The Legacy of the Saiyaness

Chapter 25: Questions, Answers, and Amusement

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z. I do own Letish and her techniques.

Today was a different day for Letish. Once she ran downstairs for a snack, she stopped at the bottom. Goku was there, and Vegeta as well. They were sitting together. 'What's going on,' she asked herself, raising an eyebrow.

"Good morning, Letish!" the always friendly Son Goku greeted her. "Come join us! We wanted to talk to you."

She hesitated on his offer. Why were they waiting on her, and being patient about it too? "Why? This isn't some sort of intervention, is it?" she inquired.

"No, not at all. Vegeta and I just wanted to know if you wouldn't mind if we asked you a few questions. Can you come sit with us?"

"I suppose I can answer a few of your questions." She continued to them and took a seat at the table. "I'm sure I won't mind." She smiled. "I love talking to you guys."

"Great," Goku said, eagerly.

"But first I would like to get a snack." Minutes later after leaving, Letish returned with a simple yet heaping bowl of ice cream. She started eating it happily waiting for them to begin.

"Are you eating ice cream in the middle of the day?" Vegeta blurted out.

"I wanted to know if it would be as enjoyable in the afternoon as it is in the late evening." She took a bite. "And I was correct."

Goku chuckled as Vegeta tried to wrap his head around her "logic". "May we please begin?"

"Of course! Go right ahead," she smiled.

"First off, what are you not telling us about why you've tried to attack us twice?"

Letish swallowed some of her ice cream whole but tried to not show her surprise from his question.

"Vegeta!" Goku started.

"It's alright, Goku. I didn't mean to attack anyone. I'm honestly not that kind of person, really." She paused to sighed. "I wasn't aware that modifications were made to my necklace so I could wear it in water."

"That's total crap! We put you in a healing tank when you came here nearly dead."

Her eyes squinted. "Hey, my mind was in a thousand different places when I regained consciousness that day. I wasn't really thinking about that at the time... I could have died, mind you."

"How can an alert child such as yourself not notice something as apparent as that?" he sneered rolling his eyes.

"I have a short attention span. That's how." Letish stabbed her bowl with her spoon in spite.

"That actually makes perfect sense seeing how fond you are of jumping from one planet to the next," Vegeta commented, sitting back in his chair. "You must have gotten bored of your home planet."

"Would the two of you quit it?!" Goku pleaded, a little irritated. Vegeta and Letish turned their faces away and pouted. "Why do you guys have to argue with each other?

"Why don't you take it up with your protectee?" Vegeta barked.

"At least I'm acting my age. Can you say the same?" she shouted back at him, making him snarl.

"As much of a point you may have, we need to get back to the questions."

"Fine," they said simultaneously.

"For the record, I didn't get bored of my home world," she added. "I loved the life I had on Planet Mecheta, and your accusations really tick me off."

"Then why did you come to Earth?" Vegeta asked on.

Goku cut in shortly after this. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you next. And seeing as it's been mentioned three times already, I thought it would be appropriate. to talk about it."

Letish continued eating her ice cream. "Okay. Fire away..."

"I can see how you talk about your life before coming here. You usually seem happy, so why did you leave? It was clear you had come from a fight."

Her eyes grew big for having to hear him mention that last part. Her eyes darted to the side as she frowned subtly. "Refuge."

"Refuge? Is someone after you?" he persisted

"There was." Letish paused to take another bite. "A strange man I had never met before."

Goku's face became very stern. "Was he the one behind the way you looked when you came here?

"Yes, but he didn't get off scott-free." She looked down for a moment,

"What do you mean by that?" Vegeta asked.

"I killed him," she said with a distinct, cold look in her eyes, which were fixed on Goku's. His stomach dropped when he heard her say that, but Vegeta wasn't as surprised by what she said. "And I don't regret it." Goku gulped involuntarily. Letish sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "Now, what's your next question? I'm sure you're eager to ask me anything else."

Vegeta spoke up to fill the awkward silence. "Alright, the guy has been dealt with. So why did you leave your home?"

Her head sunk into the nook of her crossed arms on the table. "Because I couldn't stay there anymore."

"Why not? Was someone forcing you to leave?" Goku asked.

"Not exactly..." she drifted off. She was started to wish she hasn't agreed to answer their questions.

"Then what exactly was it?" Vegeta questioned her.

Letish felt something within her errupt, causing her to stand up out of her chair. "Everyone was dead!" She paused shortly to inhale through her gritted teeth. "Alright?!" As soon as she was done she looked shocked—no, mortified—that she said it out loud. Why? She was trying to hold it in so much! Why did she say it?!

She first saw the look on Vegeta's face. He looked speechless. When she looked over at Goku, she saw horror and pity in his eyes. This made her eyes glisten with tears. The last thing she wanted was to break down in front of them. She barely got out, "Excuse me" before rushing out of the room to her's. She shut the door quickly behind her and fell back against it, covering her mouth. He tears were already bursting out of her eyes. She clamped her hand tightly as she screamed a muffled cry then gasped, still not believing she had blurted out what she did.

Letish sunk to the floor like a rock sinking in water. She removed her hand from her mouth when all she could do was cry. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again from what she had lost the day she left her home planet. She saw the people who she was friends with were already slaughtered before her, but nothing could compare to the loss of her mother. The mere thought of it made her sob. She wiped her eyes but that didn't stop the tears. Her hands reached for her locket and held on to it close to her heart as she continued.

Goku ran up the stairs and down the hall to Letish's bedroom door and knocked on it. She tried to stop crying so he wouldn't hear her. "Go away, Goku. I know it's you," he heard her say.

"Letish please listen to me. I didn't mean to push you to say that! I didn't want that to happen. I thought it would be... I'm sorry—"

She got to her knees as her face pulled back with a clenched mouth. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!" she growled with her index finger pointed toward the door as if to point it at him. "What I said in there was a mistake! It was neither your business nor Vegeta's! I don't want his pity and I especially don't want yours!" Her voice sounded furious but as shaky and fragile as she felt.

"I know you don't want pity from me, but I can't say nothing after that...!" He scratch his head, frowning. "I don't know how to properly act in this kind of situation."

"How about you don't do anything!" she snarled. "There isn't anything you can do about it! I said it and I shouldn't have, so we don't need to talk about it." She was more pissed off now but still crying a little. Although she tried to ignore it.

"Well to be honest, it won't be so easy to forget..." He tried to think of something he could do for her. She didn't want his pity or his acknowledgment of what she said, but he couldn't as much as he wanted to comfort her. However even he could see how futile that would have been. "Hey, what if we went out and did something together. We could go anywhere you want and spend the day together, just me and you. We could both get our minds off things. Plus, it is important that we get along—"

The door opened slowly and he looked down to see Letish standing behind the door. Half of her face was hidden behind the door as well. Letish looked beyond him to the hallway he was standing in, wishing it were easy for her not to turn away from the new life she was given. Goku could see the sadness and want in her eyes. "Do you mean it? We could spend the whole day doing anything else?" Some of her hair fell in her face and her hand tightened its grip on the door.

He crouched down to her level and smiled. "Of course. Whatever you want, it's yours." He put his hand on her head and tousled her hair. "I promise," he added, smiling down at her. Letish shut the door shortly after that, which puzzled Goku.

Letish waited in front of the her door, trying to gather her thoughts. She moved to her bed and put her hands down on the mattress. For reasons she didn't know, her grief had been lifted from her even though she was far from moving on from thther attack on her planet. The Saiyaness's tears had dried up. Letish then went into her closet to change.

Goku was waiting a good five minutes before she opened the door again in a slightly better mood. "Ok, we can go now," she said a little more cheery then. Goku stood back up straight and they left Capsule Corp.

That day had become hers. They flew for a bit until she pointed down at a carnival and the two landed. She pulled him all around so she could try everything from rollercoasters to merry-go-rounds, to fun houses. In the mirror maze, Goku and Letish enjoyed making funny faces and laughing at the contorted reflections of themselves. Aside from that, Letish was especially great at games such as ring toss and balloon darts.

While walking around the park, she saw an adult with a gun in front of a game booth shooting at targets. She pointed and said bright-eyed, "Let's go try that out!" He took one look at he game booth and worried about whether or not she would be allowed to. "I don't know about that. Are you sure—?" She pulled him by the hand and hurried over as the man finished up and left.

"Ok...!" he chuckled, nervously. The man in the booth looked at Goku with a smile, "I've seen you before. You're that guy running around with that sweet little girl." He heard a girl's voice say "thank you" and looked over the counter to see her.

"Why, hello miss. You're welcome. I'll get the game starting for ya in just a sec, buddy," he told Goku.

Goku chuckled a little. "Not for me. She wants to play." The man looked down at her again and laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you play. You're too young and I don't want to get sued." Her brows furrowed. "Why would you be sued, sir?" He gave her a confused look. "Because you're just a kid. I can't let you operate a gun. You could hurt yourself."

Letish grimaced at the thought of hurting herself with a gun. She almost wanted to laugh at the comment. She may have been small, but in no way was she incapable of shooting a gun. "Are you being serious?" The man nodded. She squinted at him. "Well that sounds like a load of—"

Goku put his hand over her mouth so she couldn't finish what she was saying. Though, he had a feeling it was something really bad. "Come on. She really wants to play."

"Yeah, I want that big stuffed animal up there!" she said, pointing above his head.

"Can't you let this one slide."

"I'm sorry, sir. Is this your daughter?" he asked.

He started to say something when Letish poked his side, making him flinch. "What is it?" he asked.

"Maybe you should let him think I'm your daughter," she whispered to him. "If you tell him I'm a friend of yours, they might escort you off the premises and ask me where my real parents are. And I wouldn't want to be any of these people if the authorities ask me that…."

Goku heard a noise and looked up to see that Letish was steaming like an egg frying, which frightened him. "Ok, ok. I'll do it, just don't do anything rash," he pleaded in a hushed tone.

"Thank you. And try to avoid saying the word 'father.' I want to pay respects to my real father."

"Oh, alright." He stood back up. "Yes, I'm her dad. Is there any chance you could let her play for that big stuff animal?"

"I'll tell you what," the man started. "I'll let her play once. If she gets hurt, that's on you two."

"Thank you, sir!" Letish exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

"Yes, thank you," the Saiyan repeated. "But I can assure you nothing bad will happen."

"Just hand me the gun," Letish spoke up with her hand out.

The man handed the gun over and Letish examined it. She retreated a few steps so she could see the targets. The man stood out of her way. Goku watched as she cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. Each one of the bullets hit a target and she cheered, followed by Goku shouting with enthusiasm. The man was amazed that she could pull it off.

Letish cheered and threw her hands up. "I won!"

"Alrght! That was great firing!" Goku paused, really thinking about what just happened. "For someone who's never used a gun..."

"Doesn't matter, I want my prize!" she giggled.

The man handed her the biggest stuffed animal, which was a black wolf. Having received her prize, Letish squealed. She held her new stuffed animal in her arms without letting go. Goku lifted her onto his shoulders and they proceeded to find a food vender so they could eat.

"That was amazing, Letish!" Goku said with a mouth full of food. "How did you know what you were doing? Have you ever fired a gun?"

"No, actually. I just watched that man before me shoot the targets and studied everything that went on," she explained. "I think I only told Vegeta this but my eyes and brain work like parts of a high tech computer, enabling me to understand any mechanism. And creatures too."

"Really? Huh," he shrugged. "That must be cool."

"Yeah... I learned it from the Mechetans..." She ate some more of her food.

"Uh—I didn't mean for—"

"It's ok. I've been thinking about them lately, not just today. I remember so many memories of splendid times I had on my home planet..." the Saiyaness drifted.

"Why do you think that is? I mean, your old life being on your mind a lot."

"I don't know." She took a sip of her drink and stroked her stuffed animal. "Maybe it's so I can get my ming off of a greater pain..."

Goku felt weird talking about the subject. "Letish, we don't have to—" She muffled a groan, closing her eyes. Her locket was clutched within her hand. "Letish, what's wrong?" he asked her, holding her shoulders. "We really don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"It's not that... I mean, it plays a part, but that not all... When the scientists made this necklace, they built in a special crystal that had the ability to tame the power and heart of whomever wore it. However, the crystal couldn't be worn by average beings; it's power was reserved for people of amplified vibration—the ones who would need it's power the most. People like me."

"That explains why you wear your necklace all the time," he said, looking at the crystal, "but why were you in pain just a second ago?"

"There is a catch to the crystal. They told my mother that indeed the reputation of the crystal's power was true, it would unavoidably run out of that power. And once it does, who knows what will happen. I won't have any control over my vibration or my power...!"

"You're kidding! That's terrible!" he blurted out.

"Calm down! You're acting like I'm a monster! I don't know what will happen! This stone's been with me all my life and I've only lost control twice: the time before they gave me my necklace when I was a baby and the night of the day I got here!" She sighed, irritably. Letish paced around as grass rubbed against her ankles. She growled and threw her fists at her sides. "This is so frustrating! I have the vibration of a kid yet the blooming hormones of a model teenage girl! And this juvenile body is really causing some major perplexity for me as I still think like a ignorant child! Then again, my mother did always treat me like an adult as much as she wanted..."

Goku was trying to hide his embarrassment for having to hear Letish go on and on about Saiyan puberty. He didn't remember growing up being this complicated for him when he was a kid, neither remembering if Gohan or Goten ever had this much trouble.

Letish turned her head back at him with squinted eyes. She saw his face and growled. "Hey, wipe that sorry look off your face this instant! How do you think I feel, buster?!"

"I'm sorry!" he apologized, clapping his hands together. "I thought the crystal was supposed to be working."

"It is," she exhaled. "Unfortunately, like I said, its powers are wearing off so it can only invest so much of them into calming me down when I absolutely need it. That reminds me. I have to talk to Bulma Briefs really soon to see if she can find a way to help my situation. If she can't, the crystal will stop working very soon and I won't have any way to control myself! In little over a month's time I presume!"

He jumped to his feet, panicked, "No need to further explain! Let's go see her!" Goku put a hand atop her head and placed two fingers on his forehead. They vanished soon after, leaving their joyous day at the carnival to alert Bulma and Vegeta of what had to be done.