Mind Games – Part Six

A Dragonball Z fanfic

By Hana Noir

Kyrie glanced over at the doors as she walked out onto the terrace. The she halted, stunned and stared at the great hourglasses framing the door. The level of the sand was uneven, at least three-fourths of it was in the bottom. Only about three more months? she thought, slowly beginning her warm up routine. Piccolo hadn't said and she hadn't asked, but she had noticed the hourglasses when they first came in and surmised their purpose.

A wicked grin pulled at her lips as she stretched her arms over her head. Piccolo was still sleeping, sprawled across the bed actually, snoring. Since their encounter in the hot tub, they had been sleeping together on a regular basis and it seemed that activity tired him out faster than any sparring session. She bent down to place her flat palms on the cold tile, bouncing slightly. Leaning over even further, she brought her legs up in a flawless hand stand. From the handstand, she executed a flip, landing in a sideways splits. Rising back to her feet, she concentrated, moving up into the air to begin a fluid kata. Kicks, punches and blocks, all text book perfect, were performed in mid-air at increasing speeds. After that grew boring, she brought her hands together and generated a sparking ki ball, aiming it out into the emptiness of the room.

There was sudden increase in ki and a muffled BOOM shook the building. Piccolo bolted up in the bed, fists clenched, ready for anything. He relaxed fractionally when he realized that it was just Kyrie. He yawned, fangs glistening in the bright light of the bedroom and headed for the shower. The bathroom showed no signs of the damage they had inflicted on it. Kyrie had come in a while afterward and found the room as pristine as ever. He yawned again as he stepped into the shower. Maintaining a physical relationships was harder on him than training ever was!

After washing and dressing, he went outside to discover an amazing sight. Kyrie was suspended about thirty feet above the floor, her body arrow straight. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes squinched tightly closed as she rotated, tumbling end over end, reversing abruptly to whirl in another direction. What is she doing?? he wondered, watching her flip and spin. She spun to a halt, looking slightly disoriented and more than a bit green in the face. Without waiting, she slid into a defensive position, bringing her hands up to guard and threw an experimental punch or two. He could tell that she was dizzy, her balance still off, but she never stopped. Gradually her speed picked up and her form improved until she was nothing but a dark blur above the tiles. He sank into a cross legged position, settling down to wait for her to join him. He slipped into a meditative trance with practiced ease.

Kyrie watched him from above, her vision still slightly blurred. She waited while it cleared and when she was sure he was meditating, she slipped down behind him, surpressing her ki as much as she could. She slipped up behind him, grinning evilly as she leaned over to blow in his ear. Before she could move away, his eyes flew open and he reached back and grabbed her, tossing her over his shoulder. She yelped as she bounced off of the stone tiles and rolled to her feet, automatically in a defensive posture. She threw up an arm and increased her ki shield as Piccolo's foot came right at her face.

"You did a good job of hiding your ki," he grunted, blocking her punch at his stomach. "But you forgot that I can hear better than you can. I heard your feet on the floor." He slipped through her defenses and belted her with an uppercut to the stomach. She soared backward, managing to tuck and roll, ending on her feet. She pushed off and rocketed straight at him, a ki ball glowing in her hands. She feinted to the side, holding the glowing orb in her left hand, and tossed it right into his face. The explosion threw him back across the floor, smoke curling up off of his tunic.

Piccolo was enjoying himself immensely. Kyrie had improved beyond his expectations in the time they had been in the Room. He had discovered while training Gohan that there was a particular satisfaction in watching a promising pupil develop, and working with Kyrie brought all that back to him. But there was more to training her than there was with Gohan. When the training was over, there was satisfaction on a more intimate level. She talked to him, listened when he chose to speak and was content with his company. For the first time in his life, he had found an equal. Not in raw power perhaps, but on an intellectual level. That had been what was missing with Gohan. The relationship they had was one of a boy and a man, satisfying within its' limitations, but with Kyrie, there were no limitations. He cared for Gohan, that would never change, but he didn't really need a father figure any more. It had hurt when he first realized that, but he knew that was the way the world worked. The student became the master, the child became an adult. Perhaps in time, he and Gohan would redefine their relationship, as adults, as men. For now, he had a new student to train and for the first time in his life, a lover to hold as well. He was abruptly startled out of his musing when her knee caught him in the back of the neck. He hit the floor with a grunt, cursing at himself for his distraction.

Kyrie landed softly next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked, offering him a hand up. He reached back and fingered the lump coming up on the back of his skull.

"Fine," he growled, ignoring her hand and climbing to his feet unassisted. He folded his arms across his chest and glared down at her. She tilted her head back and met his steely gaze squarely. It was rather like a kitten trying to stare down a full grown lion.

"Don't get pissy with me because I managed to get a good lick in," she said, shaking a finger in warning. "It's not my fault you picked that moment to have an out of body experience." He opened his mouth to snarl at her, then closed it again when he realized that she had a point. Mid-combat was not the time to be doing serious soul searching. "What's wrong? Didn't get enough sleep?" she asked coyly, batting her eyelashes.

"Brat," he muttered, cuffing her upside the head. She took the blow good naturedly, following when he headed for the living area. He poured himself a tall glass of water, passing her the pitcher when she reached for a glass of her own. He found himself intrigued by a stray droplet that was escaping down the column of her ivory throat and wrenched his attention back to his now empty glass. She held out the pitcher, offering him a refill which he accepted silently.

Now's a good a time as any, he thought, drinking slowly. He didn't want the water to settle too heavily on his stomach when they started training. I might as well show her. If anything happens to me, she'll need to know it. He cleared his throat, catching her attention. She looked at him curiously, wondering why he was so distracted.

He sighed, running a hand over his head and realizing that he had left his turban outside somewhere. "I want to show you a new technique," he began. "A very important technique," he added, making sure she was listening. She nodded, placing her empty glass on the table, giving him her full attention. "It's dangerous, and I seriously considered not showing you at all, but if anything were to happen to me, you'd need to know it." She flinched slightly at that, not even wanting to consider the possibility. "We can't ignore that possibility," he said sternly and she nodded reluctantly. He leaned against the counter, automatically crossing his arms. Kyrie took a chair, turned it around and straddled it, resting her arms on the back.

"It's called the Soul Cage. This technique uses the life force of your very soul to form a barrier around a specific target," Piccolo explained. "Anything caught within the cage cannot escape, be it physical or astral. There's a serious drawback to this, though. If the person using it holds the cage too long, their soul will be completely drained. In other words, death is a very real possibility." She blanched, staring up at him.

"Didn't you tell me once that Tien has an attack that draws on his soul?" she asked.

He nodded, impressed that she remembered something he mentioned in passing during a sparring session. "Yes, he calls it Kikou Ha. It's a powerful attack, but, like the Soul Cage, it's potentially deadly. I'd planned on teaching him the Soul Cage, seeing as he already knows how to tap into his own soul for energy. That's the hard part." He pushed off the counter, looming over her. "Let's meditate first, then start work on this technique." She nodded, replacing her chair at the table before she followed him out.

As they headed outside, something occurred to Piccolo. "What was that you were doing earlier?" he asked her curiously. "All that flipping and spinning."

"Oh, that," she replied easily, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Back at the Facility, they used to put me in a Multi-Axis Trainer to test my responses and such. I thought it would be an interesting way to build up an immunity to disorientation. After all, I get slung around all the time when we spar. It was just an idea, really."

He hadn't the foggiest idea what she was talking about but she seemed to so he let it go. Pointing to the floor across from him, they settled down to meditate.