Disclaimer; once again, I DO NOT OWN DBZ, but if anyone would like to
donate it to the random royalty. on second thought to the Princess of
Random (The Queen of Random probably won't be too happy to hear that)
it would be a wonderful birthday present
Author's note; I know I said I wouldn't post anything till I had at
least one review but I realize that was a rather sucky place to leave
you, so I'm hoping this will get you people a little more interested
in my little fic.
Public announcement; and to anyone reading I ask that you kindly read
The Price of Power by AMCM74 and join me in my quest to beg for more
thnk you
Now on with the story
"Gohan! Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you! You've been gone all
week chasing after those cursed androids. How could you leave your poor mother worrying about
you like that without stopping by to let me know you were ok!" Then she seemed to notice the
skinny girl behind her son in his clothes. "Oh my! You poor thing you look like you haven't
eaten in weeks. Gohan! Why didn't you tell me you brought someone home instead of letting me
sit here like a woman without manners?" Then she turned to the young girl, "You must forgive
my son, sometimes his manners escape him." She said while breezing past Gohan to put her arm
around the girls shoulders, which were still covered by Gohan's shirt, and guided her into
the house. Gohan just stood there with his mouth hung open that his mother could still do
that to him. He straightened up and followed the two into the house hearing his mother
saying, "I think I have some old clothes of mine that might fit you." He watched as his
mother pulled her into her bedroom to get the clothes and allow her to change. He was about
to go into the kitchen and get some food when he heard his mom, "Gohan, don't you eat
anything until we get out there."
"Damn." He muttered.
"Did you say something Gohan?" His mom called from the bedroom.
"No mom." The two women heard come from the front of the house.
The older woman turned to look at the younger one. "Sometimes that boy thinks with
his stomach." She said sighing. "Anyway, my name's ChiChi." She looked at the young girl
expectantly.
"Lazandra." She offered quietly.
"What a pretty name." She said turning to look through some drawers. "So how do you
know Gohan?" she asked politely.
Lazandra blushed a little. "I-I don't. He found me today in the city the androids
were attacking. He said I was the only one left alive." She finished quietly.
ChiChi turned to her clothes in hand. "Oh you poor thing, your family..."
Her eyes hardened at the mention of her family. "My family died a long time ago."
ChiChi looked at her curiously, but decided to drop it when she didn't say anything
else. "Here, these should fit you." She said handing her a beige shirt and black pants. "I'll
leave you to try these on. Call me if you need anything." With that she turned and walked out
of the room, closing the door behind her. ChiChi walked down the hall to see her son trying
to tiptoe into the kitchen. "Gohan!" startled by her outburst he tripped on a crease in the
carpet and fell flat on his face.
Lazandra grinned when she heard ChiChi yelling at her son, and then winced when she
heard Gohan hit the floor. She looked at the clothes ChiChi had laid out on the bed for her.
It was strange to her, this woman she had just met was willing to take her in give her
clothes and feed her even though she didn't know anything about her. She didn't know how long
it would last but she would take advantage of it while she could. When she unwrapped Gohan's
shirt from around her and held it up in front of her she sighed, it was now covered with
grime and bloodstains. She put it down and walked over to look at herself in the large mirror,
she wasn't much to look at either, she was pale and gaunt with dark shadows under her eyes not
that you could tell she was pale under the dirt she was covered in. Her shirt hung in tatters
on her, once beige pants were now a dark dingy gray in much the same condition as her shirt.
Her hair was greasy and stringy. She was covered in dirt and grime that mixed with the dried
blood, which covered her everywhere including some completely and partially healed wounds.
Some of the open cuts still stung, she squinted at some of the darker patches on her skin and
found that it wasn't dirt but bruises, the largest one the size of her hand across her ribs.
She almost went back out to ask if she could take a shower first but changed her mind
when her stomach grumbled. She, instead, washed her hands, wrapped herself back up in Gohan's
shirt and went out to look for ChiChi. She paused in the hallway looking up at some of the
pictures on the wall, there was one of what looked to be a young Gohan with his mother and
another man who's smile was almost identical to Gohan's.
"What's the matter dear? Didn't the clothes fit?"
Lazandra turned to see ChiChi walking down the hall towards her. "Oh, no. I just didn't
want to get them dirty." She said looking down at herself.
ChiChi nodded. "Hmm. I see your point. I'll tell you what, why don't you have something
to eat then I'll get you some towels and you can take a nice long bath."
She wanted to say no, to just go back to the city and wait for the androids to take her.
But then she remembered how dirty she had felt and decided that after all she had been through
the least she deserved was a bath. "Thank you." She finally replied.
"No problem." ChiChi looked at her a little uncomfortably for a second then asked.
"Gohan said something about not touching your skin?"
Lazandra looked a little uncomfortable for a moment. "Well, it's kind of a long
explanation." She said sounding almost afraid.
"Don't worry, whatever it is I'm sure I've heard stranger." She then motioned for
Lazandra to follow her. Lazandra gasped when she saw the amount of food that was on the table.
"Gohan you haven't eaten anything yet have you?" ChiChi asked, looking at her son knowingly.
"No mom. No' a fing." He managed with a wide grin.
ChiChi just sighed and sat down muttering something along the lines of 'you have your
dads appetite'.
He swallowed the food he had in his mouth then turned to her. "Nice to meet you
Lazandra."
She just gave him a small smile and reached for some of the food on the table.
By the time they had finished eating he was a little surprised at how little Lazandra
actually ate. "I thought you were hungry?" he asked her.
"I was. I guess my body's just not used to eating as much food as it used to." She said
sounding a little disappointed.
"Don't worry dear we'll have you fixed up in no time." ChiChi said cheerily.
Gohan leaned back in his chair. "So...Now that you're done eating do you want to
explain the whole thing about touching you?" he asked quietly.
She lowered her eyes and ChiChi was just about to reprimand her son for asking so soon
when she spoke up. "Well, how do I explain the gift I call a curse?" she paused for a moment as
if to consider. "When a person touches me, skin to skin," she clarified, "They feel whatever
I'm feeling and, though I can control it for my part I can feel whatever the person who's
touching me feels."
Gohan leaned forward in his chair. "But when I touched you, the pain almost knocked me
out. You on the other hand looked like you were asleep."
"When you touched me earlier it wasn't my pain you felt." He looked at her
questioningly. "I had been sitting there for days, waiting for the androids to find me, but
while I was sitting there I..." she stopped considering her next words. "I collected other
people's pain as they were killed. The reason it didn't hurt me as much as it hurt you is
because it's kind of like a muscle, the more you stretch it the easier it is to use. It's hard
to explain but that's as close as I can get."
"But why?" ChiChi asked with a pained look on her face.
She looked at ChiChi a moment then turned to Gohan to see if he had figured it out,
apparently he had. "So she could attack the androids with it."
She nodded. "Actually I was waiting for the moment I died before I just sort of
projected the pain to them."
"But they're androids, machines, they don't feel anything." Gohan insisted.
"Yes they do. I probably wouldn't be alive if they didn't."
Gohan and ChiChi looked at her question marks all over their faces.
"I didn't get all bloody and bruised from sitting in that ally for days; they attacked
me, well 17 attacked me. He thought it might be more fun if he tried something different and
beat me to a bloody pulp with his fists rather than using energy attacks. When he tried to
strangle me I finally was able to get myself together enough to project my pain and fear into
him, I knew he felt it, I could see it in his face. He decided it wasn't any fun anymore so he
dropped me and went on to bigger and funner things, like blowing up buildings. After he left
me there I blanked out, I could have been sitting there for a few hours or days." She finished
her story, eyes still downcast.
Gohan looked at her. There was a sheen in her eyes and he could tell that she was
trying not to cry. He also knew that there was something off about her story, something that
didn't make sense but he decided it would be a better idea to wait until he got to know her
better and earned her trust before he asked her about it.
"I'm so sorry." ChiChi said, a little teary eyed herself. Then she remembered something.
"Oh! Here I am blubbering when you wanted to take a bath, come on follow me." Then she turned
to Gohan. "Clean the dishes off the table for me hon., would you? Thanks." Then she was off
with Lazandra in tow. Gohan looked at the table full of dirty dishes and wondered once again
how his mother managed to sucker him into doing this stuff. He stared after them for a moment
wondering more and more about Lazandra's unique power, and what it could do to the androids.
ChiChi closed the door behind her and turned to Lazandra. "There's some towels in
here." she said gesturing to a closet next to the bathtub. "You might want to take a short
shower, and once you clean off there are some bath oils in this little container and you can
soak in the bath for a while. Call me if you need anything." She finished.
"ChiChi..." she called before the older woman could leave.
"Yes dear?"
"Thank you."
ChiChi only smiled in response and left her to wash. Lazandra wasn't used to taking a
shower first but soaking in water being as dirty as she was seemed ridiculous; after she had
finished with her shower and sat in the bath for a while she began to relax. She had been in
there for a while she almost fell asleep, upon waking she blushed in embarrassment. The water
had already cooled and when she looked out the window it was dark. She got up, wrapped herself
in the large towel she had pulled out before she got into the shower and hissed in pain. The
cuts and bruises still stung. She picked up a brush from the sink counter and brushed her hair;
now that she was clean she could see the violet in her hair and once it dried it would be quite
apparent. She walked into the bedroom then cursed herself for not having the foresight to ask
ChiChi for nightclothes rather than what was sitting on the bed. She cracked the door open
just the tiniest bit and quietly called for ChiChi, then was a bit startled when she heard
Gohan behind her.
"She fell asleep on the couch. Can I get you anything?" He asked quietly, afraid to
wake his mother.
She blushed again. "Your mother didn't give me anything to change into, pajamas I
mean." She still stayed in the bedroom behind the door so Gohan couldn't see her.
"I could give you one of my shirts for now if that's ok."
"Sure."
He disappeared into another room just a little bit down the hall and on the opposite
side from where she was. When he came back he was holding a large t-shirt and what looked like
a long robe. "Here you can put these on."
"Thank you. And, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't even
know you were there."
"It's all right. I know you didn't do it on purpose." He stood there awkwardly for a
moment before he continued. "Um, well, you can have my room tonight, I'll sleep on the couch."
He gestured to the room he had gotten the shirt from. "When you're done I'll bring my mom in
here."
"I'll hurry up and change then." She said and closed the door. She quickly put on the
shirt he had given her, slipped on the robe and hurried into his room and closed the door
behind her.
In the living room Gohan turned from his mother when he heard the door to his room
close. He sighed and picked up his mother from where she had fallen asleep on the couch and
carried her to her room. He laid her down on her bed and she stirred slightly as he pulled
the covers around her, but she remained asleep. "Goodnight mom." He whispered and kissed her
forehead then quietly exited her room. He walked over to the door to his room knocked lightly
and said a quiet goodnight, but figured her for asleep since he got no answer. So he pulled a
blanket and pillow out from the closet and went to sleep on the couch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
donate it to the random royalty. on second thought to the Princess of
Random (The Queen of Random probably won't be too happy to hear that)
it would be a wonderful birthday present
Author's note; I know I said I wouldn't post anything till I had at
least one review but I realize that was a rather sucky place to leave
you, so I'm hoping this will get you people a little more interested
in my little fic.
Public announcement; and to anyone reading I ask that you kindly read
The Price of Power by AMCM74 and join me in my quest to beg for more
thnk you
Now on with the story
"Gohan! Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you! You've been gone all
week chasing after those cursed androids. How could you leave your poor mother worrying about
you like that without stopping by to let me know you were ok!" Then she seemed to notice the
skinny girl behind her son in his clothes. "Oh my! You poor thing you look like you haven't
eaten in weeks. Gohan! Why didn't you tell me you brought someone home instead of letting me
sit here like a woman without manners?" Then she turned to the young girl, "You must forgive
my son, sometimes his manners escape him." She said while breezing past Gohan to put her arm
around the girls shoulders, which were still covered by Gohan's shirt, and guided her into
the house. Gohan just stood there with his mouth hung open that his mother could still do
that to him. He straightened up and followed the two into the house hearing his mother
saying, "I think I have some old clothes of mine that might fit you." He watched as his
mother pulled her into her bedroom to get the clothes and allow her to change. He was about
to go into the kitchen and get some food when he heard his mom, "Gohan, don't you eat
anything until we get out there."
"Damn." He muttered.
"Did you say something Gohan?" His mom called from the bedroom.
"No mom." The two women heard come from the front of the house.
The older woman turned to look at the younger one. "Sometimes that boy thinks with
his stomach." She said sighing. "Anyway, my name's ChiChi." She looked at the young girl
expectantly.
"Lazandra." She offered quietly.
"What a pretty name." She said turning to look through some drawers. "So how do you
know Gohan?" she asked politely.
Lazandra blushed a little. "I-I don't. He found me today in the city the androids
were attacking. He said I was the only one left alive." She finished quietly.
ChiChi turned to her clothes in hand. "Oh you poor thing, your family..."
Her eyes hardened at the mention of her family. "My family died a long time ago."
ChiChi looked at her curiously, but decided to drop it when she didn't say anything
else. "Here, these should fit you." She said handing her a beige shirt and black pants. "I'll
leave you to try these on. Call me if you need anything." With that she turned and walked out
of the room, closing the door behind her. ChiChi walked down the hall to see her son trying
to tiptoe into the kitchen. "Gohan!" startled by her outburst he tripped on a crease in the
carpet and fell flat on his face.
Lazandra grinned when she heard ChiChi yelling at her son, and then winced when she
heard Gohan hit the floor. She looked at the clothes ChiChi had laid out on the bed for her.
It was strange to her, this woman she had just met was willing to take her in give her
clothes and feed her even though she didn't know anything about her. She didn't know how long
it would last but she would take advantage of it while she could. When she unwrapped Gohan's
shirt from around her and held it up in front of her she sighed, it was now covered with
grime and bloodstains. She put it down and walked over to look at herself in the large mirror,
she wasn't much to look at either, she was pale and gaunt with dark shadows under her eyes not
that you could tell she was pale under the dirt she was covered in. Her shirt hung in tatters
on her, once beige pants were now a dark dingy gray in much the same condition as her shirt.
Her hair was greasy and stringy. She was covered in dirt and grime that mixed with the dried
blood, which covered her everywhere including some completely and partially healed wounds.
Some of the open cuts still stung, she squinted at some of the darker patches on her skin and
found that it wasn't dirt but bruises, the largest one the size of her hand across her ribs.
She almost went back out to ask if she could take a shower first but changed her mind
when her stomach grumbled. She, instead, washed her hands, wrapped herself back up in Gohan's
shirt and went out to look for ChiChi. She paused in the hallway looking up at some of the
pictures on the wall, there was one of what looked to be a young Gohan with his mother and
another man who's smile was almost identical to Gohan's.
"What's the matter dear? Didn't the clothes fit?"
Lazandra turned to see ChiChi walking down the hall towards her. "Oh, no. I just didn't
want to get them dirty." She said looking down at herself.
ChiChi nodded. "Hmm. I see your point. I'll tell you what, why don't you have something
to eat then I'll get you some towels and you can take a nice long bath."
She wanted to say no, to just go back to the city and wait for the androids to take her.
But then she remembered how dirty she had felt and decided that after all she had been through
the least she deserved was a bath. "Thank you." She finally replied.
"No problem." ChiChi looked at her a little uncomfortably for a second then asked.
"Gohan said something about not touching your skin?"
Lazandra looked a little uncomfortable for a moment. "Well, it's kind of a long
explanation." She said sounding almost afraid.
"Don't worry, whatever it is I'm sure I've heard stranger." She then motioned for
Lazandra to follow her. Lazandra gasped when she saw the amount of food that was on the table.
"Gohan you haven't eaten anything yet have you?" ChiChi asked, looking at her son knowingly.
"No mom. No' a fing." He managed with a wide grin.
ChiChi just sighed and sat down muttering something along the lines of 'you have your
dads appetite'.
He swallowed the food he had in his mouth then turned to her. "Nice to meet you
Lazandra."
She just gave him a small smile and reached for some of the food on the table.
By the time they had finished eating he was a little surprised at how little Lazandra
actually ate. "I thought you were hungry?" he asked her.
"I was. I guess my body's just not used to eating as much food as it used to." She said
sounding a little disappointed.
"Don't worry dear we'll have you fixed up in no time." ChiChi said cheerily.
Gohan leaned back in his chair. "So...Now that you're done eating do you want to
explain the whole thing about touching you?" he asked quietly.
She lowered her eyes and ChiChi was just about to reprimand her son for asking so soon
when she spoke up. "Well, how do I explain the gift I call a curse?" she paused for a moment as
if to consider. "When a person touches me, skin to skin," she clarified, "They feel whatever
I'm feeling and, though I can control it for my part I can feel whatever the person who's
touching me feels."
Gohan leaned forward in his chair. "But when I touched you, the pain almost knocked me
out. You on the other hand looked like you were asleep."
"When you touched me earlier it wasn't my pain you felt." He looked at her
questioningly. "I had been sitting there for days, waiting for the androids to find me, but
while I was sitting there I..." she stopped considering her next words. "I collected other
people's pain as they were killed. The reason it didn't hurt me as much as it hurt you is
because it's kind of like a muscle, the more you stretch it the easier it is to use. It's hard
to explain but that's as close as I can get."
"But why?" ChiChi asked with a pained look on her face.
She looked at ChiChi a moment then turned to Gohan to see if he had figured it out,
apparently he had. "So she could attack the androids with it."
She nodded. "Actually I was waiting for the moment I died before I just sort of
projected the pain to them."
"But they're androids, machines, they don't feel anything." Gohan insisted.
"Yes they do. I probably wouldn't be alive if they didn't."
Gohan and ChiChi looked at her question marks all over their faces.
"I didn't get all bloody and bruised from sitting in that ally for days; they attacked
me, well 17 attacked me. He thought it might be more fun if he tried something different and
beat me to a bloody pulp with his fists rather than using energy attacks. When he tried to
strangle me I finally was able to get myself together enough to project my pain and fear into
him, I knew he felt it, I could see it in his face. He decided it wasn't any fun anymore so he
dropped me and went on to bigger and funner things, like blowing up buildings. After he left
me there I blanked out, I could have been sitting there for a few hours or days." She finished
her story, eyes still downcast.
Gohan looked at her. There was a sheen in her eyes and he could tell that she was
trying not to cry. He also knew that there was something off about her story, something that
didn't make sense but he decided it would be a better idea to wait until he got to know her
better and earned her trust before he asked her about it.
"I'm so sorry." ChiChi said, a little teary eyed herself. Then she remembered something.
"Oh! Here I am blubbering when you wanted to take a bath, come on follow me." Then she turned
to Gohan. "Clean the dishes off the table for me hon., would you? Thanks." Then she was off
with Lazandra in tow. Gohan looked at the table full of dirty dishes and wondered once again
how his mother managed to sucker him into doing this stuff. He stared after them for a moment
wondering more and more about Lazandra's unique power, and what it could do to the androids.
ChiChi closed the door behind her and turned to Lazandra. "There's some towels in
here." she said gesturing to a closet next to the bathtub. "You might want to take a short
shower, and once you clean off there are some bath oils in this little container and you can
soak in the bath for a while. Call me if you need anything." She finished.
"ChiChi..." she called before the older woman could leave.
"Yes dear?"
"Thank you."
ChiChi only smiled in response and left her to wash. Lazandra wasn't used to taking a
shower first but soaking in water being as dirty as she was seemed ridiculous; after she had
finished with her shower and sat in the bath for a while she began to relax. She had been in
there for a while she almost fell asleep, upon waking she blushed in embarrassment. The water
had already cooled and when she looked out the window it was dark. She got up, wrapped herself
in the large towel she had pulled out before she got into the shower and hissed in pain. The
cuts and bruises still stung. She picked up a brush from the sink counter and brushed her hair;
now that she was clean she could see the violet in her hair and once it dried it would be quite
apparent. She walked into the bedroom then cursed herself for not having the foresight to ask
ChiChi for nightclothes rather than what was sitting on the bed. She cracked the door open
just the tiniest bit and quietly called for ChiChi, then was a bit startled when she heard
Gohan behind her.
"She fell asleep on the couch. Can I get you anything?" He asked quietly, afraid to
wake his mother.
She blushed again. "Your mother didn't give me anything to change into, pajamas I
mean." She still stayed in the bedroom behind the door so Gohan couldn't see her.
"I could give you one of my shirts for now if that's ok."
"Sure."
He disappeared into another room just a little bit down the hall and on the opposite
side from where she was. When he came back he was holding a large t-shirt and what looked like
a long robe. "Here you can put these on."
"Thank you. And, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't even
know you were there."
"It's all right. I know you didn't do it on purpose." He stood there awkwardly for a
moment before he continued. "Um, well, you can have my room tonight, I'll sleep on the couch."
He gestured to the room he had gotten the shirt from. "When you're done I'll bring my mom in
here."
"I'll hurry up and change then." She said and closed the door. She quickly put on the
shirt he had given her, slipped on the robe and hurried into his room and closed the door
behind her.
In the living room Gohan turned from his mother when he heard the door to his room
close. He sighed and picked up his mother from where she had fallen asleep on the couch and
carried her to her room. He laid her down on her bed and she stirred slightly as he pulled
the covers around her, but she remained asleep. "Goodnight mom." He whispered and kissed her
forehead then quietly exited her room. He walked over to the door to his room knocked lightly
and said a quiet goodnight, but figured her for asleep since he got no answer. So he pulled a
blanket and pillow out from the closet and went to sleep on the couch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------