Friday morning.

Ryoko stood thoughtfully on the banks of the lake, gazing pensively down through the rippling water below to where she could just about make out the faint shadow of spacecraft, hidden in the depths. Pursing her lips for a moment, she hovered above the glittering water, then, in a short, sharp movement she dived beneath the surface, forging down towards the place where the remains of her old ship lay.

The last Ryo Ohki had not rusted, nor had it decayed, but it had become a part of the lake bottom and as Ryoko ran her fingers over the jagged edges of the craft, a slight smile touched her lips. Even this ship, who had now lost all sense of life and been reincarnated into another had become part of life on Earth.

The shadow of Yukinojo loomed to her left and carefully she kicked her way through the pondweed, startling a few brave fish who had come out to inspect the cause of the ripples. Mihoshi's ship had suffered more from its time under water, she realised, as frames and hinges had begun to deteriorate. For a moment she just gazed at them pensively. Then she surged upwards, breaking through the surface to the air beyond and sending a glittering shower of droplets back down to the lake below.

"Ryoko, what are you doing?"

Tenchi's call from the bank made her glance down, offering him a rueful smile as she surveyed her soaked clothing.

"I felt like taking a swim." She responded. "Do you want to come join me, Tenchi-kun? The water is cold and crisp."

"In the lake? You have to be kidding." Tenchi held out his hands to her and gracefully she set down beside him, taking his hands in her grip. "You're drenched from head to foot - Ryoko, why were you swimming if you're still fully dressed?"

"It was a spur of the moment thing." Ryoko admitted. "It just seemed a good idea."

"But why? Ryoko-chan, you're shivering...come inside, or you're going to catch cold. It isn't summer yet, you know!"

"I'm not that c...cold." Ryoko shook her head. "I'm fine, really."

"And randomly plunging into the depths of the lake because...?" Tenchi raised an eyebrow, and Ryoko offered him a rueful smile.

"I went to see the old Ryo Ohki." She owned. "Just to see if the ship was still there, beneath the water. And it was. Just like it was when Ryo Ohki regenerated herself. It's just a shell, now. Nothing more than that. But it hasn't decayed any further in all the time we've been here. Like someone stopped it in time. It hasn't aged a bit."

"And the point of all that was what, exactly?" Tenchi looked bewildered. "As you said, it's just a shell now. Ryo Ohki is fine and healthy, right? There's nothing wrong with her?"

"No, she's fine." Ryoko shook her head, shivering once more as a bitter wind whipped through her. "Brr. Maybe you're right. Maybe it is cold out here."

"You think so?" Tenchi eyed her thoughtfully. "Look, come inside. We can talk as we go - but I don't want you getting a cold."

"I don't know if I can."

"Huh?"

"Get a cold." Ryoko shrugged. "I've never been ill in my life, unless you count the after-effects of battles with idiots like Kagato. I've taken physical injury, but I've never contracted a disease. It's funny, isn't it? Ryo Ohki is the same way. It's been down there for ages, and yet it still looks the same. Like nothing can touch it somehow."

"You're making no sense to me." Tenchi's brows knitted together as he steered her gently into the house and up the stairs towards the bathroom. "And just because you haven't had a cold before, it doesn't mean there can't be a first time."

"I wonder." Ryoko paused, eying him pensively. "I suppose I was thinking about what Washu said. About me being a project, and all that. I suppose it's not really natural, is it, to sustain no natural damage or harm just by living an ordinary life? Ryo Ohki was an invention and designed not to weather or rust or do any of those things. I'm thinking that I might be the same way. A little unnatural, too."

Comprehension flickered in Tenchi's expression and he gripped her tightly by the hands, kissing her gently.

"You're not unnatural and you're not just an experiment." He said softly. "Not even in Washu's eyes. I was right about that, though, wasn't I? This birthday thing does bother you more than she seems to think it does?"

"I don't know." Ryoko sighed, leaning up against him with little regard for her wet clothing. "At the end of the day, I was created in a lab unit. So I don't know what exactly Washu did when she tampered with my DNA. I wasn't born at random - it wasn't natural selection. She's said before that she worked on bringing as many of Kagato's magical attributes to the fore as she could, to make sure I'd have as good a chance as possible against him when we finally faced off. Perhaps she is right, after all. I mean, maybe projects and weapons just don't get birthdays and things like that."

"I should never have mentioned it to you." Tenchi looked guilty. "I didn't mean to make you think like this."

"You didn't. It was Washu who did that." Ryoko shook her head. "I don't know that I mind because having a birthday matters to me. I think it's more the fact she didn't remember when it was. That I was just another experiment, you know? There are times I think she might care about me, and times I really don't know. This is one of those latter times. Right now, I really haven't a clue - but I don't like thinking about myself as just another lab toy. The trouble is, it might well be the truth at the end of the day."

Tenchi hugged her tightly.

"You aren't an experiment to me." He said softly. "You know that. I love you and I'm going to marry you, whatever your origins and wherever you came from. It doesn't matter when you were born, or where, or how. I don't care about those things. I care about you, and that's the thing that counts. So don't worry about it, okay? That's the past, like Washu said. This is now. This is what counts."

Ryoko eyed him affectionately, offering him a slight smile.

"Perhaps you're right." She agreed. "And it helps to know you feel that way."

"But sometimes you'd like your mother to see you as more than an experiment too, huh?"

"No, sometimes I'd just like to think I have a mother." Ryoko grimaced. "That's all. Just from time to time. But maybe that's just not going to happen. Washu's hard to figure. Sometimes I think I have her measure, but then something happens and I really don't know her at all."

"I guess there's a lot of Washu to really get to know. She's lived a lot longer than most other people." Tenchi reflected. "But I'm sure she does care about you, Ryoko-chan. Even if she isn't sure how to express that love to you directly."

"Well, what does it matter anyway?" Ryoko sighed, glancing down at herself with a rueful smile. "I'm getting morose and pathetic, being hung up on something so stupid as a birthday. I'm going to go take a hot bath, change, and get over myself. I'm sorry, Tenchi. I didn't mean to go all sissy on you."

"You can do that any time you like." Tenchi told her gently. "That's what I'm here for, after all."

"I can think of better uses for you."

"And that sounds more like the fiancee I know and love." Tenchi touched her cheek playfully. "Go have a bath - you'll feel better. And don't worry about Washu. Whyever you came to be, the important thing to me is that you are here. And even if there are things that are different about you because of it, they're just things that make you you. You know that."

"I suppose I do." Ryoko said pensively. She eyed him for a moment, then kissed him, looping her arms around his shoulders. "Do you want to come take a bath with me, Tenchi-kun?"

"Tempting as that might be, there are other people home, and I do have studying to get down to." Tenchi disentangled himself with a rueful laugh. "If we're going to Osaka tomorrow, I won't get much work done with Ikeda and Sakura around. So it has to be now - I don't want to do badly. These exams are ones that matter, after all."

"All right." Ryoko sighed, nodding her head. "Then I'll see you later. Don't work too hard, huh?"

"I'll try not to." Tenchi assured her. "And you try not to think too hard, okay? Focus on tomorrow night instead. If you can't have your own birthday, after all, you know you can always share the fun of mine."

"I know that." Despite herself, a smile touched Ryoko's lips. "And I appreciate it. Thank you, Tenchi-kun. Happy studying!"

Before he could reply, she flickered out of the hallway, re-materialising outside the bathroom door as she considered his words.

"I guess he's right. I guess it doesn't matter so much, and I know he loves me regardless of my history." She mused, as she rummaged in the cupboards for a clean towel. "But even so, it's yet another question that I haven't got answers to. It would be nice if for once - just for once! - Washu would give a straight answer instead of beating around the bush in the way that she does. Nothing is ever simple with her, and it makes it hard to know what the truth is or isn't. But still, I suppose that's just the way things are, and I'm not going to fret over it. After all, I do have my Tenchi, and I am not going to let this overshadow his birthday. If my mother wants to be difficult, well, let her be difficult. I'm not going to let her get to me!"