So I apologize…a lot for taking so long to post. You see my professors aren't really professors. They're adjuncts. Which means they have real world jobs. Makes them great adjuncts, right? Makes them bad professors. They don't do midterms. Nope. They do three quarter presentation terms. This means that for the past few weeks I have been reading journal articles, writing presentations, doing research and generally all of the worst aspects of masters level student life for every class all at once. Oh, and my course load is ridiculous by grad student standards so they can get us all shipped out the door in one year. Yep. I'm going to probably die of starvation because I might forget to eat in the midst of this. The good news is: I haven't been suffering any writer's block—kind of. In fact, during the more boring lectures, I've been writing. Just not on this current part of the story. Sorry. *hangs head* But! when we get to the next leg of Tessa's journey, the updates will come more timely. Promise!
Nesradana: I really hope you weren't holding your breath, I'd feel terrible if you were. Sorry about the slowness. I promise that the story will pick up in pace in the coming future.
Chapter 12: The Planet of Grand Kai
Tessa walked through the gardens of Grand Kai's planet and breathed in deeply the scents of the glorious flowers. This was yet again one of those moments that she was still indescribably elated to be here. She had never imagined coming this far when she'd first arrived in Otherworld so many years ago. Now, to actually be on the planet of the Grand Kai and awaiting the start of the Otherworld Martial Arts Tournaments seemed like just too much. The tournament only occurred once every hundred years and each of the Otherworld trainers would bring their best students to compete. Tessa's back now bore the symbols of four Kais, but she had trained with others briefly in between. In a sense, she was entering the tournament as a free agent, not representing any particular fighting style or sensei. She smiled. She preferred it that way. It gave her a sense of freedom by not being attached to anyone.
Melon trailed behind, amused by her interest in these gardens when the Kai of the East had had far more spectacular specimens that she'd tended to in her garden. He realized then that Tessa had probably found those plants to be far too unearthly as they'd been amongst the more rare species of the galaxy. However, this garden was filled with flowers from Earth as well as a few others that blended in nicely.
"Which one do you like?" Melon asked breaking the silence and Tessa turned to look back at him as she smiled thoughtfully.
"I don't know. They're all pretty I guess."
"Hm, but all girls have a favorite flower. What's yours?"
"Why? Are you going to pick me a bouquet of them?" she teased rolling her eyes. She turned gazing along the ground before spotting the flower that looked like the one from her dreams of Vegeta-sai. She could still remember the fields of them that had grown just outside the capital city. She and Vegeta would dash away from Nappa's barely watchful eye in order to play and train. Occaisionally bringing Raditz with them so Vegeta could have a sparring partner. Looking back she realized that it was only in their heads that escape was a challenge. When in reality, it had been planned by their parents to have an unwitting nursemaid. Just as it was planned that Raditz would be Vegeta's sparring partner due to his lower class.
She sighed as she crossed her arms behind her head and smiled at the good memories that she did have. Not everything had been horrible about her life she supposed. Refocusing on the flowers, she recognized them to be white gerber daisies, their petals large and floppy with a brilliant shade of yellow at the center.
Melon caught the attention of her gaze and stooped plucking one stepping back towards her. He stuck it into her hair behind her ear and smiled. "How like you to pick such a simple flower."
"Are you calling me simple?"
"No," he snorted. "I'm saying it's like you to see the beauty in even the most simple of things while most people would over look it."
"Oh." Her cheeks flushed hotly as she lowered her gaze and Melon caught her by the chin, raising her face towards his again.
"It's a good thing, Tess. I'm grateful everyday that you are the way you are. No one else would look past my appearance to see something more."
If possible, her cheeks felt hotter and she wasn't sure if it was his words or his touch that caused the blood to rush to the surface of her face. She quickly turned away towards a nearby tree, and leaned back against it allowing herself to slide down into a sitting position. Melon followed and after a few moments sat down beside her, twirling another daisy between his fingers so that the petals would lift against the forces of gravity.
Tessa sighed as she sat next to Melon, leaning on his shoulder and enjoyed the peaceful, yet thoughtful, silence. After so long, she had grown to appreciate silence with Melon. It was comfortable with him, sitting under this tree outside the grounds for the tournament. For now things were still quiet and it wasn't crowded yet. But it was silence begging to be broken. "Melon-chan, do you think I'm pretty?"
He blinked glancing sideways down at her. How to answer and walk away intact? "Um, yes?" He hoped that was the right answer. It was hard to tell with her. Sometimes she would be 100% warrior, other times, a complete and total flirt. If he ever guessed wrong, he'd be facing the 100% princess within seconds. It was like playing with fire and trying to guess which end of a three dimensional spectrum she was choosing to inhabit at the moment.
She looked confused at his hesitation and then smiled beamingly. "Good."
"Good?" he echoed raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, good. Because I think you're handsome. I didn't want it to be awkward," she said settling against his shoulder again as she sighed contentedly.
Melon gazed down at her spiky hair and his brow furrowed. "Well congratulations on achieving a whole new level of awkward," he commented causing her to look back up at him again.
"Why? Do you want to kiss me?" she asked teasingly as she brushed a finger up over his chest. She refused to second guess herself on this one because otherwise she'd be self-conscious around him for a very long time. Besides, she was fairly certain that he did have feelings for her. You didn't spend twenty years with someone and not notice. Besides, anyone who fought as often as they did had to have some sort of tension between them that went much deeper than their petty fights. She was just crossing her fingers that it was sexual tension and not something else.
His hands instantly came up in front of him like a defensive shield. "W-what ever made you ask that?!" The flower now hung precariously on his left hand, laced between his fingers.
His shift in posture forced her to relent his shoulder as her pillow and she begrudgingly sat up straight. "You kissed me before. But you haven't kissed me again since. But you do think I'm pretty," she said ticking the items off on her hand as her brow creased with thought. Actually, that was a good point. Why hadn't he kissed her since then? It wasn't exactly as if she were jail bait or anything. Sure, she was stuck in a sixteen year old body, but she was now of the maturity of a thirty year old, at least, a Saiyan thirty year old. Actually, that wasn't saying much. She sighed in frustration of still being a teenager. A very large part of her was ready to grow up. Somedays it felt like her diminuitive size was holding her back from that.
"I kissed you in order to steal your energy. That's hardly romantic!" he scoffed trying to play it off and she narrowed her eyes.
"You didn't have to kiss me to steal it though. You could have just grabbed my wrist and held me still," she argued. Her now fully grown tail was flicking back and forth in agitation behind her and Melon found his gaze being drawn to it, unable to look her in the eyes.
"I-I could have. I just didn't think I'd be able to keep you still long enough that way." As he talked with his hands in agitation, the flower danced back and forth, darting across Tessa's attention and she blinked in order to refocus on his face.
"So it was just a tactic?"
Uh oh. I just officially jumped feet first into my own deeply dug hole, didn't I? His eyes locked with hers again and he fearfully waited for the lethal strike to come. He had just inadvertently insulted her, deeply. If there was one thing he regretted, it would be those words that misconstrued his true actions so long ago. He had kissed her because he'd thought he'd never see her again—at least never speak to her again. But how was he supposed to admit that any kiss he gave her would have to be a kiss goodbye? "Tess, please…we've talked about this. I've made mistakes, and I thought we'd moved past the 'I apologize and hope you don't kill me stage'."
"I want you to kiss me."
"I'm not going to do that," he said suddenly stern as his eyes narrowed. On this matter he would not, could not apologize.
"Well, why not."
"Because you can't force someone to do that!" No matter how much they want to without your prodding. His voice had risen in pitch on the last word almost making it sound as if his voice had cracked like a pubescent. His countenance darkened as he scowled. He hated the fact that anytime they fought he always ended up having to break down or look like an idiot. And once again, she was going to succeed in doing just that.
"But you think I'm pretty."
"That's beside the point!" Not pretty. Gorgeous in that firey way that seems catch my eye. And I really need to stop thinking along these lines or I'll spend another twenty years losing arguments.
"No it's not," she snapped crossing her arms over her chest.
"Look, this is just another example of how you're still just a child. You don't even understand what you're asking," he huffed standing up.
She stared up at him dumbfounded, blinking as the flower finally slipped from his hand and bounced against her face before falling to the ground. It was just a flower, but it felt like he'd struck her across the face with his hand instead. Child? Did he actually just call me a child? It took all the will power she had remaining not to burst into tears and prove him right. But her constraint was faltering as her lower lip began to tremble and she quickly looked away hoping to hide her physical reaction to his words. She buried her face into her hands, trying to press and tighten the skin across her face until she was no longer capable of emotional reaction. It wasn't exactly effective, or pleasant, and she softened her grip on her own face.
"Tess," he sighed and he got no response aside from her scooting slightly so that she was turning further away from him. His shoulders sagged as he looked down at the girl and he frowned deeply. He was starting to develop an unfortunate knack for hurting her feelings. And worse yet, he seemed to be honing the talent with time. "Tess, I didn't mean it."
"Yes you did!" she sobbed turning her back towards him even further. "Just leave me alone. I wouldn't want to bother you with my childish antics any further."
"Tess, come on. You're not bothering me."
"Apparently I am. Now shoo. You don't need to baby-sit me any longer."
"It's not baby-sitting. I like to think of it as teen-sitting," he said lightly as he smiled gently hoping to get a better reaction.
That did it. Now there were real waterworks pouring down over her fingers as they were no longer able to be contained by her hands and Melon gazed skyward praying that any Kai whatsoever would intervene. Her knees were now drawn up into her chest as she crossed her arms over them only to bury her face completely into her lap so that no one could look at her and so that she didn't have to look at anyone either.
Melon figured calling her a crybaby wouldn't help the situation and so he sat down on the ground next to her again—silently. He stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned back on his hands and wondered how long it would last before she returned to some of her senses. That and how long it would take for him to realize he was a moron that needed a muzzle in order to stop hurting her feelings. He sighed and closed his eyes. Yes, a muzzle would do the trick. However, it would be hard to explain why he needed one. Everyone would just assume he was a rabid demon and not just a hurtful person.
They sat awkwardly for a long time before Melon finally leaned forward and placed a hand on Tessa's shoulder. She hiccupped and looked back over her shoulder at him. Surprisingly, she didn't shrug him off. Her eyes were wide and red from crying and she placed her hand over his and squeezed it tightly. "I'm s-sorry," she said as her breathing hitched and Melon sighed gazing down at her.
"Why are you sorry?" he asked rotating his wrist so that he was now holding her hand and gently tugged her towards him and she came compliantly. He had her turned so her back was against his chest as he cradled her in his arms. All the while, he still held her hand as he leaned his chin onto her shoulder. It was extraordinarily tempting to brush his nose against her temple or to nibble ever so gently on her ear but he restrained himself as he blinked slowly.
"For being an immature brat," she sniffed and Melon smiled as he gazed at the side of her face. He raised one hand to brush back the strands of hair that hung in her face hiding her eyes and she cast a sideways glance at him before closing her eyes and turning her head.
"I don't mind so much," he replied leaving his fingers resting against her temple for a moment before letting them trail back through her hair once more.
"But you do. I know you do," she hiccupped.
"Shh…" Melon let the air out slowly through pursed lips and she glanced sideways at him again and he smiled. "Alright, so you may have some moments that are worse than others," he consented. "But I've accepted that about you."
"I don't deserve you," she said softly turning her head to fully look at him and he was taken aback for a moment. It was those words that made him realize that he was doing it again. He was being overly affectionate and attentive. He needed to stop doing that. It wouldn't do any good to rebuke her if he was just going to turn around and act like this.
"Tess, you deserve better," he managed to spit out, his expression tightening as his hands immediately dropped.
"I don't see anyone else around who's taking the time to dry my tears," she replied forcing a brave smile.
"I also don't see anyone else around that's making you cry."
Her smile widened a little and became more natural. "I don't mind. Crying is better than nothing. At least this way, I know there's a part of me that's still alive."
"You're masochistic," he muttered lowering his gaze.
"Just one more thing to add to my laundry list of flaws," she sighed in fake exasperation. "I don't know how you could possibly believe I'm cut out to be a tennin with so many detrimental qualities."
Melon smirked a little realizing that by now she'd moved past upset and hurt and onto the phase where she was fishing for compliments in order to repair her self-esteem. The question was now whether or not he should play along. "You're right," he said leaning his head back a little. "You're nowhere near beautiful enough. You'd probably be better off in Hell as a demon with a complexion like yours."
Tessa scoffed indignantly and poked her nose into the air as she crossed her arms over her chest. Melon just chuckled at her reaction as he lowered his gaze again. Like hell he'd tell her that if she couldn't be a tennin, the only reason why would be sheer jealously on the part of the other tennins.
Tessa danced from one foot to another in nervous energy as she waited for her first round of the tournament to start. Unlike on Earth, there were no preliminaries to narrow down the field. It was straight into the finals with so few contenders. And all of them looked like worthy contenders.
Melon watched from nearby and finally had had enough watching her do what closely resembled the pee dance. "Enough," he said planting his hands on her shoulders. "You'll burn through all your energy before you've even started," he warned.
"I've got way more than this. I'm just anxious. I can't stand still."
"Well, please try," he said patting her shoulders before letting them go.
Tessa tilted her head for a moment and then grinned having come up with a new way to entertain herself in the interim. "How can you stand to wear those gloves all the time?" Tessa asked, suddenly changing the topic as she grabbed Melon's hands and began peeling his gloves off. He attempted to protest but it was too late and she was holding both of his gloves in her left hand, and in her right hand lay his ungloved left.
He stared at his hand and gulped. "My hands get cold," he muttered trying to pull it back but she had a firm grip on his hand, her thumb running across the back of it in slow massaging circles.
"Lies," she hissed. "Your hand's all sweaty. Seriously, why do you wear those things?" she asked flapping the gloves in the air like a flag. "I could understand if it was some cold hands demon trait or something, but apparently it's not."
"I just prefer to wear them, ok?" he snarled reaching for his gloves but she quickly dodged her hand out of his reach. He darted his hand out again, this time catching her by the wrist and her breath hissed as she dropped the gloves and he released her.
"Hey! That wasn't really necessary. All you had to do was ask nicely." She rubbed her wrist where he'd grabbed her and absorbed her energy in the process. She sent him a glowering look but he ignored it for the most part as he quickly slipped the gloves back on.
He was still trying to calm his heart back down to a normal pace. When she'd stolen his gloves, he thought his heart was going to just give out in the effort to restrain his abilities. That and hwas mentally berating himself for having bad aim. He'd aimed to grab the gloves, not her wrist and look what had happened because of his mistake. The touch of energy that he'd stolen was already making him hyper sensitive to his surroundings. He couldn't ignore her intense gaze boring into his skull for very long, but he was afraid to look into her dark eyes. He was afraid of what he'd do if he did. "Would you have really listened if I'd asked nicely?" he snapped. He kept his eyes and his focus lowered onto his hands until they were adjusted just right again. When he finally raised his gaze she met it with one of her own glares, her bottom lip pushed out in a pout.
"Yes, I would have," she said crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not as mean as you."
"Me? Mean?" Melon snorted at this idea. Being cynical always made it easier to control himself. "If I was mean, then you'd be all alone and lost. Probably have fallen into Hell and not known how to get back out. If I was mean…"
"You're right," she interrupted looking abashed. "I was only teasing. Please don't take it to heart." She was now squeezing both of his gloved hands in her own and giving him a pitiful pleading look. "You're my best friend; of course I don't think you're mean." He stared down at her in surprise at the apology. He hadn't been looking for one. In fact he'd been trying to figure out whether or not he owed her one.
"Let the next round begin!" boomed the Grand Kai's voice and Tessa grinned dancing backwards.
"That's me. Wish me luck," she said flashing him a wide smile and giving him two thumbs up.
"Bad luck to you. Hope you break both your legs," he retorted sarcastically and waved her off dismissively.
"Hey! That'd be great. I'd recover even stronger than before," she joked as she turned and ran out to the platform.
Melon sighed as he turned away from her and shook his head. That had been…interesting. Shoving his hands into his pocket he started towards the side entrance to the waiting area, completely lost in his own thoughts. It'd been a while since he'd gotten sloppy. He was always so careful to not touch her out of fear that this little incident had certainly confirmed a few of his fears. He really couldn't initiate contact without hurting her. That was bad, very bad.
