(First off, my wonderful, courageous, outstanding, faithful readers... I'd like to apologize for this huge slab of lard that was stuck in my head, nick-named: "Writers Block". I thank you immensely for reading "Dream Maker" and I REALLY thank you for reviewing me so much. Everyone around should realize I love reviews... even though I don't usually send out emails of thanks. So I thank you continually for being so sweet to me. ^_^ I'd also like to say for the record: I don't own DBZ! There it is, there's that STUPID disclaimer. Can't live with it, can't keep money without it... well actually, no one would probably sue me, considering this is a alternate universe story, and hardly anyone knows me, or my real name for that matter... but hey, let's shoot for the record anyway.)
::: Dream Maker :::
Chapter 8: Getting Started
(Shiga)
It was the next day... Kasan had stayed the night here at C.C. and slept in room number 18 I think. Something tells me he didn't get a whole lot of sleep though. He kept asking me how I was feeling... questions like: "When do you think you'll be able to walk reasonably well again?" and; "Is your ankle feeling any better today...?" It was driving me a little nuts, but I coped. It should have been more obvious to him that I couldn't hike up to some mountain... even though my sprained ankle was healing reasonably fast, it would still be at least two more days until I'd be able to walk well enough. I guess in the mean time I'd have to put up with Kasan... though to tell the truth, the majority of the time I spent with him was alright. Awkward, but alright.
I flopped down on one of the living room couches and snatched up the remote control. I wonder what my favorite channel was... in fact, I wonder if this is the first time I've ever watched TV at all. I searched the buttons on the little black controller and noticed the red print on one of them, entitled 'on'. Well, no DUH, I pushed it and began to channel surf. That's when Kasan came in from out-doors... he seemed to use a lot of his time outside.
"Hey, what're watching?" He asked, obviously for conversational reasons.
I shrugged and continued to flip through the channels. "Don't know yet. Can't remember a darned thing, this stuff doesn't look familiar." I said with a frown.
Kasan just nodded and sat on the furthest chair from me. Wow, sure was a FRIENDLY fellow.
"So..." I spoke up, hoping to strike some conversation. "Do you know anyone around here?" Hey, he could at LEAST tell me that, right?
Kasan said nothing for a little while, then realized he HAD to speak up I guess. "Sort of..." A man of many words.
"Ahaaaaaaaaaa..." I responded with a confused look. Although I guess Kasan hadn't noticed that... he wouldn't look me in the eyes. "Who do you know?"
"... People. A few people. They don't know me very well, though." Ahaaaaaaaaaa... Okay, this guy makes a whole lot of sense. I decided he probably didn't want to talk about it, and let it lay.
"Well, maybe it's for the better you don't know a whole lot of people... they're kinda, eh... different around here." I stared at Kasan carefully, to see if he'd even twitch. He didn't. Or at least not at first. I thought I spotted a crooked grin slide across his face for a second or two.
"Yeah, they are kind of 'different'..." AHA! A reaction! It's a MIRACLE!!
"I'll say... although you haven't met the most 'different' one yet." I grinned. "Ever met a green man?"
Kasan's face turned completely white, as he continued not to look at me. Yeesh, was it something I said?
"Y... you... you mean...." He stuttered like a fool, and the white face wasn't helping his image.
"I mean what...?" Come on, spit it out.
Kasan seemed to regain composure and his face resumed it's natural color... mostly. "Um, no, no... I've never met a green man." Something tells me he was holding something back though.
"Ah... well, you haven't met the oddest yet, than." I raised a brow at his amusing gestures. Kasan muttered something or other under his breath, but I couldn't make it out.
"Well...!" Kasan jumped up from the chair. "I'm going outside I think." My word... AGAIN?
"Yo, can I come with? Doesn't look like there's anything on the tube." If I was going to go searching for some DUMB flower with this guy, I at least want to get to know him better.
"Oh... um, yeah, sure... suit yourself." He said with a faded smile creasing his lips. When he did smile, it was a nice one. One thing I couldn't get over about Kasan, was his shyness. I'd seen that shy, slightly grumpy but some-how polite attitude before. I'm not sure where exactly... and it could just be my imagination, but EVERYTHING about Kasan looked and sounded familiar. Well... all but his name. That was foreign to me. But oh well... onto different things.
I followed Kasan outside and looked around. You'd think I'd never seen the place before, even though I was just there yesterday. I eventually got bored with sniffing the various species of flowers though, and sat down, pondering useless things, like if I even HAD a family. I'd love to go to a comfortable familiar place... but it looks like I'll be stuck at C.C. for a while yet.
"... Don't you ever get bored of just sitting there?" I mused at Kasan. All he was doing was... SITTING there. Well, actually, it looked kind of like he was sleeping. His eyes were closed with his arms and legs crossed.
"No, not really."
"Well what are you doing?"
"... Thinking."
"Oh." Suddenly hey, what a thought!
"Hey, Piccolo does that thing too, you know that?" I stared interested at his posture.
Kasan went into numerous different styles of twitches. "Um, uuuuuh... I've never met a green man..."
"... I didn't say Piccolo was green."
"AH! Yeah, I UM... know!! Heheh... but uuuuum... BULMA told me about him!" O... kay. Sure was a nervous fellow.
"Kasan?"
"Uh huuh?"
"... Why are you so nervous around me?"
Kasan said nothing for a couple seconds.
............... Okay maybe more than just a couple seconds.
"I don't know." Alrighty, that was REALLY worth waiting for. I just rolled my eyes.
(Kasan)
About a week had passed since I'd arrived and met Shiga. I felt that it was really quite an honor to meet her... which was probably the reason why I'd been making a complete and total fool of myself for the last seven days. I had been thinking a lot the last several days as well. I'm from the future. Kind of a different thought. Son from the future. Almost seemed like I was repeating the history of Trunks, in his dimension. Father had told me about him... but not nearly as much as he had told me about my mother.
... Father, in my time, had told me that him and Mom didn't used to always get along.
No big surprise there.
"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!" The alarm clock screeched as I tapped it lightly to shut it off. I don't know why I even bother to set the thing... I always get up in the morning at 6:30... whether I want to or not. I guess you could just call it a habit. This meant I'd had nothing to do but think in bed for an hour already. I didn't think it very polite to get up before everyone else, so I had just laid there until the appointed time: 7:30. But I DID have a lot to think about, now didn't I? And to add to that, today would be the day Shiga and I would begin our little trek.
I got up and made the bed, then ventured out into the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, where, as usual, I saw Bulma's mother slaving over the oven.
"Good morning, Mrs. Briefs." I said, with an attempted warm smile.
"Ooooh, good morning Kasan! We're having pancakes this morning!" She said cheerfully and giggled. Really was a nice lady.
"Oh, wonderful, pancakes sound delicious." I said as nicely as I could, and Mrs. Briefs just smiled in return.
Shiga came out with her spiked hair looking unusually spiky this morning. I'd learned - the hard way - that Shiga wasn't a morning person. Dad never told me about that little fact.
"Good morning, Shiga." I greeted good naturedly.
"Yeah, uh huh, sure." Shiga grunted in reply.
"Today's the day..." I led on about the flower.
"Sure is."
"Your ankle's better..."
"Sure is."
"Yup."
I think there's a small lack of communication between the two of us. But our points always came across, so I'm not going to complain.
(Shiga)
I finished my breakfast after the small amount of conversation I'd managed to get in with Kasan. Today was "The" day.
"The" day, as in: "THE DAY". The day I leave Capsule Corp. to look for some dumb flower.
I went upstairs and dug through the drawers of one of Bulma's old wardrobe graveyards. She can go through clothes faster than a vacuum cleaner. Though I don't know why she bothers to get new ones... they all look the same.
I shoved some bright green shirt Bulma gave me into the backpack I was taking along. Man, was EVERYTHING this woman owned bright, or pink!? And I was NOT wearing pink. Over my dead body, people. I also shoved some other stuff in there, like a handy pocket-knife and matches. I was going on this little trip prepared... but the sad thing is, I had no idea where I was about to go. The only thing leading me was an image stuck in my head of a tall forest covered cliff of some sort... so how can you be prepared for something you don't even TRULY remember? I guess I can't really trust my own head. I also piled some canned food in there, along with other clothes I'd be needing... I had absolutely no idea how Kasan would fair on this, and he was DETERMINED to go with me. I hadn't even HOPED to talk him out of that. Hey, why waste breath, right? Plus... he's cute. Can you blame me?
I zipped up the black backpack and stood up, going back downstairs to meet up with Kasan.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked a bit anxiously as he saw me stumble down the stairs.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm ready, how 'bout you?" I for one, was not as enthusiastic about this as Kasan.
"Yes, I'm willing to leave at ANY time." Enthusiastic alright...
I marched out the door with NO IDEA WHATSOEVER where I was going. I'd probably be better off just spinning a twig on the ground and letting it choose which direction to start at. I sighed and looked to my left, then to my right. Then up, for some dumb reason or another. Kasan tapped my shoulder...
"Um, Miss Shiga, shouldn't we get going?" He asked impatiently.
"... Yeah, I suppose we SHOULD, now SHOULDN'T we? Got any idea where to start?"
Kasan just stared at me blandly, almost as if he'd expected me to say that. "If I may suggest it... I think we should go left."
"Left? Why left? There's not even any mountains over there..." I narrowed a brow in amusement.
"Call it a hunch..." He sort of glanced away then shimmied to the left. "Shall we go, now?" Kasan... he was acting a little different today... I couldn't quite place it, but something was definitely different about him.
"Yeah, sure... you want to lead?"
Kasan didn't respond and just started to march, and I, in relief that I didn't have to do anything drastic yet, followed him.
Five hours later, I was panting like a dog. Good grief, what was I even DOING out here!? It must be my supreme niceness that I even agreed to go on this stupid search... either that, or complete and total stupidity.
"Hey... could we... stop for... a sec...?" I panted.
Kasan rolled his eyes. "AGAIN?"
I nodded, too tired to argue, and flopped down on the ground. Landed on a rock, but I didn't care.
Kasan was carrying my backpack by this time... ever since the three hour mark where I had begun to get a little tuckered out. Kasan made me look REALLY out of shape, too... but I WAS still recovering from my sprained ankle after all. I thought I was doing pretty good... considering the circumstances. Kasan seemed to be expecting more out of me though, like I was some super-human. In which case, I think I am stronger than most humans... but not THAT strong.
Kasan set down the backpack and sat calmly down on a log. He was no longer hyped up, thank goodness... but where in all the world did he get so strong? He wasn't even tired, and here I was about to pass-out. Made me sick just thinking about it.
"How long do you need?" Kasan asked, sounding slightly annoyed, but polite anyway. That was one good thing about him... he wasn't totally rude like some people, and DEFINITELY not a whiner.
I held up one finger, not even wanting to talk. "Just give me a sec..."
Kasan nodded and closed his eyes, crossing his arms as he did so. What was he doing? Sleeping? Man, I thought I was tired...
I finally just gave in and laid down on the ground flat on my back, landing on another rock as I did so. Yeah, terrific. Not only were my ankles going to swell to twice their size, and my feet have blisters the size of dollar bills, but my back would look like Swiss cheese. I groaned and closed my eyes, then opened them a couple minutes later.
"Yo, what food is available in that bag?" I leaned up slightly.
Kasan opened one eye to look at me. "I don't know... you packed."
"Well pass it over than, I'm starved."
Kasan effortlessly picked up the bag and tossed it in my direction.
"Thanks..." I gratified him and began to dig through the backpack. Hmm... dried peaches. As far as I could remember, not a favorite... but good enough. I opened the pocket-sized zip-lock bag and shoved a piece or two in my mouth. Wow... hadn't realized how hungry I was before. I finished and re-zipped the bag, shoving it back into the backpack and threw it at Kasan, who without even flinching or opening his eyes, caught it with one hand. How does he DO that?
"Alright, lets go..." I somewhat muttered.
Kasan got up and pulled the backpack back on. "Good, I'll lead again." With that, he started off as I trudged behind him.
(Okay... I know, kind of like the last chapter, this, in my opinion anyway, is a little boring. But it's all about character development, people! Though don't worry, I have some events planned for the next chapter. For this is just the beginning!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! HA-! Anyway, this isn't a TOTALLY spur of the moment story or anything, I'm actually PLANNING. ^_^ And, DUH, I would appreciate it if you review... as usual. Even if it is a bad one, 'cause I need to know YOUR opinion on what areas I should improve on... or you can just say I did a MAGNIFICENT job, and I'll be thrilled. ^_^ Thankies!! - Kittioto)
::: Dream Maker :::
Chapter 8: Getting Started
(Shiga)
It was the next day... Kasan had stayed the night here at C.C. and slept in room number 18 I think. Something tells me he didn't get a whole lot of sleep though. He kept asking me how I was feeling... questions like: "When do you think you'll be able to walk reasonably well again?" and; "Is your ankle feeling any better today...?" It was driving me a little nuts, but I coped. It should have been more obvious to him that I couldn't hike up to some mountain... even though my sprained ankle was healing reasonably fast, it would still be at least two more days until I'd be able to walk well enough. I guess in the mean time I'd have to put up with Kasan... though to tell the truth, the majority of the time I spent with him was alright. Awkward, but alright.
I flopped down on one of the living room couches and snatched up the remote control. I wonder what my favorite channel was... in fact, I wonder if this is the first time I've ever watched TV at all. I searched the buttons on the little black controller and noticed the red print on one of them, entitled 'on'. Well, no DUH, I pushed it and began to channel surf. That's when Kasan came in from out-doors... he seemed to use a lot of his time outside.
"Hey, what're watching?" He asked, obviously for conversational reasons.
I shrugged and continued to flip through the channels. "Don't know yet. Can't remember a darned thing, this stuff doesn't look familiar." I said with a frown.
Kasan just nodded and sat on the furthest chair from me. Wow, sure was a FRIENDLY fellow.
"So..." I spoke up, hoping to strike some conversation. "Do you know anyone around here?" Hey, he could at LEAST tell me that, right?
Kasan said nothing for a little while, then realized he HAD to speak up I guess. "Sort of..." A man of many words.
"Ahaaaaaaaaaa..." I responded with a confused look. Although I guess Kasan hadn't noticed that... he wouldn't look me in the eyes. "Who do you know?"
"... People. A few people. They don't know me very well, though." Ahaaaaaaaaaa... Okay, this guy makes a whole lot of sense. I decided he probably didn't want to talk about it, and let it lay.
"Well, maybe it's for the better you don't know a whole lot of people... they're kinda, eh... different around here." I stared at Kasan carefully, to see if he'd even twitch. He didn't. Or at least not at first. I thought I spotted a crooked grin slide across his face for a second or two.
"Yeah, they are kind of 'different'..." AHA! A reaction! It's a MIRACLE!!
"I'll say... although you haven't met the most 'different' one yet." I grinned. "Ever met a green man?"
Kasan's face turned completely white, as he continued not to look at me. Yeesh, was it something I said?
"Y... you... you mean...." He stuttered like a fool, and the white face wasn't helping his image.
"I mean what...?" Come on, spit it out.
Kasan seemed to regain composure and his face resumed it's natural color... mostly. "Um, no, no... I've never met a green man." Something tells me he was holding something back though.
"Ah... well, you haven't met the oddest yet, than." I raised a brow at his amusing gestures. Kasan muttered something or other under his breath, but I couldn't make it out.
"Well...!" Kasan jumped up from the chair. "I'm going outside I think." My word... AGAIN?
"Yo, can I come with? Doesn't look like there's anything on the tube." If I was going to go searching for some DUMB flower with this guy, I at least want to get to know him better.
"Oh... um, yeah, sure... suit yourself." He said with a faded smile creasing his lips. When he did smile, it was a nice one. One thing I couldn't get over about Kasan, was his shyness. I'd seen that shy, slightly grumpy but some-how polite attitude before. I'm not sure where exactly... and it could just be my imagination, but EVERYTHING about Kasan looked and sounded familiar. Well... all but his name. That was foreign to me. But oh well... onto different things.
I followed Kasan outside and looked around. You'd think I'd never seen the place before, even though I was just there yesterday. I eventually got bored with sniffing the various species of flowers though, and sat down, pondering useless things, like if I even HAD a family. I'd love to go to a comfortable familiar place... but it looks like I'll be stuck at C.C. for a while yet.
"... Don't you ever get bored of just sitting there?" I mused at Kasan. All he was doing was... SITTING there. Well, actually, it looked kind of like he was sleeping. His eyes were closed with his arms and legs crossed.
"No, not really."
"Well what are you doing?"
"... Thinking."
"Oh." Suddenly hey, what a thought!
"Hey, Piccolo does that thing too, you know that?" I stared interested at his posture.
Kasan went into numerous different styles of twitches. "Um, uuuuuh... I've never met a green man..."
"... I didn't say Piccolo was green."
"AH! Yeah, I UM... know!! Heheh... but uuuuum... BULMA told me about him!" O... kay. Sure was a nervous fellow.
"Kasan?"
"Uh huuh?"
"... Why are you so nervous around me?"
Kasan said nothing for a couple seconds.
............... Okay maybe more than just a couple seconds.
"I don't know." Alrighty, that was REALLY worth waiting for. I just rolled my eyes.
(Kasan)
About a week had passed since I'd arrived and met Shiga. I felt that it was really quite an honor to meet her... which was probably the reason why I'd been making a complete and total fool of myself for the last seven days. I had been thinking a lot the last several days as well. I'm from the future. Kind of a different thought. Son from the future. Almost seemed like I was repeating the history of Trunks, in his dimension. Father had told me about him... but not nearly as much as he had told me about my mother.
... Father, in my time, had told me that him and Mom didn't used to always get along.
No big surprise there.
"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!" The alarm clock screeched as I tapped it lightly to shut it off. I don't know why I even bother to set the thing... I always get up in the morning at 6:30... whether I want to or not. I guess you could just call it a habit. This meant I'd had nothing to do but think in bed for an hour already. I didn't think it very polite to get up before everyone else, so I had just laid there until the appointed time: 7:30. But I DID have a lot to think about, now didn't I? And to add to that, today would be the day Shiga and I would begin our little trek.
I got up and made the bed, then ventured out into the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, where, as usual, I saw Bulma's mother slaving over the oven.
"Good morning, Mrs. Briefs." I said, with an attempted warm smile.
"Ooooh, good morning Kasan! We're having pancakes this morning!" She said cheerfully and giggled. Really was a nice lady.
"Oh, wonderful, pancakes sound delicious." I said as nicely as I could, and Mrs. Briefs just smiled in return.
Shiga came out with her spiked hair looking unusually spiky this morning. I'd learned - the hard way - that Shiga wasn't a morning person. Dad never told me about that little fact.
"Good morning, Shiga." I greeted good naturedly.
"Yeah, uh huh, sure." Shiga grunted in reply.
"Today's the day..." I led on about the flower.
"Sure is."
"Your ankle's better..."
"Sure is."
"Yup."
I think there's a small lack of communication between the two of us. But our points always came across, so I'm not going to complain.
(Shiga)
I finished my breakfast after the small amount of conversation I'd managed to get in with Kasan. Today was "The" day.
"The" day, as in: "THE DAY". The day I leave Capsule Corp. to look for some dumb flower.
I went upstairs and dug through the drawers of one of Bulma's old wardrobe graveyards. She can go through clothes faster than a vacuum cleaner. Though I don't know why she bothers to get new ones... they all look the same.
I shoved some bright green shirt Bulma gave me into the backpack I was taking along. Man, was EVERYTHING this woman owned bright, or pink!? And I was NOT wearing pink. Over my dead body, people. I also shoved some other stuff in there, like a handy pocket-knife and matches. I was going on this little trip prepared... but the sad thing is, I had no idea where I was about to go. The only thing leading me was an image stuck in my head of a tall forest covered cliff of some sort... so how can you be prepared for something you don't even TRULY remember? I guess I can't really trust my own head. I also piled some canned food in there, along with other clothes I'd be needing... I had absolutely no idea how Kasan would fair on this, and he was DETERMINED to go with me. I hadn't even HOPED to talk him out of that. Hey, why waste breath, right? Plus... he's cute. Can you blame me?
I zipped up the black backpack and stood up, going back downstairs to meet up with Kasan.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked a bit anxiously as he saw me stumble down the stairs.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm ready, how 'bout you?" I for one, was not as enthusiastic about this as Kasan.
"Yes, I'm willing to leave at ANY time." Enthusiastic alright...
I marched out the door with NO IDEA WHATSOEVER where I was going. I'd probably be better off just spinning a twig on the ground and letting it choose which direction to start at. I sighed and looked to my left, then to my right. Then up, for some dumb reason or another. Kasan tapped my shoulder...
"Um, Miss Shiga, shouldn't we get going?" He asked impatiently.
"... Yeah, I suppose we SHOULD, now SHOULDN'T we? Got any idea where to start?"
Kasan just stared at me blandly, almost as if he'd expected me to say that. "If I may suggest it... I think we should go left."
"Left? Why left? There's not even any mountains over there..." I narrowed a brow in amusement.
"Call it a hunch..." He sort of glanced away then shimmied to the left. "Shall we go, now?" Kasan... he was acting a little different today... I couldn't quite place it, but something was definitely different about him.
"Yeah, sure... you want to lead?"
Kasan didn't respond and just started to march, and I, in relief that I didn't have to do anything drastic yet, followed him.
Five hours later, I was panting like a dog. Good grief, what was I even DOING out here!? It must be my supreme niceness that I even agreed to go on this stupid search... either that, or complete and total stupidity.
"Hey... could we... stop for... a sec...?" I panted.
Kasan rolled his eyes. "AGAIN?"
I nodded, too tired to argue, and flopped down on the ground. Landed on a rock, but I didn't care.
Kasan was carrying my backpack by this time... ever since the three hour mark where I had begun to get a little tuckered out. Kasan made me look REALLY out of shape, too... but I WAS still recovering from my sprained ankle after all. I thought I was doing pretty good... considering the circumstances. Kasan seemed to be expecting more out of me though, like I was some super-human. In which case, I think I am stronger than most humans... but not THAT strong.
Kasan set down the backpack and sat calmly down on a log. He was no longer hyped up, thank goodness... but where in all the world did he get so strong? He wasn't even tired, and here I was about to pass-out. Made me sick just thinking about it.
"How long do you need?" Kasan asked, sounding slightly annoyed, but polite anyway. That was one good thing about him... he wasn't totally rude like some people, and DEFINITELY not a whiner.
I held up one finger, not even wanting to talk. "Just give me a sec..."
Kasan nodded and closed his eyes, crossing his arms as he did so. What was he doing? Sleeping? Man, I thought I was tired...
I finally just gave in and laid down on the ground flat on my back, landing on another rock as I did so. Yeah, terrific. Not only were my ankles going to swell to twice their size, and my feet have blisters the size of dollar bills, but my back would look like Swiss cheese. I groaned and closed my eyes, then opened them a couple minutes later.
"Yo, what food is available in that bag?" I leaned up slightly.
Kasan opened one eye to look at me. "I don't know... you packed."
"Well pass it over than, I'm starved."
Kasan effortlessly picked up the bag and tossed it in my direction.
"Thanks..." I gratified him and began to dig through the backpack. Hmm... dried peaches. As far as I could remember, not a favorite... but good enough. I opened the pocket-sized zip-lock bag and shoved a piece or two in my mouth. Wow... hadn't realized how hungry I was before. I finished and re-zipped the bag, shoving it back into the backpack and threw it at Kasan, who without even flinching or opening his eyes, caught it with one hand. How does he DO that?
"Alright, lets go..." I somewhat muttered.
Kasan got up and pulled the backpack back on. "Good, I'll lead again." With that, he started off as I trudged behind him.
(Okay... I know, kind of like the last chapter, this, in my opinion anyway, is a little boring. But it's all about character development, people! Though don't worry, I have some events planned for the next chapter. For this is just the beginning!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! HA-! Anyway, this isn't a TOTALLY spur of the moment story or anything, I'm actually PLANNING. ^_^ And, DUH, I would appreciate it if you review... as usual. Even if it is a bad one, 'cause I need to know YOUR opinion on what areas I should improve on... or you can just say I did a MAGNIFICENT job, and I'll be thrilled. ^_^ Thankies!! - Kittioto)