Disclaimer: As promised, here is the first revised chapter of 'Can you see through these eyes of ice?'. I was tempted not to work on it because I was busy playing Pokemon, but I knew better than to chunk my sudden urge to write down the drain. Please enjoy and if you could please review so I can know the ups and downs of this.
"Bull crap!" Krillin raised his voice competitively as he flipped over the top card in the pile of cards. Once he saw the card, he smiled. "Hah!"
Master Roshi sat at the opposite end of the table where they were playing their game of cards. "Ya' got me again, boy!" He sighed, grabbing the whole pile that was on the field.
"My turn now. Right, daddy?" A cute little girl's voice sounded.
Krillin turned to his daughter, Maron, and answered her. "Yep, sweety. It's open field now, so lay anything you want down."
Maron's head was hardly above the table due to her being so small. "I know, daddy," She smiled. "Two fives and I'm out!"
"Ya' know, I'd say Maron is a better player than even you, Krillin!" Master Roshi was not joking. Maron caught onto games like these very quickly and was a very smart five year old.
A new voice that happened to be Eighteen's spoke up as she came up behind her daughter and placed her hand on the top of her head affectionately. "That's because she gets it from her mommy." She grinned a little, which was a rare thing seeing as the only time she ever smiled nowadays was because of her beloved daughter.
"Can't disagree on that one!" Krillin agreed, flashing a handsome smile at Eighteen and their daughter.
"Mommy, is my waffle done?" Maron looked up at her mother.
"Yep, so come in the kitchen." Eighteen removed her hand from her daughter's head as the two of them headed towards the kitchen.
As the two were walking away, you could hear Roshi and Krillin challenging eachother to another game of cards.
"So, you ready to start going to school?" Eighteen asked as she got out a fork for Maron.
Maron made a face. "I'm scared to go...I want you to come with me...can you, mommy?"
"Sweety, mommy can't stay at school with you, but she can walk you to your class to make sure nothing bad happens to you." Eighteen didn't want Maron to have to leave her side because the two were so attached, but she knew that Maron needed an education.
"Why can't you stay?" Maron appeared to be getting a little upset over the fact she could not have her mother with her. "I want you..."
It almost tore Eighteen's heart out to hear the sad tone in Maron's voice. School started tomorrow for Maron and this was her first year which was kindergarten. This would be the first time that Maron had to be seperated from her parents. She wasn't a very independent person, she always wanted someone with her. Change was also a scary thing for her.
"Mommy wants you too, Maron. You know that if she could mommy would, right? It's against school rules for a parent to stay at school with their child." Eighteen explained, sitting down at the table facing her daughter.
"Why?" Maron asked, finally taking a bite of her food.
"Well, mommy is not totally sure herself, she just knows that she can't stay. But you'll be okay, Maron. Eventually, you'll make friends." Eighteen reassured Maron.
"But what if I don't?" Maron asked.
"There's no need to worry about that. Mommy knows without a doubt you'll make friends," Eighteen replied. "But let's not worry about school until it gets here. How about we do something fun today?"
"Like go to the park?" Maron asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.
"Today is your day. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it," Eighteen responded. "But first you must eat."
"Alrighty!!" Maron exclaimed, digging into her food like never before now.
"Mommy is going to go tell daddy now, so she'll be right back." Eighteen dismissed herself from the table, walking over to her husband.
Life had taken a total one hundred and eighty degree turn ever since Eighteen decided to marry Krillin. For the first time in her life, she felt completely loved. No longer did she feel any negativity towards any of the Z-gang. She felt accepted by everyone around her. No more loneliness, no more pain, no more anything that had to do with negativity. Currently, life was picture perfect. She had the most beautiful, loving, and adoring daughter anyone could ever ask for. Her daughter was the apple of her eye and so was Krillin. If she were to lose those two, she wouldn't be able to carry on with herself anymore. Thanks to them, she was finally able to smile and really mean it.
"Hey, Krillin," Eighteen began as she walked up on the two's game of cards. "You want to come with Maron and I?"
Krillin looked up from his hand of cards. "Where you guys going?"
"Where ever she wants. I want her to have a fun day on her last day before school starts," Eighteen explained. "And I am sure her day would definetely not be as fun without you."
"Sounds fun. When do you suppose we should go?" Krillin asked, setting down his hand.
"Whenever Maron gets-" Eighteen was cut off in mid sentence by her ecstatic daughter.
"I'm done now, mommy! Can we go?!" Maron tugged on her hand impatiently.
Eighteen looked down at her daughter, admiring Maron's zeal. "Sure can. Daddys coming, too."
"Yay!" Maron jumped up in excitement. "That means you get to play on the slide with me!" A humongus smile formed on her sweet face.
Krillin smiled back at her lovingly, grabbing her up and patting her head in fatherly affection. "That's my girl!"
Eighteen watched the two people she loved most in this world with a smile sneeking up on her gorgeous features. Maron was equally close to both her parents. When it came to things like going to the park, Maron really enjoyed it with her father. Eighteen really only went there for Maron because she knew it was one of Maron's favorite places to play at. Oftenly, Eighteen would just sit at one of the benchs and watch her husband and daughter play with eachother. That was enough to make her heart melt with love.
"Can I come?" Roshi butted in playfully.
"No thanks," Eighteen replied, the sound of her voice changing to that of a bitter tone. Even though she had no problem with the Z-gang anymore, she felt anger towards Master Roshi and the way he could be so perverted at times. "I think we've had enough of you for awhile."
"Awwww, c'mon!" Roshi flashed her puppy dog eyes. "Pleeease?"
Eighteen narrowed her eyes at Roshi. "No."
Obviously Krillin felt Eighteen had an excuse to be so rude, so he held off from trying to convince her otherwise. "So what do you say we head out now, Eighteen?"
"Sure," Eighteen replied. "Who do you want to fly with Maron?"
Maron gave a puzzled look as if she were pondering as to who she should fly with. She tilted her head to the side in a cute way and place a finger on her lip thoughtfully as she looked up. "Uhhh...you, mommy!" That would be an obvious answer for a child of her age, seeing as children always seem to rather their mother hold them than their father. It was instinct.
"Alrighty, just make sure you hold on tight to mommy." Krillin put in. He cared about Maron just as much as Eighteen did.
With that, the family of three walked outside to be greeted by the beautiful outdoors. The sun was shining beautifully and the sky had puffy and billowy clouds that made today a very pretty day. The ocean that surrounded them was very peaceful.
"Ready?" Eighteen asked Maron, grabbing up Maron in her arms securely.
"Yep!" Maron replied. "Remember, we're going to the park!" She made sure her parents would not forget.
Slowly, Eighteen lifted herself off the ground. She would would have been faster if it was not for her daughter being in her arms. She was aware that Maron did not like it when either of her parents flew really fast, so she would make sure to not frighten her by doing so.
Krillin was ahead of Eighteen by a little seeing as he did not have a child in his arms, but he made sure not to get too ahead of his girls. "You ready to have some fun?" He said to Maron once they got closer.
"Yep!" Maron yelled happily, smiling.
After awhile of flying, the three of them finally made contact with land- which would happen to be the park. There were many kids with their parents that were playing with them, but none of them were on the equipment with their child- they were just next to the equipment. Much laughter came from the excited children at play. Not wanting to miss out, Maron ran straight ahead once Eighteen set her down. It was a good thing Krillin was there to help her just in case anything bad happened.
"See ya' babe!" Krillin dismissed himself as he ran after Maron. "Wait up, Maron!"
Eighteen watched the two as Krillin caught up with Maron. As Eighteen would've guessed, Maron and Krillin started to play on the big slide. As she sat herself down on a bench, it dawned on her that just a few months ago their daughter had been afraid of 'the big slide'. Well, at least until Krillin had shown her how fun and easy it was to slide down it. Her father was a big influence on her life. He always was the one to help her out with overcoming things. Though there was one thing that Eighteen was not so sure that he could help her out with- overcoming the fear of going to school. It seemed that only a mother was the cure of such a fear. Then again, Eighteen was just as much afraid of Maron going to school as Maron herself was. Maron never left her parents side and this would be a big change in lifestyle for the whole family. Heck, Eighteen would probably end up crying once she got back to the house after taking Maron to school.
Her eyes wandering around her surroundings, she noticed a little boy getting yelled at by his parent. She could not decipher as to why he was being scolded, but whatever it was, she hoped it was for a valid reason. Child abuse was going around like crazy these days and it was only getting worse. It was a good thing that Maron was blessed with a well put together family and not some lunatic slash nutcase family. One thing Eighteen would always make sure of was that noone ever hurt her baby girl like that. She would rather die than have Maron fall into harms way.
Averting her eyes from the scolded child, she looked around to find another child, which happened to resemble her brother. That brought back some sad memories. It had been so long since she had seen her brother that she was sure she never would again. She wandered how her brother would feel about her being married to one of their used-to-be enemies and at that having a child with him. Perhaps he would not overeact and would instead understand. After all, they really weren't androids. If it wasn't for Gero, the two probably would have found a spouse anyways. Though, Eighteen actually was grateful for what Gero did to her. For if he had not, she would not be with the most wonderful husband in the world and would be deprived of her wonderful daughter.
"Waaahhh!!!" A sudden wail that sounded to be Maron sounded, causing Eighteen to jerk her sights back to her daughter. Without even thinking, she automatically jumped up off the bench and rushed towards Maron; getting on her knees to see eye to eye with her.
"What's wrong?!" Eighteen demanded as she met up with her and Krillin.
"This guy is what's wrong." Krillin growled, jerking his head towards a man that was only about two feet away from the three of them.
Eighteen pulled Maron up against her and looked up menacingly at the man. He had shiny silver hair and amazing green eyes. He wore tight dark jeans and a tank top for a shirt. He appeared that he was in his mid twenties and went to the gym, for his muscles were well developed.
"What did you do to her?!" Eighteen demanded angerily.
"Nothing at all. She bumped into me and all I did was tell her to be more careful." The man's voice was calm and collected.
"Then why is she crying?" Krillin asked visciously.
"Maybe she hurt herself bumping into me." He shrugged his shoulders slightly. His eyes then met Eighteen's.
"You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" Eighteen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I don't believe so," He replied. "You must be confusing me for someone else."
"Listen here, buco, I don't care if you didn't cause our daughter to cry. You better apologize to her right now or you'll be sorry." Krillin instructed.
"Alright, alright. Cool your jets already!" The man sighed afterwords, looking back at Eighteen again directly in the eyes.
"I'm sorry." The man apologized half heartidly.
Maron pulled away from her mother's grip and looked at the man. "You're scary...Just leave me alone!" She sniffled and wiped away her tears with her hand.
"I can do that." The man then walked away without ever looking back.
"Can we leave?" Maron asked, her eyes beginning to water again.
"Where do you want to go then?" Eighteen asked.
"How about we take her to the candy shop? After all, I got some zeni on me." Krillin put in.
Candy was the magic word that ended Maron's crying. " Yeah!!!" She exclaimed.
Eighteen grabbed up Maron in her arms again protectively. She did not want another weirdo hurting her daughter again like that. For the first time, she noticed that a crowd of people had been watching them as they had their little dispute with that strange man. She flashed one of them the eye and walked ahead with Krillin behind her like nothing had ever even happened.
Once they got into the candy store, Eighteen put Maron down. Immediately Maron ran over to the suckers. "Lolipops!" She shouted in excitement, grabbing a colorful one.
"Krillin, I think I know that creep from somewhere." Eighteen spoke to Krillin, her voice full of puzzlement.
"Really? Who do you think he is, then?" Krillin asked, truly curious.
"I wouldn't know, I guess. All I know is I have a hunch that he and I used to know eachother, I'm just not sure as to where..." Eighteen sighed. It bugged her when she couldn't remember something as trivial as that. "But I guess it doesn't matter, anyway. At least he left us alone."
"Yeah, agreed." Krillin smiled.
"Daddy, I want this!" Maron came running up to her father, holding up her colorful lolipop.
"That's all?" Krillin sounded shocked.
"Uh-uh!" She shook her head as in no, grabbing her father by the hand and dragging him onto the other side of the store. "I want that, too!" She pointed at a candy cane that was up high where she couldn't reach it.
Krillin reached up and got it for Maron. "Alright, I think this is enough sweets for now." He smiled at his daughter and walked up to the cash register to pay for the candy.
"Heehee!" Maron giggled, running over to her mother happily.
Once Krillin was done paying for the candy, he returned over to Maron and handed her the lolipop. "Here ya' go..."
"Where to now?" Eighteen asked.
After Maron took a lick from her lolipop, she replied. "Let's go back to the park!"
"I thought you didn't want to go back?" Krillin asked as they all walked out the door.
"The mean man's probably gone anyway," Maron reassured her father and mother. "I'll be more careful this time, I promise."
Soon they approached the park again. There weren't as many people now, oddly enough. But that did not mean there still wasn't a bunch of them, though. So instead of letting Maron be with only her father, Eighteen made sure to hover around their daughter as well. Besides, unlike her or Krillin, Maron was a defenseless little thing. She could easily get snatched up and be led into harms way. It was just a good thing that Eighteen and Krillin were stronger than the average human.
After hours of playing at the park, Maron finally became tired out and was ready to go home. Once the three got home, Maron was tucked into bed, seeing as it was eight-thirty now. She had a big day ahead of herself and if she did not get enough sleep, she would be one cranky five year old. Following suit of Maron, Krillin and Eighteen also went to bed in their room. For Krillin, it was a breeze to get to sleep, but as for Eighteen, tonight wasn't her night. Something was nagging at her; bugging her. That mysterious man at the park. He looked so oddly familiar but at the same time so not familiar. There was a weird invisible aura that radiated off the guy that she just couldn't seem to shake.
The one thing that got her mind off that man, though, was the fact that she knew that tomorrow she would have to part with her daughter for awhile. With what had happened today in such short amount of time could easily happen to her at school. What if the kids weren't nice to her and bullied her on her first day? She wouldn't be there to stop them! Eighteen just felt so torn.
Deciding that she should go to Maron's room and make sure her bookbag was already set for school, she slowly manuevered herself off the bed so that she wouldn't wake up Krillin. Walking out the room, she made her way to Maron's room and tip-toed in to grab up her bookbag. It was a cute color of pink and had a red and black rose on it in the middle. Not only that, but it was very small yet appropriate for Maron's size. She then walked out the room and went downstairs to grab some paper and a pen. Once she found one, she began to write a note.
Dear Maron,
If you're scared, just read this letter. Mommy loves you and she's waiting on you for when you get home.
Love,
Mommy
True, most five years old couldn't read, but this one could pretty good for her age. She was a very intelligent little girl. Eighteen could feel her eyes begin to water but she made sure to hold her tears back. She knew in her heart Maron would be okay and eventually get the hang of going to school. Heck, she probably would eventually start to enjoy it even more than hanging with her parents. Well, the friend part she would enjoy anyways, not the work.
Carefully, Eighteen placed the note in Maron's bookbag and headed back upstairs. Quietly, Eighteen placed the bookbag in Maron's room and went back into hers to find once again that sleep wasn't such an easy thing to grasp.
Disclaimer: I hope you guys enjoyed this kind of short chapter. Please review it so I know whether or not it's good. I would like to get some encouragement if possible. Everyone needs some every now and again. Well, anyway, the next chapter will be more put together, along with the others. This story has a LONG way to go!
Love,
Jennifer
