I woke today to a cold, dull-looking morning with washed-out, faded
light coming from a sun that was partly hidden by clouds in a way that
made it hard to predict whether or not the day would be overcast or
sunny. I immediately closed my eyes, and groaned, as an evil pain seemed
to permeate my head, and everything spun for a little. I suspect that my
alien heritage protects me from the worst effects of the poison from last
night... Enough so that, eventually, I did manage to open my eyes, and
keep them open.
I stayed in bed for a while... just thinking. I'm never
depressed. I just don't get depressed. Sometimes I get a little down,
but I'm never depressed. That's something that happens to other people,
not to me... But I think I'm learning what a kind of depression feels
like. All my driving goals seem hollow, there's a sinking emptiness
inside... A feeling of helplessness, something I hate in particular.
Saiyajin are anything but helpless, yet... I am human too. My life
seems meaningless, everything seems meaningless, all the comforting
illusions (I see that they are illusions, now) are fading thin... My
strength, my friendship with Trunks, my ideals, the DragonBalls...
They're all gone... or fading.
The phone rang.
Strange, I was so nervous, but it was only 'Nii-chan - his face
looked tired, and pale on the monitor screen.
We spoke a little, and I asked him why he didn't go to the party...
and he told me about how the Gods are dead... in every sense of the
world. I saw the loss in his eyes, despite his dark glasses, and I
wondered at the link he shared with Piccolo. Sometimes... I wonder if
he considered Piccolo his 'other father.' He was disturbed enough not to
notice how troubled I was... and I guess I was relieved that I wouldn't
have to explain it to him...
"Do something, Goten? What could we possibly do? Blast open a
gate to heaven and fight enemies of unknown strength and number? The
Nameck DragonBalls are gone too... Piccolo sealed off our world for a
reason - he was sure we could not defeat them, whoever they were. I
think all we can do now is live on in this godless world... this world
that will never know of how his sacrifice saved it from a nightmare of a
war."
He sighed, and told me that he was taking a few days off with Videl
in the mountains. She'd insisted that they go... to help him forget.
He told me that he'd already informed Bulma, and that he was sorry that I
would probably have to be the one to take up the slack in watching over
Anju and Andrea.
"When I return, Goten..." he murmured, "When it no longer feels as
though there is a part of my soul that has somehow been torn from me...
I think... I think that, perhaps we should resume our training... just
in case..."
We said our good-byes.
People die and nothing can bring them back now, and that thought is
terrifying. What happens the next time there is a huge battle? Sure, we
shall probably be able to defeat whoever comes... but what happens to
everyone who dies in the background, because we are giants and our
footsteps rock the world to its core, and our rages can do so much more
than sink a continent?
And what happens to their souls, since both Heaven and Hell are
gone, cut off from earth? What happens now to your soul when you die?
I am hiding from myself. All of this metaphysical junk is not
what's really bothering me... The death of the Gods is not what's
bothering me. I have to admit that to myself. I cannot keep on thinking
about everything except for her... I cannot hide from it much longer...
I must deal with the consequences of last night.
I groan, pulling the blankets over my weary head. I try to take
some comfort in the warmth trapped beneath the soft, thick cloth - though
I know that they are not going to protect me from the truth.
I did not know what to expect. Did not know what I was to do...
But I had to see her. I had to. I had to know... had to find out
for sure.
And I wish I had not gone to her, I wish I'd never dared to know.
Because now the world is dark and empty, and there is fear
everywhere, and it makes no difference how strong I am...
---
The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
presents
The Three-Fold God's Path
a DragonBall Z fanfic
by
Nikholas 'Don Juan' F. Toledo
(Overseas Correspondent)
Episode 14: The Death of A Shadow
---
The DJ moaned as he finished dealing with the last request. He
sighed, and reluctantly brought up the "Blue Suede Shoes" song on the
display, and pushed the repeat button.
What the heck is it with this revival of Blue Suede Shoes? Nothing
for decades, and all of a sudden, I get five hundred calls, e-mails and
holo-mails requesting it! I hate this oldie stuff.
But, like our slogan says... we play what you listeners want... I
just hope Senator L**** doesn't call in complaining about it...
He put on earplugs, leaned far, far back in his chair, and started
to read his favorite book - "The Origins of The MM-CIS-WADS (Mysterious
Men Cloaked In Shadows With A Dark Secret) Files - and how they came to
dominance in modern politics."
---
In a lonely phone booth on the corner of Walk and Don't Walk,
shrouded in darkness, Fujiisawa Koji laughed. He was working on his
stamina. This was complicated by the congestion from his cold, which
caused his laugh to occasionally change into an odd, wet barking. It was
the main reason why he, a master of a very powerful (though obscure)
martial art, only noticed the wind, when there was something more.
---
She woke and curled up as tightly as she could, shivering in
anticipation... The pain was there... but it was under control. And
that was strange. I should be in agony... masaka... could it be that
my power grew that much? Slowly, she massaged her temples, focussing her
chi into a dormant state. Why, why did he have to be there? The
expression in his eyes... Unsteadily, she got to her feet. His eyes...
How could he possibly have seen her? She hugged herself as she felt a
wind blow into her room, the thin, sweat-slicked silk of her white
pajamas sticking uncomfortably to her skin. Wind... It took all her
self-control not to run.
He was too fast for that anyway.
"H-hi... I suppose... I suppose that you want to know," her voice
was almost painfully tight as she gazed at the picture of him beside her
easel. "... know what that was all about? I... ah... guess you are
not going to believe that you were just drunk?" She could not bring
herself to fake a smile. Not after what she'd seen in his eyes.
"You missed classes today. And the day before."
His voice scared her... almost as much as the memory of his eyes
as he'd seen her.
She touched her tongue to her lips, tried to find some moisture.
"Goten... You must believe... I..." She tried to find some order out of
the confused colors of her thoughts, and failed.
"You... killed him."
She started to shake her head, and stopped. She nodded once.
Haru... please, help me. Help me to be strong.
"Why?" he said softly. It couldn't have been louder if he'd
shouted.
"I... suppose I should stop hiding it..." she paused, uncertain of
what she was going to do.
Light flashed outside, and he was certain that for a moment, he'd
seen her glow. It made her look thinner than she was, and the alien
shades of the light added eerie highlights to her hair. Thunder broke
the silence, and he felt the first few drops of rain on the back of his
neck, cool against the heat of his blood. But the roaring in his ears
could not diminish the other sound he heard, if it could be called a
sound. There was her breathing, slow, so very slow, the beating of her
heart... and there was her chi. She let the restraints on her power go
a little, and the blue radiance about her, faint at first, grew, and
grew... And he could not help noticing how magnetic her eyes were like
this, gleaming with a preternatural light of their own, reflected in the
mirror across the room, drawing him to her more than ever before. He
swallowed, and looked away. Two days ago was the last time he'd seen
her... And since then, her chi had exploded in several orders of
magnitude.
"Why did you hide this from me?"
"I... I had to... to protect you."
"Protect me? From what? What are you talking about?"
"It was to protect Ami as well... from my world."
This wasn't making any sense. He leaned out into the open air, let
the water splash against his tired eyes. He could feel her bringing the
barriers back up, could feel the cobalt radiance dimming away.
"My world is a place... that's shaded in all kinds of grays...
where good people don't always win... and where sometimes... people
die... without any reason, without any justice." When he turned back to
her, she could not read his eyes.
"And... and you're one of the ones... the ones doing the killing."
She nodded. "I don't expect you to just accept this, but..."
He exploded, "You're damned right I'm not just accepting this!
Mari, the things that allow your kind of world to continue are wrong!
It's against everything I stand for, everything I've been taught to fight
for! You can't expect me to just stand by..." And he saw how she
flinched with each word, as though each word was a stone, and he could
not think of the words to continue.
"I guess... I guess you aren't... ah, very happy with me. Right
now. I know... that I hurt you a lot." She dug her fingers into her
arms, trying desperately to feel, to make the pain sharpen her
perceptions, help her think, help her say the right thing. "I did not
mean to... or..." She had to drag the words out. "No, I guess I did
mean to hurt you..." She sat on the floor, leaning against the side of
the bed, hiding her face in her arms. "It was for a reason." Viciously,
she choked down her rising despair. "You were supposed to stay away..."
This was not working.
"That's NOT what I'm angry about and you know it!"
"I-I... guess not. I want to... I want to know what you want to
do about it..."
"What do you mean?"
"You see... there are," she swallowed. "The options are
limited... To protect our friends from the others... either I
continue... or..."
"What?" He could not see where she was leading.
"Or you can kill me, and finish this..." She rushed through the
rest, "It is a long story, Goten. It's not how I wanted things to go,
but if you want justice..." She closed her eyes. "I have killed the
guilty," a pause, as if she could not quite believe it, "and the
innocent, many times before. Criminals, their innocent families, their
children... good men too, politicians, judges... I kill because...
because if I don't, they'll hurt my friends..." A tear slid down her
cheek. "And yes... there was a time when I didn't realize how wrong it
was. There was a time when I did take pride in my skills... Then I saw
death up close, and," her throat closed up.
"What?" Nothing was making sense. But he'd seen her kill that
man... with a technique. Something he'd never seen before.
Something... evil. At times, he'd thought of his idealism as juvenile,
and laughed about being the emblem that was the Great Saiyaman III...
but this... this was entirely different. If only he could think... if
only it wasn't taking his every focused ounce of will to fight the
alcohol in his system... He looked at her again. She's ready to fall
apart. And so am I.
"You... you want it..." He could not believe her voice. "You want
to die!"
She said nothing, and hung her head, waiting.
"Shit!" Goten's eyes were wide, and fury filled them with a
burning light. "Who did this to you? Who are they? I'll deal with
them!" Again, his soft-spoken words were deafening.
"No!" She shook her head wildly. "No! Goten, they're not a foe
you can destroy in one quick battle!" Her eyes were desperate, and he
could feel the panic in her voice as her hot hands clung to his. "If
they found out about you... Goten, they'd hold our friends as hostages,
not even you could protect them all the time! These are people who make
it their business to kill from the shadows! You couldn't be alert
enough, you couldn't be watchful enough, and then you'd watch them die
one by one! Do you want them to mail Ami's head to you in a black,
velvet box? That's not an option! Better that you just kill me, better
that they're lead to believe that I failed!" She fell to her knees, and
bared her neck to him. "One quick blow, G-Goten..."
"No."
He stepped back, and turned away. "No... NO! I won't accept
this! HraaaaaAAAAAAAH!" he cried out. His power flared into life, and
he began walking towards the window, the storm around him making the one
outside seem so much less in significance.
She sprang after him. "Goten, NO!" She locked her arms around his
shoulders, and as she channeled every shred of energy within her, her
muscles aching with the strain, her own blue light surrounded her, and
she fought his forward progress, just managing to force him to stop.
"Don't try to hold me!" The fire around him grew brighter, and as
their auras clashed in a brilliant display of blue and gold, she knew
that he could shake her off without the slightest effort.
"Goten, please!" Mari sobbed. "You're going to get Ami killed!
They'll kill her because she's my friend! She's your friend too, don't
do this..."
"Then..." he subsided, his battle spirit fading around him,
exhaustion dragging at his voice. "Then what the Hell am I supposed to
do!"
"Just... Let me handle this, Goten. I need you to do this for me,
more than anything else in the world, just promise me this one thing I
need from you... please," she gasped into his back, her words growing
ragged, "promise me... And I swear to you, I'll deal with it. The
killing will stop, my ties to that dark world will end, and... and one
day, I'll tell you... I'll tell you everything. Just trust me enough to
let me handle this." So much hurt in her voice...
What could he say?
They stayed that way for a long while, her shaking form clutching
onto his, her heat pressed against his, her chin now resting on his
shoulder, her cheek pressed against his neck, her breath a puff of moist
warmth on his ear. Her arms eased down around his waist, and he felt her
tears rolling down, and felt her sweat soaking through her clothes into
his, her chilled skin sticking to his. With his left hand's fingers, he
slowly probed her arms, using much more pressure than he'd have used on a
normal human, though to her they must have seemed like feather-light
touches, as charged up as she was. It hadn't just been the light that
made her look thinner... Under her smooth skin, there was far less of
the human fat than there was before, and he felt muscles like his own,
tissues as hard and unyielding as granite... tougher than any alloy of
steel... And it was different from the contrasts of the soft and firm
that he'd felt when he'd held her close just days before... It was like
being touched by a stranger, a statue. In a clinical, detached manner,
he guessed that she now weighed about fifteen pounds less... and with
her pressed against his back as she was, he knew that he wasn't imagining
that her breasts were smaller. There was the bitter smell of ozone in
the air from their brief struggle, but the strangely feminine mixture of
scents, of the faint perfume of her shampoo, of the taste of her sweat,
and of so much more that was just her... That was still in her hair,
and was much, much more immediate. The nearness of her was still
intoxicating, perhaps in a different way from before, but it still
penetrated the daze he was in - it was new and at the same time her old
self, and he could not reconcile that with his idea of death. Death
should have been cold, and hard, and ugly... not like the woman whom he
could not identify his feelings for now, with her trembling arms around
him...
"You aren't eating enough."
"Wh-what?"
"You are not eating enough to support your new metabolism...
you're practically starving yourself. If you don't change your diet, you
will wither, and die, perhaps in two weeks..." His voice was oddly
distant.
Slowly, gently, he eased her arms off of him, and resumed walking.
"I... I have a lot of thinking to do... This is nothing like what I
thought..."
"Please don't leave..." she whispered. "Please..." But there was
only the sound of the wind, and the falling rain, as he left.
She'd never felt so alone in her life. "You'll catch a cold... in
the rain," she murmured.
---
"So how was your first party, Ms. Mishima?" Trunks murmured, the
lines about his eyebrows distorting his mask of impassivity, betraying
the uneasiness he felt.
He looked about as dead as she sounded when she replied, "It was
adequate."
"That's nice... Adequate." He rolled the syllables around in his
mouth, wondering why they should sound so comfortingly obscure.
"Are you not going to ask me?" She was sitting as straight as she
could, despite a tendency to sink into the remarkably soft seats in
Trunks' car. Her hands were folded over each other on top of her lap,
and as the hem of her rather short black dress rode up somewhat, she
unconsciously tugged it down.
"Mmmh?"
The car came to a slow, smooth stop before a traffic light. At the
phone booth on the corner, a stocky shape struggled into an ill-fitting
trench coat, walking out into the rain, breaking out into occasional fits
of laughter. But the soundproofing was quite good, and too, it was
masked by the sound of the heavy rain.
"About that stranger..."
"Hmm..." Trunks tapped on the steering wheel in impatience, waiting
for the lights.
Anju peered at him, and tried to decipher what it was on his face
that disturbed her so. "Trunks?"
"Yes?"
"Would you mind terribly if I start using my, 'machine psychologist
bitch' mode that you seem to dislike so much?"
There was finally some light of activity in his eyes as his gaze
swiveled over, and a familiar scowl graced his features. "Please don't.
It has been..." he hesitated, "a very long day."
"I will unless you start talking to me. What's wrong with you?
You didn't make a single snide comment about this dress you fought so
hard to have me go in, you didn't make a single vaguely insulting joke
about what happened when that Kasama guy showed up, you didn't even dance
with Ami much. It's easy to tell that something is bothering you...
Please, tell me."
"You're threatening me, aren't you?" He sighed, "Anju, at the
party... You were never very far... did I do something wrong?"
Anju's reply was interrupted by a painfully loud, blaring howl.
"Ah... Trunks-kun... The light has been green for some thirty seconds
now."
"Ah, shit!" Trunks slammed the accelerator, sheepishly waving an
apology to the truck driver behind him just before his car took off, not
unlike a guided missile.
"Does your father know how you drive? And do you know, you look
cute when you blush?"
"Um. No. Yes. See, uh..." He sighed again, deeper this time. It
was one of those 'What-the-hell-I-guess-it-couldn't-hurt-to-tell-you'
kind of sighs, mixed in with a little of the whining, 'I-don't-know-
what's-wrong-with-my-life-but-it-sucks' type. He pushed the auto-pilot
button, and as he took his hands and feet off the control system, the
ride smoothened and slowed as the internal computer system took over. He
tried to collect himself, and though all he was able to gather was a
couple of annoying "Nikky Bat-bat" songs that stuck in his head like so
much mashed-up rice, he did manage to keep from twiddling his fingers and
further demonstrating his internal discomfiture. "She got mad at me."
"She?"
"Ami."
"Why?"
"I... don't know."
"Hmmm..." She looked out the window at the various shops they were
passing by in one of the shopping districts on the way out of the city.
Many of them were closed, but most of them were still open, casting their
laser and neon fire into the night sky, which she'd noticed was oddly
pinkish. She supposed it was because of the city lights reflecting off
of the clouds. The first time she'd seen it, she'd thought it was
beautiful, but it merely looked garish and tasteless now...
"So that's why Nik brought her back to the dorm instead of you?"
He only shrugged.
"Oh." She shifted around on her seat a little, and realized that
she had again been about to try to tug down the hem of her mini. She
stopped and clasped her hands together on her knees, knowing that the hem
of her dress really did not go down any farther.
"The dress bothering you?"
It was her turn to blush. "I don't know how I let you talk me into
wearing this thing..."
"I told you Nik would like it." He leered.
"Men." It was almost a curse when she said it, as she colored
again. "I thought he looked a little distracted all night... Except for
when..."
He smiled a more normal smile, for him anyway, "Except for when
that new student came up to you and you both started drooling over each
other?"
"Trunks!" She almost tried to smash his nose in. Almost.
I suppose he's feeling better if he's up to bugging me like this.
Well... even if it is at my expense... I guess it's okay if it eases
his problems. It's not so bad. Except that he's hiding again...
"Care to explain some more?"
"Oh, I don't know. Stuff happened. I didn't catch it all. I
dunno!" He waved his arms helplessly.
He was a little surprised when she leaned against his left
shoulder. "Hmm... stuff happened to me too, at that party. There was
something about that Mikeru guy, I don't know... I almost lost it,
didn't I?" She sighed. "He almost knocked me over by accident, and then
I saw him, and I just don't know... It was like there was something
closing around my heart, I couldn't breathe right, it was so strange...
There was this animalistic electricity and... It was as if I was someone
else. I couldn't figure out what was happening. Looking at him made me
a little dizzy, it was as though I was looking through two sets of eyes,
his and my own, and Trunks, you'd laugh, but I felt like... I don't know
the words..." Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. "I, uh..." her voice
was small when she continued, "felt the oddest connection with him. And
I just don't know why! It's terrifying, losing control of myself like
that, and not knowing what happened..."
Trunks was about to laugh, but what she said struck him... and he
remembered his nightmares, uncomfortably turning away so that she could
not see what flashed in his eyes.
"Well... I guess it would be scary... to lose yourself."
"Nh." She shook her head slightly. "So what about yourself? What
did Ami say?"
There was this spicy scent in his nostrils, which he realized was
coming from her hair, and he didn't know why, but it embarrassed him even
as he felt his heart beating faster. "Ahh... Well... it went like
this..."
And he told her, letting the frustrations that had steadily built
up through the day go, opening wide the floodgates of his angst. He
spoke for a long time, sometimes interrupting and contradicting himself,
sometimes plowing through as though it were a chore he had to do,
sometimes confessing weaknesses he would not have dared tell anyone
else... And always pressing on. Soon he was not talking any longer
about Ami and Goten, but about himself, his hopes and dreams, and he
startled himself when he started to complain about his father.
And he had to admit that he was starting to feel much improved.
At last, he was about to begin a tentative narration of his
nightmares... but he saw then how soundly she'd been sleeping on his
shoulder, and when the lines eased from her face, something about her
touched him deeply, and he watched her sleep, marveling at her slow,
steady breathing. Almost shyly, he reached out a finger, and pushed a
tousled lock of hair out of her face. "Oh, so you find me boring, do
you?" he whispered. And he found himself promising that he would let
nothing in this world ever harm her, even as he too began to doze off,
"Not machine, not cyborg, nothing, nothing at all, Anju... not while I
draw breath..."
But though they had purposely avoided talking or even thinking
about it for the past few days, he thought of the first of the operations
she was to have tomorrow... and he knew he could not protect her from
that.
---
"He was going to kill himself."
"Huh? But why? He wasn't dissatisfied with his life! He got a
promotion even! What for?"
"As the ultimate gesture of his love for her."
"Well that's so stupid! Nobody does that anymore (at least nobody
sane), it's ridiculous! A pathogenic form of love, some strange kind of
psychological obsession, that's all it is. It's so childish and unreal!
I mean, he even told her to accept the other guy's proposal! And there
was that other girl, what'sherface... Sandra... who loved him! It's
senseless and melodramatic, and one of the most over-used plot-devices of
all time! What a stupid way to die!"
"You exaggerate! Anyway, it was supposed to show how noble..."
"You mean how full of BS..."
"- NOBLE the guy was. Besides... Okay, if it offends your modern
sensibilities so much, think of it as... I don't know, as a parody of
the classic romantic tragedy..."
"But it was supposed to be a serious movie! And all those
reviewers in those magazines and HV shows went mad over it! It's
ridiculous! It's backward thinking and silly, and it promotes many of
the old gender role stereotypes! And their costumes weren't period, and
did you see that plane streak by in the background? It was supposed to
be set in medieval times! They could have at least edited out that dark
blur in the air! It was a sloppily done movie I tell you!"
"But, but, but..."
"You just like 'The Big Black Nothing' because you're still a
sentimental sap! And you're too easily influenced by the doggerel the
experts spew..."
He sighed. "And you still talk me under on any topic we argue
about, because..."
"Because I'm always right," she smiled.
"I surrender."
"Of course you do! Tell me that I'm always right?"
"Hah!"
"Come on, you know it's true!"
"Oh, Hell... As you wish... Yes, dearest of precious jewels
beneath the celestial dome's sparkling light, the sun of my mornings, the
air that I breathe, the water that I drink , the essence that makes blue
the color blue, you are always right!"
"Good. I shouldn't have to remind you so much."
"And as always, you're immeasurably humble as well," he grinned,
completing the ritual.
"But of course!" She did so as well. It was just like old
times... "I wish Mari were here... You'd love her, dear Nik..."
"Oh, but surely not as much as I love thee, tender Ami, goddess,
nymph, perfect, divine..."
"What, did you forget the rest of the lines?"
"Well, I only said the relevant parts..."
"Oh, what a shame! And to think I was almost going to invite you
up to my room for the night!"
He arched an eyebrow, "and your roommate?"
"Why, she went home for the weekend, is it not convenient?"
He started. "I almost believe that you might be serious..."
"And what if I am?" Defiance in her voice, he should have picked
it up sooner... it was making him nervous.
"What would Trunks say?"
She sighed, leaning back into the couch, and looked out at the
darkly clouded, moonless sky. "Oh, Nik... I became so angry with him
tonight!" She struck out, and her fist sank some inches into the warm
pseudo-leather of the couch. "It was as though I wasn't there! First he
kept on talking about how strangely Goten was acting and how he shouldn't
be drinking, and I understand, I was worried about the guy too, but after
that, he was watching over you and Anju so intently that he didn't hear a
thing I said! If the table where he sat had been a car, I would have
just been the hood ornament! He wasn't talking to me, he was talking at
me! I hate it when people do that! You should have heard him talk at
the camping trip during the break..."
His brow furrowed. "He was? Do you have any idea why?"
"He has to protect..." She remembered who she was talking to, and
about what. "...Um. Anju's... mother," her lip curled slightly,
"wanted him to keep an eye on her..." That left a bad taste in her mouth.
"What was it you were about to say? Is there something about Anju
that I should know about?"
"That's not for me to say..." She looked down at the dun-colored
carpet of the lounge, and sighed.
He rose and leaned his forehead against the glass door, watched as
the rain started again. It had been stopping and starting all through
the night. "It seems as though our positions are reversed... I remember
a time when you were the one pressing for answers..."
She almost gasped. "Nik! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... back
then... she..." she trailed off.
"Just like yesterday... I should have stayed away..."
"No." She was touching his shoulder. "I... I really am sorry.
But Anju's secrets are her own, and... and for her own safety."
Then he was facing her, and his hands were on her shoulders, and
when the lightning flashed, his stark outline loomed huge, and she
thought of Yuu, how strange it seemed to her, that she would think of
that buffoon at a time like this. But Nik's voice was not so low as
Yuu's, and it was at the same time more and less reassuring than Trunks'
cultured-sounding diction. "So secrets like mine surround her too?
Trunks knows how to set up a good match!"
"Don't snarl at me." Her eyes seemed luminous as they glittered,
and they reproached him, as well as asking him something she knew he
could not answer.
He let go, again turning towards the sky. "Sorry. What
happened... it wasn't your fault. Actually... you really," he tried to
swallow but could not, "helped me get through those times..."
"I wasn't unscathed either," she reminded him.
"I know."
Her hand squeezed his, and it was alright again between them, but
the gaiety of their mood earlier that night was smothered now beneath the
somber veil of memories they could not forget. They watched the rain
grow harsher, until it pounded relentlessly at the glass doors and
windows.
---
It started, little more than a whisper. But it seemed to grow as
it crept through his soul, and he shivered. She was singing... She
hadn't done that in years. The Sorrow sounds, those words that he could
not understand. He could feel himself slipping, could see her in his
mind, could see the sad, haunting vistas of a vast, dull, gray-misted
wasteland with huge, skeletal trees stretching up past the anemic looking
clouds... could feel the thin, heated lips against his, the shock of her
first touch.
He remembered a thousand things in those few seconds while she
sang, and the agonies and happinesses strung together in his mind, a sea
of pearls that made him stronger. A hundred kinds of laughter, and many
more kinds of pain... Old friends long gone and buried, old loves made
new, picture book experiences lived through again in brief, intense
bursts of experienced emotion.
And as Kasama Mikeru drifted into a deeper sleep, his tears never
stopped.
---
"Yo!" A hand whistled through the air with tremendous speed, and
dealt his shoulders a mighty blow. He would have been able to catch
himself, but there was a remarkably tender spot located just a couple of
inches behind his eyeballs, and the impact was at that strange, perfect
angle such that the force seemed to travel up his neck with a sentience
of its own, straight into that spot. In sum, his vision seemed to spin
around him, and he pitched over, face-first, into the sidewalk. He
sighed.
"Still nursing a bit of a head-ache, I see," Yuu grinned as he
offered his meaty hand.
"And how is it that you look so damned cheerful?" Goten grumbled
as he took the assist.
"Ah, must be Sylvia's excellent coffee!" He took a delicate sip
from a huge mug that looked like a teacup scaled against his size. "So
strong, I bet this stuff could take the varnish of the tables..."
"Well, I've personally never tried one of their 'Guaranteed to wake
you up!' specials... Those bright nuclear-yellow warning labels... Have
you been waiting long?"
"Nah. Besides, seem to be a lot of pretty girls that walk by this
cafe..." He smiled large at a passing group, who pointedly ignored him.
"It's because of the sororities near-by."
"All of them recruit MAGs for their members, huh?"
"MAGs? What're MAGs?"
"MAGs - Modern Asian Girls - a distinct archetype of urban female -
Asian, maybe of mixed blood, usually remarkably slender, relatively
pretty, they wear perhaps a tad too much make-up, dress well and are
sometimes given away by the platform shoes they typically use to enhance
their already skinny legs - MAGs."
"Uh... Say, you're right, they do all look like that, huh?
Vaguely like a standardized idoru?"
"Of course! I guess our sororities have an image to uphold. And
where do you think the ranks of the idoru recruit their potential singers
from? Of course the MAGs are the perfect resource pool for the idol
singer industry!"
Mari would never be caught dead wearing those outfits, Goten
thought. She has better taste, dislikes make-up, and is tall enough not
to need those damned shoes... He grimaced. I'm thinking about her
again...
"You look like you swallowed something evil... Here, have some of
this brew." He shoved the mug at Goten, and the fumes made him cough.
"No thanks!"
They started walking towards the campus after Yuu finished his
drink and returned the mug.
"Isn't last night going to affect your performance at the
tournament?" Goten ventured.
"Hah! I am YUU!" Right hand to chest, left hand swinging to the
side accidentally smashing half-way through a telephone pole they were
passing. "-Rising star of freestyle full-contact DCI-sponsored
tourneys! I let nothing affect my performance, except positively!" He
flexed his musculature, almost causing his t-shirt to burst off of him.
Goten shook his head. "So how good are those guys from LucasTech?
The school paper did an article about them, and they seem pretty
tough..."
Yuu's face almost fell. "You aren't making fun of me are you? I
do have some idea of how strong YOU are..."
"Oh, of course not, I meant..."
"Right... Well, LucasTech's pretty good. They've been winning
this particular tournament for the last four years. Their main fighter
is this little shrimp called Yoshio. I've watched him. He's pretty fast
- but have no fear!" His voice magnified again to its full basso roar.
"His puny techniques will fail before me today! I've been watching my
old anime tapes, nothing can go wrong!"
People were watching him rant, he was used to that.
"Your old tapes? But what does that have to do with..."
"Where do you think I get the inspiration for most of my
techniques? I watch old fighting cartoons and Kung Fu movies for moves
and learn how to do them myself!"
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this..." Goten murmured, wondering
which shows in particular his new friend had been brushing up on.
"Anyhow, Goten, where'd you go after the club? You just
disappeared! I thought for a moment that you got tired of my company,
but then I realized how impossible it would be for anyone to get tired of
my magnificent and thrilling conversation," he grinned. "Seriously,
where did you go? I was a little worried, you looked sick for a moment
after that old guy died..."
His companion's face twisted, and he was puzzled.
"I've got it, you're thinking about your chika who dumped you,
what's her name... Mari?"
He shook his head, realized he was doing so, and stopped. "I... I
guess."
"It will all work out! Destiny always rewards us goodly knights of
romance, my friend! She will come around, or if not, you will find
another - it is all good in the end! For we are manly men of good
character, and the fairer sex does indeed find us irresistible!"
Goten aimed a suspicious eye at the big lug, wondering if he was
serious. It was impossible to tell.
"Ah, look, that's her isn't it, she looks quite the huntress, a
veritable Diana! With Ami, jewel of the Nile, who secretly pines for me
(I know it to be so!) and my only worthy rival for supremacy on this
university - Nik!" Yuu gestured expansively towards some people waiting
at the intersection.
The other's eyes nearly bugged out as he saw them. "Ah... Perhaps
we should go another way..."
"Nonsense, this is your chance to show your generous and forgiving
nature!" And he continued, whispering, "Besides, it's too late, they've
already seen us..." Louder again, "Greetings to you all! Are you coming
to watch the tournament today? That's good! Shows your college spirit!
Why if everyone watched these martial arts matches, the world would be a
better place! You will cheer for me, will you not?" His hearty laugh
thundered, before petering out to a limp, "Ah, heh, heh, because I have a
feeling that my cheering squad is going to be nonexistent today..."
Nik muttered, "Why, did they all notice your less than awesome
personality? Ouch!" He scowled at Ami, who'd just stepped on his foot.
"Actually, it's because I asked my fan club to disband... I
imagine their feelings are hurt, since they can no longer approach my
divine presence - and now they cannot bear to see me for the fruitless
longings they would experience!" His grin flashed, white teeth blinding
a pigeon that fell bonelessly into a passing dumpster.
Except for Yuu, everyone was studiously avoiding looking anyone
else in the eye, walking with a listless gait as they continued towards
the auditorium.
Yuu persisted onwards, "Well, Ami, whose hair is like the deepest
blue of the seas, are you not going to introduce me to this lovely,
willowy tigress at your side?"
"Ah... Mari, this is Yo Yuu - um... you've probably heard about
him from all the articles in the student paper? Yuu, this is Kobayashi
Mari, a good friend of ours." She gave him a warning 'Don't bother her
like you bother me, or else!' glance, and wondered if he understood it.
"Ahhh, 'tis the esteemed beloved of Goten!" Yuu exclaimed as he
took her hand (to Ami's horror) and kissed it warmly. "He never ceases
to talk about you, my dear! Yet you are fairer than his feeble words
could ever describe!" He released her fingers, and smiled a sparkling
smile that was only at half of full radiance even as he openly eyed her
figure up and down.
Goten was making strangling noises, and his fingers were twitching
madly at this. He decided that the safest course would be to keep his
eyes on his feet.
Faint lines crossed her brow in confusion, but after a split-second
of hesitation, Mari relaxed, chuckled, and let a wry smile creep across
her face. "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Yo!"
"Please, that's what the gangsters and gambling lords call me...
to my fans, and my friends, I am merely the lowly Yuu! Ah, I see now how
it is that he could think of nothing but you!"
As he said that, through some almost magical means of subtle
shifting and the barest of taps on shoulders, Yuu moved a little through
the group, taking advantage of their differing vectors, and Goten
suddenly found himself beside her. His face flushed as she gently took
left his arm. "Of course Goten can't get along without me! You're lost
without me, aren't you?" She squeezed at his arm nervously, quietly
asking him to look at her... so he did. The changes from her recent
transformation were more apparent in the daylight, and Goten fought not
to stare... Though thinner, and seemingly more fragile in her loose,
baggy slacks and oversized blue polo shirt that made it even more obvious
that she'd lost weight, a vital fire shone from her, and her now almost
translucent skin burned with a feverish inner heat. And that vitality,
as of a barely contained blaze, lent her every movement an oddly
compelling grace that drew admiring looks from many of the passing males
(and not a few females). There was something sensuous in her half-parted
lips, and in the way her hips swayed as she walked that was different
from before.
He realized that he was staring anyway and Goten chuckled inanely
at himself as he ran his fingers through his coarse hair.
Something of the tension in the air was broken, and conversation at
last began to start up more naturally amongst the five. Surprisingly
enough, Yuu managed to draw Nik and Ami into a fairly animated discussion
about something called "The Big Black Nothing" - which had apparently
been directed by Yuu's cousin... Ami was demolishing their feeble
defense of the movie when she looked back, and for an instant, there was
a tender sorrow in her eyes as she saw the two - but only for an
instant...
"Mari..."
Her smile was perfect, and her eyes were veiled just so. "Goten...
Let's not talk about it now." Her voice had that clipped quality that
suggested a tremendous effort at rigid control, "Smile, Goten... we have
to give your big friend the moral support he needs to win today. For our
university's pride, you know?"
"I... I've thought about it a lot... I'm sorry I was so hard on
you, I..." Then her finger was against his lips, strange that it was so
soft... a touch like velvet. He blushed again.
Her smile seemed to ease a little, and her eyes came alive. "Let's
just enjoy today, okay?"
"A-as you wish... for thee, Mari, only for **thee**" he whispered.
There seemed to be so much that was thrilling to her in the way she
heard him say it, but she did not let that show in her face. She only
nestled more comfortably against him as they caught up with the other
three. "And thee, Goten..." For thee I will face Them all... and for
Haru.
---
A hand on his shoulder.
He did not like to be touched... but this was one of the few who
could without making him uncomfortable.
"Mother..."
"Don't worry so, Trunks. I know these doctors, they are the very
best in the world..."
He put his own hand over hers, even as he looked away. "Of course
I'm not worried. She's tough! I've never sparred with her, but I'm sure
she's a good fighter..."
"Of course you're not worried... You picked that up from your
father." She sat down beside him. "I like her, do you know? Yet she's
so young... Too young to be mixed up in all this..."
"I like her too... Mother... Tell me again about the procedure -
what part are they on now?"
"They'll... They'll have finished preliminary incisions by now,
and the probes are in place beneath her skin, around the base of her
skull, running down her spine. Th-they're probably starting with the
major bone replacement therapy and little by little, their machines will
break down the circuitry and that strange alloy running through her
skeleton, and replace it with organic grafts... The best money can
buy..." Her voice took on a steely quality so that it wouldn't tremble.
"How much longer?" Inactivity, the agony of waiting, of being
dependent on someone else - all this weighed down heavily in Trunks'
thoughts.
"This first operation is going to be one of the shorter sessions...
just twelve hours. They're only going to deal with the more superficial
implants. When she wakes up, all the incisions will be healed, and all
she'll feel will be a dull throbbing pressure along her back, and at her
joints... She should be able to go to class with you on Monday."
"And the next one?"
"Two weeks. To give her body a chance to adjust... and then,
they'll start doing the deep replacements..."
"Could anything go wrong?"
"Noth... I can't lie to you, Trunks. This procedure... it's very
risky. They've never tried to reverse a cybernetic conversion so
complete and subtle as hers before... The Necrotech implants are quite
elaborate, and extremely invasive. Probably for a more efficient energy
up-take at the moment of death... But if there are any people who can do
it, it's those doctors in that room."
"Huh..." He was thinking of the same thing as her... "If only we
still had the DragonBalls!" Just a wish away...
---
"Rock Parting the Waves Technique!!!"
"No-Shadow KICK!"
Yuu stumbled as kick after kick was contemptuously parried, and
took once again to the air, screaming, "SHORYUKEN!!!"
"Crane to hydrangea Strike!" His small opponent leaped as well...
They crashed together in the air, and Mari winced as she heard a
dull CRACK. "Come on Yuu! GET UP! You can still beat him!"
Nik moaned, "Come on you buffoon! You're embarrassing the
University! Get up!"
Ami was wringing her cold hands nervously... She couldn't see
everything that her martial artist friends could, but she heard that
sound, and it was something she'd heard before... the sound of someone's
ribs breaking.
"Damn... he's pretty badly hurt..." Goten muttered. He could hear
how difficult it was for Yuu to breathe, hear the rapid pounding of his
over-worked heart.
"Shoot! I could've dodged those punches," Mari complained.
Nik shook his head. "He's just not focussed! Something's wrong,
he's much better than this, I've still got the bruises to prove it!"
Goten ventured, "Maybe he should have watched some other anime?
The moves from that particular movie don't seem to be serving him very
well..."
One side of the stands was deathly quiet except for the four of
them, while the other side cheered constantly for their own champion.
The tiny fighter in black shouted, "Yield to me, Yuu of Moorcock U!
You don't have to be hospitalized to prove your worth by continuing this
mach! Admit your loss and fight again another day!"
Yuu's eyes were glazed over as he struggled to his knees, his white
gi spattered with his own blood. "Ah, heh, heh, Yoshio... it is not
over yet. Come for me you short half-pint bastard!" He whispered as he
clenched brought his glowing palms together before him. Energy cascaded
down his arms, electrons dancing as they concentrated at a point between
his hands.
"So be it!" Yoshio charged, a hideously fast blur, all edged with
steel. Suddenly he was behind Yuu, and before the challenger could turn,
Yoshio landed half a hundred blows upon the area just above Yuu's
kidneys, knocking the big man a dozen feet away into the dust, his chi
fizzling out between his fingers.
"Haf... haf..." Yuu gasped wetly, trying to get to his feet again.
Why isn't anyone cheering for me? God, just one voice... just one
voice... Never realized how dependent I was on... the crowd... but, I
can't lose...
"Get up! Show me your fighting spirit! I've heard enough about
you to expect better!"
---
"Oh, shit! That's a bad sign!" Goten jumped to his feet, concern
in his eyes.
"What is it? It can't get any worse than he's already doing!" Nik
stamped his feet in frustration.
"Yuu's frowning! That's it, his confidence just isn't there! It's
like he's another fighter entirely! His mania needs something to fuel
it!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Ami, cheer for the big lug! Offer him a date in exchange for
winning!"
"WHAT?" Nik turned to face him. "Are you out of your mind? He's
a complete maniac!"
"She doesn't need to keep the date! He just needs to hear
something now! Can't you see? He's going to keep pushing for the energy
until he gets really hurt! Just feed his ego a little! Ami, he likes
you, after all, and he told me that he saved you from a bunch of mimes
near the creek, please..."
Her eyes were wide with disbelief. "I can't believe you're
serious!"
"Mari," he pleaded, turning to her.
"You're really worried about him, aren't you?" Mari looked at him
closely. "He's your friend." She nodded, and stood as she called out
loudly, "Yuu, you handsome devil, tempter of goddesses!!!"
Ami and Nik rolled their eyes. "I'm sure you're sacrifice will be
remembered, old friend," Ami sighed.
"Come on! If you win this, Ami will go out with you for dinner!"
"WHAT?" Nik and Ami turned threateningly upon her.
---
"What was that?" The big man straightened to his feet like a
coiled spring. He could not quite believe his ears.
"Hey, dammit! Why don't you just stay the Hell down!" Yoshio
muttered as he rained blow after blow upon Yuu's still form.
"I've GOT A FAN!!! You love me, you really LOVE ME!!!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I... I am Invincible!!!" He started to glow a fierce
white color, completely ignoring what now seemed like so many feeble
blows against his impossibly tough form..
"Uh, oh..." muttered Yoshio.
"Prepare to face the wrath of Heaven, little man! Humu-Humu-Nuku-
Nuku-Apu-a'a Mystical FishChicken FI-IIIIIIIST!!!"
---
"Ouch!"
"Say, what was all that junk that he said?"
"I think it was a kind of Hawaiian fish..."
"I like it! GO YUU!!!"
The rest of the crowd followed suit, finally gaining life after
just sitting there and idly watching their University's hope getting
pummeled.
---
"I don't believe it..." Ami and Nik mumbled in awe at the same
time.
"Yeah! That's the ticket, Yuu!" Goten cheered.
"How'd he get all that fish?" Mari wondered.
---
"Aaaah!" Cried out the honorable Senator L**** "He was supposed
to lose! What the Hell? He's burying the champ underneath a tremendous
pile of FISH! What the heck is this!"
---
"So how did you get all that fish?" A still shocked Ami poked a
now heavily bandaged Yuu in the shoulder.
"Ouch! Oh, the H-H-N-N-A'A Fist? It's a secret technique," he
grinned. "Chi fish."
"Come again?" said Nik.
"Chi fish. They are intensely attracted to a certain frequency of
energy..."
"Wow. What anime did you get that from?" this from Goten.
"A silly one."
---
"Yeah, I was amazed by that technique! Oh, and it took me a long
time, but I finally talked Ami into agreeing to go with him there. Yes.
Uh-huh... I know." Mari laughed as she stretched out on her bed, phone
in hand. She giggled, "I had a lot of fun too. It was nice of Yuu to
treat us to dinner afterwards.... Yes, I..."
Her smile faded, and her voice shrank a little, "I know, Goten. I
promise, it will be soon... Goodnight... Yes... and thee, Goten. And
thee..."
Click.
She stiffened as frost sheared through her thoughts.
'I sense that you are disturbed... Is all not well?'
She forced her thoughts into order, called on every thread of skill
she had to ensure that her psychic defenses were in place, that they
could not have possibly watched her and Goten without her knowing, that
her mind had not been probed... She replied, 'The assignment was carried
out, and that is all.'
'Then you must begin your next assignment.'
'And that is?'
'There is a girl at your university.' It took all of her control
not to cry out, not to release the furious chaos of her thoughts upon her
contact. 'She is not what she seems, and we have a contract with some
people who wish her... eliminated. She is enhanced...'
'What is so special about the cyborg that you cannot deal with it
on your own? Or has our clan grown so weak in my absence?' She colored
her answering thoughts with contempt.
'She is no ordinary cyborg. Physical attack is impractical. She
is far too powerful for that. It is your specialty that we require...
and think about your friends the next time you are so disrespectful.'
She could not help gasping. She had been sent an image... Ami...
the contact was right in her room, and held a knife above Ami's sleeping
form.
'I...' With effort, she held herself in check, 'hear. And obey.'
'We expect no less. Your target is Mishima Anju. The details will
follow soon.'
The image, and the intruding coldness, faded.
Anju. That was the girl Goten had talked about... the one he had
to protect. "Goten..." He would never forgive her if she killed his
charge. If I am to act against my clan... I must act tonight. And she
knew what she had to do... It would have been impossible a few years
ago, but perhaps, just perhaps, there was a chance that her powers had
grown enough... and if not. If not, she would die...
"If I am to finish this... I must begin NOW." I've never prayed
before, but this may be a good time to start... Haru... Give me
strength.
---
"What? Blue Suede Shoes AGAIN? Hey, you're that hack prankster
that's been bothering us all day! Who is this? Hello?"
"Damn," sighed Koji as he hung up. "The jig is up."
He looked forlornly at the phone, and then started to break up.
"Heh, heh. Ha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! The WORLD SHALL LEARN TO WORSHIP
BLUE SUEDE SHOES! AHAHAHAHA! BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
So intent on his laughter, he missed the intense blue glow that
streaked out of the window overlooking the phone booth he was in...
---
He'd been trying to sleep for hours, but simply could not. Some
time before, he'd learned from Andrea that Anju had come out of her
operation well, but that she still had to recover at the secure room
beneath Capsule Corp. He sighed, tossing and turning futilely for a
time.
He would reach for the phone beside his bed, hesitate, drop his
hand, and face the other way. Then he would turn back, and repeat the
cycle again. He could not tell how long this went on.
There was a point when he simply could not take it any longer.
"Aaaarrgh." He buried his face beneath his pillow. "I'm too worried to
sleep..." He watched the shadows in the room dance, as cars would
periodically drive by.
"What is she doing now?"
"Probably asleep, dumb ass! Like you should be now!" he answered
himself.
"I wonder what she's dreaming about."
His feet started feeling too hot beneath the blankets, and were
starting to sweat, so he kicked them out from underneath, unconsciously.
Then they started feeling too cold, so he pulled the blankets back over
them. And again. He sat up, suddenly filled with the desire to do
something. Then dropped weakly back onto his bed.
He moaned, "I've just got to get some sleep..."
But he'd tried everything now... sleeping pill, warm milk,
midnight snack, counting sheep... he'd even tried reading one of his
textbooks in an attempt to doze off. Nothing was working.
"Still..." he repeated to himself, "I wonder what she's dreaming
about..."
He murmured, "I wonder if she's out... in HER world... Nah..."
But the scene flashed again in his head, and he clutched at his temples,
straining to somehow press the memories out of him. But he could see her
ghostly finger stretching out, could hear the man's soul shrieking...
No, that was imagination, of course I didn't hear the man's soul
shrieking, right? Just my imagination...
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of
beer, if one of these bottles should happen to fall... ninety-eight
bottles of beer on the wall... Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall,
ninety-eight bottles of beer..." Shit. I'm driving myself batty. I
don't get this... I usually sleep like a rock. I feel so restless...
"If one of these bottles should happen to fall... ninety-seven bottles
of beer on the wall. Ninety-seven bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-
seven bottles of beer, if one of these bottles should happen to fall..."
"Agh!" Something surged in his head. He covered his eyes, kicking
out too much as he did so and hitting the lamp beside his bed with his
head. The glass shattered, it was the sound of falling bells in the
night.
-G... Go... ten...-
What was that? No!
---
She was shaking.
So cold. Must... must get up.
She tried propping herself up on her arms, and the dizziness struck
her down, hard. Her hands and arms were slick with her own red-tinged
vomit.
"So... weak..." her words sounded incredibly faint to her.
Guess I... panicked. Lost control of the Power... hurts...
She spasmed, clutching at her head. Can barely see...
Time passed, and she could feel her life-force slipping, growing
fainter. Is this... my fate? A death without purpose... a lonely
death... Haru...
Images floated by, and she squeezed her eyes shut with all her
strength. Don't want to see them... don't want to see their eyes...
everyone I killed... Stay away... It seemed to stay like this forever,
her fearing, and the world growing always colder, as she cowered in the
darkness.
Then something interrupted it.
She felt gentle warmth enfolding her, easily picking her up despite
her uncontrollable limbs occasionally flailing around, punching holes in
the walls... and sometimes striking something hard and unyielding,
something tougher than any man-made construction material.
"Go... Go-ten?"
Can barely talk...
"Shhh..."
She felt his grip around her tightening ever so slightly, felt cool
lips touching her forehead. She could not stop crying.
"I'm here..."
"O-onl-y... thee..." So faint, her heartbeat.
"And thee... only thee, Mari..."
---end episode 14
Whew! I was beginning to think I'd never finish this one... C&C?
BTW, I am not sure who came up with 'Mysterious Men Cloaked in Shadows
With A Dark Secret' (MM-CIS-WADS), but I think Nikholas 'Pervert' F.
Toledo was the first one to use it in a fanfic, so I guess the credit for
that one should go to him. Oh yeah... Don't bother trying to find out
what that anime Yuu obtained his chi fish attack from.
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/mezza9.html
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Don Juan, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, Elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem
Fanfiction @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/fanfics.html
Warp Zone @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/thirteen.html
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The logo of the Church of All Worlds is nine concentric circles.
Word from the Laity: Wipe yer feet! Bloody 'ell...
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3145/index.html
Currently under construction... confessional at the links.
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