Disclaimer: Don't own Dragonball, nor am I affiliated with anyone involved with it. Not Toriyama, not Bird Studios, and definitely not FUNimation. This fic will be rated T, so the material will be as suggested for the age.
"O, Oracle of Oracle, Seer of Seers, speak me: How am I to remove such a deadly curse from my bones?"
The king's voice quivered as he sat alone, his attendants soberly at bay with grave faces, all subdued by the heavy air that surrounded them in this place. He stayed kneeled on a cushion before a slender woman in black and tried not to focus on how his sweat trickled down his sleeved arm to run across the back of his fisted hand that sat over his knee. The woman had stayed silent as he described his brother's curse, eyes holding onto his with a burning glare only fit for a living statue.
Now, with his question finally asked, she slowly bowed her head in thought, which tipped her peaked, wide-brimmed hat, and the resulting shadow obscured her face in darkness. Soon, her slender hands passed over the large crystal globe that sat in her lap, and a shimmer could be seen from within it, beyond the shadows made by her fingers, sparking and traveling like the firing of a galactic synapse. The smoke from the incense seemed to gain thickness, and the flames from the cauldrons behind her changed hues and grew higher, but the room appeared dimmer as a result.
Softly, she made "waah, waah" sounds from her own mouth, as if some sort of private mantra. Her hands floated with the rhythm of the vowels in circles, as if she was churning the smoke and light in and around the ball herself.
The king, growing old in years and white in hair, gulped anxiously. This woman before him, this witch, was told to be the best of all fortunetellers, always right in prediction and true in advice. What if she says there is no hope for him? What if what the remedy was worse than the illness? More troublesome sweat dropped from beneath his crown as he watched her calmly continue her work. He could just barely see in the darkness her half-closed eyes and her serious face.
A minute or so had passed, even though it had felt to him as an eternity. But, quite to his gratitude, a broad grin finally split her face.
"I've got it."
The king jerked into an attentive pose. "Yes?"
"The curse the elder brother placed on you is a simple one. It does not threaten your life, but if you ignore it, it may suck out the joy you take in it."
He shivered. "Is… is that so…"
"No worries; since it is so simple, it can be alleviated by a very simple daily ritual."
"A daily ritual?"
"Every morning, when you wake, do the purifying motions taught of a yoga master in your kingdom, and then swim once the circumference of your clear pool under your balcony. You may swim more if you wish, but no less! This ritual will purify your bones of your brother's curse over time, but do not let up on them, for the curse may come back without warning."
"I see!" The king's eyes lit and he gave his sincerest smile to the witch. "You have my undying gratitude, overtop your fee! Thank you so much for taking this horrid bourdon off of my shoulders!" After a few more etiquette-induced lines of thanks, he shortly left with his entourage, already barking orders to find the most capable yoga master to bring before him. The money was paid in full, and the fortuneteller—who was, at this time, only really known as Uranai—had earned more in this little visit than most people earn in a lifetime, and money was really her only true vice.
And yet, she sighed and leaned on her hand. "I was hoping since it was a king it'd at least be a little… interesting…"
Her attendant—a small ghost—appeared from nothingness and came to hover beside her. "But aren't curses interesting, Master?"
"Not if they aren't actually curses. All he had was some mild arthritis that started just about the time he executed his brother. His brother shouts a curse as his last words, his arthritis starts to bother him a little more, and he decides the aches and pains are because of a dying man's last breath. That 'ritual' I gave him is only some exercises to keep his ligaments healthy. Maybe if he went to a doctor instead, he'd have realized this."
She picked up a coin and examined it. "Ah… I still profit from his foolishness, though, so I don't suppose it should matter. And yet… I've been doing this for almost, what, one-hundred-eighty years? Still, I'm allowed to be a little bored of it, right? I might look young for my age, but that doesn't mean I don't feel time like everyone else."
"Perhaps you should visit your parents. Your mother has been sending messages to see you for months."
"Yeah, yeah. Old hag can go walk off a pier, already. They know I hate going to visit home, but they nag and nag and nag anyway, telling me to not miss birthdays, not miss holidays… I've seen almost two hundred birthdays and I don't see what's so important about them. 'Only once a year'… yeah, and once a year comes too often if you ask me!"
"It's your duty as the only child, isn't it?"
"Feh! Sometimes I wish I had a sibling just to not have to hear about my duties as a child. Why should I have duties just because I was born first and last?"
"It's a change of pace, anyway. Shouldn't you at least go by?"
"Fine, fine, I already decided I should go, anyway, might as well go now." Uranai pulled back her long hair and tied it before plucking up a pair of sunglasses to wear. She thought better of it a moment, firstly changing out of her robes into something a little easier to move around in before setting the shades on her nose. "There. Might as well make a holiday of it."
"That's the spirit," the little ghost chuckled, "Perhaps you should see the weather to prepare as well."
"No, that's a waste of time. I'll just bring an umbrella and be done with it. It always rains when I visit."
.-.-.
A fortuneteller's words are fate, one way or the other, because it was pouring as she rode up, her crystal ball sitting beside her in the seat on its own cushion. She paid it no mind and merely opened an umbrella as she exited from the car, beckoning her ball to follow her out into the weather. It's course only wavered slightly with the strong gusts smacking against it, making it dance a few twirls in the air before it continued following its master like a duckling. It sparkled as rain poured down it from above.
Without much of an announcement, Uranai threw open the door of her parents' house and tossed the soggy umbrella aside. "I'm here!"
The gray form of her father—who was not aging quite as well as mother—scurried out into the living room with his face lit as bright as a thousand candles. "My honored daughter! You've come! And at such a perfect time! I told your mother you were merely waiting for the best time to come!"
It didn't occur to her that he was boasting on her clairvoyance. "What's the big deal? Did I finally land in on someone's birthday this time?"
He looked at her with a slight bit of confusion, but the smile returned as sunny as ever. "You hit a birthday, all right. Come, come!" His feeble hand wrapped around her wrist and she found herself being pulled through the hallways.
"Oi!" She called, the ball still floating behind her with its singular purpose. "What's all this about? Where's Mother?"
"She's in here, and so is the birthday boy."
"Wha?"
They entered the room, where her mother was in bed, a doctor at her side. Uranai would have commented on her laziness (for there was no way she could be ill), and had every mind to, but a baby's cry startled her out of her skin and she zipped her head about for what she was certain was a ghost that made the sound.
"My first child is finally here! You always do come at the most dramatic times, don't you, Daughter? Come, meet your little brother."
"Huh?" Uranai's own feet lead her to her mother's bedside, and she peered down as if compelled. For long moments, she wondered at the thing in her hands. Was that a small, hairless monkey? It sure had beady eyes. Wait, no, that isn't a monkey. The little thing blinked at her, then shut its eyes from the light it wasn't used to. Strange. Why, if Uranai didn't know any better, she'd say this thing was…
Her eyes flew and she shrieked. "A BABY?"
The little thing's eyes popped back open and it started wailing again.
Father didn't seem upset; indeed, he laughed with good nature "Look at this! She's even surprised about it."
"Impossible! Children at your age! What were you thinking? Nevermind that… how could this even happen? Brother? I have a brother? What nerve do you have to bring a son into this world when your daughter is already in her two-hundreds! Ahhhh impossible impossible impossible this can't be happening!" She fisted her hands into her pink hair.
"It isn't that unusual, Daughter," her mother said with a smirk, "I'm not all shriveled up yet. It'll take a while. But I'm glad I could have another child before I end up a shriveled up little woman like your grandmother. You should look into having children, too; your youth isn't going to last forever, either, fountain or not."
"Don't you dare change the subject! I'm not going to play big sister at my age!"
"Really, starting an argument all ready, just like you." Mother sighed and shook her head. "So ungrateful, even though your long life is partially from my good genes. She won't even give her poor little brother the time of day. Isn't that sad?"
"No! You will not guilt trip me into this!"
"Nevermind all that I've had to do as a mother, birthing her, changing her, raising her…"
"It won't work!"
"And yet she would abandon her only brother… the only brother she'll ever see in her whole long life…"
"I mean it…! I'm serious!"
"Just look at him! Oh, he's crying. Don't worry, even if your sister abandons you, there's always your mother!"
"Erhhh…"
"Unless of course…"
"FINE!"
"Uranai" just means "fortuneteller". She's called "Uranai Baba" in the manga, but it seemed silly to call her "Baba" (crone/old woman) when she's still young.
