Piece of Eternity
Pillars of reflected light bounced off the mirror and shined onto silken skin. Locks of ebony hair cascaded over marble-like shoulders, framing a small figure as it perched itself on a small stool. Thick satin kimono sleeves rustled against the vanity counter as a pair of arms settled on its surface. Eyes like sapphires closed themselves against the sting of tears as rosy lips stretched into a grimace.
He was gone.
He had come into her life, loved her for awhile, had a son, then died. She never got a chance to show him how much she loved him, never got a chance to touch him, never got a chance to get close enough. As if she had only grazed the top of a depth no one ever reached before. A depth protected by the stormy darkness of his solemn eyes, disguised by his rugged green flesh and resonating with the echoes of his raspy voice.
The last words he ever said to her, 'I love you', echoed in her thoughts. Words from the mouth of someone who overcame a heritage of hate and a legacy laced in pain.
ChiChi heaved a loud sigh as the tears in her eyes escaped down her pale face, framing it with silver. She untied her kimono bathrobe and allowed it to fall the rest of the way off, revealing a royal blue spaghetti-strap nightgown made of shiny satin. She gently pulled her delicate feet out of her slippers, kicked them aside and settled to stare at her reflection once again. Then she lowered her head to the vanity counter, laid a hand on the cool glass mirror and closed her eyes as sobs shook her ivory shoulders.
A shadow-shrouded hand reached from the darkness and caressed her hair as if it were the most delicate silk in the universe. Long black locks trailed across tapered emerald fingertips like ripples in a calm pond. ChiChi squeezed her eyes shut and cried harder, thinking it was her imagination standing behind her.
Hard muscle, earned from years of training to perfection, pressed its heaving warmth against her back. The gentle fingers continued trailing through her hair while another hand brushed across her exposed shoulder with a heat that shocked her icy grief.
Daring to lift her head, ChiChi stared at the emerald figure reflected behind her. Obsidian eyes gazed into the eyes of her reflection, large and unblinking among the shadows cast by shelves of green skin and half-erect rods of cartilage. Pure white feathers cascaded from his shoulderblades like that of the most delicate swan, each ruffling with the slightest disturbance in the air. He wore nothing but the darkness of shadows.
She opened her mouth to speak when he laid a finger over her ruby lips to silence them. His hands cupped her shoulders and his lips pressed into her hair until goosebumps appeared. Only when the realism of his presence came to her did she allow herself to utter his name.
"…Piccolo…"
Piccolo didn't speak, but nodded with eyes like darkened pools of eternity. Images of a world beyond reality were reflected in their depths when their gazes met. Hints of a journey no words could describe touched her soul through his gaze. Glimpses of emotion unknown to the living grazed her mind.
Then peace befell her, and she turned her head to stare at him face to face. Her ivory hands reached up to grasp the emerald ones on her shoulders, finding them to be as real as she. He smiled at her, the rare, wonderful expression transforming his rugged features into something beautiful. Feathered wings shifted forward to embrace her shivering form. She did not resist, allowing him to bring her close to his nude green form.
To feel him again, to see him and smell his skin was worth however long this dream lasted.
ChiChi opened her mouth to speak when his gaze silenced her.
"There is no need for words here…" His eyes seemed to say.
The woman only nodded and curled her arms around the broad expanse of his torso, holding him close. She wanted to touch him everywhere, to feel, to memorize every inch of his body. She tilted her head up to stare at him again, only to have his slick, hot lips press themselves against hers. Moist warmth explored inside her mouth like a delicate velvet rasp.
Oh, how she wanted him to touch her!
ChiChi's hands gained a life of their own as the kiss stole away all rational thought. Over his back and around his sides, pale ivory touched emerald green. Down to his buttocks and back around to the manhood he never had in life, her small hands traced over his smooth skin. She was met with a passionate growl that ruffled some of her dark hair. A gentle hand slid under one of the tiny straps of her nightgown and slid it aside to reveal more skin in need of exploring. Soft feathers moved across her back so softly it tickled and caressed at the same time. She didn't know whether to giggle or sigh as her lips tasted the hardness between his pectoral muscles.
Piccolo's chest heaved and relaxed a few times, his hand tightening to bunch up the royal blue satin covering her back. He smiled at her again and used his palm to gently slide her eyes shut. She waited for the space of one heartbeat before his hand moved and allowed her to look again.
Next thing ChiChi knew, she was falling. Falling in his arms to splash down into water as warm as his body. The world became an endless gurgle until air touched her face again, and she opened her eyes.
Silver water glowed all around them. A sky shone with the entire universe in all its glory. White marble cliffs loomed in the distance like ancient sentinels watching over the sea. ChiChi gasped and looked around to discover Piccolo had disappeared.
A shimmering gold fish-tail briefly broke the surface a few times, seeming almost out-of-place in the silver water. Then a green and gold dolphin dove right over her head as easily as if the move were practiced for years. Only when the flying object was diving back under did she realize it was Piccolo.
Piccolo's head appeared above the surface again and drifted closer. She felt his arms sliding back around her body, which was half-trapped in the nightgown. He slid his hands under the spaghetti straps and slid them off, freeing her of the confining garment. His silky fish-tail wrapped around her legs as he pulled her gently under.
Her first instinct was to struggle until his long green finger pointed to something beneath her waist. She lowered her eyes to discover an iridescent white tail with gold streaks dancing up the sides. She looked over at her green partner and watched him wave his fish-tail once to propel himself towards her.
He took her hand and swam into the depths as easily as a needle through cloth. She couldn't take her eyes from his body as he moved so effortlessly, each flick of his golden tail as natural as breathing. He met her gaze, leaned his face closer and joined their mouths, allowing them to drift through the darkening waters.
When Piccolo ended the kiss, he lowered his eyes to something floating below. ChiChi followed his gaze and saw glimpses of emerald drifting through the darkness. A white cape danced around the still form, which appeared to be split open from forehead to groin like a vacated chrysalis. Light occasionally illuminated a smiling green face that showed no pain from the tear slicing down its center.
All at once, they were moving upwards, twining around each other as they spiraled to the surface. The waves carried them to a white shore and pushed them gently onto the velvet sand.
ChiChi's body registered a new warmth. She saw just the briefest flicker of a smile in Piccolo's glistening eyes, looked down past them and noticed they both shared one tail. A tail as white and reflective as polished moonstone. Everything that he was and would be flowed through her in waves that nearly robbed her of her sanity. Her sight blurred with passionate tears. Blurring his green in with the black and ivory and the stars.
They were rising again. No sound, save for supple feathered wings swishing gently against still air. Piccolo carried her up and up, higher and higher until the stars beckoned from just beyond reach. Like jewels hung on velvet, they glimmered as far as ChiChi could see. She didn't dare look down.
Piccolo twisted once in the air and stopped abruptly. His face had become its usual unreadable mask, set tight while his eyes gleamed in the moonlight. In them ChiChi saw reflections of the dresser, the bed, the window - they were back in her familiar bedroom. Scents of lavender drifted on the air like fine dust stirred by a butterfly's wing.
"You don't have to go."
His cool rasp cut the air, "I don't belong in this world anymore...I am...beyond the reach of time."
She rested her forehead against his solid pink shoulder. His skin hummed with life. "How will I find you again?"
Piccolo's slender hand came up under her chin and lifted until their eyes met. A corner of his mouth curled upwards. His eyes seemed to swallow the moonlight coming through the window like pools of eternity. They danced and laughed at her question as if the answer was obvious. She saw his boyish lips rise and pull back to reveal his menacing white teeth. A smile that reached his whole face. Playful, teasing.
"You already know the answer."
And he turned, his form bounded to the window. One step, two steps. On tip-toe like the most delicate ballet dancer, the muscles under his skin, mainly his long legs, contracted and relaxed in perfect, choreographed tandem. No living being could ever hope to move as gracefully as he did.
His feathers roared, splitting the moonlight in two, and then he was gone into the night. No wingbeats, no goodbye, not even his form disappearing over the horizon. Just...gone...as if he'd never been there.
And feathers rained down, bringing with them the silence.
ChiChi lifted her head off the dresser. Morning's nimble fingers dappled the room in ringlets of gold and red, making her squint in the growing brightness. She was sore from sleeping hunched over the dresser all night. Goosebumps covered her white skin from sleeping without a blanket all night long.
She pulled her robe over her shoulders and stood up to close the windows. The cold draft cut off, she headed towards the bed, but stopped when something soft whispered against her toes. Curious, ChiChi lowered her head until her hair fell over her shoulder and bent down to pick one of the objects up off the floor. She straightened and turned towards the sunlight for a better look.
In her hand she held a single moonlight-colored piece of eternity.