A Special Training IV
Disclaimer: The series mentioned in this fic belong to their respective owners, and no offense if meant to them, and I make no money from this.
It had been
three weeks since Usagi had been left on the small, isolated island.
Usagi, no
matter what her friends may have believed, was not stupid. In fact, in her way,
she was rather smart. She just lacked discipline.
So, she had
gotten her priorities straight. She tried to find shelter, and ended up staying
in a rather high cave, up on a wall of a canyon overlooking the sea. Since no
one was there to help her, so she thought, there was no use whining and
complaining.
"I never
really thought about it," she said to herself. "I got so used to being the one
that complained."
She had not
much trouble finding edibles. It was berry season, and other fruits were
becoming ripe as well. And, although it was gross at first, she had been able
to catch fish.
Usagi had
come across the stream, where many tiny fish would be facing upstream, resting
against the rocks in the swift rushing water. She was getting hungry for meat,
then, and so her usual gag reflex was not working.
Staring at
the small, and medium fish, she realized she couldn't get them with a hook. But
they were right in front of her…
Her hand
darted in the water, and she missed, scattering the small little buggers.
Not
realizing she was starting to growl, her hand flashed into the water, and so
she went, for the next several days.
Eventually
she was successful. In fact, she was so successful that she became sick of
fish.
Then came
roots, nuts and berries. Okay, anything about eye level and looked like fruit
was easy.
She figured
out the roots by accident. There were several game trails throughout the
island, and she was following one, to see what was on the other side of the
island. This was her fifth day.
A large
boar was digging at something, and Usagi got curious as to what it was. As
silently as she could, she walked up behind it.
Of course,
as it was only her fifth day of training, she wasn't very silent.
"AHHH-
waaaaaaahhHHHHH!" she screamed, as the boar turned and saw her.
She ran as
fast as she could, and, of course, tripped.
The boar
nearly trampled her, but she managed to dodge at the last minute. Jumping to
her feet, she unsheathed her sword awkwardly, and stabbed it through its head.
"I just
killed something…" she said faintly, but sobered. It would have tried to kill
her. In fact, it nearly it.
"Plus, pork
it pretty good eating," she said aloud, and pulled her sword free, wiping it on
the porker's hide, and gagged.
"I will not
puke, I will not puke," she repeated to herself, over and over, and dragged it
back to her camp, also taking note of where she had found it.
Later, she
went back, and tried the roots. They tasted pretty good.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"She's
doing better than I thought she would," Piccolo reported. Goku nodded, not
letting himself get distracted by what Piccolo was saying. He and Piccolo were
sparring, getting ready for the ever approaching Android threat.
And
whatever has Kami's underwear in a bunch, Piccolo thought, worried.
"She did
nearly get eaten a couple of times when she was asleep," Gohan pointed out, as
he had decided to help with "Usagi duty," as they had termed it.
"The first
time I scared it off," Piccolo told him. "The second, I made enough noise for
her to wake up, and she fought it off herself. It hasn't happened since."
This
distracted Piccolo enough that Goku got a hit in, but it barely fazed him.
"In a few
more months, we can start the real training," Goku said enthusiastically.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Usagi
stripped methodically, unconscious of her nudity, and looked at her reflection
in a still pool.
It was one
of the few baths she had taken, and yes, she stank to high heaven.
What was
the worst was her hair.
The once
glorious fall of sunlit gold was a tangled, dirty, ratty mess, and you couldn't
see the original color. It was getting to be more of a hassle than it was
worth.
"So, I
guess I have no choice, now, right?" she sighed, and tried to resign herself.
Taking out
her constant companion, her sword, which she had nicknamed Luna, she hacked
away at the muddy locks, and it fell in ragged piles at her feet. It was all
she could do to restrain her tears.
One of the
few things she had ever really, really been vain about was her hair. It had had
to be long, because it was the only way she could wear the royal hairstyle.
Still, she
managed a chuckle. What would her friends think of her now?
Wading into
the water, she submerged, and seemed to wash away her old life, and was reborn
into this stranger new one.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Six months.
She
couldn't believe that six months were already over.
Usagi
really didn't know if she wanted to leave this island that had been her home
for so long. She had gotten used to the silence.
She had
always been a person who had to be around people. People were how she defined
herself. She had never been alone with her own thoughts for so long…
It would be
around sunrise when Piccolo came for her, and she wondered what would come. She
hadn't really asked who the enemy was, only knew that it could destroy this
world. Usagi had guessed how strong these people must actually be, especially
if they could fly.
Usagi had
come to know herself in ways that she wouldn't have guessed earlier. She felt
more at peace with herself, and she looked down, unsheathing her sword.
Luna, as
she had named it, seemed to hum sweetly as she came free of her sheath, and
Usagi took a few practice swings. The sword itself was very worn now, because
she had learned how to sharpen it, and it had taken her a while to figure it
out, so there were nicks all over it.
"I'll never
be a fencer, but at least I can hack decently."
The sun was
already set, and she walked along the beach, growling at any animal that could
hurt her. They had taken the hint several months ago, and had stopped trying to
hunt her.
Her friends
would never have recognized her. Her skin had darkened to a nut brown, her hair
was hacked off at the base of her neck raggedly, and scratches and abrasions
marked her hands and face.
She hadn't
lost any weight, in fact, she had gained a lot of muscle, and she was about
five inches taller. Her clothes were rags. Oddly enough, she was more content
than she had ever been.
A sweet
wind blew off the ocean, and Usagi listened to the waves crash, watched the
birds find their nests for the night, and knew that she could never let this
world fall to whatever would destroy it. It was too beautiful. It was worth
fighting for.
It was
worth dying for.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Piccolo
flew out that morning to find her, and was pleased by what had come of this
survival training.
She was
sitting on one of the cliffs of the island, her eyes closed, in a general
attitude of mediation.
He didn't
make any sound, but she was facing him before he actually came into view.
"Hello,
Piccolo. How have you been?"
Not quite
what he expected.
"Fine. I
see you survived. First, I will teach you how to fly, so you can come with me.
I'm not carrying you any more."
"All
right."
Then he
threw her off the cliff.
No scream,
and silver light flashed around her, and she was hovering above the rocks
below, her eyes clamped shut, and her teeth clenched. Piccolo got the
impression that she was doing her best not to freak out.
"You can
open your eyes now, you aren't dead."
"I- what? I'm,
I'm flying?" she gasped, shocked. She looked up at Piccolo, eyes full of
wonder.
At that
moment, their met, and Piccolo felt a strange twitch in his heart.
Shaking it
off as indigestion, (although how he could get indigestion is anyone's guess)
he turned back to the delighted Usagi, who was doing figure eights. He couldn't
help put smile.
Usagi saw
the smile, and grinned back.
Even if
he does have fangs, he is a lot nicer than he lets on, she thought, and
followed him back to the mainland.
To be continued.
