growled. "I could kill you now easily."
"You won't," Nagi said smirking. She was recovering now, and she still had an ace in her hands.
"No," Ryoko said. "I won't. You're going to sleep."
She shoved the woman away and Nagi flew across the room and slammed into a pillar. She crumpled painfully to the ground, coughing and looked up to see Ryoko and one of her accidental husband's acquaintances. That Shampoo woman. Kiyone and Mihoshi were coming from another side of the room with side arms drawn. All the civilians had left, and now the room was flooding with Jurai and GP.
"By the time you wake up," Ryoko snapped. "I'll be thousands of years dead and buried. You'll never get your fight." Nagi sneered angrily as Ryoko turned away and let the authorities close in on the battered fighter.
"No one kills you, but ME!!" Nagi shouted, reaching into her coat and drawing out a small cynlider. Before she could do anything with it though, somebody grabbed her arm and twisted it, shattering the bones into splinters. Ranma grabbed the cylinder out of her hand and looked at it curiously.
"This goes boom, right?" he asked, tossing the thing to Ryoko who glanced at it. Kiyone next to her glanced at it and swallowed before sighing in relief.
"She could have breached the hull with that," she said. "We'd all be dead."
"Fuck you all," Nagi snapped angrily from her position on the ground.
She couldn't do much more. She couldn't feel her legs after Ryoko threw her into the pillar, which was partially good since she couldn't feel it was broken. Her right arm was useless, and her whip was twenty feet away from her. She wasn't getting away this time.
"You're a coward, Ryoko," Nagi shouted as they carried her away. "I always knew it, you're a soft coward that can't do anything but run!! You could never beat me! Never!"
Ryoko growled and looked down with closed eyes, with eyes clinched.
She wasn't the only one fighting conflicting emotions as Nagi was carried away. Ken-Ohki perched within easy sight of Nagi's stretcher and watched her taken away. Nagi's eyes brushed past the cabbit, held for a moment and then right back to ranting about Ryoko. As if she had never seen the cabbit.
"Did I do the right thing?" Ryoko asked from the deck chair as they were leaving the checkpoint.
"Well," Ranma said.
"I'm letting her live," she said. "Tenchi's dead, Yosho's dead, Tenchi's dad is dead. Kiyone and Ayeka have had chunks of their life ripped from them. And I know for a fact that none of it would have happened if it weren't for her."
"You said it yourself," Ranma said. "You can't trust what that mirror shows you."
"Oh kami, I wish I knew," Ryoko said. "I wish Tenchi would tell me what he wanted." Ranma walked next to her and crouched down to be level with her.
"That would be nice," Ranma agreed. "But I think ya were right." He hesitantly wrapped a comforting arm around her.
"I still want her dead," Ryoko said. She turned and looked into his face, close to hers. She looked over his face and sighed. "But I guess its over now."
"How about you," Ranma asked. "Still want to die?" Ryoko hesitated for a moment.
"No, I don't," she said finally, smiling lightly. "Do you?"
"I still have to keep track of you," he said, smirking. Ryoko laughed once and then her face turned serious as she leaned forward and closed the difference between her and Ranma. "Ryoko?"
I should talk to Ayeka first, Ryoko thought as she closed her eyes. She had always made snap judgments. She had fallen for Tenchi when she first woke up in the remains of Ryo-Ohki's last incarnation. She'd never had a problem admitting what she thought before. I should ask her if I have the right.
She certainly never expected to take more than a month on any decision. The month between leaving Earth the second time and coming to the Jurai checkpoint to be precise.
I should... It was Ranma's offer to act as decoy that finally made the, she realized that now. Nagi would have just killed him, she was sure of that. Shot from the dark like an assassin just to give Ryoko another message. She could not have borne that again. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Ranma said as they started to kiss.