"That is to say," Misaki chirped brightly to Washu and Ryoko, when they had gathered in the throne room. "Emperor Azusa has asked that we return to Jurai as soon as possible, and has requested that you, Queen Washu, and you too, Princess Ryoko, join us so that we may continue planning for Ryoko and Ayeka's wedding." "And be in safety at the heart of his Empire, no less," Washu murmured with a small smile. The expression faded to a somewhat grimmer one as she tapped her fingers in a sharp staccato rythm on the arm of her throne. "However, the recent attempt at a coup is an obvious reason for me to NOT leave the system. In this time of unrest, how can I effectively comfort and govern my people if I'm in an entirely different quadrant of the galaxy?" "Emperor Azusa, of course, has already seen this point." Misaki was barely restraining her excitement at returning to Jurai, but she seemed to be making some attempt at Funaho's more composed bearing. "As such, he has offered you however many knights and soldiers you might care to utilize, as well as any number of ships from the fleet, in order to assist you in keeping peace in the Hyurodan Alliance." The regal demeanor lasted another few seconds, before Misaki clasped her hands together, eyes turning large and glistening. "Oh pleeeeeeeeease won't you come home with us?! The palace is ever so nice, and there will be feasts in your honor -every- -day-!" Both of the Hyurodan developed large sweatdrops at Misaki's tone, more reminiscient of a small child begging to be allowed to keep the pet that had supposedly followed them home than that of an Empress negotiating matters of state. "Ah, well, it's a generous offer, Empress Misaki. Give me some time to discuss it with my daughter, and I'll have an answer for you in a few hours." "Of course. ... Please say yes!" And, with a little bow, Misaki hurried from the room, likely to tell the rest of her family that they were taking the Hyurodan royal family back to Jurai. "Oh, c'mon, like we're NOT gonna take this opportunity?!" Ryoko cried as soon as the doors had closed behind the Juraian Empress. "It's a chance to finally get out of the sticks and back to real civilization! We used to at least get to go to some good space station bazaars back when we were pirates, but for the last two centuries we've barely even left this PLANET!" "Ryoko, there are other factors to take into consideration," Washu replied, seeming calm. "Consider the SHOPPING!" the cyan-haired woman whined, lifting into the air and curling her legs up, hands clasped together, floating around in front of her mother. "Consider the Universe Mall in First City! Consider the Last Ditch Effort in the grey sector, where you can buy a drink that's illegal EVERYWHERE!" She pointed off in some random direction and flailed her hand, somehow conveying that she was pointing towards Jurai. "Consider the Perky and Trim, finest nude resort in the galaxy, where every last person is judged on strict attractiveness parameters before even being allowed within a one mile radius of the place!" "What makes you think you'd get in?" Washu murmured, cheek in hand, seeming vastly amused. Ryoko went red in the face. "MOTHER!" "Before you start ranting, consider what my detractors would make of my shipping out of the system and allowing a couple of legions of Juraian troops come sweeping in like an occupying force." That cut off any further outbursts, and Ryoko quietly lowered down to sit on the floor, elbow propped on her knee and chin in hand, expression suspiciously close to a pout. "Yeah, I guess so." Washu leaned forward on the throne, gently stroking a small hand through the long blue-green spikes of her daughter's hair. "There there. Don't lose all hope just yet, Ryoko. We just need to think this through a little more first." ------------------------------------------------------------ "It will be good to be home," Ayeka acknowledged with a tired smile as Misaki took her daughter's hand. The older Juraian had seated herself beside the younger's bed to regale her with the good news. "And when we get there, it will be time to begin your training!" Misaki added, eyes sparkling with a bright inner shine of pride. Ayeka blinked several times in confusion. "Training?" "Oh, yes, dear. Oh my, that's right, it's a rather private thing and not generally known." Moving from the chair to sit on the side of the bed itself, Misaki cupped Ayeka's hand in both hers and rested it in her lap. "Either upon marriage to a member of royalty or upon ascension of their power, Juraian women are trained in the use of energy swords and unarmed combat." "You mean..." Ayeka's eyes widened. "I am to learn to fight as you and Funaho do?" Misaki giggled, releasing her daughter's hand to reach inside her sleeve and retrieve her weapon. "You used to love to watch Funaho and I spar, Ayeka-chan. Then one day you declared it was unladylike and stopped coming to watch." Ayeka's pale cheeks flushed, and she looked away, embarrassed. "I... I was embarrassed by the way I was always in awe of you both. I felt like a silly, gawking child." "You were a silly, gawking child," Misaki snickered, drawing an annoyed look. She poked Ayeka on the nose. "That's what childhood is for, Ayeka-chan... being silly and gawking at what impresses you. And now you'll have a chance to do what so impressed you all those long years ago." "I'd like to help with that, if I can." Both Juraians blinked in surprise and turned their heads to see Ryoko leaning in the doorframe, smirking a bit. Seeing she had their attention, she pushed off and sauntered on over to the side of the bed. "After all, if I let little miss proper here to try and learn how to fight without me, she'll wind up refusing to fight with anyone not in formal dress." Ayeka scowled up at Ryoko, and Misaki quickly excused herself, looking as if she were valiantly trying to suppress giggles, and thoughtfully closing the door after her. "Just how long were you standing there?!" Ayeka demanded. "Eh, a little while." Ryoko chuckled, then slipped forward onto the bed, startling the other princess. But much to Ayeka's surprise, the cyan-haired woman didn't begin to grope her at all, but instead simply lay down close to her side and draped an arm across the middle. Ayeka's entire body tensed up, before she slowly allowed herself to relax, turning her head to the side, finding that her face was close to Ryoko's, but the perfect distance that she could see the other woman's face. Right now, the Hyurodan princess was smiling softly, amber eyes twinkling, and Ayeka thought it an expression much preferable to the leer Ryoko often turned in her direction. "You doin' okay?" Ryoko whispered, almost startling Ayeka again with the softness and sincerity of her tone. "Yes... I'm well," Ayeka murmured back, smiling a little. "I suppose, if pressed, I must admit I owe that, at least in part, to you." "In part?" Ryoko snorted quietly, one corner of her mouth turning a bit further upward, making her smile lopsided. "You just don't quit, do you?" "Nor do you," the other girl returned good-naturedly, her own smile growing slightly. "I don't see any reason why I should be the first." "I absolutely cannot stand you," came the soft reply, Ryoko's expression becoming almost thoughtful as she raised a hand to stroke it gently over Ayeka's hair just along her bangs and over her ear. "You drive me crazy." "And you drive me crazy as well," Ayeka whispered, the look in her eyes showing just how she meant it. Ryoko smiled again, a tender expression that touched her eyes and sent an amazing warmth through them. She leaned forward slowly, eyelids sinking halfway down, lips drawing closer to Ayeka's, the Juraian girl taking in a long, deep breath, but not moving away. "Ayeka," Ryoko murmured, voice low and throaty, fairly radiating sensuality in the manner that desert sands radiate heat. "Yes... Ryoko?" Ayeka breathed, letting her eyes start to sink closed. "... Y'wanna screw?" Ayeka's eyes flew open in horror, and in less than a second her hand blurred out, palm and fingers striking Ryoko's cheek with a loud sound that could have almost have had large, animated letters spelling out SLAP! rising from it, the impact actually lifting Ryoko off the bed and spinning her through the air before thudding out of sight on the floor. "God DAMN, girl, you hit pretty fucking hard for an invalid!" Ryoko grumbled as she rose to her feet, rubbing her cheek. "What the hell's the matter with you?!" "How dare you say that to me?!" Ayeka shouted, sitting up and gathering the sheets around herself as if they were protection from the other woman's lechery. "Though I should have expected it from someone like you!" "Hey, a minute ago you were about to kiss 'someone like me'!" Ryoko yelled back, leaning forward and pointing at her face as if for emphasis, where a large dark mark in the shape of a hand was already starting to form on her cheek. "Well, ha! For your information, I was just messin' with you!" "Of course you were! As if a creature like you could have any idea of how to be romantic!" With a huff, Ayeka rolled onto her side with her back to Ryoko and pulled the sheet up over her head to indicate that the argument was at an end. Ryoko stood there for a few moments, stung, before withdrawing from the room without further taunt and closing the door after her. Slowly, she turned and walked down the hall, out onto the balcony where she had, weeks ago, advised Ayeka on not catching cold standing out in the night air in her sleeping kimono. The Hyurodan princess rested her hands on the cool stone of the balcony's rail, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as she took in a long breath, feeling the faintly moist cold of the night air tingle as it rushed into lungs powerful enough to sustain her in the vacuum of space. Then she let out the breath in one long rush as she allowed her head to hang. 'Well. I fucked that one right up. Way to go, Ryoko.' What had she been thinking, saying that? Treating Ayeka as if she were one of the guards being propositioned for a quick bout of fun in a hallway alcove, not a Juraian princess and her fiancee. Then covering her mistake by denying anything worthwhile she HAD said. "The young often make mistakes. It's called 'experience'." Starting at the seeming answer to her private thought, Ryoko turned to see Funaho standing in the archway. The mature Juraian was wearing one of her typical kimonos of earthen colors, cream rimmed in dark brown, but it was left open in front, perhaps under doctor's orders, leaving her slender neck and the middle of her collarbone bare, draping over the fullness of her breasts, and showing her midriff, completely covered in shimmering bands of silver, down to where the kimono was lightly gathered to close at the waist. She was resting a hand against the stone of the archway, hair loose and falling down around her face and over her shoulders, dark eyes catching some of the light from the planet's moon even from where she stood in the shadows. Momentarily mesmerized, Ryoko realized she was staring after a few moments and turned her gaze back to the desert horizon. "Good to see you're up and about, Empress," she murmured, trying to avoid answering the comment. "Thank you." Her voice certainly seemed strong and healthy, and her step was sure and unwavering as she moved to stand beside the Hyurodan princess, resting her own delicate-seeming hands on the railing, gazing up at the clear, dark sky and the little jewels of the stars. After waiting what she apparently felt was a suitable amount of time, the Empress turned her gaze to Ryoko. "I will assume from its tone and your manner that this is not one of your and Ayeka's usual tiffs...?" Ryoko heaved a sigh, resisting the desire to turn and look at her fiancee's co-parent, because she'd probably wind up breaking down crying and confiding every last secret she had like some lovestruck little girl bawling about a fight with her girlfriend. "Yeah, this one was for real, I guess," she allowed in a reluctant tone after a moment. "Might I ask what set it off...?" "I chose a REALLY bad moment to make a stupid comment," Ryoko murmured, looking down. She knew that Ayeka wouldn't exactly care to have the details surrounding that 'bad moment' spread about, at least. "Basically... I guess I didn't treat her like a princess." "I might remind you that you have never treated Ayeka as if she were a princess," Funaho said with amusement coloring her tone, eyes dancing as she turned a smile on Ryoko. "You have always treated her more like a playmate in the sandbox." "Yeah, well, what I said'd make her stop playing with me, if that were true," Ryoko sighed, shaking her head. "I know that she will forgive you, given time." "What makes you so sure?" Ryoko demanded mildly, finally turning to look at the other woman. Whatever answer may have been impending was disrupted by a loud crash in the hallway. Both of them whirled around, then relaxed into bemusement as they watched Mihoshi attempt to balance several vases she had apparently knocked from their stands and caught before they smashed to the ground... for all of ten seconds. Then the one in the middle dropped out from between the other two, leaving Mihoshi's tight hold on them to smash both pieces of pottery together as the first smashed spectacularly on the ground. Unaware that she was being observed, Mihoshi quickly and lamely used a foot to push some of the mess behind a column before making a run for it. "Why do you put up with her?" Ryoko chuckled, turning back around to resume her earlier pose, though now with a lighter heart. Funaho finished laughing softly, and her amusement turned to a softer happiness as she answered. "Mihoshi is excellent at her job, despite appearances to the contrary. Where it comes to her true duties, she never falters or missteps, and it is rare that I find so much as a hair out of place in Sasami's pigtails when Mihoshi has tended to her. Besides which... if there is anyone alive that loves Sasami as much as I, Misaki, Azusa, or Ayeka... it is Mihoshi. That woman's world revolves around my daughter, and she would see it as absolutely nothing to give her life for Sasami's." "I guess help like that's hard to come by," Ryoko murmured, unable to keep the fact that she was impressed out of her tone. "Indeed. And she also answers your question of how I am so sure that Ayeka will forgive you, Ryoko." "How's that?" Ryoko turned puzzled eyes to Funaho, brow creasing in confusion. Funaho tucked her hands inside her sleeves, seeming to consider before speaking. "I am Ayeka's parent, but that does not mean I am blind to her shortcomings. And one of those is too much of a focus on propriety and what she considers proper behavior for royalty. As you might guess, Mihoshi infuriates her on a regular basis." "Yeah, I kinda figured. So?" "So... despite the fact that Mihoshi manages to anger Ayeka to the point that Ayeka can hardly speak on the average of once a day, she has never once, in all the years that Mihoshi has been her sister's attendant, made any motion to attempt to have her dismissed." Ryoko blinked, not sure she was following. "Certainly, she has threatened Mihoshi with it, at least -twice- daily, but never has she come to myself, or her father, or her mother and tried to make us fire the girl." "Okay, I give up... how's that tell me Ayeka will forgive me?" Funaho laughed very softly, taking her gaze from the stars and turning it towards the door to her chambers, slowly moving away. Just as she was about to move into the shadows beyond the archway, she paused and looked over her shoulder, eyes dancing through a curtain of her dark hair. "Because, Ryoko... Ayeka does not let anger keep her from forgiving the people she cares about." And with that, the Empress of the Jurai left to go to bed, leaving a very shocked Princess of the Hyurodan behind her. ------------------------------------------------------------ The sound of metal smashing rock was strange... discordant and tonal at the same time, like a gong shattering when struck. Kallista made a small sound in her throat... she wasn't unfamiliar with the sound, but it didn't make it any less grating. Especially when she considered the reason for it. She angled herself around and down to land lightly, kicking up a bit of sand as she allowed her gem-powered flight field to disappear, then rested her hands on her hips, simply watching Riyata in silence for several minutes. The large, black-haired Hyurodan guard had discarded her armored top, and was unclad save for her loincloth and boots, bare breasts and stomach shining with sweat in the starlight, save for dark patches where rock dust and sand had mixed to form a thick paste over the fluid movement of the guardswoman's muscles. "Better be careful," Kallista spoke up, running a hand along her orange shark-fin of hair. "You let that stuff set up, it'll be just like concrete." Riyata's back was to the other woman, and Kallista watched her slow and stop, letting her body slump forward a bit, golden spear held loosely in her hands, arms at a drooping angle more reminiscient of a savage about to lash out with a club. After a few moments of silence, there was the sound of a few sharply-inhaled breaths... Kallista could practically see her friend's nostrils flaring. "... The green-haired one?" Riyata slowly straightened up, not turning around and instead knocking a few rock shards aside with the toe of her boot, seeming to ponder which boulder to smash next. "Yeah... fell asleep on me a little while back." Kallista floated around to be more at Riyata's side, where she could at least partially see the other woman's face, which was a mask of impassiveness. "I'm surprised you can smell me over you." "You've been frustrated lately," Riyata answered, tone conversational but lacking any inflection, either positive or negative. Apparently having decided, she brought the spear up in a twirl over her head, shifting her grip to a downward stab to bring the point down on a waist-high boulder, causing a miniature explosion as the metal struck other veins in the rock, sparks blasting out from the point of impact as the stone turned to so much shrapnel. Kallista shrugged, apparently unfazed by her friend's exercise. "Ryoko hasn't been interested in sex since the Juraians got here. Not with me, anyway." "Almost twenty years, now," the black-haired woman observed, again without inflection, kicking a few shards of rock hard enough that they went flying and struck a nearby cliff face, striking up more sparks. "That about right?" "Twenty-three," Kallista corrected, her own tone hard to decipher. "You haven't been with anyone else but her in at least nineteen, though." "What of it?" The orange-haired woman was feeling defensive now, her eyes narrowed, the seafoam green color darkening slightly. "Does she know that?" Riyata kicked a rock the size of her head into the air, then swung her spear like a club, the shaft impacting and shattering the stone into a shower of gravel. "Probably not. No reason for her to ask, really. Why's it matter?" Riyata slowly turned her head, orange eyes tinged red with her exertion and the emotions that had been warring within her since she had watched Ada cut down in front of her by the traitorous Kuska. "Are you ever going to tell Ryoko that you're in love with her?" "No," Kallista snapped, her own eyes flashing with a bit of red. "And you're not going to either!" "Lost opportunities," Riyata murmured, reaching under her thick black mane to run her fingertips over the angular little nub of the second power gem where it was sunk into the back of her neck. "Don't give me that... this isn't some story of tragedy for me, Riyata! So what if I'm in love with Ryoko? I'll get over it, and she won't die anyway!" Her anger fed on the hurt nevertheless, and before she could stop herself, she blurted, "We're not you and Ada!" If she could have gone back in time and slain herself before she'd said the words, she would have. Kallista had known Riyata for over a thousand years, more than half their lives. They'd gone to school together, served in the war together. They'd shared tragedy, blood, joy, beds, and lovers. And Kallista was perhaps the only other person alive who knew just how deeply Riyata had been in love with a short-haired little rookie guard that had clung to the older woman when the other guards teased her. "God... God, Riyata, I'm sorry," whispered Kallista, watching the other woman's grip on her weapon go white-knuckled. She felt hot, wet pressure around her eyes, wanting to break down crying at the hell she realized she'd just put her best friend through. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" She choked off the rest of her apology as Riyata's spear flew in a flash of gold, slamming into the cliff wall, burying almost half its length in the stone. Without a word, Riyata strode slowly forward, deceptively calm as she apparently moved to retrieve her weapon. But instead, a fist blurred out at waist-height, fingers turned upward, slamming into the stone and sending dust and chips of rock dancing down. Kallista watched with wide eyes as Riyata's fists slammed into the solid rock again and again, each time leaving slightly deeper impact craters. The black-haired Hyurodan was stronger than any other being Kallista had ever met, and could probably have bent her spear double without much difficulty if she'd cared to. The fact that she was pummeling solid rock wasn't what was shocking. What was was the way Riyata was doing it... with a single-minded fury, a boiling rage. Kallista couldn't remember any time she'd known the other woman when she'd felt so much hate boiling off of her, and somehow knew it wasn't because of the careless comment. This was fury born of frustration and grief. "Riyata," Kallista called as the blows speeded up, became hectic and wild. "Riyata!" She lept down from the rock and rushed over, shouting. "Riyata, dammit, stop, you're going to hurt yourself!" She scowled with a mixture of worry and dread. "Goddammit, stop, before you cut yourself! You know what'll happen if some of your blood gets in your mouth!" Kallista called her friend's name once more, and when that went unheeded, lept forward in a tackle, wrapping her arms under Riyata's and yanking her back from the cliff face, trying to wrest the struggling guard to the ground. Riyata was stronger, but Kallista had put more practice into the finer points of fighting, and managed to get the other woman on her back, pinning her wrists. "Stop it!" "I CAN'T!" Riyata snapped, then shuddered, going limp beneath her friend, every ragged breath pressing her bare breasts to the metal covering Kallista's. "I can't," she repeated, voice ragged. "It's either anger or... I can't deal with it... I can't let myself..." She went quiet, her words turning into soft sobs. Kallista quickly released her grip and instead wrapped her arms around the other woman, pulling her close, pressing her head against her shoulder and stroking her hand over the thick black spikes of Riyata's hair. "I miss her so much," Riyata wailed, clutching to her friend as if she were drowning. "I know, honey," Kallista murmured, letting the tears slide down her own cheeks, closing her eyes and rocking her friend gently. "I know." ------------------------------------------------------------ "Enter," Funaho called at the light rap on her door. "Good evening, Funaho," Washu said brightly as she slipped in and closed the door after her, eyes running up and down the attractive Juraian woman where she sat in front of the room's vanity brushing her hair. "I expected Misaki to be bustling about like a mother hen." "Misaki went in search of the kitchen." A gentle smile settled on Funaho's lips, amusement coloring her tone as she clarified, "She believes herself utterly unable to sleep unless she gets milk and a cookie first." Washu chuckled, shaking her head as she walked over to stand behind Funaho, holding her hand out in a request. With a light nod, the Juraian empress lay the brush in the Hyurodan queen's palm, then rested her hands in her lap as the pink-haired woman took over brushing duty. "Would you mind if I asked you a rather personal question?" Washu said quietly after several minutes, meeting Funaho's gaze in the mirror's reflection. "You've had your hands in my insides, Washu. I should think that anything after that would be minor," Funaho replied cheerfully, dark eyes dancing. "I suppose so. I notice that you seem to enjoy spending time with the young princesses very much... how is it you don't have a child of your own?" The dancing light in Funaho's eyes went out, her gaze turning flat, the smile disappearing into a cool expression. "Before Ayeka was born, I was pregnant with the Emperor's first child. But complications developed, and I lost the baby." "I'm deeply sorry," Washu murmured, her own gaze turning soft and sad, hands still running the brush through Funaho's long chestnut tresses. They both sat in silence for several minutes more, before Washu continued, "Surely, though, Juraian medical science could have healed you of any injuries from the miscarriage... I have several techniques I could use, if they can't. You could try again..." "Juraian medicine was quite capable of restoring me to fertility," Funaho sighed, closing her eyes briefly. "But though it could have healed the scars on my womb," She lay a hand on her stomach, fingers twitching lightly at the feel of the cool metal bands of the healing cast wrapped around her abdomen. "It could not heal the scars on my heart." The empress raised a hand, resting two fingers against the smooth skin between her breasts. Washu leaned forward to set the brush on the vanity counter, then draped her arms around Funaho's shoulders, resting her chin on one shoulder to look closely at the other woman's reflection. "Sometimes a scar can heal without even being noticed." She grinned softly, then nudged her cheek against Funaho's. "Can I see a smile, so *I* can sleep?" Funaho laughed softly, smiling, happiness returning to her eyes. She raised a hand to gently touch Washu's cheek. "Goodnight, my friend." "Goodnight, Funaho." Washu gave the other woman a light squeeze, then drew away. "Sleep well, and make sure Misaki doesn't get cookie crumbs in the bed." ------------------------------------------------------------ Stars slid slowly along the planes of the window dome, casting tiny points of light on the black robes of the woman slipping into the room, shoulders hunched nervously. Her long, shining white hair fell in two long sections, several long spikes almost brushing the floor, her pretty face showing barely-contained fear, the fright dancing in her pink eyes. Perhaps even more noticable, on her pale white skin, was the midnight black mark of a tattoo on her right cheek, a single black slash. "Ah... I have a report...?" she murmured, wincing as if expecting to be immediately struck down for her audacity. "Speak, One," came the low, rich voice, which seemed nothing if not amused at the servant's timidity. One nodded rapidly, speaking quickly, trying to be given permission to depart as soon as possible. "The rebellion was easily crushed as you predicted. There also seems to be no inkling that you were the guiding force behind this uprising, and it has merely been written off as the machinations of the currently displeased political factions. And..." She slipped a computer pad out of her sleeve, inching over to the domed console at which her owner stood, gingerly setting the pad down on the flat control panel, before darting back as if trying to stay out of easy striking range. "This exchange between Emperor Azusa and Empress Misaki was intercepted and recorded. The Juraians are going home, and have invited Washu and Ryoko along with them." "Ryoko," the tall figure standing at the console murmured, rolling the name around and letting the sound of it fill the room. Then long, deft fingers danced over the pad's controls, listening to the Empress Misaki's piping voice alternately blur into almost nonsensical speeds in excitement and break down crying, to end sounding utterly cheery. "Excellent. You've done well, One. Retire for the evening." Seeming massively relieved, One nodded and bowed her way out of the room, waiting until the door of the observation deck had closed behind her to break into a mixed frightened and relieved run. The tall figure moved to gaze out the viewing port, starlight moving slowly over cyan hair and glittering in slit-pupiled amber eyes. "Ryoko... we must see one another soon."
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