Hello! Miika here (formerly known as Aoi-Onna)! I'm back in the writing realm! Fun, right? And posting something I've been working on for YEARS has me so excited! But I figured you already knew that, right? ;) So, we'll get this started, right?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own DB/Z/GT. Please support the official release


Prologue: A Brand New Name

I don't remember who I am. I'm in a place where nothing but vibrant plant life waves in the wind and large scaly beasts roam the area, and I'm more concerned about where I came from than the reeking stench of rotten guts in my black and white head of hair. I get headaches when I least expect it, though meditating helps a little bit. I've seen about a moon and a half now. I've spent these past nights gazing up at the stars, in a way longing for something... some place... foreign to me. Almost as though I know of it, but I don't.

I haven't attempted to speak during this time. My snarls at other predators are the only noises that do much. Well, aside from a swift punch in the damn throat, instantly sending bones into a shattered mess internally. I have no regrets. I'm not doing it because it's fun. Or, only because it's fun. A girl like me needs to survive. My stomach growls loudly in the wilderness, threatening to shake this place with earthquake-like tremors. Rustles of wings break through the forest tops in attempt to flee from their predator. I shrug. Looks like it's sea-beast again tonight.

As my nose smells the fresh scent of cool liquid, I hear voices. Quickly, I hide behind some brush and keep calm. These beings look a little like me, especially the smaller one.

"... Goku," the older one calls out. "Hurry up. I'm hungry." She sits down near the edge. The one she called Goku strips his clothes off and dives in with glee.

"Don't worry Bulma!" he says, taking a deep breath of air before submerging. I growl possessively. I scurry to the water, and I feel my tail wrap around my waist protectively. I take a single breath, and follow the young boy in. A school of massive fish swim past, and I see him clutch two tails in a single hand. I swipe one flawlessly and jump out, soaking wet.

An ear-piercing screech fills my ears. I grind my teeth in pain, the sound drilling into my brain. I let out a snarl.

The boy quickly dresses and assumes a fighter stance. "Who are you? Where do you come from?" he asks me. My eyes narrow and my lips curl. The fur on my wrapped tail stands on end. My hands grip the dirt in front of me and I push off with ease. I leap for him and he side-steps from me and hits me with a pole in the back of my head.

My eyes clench shut, and I howl in pain. I can feel their gaze on me, in wonder and possible fear. The smell of cooked fish wafts through my nose enticingly and, in a last ditch effort, my stomach growls again in hunger.

Footsteps come closer, and I feel the same pole that hit my head poking my side to rouse me. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were hungry," the boy said regretfully. "I know I get cranky on an empty stomach, too." I lift my head to see his kind dark brown eyes gazing at me curiously. I whimper apologetically, and he offers his hand. I sniff it cautiously before taking it. I feel my mouth curve upward and I turn around to move back to my source of nourishment.

"What's your name?" the tall one called Bulma asks. My eyes look up from my food, and shrug briefly before returning my attention to the chunks in my hands. "Are you a boy or a girl?" I blankly stare, her blue eyes shining in the sunlight. Once again, I shrug. I watch the two of them exchange looks. "Here, I can take those rags off of you-" as she walks and reaches for me, I let out a snarl. The younger one, still smiling, holds his hand to me. I bow my head and he proceeds to pat my knotted hair.

"We won't hurt you," he said calmly. "Again." I look up at him, suddenly feeling a familiar energy from him. I gaze at him closely and eye his tail- Wait! He has a brown tail, just like me! Maybe he has answers for me!

My vocal chords feel weak after hardly using them in the past moon and a half, but I try to make a sound.

"I... don't..." my voice barely comes out to a whisper. I clutch my head in pain, and I watch as visions move across my mind's eye, hearing voices so foreign, yet familiar, and feeling more emotionally drained than before. What's happening to me?

"Goku! Do you have a senzu bean?" the tall one asks. I hear shuffling and a brief "ah-ha" before a slightly bitter taste enters my mouth.

"Chew this. It should help," he says. As I slowly chew it, I feel the pain dissipate, and my energy restore. My mouth curves again, only with more ease and comfort.

"Do you remember anything now?" the blue haired girl asks. I take a breath and release it, and with this smile still plastered onto my face, I shake my head in the negative.

"Can you talk?" Goku asks, nodding his head curiously at me. I clear my throat.

"H... Hi," I say. The voice came out clearer than I expected. Was that really my voice? It sounds like bells tinkling in the distance. Wait, I know what bells are?

We gather our food up, and eat more. As we talked, Goku and I have more in common than our tails, as I've heard from this woman, Bulma. Extreme appetites as well. As we dispose the bones, Goku shows me a couple weird things, like his cloud Nimbus, and a Kamehamehamehameha wave, or something like that. It sounded weird to me. Looked weird, too. He's a fighter that is able to use "ki", and he says I could use it too with some training.

"Yeah, I have an amazing master named Master Roshi!" he declares proudly, excitement reflecting on his face. Talks of competing in tournaments against other people of different styles made my heart race. Not sure why, though, since I've never really fought anything aside from animals. As he talked on, my heart- my blood- convinces me I should join with them. He yips and throws me into the air, something that caught me off-guard, but I laugh nonetheless.

"So," Bulma starts. Her hands are placed at her hips, and a grin spreads across her face. "What do we call you?"

I blink rapidly. I shrug.

She rolls those blue eyes. "Are you a boy or a girl?" she repeats the question from earlier. Once again, I shrug. She stomps over to me and flips me onto my back and looks under my clothes. I feel my cheeks blush as I hold my tattered rags down. "Congratulations! You're a girl, like me!"

I blink and flip her skirt up, and I watch as she bats my hands away. "What is up with kids and flipping up my skirt?" she yells. I watch as her nose twitches. "And my goodness! You stink up to Kami's Lookout!" As she takes a small box out and fiddles with something before throwing it to the ground, I step away. A ball of smoke poofs and clears out, revealing a big bag of some sort. She grabs a couple objects with a slow liquid contained inside, and a stick with smaller twigs sticking out of it. She pulls my hand and removes my clothing swiftly. I attempt to break free from her grasp, all while Goku is standing by, laughing his head off.

She dunks me in the pond, and pours some of the gelatinous substance into my hair, gently massaging it into my scalp. The action itself relaxes my whole body to my surprise. I can feel her hands on my shoulders and, in response, I take a deep breath before she rinses the stuff out of my hair.

"When was the last time you took a bath?" she asks.

I shake my head. "I've never taken one that I remember," I tell her honestly. I can feel her scrubbing at the dark patches of dirt, grime, and other gunk on my skin. I feel the heat radiating from red patches from her hard scrubbing, though it doesn't hurt. Next, she hands me a piece of thick cloth- a towel she called it- and shows me how to dry off. Her hand grabs onto my head and I feel the tugs and pulls at my hair.

She growls, "Same hair as Goku, I see." She shows me the stick, no longer holding the portion with the smaller twigs. I hear Goku rolling on the ground, howling at the hilarity of this whole scene. A newly bathed me with a broken brush in my hair. Guess as good as it can get, right?

"How about a name for her?" Goku says, wiping tears from his eyes.

What did I get myself into?

Goku and Bulma sit in front of me, pondering on what to call me. I hear the muffled sounds of their thinking processes, louder than they intend due to my exceptional hearing ability. I watch as his eyes widen, a twinkle signifying his brilliance.

"Aisu!" he shouts, pointing a finger at me. I shake my head. The name doesn't suit me. He furrows his eyebrows once more. "Tofu!" I make the most disgusting face I can contort my face into, and in turn, Bulma laughs.

"Hmm, how about Baaga?" she asks. Both Goku and I shake our heads. "Gocha?" she asks out loud, and quickly dismisses it with a rapid tremor of her head. "Sakana?" The name idea goes unheard by Goku, who is pacing in between us.

"Oh, I got it!" he jumps excitedly. I watch his tail wave furiously. "How about Hayashi?"

I look at Bulma, and I feel a smile creeping into place.

"I like it! What say you, little one?" she says, hands clasping each other. The wind blows softly through my fairly cleaned tresses as though it answered for me.

"I like it! My name is Hayashi!" I shout enthusiastically. "Hayashi-"

"Kin!" Bulma shouts. I blink my eyes. Kin Hayashi.

"Kin Hayashi," I say to get used to it. My name is Kin Hayashi. The sound rolls off my tongue like silk and wild berries. For the first time that I can remember, moistness rolls down my cheeks. Why am I crying? I'm not in pain, I'm happy. My eyes close at the stinging sensation brought upon by these tears, feeling both Goku and Bulma embrace me heartily.

My name is Kin Hayashi. I don't know who I was, but I think I know who I want to be.

+x+x+x+

As night begins to fall, and that pearly crescent of a moon becomes more defined in the night sky, Bulma and Goku prepare the campfire with a brief blast from his hands. I can only stare dumbfounded as Bulma rages about how he almost "destroyed half the forest", and he whines saying she's exaggerating. I don't think it was that big.

Flecks of light and sparks crackle off the fire, dancing into the darkening night. The smoky scent makes me reminiscent of times I long for and, at the same time, don't remember. Through the corner of my eye, I catch Bulma staring at me pensively.

"Is everything alright, Hayashi?" she asks, breaking the silence between us. I shake my head, not knowing how to answer. "You look lost in your own mind." A gentle breeze swirls through her aqua locks, adding a dramatic flair to our conversation.

I turn my eyes to Goku, passed out on the dirt with his mouth wide open and drool dripping out. His tail twitches slightly. My eyes turn back to Bulma, stoking the flames slightly so more burning ash kicks up in the air.

I clear my throat. "I don't know who I am," I tell her. "I keep seeing different visions of my head, and I don't know why." I glance up at the crescent and sigh. "She calls for me, the moon. I don't know how I to explain it." My eyes travel to the burning wood, entranced by the waves of fire and their sacred dance. Footsteps alert me that Bulma is walking over closer, and she sits down next to me.

I look at her face, a sparkle of ingenuity in her deep sky-blue eyes, and a smile widening like an invasion on her head. "We could use the dragon balls to wish for your memory back," she suggests, growing excited. I can tell that my confusion written on my features is her reason for laughing after stating her thoughts. "There's seven balls total, and once brought together, a dragon appears and will grant one wish," she explains. "I, for example, want the perfect boyfriend," she smiles at her own idea for her wish.

"What's a boyfriend?" I ask. The idea sounds unfamiliar. Bulma bites her lip and hums, thinking of a way to explain it to me.

She then smiles. "Well, a boyfriend is like a guy who wants to spend every day with you, buys gifts, takes you to dinner, really nice to you, and potentially someone you can spend the rest of your life with." She nods at her explanation, obviously satisfied. I tilt my head, confused by these ideas. Buys gifts? Takes me to dinner? I'm not sure these even appeal to me, but Bulma places a reassuring hand, as if she read my mind. "It's a lot nicer to experience than to talk about it." I nod in agreement. Would Goku be my boyfriend? I shake my head of the thought. It doesn't seem right to me, Goku and me. Something about it seems off. No, definitely not me.

A sudden jolt of pain rushes through my head, a vision clearer than the others. Red sky. Red dirt. Giant monkey-like beasts stomping through the land, firing bright beams through their mouths. A hand holding on and nearly tossing me into a spherical pod. And the tears running down my cheeks. I feel arms on my shoulders, shaking me.

"Hayashi!" Bulma yells out. To my surprise, Goku still slept. My eyes blink up at hers and she entraps me in a suffocating hug. "I was so worried about you, Hayashi! What happened?" she asks. The tears continue pouring out of my eyes like a river breaking through a dam. The feelings of loss, of longing for home, even though I don't know where home is or was. I shake as the sobs break through me uncontrollably. I can't bring myself to tell her anything, as she holds me in comfort.

"You don't need to tell me what happened right now, Hayashi, but if you ever want to tell me, I'll be there to listen," she says, stroking my thick mane. My eyes close as I drift off to slumber.

+x+x+

I awake, groggy from the sleep I had last night. My head had been placed on a bed of leaves. A lot more comfortable than originally thought. Bulma and Goku had awoken before me, evident to their track marks. I stretch my arms high up and release a noise relative to a squeaking cat. I look around, and my ears twitch at the sudden rustling in the nearby brush. I instinctively stand still, preparing to fight off anything that comes my way. The thrill of a fight rushes through my veins. My fists ball up, and my feet plant into the dirt below. As the rustling strengthens, my fingers tighten, threatening to draw my own blood first out of anxiousness. As Goku walks out of the bushes, my heart stops, and I release a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Goku! Don't do that!" I scold. Perspiration runs down his temple.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if you were awake. Bulma found the dragon ball in this area," he says apologetically. There was one in the area? He waves me over, and motions for him to follow him through the wilderness. He nimbly swings from the branches and lands about a yard away from Bulma, a smile on her face.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asks, holding it up to my face. Its orange sparkle and red stars catch my eye. I've seen it before! But when? Through the reflection of the ball, I catch my black spiky hair in the back, going to my shoulders, and two white spiky tresses in front, heightened by the solid widow's peak. My eyes shine the same dark chocolate color of Goku's. I open my mouth, and lick the tips of my incisors, never noticing their length before. My eyebrows quirk, and I notice they are nothing but two solid thin lines gracing the top of my eyes.

"Very," I manage to say. She places it in her bag, and smiles.

"Five more to find. Would you like to come with us, Hayashi?" she asks.

Something tells me my life is about to change with this decision, either Bulma's sparkling eyes, or Goku's grin, but I cave. I look to both of them, and I smile wildly.

"Count me in!"


Hope you enjoyed this! Now, for future reference, I will be posting a chapter every week, hopefully around the same time. Gives people a good chance to review and such. Miika, out!