…Of Illness
"Sickness to the body can be healed
But sickness to the heart can only be mended…"
Tamashii growled softly as she felt a slight twinge in her lower back, which gradually developed into an ache, and from there into pain. Intense pain. She opted not to get up, and instead simply turned onto her side to get the pressure off her back. "Damn," she muttered, "it's about time the thing grew back, but did it have to grow back now? This hurts to high heaven." Tears began to fall softly as she remembered the day her tail had been cut off. It had been the day Anna had died. She heard a small click, and managed to turn herself around so that she was on her other side, facing the door.
Mirai Trunks blushed. "Did I wake you?" he asked softly.
"I wasn't sleeping." Her voice cracked with another flash of intense pain. "Shit," she muttered under her breath.
"Are you okay?" He hadn't missed when she clenched her fists, nor the fact that her face was nearly as white as the guest-room sheets. Nor the fact that her eyes were red and she was crying softly.
"Fine. What are you here for?"
"Bulma-san asked me to figure out why you weren't down for breakfast."
"I'm not hungry," she lied. She was hungry, but she doubted she could stand at that particular moment. Trunks just looked at her, his expression worried.
"Saiya-jins are always hungry. What's wrong? You're crying."
She cursed again. "I'll be all right. You'll see at the end of the day what's wrong. My guess is that your father will already know." She wondered absently why his hadn't grown back yet, but finally just shrugged it off as unimportant. "Just leave; I'll get food at the end of the day. That will be around the time I can manage to walk again."
His concern grew. "I'll bring breakfast up," he offered.
"Don't bother; I need practice in going without food anyway. I haven't done it in a long time, and you never know how long you'll have to do without in battle. I'll get food when I can get out of bed on my own, and not before."
He sighed at her determination, but nodded. "All right." He knew exactly why she was doing this; Saiya-jins refused to except help from anyone unless they absolutely couldn't avoid it. He turned to leave.
"Oh, and ignore any sounds you hear coming from this room," she told him. Puzzled, he nodded. She turned to face the wall again.
It was about midday that the screaming started. Loud, pain-filled screams, as she tossed and turned in her bed. It felt like her back was being torn apart, and no matter how deep a trance she went into, it didn't help. (AN: Trance is sort of like meditation, but in trance you're kind of half-conscious, where meditation is just deep thinking. _) The first time she screamed, Vegeta was the only one that kept the rest of the Z gang, including Mirai Trunks, from rushing up to check on her. "Don't," he warned. "Something very personal is going on up there, and if she didn't tell you what it was, then she doesn't want you to know yet. You'll know tonight. You can't help her anyway." And he would say nothing more about it. The screams continued until Trunks at last had to go outside, taking his mother with him. Finally, at about 6, they stopped. They had become more like hoarse shrieks, and then they stopped, presumably because her throat was too hoarse for her to continue. She came down at eight, pain lines around her eyes and mouth, and unable to speak above a whisper, but feeling much better than she had. She wore the same kind of simple spandex suit Vegeta wore, only in a pale white, and she had opted not to don the armor that late at night. She had a brown belt wrapped around her waist. The entire family was assembled in the living room, which startled her. She refused to show her surprise, and instead surveyed the group with a calm eye.
"I'm fine," she stated simply, and sat next on the arm of the chair Trunks was sitting on, because it was the only clear seat.
Bulma stood, glaring angrily. Tamashii watched her calmly. "What the hell was going on up there?" she demanded. Tamashii unwound the brown "belt" from around her waist.
"My tail grew back."
Bulma's eyes widened; Vegeta just nodded. "I thought so. I've never personally had to go through that just yet."
She smirked. "I like my tail, and I didn't appreciate having it cut off by…never mind…so I let it grow back. Very painful process. It'll be very useful later, if I need it. If not, it'll help my balance. I never really got that all the way back." They didn't need to know who, or rather, what, had cut it off just yet, though she saw Trunks nod.
Vegeta growled. "By what, girl?"
Her gaze went steely. "Don't call me girl. You don't need to know what my tail was cut off by, and at the moment, I'm operating on a need to know basis. I'm fine now; you shouldn't have worried in the first place. If you don't mind, Bulma, I'm going to get something to eat." And that was that; she couldn't be coaxed into saying anything more. Trunks followed her silently into the kitchen, and set a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. It worked better than he'd hoped. With a startled exclamation, he found himself on his back with the wind knocked out of him and her sword, which she had not been wearing that he had seen, quivering at his throat.
"Whoa. Calm down; it's just me," he said, chuckling softly.
She pulled her sword away from his throat and offered him her hand. He took it without thinking, but she pulled him up easily. "Sorry. Don't sneak up on me." She berated herself angrily; she should have known he was there. She needed to keep all her senses open.
He blushed and looked at the ground. "I-I just wanted to know…" He paused.
"Spit it out, Trunks. It's not that hard." At least she felt comfortable enough around him to tease him.
"I just wanted to know if you would…Well, Vegeta-san said that you were really good at magic, and that you'd been doing some when you located me, and I just wanted to know if you could…teach me?"
She stared at him dumbly for a moment, then slowly shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know if you have Talent. I need you to relax, utterly and totally. Clear your mind completely, close your eyes, and hold fast. This is going to feel really strange." She closed her own eyes and rested a hand gently on his forehead, lowering her shields carefully and prodding his mind with hers when he nodded to tell her that he had done as she had asked. Mind-magics were a special talent all her own, from her father. All at once, she was flooded with memories and images that didn't belong to her. She pulled away abruptly with a cry and slammed her shields back up. "Damn it, I said clear your mind!! You almost killed me!!" she yelled angrily. He drew back.
"I-I'm sorry…I thought…"
"Oh Kami," she muttered to herself. Then, to him, "You've never done that before, have you?"
He shook his head. "N-no."
"All right." She sighed. "Think of complete blankness. Absolutely nothing can penetrate that blankness. There's nothing there; no memories, no nothing. Got it?"
A slow nod. She readied herself again, and this time she got in without any hindrances. She knew what she was looking for-an unblocked, hidden corner of his mind, that hadn't been used before, so was partially buried in "stuff." The "stuff" was knowledge that he had used, sort of like books. The ones you wanted but hadn't used before were always buried underneath newer that you used often. She found what she was looking for, though it wasn't quite all the way open, which meant he wouldn't be as strong as she was, and pulled out. She gave him a hard physical shake, and he jolted back into himself. "I can teach you. We'll start tomorrow. It'll be useful to have another sorcerer." With that, she disappeared, throwing back over her shoulder, "Be up and ready to go by eight o'clock sharp." He nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him, and followed her, headed to the rooms that Bulma had given him to get some sleep. He had a hunch he'd need all the rest and energy he could get.