Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z.
Toraburu never quite fit in. He had people he talked to outside of his religious circle, but even they were more like associates than people he'd hang out with on a daily basis. It didn't really matter to be honest; he couldn't miss what he never had. Friends were for people who needed them, those who were fueled by a desire to not be so different.
It wasn't that he liked being different; in fact, some days he would wish upon a star, wanting to understand the other side. But like God, however, the stars never answered his one little wish. He always figured that "not knowing" was probably the best. Maybe understanding why everyone felt the way they felt would be too much, sorta like if it was overwhelming, it'd be too scary to think that he could never go back to who he was.
He shuffled the papers at his desk before he turned to where Gohan was sitting at his own desk. Toraburu watched him and smiled. Gohan always seemed like a nice guy, even though they hardly ever spoke outside of the entrance ceremony into high school. From where he was sitting, the sun seemed to bask over Gohan's skin, making him appear all golden, much like that of a higher being . No, he mentally corrected. He looked like an ancient warrior with unending pride that could even overwhelm the heavens had he the desire to do so.
Gohan had to be the coolest person he knew despite not actually being part of the "cool" crowd. He was just the type of guy that everyone knew and no matter who you were, you never said anything bad about him. It was just impossible. Sure, someone could say he was "dorky" and sometimes "a bit out there," but Toraburu never heard anything rude in reference to him.
"Toru-kun, it's your turn."
Torubaru turned away from Gohan, his face slightly red and the hair on the back of his neck standing up. "Ehh-what?!" He could see Videl looking at him, almost as if she felt pity for him. She slyly pointed her finger to the teacher who was standing impatiently in front of the class, tapping his foot, glaring directly at him.
"Rikai Torubaru-kun, how long must we wait for you? Do you have your essay or not?" Sekkachi-sensei had never been the most patient fellow. There'd been rumors that he once divorced his wife because she couldn't force the nine months of her pregnancy to go faster. As ridiculous as it sounded, Torubaru never doubted the authenticity of the story. His very name meant 'impatient.'
"Aye sir, I have it here." The young man stood up, slouching his shoulders, hoping he could get the attention off of him as quickly as possible. "I can... yanno..." He opened his backpack and quickly took out his notebook, pretending to be looking for the paper. He watched Videl's eyes meet with the actual essay and immediately, his hands became moist and his teeth began to chatter.
"I can help you find it! You're just as lost as Gohan without me." Videl smiled. It was genuine, he could feel it. She wasn't the type to say or do anything without meaning it. Torubaru wanted to refuse her help, say that it was just fine and make up some lie about how he must've left it at home, but his throat was dry and his breathing was shallow. "Yep, here it is!"
Before he could even try to respond, try his best to get out of it, she'd already foiled his plan. "Well, it was on my desk the w-whole time, I-I guess." He tried to chuckle, but acting was never his strong suit. Instead, what was meant to be a lighthearted chuckle sounded more like a wheezing walrus.
Gohan's eyes widened with a certain delight that Torubaru didn't quite understand. Videl closed her eyes and frowned; he'd seen that reaction enough to know what it meant. It wasn't quite like she was calling him 'disgusting' but more like 'tragically annoying.' He grabbed the paper and walked in what felt like slow motion as his teacher's face went from slightly annoyed to 'I wanna kill you.'
"Rikai-kun, would you prefer to spend all of tomorrow explaining your essay? I certainly don't mind taking the day off. Or maybe you'd prefer extra homework for every one... your choice."
"No, sensei, I'm ready to present it now."
"Your subject?"
"The Earth and its guardians before the Great Kami toll was installed."
The answer was obvious to anyone who'd known him more than just a few seconds or had him in class any year prior to the present day. He was one of few people who believed that Earth had once been populated by mostly humans and animals, a world where man tended to be man's worst enemy, a world that had been destroyed at its peak in creation.
Sekkachi-sensei audibly sighed. Rolling his eyes, he sat down at his desk and pulled out his cell phone like some rebellious teen from a badly written sitcom.
Torubaru stood frozen, suspended in time, trying to envision himself in a place far, far away where no one could see or judge him. When did speaking in front of people become so hard? Was it always like this? He could feel himself getting lightheaded, little glazes of light flashing before his eyes... and just like last time, it took him back to that day and time.
That day that he wanted to forget.
"M-my project is o-on..."
"Rikai-kun, we already know what it's on... just read the paper so we can move on..." The teacher's raspy voice came out harshly, his forest green eyes narrowed into cold slits. "I'm sure it's just another version of the last essay I graded from you with maybe bigger words."
"Sensei, please!" Videl screamed angrily from her corner. "Maybe if you stopped being an asshole for two seconds, he'd be able to calm down."
The teacher frowned but said nothing more. Everyone was aware that he hated Videl even more than the student in front of the class, but his fear of the wrath of Hercule kept him at bay. Around him, he was all smiles and a totally different person than the person the class had seen even on a good day.
"When you're ready, please."
Torubaru inhaled deeply and waited for his mind to calm down. Smiling shakily at Videl, he straightened his back then looked to the far back where Gohan was sitting and wondered what'd he do in his situation. "Long ago, before we came to live on this version of Earth, the human species had lived a very different way... in a place where the Kai's had no control of our freewill. This Earth was special, and we, humans, were most protected from outside invaders."
Gohan lifted his head with sudden interest. It was a stark contrast with the rest of the class who believed that his words had been a fairy tale. Torubaru knew different. Every night, he dreamed of this world. He could see the different countries, the many types of celebrities, the animals, the heroes who lived in the shadows - always protecting that world. Every night, he'd see the world change and though it was in flashes, he felt every pain and happiness and the sadness when that world came to its end.
Then, at the end of every dream, he saw his own Earth... the one he'd always known, and he could see the past repeating. This time, though, he knew that if his dreams were correct then no amount of Dragon balls would be able to bring any sort of miracle.
"In the final moments of this Other Earth occurred when Chaos took down its final hope. The daughter of Selene, her husband and her best friend made a wish on a mystical stone in their final moments, but some say that the daughter of Selene betrayed her husband and friend before being struck down by Chaos."
Gohan listened intently. He'd been going to school with Torubaru since he was a young child, always heard the story and up until the last few years, he'd ignored it. Something changed though. It was the day that the Kai's had given their power in the battle against Buu.
He never spoke to anyone about it. There'd never been a reason to, but ever since he gained the powers of the Gods of this world, he couldn't stop seeing a girl reaching out to him. No, she was reaching, but she didn't exactly see him. The girl wasn't always there, and he almost never heard her voice. Gohan only heard it once and every bone in his body chilled and every muscle quaked with fear.
'I will not give up this world to you!' The girl's voice couldn't be any older than his own. He couldn't see her so by all accounts, he could be wrong, but somehow he knew it was her.
"It was said that the daughter of Selene was the last great warrior before our Earth was forever changed."
Torubaru couldn't have been talking about the same girl, that much Gohan was sure. He looked out the window again, trying to get his mind off the topic - something so taboo that when he asked the Kai about the girl in his visions, and who she was, and if she could be connected to the stories Toru-kun always told that the Kai asked him to never speak on the subject again. Still, her image was always there. He could see this strange haired blonde burned and bloodied up in a dark and terrible world. She was crying and reaching out, her eyes pleading and cloudy.
Could she be the daughter of Selene? The one who would've been Kai over the entire galaxy had the great war not begun? And if she screamed those words Gohan heard at the moment he'd been granted his powers, a form higher than even his Super Saiyan form, who was she screaming at? Did she truly betray her world? And why were the Kais so desperate to keep that time period such a secret?
"Legend has it that one day, she'll return and when she does, this world will end."
Why did it feel like that time was coming sooner than later? Why did it feel like it wouldn't be a legend for much longer? Earth had been at peace since the defeat of Buu and his rebirth as Uub. The galaxy's colonies were no longer at war with one another. There were no other crazed dictators; Gohan made sure of that, himself. Yet, for some reason, Gohan began sweating profusely at those words.
He felt like he was going to throw up. At that moment, he flashed back to the last time his father had truly been alive on Earth. His hands twitched and he fought back the tears. I should've fought harder. No matter how he looked back at that day, the day that his father sacrificed his life against Cell, Gohan saw Cell as the victor. He allowed his power to get to his own head and in the end, he lost his father to an android that he could've beat easily.
I will never allow anyone to be sacrificed again.
"And that's all..."
Gohan looked up and frowned slightly. Videl's right, Gohan sighed, I really need to learn how to focus. He could barely remember anything from Toru-kun's essay. Watching the young man return to his seat, Gohan wondered if it was alright for him to ask his classmate to explain some of the points in his project. The problem was starting the conversation without seeming awkward.
Just as Torubaru passed Videl, she fistbumped him and laughed. Toru-kun, however, stared at his fist like the action was completely alien to him, his cheeks completely red. "Oh, come on! Ya can't tell me that it's the first time someone's given you a fist bump!" Gohan called out lightheartedly.
"Oh yeah-er, I mean no..." He looked up, trying to avoid Gohan's eyes. "Not since my dad..." His voice shook.
Videl chuckled and put him in a chokehold. "Rikai-san, you're really just shy, aren't you?" She'd always grown up in the spotlight of her father. She'd never been the timid type. Gohan always imagined that it was probably hard for her to understand people who were reticent about being the center of attention. Since the seating change, it became her mission to bring him out of his shell.
Gohan didn't see anything wrong with him as he already was. Toru-kun was the kindest person he'd ever met.
"N-no, not at all. I'm just not-" Torubaru's sentence cut short with the final bell.
Before the sensei could say a single word, students practically ran out the class. Some students, in all of their ridiculousness, chose to use the windows as an exit. While most teachers would've at least made a show of screaming about the dangers of doing something so stupid, their teacher just threw books at them and told them to go to hell.
As soon as they got out the window, Sekkachi -senshi ran to the window and flipped them off.
Gohan grabbed his backpack and walked to the other side of the room, a smile firmly planted on his face. "Toru-kun, are you in a rush?" He clearly wasn't, but he didn't want to seem pushy. Videl's eyes widened and her smile followed suit.
Torubaru frowned and grabbed his papers and placed them in his folder. "No, I'm..." There was silence. He rubbed his eyes then looked back at Gohan and for a moment, Gohan swore that it looked like the boy didn't recognize the person standing in front of him. "Sorry, I gotta go..."
Before Videl or Gohan could say anything else, he grabbed his backpack, threw his folder under his pit and walked with his head down out the room.
Videl shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "He's such a weird kid..."
Gohan nodded. He didn't expect much else from him, but he couldn't get that look in his eyes out of his mind. "He's cool though in a way..."
"Cute? Maybe," Video said apathetically then added in a joking voice, "Cool... that's another subject altogether... but I guess a dork would find their own kinda cool." She ribbed him, smiling.
Gohan frown for a moment, not expecting the heavy-handed girl to elbow him. He looked down but was stopped short by the visual of her wayward smile, those dangerously tantalizing blue eyes that dared him to look away. He found himself having to catch his breath.
"Why the HELL are you two still here?" Sekkachi-senshi shouted from his corner of the room, his arms locked across his wide, muscular chest. "I ain't go no fucking time to deal with some delinquents." He waved one hand in the air as if to waft away a stinky smell. He walked around the desk, pacing back and forth growling and whining about something under his breath that Gohan couldn't understand. Then, suddenly, he stopped midstride, one leg still in the air like a statue made by some amateur who didn't understand body movement nor gravity. Looking back and forth from his desk to the couple, he smirked.
"Since you little fuckers are here, Imma take advantage of your presence."
Gohan blinked and scratched his head while Videl pretended like she heard nothing he said and continued to make jokes about dorks and their definition of cool.
Grabbing a stack of papers out from his desk, Sekkachi-sensei took it over to the desk in front of Gohan then dropped it. "Help me grade, ya ain't gonna be babysat for free!"
Videl rolled her eyes and dismissed him with a hollow cough. "I'm leaving. You get paid to do that. You're not going to share any of that paycheck with me, will you?" She stared him down before grabbing her backpack. "Gohan, are you coming?"
"Uh... no, it does seem like a lot of work; I can help him out for a little while."
"Tnch..." Videl bit her lip and exhaled deeply. "Were you even listening to anything I said? Why are you even-"
"I understood, but..."
Sekkachi -senshi stepped back, eyes darting between the both of them, sweat beading down his forehead. Gohan could tell he was uncomfortable.
"We have plans, don't you remember?" Her voice had this urgency that Gohan recognized as her tone for 'we need to talk.' She'd been using it a lot lately, and he'd been ignoring it enough that he became a professional at seeming like he had no clue.
"Oh, can we reschedule it?"
"And there's the helping me with that project that's due tomorrow..."
"I thought we finished that already."
"Yanno what?" Videl glared daggers at her boyfriend. If looks could kill, Gohan wouldn't have been standing. No, he was sure that he'd been killed in the worst ways possible then before his soul could pass on, it would be the first person to find out that a person could die twice without even being alive the second time. "Forget you! I'll go home by myself."
Gohan opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She turned her back and tensed up before taking a breath then walking away. He'd seen her do that too many times. Especially lately. He wanted to go after her, but he didn't want to break his promise to help his teacher nor did he want to admit he was wrong.
Sekkachi -sensei waited until she was gone before speaking. "You probably should've went after her." He knitted his brows, his voice soft. "Don't be a shithead, kid. It'll leave you alone." For most people, it would've probably seemed shocking for him to give any type of advice to any of his student but for Gohan, his relationship with him was quite different. There was never any doubt in his heart that his teacher was an intolerable man.
Still, somewhere in there, Gohan had always figured that he had to be a kind man to want to be a teacher. His job involved him being around people all the time, advising them, teach them to be better people. He told him that, and for whatever reason, Sekkachi -senei began to treat him with more respect than he did for the rest of the class.
"You had already-"
"You little shithead, don't use me as your shield for your actions!" Sekkachi-senshi shouted.
"Don't you want this done?" Gohan grilled him, his glare intense.
"Yea, yeah, whatever kid... I was tryna let ya off the hook."
Gohan beamed. "I'm good." He looked down at his paper. "I can talk to her later."
"Go home kid..."
Without another word, Gohan stood up and left the classroom through the window.
"Idiot kid, use the damn door!"
"It's that wealthy kid, the weird one, isn't it?" Torubaru heard for about the fifteenth time in the past five minutes since he walked into the cafe. He turned over to the voice where he could see a Namekian boy and his human girlfriend staring at him. They were the types of people who thought whispered considered just changing the tone of their voice and not the volume.
There was a boy next to them who Torubaru nicknamed "The Knower" who seemed to have him figured out - at least, according to his own self. He was a bit feminine, wore heavy black eye make-up and clearly had lip gloss. They talked once while in school, but it was a mistake on Torubaru's part because the conversation had become something of the other boy's fancy.
"He's a bit of a loner, never allows anyone to talk to him,- The Knower chimed in. "Just because his parents left him everything in their death, he thinks he's better than people."
"Rikai-dono, you seem a bit down," the pretty waitress whispered into his ear. Torubaru flushed and smiled at hearing her voice.
"Araw-san?"
She giggled and patted him on the back, her kind eyes intently watching his. "You only come to see me at work when your day sucked... so what's wrong?"
That's harsh. It was true though. He didn't do mean to only come see her when he needed someone to talk to; if he had it his way, they'd hang out everyday. "I just wanted to see you," he lied as he forced his biggest smile.
She threw her hands on her hip and cocked her head to the right, set on trying to read her best friend. After a moment of her silently examining him, she shook her head, seemingly pleased and somehow disappointed at the same time and laughed. "You're becoming stronger, Rikai-dono."
"I thought I told you to call me Torubaru and leave out that horrible honorific." Distaste involuntarily shot out his mouth at hearing his name being said so formally out of her mouth. The Alipin family had been servants of the Rikai family for generations and despite the fact that the Alipin family were free for over a hundred years, much of the family still treated the last remaining of the Rikai bloodline like he was still their master.
Torubaru always felt like when Araw chose to refer to him as her master, using that honorable term for him, it was almost like a rejecting his friendship.
"Rikai-dono, it's not that easy to change customs, you know that." Her eyes were like steel and the kindness that'd been there before were completely gone. "How'd your essay go?" Torubaru noted the tone and subject change and chose to change his own tactics.
"Wanna walk home together?"
Gohan didn't head home when he left school. I need to clear my brain. Once he was in a glade, he took to the sky, the one place in the world where he felt most at home. As a child, training with Piccolo, travelling with his father, fighting for his life, it had all been done in the air. The sky never lied, never argued, never pushed back, never even asked for answers. It was free, and it liberated him from his own thoughts, his family and friend.
It didn't blame him for his father's death. The sky missed him too, but it never talked about it. When it rained, the sky allowed him to cry. It told him that it was okay to hurt, no more holding it in, you can cry now. He wanted to talk to Videl, but that was frustrating. Talking only led to bullshit between the both of them. It only led to them apologizing and if he got lucky, to her bed.
What was that?!
He looked around, suddenly feeling a spike of energy near him. The energy was swerving around and about him; it was intense and it felt like it was pushing against him. It was everywhere then suddenly the energy just disappeared.
Torubaru froze in his seat. It's coming! He looked around and tried to differentiate where he heard the voice. The Knower had changed his subject to the girl in the corner so he couldn't have been the one who said it.
This world is coming to it's end!
Torubaru stood up and grabbed Araw by the wrist, his eyes feral and his hands shaking. "You heard that, didn't you?"
"Heard what?"
"That loud voice!"
"You're the only loud one here! Rikai-dono, calm down..." she whispered, cuffing her hand over his mouth.
"No, no! Somebody had to hear it! Somebody..." He looked around at everyone and they all seemed to in varying degrees think he was going crazy. One woman was covering her child's ear and pulled him close to her bosom and a man was standing up, his hand on the steak knife next to him.
The Knower stood up and laughed. "Yo," the words slithered out from his glossed lips. "Come ova here and I'll calm you down."
Torubaru tensed up, felt his body become taut. There was something coming, and now he didn't need a voice to tell him this, he could feel it. Holding Araw's wrist tighter, he pulled her closer to him. "We have to go..."
"Rikai-dono, lemme go!" Screaming, she tried to pull away, but despite his small frame, he was clearly stronger than her."
"We hafta go! We haf-" The man with the steak knife ran forward. Torubaru quickly tried to dodge him, just barely missing. "What are you doing?" The man came forward again as others in the crowd began to run outside.
The Knower ran over to Torubaru and pulled him out of the way of the second attack though this time, he wasn't quite as lucky. The knife sliced through his shirt, grazing his stomach. Sunconsciously, he grabbed onto his bloody stomach and looked up, completely dizzy. It's like last time. This smell... this smell.
For a moment, it was like he wasn't standing in the cafe any longer. He could see a girl with strange pigtails screaming to the sky, blood covering her entire body. "Bring back my friends!" He could sense her smell, her heart racing and with eyes that no longer believed in hope, she screamed. "I will never give up this world to you!"
The vision disappeared, and The Knower was lying on the ground next to him. Torubaru grabbed the closest weapon he could grab onto... which unfortunately happened to be a spoon. He shakily held onto the spoon, holding it out towards the man who laughed.
"You are a threat!"
"Imma what?!"
"You are a threat and must be eliminated!" The man hollered as he ran forward with speed that he'd never seen before on a human. The young man kept one foot close to The Knower, glancing around for his best friend while trying to keep his eyes on the knife wielding man before him. The lights began to flicker on and off, and he could hear the sounds of people screaming outside. He swallowed and waited a moment before deciding to make a move.
Out of nowhere, Araw threw herself at the man, trying to choke him out. Seeing an opening, Torubaru threw the spoon as hard as he could. It went straight, speeding past the tables and straight into the man's skull. Araw jumped off of him as he fell forward, dropping the knife.
"Rikai-dono, are you okay?" the blue-eyed, dark haired beauty whimpered. She started walking towards him but was stopped when the man's hand wrapped around her ankle.
"He is a threat to the new world order." He looked up and his skin had changed from a healthy light brown to a greenish-brown color. His long black hair changed form to roaches and all kinds of defiled creatures. His lips cracked and blood poured out from his eyes. His voice lowered four octaves, and it sounded like a crowd of people talking at one time. "Chaos has awakened!"
His arm changed shape to a long scythe and his target changed. The Knower woke up just in time to see him raise his scythe-like arm to cut him. Torubara kicked him out of the way then ran to the left only to see the creature shoot out blood-like liquid from his mouth. The wall beside him melted before the hot liquid could even touch it.
Please! Someone... we're gonna die!
Torubaru's knees shook. What the hell was this? No, that was incorrect. What the hell is this? He'd spent his entire life believing this day would happen, warning others that the end of days would be coming in hope to prepare for the moment. He'd always seen himself as brave to go against what everyone saw as a legend and talk about something they considered foolish.
And now he was going to die. And there was nothing he could do.
Araw passed out on the ground, but she was still alive. The Knower was trembling, underneath the table that Torubaru had kicked him over to... and if he didn't think of something quick, they were going to die.
Damn... Damn...he looked around and suddenly the pain from the cut earlier started to rear its ugly head, laughing at him. Underneath him was his own puddle of blood. How deep was that cut earlier?
The creature ran forward and Torubaru found himself unable to move. His heart skipped a beat.
Everything went silent and the room was white.
No one was around him. It was as if the world ceased to exist.
'Do you wish to save this world?'
He turned to the owner of the voice. There was a brown-skinned beautiful woman standing before a door that was impossibly tall. Her long dark green hair blew in the wind, her crimson eyes looking past him. He watched as a young stocky boy with spiky black hair ran past him.
Gohan, no, that's not...
'Do you wish to save this world?' the voice changed and the scenery returned back to the cafe. This time he heard a man, a deep voice, the voice of a person he recognized from his dreams.
'Release us from death!'
Torubaru didn't know what any of it meant, but he'd heard from his parents that he was in the lineage of those who could awaken the heroes of the past. It was no time to question the truthfulness of it. Dizzy and scared, adrenaline driven, he pressed his hands into his blood and screamed out in a loud voice, "Awaken heroes of truth and justice!"
The creature jumped into the air, shooting blood out of his mouth, but out of nowhere, he froze in the air.
"Please, someone, save us!" He looked at the clock which stopped at the same time the creature stopped moving.
Outside, he heard two explosions. No, three, he corrected. Looking around him, he saw the shadow of a man take The Knower and Araw out the cafe. Why couldn't he move? The clock began to move again.
"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!" The same deep voice from before yelled from behind him. With one hand on his shoulder, the man stood beside him. Torubaru shook as blue energy flew out the man's palms and blew the creature up. He'd seen him before. Yes, this was the man that was in the legend. He was just as he'd seen him in visions: cruelly beautiful blue eyes, a regal voice of a prince, and he was real.
Tuxedo Kamen, one of the three betrayers of legend of Earth.
"Are you okay, Rikai Torubaru-san?"
Author's Note: Thank you for reading and review chapter one. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. The story may be recognizable from the old version I had online up until month ago.
The original story is still a storyboard for this reworking of this old story, but there are some notable difference that would hopefully make this story more enjoyable for new readers or returning readers.
Thanks Scorp for inspiring me to rewrite this story.
Please read and review. It would mean a lot.
