Upload just a day early :)! I'll be busy tomorrow, and it looks like I won't have time. So I thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Errr(-.-)" if that can apply here LOL!

Enjoy!


Resistance

It was cold, really cold even with all of this sunlight in the night. But all of her mind was blank. There were many things she was thinking about, things she needed to think, but exactly which one? No, tonight was another sleepless night. She didn't need it anyway. She wasn't tired. She hadn't been tired in the last decade and a half. "What?" he sat beside her on the rim of the marble slab and draped a blanket over her. "You'd freeze with that nightgown you're wearing."

"…" She kept her gaze away emptily.

"Hey." He took her hands and cupped them. "What's the matter? I'm not a therapist, but you can talk. Depends if I want to listen though." She lightly nipped him on the face with a fist.

"I don't think you'd want to hear about my woman issues anyways." She felt strange for lying to him so easily.

"Oh." He frowned. "Yeah you're right." He walked away with a hand in the air. "Going to bed. The Master Chamberlain gave me a room." If I can get some sleep in this weather…

"See ya." Yiu knew it wasn't going to be easy with a previously married man. Kami's sake, he hadn't even been properly divorced. But this time, they were doing something for themselves, and that alone kept them happy in this glass covered world. But just as glass was, it was easy to shatter; destiny was intent on keeping them apart. Her smile faded into a thin line while watching the man she so deeply cared about; once more afraid of their future.

"Kami Kai." An older man walked out slowly from another door.

"Master Chamberlain."

"Have you gone to the archives today and taken in all the information on the Northern Quadrant?"

"Yes." Yiu clasped her hands. "I do believe so."

"Good." He fixed the cloth draped over his shoulder. "And although Earth is also important, Shen is as well."

"Master Chamberlain you know don't you? About the Saiyans."

He nod once stoic. "I've lived through those years; waiting for you to return. I was the one who wrote that script. You had to read it."

I don't understand…She scrunched her brows together with mixed emotions.

"Kami Kai." He sighed. "I have served for various generations of the Kami Kais, and although I retain my youthfulness my time is coming to an end soon. I believe it would be very beneficial for you to have a good and thorough understanding of everything around you. What you do can also be taken into account for Shen. All your choices affect our people." She gripped her hands knowing what he referred to. "Such a shame for you to be caught like this. Kami Kai, you have many other potential suitors that are pure. It was a mistake to let such filth walk our fine Shen."

She slammed the balcony doors together; hyperventilating. "You will hold your tongue when it comes to my personal affairs. Do not follow after me." Yiu floated off the balcony and out into town. Though it was bright as day, it was silent as night. Step by step, she hoped that this frustration would melt away.

"Help!" somebody screamed from the alleyway. "Help!"

"Get her in the cart now!" another spat gruffly.

When Yiu realized where her feet had taken her, it was through a much more barren part of town. It was near the edge of her barrier where the wild nature roamed for as far as the eye could see. She lined herself against a barrel as shadows on the opposite wall moved about rashly. Bandits were shoving women and children into the cart; one family of which were the ones from earlier this morning. Worn faces appeared from within the caravan; looking lost and frail. Taking in a deep breath into her diaphragm, she pitched her lowest voice. "This one tried to escape!" With that, she tore her dress at the bottom and threw herself into the alley. "You'll never catch me!" her voice jumped back to a normal octave. "Let me go!"

"Hehehe." One man pulled off his mask with a scruffy shave. "What do we have here? A noble?" He took out his sword and poked at her shredded clothing. "Your clothes don't exactly look poor either." Yiu spat on him defensively, but he wiped it off with a smirk. "You little!...Let me tell you, start acting like the rest of us before I slit that little princess throat of yours. Lock her up!" he kicked her in her gut. "The Boss will surely like you."

The trio from before looked at her worriedly. The bandits should have been easy for her to beat, but she simply put a finger to her lips and mouthed. "Everything will be alright." The cart was covered with a thick cloth so there was no telling where they could be. Thankfully, the planet was like an inventory in her mind. The smell of a humid place and the thick air, and shifting weather; they were in the Moorsuhm forest; a place inhabited by large fungi and other small predator plants.

"Get out!" The bandits dragged them by a cloth that was connected all of the prisoners. Yiu walked slowly with observing the slump. Through the wild nature; these people made small homes underground. First, the men and boys in the group were kicked into cells for labor the next morning. Many of their faces were dirt ridden alongside with the unsanitary living conditions. Afterwards, they passed a festive hall with other bandits drinking the night away; women in both arms. At first, she was shoved into the room too, but the man from before yanked her back out. "You're going here! Enjoy the boss, he's a real lady killer!" he tossed her into another room like a pillow and walked away with a grand chuckle.

This room was large and much quieter, yes much. Drapes of reds and gold hung from great big pillars. Suddenly, there was a pitter and a patter and then it died. And then one more, but it too faded. She looked back and forth hoping to see signs of anyone, then that's when she spotted them. Two young women lay silently with their arms folded neatly. She checked for a pulse; but nothing came, they were dead.

"Oh a new toy." His voice was cold and deadly sending chills down her spine. His hair was almost as long as hers, but collected loosely into a soft braid. His eyes were a ruby red without the slightest hint of green; a normal Shen color.

"What did you do to them?" she gulped hard feeling his power level. It didn't seem strong, but then again there was something off about him.

Wrapping his finger around a furry little tail, he laughed so emptily, it brought heightened her defenses. "Don't worry about them. Stupid girls, drinking poison to escape me, and I wonder if I really am that bad? After all they are in a better place than here. Who in their right mind would want to live here? Damned for eternity and death by this meager living; no not me. I've lived here so long, nothing excites me."

Yiu grit her teeth and stared helplessly at the two thinking; if only she had gotten here faster. There was a reason why her parents believed in non-violence, and this was exactly what she was afraid of. When she was younger, there was a time she enjoyed practicing such things because it was simply entertainment. But it was only when she was older that she realized how much of it wasn't simple entertainment. Finding out she enhanced the gift of gravity she was given; she grew afraid. Would she turn just as evil, just as wicked? Her mind ran amok, not even bothering to notice that she was in the presence of a mad man. Just how many have died so far? How long have I let this run without my prior knowledge? "Why?!" she slapped him so hard it echoed through the room.

"Because! I am the bringer of death to all Shens. I am the destruction, and I will see to it." He spit a vivid red from his mouth and laughed. "I'm alive after all! Look, I've got some blood!" He rubbed his chin and leaned towards her. "Interesting. What did you say your name was? Well, whatever that isn't important." He took her by the waist. "You don't need to know the name of your killer."

"Back off!" she pushed him away just enough. "What you are doing here is wrong."

"Tell me something I don't already know." He shrugged and walked over with a smug expression. "You really are feisty. Perhaps, this time I shall be saddened by your death." He turned away and walked into the bed in a corner. "Join me if you want. Sleep on the floor if you must."

.

.

.

He really did just sleep like that. She shrugged and sat on a chair facing the warm fire. At least, there was something warm like the sun here. "Such a beautiful glow that it matches that of our glorious sun. It's a shame that you can't be shared with the rest of everybody." She had to find a way to save all of her people, and quick.

"Stop talking to yourself." He opened his eyes irritated. "I'm trying to sleep. Aren't you the least bit tired after being kidnapped?" She shook her head. "Well, this is certainly a first. I've never met a simpleton like you. You don't even realize your situation do you?"

"And if I do then what?" sighed Yiu. "If this is to be my fate, what can I do? Throw a fit, cry, shout, drink poison? All of those would bring my end closer don't you think?" She folded her hands in her lap and looked to him. "Would they not?"

"Certainly." He smirked. "Wise words from a feeble woman. True. What else can you do?" He kicked off the covers and pulled her into bed. "Someone like you shouldn't have to die so quickly. I say you can stay mine."

"And if I say no?" she looked up at him apathetically.

"You have no choice." He laughed. "But you can run if you want. I doubt you'll live to see the sun again."

"Run from what?" she smirked back.

"That's a challenge." He sat upright and gathered a tiny fur tail into his hands. "It's a pity for someone with fine features like yourself to be wasted."

"Boss Enzo!" one of his men bursted through the doors with the family from before. "These three right here tried to escape."

"Dispose of them." He said quickly without a second thought.

"Wait!" Yiu shoved pass Enzo and pushed the other man aside. "How can you kill these three for wanting what was rightfully theirs?"

"Listen up." Enzo grabbed her with his tail; arms crossed. "I don't take runners lightly. If you've ever ventured in the Moorsuhm forest then you know that those without survival skills won't make it back to the Kami Kai's barrier. So I'm actually doing them a favor by ending their life sooner." He crushed her up against a pillar and then tossed her out the doors. "Lock her up and assign her labor tomorrow morning."

Bandits dragged her along with chains again until they came back to the cells. Yiu sat on a makeshift bed from drift wood and watched other prisoners. "Excuse me." She tapped one man by the shoulders from the next cell. "What do they mean by labor?"

"Oh that." The old man grinned toothlessly. "We just collect firewood and simple items. It really is like a hunter-gatherer job, but don't worry it's not too hard." He cleaned his spectacles with his shirt and laughed. "They call me Grandpa Jin here, what is your name?"

"My name is Dahlia." She grinned hoping that he didn't see her lie through.

"What a strange name. I've never heard it before. It sounds other-worldly. You're not from here are you?"

"My parents named me while I was on the birthing tree. They told me it was a name from the Northern Hemisphere."

"Hmm." He nodded and then pointed his thumb to some of his inmates. "This is Hiro, Akira and Tetsuya." She looked over to them; teenage boys all with the same buzz cut and green Shen eyes. "They're still very young; probably in their mid fifties or so. But you say you're from the Birthing tree?" Yiu nodded. "Marvelous! You're the first person that I've talked to that wasn't born impurely."

"Impurely?" she shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well you are new." He sighed. "You and I are born from the Birthing tree, therefore from much older generations. But these three right here were born from a female's womb as are many other neighbors around here. If you know anything about the Northern Hemisphere, then you know our bodies are built very similarly. It's dangerous and has many health issues, but since the death of the Birthing Tree this has been the only way to procreate. Boss Enzo is trying to save us all."

"The Birthing Tree isn't dead, and I hardly call this a neighborhood." Yiu spoke a bit harshly. "Don't you want to live under free will?"

"That's where you've been brainwashed. People from the big town don't know how beneficial it is to live here in the forest. It's not like they leave us unsheltered. And our biggest advantage is that we live away from the wicked Kami Kai; somebody who can kill us in a flash. What a truly frightening person."

Imagine if he knew. She bit her lips. "But Grandpa Jin…is this means of a rebelling against the Kai?"

"No." he crossed his legs. "I wouldn't call it that just yet. The only one who really wants to remove the Kai is Boss Enzo for unknown purposes. Rumor has it that he isn't all Shenlonian. But I'm just an old man blabbering away." He turned away giving a jolly laughter to all. "It's not a bad idea though, wanting to leave. I would love to see the sun every day."

Yiu lay down onto the hard stiff wood, pretending to sleep. If what Grandpa Jin said held true, then she could make many assumptions about Enzo. Sure he had the black silk hair, but his eyes were a different color, he bled red, and he needed to sleep often. Those were the things Shens didn't do. Not to mention, he had a tail like that of a monkey she had seen in a zoo once on Earth.

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The Saiyan Prince lay awake too; thinking about her. She seemed to be a little disappointed, and that alone made him upset. Am I doing something wrong? The twisting in his core thought so. He kicked off his sheets and ran to her room. "Yiu?" he knocked twice meekly. "I'm coming in." the doors creaked slowly as he stepped inside only to be met with solitude. That instant, he knew something was wrong. She was always in her room, and if she went somewhere she told him. "Yiu!" he called off her balcony and tried to feel her power level. The strange weather here made him lose his senses, but he could feel it. It was weak like a dim fire in the rain, which must have meant she wasn't in town. She was somewhere, close but far, in the terrifying wilderness of Shen.


Tune in next time to see some parts of Shen beyond the barrier! Oh and it may be some fluff in the next chapter or perhaps too explicit for some so WARNING :) based on the audiences' judgement.

As always, I appreciate you folks taking the time to read, but I hope you guys will also Review and help me with my writing (or to just tell me that I suck or that I'm doing okay would be cool). (Help me through, these are hard times man.) JKJK.

See you guys and gals next time on Monday!

-HB123