Yume arrived before lunch as they were sparring, and watched them, occasionally having to close her eyes and listen to locate them. Nozomi finally noticed her and turned around and waved, and was kicked across the yard by Piccolo. Yume covered her mouth and tried not to laugh, she knew Nozomi wasn't hurt and anyway, Tholi would have done the same thing. Nozomi picked herself up and rushed back in, while Yume began untacking the horses. When she had the tack off she sat and watched the rest of the match, noticing how much Nozomi had improved. They were through when Nozomi rolled into the tree and lay there, upside down, stunned. Yume got up and went over, bending down and looking at her face. Nozomi slowly opened her eyes and they smiled at each other, Yume beginning to chuckle.
"You still get yourself into the weirdest positions," she said, helping her up.
They hugged and Nozomi smiled cheerfully back at her, "No more than you."
"Hmph. You've gotten taller," she said, noticing Nozomi was now almost a foot taller than her.
"I guess so," Nozomi shrugged, as they walked over to Yume's things, "Piccolo, this is Yume Silverwind, Tholi's daughter."
"Hello," she bowed, her black hair falling into her face.
She did look a lot like Tholi, but her vivid green eyes were very different from Tholi's steel gray ones. She was slender and pale, and very cute. Piccolo only nodded and went to sit under the oak tree, Yume watching him with a raised eyebrow.
"Friendly huh?" she asked Nozomi, who was picking up the pack saddle and panniers.
"What the hell did you bring?" she asked, noting the weight of it all.
"Presents," Yume cried loudly, and Piccolo and Nozomi both winced at the high pitch of it, "Happy thirteenth birthday!"
Piccolo turned and stared at Nozomi, who was blushing. Thirteen! She's thirteen! That meant she's Gohan's age, exactly. Nozomi looked over and saw him staring at her.
"What?"
"You're thirteen?" he asked, watching her blink, Well, it explains- Hell, it doesn't explain anything. Who is this girl?
"She acts like an old woman doesn't she?" Yume asked, "Good old Nozomi, a forty-year old warrior trapped in a thirteen-year old's lanky body!"
"Thanks Yume," Nozomi said, her face a bright pink, "I don't act any older than you do."
"Come on, you have to open your presents," she said, grabbing Nozomi's arm and dragging her towards the house.
"Piccolo, do you want anything to drink?" Nozomi asked, allowing herself to be pulled along.
Instead of answering, he got up and followed them inside, still stunned. Nozomi set the saddle down in the living room and went into the kitchen, dragging Piccolo with her to look at his hand. It looked fine and she got him a glass of water and then went back to sit with Yume. He stared from his bandage to the glass of water and raised a brow, a look of comedic confusion on his face.
Yume had gotten out several bundles wrapped in muslin and had arranged them neatly on the coffee table. Nozomi sat down and when Yume reached for a present, her sleeve rode up and revealed a black tattoo of an eagle on her upper left arm.
"You had your totem ceremony," Nozomi said, looking at it.
"Huh? Oh yeah, about a month ago. Kosui had hers too, she's a swan child. Big surprise huh?" she asked, handing her a package.
"What's this?" she asked, taking it.
"Duh, it's a present Nozomi."
Nozomi rolled her eyes indulgently and untiedthe cord. Thestiff paper revealed a beautiful piece of pure white leather, as soft as cloth. She gasped and ran her hands over it, knowing it had taken a long time to get it like this.
"Teya made it for you," she said, there's enough to make just about anything once," she said, and picked up another package, "This is Kosui's I think."
She opened it and there were several smaller packages. They contained several beautiful perfumes and a skein of exquisite lapis blue silk, and another package that contained a skein of smoky blue silk. Nozomi was overwhelmed, and Yume took the opportunity to shove another package into her hands.
"From Kure, Sato, Kashi, and Ringo," she said, "So you can guess what they gave you."
"Candies?" Nozomi said, opening it. Sure enough, it was full of all kinds of sweets, all handmade and of different colors.
"From Honya and Shinsetsuna," Yume said, handing her another.
It was a large book on armor and weapons, and Nozomi smiled and shook her head. Hukui and Yowai had given her a string of perfectly round lapis beads; Hoshi and Yoake had given her skeins of pale peach silk and another in blood red; Uta and Ata had given her a small silver harp and a golden flute; Hana and Sakura gave her a small figure of a horse, carved from cherry and oak; Tori had sent her a gold necklace with a locket carved with nightingales.
"Raye even sent you something," Yume said, giving her a very small package.
"I'm shocked," she said. Raye was an older Temple girl who, from the day that Tholi had found her, hated Nozomi with a passion. Nozomi had always tried to be nice, but Raye was always trying to get her into trouble. She opened the package and a gray rock rolled out. Yume and Nozomi looked at it, her eyes slightly wide and her lips pursed.
"I don't believe it! She gave you a rock!" Yume howled, more at Nozomi's reaction than the horrid gift, "You ought to chuck it at her big head next time you see her, it would serve her right!"
Nozomi picked up the rock and looked at it, beginning to laugh, "I should, but it's the first nice thing she's ever given me!"
They laughed for another five minutes, and even Piccolo came in to see what was so funny. He saw the rock on the table and raised a brow. Then he noticed Nozomi was actually laughing and watched her.
"What's so funny?" he asked, not being able to help himself.
"Raye. . . got. . . me. . . a. . . rock!" Nozomi gasped, still laughing hysterically. Yume was rocking forwards and backwards, holding her sides.
"Right," he said, and went back outside.
"I bet he thinks we're insane," Nozomi said when they calmed down.
"Oh, who cares," Yume said, wiping her eyes, "It's good to hear you laugh again."
"Haven't had much reason to," she said, looking down at her lap.
Yume handed her another package, "This is from Niagi."
Niagi was Raye's mother, and even though she herself disliked Nozomi, she wasn't mean to her. Nozomi opened it and found a new gi, this one was in heavy white cotton, and was quite large.
"She must be hoping you're fat," Yume said, watching her hold it up.
"I can just turn the pants into hakamas," she shrugged, "I can resize the top if I ever get breasts."
"You will," Yume said, "Knowing your luck they'll be so huge you won't be able to see your toes over them."
"I think Kosui's rubbing off on you," she said, folding up the huge gi.
Yume shrugged and handed her the last package, "From me and Tholi."
Nozomi opened it and pulled out an exquisite black chainmail shirt, the sides fastened by leather pieces.
"It's so if you grow anymore it'll still fit," Yume said, "Or you can add to it if that leaves too big of a gap."
"Why would she send me armor," Nozomi said.
"Open the other one, under it," she said, a big smile on her face.
Nozomi did and there, wrapped in black silk, was a pair of scimitars. Along one curved blade was lotus and waves engraved along the back, along the other, were flames erupting from the demon face carved near the hilt. They were magnificent, and she knew what Tholi giving them to her meant. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and she hugged Yume again.
"Thank you so much," she said, her voice strained.
"Your welcome No-chan," Yume said, hugging her back.
Nozomi pulled back and wiped her eyes with a sniff, "How about we go and get lunch from somewhere, Tholi left that old junky truck here."
"But we can't drive!" Yume said, her eyes wide.
"If we don't get caught, who's to know," she smirked.
"What about Piccolo?"
"Oh man, I forgot, I've only got two hours, that's not enough time to get there and shop and come back," she said, then hit her fist in her other palm, "I've got it. Take out!"
"All right!" Yume said jumping up, "You got money?"
Nozomi frowned, then brightened again, "No. But I do have a credit card!"
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For those of you whose jaws hit the floor, let me explain. According to the time line at Ultimate DBZ Info (I've got it if anyone's interested) Piccolo was born May 9, 753; and Gohan sometime in May in 757. Nozomi was born May 1, 757. In other words, Piccolo is only 4 years older than Gohan, freaky, huh? Anyway, that's why she's so young. And her looks, well, I tried to make it blatant that she was young, and I might have been too vague, so you all can rant about that.
