Tarble in the Family

by FireStorm1991

Sequel to dragocscilvio's What You Saiyan. There can never be a calm moment in any Saiyan's or demon's life. With comfort comes chaos, and when another estranged family member arrives, a certain Saiyan hybrid has to work through his old issues that he thought were long buried. One thing is for certain; there's bound to be trouble. Cover Art by RheaSarama on DeviantArt

10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, YYH, or the characters

Okay…so I know it's been a while here, but you can't really fault us…

On my end, I had to deal with surgery, internships and volunteer work, getting into grad school, dealing with a very traumatic death in the family, summer internship, getting a masters in one year instead of two, moving multiple times, losing my last laptop because it got fried, getting another internship set in course for the fall, and all during that dealing with family drama, multiple wedding affairs and so on.

On dragoscilvio's end, she had a missions trip overseas, got injured on said trip, moved across country back in the states for new job, wedding drama on her end, and then learning how to potty train 19 two year olds for her new job dealing with lots children. And I tasked her with writing the fight scenes...

Needless to say, we're working on it.

Enjoy!

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Hiei's tail tightened around his waist while his friends were talking with his family. He had been listening intently to the story of how Tarble and Gure ended up together when he felt a shift in the air. Only two others seemed to notice the shift, Kurama and Vegeta. Everyone else finished listening to the strange story the three tuned out. When Tarble noticed that his son and brother weren't even paying attention and were staring out far away from their group, he grew concerned.

"What's wrong?" he asked them, but his question went unanswered.

The Z Fighters knew the look on Vegeta's face. Having been a battle trained veteran of the disembodied PTO, they knew if he felt a battle was coming, it was. What concerned them more was that Hiei had the same look on his face, and even Kurama, his normally jocular yet wise friend. Something was very wrong.

"What do you think it could be?" Hiei questioned the redhead.

"I'm not sure," he answered, his voice deeper than the rest of the group save the spirit detectives had ever heard. "Whatever it is, it is not good."

"There's no energy," Vegeta stated. "Whatever it is can't be sensed, or doesn't want to be."

"What are you three talking about?" Bulma snapped making the three look towards her. "I mean, seriously, share with the rest of the group."

"She's right you know," Kuwabara interjected. "What's got you all spooked."

Hiei scoffed at the human's ignorance. "We're not 'spooked,'" he told him. "You with your spiritual awareness should be able to sense what we are."

Kuwabara jolted at the mention of his awareness. He had simple been enjoying himself, not sensing anything but mostly because he hadn't been focused. Stretching out his mental sense, he reached out to feel for what they were feeling. Despite lacking awareness, Yusuke and even Trunks did the same.

"Jeez, what is that?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"It's familiar," Kuwabara said in a daze. "Like something out of the tournament."

This earned a questioning look from Goku and the other Z Fighters. "The WMAT?" the Saiyan questioned.

"No," Hiei replied darkly, his face shadowing over with ire. "The Dark Tournament."

"The 'what' tournament?" Bulma shrieked making all of the Saiyans within earshot cringe.

"It's…" Hiei started awkwardly, "a very long and complicated story that we don't have time to explain right now, mom."

Vegeta glanced over to his son and his friends and saw the wary looks they were exchanging with each other. "Dr. Ichigaki," Kuwabara stated, making the others nod. Apparently they believed they knew whoever was responsible for what they were sensing, and they weren't happy.

"Who is this Dr. Ichigaki?" Vegeta questioned Hiei.

The Saiyan hybrid scoffed and motioned towards the redheaded human. "He knows more about him than I do. I only saw the bastard briefly."

"Ooooo, Hiei said a bad word," Bra chanted. Hiei's eyes widened when he realized his little sisters were still outside.

"I will put money in the dang jar if you and Yukina go inside, now," Hiei ordered with little force. Yukina frowned at him but understood. She wasn't a fighter, and where Bra trained a little, she was still a child and did not need to fight.

"A swear jar?" Yusuke snickered with an incredulous grin. "Well, I've been wondering how your language got all squeaky clean so suddenly."

"Trust me," Bulma glared playfully at her son "it was an effort, but the swear jar has helped clean up the profanity around here…" the bluenette's eyes slid to her husband in a pointed smirk, "for everyone."

Hiei rolled his eyes as his father gave an indignant scoff, fighting the urge to give a forcible face palm before growling, "We can talk about the blasted jar later, for now we have bigger problems that require the girls to take cover!"

"I don't want Yukina and Botan to be alone, though," Kuwabara stated his gaze full of urgent meaning as it met Hiei's making the fire demon to nod in agreement.

"Nor Bra," he murmured.

"I'll go with them," Yamcha offered.

Both Hiei and Vegeta looked over to him like he was crazy before Vegeta nodded. He turned to his brother and wife and said, "Bulma, go inside, and Tarble, Gure should go inside as well."

"Like heck I am!" Bulma snapped. "Do you honestly think after everything we've seen and been through I'm missing this?"

"Mom, do as dad says," Hiei demanded forcefully, "now!"

Before Bulma could scold Hiei for his tone, a blast flew past them, destroying another part of the backyard like Tarble's ship had. All the Z fighters stood up, the meal currently forgotten as all the fighters got ready. Yamcha managed to grab Bulma and Gure leading them Yukina, Botan and Bra into the compound, all of them watching from behind glass doors.

"Holy…" Yusuke muttered before Trunks whistled.

"Mom's contractors are so not going to like this," Trunks stated making his father roll his eyes.

Tarble looked over to Hiei who was already crouched into some sort of battle stance. He was ready to attack the intruder with all of his energy. The young prince had no idea where he had gotten such a battle drive when both he and Hina were peaceful. Images of Hiei needing to survive and defend himself entered Tarble's mind, and he felt his own energy rise in anger. The ice maidens had taken whatever childhood Yukina or Hiei could have had from them, and it caused them to be involved with terrible things. When his son's friends also got ready to attack, including Kurama who was holding a thorny whip that appeared from nowhere, he realized that something was in fact very wrong.

When the smoke cleared, they were all shocked to see a metallic glossed Hiei staring back at them. The demon/Saiyan hybrid looked at the imposter with an open mouth and furrow brow. He had no idea what was going on or why he was about to be fighting…himself. "W-What are you?" he questioned making the metalloid version of himself smirk.

"Wouldn't you like to know," the clone answered in a voice that seemed very close to Hiei's register. Those with sensitive hearing could hear a kink as the clone's neck shifted when he glanced up and down Hiei's form. "Hn, there's not much to you, is there?"

Hiei growled at the insult. Being put down was not something he let go very easily. Flames appeared in his hand as he glared at the imposter. "Big talk coming from a cheap copy," Hiei retorted. "Did that fool, Ichigaki, build you? Pathetic."

The clone Hiei grinned. "Dr. Ichigaki? No. And built? Surely I don't look like one of his metallic toys."

"You are pretty shiny," Kuwabara remarked. Hiei looked to the redhead like he was nuts. "But you do look sort of human."

"Ha!" the other Hiei laughed while throwing his head back. "Even your friend isn't human. I'm probably closer to that than he is. After all, I am an android."

And that's when the Z Fighters exchanged glances and became more defensive save for Trunks and Goten.

"So, you're Gero's monstrosity, are you?" Vegeta questioned smoothly. "His so called 'perfect' creation ended up destroyed by a boy more than a decade ago. You stand no chance."

The android looked over to the Saiyan prince and grinned. "I'm not a creation of Dr. Gero either."

"Then what are you?" Kurama asked smoothly. "You say you're an android, and you've implied you're more human than Hiei. Is that to say that you are not demon, nor Saiyan? How is it you look like him?"

"The fox is full of questions," the copy jeered. "I did say I was an android, a modified human if you will, though thanks to Dr. Ichigaki's successor, my appearance is much different. Though I am not demon nor Saiyan, I have access to the powers of the being I copy. There are more like me, based on the four of you, and," the android paused as he extended his pointer finger towards the Z Fighters, "all of them."

"So," Trunks spoke up, "the only way some hack scientist thinks he can defeat us is to use copies of us and stealing the technology of two scientists who failed in destroying us before. Yeah, that'll work."

Goten snickered, but the copy didn't get the joke. His cold, lifeless eyes moved towards the lavender-haired Saiyan. "If you were smart you'd all stay out of the fight. This is between my master and them. And my master is using the technology of two brilliant scientists. Together, it will be enough to destroy them and you if you decide on any foolish heroics."

"Who was talking about heroics?" Vegeta sneered. "If you are in fact a copy of my son, then you should know that us Saiyans live for battle."

"Heh," the copy laughed. "My master fixed those flaws when constructing us."

Hiei growled at his doppelganger as both Vegeta and Trunks glared at the android.

"Okay, then," Yusuke said punching his fist to his hand. "It's been a while since we've had a good fight. Let's do this."

"Wait, detective," Hiei said coolly as he held out his arm to block his friend. "This cheap copy said that this was a test, and the one to dismantle him should be me."

"But Hiei, you-" Kuwabara tried to protest, but he was silenced by Hiei's hardened eyes.

"I'll be fine." He smirked. "A week and a half of rest is not enough to dull my blade, nor my abilities."

Kuwabara stepped forward, stretching out an arm, fully prepared to stop the Jaganshi from making his way onto the battle field but Yusuke stopped the carrot top. "No, you heard the man," the detective murmured before giving a smirk. "He has his mind made up, and you know how he gets."

The psychic pursed his lips stubbornly before meeting the determined gaze of the fire demon forcing him to lower his arm. "Fine," he spat, "but as soon as it looks like the fight is going south I'm stepping in, and you'll just have to deal with it!"

The rest of the group turned to Hiei awaiting his outrage but only found the young man smirking at his friends and giving a careless shrug. "Fine," he growled good-naturedly as he walked past the two teens, "but you won't get the opportunity."

"We'll see about that," Kuwabara muttered.

With a confident swagger the demon strode out to face his copy, both hands in his pockets and the familiar heft of his sword set firmly between his shoulder blades. The look alike watched him carefully, arrogance wreathed across his features as he assessed his opponent.

"You don't stand a chance against me," the android smirked. "I've already analyzed you and found your energy levels are low, not to mention didn't you just recently get off bedrest? How can you honestly pose a threat to me?"

"Like I said," Hiei sneered, "you're just a cheap copy, and everyone knows that you can never beat the original."

"Aw, Hiei going and making movie reference," Trunks sniffed theatrically wiping away a fake tear. "Makes me proud to see him growing up so fast."

Yusuke snorted slapping the lavender haired boy upside the head playfully. "How do you know he was making a movie reference? That applies to a lot more than Hollywood you know."

"Because," Trunks retorted sticking his tongue out, "Hollywood is the only one stupid enough to try to beat the original. If it was a success or a classic, they just have to do a remake!"

Hiei rolled his eyes as the android cocked one metallic eyebrow. "Is this place rampant with ignorant fools?!" the copy snarled.

"Normally I'd agree with you," Hiei sighed, a small smile lighting his features as he listened to the good natured heckling and laughter coming from the group behind him, "but I assure you that while their sanity may sometimes certainly be in question, they are far from ignorant fools."

"So says you," the android scoffed, "but obviously you've been tainted by them, which is a shame considering I've been force fed so much tedious information concerning how strong you all are. It actually got to the point that I was becoming eager for our meeting, as you would provide a challenge, but I see that I was fool."

"Now that is something we can both agree on," Hiei murmured, malicious grin stretching his face with blood thirsty intent. "You are a fool, but not for the reason you think."

Yusuke stopped his joking around with Trunks as soon as he saw Hiei's body shift from casual to that of a feral cat hunting its prey. "Get ready," he smiled to Trunks, "because the show's about to start."

Trunks turned his attention back to his brother part of him awed as he always was at Hiei's mastery in the art of battle, but also a slight edge of fear. There was something different about the way Hiei moved at this moment that Trunks had never seen before. It was subtle but glaring all at the same time, and only a trained fighter would notice the change.

The small form didn't merely walk over the grass. It flowed, smooth and cool like liquid over rocks in a brook. Muscles, bones, and tendons all came together in a symphony of movement that was at once beautiful to watch but sent a shiver of fear down the Saiyan hybrid's spine. Before Trunks could even blink, Hiei had drawn his sword and was slinking towards his opponent flipping the blade expertly with one hand as he gnashed sharp fangs. The intent to kill practically radiated off him, and not for the first time did Trunks feel the palpable difference between his and Hiei's raising.

"Shall we begin?" Hiei hissed.

"Let's," the copy snarled.

As one the duo sprinted forward, the android drawing his own blade (with much less finesse and elegance than Hiei, Kurama wryly noted) and the metal clashed together with a ringing clang that set your teeth on edge and echoed in your ears. Spark flew as Hiei pressed his sword sending it screeching down to his opponent's hilt, and bracing his feet into the lawn as he pushed the android backwards. The copy grimaced against the sheer brute force that impossibly came from such a diminutive source.

"Impressive," he chuckled humorlessly. "I didn't know something so small could contain such strength."

"Ooh, bad move," Kuwabara grimaced. "Calling him short is a bad idea. Only we get away with that."

"We do," Yusuke smirked using a finger to motion to himself and Kurama, "but I'm not so sure about you."

"Hey! I'm one of the shrimp's friends too ya know?!"

"You can argue about who I consider friends later," Hiei ground out as he twisted his blade sending his opponent tumbling backwards. "For now can you all please…shut up and let me fight?!"

"Jerk," Yusuke muttered as the two clashed yet again.

Hiei blocked another attack, knocking the opposing blade aside three times, each sweep aiming for vital organs before rushing in for his own offensive move only find himself rebuffed and pushed back onto the defensive. A grimace pushed the corners of his mouth into a deep frown as he felt sudden strain on his body, barely ten minutes into the battle and Hiei could already tell that the man he was fighting was a skilled and methodical fighter, no doubt due to programming and countless hours of repetitive training in order to master his copy of the Jaganshi's technique. However, Hiei could sense a lack within the style itself, the very flavor that Hiei had given birth to during the hours of turmoil and struggle that so frequently accompanied his own grueling training sessions, was markedly missing.

Even with that subtle difference between their fighting styles, the man had mimicked Hiei enough that he was difficult to beat much less find a viable opening. Hiei could already feel his body begin to weary with the toll that the battle was already taking on his weakening form. In a flash, though, Hiei spotted a sliver of a chance through an unguarded moment, and the Jaganshi moved in to take full advantage of it. Sliding his sword in a slight upward arc. The demon smiled mercilessly as he felt the familiar tug and pull of sliced flesh along the tip of his blade.

The android screamed in pain as he leapt backwards clutching his now bleeding side "YOU?!" he shrieked. "How dare you?!"

"Huh," Yusuke mused, "so they do bleed."

"Under all that metal is warm flesh," Hiei smirked. "How advantageous, for me that is."

"This is crazy," Tarble whispered as he watched his son clashing with his doppelgänger. It was no surprise that the Saiyan had never seen fighting quite like this in his lifetime. After all, he was not a fighter. The planet he was sent to was peaceful and no one fought. The only true fight he had ever seen was his brother and the Z fighters fight against Abo and Kado the last time he was on Earth.

Vegeta, though his focus had been mainly on Hiei's fight, looked down to his brother, no emotion appearing on his face. He didn't know what Tarble was thinking in this moment, but he couldn't be surprised by Hiei's fighting capabilities. They had seen many of his memories, so his style should have been expected. The older Saiyan only hoped that his younger brother wasn't judging the demon/Saiyan hybrid. He didn't know that he couldn't be further from the truth.

"I'm glad Hiei got an opening," the Saiyans heard Kuwabara whisper. "For a minute, it looked like he was slowing down."

"He needs to end this quickly," Kurama agreed. "With his injuries, one wrong move could cost him."

Tarble looked over to the psychic and demon fox. "How could you two talk so casually about death?"

"We're just kind of used to it," Yusuke answered, not removing his eyes from Hiei. "But Hiei's been in worse scrapes before and still been fine. I mean, he fought people at the Dark Tournament with a paralyzed arm. This isn't nearly as bad."

Vegeta didn't know much about Hiei's past with his friends. The Jagan had only showed them up to a certain point, but definitely not anything to do with his work with Spirit World. It actually surprised him that Hiei managed to sustain an injury like that yet still fight. It just reminded him how resilient his son truly was. Hiei was always managing to impress him.

"Had enough yet?" Hiei taunted the wounded android. He sounded very confident in this moment as the copy was trying to reign in his pain. Vegeta mentally chuckled. Apparently this clone doesn't have Hiei's style OR his tolerance for pain, he thought to himself. His son had this fight.

The demon hybrid sauntered around the android, his seemingly casual stride falsified only by the sword still held at the ready by his side and the tenseness of shoulders giving the slightest of quivers as Hiei felt even more of his strength slip away. The teen grimaced, feeling his heart clench as his chest constricted and a sharp pang flitted across his left lung. Closing his eyes, the Jaganshi drew an even breath making it just shallow enough so not to cause unnecessary pain but still allow him to steady his breathing. Unfortunately, that decision was a bad one.

"Galick Dragon!"

Hiei's eyes popped open, and he had just enough time to release a small gasp and jump awkwardly to his right as a purplish black dragon blew past him arcing into the sky, twisting and writhing across the lawn and towards the mansion.

Hiei landed rough, a strangled cry ripping itself from his lips as his body unconsciously curled up in the fetal position when agony once again stabbed his chest and left side. Muscular arms wrapped around his torso, Hiei twisted his head around as dull unfocused eyes followed the path of the dragon. His heart skipped a beat, but this time it had nothing to do with his recovery, the dragon was heading directly towards the mansion. Red orbs widened, and Hiei rolled over onto his stomach, struggling to pull himself up onto now trembling arms in an attempt to run into his home.

"Y-Yukina," he gasped, chest heaving with labored shallow breaths "Bra! Get out of there!"

Too late, the dragon crashed into the building, but mercifully only grazed the top leaving the bottom (and the kitchen which was where the girls were standing watching the fight) untouched. Hiei stumbled to his feet, only to double over and collapse back onto the grass, his mind only on the safety of the people taking cover within the mansion.

Strong arms gripped Hiei's shoulders, making the demon suddenly aware that his nose was bleeding again and his body was being wracked with uncontrollable tremors, pulling him close so that he would have the support he needed to stand to his feet.

"They're fine," a voice yelled in his ear. "The dragon didn't touch them!"

"But Bo-Botan," the Jaganshi wheezed, wincing as his heart gave another pang, "and Mom, th-they're in the house."

Yusuke, for that's who it was, Hiei realized when he finally had the strength to turn his head to look up into concerned brown eyes, merely shook his head. "His dragon isn't as strong as yours, otherwise they would have been consumed by it. As it stands it only took off the roof."

Relief swept through Hiei's frame like an ocean wave breaking on the shore, and his knees buckled making Yusuke scramble to get a stronger grip on him so not to let his friend tumble to the ground. "Good," the Jaganshi murmured weakly, "that's good."

"Heh," the android scoffed, "look at yourself. The way I heard it you would sooner behead someone before allowing them to treat you like you're weak. What happened to you flying shadow?"

Hiei flinched at the disgusted snarl calling him by the translated version of his name. The android saw this and continued his rant, goading the small demon. "You were once a feared assassin and thief known throughout all the demon realm. My Master told me that you despised all forms of weakness and that you discarded anything or anyone who you deemed to be weak. Your shadow was the last thing your enemies saw before meeting a very bloody end, and you were famed for the ferocity of your great Dragon technique. But now look at you, a mewling quim without the energy to put up a decent fight much less summon your dragon, while I on the other hand can do this all day without suffering even the slightest dip in my energy levels. Who's superior now?"

Silence reigned within the lawn as the Dragon gave one last shriek and then disappeared in crackling black lightening, wind blew through the tense atmosphere of the battleground, until suddenly a soft voice broke the quiet.

"Hiei is."

The android snapped his attention to Kuwabara who had stepped up and blocked their enemy's view of their Jaganshi by putting his body protectively between them. "Hiei is superior, you jerk," the carrot top spat. "You're just a coward who instead of challenging Hiei to a fair fight, decided to attack when he was still recovering from a life or death coma! How spineless is that? And on top of that, you still have the gall to insult Hiei by saying he's weak when you're the one bleeding?! His dragon could eat yours as an appetizer, and the fact that Hiei trusts us enough to let us support him isn't weakness, because I sure don't remember any easy battles when we fought to earn his respect! So don't you dare look down your nose at our friend, because while Hiei may be vulnerable right now, he's backed up by an entire group of people who consider him our family, and we're fresh as a daisy and ready to fight!"

Fists clenched with the fury now racing through Kuwabara's frame hard enough to make him tremble, the teen stomped over the copy, using his height to his advantage so to loom over the android with an intimidating sneer before giving a dark whisper. "And even you aren't cocky enough to take on all of us, are you?"

The android assessed the human with an impassive gaze before giving a smirk. "No, I'm not, but…they are."

Hiei's copy pointed at the sky, where the Z fighters and the detectives were shocked to find even more androids heading straight towards them, each one a copy of the gathered fighters.