sorry it's taken a while. I get very easily distracted, especially by exams. But anyways... I digress.
I hope I'm not making anyone ooc, or have made too many grammatical/spelling mistakes. And as usual I am open to any constructive criticism.
Fools Fall In: Chapter 2
"Something wicked this way comes." - Macbeth
Oolong snorted and turned to the old man, "She actually made a Princess Bride joke?"
"She did...but I only got it after she beat me."
Then there was a long silence.
Krillin did not get angry often. He got frustrated. Upset; sometimes even hysterical. But he was definitely not an angry person. In this situation, however, he could be forgiven for feeling a little... annoyed.
Upon discovering from his long time friend and mentor that he had essentially been won by some demon woman in a card game, three emotions found themselves at the forefront of his mind. The aforementioned anger at the fact he had been used as some sort of collateral by two of his best friends, that oh so familiar sense of dread he was well acquainted with over the fact an unfamiliar demon was involved, and a slightly odd sense of disbelief at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
The whole incident was ridiculous.
And of course it could only happen to him. And he just knew that it was going to be trouble.
The Turtle Hermit stood quietly, trying to gauge his young friend's reaction. Once he saw the initial shock and disbelief fade from the monks dark eyes, it pained him to see them narrow in anger. He knew Krillin was never really one to loose his temper, even after all he'd been through – and sure enough his countenance fell into an expression seen frequently on his face, a look of resignation. Roshi frowned, annoyed with himself. He'd fought with his conscience over the past few days, trying to convince himself at first that it hadn't happened, then attempting to figure out a way of either telling his friend or fixing the situation before he needed to tell him...before he saw the subtle sting of carelessness and betrayal in his young student that he had caused. He walked over to Krillin and placed a wrinkled hand on his shoulder, who without a word, patted it and smiled at the ancient hermit.
His shoulders shook as he broke into quiet nervous laughter.
"This is going to be an interesting week."
By later that night, Krillin had managed to do two things. He had phoned for backup and attempted to get all the information he could from Master Roshi and Oolong. Her name was Majon. She'd won the game; they'd shaken hands and declared it a promise. Baba had cackled manically. The demon woman had been attractive (or so they said anyway, despite having horns, wings and a tail.), foul-mouthed, a little bit unhinged and had taken great interest in Krillin himself. As Oolong had mentioned, "She didn't seem to mind when we mentioned you being bald. In fact it kinda spurred her on..." Krillin blinked and unconsciously ran his hand over his head. He hadn't shaved it in a couple of weeks and there was a thin layer of dark stubble there.
"Really?"
"Yeah... maybe it's easier for her to make a lamp out of your skin if your bald...you know your doomed right?"
"Oh yeah I know. I just wish I...I...oh!"
"What? Sekuppu?"
"I need to know how to get out of the clutches of a needy, emotionally distraught abandoned lover, don't I?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I need to talk to Bulma."
Another man's voice cut across the sniggering. "Oh that's hilarious Krillin."
A tall dark-haired man was standing by the doorway, a small cat-like creature sitting on his shoulder. Shaking his head, Yamcha sauntered into the front room where his friends were gathered.
"I'm joking! I'm joking. I sensed you coming."
"Yeah, sure you did," He took a seat next to the monk, "You rang me earlier? You sounded odd... well... odder than usual. What's up...you okay?"
The pig groaned and rolled his eyes. He picked up a couple of magazines and wandered off, grumbling about hearing the story enough already. Yamcha raised his eyebrows.
Krillin slumped back into his chair, sighing, and proceeded, with help from Master Roshi (and the odd shouting clarification of detail from the kitchen) to explain the situation to Yamcha and Puar.
Kami knew he was thankful for Yamcha coming round. He was one of Krillin's closest friends, and, despite his often slightly immature and flippant nature, was loyal and always there to help. He knew that his bandit friend would provide an extra opinion on the situation - a new, clear approach. Krillin knew that Yamcha being the first person he had contacted for advice had been the best thing to do.
His friend absorbed the information with a thoughtful look on his face. Krillin shrugged, indicating the end of his narration; Yamcha and Puar exchanged looks silently and for a fleeting moment, Krillin thought by the serious look their faces that they had the solution to his problem, that maybe he'd overlooked some vital piece of information. However, this faded swiftly as the man and shape-shifting cat both burst into raucous laughter.
Krillin scowled.
"Thank you for empathising. I can feel your love."
More laughter.
"Seriously guys. Unhelpful. It's not funny."
Yamcha recovered first, clutching his ribs, he chuckled at his shorter friend.
"Aww c'mon Krillin. It is pretty funny when you think about it. I mean who else but Master Roshi...and who else would this sort of thing happen to but you? You spend years desperately trying to keep hold of a woman and now you're trying to figure out how to get rid of one. Hurrhurrhurr."
"Oh ha ha. I'm glad someone sees the irony in this. I'm just a little busy with the fact that a demon owns me. I repeat. Owns me."
His taller friend sighed.
"Dude, I'm pretty sure you're taking this way to seriously."
"Demons ,Yamcha. Remember demons?"
The bandit flinched and leaned forward, his tone now quiet and thoughtful.
"Yes, Krillin, I remember demons...I remember what happened... but you...we can't afford to panic and let the situation get out of our control. Roshi said they were all drunk. She probably woke up the next morning and didn't even remember. How longs it been...3, 4 days? You'll be fine. Just ignore it. It'll be forgotten about, seriously bro."
"Ya think so?"
"Yeah, I think so"
Krillin nodded and folded his arms, taking this in. The two men sunk into a comfortable and thoughtful silence. Master Roshi, who has been listening and nodding along fervently for the entire conversation cleared his throat but before he could get a word in, Oolong leaned around the doorframe.
"I still think you guys should get a chick's opinion on this."
After Bulma had finished laughing her head off down the phone (the din complete with another voice in the background yelling at her to 'shut the hell up') at her unfortunate friend, and really thought about the situation, she appeared to be a lot more fearful than Yamcha and Master Roshi had been. In fact, Krillin mused, he could almost hear her scowl.
"I don't like this Krillin. You can't trust a word that comes out of a demon's mouth, we all know that. I mean sure I can understand from what you've told me that she's an emotional wreck – but surely that makes her all the more dangerous. If she's willing to do something so ...spontaneous, what else is she capable of? Krillin, you can't be too careful with this."
Her voice went down to a whisper (always an ominous sign where the lovely Miss Briefs was concerned), "I mean what sort of crazy ho-bag thinks she can just get a boyfriend by winning a card game?"
"Weren't you going to use the dragonballs to wish for –"
"IT'S NOT THE SAME THING."
"Okay, Okay," murmered Krillin, his head was starting to hurt. He needed to sort this out, "As a woman, a genius and probably as a relatively sane person: what do you think I should do?"
"Contact her."
Yamcha leaned over Krillin's shoulder, "Are you insane? I say ignore it."
Bulma screeched back, "Don't you try and undermine me, he was asking for my opinion, I say to get in contact and sort it out face to face, despite being a demonic psychopath, she's a woman getting over a bad breakup; she won't appreciate you ignoring her. It's more dangerous to you if you do!" The monk was simply holding the receiver up in front of his friend now.
"Yeah, but if he just turns up and dumps her, the 'demonic psychopath getting over a bad breakup' is going to kill him, I mean we don't even know how powerful a demon she is, and even if she's weak... it's Krillin."
"Hey."
"Sorry bro. Bulma has got a point, but I say don't make the first move if you may not have to make a move at all."
Bulma sighed heavily on the other end of the phone. Damn man-logic. The blue-haired woman winced at the sound of crying coming from down the hall, perfect timing as per usual Trunks.
"Krillin, it's really up to you. I'm here if you need anything, I have to go, the baby's awake. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
CLICK.
He was no further forward in a stupid, yet potentially dangerous situation. I don't think I can stand any more of this today.
Letting out a groan of frustration, the monk set down the receiver and flopped onto the settee face-down. And that was how he stayed for the next half hour until; of course, his moment of peace was shattered by Puar shrieking loudly and Yamcha subsequently joining in upon being roused from his state of half-sleep on one of the chairs.
The smaller man looked up towards where the cat was frantically gesturing to see a small black mass with red eyes floating above him. Mere inches away.
He yelped and rolled off the settee onto the floor with a thud. The thing, seemingly made out of smoke, flittered down until it was right in front of him, and proceeded to take a more tangible form. It was making a humming noise as it hovered, and grew a number of little stubby limbs which it then used to make a landing on the floor in front of Krillin's outstretched legs. The cat and bandit had gone silent, watching the little black creature wide-eyed. It did nothing for a moment or two before opening what must have been its mouth extremely widely; making coughing noises it then started vomiting up something rectangular and thin. Spitting it on the floor at his feet, the little thing looked at the Monk for a moment, blinked and then exploded in a puff of smoke and a substance that vaguely resembled motor oil.
Well, thought Krillin. That was odd.
He stood up and backed away from the object on the floor.
"What is that?"
He eyed it warily. Yamcha picked up the first thing he could lay his hands on (a spoon) and prodded the offending object. "It's an envelope."
Satisfied it wasn't going to explode; he picked it up and opened it.
"It looks like a letter, no, scratch that, it's an invitation." Puar hovered over his shoulder, reading the writing out loud.
"Krillin,
I've assumed that by now you've been made aware of the bet that was made to me on the night of the 25th of June by your (may I say, quite irresponsible) friend Mister Master Roshi. So, I would like to invite you to discuss it further, and of course get more acquainted, at the Rakshasa on Thursday at 9pm. Directions are provided, as well a VIP pass for you plus one.
Be seeing you soon.
Majon xx."
"So...yeah. She remembers."
Krillin scowled at the taller man.
"Where the hell is the Rakshasa? I'm sure I've heard of it before..."
"I think I've heard of it too... it might be a hotel, or a bar or something." He studied the invitation a little harder, "Shit dude, she put kisses at the bottom...Oh wait, it's only two though. You're ok for now. Don't look at me like that; reading between the lines and decoding the hidden signs in messages from women is an art form. One X is friend. Two X's is a slight hint at more than friendship and three X's is a relationship."
"I suppose you really have to learn to rely on messages and notes when the most you can say to a woman is flmmuanffmmmnff. Huh?"
"Yup."
The two men sat down heavily on the sofa, staring at the wall in front of them intently, as if hoping it would provide them with a solution. It was Tuesday night. Just a day and a bit to put together some semblance of a plan, or even plea. Yamcha wrinkled his nose and turned to his friend, "I'll come with you."
Krillin looked up at him, the leaden feeling in his stomach fading just a little.
"I think it would be better if I went then if you took Master Roshi...or Bulma...especially if she's right about the whole 'woman scorned' thing. Bringing a woman might antagonize her. Plus, taking a guy as your 'plus-one' might make her think twice." He wiggled his eyebrows at his bald companion.
Krillin laughed and shook his head, "I suppose, but it still doesn't stop her falling for my charismatic personality and devilish good looks. Male plus-one or not." He licked a finger and straightened an eyebrow. His good humour slowly returning to him.
Yamcha snorted, absently scratching behind Puar's ears as she settled on his lap.
"We could always just give her Tien. Though we'd probably have to drug him first..."
"Haha."
"Krillin. Yamcha."
They turned to see Master Roshi standing behind the settee in his usual pose, a hand on his stick and the other behind his back. His sunglasses caught the sunlight as he continued, "I think you should take Piccolo with you."
Both of the younger men exchanged nervous glances. The big namek had all but officially become one of the gang during their last big incident, and although they for the most part trusted him and valued his input during times of crisis, they were still rather wary of him. He was bad tempered, introverted and unsociable (they had tried to be friendlier with him, Krillin especially, they'd even tried using Gohan as a sort of buffer zone, but he had mostly stayed as aloof as ever).
"I mean," continued the old man, "that since neither of you know much about demons...and since his is, was, a demon...it would be sensible to take him along."
Krillin groaned. He couldn't fault that logic.
"No."
"But...but Mr. Piccolo, he need's your help! It could get dangerous."
Son Gohan was hovering in front of his sensei. Krillin was still on the ground by the side of the waterfall, thinking it better to let the 12 year old alone as he worked his magic on his stubborn friend. Krillin had explained his situation to the man, who had simply scowled at him, and scowled harder still when he had asked him to come to the Rakshasa with himself and Yamcha. He had told the monk to both get lost and to sort out his own damn problems. Krillin had suspected he would and so had brought the only person capable of getting Piccolo to do anything. Gohan.
"You'd help if it was me."
"You wouldn't have gotten yourself into such a ridiculous situation." He shot a glare at the man on the ground.
"It wasn't his fault. C'mon, please Mr. Piccolo. Just this once, then I'm sure he won't ask any more favours from you! Will you Krillin?"
"No! No more bothering Piccolo, I swear on my um... honour as a... um...martial... artist."
The large namek rolled his eyes and regarded Krillin for a moment, as if weighing out his options over what would be more tiresome; getting involved with the human's latest buffoonery or the kid getting upset with him if he didn't. Hmph.
Gohan saw this silence as a good sign and proceeded to try and seal the deal. He gave his best friend and teacher the saddest puppy dog eyes he could make.
Piccolo growled.
"Damn it kid. You can't just pull that face ever time-"
The boy's dark eyes got a little bigger.
"-stop that! You're nearly a te-"
His lip quivered slightly.
Piccolo swore under his breath in some strange language Gohan couldn't understand.
"Fine. FINE. But you can't use The Face again for a whole year."
The boy whooped and flew down to Krillin, who looked decidedly relieved.
"Thanks Piccolo! See ya tomorrow."
Feh. A green hand covered his eyes as he pondered what he'd gotten himself into. Demon women, midgets and puppy dog eyes – what a charmed life he did lead.
So yeah. Hope that wasnt completely shit.
I'm still not completely sure whay to write at the bottom, so I'll just go with - A) I hope people found the humour humorous. B) feel free to ask any questions.
I appreciate feedback, and hope people are enjoying the story so far.
chapter 3 will come soon...ish.