Mental 03: Rewind

a DBZ fanfiction by LadyRivka

A/N: Rev. Vampyre picked up on something in his last review. "Miki just FITS." Actually, in all of my jinzoo-ningen stories, I gave the human twins the first names of their seeyuu (Nakahara Shigeru for #17 and Itoo Miki for #18, respectively). Thanks for noticing!!!

-Rivka

Now, on with the story!

"Which direction is your gut pulling you, Miki-chan?" asked Kuririn nervously as he was pulled around by the six-year-old.

"This way. I think something good is here. We may be safe." Miki grabbed Kuririn and scaled the wall.

Before Kuririn knew it, the floor was the ceiling and vice versa.

"How...how did you…?"

"I wanted to. It's my sanctuary."

"Oh." Kuririn exhaled, relieved.

"Now we go this way. I can sense my mom and my dad and my brother someplace close by…"

"Where?"

"There," Miki pointed to a spot not twenty feet from where they were standing.

"I don't see…" The figures of a man, a woman, and a boy surrounding a kitchen table with a large birthday cake behind them suddenly materialized out of nowhere.

"Miki-chan, honey, you're late!" cooed the mother. "Shigeru has just started to open his presents already."

"Sorry, Mommy."

"Well, I'm certain you didn't want to miss your seventh birthday, sweetie," boomed her father. "Else Shigeru-kun's going to get all the cake."

"Stupid brother. Stupid twin brother."

"Don't call your brother names, dear. Just because you're six minutes older than he is doesn't reserve you the right to call him names."

"Yes, Mommy." Miki sighed.

Kuririn just stood there. The boy, her brother, was just a little moppet with a black bowl-cut and wide brown eyes- not the icy-eyed terror that Kuririn had seen him grow up to be. He decided to watch the scene; the thought of Juuhachi actually being human underneath her cold exterior was endearing.

"Honey, we've got a surprise for you out back. It's a really big present, and Mommy and I couldn't wrap it up."

"Close your eyes, sweetheart," cooed her mother.

"Mister, you wanna come too?" Miki shouted towards Kuririn.

"Sure, why not?"

And so he followed the family about fifty yards ahead, where, in front of him, materialized a horse, a beautiful Arabian Quarter Horse.

"Open your eyes, honey," cooed her mother.

"It's-it's a horsie! I always wanted a horsie! Thank you! Thank you!" Miki hugged her mother's leg…

And her family faded out of the picture as abruptly as they had faded in.

Miki screamed. "Where's my mom and my dad and Shigeru-kun?"

Kuririn sensed her panic as he walked towards her and held her. "I don't know."

The horse turned to look at them both with its gentle brown eyes, trusting, nurturing.

But then, out of the ceiling, seven sharp meat-cleavers came down and sawed the poor beast into sections, like an art exhibit. Its blood spilled all over the floor, and the monk and the little girl could still see its heart beat, its dissected lungs breathe, and its guts squirm inside of it.

Again, Miki screamed."HOOOOOORSIIIIIEEEE!!!!!"

Kuririn's face was pale. What kind of person would do such a thing to her? To that horse? To any living being?

Then, behind the dissected horse, came a dark shadow of a female figure.

She cooed to both of them, coldly:

"Isn't it fun to kill things? Tell me it's fun to kill things, Miki. Tell me or I'll kill you."

"Mister…what do we do…?"

"Hold on tight, Miki-chan. We're running. To someplace safe."

"O-o-okay…." She gripped his t-shirt with an iron fist as he ran to an apparently "clear" portion of the warehouse…

END CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER  4- The dark forces fool around some more.