Okay, since only CTarl Angel (Is that right?) is the only one reviewing, this chapter is dedicated to her. (You are a girl, right?) Thank you so MUCH, I think this story is my best ever and I've got my Bio teacher reading it (Thank you so much, Mr. D [like I'd put his full name up here] you are an inspiration to an aspiring authoress) So this story is also dedicated to him. To the two people who have brought me happiness simply by giving their opinions, here's Chapter 4 of the Yin-Yang Theory!
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Chapter 4: Phobias and Scares
I was awoken by a jolt through my spine as someone with calloused fingers shook my arm to awaken me. I knew it wasn't my mother and I still had the hope and mindset that the whole thing had been a dream, so I figured it was Tiger.
"Tiger, if you don't leave me alone, I swear..." I grunted painfully as I swung at him and then turned over in my bed.
"Hey, Angel, it's me, Trunks," I heard a voice say, "Tiger's not here, remember?" I didn't remember. I opened my eyes and sat up. My eyes widened in fear when I saw that I had swung at Trunks, not my little brother.
"Oh, my gosh," I said quickly, "I'm sorry, Trunks! I thought you were-"
"I know who you thought I was," Trunks cut me off, "Come on, we need to get ready." I nodded and climbed out of bed. "You might want to change into one of your gi." I nodded and found the capsule that I had placed my entire new wardrobe within.
"I still can't get over how you can do this," I said as I pushed the button on top, "It's like magic without the actual magic." He laughed, a deep, guttural sound that came from within his throat. I giggled nervously as he left and closed the door.
I sighed as I pulled on the new gi. I knew it'd soon be covered in sweat and blood stains and quite possibly several rips and tears. The gi was very simple and in my favorite colors. It was aqua, mostly, with a deep blue undershirt and belt. But I'd also requested gloves, but they weren't the kind that Vegeta wore almost constantly. They were black and biker-style, letting my fingertips show a little. The ensemble was completed with a pair of black boots that I neatly tucked the pant legs in.
"Hey, Angel?" I heard a whispered voice. I turned to see Bulma and smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want a haircut?" she asked, "You know, so they can't grab it."
"Yes, thank you," I sighed in relief, "It's much too long this way." She smiled.
"How short do you want it?"
"How about like Trunks?" I asked, "His hair seems to be the best at not getting taken hold of."
"Perfect," she grinned, "Come sit down, I've got some scissors right here." Indeed she did. My long, flowing black hair was soon cut off around my temples, showing more of my newer-looking face.
"Well, this is going to take some getting used to," she said as she stared, "I can hardly recognize you."
"Hey, I could hardly recognize myself when I got here," I said in defense, "I looked a lot different in my own world."
"Welcome to my world," was all she said.
***
Getting ready took about three hours. We had to get together the food, the Capsule houses (We were using those instead of just sleeping outside, which I was grateful for), and our clothes. But we were soon ready to go deep into the Black Forest and meet up with Goku and company, whom had already gotten there via Goku's Instant Transmission. Vegeta took me aside before we left, but I knew Vegeta was just flying Bra there then coming straight home.
"Angel," he said, "I forgot to ask you last night. Would you like Kakarott and I to train you on the side, away from Trunks and Goten and the rest?"
"Yes," I was near-automatic in my answer, "I know how they train. I've seen them. If they're sparing or training with someone, they aren't tough at all. They'll practically act as if I'm a piece of glass once we get out there, I'm certain." Vegeta looked startled and impressed at once for about three seconds before his normal mask was back. But I'd caught it.
"What was that all about?" Trunks inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Just telling me to watch out for his son," I laughed gently, "You'd never really hurt me, now would you, Trunks?" He laughed nervously at this and nodded. "So, how're we getting there, anyway?"
"We're going to fly," Trunks answered. I stopped short.
"F-F-Fly?" I squeaked, "B-But I can't fly yet!"
"Yeah, I know," he said, "I'm going to carry you there. Why, are you afraid of heights or something?"
"N-N-No, but I-um-I-"
"You what?" Trunks pressed.
"I-I'm afraid of something a little more subtle than heights," I said through red cheeks.
"And what's that?" he asked. There was an edge of impatience in his voice, so I just said it aloud.
"Of being t-touched," I whispered, but I knew he'd heard me. He jumped back in surprise and yelled, "WHAT?!"
"You would be too!" I shouted in defense, but clamped my hand over my mouth at my own outburst. I had never done something like that, just voicing my worries into a shouted statement, never had I allowed my feelings to overtake me. I sobbed and sank to my knees, unable to stand any longer. My rational mind left me as I finally collapsed from too much worry. My mind was overtaken by my own grief.
Trunks watched the girl cry in overall shock and disbelief. He saw that the girl had been through much more than she had told him or anyone else and that she had held it all back. He suddenly saw his father in her, lost, confused, and scared, but covering it all in a mask and keeping it from anyone that came near her. He knelt down beside her, glad they were still inside the dark alleyway behind Capsule Corp.
I was dimly aware of Trunks kneeling beside me and taking me in his arms in a soft, friendly hug, but my mind was too confused to refuse. My heart had been torn to shreds, placed back together by a slight bit of hope, dashed to even more wrenching pieces, placed together shakily, and dashed again, and I was tired of it. My mind was working on overload, buzzing about my head like a billion worker bees inside one tiny honeycomb.
I was, however, quite aware when Trunks took me into his arms like a small child and wiped my tears away with the sleeve of his gi. However, at that moment in time, I was too bedazzled to care.
I did care, however, when he lifted gently off the ground and started flying toward the Black Forest.
"T-Trunnnks," I said, elongating his name in fear. I gripped his shirt-sleeve in my miniscule hands tightly, too frightened of the flight to fear the fact that he was holding me, touching me. He laughed at me, his chest jolting a little against my waist, which was pressed lightly against him.
"Maybe you are a little afraid of heights, Hai?" he asked me, using the word I'd taught him last night. He meant it as a joke, I knew, but I was too tense to notice.
"No, I am not afraid of heights," I said testily, "I'm afraid of falling." He grinned at me mysteriously.
"Oh, you mean like this!" he shouted and dropped me. I felt the rush of cool air around me in the direction of the planet Earth and I heard screaming. I didn't know it was me until it stopped. And it didn't stop until Trunks caught me again.
"Trunks!" I whined plaintively and frightfully, "Don't you ever do that to me again, do you hear me?!" I pounded his chest, accentuating my words. I knew it didn't hurt him, but it sure felt good to do something to him after a stunt like that. He laughed again, just making me more angry.
"Why should I?" he asked smugly. I growled deep in my throat, but it suddenly turned to a scream as he suddenly sped up, doing barrel rolls in midair, making me wrap my arms tightly around his throat to hang on.
"Trunks Vegeta Briefs!" I shouted as loud as I could directly into his ear. He stopped immediately, much to my relief, but let go of me for a split second, making me almost glad I had been hanging on to his neck. Keyword: almost. For the moment he let go, I dangled dangerously close to two different places I did not want to be.
"Sorry," was all he managed to mumble out as he dropped quickly, replacing me in his arms. We reached a place close to the campsite and he landed.
"Don't you ever, ever, ever do that to me again!" I screeched at him. He mumbled a second apology. My face softened as I realized my mistake. "No, I should be sorry, for yelling at you at all. My fears have overtaken me and I need to do vice versa to them."
"Nah, that's okay," he laughed a little, "I needed it. Sometimes I can be a little dense."
"A little?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, okay, I admit, a lot," he laughed again as he led the way, "We'll walk the rest of the way, I have a feeling you don't want to fly again right now."
"Why'd we land in the first place?" I asked.
"I had to find the other's ki signatures," He answered, "They were half-way hiding them, I don't know why, though."
"Who's going to be there again?" I asked.
"Well, there's all the Sons except for Chi-chi and Videl. She decided to drop out at the last minute," He looked a little sickly some thought, "I don't know what we'll do about food."
"I can cook," I offered hopefully, but knew I should've kept my mouth shut, "Well, not really."
"How can you not really cook?" he asked.
"Well, I can cook, but I'm not very good and most definitely not fast. And I especially can't cook very large quantities," I sighed, "Wish I could."
"Anyway," he said with a deep breath intake, "It's Goku, Gohan, Goten, Bra, you, and me."
"Just the six of us, right?" I asked.
"Oh, and I almost forgot that Pan and Marron are joining us," he said sheepishly.
"Isn't she just a little older than Bra?" I asked.
"Yeah," he answered. I think he was getting used to me knowing all about the others and him.
I never knew someone was watching our trek through the woods the whole time.
"Soooo," I drawled, "Eight? And a six bedroom Capsule Cabin?" This made me a little nervous. That meant I would be housing with someone. Someone I didn't know.
"Yeah, Goten and Marron have one room and Bra and Pan have another," Trunks answered, "We're going to install a wall between the beds, but still."
"Huh," I grunted, "Those two littleuns, they look like they were made for each other." He laughed at this and nodded.
"Yeah, Goku's son and Goku's best friend's daughter, they are perfect for each other," he laughed again. I was reminded of Vegeta's words to me. Worthy of my son, he'd said, He's already hooked.
I shook my head of such thoughts. Another question arose in my head.
"How much further is the camp, exactly?" I questioned, "And how do you know where it is?"
"Oh, that's easy," Trunks answered, "We chose the same place Piccolo trained with Goku and Gohan for the Cell games."
"What about Buu?" I asked. (Remember, she doesn't know that Buu never showed up in this dimension.)
"Who's Buu?" Trunks asked, turning an inquiring eyebrow to me. I thought about his answer a moment before asking.
"Have you actually ever fought an evil being before?" I asked then thought of a joke, "Besides your father, I mean."
"No," he laughed, "Good one." I laughed too, but thought seriously at the same time. So, Trunks never fought Buu. I wonder what happened to let that happen. And I also wondered how Goku had come back to life.
"So, I thought Goku died in the fight with Cell," I said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, he did," Trunks said, "He beat the Grand Kai and the Supreme Kai in a sparing match, so they let him live. Cool, huh?"
"Yeah, awesome," I smiled at him. We had reached a small glade and I recognized it immediately. I also recognized every face there.
"Hey, Trunks!" shouted the fourteen-year-old raven-haired boy as he waved. It was almost funny to see him. He had his black hair swept over his head in wisps of coarse yet fine spikes.
"Goten!" Trunks yelled with a laugh, "Long time no see, bro!" I winced a bit at the mention of a brother, but said nothing. I was an outsider among them, not yet a friend, not even a mere acquaintance to any but Trunks and Bra. I saw Vegeta talking in low tones with the black-haired Goku and saw the Saiyans nodding in my direction. I knew what they were talking about.
"Hey, who's this?" Marron asked immediately, looking at me. She may have been about 8 or 9, but she was going through her adolescence, that was for certain. She looked like her mother in so many ways that it wasn't even funny. She had an excellent figure and was very powerful from what I could see. Her straight bond hair was pulled back into pigtails and her ever-cold ice-blue eyes stared at me.
"Oh, this is Angel," Trunks said with a smile, "She's a Saiyan." That stopped every single movement right down to their lungs taking in air. The whole lot looked like fish out of the water. Trunks laughed at everyone's expressions, but I remained grim and indifferent to their staring eyes. Once he had come out of his laughing fit, he explained what he had already told his family and kept out the facts that only he and, unknowingly, Vegeta knew.
The entire group was speechless now, save for Bra, Vegeta, Trunks, Goku (Vegeta had told him on the phone), and I. I wasn't sure how old Pan was, but she was about 6 or 7 or 8, somewhere in that area (I've no clue how old Pan or Marron are compared to Bra and Trunks, so it would really help if I knew.)
"Later," Vegeta grunted, jolting the others back to reality as he lifted off into the air and left us.
"Well," Goku said, trying to lighten the mood, "Are we going to get started or are we going to stare at Angel all day?" The group laughed and suddenly I found myself liking them more so than ever before.
"Okay, Trunks, Bra, Pan, and Marron already know the basics, so how about you go and teach Angel them?" Goku said cheerfully and I suddenly felt cornered. The others all knew how to throw a punch and a kick and to do a back flip and such, but me, I barely knew how to levitate as a pre-training exercise.
"Come on, Angel," Trunks said, beckoning with his hand and snapping me out of my thoughts, "I'll teach you away from here, so we won't be distracted." I nodded and followed him, my brain still buzzing away. We soon stopped a little ways downstream of the others.
"Okay," he said, "We'll start by finding out exactly how you know to throw a punch." I cocked my head but listened still, "Hit me." I stared at him in shock. He didn't brace himself or anything, just stood there, his feet spread evenly. "I won't hit back. Just see if you know how." I nodded but my legs were shaking at the thought. What if I hurt him? No, that wouldn't be right. An untrained female, even hurting a fully trained and well-toned warrior? Was it even possible? No, I decided.
I looked at him, at his new gi and his newly-cut hair, remembering that my own was cut the same way. I flipped my hand over against my hip, remembering how I'd seen Goku and the others spar. I threw a punch out with my whole body weight behind it, my thumb outside of the fist and my knuckles pointed toward him. At the last second, I twisted the fist by the wrist and let it fly, directly into his stomach.
The effect was surprising, even to me. My knuckles cracked against his hard muscle, bringing my arm a sort of shaking feel that swept over me like I had just punched a wall. Not that I expected anything else. But what did surprise me was what happened afterwards.
He flew backwards and into the stream. I stared at him in shock and horror then burst into violent giggles.
"Are you-are you-," I tried to say, "Are you 'ight?" I continued laughing even as he tried to stand up and slipped on a moss-covered rock.
"I think so," he muttered in pure shock. Then he got a wicked grin across his face, which I did not see because I was laughing too hard. I did notice, however, when he made a small grunt of pain and keeled over his stomach in a deep wince.
"Trunks?" I asked uncertainly as I walked toward him, "Trunks?! Trunks! Are you all right?" By now I was right beside him on the small rock path. "Trunks!"
He grinned as he held his stomach. His hand shot out faster than my untrained eye could see and soon I was under the water with him looking down at me with mischievous eyes. I swam to the surface and shook the water from my face, then glared at him with an indignant glint in my eyes.
"Trunks, don't do that!" I shouted even as I grinned at him. This was fun, and it kept my mind off worse things.
"Come on," he laughed as he grabbed my hand. I looked up and saw he was levitating off the ground again.
"Trunks, what are you doing?" I asked, fear seeping into my tone.
"Drying us off," he answered as he pulled me up to him, his arms around me to hold me in the air and against him at the same time.
"Trunks, this is not the way to dry us-" my voice was cut off as he powered up to Super Saiyan, instantly drying us both off. "-off." I finished feebly.
***
How about that, Angel's scared to be touched...ooh, and guess what, SO AM I! I make that clear at school, I hope, so let me get that straight right here...my cousin J should be reading this story soon as well, so let's give a big hello to Jonathon...maybe he'll become the next author on fanfiction.net, let's hope so.
Neko: Angel, can I give the previews now?
Angel: Go ahead, kitty-cat.
Neko: Meow! Here's a few quotes in Chapter 5 of the Yin-Yang Theory!
"Come on, where's that stubborn girl I know? Where'd that Angel girl go, the one that challenged Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiyans?"
"Teach away, Captain Briefs!"
"I can't tell you that, Trunks,"
"You can trust me, Angel,"
"L-Love?"
"You know, you're cute when you're mad."
Angel: That's enough, Neko, you might go too far.
Neko: Oops.
Angel: You know this is getting annoying, typing Neko and Angel conversations.
Neko: So just abbreviate. I want to be your muse.
Angel: Fine....bye, guys.
N: See ya later, nekos!
A:...Ja ne.