Bakani woke in a red haze. His face was sticky with what
felt like glue, and his mouth, nose and the left side of his face felt
like someone had taken a hammer to them. Blearily he blinked and looked
around.
He was on a street, and he recognized it as not being
far from the Red Star. What had happened? He gingerly touched the his aching
face, and his fingers came away red with blood. Not to mention that the
last two fingers of his hand had gone numb and were bent at od angles.
His knife was clutched in his other hand. He looked at
it, and found it still stained red with blood. Not long ago, then. It felt
better to stay still for a few minutes. Maybe he could remember what happened,
then.
There was someone that asked him for something, coordinates
to a planet. . . a girl? No, no ordinary girl. She had tail around her
waist. A Saiya-jin. The black haired bitch had asked him for coordinates,
and refused to pay him. She'd tortured the information out of him, then
beaten him when he tried to defend himself.
But he had some of her blood, and he knew what to do with
it. All he had to do now was call in a debt. . . It would take some time,
but he would have his revenge for this short.
Bakani climbed painfully to his feet and staggered away
down the dusty road.
* * * * * * * * * *
"How long do you think it will take us to get there?" Trunks
asked. He leaned lightly against the viewing window. Endive sat draped
over her chair again, no longer wearing the Saiya-jin armor. She was wearing
the tank top and jeans she'd been wearing when the first set off. Currently,
she was wrapping a slim length of gauze over the slash on her upper arm.
When he'd asked her how she got it, she'd said it was part of the "business
transaction."
There was a minute of silence. Apparently Endive
could feel that Trunks wanted to ask something, because she said, "Go ahead
and say whatever it is trying to beat its way out from between your teeth."
He felt the warmth of a blush in his cheeks and ducked
his head a little, trying to cover it up and ignore it at once. "I just.
. . I was wondering what you were going to do when -if- you find this Amian."
A few seconds of quiet followed, and he looked up at her.
She was quiet, her head tipped back a bit, grey eyes distant with thought.
"I honestly can't say."
"You don't know? I thought maybe-"
"That I was going to stay on Ikomia? That something could
flare up between Amian and I?" One of her brows lifted a bit as she looked
at him. His blush was confirmation enough for her. "Don't count on it,
Trunks. I don't know what I intend to do, or even if I will find him. He
could have died years ago. I won't know until I get there."
"Yeah." he sighed
"So don't worry yourself about it. As eager as you might
be to get rid of me, you're stuck with me a few days yet." She stretched
her legs, then rose from the chair and walked away. "I'm going for a nap."
Was that what she thought of him? That he wanted to get
rid of her? He frowned as he thought about it, turning to look at the window,
but not seeing anything beyond. Trunks wasn't sure what he thought of Endive.
It seemed that she made him change his opinion of her every day, and with
those changes always seemed to come different feelings, sometimes positive,
sometimes negative, always confusing. He was sure they could become good
friends if she allowed it. But would she open herself enough to do so?