CHAPTER SIX: Truth. Trust-The scent of fear
Miko landed on the polished white tiles, Piccolo was floating above the centre of the huge bowl shaped platform, she rose into the air to match his height, going slowly as the journey up had tired her, he ignored her presence though she knew he was aware of her floating right beside him, she expended a large amount of energy coming up here. After a time she smirked, Dende had walked out, she didn't like the kid, she didn't know him particularly well but the simple fact that he was not so easily fooled made it extremely difficult to play him as she did the others. She grinned as he waved, she wondered what the namek would do if she whacked him right now; probably hit her harder than she could handle, this didn't bother her. Her hand shot out and clipped his ear, his long fingers closed around her wrist, she smirked and dug her nails into the spot she knew sensitive nerves would be, he didn't open his eyes though she could read flickers of well hidden pain in his movements, his pulse was nearly double the speed of her own, with a swift motion he ripped her hand away from his ear and went back to ignoring her, she smirked, having got the desired result
"Hello" she said sweetly, releasing her hold over her own weight, landing cat like in front of Dende, he jumped back as she narrowly missed him on the way down
"What were you doing?" he asked amazedly. She smiled sweetly, now that she knew what the green brat was like she could play him much better
"Just letting him know I will not be man handled," she said, letting a little fury flash in her eyes,
"So I take it Tien said I wanted to see you" he said quietly
"Actually, none of the others know I am ere, my ki is too small to sense at a distance" she leaked a hint of bitterness into her voice
"Why don' you come inside"
"No thanks, I'm not worried if he hears anything I say" she said coolly
"Where do they think you are?"
"Oh I am soooo getting sick of this, everyone acts like I'm some little kid who needs to be watched, I mean where am I gonna go? My brother is near by, my job is nearby, I have no other means of supporting myself" she ticked off the reasons on her fingers
"I mean the only reason I hang around is so I can train, until a month ago I had never had a half way decent challenge in my life, I took on the world champion, if this is the best humanity has to offer then I have to look a little further a field" she indicated Piccolo who was descending, behind her
Dende smiled
"It's not that we think you won't come back it's just that.. well, I don't mean to offend you, but the way they found you indicates that you aren't as strong as you believe, and looking the way you do you make an easy looking target, if we lose you the earth is doomed" he jumped as something flicked in her eyes, it was only there for a second, but it scared the living daylights out of him, she stepped forward, and placed a hand on his cheek, a demure smile on her face
"Do you know what I did to that perverted old man on the island" she whispered in a seductive husky voice, he swallowed noisily as her hand suddenly gripped his neck, he wondered why Piccolo wasn't stopping her, he saw the green giant smirking
"Well maybe I should demonstrate," she said in a sultry, yet deadly voice, he picked up the tiniest hint of calculation in her movements but it was too faint to tell. She lifted him off the ground and pulled him to within an inch of her own face, he could see her canines glinting as she drew the tip of her tongue over them in a hungry sort of way, this was terrifying, she couldn't be acting, it was too real
"Catch" she said softly and threw him to the side, he flew with such force he could not stop himself, a pair of hands grabbed him, he looked up and saw a scowling Piccolo. The older namek set him on his feet and stalked over to the girl, she had deliberately thrown him at the palace. Dende shook his head, what had he seen in her eyes?
Piccolo leered over the scowling girl
"You don't want to mess with me" she said softly, he smirked
"You're nothing to me, a weakling"
"Oh really" she said, her eyes glinting with something Piccolo did not like
"Yes really" he folded his arms, towering over her, she turned her back on him and folded her arm
"Go on then" she said tauntingly
"Why would I waste my time on such a weakling, I wouldn't want to break the earth's only hope in half" he said amusedly, she chuckled evilly
"I'm tougher than I look, tell you what, I'll make it easy for you" she removed the heavy denim jacket and threw it aside, revealing a tight grey tank top, he noted the powerful, yet not excessively large shoulders, that explained how she had delivered such a blow before. He scowled as she placed both arms behind her back and stuck them in the pockets of the tight jeans. She began to hum and bob her head to the incredibly annoying tune, he heard Dende make a noise of disbelief. She started to tap her booted foot in time to the irritating song she kept repeating
"Fine but if you die it is not my problem" she laughed
"Whatever" he charged, thinking he would simply bluff and scare her, what he wasn't expecting was that she kept humming, not moving at all, he stopped an inch from her, suddenly she spun around and slashed at his face. He jumped back, blood covering his vision. He cursed as she resumed humming, a satisfied smirk across her features, he scowled harder, pain shooting through his face, she had gotten him right across the eyelids.
Dende gaped; she had gotten him. He was now sure she wasn't as weak as she acted. He was now sure nothing this girl did was skin deep, every move she had made had set her up to appear this way. Nothing she did seemed to make any strategically sense until several weeks later. She was smart, incredibly smart; he wondered just how genuine she was about helping them
"That was for grabbing me" Miko told the green Giant, cold fury holding her voice steady, she knew he wouldn't actually try anything, she was too important, she decided to screw with his head, just to get her own back, she would take her time with this one though
"Why are you still here" he growled
"Because It annoys you so much" she said sweetly. A plan forming quickly in her mind
"And the guardian over there who looks so." she licked her upper lip in a seductive manner
"Tasty, wanted to speak with me" she suddenly stepped a little closer to him, her voice husky
"You know" she said softly
"I've always wondered just what you have under the big cloak of yours, I mean, you can't be all that, alien." she reached out to run her hands up his arm, Piccolo jerked away. She smirked
"Like I said, you don't want to mess with me" her voice was hard and her arms folded. Piccolo tried to hide his increasingly widening eyes. He heard Dende clear his throat, the girl turned as if to leave when he called her back
"Wait! I still need to speak with you" she turned back, a smug look across her face, Piccolo was unsure as to this girl's motives, she was a devilish little vixen in any case, he knew now she was only screwing with his head before, but it had been so real.
"You've got five minutes," she said icily. Miko smirked as the green squirt crept over to her and opened his mouth
"Well, you see I need to know what kind of connection you have with your twin"
"How should I know?"
"Piccolo will not repeat anything you say here, you have already proven you are not all you seem, if keeping this visade is so important to you nothing that has happened up here will go any further"
Dende watched as the invisible mask he wasn't even aware of disappeared suddenly, she took a deep breath and the cool in control look he now recognized as what he saw in her eyes ever now and again completely faded, even when appearing terrified she was always in the driver's seat, somehow twisting it so she got what she wanted or needed. She nodded slowly
"Let's go inside" she said quietly, Dende nodded and motioned her to follow him. He led her into the palace and into his personally study. She took a seat and rested her head in her hands. Dende sat behind his desk of sorts and leaned forward
"So what exactly do you know?" she took another deep breath
"First off, what I thought was epilepsy is in fact my twin as you say, it starts with an injury, my blood is literally blue, so I had to hide any cuts and grazes, this made me a wild, highly defensive kid, my twin has a lot to do with this I believe, otherwise I would have turned out quite differently; I had wonderful parents, this taught me the value of acting, though I rarely used it, then I started going into trances, feeling the thoughts of another, only on certain occasions, when I was hurt or angry or scared, it was like this non awareness sort of saved me, I found I was a lot stronger than any girl my age, this made me uncontrollable, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, because when I shut down in a trance, I actually had a fit of sorts, the meds they gave me suppressed this for a while, then they came back, worse, stronger, my own voice would start talking to me, telling me not to trust people, I ignored it for ages, it didn't bother me at all for some reason, but I made the mistake of telling some on about this voice and it landed me in a shrink's office, they diagnosed me with schizophrenia and were amazed at the fact it didn't drive me nuts, so they did all these freaky tests on me and found pretty much nothing, They gave me more meds and that stopped the voice, then I was found to be mildly autistic because of my violent nature, yet at the same time school wasn't hard, when something interested me I would do it well, and no amount of coaxing could make me do it again. This is basically my history, when you told me about my twin it all fell into place, I stopped taking the meds years back and the fits an the voice came back, not strong now though, I guess she was too far away, but four years ago; before my adoptive parents died, I had this massive fit, I just dropped in the middle of class screaming my head off, the voice was yelling into my ear and it was like being on fire, I passed out, and when I woke up I was practically tied down in some sort of ward. I found I was basically covered in bandages, When some one came in they gave me some sort of shot and it put me out, When I next woke up I was seriously pissed, I later found out I had somehow gotten like a weird variation of the stigmata, you know that thing where people get wounds in their hands and side and feet, like they were crucified, though this looked like a I had been near a bomb, though I was lucky and I had few scars, except this" She lifted her shirt enough to show a long thin scar across her ribs, a millimetre below her bra. Dende nodded
"Go on"
"I spent two months in an institution, they were trying to find out what the hell was wrong with me, I became some sort of experiment to them They referred to me as
"That wild one" I caused so much trouble. They shoved some meds into me and I basically stayed in an aware coma for a few months and stopped taking them too, and then here I am, I still hear the voice every now and again and I get weird feelings, like I want to suddenly kill or something weird like that, I learned to control it and then my parents died so I raised Sheme, and then you guys found me" Dende thought carefully
"So you were aware of your twin but were unable to really find out much about her"
"Not really, but I hear her dreams like I'm in her head or something" he wondered what else she was hiding for he knew this was not all she knew
"Anything else?" he said softly, she flinched
"Nothing of importance"
"Anything is of importance," he said carefully. He knew that she was not happy about sharing the inner workings of her mind, most people weren't he in one hell of an extreme, she was not in control and she did not like this. She took a deep breath
"I can speak to her sometimes, like she tells me things and I answer her, in my head, she hears me, I always considered it just part of being nuts, I mean she drove me insane more than once. I have a record, look up Miko Faski on any police computer, you'll find quite a bit, anything to do with walking up to a complete stranger and kicking the crap out of them and such. I basically hear her voice from time to time and she plagues me till I go nuts and hit the first thing I see, this often results in getting arrested, though not after several officers are down, for some reason I never get put away, I just spend the night in prison and they let me out. And in the cell I have a merry little conversation with this psychotic voice, generally I hurl abuse at it and it laughs" Dende thought hard, it seemed her twin had been helping along the destructive part of Miko's personality, this was not a good thing
"I can try and heal the scars she left in your mind" he said gently
"No, there's no point, it won't change who I am, I mean it wasn't really her who did the damage, it was the people around me, by forcing meds into me they forced her to use more insistent ways to reach me, and besides, I don't want you crawling around inside my head" Dende nodded
"You had a rough life didn't you?" suddenly the cool mask was in place
"I lived" She said lightly. Dende blinked, she was back to what he would call her normal self
"You don't like taking down that wall do you?" she blinked at him
"Huh?" Dende smiled, if he hadn't seen who she really was he could have sworn he had dreamed the tiniest of changes in her face that brought her back to the calculating hardened actress he knew so little about and feared more than a little
"Don't worry" he shook his head
"I have a question of my own now" he looked at her face; she seemed to have suddenly aged ten years, he supposed offloading such a weight could do that to you "Shoot"
"Will she be able to reach me in the hyperbolic time chamber?" he frowned
"I have no idea, why?'
"Didn't Piccolo tell you? I'm training in there with him, Gohan and Goku in six-month blocks for eighteen months" he frowned
"No, he didn't tell me" she shrugged
"I have to go" she seemed a little confused, shaken up maybe, Dende knew this was not an act. He took her arm gently, stopping her from getting up, now understanding she had held off falling apart as long as she could
"Hang on a second" he said gently, she shook her head in a disoriented manner
"No, I-I have to go" he placed both hands on her shoulders
"Stay" he said softly, she buried her head in her hands. He crouched so he was looking up at her. He saw tears slipping through her fingers.
Miko fought tears, tears were weak, these were real tears and she couldn't convince herself they weren't. She clamped her teeth and fought sobs, her breathing stopped simply to hold them in. She hated crying, she hated being weak, she felt anger at herself for being so weak well up inside her. The voice suddenly hissed in her ear "Kill" she sat bolt upright, her eyes wide
"What is it?" Dende asked, there was a slight edge of panic in his voice
"N-nothing" she croaked, he took a long hard look at her, his eyes piercing her fragile shield easily
"You heard something" he said shrewdly. She shook her head but ended up nodding.
Piccolo watched as she took off the edge of the balcony. Dende came out a little slower
"I take it you heard" he nodded
"Cunning little fox isn't she?"
"Uh huh. I nearly missed the switch over, you don't even see it until she has you wrapped around her little finger, then it's too late" Piccolo smirked
"She really scared you shitless" Dende nodded ruefully
"She had me pegged, knew just what would scare me and played on it till I nearly wet myself" Piccolo smirked
"She's pretty strong, to be honest she should have been able to break my grip on her wrists the last time she was up here, so unless she's been training she was actually using me as an excuse to run for it" Dende nodded
"She didn't like the fact I caught a glimpse of who she really was, even now I'm not sure if her little story was actually a carefully planned ploy or not, but it gives me some clues as to how to beat her twin, I have some thinking to do" he turned and headed back into the palace, Piccolo frowned, suddenly hearing a noise, he listened hard but felt nothing
Miko scowled, he thought she was fooling him, for the first time in well over three years she had let her entire guard down completely and he thought it was acting! She scowled and began to climb down the ladder, hoping Piccolo would not hear her. No green streak came to snatch her form the tower so she breathed a sigh of relief and jumped, fighting gravity at the last moment and soaring up again, rising up from the very close ground.
Tien smiled as Miko came into view, flying unsteadily but flying none the less, even in the air her ki was hard to pick up at a distance. She landed with a thud and promptly landed unceremoniously on her rear, he laughed and helped her up
"Still getting used to it?" he asked
"Not really, the overall concept of having nothing beneath you scares the hell outta me"
Tien frowned as Miko got up looking tired, suddenly focusing on her face, her eyes were swollen and blue, this confused him but he said nothing as she slipped inside and ascended the stairs. He followed her quietly; he heard the sound of sobbing from her closed door. Taking a deep breath he knocked softly, the sobs abruptly stopped. There was the sound of hurried footsteps and the door opened a crack
"What?" her voice sounded strained
"It's me, Tien" he said quietly
Miko swore softly, at the one time she had her guard down he had to turn up. She was more afraid of anyone seeing her unguarded, exposed self than annoyed
"Can I come in?" he asked. She inhaled sharply, but could find no reason why not, she took a deep breath and stepped back, pulling the door open. He stepped inside and she closed the door carefully. Tien turned to look at her, she stared at the floor
"You ok?" he asked softly
She avoided his gaze, shifting uncomfortably, he stepped closer, touching her shoulder, she flinched
"Hey what's the matter?" she exhaled deeply and shook her head
"I.I just, I just had a bad day" he tilted her head so as to see her face, her eyes were shot with blue and the edges were puffy it was a strange sight, he guessed her blood was blue, another legacy of her father, he noticed also that the golden eyes were dulled to almost a brown. She sniffed a little
"Look, I'm a mess, I just need a minute, that's all, I'll be down for dinner later ok?' he shook his head
"You're a wreck" she scowled, though not convincingly
"Thanks" she croaked hollowly
"What happened?" she took a deep breath
"I went to see Dende" he started
"I thought you went to work" she shook her head. He removed his hand from her chin noticing the fine bones and delicate shape
"What happened, another run in with Piccolo?" his fists clenched for a second. She shook her head, a weak smile tugging at the corners of her mouth
"I-I just, he wanted me to tell him some stuff something about finding a way to win, personal stuff. Stuff I haven't thought about most of the last three years until you guys came along and turned my whole life upside down, and-and, I'm not used to just spilling everything, no one knows what I told him. And.and it was scary saying that stuff"
"About your twin?" he asked tentatively, she half shook half nodded her head
"About being crazy, you heard when I said I had a mild form of epilepsy, stuff to do with that" Tien took her arm and sat her down on the bed, seating himself beside her
"You don't like being vulnerable do you?" he stated more than asked. She shook her head, half giggling half sobbing. He patted her shoulder
"You're strong Miko, but you're also human, well sort of" she giggled a little
"And that means you can't hide your emotions. It's ok to let yourself cry, even Piccolo's cried a few times. Vegeta has, and in front of Goku. I have, we all have really. You can't bottle everything up until you go crazy"
"I already am, I told you once and I meant it" she said, her voice choked.
"I'll listen if you wanna talk" suddenly she hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder, he heard small sobs as she held him tight, he patted her shoulders carefully. Tien was surprised at this, not that she was anti contact she just never seemed to actually invite any, as though you unconsciously knew that it would not be well received. She pulled away and stared at her knees
"Thanks" she said quickly, looking out the window, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze
"It's ok" he said softly, she nodded and he stood up
"No one will think you're weak Miko, you've already proven you're far from it" She managed a weak smile and nodded, he left the room quietly
Miko stared into the night sky, she knew she looked like hell, though this was not the issue, it was making sure no one noticed, no matter what Tien said she still hated crying; crying was weak. Maybe not to them but it was to her, It had been a long time since she had broken down, no amount of physical pain could bring tears, no amount of emotional pain had brought her tears since long before her parents had died, however much she had loved them she had not shed one tear. Sheme had bawled and she had let him but she refused to cry, and when she was backed against a wall with no way out she had ended up a blubbering idiot. She scolded herself for such idiocy, if she had known she wouldn't handle it then why had gone in the first place. She should have known the little green bean would get it out of her, she was a good actress but being guardian seemed to give the little bugger a distant advantage. She slipped into the upstairs bathroom and doused her face in cold water. It stung her wind burned cheeks but she ignored it, cursing her female irrationality, now it was using any excuse, even a little pain to start her bawling again. She cursed angrily and slapped her cheeks with both hands, the shock and the water made a considerable impact and it was hard to tell who suffered more, her face, or her hands. The shock dried up any tears that might have come and she dried her face and now sopping hair. She studied her face in the mirror, her eyes were still a little blood shot but this would not indicate crying, as her blood was blue, she doubted anyone of her companions would make the connection. And the puffiness around her eyes was gone. She scowled and took her make up bag. She smirked as she applied foundation and eye shadow, not much, just enough to blend. She inspected her handiwork; Sally had instructed her on the art of make up long ago and gifted her the bulging bag of what she referred to as "The basics." Miko had never used it until this point and even then she wore so little it was barely noticeable, though it did have a huge impact on her face, she looked much older, not aged old, but mature older. She guessed they would notice a change but not a dramatic one, she dulled the eye shadow a little and changed her clothes, the ones she wore stank, she always sweated a lot when she flew, though this was understandable when one considered just how difficult it was for her, she had nearly fallen out of the sky a few times
Tien blinked as Miko entered the room and took her customary place, she only ate with them every now and again, often eating a lot earlier than them and spending her evenings curled up with the laptop Bulma had given her. It would be another week until she went back to the lookout. He started when he focused on her face; there was something different about it, though he was not sure exactly what it was. She glanced at him and began to serve herself. Yamcha and Chou zu were already halfway through their third bowl of the newest culinary creation Chou zu had whizzed onto the table. As usual she ate little and left early. He noted that any sign of tears were long gone; he wondered just how she had managed that.
Miko closed her eyes and found she could not sleep, as normal she had spent a few hours reading while the others trained in the twilight. The fact she barely slept at all did not help her stress levels right now. She scowled and tossed and turned. Getting nowhere at all except messing up her bed. She cursed and got up, slipping a dressing gown over her pyjamas. She glided across the room and opened the window. She breathed in the cool night air and slipped outside as was her customary way.
Tien started from his restless sleep, he heard soft footsteps and looked about him, they were coming from upstairs, he strained his senses, they headed to the right and suddenly stopped he got up and slipped outside, knowing they had been headed for the window, he was not sure who it was, but if it wasn't Miko he was worried
Miko sat with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them, the full moon glowed above her, bathing the watery world in silver. She sighed restlessly, normally this was relaxing for her but she was deeply troubled tonight, there was a small thud and she nearly fell off the roof at the sight of Tien
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed
Tien shrugged apologetically
"I'm sorry, I thought I heard noises, I was worried some one was trying to get into the house" he said softly, her face softened as she regained her balance, she patted a piece of roof beside her
"It was me, I sit up here most nights" he seated himself behind her, her voice was not a whisper, just quiet
"You don't sleep?"
"A few hours maybe, but I never needed much, when I was a kid my parents could never figure out how I managed to stay awake yelling and bitching till three am and then be as awake as anyone else, except them, the poor people never got any sleep at all, and I did it every night, never any change, but I need at least two hours sleep every night otherwise I shut down, I've fallen asleep in the middle of a movie once"
"We've all done that once"
"No this was a horror/thriller, lots of explosions, screaming, psycho noises, stuff like that, the guy I was with got so confused, he was gonna do the whole "protect the scared girl" act and when he looked at me I was dead to the world, drool and all" Tien stifled a snort of laughter. He tilted his head to the side, noticing how different she looked by moonlight.
"What?' Miko found he way he was staring at her to be both comforting and yet frightening, he started
"Nothing" he said quickly, she tilted her head to the side, frowning slightly
"It's just that." he shrugged
"I can see why you make such a fantastic model" the words were jumble and half mumbled but Miko understood. He blushed deeply. Miki smiled, a real smile. She mentally shrugged; he had already seen her cry, he had seen her in a two-inch piece of cloth, he had seen her screaming, her had seen her attacked and he had seen her drunk, there wans't much more of her to see. She leaned into him and little, her hand resting on his arm, she whispered in his ear, not acting, or scaring him, just being honest
"Well you're cute too" she said warmly
Tien inhaled sharply as a warm feeling spread over him as she shifted a little closer and leaned on him. He awkwardly placed a hand on hers. Noticing the dramatic size difference. She sighed a little and Tien was struck again by just how gorgeous she really was, he now understood what the word "pretty" meant.
They spent a few hours under the moon until Tien fell asleep. Miko smiled to herself as she slung him over her shoulder, he was two inches taller than her and her arms would not fit all the way around him, so carrying him was difficult, she placed him on his sleeping mat and glided upstairs, making a note to lift some more weights, even with training, the guy was not light.
Authors note: hmmm, what will we do? After all Miko is due to go and spend a year and a half in the hyperbolic time chamber soon, so how would she handle over a year and a half away from Tien? And just what will happen, if anything between them? Yeah well you were warned, extreme mush follows, along with a large amount of drool, guess who it's from though.
Chou!
The Raven Queen
By de way. I likes review ya know ;D
Like me snake?
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Miko landed on the polished white tiles, Piccolo was floating above the centre of the huge bowl shaped platform, she rose into the air to match his height, going slowly as the journey up had tired her, he ignored her presence though she knew he was aware of her floating right beside him, she expended a large amount of energy coming up here. After a time she smirked, Dende had walked out, she didn't like the kid, she didn't know him particularly well but the simple fact that he was not so easily fooled made it extremely difficult to play him as she did the others. She grinned as he waved, she wondered what the namek would do if she whacked him right now; probably hit her harder than she could handle, this didn't bother her. Her hand shot out and clipped his ear, his long fingers closed around her wrist, she smirked and dug her nails into the spot she knew sensitive nerves would be, he didn't open his eyes though she could read flickers of well hidden pain in his movements, his pulse was nearly double the speed of her own, with a swift motion he ripped her hand away from his ear and went back to ignoring her, she smirked, having got the desired result
"Hello" she said sweetly, releasing her hold over her own weight, landing cat like in front of Dende, he jumped back as she narrowly missed him on the way down
"What were you doing?" he asked amazedly. She smiled sweetly, now that she knew what the green brat was like she could play him much better
"Just letting him know I will not be man handled," she said, letting a little fury flash in her eyes,
"So I take it Tien said I wanted to see you" he said quietly
"Actually, none of the others know I am ere, my ki is too small to sense at a distance" she leaked a hint of bitterness into her voice
"Why don' you come inside"
"No thanks, I'm not worried if he hears anything I say" she said coolly
"Where do they think you are?"
"Oh I am soooo getting sick of this, everyone acts like I'm some little kid who needs to be watched, I mean where am I gonna go? My brother is near by, my job is nearby, I have no other means of supporting myself" she ticked off the reasons on her fingers
"I mean the only reason I hang around is so I can train, until a month ago I had never had a half way decent challenge in my life, I took on the world champion, if this is the best humanity has to offer then I have to look a little further a field" she indicated Piccolo who was descending, behind her
Dende smiled
"It's not that we think you won't come back it's just that.. well, I don't mean to offend you, but the way they found you indicates that you aren't as strong as you believe, and looking the way you do you make an easy looking target, if we lose you the earth is doomed" he jumped as something flicked in her eyes, it was only there for a second, but it scared the living daylights out of him, she stepped forward, and placed a hand on his cheek, a demure smile on her face
"Do you know what I did to that perverted old man on the island" she whispered in a seductive husky voice, he swallowed noisily as her hand suddenly gripped his neck, he wondered why Piccolo wasn't stopping her, he saw the green giant smirking
"Well maybe I should demonstrate," she said in a sultry, yet deadly voice, he picked up the tiniest hint of calculation in her movements but it was too faint to tell. She lifted him off the ground and pulled him to within an inch of her own face, he could see her canines glinting as she drew the tip of her tongue over them in a hungry sort of way, this was terrifying, she couldn't be acting, it was too real
"Catch" she said softly and threw him to the side, he flew with such force he could not stop himself, a pair of hands grabbed him, he looked up and saw a scowling Piccolo. The older namek set him on his feet and stalked over to the girl, she had deliberately thrown him at the palace. Dende shook his head, what had he seen in her eyes?
Piccolo leered over the scowling girl
"You don't want to mess with me" she said softly, he smirked
"You're nothing to me, a weakling"
"Oh really" she said, her eyes glinting with something Piccolo did not like
"Yes really" he folded his arms, towering over her, she turned her back on him and folded her arm
"Go on then" she said tauntingly
"Why would I waste my time on such a weakling, I wouldn't want to break the earth's only hope in half" he said amusedly, she chuckled evilly
"I'm tougher than I look, tell you what, I'll make it easy for you" she removed the heavy denim jacket and threw it aside, revealing a tight grey tank top, he noted the powerful, yet not excessively large shoulders, that explained how she had delivered such a blow before. He scowled as she placed both arms behind her back and stuck them in the pockets of the tight jeans. She began to hum and bob her head to the incredibly annoying tune, he heard Dende make a noise of disbelief. She started to tap her booted foot in time to the irritating song she kept repeating
"Fine but if you die it is not my problem" she laughed
"Whatever" he charged, thinking he would simply bluff and scare her, what he wasn't expecting was that she kept humming, not moving at all, he stopped an inch from her, suddenly she spun around and slashed at his face. He jumped back, blood covering his vision. He cursed as she resumed humming, a satisfied smirk across her features, he scowled harder, pain shooting through his face, she had gotten him right across the eyelids.
Dende gaped; she had gotten him. He was now sure she wasn't as weak as she acted. He was now sure nothing this girl did was skin deep, every move she had made had set her up to appear this way. Nothing she did seemed to make any strategically sense until several weeks later. She was smart, incredibly smart; he wondered just how genuine she was about helping them
"That was for grabbing me" Miko told the green Giant, cold fury holding her voice steady, she knew he wouldn't actually try anything, she was too important, she decided to screw with his head, just to get her own back, she would take her time with this one though
"Why are you still here" he growled
"Because It annoys you so much" she said sweetly. A plan forming quickly in her mind
"And the guardian over there who looks so." she licked her upper lip in a seductive manner
"Tasty, wanted to speak with me" she suddenly stepped a little closer to him, her voice husky
"You know" she said softly
"I've always wondered just what you have under the big cloak of yours, I mean, you can't be all that, alien." she reached out to run her hands up his arm, Piccolo jerked away. She smirked
"Like I said, you don't want to mess with me" her voice was hard and her arms folded. Piccolo tried to hide his increasingly widening eyes. He heard Dende clear his throat, the girl turned as if to leave when he called her back
"Wait! I still need to speak with you" she turned back, a smug look across her face, Piccolo was unsure as to this girl's motives, she was a devilish little vixen in any case, he knew now she was only screwing with his head before, but it had been so real.
"You've got five minutes," she said icily. Miko smirked as the green squirt crept over to her and opened his mouth
"Well, you see I need to know what kind of connection you have with your twin"
"How should I know?"
"Piccolo will not repeat anything you say here, you have already proven you are not all you seem, if keeping this visade is so important to you nothing that has happened up here will go any further"
Dende watched as the invisible mask he wasn't even aware of disappeared suddenly, she took a deep breath and the cool in control look he now recognized as what he saw in her eyes ever now and again completely faded, even when appearing terrified she was always in the driver's seat, somehow twisting it so she got what she wanted or needed. She nodded slowly
"Let's go inside" she said quietly, Dende nodded and motioned her to follow him. He led her into the palace and into his personally study. She took a seat and rested her head in her hands. Dende sat behind his desk of sorts and leaned forward
"So what exactly do you know?" she took another deep breath
"First off, what I thought was epilepsy is in fact my twin as you say, it starts with an injury, my blood is literally blue, so I had to hide any cuts and grazes, this made me a wild, highly defensive kid, my twin has a lot to do with this I believe, otherwise I would have turned out quite differently; I had wonderful parents, this taught me the value of acting, though I rarely used it, then I started going into trances, feeling the thoughts of another, only on certain occasions, when I was hurt or angry or scared, it was like this non awareness sort of saved me, I found I was a lot stronger than any girl my age, this made me uncontrollable, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, because when I shut down in a trance, I actually had a fit of sorts, the meds they gave me suppressed this for a while, then they came back, worse, stronger, my own voice would start talking to me, telling me not to trust people, I ignored it for ages, it didn't bother me at all for some reason, but I made the mistake of telling some on about this voice and it landed me in a shrink's office, they diagnosed me with schizophrenia and were amazed at the fact it didn't drive me nuts, so they did all these freaky tests on me and found pretty much nothing, They gave me more meds and that stopped the voice, then I was found to be mildly autistic because of my violent nature, yet at the same time school wasn't hard, when something interested me I would do it well, and no amount of coaxing could make me do it again. This is basically my history, when you told me about my twin it all fell into place, I stopped taking the meds years back and the fits an the voice came back, not strong now though, I guess she was too far away, but four years ago; before my adoptive parents died, I had this massive fit, I just dropped in the middle of class screaming my head off, the voice was yelling into my ear and it was like being on fire, I passed out, and when I woke up I was practically tied down in some sort of ward. I found I was basically covered in bandages, When some one came in they gave me some sort of shot and it put me out, When I next woke up I was seriously pissed, I later found out I had somehow gotten like a weird variation of the stigmata, you know that thing where people get wounds in their hands and side and feet, like they were crucified, though this looked like a I had been near a bomb, though I was lucky and I had few scars, except this" She lifted her shirt enough to show a long thin scar across her ribs, a millimetre below her bra. Dende nodded
"Go on"
"I spent two months in an institution, they were trying to find out what the hell was wrong with me, I became some sort of experiment to them They referred to me as
"That wild one" I caused so much trouble. They shoved some meds into me and I basically stayed in an aware coma for a few months and stopped taking them too, and then here I am, I still hear the voice every now and again and I get weird feelings, like I want to suddenly kill or something weird like that, I learned to control it and then my parents died so I raised Sheme, and then you guys found me" Dende thought carefully
"So you were aware of your twin but were unable to really find out much about her"
"Not really, but I hear her dreams like I'm in her head or something" he wondered what else she was hiding for he knew this was not all she knew
"Anything else?" he said softly, she flinched
"Nothing of importance"
"Anything is of importance," he said carefully. He knew that she was not happy about sharing the inner workings of her mind, most people weren't he in one hell of an extreme, she was not in control and she did not like this. She took a deep breath
"I can speak to her sometimes, like she tells me things and I answer her, in my head, she hears me, I always considered it just part of being nuts, I mean she drove me insane more than once. I have a record, look up Miko Faski on any police computer, you'll find quite a bit, anything to do with walking up to a complete stranger and kicking the crap out of them and such. I basically hear her voice from time to time and she plagues me till I go nuts and hit the first thing I see, this often results in getting arrested, though not after several officers are down, for some reason I never get put away, I just spend the night in prison and they let me out. And in the cell I have a merry little conversation with this psychotic voice, generally I hurl abuse at it and it laughs" Dende thought hard, it seemed her twin had been helping along the destructive part of Miko's personality, this was not a good thing
"I can try and heal the scars she left in your mind" he said gently
"No, there's no point, it won't change who I am, I mean it wasn't really her who did the damage, it was the people around me, by forcing meds into me they forced her to use more insistent ways to reach me, and besides, I don't want you crawling around inside my head" Dende nodded
"You had a rough life didn't you?" suddenly the cool mask was in place
"I lived" She said lightly. Dende blinked, she was back to what he would call her normal self
"You don't like taking down that wall do you?" she blinked at him
"Huh?" Dende smiled, if he hadn't seen who she really was he could have sworn he had dreamed the tiniest of changes in her face that brought her back to the calculating hardened actress he knew so little about and feared more than a little
"Don't worry" he shook his head
"I have a question of my own now" he looked at her face; she seemed to have suddenly aged ten years, he supposed offloading such a weight could do that to you "Shoot"
"Will she be able to reach me in the hyperbolic time chamber?" he frowned
"I have no idea, why?'
"Didn't Piccolo tell you? I'm training in there with him, Gohan and Goku in six-month blocks for eighteen months" he frowned
"No, he didn't tell me" she shrugged
"I have to go" she seemed a little confused, shaken up maybe, Dende knew this was not an act. He took her arm gently, stopping her from getting up, now understanding she had held off falling apart as long as she could
"Hang on a second" he said gently, she shook her head in a disoriented manner
"No, I-I have to go" he placed both hands on her shoulders
"Stay" he said softly, she buried her head in her hands. He crouched so he was looking up at her. He saw tears slipping through her fingers.
Miko fought tears, tears were weak, these were real tears and she couldn't convince herself they weren't. She clamped her teeth and fought sobs, her breathing stopped simply to hold them in. She hated crying, she hated being weak, she felt anger at herself for being so weak well up inside her. The voice suddenly hissed in her ear "Kill" she sat bolt upright, her eyes wide
"What is it?" Dende asked, there was a slight edge of panic in his voice
"N-nothing" she croaked, he took a long hard look at her, his eyes piercing her fragile shield easily
"You heard something" he said shrewdly. She shook her head but ended up nodding.
Piccolo watched as she took off the edge of the balcony. Dende came out a little slower
"I take it you heard" he nodded
"Cunning little fox isn't she?"
"Uh huh. I nearly missed the switch over, you don't even see it until she has you wrapped around her little finger, then it's too late" Piccolo smirked
"She really scared you shitless" Dende nodded ruefully
"She had me pegged, knew just what would scare me and played on it till I nearly wet myself" Piccolo smirked
"She's pretty strong, to be honest she should have been able to break my grip on her wrists the last time she was up here, so unless she's been training she was actually using me as an excuse to run for it" Dende nodded
"She didn't like the fact I caught a glimpse of who she really was, even now I'm not sure if her little story was actually a carefully planned ploy or not, but it gives me some clues as to how to beat her twin, I have some thinking to do" he turned and headed back into the palace, Piccolo frowned, suddenly hearing a noise, he listened hard but felt nothing
Miko scowled, he thought she was fooling him, for the first time in well over three years she had let her entire guard down completely and he thought it was acting! She scowled and began to climb down the ladder, hoping Piccolo would not hear her. No green streak came to snatch her form the tower so she breathed a sigh of relief and jumped, fighting gravity at the last moment and soaring up again, rising up from the very close ground.
Tien smiled as Miko came into view, flying unsteadily but flying none the less, even in the air her ki was hard to pick up at a distance. She landed with a thud and promptly landed unceremoniously on her rear, he laughed and helped her up
"Still getting used to it?" he asked
"Not really, the overall concept of having nothing beneath you scares the hell outta me"
Tien frowned as Miko got up looking tired, suddenly focusing on her face, her eyes were swollen and blue, this confused him but he said nothing as she slipped inside and ascended the stairs. He followed her quietly; he heard the sound of sobbing from her closed door. Taking a deep breath he knocked softly, the sobs abruptly stopped. There was the sound of hurried footsteps and the door opened a crack
"What?" her voice sounded strained
"It's me, Tien" he said quietly
Miko swore softly, at the one time she had her guard down he had to turn up. She was more afraid of anyone seeing her unguarded, exposed self than annoyed
"Can I come in?" he asked. She inhaled sharply, but could find no reason why not, she took a deep breath and stepped back, pulling the door open. He stepped inside and she closed the door carefully. Tien turned to look at her, she stared at the floor
"You ok?" he asked softly
She avoided his gaze, shifting uncomfortably, he stepped closer, touching her shoulder, she flinched
"Hey what's the matter?" she exhaled deeply and shook her head
"I.I just, I just had a bad day" he tilted her head so as to see her face, her eyes were shot with blue and the edges were puffy it was a strange sight, he guessed her blood was blue, another legacy of her father, he noticed also that the golden eyes were dulled to almost a brown. She sniffed a little
"Look, I'm a mess, I just need a minute, that's all, I'll be down for dinner later ok?' he shook his head
"You're a wreck" she scowled, though not convincingly
"Thanks" she croaked hollowly
"What happened?" she took a deep breath
"I went to see Dende" he started
"I thought you went to work" she shook her head. He removed his hand from her chin noticing the fine bones and delicate shape
"What happened, another run in with Piccolo?" his fists clenched for a second. She shook her head, a weak smile tugging at the corners of her mouth
"I-I just, he wanted me to tell him some stuff something about finding a way to win, personal stuff. Stuff I haven't thought about most of the last three years until you guys came along and turned my whole life upside down, and-and, I'm not used to just spilling everything, no one knows what I told him. And.and it was scary saying that stuff"
"About your twin?" he asked tentatively, she half shook half nodded her head
"About being crazy, you heard when I said I had a mild form of epilepsy, stuff to do with that" Tien took her arm and sat her down on the bed, seating himself beside her
"You don't like being vulnerable do you?" he stated more than asked. She shook her head, half giggling half sobbing. He patted her shoulder
"You're strong Miko, but you're also human, well sort of" she giggled a little
"And that means you can't hide your emotions. It's ok to let yourself cry, even Piccolo's cried a few times. Vegeta has, and in front of Goku. I have, we all have really. You can't bottle everything up until you go crazy"
"I already am, I told you once and I meant it" she said, her voice choked.
"I'll listen if you wanna talk" suddenly she hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder, he heard small sobs as she held him tight, he patted her shoulders carefully. Tien was surprised at this, not that she was anti contact she just never seemed to actually invite any, as though you unconsciously knew that it would not be well received. She pulled away and stared at her knees
"Thanks" she said quickly, looking out the window, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze
"It's ok" he said softly, she nodded and he stood up
"No one will think you're weak Miko, you've already proven you're far from it" She managed a weak smile and nodded, he left the room quietly
Miko stared into the night sky, she knew she looked like hell, though this was not the issue, it was making sure no one noticed, no matter what Tien said she still hated crying; crying was weak. Maybe not to them but it was to her, It had been a long time since she had broken down, no amount of physical pain could bring tears, no amount of emotional pain had brought her tears since long before her parents had died, however much she had loved them she had not shed one tear. Sheme had bawled and she had let him but she refused to cry, and when she was backed against a wall with no way out she had ended up a blubbering idiot. She scolded herself for such idiocy, if she had known she wouldn't handle it then why had gone in the first place. She should have known the little green bean would get it out of her, she was a good actress but being guardian seemed to give the little bugger a distant advantage. She slipped into the upstairs bathroom and doused her face in cold water. It stung her wind burned cheeks but she ignored it, cursing her female irrationality, now it was using any excuse, even a little pain to start her bawling again. She cursed angrily and slapped her cheeks with both hands, the shock and the water made a considerable impact and it was hard to tell who suffered more, her face, or her hands. The shock dried up any tears that might have come and she dried her face and now sopping hair. She studied her face in the mirror, her eyes were still a little blood shot but this would not indicate crying, as her blood was blue, she doubted anyone of her companions would make the connection. And the puffiness around her eyes was gone. She scowled and took her make up bag. She smirked as she applied foundation and eye shadow, not much, just enough to blend. She inspected her handiwork; Sally had instructed her on the art of make up long ago and gifted her the bulging bag of what she referred to as "The basics." Miko had never used it until this point and even then she wore so little it was barely noticeable, though it did have a huge impact on her face, she looked much older, not aged old, but mature older. She guessed they would notice a change but not a dramatic one, she dulled the eye shadow a little and changed her clothes, the ones she wore stank, she always sweated a lot when she flew, though this was understandable when one considered just how difficult it was for her, she had nearly fallen out of the sky a few times
Tien blinked as Miko entered the room and took her customary place, she only ate with them every now and again, often eating a lot earlier than them and spending her evenings curled up with the laptop Bulma had given her. It would be another week until she went back to the lookout. He started when he focused on her face; there was something different about it, though he was not sure exactly what it was. She glanced at him and began to serve herself. Yamcha and Chou zu were already halfway through their third bowl of the newest culinary creation Chou zu had whizzed onto the table. As usual she ate little and left early. He noted that any sign of tears were long gone; he wondered just how she had managed that.
Miko closed her eyes and found she could not sleep, as normal she had spent a few hours reading while the others trained in the twilight. The fact she barely slept at all did not help her stress levels right now. She scowled and tossed and turned. Getting nowhere at all except messing up her bed. She cursed and got up, slipping a dressing gown over her pyjamas. She glided across the room and opened the window. She breathed in the cool night air and slipped outside as was her customary way.
Tien started from his restless sleep, he heard soft footsteps and looked about him, they were coming from upstairs, he strained his senses, they headed to the right and suddenly stopped he got up and slipped outside, knowing they had been headed for the window, he was not sure who it was, but if it wasn't Miko he was worried
Miko sat with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them, the full moon glowed above her, bathing the watery world in silver. She sighed restlessly, normally this was relaxing for her but she was deeply troubled tonight, there was a small thud and she nearly fell off the roof at the sight of Tien
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed
Tien shrugged apologetically
"I'm sorry, I thought I heard noises, I was worried some one was trying to get into the house" he said softly, her face softened as she regained her balance, she patted a piece of roof beside her
"It was me, I sit up here most nights" he seated himself behind her, her voice was not a whisper, just quiet
"You don't sleep?"
"A few hours maybe, but I never needed much, when I was a kid my parents could never figure out how I managed to stay awake yelling and bitching till three am and then be as awake as anyone else, except them, the poor people never got any sleep at all, and I did it every night, never any change, but I need at least two hours sleep every night otherwise I shut down, I've fallen asleep in the middle of a movie once"
"We've all done that once"
"No this was a horror/thriller, lots of explosions, screaming, psycho noises, stuff like that, the guy I was with got so confused, he was gonna do the whole "protect the scared girl" act and when he looked at me I was dead to the world, drool and all" Tien stifled a snort of laughter. He tilted his head to the side, noticing how different she looked by moonlight.
"What?' Miko found he way he was staring at her to be both comforting and yet frightening, he started
"Nothing" he said quickly, she tilted her head to the side, frowning slightly
"It's just that." he shrugged
"I can see why you make such a fantastic model" the words were jumble and half mumbled but Miko understood. He blushed deeply. Miki smiled, a real smile. She mentally shrugged; he had already seen her cry, he had seen her in a two-inch piece of cloth, he had seen her screaming, her had seen her attacked and he had seen her drunk, there wans't much more of her to see. She leaned into him and little, her hand resting on his arm, she whispered in his ear, not acting, or scaring him, just being honest
"Well you're cute too" she said warmly
Tien inhaled sharply as a warm feeling spread over him as she shifted a little closer and leaned on him. He awkwardly placed a hand on hers. Noticing the dramatic size difference. She sighed a little and Tien was struck again by just how gorgeous she really was, he now understood what the word "pretty" meant.
They spent a few hours under the moon until Tien fell asleep. Miko smiled to herself as she slung him over her shoulder, he was two inches taller than her and her arms would not fit all the way around him, so carrying him was difficult, she placed him on his sleeping mat and glided upstairs, making a note to lift some more weights, even with training, the guy was not light.
Authors note: hmmm, what will we do? After all Miko is due to go and spend a year and a half in the hyperbolic time chamber soon, so how would she handle over a year and a half away from Tien? And just what will happen, if anything between them? Yeah well you were warned, extreme mush follows, along with a large amount of drool, guess who it's from though.
Chou!
The Raven Queen
By de way. I likes review ya know ;D
Like me snake?
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