Yamcha and the rest of the Taitans team were heading out from South City to East City after their win against the South City Sea Monsters, to prepare for their second game of the season. As usual, they were accommodated with a plane and good meals in the dew hours it took to get there. It was just twenty minutes after take-off, and most of the players were already catching up on some snoozing before they were to land.

Yamcha found himself unable to sleep for that particular late flight, instead gazing out the window in boredom. Kaki's energy radiated in the distance, and he wonders how she's doing, and if she's already asleep. Even from hundreds of miles away, he could still sense her energy at most times when he focused on it. While it was unnerving at first, after he came to know a bit of her, he didn't think much of it anymore. If anything, Yamcha was glad to know there was finally someone else around to balance the uncertainty he felt around Vegeta being Earth's protector. While Vegeta was certainly capable of hypothetically defending Earth from a future threat, with his history of sabotaging battles to further his ego, he was still a wildcard in dependability. Kaki, on the other hand… In actuality, what she'd be willing to do for Earth remained to be seen, and as much as Yamcha liked her, she came off as a bit too demure to be comparable to a warrior of Vegeta's caliber. But he had a feeling that if the time were to come, she would be the type to be devoted to a role of the protector. And that was enough to put his mind at ease.

Just as he's thinking of it, Kaki's energy blips out of existence.

Yamcha suddenly becomes more alert, sitting forward. He looks out the window in confusion, his reflection wide-eyed as he braced himself on the armrests.

"Rgh. Fuck, dude, chill," mumbles one of his teammates, who sat next to him, "s'just some turbulence…" Then she falls back into full sleep with a snore.

Yamcha forces himself to sit back so as to not cause a scene, but crosses his arms over his chest, extremely concerned. He sits like that for the next twenty minutes, trying to keep his leg from bouncing in anxiety. Then his cell phone rings, loudly, causing him to jolt. His teammate groans loudly in frustration and turns away from him to face the aisle. Yamcha winces as he steps over his teammate's crossed legs and walks down to the back of the plane, where the bathroom was, pulling the curtain closed for some privacy. He pulls his phone out of his pocket to look at the caller I.D.

An unknown number.

Yamcha's brows furrow together in confusion, and he apprehensively presses the green button to accept the call. He puts the receiver to his ear.

"Who is this?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

"Um. It's me," says a familiar voice, thick in accent. "I'm sorry, did I call at a bad time?"

"Kaki! Hey!" Yamcha says in pleasant surprise, feeling relief wash over him. "No, you're fine, really. I just didn't expect it, is all."

"Oh. Okay."

Yamcha stands up straighter. "I'm guessing Bulma got you that phone, huh?"

"Yes! A couple days ago," Kaki tells him. "I would have called then, but… I was still trying to learn how to use it."

"That's awesome though! And I mean, hey," he reassures her, "you called now. That's better than never."

"You're right," Kaki agrees. Then after a pause, she continues. "I should be thanking you, though. I don't think I would be talking to you right now if you didn't help me."

"It's no problem. I'm always happy to." Yamcha crosses his free arm over his chest and leans back onto the wall. "So, uh, I've got something a little funny to ask. You've been training with Vegeta, right?"

"Um, yes."

"And you're aware of the whole, warriors on Earth can sense energy, thing."

"Yes…?"

"Okay. Okay," Yamcha says, nodding to himself. "So like… You're okay, right?"

"Of course I'm okay," Kaki answers, sounding confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, like, y'know… Your energy kinda went off my radar."

"Oh," she says, as if not understanding what he meant. Then, after a pause, she speaks again. "Oh! Oh, I was-"

Suddenly, Yamcha feels her energy come back.

"I'm training," she explains with a breathy laugh.

"Geez Louise. This time of night?"

"I-I couldn't sleep. I thought time in the gravity room would help," Kaki tells him.

Yamcha's brows furrow at that. "Are you still in there?"

"Yes. It's okay, though, I don't have the gravity set very high." Yamcha feels a little relief at that. "I was trying the, um, energy suppression. It took some concentration... But it was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Heh, yeah. It's something fighters here learn after picking up how to sense energy. Which, like, I guess when you learn it depends on when you start proper martial arts training or whatever."

"Yes! I had never heard of such a thing before I came here," Kaki says, sounding impressed. "You know, in the army, it is not really common to train in such a manner, to draw out your energy for battle. Especially on my home planet. We were expected to go into more… academic occupations."

Yamcha turns to fully lean back onto the wall. "I guess that wasn't your thing, though, huh?"

"Hah. No. Well, I wasn't particularly good at anything as a child," she says, sounding a little awkward in saying it. "And when I was conscripted, I… didn't find my place until much, much later."

"Conscripted?" Yamcha knows the implications of that word, but he dares to ask just to be sure. "You mean you were forced to join Freeza's army?"

There's a long silence on the other line. Yamcha's throat tightens, knowing he had very well poked at something he shouldn't have. He wants to say something, but he can't bring himself to do it. Instead he waits to see what she says, holding his breath.

"...Yes," Kaki finally answers, her voice monotonous. She sighs before continuing. "It's a law, where I am from. They… take one from each family-the oldest child-when they turn to teens. My brother was supposed to go, but… h-he died. Even though I was too young, I was sent in his place. To meet the quota."

Yamcha feels his stomach churn. Somehow, this was just as bad as learning she had willingly joined Freeza, if not worse. He runs a hand over his forehead. "Gosh, I-I'm sorry, Kaki."

"It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong," Kaki says quietly. "I just… I haven't shared that in a long time."

"We don't have to talk about it anymore, if you don't want to."

"...I don't."

There's another long silence between them, where Yamcha doesn't know what else to say. He was mostly putting the few pieces he had of Kaki's background together in his mind. She was forced to enter the army as a child because of some law, and then ended up running away as an adult… Yamcha couldn't even begin to imagine what happened in all that time between, or what pushed her to make that final decision in leaving. In the end, he was just glad she was on Earth now, and free from whatever horrors she faced in Freeza's army.

"W-Where are you right now?" Kaki finally asks, sniffling a little.

Yamcha is also all-too eager to change the subject. "Uh, we're flying over to East City from South City right now… Heh, I'm gonna be knocked out when we get into the hotel."

"You deserve it. You were really good at the game," Kaki says.

"Oh." Yamcha smiles at that. "You watched it?"

"Yes. I did." He hears her chuckle a little. "You hit the, um, ball catcher really well when you were up."

"Huh? Oh. Oh. That."

Kaki giggles this time, something light and girlish, which was unlike the usual lower tone she spoke in. "I'm sorry! It was funny. I feel bad for laughing at the poor man falling over."

"Ugh! I just swung too hard, okay? The bat slipped from my hands," he says defensively, but then laughs. "Don't feel too bad, though. I mean, it was pretty funny. He kinda fell over like they do in cartoons, huh?"

Kaki's bursts into laughter, the sound bright and musical, like the ringing of a well-tuned bell. Yamcha's breath hitches in surprise at the sound, and quickly realizes that this is the first time he's heard her laugh-really laugh. She'd been so reserved with him up until this point, Yamcha just couldn't conjure a picture of how she would look in the middle of a laugh. Fleetingly, with a pleasant tightness blossoming in his chest, he wishes he was there to see it. Kaki subsides as suddenly as she had started, sounding as if she was covering her mouth with her hand as she calms down to speak.

"Oh, goodness." Her voice still jumps as she's still recovering from her fit of laughter. "I hope I didn't wake anyone up."

"I'm sure you're fine," he tells her reassuringly, grinning. He bites his lip just before he continues. "You've got a nice laugh, y'know."

"I- Heh. Um." She lets out a final chuckle, and he hears her handle the phone a little on the other line. "...Well, I-I think I should go to bed…"

Ah, geez. She completely dodged it.

"You should sleep, too," Kaki adds, just before he feels completely embarrassed.

"Ah, yeah, maybe I should get a little shut-eye before we land…" Yamcha says, and punctuates the pause with a yawn as he finally feels the effects of staying up late. He sighs through his nose after. "Hey, it was good to hear from ya. You should call again, soon. If you want."

"...Okay. I'll try," Kaki says, sounding bashful. "Goodnight, Yamcha."

"G'night. Sleep well."

The line clicks off and Yamcha lets his phone-arm fall to his lap. He stays leaning against the wall for several moments, drowsily looking at the unknown caller number on the screen of his cellphone. His expression softens a little, and then he begins to punch in a series of buttons. When he's done, he's taken to a page where it shows the single name of a newly registered phone number: KAKI. He looks at it again long enough that the screen dims from idleness, and he takes that as cue to stuff it back into his pocket and head back to his seat to try to sleep.