By the way, please read & review.
Happy reading!
~Kouen Shino, the author
Unshed Tears
~Part Two~
"I know in my mind I would l leave you now... If I had the strength to." --DMB; The Dreaming Tree
A quick hand darted out to wrap around her thin wrist. She knew the feel of it as if it had been her own.
"What do you want, Juunana?"
"Aw, Nee-chan, what kinda hello was that?" He complainged, sitting beside his sister on a large rock that looked out over the setting sun. He stuck his lower lip out in a playful pout.
She turned to look at her brother, a light smile touching her lips. "You always tease me, Nii-chan."
"What would you do without me?" He smiled sweetly at her.
The grin on her lips widened, and she swatted his cheek with her fingertips. They giggled a moment, then relaxed into silence as the sun sank behind the hill.
A moment more, then he broke the silence.
"Where did you go all last night, Nee-chan?"
For a moment, she didn't answer, then, "What are you talking about?"
"When I was sleeping. You went off on your own. Where'd you go?
"Ah, something was just bothering me, I wanted to walk it off."
"Oh? What was bothering you?"
"I... thought I forgot something."
"Like what?"
"I don't know."
"Like Trunks's jacket?"
No answer.
"You left it in that little cave, Nee-chan. The one we keep everything in. I was putting Mika's hair in there and..."
"Juunana! You kept that girl's scalp?!"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
"That's... that's revolting!"
He laughed, a short emotionless grunt of a laugh. "So...Where were you?"
"I told you, just on a walk."
"So you stole Trunks's jacket and not the sword?"
She shrugged. "So?"
"Where are your earings, Juu-chan?"
Unconsciously, her hands went to her earlobes, face still passive, knowing where they were, but not willing to say. "I... I don't know. I must've dropped them."
"Liar," he stood, able to read her like a book. "I thought you'd always tell me everything, Juuhachi. I'm hurt."
With that, he strode away, leaving her sitting, confused, and all alone.
~~*~~
It was odd, he though, that right after he'd bugged his sister about her walk, he went on one of his own.
"Damn her for lying to me," he muttered to himself, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "She never lies to my, why all of a sudden lies?"
He soon arrived in his secret place, a place not even Juuhachi knew about. He'd stumbled upon it by accident one day whilst chasing after a three-year-old. It'd been so beautiful , he'd abandoned his chase, the child's life spared... just this once. His place was a tiny spot of land, surrounded completly by shallow water, and in it's center, a willow tree with thick vines. He'd been struck to awe by it, and soon forgotten the child. Since that day, he'd never seen anyone else in that place, and he'd vowed never to kill anyone there.
Today, though, he wasn't alone, as he so desired to be.
"Who the Hell are you?" He asked the girl sitting on a rock by the tree.
She looked up, fear creeping into her eyes, though she didn't move, nor did she answer.
"I could kill you, you know," he told her, "but I won't. You're in my place and--"
"It's my place," she cut him off.
He narrowed his eyes to slits of ice. "It's been mine for years."
She shrugged. "It's a dumb argument anyway. This is a place in nature."
He opened his mouth to say something, but there was nothing to say. He snapped his jaw shut audibly, growling slightly in the back of his throat.
"No need to be so rude." she muttered under her breath.
"Why don't I just kill her?" he thought, but he didn't want to do it here, in the serenity of his place. "Why don't you just go away?" he finally settled for saying.
"'Cause I don't want to."
Something wasn't right with this picture.
"Why arn't you afraid of me?"
For a moment, the black-clad girl looked saddened. "'cause I wouldn't mind dying."
Juunana rolled his eyes. "Let me guess: Because my sister and I killed your family, destroyed your home, and fucked up your life; now you've nothing to live for, yada yada yada, etc, etc, right?"
"Well, no, actually."
"No?! Then why the Hell would you want to die?!?!"
She stared at him, as if the answer was obvious. This annoyed him and he threw his hands up in frustration. "Damnit! This is stupid." He thrust his hands in his pockets and stalked away, just as angry as when he'd arrived, though now for a completly different reason.
She watched his back as he went, surprised she was still alive, but taking no joy in the fact. She drew her breath in and closing her eyes. Just another day not worth living for.
~~*~~
She kicked a stone, hard, and it flew out ahead of her, smashing into a tree, boring into the bark and remaining in its nitch; no reaction portrayed on her face, and she felt none either.
Her brother was late. They'd had plans to attack Trunks's house, but if her brother didn't show up...
She flopped down on the grass, bored, and closed her eyes. Immediatly her mind was swarmed with thoughts.
Thoughts she didn't quite welcome.
She saw a face. His face. Fearful blue eyes with a penetrating gaze. What would it be to look into them? Whispy strands of lavender hair swirling around those eyes. What would it be to run fingers through it? Hands so rough but so gentle at the same time. What would it be to be touched by them? A boy so much more mature than he should be, so skilled, so brave, so... breath takingly beautiful.
She tried to shake his image from her mind, but she just couldn't block it out. To add to the oddity of it all, she found these thoughts to be almost... soothing, and with them dancing in her imagination, she drifted off into a light sleep.
~~*~~
He hovered 50 or so feet above the ground, waiting. She didn't move. Good Lord! When would she leave?! He didn't know why he was waiting for her to leave, either; the thought just wouldn't come to him. 'It's just curiosity,' he told himself. 'because she's not afraid of me, like she should be.'
Slowly he descended to the ground, landing so quietly she didn't even hear him. He walked up behind her just as incoherantly, stopping just a small foot away.
"Going to kill me now?" Came her voice, surprising the Hell out of him.
"What?! How the fuck did you know I was behind you?!"
She turned to face him, standing and finally revealing her height, which was only about an inch shorter than his own. "I'm not that naive. So were you going to kill me? I'll let you procede if you were."
"Not here."
'Then what did you want?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He shrugged, taking a step closer so they were almost nose to nose, and she boldly held her ground.
"Yeah, I would."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really."
"Well then," with a speeding slowness he leaned his head forward and pressed his lips to hers; a slightly impulsive, spur-of-the-moment kiss.
For a second she lingered with her mouth pressed to his, then she jerked away abruptly. "Why'd you do that?!"
He shrugged. "'Cause I felt like it. What's your name, anyway?"
She met his eyes, unanswering for another second, then finally giving in. "Akiko... and you're Juunana-gou."
"Got that right." A smirk found its way to his lips as he looked down at her. "Nice chattin' with ya," he said simply, taking one step back before jumpint into the air and flying away.
She stared after him, mouth opened slightly in shock and awe. 'So I've been kissed by death, huh?'
~~*~~
He was so surprised to find her laying there, he'd practically tripped over her resting body.
After a day's rest, Trunks was well, and back to his quest for revenge on the Androids. He'd never expected to find one of them asleep on a hillside. He hadn't even know that they bothered sleeping. This was what he'd been waiting for... the perfect oportunity to kill one of them!
His hand automatically went to his sword, but for some unknown reason, he couldn't move it. He was frozen by the beauty of her lying there; for once at peace, with even the slightest of a whistful smile on her face. Even the fact that she was wearing his jacket didn't anger him... instead, it almost touched him. He wanted to cry. She looked like an angel. The rage inside of him had nearly deminished.
He took a step back, having decided to just leave her there, when she stirred and woke, sitting up to face him.
For a moment they regarded each other cautiously, neither wanting to break the silence. Juuhachi averted her gaze, feeling a light flush creeping up onto her cheeks, wishing he hadn't seen her asleep. Something lurched inside Trunks's stomach when he saw her embarrassment.
"I..." he found himself speaking without realizing it, "I didn't think it would be right to try to hurt you if you were asleep."
She met his gaze again, relishing in the soft beauty she saw in them, but she couldn't find any reply to his statement. Instead, she merely nodded.
"I should go..." he murmered, shifting his gaze away from the dead blue of her eyes that looked like they so desperatly craved emotion.j
"Trunks..." The name surprised her, as it had come softly from her own mouth. He looked down to where she sat again. Once locked under his gaze, the words eluded her tongue. "Nevermind."
"No, please...please tell me."
"I...I don't want to ever have to kill you."
He averted his gaze again, something uncomfortable knotted it's way into his stomach, and he attempted to swallow the lump in the back of his throat. He nodded and turned away, fighting with himself not to promise that he wouldn't kill her either.
"I should go," he repeated.
"She nodded, and let him know, "Okay."
He took two steps before she stopped him again.
"Trunks?"
"Juuhachi..."
It sounded foreign hearing him say her name without any harsh inentions for it. She swallowed hard, trying to remember what she had to say. "You... Here's your jacket." She slid it off of her slim shoulders, then walked it over to him.
He watched her with almost a sick feeling in his stomach. "Keep it," he choaked out.
Her eyes fogged over, and she blinked a few times to clear them. "Okay," she blushed, but hardly enough to be noticalbe, then leaned over, brushing her lips lightly against his cheek.
He jumped back, shocked, eyes growing wide. She only smiled and stepped away. "Ja ne, Trunks." And she ran off.
And something was odd about even that. He'd never seen her run before; she'd always flown. There was some sort of helplessness implied with the running, and it struck him as comforting... to see a weaker point in her. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. What an odd twist to his life. Had he just been... nice... to Jinzouningen Juuhachi-gou? Half of the destroyers of Earth? By Kami... Why hadn't he just killed her when he'd had the chance?
~~**~~
Well, that's the end of part two!! let me know what you think! Part three should be around soon, If i can get off of my lazy ass long enough to write something. ^_~ Happy reading!