~Tears Of The Sun~
Chapter V
"And from pulling you down with me... I can almost hear you scream." --A Perfect Circle; Orestes
[Juuhachi-gou's daily log; Three days after Trunks headed for the future]
It's been a lonely three days... With Trunks gone, and Juunana not talking to me, there's not much to do. The first two days, I refrained from killing humans. I think a few of them were more than a little amazed to cross paths with me and live to tell about it. No matter, though, I'll make up for it. I went back to the habit today, realizing how much I missed it. I'd been bored! In a way, it's quite calming to do...reminds me of the good times, before all of these confusing things I've been feeling lately started.
Yes, I, Juuhachi-gou, have been feeling things. I don't know what in Hell's name they are, but they're... something. Actually, it can be quite scary to feel something if you don't know what it is. It makes sense, I suppose. Think about it.
Dear fuck, listen to me! Since when did I start recording my thoughts? Well... I guess I ought to make some use out of the recording computer in my brain. After all... It might come in handy.
Sign off; 17:24:13 Jinzouningen Juuhachi-gou
~~*****~~
Akiko watched from high above him, on a cliff. She smirked to herself, noting that he hadn't noticed her up there. He wouldn't, though. That was just the way things were. She tossed her hair over her shoulders and slid off the rocky edge, her feet hitting the ground with a light, padded sound.
Instinctively, Juunana spun around, flat palm in front of him, fingers splayed. He grinned when he saw her miffed expression between his pale fingers.
"Jumpy, are you?" she huffed slightly. "If I was a human, would you have killed me now? Even in this place of... ours?" She nodded to the place they'd first met, just to their right.
He smirked a sloppy, wide smile. "No, I'd only kill you. A human wouldn't be worth my time."
She snorted. "As if you'd pass up the chance to blow some helpless human to a bloody mess of arms and legs."
He shrugged, still smiling beyond his own permission. "Perhaps."
"You haven't talked to your sister yet."
Instantly, the pretty smile dissappeared, replaced by a tight-lipped frown accompanied by narrowed eyes. "How would you know?"
"Oh, I've kept an eye on you." She shrugged and plopped down onto the soft, mossy ground.
"Oh have you now?" He fisted a hand in her shirt-front and hoisted her back up. "And would you mind explaining to me exactly why?"
"Simple matter," she pulled easily away from his grip. "You've got a cute butt."
He groaned and pushed her gently, and she stumbled back. "Bitch."
"Asshole."
"Whore."
"Brat."
He laughed. "That's the best you can do? Brat? Greeeaaaat come back, Akiko."
"Shut up and kiss me." She threw her arms around him, and he clumsily fell backwards, not noticing the thunk of his body hitting the ground. They laughed carelessly before pressing their lips together. "You're a lot more light hearted today." She told him when they broke contact to breathe.
He shrugged, pushing her off of him. "It's a little easier when the bastard trying to kill you went off to no-where land."
Akiko quieted. "Why do you insist on talking about him like that? He's only trying to protect his homeland."
"His 'homeland' is nothing but a memory of everything so jack-off stole from me!" He snapped, standing and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd rather it not exist."
"What are you going to do when it's all gone, Juunana-gou?"
He eyed her carefully before answering. "I'll decide that, Akiko, when the time comes." He stood, turned his back on her, and began to walk.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from you, bitch."
"Wha..." She didn't understand, "Why?" She caught hold of his arm, but he easily shook her off.
"Just let me go, Akiko... I've got a bit of thinking to do on my own.... about what I'm going to do with my future."
"How about talk to your sister."
"Shizukani! Shut up!"
She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest, turning and walking away with her nose stuck haughtilly up in the air.
She hadn't taken more than five steps when she smacked straight into Juuhachi-gou herself.
~~*****~~
[Juuhachi-gou's half-decent log; Five days after departure of Trunks]
I ran into that whore of Juunana-gou's. It's almost disturbing to know that there's someone who can get to him other than me. I was half-minded to kill her on the spot, but I didn't. She looked absolutely terrified... A good way to refill my ego, it'd been getting low. I tried to be cold to her, but she ended up twisting my mind into half-liking her. She had some interesting words, anyway...
Which leads me to announce that Juunana and I are speaking to each other again. As much as I'm reluctiant to admit it, I did miss him. I almost told him so, but didn't. His ego's fine without my help.
Not five minutes after I'd reunited with my brother, we were back to our old tactics. Search and destroy. I love the feeling of triumph at a city being blown flat. It makes me feel like a real goddess. Juunana didn't even pester me to kill a human slowly, which is unusual for him. Maybe he's just as relieved as I am to be back together, and he didn't want to get on my bad side. Still, it did feel like something was missing from our conversations. The laughter, yes, that was still there, but... somehow, in it's own way, it also wasn't... and I just can't quite put my finger on it...
Sign-off; 20:30:46 Jinzouningen Juuhachi-gou
~~*****~~
Juunana-gou looked down at the blood on his hands, then grinned at his sister. "This is great."
Juuhachi-gou nodded, carefully whiping her hands clean on the dead human-girl's pantleg. "I didn't miss the mess, though."
"That's my nee-chan," Juunana laughed. "Always the practical one." He streached his arms up above his head and moaned happily. "It's been a great week, hasn't it?"
Juuhachi finally looked up, a dainty little smile tipped her lips. "Yeah... I don't think I've enjoyed killing anyone so much since..." She stopped, thinking to herself. She was having fun causing so much trouble today, a lot more than she ever used to, especially after her relationship with Trunks, which she'd almost, if not, forgotten about. "It's great," she finished, closing the door on her thoughts.
"I'm glad Trunks has decided not to come back. It's been... how long?"
"Twelve days," Juuhachi reminded him.
"So you've been counting them, ne? I almost expected that."
She shrugged. "I noted we haven't seen much of your little toy around either."
He laughed. "Oh she's been around a bit, on and off. I don't think she likes you much. You're too ugly."
"Which is exactly why I was so confused that she'd go after my twin brother."
"Couldn't resist my amazing charm, I believe."
Juuhachi snorted. "Charm?! Oh, that's definatly a new one."
"Yeah, I know, I've been working on it." He came around behind her and pulled her hair. "Just like you've been working on your writing skills."
She spun around and slapped him. "Don't you dare touch me with your filthy hands!" She paused as he laughed and sat on moss-covered rock. "And how'd you know I've been recording things?"
"A twin's instinct." He gave her a wickedly shameful smile.
"That's not instinct, Juunana-gou, that's spying."
"So's to say, perhaps I like spying."
"Oh do you...?" She turned away from him and looked up at the sky. She'd felt something, a jolt of power... a very high power. "Did you feel that?"
He was on his feet and standing right next to her. "Of course I felt that. I think our good friend Trunksies is back."
"It can't be! His power level wasn't that high!!"
"Who else would it be?"
She shook her head. "I can't believe it." And all her worst fears came flooding back to her head. 'He's changed. He's not going to remember me like he did, not after he fought another version of me in another timeline, who more than likely didn't fall for him. And now his power's so high... I think I've bought myself a one-way ticket to Hell.'
"He's coming straight for us." Juunana announced, an angry fire glowing in his eyes. "Are you with me, Juu-chan? Or are you going to help your boy toy?"
"Oh Kami, Juunana, we can't fight him! He's more powerful than the both of us put together!"
Juunana looked at her solemly, and she knew that over all of this time, the time he'd spent with Akiko, he'd changed. "I don't care. I've fought a long war against him, and I'm not just going to turn over the final battle. He'll kill me either way. There's no use running, Juu-chan, there's no use delaying the inevitable."
Her eyes went wide, fearing the changes as much as she feared the close-approaching end. "Juunana... you... you never talk like that!"
"I know," he turned in the direction of the on-coming power, just in time to see the purple-haired boy stop dead in front of him, hand an inch from his face. "Hold it just a minute, Monkey, don't you want to savor this?"
"It's time for you to die, Juunana-gou!"
"No!" Came another voice; one all too familiar to Juunana-gou. "If you kill him, you kill me!"
Trunks glared at the girl who'd stepped between himself and Juunana-gou. "Get out of my way, this doesn't concern you!"
But Juunana was focused on another concept.
"Why the Hell didn't I know you were here?!" He snapped at Akiko, noticing for the first time he couldn't sense her power level.
Akiko reached back and found his hand, squeezing it tightly. Juunana felt it a lot more than he should. "Gomen, Juunana-gou, I never got around to telling you--"
Trunks tore her away from Juunana by her by the shoulder. "You're a cyborg!!"
"No shit, blue boy!" She spat back at him. "But without my memories whiped, which is the reason I never went on a killing spree."
"So what was your number?" Juunana blurted out.
"Juuyon-gou; Number 14."
Trunks threw her down at Juunana's feet. "It's no matter to me. Since you've got your memories and aren't a murderer like him, get the fuck away if you want to live."
"I told you, if he goes, I go." She stood up and took Juunana's hand again, breaking her gaze only to whisper to him. "I love you, Juu-kun."
"I... I love you, too... Juuyon-gou...."
Akiko's eyes filled with tears as she flung her arms around him and sobbed. Trunks was angrily gathering his Super Saiyajin strenght into a large ki blast, deciding with contempt he would have to kill the girl too. Juunana looked over Akiko's shoulder at his twin, his eyes looking paler than normal, and almost as frightened as she felt.
"Goodbye, Juuhachi."
"Juunana, NO!"
But she was too late, and the ki blast was all ready engulfing him and his lover. For a moment or so, there was nothing but dust and the low rumble of the blast's effects. Juuhachi could hear her own raspy breathing, even as it shook like her heart felt it was doing. The cry wrenched from her throat as the dust cleared, leaving only a few scraps. "NO!!!!!!!!"
She dropped to her knees, covering her face with her hands, noting unconciously that she was crying harder than she'd ever thought she could.
Trunks heart felt like it was ripping just a bit as he heard her sobs. He fixed his gaze on the shuddering heap that was her, and his heart skipped a beat. 'After all this time,' he thought, 'even though I loved you in the past...' He clenched his eyes closed, shivering involuntarily and fisting his hands. 'I can't love you anymore. I saw you again in the past, and I know that you were a true monster. You will never be sorry for what you did, and I can not forgive you for it either. You destroyed my life, killed my father before I could even know him, and my best friend right before my very eyes. Now I must return the favor, I must kill you in turn.'
"Juuhachi..." his voice shook as she looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. "Juuhachi, you know I have to kill you now."
"I know."
"I'll do it fast, I..." He took his gaze away from her face, she was too beautiful to look at, too broken. "I don't want it to be too painful for you, I won't draw it out."
"Shut up and just kill me!" She snapped, the tears starting all over again as she watched the man she'd thought she'd fallen in love with prepare a blast that would be her end.
"Juuhachi... I want you to know..." He aimed mentally, trying to still avoid her eyes. "That I'm really sorry, about everything."
She didn't answer. She couldn't. The bright blaze was just in front of her, and she felt it tingling on her skin, which caused the computer in her brain dully to tell her that it was hot. Next it was all around her, and her artificial enhancements began to shut down. Her skin felt like it was melting, the fire burned in her ears. Her eyes shut off, and blackness plagued her mind. She felt electricity surge through her circuts, and all the concious thought stopped.
The last thing she heard was his voice.
"I still love you..."
~~*****~~
THE END!
...or is it?...
[Juuhachi's pointless log; Three days after supposed death at the hands of Trunks]
Death wasn't anything like I thought it would be. I was concious up until the very end. It was so bright. I vaguly remember someone saying something about seeing a light when you die, but I don't think this is the light they were talking about. I think it was painful, I'm not sure... all my sensations shut off pretty quickly. I wonder if Juunana-gou can still think about it. I don't think he really ever figured out the recording device in his system. That's a real shame. I miss him so much. I thought I would miss Trunks as well, and to an extent I do, but it's not like before. I guess it's pretty hard to miss the one that killed you.
But the good news is that somehow my main power system is completely intact, which is very fortunate. It also means that maybe, just maybe... I might be able to regenerate myself. But it's sure as hell going to take a long time. Until then, I can only wait.
Okay, that was the real end! I hope you liked it, let me know!!!!!! Thanks, peace, and happy reading!
~Kouen~