[FFML] [R.5/TM!] Ryoko Saotome [15]

Time Pirate

Ryoko stood up in the wake of the flash and
looked around, and gawked at the familiar pure blue
skies.
"It worked," she said quietly. "YES!! All
right! I'm HERE!!" People that had taken very little
account of someone appearing out of nowhere in the
middle of the beach turned to look at her
questioningly. Ryoko glared around at them, putting
on her best pirate expression. She was surprised when
a life guard approached her not seeming very concerned
at all.
"Excuse me, miss," he said. "This is a private
beach, only the Jurai royal family and their servants
should be here."
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Ryoko
demanded angrily. "I'm...." She snapped her fingers.
Of course, she wasn't a pirate yet, no one would
recognize her, and she didn't have time to waste.
"...sorry, my ship must have got the wrong coordinates
or something."
"Well, just leave and stop bothering the
Jurai," he said. "Wait...don't you work here?"
"Maybe a while ago," Ryoko said, smirking as
she lifted off the ground. The man watched non-pulsed
and blinked as the silver-haired woman vanished from
sight. Such powers were not unheard of, but it was
still notable. He swallowed nervously, suddenly
wondering if he had just escaped a severe beating.

********

Ryoko's joy faded quickly away as she found
herself near a ship window looking over a system of
asteroids.
"Where the hell am I," Ryoko asked nervously.
She couldn't see Tenchi anywhere, couldn't feel him.
And there was something familiar about the area of
space she was in.
"So what was so important about this planet?" a
voice down the hall asked. "It seemed like just a
little backwater nothing." Ryoko danced back and up,
fading most of the way into the ceiling as the guards
passed.
"The Emperor commands, we obey," the second
guard said. Ryoko saw them pass under her. "Find
that old man and destroy his world, who are we to
question him?"
"Killing all those people," the first said.
"There must have been a good reason," the
second suggested firmly. As they passed away Ryoko
floated back down to the floor and looked on the
asteroids.
"R..." she stopped and shook her head clear.
"I have to fix this."

********

Ryoko watched Ayeka ranting at the dirty cop
about how much of disgrace the blind drunk was.
"I wish she would just leave my presence and
stay away," Ayeka snapped angrily. "She is nothing
but trouble! Always attracting trouble."
"Just keep yelling Princess," the older Ryoko
smirked. This was the perfect opportunity to fix
everything. Her younger self was still unconscious in
the room, and what better witnesses than Princess
Ayeka and her retinue? So there was no way that her
younger self would get blamed for this. She glanced
to the mirror on the wall to check her disguise, and
then started forward.
"Wait!" a harsh whisper commanded. Ryoko
growled and turned to look at the voice, she was
running out of time, her window would close any
moment.
"What do you..." Ryoko blinked as she saw a
familiar face sticking out of the wall. "Want?" It
was herself looking rather haggard, battle-weary and
older.
"Get in here," the third Ryoko said.
"What the-?" she didn't get any further, the
new Ryoko snatched her and dragged her into the room.
"You can't stop this," the newcomer Ryoko said.
"Why not?" Ryoko demanded suspiciously. "I
don't go to that hellhole, I don't become a wanted
woman, Nagi doesn't get kicked out of the GP."
"Nagi dies on the raid," the newcomer said.
Ryoko shrugged.
"Good! I don't care what happens to her! Just
Tenchi!" Ryoko snapped.
"Yeah?" the future-Ryoko asked. "He's dead."
present-Ryoko stared at her shocked that she could
just say that like that. "Earth was blown up
so...Ranma dies too." She spoke regretfully,
ashamedly.
"What?!" present-Ryoko snapped. "HOW?!"
"Kagato," future-Ryoko said. "How do you
think?"
"Why didn't you stop him!"
"I've been trying!" future-Ryoko snapped
angrily. "The only way I can think of to fix anything
is to stop us from doing this here. We're going to
need those years as a space pirate. Find something
else."
"Fine!" present-Ryoko snapped. "I know just
the thing." She smiled viciously and drew out the
mirror again. "What are you going to do?"
The future-Ryoko drew out her own mirror and
sighed dejectedly.
"I have to fix what I messed up," she said.
"Isn't that what I'm doing?" the present-Ryoko
asked.
"I'm just keeping you from making the same
mistake," the future-Ryoko said as she cried into the
mirror.

********

Inagi Aoi strode sullenly down the street
considering the new pirate that had ruined her life.
She would hunt down that...girl if it was the last
thing she did. She could have had a career. She
could have been powerful, important. More than just a
common street brawler everyone expected her to grow
into.
"Hello, Nagi," a voice said behind her.
"My name is Ina...you!" Nagi growled seeing the
woman that had ruined her life. She stopped and
frowned. This woman was significantly older, more
than four years older. The softness of the teenaged
years was gone, this was a full grown woman.
"You're disappearing permanently this time,"
the woman said. She started to move forward, an
energy dagger in her hand. Inagi glanced around for
any sort of weapon she could use against this monster,
but nothing was apparent.
"I'm not going down easily, pirate," she
growled anyway, prepared to make this a fight.
"You're three years too early to compete with
me, Nagi," the woman said smiling. She swung back a
hand, and then there was a flash and suddenly Inagi
saw two of the woman standing there. One holding the
other's hand back.
"Don't tell me we have to keep HER alive too!"
the first snapped angrily. "If she lives Tenchi
dies!"
"If she dies now," the second said. "He still
dies, and everybody else still! Remember the trip to
Jurai!?" Inagi stepped back quietly as the two
identical women argued about her fate. She readied
herself for battle while catalogueing everything the
two were saying.
"She was trying to keep the Jurai and GP from
taking her kill!"
"And we wouldn't have gotten away without her!"
Ryoko insisted.
"First Earth blows up and now this!" Ryoko
snapped. "You're me plus experience! Can't you do
anything?!"
"Earth blowing..." she seemed stricken, then
calmed down. "Oh right, I told myself that," the
second said. "If you had brought Ryo-Ohki back with
you, I might have been able to do something!"
~Time travel,~ Inagi realized. She glanced
around and backed away. She had no chance winning a
fight here, and maybe she could use this information
in her favor. The second Ryoko glanced vaguely in
Nagi's direction, sending a hate-filled gaze her way,
but nothing else. The first was fully concentrated on
her double.
"Nagi is as bad Kagato," the first snapped.
"She's going to kill hundreds of innocent people just
to get to me. And that girl, she's going to sell off
that girl to those slavers again. All because some
idiots think I paid her off!"
~I do what?~ Nagi blinked, then narrowed her
eyes angrily. ~She knows what happened to me? Good,
I won't have to tell her then.~
The other-Ryoko glanced at her again and then
back to her double. This time, Inagi figured it out.

~She wants me to leave now.~ She glanced at
Ryoko. ~I'll defeat you Ryoko, but I'll never be this
monster you call me.~
"Look, I can find Ken-Ohki," the Ryoko that
wanted her dead insisted. "Then I can keep everybody
covered in the trip." Inagi didn't hear the rest.

********

Ryoko was starting to get used to that flash
that occured on her arrival and departure between
times. She stood on Jurai and looked up into the sky,
any moment the battle was going to begin. And this
time she'd have to deal with Nagi and Ken-Ohki. She
had wanted to avoid that. She could almost curse
herself for interferring in killing the damn bounty
hunter, letting that bitch escape from under her nose.
Now she had to wait and find a way to stop Nagi
from killing everybody again.

********

Nagi watched the scanners point out Ryo-Ohki
smashing through the planetary defenses on the way out
from the planet. Obviously in a hurry to be away.
Nagi frowned. That wound of Ryoko's must have gotten
worse, and Ryo-Ohki was taking her for help. She
couldn't follow yet, not with these bumbling Jurai
clambering around her. By the time she got off a star
burst to clear the battle around her, Ryo-Ohki would
be long gone. Then Nagi would have to face Ryoko with
these friends of hers. She frowned.
"Ken-Ohki, alter trajectory toward the Yag..."
Nagi paused, and remembered Ryoko arguing with
herself. "Bely that, move away from the Yagami
according to the detective's plan. Starburst as soon
as the planet is clear."
"Ciao?" the cabbit responded.
"Their fault for messing with me," Nagi said.
"We need the burst to get out of this mess." She
frowned and glanced back toward Jurai. "I am not a
monster, pirate."

********

Ryoko waited for the debris to start following.
She couldn't think of a way to save both the Yagami
and Tenchi, but she was certain she could destroy
every piece of debris that was going to rain on the
palace. She was capable of that.
Ryoko had briefly considered helping Tenchi
face Kagato, but she reluctantly decided against it.
She would still have to be much more powerful to face
Kagato. And if she were there, Kagato wouldn't hold
back like he had against Tenchi. She would fall and
so would Tenchi. Tenchi getting help would be just
the proof Kagato would want that he was more powerful.
At least that is what another future self had
told her. That Ryoko had barely managed to go back,
dying and torn to pieces, and stop Ryoko from making
that mistake. Ryoko had given the woman a quick
funeral in an out of the way grove, intensely
disturbed at the prospect of burying herself.
No, stopping the debris cloud was her best bet
for saving Tenchi. With just Tenchi there, Kagato
wouldn't take him seriously, and then Kagato would
fall. At least she hoped so.
The debris never started to fall.
Soon the small, for Jurai, city that she was in
began filling with cries of celebration and triumph.
Ryoko listened intently to the shouting, confused and
frightened that it meant that Tenchi had lost his
duel. It didn't take long to kill that theory.
"Imposter thrown down, lost prince found.
Princess Ayeka restored" The news was everywhere.and
Ryoko soon heard something intelligible.
"Nagi didn't attack the..." she stayed silent
for several minutes. "What changed this..." She
thought back to the argument with herself. "She
couldn't have changed her mind...could she?" Ryoko
shook her head and sighed. "Now all I have to do is
find Tenchi and..." she smiled, looked down into the
mirror and sighed.
This mirror had given her back her life. No,
that was wrong, Ranma had given her back her life.
She smiled about that, thinking about the pig-tailed
martial artist.
"Thanks jerk," she whispered. Though something
was bothering her about this whole thing. If Ranma
had used the mirror, why was Akane still dead? She
thought about it and sighed. "Tenchi will still be
there."

********

Ranma watched the wind of his hiryu shoten ha's
carry the fire rocks towards the Jusendo taps. He
wasn't going to make it, Akane was going to die
because of those tornados. Because of his attacks.
He barely noticed the bright red flash amongst
all the other blasts of energy, but he certainly saw
the suddenly surging Jusendo waters. And they were
washing his direction under the flailing winds and
rock. He relaxed. The water was coming to him.
Everything was going to be okay.

********

Ryoko was momentarily discouraged as Ranma
screamed Akane's name in rage and despair. Then the
black haired girl stirred in his arms and the martial
artist pair sat there celebrating each other's
survival. Ryoko watched the scene with a pang for a
few moments, and was surprised by the momentary surge
of regret.
"Time to go surprise Tenchi," she whispered,
taking the mirror out again.
In flash she was in the hills surrounding the
Masaki shrine.
After a little reconnaissance she found the
house was where it belonged, and she had seen Yosho
and Tenchi's dad from a distance. She glanced up and
smiled. Tenchi would be coming home soon, and she
knew the perfect place to surprise him.
She appeared on the stairs, expecting to appear
in front of Tenchi. She found nothing.
"I guess he's late today," she said quietly.
Then she heard something further down the path and
vanished away toward the sound.
Ryoko froze in the trees as she saw Tenchi
seemingly dancing on the path with...herself. She
stared shocked and confused at this new problem.
"What, I don't..." she stopped and slumped to
the ground. "Of course, I still survived this time.
That's the me of the past."
Ryoko had Tenchi.
But she didn't.
"There's only one way to fix this," Ryoko said
in a dead tone.

********

The space pirate Ryoko, now a renowned hero,
lay sleeping on the bed, breathing shallowly. Doctor
Gunri shook his head and wiped his hands, amused.
He'd never thought he'd see the day when Ryoko was
heralded as a hero of the Jurai. It was amazing what
some people made of themselves.
He left the room and quietly closed the door
behind him. He completely missed the flash that
announced the second Ryoko's arrival.
The future version of the space pirate stood
over herself and looked down hesitantly at the
unconscious earlier version of herself.
"I have to do this," she whispered. She
summoned a bright red shaft of energy and held the
dagger sized energy blade over the sleeping body.
"I've been meaning to kill myself all this time
anyway." She half-laughed at that.
All she had to do was replace this extra and
Tenchi would be hers. Everything would be fine.
She raised her hand and held it there for
several moments. Until she dropped her hand to her
side, letting the dagger dissipate.
"Damn it," she whispered, crying freely. She
took out the mirror again and held it to her. "I want
to go home."
The Ryoko on the bed woke up to see a flash and
a vanishing silloheutte.
"What was that?" she wondered briefly.

********

Ryoko collapsed to the floor of wherever it was
she was now and felt the loss of Tenchi keenly all
over again. She tossed the mirror into a corner of
the room. She didn't even care where she was.
There wasn't anything left to go back to now.
Ranma had his Akane, and Tenchi had Ryoko. She had
really fixed everything all right. She had fixxed
herself our of everything. She was worse than a
ghost. This was almost worse than them being dead.
She barely noticed that there was another
person in the room until they kneeled down beside her.
She turned to look to see Ranma's worried face.
"Welcome back," he said. "Are you okay?"
Ryoko stared at him for a moment before she
realized that she was back to her own timeline. The
flood of relief and joy was immense and immediate as
soon as the fact occurred to her. She grabbed the
martial artists collar and dragged Ranma forward.
"You wou.." Ranma's response was cut off by
Ryoko's forceful kiss. His eyes popped wide in
surprise. He should have been angry. He should have
been stopping her. He shouldn't have been relieved at
the attention. He certainly shouldn't have been
returning the kiss, however right it felt.
"Is everything alright in...Oh!" Nodoka asked
as she opened the door. Ryoko and Ranma snapped
shocked and embarrassed looks toward the woman in the
door as Nodoka gave them a knowing smile. "Excuse me,
I didn't mean to interrupt." She quickly and quietly
closed the door again.
"ARRR!!! Ryoko shouted angrily, pushing Ranma
away from her angrily. "Why did you even give me that
damn thing!!" She stood up away from him.
"I told you I used it!" Ranma shouted back
standing up as well.
"You didn't bother to say why it didn't work!"
Ryoko snapped back, poking him in the chest as she
said the words. "I buried myself once! I almost
murdered myself in my sleep afterwards! You could
have said something about how it works!"
"Well..." Ranma said. Ryoko leaned back and
crossed her arms waiting for an answer. "Sorry bout
that!"
"Sorry?" Ryoko repeated. "That's all you have
to say?"
"I just thought," Ranma said quietly. "Maybe
you could make it work." Ryoko growled and turned
away from him.
"I couldn't," she said. "I saved your Akane."
Ranma blinked in surprise.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
They remained quiet for a while staring around
the room.
"What are we going to do about your mother,"
Ryoko asked finally.
"I don't know," Ranma said. "Hard to convince
her nothing's happening, now."
"I wasn't myself," Ryoko said.
"Yeah, that trip can fool with you," Ranma
agreed.
"So you don't take it seriously then?" Ryoko
asked cautiously, she looked to him expectantly.
"No more seriously than you," he said equally
cautiously.
"You kissed back," she reminded him, setting
the matter of answering back to Ranma.
"I didn't think you'd be back," he said.
"You wanted me to come back?" Ryoko asked
hesitantly.
"Well..." Ranma started.
"I'm hungry," Ryoko said quickly, walking past
Ranma towards the door. "Let's go get something to
eat alright?" She turned to look at him. "Alright?"
~Don't answer, don't answer.~
"I kinda hoped you'd be back," Ranma said.
"You answered," Ryoko said.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'