1st of June, 2010- Two weeks from today, six years ago, Android 23 and myself successfully turned the androids good again. Some were killed, because I had to go to the past, when they were still weak and destroy them until I could find another way to save the future. With the help of Android 23, Trunks, Pan, and Goku, we successfully captured all the Neo Dragon Balls, and together they formed a potion to turn the androids good again. A week later I ended up falling in love with Gohan and we married and a year later we had our first child, Ayanei. Ayanei looks almost identical to Gohan, and the fact that she likes wearing his old robes doesn't help, if you hadn't seen her eyes you wouldn't even know she was my child. One thing troubles me about her, however, her tail is even longer than Gohan's, about 2 times longer actually. I don't know why it troubles me, but I think it means something, but what? Her 5th birthday is in a week; she's grown up so much. She still thinks her tail is her "worm," and we, well more I than Gohan, haven't had the heart to explain to her about her true identity as a Saiyan.
Nakuyo finished writing in her diary and closed it. She looked up and saw Gohan.
"Hey, Nakuyo, someone's at the door, he says her would like to talk with you," Gohan explained.
"Huh, who is it?" Nakuyo asked.
"Just go down and see for yourself," Gohan answered. Nakuyo put up her diary and headed downstairs.
Standing in the doorway was Android 23, and another one of her friends, Sakura, and another boy she had never seen before.
"23! Sakura! Oh my heavens stars this is like so weird!" Nakuyo exclaimed.
"Hey, Nakuyo, how ya been? Gohan told us about your and his kid, Ayanei is it?" 23 asked.
"Yeah," Nakuyo replied.
"Oh, well I know you haven't met are little boy, Ten…" 23 started then realized that his son wasn't around. "OH TENCHI! Leave it to you to run away."
Just then the 3 of them heard children giggling and Ayanei's voice explaining something. The 3 of them walked toward the sound and sure enough, it was Ayanei and Tenchi.
"There you are you little rascal!" Sakura remarked, as Tenchi came up to her hugging her.
"Aw mom, I was just playing with my new friend," Tenchi replied.
"Mom? 23, is Sakura your… wife?" Nakuyo questioned, Sakura was the person she had least expected for 23 to be her husband.
"Yep, oh, this is Tenchi," he pointed to the boy. Tenchi had bright, red hair like his mother's, and seemed to have a bit of 23's ability to get in to trouble.
"Daddy, daddy, this is Ayanei, she's my new friend, and she has the coolest worm toy," Tenchi said as he pointed to Ayanei and her tail. 23 looked at it.
"So that's Ayanei?" 23 asked and Nakuyo shook her head yes, "I see, and what's with the 'worm' thing."
"Oh, that, well she dosen't quite realize that it's a tail, so she calls it her worm," Nakuyo explained.
"Mommy dosen't have a worm, but daddy does! I think everyone should have a worm because worms are cool, and fun," Ayanei interrupted. 23 smiled, and so did Sakura.
"Her 'worm' don't you think it's a bit too long?" Sakura asked. Tenchi and Ayanei resumed their playtime.
"I know, it's been driving me crazy."
"She thinks too much of it," Gohan said entering the room. He was carrying a tray with a pitcher and a few glasses. "Would anyone like anything to drink?"
"Sure," 23 said, Nakuyo and Sakura just nodded. Gohan took four glasses and poured some fruit punch in each one.
"I do not think too much of it, Gohan."
"It's no big deal, odd things like this happen, and I still don't see why we can't tell her what she truly is," Gohan replied.
"I just think we should wait for the right time, she's only 4, almost 5!"
"So what, I learned what I was when I learned to speak!"
"Well, that's because Chichi and Goku didn't have to deal with the fact that your tail was so long!" Nakuyo remarked.
"Maybe you should tell her, if she knows now, then it won't be so hard on her, if you wait until she's older," Sakura added.
"I just feel I should wait for the right time, that's all," Nakuyo remarked.
"Nakuyo, I don't want to put any pressure on you, but Sakura and Gohan are right," 23 added.
"What do you mean you 'don't want to put any pressure on me'?" Nakuyo asked.
"Well I know you have a hard time concentrating sometimes and, well…"
"So you think I'm weaker when under pressure, fine I see how it is!" Nakuyo stomped of to her room.
"Mommy?" Ayanei whispered.
"Oh gosh, I knew I shouldn't have said it that way! I better go patch things up," 23 remarked. He headed up for her room, and knocked on the closed door.
"Leave me alone," Nakuyo replied.
"I'm sorry, Nakuyo. I didn't mean it like that," 23 called into her room.
"Well, what was it supposed to mean then?" Nakuyo asked.
"I was just saying it, it wasn't supposed to mean anything," 23 answered.
"Then why'd you say it?"
"I'm sorry, Nakuyo."
Nakuyo opened the door and walked right past him "I'm going for a walk, Gohan, I'll be back in a couple minutes." She went out and started walking down the street. 23 followed her and managed to catch up with her.
"I really am sorry, Nakuyo. So will you go back home?"
"That's not the reason I left 23."
"It's not?" 23 asked. Nakuyo stopped and sat down on a nearby bench, 23 sat down next to her.
"No. Sometimes I just go for walks just to think, and enjoy the scenery," Nakuyo answered.
"Oh." There was a pause. "So, what are you thinking about?"
"Ayanei," Nakuyo answered.
"She's gonna be 5 soon, right?"
"Yeah next week, July 8th," Nakuyo replied.
"Tenchi will be 6 in late January. He's grown up a lot, it seems like just yesterday he was born. It amazes so much how they can be so young once and you turn around, and there already 5," 23 remarked.
"Yeah, same with Ayanei," Nakuyo added.
"She reminds me a lot of Gohan."
"Yeah. She admires her dad so much. It's fun to see them play together."
"Yeah, I can see what you mean, for a minute there I thought she was Gohan, then I saw her eyes. They look so much like yours," 23 said.
There was a pretty long pause. "So you and Sakura are getting along pretty good?" Nakuyo asked.
"Yeah, and speaking of Sakura, she's probably wondering where the heck I am. I'd better get going," 23 said.
"OK, I'm gonna stay out a little longer, please tell Gohan that," Nakuyo commented.
"Alright, I'll see you later, oh yeah before I go," 23 pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it, and gave it to Nakuyo, "call me if you need anything, bye!"
"Alright, bye 23," Nakuyo said. She sat on the bench for a long while then noticed someone who looked familiar to her. "Tatsu? I thought you were dead?"
"Huh?" the boy turned around. He had black hair and black eyes. He was wearing some kind of black form of what Gohan used to wear. "How do you know my grandfather?"
"Grandfather?" Nakuyo asked getting up. The boy walked toward her.
"Yeah, I'm Tatsu's grandson, Yamato."
"What? I thought all his relatives were killed along with him?"
"Hmm… I think I know who you might be. That girl, my grandfather's enemy, Akiyoshi's great grand daughter?"
"Yeah, my father should've killed you, along with the rest of your family, for what you did to our family!"
"He tried, but he'd never succeed, almost no one has ever beaten me!"
"Almost?" Nakuyo asked, "well I'll be the one who gets the privilege of doing so!"
"Don't be, too confident girl," Yamato replied.
"My name is Nakuyo, not 'girl'," Nakuyo added.
"Nakuyo?" Yamato let out a laugh, "that's a good one. I suppose your name might live up to its reputation, NAKU!" he let out another laugh.
"We'll see about that!"
"How's 2 days from today, July 3rd?"
"The East Side at the bottom of that hill," Nakuyo said pointing to a hill, about a half-mile away.
"6:00pm sharp!" Yamato added.
"I'll be there," Nakuyo remarked.
"Ok, brace yourself, Naku, good luck. You're gonna need it."
"Same to you."
The 2 headed their separate ways. Humph, this girl should be an easy win, Yamato thought to himself.
It took Nakuyo a little while to get home, but when she finally reached there Gohan was in the family room, with Ayanei on his lap, reading her a story. He noticed Nakuyo's I need to talk to you alone signal.
"OK, baby, we'll finish this story tomorrow," Gohan said, closing the book.
"Aw, daddy! Just 5 more minutes pwease?" Ayanei begged.
"Nope sorry, tomorrow night, say goodnight to mommy," Gohan replied.
Ayanei walked over to Nakuyo, "goodnight mommy," she said giving her a big hug.
"Goodnight, sweetie, don't let the bed bugs bite!" Nakuyo said. Ayanei walked up the steps and into her room.
"So what'd you need to talked to me about?" Gohan asked.
"Your gonna need to watch over Ayanei on the 3rd," Nakuyo answered.
"Why?"
"I have a battle going on."
"With who? Are you sure your gonna be ok, you haven't trained for 5 years!"
"I'll be fine Gohan, don't worry! I'm gonna see if 23 can help me out a bit tomorrow, just so I can have a little review time, if you wanna call it that," Nakuyo explained.
"Yeah, but your concentration…" Gohan started.
"Can't get in my way too much! Gohan, if I miss this battle, it'll look bad on all the Yukai family! I have to do this."
"Alright fine, but at least let 23 go with you, I don't want you getting hurt!" Gohan replied.
"No, this is my battle Gohan, I'm gonna take this one on my own."
"Fine, but don't you come back here hurt too badly," Gohan demanded.
"I won't," Nakuyo promised.
"Ok, let's get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you," Gohan said.
"Right." The 2 of them headed off to bed.
The next morning Nakuyo was up bright and early, she had already called 23 and she was expected over there in about an hour. She made breakfast for her, Gohan, and Ayanei.
"Mommy gonna see Tenchi today?" Ayanei asked after she stuffed another piece of waffle in her mouth.
"Yes, I'll tell him you said hi," Nakuyo answered.
"Why can't I go with you?" Ayanei asked, again.
"I told you, sweetie, it's something for adults."
"I wish I were an adult, they have much more fun!" Ayanei complained.
"No you don't Ayanei, you have so much more free time than us," Gohan replied.
"Well I'm off sweetie!" Nakuyo gave Ayanei and Gohan 1 last kiss each, then headed out the door
Nakuyo walked quietly to 23 and Sakura's house. She was too busy concentrating on the battle to notice anything else. It was a long walk to 23's house, and took her almost an hour, but she finally reached his house. She walked up to the door and knocked on it.
"Just a minute," she heard Sakura's voice. Then she came to the door and opened it. "Oh hey Nakuyo, 23's already out back, he's been waiting."
"Okay," Nakuyo said entering the house. "Nice place ya got here."
"Thanks," Sakura replied escorting Nakuyo to their back yard. 23 was there, like Sakura said. "She's all yours, 23."
23 smiled as Sakura left. "How ya doing Nakuyo?"
"Fine," Nakuyo replied.
"So you ready?"
"Yeah, I think."
"Ok lets see where your strength level is right now," 23 said putting a rock about a foot in diameter in front of her. "Meet Mr. Rock, let's if you can crack Mr. Rock."
Nakuyo lifted her hand to strike, but when she let her hand down the rock didn't crack. She tried again, thins time she at least made a slight dent. Finally she got so angry that she charged up an energy blast and fired it at the rock, which exploded.
"Ok…" 23 looked at her kind of funny. "Next uh," 23 looked at Nakuyo who had sat down and was looking down. "Ok, what's up?"
"The stupid rock. Normally I could've cracked it with one shot," Nakuyo explained.
"Nakuyo, don't be so hard on yourself. It's been what 6 years since you stopped training, and now your coming back, of course your gonna have lost some of your strength. No one is perfect, Nakuyo. The important thing is to keep trying," 23 tried to cheer her up.
"I know, but it's just, you know…" Nakuyo started.
"Kind of hard to deal with it. I understand Nakuyo," 23 finished. "But you're never gonna get any better if you just sit around all day."
"Your right, 23," Nakuyo said getting up.
"So let's get this over with," 23 replied, holding out a hand. Nakuyo shook it, and nodded.
"Right!"
The rest of the day went pretty smooth. By the end of the day she was able to crack "Mr. Rocks" entire family with less trouble than she had when she was younger.
Nakuyo was getting ready to leave when a hand on shoulder stopped "Nakuyo, one more thing before you go," 23 said.
"What?" Nakuyo asked.
"You may have full strength, but I noticed your concentration level is still pretty low," 23 explained.
"I know," Nakuyo replied.
"I realize it's gonna be extra hard for you, with Ayanei's tail factor and everything, but please try your best to keep your eye's and mind on your opponent."
"I will. Thanks for all your help today, 23. I won't let you down," Nakuyo smiled as she left.
"Good morning, Nakuyo. Time to get up," Gohan said the next day, but Nakuyo just rolled over and looked at Gohan. "Today's the big day, isn't it?"
Nakuyo sat up in bed and nodded. "6:00 tonight. Thanks for agreeing to watch over Ayanei."
"No problem, sweetheart," Gohan replied.
Nakuyo finished changing and headed downstairs with Gohan. When she got there something she hadn't expected was before her. 23, Sakura, and Tenchi (who was playing with Ayanei) were there.
"Hey, morning we thought we might stop by and wish you good luck before tonight!" Sakura explained.
"Thanks, but really guys, don't you have something else you have to do?"
"Nope, besides since Tenchi and Ayanei are friends now we figured they wouldn't mind having a little play time," 23 answered.
23 and Sakura's visit lasted most of the day, until 5:00 p.m., then decided to leave. Nakuyo was happy about this and gave her more confidence for the battle. She got a quick dinner then left for the battle.
When she got to the battle site, Yamato was already there, sitting on the side of the hill. She set her bag down on the edge of a rock.
"You came. I'm a bit surprised, girl, you don't seem the kind of person to be fighting," Yamato said quietly. He then jumped up and walked her way, stopping about 10 feet in front of her.
"Where would you get an idea like that," Nakuyo replied.
Yamato let out a single laugh, and grinned evily.
Nakuyo finished writing in her diary and closed it. She looked up and saw Gohan.
"Hey, Nakuyo, someone's at the door, he says her would like to talk with you," Gohan explained.
"Huh, who is it?" Nakuyo asked.
"Just go down and see for yourself," Gohan answered. Nakuyo put up her diary and headed downstairs.
Standing in the doorway was Android 23, and another one of her friends, Sakura, and another boy she had never seen before.
"23! Sakura! Oh my heavens stars this is like so weird!" Nakuyo exclaimed.
"Hey, Nakuyo, how ya been? Gohan told us about your and his kid, Ayanei is it?" 23 asked.
"Yeah," Nakuyo replied.
"Oh, well I know you haven't met are little boy, Ten…" 23 started then realized that his son wasn't around. "OH TENCHI! Leave it to you to run away."
Just then the 3 of them heard children giggling and Ayanei's voice explaining something. The 3 of them walked toward the sound and sure enough, it was Ayanei and Tenchi.
"There you are you little rascal!" Sakura remarked, as Tenchi came up to her hugging her.
"Aw mom, I was just playing with my new friend," Tenchi replied.
"Mom? 23, is Sakura your… wife?" Nakuyo questioned, Sakura was the person she had least expected for 23 to be her husband.
"Yep, oh, this is Tenchi," he pointed to the boy. Tenchi had bright, red hair like his mother's, and seemed to have a bit of 23's ability to get in to trouble.
"Daddy, daddy, this is Ayanei, she's my new friend, and she has the coolest worm toy," Tenchi said as he pointed to Ayanei and her tail. 23 looked at it.
"So that's Ayanei?" 23 asked and Nakuyo shook her head yes, "I see, and what's with the 'worm' thing."
"Oh, that, well she dosen't quite realize that it's a tail, so she calls it her worm," Nakuyo explained.
"Mommy dosen't have a worm, but daddy does! I think everyone should have a worm because worms are cool, and fun," Ayanei interrupted. 23 smiled, and so did Sakura.
"Her 'worm' don't you think it's a bit too long?" Sakura asked. Tenchi and Ayanei resumed their playtime.
"I know, it's been driving me crazy."
"She thinks too much of it," Gohan said entering the room. He was carrying a tray with a pitcher and a few glasses. "Would anyone like anything to drink?"
"Sure," 23 said, Nakuyo and Sakura just nodded. Gohan took four glasses and poured some fruit punch in each one.
"I do not think too much of it, Gohan."
"It's no big deal, odd things like this happen, and I still don't see why we can't tell her what she truly is," Gohan replied.
"I just think we should wait for the right time, she's only 4, almost 5!"
"So what, I learned what I was when I learned to speak!"
"Well, that's because Chichi and Goku didn't have to deal with the fact that your tail was so long!" Nakuyo remarked.
"Maybe you should tell her, if she knows now, then it won't be so hard on her, if you wait until she's older," Sakura added.
"I just feel I should wait for the right time, that's all," Nakuyo remarked.
"Nakuyo, I don't want to put any pressure on you, but Sakura and Gohan are right," 23 added.
"What do you mean you 'don't want to put any pressure on me'?" Nakuyo asked.
"Well I know you have a hard time concentrating sometimes and, well…"
"So you think I'm weaker when under pressure, fine I see how it is!" Nakuyo stomped of to her room.
"Mommy?" Ayanei whispered.
"Oh gosh, I knew I shouldn't have said it that way! I better go patch things up," 23 remarked. He headed up for her room, and knocked on the closed door.
"Leave me alone," Nakuyo replied.
"I'm sorry, Nakuyo. I didn't mean it like that," 23 called into her room.
"Well, what was it supposed to mean then?" Nakuyo asked.
"I was just saying it, it wasn't supposed to mean anything," 23 answered.
"Then why'd you say it?"
"I'm sorry, Nakuyo."
Nakuyo opened the door and walked right past him "I'm going for a walk, Gohan, I'll be back in a couple minutes." She went out and started walking down the street. 23 followed her and managed to catch up with her.
"I really am sorry, Nakuyo. So will you go back home?"
"That's not the reason I left 23."
"It's not?" 23 asked. Nakuyo stopped and sat down on a nearby bench, 23 sat down next to her.
"No. Sometimes I just go for walks just to think, and enjoy the scenery," Nakuyo answered.
"Oh." There was a pause. "So, what are you thinking about?"
"Ayanei," Nakuyo answered.
"She's gonna be 5 soon, right?"
"Yeah next week, July 8th," Nakuyo replied.
"Tenchi will be 6 in late January. He's grown up a lot, it seems like just yesterday he was born. It amazes so much how they can be so young once and you turn around, and there already 5," 23 remarked.
"Yeah, same with Ayanei," Nakuyo added.
"She reminds me a lot of Gohan."
"Yeah. She admires her dad so much. It's fun to see them play together."
"Yeah, I can see what you mean, for a minute there I thought she was Gohan, then I saw her eyes. They look so much like yours," 23 said.
There was a pretty long pause. "So you and Sakura are getting along pretty good?" Nakuyo asked.
"Yeah, and speaking of Sakura, she's probably wondering where the heck I am. I'd better get going," 23 said.
"OK, I'm gonna stay out a little longer, please tell Gohan that," Nakuyo commented.
"Alright, I'll see you later, oh yeah before I go," 23 pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it, and gave it to Nakuyo, "call me if you need anything, bye!"
"Alright, bye 23," Nakuyo said. She sat on the bench for a long while then noticed someone who looked familiar to her. "Tatsu? I thought you were dead?"
"Huh?" the boy turned around. He had black hair and black eyes. He was wearing some kind of black form of what Gohan used to wear. "How do you know my grandfather?"
"Grandfather?" Nakuyo asked getting up. The boy walked toward her.
"Yeah, I'm Tatsu's grandson, Yamato."
"What? I thought all his relatives were killed along with him?"
"Hmm… I think I know who you might be. That girl, my grandfather's enemy, Akiyoshi's great grand daughter?"
"Yeah, my father should've killed you, along with the rest of your family, for what you did to our family!"
"He tried, but he'd never succeed, almost no one has ever beaten me!"
"Almost?" Nakuyo asked, "well I'll be the one who gets the privilege of doing so!"
"Don't be, too confident girl," Yamato replied.
"My name is Nakuyo, not 'girl'," Nakuyo added.
"Nakuyo?" Yamato let out a laugh, "that's a good one. I suppose your name might live up to its reputation, NAKU!" he let out another laugh.
"We'll see about that!"
"How's 2 days from today, July 3rd?"
"The East Side at the bottom of that hill," Nakuyo said pointing to a hill, about a half-mile away.
"6:00pm sharp!" Yamato added.
"I'll be there," Nakuyo remarked.
"Ok, brace yourself, Naku, good luck. You're gonna need it."
"Same to you."
The 2 headed their separate ways. Humph, this girl should be an easy win, Yamato thought to himself.
It took Nakuyo a little while to get home, but when she finally reached there Gohan was in the family room, with Ayanei on his lap, reading her a story. He noticed Nakuyo's I need to talk to you alone signal.
"OK, baby, we'll finish this story tomorrow," Gohan said, closing the book.
"Aw, daddy! Just 5 more minutes pwease?" Ayanei begged.
"Nope sorry, tomorrow night, say goodnight to mommy," Gohan replied.
Ayanei walked over to Nakuyo, "goodnight mommy," she said giving her a big hug.
"Goodnight, sweetie, don't let the bed bugs bite!" Nakuyo said. Ayanei walked up the steps and into her room.
"So what'd you need to talked to me about?" Gohan asked.
"Your gonna need to watch over Ayanei on the 3rd," Nakuyo answered.
"Why?"
"I have a battle going on."
"With who? Are you sure your gonna be ok, you haven't trained for 5 years!"
"I'll be fine Gohan, don't worry! I'm gonna see if 23 can help me out a bit tomorrow, just so I can have a little review time, if you wanna call it that," Nakuyo explained.
"Yeah, but your concentration…" Gohan started.
"Can't get in my way too much! Gohan, if I miss this battle, it'll look bad on all the Yukai family! I have to do this."
"Alright fine, but at least let 23 go with you, I don't want you getting hurt!" Gohan replied.
"No, this is my battle Gohan, I'm gonna take this one on my own."
"Fine, but don't you come back here hurt too badly," Gohan demanded.
"I won't," Nakuyo promised.
"Ok, let's get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you," Gohan said.
"Right." The 2 of them headed off to bed.
The next morning Nakuyo was up bright and early, she had already called 23 and she was expected over there in about an hour. She made breakfast for her, Gohan, and Ayanei.
"Mommy gonna see Tenchi today?" Ayanei asked after she stuffed another piece of waffle in her mouth.
"Yes, I'll tell him you said hi," Nakuyo answered.
"Why can't I go with you?" Ayanei asked, again.
"I told you, sweetie, it's something for adults."
"I wish I were an adult, they have much more fun!" Ayanei complained.
"No you don't Ayanei, you have so much more free time than us," Gohan replied.
"Well I'm off sweetie!" Nakuyo gave Ayanei and Gohan 1 last kiss each, then headed out the door
Nakuyo walked quietly to 23 and Sakura's house. She was too busy concentrating on the battle to notice anything else. It was a long walk to 23's house, and took her almost an hour, but she finally reached his house. She walked up to the door and knocked on it.
"Just a minute," she heard Sakura's voice. Then she came to the door and opened it. "Oh hey Nakuyo, 23's already out back, he's been waiting."
"Okay," Nakuyo said entering the house. "Nice place ya got here."
"Thanks," Sakura replied escorting Nakuyo to their back yard. 23 was there, like Sakura said. "She's all yours, 23."
23 smiled as Sakura left. "How ya doing Nakuyo?"
"Fine," Nakuyo replied.
"So you ready?"
"Yeah, I think."
"Ok lets see where your strength level is right now," 23 said putting a rock about a foot in diameter in front of her. "Meet Mr. Rock, let's if you can crack Mr. Rock."
Nakuyo lifted her hand to strike, but when she let her hand down the rock didn't crack. She tried again, thins time she at least made a slight dent. Finally she got so angry that she charged up an energy blast and fired it at the rock, which exploded.
"Ok…" 23 looked at her kind of funny. "Next uh," 23 looked at Nakuyo who had sat down and was looking down. "Ok, what's up?"
"The stupid rock. Normally I could've cracked it with one shot," Nakuyo explained.
"Nakuyo, don't be so hard on yourself. It's been what 6 years since you stopped training, and now your coming back, of course your gonna have lost some of your strength. No one is perfect, Nakuyo. The important thing is to keep trying," 23 tried to cheer her up.
"I know, but it's just, you know…" Nakuyo started.
"Kind of hard to deal with it. I understand Nakuyo," 23 finished. "But you're never gonna get any better if you just sit around all day."
"Your right, 23," Nakuyo said getting up.
"So let's get this over with," 23 replied, holding out a hand. Nakuyo shook it, and nodded.
"Right!"
The rest of the day went pretty smooth. By the end of the day she was able to crack "Mr. Rocks" entire family with less trouble than she had when she was younger.
Nakuyo was getting ready to leave when a hand on shoulder stopped "Nakuyo, one more thing before you go," 23 said.
"What?" Nakuyo asked.
"You may have full strength, but I noticed your concentration level is still pretty low," 23 explained.
"I know," Nakuyo replied.
"I realize it's gonna be extra hard for you, with Ayanei's tail factor and everything, but please try your best to keep your eye's and mind on your opponent."
"I will. Thanks for all your help today, 23. I won't let you down," Nakuyo smiled as she left.
"Good morning, Nakuyo. Time to get up," Gohan said the next day, but Nakuyo just rolled over and looked at Gohan. "Today's the big day, isn't it?"
Nakuyo sat up in bed and nodded. "6:00 tonight. Thanks for agreeing to watch over Ayanei."
"No problem, sweetheart," Gohan replied.
Nakuyo finished changing and headed downstairs with Gohan. When she got there something she hadn't expected was before her. 23, Sakura, and Tenchi (who was playing with Ayanei) were there.
"Hey, morning we thought we might stop by and wish you good luck before tonight!" Sakura explained.
"Thanks, but really guys, don't you have something else you have to do?"
"Nope, besides since Tenchi and Ayanei are friends now we figured they wouldn't mind having a little play time," 23 answered.
23 and Sakura's visit lasted most of the day, until 5:00 p.m., then decided to leave. Nakuyo was happy about this and gave her more confidence for the battle. She got a quick dinner then left for the battle.
When she got to the battle site, Yamato was already there, sitting on the side of the hill. She set her bag down on the edge of a rock.
"You came. I'm a bit surprised, girl, you don't seem the kind of person to be fighting," Yamato said quietly. He then jumped up and walked her way, stopping about 10 feet in front of her.
"Where would you get an idea like that," Nakuyo replied.
Yamato let out a single laugh, and grinned evily.