(Author's notes: Okay, here's part six

(Author's notes: Okay, here's part six! Wow… maybe my muse IS a big green Namek. I've never gotten story parts out this fast! ^_^ Anyway, I left a message in the review section, asking if anyone would be interested in a mailing list to let you all know when I've posted something new. Now, it won't just be for this fic, it'll be for all my fics. But, anywho, if you want to be included, send me an email at hana_noir@planetnamek.org Got that? NOT the email listed in my profile. So, thank ye kindly and keep reading!)

Different Hearts, Same Dream

Part Six

A DragonBall Z fanfic by Hana Noir

Kyrie wrapped herself in Piccolo's cloak and huddled against the trunk of a very large oak tree. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she tried to think about what had happened. How had they found her? And why did they send Adam after her? Surely he was too valuable for them to risk. He was their 'perfect model', so why would they chance anything happening to him? Unless… Could they be worried about her exposing them? She had made her escape seven months earlier. Surely they knew that if she had meant to do something, she would have done it by now.

She rotated her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks from sleeping in the armchair. And the scabbed over scratches on her back didn't help any. They itched. And she couldn't reach them. Frustrated, she closed her stinging eyes, rubbing them with her fists. It had been a tiring day, followed by a restless night, then the fight with Adam… She probed her stomach with tentative fingers and let out a groan. She hurt all over. And she was exhausted as well. Her eyelids fluttered, then she jerked up. "I can't go to sleep," she said aloud.

"No, that wouldn't be a smart thing to do," a deep voice agreed. She jumped, startled, then hissed when the quick motion jangled all though her abused body.

Piccolo shook his head. "And I thought that I had taught you better than that."

Kyrie squinted up at him, the early morning sunlight dazzling her eyes. "I think you've been holding out on me," she complained. "Because I can't believe that Adam is stronger and faster than you are."

"Adam?" Piccolo frowned. "You know who attacked you?" He watched her closely, knowing that how honestly she answered his questions would determine how much she truly trusted him.

She hung her head, sighing heavily. "Yes. He's from the Facility. Another of their experiments," she spat the last word out like it was obscene. Piccolo's obsidian eyes were cold as he listened. "He's their 'perfect model'." She shivered, remembering the last time she had seen him. "He's nothing but a highly trained killer." He could sense her revulsion and anger, but swirling underneath was a current of bone-chilling fear. "Did I… did I get him?"

He shook his head. "No. By the time I got there, he was long gone."

She closed her eyes, looking defeated, but then she started to climb to her feet. She stumbled and he caught her by the arm. "I've got to leave. He'll be back. They don't -- they won't give up. Especially now that he's seen me."

"Come on." Piccolo gathered her up in his arms, lifting her easily. "You're in no condition to walk."

She looked startled for a moment, then relaxed against him. "Thank you, Piccolo." She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. "I trust you, you know," she whispered.

"I know," he replied, a bit surprised by the honest flow of emotions he could feel from her. "Try to sleep." He rose slowly, trying not to jar her.

She yawned largely. "I… I dunno if I can…" His arms tightened fractionally around her, making her feel protected and safe.

"Try."

Adam was angry. And beyond that, he was confused. Why had Eve refused to come back with him? He wrapped another layer of gauze around the wound that she had opened on his right arm, then stretched out on the cot. And how had she managed to hurt him? He was stronger, he was faster. She hadn't even been able to touch him. He grinned as he replayed their fight in his mind. It had excited him that she had attempted to fight back. It was more fun when they fought back. Whining, crying and other feminine displays disgusted him. It had been going well until he had tried to grab her. That's when that—that light came out of nowhere and blasted him across the clearing. By the time he had gotten his bearings, she was gone. And by the time he had managed to stem the bleeding and follow, that really big guy had shown up.

He frowned. Who was he? Another of the Facility's experiments? He hadn't recognized him, but he was sure that he wasn't quite normal. The green skin had been a BIG tip-off. And he had looked vaguely familiar. The mobile phone on the crate next to his cot rang shrilly and he winced, reaching over to pick it up.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Do you have her?"

"No, sir," he replied, grimacing. "She managed to get away. With help."

"Help?" the Doctor sounded slightly skeptical. "What kind of help?"

"A rather large person," Adam reported. "With green skin."

"I hope this is not an attempt at a joke. Because if so, it's rather poorly timed."

"Sir, you know I don't joke," he replied stiffly. "But there's another problem as well. Eve refused to come with me. She even attacked me!"

"So? I told you she was going to be uncooperative. Bring her in regardless. As long as she is alive and without permanent injury I don't care what you have to do. And if her mysterious green friend should interfere, you have permission to terminate."

Adam grinned. "Yes, sir."

Piccolo carried his limp armful to an old mineshaft in the nearby mountain where he stayed when the weather got nasty. He had never ventured into the dank recesses of the shaft, but right off of the entrance was a room that had obviously been used as an office of sorts. The door was still intact and the room was dry and draft free. He settled her in the corner and went back out to the mine opening to keep watch. His eyes were on the countryside spread out before him, but his mind was focused on the sleeping girl in the room behind him. He could feel the ebb and flow of her dreams as she slept, the emotions as loud as shouted words in an empty room. She was deeply disturbed.

She slept for about three hours, then joined him on the ledge that led out from the opening. The path that had once allowed miners to cart away their ore was gone, destroyed by time and the elements. The place was inaccessible by foot. Kyrie stared down the side of the mountain, eyes bleak.

"I don't want to live like this," she finally said. "Running from place to place, looking over my shoulder, always wondering if they're right behind me. I just can't do it."

Piccolo glanced over at her. "So, what? Are you going to just give up?" the scorn in his voice was cutting, but underneath it was something closer to concern. "Let them take you? Be their toy for however long they let you live?"

Kyrie tilted her head to look at him. The ice in her eyes chilled him. "No way. No fucking way." Piccolo blinked at her uncharacteristically harsh language, but secretly he was amused at her defiance. "I won't be their experiment ever again."

"Then what?"

She smiled evilly down at the little capsule case that she had been toying with. "I'm going to go back. But on my terms."

Piccolo was taken aback. "Are you insane?? They'll kill you!" he shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a good shake. The case fell to the ground between them. She hissed as the motion jarred all the bruises and aches. He released her quickly, remembering her injuries.

"No," she ground out. He stepped back, a bit embarrassed by his outburst. Grimacing, she knelt down to retrieve her capsule case. "I'm going to make sure they never get the chance." She smiled, wryly this time. "I've got a demolitions capsule in here. It's packed with enough explosives to level the entire complex."

Piccolo blinked. "You've been carrying something like that around all this time?"

She shrugged. "Only as a last resort, I assure you." She sighed, stretching out her legs. Her bare feet were covered in scratches and bruises from her panicked flight through the forest. No wonder they ached. "I feel like someone's beat the crap out of me."

Piccolo was unable to muffle the laugh that comment provoked. Kyrie's eyes sparkled with mirth as she looked up at him. "You're a weird kid, you know that?"

She smiled, glad to have lightened the mood, even if only for a moment. "I try."

He sat down next to her, cross legged, determined to assist in her crazy scheme. "How are you going to do it?"

She opened the capsule case and pulled out the blue striped capsule that held her lap top. She opened it and pulled up a series of schematics and pointed out an area in the underground portion of the complex. "Here," she placed her finger on the room, "is where they house the generators that power the entire building. In the next room is the fuel supply. If I can get in there and plant my capsule, I can blow the entire thing sky high."

Piccolo grunted skeptically. "I doubt they're just going to let you waltz in there."

"I know," she replied. "But I can hide the capsule. That's not a problem. The really hard part is going to be sabotaging their computer systems. I don't want their records to survive." She patted her laptop. "I've got a computer virus on here that will take care of that. The only bad thing is that it takes about twenty-four hours for the thing to infect the entire system." She closed it down and re-encapsulated it. "It'll be tough but I can do it."

"I could help you," Piccolo offered, staring out over the treetops, unable to meet her eyes as he spoke. It was still hard for him to admit to his feelings this openly. He was trying so hard to maintain his façade of indifference that he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt her leg press against his. He turned his head to find that she had scooted over next to him, sitting at his side.

"I know," she said softly. "But I can't let you do that." She looked up at him, smiling gently. "This is my fight. And besides," she blushed slightly, turning her eyes back down to the ground. "You're the only person in this whole wretched world that I actually care about. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

He knew his mouth was hanging open, because he could feel a draft on his teeth. His brain was telling his jaw to move, but somehow, the message just wasn't going through. Finally, he managed to recover some of his composure. "I, um, I… Oh, hell," was what eventually stammered out.

"It's okay," she said, grinning. "I wasn't expecting a declaration of undying love." She patted his knee, then leaned against his side companionably. Totally flabbergasted, Piccolo sat there like a granite carved statue. It took him several minutes to get over the shock of her words. In the meantime, she had folded her arms atop his thigh and rested her head there, using him as a makeshift pillow. It didn't take her long to doze off.

He stared down at the sleeping human girl, amazed by her generosity of spirit. Almost against his will, his hand came up to gently brush aside the strands of auburn hair that had fallen about her face. He sat there like that for some time, running his fingers through her silky hair, savoring the warm glow her words had given him.

I didn't recognize the two men in coveralls staring down at me. Their rifles were pointed straight at my face. They looked scared.

"Wha', wha' th' hell IS that thang??" the older one stammered out. I blinked. Thing? Were they talking about me? The younger man took a step forward, and prodded me with the barrel of the rifle. I didn't appreciate the gesture and I stood, fists clenching automatically. They both yelped and jumped back. They were still taller than I was, though, and the height difference wasn't reassuring.

"I don' like th' looks of it, Pa. It's freaky," said the younger one. I took offense to that statement. Who were they to call me freaky?

The older one got a shifty look in his beady little eyes. "Maybe there's some sorta re-ward for somethin' like it." I took a step back, then paused when the hammer on his rifle clicked back. Only my speed saved me when the rifle fired. I leapt for the younger one, who dropped his rifle and squealed like a stuck pig. I looked down at my small fist. It was covered in sticky red blood. The man's mouth opened and closed silently as blood gushed from the hole in his throat. Before he had even fallen, I was turning to face the older man. He was cursing fluently and struggling to reload his weapon. I drove my taloned fingers into his eye sockets. I felt a moment of disgust as his eyeballs burst and the fluid splattered me. My questing fingers found his brain and penetrated. He dropped like a sack of bricks. I fell back, panting heavily, watching him twitch and flop. It took several minutes for him to die. I stared at my gory hands, idly noticing the vivid contrast of the red blood with my green skin...

Kyrie jerked awake, breathing heavily. It had been such a horrifyingly realistic dream… She started to sit up, but was held down by the weight on the back of her neck. Her hands touched soft cloth and she realized that she had fallen asleep against Piccolo. It was his hand that was on the back of her neck. She managed to turn her head slightly and rolled her eyes up to see his eyes closed. His face wasn't all that composed, however. A faint sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead, and his breathing was irregular.

It took her a moment to realize what was happening. Somehow, she had shared his dream. She frowned then. No, not a dream, she thought. A memory. She shuddered. And she thought that her childhood had sucked. Her movement must have disturbed him though, because his eyes flew open and he looked disoriented for a moment.

"Kyrie?" His voice was raspy from sleep. His hand lifted and she felt a moment of loss.

She sat up, rubbing at her eyes. "I guess we both dozed off," she said, stretching. She winced when still sore muscles protested the action.

"Yeah," he stood and stretched as well.

She clambered to her feet, still somewhat shaky. He reached out to steady her. "Thanks," she said with a grin. He shrugged and dropped his hand. She felt a bit awkward after experiencing his dream and tried to act normally. "I'm starving! I could really go for a cheeseburger." She paused for a second, contemplating. "No, wait, some Twinkies! Mmm…." Piccolo grimaced at the idea of human food.

"Jerk," Kyrie muttered, causing Piccolo to look at her curiously. "Just had to go and blow up my house. All my food was in there. None of my other capsules have food in them." He snorted at her pique. "Don't laugh," she warned, pointing her finger at him. "If I get hungry enough, I might just have to find out how much like chicken you taste."

He was taken aback. "Chicken?!?"

She smirked. "Yeah, everything else tastes like chicken, so why not you too?"

He rolled his eyes. "There's a town on the other side of the mountain. Why don't I take you to get some supplies?"

She hesitated. "You don't mind?"

"If I minded, I wouldn't have suggested it in the first damn place," he snapped.

"Let me change clothes," she said quickly, hobbling back into the cave.

Even flying, it took several hours to reach the small town. The mountains were higher than she had imagined. Piccolo landed gently in the wooded area outside of the town's borders.

"I'll wait here for you," he said, leaning against one of the large trees surrounding them. There was a general store in the distance and Kyrie headed for it resolutely, ignoring the pain in her feet.

She grabbed a cart as soon as she went through the doors and started piling non-perishable items into the basket. A strange feeling was making her skin crawl as she went through the store, though. She glanced up to see several people staring at her. They looked away quickly. This performance was repeated several time as she shopped. What the hell's their problem? she thought uneasily as she approached the register. She piled her purchases in front of the cashier, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the boy to ring it all up. She gazed around idly, surprising several more staring people. It was starting to severely piss her off. Then she noticed the bulletin board up next to the exit. Smack in the middle was a large flyer with her picture on it. Below, in large print, was the word REWARD. Oh, shit… No wonder I was getting eyeballed.

She dug into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a wad of cash. Tossing it on the counter, she snatched up her bags and hustled for the exit. She walked briskly, acting as if all was right in the world, but inside she was trembling. Oh, please, Kami, just let me make it to where Piccolo is… Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed several men casually heading in her direction. A little too casually. She stopped, pulling her capsule case out of her back pocket. There was an empty one inside. She activated it and began to store her bags, keeping one eye on the still approaching group.

At least they let me pack my stuff, she thought bitterly as she put the capsule back in its place and closed the case. She stood and faced the men, smiling brightly. That seemed to confuse them, and they hesitated.

Finally, one stepped forward. "Um, now, miss, we don't want no trouble. You just come on with us." She blinked. Well, at least they were polite.

"Why?" she asked, looking as sweetly confused as possible. "Did I do something wrong? I paid for my groceries."

This was evidently not the response the vigilante group had been expecting. "Well, miss," said the spokesman, clearing his throat uneasily, "it seems that you're wanted by the authorities. So just come on and we'll get this all straightened out."

Yeah, right, she thought. Pull the other one. She took a step back and they moved to surround her. There were about twenty of them, all told. Damn. I wonder what charges they made up? They act like I'm dangerous. She slid into a defensive position, trying not to wince when her back and feet protested. I'm going to need help…

Piccolo!

The sound of his name pulled him out of his meditations and he glanced around warily. It had sounded like Kyrie, but he didn't see her anywhere. He rose up to his feet and then drifted upward. Something wasn't right. She should have been back already. Then he felt the pull of an unmistakable ki toward the town. He rocketed off to investigate.

It didn't take him long to find her. She was surrounded by a group of people, all shouting and screaming. Six of the men were on the ground, dazed, but alive. She was blocking punches from another.

I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I? he asked her mentally, laughing.

Hardy har har, was her sarcastic reply. You should take that act on the road.

He hovered high above, watching her, a smirk curving his lips. She had downed her last opponent and another had moved in to replace him. You're not doing half bad, kid.

I'm tired, I'm sore and I'm hungry. And YOU want to critique my performance??

You forgot pissed off, he added helpfully, unable to resist teasing her. He could hear her growl all the way up where he was waiting and he actually laughed aloud. Then something caught his eye and he blurred.

The man aiming the pistol got the scare of his life when a large green being materialized in front of him. Piccolo's large hand shot out, grabbing the weapon and crushing it. The lump fell to the ground. People panicked and began to flee in terror. The burly man brawling with Kyrie hesitated and she kicked him in the chest. He staggered back, giving her a chance to run. She stumbled to Piccolo's side, breathing heavily.

"Waiter, check please," she gasped, causing Piccolo to roll his eyes. With a malicious grin, he began to power up, causing dirt and debris to whip around dangerously. Kyrie covered her eyes, and raised her own ki to protect her skin. When the crowd was at a safe distance, he wrapped an arm around her waist and they shot off into the sky.

He released her when they reached the abandoned mineshaft and she sat down heavily. "What happened?" he asked, pacing back and for like a caged tiger. "You were just supposed to get some supplies, not get lynched."

"Well, it's not like I planned that little party, you know," she shot back. "There were wanted posters up with MY picture on them. I think we both know who did it." She sighed heavily, leaning back against the cool rock behind her, closing here eyes. Piccolo paused, looking down at her. She was a pitiful sight, her face flushed and miserable, her clothes wrinkled and dusty. "Good thing Adam didn't show up. I'd've really been in trouble then."

Piccolo frowned at that name. "I think you should train for a few more weeks before you try anything. I could teach you a few more techniques."

She smiled wanly. "Not a bad idea, but I don't think I could keep Adam at bay that long." The silence stretched out for several endless seconds. "I'm going to contact him in three more days. By then, I should be ready." Piccolo wanted to protest but he could sense her determination. His eyes were bleak as he looked down at her. It seems that one way or another, he was going to lose her.