Unknown Realms

Chapter 13- Keeping Secrets


Zack and Blade had just finished giving specific instructions to the guardians, save Miyako and Hotiku who were nowhere to be found. They were depressing and probably the hardest orders they'd have to obey, but they accepted. Unbeknownst to them, they had snuck out, courtesy of Hotiku, after her shift at the restaurant had ended, and were now walking down a boardwalk trying to let all the new information sink in.

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," Miyako said quietly, "you tell me
everything!"

"Mi-chan I'm sorry, but you know I couldn't just come out and tell you, or
anyone for that matter," she replied.

"Yeah, but what I don't get is how come I couldn't just read your thoughts or reach into your mind and at least see images?" she asked looking over at her as they bought a couple bottles of water.

"Because I made myself forget, I mean, even I barely remembered until I had that dream."

"What dream?" Miyako asked taking a sip of her water.

"Yesterday, before I called you, I had this... nightmare," she said, a distant look glimmering in her eyes as she tried to recall the events. Miyako looked at her intently, listening and worrying at the same time in case she would disillusion. As Hotiku explained the dream, Miyako's mind went into her own train of thought.

"And then he said that he knew I was the... 'Priestess' because he could read my mind and--"

"Hold on, he said what?! Oh, damn!" Miyako stopped dead in her tracks.

"What? What's wrong?" Hotiku looked at her frantically.

"Quick, put up a mental block to Zack," she ordered. Hotiku obeyed, not questioning her, and knowing that she knew what she was doing.

"Done, now tell me why I just did that?"

"Knock, knock," she rapped her knuckles on Hotiku's forehead, "he could have read our thoughts about this whole thing!"

"Shit... but you don't he already knows, do you?" she asked nervously.

"I doubt it," she shook her head, "or else he would've been here right now and freaking out trying to protect you."

"Miyako, we'd better get back, they'll be wondering where we are," Hotiku looked down at her watch. Miyako nodded and followed her as they walked back into Capsule Corp. They were immediately met with a bundle of clothes, buckets, and sponges.

"Ow, what's this?" Miyako fingered the clothes.

"You two are going to help wash the car," Bulma said.

"What car?" Hotiku raised an eyebrow.

"There's a car?" Miyako asked.

"Trunks' car," she replied. The girls started walking up the stair to change into the clothing, well, rags.

"Trunks has a car?"

~*~

"I look like a hillbilly!" Miyako cried as Hotiku dragged her out of the house. She was wearing a pair of jean overalls and a cotton jersey.

"You look fine! I'm going to live with what I'm wearing, so you can too!" Hotiku growled as she pointed down to her own outfit. It was a pair of blue shorts and a spaghetti strap.

"Hey, you got the good outfit, " she whined.

"Are you guys going to stand there all day, or help us?" Trunks crossed his arms and leaned against the black car.

"Whoa," Goten stared at them, "you guys switched clothes!" Hotiku let out a scoff before placing him in a headlock.

"Ow! Let go!" he struggled.

"No," Hotiku teased.

"Why not?" he whined, still struggling in her grasp.

"Because, I don't feel like it!"

"Fine be that way," Goten growled and brought his leg around, sweeping her off her feet. He grabbed her by her waist and swung her over his shoulder.

"Whoa! Hey, put me down!" she laughed.

"Whatever you say," he snickered, dropping her like a sack of potatoes into the backseat of the convertible. As she let out a startled cry the three broke out into fits of giggles.

"Alright, let's wash this car already," she complained.

"Party pooper," Miyako snickered.

"Whatever," she grumbled and pushed herself out of the car.

"Okay, let's get to work cleaning my car," Trunks gleamed.

"Oh, shut up!" They all hissed. Trunks dropped his jaw for a split second before his lips turned into a frown.

"Ew!" Miyako cried. They all turned around to see what was wrong. "I have to touch this?" she poked at a sponge floating in the bucket of soapy water. Simultaneous sweat drops all around.

As they started to wash the car, Miyako and Goten were both heading towards the front of the car when they started washing the same spot.

"Hey, this is my side!" Miyako whined.

"Is not!" Goten challenged.

"Is too!"

"Is not!" he threw a small sponge at her.

"Hey!" she cried and snapped a wet rag at his leg. He let out a yelp and jumped at least three feet into the air. He retaliated by throwing another sponge at her, but she dove out of the way, causing the sponge to hit Hotiku.

"Watch it!" she dunked her sponge into the water spraying them. Needless to say, this immediately turned into a free-for-all water fight.

"You are so dead!" Hotiku chased after Trunks. He stopped in his tracks and spun around, causing Hotiku to crash into him. He bent down and grabbed her legs from under her.

"Ah!" she screamed as he swung her up into his arms, "put me down!" He didn't respond, but laughed.

Miyako poured a bucket full of soapy water on Goten who cried out in shock, and the fact that it was freezing cold didn't help much.

"It's c-c-cold!" he stammered as Miyako laughed at his misfortune.

"Oh, get over it," she teased.

Hotiku telekinetically pulled the water hose over to herself. She grasped the nozzle and held it at Trunks face like a gun.

"Hotti," he gulped, "put it down."

"Me first," she said threateningly. Trunks noticed she still had one arm around his neck, holding herself up.

"The water's not on, you can't spray me," he stated firmly as he looked over at the water main. Suddenly, the knob turned, making a squeaking sound in the process.

"It is now," she smirked.

"Hey, guys?" Miyako smiled, holding up an empty bucket. "We're going to go fill these up, be right back, okay?"

"Take your time," she replied sinisterly. As soon as they had left, Hotiku squirted Trunks with the hose.

"Ah! Hey!" he nearly dropped her, but placed her down gently.

"Told you I'd do it," she snickered and leaned against the car, dropping the hose. "Now tell me why you have a car."

"I don't know, Mom just bought if for me one day, can't drive it yet though," he shrugged, wiping his face off.

"Right, so let's take a look under the top, shall we?" she walked over to the front of the car, which had been rinsed off in the water fight.

"What do you mean?" he looked at her confused. She popped open the hood and leaned in to get a better look.

"Wow," she blinked.

"What?"

"You seriously need an oil change and a new spark plug," she stated, looking around, "and someone really has to work on that transmission."

"Whoa, how do you know all this?" he asked her. Hotiku opened her mouth to say something, but quickly stopped herself as she pulled herself out of the engine and shut the hood.

"I... I don't know..." she blinked in confusion.

"Are you okay?" he looked at her worriedly.

She swept her hands over her face as she leaned against the car again, "Trunks, I don't know what's happening to me."

"Hotti, what are you talking about? You're fine," he reassured her.

"No," she stated, "I'm not, I've been having these nightmares."

"What kind of nightmares?" he took a step towards her.

"Everyone being killed by Saige and me not being strong enough to take him on," she said, her voice starting to waver, "Trunks, if anything happens to them, it's going to be my fault. It's all my fault," she inhaled sharply. Trunks gently held her shoulders as she clenched her teeth.

"Hotiku, what's wrong with you?" he whispered.

"Ever since Saige's attacks on me and constant pursuing... I've never been able to let anyone get close to me. I'm..." she started.

"What?" he whispered, as she looked down.

"Afraid, of him, of what could happen if I let someone in, of what could happen to the person because of me, but most of all, the pain," she sighed. Trunks leaned in, stroking her cheek. "Trunks... I can't," she whispered.

"Hotiku, I won't hurt you," he reassured her. She slowly felt the soft brush of his lips against hers until she pulled back.

"I'm late for dance," she whispered an excuse and walked back into the house. Trunks let out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, we're back with more water!" Goten and Miyako walked back from around the side of the house, both soaking wet.

~*~

"Can you still do that thing that you used to do?" Miyako asked. The two of them were now in the locker room of the dance studio, Hotiku in her leotard.

"What thing?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You know, the thing?" she hinted.

"Oh, that thing! Yeah, see," Hotiku turned around and performed a double axle, but landed in a split.

"Yay! That was so cute!" Miyako clapped.

"Five minutes, Hotti," they heard a female voice.

"Alright, Sasha, I'm coming," Hotiku called back.

"I'm going to watch from the side and cheer for you," Miyako stated, giggling.

Hotiku laughed, "Mi-chan, I don't need a cheerleader!"

"But I want to," she pouted.

Hotiku sighed, "alright." As much as she was going to embarrass her, she still let her have her own way. At least she's back to her old self and not the worry freak she was half an hour ago, she thought. Hotiku was relieved that she was finally able to tell someone her secret, but now she had to deal with being given extra attention and treated specially, which she hated. Although, she was glad she told Miyako instead of Zack, he would have been ten times as worse.

"Mi-chan, you can go site over there, this won't take long. Just this one part of a routine," Hotiku explained.

"Okey dokey," she hopped down on a chair that was up against the wall.

Hotiku walked up to the stage and sat down to stretch out her limbs and muscles.

"Hotti, we've set the swing and bars, you ready to try it?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to jump up, swing and land on the bars right?"

"Hai, let's give it a go!" she smiled. Hotiku pulled herself to her feet and back up to up-center stage. As she ran towards the end of the stage, she prepared herself to jump.

"H-O-T-T-I, let's go Hotti! You can do it, put your back into it!" Miyako cheered, causing her to screech to a halt and barely escape falling off stage.

"Mi-chan!" she yelled.

"Nani?"

"I have to concentrate!" she scolded.


"Oops, sorry, Hotti!"

Sighing, Hotiku returned to her start point. As soon as she jumped off stage, the crewmen dropped the swing so she could grab onto it. Using her momentum, she let go of the swing and managed to drop down, grasping the bar. She swung herself up and balanced herself on the bar.

"Yes, you did it!" Miyako laughed. Hotiku snapped up a finger, signaling her to be silent, quieting her immediately. She performed a few tricks before pushing herself off and grasping the swing, which had returned to her, and landed back onstage.

Hotiku let out a relieved sigh, she hadn't noticed, but she had been holding her breath the entire time.

"Alright, that was perfect, let us just secure everything and we'll run it again," Sasha smiled. Hotiku nodded as she tried to catch her breathe.

"Wow, that took a lot out of me, must've been the adrenaline," she figured.

"Okay, ready?" Sasha asked, receiving a nod of recognition. Unfortunately, this time, when she grabbed the swing handle, the cord broke and her momentum sent her to the ground. She was able to grab onto the bar on which she was supposed to land.

"Hotiku!" Miyako looked up in fear.

"Someone hurry! The bar's been waxed," she cried out, trying to hold her grip. She finally couldn't hold onto the slippery surface any longer and plummeted to the ground. She let out a horrified scream as she awaited the impact that was to come.

"Huh?' Hotiku peeked an eye open when she didn't feel anything. She looked around to see that she was wrapped in TJ's arms.
"You okay?" he asked.

"Um, yeah, thanks," she mumbled, still shocked. Miyako ran over as quickly as she could, when she came upon the scene.

"Whoa, Hotti," she eyed T.J., "you scored!"

"What?!" Hotiku screeched and jumped out of TJ's grasp. "No way, I don't date!"

"Why?" Miyako looked at her quizzically.

"Because, all the stress and… it's just too much trouble," she crossed her arms.

"I bet you didn't have any protest to dating with the hot guys in To-"

Hotiku slapped a hand over her mouth, "are we going to test run again?" She quickly changed the subject.

"No, the cord is completely torn," the stage manager sighed, "we'll have to get a new one. You can go home now."

"Alright, thanks," Hotiku dragged Miyako back to the locker room. "Are you crazy?!" She asked while changing.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You almost gave us away," she finished adjusting her shirt and placed a hand on her hip.

"I did not!" she followed her out of the studio.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged, "then what were you going to say?"

"To-… Tokyo?" she smiled sweetly.

"Okay," Hotiku said, still not believing her. "They are so teaching me to fly!"

As they walked through the front door of Capsule Corps. Zack immediately pulled Miyako to the side as Hotiku continued in search of Trunks or Goten.

"What's going on?" she asked haughtily.

"Miyako, we're leaving," he said.

"What do you mean, leaving?" she asked.

"Orders, you know we can't stay together especially with Hotiku, we'll give away her location," he explained.

"Zack something tells me this is another one of your tests for her," she raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain everything to you later, we have to leave now," he demanded.

~*~

"Trunks!" Hotiku yelled as she approached him. He spun around just as she placed a hand on his chest and shoved him down on the grass.

"I swear to Kami, I didn't do it," he said nervously.

"Exactly!" she sat in front of him on her knees, leaning on her hands.

"What? Okay now you lost me," he raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't taught me to fly," she said slowly.

"But, Hotti, I didn't think you wanted to know," he backed up a little.

"Why wouldn't I?" she crawled closer to him.

"Because you never asked," he said simply. Hotiku let out a frustrated growl and launched herself onto him.

"You are going to teach me to fly and you're going to teach me good, got it?" she raised an eyebrow as he nodded his head slowly. "Good," she smiled and stood up, "so how do we start?"

"First like this," he abruptly picked her up and shot up into the sky.

"Kami! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack!?" she held onto him desperately.

"Maybe," he chuckled.

"Just shut up and teach," she glared at him.

"Right, so you already know how to control ki, so just concentrate that power to propel you through the air," he explained simply.

"Wait, so you want me to shoot ki blasts from my feet?" she asked confused.

"Ugh, no," he slapped his forehead.

"Relax, I know what you mean," she winked at him before looking down towards the ground. "You're not going to drop me are you?"

"Now there's an idea," he joked.

"Hey," she slapped his arm and pushed off him, not realizing that she was hovering in the air. "Are you always this sarcastic?"

"Are you always this fast a learner?" he asked, looking down at her feet, which were several feet above the ground. Hotiku looked down and panicked, causing her to fall out of the sky. She screamed out in shock as she forced her eyes shut and waited for the impact. After a few moments, she peeked an eye open when she didn't feel anything.

"Am I dead?" she asked stupidly.

"Not yet," Trunks laughed.

"Hey, it's not funny!" she jumped out of his arms.

"Sorry," he stifled his chuckles.

~*~

"Miyako, we have to leave now!" Zack whispered harshly.

"Wait, wait," she cried desperately as she ran into Hotiku's room and left an envelope on her dresser.

"You know she'll be able to do it," he said, "now we have to get out of here."

"I'm coming," she sighed and followed him out of Capsule Corp. As they teleported away in different directions, they had time to share one last good-bye as they severed the telepathic link from each other.

~*~

Hotiku gasped as she supported herself on Trunks' shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a dizzy spell," she breathed.

"Hm, I think that's enough for today, you've got a pretty good hang of it," he said as they walked back into the building.

"Thanks, I'm going to go take a shower," she said as she walked up the stair to her room. Hotiku walked into her bathroom and jumped into the shower, noticing that she had large bruises on her knees. "Probably from my landing after I fell from flying," she thought. As she powered up to dry herself off, she put on a pair of loose gray pants and a white shirt.

She walked towards her dresser to grab her brush and combed her hair. A small envelope caught her eye and she placed her brush down and opened the envelope. She sat on the edge of her bed as she read.

Hotiku,

We've left… all of us, sorry hunnie, orders. Another one of 'Zack's' tests, if you can find us before Saige arrives, the ones you've found will help in the battle against him. Those you don't, you'll most likely not see again for a while. Sorry, but it has to be this way. I wish there was another way, but there isn't. Zack and I have severed the telepathic link among us, you probably had a dizzy spell when we did this. We've all changed our appearances too, we suggest you do the same. And you won't be able to search for our ki either, I've developed a device to block that. Hope to see you soon, really…

Love,
Miyako.

Trunks walked by Hotiku's door and looked in at her. Detecting something was amiss he walked inside.

"Hotti, what's wrong?" he looked at her.

"They're gone…" she whispered.

"Who are?"

"All of them," she slowly handed him the note. He quickly read over it before looking back at her. "Trunks, I can't do this, not alone. What if I don't find them in time? I'll never see them again, and Saige will beat us, he'll probably kill us."

"Hotiku, you're not alone, and you will find them. Even if you don't, we'll still fight Saige… and win," he comforted her.

"But I'm so scared," she whispered. Trunks wrapped his arms around her. "Before I at least had them to back me up, but now I have no one to fight with."

"You have me," he whispered.

"But you don't know how Saige is, he'll kill you," she choked back a sob.

"If I have to die protecting you then I will, I won't let him win," he said.

"Trunks, I told you, you're not a guardian and I'm not royalty."

"And I told you, you're my princess," he kissed her forehead.

Hotiku sighed, "you're so stubborn," and leaned against his chest as sleep started to take over her. Trunks kissed her one last time before joining her asleep.