He burst through the door, tripping over his own feet as he half ran, half flew down the hall of the Ox King's castle.
"Yamcha!"
Up the stairs, round the corner, pulling of his GFA boots as he stumbled into his room, throwing a boot at the door to push it closed as he pulled his pants down, tripping and landing on the four-poster bed…
"Yamcha!"
It was the Ox King himself, barreling through the door, arms open wide and a ridiculous smile on his face.
"Yamcha! You're here!"
"Uncle, I'm getting dressed!"
"Oh, I'm so happy you're home!" The giant man wrapped his teenaged nephew in a bear hug, squeezing him as he desperately attempted to wriggle out of his shirt.
"Uncle! I'm not gonna make the festival!"
"Safe and sound!"
Finally, Yamcha gave up. "I missed you too, Uncle."
"Alright!" The Ox King let his nephew go, and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Get dressed quick! You're going to be late for the festival."
But Yamcha was already rummaging through his closet, trying to find a decent-looking tunic-and-pant set to wear to preside with his uncle and cousin over the festival's special dance.
Four months had passed since he'd first left Vegeta, and it was only as they were preparing to leae that Yamcha realized what day it would be when they got there.
The Shari-Pari Festival dated back longer than anyone could remember; the Ox King liked to joke that the Shari-Pari had invented Fire Mountain, rather than the mountain inventing the festival. Every year as summer made Vegeta even hotter than it was normally, a kaleidoscope of butterflies would come up the mountain to seek shelter in its cool breeze and shady trees. And every year, the Ox King and his Household would prepare to great the Shari-Pari, the spirit of the butterfly, to its summer home.
It was one of the more enjoyable responsibilities of the Ox King.
It was also one of the more expensive ones. The palace was in a tizzy of preparation, putting up last minute decorations, arranging fairy lights, and perhaps most importantly, preparing the food, little bites of patties and cakes that would feed not just the entire population of Fire Mountain, but something like half of that of Ter-Khader as well.
Yamcha had given himself the quickest of baths, just enough to get the smell of stale sweat off him, put on one his better outfits, doused himself in cologne, and was now scrambling down the steps to the castle foyer, where young men were lining up and putting on their drum straps. Girls were tuning their flutes and fixing their braids. Chi Chi was standing with the group, twirling around in a poofy, sparkly dress. Nearby, Lapis and Lazuli stood watching the preparations intently.
"Okay, it's time to go!" The Ox King was lumbering down the stairs, right behind Yamcha. ''Everybody read? Let's go!"
The marchers, all between 14 and 16, formed two lines, alternating boys and girls. They began to drum a beat, marching down the entrance, through the door and out into the beautiful sunny morning.
Outside, and unbeknownst to Yamcha, his teammates, along with Calie, were waiting for the procession to start. Raditz, who'd attended the festival a few times when he was a kid, had decided he wanted to check it out again, and Jasper was heading for Fire Mountain anyway, because of 'the children.'
It had been Calie's idea, actually. Was the festival fun, she'd asked. She'd never gotten to go, because her mother didn't get along with her father and wouldn't allow her to visit him in his home town when she was a kid. Wasn't that sad? They should go. They could call Gine on the way, she could meet them there. Wouldn't that be fun?
Oh, and Tien didn't have anything better to do.
So here they were, squeezed between the crowd waiting for the festival to start. They were soon joined by Goku, Gine, Krillin, Launch, Master Roshi, and Master Gohan, who'd all rallied to Raditz's call.
Goku was jumping up and down excitedly, trying to get a better view through the crowd. "This is so cool! I've never seen this part before!"
"Oh look!" Krillin exclaimed. "Is it starting?"
The musicians had stopped abruptly, parting from each other to make room for the Ox King, Chi Chi, and Yamcha. The Ox King was carrying a heavy bell, and he rang it, once, twice, three times.
There was a lull, and then a young girl appeared from behind the Ox King.
She was a human girl, about 14, tall, with tan skin and thick, black hair piled on her head in an elaborate braid and pinned down with bright, sparkly pins. She was dressed in a bright pink tulle dress that covered her feet and hid soft, flat shoes. Strapped to her back were two paper mache butterfly wings, huge and bright and covered in intricate patterns of blue and pink and lilac and yellow. Her face, arms, and indeed every other exposed part of her body was doused in glitter.
Delighted cheers went up from the crowd.
"It's the Shari-Pari girl!" Goku cheered. "Look, Krillin, can you see? The Shari-Pari girl!"
The two boys were now hovering over the crowd in order to get a good look at the source of the jubilation around them.
"What does the Shari-Pari girl do exactly?" Launch, blue hair tied up in a bun on her head, asked.
"She doesn't really do anything, as far as I understand," Gine said. "Bardock explains it better, this isn't really my culture. But it's basically, every summer the butterflies come back up the mountain, and so to welcome them you have this big festival and you dress up a girl to be the Shari-Pari and she reenacts it, basically."
"The butterfly represents the warmth and brightness of summer," Master Gohan added. "The girl represents the Shari-Pari, the spirit of the butterfly. Only when she returns to the mountain can summer begin."
"But she's already on the mountain," Krillin pointed out.
"Ah, yes, well." Gohan paused as he considered this point. "Well, you see, uh, she's going to come down and then go back up. That's the part that counts."
Krillin gave him a skeptical look.
The music started up again, and the Shari-Pari girl's procession began marching through the crowds and down the main street of the town of Fire Mountain, down the mountain, towards Ter-Kader.
"Did you know you could come up here and watch the procession from the start?" Raditz asked his mother. Tien and Calie had moved to the front to get a better view, and Jasper had long ago straight to the castle to find Lapis and Lazuli.
Gine shook her head. "I was just going to wait at your grandmother's for them to get down like we did the last time, but then Master Gohan said we ought to come up and see the show from the mountain."
"So you've never seen this part before?" Calie had popped up from behind them.
Raditz shook his head. "I wouldn't have come up if mother hadn't told me to."
"Look, there's Yamcha!"
Yamcha was still standing at the foot of the castle with his uncle and cousin, even as the procession moved away from them.
"They're not going down with the Shari-Pari girl?" Calie asked.
"Oh no," Gohan said. "The Ox King and his family must wait on the mountain to welcome the spirit of the Shari-Pari to her summer home. If she comes home and no one is there to greet her, why, she might get upset and leave and never come back."
Goku laughed at that, and Gohan winked at him.
As the procession made its winding way down the mountain parts of the crowd had begun to follow, clapping and cheering to the beat of the drum and the rhythm of the flutes.
"Do we follow them?" Tien asked.
"Yeah! The whole point is the dance that happens in Ter-Kader," Raditz said.
It was a long way down the mountain. Particularly when you were part of a large group, half of which was kids under the age of 15, and most of which were dancing to the music behind the Shari-Pari girl, who was skipping down the path.
When they finally got to Ter-Kader the whole town was out in the streets, and the procession was greeted by cheering and whooping Saiyans.
Goku was having the time of his life. He'd only ever been to the Shari-Pari festival twice before, and those times he'd watched from the sidelines, waiting outside his grandmother's house for the procession to arrive. His father had put him on his shoulders so he could see what was happening, but no view could beat the one he was getting now. The Shari-Pari girl was right in front of him! In the crowd he could really only see her legs, but it was somehow more exciting than seeing her full figure from a distance.
The procession stopped in the middle of town. The crowd began to move away, and the musicians quickly formed a circle around the Shari-Pari girl.
Silence fell over the crowd. It was time for the dance.
Every year the girl chosen to be the Shari-Pari practiced for months ahead of the festival. She had to get the dance exactly right; the slightest mistake would be noticed by a people who'd be watching this dance for a thousand years.
It was an intricate dance that followed the winding path of the flute music, drums beating steadily in the background. The steps were meant to symbolize the Shari-Pari's previous existence as a caterpillar, squirming, lonely, desolate, as it searched for a home. Finally it wrapped itself in a protective cocoon – and here the Shari-Pari girl fell to ground dramatically.
Like most of the children attending, Goku and Krillin were lying on their stomachs between adult feet, the better to see what was happening. She was curled up like a ball on the ground, her wings covering most of her torso and her arms over her head.
"What happens now?"
"Shhh!"
The flutes were silent, and the drummers began to beat louder, faster and faster.
Ba da ba da bum, ba da ba da bum, ba da ba da bum
One minute passed, then two, and then finally, the Shari-Pari girl raised her head. Slowly, she began to lift herself up from the ground, arms unwinding slowly and pushing against the ground, eyes closed, chin pointed upwards, until finally she was on her knees, torso lifted up towards the sky.
The beat sped up.
Slowly, she spread her arms.
The primary sun of Vegeta was high in the sky, big and bright and warm, with only a few errant clouds blocking its light. It sat atop Fire Mountain, blazing red where the rays hit the rocks. The secondary sun was moving towards it, closer and closer, until a surge of light fell onto the Shari-Pari girl's face, bouncing of the glitter and colorful rays of pink and purple and blue.
It lasted for a few seconds, and then the primary sun began to move away.
The Shari-Pari girl opened her eyes. And the crowd cheered.
Summer had come, and the suns drew the Shari-Pari home to the mountain.
Applause, whoops, cheers, laughter – the sounds of joy filled the air as the Shari-Pari girl stood up and turned towards them, smiling and waving proudly.
And then the music picked up, a different song this time, louder and faster as the musicians themselves began to dance. The boys leapt in the air as they beat their drums, the girls twirled, one group throwing their flutes in the air like batons while the other kept the music going, and then alternating. Children joined, clapping and singing and dancing wildly as they made their way home, to Fire Mountain.
It was another couple hours by the time they returned. The Ox King's castle was decorated in even more colored lights and paper mache streamers, the path to it now covered in colorful confetti. The Ox King himself stood prominently in front, ringing his golden bell as the procession approached. Next to him, Yamcha and Chi Chi stood smiling and waving.
Here was a second dance, a dance of homecoming. The Shari-Pari girl presented herself to the mountain's guard, curtseying to the Ox King, who took her hand. Together, they danced. The Ox King's large feet were surprisingly limber with years of practice, and he matched the teenager's every sprightly step.
He twirled her, once, twice, and then suddenly he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air for the whole crowd to see.
"Welcome home!" he bellowed, and they cheered.
It was officially summer.
Raditz had never seen this part of the ceremony – he'd only ever attended the parts that happened in Ter-Kader – and was just now realizing that he was one of a fairly large group of Saiyans that had come up the mountain, mostly children.
"Where'd everyone go?" Tien said suddenly.
They'd lost pretty much everyone in the crowd. Jasper they hadn't seen since he'd gone to look for the twins. Calie too was long gone. Goku and Krillin had been in and out of his line of sight all day, and Master Gohan had disappeared in Ter-Kader. His mother hand been standing right next time during the first dance, but was now nowhere to be seen. Launch had sneezed on their way down and he hadn't seen her or Master Roshi since.
He shrugged. "They'll turn up. Let's get something to eat. Look, they're passing out food."
Sure enough, the servants of the Ox King's household were making rounds through the town square with huge platters of piled high with chicken legs and sweet rolls, fish cakes and meat patties, rice rolls and vegetable pancakes.
It was around one of these platters that they found Goku and Krillin, harassing a woman for pancakes.
"Here!" the frazzled woman said, throwing the platter at the boys. "You've got the whole thing! Now stop following me!"
"Thank you!" Goku and Krillin squealed in unison.
Raditz and Tien came up to them. "You know they have tables, right?" Raditz pointed to where picnic tables had been sent up around the square.
Slowly, the original group began to trickle towards the table the four had settled on. Gine found them first, squeezing herself between her two sons with a plate of meat patties. Launch, back in blue hair after having apparently sneezed several times (and looking very disoriented) came over with Master Roshi, followed by Calie.
"This was so much fun!" Calie said, reaching across Raditz to help herself to some chicken.
"Yeah!" Goku agreed. "How come we never did this part before?"
"We did! Didn't we?" Gine gave her sons curious looks as the two shook their heads. She knew she'd done with this Bardock a few times before, and she could've sworn they'd had the kids with them at least once.
"I'm glad we made it in time for the festival." Toma put his arm around his best friend's shoulders. Bardock grinned. The two Saiyans were standing on the edge of Fire Mountain's town center, munching on vegetable pancakes and observing the crowds of people eating, singing, and dancing.
"Look, even your mother's having a good time."
"She looks like she's yelling at that lady."
"Exactly!"
They laughed.
Suddenly, Bardock felt a finger poking him in the ribs. He turned.
"Hi!" It was Gine, in a bright yellow dress of all things, smiling broadly.
"What are you doing here?"
Her smile fell. "Gee, Bardock, it's nice to see you too."
"I invited her," Toma piped up. "I thought she'd want to, uh, get to know our culture better. Plus it's fun. Right?"
Bardock stared at him incredulously. Toma gave him a hopeful grin.
"It does look like fun!" Gine was scanning the square. "Ooh! Are those rice cakes?" She disappeared in the direction of a food platter.
As soon as she was out of sight, Bardock stomped on Toma's foot hard.
"Ow! What the hell man!"
"What the hell me? What the hell you!"
"C'mon man, I'm doing you a favor. Don't look like that." Toma put a hand on Bardock's forehead and attempted to smooth out the deep frown lines on his friend's face. Bardock slaped his hand away, and the two smacked at each other ineffectively for bit.
"Seriously man," Toma said when Bardock had finally pushed him away in a huff. "It's so pathetic, you pining away like this-,"
"I am not pining! Jeez, I can't tell you one thing without you turning it into a big deal!"
"Look, all I'm saying is, she's single, and we both know how long it's been since you -," here he waggled his eyebrows – "you know. So, ya know, why not?"
"You know why not," Bardock snapped. "I don't sleep with girls on my crew."
"Bullshit. We never even had girls on the crew until Gi. Except Fasha, and she doesn't count."
Bardock blushed.
"Oh look, she's coming back! Okay, just be nice. Ask her to dance or something, okay?"
And just like that, he was gone. Leaving Bardock standing there with his mouth open like an idiot.
He'd barely been gone 10 seconds when Gine popped up again. "I'm back! Where's Toma?"
"He, uh." Bardock stared at her. "He…left."
"Oh." She looked down at the three beers she was carrying, smushed up against her chest. "Huh. Well, more for me I guess!" She smiled. "Here, take one."
The two walked around for a little bit, the festival thankfully offering a topic of conversation for Bardock to focus on. Eventually they settled down at an abandoned picnic table strewn with empty beer cans, crumpled napkins, and bun crumbs.
"It's a big deal, being the Shari-Pari girl, huh?" Gine said.
"Well yeah. It's the whole point of the festival."
"No, I mean," – she took a gulp of beer – "look at her." She pointed to the Shari-Pari girl, standing in the center of the square, giggling and twirling and dancing, the glitter on her skin rubbing off and falling at her feet. She was surrounded by boys and girls, wanting to dance with her, take pictures with her, hold her hands, touch her hair.
"I mean, when's she ever going to get this much attention again?"
Bardock laughed. He'd had a couple more beers and was in a good mood. "Ya know," he said, leaning in towards Gine, so close now that their shoulders touched, "I got a kiss from the Shari-Pari girl once."
He turned to look at her, a huge, self-satisfied grin on his face. Gine laughed. "What?"
"I was seven," his cheeks began to flush a little with the memory, "and she was all dancin' around and stuff, and one of her hairclips fell out. So I picked it up and went over and gave it back to her, and she said I was a sweet boy and then she kissed me." He grinned. "Right here," and he pointed to his nose.
"That's," Gine paused. She was smiling, but this was such an unexpected side of Bardock that she didn't quite know how to respond. "And you still remember that? After all this time?"
"Well, it was a big deal." He was blushing still, but now it was more embarrassment than pleasure. "Not everybody gets kissed by the Shari-Pari girl. It's like, like getting kissed by the Queen."
"Really?!"
"Well maybe not," he paused, then doubled down. "No, yeah. Yeah. It's like getting kissed by the Queen. More, even. Better."
"Huh." She stared at him, head tilted to one side curiously, mouth parted slightly.
Bardock turned away. He was feeling silly now. She wasn't from here, she wouldn't understand. And it was silly. He shouldn't have said anything.
"Which one is she?"
He turned back to her. She was scanning the crowd again, shading her eyes from the bright light of the setting suns.
"What?"
"She must be here somewhere, right? The girl who kissed you? She must still live here, right?"
"I-I don't know."
"Oh, come on. You're telling me you never bothered to look out for her, not once in all these years?"
"It-she's not the Shari-Pari girl anymore, so what does it matter?"
"So she takes off those fake wings and all of a sudden she's not special anymore?"
"Yeah! Look, it's, it's just a dumb, dumb thing people do just 'cause they've always done it. She's not special, she's just a dumb kid-"
"You just said kissing her was like kissing the Queen!"
"Because I was a dumb kid too and I didn't know any better, I thought she really did have special powers and that she really was bringing back the butterflies or whatever, okay!"
"But you said-"
"I didn't say anything, alright?" Bardock snapped. The flush was gone, and whatever softness the alcohol had given him had worn away. "Just drop it."
Gine slumped back against the table and pouted at her beer. Toma had promised Bardock was a lot nicer to hang out with as friends, but he was just as much of a jerk here as he was off-planet.
"Turn around."
"What?"
"Turn around."
She turned.
"Not so obviously!"
"What?"
He shifted around, pushing one leg onto the bench and turning back to place his can casually on the table. She mimicked his moves.
"If you look slightly to the left," he said, eyes focused resolutely on the can, "there's a bunch of women standing in a corner."
Gine tilted her head slightly, casually directing her sight towards the women.
"The one in the middle, second to the left."
She was slightly taller than the other women she was with, with long dark hair falling across her chest, dark skin and thick, full lashes framing large, round eyes. She was holding a baby.
Gine turned back to him, grinning from ear to ear. "She's pretty."
Bardock blushed. "I just noticed her there. Just random. Whatever."
He turned around again.
There was silence as the two finished their drinks. Then…
"Let's dance." He stood up, looking at her expectantly.
"What? You mean like that?" Gine pointed to where couples were performing what to her looked like a complicated step dance.
"Yeah."
"I don't know that dance."
"I do. It's easy. Come on." He motioned with his hand impatiently.
She hesitated. "It's just…"
"What? If you don't want to-"
"I want to, but, I mean, can you? Dance?"
"I just told you I can."
"Okay." She gave him her hand, then paused. But before she could change her mind, he'd pulled her up to her feet and was all but dragging her to the square.
"Here. It's heel-toe, heel-toe, step-2-3-"
"Oh, this is hard-"
"-toe, step-2-3, and turn-"
"You're going too fast!"
"That's the beat, Gi, you have to go with the beat!"
She tripped, her hands slipping out from his as she fell against him. He caught her forearms and pushed her off gruffly.
"You're drunk," he accused.
"Oh, and you're not!"
"At least I can stand!"
"You're going too fast, I told you!"
"That's the beat!"
The drumming stopped abruptly, and instead flutes picked up a different tune. Slower, softer.
"Oh here," Gine said, relieved, "this will be easier. Okay," she took his hands. "Let's try again."
Bardock's face was beet red. "This isn't, um. This is the wrong music, it's not the same dance."
"Oh." She turned to see what everyone else was doing. Couples were snuggling up against each other, a few particularly drunk ones grinding together inappropriately. One of those couples consisted of Toma and an unfamiliar girl. "Oohh…"
She dropped his hands and they stood there, blushing, awkward, embarrassed.
Gine searched desperately for an out, and she found one.
"Oh hey, there's your Shari-Pari girl." Sure enough, the woman who'd kissed Bardock as a boy was swaying in the arms of a man, her husband probably.
She grinned. "Are you jealous?"
"What?! No!" Bardock glared at her, but deep down he was relieved that they'd gotten off this dancing thing. Stupid Toma. He was never taking his advice again.
As Gine was trying to remember the last time she'd been to the festival, Jasper appeared, his "children" in tow.
"Hello," he offered. He nudged the twins towards the table, motioning for them to sit down.
Raditz gave them an encouraging smile. When he'd seen them back home, they looked tough, hard, defiant. Up close, they were two scrawny little kids, quiet and vulnerbale in the face of so many strange adults.
Roshi began to make small talk, asking them how they were enjoying their time with the Ox King. Lapis, the boy, was the more responsive of the two, answering questions and offering information, while his sister, Lazuli, was mostly quiet. She was sitting between her brother and Krillin, who offered her a pancake.
"Here. It's really good." He smiled.
She looked at him, and something about the gaze made his heart beat a little faster than usual. She took the pancake from his hand quietly and nibbled at the corner. If you looked really closely, you could almost see her smile.
Almost.
"Where's Master Gohan?" Goku asked suddenly.
"And the other boy, what's his name?" Gine added.
"Yamcha," Calie snapped. "He's over there." She pointed to where the young man was standing, surrounded by a gaggle of girls and a couple of guys who were hanging all over him.
He was clearly greatly exaggerating his role in some epic battle story, flexing his biceps subconsciously from time to time as his tale took a particularly exciting turn. His audience was eating it up.
Raditz laughed. "Who knew Yamcha was such a stud?"
"Oh yeah," Lapis piped up. "Yamcha's a real big deal here. Everyone's always like, 'oh Yamcha, Yamcha used to do this, when Yamcha was here we never had to worry about that, Yamcha always woke up early, that was Yamcha's favorite bowl'…"
"Bowl?" Jasper asked.
"He broke it," Lazuli explained.
"You broke Yamcha's favorite bowl?"
"No!" Lapis protested unconvincingly. He shot his sister a nasty look, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "It was a accident," he told Jasper. "Honest!"
"I cannot believe you would behave so poorly as a guest in another's home."
"I can't believe Yamcha has a favorite bowl," Tien smirked.
"I can't believe he's still standing there!"
Everyone turned to stare at Calie, whose frowning face was rapidly starting to blush under their questioning looks. "It's just that it's, it's rude! I mean, we're his friends and his guests, and he hasn't even bothered to come say hello."
"Does he even know you're here?" Gine asked.
The group exchanged uncertain looks.
"Well, this is a very important occasion for him," Master Roshi said. "He has an important role here, and we have to respect that. He'll come to us when it's appropriate."
"That's very well said."
"Master Gohan!" Goku squealed.
Sure enough, the old human had appeared behind them. Next to him was Goku's grandmother, looking even more annoyed than usual.
"Gine," she glared at her daughter-in-law. "I see you came all this way, and yet you didn't bother to come by. Hmmph."
"Oh no!" Gine scrambled out between the bench and the table, chasing after her as she harrumphed away. "Oh, absolutely not, I mean, I kept telling the boys, you know, we really ought to see Grandmother, but you know how children are…"
Meanwhile, Yamcha was dancing with the Shari-Pari girl in all her glittery glory. They were performing the same dance she had done with the Ox King, a simpler step dance where man and woman matched each other's steps, holding hands lightly and turning at intervals in tune with the drumbeat.
When it was over, he bent down and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Then he turned and caught sight of his friends.
He waved.
Raditz waved back. Calie scowled.
"Hey guys! I didn't know you were coming." Yamcha smiled, leaning over Raditz to grab a leftover pancake. "Are you having fun?"
"Not as much fun as you," Raditz grinned. "That girl's gonna be talking about you for the rest of her life."
"Huh?" Yamcha turned around. Behind him, the Shari-Pari girl was jumping and squealing with her girlfriends, clearly thrilled at the simple kiss.
"Oh yeah," Yamcha blushed. "Yeah, I mean, it's part of the Ox King's job to, ya know, dance with the Shari-Pari girl and stuff, so I figured I should too. I mean, that'll be me someday."
"You really just can't wait to get your inheritance, can you?" Calie was giving him a poisonous look.
He froze, pancake still in his mouth. "Um…"
"Geez Cal," Raditz laughed. "Let the kid have his fun." He turned to Yamcha. "I think she needs a drink, get her to loosen up a little."
"Oh yeah, sure, no problem." He caught a serving woman's eye and motioned to her. "I'll make sure you guys get all the drinks and snacks you need."
Six hours had passed. The suns were beginning to set and the crowds had wound down to almost nothing. Raditz and co were long gone, and Yamcha was walking the grounds, a little ways into the forest now, picking up trash and waking up sleeping drunks and sending them home.
This was the less glamorous part of being the Ox King, maintaining the mountain, protecting its people. And sometimes, maintaining the mountain meant cleaning up litter, and protecting its people meant making sure they didn't spend the night in the open.
"What are you doing?"
He turned. Calie was standing, the darkening sky casting a shadow over her face that hid her features.
"Oh, it's you. I thought you left."
Calie came out of the shadows. Her face was slightly flushed, and she seemed nervous. "I'm still here. Do you need help?"
"Yeah, sure." Yamcha gestured around the forest, where a few cans of beer were still strewn around. "You can just throw 'em in here," he waved the garbage bag in his hand.
They picked up trash quietly for a few minutes. A soft breeze rustled through the trees. A flute played in the distance.
"Oh! Yamcha, Yamcha!"
He dropped the bag and ran over to where she was standing behind a tree, giggling manically. "What? What is it? Are you okay?"
"Look!" She was holding out her hand, and in her palm a tiny golden butterfly fluttered gently. "It worked!" she said breathlessly. "The dance worked! It really worked!"
Yamcha grinned. "Well yeah, 'course it worked. It's worked every year from a thousand years."
The butterfly flew away, and Calie turned to him. He was watching the butterfly make its path into the forest until it was enveloped in the darkness.
She put a hand on his shoulder.
He turned to her and smiled.
She lifted herself onto her toes and kissed him.
He stared at her, stunned.
She kissed him again. And again. And again.
"Whoa, whoa, hey," he mumbled against her, catching her arms and pulling them away. "We can't-if anyone sees…"
"So let's go somewhere no one will see," she grinned mischievously, grabbing his hand and pulling him with her, deeper in towards the forest.
"Wait, wait," Yamcha hissed. "We'll get in trouble!"
"Not if we're quiet!" She leaned in to him and kissed him again. "Come on. I like you. You like me too, right?"
"I-I-," He stared at her, uncertain, unbelieving. "It doesn't matter, we can't do this-,"
"I won't tell anyone if you won't." More kissing.
"This is such a bad idea."