Hey everyone, Miika here with another update! Lots of things happen in this one, so be prepared. Also, if you see Targkiller24, tell him I say hi, and good job being my beta-reader. If he starts to pick up writing, I'll let you all know. So now, onto the good stuff.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. Dragon Ball Z/GT/Super are all owned by Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, and Akira Toriyama. Please support the official release. Huzzah!

Chapter 37: Little Moments

I wake up and stretch my arms above my head. The dream last night had been intriguing, something about a clash of silver and gold. The birds outside my window tweet incessantly, a sound that soothes my tension. As I get up, I notice a blinking light on my cellphone that's charging on the table. I pick it up, eyes scanning the issue when I see unfamiliar icons.

One missed call, and one new voicemail, apparently. I unlock my phone and switch over to my voicemail. The voice on the other end is gentle and familiar.

"Hello, Hayashi, Dr. Briefs here. I'm calling to inform you that results of the blood work we did a couple weeks prior are finally in. Now, dear, before jumping to any conclusions, I want you to know that this could very well be normal for your species, but with a human female benchmark, your hormone levels are incredibly low. In short, you're not pregnant, but I don't believe you can conceive by human conventions. That is the worst case scenario. You may still be able to conceive since it seems you don't suffer from any sort of hormonal deficiency disorders. However, if you'd like to discuss your results further, please feel free to return my call. Thank you, and have a good day."

I close my phone and set it down, unable to find the proper reaction. Sure, I'm not pregnant, which is great considering what I did a couple weeks ago to defeat Garlic Jr, but what if I want to start a family? What if I can't?

Life has been smooth and worry-free since the call. I've improved my cooking skill according to my mate, and training has had nary a hiccup. Things have gotten back to normal.

I lay on my back in the pond in only my underwear, watching the clouds and the leaves sway and drift in the wind. The water laps at my stomach, so I spin around and dive. Deep blue surrounds my field of vision, shadows of fish and other aquatic creatures swimming and scuttling in a panic. They know they aren't alone in their world. Silly fish, I'm not gonna hurt you! Raditz might, but I won't. I smile as I twirl in the weightlessness, my hair following suit.

Something grabs my attention. I feel Gohan in distress, the anger seeping into his ki. I swim up rapidly and quickly get dressed, ignoring the fact that my clothes are now sopping wet. I power up and sprint to their place. He's home, but he's angry. I pick up another voice in his room.

"... I bet you're just like that brute of a father. You just want someone to be there for you, instead of always running away," the other voice says smugly. "This type of behavior is common in children without their fathers." Gohan's anger is absolutely understandable.

I knock on the window to help break it up, but I stay hidden to the side. The man's tirade stops, and the window opens up. Quickly, I yank his arm so only half of him sticks out.

"Listen here, whoever you are, you will not talk about my friend like that. Unless you want to lose a limb or more, I suggest you stop. Right now," I growl at him with murderous intent.

"I'm this child's new tutor. You must be his aunt," he says with a little jitter. "That's fine. You women tend to be weaker anyway. Now run along and tend to your own home, missy."

"Your bluff is about as empty as that skull of yours. Now," I let him go and shove him back in, "if you hurt him, you'll be in for a world of hurt. And not just from him, or his mother." I close the window abruptly, and pick up the sounds of his panicky self, scurrying across the floor and crying out for Chi-chi.

I walk away, feeling that protective surge fill me with righteousness. It's something I haven't felt in years. I think about the Red Ribbon Army. Defeating them with my friends made me feel like an exalted heroine, similar to the ones in one of those graphic novels I've seen out in town. Shoot, even knowing that they'll never come back to do the world harm again makes me feel like I did before all over again!

Shouts erupt from the Son house as the bastard of a tutor is thrown close to where I am. He adjusts his spectacles as he slowly rises, and my hand reaches for his brown afro. With a glare, I paralyze him long enough for my best friend's wife to jump out the window she threw him out of, and sprint over to him.

"I don't ever want to see you here again, you ignorant snub-nosed ass!" she shouts at him as the distraught sorry excuse for a man runs away.

A pain stabs the back of my head and I fall to the ground with blurry vision. Regardless of how many times… this happens…

Shock, and rage. The creature before me, reminiscent of Frieza with his smooth head and the blue gem sliding to the back, stands as though he's witnessing the revival of a long dead being. His purple fingers twitch over his mouth, and even the taller being with long horns coming out of his head like a bull flashes an expression of panic. The smaller one changes into a fighting stance but is beaten with blindingly fast fists and kicks before it can retaliate. It backs away to power up… and grows four protruding spikes from atop his head?

"Hayashi! Hayashi, wake up!" Hands shake me frantically as I slowly come to. My eyes open to see a blur, but soft hands wipe my eyes and caress my cheek. Those normally determined brown eyes show deep concern… for me? "Oh good, you're back! What happened?"

"Another vision," I tell Chi-chi shakily as I stand up with caution. "Something's coming, and I don't like it at all." I dust off my clothes and prepare to launch into the air, but my nerves tell me to stay. That vision just now felt too real… emotions have never come through that strongly before, so why with this one?

"H-Hayashi?" she stands by my side, her concern growing the longer I stay. "Hayashi, you're shaking."

I look down at my balled fists, and surely, I notice the quiver in my limbs. "If Gohan ever senses anything, let him go. I'll make sure he's safe," I say as I keep my eyes downcast.

"But… his studies…" she begins, but I stop her with a hand up at face-level.

"If there's no planet, he can't study. We need all the help we can get, Chi-chi," I explain, this time I look at her face. Her lips quiver, and her eyes well up. "He'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to him if something comes up." After my words to her, I take off towards home, hoping a beating on Raditz would ease my growing tension. "I promise."

Speaking of, the devil himself joins me in midair. "I felt your ki fluctuate. The fuck, Arugelle?" I pick up a twinge of relief in his voice, but I could be hearing things.

"Oh, uh, another vision. Let's go home and I can tell you about it," I say as I slowly lower to the earth. He follows, and starts walking beside me with arms crossed. With each step, his hair sways to and fro like its own appendage. I explain what I can of the vision to him, and even the answers to his questions of "are you sure that's what you saw" and "did you see anyone else". The more he asks, though, the more I feel like buckling under pressure. Shouldn't I know the answers?

"So what are we going to do?" he asks, in a move to look at me for direction. I search our house for solutions, and fail as I fall back on his dark eyes. Within those abyssal depths do I come up with an idea.

With a determined fist curled at face-level, I grin. "We are going to train harder. Instead of our usual, ahem, activities, we will train until we're exhausted, rest up, and repeat," I state. My voice speaks with a newfound and solid conviction, and the grin widens as I realize it. I promised myself and Chi-chi that nothing will happen to Gohan during that battle, and I'll be damned if I let either one of us down.

"That's a plan I can get behind!" he cheers as he gleefully slides into his battle stance. "Ready when you are, woman!" The boyish grin and the sparkle in his eyes remind me of my dear friend out in space somewhere. Goku…

"Don't call me that!" I shout as I move into my own stance. I take note of the differences, like our footing, or our hand placements. "Here I go!" He flinches. I haven't even moved, and he flinches at my words! "What was that?"

"I, uh, was getting prepared to, err, defend! Yeah, that's it!" he answers back with a nervous laugh. I pick up a nearby rock and toss it in the air casually. The muscles in my jaw tense up as I glare at him. Once it lands in my hand once more, I throw it at him, watching him execute a perfect counterattack. The blow turns it to dust. I raise a brow to prove a point. "See? Totally prepared to defend."

"You predicted my action on instinct. Don't rely on them. Rely on your senses- what is real versus what you perceive to be real. Make sense?"

"I don't rely on my instincts," he says. I move behind him with blinding speed and tap him on his right shoulder while moving to the left. Predictably, he looks over his right, his hair nearly catching me.

"So you say," I whisper next to his left ear. "Try again."

+x+x+x+

The sun slowly slides beneath the treetops, casting a golden glow across the sky, the house, and my mate's glistening skin. It's been about two weeks since Raditz and I began our relentless training in hopes to maintain and improve our techniques, and about a week and a half since we had moved the training to a wasteland on another continent. A few of the others have come out and asked about the severe spikes in ki levels, with a reasonable level of worry. In hindsight, I should've informed them, or at least Bulma, beforehand.

"Arugelle, your communication thing is ringing," I hear my mate call out. I recognize that pattern of bell jingles!

I speed over to him promptly, and snatch the cellphone from his palm, but not before spotting several symbols in the top bar. I feel the blood rush out of my face "Hey, Bulma!" I hold the device away from my ear, finally learning from past mistakes.

"Hey, Hayashi! I've been trying to get ahold of you for the past week! Everything alright?"

"Yeah, Raditz and I decided to go camping for a bit, and train in the meantime without scaring the wildlife around the house more," I say with a little embarrassment. I hear her hum in thought for a moment before she responds.

"Oh, I hope your trip was successful then!" I give an affirmative nod and immediately catch it. She can't see me... I glance over at my mate who had slapped the front of his face. His hand slowly slides down. "Well, I'm putting together a barbecue lunch over at my place. Come over tomorrow around eleven or so. I have an announcement to make, and I'm positive you'd be happy to hear it," she says. I can imagine her beaming in delight, sitting at one of her desks, maybe spinning in her swivel chair as she wraps a tendril of her cerulean hair around her finger.

I chuckle into the receiver. "You had me at 'barbecue'. We'll be there for sure!" She lets loose a squeal she must've been holding back, before hanging up. I stare at my mate, whose eyes have reached maximum bulging capacity. His mouth moves, but the only things I can hear at the moment are a muffled voice and a buzzing of a dial tone. Slowly, his garbled voice clears into something more understandable.

"-stop staring like that and answer my question!"

I blink in confusion. "What was your question?"

His face puffs in anger, but he releases it in an agitated sigh. "I asked what that was about, but you just went…" he stops mid-sentence to demonstrate his point, standing rigidly while performing his best thousand-yard stare with a straight face.

"She, uh, breaks my hearing every so often," I say nervously.

With an eye roll, he turns away and strips, preparing to clean up after a hard week's work. I look down at my phone once more to scan over the various white and red icons. Six missed calls, judging by the white phone with a red slash on top and a superimposed number six in a corner; a white rectangle with two black rings with another superimposed six, and an envelope with a ninety-nine and a plus sign done in red. I tap on the envelope icon to find several messages from Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-chi's numbers. I feel bad immediately as I swipe through.

'Why aren't you answering? Aren't you at home?! -B. Briefs'

'Hayashi, are you and Raditz alright? -Krillin'

'Hey, I felt Raditz's and your ki levels spike, do you need help? -Yamcha'

'Aunt Hayashi, what's going on? -Gohan P.S. Don't tell my mom I texted you. I'm deleting the record on this end.'

The messages continue on as such; as I resume swiping and reading through, my hand grips the wooden stand on which I keep my phone. They… were all concerned about our well-being. Damnit, I should've told them! Sharpness fills my hand's senses. I've turned the damned thing into splinters, and half of them protrude from my palm. Red begins oozing from the larger wounds. What an inconvenience! I walk to the bathroom and pull out the first aid kit from under the sink. I put my phone down, open the medium-sized box, and shuffle through. I groan in dissatisfaction.

"Do we have nothing for splinters?!" I screech out, more to release my pent-up frustration than to find an answer. I grumble to myself as I pick up the phone once more. I search through the messages and call Chi-chi. I hope she doesn't mind…

The phone rings for a moment until she answers.

"Son residence, this is Chi-chi." I sigh inwardly in relief.

"Hey, it's Hayashi. I kind of need your help," I say cautiously.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did that brute beat you? Do you need a place to stay-" she rattles off these questions.

"No, he and I are fine, thank you, though. I actually hurt myself, and can't find the necessary tools in my first aid kit," I explain. I watch the blood in the palm of my hand dry to a dark brown. I walk out the door at a brisk pace by human standards, and head in her direction.

"Here, come over as soon as you can, and I can fix you up," she tells me. My smile curves upward on one side.

"A few steps ahead of you. I'll be over shortly," I say while still wearing my half smile. I disconnect the call and jump over to the small dome house in the middle of a clearing. Smoke puffs out the stack and visible lights shine through the windows. I knock on the wooden door twice, careful to hold back enough to not shred my good hand's knuckles. A soft hand quickly pulls me in, and her dark brown locks nearly slap my face as she turns around.

Her eyes scrutinize my injuries and hums in thought like a seasoned doctor. She releases my hand for a moment to rummage through a giant box next to the door and pulls out sterile pads, gauze, peroxide, tweezers, and a box of latex gloves. The various medical supplies remind me of the smell from Wukong Hospital.

"What I need you to do is stay still. I'm going to get the larger bits out first, then I'll pour the hydrogen peroxide on your hand to bubble the smaller bits out," she explains methodically. "Tweezers will be for the more stubborn and stuck pieces and, even though you Saiyans can heal up quickly, I have the pads and gauze on standby to keep the open wounds from getting infected." I nod for her to continue.

"How do you know this?" I ask. She pulls the latex gloves over her hands and begins working on the chunk in the heel of my palm.

"Well, when you live with Goku for a few years," she says with a sigh. "Boys will be boys."

I chuckle softly. "That's a fair point. He can be sort of reckless."

"Yeah," she says after pulling out the larger piece. "I'm almost afraid to ask how this happened, but if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to." Her hands work on another large piece like it's mundane. "And with some of their size, it's a wonder your hand didn't get impaled."

"Ah, yeah. That was all my fault," I say, feeling the small smile as I remember why I got in this situation in the first place. I feel myself swirling into the recesses of my memories, including the vision only two weeks prior. "I got scared and angry about myself."

Chi-chi's hands stop working on the wooden pieces left in my hand. "Hayashi, we care about you. With every one of us around, there's no need to be scared. And if you use that anger for something constructive, then it's fine. But this," she directs her attention back to my splinter-covered palm, "this will only make us worry."

I nod my head in understanding. She's right. If I could harness that anger into something more worthwhile, I'd be… what? A burning sensation fills my palm to find the clear, foul-smelling substance running over the pads of my fingers and my open wounds. I fail to hold back a hiss.

"Oh, come on. This should be nothing compared to what you normally take," Chi-chi jokes.

"I don't have an adrenaline rush from battle masking the pain," I argue, but soften up into a small laugh. Her hand holds the steel tweezers and meticulously picks out the small tidbits. The foam from the peroxide fizzles, an odd sensation on my normally rough hands. She places the splinters onto a piece of gauze and grabs a nearby towel to wipe her glove-covered hands.

"Well, that should do it, Hayashi," she says with a soft smile. I watch as she stands and pulls out a metal bucket. "All that's left is rinse and wrapping." She fills it with water by turning on the faucet and walks it over without a care of the sloshing liquid. I'm sure she'll clean it up sooner or later. As she bends down to set it on a nearby chair, the door opens with a loud crack.

"Arugelle! You were supposed to be-" Raditz stops mid-tirade to assess the scene. His eyes dart between Chi-chi and me, looking as though he wants to continue with his vocal assault; however, he bows at his hips and leaves. I sigh. I really need to work on my communication skills...

My friend stares at me from her lower position. "Are you sure everything is fine between the two of you?" Her palpable concern wrenches at my soul. I hate seeing her- or anyone- this worried about me, especially when I believe the worry is unfounded.

"Between Raditz and me? Everything's fine," I say in an attempt to assuage her worry. I place my hand in the warm water. I can feel the pain diminish slowly but surely. "It's just that, I'm having a difficult time communicating to others. I get too involved with what I'm doing to let everyone that could possibly- or, well, everyone that does- lose sleep over my well-being, know my whereabouts," I say with a subtle eye roll. "I mean, it's not like I'm completely defenseless against anyone."

"I care because you're a dear friend," she says with a stray tear. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here picking splinters out of your hand." That makes me giggle.

"Good point, Chi-chi," I say as I remove my hand from the water and she dries it off with a small white cotton towel. She sets it on the table and unravels a roll of gauze for the still-open wounds in my palm. I clear my throat, hoping the pair of ears outside catches my next words. "Not much longer now, right?" I ask in a volume a touch louder than my norm. I don't want him getting angry for taking too long, so hopefully this solves a potential problem.

"That's right, just need to wrap this up," she says softly. Once she looks back at me with a curious expression, I raise my eyebrows at her and point at the broken door with my head and eye movements. She nods and repeats her previous sentence following a similar fashion. "What's with the whole, you know," her hand gestures to the door with the roll of gauze still within her grip, "barging in thing? That's the third door. In two months." I take note of her oddly calm tone. Knowing her, she's waiting for the most opportune time to explode; she's giving me a chance to explain his actions.

"W-well, you see, Chi-chi, you know how I've told you about him working on common courtesy and 'proper etiquette' around others?" I ask with a chill running down my spine. The look she shoots me says she's not buying it, but her hand motions for me to continue explaining. "He's still working on it. I know he broke the door, and we will replace it just like we have with the other two. But this time he realized what he did was wrong, and bowed as he stepped back outside. Hell, he's letting me explain for him instead of trying to defend himself." I begin to lower my head in thought. All of this is true. He even sees her as part of his family, even though she is a human.

Chi-chi closes her eyes in thought, with a small frown on her face remaining and a huff escaping through her nose. "As long as he's learning. But I won't go easy on him next time." Her hands resume wrapping my hand firmly and secure the loose end with a metal clasp. "Now don't break any more wooden things," she says with a hint of motherly chiding, something I've only heard directed at Gohan on several occasions. She stands up and walks over to the doorway to stick her head out. "And that goes for you as well, Raditz!"

I glance at my hand, now newly wrapped in gauze. She knows we heal faster than the average human. I feel a soft smile forming on my lips.

She didn't do it to prevent infection. She did it because she cares.

I stand up from the chair, the legs protesting the movement audibly. With a bow and a hug, I give her my gratitude.

"It's what I do," she says with her arms crossed and her athletic figure leaning against the doorframe. "But don't think I'm not serious about breaking more wooden objects!"

I chuckle as I go to meet my mate outside. "I know, and no promises!"

I look up to the night sky, stars littering the blue-black canvas like a spray of paint.

"Wish you'd have told me, Arugelle," I hear my mate mutter. He presses his back against the small house with his shoulders hunched forward, and his hair flows freely in the calm night breeze.

"I take full responsibility. Now let's go home," I say as I grab his hand with my non-wrapped hand. I leap into the cool air and sigh. Tomorrow's going to be a big day, so it'd be best if we all got our sleep.

I know, that's a lot to take in, right? What do you think? Leave a review, tell me how you feel, what you think, any tips to help me with my writing skills. Always learning and all that fun stuff. So, until next time, Miika, out!