I've got so many people to thank for this chapter!! I know it took forever to finish. Trust me I was bashing my own brain over it. So kudos to Iketeru Guy, Cow, Laura, Isabella, Toni & Patty. Thank you peeps for all the help you gave me!
Disclaimers: Usual stuff. The only character that is mine is Naa, all others belong to Akira Toriyama, FujiTV, TOEI and anybody else who has the paperwork to back up their claim. I'm a poor woman, so please don't sue.. you would only get my kids ^_^(). This is only for entertainment purposes. I'm not making any money off my stories. And please... Read and Review!!!
Warrior Soul – Chapter 7 - Kangen Ha Guujin Wo Yorokobasu
Opening her eyes before the early morning sun even hints at the dawn to come, Naa stretches out all her senses to determine if her reluctant hostess and her two sons are fast asleep. Due to her injuries, her body has forced her to sleep as much as she could to heal faster and Naa is unable to get herself to rise early. Oba and her two sons are very early risers, for they have many various chores to do to support and keep up their homestead. Naa herself has been woken by the sounds of them working. After satisfying herself that they are asleep, Naa tentatively sits up in her bed.
"Why shouldn't they be still asleep?" Naa chuckles quietly, "It's still about three hours before the sun will be up. I finally got myself up early enough so I can have some peace and quiet from their constant blabbing." Sitting on the edge of the bed, she checks out the progress of her healing wounds. She gleefully takes off the restricting bandage that covers her head and part of the left side of her face. Raising her left hand, Naa traces the cut by her left eye with her fingertips. Her scouter exploding, from the readings of the powerful ki of the warrior she had battled, caused the cut. Closing her eyes Naa imagines the battle again in her head, reliving every moment, trying to burn it in her memory so that when she finds him she will take her revenge. Feeling that the wound is nearly healed, she lowers her hand. Without the regeneration tank, it will defiantly leave a scar, another reminder of the battle she lost. "Yet another matter to settle with him." She mumbles to herself. Her right arm is a different matter; due to it being broken it would be sore for a while yet. Nevertheless, it is usable again; as long as it does not take a strong direct hit, the arm will be fine.
Standing up Naa catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror, feeling no discomfort about her nakedness other than missing her armor; she approaches the mirror and looks closely at the woman that is herself in the mirror. She sees a tall female of her race, but a good head shorter than the man that beat her. Frowning at that thought she once again looks in the mirror. She notices how her eyebrows slash downward in her face, narrowing her eyes to slits, a freshly puckered scar on the corner of her left eye, from eyebrow to just under the eye. Sharp angular cheekbones stand out in severe angles on her face that show no soft flesh. Many battles and surviving for long periods with very little to no food have made her body very lean. Turning sideways, she can see her ribs and hipbones against the taunt pulling of her flesh. Turning even more she pulls her hair of the way and looks over her shoulder at her back, also seeing there her spine clearly through the skin ending where her long, course brown tail dangles over her buttocks and to the ground. Noticing that, she pulls her tail up and wraps it around her thin waist nearly two times in an instinctive gesture to protect it. Spotting her bodysuit in the mirror behind her, she turns away from the mirror, dismissing the image she saw as nothing more than another warrior with scars from the many battles she has fought. Picking up the black bodysuit Naa pulls it on, grunting in satisfaction at the tiny stitches the woman called Oba did to fix the many rents and tears that occurred from her battle. Walking over to the window, she opens it and flies off into the predawn morning, miles away from where she senses any intelligent life.
Landing in a slightly rocky and wooden region, she plans what she wants to do first. Deciding to test her arm, she walks over to a rock as big as her pod and bends down, grasping the edges lifting it out of the earth with barely a grunt. Tossing it up into the air above her, she readies herself and punches it with her right arm as it descends, shattering it to pieces. Gasping in pain, she cradles her right arm close to her until the pain subsides. Snarling in disgust at her weakness, Naa throws multiple ki blasts at the remaining debris obliterating the only witnesses, albeit non-living, to her moment of weakness.
"How could a…a…NOBODY defeat me?" Hitting her left hand on her chest, Naa's eyes flash with rage. "I am a Saiya-jin, an Elite Saiya-jin, the sound of that alone inspired fear in the races throughout the universe. How could he," She falls to her knees, "defeat me?" Staring blankly at nothing for several minutes, she shakes her head again in self-disgust. "Bah…I'm not getting any training done this way. No wonder he beat me so easily."
Tired, hot and sweaty, Naa surveys her surroundings several hours later. It is now late afternoon; the sun is beating down on her, still high in the sky. With a look of satisfaction at the good workout and the destruction caused by it, she licks her lips and inclines her head slightly, as her stomach rumbles its protest at her disdain to find a meal. The Saiya-jin woman lifts her head, catching scents on the breeze much as a carnivorous animal would, and she smirks confidently to herself. "The beasts on this pitiful mud ball are pathetically easy to track."
One quick (yet violent) hunt later she finds herself flying over the rolling, boulder-specked plains towards Oba's modest home, a large, sway-backed beast slung over one of her powerful shoulders. Smirking mirthlessly to herself, Naa wonders what the old woman's two boys would do if she sat down in front of their door and started devouring her kill raw. Probably scream... That might be entertaining.
She sets herself down near the farm and her gaze darts around, but none of the trio of residents was in sight. Naa drops the large, bloody beast to the ground and begins to tear into it ruthlessly.
A large splashing of water alerts her to the presence of another- her head snaps up instinctively at the noise and she finds herself gazing at one of Oba's brat. The young man who looks like he is about to throw up at the half-eaten carcass at Naa's feet, next to him is a large pail of water dropped in surprise when he had laid eyes on the bloody mess at his doorstep. "What's wrong, brat? Aren't you hungry?" He shakes his head jerkily. "Well I am and if you don't want to be the next course I would suggest you be on your way."
Nodding his head wordlessly, he hurries to pick up the now empty pail, dropping it several times in his haste to leave her presence. Attracted by the noise, Oba walks over.
"What's going on here?" Oba asks.
Finally able to speak, her son rushes to explain. "She said she was going to eat me Ma!"
"Really? Well now, finish your chores. I'll take care of this." Finally getting a firm hold on the pail, Oba's son rushes off. Oba frowns, watching him leave then turns to Naa. "I don't appreciate you terrorizing my son young lady." Hands on hips, she stares down at Naa. Taking a last bite of the leg she was eating, Naa throws the bloody piece down at Oba's feet. Slowly standing to her full height, about a good two heads taller than the older woman, Naa just looks Oba over. Oba gulps. Noticing the alien tail sway about, she looks up at the foreboding face. Naa did not even bother to secure her tail, a Saiya-jin insult at the lowest, saying that the opponent was not worth the time or of any danger to her. Wiping the blood off her mouth with the back of her hand, she flashes her canines at the now frightened woman. Naa's hand blurs out, snatching Oba by the neck and lifting her girth up effortlessly. Ignoring Oba's fists beating at her arms and legs flailing about, Naa watches Oba's reddening face with dark amusement.
"I don't care what you appreciate old woman. You and your family still live and breathe by my whim only; I could and still can kill you with a flick of my wrist. Don't presume," Naa punctuates her point by slightly squeezing Oba's neck watching her turn blue, "anything with me." Taking Oba's chocked cries as an affirmative, she casually tosses her to the side, but with some reluctant gentleness, keeping in mind that Oba did save her. Crouching back over her kill, she picks up the leg again, watching Oba struggle to get up. "You're alright. I made sure I did no lasting damage. It will just hurt like hell for a while."
"I'm ever in your gratitude." Oba says sarcastically.
Tearing off a hunk of meat with her sharp teeth, she chews it a bit and casually looks around. Spotting a small building off in the distance, Naa raises a hand and with a casual toss, throws a ki ball at it destroying it in a satisfying loud and bright explosion. Smiling savagely at Oba, she twists her hand around and comments, "A flick of the wrist. Now then, old woman..." Naa says with more than just a hint of maliciousness. "I want you to answer me a few questions."
"Is that why you left my voice box intact?" Oba says spitefully as she rubs her throat hoping to ease the pain.
Ignoring Oba's comment, Naa continues with her questioning. "First of all, where in the world did such a backwater planet get someone powerful enough to defeat me?" Naa tries to forget the fact of how quickly and easily she was defeated. Her pride was the only thing left to heal. "Your planet shouldn't have anyone that can even deflect an energy blast, much less create them! Where did that warrior come from?" Naa says becoming frustrated even before Oba has a chance to answer her.
"True, we are not a strong people." Oba interjects "In fact, we feared your arrival very much."
"You knew I was coming. How?" Naa's curiosity has been aroused.
"Since I was a young girl, I have been told stories, a prophecy of sorts, of a great destroyer that would come seeking to kill all our people. I believe you are that great destroyer. Your coming was foretold."
"What else does this 'prophesy' say?" Naa asks nonchalantly.
"It also tells of a savior who will defend us, taking the destroyer away forever..."
"And he just shows up as well? From where?" Naa says excitedly.
"I…" Oba hesitates.
"Quickly woman! From where?" Naa yells frantically.
"I can't tell you that." The woman states, "That is...I don't know." she quickly adds.
"Tell me someone who does..." Naa is beginning to tense up, she is already a few weeks behind her opponent she didn't want the trail to grow too cold for her to follow. "Tell me now old woman before I grow impatient."
"There is a village several days travel towards the setting sun from here, in that village lives the Elder."
"Elder?" Naa laughs, "And who is this Elder?"
"He's been around as long as anybody can remember. My grandparents said that their grandparents spoke of him." Oba says reverently.
"And how is this old man supposed to be of any help to me?" Naa asks sarcastically.
"Well, if anybody knows anything about the prophecy it would be him." Oba snaps back.
"Several days towards the sun huh?" Naa thinks aloud, looking at the sky. "West…that would only take me a few hours to fly." A sudden thought occurs to Naa and she turns toward the woman. "Hey old woman, where's your moon? I know you have one." She did not mind night fights but always preferred the full of the moon to do her battles.
Oba answers, confused at the sudden and apparently unrelated change to the topic. "The moon won't show its face for another night."
"How long until the moon is full?" Naa asks impatiently.
Oba scans the sky and answers. "About a week I would say."
Slowly Naa half grins and half growls in pleasure, "Perfect." Oba steps back, staring at Naa's feral expression and did the first smart thing since harboring this creature. Oba turns tail and runs away as fast as her bulk could take her. Naa, ignoring the fleeing Oba, turns back to the half-eaten beast and proceeds to finish her meal whole-heartedly.
"I really wish I didn't tell them that I wouldn't kill them, then I could destroy this miserable planet." Naa says between bites. "I just might destroy it after all once I get the information I'm looking for from this elder of theirs. Nobody ever said Saiya-jin keep their promises." Naa's laughter echoes out in the descending night.
A week has passed since Naa had her confrontation with Oba. Now that she has recovered, she spent most of her days and nights out training and hunting. Only coming back briefly to have Oba fix her bodysuit and take a bath, occasionally asking more questions about the prophecy.
Dusk has fallen; Naa is relaxing in a hot bath outside, while Oba tends the fire underneath the barrel Naa is soaking. Her sons are bringing in more wood to keep the fire burning; occasionally they will glance out the side of their eyes at her. Naa would just smirk when she sees that. She is not ashamed of her nudity but she will not just lie with any male. He will have to be a strong warrior before she will even consent to mate with him. If he were strong enough he would just take the right. She smirks again standing up on the barrel ready to get out but is distracted from her thoughts at the sound of dropping wood. Oba's oldest son, she has never bothered to learn their names, is staring straight at her. Placing her hands on her hips, she stares boldly back.
"What's the matter boy, never seen naked breast before?" Naa asks.
With his mouth hanging open, he stands there dumbly and slowly shakes his head. Glaring at Naa, Oba walks over to her oldest son.
"Enough of that. You have other things you could be doing." Her youngest sons snickering draw Oba's attention. "You too boy! Keep this up and it's extra chores for you both. Now out of here, both of you." Oba makes shooing motions. With a groan, they both leave.
Arching her right eyebrow, Naa watches with amusement. Oba turns and glares at her, picking up a towel she tosses it at the naked woman and stomps off. Laughing when the towel lands on her head, Naa briskly dries her unruly hair. Jumping out of the barrel, she lands lithely a few yards away. Shaking her hair out she pays special attention to gently drying her tail. Throwing the towel over her shoulder, Naa walks over to where her bodysuit lay. As the sun set the last of the rays reflect briefly off something underneath the bodysuit. Quickly Naa pulls the bodysuit off, crouching down defensively in anticipation of some sort of attack; her eyes widen in surprise at what she sees. It is her body armor. Picking it up she examines it closely, the dents have been hammered out and the cracks welded together. Turning it all around she inspects the rest of the armor.
"My sons fixed it." Oba's voice comes out of the descending darkness.
Placing her armor down gently Naa puts on her bodysuit. "They did a good enough job I suppose."
"You're leaving." It is a statement, not a question.
"Yes." Naa picks up the armor.
"Remember your promise." Oba states.
Donning the armor, Naa turns to Oba. The firelight casting her in and out of the shadows, brows slashed down she frowns at Oba. "I will not kill you."
"Or my sons." Oba boldly interjects.
"Or your sons." Naa snorts.
Oba's tense frame suddenly relaxes as she realizes they are going to walk among the living with the next rising sun. "I will not see you again?" Oba asks.
Naa snorts again. "So eager to be rid of me old woman?"
"Lets just say it was a unique experience and leave it at that." Oba chuckles lightly.
Naa suddenly laughs. "You know what? I like you old woman. Enjoy your life, such as it is." Naa blasts off to the sky, in the direction of the setting sun.
By the time Naa has reached the village Oba had described to her the full moon is just rising. Turning her eyes away to avoid looking at the moon she arrogantly strides up to the village. At first, the villagers go around as normal doing their evening activities but slowly the bustling tribe's noise level drops as they notice a stranger in their midst. Satisfied that she has their attention Naa calls out.
"Where is your elder?" Naa asks.
A big man pushes his way through the crowd and stops a few feet from the woman. "Who are you?" He demands.
Naa smirks and scratches her chin thoughtfully, "Well, if I got this right I do believe I am your Hakai-sha."
The villagers draw back, afraid that their destroyer will attack any minute, loud gasps and cries fill the air. Even the large man takes a few steps back in fear. Naa almost chuckles at their response, quickly wiping the smirk off her face she continues to glare at them.
"Well? Where is he?" Naa demands.
Although the villagers are afraid of being killed not a one spoke up; they are going to defend their precious Elder with the last of their lives. They all stand there silently, not even one-body moves. Naa walks up to the brave man that confronted her, he stands a good head and a half taller than her, looking him up and down, she's glad to see at least he can look her directly in her eyes.
"You, you're a warrior?" She continues when he confirms her question with a nod. "Then answer my question or I will start killing people."
"You'll kill us all whether we tell you or not where he is." The man, identified warrior, says.
Naa laughs and makes a 'tsking' noise, "Oh I can't get one over you can I?" Her brows slash down she becomes serious. "Now tell me where he is!"
"No!" He answers back firmly.
With a growl, Naa impales her arm through the warriors' body; her bloody hand is seen through his back. The warrior stares at Naa in disbelief before he coughs up some blood. Quickly, Naa pulls her arm back and shakes off most of the guts and blood from it. Watching the warrior stumble back clutching his stomach and falling to his knees, she smirks as she licks some blood left on her hand and watches the warrior before her die without emotion. Silence falls briefly on the village until yells and screams break out. The women gather up their children and the men who are feeling brave actually take a few steps forward. Naa grins ready for some carnage.
"Stop!" A commanding voice calls out.
Immediately the villagers fall back revealing an elderly man. Long white hair reaching mid back and holding a staff that he clearly did not need judging by the way he carries himself. His robes sway as he approaches the body in front of her. Kneeling down he checks for a pulse, finding none, he stands up and stares steadily at her for a moment then speaks.
"There was no reason to kill this man." He says.
Naa fidgets a bit before she remembers she is the one in control, she shrugs. "He wouldn't give me an answer that I liked."
"That's it? He wouldn't give you an answer you like!" A voice says from behind the older man.
"Hush, Haki." The older man tries to calm the younger one down.
"But Nagi-sama, she killed a man for no other reason that not giving an answer she likes." Haki complains.
"I was here too Haki, I heard." Nagi answers calmly.
Haki fumes and turns to Naa. "How could you? You…You're a monster."
"Why thank you, Haki." Naa mockingly smiles sweetly.
Haki lunges at her, fists raised before the older man pulls him back. Glaring at Naa, Haki allows Nagi to hold him back. During which time Nagi and Naa kept eye contact, silently battling for dominance. Suddenly a woman burst out through the crowd that has gathered, tears streaming down her face.
"My man! My man is dead!" The woman cries out, throwing her body over the prone one of the warrior on the ground.
A flicker of annoyance flashes over Naa's face, she turns and raises her arm ready to blast the source of the annoying wailing out of existence. Quicker than can be thought possible of a man of that physical age, Nagi darts forward, using the end of his staff he knocks Naa's arm up, causing her ki blast to shoot up in the air. Before she can respond Nagi spins around and slams the head of his staff into her ribs. Quickly pushing a hidden button on his staff he jumps back out of range of Naa's swinging arm. Naa growls, refusing to acknowledge the stinging pain in her side where the old man has hit her with his staff turning she faces him.
"Pretty good for an old man." Naa says
"Why thank you my dear." Nagi grins. "You know this issue can be resolved without bloodshed. I will help you in exchange for not harming anybody else."
Naa, absently blowing some of her bangs out of her face, thinks briefly on it. Thinking that she can always destroy the lot of them if the old man decides to play games with her, Naa consents. "Okay, talk. The old woman a few miles east of here told me that you could tell me where this Kyuusai-sha is."
Nagi stares at her for several seconds, Naa bristles slightly. "His name is Son Gohan."
"That's all fine and dandy." Naa says, dismissing it with a wave of her hands. "Now…where can I find him?"
"He resides on a planet called Chikyuu-sei." Nagi tells her.
"And where might that be?" Naa grumbles at him, wishing now she had just pummeled the answer out of him instead of all this talking. Naa takes a deep breath and asks him like she would an idiot, "What are the coordinates?"
Nagi considers for a moment, contemplating on how to bring his quickly formed planed together. He's skilled at this, for he's done it countless of times and to those who are far more adept at seeing lies and deceptions than this arrogant female, powerful through she may be.
Naa takes a step forward and grabs him by the lapels of his robes, bringing him face to face with her. Baring her incisors she snarls, "No more stalling old man, or I'll rip your throat out with my teeth!" The villagers to help him but he holds them back with a simple hand motion.
"You can get to him through a portal that the coven and I can create." Head hanging he tells her. The others gasp at his sudden capitulation, not seeing his small smirk.
Naa drops him, hoping he will stumble and fall. He catches himself quite nimbly, much to her chagrin. Disappointed, she grunts and demands that he create the portal for her. Thinking the whole time that when she exits the portal on the other side she'll fire a blast back through that will destroy the entire village. Her tail bristles lightly at the deliciousness of the thought.
"We need time to prepare the coven and chambers for the ceremony." Nagi says, head still downcast. "About an hour."
"Fine, you have one hour, no more." Naa growls, looking at Nagi suspiciously, was that a glimmer of defiance in his eyes? She concludes that it must be fear. She stomps off to find something with which to occupy her.
Nagi watches her go and quickly gathers the coven to him, attempting to calm their fears and questions as to why he gave up so easily. He can't tell them all the details, of course. They might slip up or let on that he has a plan. Nagi becomes slightly frustrated as some of the members become defiant, refusing to do the ceremony.
"Nagi-san, she is the destroyer, we can't help her find Gohan-san. He might not be prepared for her." One of the younger members of the coven says.
"Ease your mind, all will be fine. It was foretold that the destroyer would be of no further threat to us. The Gods have written this, we must trust in them." Nagi tells them. After a few more minutes of discussion, they finally consent to do the ceremony. With a sigh Nagi leads them to the ceremonial chambers with instructions to the guards that the female be shown to it when she returns.
Forty-five minutes later Naa shows up with one of the few brave members left in the village. He hides his fear well but fidgets nervously standing next to someone who could thrust her hand through a chest with contemptuous ease. The warrior announces their presence to the coven and with a nod from Nagi, leaves. Once he is around the corner and into the shadows, he moves much quicker with a slight tremor to his gait, unseen by anyone.
"We are ready to begin." Nagi tells her and turns his back to her, facing the center of the room. Raising his arms, Nagi begins the chant to open the portal and is soon joined by the other members of the coven. As the sound echoes about the room, the portal slowly begins to open, its iris widening by fractions. The walls glow with ancient inscriptions, as they become active again. Naa watches all this with a bit of distaste, not buying into all this magic display, annoyed.
"It is done." Nagi lets his arms drop, speaking to Naa his back still turned. "Simply walk through and you will be teleported to the land where the warrior lives. I urge you to reconsider though, as he will surely defeat you.
Naa bristles at his absurd comment, quickly hiding a flinch as she experiences shooting pain in her side from where the old man had hit her in their previous encounter, she snarls. "I don't think that will happen. He stands no chance against one of noble Saiya-jin blood." With that she strides into the portal and is instantly transported to another land.
Naa finds herself in an open field, filled with green grass that stretches for miles in each direction before being enveloped by woods, except to the north. There lies a city with buildings reaching up to the sky. Behind her the portal begins to close, much faster than it had opened. Naa grins and holds out her hand, ready to fire a blast into it. She concentrates but nothing happens.
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!" Her scream echoes out as the portal closes entirely with a pop while air rushes to fill the void left by its one time existence.
03.27.01
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