Chapter One
Endomame crouched in the corner of the cabin, peering through the darkness to study the pale, thin face of his friend, the wild dark brown hair which shot up and out in every possible direction, obscuring one of Jagaimo's eyes. Endomame's gaze moved to the boy's bare stomach, and the three festering, horizontal wounds that ran over it and across his chest. A thought came to Endomame, which was a rare thing, because in following with the Saiyajin tradition, he wasn't too bright. He shoved the idea away, disgusted at himself.
Even sick as he was, Jagaimo could follow Endomame's thought processes as easily as if the bigger boy had spoken. He smiled. "Go ahead. I don't mind. Just tell me first, okay?"
The cramped cabin stunk of sickness and infection and it made the five year old feel like throwing up. "Shut up," Endomame said. He stood, ducking his head as he left the cabin to avoid hitting it on the low frame, and closed the door after himself.
The cabin had no windows, and with the door shut it was pitch dark. Only now, while he was alone, Jagaimo allowed himself cry, so softly no one would ever hear, the tears running down his face and drying on the Yasashijin skin blankets.
_____________________________
Kyabetsu sat on a log at the edge of the meadow, her troubled eyes scanning the sky. If a ship were coming, she had reasoned, it would land here, close to their location but away from the trees. Her black hair was long, flowing out thickly in many narrow, pointed spikes to her ankles, her eyes wide specks of coal, and her nose small and upturned.
"I ought to kill him," Endomame said from behind her. Though he moved with almost complete silence, Kyabetsu had heard him coming and wasn't startled. "That's what I should do. I could do it fast, too. Real fast and real quiet so he'd never even see me. I know how. He isn't going to live, you know, and no one's coming to help." She still didn't look at him, and because it was either shout or cry Endomame said, "Damnit, he's your pet! Do something!"
"Die and burn," Kyabetsu said, with no energy or insult behind her words.
"All Saiyajin do," he said as a matter of habit. But now, with two of their friends dead and another dying, that didn't sound as funny as it used to. "If those stupid Yasashijin hadn't blew up the moon..." He trailed off, then came back with an angry, helpless vengeance. "That's what I'll do. I'll just kill him and maybe then we can get back to work. Okay?"
Kyabetsu didn't answer. Her eyes continued to dart across the sky.
"He's hurting a lot, you know," Endomame went on. "And it's not like with the Yasashijin. It's no fun to watch the little wimp hurt. So I'm just going to go kill him now, okay?" Still, he lingered. Kyabetsu rubbed her hand over her eyes briefly but Endomame couldn't tell if she was crying and didn't take issue with it. "I'm going now, okay, Kya? Bye." He turned heel and headed back toward the cabin, walking slowly with his balled fists in the pockets of his ragged paints.
Kyabetsu lowered her eyes, deciding she'd go find some Yasashijin to fight, a little one for a long time, maybe. That would take her mind off... she didn`t want to think about it.
A slight glimmer of light got caught on the edge of her eyes, and her head jerked upwards. "No," she said, her voce weak, unwilling to open herself to pointless hope. "Its a... a..." Kyabetsu hunted for some explanation for the growing ball of light. "Its a dying star. That's all." But it wasn't. The speck grew until it was bigger than her fist, and then her head, moving closer all the time.
The ship hit only a few meters from Kyabetsu, digging into the earth and forming a crater that went down to the bed rock, spraying dirt in all directions. The sound was deafening, and the girl covered her ears with her hands, squeezing her eyes shut. Then it was over, and everything was silent.
There was a faint hiss from inside the crater, and Kyabetsu stepped toward it cautiously. Before she reached the lip a tall figure climbed out the other side, his back to her. His hair was almost as long as Kyabetsu's, but hung lose instead of being pulled back. He bent over, unaware of her presents, and brushed the dirt from his knees.
Kyabetsu couldn't see his face, but that didn't matter. The only important thing was the long, dark-furred tail coming from the back of his armor. She stepped forward, meaning to greet the Saiyajin, then remembered where Endomame was headed and blotted toward the cabin.
_____________________________
Kyabetsu's only concern was getting to the cabin in time, and so she slipped up and stepped on a very small twig on her way into the brush. Raditsu heard the sound and turned toward her, but all he saw was Kyabetsu's fleeing back as she entered the forest. "Hey, come here!" She didn't stop and Raditsu headed toward the place she'd disappeared into the brush. "The hell..." he said, staring at the place he'd last seen her, trying to ascertain the girl's passing, but the foliage seemed undisturbed. The obvious thought came to him, and raising his finger to hunt for the right one, he hit a button on his new scouter. The little machine still felt unnatural, and he under scratched the skin it was resting on. "Oh, I see. Huh, you'd think they'd be stronger than that." Following the scooter's display toward the other Saiyajin, he entered the forest.
_____________________________
"Endomame!" Kyabetsu began to shout when she was only a few kilometers from the cabin. "Endomame, wait!" She continued to run, dodging through the impenetrable brush with native and unconscious grace, and there wasn't a disturbed branch or broken twig to mark her passing.
Endomame had moved slowly, trying to stretch time out, and so his hand was on the door latch when he heard Kyabetsu call him. Never, in his whole life, would Endomame cry, but he would never again come so close to bawling. But what Kyabetsu was doing made him angry -- Jagaimo was dying, getting clingy won't change that.
Endomame moved faster, wanting to have it over and done with before Kyabetsu reached the cabin. Endomame held no weapon -- he didn't need one. He'd always been several times stronger than Jagaimo, and in the boy's weakened state killing him would be easy.
_____________________________
"Endomame?" Jagaimo said, when he heard the Saiyajin enter. His voice was worried but not frightened. "What are you going to do?" There was no accusation in his tone, only curiosity, but Endomame paused in the doorway.
"Nuthin."
"I'll just bet. I told you it's okay. I've killed enough Yasashijin to know it isn't bad if you do it right -- just not screw up, kay? And don't mess my face up. I like my face; it isn't ugly like yours." He giggled weakly. "Can you see out of that eye, anyway?"
One gash, similar to the three on Jagaimo`s belly, but not as deep or badly infected ran across Endomame's face and over his right eye. The lid was swollen shut right now, his vision blurred, but when it healed he would be able to see properly. "I wasn`t doing nothing," he insisted. But he was inching closer to Jagaimo, and now, trembling slightly, he readied his legs to spring forward and hands to break the boy's thin neck. It was warm in the cabin, but Endomame felt very cold.
Kyabetsu didn't open the flimsy door, she sailed through it, ripping it from its leather hinges and splintering the wood. She hit Endomame full in the back with her shoulder, managing to get a few good blows in on the back of his head before he dragged her outside the cabin.
"What the hell's wrong with you?" Endomame said, putting her down in front of the broken door. "Acting like a Yasashijin!" Kyabetsu lunged at him again, knocking them both to the ground where they scuffled in the dead leaves. Endomame was easily twice as strong as Kyabetsu, but she was angry and desperate enough to keep him down.
Someone began to laugh loudly, in a voice that was markedly un- Yasahijin. The children looked toward the sound, then Kyabetsu whirled back to Endomame. She smiled widely and yanking on the neck of his shirt, pulled his face close to hers. "See? Someone's here -- a Saiyajin!"
And Endomame grinned.
Endomame crouched in the corner of the cabin, peering through the darkness to study the pale, thin face of his friend, the wild dark brown hair which shot up and out in every possible direction, obscuring one of Jagaimo's eyes. Endomame's gaze moved to the boy's bare stomach, and the three festering, horizontal wounds that ran over it and across his chest. A thought came to Endomame, which was a rare thing, because in following with the Saiyajin tradition, he wasn't too bright. He shoved the idea away, disgusted at himself.
Even sick as he was, Jagaimo could follow Endomame's thought processes as easily as if the bigger boy had spoken. He smiled. "Go ahead. I don't mind. Just tell me first, okay?"
The cramped cabin stunk of sickness and infection and it made the five year old feel like throwing up. "Shut up," Endomame said. He stood, ducking his head as he left the cabin to avoid hitting it on the low frame, and closed the door after himself.
The cabin had no windows, and with the door shut it was pitch dark. Only now, while he was alone, Jagaimo allowed himself cry, so softly no one would ever hear, the tears running down his face and drying on the Yasashijin skin blankets.
_____________________________
Kyabetsu sat on a log at the edge of the meadow, her troubled eyes scanning the sky. If a ship were coming, she had reasoned, it would land here, close to their location but away from the trees. Her black hair was long, flowing out thickly in many narrow, pointed spikes to her ankles, her eyes wide specks of coal, and her nose small and upturned.
"I ought to kill him," Endomame said from behind her. Though he moved with almost complete silence, Kyabetsu had heard him coming and wasn't startled. "That's what I should do. I could do it fast, too. Real fast and real quiet so he'd never even see me. I know how. He isn't going to live, you know, and no one's coming to help." She still didn't look at him, and because it was either shout or cry Endomame said, "Damnit, he's your pet! Do something!"
"Die and burn," Kyabetsu said, with no energy or insult behind her words.
"All Saiyajin do," he said as a matter of habit. But now, with two of their friends dead and another dying, that didn't sound as funny as it used to. "If those stupid Yasashijin hadn't blew up the moon..." He trailed off, then came back with an angry, helpless vengeance. "That's what I'll do. I'll just kill him and maybe then we can get back to work. Okay?"
Kyabetsu didn't answer. Her eyes continued to dart across the sky.
"He's hurting a lot, you know," Endomame went on. "And it's not like with the Yasashijin. It's no fun to watch the little wimp hurt. So I'm just going to go kill him now, okay?" Still, he lingered. Kyabetsu rubbed her hand over her eyes briefly but Endomame couldn't tell if she was crying and didn't take issue with it. "I'm going now, okay, Kya? Bye." He turned heel and headed back toward the cabin, walking slowly with his balled fists in the pockets of his ragged paints.
Kyabetsu lowered her eyes, deciding she'd go find some Yasashijin to fight, a little one for a long time, maybe. That would take her mind off... she didn`t want to think about it.
A slight glimmer of light got caught on the edge of her eyes, and her head jerked upwards. "No," she said, her voce weak, unwilling to open herself to pointless hope. "Its a... a..." Kyabetsu hunted for some explanation for the growing ball of light. "Its a dying star. That's all." But it wasn't. The speck grew until it was bigger than her fist, and then her head, moving closer all the time.
The ship hit only a few meters from Kyabetsu, digging into the earth and forming a crater that went down to the bed rock, spraying dirt in all directions. The sound was deafening, and the girl covered her ears with her hands, squeezing her eyes shut. Then it was over, and everything was silent.
There was a faint hiss from inside the crater, and Kyabetsu stepped toward it cautiously. Before she reached the lip a tall figure climbed out the other side, his back to her. His hair was almost as long as Kyabetsu's, but hung lose instead of being pulled back. He bent over, unaware of her presents, and brushed the dirt from his knees.
Kyabetsu couldn't see his face, but that didn't matter. The only important thing was the long, dark-furred tail coming from the back of his armor. She stepped forward, meaning to greet the Saiyajin, then remembered where Endomame was headed and blotted toward the cabin.
_____________________________
Kyabetsu's only concern was getting to the cabin in time, and so she slipped up and stepped on a very small twig on her way into the brush. Raditsu heard the sound and turned toward her, but all he saw was Kyabetsu's fleeing back as she entered the forest. "Hey, come here!" She didn't stop and Raditsu headed toward the place she'd disappeared into the brush. "The hell..." he said, staring at the place he'd last seen her, trying to ascertain the girl's passing, but the foliage seemed undisturbed. The obvious thought came to him, and raising his finger to hunt for the right one, he hit a button on his new scouter. The little machine still felt unnatural, and he under scratched the skin it was resting on. "Oh, I see. Huh, you'd think they'd be stronger than that." Following the scooter's display toward the other Saiyajin, he entered the forest.
_____________________________
"Endomame!" Kyabetsu began to shout when she was only a few kilometers from the cabin. "Endomame, wait!" She continued to run, dodging through the impenetrable brush with native and unconscious grace, and there wasn't a disturbed branch or broken twig to mark her passing.
Endomame had moved slowly, trying to stretch time out, and so his hand was on the door latch when he heard Kyabetsu call him. Never, in his whole life, would Endomame cry, but he would never again come so close to bawling. But what Kyabetsu was doing made him angry -- Jagaimo was dying, getting clingy won't change that.
Endomame moved faster, wanting to have it over and done with before Kyabetsu reached the cabin. Endomame held no weapon -- he didn't need one. He'd always been several times stronger than Jagaimo, and in the boy's weakened state killing him would be easy.
_____________________________
"Endomame?" Jagaimo said, when he heard the Saiyajin enter. His voice was worried but not frightened. "What are you going to do?" There was no accusation in his tone, only curiosity, but Endomame paused in the doorway.
"Nuthin."
"I'll just bet. I told you it's okay. I've killed enough Yasashijin to know it isn't bad if you do it right -- just not screw up, kay? And don't mess my face up. I like my face; it isn't ugly like yours." He giggled weakly. "Can you see out of that eye, anyway?"
One gash, similar to the three on Jagaimo`s belly, but not as deep or badly infected ran across Endomame's face and over his right eye. The lid was swollen shut right now, his vision blurred, but when it healed he would be able to see properly. "I wasn`t doing nothing," he insisted. But he was inching closer to Jagaimo, and now, trembling slightly, he readied his legs to spring forward and hands to break the boy's thin neck. It was warm in the cabin, but Endomame felt very cold.
Kyabetsu didn't open the flimsy door, she sailed through it, ripping it from its leather hinges and splintering the wood. She hit Endomame full in the back with her shoulder, managing to get a few good blows in on the back of his head before he dragged her outside the cabin.
"What the hell's wrong with you?" Endomame said, putting her down in front of the broken door. "Acting like a Yasashijin!" Kyabetsu lunged at him again, knocking them both to the ground where they scuffled in the dead leaves. Endomame was easily twice as strong as Kyabetsu, but she was angry and desperate enough to keep him down.
Someone began to laugh loudly, in a voice that was markedly un- Yasahijin. The children looked toward the sound, then Kyabetsu whirled back to Endomame. She smiled widely and yanking on the neck of his shirt, pulled his face close to hers. "See? Someone's here -- a Saiyajin!"
And Endomame grinned.