(Author's Note: Okay, it took me a while to get this part out, Real Life was persistant in its efforts to keep me from writing. This part is a little short, but that's where it ended, so, ::shug:: what can I say? I'll try to get part 4 out ASAP, so please read, review, let me know what you think!)
Different Hearts, Same Dream
Part Three
A Dragonball Z fanfic by Hana Noir
Scowling, Piccolo touched down in the clearing to find the little house dark. Lazy kid, still asleep I bet, he snorted, heading for the door. A flash of something white off to the side caught his eye and he turned. Kyrie was standing atop the rock at the edge of the clearing. Her face was turned up to the lashing rain and she was clad in only an oversized white t-shirt that was plastered to her body. The spitting lightening reflected in her eyes, making her look eerie for a moment.
"Crazy," Piccolo muttered under his breath, heading for her. She glanced at him as he approached then turned her attention back to the raging skies.
"Isn't it magnificent?" she asked, raising her arms as if to embrace the storm. "It's so… wild and free. It makes me feel, oh, I don't know. Powerful."
"It's a storm," he said flatly. "And you're going to get sick if you stay out here."
"Nah, enhanced immune system," she said matter-of-factly. "I don't get sick." She whirled on the slick rock, maintaining perfect balance. "I'm just too wired to stay inside." She leapt down to the grass and grinned up at Piccolo. It was a wild grin, with a hint of mischief. Suddenly she tapped him on the shoulder. "Tag!! You're IT!" she called out. "C'mon, Piccolo! Catch me if you can!!"
Little minx, he thought with a bit of humor. Let her see what real speed is, then. He put on a burst of speed and appeared in front of her. Instead of freezing as he had expected, she dropped to the ground, sliding at him feet first, the motion aided by the wet grass. She went through his outstretched legs in the blink of an eye. Surprised by the unexpected tactic, Piccolo whirled, only to see her disappearing into the trees. He had to admit that it was a pretty good idea. In the trees, he wouldn't be able to move as quickly. A competitive grin pulled at his lips and he headed into the trees after her. But what she didn't realize was that he could follow her simply by homing in on her ki. She was somewhere up ahead, slightly to the left. There was a trail of broken branches going in that direction, and he knew he was mere seconds behind her.
The trail ended abruptly and he swiftly surveyed the surroundings. She had to be here, he could sense her, and besides, she couldn't fly. So she had to be-- He looked up in time to see her coming at him. She had climbed up onto an overhead branch and jumped down on him. They landed in a tangled heap on the wet leaves that covered the forest floor. She was laughing, delighted that she had managed to surprise him. A part of him wanted to respond to her childlike glee, but he just couldn't do it. His emotions were something that he controlled ruthlessly. He believe that you controled your emotions or your emotions controlled you. There could be no middle ground. Could there…?
"Enough," he said, catching her arm. Her laughter cut off abruptly and she looked up at him, startled. He climbed to his feet and hauled her up as well. She yanked her arm away from him, becoming angry.
"I was just playing," she said, eyes slightly hurt. "I thought we'd have some fun, that's all."
He looked down his nose at her. "I don't play," he informed her flatly. "Nor am I here to have fun."
She gave him a raking glare, starting at his feet and ending at his face. Green eyes bored into black. "How sad for you then," she said finally turning and walking away without so much as a backwards glance. He stared after her, stunned. With a snarled oath, the Namekseijin warrior leapt into the air and disappeared into the storm.
Kyrie threw off her sodden shirt and strode across the small living room to the bedroom. She continued on into the bathroom, intent on the shower. She turned on the water, as hot as she could stand it, and stepped under the hard spray. Jerk, she fumed, reaching for the soap. I was just wanting to have a little fun that's all. He didn't have to get so bent out of shape. She didn't even noticed that not all of the water on her face came from the shower.
It was several days before they saw each other again. She was once again perched on her rock, writing. He was in his customary tree. For several hours, they ignored each other. Finally, Kyrie shut down her laptop and looked straight up at him. "You're not hiding, you know," she said, sounding bored.
He landed gracefully, cape billowing around him as he touched down. "If I had been hiding, you wouldn't have known I was ever here," he retorted.
She looked up at him. "You were hiding," she flatly stated. "I never saw you. I sensed you." A smug smile turned up the corners of her mouth and she tapped her temple. "And you have quite a foul mouth, even in your thoughts." His face tightened and he scowled at her.
She blinked, picking up on what was at the front of his mind. "I-- I'm pretty sure that's not anatomically possible," she said, trying not to laugh. "But you're welcome to try and find out."
Piccolo's teeth ground as he tried to compose himself. "I do not appreciate your mockery," he said, jaw clenched tightly.
She rolled her eyes. "Jeeze, lighten up. I was only joking. You're way too tense." To his surprise, she walked up to him and gripped his left bicep. "Look, coiled like a spring. One day, you'll snap." He let out a deep breath. It was impossible to stay angry with someone who didn't retaliate.
"Whatever." He shrugged and moved away. She looked after him curiously.
"You don't like for anyone to touch you. Why?" she asked.
He gave her a dirty look and leaned against the side of her house. "I'm just not a touchy-feely person, okay?"
"Sure, not a problem," she said, flopping down onto the grass. She checked to see that her laptop was still where she left it, then decided to take it back inside. When she came back out, Piccolo was still where she had left him.
"Why don't you write inside?" he asked, slightly curious.
She smiled wryly. "I spent the majority of my life in one small room. I don't like being closed in."
"How old are you anyway?" He decided to ask while she seemed to be in a mood to answer. She could be as closemouthed as he sometimes. And, he found that was actually interested in the answers.
She tilted her head, thinking. "I'm… Let's see," she counted off on her fingers silently. "Nineteen? Twenty maybe?"
"Maybe? You don't know your own birthdate?" he asked, surprised that she wasn't sure.
She snorted. "I started out life in a test tube. There's probably a dusty file somewhere with the information in it, but I can't get to it." She shrugged then and continued. "Hell, I don't even have parents. My DNA is a combination from several donors, gestated in a surrogate's womb." Piccolo blinked. She was doing a good job of hiding it, but he could tell she wasn't comfortable with the subject.
"Why don't you try that ki technique again," he suggested, diverting her attention from thoughts of the past. "You were close the last time you tried it." She grinned and nodded. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and he could feel her ki rising. He nodded approvingly, even though she couldn't see him, watching as she focused her energy on her outstretched right hand. A small white-purple orb shimmered into being above her palm. It winked and guttered, then became larger, the size of a softball.
She opened her eyes, staring in awe at the ki ball hovering in her hand. "Neat…" she whispered. "Only, now that I've got it, what do I do with it?"
Piccolo actually grinned, feeling slightly proud of his pupil. "In a combat situation, you could throw it at your opponent." He stopped, a thought occuring to him. "Do you have any martial arts training?" She shook her head, eyes still on the ki ball.
"You were supposed to be the perfect soldier, and they didn't train you in hand to hand combat??" he asked, surprised.
"I know a few self defense techniques," she said. "But the supervisors thought it would be too much of a risk to teach me martial arts, especially once they figured out that I had above average strength and intellegence." She smirked. "I've got a 99 percent accuracy rating with just about any firearm known, though."
Piccolo snorted. "With what I'm going to teach you, you'll never have to pick up a gun again." He looked at the ki ball again and considered. He strode across the clearing, then turned back to face her. "Throw that at me," he ordered, indicating the ki ball.
She shrugged. "Okay, you're the expert here." She closed her fingers around it then rared back and let it fly. It hurtled across the field at Piccolo, who waited motionless. He didn't bother to shield and it hit his right arm above the elbow, exploding on contact. He gritted his teeth when the limb fell to the ground.
Kyrie let out a horrified shriek and ran over to his side. "SHIT!!!" She glared up at him. "Why didn't you dodge, you big idiot!! I know you're fast enough to have avoided it!" She stared at the stump, swallowing hard as thick purple fluid dripped to the grass.
"Shut up and watch," he said, pushing her to the side with his remaining hand. He ground his teeth then let out a gutteral yell as a new limb shot out of the stump, glistening with fluid.
Kyrie's face was white at this display. "Damn… that was gross. Interesting, but gross," she said, looking up at Piccolo. "And what was the point here?"
He smirked at her. "Two points. One, now you know what kind of distructive potental ki has, so you won't be practicing around anything that can be damaged." She nodded. "Two, once we start hand to hand training, you won't have to worry about hurting me."
She let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah, but what's to stop you from hurting me? I know you're stronger than I am."
"Give me more credit than that," he snapped. "I know how to hold back."
"Okay," she said, grinning in anticipation. "When do we start?"
Several hours later, they were both sweaty and, Kyrie at least, was tired. She was limping from a well placed kick that Piccolo had landed on her right hip, but she was still in the game. The longer they had sparred, the quicker she had gotten. Piccolo had to grudgingly admit that he was impressed. The only humans that he had ever observed were Kuririn and Yamucha and of the two, the little bald monk was the better. He snorted at the thought. That wuss Yamucha would have been out of the fight a long time ago.
"That's enough for today," he said, watching her favor the right leg. "Why don't you go and soak in a hot bath, then put an ice pack on that."
She shrugged. "It'll be okay. A little pain never killed anyone."
"I said that's enough and I meant it," Piccolo reiterated. "We're done today."
"Sheesh, 'scuse me for living," Kyrie said, rolling her eyes. "Okay, talk with me then. How do you know so much about training someone like me?" She gingerly scooted down the side of the house, sitting with her back propped against the wall.
Piccolo considered, then shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess." He leaned against the rock that she usually perched on and studied her. She was so petite, but her size and build were misleading. She had a core of tempered steel.
"Fine, then," she said with a little frown, seeing that he wasn't going to elaborate.
"Have you ever lashed out before?" he asked, trying to get some idea of how long she had been aware of the power she had buried inside. "Like you did against me the other day?"
She tilted her head up, staring at the clear blue sky above. She was silent for so long, that he was beginning to think she wasn't going to answer. "Just once," she finally said, her voice barely audible. "It was about three years ago…" Piccolo looked at her sharply. Something about the incident was disturbing her greatly. He could sense the roil of powerful emotions behind her calm façade and it bothered him for reasons that he couldn't name.
"There was a new intern at the Facility," she grinned wryly. "The place didn't have a name, at least, none that I'd ever heard anyone use. It was always the Facility. People tended to stay there; all of the staff had been there as long as I could remember, so a new person was something interesting. Different, exciting even. The new intern was a medical student, so he was always coming in and out of my room, getting readings, collecting samples for the labs. I got used to seeing him on a regular basis. One night, I woke up to find him next to my bed. He said he was there to get some EKG readings but he didn't have any monitor leads with him. When I asked him what he was doing, he slapped me." She paused here, considering. "It really shocked me, you know? All my life, I'd been treated like some kind of delicate exotic specimen. No-one had ever raised so much as a finger to me. He grabbed me, shook me hard. I was scared silly at that moment. I couldn't even think straight. Then, he – he…" Her voice trailed off and she was staring blankly ahead. Piccolo ground his teeth, a tidal wave of rage welling up inside. He had some idea of what she was leading up to and he hadn't meant for her to dredge up unpleasant memories.
Kyrie too a deep breath, pushing back the remembered pain and shock, shaking her head. "Anyway, when he tried to tear off my shirt, something…. I don't really know how to describe it. Something just snapped, deep inside of me. There was a loud noise, almost an explosion, and a bright flash. The next thing I knew, there was a gaping hole in the wall, and the guy's body was imbedded in the wall on the other side of the hall." She looked up at Piccolo, a wry grin on her pale face. "There was a big commotion, and some of the research staff took the guy away. I never saw him again. I don't know what happened to him." She stared down at her hands, dangling limply between her knees. "I wonder why humans so the things they do," she mused softly. "Sometimes, I wish I'd been born someone else, somewhere else, but there's not really much point to it, you know?" Piccolo said nothing, letting her talk. "More often than not, I wish I wasn't even human. Then I always remember, I'm NOT all that human to start with." She bowed her head. "Life's a bitch, huh?"
Piccolo agreed with her sentiment, but didn't see any reason to encourage her increasing depression. He could feel the turmoil in her mind, see her aura dimming. But he remained aloof. Without warning, Kyrie's hand shot out, and she slapped herself a stinging blow against the left side of her face. Piccolo was startled. What was she doing?
"That's better," she said, looking up at him but avoiding his eyes. Her left cheek was turning red. "Next time I start getting maudlin, stop me, okay?" She slowly rose to her feet, trying not to wince when the muscles in her leg protested. "I think I'm ready for that hot bath now. I'll see you tomorrow?" Piccolo only nodded, still unable to find his voice as she disappeared into the little capsule house. He stood out there, watching until the lights went out and he could sense that she had fallen into a disturbed sleep.
"What am I doing?" he asked the twinkling stars overhead. "The last thing I need cluttering up my mind is a messed up female!" The stars gave him no answer and he settled down to meditate the night away.
