Baby Mine

Chapter Eleven

For the next two months Tenchi went to classes while Ryoko spent her time fixing up the baby’s room. To fill her time she had made a project out of it. She had decided to paint murals on the walls but she refused to let Tenchi see much less know about the project. She worked around his class schedule so that she was cleaned up before he got home.

Putting the final touches on the tree she was painting, she sighed and looked at the finished wall. She cleaned off her brush and stared into the dirty water swirling in the cup. She was reminded of the major fight she and Tenchi had had a couple of weeks ago. Only two months into the marriage and she had nearly left him for good….

Ryoko entered the apartment, her arms filled with shopping bags. She had been out Christmas shopping for the gang and now she just wanted to curl up in front of the fire with Tenchi. However, as she stepped further into the room she heard laughter and talking.

‘That’s right, Tenchi was having a study session here,’ Ryoko thought as she made her way into the bedroom to hide the bags since some of Tenchi’s presents were in them as well.

Ryoko pulled on a cardigan since it was a little chilly in the apartment and was just heading back to the living room when she heard the laughter again. It suddenly occurred to Ryoko that there was only one masculine voice coming from the living room: Tenchi’s. The rest was feminine. Frowning, Ryoko stepped into the hallway but did not let her self be seen as she listened to their conversation. There were three girls besides Tenchi and from what Ryoko could gather they were all working on Calculus.

“You know Tenchi; you’re really good at this math stuff. How are you at Physics and Chemistry?” one of the girls purred. Ryoko could just picture a shapely blonde or brunette leaning towards Tenchi with a flirty smile.

“I would say I’m pretty good, Akira,” Tenchi answered with a slight purr in his voice and Ryoko’s eyes widened in shock. She leaned just around the corner and nearly cried out in surprise at the scene at the coffee table. Tenchi was leaning in towards one of the girls, a blonde with a tiny waist and quite a chest. The blonde giggled and tickled Tenchi’s chin. Tenchi in turn laughed and pretended to tackle the girl. The other two girls laughed as well, and Ryoko noted that one was another blonde and the third was a red head. Both were very attractive. Ryoko jerked back away from the wall and hurried back into the bedroom.

“If you are so good Tenchi, maybe we could get together and you could help me with my ‘chemistry.’” The blonde seductively suggested.

“Sure, I could do that,” Tenchi answered.

Ryoko felt as if the ground had dropped from under her feet so she had to sit down on the bed. She didn’t know if Tenchi knew what he had just agreed to. He was so different now. Sometimes he seemed so worldly, as if he knew everything and never let a sexual remark escape his notice. And yet, there were times when he seemed so clueless; it was as if he was back to his shy nervous self from the past. So Ryoko could never tell when he knew what he was doing or not. Feeling the tears building behind her eyes, she glanced at the bedside table on Tenchi’s side and nearly cried out. There on the shiny surface sat Tenchi’s wedding ring, mocking Ryoko. Suddenly one of the girls’ voices piped up.

“Hey Tenchi, isn’t your cleaning lady taking too long of a time in your bedroom?”

“Huh, cleaning lady?” Tenchi asked.

Before Tenchi could correct the girl Ryoko had already decided to play along with the girl’s remark. Standing up she picked up Tenchi’s ring and went out into the living room.

“I put the bags in the bedroom, Mr. Masaki. I’ll start dinner now for you and your lovely friends, hai?” Ryoko smiled as she spoke to Tenchi. Ryoko headed towards the kitchen but stopped as if she had just remembered something. “Oh, I found this ring on table by your bed. I’ll throw it away. This ring is rather beat up,” Ryoko held the ring up as if inspecting it. “Hai, no good, cheap and worthless.”

Ryoko turned and went into the kitchen just as Tenchi scrambled to his feet and raced towards the kitchen. He caught the ring just as Ryoko let it go over the trash can. He turned confused yet angry eyes to his wife.

“What the hell are you doing, Ryoko?” He whispered harshly as he slipped his ring onto his finger.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Ryoko growled.

Tenchi sucked in a breath and let it out with a hiss before heading back out to the living room. “Girls, I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut the session short. There are some things I need to do.”

“Okay, Tenchi, we’ll see you next Tuesday.” With that the girls gathered their books and left.

Tenchi returned to the kitchen and looked at the woman he loved. She was facing him with her arms crossed over her chest, a frown marring her beautiful features. “What is this all about? I would like to know why you feel it was necessary to throw my wedding ring in the trash and call it worthless.”

“Do you have any idea what you agreed to out there?” Ryoko growled.

Tenchi sighed and rubbed his face. “What exactly did I agree to?” He asked patiently.

“That ‘chemistry’ that girl was talking about was not what you were thinking. Her formulas did not contain Sulfur and Calcium! Hers contained a little bit of her plus a little bit of you equals sex in a bed! And you just agreed to it!” Ryoko explained as she strode out of the kitchen and pushed Tenchi roughly aside.

“That’s not all is it, Ryoko?” Tenchi demanded as he turned and grabbed her arm.

“No, of course not. I come home and find you with a group of girls. At first I didn’t pay any attention to that fact because I remembered you were having a study session here. But once I heard you flirting with them, I became suspicious and when I saw you getting all cozy with that one blonde, I didn’t know what to do. Then I saw your ring on the bedside table as if it was nothing but a piece of clothing that you wore on occasion. That is why I called it worthless and cheap!” Ryoko began to cry as Tenchi looked at her in silence. “Oh, Tenchi, you have changed so much that I can no longer tell when you are serious and when you are actually clueless! Because sometimes you know right away when I or someone else is making a sexual remark and other times you are so clueless about it, like you were when you were younger.

“I knew it was a bad idea to get married while you were still in college! I’m pregnant and unattractive while there are tons of beautiful women walking around campus! You could be with one of them but instead this,” Ryoko gestured towards her self, “is what you come home to every day!”

Ryoko pulled away from Tenchi and turned to head back into the bedroom to pack a suitcase. Tenchi followed right behind her. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the shrine. This just isn’t going to work.”

“What? Ryoko, you’re over reacting! It was just innocent flirting. They know I’m married! I love you, Ryoko, if I had any doubts about this working out between us I would have waited until either after the baby was born or until after I had graduated from college. If I had wanted a thin woman I wouldn’t have gotten you pregnant. I love you, that’s why I married you and why I want you to have my children! You are not going anywhere unless I am there beside you, Ryoko! When I come home I don’t see something unattractive, I see you, the woman I love, my wife and soul mate. Please, Ryoko, I’m sorry for causing you pain like this. Don’t leave!” Tenchi held Ryoko tightly in his arms as tears slowly trickled down his cheeks.

“Oh, Tenchi, I love you so much! I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions,” Ryoko sobbed into her husband’s chest.

They stood silently together for a few minutes before pulling themselves together and drying their eyes. Ryoko looked up at Tenchi and gave a small smile which he returned with a deep kiss.

“Why was your wedding ring on the bedside table?”

“I had just taken a shower when the girls arrived. They had come a few minutes early and I got distracted by the constant doorbell ringing. So I forgot to put the ring on. Just for the record, I usually meet them at the library with a couple of the guys but the guys couldn’t make it today so I suggested the girls come here. I knew you would be out shopping so you wouldn’t be distracted by our studying and we could have a quiet place to work for awhile. It can get a little loud at the library with all those college students. This was a one time thing and shouldn’t happen any time in the near future.”

“In the future it might be helpful if you make sure everyone knows you are married. I still get stopped by people in the lobby asking if I’m new or something. So many tenants here don’t know that you are married and even some of the students that have stopped by looking for you have been surprised when I informed them that I was your wife when they asked about who I was,” Ryoko stated.

“I’ll do that,” Tenchi said softly. He looked into Ryoko’s golden eyes and kissed her deeply. Then with a growl, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom where he proceeded to make love to his wife to prove to her that she was still as attractive as she was before she became pregnant. That was all the convincing Ryoko needed to officially know that Tenchi really did love her…

Ryoko smiled as she recalled that day. As painful as it was both, she and Tenchi learned something about each other that day. ‘We learn from our mistakes,’ Ryoko thought as she opened the window to let in air to both help dry the paint and the help ventilate the room from the paint fumes. Ryoko left the room and locked the door behind her. She was the only one with the keys to this room as she had forced Tenchi to give her his copy until she was ready to let him see the room. Glancing at the clock, Ryoko noticed that Tenchi would be home soon from his last class. He would be hungry so Ryoko went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. She had surprised Tenchi when he’d returned home one day and had found a rather tasty dinner all ready for him. She had explained to him that she’d been taking advantage of the Cooking channel and practicing.

Ryoko smiled when she recalled Tenchi’s surprise and dread at the thought of Ryoko cooking but once he had tasted her food, he had kissed her soundly on the lips and declared that he would indeed stay married to her and that he was glad he wasn’t going to die of starvation or over dose of take out. Ryoko had not been too pleased with that comment and had actually made him sleep on the couch for the first time that night.

“Ryoko, I’m home. How was your day?” Tenchi smiled, coming into the kitchen to give his wife a kiss.

“Just fine, Tenchi. I’m almost done with the baby’s room. Oh here, taste this to see if it needs more salt,” Ryoko held a bit of the spaghetti sauce out to him to taste. Due to her pregnancy, Ryoko’s taste buds were not up to par at the moment.

“Tastes fine to me,” Tenchi smiled.

“Good, then dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes. Would you mind setting the table?” Ryoko dumped the noodles for the spaghetti into a strainer to strain out the water before dumping them into the sauce.

Once the spaghetti was ready and the table was set, Tenchi and Ryoko sat down to eat. Ryoko smiled to herself as she though just how nice this was. Looking up at her husband, Ryoko mentally nodded to herself that, yes, this was very nice indeed.