CHAPTER FIVE: Ghosts of lies-the Lamia
She looked so, so, evil, not the evil Master Roshi would like but another kind, her face showed a calculating vixen, he backed away, Yamcha and Chou zu behind him. She turned back to look at the cowering Master Roshi, she leaned right over, Tien avoided looking at her behind
Miko smirked a little wider, she had them completely fooled
"You know" she whispered huskily, the old man's ears pricked up, but fear was in all his movements, she could practically se him imagining her canines elongated, growing in size and ever sharpening. She decided to feed this illusion
"Blood, is" she paused to give a demure chuckle
"So tasty" she whispered nastily, her hand shot out and lifted him off the ground, she pulled his face close to hers and bared her teeth in a thoroughly frightening smiled
Tien watched, almost afraid to move, he could practically see fangs growing in her mouth, he wondered how he could stop her, he wasn't superstitious by nature but this was getting scary, he had heard of vampires, but never female one, he realised she wasn't doing anything at this point, he blinked, what was she playing at then?
Miko smirked again and dropped the old man, he scrambled away, she put her hands on her hips
"Be warned, you couldn't handle me old man" she said in a fatal attraction type voice, she smirked again and turned to face three petrified warriors
"What?" she asked
"Where did that come from?" Yamcha asked, the fear leaving his voice Miko laughed once she was sure Master Roshi had left the room, se collapsed under the weight of her little game
"I was screwing with his head guys, I didn't realise you'd be so scare of a Lamia"
"Lamia?"
"Female vampire, he actually fell for it well at least the old pervert'll watch his step from now on, you can tell beating the crap out of him is only a turn on, so I decided to scare him a bit"
Tien went with relief
"You had me fooled, man I was scared. How'd you do that?"
"What?"
"Be so convincing, honestly it's scary, I thought you were like some demon come to kill us all while you pretended to help us" she collapsed laughing again, he saw Yamcha and Chou zu laughing nervously
"Honestly, I'm no Lamia, though I have been called a demon for various reasons" she said in between fits of laughter. Yamcha and Chou zu seemed to ease up
"Please just don't do it again, it's really freaky. But I can see now how you got around the city so easily"
"Yeah well, I've always been an actress, I spent the first week faking everything I did until I got settled, but dam, some of the people I played to; God, they were as bad as him, but I didn't plan on scaring them, I needed them, contacts make the world go round" she said lightly. Tien was beginning to see who Miko really was, he supposed just how much of her personality was built on acting, everything she did was geared to whoever she was speaking to. She was cold and calculating, he had seen it in her eyes, this unnerved him, now he understood the meaning of fatal attraction, he offered his hand
"Your room's upstairs, I didn't think you'd want to sleep in the lounge with the rest of us" she took it and he pulled her onto her feet, she smirked for a second
Miko ran her tongue across her teeth, she enjoyed messing with people, though she didn't do it often, she saw him flinch and decided to let it fester in him for a while, she liked having men afraid of her. Though she wouldn't admit it now she found later on that she was actually falling for Tien and scaring him gave her a sense of power, she didn't like feeling helpless and when she fell for a man in the past just once, she had felt that way, since then she had used every tool at her disposal besides her looks to be the one in control, and it had worked on most occasions, even if people didn't realise it she played them like harps, she would have each of them wrapped around her little finger soon enough, the ones that worried her were Piccolo, he did not flinch at her but she had played the best of them, he would be no different, she usually only with messed with people until she felt she could trust them, she hadn't played Bulma at all, but with males she was much more wary. She smiled sweetly and sauntered across the room to ascend the stairs, she smirked to herself as Yamcha inhaled sharply as she barely touched him in passing, this could turn out all right after all.
Miko lay down on the small bed and closed her eyes, there was a cold breeze coming in from the open window, she couldn't be bothered getting up to close it. She heard a knock
"Come in" she said drowsily
"I'll leave your bag here ok" she heard Tien's voice
"Thanks, hey listen, I didn't hurt you when I kicked ya did I?" she didn't open her eyes, she could almost see him smile, a sudden flash of nerves shot through her, she scolded them angrily, what was she thinking?
"A bit, I'll get over it, you're a lot stronger than you look you know"
"Well considering what I was wearing when you turned up I'm not surprised" she heard a chuckle
"Yeah well, you should be pleased you can wear something like that and look so amazing, sleep well" she heard the door close and careful footsteps. She allowed herself to enjoy the compliment. Though it was not normally something she would tolerate. She would consider Tien a bodyguard of sorts, nothing else. But she could always enjoy it when he smiled and when he said nice things about her...she pulled herself up sharply, she told herself she was just lonely, or sleep deprived.
What she didn't realise was Tien was getting his own back, for the episode in the lounge, she had been inches from him, he had planned his little remark carefully, it did not have the desired response though, she hadn't flinched, no matter. He had tried, it was slowly becoming apparent to him that behind that aggressive face was a highly intelligent cold hard and calculating woman, he wondered if the small amount of danger, hiding the huge amount of cunning, she radiated was what had drawn him to her. Maybe if he observed her long enough he could surmise who she really was, it was clear she was not who she seemed in brief flashes of swift skill and cunning, she had displayed it in her escape from the look out, he wondered whether it was in fact Dende's piercing stare or Piccolo who had actually scared her. Dende was extremely shrewd, but that came with being guardian, he had seen a little of her well guarded inner core and known her immediately, he made a note to ask him. He wondered if anyone else had figured she was anything more than a pretty, confused, teen with a drinking problem and a kid to look after. He doubted it, she was that good.
As he tried to sleep Yamcha thought about the brief jolt of fear he had felt when she brushed past him, it wasn't attraction, he was too smooth, it was a warning, an almost telepathic symbol "keep your distance, I'm more than you could handle, I'd have you twisted around my little finger in a week, then I'd break your heart into little pieces with my bare blood soaked hands" he shivered, dismissing the thought she was anything other than a teenage girl with an attitude, telling his half conscious brain it was over active due to lack of sleep, he rolled over and drifted into fairy land, his own fairy land, where wood nymphs played, in their own sensual little skins....
Miko awoke a few hours before dawn, she had never needed much sleep, she slipped out of bed and changed her clothes quickly, a jogging top and green sweat pants, she twisted her hair into a plait and twined it around her head. She smirked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner and went to the window, she swung herself outside and up onto the sloping roof with only her arms, she crossed her legs and began to meditate, something she had not down in a long time, everything was slowing down now, she made a note to have it out with the green giant. She wanted to prolong meeting the little one again, he was unnerving in his conceptions of her, she did not like people to see through her many layers of amour the way she could see through theirs, she recognised a fellow brick layer in Piccolo, he went about it differently and less convincingly but he was good at it. She contemplated, anger was the easiest emotion to deal with, it was channelled into aggression, but anger was also rather transparent, so she used every acting tool at her disposal, she smirked, remembering the look on Tien's face. She was such a good actress she could even convince herself of some things.
Tien knocked, there was no answer, he opened the door, the room was empty and the bed made, he saw the open window and swore, he turned and tore downstairs
"She's gone!" he yelled, Yamcha and Chou zu were half way through breakfast. They looked up, alarmed
"Not again" Yamcha groaned, they all tore into the lounge, Tien threw open the door to find her facing him, her arms folded
"Morning" she said cheerily, Tien noticed a full bag hanging over her shoulder
"I felt like some coconuts so I helped myself" she said innocently, Tien narrowed his eyes just a little
Miko stood, waiting for him to move out of the way, when he did she secretly smirked, they had thought she had run off, however they were trying to hide, it, she would let them think she didn't notice. She put on her naive skin and asked cheerily
"What're you all doing up so early, I mean, it's only dawn"
"I could ask you the same thing" Miko shot a minimal glare at the Chou zu before answering with a laugh
"Me? Oh I'm used to it, you see most modelling shoots start at dawn, you know so they can pick out just the right clothes, and do your hair and all the boring stuff like that, the fun part comes when you have to slide into the teeny weenie little outfits" she said cheerily but not too cheerily, otherwise her whole persona for these particulars would be ruined
"So are you guys training or something?"
Chou zu felt a flash of fear run through him at the look she gave him. He wondered if he should check out her mind, just to make sure she was what she appeared. But something in her eyes told him his mind would not handle what he would find in there, that tiny space of time where her eyes had cut into him he caught a glimpse of something that scared him, cold, hard and dangerous, he decided to be much more careful around her, he had a feeling she was a lot more powerful than she appeared as well
Yamcha felt a jolt that ran right through him stop suddenly, for a second there he had almost wanted her. He shivered. This girl was..he couldn't describe it, she made him slightly uneasy now that she constantly close by, he supposed it was the fact she was not so aggressive now, possibly his old fear of girls was coming back, after all, she was considerably more dangerous than Bulma.
Miko strolled inside and dumped the bag of coconuts on the coffee table and smirked at Master Roshi, he flinched "Hey listen, I need a trainer, you game?" he gulped then nodded.
Miko smiled as Yamcha smashed into the sand. It was fun to watch them train, it also taught hr how to beat them more easily. Yamcha was way out of practice. She stood up and strode over to Chou zu
"Ready?" the cute little guy was tying up his boots
"Sure" Miko backed up a few paces and raised her fists. She specialized in single devastating moves, but was no match for any of the Z fighters in close combat, were few mistakes were made on their part, or they were too fast to be used. Chou zu charged, she dodged his initial attack, literally dancing on her toes all over the sandy island. Seeing an opening after every kick she waited for her chance. It came and she kicked forward, driving her fist into his face as a diversion and swinging her foot around to knock him off his feet. The agile little guy blocked her fist, and had it not been for her leather fingerless gloves she would have broken her fingers on his arm. He didn't see her foot coming. Chou zu landed on his rear, grinning.
"You're pretty good" Miko extended her hand
"I've had training in several different martial arts since I was a kid" she pulled him to his feet
"It's mainly hit and run I'm good at but you guys are way too fast for that" she wiped the sweat from her brow, already there was a centimeter of regrowth. Tien landed beside her
"Hey well done, you're really fast" Miko grinned
"Not as fast as you guys" he smiled
"We've been doing this a lot longer than you" Miko shrugged tiredly
"I spose"
Tien smiled and rose back into the air for another round with Yamcha. He followed her path to the house with his third eye. She was wearing loose black and green track pants and a blue and black jogging top. Her hair now the length of a bob cut slicked back by sweat. He wrinkled his nose, they all were rather smelly, but then they always were when they trained. He turned back to Yamcha and wished he had no nose like Krillin.
Miko wrinkled her nose, she did get used to smelling like an over worked camel most of the day. Nothing a shower wouldn't fix, the good thing about this place was that no matter how bad you smelt there as always enough water to take at least five showers each a day. She stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel fifteen minutes later. Hearing the sound of blows and yells and grunts and the high yet adorable squeak of Chou zu, she just couldn't get over the little guy.
Three weeks later.
Miko rose a few inches off the ground. Tien held her waist to steady her. She released her breath and suddenly dropped. Tien lifted her gently
"Try again" he encouraged softly. She nodded and closed her eyes, lifting a few feet in the air. Tien slowly let her go. She grinned and forced herself upwards.
Yamcha watched as Tien rose behind Miko, ready to catch her if she fell. He glided lazily over to meet them. She was at nearly fifty feet, double the height of the house. As he reached she opened her eyes. He grinned as she glanced around. She suddenly yelped as she fell, Tien landed below her, she landed on top of him. Yamcha laughed as she got off the tri clops and promptly tripped over his leg. She scowled and went inside.
Gohan landed to see Miko land on Tien. He grinned as she fell him and then stormed inside. Yamcha dropped beside him
"She can't seem to get the hang of flying, that's the third time she's fallen this week. He hasn't figured out how to catch her without pissing her off so he just breaks her fall now" Gohan grinned wider
"It's probably her fear of heights"
"You're probably right, she said she wouldn't go back to see Dende until she can fly herself"
"Good on her, believe me, none of us is brave enough to carry her. My neck has only just healed" Yamcha grinned
"Come inside, anyway, how come you're here?"
Miko put her feet up and lay her head back on the pillow. Most of her body was aching. There was a soft knock
"Yeah?" Tien stuck his head around the door
"You ok?"
"I just can't get the hang of this Tien" she whined. He came in and sat next to her
"Don't worry about it, most of us have been flying for years and it took us ages to learn"
"But I don't wanna wait" she said quietly, feeling rather depressed. He grinned, wondering what to say
"I didn't fall on you too hard did I?" she asked suddenly
"No, you're not heavy enough to do any damage" Miko smiled
"Thanks for putting up with me" He grinned and patted her knee in an older brotherly fashion, almost
"It's ok, I don't mind" he stood to go. Suddenly on impulse
"You want a drink?" he asked
"Yeah thanks, give me ten minutes to shower" Tien nodded and left the room. Miko grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom
Gohan smiled as Miko jumped at the sight of him, she was dressed in loose fitting combat style clothing and her hair was damp. She grinned and sat down at the table
"What're you doing here?" she said, taking the drink Tien handed her. She smiled as Gohan's gaze slipped to the massive pile of food Chou zu had prepared
"Help yourself, Chou zu seems to think I eat as much as you guys so there's always plenty to spare" Gohan dug in
"Well" he said between mouthfuls
"I came to see how you were doing, and to ask whether or not you wanted to do some specific training with me, Piccolo and my dad" she considered
"What does this entail?" he swallowed a mouthful too large for a front-end loader to handle
"It'll be in the hyperbolic time chamber, you see in there you can-"
"I know what it is, go on" he flinched at the almost cold tone of voice, which disappeared immediately
"And since only two can go in at a time, I was thinking, that we could do half a day, like you spend half the time training with my dad and half with Piccolo and then another half with me, and then rotate with Dad and we would end up spending half a day training and so would they, we'd get about 18 months each out of it, with different sparring partners and breaks every six months" she considered
Miko thought hard. She did not like the idea of spending six months with the green man, she had no idea exactly what sort of "training" he would put her through if he had any contact with her at all. She was not afraid of him hurting her, she hadn't been afraid for her own life in a long time, she faked it sure, but never actually afraid. It was more that Piccolo now knew a sizable chunk of what made her tick, this did not sit well with her, she considered other options.
"Don't we have a while anyway?"
"Yeah, but it won't be enough, if we have a chance to get over a year's training in on top of the time we have we'll be better off, and with the gravity and weather in the hyperbolic time chamber it makes for much better training, I've used it once before and I have exactly 18 months left, so does dad and so does Piccolo"
"Cool, when?"
"In a few weeks, we have to convince my mum, I aged to eleven in there back when Cell turned up so she wasn't happy" she smiled
"Chichi's alright, I'll talk to her, sure why not, at least I can get some trainers who won't go easy on me now" she cast a sideways glance at Tien and Yamcha who shifted uncomfortably
"So make provisions for a year then?" he nodded
"But it is a hard place to live in, some people can't last, it's like this abyss of white, so you gotta be careful" she nodded, knowing it would not be as hard a they thought it would, she had survived much worse in her time. She arranged to meet them in two weeks on the island. She could see Gohan praying she was able to fly by this time.
Tien waved as Gohan left, then turned to Miko
"Are you sure, the hyperbolic time chamber is not an easy place, some people have gone mad in it" She turned to frown at him, not angrily, just thoughtfully
"I already am mad" she said hollowly and then went inside. Leaving Tien rather worried and very confused.
"Dende?" Dende looked up and smiled at Chuo zu
"Hello. What brings you up here, and where's Tien?" The short white emperor frowned worriedly
"There's something strange about Miko, every now and again she just suddenly acts like-"
"She's some one else, like what we know as Miko is just a ploy!" Dende finished; there was a look of triumph on his face, mirrored by Chou zu's
"Yeah, no one else seems to notice, I mean it scared the heck outta me. I can't help but wonder if she's actually good, or jus playing us for fools"
"She is not evil, I know that much but it is slowly becoming clear that nothing she does can be taken lightly, every action, every little gesture is aimed, not for a specific purpose, but to give a natural feel to the way she is acting, we've seen her don a few persona's now, it is not like a split personality, I believe it is intentional. I doubt many of the Z fighters would actually pick it up; she is very subtle. But she has proven to be one not to immediately trust" Chou zu solemnly
Miko wondered how to tell Robert she was going to be gone for a day and come back looking like she'd been fighting a civil war, she had the feeling no one would be going easy on her at all. She shrugged as there was a knock at her door, she had not taken another contract after the first ended, she figured she would need some time to recover and to prepare, so she had been on the island for four days straight, with a severe case of cabin fever, she smiled restlessly at Tien
"Packing already?" She scowled
"I'm so bored, and beating you guys up is too easy, and if you won't fly me in then what am I supposed to do?"
Tien smiled, she had been wandering aimlessly around the house, torturing Master Roshi mercilessly for two days now. It was quite interesting, almost like watching a deadly dance, she would sort of switch from persona to persona every few seconds, in the end Master Roshi would either go cross eyed or run, fast
"You don't like staying in one place do you?"
"Not unless I'm doing something, God knows how I'll handle the times chamber, with only the two most naive fighters in the universe and string bean to deal with" she sighed and sat down, kicking the half filled bag onto the floor. Tien grinned and sat across from her
"You'll do fine, besides it's in breaks anyway, not like a whole year at a time" she groaned and collapsed back on the quilt so her head was by his knee
"And just what am I supposed to do until then? I can't even stay off the ground for five minutes. How can I get up there? None of you would brave my nails again, and it's not as if I'm trying to cut up my only form of transport" Tien laughed
"Practice flying I guess, and I'm done training a little early so I can fly you in to the mainland if you like"
"Cool, I'll grab a laptop and some stuff to do off Bulma" he nodded.
Miko jumped up and grabbed a coat, she was still extremely annoyed with herself for not learning to fly as quickly as she would like, this of course was immediately. She pulled the thick coat over herself and tightened the buttons, the thing looked horrible but she loved it. She grinned as Tien raised an eyebrow at her apparel, normally she wore color coordinated outfits, not by choice, but simply because she had been instructed to, she grinned and squidged her favorite baseball cap of her slightly tangled, and very unbrushed hair; she had slept in till midday and therefore such small matters as cleanliness were forgotten till the evening.
Tien rose into the air, he held onto Miko's arm gently, she wobbled a little but stayed in the air, they shot through the air, he grinned as Miko laughed, her voice sounding oddly like the whistling wind, as though she was meant to be in the air. Ten minutes of flying and the capsule corp house came into view.
"Hey Miko" Bulma called, the green/blonde haired girl waved and jumped down to meet her
"Hey. I came to ask if I can borrow a laptop and some stuff to keep me busy, I haven't got a contract at this point so I have a major case of cabin fever" Bulma grinned and nodded
"Hang on, I'll encapsulise some stuff for you"
"How much do I owe ya" Bulma laughed
"Nothing, don't worry about it"
Miko shrugged, free was free, Bulma could give her a half chewed apple if it was free; she'd find a way to type on it. Bulma disappeared into her lab, leaving Miko to converse with Trunks
"My dad say you're a weakling" Miko considered the best way to scare the little brat
"Well up against him I probably would be, but apparently, I can kill a super saijin just like that" she gave a swish of her hand, indicating death. He jumped then smirked
"Yeah right lady, you couldn't even hurt a fly" she smirked as a buzzing came to her ears, with a slash of her hand the bug fell in two pieces onto the coffee table, she said nothing
"So what kind of training do you do?" she asked as if nothing had happened. He gulped a little and started talking about the super hard hundred and fifty times gravity training her did every day, she half listened, adding to the number of flies on the table every now and again. After a few minutes Bulma re-entered and handed her a capsule, Miko tested the weight
"What did you put in this thing?" she asked, Bulma shrugged. Miko gave up with a sigh; the weight of the capsule suggested a lot of cargo. She thanked Bulma and strode outside, Tien helped her into the air, she saw a flash of lavender and smirked, the kid was terrified, though this did not bother her in he least.
Tien saw Trunks hiding behind the house as they shot away; he shook his head, wondering just what Miko had done to scare him. He pulled up as she faltered. He now knew that she loved to scare people, she would put on an act and scare them witless and then spend her time reminding them, Master Roshi still flinched whenever she opened her mouth. He started as she grinned evilly at him, reading his thoughts.
"What?" she asked innocently. A flash of suspicion raced through him, he made a note to warn Piccolo, Gohan and Goku before they went into the chamber; he had a feeling training her would only add to the fatal edge she seemed to bear beneath the fine and invisible line anyone could cross at any time, he still had no idea if she was even on the side of good. He smiled nervously as her eyes bored into his skull, as though drawing out his thoughts. He gulped and focused on not flying into a mountain.
Miko planned to herself what she would do in the time chamber; she would suffer badly from cabin fever so the laptop was essential. She noted Tien sweating slightly under her gaze, she smirked to herself, she had him terrified, but for some reason this did not please her as it once did.
Authors note: hmmm, this was cheesy I know but I have to fill in space and give certain plots a chance to bud, just go with m and I promise the next chapter will have less dairy (low fat perhaps?)
Chou!
The Raven Queen
All review are welcome. Who knows? Maybe your valuable opinions will make me a better author. Kami knows I need it. :D
She looked so, so, evil, not the evil Master Roshi would like but another kind, her face showed a calculating vixen, he backed away, Yamcha and Chou zu behind him. She turned back to look at the cowering Master Roshi, she leaned right over, Tien avoided looking at her behind
Miko smirked a little wider, she had them completely fooled
"You know" she whispered huskily, the old man's ears pricked up, but fear was in all his movements, she could practically se him imagining her canines elongated, growing in size and ever sharpening. She decided to feed this illusion
"Blood, is" she paused to give a demure chuckle
"So tasty" she whispered nastily, her hand shot out and lifted him off the ground, she pulled his face close to hers and bared her teeth in a thoroughly frightening smiled
Tien watched, almost afraid to move, he could practically see fangs growing in her mouth, he wondered how he could stop her, he wasn't superstitious by nature but this was getting scary, he had heard of vampires, but never female one, he realised she wasn't doing anything at this point, he blinked, what was she playing at then?
Miko smirked again and dropped the old man, he scrambled away, she put her hands on her hips
"Be warned, you couldn't handle me old man" she said in a fatal attraction type voice, she smirked again and turned to face three petrified warriors
"What?" she asked
"Where did that come from?" Yamcha asked, the fear leaving his voice Miko laughed once she was sure Master Roshi had left the room, se collapsed under the weight of her little game
"I was screwing with his head guys, I didn't realise you'd be so scare of a Lamia"
"Lamia?"
"Female vampire, he actually fell for it well at least the old pervert'll watch his step from now on, you can tell beating the crap out of him is only a turn on, so I decided to scare him a bit"
Tien went with relief
"You had me fooled, man I was scared. How'd you do that?"
"What?"
"Be so convincing, honestly it's scary, I thought you were like some demon come to kill us all while you pretended to help us" she collapsed laughing again, he saw Yamcha and Chou zu laughing nervously
"Honestly, I'm no Lamia, though I have been called a demon for various reasons" she said in between fits of laughter. Yamcha and Chou zu seemed to ease up
"Please just don't do it again, it's really freaky. But I can see now how you got around the city so easily"
"Yeah well, I've always been an actress, I spent the first week faking everything I did until I got settled, but dam, some of the people I played to; God, they were as bad as him, but I didn't plan on scaring them, I needed them, contacts make the world go round" she said lightly. Tien was beginning to see who Miko really was, he supposed just how much of her personality was built on acting, everything she did was geared to whoever she was speaking to. She was cold and calculating, he had seen it in her eyes, this unnerved him, now he understood the meaning of fatal attraction, he offered his hand
"Your room's upstairs, I didn't think you'd want to sleep in the lounge with the rest of us" she took it and he pulled her onto her feet, she smirked for a second
Miko ran her tongue across her teeth, she enjoyed messing with people, though she didn't do it often, she saw him flinch and decided to let it fester in him for a while, she liked having men afraid of her. Though she wouldn't admit it now she found later on that she was actually falling for Tien and scaring him gave her a sense of power, she didn't like feeling helpless and when she fell for a man in the past just once, she had felt that way, since then she had used every tool at her disposal besides her looks to be the one in control, and it had worked on most occasions, even if people didn't realise it she played them like harps, she would have each of them wrapped around her little finger soon enough, the ones that worried her were Piccolo, he did not flinch at her but she had played the best of them, he would be no different, she usually only with messed with people until she felt she could trust them, she hadn't played Bulma at all, but with males she was much more wary. She smiled sweetly and sauntered across the room to ascend the stairs, she smirked to herself as Yamcha inhaled sharply as she barely touched him in passing, this could turn out all right after all.
Miko lay down on the small bed and closed her eyes, there was a cold breeze coming in from the open window, she couldn't be bothered getting up to close it. She heard a knock
"Come in" she said drowsily
"I'll leave your bag here ok" she heard Tien's voice
"Thanks, hey listen, I didn't hurt you when I kicked ya did I?" she didn't open her eyes, she could almost see him smile, a sudden flash of nerves shot through her, she scolded them angrily, what was she thinking?
"A bit, I'll get over it, you're a lot stronger than you look you know"
"Well considering what I was wearing when you turned up I'm not surprised" she heard a chuckle
"Yeah well, you should be pleased you can wear something like that and look so amazing, sleep well" she heard the door close and careful footsteps. She allowed herself to enjoy the compliment. Though it was not normally something she would tolerate. She would consider Tien a bodyguard of sorts, nothing else. But she could always enjoy it when he smiled and when he said nice things about her...she pulled herself up sharply, she told herself she was just lonely, or sleep deprived.
What she didn't realise was Tien was getting his own back, for the episode in the lounge, she had been inches from him, he had planned his little remark carefully, it did not have the desired response though, she hadn't flinched, no matter. He had tried, it was slowly becoming apparent to him that behind that aggressive face was a highly intelligent cold hard and calculating woman, he wondered if the small amount of danger, hiding the huge amount of cunning, she radiated was what had drawn him to her. Maybe if he observed her long enough he could surmise who she really was, it was clear she was not who she seemed in brief flashes of swift skill and cunning, she had displayed it in her escape from the look out, he wondered whether it was in fact Dende's piercing stare or Piccolo who had actually scared her. Dende was extremely shrewd, but that came with being guardian, he had seen a little of her well guarded inner core and known her immediately, he made a note to ask him. He wondered if anyone else had figured she was anything more than a pretty, confused, teen with a drinking problem and a kid to look after. He doubted it, she was that good.
As he tried to sleep Yamcha thought about the brief jolt of fear he had felt when she brushed past him, it wasn't attraction, he was too smooth, it was a warning, an almost telepathic symbol "keep your distance, I'm more than you could handle, I'd have you twisted around my little finger in a week, then I'd break your heart into little pieces with my bare blood soaked hands" he shivered, dismissing the thought she was anything other than a teenage girl with an attitude, telling his half conscious brain it was over active due to lack of sleep, he rolled over and drifted into fairy land, his own fairy land, where wood nymphs played, in their own sensual little skins....
Miko awoke a few hours before dawn, she had never needed much sleep, she slipped out of bed and changed her clothes quickly, a jogging top and green sweat pants, she twisted her hair into a plait and twined it around her head. She smirked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner and went to the window, she swung herself outside and up onto the sloping roof with only her arms, she crossed her legs and began to meditate, something she had not down in a long time, everything was slowing down now, she made a note to have it out with the green giant. She wanted to prolong meeting the little one again, he was unnerving in his conceptions of her, she did not like people to see through her many layers of amour the way she could see through theirs, she recognised a fellow brick layer in Piccolo, he went about it differently and less convincingly but he was good at it. She contemplated, anger was the easiest emotion to deal with, it was channelled into aggression, but anger was also rather transparent, so she used every acting tool at her disposal, she smirked, remembering the look on Tien's face. She was such a good actress she could even convince herself of some things.
Tien knocked, there was no answer, he opened the door, the room was empty and the bed made, he saw the open window and swore, he turned and tore downstairs
"She's gone!" he yelled, Yamcha and Chou zu were half way through breakfast. They looked up, alarmed
"Not again" Yamcha groaned, they all tore into the lounge, Tien threw open the door to find her facing him, her arms folded
"Morning" she said cheerily, Tien noticed a full bag hanging over her shoulder
"I felt like some coconuts so I helped myself" she said innocently, Tien narrowed his eyes just a little
Miko stood, waiting for him to move out of the way, when he did she secretly smirked, they had thought she had run off, however they were trying to hide, it, she would let them think she didn't notice. She put on her naive skin and asked cheerily
"What're you all doing up so early, I mean, it's only dawn"
"I could ask you the same thing" Miko shot a minimal glare at the Chou zu before answering with a laugh
"Me? Oh I'm used to it, you see most modelling shoots start at dawn, you know so they can pick out just the right clothes, and do your hair and all the boring stuff like that, the fun part comes when you have to slide into the teeny weenie little outfits" she said cheerily but not too cheerily, otherwise her whole persona for these particulars would be ruined
"So are you guys training or something?"
Chou zu felt a flash of fear run through him at the look she gave him. He wondered if he should check out her mind, just to make sure she was what she appeared. But something in her eyes told him his mind would not handle what he would find in there, that tiny space of time where her eyes had cut into him he caught a glimpse of something that scared him, cold, hard and dangerous, he decided to be much more careful around her, he had a feeling she was a lot more powerful than she appeared as well
Yamcha felt a jolt that ran right through him stop suddenly, for a second there he had almost wanted her. He shivered. This girl was..he couldn't describe it, she made him slightly uneasy now that she constantly close by, he supposed it was the fact she was not so aggressive now, possibly his old fear of girls was coming back, after all, she was considerably more dangerous than Bulma.
Miko strolled inside and dumped the bag of coconuts on the coffee table and smirked at Master Roshi, he flinched "Hey listen, I need a trainer, you game?" he gulped then nodded.
Miko smiled as Yamcha smashed into the sand. It was fun to watch them train, it also taught hr how to beat them more easily. Yamcha was way out of practice. She stood up and strode over to Chou zu
"Ready?" the cute little guy was tying up his boots
"Sure" Miko backed up a few paces and raised her fists. She specialized in single devastating moves, but was no match for any of the Z fighters in close combat, were few mistakes were made on their part, or they were too fast to be used. Chou zu charged, she dodged his initial attack, literally dancing on her toes all over the sandy island. Seeing an opening after every kick she waited for her chance. It came and she kicked forward, driving her fist into his face as a diversion and swinging her foot around to knock him off his feet. The agile little guy blocked her fist, and had it not been for her leather fingerless gloves she would have broken her fingers on his arm. He didn't see her foot coming. Chou zu landed on his rear, grinning.
"You're pretty good" Miko extended her hand
"I've had training in several different martial arts since I was a kid" she pulled him to his feet
"It's mainly hit and run I'm good at but you guys are way too fast for that" she wiped the sweat from her brow, already there was a centimeter of regrowth. Tien landed beside her
"Hey well done, you're really fast" Miko grinned
"Not as fast as you guys" he smiled
"We've been doing this a lot longer than you" Miko shrugged tiredly
"I spose"
Tien smiled and rose back into the air for another round with Yamcha. He followed her path to the house with his third eye. She was wearing loose black and green track pants and a blue and black jogging top. Her hair now the length of a bob cut slicked back by sweat. He wrinkled his nose, they all were rather smelly, but then they always were when they trained. He turned back to Yamcha and wished he had no nose like Krillin.
Miko wrinkled her nose, she did get used to smelling like an over worked camel most of the day. Nothing a shower wouldn't fix, the good thing about this place was that no matter how bad you smelt there as always enough water to take at least five showers each a day. She stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel fifteen minutes later. Hearing the sound of blows and yells and grunts and the high yet adorable squeak of Chou zu, she just couldn't get over the little guy.
Three weeks later.
Miko rose a few inches off the ground. Tien held her waist to steady her. She released her breath and suddenly dropped. Tien lifted her gently
"Try again" he encouraged softly. She nodded and closed her eyes, lifting a few feet in the air. Tien slowly let her go. She grinned and forced herself upwards.
Yamcha watched as Tien rose behind Miko, ready to catch her if she fell. He glided lazily over to meet them. She was at nearly fifty feet, double the height of the house. As he reached she opened her eyes. He grinned as she glanced around. She suddenly yelped as she fell, Tien landed below her, she landed on top of him. Yamcha laughed as she got off the tri clops and promptly tripped over his leg. She scowled and went inside.
Gohan landed to see Miko land on Tien. He grinned as she fell him and then stormed inside. Yamcha dropped beside him
"She can't seem to get the hang of flying, that's the third time she's fallen this week. He hasn't figured out how to catch her without pissing her off so he just breaks her fall now" Gohan grinned wider
"It's probably her fear of heights"
"You're probably right, she said she wouldn't go back to see Dende until she can fly herself"
"Good on her, believe me, none of us is brave enough to carry her. My neck has only just healed" Yamcha grinned
"Come inside, anyway, how come you're here?"
Miko put her feet up and lay her head back on the pillow. Most of her body was aching. There was a soft knock
"Yeah?" Tien stuck his head around the door
"You ok?"
"I just can't get the hang of this Tien" she whined. He came in and sat next to her
"Don't worry about it, most of us have been flying for years and it took us ages to learn"
"But I don't wanna wait" she said quietly, feeling rather depressed. He grinned, wondering what to say
"I didn't fall on you too hard did I?" she asked suddenly
"No, you're not heavy enough to do any damage" Miko smiled
"Thanks for putting up with me" He grinned and patted her knee in an older brotherly fashion, almost
"It's ok, I don't mind" he stood to go. Suddenly on impulse
"You want a drink?" he asked
"Yeah thanks, give me ten minutes to shower" Tien nodded and left the room. Miko grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom
Gohan smiled as Miko jumped at the sight of him, she was dressed in loose fitting combat style clothing and her hair was damp. She grinned and sat down at the table
"What're you doing here?" she said, taking the drink Tien handed her. She smiled as Gohan's gaze slipped to the massive pile of food Chou zu had prepared
"Help yourself, Chou zu seems to think I eat as much as you guys so there's always plenty to spare" Gohan dug in
"Well" he said between mouthfuls
"I came to see how you were doing, and to ask whether or not you wanted to do some specific training with me, Piccolo and my dad" she considered
"What does this entail?" he swallowed a mouthful too large for a front-end loader to handle
"It'll be in the hyperbolic time chamber, you see in there you can-"
"I know what it is, go on" he flinched at the almost cold tone of voice, which disappeared immediately
"And since only two can go in at a time, I was thinking, that we could do half a day, like you spend half the time training with my dad and half with Piccolo and then another half with me, and then rotate with Dad and we would end up spending half a day training and so would they, we'd get about 18 months each out of it, with different sparring partners and breaks every six months" she considered
Miko thought hard. She did not like the idea of spending six months with the green man, she had no idea exactly what sort of "training" he would put her through if he had any contact with her at all. She was not afraid of him hurting her, she hadn't been afraid for her own life in a long time, she faked it sure, but never actually afraid. It was more that Piccolo now knew a sizable chunk of what made her tick, this did not sit well with her, she considered other options.
"Don't we have a while anyway?"
"Yeah, but it won't be enough, if we have a chance to get over a year's training in on top of the time we have we'll be better off, and with the gravity and weather in the hyperbolic time chamber it makes for much better training, I've used it once before and I have exactly 18 months left, so does dad and so does Piccolo"
"Cool, when?"
"In a few weeks, we have to convince my mum, I aged to eleven in there back when Cell turned up so she wasn't happy" she smiled
"Chichi's alright, I'll talk to her, sure why not, at least I can get some trainers who won't go easy on me now" she cast a sideways glance at Tien and Yamcha who shifted uncomfortably
"So make provisions for a year then?" he nodded
"But it is a hard place to live in, some people can't last, it's like this abyss of white, so you gotta be careful" she nodded, knowing it would not be as hard a they thought it would, she had survived much worse in her time. She arranged to meet them in two weeks on the island. She could see Gohan praying she was able to fly by this time.
Tien waved as Gohan left, then turned to Miko
"Are you sure, the hyperbolic time chamber is not an easy place, some people have gone mad in it" She turned to frown at him, not angrily, just thoughtfully
"I already am mad" she said hollowly and then went inside. Leaving Tien rather worried and very confused.
"Dende?" Dende looked up and smiled at Chuo zu
"Hello. What brings you up here, and where's Tien?" The short white emperor frowned worriedly
"There's something strange about Miko, every now and again she just suddenly acts like-"
"She's some one else, like what we know as Miko is just a ploy!" Dende finished; there was a look of triumph on his face, mirrored by Chou zu's
"Yeah, no one else seems to notice, I mean it scared the heck outta me. I can't help but wonder if she's actually good, or jus playing us for fools"
"She is not evil, I know that much but it is slowly becoming clear that nothing she does can be taken lightly, every action, every little gesture is aimed, not for a specific purpose, but to give a natural feel to the way she is acting, we've seen her don a few persona's now, it is not like a split personality, I believe it is intentional. I doubt many of the Z fighters would actually pick it up; she is very subtle. But she has proven to be one not to immediately trust" Chou zu solemnly
Miko wondered how to tell Robert she was going to be gone for a day and come back looking like she'd been fighting a civil war, she had the feeling no one would be going easy on her at all. She shrugged as there was a knock at her door, she had not taken another contract after the first ended, she figured she would need some time to recover and to prepare, so she had been on the island for four days straight, with a severe case of cabin fever, she smiled restlessly at Tien
"Packing already?" She scowled
"I'm so bored, and beating you guys up is too easy, and if you won't fly me in then what am I supposed to do?"
Tien smiled, she had been wandering aimlessly around the house, torturing Master Roshi mercilessly for two days now. It was quite interesting, almost like watching a deadly dance, she would sort of switch from persona to persona every few seconds, in the end Master Roshi would either go cross eyed or run, fast
"You don't like staying in one place do you?"
"Not unless I'm doing something, God knows how I'll handle the times chamber, with only the two most naive fighters in the universe and string bean to deal with" she sighed and sat down, kicking the half filled bag onto the floor. Tien grinned and sat across from her
"You'll do fine, besides it's in breaks anyway, not like a whole year at a time" she groaned and collapsed back on the quilt so her head was by his knee
"And just what am I supposed to do until then? I can't even stay off the ground for five minutes. How can I get up there? None of you would brave my nails again, and it's not as if I'm trying to cut up my only form of transport" Tien laughed
"Practice flying I guess, and I'm done training a little early so I can fly you in to the mainland if you like"
"Cool, I'll grab a laptop and some stuff to do off Bulma" he nodded.
Miko jumped up and grabbed a coat, she was still extremely annoyed with herself for not learning to fly as quickly as she would like, this of course was immediately. She pulled the thick coat over herself and tightened the buttons, the thing looked horrible but she loved it. She grinned as Tien raised an eyebrow at her apparel, normally she wore color coordinated outfits, not by choice, but simply because she had been instructed to, she grinned and squidged her favorite baseball cap of her slightly tangled, and very unbrushed hair; she had slept in till midday and therefore such small matters as cleanliness were forgotten till the evening.
Tien rose into the air, he held onto Miko's arm gently, she wobbled a little but stayed in the air, they shot through the air, he grinned as Miko laughed, her voice sounding oddly like the whistling wind, as though she was meant to be in the air. Ten minutes of flying and the capsule corp house came into view.
"Hey Miko" Bulma called, the green/blonde haired girl waved and jumped down to meet her
"Hey. I came to ask if I can borrow a laptop and some stuff to keep me busy, I haven't got a contract at this point so I have a major case of cabin fever" Bulma grinned and nodded
"Hang on, I'll encapsulise some stuff for you"
"How much do I owe ya" Bulma laughed
"Nothing, don't worry about it"
Miko shrugged, free was free, Bulma could give her a half chewed apple if it was free; she'd find a way to type on it. Bulma disappeared into her lab, leaving Miko to converse with Trunks
"My dad say you're a weakling" Miko considered the best way to scare the little brat
"Well up against him I probably would be, but apparently, I can kill a super saijin just like that" she gave a swish of her hand, indicating death. He jumped then smirked
"Yeah right lady, you couldn't even hurt a fly" she smirked as a buzzing came to her ears, with a slash of her hand the bug fell in two pieces onto the coffee table, she said nothing
"So what kind of training do you do?" she asked as if nothing had happened. He gulped a little and started talking about the super hard hundred and fifty times gravity training her did every day, she half listened, adding to the number of flies on the table every now and again. After a few minutes Bulma re-entered and handed her a capsule, Miko tested the weight
"What did you put in this thing?" she asked, Bulma shrugged. Miko gave up with a sigh; the weight of the capsule suggested a lot of cargo. She thanked Bulma and strode outside, Tien helped her into the air, she saw a flash of lavender and smirked, the kid was terrified, though this did not bother her in he least.
Tien saw Trunks hiding behind the house as they shot away; he shook his head, wondering just what Miko had done to scare him. He pulled up as she faltered. He now knew that she loved to scare people, she would put on an act and scare them witless and then spend her time reminding them, Master Roshi still flinched whenever she opened her mouth. He started as she grinned evilly at him, reading his thoughts.
"What?" she asked innocently. A flash of suspicion raced through him, he made a note to warn Piccolo, Gohan and Goku before they went into the chamber; he had a feeling training her would only add to the fatal edge she seemed to bear beneath the fine and invisible line anyone could cross at any time, he still had no idea if she was even on the side of good. He smiled nervously as her eyes bored into his skull, as though drawing out his thoughts. He gulped and focused on not flying into a mountain.
Miko planned to herself what she would do in the time chamber; she would suffer badly from cabin fever so the laptop was essential. She noted Tien sweating slightly under her gaze, she smirked to herself, she had him terrified, but for some reason this did not please her as it once did.
Authors note: hmmm, this was cheesy I know but I have to fill in space and give certain plots a chance to bud, just go with m and I promise the next chapter will have less dairy (low fat perhaps?)
Chou!
The Raven Queen
All review are welcome. Who knows? Maybe your valuable opinions will make me a better author. Kami knows I need it. :D