Picture Me

Elizabeth Knight

KB4

Dinner at ChiChi's the next night was a scream. Obviously it was a bit much for Brandy. Bra smiled as she watched the little girl's head bob up and down for a moment, before falling into her plate of food.

"I'm going to put this little one to bed." Bra told Deirdre, who was glancing at the sleeping girl face down in her plate.

"Give me a minute to finish, and I'll join you." Deirdre told her as she picked up the girl and left the table.

Brandy stirred as Bra sat her down on the bed. As a chill wind blew in through the open window, the little girl opened her eyes.

"I'm cold." she whined softly.

"Don't worry, I'll close the window for us, ok?"

"Ok."

Bra made her way around the bed to pull the window shut. She was just about to turn around when someone grabbed her from behind. She let out a short scream, before she was whirled around to face their intruder. There was a split second of recognition before his mouth covered her own. She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed into his hold. Closing her eyes she savored the sweet sensation of his satin lips and velvet fur against her face. His strong arms pulled her closer against him and a rare heat engulfed her entire body, making her knees weak. The next second happened so fast, Bra wasn't sure at first what had happened. One moment they'd been standing next to the bed, and now they were pressed against the wall behind the door. It opened quietly on it's hinges as Deirdre entered the room. Bra's heart stopped in her chest as dread filled her. What if Deirdre screamed and everyone came rushing in? Her cat-man would be trapped.

"I wasn't expecting you to have company. I see you've healed quickly from the raid." At first Bra thought he'd been talking to her, but as she watched Deirdre nod, she realized she'd been wrong. How did he know Deirdre? Had he been watching her too? Bra's attention was snapped back to the present as she listened to Deirdre.

"You took a great risk coming here with so many saiyans downstairs to come running." Bra gave a small gasp of horror and Kyle's arms tightened around her almost reassuringly.

"You wouldn't scream while I've got your friend under such circumstances. Bra heard a faint whisping sound as he unsheathed his claws. As she felt his laughter rumble along her spine, she almost reared back to elbow him. Almost.

"It might be worth it to see you get what you deserve."

"You wouldn't risk this precious life." he answered confidently, reaching up to message the tense muscles in Bra's neck. His other hand slid across her stomach making her tremble as he whispered in her ear. "Shhhh. It's alright, Bra. Tell me, is it fear that makes you tremble so, or anticipation?" Bra's heart was beating so fast she could barley hear his whispered words. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he leaned forward to nip her neck.

"I won't have to scream. One of my friends will be up here in a moment and he'll sense you. When he does he'll kill you. Unless you leave quietly before he gets up here. Release her."

"And let you stab me in the back, or cry for help?" he ask dragging Bra to the window with him. He kept one arm around her as he crawled out the window, then turned her to face him. His eyes were a hypnotic gold and sent butterflies to fluttering in the pit of her stomach.

A new exciting tension hung in the air around them. Bra swallowed to loosen up her throat before she ask, "Anticipation of what?"

Kyle leaned forward, so close their noses were touching. "I'll show you." She nodded her acceptance slightly just before she felt his satin lips against her own once again very softly. He grabbed the front of her blouse, pulled her further out the window, deepening the kiss as he slid his rough tongue across her lips. Before she knew it, he was gone, melting into the shadows of the night.

***************

Bra sat behind the desk, staring at the reports and scattered papers. She just couldn't concentrate. Bra looked around the small art room at six or seven students. They were all painting on white canvasses. She got up and walked around them, looking over their shoulders at the different pictures. She stopped abruptly behind one. "Robert...."

"Yes?" The handsome nineteen-year-old boy ask, looking over his shoulder at her. He was wearing a mischievous grin that boded bad news.

"What are you doing?" She ask quietly, still gaping at the canvas.

"Painting." he answered nonchalantly.

"But it's....it's...." she stumbled out.

"Yes?" His voice did that little dip that all the girls fainted at and his eyes swept her up and down as he smiled.

"It's me!" she squeaked.

"I know." he confirmed. "Rather good isn't it?"

Bra was grabbing at the collar of her shirt as if she'd been stripped....and she had. This devastatingly handsome trouble maker had painted her in such a sheer nightgown she was almost nude sitting in front of a vanity mirror brushing her hair. The picture itself was remarkable. No one was going to think the woman in the picture was anyone else. "What exactly are you going to do with it, Robert?"

He laughed. "It's a gift to my uncle, although I had thought about keeping it for myself. It is rather good."

"Why are you giving it to your uncle?" she squeaked.

"He keeps all my paintings for me. I give him the ones he requests."

"He ask for a .....a.....picture of me?"

"Not exactly. He has a thing for blue eyed women. You just happen to be a good model candidate. You make it easy to draw you when you sit at your desk for hours. Perfect model. I had to use my imagination on some of it. What do you think? How close am I?"

Bra slapped the back of his head and he smiled. "I hope you haven't been daydreaming my class away Robert. You'll have to have something better than this to turn in."

"But of corse. This was just something in my free time. How's this one?"

It was a picture of a large imposing man sitting in front of a canvas. You couldn't see his face, just his back and the picture he was painting. Bra knelt beside the boy to get a better look at the picture. From here you could tell he was drawing a face that was still in the process of being painted. Bra leaned a little closer to the picture. He could've passed for a saiyan except for the paw that held the paint brush. Bra glanced at Robert, raising a questioning brow.

"It's a picture of my dad. I kinna messed up on it a little bit."

Bra looked at the boy's long black hair and the man's long black hair. Both had black tails and both were large men. She'd never seen his father, but he worked with Goten. "Maybe you'll do a portrait for me sometime, but this time maybe you could give me more clothing."

"You know your secretly flattered. I made you look good."

"That depends on how good I look in person, don't you think."

"Are you offering to show me?" he ask, turning around to face her fully.

"I think you should be looking at girls your own age, Robert. Don't you?"

"Perhaps." he said after a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Do you really like my paintings?"

"I think they're very beautiful. You have great talent." she answered honestly.

"Then if you like this one, It's yours." he said indicating the picture of Bra.

"I'd like that very much." she accepted.

"What will you do with it?"

"Hang it up in my room probably. On display for my eyes only." Robert laughed at her and handed her the picture.

"Just take good care of it."

"I will, I promise." she crossed her heart before she took the painting. Robert rolled his eyes in a woe me expression before returning to his painting. There was something about him that reminded her of someone. She couldn't quite put her finger on who, but she had this funny feeling, like she was looking at a younger version of someone else.

****************

After everyone left for the evening, Bra sat down in front of a blank easel with her paints and began a new picture. Dark colors swirled over the canvas, and as the time flew by shapes and images, shadows and lights began to separate from the background.

Several hours later she put the finishing touches on the canvas and smiled at the picture. From his perch in the window it was impossible to tell if he was coming or going. His face was all in shadow except his golden eyes. In fact almost all of him was in shadow with the moon streaming in behind him, and the curtains blowing in the breeze. She scratched her nose and smiled at the picture. She'd leave it here this evening to dry, then take it home tomorrow. The sun had set, so she'd have to walk home in the dark. Bra got up and gave the picture one last glance and sighed. At least if he never came back he would never be far away either.

"You look rather self satisfied."

"Well I should. I've just created a masterpiece."

"Can I see it?"

"Help yourself." she said, standing back from the painting. Trunks stared at it for a moment with a slight frown on his face.

"Who is it?"

"Oh no one in particular. Just a dream I had."

"Some dream."

"I'd say." came her dreamy reply. When Bra glanced back over to Trunks, he was smirking. "Alright. What's wrong with you?" she ask, elbowing him in the ribs.

"What do you mean?"

"Well Mr. Grumpy, I mean what's up with you. You act as if you've got a thorn in your paw. Ya know, you've been a real pain in the ass here lately."

"Bra! That's very unfeminine of you." he scolded.

"I'm sure you searched me out for something better to tell me than how unfeminine you find me now days, Trunks. If your stalling it must be an embarrassing subject, and if it's embarrassing and something Goten can't help you with then it must be a woman. Now lets think....a woman....a woman....hmm. Deirdre?"

"What are you going on about?" he grouched, blushing.

"So I was right! Is she being mean to you? You poor baby."

"Bra!"

"Oh all right. What's the problem?"

"There is no problem."

"Not ready to talk about it yet, hu? Well when you're ready let me know and I'll try to help you with it."

"I don't have a problem! Mother said you hadn't come home yet and wanted me to check up on you on my way to the post." he said in way of an explanation.

"Oh. What a bummer! Well now that you've checked on me you can leave. I need to get home and go to bed. I'm beat." she told him.

"Why the rush? I've never seen anyone in such a hurry to be off to never never land, Bra." Trunks was looking at her rather curiously.

"There's always a first for everything." she told him as she wiggled her eyebrows up and down and gave a mischievous grin.

"I know that look. It spells trouble. What are you up to?" he demanded.

"Me?" she ask innocently. "Why nothing. Do I look like I'd be up to something questionable?"

"Always." Trunks replied.

Bra grinned, and gave him her most convincing I'm-an-angel look.

******************

Kyle sat on a large rock, kicking his feet in the warm water of the natural hot springs. His mind a million miles away, he didn't hear Zantha come up from behind. All of a sudden, he was tumbling head over heals into the water. He came up sputtering and ready for an attack but none was forthcoming. He wiped the water out of his eyes, and glared up at his sister's smiling face.

"You should be glad she wasn't one of the enemy. You'd be dead now if she were." White Fang dropped down out of the tree behind Zantha. "What news have you for me?"

"I visited the prison yesterday."

"Tell me everything." he ordered, pointing to a boulder across from him.

"As far as I could tell the outer door has some kind of automatic lock. All the prisoners go through interrogation cells first found in a center isle. The prisoners closest to the outer doors are behind bars in square pens. They torture the prisoners." her voice flinched at the end.

"If I ask you to draw a layout of what you saw of the prison, would you be able to?"

"Of corse." she replied confidently.

"Don't look so disheartened, Zantha. We already have a plan we're working on to release the prisoners. We have keys who work in the prison that can help us, but we need someone the saiyans don't know that can get in." he explained.

"I'm comforted."

"Good. Now what have you learned of the saiyan?"

"Trunks? Not much. He seems to be distracted for the moment. No one particularly knows why. He works all day."

Kyle listened to Zantha and watched her closely. Her facial expressions were fairly easy to read as she answered White Fangs questions. It was her slight hesitation when White Fang ask her about the saiyan that bothered him. Surely RepSarah had lied. Surely....but he'd never known her to lie before. He'd have to watch her much more closely from now on when ever possible. This situation had the potential of becoming trouble. It may make RepSarah happy to see peace, but it wouldn't satisfy him if it was at the sake of his peoples freedom. Zantha's gaze caught his own and held. It was clear she was holding back. It was almost a replica of the face RepSarah wore so often, only not quite as cleverly concealed.

"You will meet us here every night you get the opportunity. Someone will be here to receive the information and carry it on. Do you understand?" White Fang ask her, calling her attention back to himself. She nodded her head in understanding. "Follow her back, Kyle."

Kyle nodded and followed after his sister. She was quiet for sometime, before curiosity got the better of her, and she ask, "Why?"

"Why what, Zantha?"

"Why did you kiss Bra the other night?"

He knew she was watching him, but he couldn't keep the smile from spreading across his face at the memory. Hopefully it was a memory that had been haunting his nymphs dreams while he'd been gone. "I felt like it."

"Have you gone crazy? Are you mad? She could have called out for her friends."

"But she didn't did she?" When Zantha didn't answer right away, Kyle stopped her. "What did she say, Zantha?"

Zantha stared at him for several seconds, making him feel uneasy. "She made me promise not to tell anyone. It doesn't make any sense."

Kyle let out the breath he'd been holding and continued walking. "Of corse it does."

"How? I don't understand."

Kyle turned to face her and looked her in the eyes. "Why didn't you tell White Fang everything you knew about Trunks? Why didn't you tell ME that he kissed you?"

Zantha's mouth worked for several seconds before she got anything to come out. "It wasn't anything important."

"That's where you're wrong, Zantha."

"Why?"

"Answer me this. How did it make you feel when he kissed you? Did he make you forget who you were and what you were there to accomplish?" Zantha shook her head no, but Kyle could read the truth in her eyes. "That's why it's important. Stay away from him."

"I can't." Zantha answered. Kyle narrowed his eyes at her. "He's my target. I'm supposed to stay close and find out all I can."

"It does us no good when you refuse to divulge the information you gain. You're playing a dangerous game, little sister, and you don't know what all's at stake."

"And what about you, brother?"

"I can keep a clear head about these things. You women are so easy to manipulate. Kiss you and you fall to pieces. I can learn anything I want from a woman no matter what race and I can manipulate a situation to give me the response I want. It's really very easy. I'm always in control and I have all the power."

"You'd better be careful, brother. It seems your game is more dangerous than mine. You should know the humans have a saying. It goes, Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned. She's Vegeta's beloved daughter and Trunks' sister. All she has to do is say the word and you'd be history. It seems to me that she's the one holding all the power over you."

******************