And She Saw Me
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"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love
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It's funny how fate can interrupt a quiet afternoon. That is exactly what happened while I was meditating on the edge of a cliff. I was just minding my own business when I noticed this girl with short blond hair stumbling around in the valley. She had a white cane with her, but I didn't know at first why she had it. I could hear her tapping it on the ground every time she took a step. Damn, that noise was annoying. Like a woodpecker in slow motion.
Whoever she was, she was obviously lost. So I followed her. I had nothing else to do anyway.
The girl wandered for a long time, I mean she walked for almost an hour before she finally sat down on a rock somewhere. Well, at least the damn tapping had stopped. I stayed up in the air so she wouldn't see me. And strangely, she never did seem to see me. I landed on a rock about ten feet away from her and watched her sit there. She never turned around. She just sat there and fell asleep.
I sat down. The girl didn't move again until about an hour after the sun went down. She just got up and started off towards the river. I followed her, on the ground this time, but far enough off that she wouldn't hear me, and when she stooped down to take a drink, I stopped and leaned on a large, dried-out old tree with my arms folded.
"Some people," I muttered to myself.
The girl turned her head and I swear she looked right at me. And yet she didn't react at all. Instead she turned around to grab her white cane again. Her foot slipped on some algae on the rocks and I watched it twist backwards. The girl fell into the raging, rushing water and disappeared.
"Dammit." I said to myself and waited for her to come up. I spotted her about halfway to the waterfall, hanging onto a branch.
I really thought she could get out of there on her own. Nope. With a loud splash and a cracking sound, the branch broke and she disappeared again. The water was moving fast, and there were rocks all over the place. Since I didn't want a lake full of her blood, I decided to amuse myself and get her out of there. I flipped my cape over my shoulder and sprinted to the rushing, swirling water and reached in when I saw her arm poking out. I grabbed her wrist and yanked her out; she didn't weigh much.
Well, to make a long story short, I put a splint on her ankle, using some sticks and her own shoelaces. It turns out that her name was Lee. And I found out something strange. Lee was blind. She couldn't see. I could have kicked myself for not noticing that, but then again, her eyes looked normal…green…but with just a blank sort of stare. There were freckles on her nose and cheeks. She had small, pink lips. I guess she was what people call "cute".
Actually…I'd be lying if I said she wasn't cute. More like she was innocent. And if you tell anybody I told you that I'll kill you.
Lee annoyed the hell out of me a lot of the time. I'd just splinted her leg when she tried to get up to go take a leak. So I threw her over my shoulder and took her behind a rock. I heard her stomach growling. Great. She needed food too.
I gave her some privacy and headed off to the patch of trees under one of the cliffs. Not that I cared…I just didn't want to listen to her complain about being hungry too.
"OK, I'm done." I heard her say. Well she could wait two minutes while I got a few pieces of fruit from the tree. I tossed them down at the campfire and then went and got Lee. I didn't want to hear that noise from her stomach in my ear again. So I let her lean on me. She was short, the top of her head only came up to my chest.
Well anyway, when I got her back to camp, I sat her down and shoved an apple into her hand.
"Oh, thanks." She said and started to eat.
I just sat back, folded my arms and closed my eyes, preparing to meditate again.
"Aren't you hungry?" I heard Lee ask.
So much for meditating. "No." I answered.
"You don't talk much do you?"
"No." I answered again, starting to get a little annoyed.
"Is 'no' all you can say?" She asked, this time as just a joke.
I wasn't in the mood for crap, and almost turned around and told her to shut up and go to sleep already. But I didn't. I could have, really. Instead I just sighed and said, "No."
Lee shut up again so she could finish up the apple. Then she threw the core aside, and I leaned my head to the left so that it wouldn't bean me in the side of my face. I fumed once again, but I still decided not to do anything. Besides, Lee was just a normal girl. No powers. No super strength or anything. I noticed her crawling towards the fire and trying to drag my cape with her.
"You'll burn your face off if you get any closer." I muttered angrily.
Lee managed to get her legs around and put her butt on the ground. "I'm blind not stupid." She said, frowning a little. Her eyes narrowed for a moment and then returned to normal. She was tugging on my cape, but there was no way she would be able to move the weighted shoulderpads attached to it.
Not that I cared, but since her wiggling around was annoying me, I reached over around her and yanked my cape over to her and she grabbed a handful of it. Her fingers brushed mine briefly when I handed her the cape. I watched Lee wrap herself up in my cape. I'd closed my eyes again by that time. Then she scooted over and put her head down on my knee. I heard her scraping around, and didn't know what she was doing until I felt the weight of her head on my knee, and opened my eyes to look down at her.
"Hmm…warm…" She said.
Well, at least she wasn't moving around. But now if I moved, she'd probably wake up. And I had been annoyed enough for one night. So I just sat there and listened to the fire crackle while I looked up towards the sky. Billions and billions of twinkling dew drops against a blanket of dark blue velvet…that's kind of what the sky looked like that night. I must admit, it was kind of pretty.
That's when I really started thinking. Lee couldn't see any of that. She couldn't see anything. I closed my eyes. No, even with my eyes closed, I could still see the flickering fire against my closed lids. And the afterimages of the light. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, until I couldn't see the flickering fire. And still…I had the memories of what things looked like. I knew what blue looked like. I knew what white, red and all the other colors looked like. Lee would never know those things. She would never know the beauty of a sky full of stars, or the colors of a sunset. She would never see a flower. She would never know the beauty of a rainbow. I realized that I never really noticed those kinds of things, before. But if I suddenly stopped seeing them…I would miss them.
But then again, Lee would never see the war I witnessed in my lifetime. She wouldn't have to watch people she remotely cared about get hurt or die. She wouldn't have to see people fighting. She would never have to see blood flow. It was almost like Lee was a picture of the innocence I never had.
I soon realized that I had to protect this innocence. I don't know why, there was just some feeling in the pit of my stomach that was telling me that I had to.
I opened my eyes and looked back down at her. Lee was sound asleep now, some of her hair falling into her face. So I reached down and, as carefully as I could, brushed her hair out of her face. Her hair was still a little damp, but also very soft. It smelled a little like vanilla. No, I didn't go sniffing her hair. My nose is better then you think; I could smell it from the one or two feet that seperated my nose from her hair.
Lee's skin was soft as well, and I realized this when I sort of brushed the palm of my hand against her cheek while she slept.
"Don't you ever worry about what you can't see. I'll do all the seeing for you." I said under my breath as I brushed my hand against her face once more.
I sat up all night watching Lee sleep. It's not like I've been without sleep before anyway.
Lee woke up just after the sun came up. I looked down at her when I felt her move the tiniest bit. Well, finally she was awake. After all, my leg was asleep. Of course, she then started complaining about her ankle hurting. But when I looked at it, I realized that it was pretty swollen.
I got her to lay down and gathered some herbs. I made a sort of green tea that I make for myself when I have a headache. Works like a charm. Maybe the secret is the eucalyptus leaves. Well, anyway, I got her to drink the stuff. So it isn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but of course, she had to complain.
"Ugh! It tastes awful!" Her nose wrinkled and her small lips twisted into a grimace.
Well, it was a little amusing to me. "Well be glad you're mouth tastes bad instead of your ankle hurting. It's bad enough hearing you bitch about the pain."
"You can be such a jerk." Lee shot back.
Well, well, well, she had one thing right for once. "Thanks." I said with a smirk that turned to a smile and then went away. I yanked my cape right off her and put it back on, feeling a bit annoyed. "Well, if you ever want to get home again I guess I'll have to carry you to the city." I turned around and heaved her up by her armpits, and she grabbed my shoulderpads. Walking was out of the question; it would take too damn long.
But I got another idea.
"OK…now what?" Asked Lee, her forehead wrinkling. She tilted her head back and she would have been looking right in my face if she could see. I stared at her green eyes for a minute as I threw around the idea of flying. Her eyes were kind of pretty…
Shaking my head, I decided I had nothing to lose. I could catch her if she somehow fell off of me. As careful as I could without hurting her, I picked her up. "Hang on to me and don't freak out, OK?"
"Um…OK." Her hands moved along my shoulderpads until she found my neck. Then her arms wrapped around my neck like a vice. I'll admit, she had quite a good grip.
I took off, pushing my ki through my feet so that it lifted me up. I did it slow so that I wouldn't scare her, and started by going straight up, then started moving forwards. The wind felt good in my face. And I once again found myself looking around at all the things that Lee couldn't see. The green that passed under me. The brown and green patches of crops. The occasional house. Her grip tightened a little, and I became aware that she probably didn't realize yet that she was flying.
"What's going on?" Asked Lee, her voice shaking slightly, answering my mental question for me. Her voice was right in my ear, because her face was over my shoulder. If I turned my head, I'm sure I could touch her cheek with my own. And I did…for a second…I don't know why, but I did.
"We're flying." I answered evenly.
Lee's grip tightened again. "F-F-FLYING!?"
The reaction wasn't what I expected. It was even kind of funny, and with an amused snort I said, "better then walking." I looked ahead and noticed there was a city at the end of the valley. Tons of black and white cars with flashing lights on top were driving around the area. They couldn't see me yet, but they would pretty soon. Well, no sense in freaking out those idiot police men. I slowly started to fly lower, heading towards a rocky outcropping about a mile away from where the cops were. "Well, there's a city not too far ahead. Lotsa cop cars."
I sat Lee down as gently as I could, and the wind caught my cape as I turned around to leave again. I'm not the type that likes goodbyes. But apparently Lee thought differently.
"Piccolo, wait." She said. Her voice was trembling. Trembling the way Gohan's used to when he was near tears.
And for some reason, I had a little hot lump in my throat. Not much, but the closest I probably ever came to actually crying at that point. What had this girl done to me? The moment I asked myself that question, I had the answer. I cared. Well, a little anyway.
"Yeah?" I turned back to her.
Lee's hand came up towards my face, and I reached down and caught it. I held her hand tightly, but not too tight. It took me a second to realize that she 'saw' with her hands. I do remember her hands brushing my arms occasionally when I lifted her. She was trying to see me. But could I let her 'see' that I wasn't human? I know she probably thought I was. And…I've never really let a person touch my face before.
Stop it, I told myself. Stop being afraid that she'll 'see' what you've seen just by 'seeing' you. Um, forget I mentioned that.
Lee had given me something. I don't know what, but she had. I just…had to give her something back. And without further adieu, I grasped her wrist and guided her soft hand to my face. I caught her other hand as it came up and guided it to my face as well. I kept my hands loosely wrapped around her wrists as she felt my face, and I looked in her eyes, even though she couldn't look back. She smiled slightly as her delicate palms brushed my chin and cheeks, her fingertips reaching into the natural lines and hollows there. Lee's fingers passed over my lips, slowly, carefully; her touch was so…gentle, and I realized that I was even enjoying it. A little. Her fingers moved on, up against my nose. I felt her palms move back towards my ears, so I took my turban off, and her hands passed over the back of my head, sliding across to the front again. Her fingertips brushed carefully against my forehead, then wrapped around my antennae and slid down the entire length of them. I saw her eyebrows raise in a curious way, but instead of pulling away, her hands returned to my face once again. I closed my eyes as her hands passed over my brow ridges, her thumbs softly brushing over my eyelids.
For a moment or two, Lee didn't say anything, and her hands stayed on my cheeks, her thumbs still over my eyes. Then she asked, "You're not human?"
"I'm a Namek." I said back tearsely, and then to be more specific, I added, "I'm an alien." I'm also a monster. Not that I care. But that has to be what you 'see'…
Lee's thumbs moved off of my eyes, and I opened them. One of her thumbs passed over my lips once again, briefly, and her cheeks flushed slightly. I think she was on the edge of crying. I was just beginning to think about moving her hands away so that I could leave when she did something I seriously did not expect her to do.
Lee leaned her face close to mine and kissed me. It was done so quickly that was caught off guard. I didn't know how to react. Her face stayed close to mine as she brought her lips close to my ear and whispered, "thank you, Man of the Stars."
I didn't say anything to reply; the little lump in my throat had just gotten a lot bigger. This girl, this blind girl who couldn't see the sun rise or set, who couldn't see the star-speckled sky at midnight or a rose in bloom, had seen further into me then anyone else I ever knew.
Slowly, I moved her hands away from my face and gently released my grip on her wrists. Not because I didn't want them there. I just didn't want her to feel the single tear that was escaping down my cheek. I don't even know why it happened…it just did. I stepped back and watched her for a moment.
Innocence. My inner voice said to me. She is innocence.
Just before the squad cars rounded the corner, I took off and flew up to the top of a cliff. I was out of sight there, and could still see Lee as an excited woman from the mob of people came running out to embrace her. Her mother, obviously.
Don't ask me why, I just did what I did on impulse. I followed the car that had Lee in it to where I guess she lived. Lee lived in a huge house with a yard full of grass and flowers. There were balconies on one side, overlooking the various flowers. I even saw a fountain with a sculpture of a mermaid sitting on a rock.
All of it was nice to look at, and Lee couldn't see any of it.
I also realized that if I didn't get out of there pretty soon, somebody would notice me standing there in mid air with my arms folded. I'm not hard to miss.
This may sound a bit weird, but I actually noticed that Lee wasn't there. Her annoying complaining and occasional senseless human babble was replaced with the silence and the occasional cry of an animal. I became aware of the faint scent of vanilla on the corner of my cape. The spot where Lee's head was when she was asleep two days before. Since nobody was looking, or even around to look, I picked up that corner of my cape and brought it to my face so I could smell that scent of vanilla.
I closed my eyes and sighed. Something inside of me was changing. I can't explain what it was or how I knew, but I just felt like something was awakening. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.
While I was getting myself a drink, I noticed something long and white on the riverbank. It wasn't a stick. It was Lee's cane. The cane she was tapping that annoyed the hell out of me to listen to. I even missed that sound. It wasn't really any of my business…but…I picked it up and turned it over in my hands, just looking at it. There was a red stripe on one end and a black handle on the other. A loop of string swung gently off the black handle, just big enough for me to slip my wrist through.
I had the perfect reason to see Lee again now. I don't know why I wanted to. Kind of something I just had to do. So I took off and headed towards the city, towards that big house with the various flora and the mermaid fountain.
Lee was sitting in a lawn chair with her bad ankle propped up on a towel, her other leg dangling off the side of the chair. There was a pair of crutches on the ground next to the chair, and her ankle had a cast on it that had been wrapped in something blue. I noticed that she had a piece of paper in her lap that had a lot of raised dots on it, and she was passing her fingers over it. Of course, I had no idea what the purpose of this was.
I got tired of stalling and slowly set down about five feet away from where Lee was sitting. I watched her head turn, and her short yellow-blond hair fell over her shoulder. She knew someone was there, but I don't know if she knew it was me or not.
Quietly, I crossed the distance between Lee and I. Reaching out, I carefully grasped her wrist and placed her cane into her hand. Her face grew curious. Without her knowing it, I knelt down and brought my face very close to hers, and I moved my hand from her wrist to her head. I gently stroked my fingers through her hair, just once. The moment I touched her hair, I realized what had awakened inside of me earlier. It was like a crack in a shell around me that had been made a long time ago, and someone had come in and started trying to pry it open again. Something in my heart was opening.
My lips were right next to her ear when I said what I intended to say the last time I had seen her. "You're welcome." They weren't the only words I had to say to her, but I couldn't say the other sentence that was burning in my throat. Instead, I got up and moved away from her, lifting off from the ground and hovering about twenty feet up. I folded my arms and watched Lee bring her cane closer to her body as if she were protecting it. She was smiling.
I felt the wind brush against my face as it played around with my cape. I was also aware that it was getting dark out, and turned my head towards where the sun was going down. The western sky was a brilliant gold, with the orange-red sun sitting right in the middle of it. The edges of the gold had faint traces of pinks and reds, and the few clouds that were passing by were a deep royal purple.
I watched it all; I watched it all for Lee.
***
Whatever you do, I'll do it too
show me everything and tell me how,
You know me something and yet nothing to me
I can see there is too much to learn,
it's all so close and yet so far,
I see myself as people see me
I just know there's something bigger out there.
I want to know, can you show me?
I want to know about the strangers like me.
Tell me more, please show me,
something is familiar about the strangers like me.
Every gesture, every move that she makes,
makes me feel like never before
Why do I have this growing need to be beside her?
There are some emotions that I never knew,
some for the world far beyond this place,
beyond the trees and above the clouds,
I see before me a new horizon.
I want to know, can you show me?
I want to know about the strangers like me.
Tell me more, please show me,
something is familiar about the strangers like me.
Come with me now to see my world,
Where there's beauty beyond your dreams,
Can you feel the things I feel right now with you?
Take my hand there's a world I need to know.
I want to know, can you show me?
I want to know about the strangers like me.
Tell me more, please show me,
something is familiar about the strangers like me.