[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Heart Versus Head in a Pitched Space Battle

Some Excuses

---

"Now that the Nadesico has been integrated into the United Forces Far Eastern Command, her first assignment is to act as a search and attack vessel, patrolling the sectors just beyond lunar orbit. Just as before, Admiral Munatake has proven himself to be an egocentric idiot, and it's only a matter of time before one of the crew strangles him to death. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with that, except that the same person would be so busy gossiping about Pilot Tenkawa's love life that he or she wouldn't bother to dispose of the body. As such, we're all bored, restless, and irritable. If the Jovians attacked now, it'd be a mercy killing." -Ops Log, Lieutenant Ruri Hoshino

"Man, this has to be the most boring and tedious assignment we've ever had!" grumbled Lieutenant Ryoko Subaru, laying back in her bunk and kicking the wall in frustration. The Chief Aestivalis Pilot had been cooped up in the ship for what seemed like an eternity, and she wanted some action. "Where's a squad of Jovian Grasshoppers when you need them?"

Not that she hadn't been outside when needed. Captain Misumaru had given her plenty of routine scouting missions to go on. But there was no sign of the Lizards anywhere. It was as if they'd disappeared.

"Don't worry, Ryoko," said Hikaru Amano cheerfully. "I'm sure they'll turn up when we least expect them!" Her fellow pilot and roommate inserted a DVD into the player and switched it on.

"Hello? Dr. Kevorkian?" Izumi Maki, the third Aestivalis Pilot living in the quarters muttered. "I'd like to schedule an appointment."

"Izumi, what the hell are you talking about?" asked Ryoko. Of all the times she could go on one of her nonsensical rants, this had to be the worst.

"No, not for me," Izumi continued. "It's for my roommate. I'd like to put her out of my misery." She suddenly chuckled to herself.

"Izumi's going psycho again!" cried Hikaru. "Ryoko, quick! Get the tranquilizers!" Then she devoted her full attention to the TV screen.

For want of anything better to do, Ryoko decided to follow suit, and was mildly surprised to see that Hikaru wasn't watching Gekiganger III, as usual, but rather another anime by the name of Dragon Ball Z.

"So, you think you've defeated me?" cried Frieza. "Well think again! Because I've got a second transformation!" With that, his entired body glowed as he began to groan and writhe.

Ryoko's eyes began to get heavy.

Gohan looked on in horror.

Kurillen looked on in horror.

Vegita looked on in horror.

Ryoko began to drool slightly.

Frieza was still writhing and glowing.

Gohan was still looking on in horror.

Kurillen was still looking on in horror.

Vegita was still looking on in horror.

Ryoko was still drooling, and her eyes began to glaze over. She glanced at the DVD case. Funimation. Funimation… is our friend.

Vegita was still looking on in horror.

Ryoko abruptly shook the cobwebs out of her head. My God! What's happening to me? I'm almost enjoying this!

Frieza was still writhing and glowing.

Ryoko shut her eyes tight, forcing herself not to watch. Must… not… be… hypnotized… by… DBZ!

Kurillen was still looking on in horror.

Ryoko's fists clenched at her sides as her fury and frustration began to grow.

Gohan was still…

"OH JUST GET ON WITH IT, ALREADY!" Ryoko hollered at the top of her lungs.

Hikaru turned to her. "It's to build up suspense Ryoko," she explained.

"No way! It's been twelve episodes! And he's still transforming! Why don't they just attack while he's vulnerable? They could cut the series in half!" she cried.

"But then they'd have to lay off Goku," muttered Izumi, snorting.

"Jeez, Ryoko. You don't have to watch it if you don't want to!"

"That's. Just. It! I do have to watch it! It's freaking hypnotic! Twenty minutes goes by and you say to yourself, 'Hey! I was watching Dragon Ball Z! Who the hell let me watch it!'" She kipupped off of her bunk and stormed out of the room.

"Where are you going, Ryoko?" asked Hikaru.

"To the next dimension!" cried Ryoko as the door slid shut.

Izumi looked at Hikaru. "Do you think she's serious?" She opened the door and stuck her head out. "Say hi to King Kai for me!" she called after Ryoko.

---

Ryoko stormed down the hall. Damn! She had to get out before she went stir crazy! Otherwise she was liable to kill. The Captain had to want a scouting mission from her by now!

"It's time to Gekiga-in!" another televised voice came into the hallway. Ryoko turned to see an open door leading into a room. Then, she froze like a deer in headlights.

The room belonged to Akito Tenkawa.

Okay. Just be cool, Ryoko. Pretend that you didn't hear a thing. You don't like that wannabe pilot fanboy. You could care less about him. No, just sneak by. With any luck, he won't even know you're there.

"Hi, Ryoko," Akito's voice came from behind her.

Damn.

Ryoko slowly turned around. "Hi, Akito."

"What are you doing out here in the hall?"

"Avoiding my roommates."

Akito scratched his head. "Why? Are you three fighting or something?"

"Worse. They're watching Dragon Ball Z."

"Ouch," Akito laughed. "Back to back?"

Ryoko nodded.

"Now that's slow torture. Well, you could hang around here until they're finished. If you aren't opposed to watching Gekiganger."

"Sure. After DBZ, anything sounds good."

Thirty seconds later, Ryoko and Akito were in front of the TV set, watching Akira stuff his face.

"Gee, Akira," remarked Junpei. "You sure do eat a lot!"

"I can't help it," replied Akira, his mouth full of noodles. "A growing boy like me needs his lunch, you know!"

"I think Akira's growing wider, not taller," commented Ken, getting a laugh from the others.

"Now you see?" gestured Ryoko. "Here's a guy that could defeat Frieza. As soon as Frieza starts to transform, Akira sits on him and squashes him! Let's hear it for Akira, fatass pilot of Gekiganger III!"

"You know, the frightening thing is that it would probably work, too," noted Akito.

Ryoko got up and walked around. Her eyes came to rest on a photo on Akito's nightstand. Her eyebrows raised as she eyed the picture. "Whoa! Who is the babe?"

Akito went over to the desk. "That's Gai. He was the other pilot who was with us when we first left Earth."

"I thought his name was Yamada."

"Well… that was his birth-name, but he preferred the name 'Gai Daigouji.' He was probably the reason I became a regular pilot."

Ryoko sighed as she put down the picture. "Waste of a handsome man," she remarked.

Akito frowned. It seemed so shallow of her to regret the death of a person-not to mention his best friend-on the basis of his looks. "You know, men are more than just pieces of meat for you to slobber over."

Ryoko turned to face him. "That's true. Occasionally, you get one that can cook, as well."

Akito's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"You ought to know about being a drooled on piece of meat, Akito. I mean let's do the list: Inez, Erina, Megumi, The Captain… you're leading them all around by the nose!" Suddenly, she stopped. Oh, God! He's going to ask if I'm jealous! Am I? No way! If he accuses me of being jealous, I'll pop him one! I don't care if he is cute!

"Now look!" cried Akito. "I never asked for Yurika or Megumi to fall in love with me! I never even wanted any connection with Inez or Erina, either! All I wanted to do was be a cook!"

"You just called Captain Misumaru 'Yurika,'" noted Ryoko.

"Gah! Guuuuh!" Akito fought to control his temper. "So what? That doesn't mean a thing! And anyway, why do you care?"

"Yeah, why do you care, Ryoko?" Hikaru gleefully stuck her head in.

Megumi's head suddenly appeared on top of Hikaru's. "Yeah, what business is it of yours?" she demanded.

Minato's head peeked around the opposite corner. "I wouldn't mind an explanation."

Suddenly, Captain Yurika Misumaru burst in. "Just what on Earth is going on in here!"

"We were just fooling around," answered Hikaru defensively.

"Fooling around?" shrieked Yurika, eyes wide in horror.

"Um… poor choice of words, maybe?" suggested Hikaru.

Yurika turned to Ryoko. "Lieutenant Subaru, I trust you have a good explanation for this breaking and entering?"

Ryoko shrugged. "Akito invited me in to watch Gekiganger."

Yurika whirled on Akito. "Pilot Tenkawa, I trust you have a good explanation for this…" She paused to think up a charge. "Inviting and anime-ing?"

Izumi stuck her head in. "There's nothing like a good lynching," she remarked.

Akito was about to reply when Lieutenant Ruri Hoshino's face popped up on a comm window. "Captain, your presence is required on the bridge."

Yurika sighed. "Can't it wait?"

"I'm afraid not, ma'am. It's Admiral Munatake. He's starting to fiddle with the controls Captain. I'm afraid he'll inadvertently activate the auto-destruct."

"Okay, fine." Yurika trudged out of the room.

"Don't worry, Captain," smirked Megumi. "I'll handle things down here."

Yurika looked back at Megumi. "Actually, I think the Admiral will be better subdued if we have all of the bridge personnel."

"But… but… but…" Yurika ignored Megumi's protests and dragged her from the room and down the hallway.

As the crowd dispersed, Ryoko quickly went back to her room. Sheesh! What are they worried about? It's not like I could get him, even if I wanted to. Which I don't.

Ryoko's shoulders sagged. But it was true. She'd never considered herself good-looking. She didn't have the model gorgeous grace and beauty of Yurika. Nor did she have the compact, freckle-faced cuteness of Megumi. She was a pilot, and pilots didn't have time to play dress up.

Once again, she lay on her bed. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier as she drifted to sleep.

"Ryoko?" Ryoko's eyes opened to see Akito standing there before her.

"Yes, Akito?"

"I've finally decided who I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Oh? Well, which is it? Yurika, or Megumi?"

"Neither. I've decided…"

"Yes?"

"I want you Ryoko. I want you to be with me. Always." With that, the two kissed passionately.

A small smile began to grow on Ryoko's face as she dreamed.

---

On the bridge of the Nadesico, chaos of a different sort was unfolding as Admiral Munatake hovered over Ruri's shoulder. "Eek!" cried Munatake. "Now what are you doing?"

"I am merely correcting course." Ruri's prosaic deadpan was a sharp contrast to Munatake's frenzied shriek. "Would you please return to the command balcony, sir?"

"No! You're doing it all wrong! Let me!" He let out a frustrated grunt. "How could they assign such an important job to a dumb kid?"

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not a 'dumb kid,'" Ruri admonished as Munatake's hands flew over the controls. "I'm twelve, and my I.Q. is well over two-hundred."

As Yurika, Minato, and Megumi entered the bridge, the entire ship shook, nearly knocking them off her feet. "Ruri: Status report!" Yurika ordered as alarms began to blare.

"Nadesico is listing thirty degrees to port. Negligible hull damage from space debris."

"Right. Erina: Right standard rudder. Y axis minus thirty. Ease her down slowly."

"Aye, aye," Erina acknowledged. The klaxons stopped as suddenly as they'd started.

Munatake turned from Ruri's console to see all eyes fixed on him with a stare of death. He smirked. "Surely you don't think I'm at fault."

"Well, given that you were the one who was fooling with Ruri's console without consent…" Minato shrugged as she relieved Erina and sank into her chair.

"Now, wait a minute!" cried Munatake. "Since when should I have to ask permission to touch anything! I'm the one in charge around here!"

"I'm afraid that's not exactly true, Admiral," said Mister Prospector, the ship's accountant.

Security Chief Gort Hoary bared his teeth as he continued. "Admiral, you seem to forget that your role aboard this ship is to serve as a liaison officer for the United Forces. You tell us where to go and who to fight, but that's the extent of your authority. The Captain is the one who is in charge of managing the ship!"

Munatake's face turned a bright shade of red as he clenched his fists at his sides. But Hoary didn't back down, and no one in their right mind went up against the towering tree-trunk of a man. So it came as no surprise when the Admiral turned on his heel and stormed from the bridge.

"Idiot," muttered Ruri.

"Ruri's right," agreed Megumi. "Can't we do something about him? Like file a complaint, or something?"

"I'd like to do that," replied Yurika. "But NERGAL won't let me. We have to do our best to fit in with the Far Eastern Command to save face for the company. And that means putting up with Admiral Munatake."

The bridge let out a collective groan.

"Well, we can worry about that later," said Prospector, punching buttons on his calculator. "Right now, we have something a bit more interesting to discuss."

"We've picked up some energy emissions that we think might be of Jovian origin," informed Hoary. "However, at this range it's impossible to tell for certain."

"I see. Is it possible that it's anything else?" asked Yurika.

"It could be a new nebula or other space anomaly," suggested First Lieutenant Jun Aoi. "Or perhaps it could be a form of distress signal from a friendly ship, or even a First Contact situation. Although these last two are unlikely."

"Of course, NERGAL does offer some hefty bonuses for finding any of these things," reminded Prospector. "I think it'd be a good idea to send an Aestivalis to scout ahead."

"Right," replied Yurika. "Who's on patrol duty?"

"Pilot Tenkawa," answered Ruri.

Yurika smiled. "Oh, that's good! I know we'll be able to trust him with this important assignment. I know it'll help give him more confidence and experience as a pilot, too!"

"And get him away from all of the other women on this ship," quipped Ruri.

---

Ryoko was still in her room when Megumi's voice came over the public address. "Akito Tenkawa to the hangar for scouting duty, please."

"What?" cried Ryoko. "He's going on patrol while I get stuck behind? This is the last straw! I'm going with him, whether he likes it or not!"

Hikaru smirked. "You hear that, Izumi? She's going on patrol with…"

"Tenkawa!" they both cried.

"Will you two knock it off?" shouted Ryoko. "I just don't feel like being cooped up in this ship! I don't care who goes with me."

"Risking your life for romance!" cried Hikaru, ignoring her protests. "Now that's what I call zero-G love!"

"When two hearts 'bot as one," snorted Izumi.

With a frustrated grunt, Ryoko stalked out of the room.

---

Akito looked at the endless black void that was space and tried not to let the fear eat him alive. So here I go again. Off on another patrol. The Jovians could be anywhere out here, and I'm all alone. He sighed. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't all alone.

"Hey Tenkawa! Wait up!" Akito flipped on his rear display to see Ryoko's red Aestivalis trailing behind him.

"Ryoko," Tenkawa greeted her warily. "You're on scouting duty, too?"

"Well, not exactly. I was so bored that I decided to take it upon myself to do some patrolling." That's all. I was going stir-crazy, and if I hadn't gone out, Hikaru would have been hanging from the bulkhead by her ankles. It has nothing to do with Akito. Not a thing, you hear?

Ryoko smiled. But still, it is nice to have him all to myself. Without Megumi or The Captain or the rest of the crew eavesdropping on us.

---

"Captain, don't you think this is a misuse of our communications equipment?" protested Jun.

"Jun," whined Yurika. "I have to make sure she doesn't try anything. Just what is Miss Subaru doing out there, anyway?"

"Oh, I don't think it's that big of a deal, Captain," remarked Prospector, once again tapping his calculator. "Another Aestivalis might prove useful if it's a Jovian threat."

"Just one thing," admonished Akito over the radio. "Nothing about our love lives, okay?"

Ryoko snorted. "What love life?"

"What?" cried Yurika. "Is she trying to say that she's available?"

"Does anyone besides me realize how utterly useless all of this is?" asked Ruri rhetorically.

---

"So, what do you want to talk about?" asked Akito.

"Hmm… okay, fanboy, here's a question: Out of all the girls in the Masake family household, which one should Tenchi go out with?"

"Oh, that's easy. Kiyone, of course."

"Kiyone?" repeated Ryoko incredulously. "Oh, come on! She wasn't even interested in Tenchi. Why would those two go out?"

"Well, that's just it, actually. She was the least likely to get him, so I really wanted to see them go out. Not only that, she was probably the only sane one in the series."

---

Yurika's jaw dropped as she listened to the conversation. Why would Akito pick the least likely person to go out Tenchi? Is he supposed to be Tenchi?

Is there somebody else?

Somebody besides Megumi?!

Somebody who I don't even know exists?!?!

"WAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" bawled Yurika as she ran off of the bridge.

"What do you suppose brought that on?" mused Minato.

"What an idiot," sighed Ruri.

---

"Didn't someone once write a fanfic about them getting together?" asked Ryoko.

"Yeah. I think it was called For the Love of Kiyone. It wasn't half bad, actually. What about you, Ryoko? Who do you think should have gotten Tenchi?"

Ryoko snorted. "Take a wild guess."

"Oh, come on! She would've been terrible for him."

"Oh?" A hint of steel crept into Ryoko's voice. "What was so bad about her?"

"Well, let's see. For starters, she was violent, she was a pathological liar, she was a wanted criminal… hell, she was just plain nuts!"

"Now, wait a minute!" cried Ryoko. "Just because she liked to fight is no reason to write her off! She happened to be very loyal once you got past her bad points!"

"Oh, yeah?" retorted Akito. "Well, how could anyone know she had any redeeming qualities if she never let anyone past her defenses?"

Ryoko gasped and Akito smirked. "Ha! I got you that time!"

"No, you idiot! Look!"

Akito's eyes widened at the spectacle to which Ryoko was referring. A whole armada of Jovians cruisers floated before him. There were thousands of them.

Akito adjusted his scanners. Sure enough, twenty CHULIPs were right behind the fleet, reinforcing their numbers by the second. "But… with an armada like that… they'll conquer the Earth hands down! There's no way we'll be able to stop them."

"No, Akito," replied Ryoko. "That's too much for any invasion and occupation force. They don't want to conquer the Earth. They want to destroy it."

She began to turn around. "Come on. Let's get back to the Nadesico before we're discover-Aah!" Ryoko let out a startled yelp as a Grasshopper flew right past her Aestivalis, firing at point blank range.

Fortunately, she'd already gotten her distortion field online. She smashed her fist through the fighter, and was rewarded with it blowing apart.

Then she turned to see Akito fending off more fighters. "So much for the stealthy approach," she muttered, joining the battle.

But Akito was more than holding his own. He quickly punched out two of the spiders. Then, cranking his field to maximum, he flew through the remainder, slicing each of them neatly in half. One by one, the fighters exploded with a hail of beautiful, soundless fire.

Akito turned to see a grasshopper bearing down on him, about to kamikaze itself into his Aestivalis. He shut his eyes tight, waiting for the inevitable.

It never came. Just as it was about to plow into him, shot's rang out from Ryoko's gattling. "Ryoko, get going!" cried Akito. "I'll hold them here!" Then he realized the impact of what he'd just said. What am I saying? It'd be suicide to stay here alone! But someone has to get back to the ship. And why aren't I afraid?

But Ryoko wasn't going anywhere, and decided to prove it as she blasted more Grasshoppers off of his back.

"Dammit, I said…"

"Just who do you think you're talking to, dork? I'm your superior officer, in case you forgot! I'll decide who stays and who goes, and either you come with me or we're both staying!"

Akito let out a furious howl as he smashed through some more fighters. Damn her! Doesn't she know that if we both go, we'll lead them back to the Nadesico? And if we both stay, they won't know just how big that armada is? "Ryoko, you moron!" he cried, unleashing his fury on the new wave of Grasshoppers.

Meanwhile, Ryoko was busy with some fighters of her own, deftly destroying each one she came upon. She looked over to toward the mother ships and saw that they were reinforcing the Grasshoppers with even more bugs.

Suddenly, she realized that Tenkawa was drifting further away from her as the battle raged on. She quickly radioed him. "Tenkawa, is everything okay where you are?"

"I'm just fine!" snapped Akito. "I don't need you to babysit me!"

Ryoko recoiled. "Well excuse me, fry-boy, but aren't you always the one who's freaking out during a battle?"

"You don't see me freaking out now, do…" Ryoko's screen abruptly went snowy.

"Tenkawa?" No response. "Akito?" Nothing. "Akito!" she cried frantically. "Sound off, dammit!"

---

Akito watched in horror as Ryoko's image was abruptly replaced by snow and white noise. "Ryoko?" His lower lip began to tremble. "No!"

He quickly plotted her last known position and began to fly toward it. "Hang on Ryoko! I'm coming!"

---

Ryoko began to fly in the general direction of Akito's Aestivalis. "Akito! Don't you die on me! I'm coming as fast as I can, Akito!"

"Just hang on five more seconds!" they cried simultaneously.

The two of them passed within a hair's breadth of one another.

Akito breathed a sigh of relief as Ryoko's face began to flicker in between the snow. "Switch… quency… five seven point nine two megahertz."

"Roger." He fiddled with his radio controls and Ryoko's face came back on.

"That's better. They must be trying to jam us to keep from communicating," said Ryoko. "Should have thought of that earlier," she muttered.

"Yeah," agreed Akito. "I thought you were…"

"We could have used a scrambled frequency," continued Ryoko over him. "See these formations?" A tactical display appeared on Akito's monitor. "Look. Most of the light and heavy cruisers are clustered around the dreadnoughts. If we can some of those, there's a good chance that we can destroy use the explosion to fratricide their squadrons with them."

"But how will we get through the cruisers in order to get to the dreadnoughts?" asked Akito skeptically.

"Oh come on!" snorted Ryoko. "Don't tell me that you can't outrun and outmaneuver those bulky things!" She softened. "It's the only chance we've got."

Akito sighed. "Alright. I see your point."

"Ready, then?"

"Ready."

"Okay. Charge!"

With a furious battle cry, Akito flew directly toward the enemy, using his retractable fists to punch threw any missiles they through at him. He paused only briefly to destroy a few of his more aggressive pursuers.

The scenery began to change as he became surrounded by Jovian cruisers, firing their beam cannons at him. What little of the barrage he couldn't dodge bounced harmlessly off of his distortion field. Soon the dreadnought was in sight.

Taking out his butterfly knife, he began to fly on a course parallel to her field. He sliced through the shielding as if paring an orange, and then looped into a collision course with the massive vessel. "Gekigan Flaaaaaare!" he cried as he punched a hole into the hull, nano-injection and Aestivalis' eyes glowing in synch.

Fire spread throughout the dreadnought as the hull began to peel off piece by piece. The shrapnel flew through space, embedding itself in the big ship's subordinate cruisers and causing secondary explosions on them. As Akito's Aestivalis flew away from the carnage, the dreadnought went up in a ball of flame, taking the rest of the ships with her.

Just then a massive blast shot from nowhere, vaporizing another dreadnought instantaneously. "Yahoo! The cavalry has arrived!" shouted Ryoko.

Akito turned and smiled as he saw the Nadesico floating toward them.

---

"Gravity blast cannon fully charged," reported Ruri. "Targets in range and locked on."

"Fire!" ordered Yurika. A CHULIP winked out of existence.

"Hanger reports that Pilots Amano, Maki, and Akatsuki are ready to launch," informed Megumi.

"Right. Uribatake: Launch all Aestivales. Minato: Bring us to flank speed. Ruri: Target CHULIPs and fire at will."

"Captain, I took the liberty of radioing the Cosmos," informed Prospector. "She should be here within fifteen minutes to assist us."

"Thank you," sighed Yurika, smiling at him.

An hour later, it was all over.

---

Ryoko stepped off of the lift and took off her helmet. "Good fight," she said to Akito, her voice slightly hesitant.

"Yeah. You were really something out there," he complimented her.

"All in a day's work," shrugged Ryoko modestly.

Just then, Munatake stormed up to Ryoko. "Lieutenant Subaru, I demand an explanation! Taking an Aestivalis without consent! Interfering with a scouting mission! Engaging the enemy without permission! Never even bothering to report that there was an armada that could have blown up the Earth with a good sneeze! Do you have any idea how bad this makes me look? I ought to have you…"

Klunk!

Groaning, The Admiral collapsed as Akito retracted his fist from Munatake's face. "Well, that takes care of that," he smirked. Then he turned to Ryoko, a smile playing at his lips and his brown, puppy-dog eyes brimming over in admiration.

For a moment, Ryoko returned his affection as she drew involuntarily toward him, her lips puckering and her eyes…

Wait a minute…

Ryoko turned from Akito. All of the technicians were looking out of the corners of their eyes at them while pretending to go about their business. Over to the side, she saw Seiya, Hikaru, and Izumi pretending to talk amongst themselves.

"Well, what do you want? A kiss or something?" barked Ryoko. "Save that Bambi-eyed look for your girlfriends!"

Stunned, Akito watched as Ryoko marched out of the hangar. He sighed. Oh well. I can't expect every girl on this ship to have a crush on me. Even if it seems like that's usually the case.

He left the hangar and began to walk back toward his quarters. But still, it almost seemed like we had something there, just now.

Meanwhile, Ryoko's walk was a slow, thoughtful pace. Was I just imagining things, or did he really want to kiss me? He certainly looked like he was in love.

It could have been the crowd, thought Akito. If only we had more privacy around here.

Damn gossiping crew! swore Ryoko to herself.

But still, mused Akito. Would she have kissed me, even if no one was around?

Would I have been brave enough to kiss him in private? Risking rejection like that? Ryoko asked herself.

Nah. The twosome went into their respective quarters, once again looking for activities to pass the time until the next alert.

---

Afterword

So here it is. My first Nadesico fanfic. I hope you liked it. But why did I choose to do a Ryoko/Akito shipper, instead of a Yurika/Akito shipper or a Megumi/Akito shipper? I don't know. Maybe it was the latent Asuka/Shinji fan in me that liked the idea. The Ryoko/Akito dynamic has a lot in common with Asuka/Shinji. For one thing, like Asuka with Shinji, Ryoko won't openly acknowledge her feelings for Akito, and that makes for some interesting interactions. Not only that, Akito is something of a wimp (although not nearly as bad as Shinji) and Ryoko is the brave, kick-ass pilot.

I personally don't like Yurika as a girlfriend for Akito. To me, she's too much of a ditz and a nutcase for him, and also tends to put him on a pedestal. This last is also true to a lesser extent of Megumi, although I think she's more stable than Yurika. However, Ryoko realizes that Akito has flaws, but unlike Asuka to Shinji, she doesn't rub his nose in them every chance she gets. Also, she gives him praise when he deserves it, such as at the beginning of episode six.

Oh, and in case anyone's interested, my next Nadesico fic won't center around Akito at all. Instead, I'll be focusing on Hikaru, my favorite of the three fighter pilots.

Points of Interest:

Dragon Ball Z
My apologies to the fans of DBZ, but you can't deny that it's true. It has to be the slowest paced anime out there, with the action far between all of the reaction shots. The only worse sin is how they handled my favorite character, Vegita. Personally, they should have given Vegita a few more redeeming qualities, so that when he died, the viewer felt more sympathy for him. Not to mention the fact that it would have made him a more complex character if he occasionally showed some compassion or even self-pitying angst. Oh, well…

For the Love of Kiyone
Yes, that is a real fanfic, by Keiichi Masaki. It's available on fanfiction.net under the Anime-Anime category. It's really good, and once you read it, you'll be hooked on Tenchi/Kiyone. Trust me.

Thanks for reading!