Chapter XI: Hidden Everything

"That should be enough." Dende said as he stood up. "He had no physical injuries; it was only his ki that was severely weakened, and I've never had to heal any spiritual injury like that before. It's not completely healed, but I think a long rest should help more than anything right now."

Martin sat up, still weak, but in much better shape than when he arrived. "His eyes…" He murmured. "They were so empty...but it felt like they reached out to me and physically shoved me to my knees...it felt so heavy."

"Let's get you to bed." Dende said.

"Be extra careful around him…" Martin said as Dende helped him up. "He's not who he seems to be…" With those words, the two of them walked back into the palace.

After they were gone, Dalton looked up at Mesui. "Care to tell us why you let Deis and Shihebi escape?" He asked.

Mesui chuckled. "Such demanding words from a child of your age." He paused for a second. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you. It seems you have misunderstood my request. I don't blame you, though. You will understand in due time." He turned his head a little. "Although I'd rather you didn't have to find out the hard way." He muttered to himself.

"What was that last part?" Dalton demanded.

"Don't worry about it." Mesui responded. "Anyway, Deis and Shihebi won't be returning until early tomorrow morning at the earliest. Until then the most you can do is get some rest." He looked over at Kibito Kai and he nodded. The two of them started walking away from the group, and Mesui motioned for Axita, who had been quiet this entire time, to follow him.

As the Angel and the God of Destruction put their hands on Kibito Kai's shoulders, Dalton asked Mesui, "Why did you even ask us for our help if you were going to put yourself in harm's way anyway?"

Mesui looked back at him. "Like I said, you misunderstood my request." Then the three of them disappeared into the world of the Kais.

Gogito let out a sigh and started to walk toward the palace. Dalton followed him with his eyes. "Where are you going?" He asked.

Without looking back or slowing down, Gogito responded, "You heard the angel. The best thing for us right now is rest. We shouldn't worry about Universe Three, Ten, or Twelve right now. Let's just carry out the rest of the day like normal."

Dalton just watched him for a while. "Hmm." He grunted to himself. Only Dominick and Dalton were left standing on the edge of the lookout.

"What are you going to do?" Dominick asked his little brother.

Dalton didn't answer him. Instead, he only walked off the edge of the lookout and started flying west at a startling speed.

Dominick watched as he flew off. He was confused, acting like this wasn't new for Dalton. "Well, I guess I'll go home to Ichimei. I didn't mean to leave her by herself this morning." He said to himself.

Dalton honestly didn't know where he was flying, or what was on his mind. That was a lie. He knew exactly what was on his mind, or rather who was on his mind. He just didn't want to admit it to himself. Sakumi.

God, why can't I focus on anything right now? He thought to himself. I have much more important things to think about right now, but how come she takes up so much of my mind?

He found himself hovering still above some trees that covered the back half of an outlook behind Sakumi's school. It seemed like a pretty hidden area, but there were benches near the edge, so people had obviously been there before. A girl was standing behind the railing extending along the edges of the outlook. He knew who it was.

He slowly descended, second-guessing his decision to approach her, but knowing it was too late to turn back now. He landed in front of the bench to the left of Sakumi. She turned her head just enough to see who it was, and jumped a little when she saw him. "D-Dalton." She muttered. "How did you find this place?"

He looked up at her. "It's not this place that I found. It's you." He said.

"Oh…" She let out a quiet and awkward laugh that trailed on for a couple seconds.

"Why aren't you in school?" He asked her.

"It's sunday, silly."

"Mm. Of course." Dalton looked out at the school, and back up at Sakumi. "Why are you here, then?"

"I'm escaping." She replied. "For now, at least. I'm not very fond of my mom at the moment."

"Is your dad not around?" He kept his face calm.

"He left for a business trip when I was around nine. He never came back, so I guess he found another woman or something. Mom didn't seem too sad about it."

"Sorry." There was a moment of silence. "I lost my dad as well. He was killed when I was three."

Sakumi looked down at Dalton, who was staring who knows where. "Do you...want revenge?" She asked him out of the blue. "I do. I want revenge on my dad for leaving me alone with a crazy woman, and I want revenge on my mom for only loving my sister. It didn't ever get bad around the house until Rika moved out."

Dalton continued to stare off into space. "Of course I want revenge. But it's not that simple. I know who did it, but it's someone I've always looked up to. Not because he's stronger than me, no. I could kill him if I tried to. It's because he's able to remain strong in hard times. I break so easily. I can't bring myself to do anything right now."

"You don't seem broken."

"I am, though. Broken beyond repair. I've been filled with rage and anger for these last few days. It's hard to even talk without lashing out." Dalton said, raising his voice. He paused. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Sakumi told him. She stared at him while he kept on looking out into nothing. "Hey. Did you ever know Katsu?" She asked.

"My brother did." Dalton replied.

She laughed a little. "I knew that already. Katsu used to come up here before I did. To escape from his parents, like me. He ranted about his dad to me a lot, but he also talked about your brother, too. He always told me he was irritating, but I somehow knew deep down he envied your brother."

"I got that feeling as well, from what I've seen of him."

"Do you know where he's been lately?" Sakumi asked. "I haven't seen him in over a week."

"You didn't hear?" Dalton looked up at her with a serious face. "Katsu was reported missing last week, and both of his parents were found dead."

Her eyes widened for a second, then she looked out past the school. "He finally did it." She whisper to herself. "I guess he won't be coming back here anymore."

Dalton nodded. Now they both were looking out at the city. It was busy for a sunday. Everyone was going about their daily lives. They had no idea that a God of Destruction and an Angel were planning to destroy the planet. Sakumi had been silent for a while now. Dalton looked up at her to see if she was crying, but she only wore a sad smile.

"Hey." She said, making eye contact with Dalton and still wearing that same sad smile. "Do you ever get the feeling that life wasn't really made for some of us?"

Dalton's face finally changed at this. "What?"

"Like...it feels like this world isn't a fit for me. I feel so out of place and...different from everyone else. It's like I can't function normally in this life anymore."

"Well…" Dalton started. "Yeah, actually. A lot. I don't think I could function in a normal society. I've never been good at getting along with other kids, you know?" She nodded. "But I don't exactly lead a normal life, so I can't completely relate to how you're feeling."

"What if I said I wanted to run away with you? Live your extraordinary life, and just escape from this world I'm not supposed to belong to...would you take me with you?" She was now looking into Dalton's eyes with a sort of intensity.

"It's a dangerous world." Dalton replied. "I can't willingly put you in danger."

"But-" Sakumi started, but she didn't get her thoughts out before Dalton stood up suddenly.

"I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt." What am I saying? "I have to protect you, Sakumi." He reached out to her and touched her cheek. She didn't respond to his touch. She seemed to be ready to let him do anything to her. What am I doing? Dalton thought to himself. A slight gust of wind blew through the trees behind the benches, blowing Sakumi's hair over Dalton's hand. He caressed her cheek. All I know is...I have to protect her. "Right now, the world you want to travel to is in grave danger." He explained. "I can't bring you there now, because you might get hurt. But I'll take care of it. I'll get rid of the dangers. Until then, just stay safe."

Sakumi was staring up at Dalton with wondering, sparkling eyes. Dalton's ears turned bright red once he came back to his senses, and he took a step back and broke eye contact. He turned around. "Just stay safe." He said again. Then he launched himself into the air, flying off to who knows where. Perhaps he didn't even know where he was going.

As she watched him disappear into the sky, Sakumi finally broke into tears.

Ichimei had woken up about an hour after Dominick left that morning. When he got back about two hours after that, she was waiting for him at the door. When he went to enter his home, the door refused to open more than an inch. Frowning, Dominick peeked through the crack created by the slightly opened door, and saw Ichimei. She was asleep, her back resting against the front door, preventing it from being swung open any further. She had obviously been waiting for Dominick to come home. Once he realized this, a wave of guilt fell over him.

"Ichimei." He whispered to her from the crack in the doorway. "Hey, wake up." He saw her head bob up and down a couple of times before rising slowly and looking around, as if to try to remember where she was. She then got up and looked through the crack in the door at Dominick. "Can I come in?" He asked. She smiled and proceeded to close the door and lock it. After a brief pause of astonishment, Dominick chuckled. "I guess I deserve that one." He tried the door again, but to no prevail. "Oh well," He said loud enough for his girlfriend to hear on the other side of the door. "I guess I have to go spend the night at the lookout tonight." He turned around, and as he pretended to walk away, he heard Ichimei's hurried attempt to unlock the door before he left. He heard the door open, and before he could turn around to face the woman, he was tackled from behind, hitting the ground with a thump.

As he struggled to roll onto his back with over one hundred pounds sitting on top of him, he saw his girlfriend in tears. His stomach sank. "I was so scared when I woke up and you were gone…" she said between sniffles. "I thought Katsu was going to come back for me."

"Ichimei, I'm so sorry." He apologized. "It was an emergency, I thought the Earth was in danger, I had no time to wake you up."

She wiped her eyes. "I understand that, you know I do. But I was still scared."

"I can assure you...Katsu is never going to come back for you." Before he finished his sentence, he felt the left side of his vision go completely black. He tried to hide his eye from Ichimei, but she had already seen the black sclera. As he lowered his hand, she reached up to touch his face. He closed his eyes and let her fingers run over his left eye.

"You killed Katsu, didn't you?" She asked. "Did your eye make you do it?"

Dominick didn't answer for a while. When he finally opened his mouth, his words sounded pained. "I can't lie and say I didn't want to kill him. I really wanted him dead." He paused as if to formulate the rest of his answer. "This eye just...has a way of tearing down those walls that prevent me from doing things I know I shouldn't. It completely runs on instinct."

Deis sat in the corner of what looked to be a transparent box in the middle of blackness. Behind him was a giant blue sphere. It looked like a glass orb containing a massive blue dust cloud. It was Universe 7. In the distance there were other Universes, the different numbers represented by different colored clouds encased in their own glass sphere.

"The kid I fought was strong." Deis said to Shihebi, who was sitting with his left elbow resting on his left knee in the adjacent corner of the box. He didn't respond. "He was an irritating kid, but something about him made me like him." There was a pause, and an eerie silence rang through the Universes. "He'd have made an excellent God of Destruction. He hides a lot of hate."

Shihebi still did not respond. In his corner of the box, he sat motionless, seemingly unaware of Deis's existence. From his emotionless slits for pupils, a single tear ran down his face, which contained the memories of over 150 years of suffering.