Hey all... I can't sleep... so I'm being sneaky... (Yeah... heh heh heh...) I've got my mom's laptop, and I'm hiding under my blanket, typing here! (Hee hee hee! I LIKE being sneaky!) Well anyway! Here's the next chapter!





Maturity



Chapter Twelve: Gravity Kills







Naki was having fun sliding on the slick, shiny, white tiled floors of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber when Nanake walked in... She giggled at her daughter and stepped in front of her, causing her to crash into her legs and fall backwards laughing.

"Are you ready Naki?" She smiled down at her.

"Sure!" Naki grinned back up at her.

Ophillia then came over to her and took her by the hand.

"Naki... you won't see your mother for about a year's time in here now... are you ready to proceed?"

"Hai!" Naki yelled at attention. She was ready... she had been ready for too long. She wanted to be just like her mother had become... Strong... Brave... and Daring. Nanake was allowed to stay for the breifing... but then, as the rules state in the book of time, no parent may watch their child train in their trainee days. So Nanake left the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, supposedly going back to Tetsuo's.





"Naki... it's just you and I here, all alone. I'm going to tell you that this isn't, under any cercumstances, going to be easy at all in the beginning... and even towards the end it will NOT be very simple... Do you understand?"

"Hai!"

"Alright then... follow me..." She turned and smirked as she stepped off the tiled flooring and into the blinding ground.

("If she's anything like her mother...")



*SMACK!*

"OWW! MY NOSE!" Naki moaned, lifting her hand with great difficulty, just to reach up and rub her nose. Her head was hard enough to lift in the first place. Ophillia turned around and looked at her apprentice with a smirk on her face.

"Ok... easy... easy... WOAH! Guess not!" *SMACK!* "Oww... OK... Here... we... GO!" Naki pushed up with her arms with all her might, standing herself to her feet, only to lose balance and fall flat on her back. Very hard.

"Ergh... I hate this..." She complained.



Ophillia chuckled and extended a hand.

"NO WAY!" Naki refused it, "I can do it! Just watch!" She tried to stand again, but failed miserabley.

"My dear, we really only have a YEAR, so if you'd be so kind..." Ophillia extended a hand again.

"Ouch... Geez... Harsh Ophie!" Naki flinched with one eye shut. She took Ophie's hand and let her stand her up.



"Okay..." Ophillia let go of her, "Get into attack stance and show me what you got... No holding back." She smirked.

Naki just fell backward, not able to move into her fighting stance. She landed flat onher back again and moaned,

"When you said this would be tough... you MEANT tough!" Naki mumbled as she started seeing stars.

"Oy vey..." Ophillia slapped a hand to her forehead.







Outside, it was now night time. Nanake had avoided going back to Tetsuo's since he wasn't expecting anyone back for awhile, and she needed to think. She flew around aimlessly until she found herself perched in a tree on a mountain... looking down on Capsule Corps.

"Vegeta... I wonder if he still lives here..." Nanake murmured. Soon curiosity got the better of her and she flew to the window where she and Vegeta used to sleep. She peered in and saw colorful wallpaper, toys, no bed, but a crib... It was a baby's room. She sighed and thought.

("Where e'se could he be?")



She flew to the area where Goku and Vegeta first fought. She landed on the pillar that she was ordered to stay put on, once a long time ago. She stared off into the night sky as a flashback played in her head.





"Please! Put me down!" Nanake screamed.

"Shut up... I'm not letting you out of my site. You're too valuable, being the last female Saiyan..." He hissed, following Goku to wherever he led them.

"But... I..."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?! He's landing now!"



Goku landed on a pillar and Vegeta landed on another. He hurled Nanake to the ground and snarled,

"Stay put. You know what I'll do." He turned his attention away from her, to Goku.



............................................................................ ...............................................................



"D-damn it all..." Vegeta growled, as he crawled, nearly dead, to his space pod. Nanake had watched him get nearly crushed to death by Gohan as a Mammoth Ape... and she watched him struggle now to escape in his ship. She staggered over to him and helped him towards his pod.

"Wha-What are you doing woman?!" He coughed.

"I'm helping you..." She strained.

"Why...?"

"Only because I want to..."

............................................................................ ................................................................







Nanake shook her head to make the memories stop, and looked out into the bleak, sandy desert. She sat down on the pillar and hummed a few bars of a song that she hadn't sang since the three hour break Vegeta suggested to wait for Goku, back when Nappa and Vegeta were attacking Earth. She stopped when she heard the wind howling. She felt lonely... She looked down and wiped away the tears she swore that she would never cry again. She looked angriliy up at the stars.

"He could have changed for us, Naki... He COULD have! It's not fair! It's NOT! I wanted tp be with him forever! It's NOT FAIR!" She screamed into the night. Her only answer came from behind her,

"It is now..."

Nanake gasped, wide-eyed and turned around in fear.





To Be Continued.....





Who is it? Friend or foe? Or in a way, BOTH? Well anyway... I think I typed away my insomnia problem... G'night! Please Review and be VERY NICE!!! *yawn!* G'night! Hope you're enjoying this so far!